Papaw Dale Part II & Some Sing Alongs

Two weekends ago (I know, I know, getting behind on my updates again!) - we had some awesome family time just hanging around the neighborhood. With Papaw Dale's house right next door, we have plenty of space and activities to keep us busy right at our house.

It was the weekend of the ACC tournament so Jason Tussey came over to watch the game with us - just like old times. I timed it perfectly so that Luke was taking his nap during the entire Carolina game so I was actually able to watch the game, which I enjoyed. In celebration of the TarHeel win, we decided to get a game of corn hole going, get out Luke's lawn mowers, grill out, and have a campfire. It was an absolutely gorgeous spring day - mid 60s and plenty of sunshine! :)

While we watched the game, we looked out our dining room window and noticed that Papaw Dale was already preparing for the big family event. He got the fire pit positioned with several chairs placed around it, set up the corn hole game, and even put out spotlights so we could see when it got dark. We joked with dad by yelling out the window - "Hey Clark, what are you doing over there?" (Anyone who has ever watched any of the National Lampoon Vacation movies knows that Clark Griswald is always taking the time to prepare for big family events that usually end up being a disaster in some way shape or form.) Well, thank goodness Dad sets up family events better than Clark because this fun family time was perfect! There was no disaster about it! :)

We were all outside ALL DAY! Luke rode his green lawn mower and pushed his red lawn mower most of the time. He did manage to work in a few other activities-he played bean bag toss, practiced riding his tricycle, rode the big lawn mower (blades off) with daddy, played with play-doh in the grass, played with Blaine in the sandbox, and probably the most entertaining part was when he watched Blaine ride his bike. Blaine hasn't ridden his bike in quite awhile so it was quite entertaining to watch Dad chase Blaine around on his bike while trying to teach him/remind him how to ride it safely. The good news - Blaine never gave up and, after not too long and a few minor falls, Blaine was riding in circles around the house. Luke said a few times, "Blaine is being silly." And, yes, it did look a little silly at times but Blaine was having fun and so were we! Way to go, Blaine! :)

We grilled the hamburgers at our house, so while we grilled, Luke played on the deck with Blaine, Tussey, Daddy, and Papaw (I was in the house preparing the fries and condiments). Before we knew it, dinner was ready and we all ate together. Luke gobbled up his hamburger and fries and thoroughly enjoyed himself around the big crowd.

After dinner, we went back outside to roast some marshmallows. Papaw Dale had all of the ingredients for Smores so we couldn't wait to roast us a fat marshmallow. I roasted a big marshmallow for Luke. He enjoyed watching it catch on fire. He also enjoyed eating the burnt edges of the marshmallow. He wasn't too interested in the messy Smores part but he liked the taste of the sugary, roasted marshmallow. Luke was absolutely adorable sitting in his small wooden chair with his jacket and hat on just watching the fire.

Before we knew it, it was bedtime for the Lukester. I think he was actually ready because he had played so hard all day. As we said our prayers, we thanked God for the fun day of being surrounded by family. There's nothing better for a small child like Luke to be surrounded by people who love him and boy was he on this day! It was a perfect day - simply perfect! :) Just another one of those days that will go down as a cherished one - we seem to have a lot of those lately! :)

Here are some pictures of our time with Papaw Dale - Part II...

Luke playing bean bag toss....

Just chilling in his small, brown chair....


Riding and riding and riding - notice Blaine is upright on his bike in the background....

Blaine practicing hard WITH a smile!

Still riding...
Looking back at Blaine with a tiny grin...





Playing Play-Doh with papaw Dale...

Running around outside - (believe it or not, Luke only went in Papaw Dale's house one or maybe two times) - even though he asked SEVERAL.
Talking to us around the fire - notice the spotlight in the background....
Standing by the fire...

Getting a little sleepy...
Before I close with some Luke sing alongs, here are a few special, funny, journal worthy moments that I want to share -

-Last Saturday night, I had the best dinner I have had in months. What made this dinner so special you might ask??? Well, in addition to the great food - grilled filet mignon and baked potato, I had the best company as well - Luke, of course. Landis wanted to eat inside so he could watch the basketball games but Luke and I decided to eat outside on the back deck. Earlier that day, I bought him a fold up Thomas the train table with two chairs (just his size). For our delicious dinner, we sat at the Thomas table on the back deck and enjoyed the gorgeous night. As I ate my steak and Luke ate his chicken nuggets, we had some super mommy and son bonding time as we talked about our wonderful day. Gang, it just doesn't get any better than that - it was a perfect dinner, just perfect!

