Tuesday, September 4, 2007

First day of school!


Well, really his first day of daycare. And it's not really his first day since he went over the summer. But everyone else is back!
Here's a picture of his real first day of daycare last year and then one taken this morning. Wow, what a difference a year makes!


Here are the goofy pictures.


Waving bye to Daddy...holding his new lunchbox that Mommy splurged on!



Walking to the car.

Sunday, September 2, 2007

Separated at Birth

Toddler fun...good times

I'm Popeye the sailor man, I live in a garbage can...

Lu has developed quite a sense of humor. He's rather goofy and becoming lots of work fun.


I like to say that Lu's a toddler times 10. He has temper tantrums down and knows exactly how to push my buttons. Last week I thought I'd be a good mom and take him to the library. Well, Lu decided that since there were other kids there he needed to show off and push his own stroller. Of course that meant running into people and said kids. And being the good mom that I am I tried to help him steer which threw him into a tizzy so he just ran into more people. The sh!t finally hit the fan when I commandeered the stroller and he threw an all out tantrum--back arch (check!), screaming (check!), kicking (check!), scratching (check!). In an attempt to get him out of there and check out our books ASAP I bent down to pick him up with my left arm while carrying the books in my right arm. Ha. He threw himself backwards and fell out of my arm and landed head first onto the floor. The screaming got a lot louder. I took the opportunity to quickly strap him into his stroller and head to the check out. While trying to check out as quickly as possible the librarian kindly whispered "You have an overdue fine, but you can pay it next time". Nope, I'm there, I'm paying and checking out my books, fit throwing kid or not! And so I did. By the time we got to the car Lu acted as if nothing had ever happened. Happy as a clam.
Wish I had pictures of that scene.

While Lu's great at throwing tantrums at inappropriate times he Lu won't make a good poker player any time soon. I know when he's either about to do something or in the midst of doing something he's not supposed to be doing by that look in his eye and devilish grin on his face...his "tell" if you will.


Surprise, surprise; he's a daredevil too! When I pick Lu up from daycare we usually hang out for about an hour so he can play outside with all the cool toys and I can chat with the teachers and other parents. Well a few days ago I hear one of the teachers say, "Oh, look at Lucius!" So I look and see my son standing on one of those push and ride toys, hands grasping the handle bars,and rolling down the sloped pavement. The look on his face was of pure joy; I've never seen a smile so wide and eyes so big. Of course the ride abruptly ended when the push and ride hit the grass. Luckily Lu's fallen enough times that he knows to catch himself with his hands, so he only ended up with a scratched arm instead of a major head injury. I have a feeling I'll be seeing a lot of the emergency room over the next few years.






Besides keeping family and friends posted about Lu's life, I created this blog to document Lu's development/accomplishments/stats/etc... since I don't journal or scrapbook (I haven't printed out pics since he was about 2 months old). I've sort of failed in that last regard. So, here's some updating on his brazilliance.
He's still not really talking. Although, I guess you could count his first word as "hello". He does greet people with that. (Picture him back at the library stopping to say hello to every kid that he passed in between throwing a fit because I was trying to help push the stroller.) I think he's been saying "ball" and "duck" and possibly "Elmo" and "onion". It's so hard to tell because he doesn't say anything consistently--except "hello". He did start signing out of nowhere. He now does the sign for "more" and "all done" all.of.the.time. Whenever he wants something he'll sign "more" and when he's finished with something he'll sign "done". He's been signing "banana" and "bath" for awhile. He signed "bird" today.
Lu's also been sick for pretty much all of August. Started with the roseola, went on to have poo issues for 3 1/2 weeks, and now has a cold complete with fever, cough, and runny nose. He hasn't had a fever in 24 hours so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that daycare's a go on Tuesday. Speaking of daycare, this week is Lu's first friday there. Tom's made the executive decision that he's going five days a week this year. I'm assuming that's just one more day that he has a chance to get sick...so, he'll probably be home even more!

