With several great road trips and outings taking place in the last few weeks, Luke and I took it easy for most of the week. We just got in a mood of staying home - a few visits to the pool - but, mostly, just enjoying our time together!
Here is a little bit about our fun summer adventures at home:
Wednesday, July 18th:
We started our Wednesday off by playing with Luke's tractors and barn
in his room for a little while. Then, we headed outside for some drawing time with sidewalk chalk – while drawing, Luke did really
well at trying to stay inside the lines when coloring. I drew a house and a school bus and Luke "colored" the windows in the house and the wheels on the school bus for me. He attempted to stay in the lines, which is an improvement. I drew an alaphabet trail for him and he jumped on all of the
letters as he named them. I also made him a numbers trail and he tried to name these as well.
Later, we played hide and seek and chased
Madi around the house. Luke thought it was hilarious when I would find him, pick
him up by his feet, carry him around upside down and then throw him on the bed. I joked with him and told him that I was throwing him in the "dumpster." Luke asked me to put some music on so we could run. We ran and ran and ran and did the Clapping
Land song with some jumping jacks – Luke twirled most of the song until he was
so dizzy he couldn’t stand up. To settle down, we made dog puppets out of brown bags. Luke did most of the gluing all by himself and then I helped him cut out the ears and draw the face.
Around 11:00, I put Luke in the stroller for a
walk. It was HOT but Luke was still in such good spirits – he wanted to hold a stick in the stroller with him in case any
dogs chased us – and one did! The owner
stopped him though before he crossed the street. Luke fell asleep in the stroller for the last
15 to 20 minutes. On the way back to the
field (that I pass through), I saw a homeless man sitting on the side of the
road. I went to offer him my water when
all of a sudden I hit a hole, which startled Luke and woke him up. He cried for
a few minutes because he was scared. I
tried to get him to lay back down for his nap but he was soaked and wet with
sweat and so was I. He whined and cried for awhile until I sat down with him in
the rocking chair and started reading some books. He wanted me to read several
books to him while he just sat in my lap and relaxed. The interesting thing – the book he wanted me
to read the most is called “The Potty Book”. It’s about a little boy who he is
learning to use the potty. Luke loves
how Henry – the boy in the book puts his own shirt on and pants on and how he
marches to the potty so now Luke tries to put his own shirt on and he wants me
to march to the potty with him. Also,
Henry’s favorite color in the book is blue and now Luke says that his favorite
color is blue too. He, at first, said his favorite color was orange. One day before leaving the pool, I put some blue
shorts on Luke and he reminded me, “Mommy, you know blue is my favorite color.”
After relaxing and reading, Luke and
I shared chicken nuggets for lunch and read some more books at the table. I
asked him if he was ready for a nap and he said yes. By this time, it was
almost 1:00. I thought his little 15 to 20 minute catnap would have been gone
and he would be ready to rest (especially since he woke up at 5:50am). But, oh no, I would soon find out that I was
wrong. I read some books to him in his
bed and then laid down with him for a little while but he would not get still –
he was all over the place so I finally left the room and told him I was staying
gone until he got still. As I watched
him on the monitor, I knew the “getting still” part wasn’t going to happen. He
was having a huge conversation with Minnie, Daisy, and baby Monkey. He was nowhere ready to sleep. So, while he rolled around safely in his bed
(at least thinking that he was going to take a nap), I got our pool stuff
ready. After about 30 minutes, I went in
his room and let him get up and put his bathing suit on and we headed to the pool.
Surprisingly, to have such little
sleep, he was in a pleasant mood all day and evening. He and I had a blast at
the pool – it was just us – no friends that we knew, no memaw and no Daddy – it
was nice to have him all to myself in the pool. (Before we left for the pool,
Luke asked me, “Is Memaw going to be there?” I said, “No.” Then, he said, “Is Daddy coming?” I again
answered just plain “no.” He looked at
me and grinned and said, “Just me and you, right?” I said, “That’s right,
buddy, just me and you.” He was completely satisfied with it being just me and
him and that made my day.)
He was in such a good mood that he
was singing the Clapping Land song on the way to the pool. Then, when we
arrived at the pool, he showed me that there was a big truck parked on the
grass. J
At the pool – Luke swam all over the
big pool – he chased his baseball, his gooey fish, his frog and ladybug, he
climbed the ladder up and down AND one time, after watching some older boys
jump in all by themselves, Luke jumped in without me holding his hands.
But….because he went underwater a little
and got his whole head wet, he wouldn’t jump unassisted again – matter of fact,
he started sliding in the water instead of jumping – we will keep working on
that going under the water fear.
Luke loved it when I would swim under
his legs and come up behind him. He also loved it when I would pick him up by
his bottom, twirl him around, and then toss him back down in the water. He also
enjoyed it when I would pick him up really high so he could throw the ball and
then I would “throw” him in the water to get it. Luke laughed out loud when I would go under
water and come up with my hair in my face all messed up – he would say, “Mommy,
do that again!” It was hilarious! (When
we got home, Luke showed Daddy how Mommy messed up her hair in the pool.)
Luke also played off and on in the
little pool. He and another little boy threw a torpedo back and forth and then
he and a little girl threw his rings and went to get them together. Luke would actually crawl on his hands all
around the baby pool (he calls it swimming like a crocodile). Amazingly, he
wasn’t interested in his cups and bowls. We threw his scooper ball back and forth
a few times and we “raced” as we swam like crocodiles to get the rings. He has become so comfortable in the water –
it’s nice not to have to be holding him all the time.