Have you heard that country song that says, "She thinks we are just fishing." If you haven't, basically, the song talks of a dad and a daughter spending time together fishing and the dad talks about that, to the little girl, this is just another day fishing, but, for him, it's a memory that will be very special to him forever. That's how I thought of my dinner with Luke. To him, it's just another dinner. To me, it was a special moment where I just prayed that time could stand still while I cherished every second. :)

-Here's a cute conversation Luke and I had....my mother in law brought Luke to school to meet me after work so we could go for a run. When she arrived, the first thing that Luke said to me was, "Mammaw's a booger." (He says that because mammaw tells him that she looks like a booger.) I said, "Oh, well, what are you?" Luke says, "I'm a baby doll." (This also comes from mammaw he reminds him that he's a baby doll all day.) My next question, "So, what is mommy?" Luke's response, "You are a booger too!" And, we both giggle!!! :)

-Here's an example of Luke's crazy vocabulary - whether used correctly or not! :) All of a sudden, Luke brings Landis the remote control and says, "Daddy, the TV is unactivated. Will you please turn it off?" (Oh my - not quite sure where this came from.)

-Luke is now telling us that he loves us without us telling him first. He will often times turn around in the rocking chair at night and say, "Mommy, I love you." My heart just melts! :)

-While Luke was sitting in the floor playing, he all of a sudden started singing, "I once was lost and now I'm found." That's all the words he said but I knew that he was trying to sing Amazing Grace (which is not one of the songs that I sing to him.) I sang the whole first verse of the song for him so he would try to remember the words. After I finished singing it to him, he said, "We sing that Grace song at Chapel." (Wow! I sure do love Shady Grove!)

-A few weeks ago in celebration of Dr. Seuss' birthday, Luke's class cooked green eggs and ham and ate them at school. I knew ahead of time that his class was going to do this so I wanted Luke to make the connection to the book. We started reading Green Eggs and Ham about two weeks before he would eat this special snack. The night before the big Dr. Seuss birthday celebration, I reminded Luke while he was taking a bath that tomorrow at school, he would eat green eggs and ham and watch the movie on TV. He looked at me confused and said, "There's no TV at school. Where will we watch it?" (oh my - he is so right - I have never seen a TV in his classroom so I'm not sure where they went to watch the movie. I was just amazed that he was thinking through the situation that much.) I also asked Luke during this same conversation if he was going to eat the green eggs and ham and he calmly looked at me and said, "Yes, I'll try them." :)

-We have really been working on manners around here. We remind Luke often to say "Please" and "Thank You." We often times make him repeat his request in a nice tone using his manners before he receives what he is asking for. For instance, "Mommy, get my milk" quickly must be repeated as "Mommy, will you please get my milk?" Of course, I model the phrase for him. Well, the manners modeling must be paying off because just this morning, I asked Luke, "Do you want some more grapes?" His response, "No thank you, Mommy." (Way to go, Lukester - great manners!) I bragged and bragged on him! :)

-Luke has a book called ABC Jamboree that talks about a different animal for each letter of the alphabet. The H stands for Hippo and tells about a hippo that is "terribly happy." (those are the exact words in the book). One day, out of nowhere, after Daddy handed Luke his milk, he said, "Daddy, this milk makes me terribly happy." :) That's cute!

-Along the same lines, we have been reading a book called "Bunny Trouble" about a bunny named Ralph that loves to play soccer instead of decorate eggs like his friends. In the book it says that Ralph goes to work on his fancy footwork while the rest of the bunnies decorate eggs. One day last week, Luke looked at me and said, "Mommy, you need to go to the living room so I can practice my fancy footwork." What???? :) It's so cute to me how he picks up the phrases from the books that we read. I guess the amount of reading that we do explains his expansive two year old vocabulary. Ya'll, we read all the time - we even "read" when we don't have the book in front of us. We have read some books so many times that Luke and I both can quote the pages so we "read" the pages to each other while playing outside, in the bathtub, at dinner. It's great! :)

And, now, here are some super cute videos of Luke singing in the car on the way home from Outback last week. Once Luke gets started on singing, he just sings and sings and sings. Enjoy our little singer...

