Luc's language skills are continuing to improve. He's learning new words and phrases almost daily from Diane and I and also from his favorite videos and TV shows. And speaking of TV shows, Jeopardy continues to be his favorite show. In fact, a couple weeks ago we were out driving and Luc suddenly realized that we might not get home in time for that evening's episode. This caused an immediate panic and he started calling out: Jeopardy, Daddy! Jeopardy, Daddy! I assured him we would be home in time but he continued saying it until it blended into a new, single word: JeoparDaddy! Now JeoparDaddy has become his favorite way of addressing me, especially when he feels it's something extra important :)
In addition to making up new words, Luc is also getting good at taking phrases he's learned at daycare and using them at home. Now if Daddy or Mommy do something he doesn't approve of he'll say something like No! Go sit down. Or Timeout Chair! Sometimes his timing is a little off though like the other evening (it was a week night) and out of the blue he came up to me and said Hi Daddy, how's your weekend? Needless to say, the process has its speed bumps which often proof to be humorous.
Saturday we had our first trip of the year to the Philadelphia Zoo. We got a family pass this year so we plan on making this a regular outing. Plus when you get a family pass they allow you in to member's only events like evening or morning viewings when they are either waking up and feeding or putting to bed the animals. But most importantly, Luc just seems to really like seeing all the different animals and birds up close. He is able to identify many of them too. And the children's zoo within the larger zoo is nice also. There's one photo in the new photo set of him on a tractor in the children's zoo.
Summer is nearly upon us and we're making our travel plans now. We hope we can visit some of you and if we do I think you will be surprised to see how big Luc is getting. When I look back at his photos from last year at this time he seems so small. I guess it shouldn't be surprising to me, I mean I know kids grow, but still seeing it happen right before your eyes is amazing. And seeing the development in his personality is even more amazing. Its like you can see him thinking things through as they happen and then handling them better the next time. For example, he has a small train set with cars that connect with magnets. When he first got it this past Christmas it would frustrate him when he couldn't get the cars to connect because he didn't understand they would only connect one way. So we would show him that they would connect once you turned them around and now he has caught on to that and instead of getting frustrated at them not connecting he just says turn around and flips them to the correct orientation and the connection is made and presto! Progress!
Some miscellaneous stuff: besides loving Jeopardy, Luc also loves Pixar movies like Cars and Toy Story. We literally watch at least one of those two movies every day and he never gets tired of them. He loves pretzels too. His first pretzel was an Auntie Anne's at the mall and he's been hooked ever since. At home he helps us make SuperPretzels in the microwave. His favorite cereal is Corn Pops and he's acquiring a taste for apples and cheese (separately, not together) as long as they are chopped or sliced into small portions. He likes YouTube videos of trains, especially of trains crashing into cars or trucks. Then he goes to his own train set and crashes his train into a toy car or truck. His favorite toy is either Mack or McQueen, the truck and race car from Cars.
Anyway, that's it for now. Sorry these posts are getting further and further apart. It's not always so easy to find the time to write them. But know we're all doing well and Luc is growing into a great little kid. He laughs a lot, loves to run on the playground, loves to dance and sing and is becoming more and more affectionate and engaging. And of course, he continues to be a good looking kid too. In fact, when I went for my dentist appointment today my dentist Veronica, who had just seen Luc a couple weeks earlier, said to me I want to tell you that your son is the most beautiful child, boy or girl, that I have ever seen. He is really something, just gorgeous! I told her I had to agree :)
Enjoy the photos.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Christmas and New Years
Like most people at 6am, Luc can be a little a grumpy sometimes. This morning; however, he was awake and feeling very chipper. When I walked into the bedroom he stood at the edge of his crib and said "Good Morning Daddy!" It was a nice way to start the day and a reminder of how quickly he is learning to speak. Another example came this evening when we had the TV on and there was a newsfeed scrolling along the bottom of the screen. Luc pointed fiercely at the feed and used his finger to try and push the text off the screen and started saying "Get outta here!" to it. I guess he's developing a sense of humor too.
Speaking of TV, guess what his favorite show is now? No not Barney, the Wiggles or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (though they are right up there). It's Jeopardy! Seriously, not only does he insist on watching it every night at 7pm but we've gotten to dvr'ing it too because he can sit and watch 3 or 4 episodes in a row. Apparently what he likes is the music, the applause and the overall atmosphere (the graphics, the clue board, etc). Whenever it comes on he has a whole ritual he goes through. First, he starts to growl under his breath, and then points to the TV and mimics the announcer saying "THIS... IS... JEOPARDY!" He claps and laughs vigorously when the audience applauds. And when the Final Jeopardy "thinking" music comes on he hums it out loud and sways his head back and forth in rhythm. Just before the closing credits come on there is an announcement that Jeopardy is sponsored by International House of Pancakes and Luc yells "I HOP!". And finally when the closing credits music does come on he usually insists that we get up and dance around with him. And inevitably this is followed by him saying "More!"... which is why we have taped episodes. It's quite a sight.
Anyway, on to other things... like Christmas! We had a nice one this year though Luc does not really know what is going on yet. Apparently Santa Claus visited the day care this year and Luc was quite frightened of him. And when we gave him his presents he didn't really understand that they were to be opened and toys were inside. I imagine by next year this will change. In any event, once the toys were opened he had a joyous time with them and we enjoyed watching him.
A couple nights before Christmas we ventured downtown for the annual Christmas Light Show at Macy's. In the center courtyard they have a huge church organ that accompanies an equally huge light show with a narrator telling Christmas stories. We let Luc watch it until he decides "I don't like it" which was about 10 minutes this year. They also have a small winter festival near Macy's with a carousel and we took him on that this year too. He seemed to enjoy it and so did Daddy.
