Turn up the heat...

Even the dry AZ heat has been a little humid lately because we are technically in "monsoon season," an exaggerated term for "short rain storms and occasional wind gusts." I thought this was the funniest term when we first moved to AZ -- so dramatic! We've started the at-least-2-showers-a-day rule, and the water is cranked on cold. It's a bonus day if we squeeze a swim in there, too.

All this swimming has been good practice for Luke. Today he went underwater for the first time and held his breath!! He's also perfecting his technique for pulling himself out of the water on the side of the pool. It's amazing to watch him learn how to swim -- he is fearless!

The Arizona Kid

Luke is starting to show signs of how his upbringing in the Southwest is influencing him. First of all, he LOVES chips and salsa! If we go to a Mexican restaurant, he is the first one to reach for the chip bowl, dip his chip in the salsa, and gobble it up. And he doesn't shy away from the spicy stuff either!

He is also our own official weather man for our 116 degree days we've been having lately. As soon as you step outside, he starts saying, "HOT, HOT!" You can't help but laugh at how dramatically he expresses his disregard for the heat ... it has a very crisp "t" sound at the end.

What better way to cool off when it's hot than with a nice dip in the pool! Luke really enjoys the pool and is becoming quite a little fish. He can jump off the side into our arms, and he can put his face in the water and blow bubbles.

Send cool thoughts our way!

Moving Mania

We've been in the midst of "moving mania" during the past week. Our furniture and other heavy items were moved over last Saturday. Since then, we've been getting settled and finding a new place for everything. Our neighbors are very friendly, and two of them have already invited us over to swim!


It's moving time! 

Stop .... Go!

Luke has a new favorite game that he likes to play in the empty living room in our new house. We refer to it as "Stop and Go." He runs around crazy, giggling and flapping his arms until you say "stop." Then he stops in his tracks all quiet and gets a funny little smile on his face as he anticipates the next cue. As soon as you say "Go!" he is off and running again. He could play this game forever! His energy is endless.

Left-handed Luke

It looks like Luke is probably going to be left-handed. We've observed his skills as a lefty when he writes, uses a spoon, and throws a ball. However, Grandma and Grandpa Keary gave him a tee ball set, and he bats right-handed -- go figure!

Luke's words

As a follow up to yesterday's post, we thought we'd expand on Luke's ramblings. Luke has been saying words for about 3-4 months now (maybe a little longer - it's hard to remember now), and his vocabulary includes the following words in the approximate order that he began saying them:

Dog - [dah]
Dad - [dah] (amazingly similar to dog)
Ball - [bah]
Mom - [ma-ma-ma...]
Shoe - [very clear shoe] (heard every morning at ~6:30 AM. Luke will pick up Dad's shoes, bring them over to him and say "Shoe, shoe, ..." until he puts them on. He'll then get his own shoes and repeat this process. The final step is to go to the back door and whine until Dad takes him outside to play.)
Choo Choo - [also very clear choo choo] (anytime a train or a large truck is heard/seen. Also sometimes used as a sound effect when Luke is pushing around a toy car)
There - [deh] (as in, "There, I finally have both shoes on," or, "There, I've climbed the next stair.")
What is it/that? - [wha-ISS-it + finger pointing] (probably the most frequently used word currently)
One, Two, Three - [too-too-DA] (when prompted by Mom and Dad)
Tornado - [ta-DA-da] (see yesterday's post)
Fast - [fass] (only used once so far, when Grammy (Nelson) was taking too long bringing Luke down the stairs to Gramps)
Hot - [tot] (probably the 2nd most frequently used word. Used in two situations: 1. It's really hot outside or the ground is truly hot or something, or 2. We've just told Luke no, and he says [tot] assuming that whatever we've told him not to get into must be too hot for him, (which is often a correct assumption, but also often not))
Hi - [hi + beauty pageant hand wave] (used anytime a cute little girl walks by)

There might be more we're not thinking of right now, but these are the most common.

On the Move

It's official! We closed on our new house this week! It's less than 2 miles from our current house, and it offers about 900 more square feet, 4 bedrooms, a great backyard, a newly remodeled kitchen, and the list goes on. You'll have to visit to see it for yourself!

Luke has been talking up a storm. His newest word is tornado. Scott showed him the swirl that the water makes when the tub is draining, and he taught him to call it a "tornado." His other favorite phrase is "What's that?" You can only imagine how many times a day we are answering that question!!


Welcome to the new Leahy residence!