The first two are pictures only....

#1 - Landis videoed this one using his IPhone and he didn't have it lined up correctly so you can't see him singing - just listen closely. You will hear his very country version of the wheels on the bus and notice that he has quite a few words mixed up. :)

#2 - Luke is singing a song that he and I sing all the time called "Open and Shut Them."

#3 - Luke sings the Zaccheus song.

Enjoy...

I'm so excited that today ended up being so pretty. It first looked like this weekend would be a washout, but it hasn't been so bad. Luke and I have been home alone ALL WEEKEND - no Papaw Dale, no Daddy, and no Memaw. They were all in different parts of South Carolina for different reasons leaving me and Luke here to enjoy each other's company and the outdoors. I'll post on how we have stayed busy soon. We sure are looking forward to everyone arriving back home sometime today (it's actually Sunday).

Say a prayer for our TarHeels! I will cheer for them as hard as I possibly can, but fully expect for them to go home tonight due to the absence of Kendall Marshall. Give it your best shot Heels! The Bumgarner's are cheering you on!

Have a great week, ya'll! Only 2 weeks before SPRING BREAK!! Super excited!!! :)

Toddy

News Flash!!! The "Numis" are Gone!

Those two pictures were taken on the morning of March 13th. When I took those pictures, I had no idea that those would be the last pictures ever taken of Luke with his numi. I thought it was sweet that Luke crawled up into bed and covered himself up beside of Daddy while I got ready for work, so I grabbed my camera and snapped a few shots - a few shots that ended up being very sentimental....the very next day, March 14th, my baby boy would take another step out of "babyhood" into "big boy land." Bittersweet, ya'll! :)

Let me tell the story of Luke's last day with the numis! As you know, the dentist STRONGLY suggested that I get rid of Luke's paci as soon as possible. This recommendation was made in February. I have put it off because I feared that Luke's sleeping habits (that weren't so great anyway) would get worse without the numis. I thought I would just wait until summer time to fight the possible sleep deprivation that we would all have when the numis disappeared.

On Wednesday, a friend of mine at work told me that she just took her little girl's pacis away just this past week. Her little girl is Luke's age. She originally told me that she was going to wait until summer to fight the paci disappearance too, but, she said that after her daughter visited the pediatrician and the doctor told her that her little girl's teeth were beginning to shift, she decided to move up the date of the paci disappearance. Her little girl had several rough nights without the paci. After my talk with my friend, I began thinking - oh no, what if I am allowing Luke's teeth to be permanently damaged because of my selfishness of wanting to have sleep? This thought drove me bonkers!! So bonkers that throughout the day, I kept thinking and thinking and thinking and finally developed a plan - a plan that I knew I would put into place that very afternoon.

I knew that Wednesday was going to be the perfect day for a few reasons - (1) Daddy was out of town so I didn't have to worry about him getting frustrated if Luke didn't sleep, (2) we had a playdate with Heather and Silas scheduled so I knew that Luke would be super tired from playing at the park, and (3) several events had just occurred or were about to occur that I could use as leverage....one of these events was the arrival of baby Haley. Sweet baby Haley is the daughter of my cousin, Erin, and her husband, Steven. They live in McLeansville. Last Sunday night, we took over dinner and visited with the new arrival and the new parents. Luke has always loved babies so this was the visit of a lifetime for him. He fell in love with baby Haley immediately and wanted to touch her and hold her. Erin, being the already so very laid back mom that she is, said that Luke could hold Haley. We carefully positioned Luke and the Boppy and then placed baby Haley in his lap. He grinned and grinned and grinned! It was adorable! Here are some cute pictures and there is a super cute video of him talking to her at the bottom. (For germ purposes, I wouldn't let Luke touch Haley's face so he rubbed her belly and her tiny toes.) All he kept saying is, "Isn't she sweet????" (in his super country voice). Check out the pics....