New Year's Eve was kind of quiet this year because we went to bed around 10:30. It's just not realistic for any of us to stay up past midnight anymore so we didn't even try. But the next day we went to our friend Dave's New Year's Day party and that was fun. We got to catch up with some old friends, enjoy some good food and Luc got to entertain the crowd with his antics and cuteness. For example, Luc is big on "washing the dishes" (ie, getting them wet and playing with them in the kitchen sink). So when he saw how many dirty dishes Dave had in his kitchen he had me hold him up over the sink so he could have at them. This drew the attention of some guests who asked if he wouldn't mind doing their dishes too, to which Luc firmly said "No." and then got a good laugh. When he does the dishes at our house he stands on a small stool and will play in the sink for 30 minutes at time. I have a photo of him doing that in the new photo set.
We also got to see our old friend Steve (from Villanova) who was in town for the weekend with his family. We spent a few hours with them on New Year's Day at Franklin Square Park, which is a very nice kids playground and park downtown. There's a photo of Luc in the new photo set steering a steering wheel there. It was nice catching up with all those people that day and letting Luc charm them all, which he does so well. And it was nice that he was so very well behaved around all these new people... and even a dog at Dave's party, which he really enjoyed petting.
And speaking of being charming, I was speaking with one of the women at his daycare about his behavior the other day and she said "Luc is an angel. He never misbehaves, he plays well with the other kids, plays well by himself, and is very engaging during circle time (when they sit in a circle and talk about stuff)." She added "We've never had to put him in the time out chair. I just don't think he has it in him to be bad." It was nice to hear that he is so well behaved outside our home with other adults and children.
So now we enter into 2011 and look forward to what new things will happen. Presumably Luc will be talking like Alex Trebec soon (my prediction is February). He'll get taller and even more nimble on his feet. He'll start asking tons of questions. And, if it's possible, he'll get cuter still. But no matter what happens he will always be loved by his Mommy and Daddy and he really will always be our angel :)
Speaking of TV, guess what his favorite show is now? No not Barney, the Wiggles or Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (though they are right up there). It's Jeopardy! Seriously, not only does he insist on watching it every night at 7pm but we've gotten to dvr'ing it too because he can sit and watch 3 or 4 episodes in a row. Apparently what he likes is the music, the applause and the overall atmosphere (the graphics, the clue board, etc). Whenever it comes on he has a whole ritual he goes through. First, he starts to growl under his breath, and then points to the TV and mimics the announcer saying "THIS... IS... JEOPARDY!" He claps and laughs vigorously when the audience applauds. And when the Final Jeopardy "thinking" music comes on he hums it out loud and sways his head back and forth in rhythm. Just before the closing credits come on there is an announcement that Jeopardy is sponsored by International House of Pancakes and Luc yells "I HOP!". And finally when the closing credits music does come on he usually insists that we get up and dance around with him. And inevitably this is followed by him saying "More!"... which is why we have taped episodes. It's quite a sight.
Anyway, on to other things... like Christmas! We had a nice one this year though Luc does not really know what is going on yet. Apparently Santa Claus visited the day care this year and Luc was quite frightened of him. And when we gave him his presents he didn't really understand that they were to be opened and toys were inside. I imagine by next year this will change. In any event, once the toys were opened he had a joyous time with them and we enjoyed watching him.
A couple nights before Christmas we ventured downtown for the annual Christmas Light Show at Macy's. In the center courtyard they have a huge church organ that accompanies an equally huge light show with a narrator telling Christmas stories. We let Luc watch it until he decides "I don't like it" which was about 10 minutes this year. They also have a small winter festival near Macy's with a carousel and we took him on that this year too. He seemed to enjoy it and so did Daddy.
New Year's Eve was kind of quiet this year because we went to bed around 10:30. It's just not realistic for any of us to stay up past midnight anymore so we didn't even try. But the next day we went to our friend Dave's New Year's Day party and that was fun. We got to catch up with some old friends, enjoy some good food and Luc got to entertain the crowd with his antics and cuteness. For example, Luc is big on "washing the dishes" (ie, getting them wet and playing with them in the kitchen sink). So when he saw how many dirty dishes Dave had in his kitchen he had me hold him up over the sink so he could have at them. This drew the attention of some guests who asked if he wouldn't mind doing their dishes too, to which Luc firmly said "No." and then got a good laugh. When he does the dishes at our house he stands on a small stool and will play in the sink for 30 minutes at time. I have a photo of him doing that in the new photo set.
We also got to see our old friend Steve (from Villanova) who was in town for the weekend with his family. We spent a few hours with them on New Year's Day at Franklin Square Park, which is a very nice kids playground and park downtown. There's a photo of Luc in the new photo set steering a steering wheel there. It was nice catching up with all those people that day and letting Luc charm them all, which he does so well. And it was nice that he was so very well behaved around all these new people... and even a dog at Dave's party, which he really enjoyed petting.
And speaking of being charming, I was speaking with one of the women at his daycare about his behavior the other day and she said "Luc is an angel. He never misbehaves, he plays well with the other kids, plays well by himself, and is very engaging during circle time (when they sit in a circle and talk about stuff)." She added "We've never had to put him in the time out chair. I just don't think he has it in him to be bad." It was nice to hear that he is so well behaved outside our home with other adults and children.
So now we enter into 2011 and look forward to what new things will happen. Presumably Luc will be talking like Alex Trebec soon (my prediction is February). He'll get taller and even more nimble on his feet. He'll start asking tons of questions. And, if it's possible, he'll get cuter still. But no matter what happens he will always be loved by his Mommy and Daddy and he really will always be our angel :)
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