Simpson Christmas

We celebrated our Simpson Christmas on Sunday.  Brian, Lisa, Sabrina, Isabelle and James came to Austin for a pretty warm celebration.We had a very nice non-traditional meal of lasagna and then we opened presents. 

This year Luke was able to help open his presents.  He got a ride-on toy that was a big hit.  It came with a little orange cell phone that rings when he pushes a button on the car.  Sadly, he seems to know about cell phones already and tried to drive and talk at the same time.  He also got a fun tool box with some wooden tools.  The ride-on has some storage under the seat which is perfect for him to carry his tools around in!

Later we checked out a big display of inflatable characters at one of the neighbors' houses.  One of the characters was a Santa and he had fun banging on it and practicing his new word "Dan-ta".

He didn't get to take much of a nap during all the fun so by the end of the day he was beside himself.  We heard "no!" many times yesterday.  I was hoping it was due to his tiredness, but I'm afraid he might be getting to that stage.

Busy Bee

As you can see in the slide video it was time for Luke to get a second haircut (thanks for the YouTube tip Lyndsay!). 

We went to Dallas right after Thanksgiving and with a good supply of Cheerios and bunny grahams he watched his cousins dance in the Nutcracker ballet (we made it through the whole show!) 

He had a ball checking out his cousins' dog Miley.  Every once in a while he's say "da" for dog, but he usually just starts woof-ing when he sees one. 


He's jabbering alot and some of his favorite things to say are "daddy", "nana", "bubbles", "boo!", "moon" and "night night".  Bubbles is so cute and boo! is pretty funny.  He understands alot of what we're saying even though he's not saying that many words.  He knows his body parts and especially likes to show you his belly button - then look for yours. 

We put up the Christmas tree right after Thanksgiving and when he comes out of his room and sees it lit up he says "wowww" or "whoaaaa".   Since it gets dark before he goes to bed now we've been able to show him the moon.  Now we have to go look for it every night. 

He can be very helpful and we let him put things in the dryer. He also likes to bring you your shoes. He's really in to buttons at the moment. If something has a button he's got to push it.

Tonight something very strange happened.  Somehow this child knew about french fries even though he's never had one.  He saw us eating them and started grunting for one. We tried to ignore him, but he just kept grunting.  We finally gave him one and that was it - he was clapping non-stop for more!  How did he know that french fry was going to be so yummy? 

Halloween!

 

Luke came to my office to see the annual costume contest.  I caught him before he became aware of the beard. Here he is with his friend Ellie (a sweet pea).   

We got all the youngest IT babies together while they were in their costumes.  Luke, Ellie, Coley and Madison  

We didn't go trick or treating on Halloween, but we took a walk around the neighborhood and got to see lots of kids in their costumes. We lost his beard at some point, but everyone could tell he was a gnome. He had fun spotting pumpkins, especially the big blow up ones. 

Pumpkin Patch

Yesterday we went to a pumpkin patch to find our pumpkin.

We got one a little bigger than the ones he was picking up.

Bus Boy

Luke figured out how to climb into the patio chair last week.

His favorite activity in the car is spotting busses and school busses.  He's also good at spotting trucks.  He's talking a lot, but most of what he says we don't understand. Some of the words we can make out are Daddy (the most clear!), nana - for banana, dog and tu - for truck. He has gotten the hang of some of the "sign language" we use with him and he can sign "more" (his favorite, especially with bread) "all done" and "milk".  Sometimes he gets a little confused and signs more and all done at the same time. 

Flying

Last weekend we took our first flight with Luke.  We went to Auburn to my cousin Gabe's wedding.  We packed plenty of snacks and new books to keep him busy and we were prepared for anything.  The flight to Atlanta went pretty smoothly and he slept most of the way.  He had a great time pushing the stroller on the Auburn campus.

He was very proud of his hat.  Gramps would have loved it.

First Frey family photo with Luke. This is about 75% of us.

He got to stay up a little late to celebrate and he had a great time dancing.

The trip back was much more "eventful".   After all the new books and toys we bought, the thing that he was most fascinated by was the bottle of water we bought.  At least we had something to keep him occupied!

Veggie Lover

Luke loves stairs.  At home he likes to climb up a couple and then take a seat and check things out.

At Britt and Gabe's wedding he spent most of the night going up and down three steps.

He's also really into green beans and broccoli at the moment.  I actually had to tell him that he couldn't eat just broccoli for dinner the other night.  I took a picture of him enjoying his broccoli in case he doesn't believe us one day.   