Now, back to my plan....for days, Luke talked about how sweet baby Haley was and how tiny she was so I worked this memory of Haley into my plan...(before I continue I must say this - I ordered WAY TOO MUCH for Luke's Easter basket!! Imagine that??? Matter of fact, I had to buy 2 baskets to put it all in! Because I had so much to give him, I thought that maybe the Easter Bunny could make an early visit and I could work his visit into my getting rid of the numis plan. Luke and I had already starting to talk about the Easter Bunny and read a few books about him so Luke was familiar enough for me to include the Easter Bunny in the plan.)

On Wednesday afternoon, Carolyn met me at work with Luke at 4:00. Luke had a hair appointment in High Point at 4:30 so we quickly headed that way. On our way to the hair appointment, I told Luke that I had a phone call today from the Easter Bunny. Luke's interest peeked. I told him that the Easter Bunny told me that his new cousin, Baby Haley, needed some numis and that if Luke would mail her all of his then the Easter Bunny would visit early and leave some special gifts in the mailbox.

I repeated this plan to Luke several times and then asked him what he thought. I said, "Do you want to mail your numis to baby Haley?" He said, "Yes!" I reminded him that if we mailed them they would be gone forever. He still said, "Yes!" So, after Luke's hair cut (which he did fabulous at), Luke and I went by Target. I let Luke pick out a box, markers, and some pink tissue paper for baby Haley's package. He was excited about decorating the plain white box - so excited that he started decorating it while we waited in line at Target. :)

After getting our shipping supplies, we loaded up the car and headed to Heather and Silas' house for our playdate. Every time we were in the car, I talked about what was going to happen - the numis would be mailed to baby Haley and then the Easter Bunny would leave a special surprise in the mailbox. Luke continued to seem excited about this whole event! :)

The boys played and played and played at the park near Heather's new house (we really enjoyed this new park. It was super safe for the boys and had swings!). As always, we had a great time and also as usual, we headed to McDonald's for some chicken nuggets and fries. :) We had a delicious dinner together! The boys were starving - they ate and ate and ate and Heather and I talked and talked and talked. It's so nice to have a grown up that can relate to life with a toddler. These playdates are very therapeutic for both of us. :)

After dinner, it was time for us to head home for the packing of the numis. Again, we talked about what was going to happen all the way home. Thank goodness because Luke now goes to bed at 9:00pm, we had plenty of time to get all of this fun stuff crammed into one night. :)

As soon as we got home, I gave Luke the box and the markers and let him start decorating. While he was highly engaged in his decorating skills, I snuck out the front door and slipped a few of those extra Easter presents that I had into the mailbox. I chose to put a Daisy Duck stuffed animal and a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse figurine set. Luke has been asking for both of these so I knew he would be thrilled! In less than 30 seconds, I returned to the living room to help Luke finish his beautiful decorating. When he said he was done decorating, we collected all of the numis from around the house and the car. I showed Luke that I was taking them out of the two usual locations that we keep them in. I wanted him to see that ALL the pacis were going in the box. After collecting 8 numis, we added the pink tissue paper to the box, put the numis inside, closed the box, and QUICKLY taped it shut (I sure didn't want any time for my 2 year old to change his mind.) Here are a few pictures of his box....

I forgot to mention - we, of course, wrote baby Haley's name on the top so the mailman would know where to deliver the numis. There goes Luke out the door...I should mention that just seconds before Luke made it all the way to the door, he put his box down on the floor, sat on top of it, and looked at me with this very hesitant ("Am I really doing this?") face. It was JUST about enough to make me change my mind but I knew I couldn't - we had come so far - the numis were being mailed TONIGHT! :) With some encouragement, Luke headed toward the door. See???
I was even able to convince him to turn around and let me take one picture....
Together, we walked down the steps with Luke carrying the box himself. I said to Luke, "This is an exciting moment, Luke." (He has no idea how big of a deal this really was!) He was so sweet - he kept repeating all the way to the mailbox, "This is an exciting moment." He looked absolutely adorable carrying the little box. When we reached the mailbox, I picked him up, opened the mailbox and as soon as his eyes saw Daisy Duck, he was ready to give up the box of numis. :) He took Daisy and the figurine package and ran to the grass ready to open it - leaving me to put Haley's box in the mailbox. I reminded him that the Easter Bunny brought him these special toys because he was proud of the big boy that he was for mailing his numis to baby Haley. He just couldn't stop grinning and begged me to open his new toys. Here are some pictures of his surprises...