Luke took a few breaks for some
snacks – we were there almost 3 hours so for the two breaks that we had, I let
him get an orange creamsicle. He ate both of them by himself! He would get very
messy but wouldn’t even care. After he
was done, he would go wash himself off in the baby pool water. He also ate him some apples and some cheese its. He had some grapes and ate a few
and offered some of them to the little girl he was playing with – I thought
that was sweet. I didn’t ask him to share, he just did. He also noticed that the little girl’s older
sister was being mean to her one time and he said, “Mommy, that big girl left
the little girl all by herself. That’s not very nice.” (He has a sweet heart!)
Finally, around 5:30pm, we had to get
out of the water because it was beginning to thunder so Luke and I headed
home. He rode his lawn mower outside
while I cleaned up the pool stuff and started laundry. Daddy went and picked up
McDonald’s while Luke and I had a bath and then we all sat in the liviving room
and ate together. Luke would look over
at me while we were eating and tell me I was sweet.
At bedtime (which was 8:00-can you
believe he made it that long without a nap?) – I was EXHAUSTED – way more
exhausted than him evidently because he was wiggly again at bedtime. I had to leave his room for a few minutes
until he settled down. Then, when I returned, I had to be pretty stern with him
again until, finally, he picked up one hand of mine and wrapped it around him
and took my other hand and put it on his face and then within 5 minutes he was
asleep! Bless his heart – I know he was
tired! I laid there and watched him
sleep and felt guilty that I had to be so stern with him right before bed
because he is so sweet to me at bedtime. He will hug me a million times and
kiss my cheeks and tell me that he wants to snuggle with me. When I left the first time and returned, he
told me, “Mommy, you don’t leave little boys in the room all by
themselves.” Oh my! I should have said – some good mommies do,
just not yours because I’m WEAK!!! J I guess I just like feeling his little hands touch me. Sometimes I get so tired playing and I’m so
ready for him to crash so I can crash but then I think about how this is one
more day that he is older and more time gone that I had to hug and love on
him! Holding him is my favorite thing in
the world – so to end the day with him in my arms was PERFECT!
Here are some pictures...
Our brown paper bag dog puppet....
Here is a video of Luke being silly with his puppy dog puppet...
Thursday, July 19th:
Again on Thursday, we took it easy around the house. We played with both blocks – built
towers with the hard blocks and then Luke hammered them down. We built towers with the soft blocks
and Luke drove his car through them and then knocked them down with his cars. We played hide and seek. I pulled Luke in his dump truck. I pushed Luke in the red car while
listening to the Wiggles song. We read some books, watched a Super Why in the chair
together, I ran a few quick errands, we ate lunch together, and then laid Luke down for his nap.
As soon as Luke woke up, he said,
“Mommy, will you help me clean up all these blocks before the bears come home" It’s a mess.” I helped him clean up and then pushed him in his red car really
fast – letting go around the corners and then did my tap dance during the Wiggles song.
Late in the afternoon, I took him to Grandaddy’s house and he
played with Kiki and drove the tractor while sitting on Grandaddy’s lap – they
both loved that!
I also took him to play at Mammaw’s house
while I worked out and then Mammaw brought him home and ate dinner with us. He was excellent during dinner and played so nicely with everyone – at one point,
he said, “Do you want to see my moves?” (and he would run down the hall and
then roll around the floor. I guess these are breakdancing moves.) He played on the big bed with Daddy
and then worked at his tool shed and did some puzzles with Mammaw before bed. It was a wonderful evening and I enjoyed our
day. Here are some pictures...
Riding in the dump truck....
Friday, July 20th:
AGAIN, we enjoyed some down time at home - we played tag
and some silly games on the big bed. I flew Luke in the air like a plane on my
legs. He loved it!
We played with his cars, his
dinosaurs, and his trains. Luke played
his keyboard while I danced to the music. He would play and I would dance and
then he would stop playing and I would freeze.
He loved the freeze dance game.
Luke helped me make a “snake” out of paper – pretty much, it was a paper
chain that we called a snake. As we made
it, I tried to teach Luke a little bit about patterns. He was not too interested and did NOT catch
on – I’ll try again later! J
After playing indoors and realizing
that I was not going to get my workout done for the day, I decided to push mow
the yard for exercise. Luke said he
wanted to help me so I let him ride his big lawn mower behind me while I mowed. Unforunately, his mower’s battery died, so we
both took a break. I got him asleep and laid him down for his nap while I
finished mowing. I definitely got the workout I was asking for! J WOW! It was hot!
After Luke’s nap, Daddy was home and
he weed eated and mowed the field. Luke got to ride with Daddy on the big lawn
mower for a little while after the real mowing was done. We played together inside the house for
awhile because it started storming and then Luke headed to bed. It was a nice, uneventful day.
We just returned from an AWESOME week at the beach with the Leslie family - it was a great trip, as usual - I have to say probably the best trip we have had so far. Obviously, I'm crazy busy getting things put back together, laundry done, etc so I have no idea when I will get the pictures uploaded and posted - hopefully, early next week. Until then, have a great weekend and a great week! Check back soon!
Toddy
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