Cute

On Tuesday of last week we brought Luc to his new day care. Its actually the same operation as before but a different building. Previously he was in the building for kids under 2 and now he's moved into the 2 and 3 year-old's building. Of course he won't really be 2 until November but they wanted to move him now because his two friends are moving now.

The transition was relatively smooth though he did cry a little when I left him on the first day. I was told that didn't last long and by the end of the week he seemed to be completely comfortable. Since he's moved we've noticed at least two things: 1) his appetite has increased and 2) he's louder. And believe me, a hungry and loud child is hard to miss. Anyway, we attribute these changes to his increased activity and increased vocalization with the older kids. In the old place many of the kids were babies who slept or laid in cribs a good part of the day. Now he's running and screaming with the big kids!

We also noticed something kind of funny last week. Apparently someone at the day care pinched his cheek and said "cute" to him. We assume that's what happened anyway because he came home that day and climbed up on his mommy's lap and pinched her on the cheek and said "cute!" Then he did the same thing to daddy. It was, needless to say, cute.

The weekend before the move to the new day care was spent visiting Margo and Chuck in Erie, PA. We were concerned about the long 8-hour drive but Luc did well, especially for the first 6 or 7 hours. It was only in the last 1 or so that he started to get fidgety. Normally he is able to sleep well in the car but this was a looong ride. Anyway, we arrived late Friday around 11pm and Margo welcomed us, got us situated and got herself reacquainted with Luc whom she had not seen since he was still crawling.

Over the next couple days we were able to bring Luc to a pet shop to look at puppies and fish, a petting zoo at the local German festival to see geese and other small farm animals as well as a pier down near the lake to see the seagulls. Many of these experiences were photographed and are in the new Picasa photo set (Summer 2010) accessed on the right. As you can tell there was an animal theme to our visit. We have noticed that Luc has a strong affection for animals, especially birds. When we bring him to a park and there are pigeons he loves to chase after them.

Luc also enjoyed running around the Hotalings large back yard. And he got to see some of the many birds that gather around Chuck's bird houses. Plus we tossed around a regulation football which was so large it was practically the size of Luc's torso! And no weekend is complete without at least a few episodes of Barney viewing too. Overall it was a great visit for Luc and for mommy and daddy who also got to enjoy some local wines and chocolates as well as Chuck's delicious BBQ cooking.

When we got back to Philly I videotaped some footage of Luc attempting to draw with crayons as well as dancing to music on the TV. I made a little movie of it and it can be accessed by clicking the link below. For those of you who haven't seen Luc in awhile you will be surprised how "grown up" the little guy has become. And I think he may have a future in dancing too!

Click Here For Video