Sleeping Beauty

I love my kid. I love that he loves good movies. It probably helps that I don't show him any others. I know that will change eventually, but for now, I can have him watch what I want to watch.

Right when we get to Nana's house, he goes straight to the movies and picks out Sleeping Beauty. Nice work, Luke-pie. He settled right down and was involved. Love it.

Los Osos

Let's be perfectly honest:

I really miss Brent and Sam. They moved down to the Osos about 8 months ago. It stinks when your friends move away. So we all miss them.

The upside?

Whenever we drive down to San Diego, we have a place to stop, hang out and spend the night before finishing our trip. We get to hang out, catch up and relax. I do love that. But the visits are few and far between and they've always been so good to us.

This time was no exception.

The Easter Bunny (read: Auntie Sam) dropped off an Easter basket for Luke. He was thrilled. I think we're finally getting the Easter concept. He found all sorts of goodies inside.

"Candy?"
"Not now."
"Football?"
"Sure."
*crash*
"No more football."
*rip*
"Now the football is broken. No more football."

We really just miss them. It's hard not to. You always want to keep the good ones close by. We love them. Luke really loves them. So it's nice to come and visit.

The Boys.

I'm so glad Luke has a buddy. Luke absolutely adores Jake and they have the best time together. Let's be honest: I can't keep up with Luke. That kid has so much energy, it is exhausting. So I'm really grateful for Jake who can keep up with him. What do they do?

• run
• yell
• jump
• run
• scream
• crawl
• run
• kick the ball
• run
• run
• run
• play with trains
• play with cars
• run
• run
• run
• run
• run

Before Spring Break, the Gartins and Bickels decided that we should celebrate with pizza and ice cream. The boys have their own little table to eat at, which is always entertaining. One pulls the table a little closer, then the other pulls the table back and it goes back and forth until one of the parents jump in to stop it. Then it slowly starts again . . . I figure that is a normal "brother" thing to do.

They had ice cream together which was . . .

COLD.


And Luke offered to share his milk. Sweetie :)

And then they ran more. The soccer goal was set up outside for all the boys (big and little) could run and play and run some more. Luke loves soccer. The kid just needs to run.

We know that coming soon, Luke and Jake will be in preschool together. If they think that Luke is intense, just wait till those two are in class together. Woe to the preschool teachers that have those two boys.

While we always have so much fun together, there is always the bad side. The anti-silver lining, if you will. The worst part is the leaving. Oh my. Luke pitches a huge fit. Every time. He hates hates hates leaving Jake. Yikes. It can sometimes be easier at our own house, but when it is at the Gartins . . . he is inconsolable.

I keep hoping that they more time they spend together, Luke won't have to get quite so upset if he knows he is going to see Jake again soon. So far, it hasn't made too much of a difference. But I'll keep trying!

Blanket Clubhouse

My mom is so clever . . . babysitting for Luke a few weekends ago, she set up a "clubhouse" under the kitchen table by throwing a blanket over it. Luke loved it. And with all the crummy weather we had been having, we (read: Todd) decided that we should construct a super blanket clubhouse. This was also on the heels of an episode of "Community" where a few of the main characters build a "Blanket City" on the show.

Todd is so good about this stuff ... Luke absolutely loved it and we all hung out in the blanket clubhouse for the afternoon. Todd, of course, had to use the two heaviest things in the house to hold the blankets stable. What did he use? My purse and Luke's car bin. Perfect.

Luke pulled all of his favorite toys in the clubhouse where he could crash them around. It has to be a boy thing.





There will be another post about Luke's solution to all his problems, but at least, this picture gives a hint.



Todd also devised a "secret entrance" to the clubhouse, which involved Luke squeezing himself through the cubby in the coffee table. It make me claustrophobic just watching him.

T Ball

For a chunk of March/April, there were just days and days of rain. This is problematic for anyone, but for an active 3 year old boy, this is the ultimate form of torment.

So it really did seem like a good idea to use the t-ball set inside.


Even though Luke has right-y tendencies, he will only bat as a left-y. Very interesting.

Sally's turn to bat:


Fielding practice:

I was really surprised/impressed at how good he actually was. He was hitting some really solid line drives straight into the kitchen (albeit, hitting the fridge . . .) or the occasional line drive at my head. Or the window. But no broken windows or electronics, so ultimately, successful.


Luke was even able to hit a couple of pitches from Daddy:
I think we'll wait till it gets a little warmer out and move the t ball set to the backyard. Trains will just have to suffice for now.

The Tantrum

Luke has some pretty epic tantrums, I will certainly be the first to admit that.

But when he has a tantrum, he has to pay for it. With Mommy bugging him until he stops. Watch the evolution of a tantrum unfold:

1. Luke is informed that it is time to do . . . (fill in the blank) and Ele-fun must be turned Ele-off. Luke collapses in a heap.


2. Mommy grabs camera to document tantrum to use as embarrassment in future.


3. "Stop! STOP! Don't take my picture." *giggle*


4. "Mommy, I'm mad. I'm MAD." Despairingly crawls away to find Daddy.



5. Daddy is non-responsive.


6. Luke crawls behind trash can knowing that it is super-icky back there and will make Mommy squeemish.



7. Luke commences playing on trash can. Mommy and Luke have punished each other equally.

Ele-funtastic!

I would like to start off by saying thank you to the Rosbrugh clan for bringing Ele-fun into our lives. It is really quite Ele-funtastic.

It is such a simple game: the elephant blows butterflies out of its trunk and kids run around trying to catch them with butterfly nets. Luke absolutely adores the game. So we just set it up and let 'im run!