Luke will eat just about anything, but I learned last weekend that there is one thing he will not eat. Play-Doh. Oh, he gave it the old college try but it did not end well. Here’s how it went down:

Luke and Josiah were playing happily in the living room. I was heavily immersed in a conversation with friends about personal finance so obviously I was not paying attention to the kiddos. Until I heard the gagging noise. I looked over and saw Luke’s face - panic in his eyes and incandescent yellow drool oozing from his mouth. I swooped him up to assess the situation. He was breathing but obviously feeling some discomfort from the gooey mass lodged in his esophagus. I held him up a little to see if any of it was reachable, but it was all too far down his throat.

They call it a gag reflex because it’s an automatic response and doesn’t need to be taught. It’s a good thing because we hadn’t covered that lesson with Luke, yet he did a beautiful job of puking up that Play-Doh all over himself and Mommy’s hand. He makes me feel so proud!

Luke is 1 - count it, 1 - year old now. We are having so much fun with him now that he is starting to do stuff like:

• He dances and sings along to music. He’s a big fan of 70’s rock and he miraculously seems to know all the words.
• He loves to play with balls. He loves to bounce balls and throw balls and put balls in boxes. Give him a ball and he is occupied for dozens of minutes. And I promise, Mike did not force him into this obsession. It’s genetic, obviously.
• He also loves anything with wheels. The walker, the stroller, the wagon, the vacuum. Again, Mike had nothing to do with this other than Luke being the fruit of his loins and all.
• He is starting to cuddle. When he’s sleepy, before or after a nap, I’ll pick him up and he’ll lay his head on my shoulder and drop his arms to the side. Of course my heart turns to mush when he does this and I cannot be expected to put him down. Ever.
• He has learned to give kisses. I’ll say, “Luke, give Momma kisses” and he will lean in, steady his head, hold his mouth open, and look to the side and wait for you to kiss him. Picture it. It’s the sweetest thing ever.
• Oh, and he is becoming more self-sufficient which makes us so proud and also relieved because it’s just less we have to do. He feeds himself most of the time. He usually just uses his fingers but we let him practice with a spoon when we are in the mood for the clean-up.

We are still waiting for certain milestones, such as:

• He still has not uttered my name. He says “Da-da” constantly but not the M-word. I don’t think it’s so much that he can’t, rather he realizes it’s just not necessary. He knows his Momma is always here for him, he doesn’t need to bother with requesting my presence. Besides, my mother’s intuition lets me know when I’m needed.
• He still has no teeth to speak of. His doctor says if none come in within the next three months we should get him in to see a dentist and get x-rays. Seriously? What could be the matter? Crooked teeth? No teeth at all? Have you ever heard of that? We’re not really concerned. We figure he’ll get them eventually. Until then it’s just the running joke at our house every time he’s fussy or drooly or not sleeping well. “Oh, he’s teething.” Uh-huh, sure. I’ll believe it when I see it.

All in all, Luke has been a dream of a child if I ever saw one!

I’m down for the count with a cold that’s really kicking my butt. I’m drinking orange juice like there’s no tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll be feeling better soon. In the meantime, here’s a cute little video of Luke eating cake at his first birthday party.

Boy hair long.

Daddy get clippers.

Boy hair short.

Boy still too cute.

It was a great day. A stupendous day, in fact. Saturday was our little boy’s first birthday. Luke is 1 year old now. He can now ride in the car facing forward.

On Sunday morning we had Luke baptized by his Opa (my dad) at our church. In the Methodist church we call it a baptism but because he is just a baby it is more like a dedication - a chance for Luke’s family, friends, and congregation to publicly promise to raise him up in the Christian faith. When he is older, it will be up to Luke to make a decision whether to follow in the faith or not. I was baptized as an infant by my grandfather, so it was extra special to have my dad up there baptizing his own grandson. And to add to the coolness of the whole thing, our pastor baptized his granddaughter at the same time.