Time for a Trim

We finally made it to Cool Cuts for Kids when they were open.   

While we waited he was fascinated by a little boy eating a sucker.

He got to sit in a little taxi.  They let the kids pick a dvd to watch while they cut their hair.  We picked Toy Story, but she was done by the time the movie started and he was too distracted by everything else in the place to pay attention to the tv.

She cut off alot of hair and he looks like a big boy now. I hope some of his curls will grow back.

Movin on Up

Wednesday was Luke's first full day in the Ladybug room. His class goes outside to the playground so he has to wear shoes. So not only did he start a new class that day, but he also had to figure out how to walk with those things on his feet.  

In this class the kids have an actual schedule so they eat and sleep at the same time.  And they nap on mats on the floor instead of in cribs.  He did pretty well the first two days and took a good nap on schedule.

It's also time for him to move to the next size car seat. It's exciting, but now we'll have to wake him up when he falls asleep in the car instead of bringing the car seat inside.  I see alot of driving around in our future. 

Fancy Footwork

Bye Bye Baby

We've started to say goodbye to baby times, hello toddler-hood. Beginning September 1st Luke will move from the Caterpillar class to the Ladybugs. They started the transition this week and he spends a few hours each day in the new class. The teachers say he's doing very well with the change so far and he's made some new friends too.

We've been working on using a sippee cup for months. The past couple of weeks he's been drinking water out of one, but milk has been more of a challenge. A couple of days ago he drank his first dinner time milk entirely from the cup - no bottle after batting the cup away for a while! After 14 months of bottle washing every single day we are looking forward to ditching the bottle brush and drying rack!

He loves to hug his stuffed animals

Easy Weekend

Luke has been making good progress with standing and walking this week. He can stand for a few seconds unsupported and he's taken 3-4 steps several times. He's itching to run around and up the stairs so we know it can't be long.

His top front teeth are starting to come in. You can see them in this photo with one of his new favorite toys.

Today we went to our pool which we haven't been to in almost 5 years. I think we need to get him his own pair of sunglasses.

Vacation

Last weekend we went to Port Aransas for a short beach vacation. Luke usually loves the water so we thought he would enjoy the beach. He was kind of scared of the waves at first, but by Sunday he started to enjoy it. He had fun splashing and digging his feet into the sand. He loved looking at all the sea gulls. Some of our condo neighbors had dogs and he went bananas when he saw them! He loved the animals so much he started saying "dog" and "bird", but they sound a little more like "dod" and "dird".

We were going to get him some floaties for the pool, but we found this fun floating device instead. He had a great time "swimming".

Cruisin'

Here's Luke modeling his Hawaiian outfit. He's been standing and cruising for a few weeks now. Each day it seems like he makes a little more progress. On Sunday he took his first official steps where he moved his feet forward while not holding on to anything. He still has to learn to stand on his own, but he's getting close.

He recently started giving hugs. He was extra lovey the other day and gave out many hugs and even some kisses.

Time for a haircut

Luke's hair has been kinda shaggy for a while now and we finally had to do something about it. We were going to take him to a place to get it trimmed, but Grandma Cheryl has plenty of experience trimming boys' hair. She didn't take off too much, just a little off the top and ears to "clean up" his look a bit.

Play Date

Some moms at Luke's new day care organized a play date at Pease Park. Most of the kids who were there were older so they were running around and playing in the splash pad. Luke had a grand time swinging for a while and then we let him dip his feet in one of the splash pad fountains. It was fun and we got to meet a couple of his new buddies and their parents.

Changes

Luke has been busy since he turned one and he's certainly keeping us on our toes. It seems like there's something new everyday. Over the past couple of weeks he started crawling, pulled up to standing, started cruising, moved to cows milk and he's getting the hang of table food. He can climb to the top of the stairs (but no climbing down yet) and he's finally getting a couple of teeth. He loves to clap and wave at people, even the ones on tv. His latest cute thing to do is point to the bookshelf where his bedtime stories are when it's that time.


He's also beginning to assert himself and test us. He definitely knows what we don't want him to do (go for the wires behind the tv) because he has a sneaky look on his face when he attempts to do them.


On top of all his own developments he's had some new things to deal with too. We took a road trip to Kansas for a family reunion and he was a good little traveler while being stuck in a car seat for way too long and meeting tons of new people. He left his old daycare (they were very sad to see him go) and moved to a new daycare last week. We only had to wait over a year to get in! Before he started at the new place he was at home with me for about 2 weeks. He's having a bit of an adjustment to the new place, but hopefully he will love it there soon.

