Toddy: Hi, I'm Luke :)

One of Luke's favorite words now is "Hi!" - when we are grocery shopping, he sits in the cart and waves at everyone and tells them, "Hi!" - it's so sweet - this little characteristic made me think that I should update everyone on some of Luke's favorite things...if Luke could talk in sentences, this is what he would want you to know...

I love running up and down the hill beside of my house. I laugh out loud at mommy when she chases me or when she does funny animal moves up and down the hill (example: jumping like a frog).

I can match the animals on my puzzle and put the pieces back in place. Sometimes it takes me a few tries and I grunt with frustration, but I can eventually do it.

I hate it when mommy drives through the car wash. Those loud noises and tons of water scare me.

I know the names of all of my tools in my toolbox and all the animals in my farm and Noah's ark. When mommy or daddy ask me to bring them an animal or tool, I can do it. One time, I saw my daddy's REAL screwdriver and mommy said to me, "Put that down. It's not yours. Go get your screwdriver," so, I went to my room and found my screwdriver and brought it to her. (A little mommy side note - this was actually about 2 months ago when he did that - Landis and I couldn't believe that he made that connection so easily - his screwdriver was in a totally different room of the house and I only asked him once.)

I follow directions well. Mommy asks me to do things like put my toys away, get my toothbrush, put my shoes away, and many other things - I do what she says. I even listen to her when she reminds me to hold on to the rail walking up and down the steps and when she reminds me to sit on my bottom when getting down from the couch and chairs.

I love to help mommy sweep. I know where the broom is and I go get one every time mommy says the floor is dirty. Sometimes, if I notice dirt on the floor, I get the broom myself without her telling me. (Mommy side note - his mammaw Carolyn is obsessed with cleanliness so I think he got that from her. I never came home from work to a floor that needed to be swept. It was always spotless.)

I love to dance to "Ring around the Rosy" and fall down at the end. Sometimes I fall down on purpose even when the song isn't on just to be silly. I also like to pretend to be a teapot as I lean sideways and I do the hand motions to many other songs, but Mommy has already told you all about those. :)

I enjoy stacking my blocks and trying to put the nesting blocks back together in the right order- that's a little hard for me right now. I also love to put the rings on my ring sorter but most of the time, I put those out of order too. Mommy and I are practicing so I can get better! :)

I LOVE gymnastics! My favorite parts are doing any kind of front roll, the big long trampoline, and, of course, the pit. I will just dive right into it and laugh! Mommy has to literally drag me out at the end of our time! When gymnastics is done, my favorite place to get my stamp is on my foot. Oh yeah, I love to play with my star (that I am suppose to sit on). I get a little better each week at sitting and listening to Ms. Portia. Mommy and I have been practicing our "stretching" at home. When Mommy asks me to, I will spread my legs and stretch and touch my toes.

Some of my favorite foods are watermelon, cantaloupe, green beans (I even ate those for breakfast the other day), nutri-grain bars, oatmeal, sloppy joe's, french fries, broccoli and cheese casserole, potato casserole, spaghetti, and lasagna.

I love to "smile" at the camera when Mommy is taking pictures. (Stay tuned for some evidence of this in a later post.)

I'm really well behaved in a grocery store. I sit in the top part of the cart with my seat belt on and eat my snacks and drink my juice. Sometimes I try to get out, but as soon as mommy tells me, "No!", I sit down. I like to wave and tell everyone, "hi!". (Mommy side note: I'm so proud of his grocery store behavior. I'm waiting for the day that we have a melt down. Now that I've publicly talked about it. It will happen next week.) :)

I love to watch my daddy mow the yard. Mommy pushes me around in my red car in the yard while he mows so I can watch him. Then, when it's safe, Mommy lets me push my lawn mower in the areas of the yard that daddy is done with.

I enjoy playing with my cause/effect button toy. I can get all of the animals to pop up except for the yellow button one (I'm not quite strong enough yet).

I love to help mommy water the flowers. While she waters the flowers, I pour water from one bucket to another or throw rocks and mulch into my buckets full of water. I also try to use the watering can to help mommy too. :)

When mommy is holding me, I sometimes pat her on her shoulder to show her that I love her. She smiles because this makes her feel special. She also smiles really big when I give her a kiss - when I give mommy a kiss, I rub her nose on mine.

I love to climb into the recliner, the big black chair, and onto the couch. I scare Mommy because I climb so fast. She says that she can't leave me in a room alone for not even one second. :)

I try to flip all the time at home. My favorite place to flip is on Mommy's bed. Sometimes she lets me practice doing a flip all my myself on the squishy pillows. I also do my "timber fall" on the bed. Mommy lets me fall backwards until I "crash" on the bed.

I love to be tickled. My most ticklish spots are under my arms and in the fat roll on my legs. I'm also ticklish on my belly and under my neck.

I love watching Baby Einstein. My favorite shows are the "On the Go" show with the boats, buses, and trains. I sing the "Wheels on the Bus" song and do the hand motions. I also like the shows with the animals. I especially like "Neighborhood Animals" because they sing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" and I get to see the cute little blonde headed girl tell the bee joke. Haven't you heard that one? Why does the bee go to the doctor? Because he has hives!!! (LOL) I laugh out loud when I see the little girl smile!

I love to every kind of playground. I do really well at climbing the steps and then sliding - pretty much all by myself. Depending on how high the slide is, mommy will either go down with me or stand at the bottom to catch me. She lets me be quite brave and adventurous, but always keeps me safe by staying close by. She wants me to challenge myself and get stronger.

Here are some pictures to show you some other things that I like...

I love to throw and kick balls. Lately, I like to throw and kick the balls under everything like the back deck, the kitchen table, and mommy's car. This drives mommy crazy because she has to go get everything that I get stuck. Sometimes she leaves whatever it is under there because she already told me not to do that. :) Here's a picture of me throwing the football. Please check out some video of me throwing the ball at the bottom.

I love my new shoes. You can barely see them in this picture but you will see them better in the video below. In this picture, I am breaking it down in my new shoes.

Getting ready to kick the ball with my new shoes...

Here I am watching one of my Baby Einstein shows. I also love this big black chair and the boppy....it's a comfortable spot. :)

I love to stand on Daddy's feet and "walk" around with him...

I love my family!! There's (from left to right) - Mommy, uncle Brad, Me, Poppy Greene, and my uncle Blaine. (By the way - I love my paci but Mommy only lets me have it in the car and in the crib - this picture was taken before that doctor told my mommy to get rid of the pacis.)

I love to play in the dirt. Check out how dirty I am! Mommy took me to Union Cross Park a few weekends ago and I played in the big sand hill. Fun times!

I love to climb UP slides...I'm thinking about this one...

I love putting together my mega LEGOs.

I love sitting down on things so mommy can take a picture. Cute pose, huh?

I love climbing in my dump truck. Hint, hint: super cute post coming with some of my dump truck rides in the last few days.

I love my new scooter. I'm getting better everyday and I love making the train hand motion - see???

Oh yeah - you see the wine cabinet behind me in this picture, one of the things I get in trouble for is running over to this cabinet and grabbing a glass. I will say, "no, no" and then run over there really fast. I get in trouble with Mommy.