Shortly after church was over, we had a big old bash back at the house. Our friend Frank grilled carne asada, hot dogs, and polish sausage. The carne asada tacos were a huge hit! We also ate some other stuff. Fruit, pasta salad, chips and salsa, carrot sticks. I made sweet tea, southern style. And of course we had cake! My sister made an awesome cake for Luke - cherry chip with cool whip frosting and a baseball and bat on top! After cake and ice cream we opened presents. Actually, I opened presents while Luke crawled around and inspected the wrapping paper and bows.

It was totally worth all the work it took to put it together. We were surrounded by family and friends whom we love dearly. Luke had a blast. We ate, we played, we laughed. I cried four times. It was a great day.

Today is a great day. It’s my dad’s birthday, which by itself is fantastic. Just like that he’s another year older. With the added years comes added wisdom. He’s a terrific dad and I love him immensely. He taught me that word - immensely. It means to an exceedingly great extent or degree. That’s a lot of love, folks.

The other reason this is a great day (and Dad, you’ll be so proud of this) is that we paid off my car! See? Please take special note of the Filing Date and the date the Lien was released. I hadn’t realized it, but I bought the car on May 14th of last year. I was going to pay it off on Monday but I kept forgetting to bring the title with me to work. So with a little divine intervention my car is paid off exactly one year later, to the day. Hallelujah!

… is that he sends emails to tell me things like this:

your son was showing me how the piggies eat (with grilled cheese sammichez of all things)

Last week he fell asleep in his high chair while drinking his milk. You know Mike got pictures. I’ll try to add them to the post later. They are Super. Cute.

Here we go!

Cute, right? I thought so.

As our friend Frank rambled on enthusiasticly about meat marinade and avocadoes and tortillas Mike’s eyes rolled back into his head and I stared at the wall and drooled. In less than two weeks we will be throwing a party at our home in which we will supposedly feed, entertain, and contain nearly 50 people. We will clean our house from top to bottom. We will serve tacos, hot dogs, and brats along with assorted snacks and cake and ice cream. We will sing songs and open presents. All of this will be done as a gift to our son who will be ONE YEAR OLD, and who also will never remember it.

The next time we throw a party of this magnitude will be in 17 years when he graduates from high school. I just hope 17 years is enough recovery time.

I just got this message from Luke that totally made my day. He doesn’t have teeth yet and can only say one word (Da-Da) but he can type 3 words per minute.

Hi Momma,

I just wanted to let you know how things are going so far.  I know you are concerned with dad being in charge all day.  It’s going great.  I ate breakfast from about 7:20-8:00 (bananas, bottle), played from 8:00-8:40, ate more breakfast (oatmeal), napped from 9:10-10:45 (dad made stinky, took a shower, and played xbox).  We walked to the store from 11:10-12:30.  Dad fed me a bottle (I only had three ounces), two hot dogs (Kogel Viennas, dad cut the skin off because he said it was like a grape times 30), and I had the pear/grape stuff for dessert.  I’m currently chillin’ in the high chair drinking some juice out of my sippy cup.

I love you,
Luke

(That sounds like it could be a title to an Elvis song. Presley or Costello, take your pick.)

I woke up this morning with the greatest sense of calm. Guess why. Nope, that’s not it. Nooo, that’s not it either. It’s because yesterday my husband was laid off from his j-o-b. This is actually a really exciting thing for us. We have been talking for awhile now about wanting to be with our son more. With both of us working full-time, Luke was with a sitter 5 days a week. Since he’s becoming increasingly cuter by the minute, we were starting to miss him.

So now Mike is a SAHD (Stay-at-home-Dad) and he is completely stoked about it. Today is his first day on the job. I think he’ll do great! He is the perfect candidate for the position I’ve run the numbers (because that’s how I roll) and it appears that financially we are going to be just fine! He’ll collect unemployment income for awhile (which he has certainly earned, he’s been working since he was 15) and then find part time work. Yes, we’re losing Mike’s full-time income, but we’re also saving on daycare, gas, food, and clothing. With him bringing in a little part-time income we’ll probably come out ahead. Most importantly, we are gaining the peace of mind that Luke will be happy being at home playing with his daddy and napping in his own crib.

Yippee!! It’s a good day. Oh, and it’s Tuesday! My favorite!