One Year Old

Luke started off his birthday with a nice long walk. Then we went to my office to see my co-workers. He was a little shy at first and we didn't have much time for him to be his usual chatty self.

He had his 12 month appointment today and he had to get three shots. He's 19 lbs. 11 oz. and 28 1/2 inches, which puts him into the 10th percentile now. We gave him a bit of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while we were there and he doesn't appear to have a peanut allergy. Hooray!

There must have been something in the shots or the peanut butter because he crawled on his hands and knees when he got home!

Zilker Zephyr

Today we went to the park to ride the Zilker Zephyr. Brad met us during his lunch break so he could be there for Luke's first train ride. Elise took her rock collection on the train while Luke tried to lunge off Brad's lap.

First Birthday Party

We celebrated Luke's first birthday a few days early on Father's Day. All the grandparents came, as well as Aunt Ana Maria, Uncle Mike and cousin Elise. We had a fish theme with a fish cake and swimming for the cousins. Luke wasn't too crazy about the cake until we added some ice cream. He got into the cupcake a little, but didn't make too much of a mess.

Luke got lots of clothes and fun new toys.

Swing Time

Luke got to swing at Zilker Park today.

Last week he started sitting up from a laying down position. He also started pulling up on things and even climbed up one step!

Memorial Day Weekend

We had a great holiday weekend. With Luke's birthday coming soon and since he got the hang of eating puffs we were ready to start giving him more table foods. We started off with chicken and fresh mozarella at Galaxy Cafe. He was going to town! He also had his first barbecue, some brisket from Rudy's. We tried cottage cheese, string cheese, bread, pieces of avocado and more chicken over the weekend. He seemed to like everything but the cottage cheese.

We got him a bathing suit and a little pool to play in on the patio. Even though it was about 97 degrees on Monday we had to add some boiling water to the pool so it wasn't too cold. He wasn't quite sure what to do at first, but after a few minutes he was swimming around like a little tadpole.

New Pajamas

Luke's started to catch up his age in clothing size. They don't make very many footed sleeper pajamas for 12 months and up. Maybe it's because they keep your baby looking like a baby and at 12 months they shouldn't look like a baby? I like the footed ones though and hope to find them again once he gets a little older.

He's been doing alot since Mother's Day. He is an expert page turner during story time. He plays peek a boo. He's figured out that he can eat a puff and he's pretty good at getting them in his mouth. He had his first taste of the Ferro paella. He waves sometimes and yesterday he started clapping. RIght now we're working on standing and high fiving.

He's 11 months old today, but still no teeth.

Mother's Day

Yesterday we put Luke in the stroller like a big boy, instead of using the car seat. We could have done this long ago, but we just hadn't. I think he liked riding facing forward where he could see everything.

For Mother's Day mama got to sleep in. We had breakfast at La Madeleine and then went to Grandma and Grandpa's for a Mother's Day fajita lunch. Here's Luke doing his latest thing, waving.

Luke got to use his traveling booster seat today. We sat outside and he got to check out all the action around us. He even got a hug from a little girl at the table next to us

Ten month update

Luke's up to 18 lbs. 4 oz. When he wants you to pick him up he crawls to you, then, balancing on just his torso, he lifts his arms and legs off the floor and flaps them up and down giving you the signal. Today he added a foot tickle. He was cracking me up when he started scratching the top of my bare foot trying to get my attention.

He likes to take his toys over to the tile floor in the kitchen. He bangs them on the floor or drops them to see what they'll do. It was funny to watch him do this experiment with a sock and discover that it didn't make or sound or do anything.

He's also been really loud lately and has started making some sounds that involve blowing. It can get kind of messy if he does this while he's eating. He's also started trying to suck his thumb in the middle of meal time. I guess sometimes he just has to take a break to get in a little thumb suck.

On Monday we sent him to daycare with his shoes. Since he's been crawling around he's been coming home with a dirty foot so the shoes should help with that. Notice how dirty the bottom of his shoes are after just one day. Yes, this is what his foot looked like most days and we were calling him little Blackfoot. I did catch him sticking a foot in his mouth on the way home. Nice.

Tub Time

Tonight Luke graduated to the bath tub. He's 27 inches long so his head stuck out over the end of the baby tub and his feet dangled over the clean water part of the tub. We've been making quite a mess with the baby tub in the kitchen, plus he started grabbing the faucet so it was time to make the move. It wasn't as easy to bathe him in the tub, but it was less messy. He made a smooth transition and had a good time playing with his new bath toys.