Luke and I headed to the steps and sat down for a second to look at his gifts. Because it was dark, we went on inside so I could find some scissors to open his Mickey figurines. He sat his new "Mickey friends" (as he later called them) on the table and began talking about which ones went together - Daisy and Clarabelle Cow go together, Mickey and Minnie go together, and the two dogs (Pluto and Fifi) go together. At one point, he lined them all up and just looked at them and grinned. See???

It was so sweet watching him enjoy these surprises so much! I was beginning to feel pretty good about this plan - Luke seemed highly distracted! :)

I told Luke that it was bath time and that we should take his Mickey friends to the tub with him so he carried them to the tub. In the tub, he washed each of his new friends and then dried them off when it was time to get out.

After Luke and all of his Mickey friends were clean and dry, I put on Luke's overnight diaper and went to another room to get his pjs. Luke then took the time to take all of his new friends and put them in his big bed. When I returned with Luke's pjs, Luke was lying on his bed, holding Daisy and hugging her and talking to her as he laid her on the pillow in his bed. It was adorable!

It was quite late and Luke and I both were exhausted so we brushed his teeth and headed to the rocking chair with NO NUMIS. We read his 3 Easter books that I had just brought home from the library that day (I planned this part also. I thought that having three new books may keep his mind off of the pacis.) And, as you will see, the overall plan worked. We read the 3 books without Luke worrying about his numis at all. After reading, we began to say our prayers. At this point, Luke began asking for things - first, he asked to hold Daisy while he rocked (and I let him go get her) - he wanted to talk to me about the color of her shoes, her shirt, and her bow - he even recognized that she had a ponytail. After only a few minutes, Luke asked for his Minnie Mouse stuffed animal (so, again, I let him go get her.) Minnie didn't seem to quite soothe him either so he began asking for food. He asked me for a cheese stick. I knew there was no way that he was hungry because he ate almost a whole happy meal at McDonald's so I stayed strong and told him, "No" to the cheese stick.

Finally, the question that I dreaded hearing happened - Luke said, "I want my numis." Without much fuss or explanation, I reminded him that his numis were on their way to Baby Haley's house. He whined just a little and then relaxed. Within 10 minutes, he was out like a light! :) I couldn't believe it - no fit, no begging, no crying - just one quiet request and a little whine. I was super proud of him but knew that we could possibly have a long night ahead! :)

But....no, oh no....no long night for us - a great night! Luke slept from 9:00pm to 7:00am - no crying for Mommy, no getting out of his bed, no asking for his numi - he slept GREAT! I absolutely couldn't believe it!

Since last Wednesday night when this paci miracle occurred, Luke has slept from 9 to 7 EVERY NIGHT - no middle of the night wake ups. He is fighting his nap times without the numis a little but each day is getting better and better. Right now, Luke is in the best sleeping pattern that he has ever been in - he is staying up later, sleeping later, and taking a later nap but all of this will work great for the beach trip and for summer vacation. He is napping from 2 to 4 each day which allows us to have longer mornings to go do things and then he has the energy to stay up longer at night so dinner doesn't have to be rushed, we can play outside until dark, and Mommy and Daddy have time to squeeze in a run! (I am aiming to run a 5K with the stroller by May.) :)

Anyway - the paci disappearing plan worked and now, 5 days later, it still amazes me that Luke is doing so well. If I would have known that this transition would have been this easy, I would have taken this step months ago - but, then, would it have been this easy then??? Who knows?

All I know is this....my baby boy is growing up! Next project - getting rid of the diapers! Now, that, I will definitely wait until summer to begin that process! At this point, I just want to celebrate this milestone! As a mom I learned quickly - celebrate EACH DAY! :)

Here are some pictures of Luke playing at a few parks this past week....

Triangle Park in High Point...







Allen Jay Park in Archdale...



This one is funny!!

Here are the videos that go along with our paci disappearance plan...

#1 - Luke holding baby Haley.

#2 - Luke carrying baby Haley's box to the mailbox.

#3 - Luke playing with his new surprises from the Easter Bunny.

Stay tuned - I already have the pictures, video, and notes prepared for the Papa Dale - Part II. Maybe, just maybe, I will post again before the weekend. Check back soon! Have a great week!

Toddy