As for me, I got my first allergy shot last Thursday. No reaction to it--Woohoo! Supposedly I'll start feeling the effects within 4-6 months. Let's hope.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Visitors

Our friends visited for a couple of days and Lu had a great time with their son, Drew. Drew's about 9 months older so Lucius was in complete awe of everything Drew did.
Eating "apples" from the tree. Who knows what pesticides are them, but Lu has to have on every time they pass the apple tree.


We spent some time at the Eli Whitney Water Lab.


Drew was splashing and Lu thought it was hilarious.

This is the first time Lu had a bath buddy. Drew was blowing bubbles and again, Lu thought it was hilarious.

Lu's owie for the day. He was rocking a little to hard in his rocking chair and was propelled forward. The poor thing landed on his face. Bloody nose and fat lip...nothing a piece of ice can't fix!

Random pictures

Lu got his very own desk and he loves to work at it. We brought a couple of boxes of stuff to Goodwill to clear out some space (I swear we keep them in business), and Tom found this BIG desk for Lu to take up the just cleared space.

Having our morning coffee with some friends.

We also did some major cleaning last Sunday and de-Lued the living room/dining room area. He now has access to the cat food and has yet to eat it. Quit surprising considering he's always sneaking their treats.

Playing guitar.

Playing with a box.


Resting with Mom.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Separated at Birth




I couldn't resist.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Tom's Birthday

2 Points!

Uh-oh, I can't get it off.

Help Daddy!


We celebrated Tom's birthday when my family was in town.

The traditional apple pie.


Tom's work had a picnic the day of his birthday so he got to celebrate there too.

Lucius had a great time. There was a water park with sprinklers, the beach, and a carousel. He wasn't so into the carousel though.

It was a long day so Lu had to take a snooze under a tree (while we ate cake!).



We got to spend a lot of time with Lu this week...I took Tuesday off for the picnic and then Lu was mildly ill on Thursday so he couldn't go to daycare (of course). I'm waiting to get the pink slip. Does the kid ever go to daycare anymore? I'm hoping next week will be better.

And on to me...I went for my last round of allergy testing on Friday.

Things I'm allergic to:
mice, dogs, cats, horses, dust mites, feathers, trees, weeds, and some molds
Things I'm not allergic to:
Grasses, some molds
I had a reaction to 14 out of the 16 allergens that they tested for. Needless to say, I'm starting allergy shots in a couple of weeks.

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

CT Family Reunion

We spent Saturday in Waterford, CT at a family reunion (maternal grandmother's family). Sitty, Jagee, Uncle Jeff and Aunt Gini came up for the event and Lucius had a great time (per usual). It's so nice to have family in town to entertain Lucius! It was nice spending time with them too.

Helping Uncle Jeff eat his food.


This reunion was extra special since we celebrated Great Uncle Sammy's 95th Birthday! Yes, that's Lu's Great-great Uncle Sammy and Aunt Gladys. I swear the man has looked the same my entire life. Must be all that hummus, kibbe nayyeh, and stuffed grape leaves.


Uncle Jeff and Aunt Gini


Luckily the host has a great pool...which Lu spent most of the day in. He threw a fit when we wouldn't let him jump off of the diving board.
Here he is with Aunt RoRo.


And Jagee and Sitty



A special guest came to serenade Uncle Sammy...Marilyn Monroe. I was a little nervous that she was a little too much excitement for Uncle Sammy to handle.


But from these pictures it looks like Lucius was the most excited. Out of the 20 kids there he was the only one that showed any interest. He's such a boy it blows my mind.



Eatin' some watermelon with a distant cousin who was relegated to sucking on a rock.

Owie owie on my hand

Lu was so happy to be feeling better that he was running down the sidewalk, tripped, and fell onto his hands. Unfortunately, he fell in such a way that he broke off half of his fingernail. Oh boy, he was not happy when Mommy played nurse. You can see his bandaged finger in this picture. It's fine now...nothing that a lot of neosporin, Elmo band-aids, and kisses couldn't fix.


This is what happens when Daddy lets Mommy sleep in.