From the trike to the bike...

Luke is movin' on up from the trike to the bike. The two-wheeler (oh yeah, plus the training wheels) is Luke's latest favorite mode of transportation. However, it wasn't until this week when he finally grasped the concept of pedaling. He's still got a long way to go before he'll be riding off into the sunset, but he pedaled a few times on his own! Grandpa Nelson has been conducting bike-riding lessons for Luke this week. Now if he can just teach Luke to pay attention so he doesn't veer off the sidewalk when he's gawking at something else!

Elmo

Some kids love to dress up for Halloween. Luke does not ... yet anyway. This year for Halloween he is sporting the costume of Elmo from Sesame Street. Today we had a Halloween party with Luke's playgroup friends. Although he did wear the costume for about 20 minutes, he maxed out soonafter -- probably from heat exhaustion in the furry little suit! We'll see how he does on the big official day of Halloween!

Down home on the farm

This week for our playgroup we went to a pumpkin patch for a little fall fun, complete with a hayrack ride and frolicking among the pumpkins. We took a moment to also photograph these farm animals. The sheep may look a little familiar!

Say what?!

Luke is really chatting up a storm these days. With the increase in vocab, he's also starting to say some pretty funny things.

"Not dirty." The other evening in preparation for bathtime, Scott asked Luke,"Ready for your bath?" Luke's reply ... "Not dirty." Scott pushed the issue a little more, "Not dirty, huh?" Luke very matter of factly replied, "Noooo."

"Green light go." Luke has a little phrase he likes to use to describe things in motion ... "green light go." It originated with waiting for the stop light to turn green, but now applies to anything transportation related ... or when Luke is running full speed ahead.

"Baa. Moo. Woof. Hoot. Meow. Grrr." One of Luke's new tricks is to make animal sounds. He has quite a repertoire of sounds ranging from man's best friend to fine feathered fowl.

"E." We've been trying to teach Luke names of friends and family members, whether in person or with photos. It was seeming a little difficult for Luke to say "Uncle Eric" so we shortened it just to "E" so now whenever we mention Uncle Eric or ask Luke about him, he starts saying "E! E!"

PLEASE!

A preface to this story: We've been working over the last several months to teach Luke some basic sign language to help in the phase when he wants to express his opinions but can't fully verbalize them yet. He has learned several signs, one of them being "please" (the sign is made by rubbing in a circular motion on the upper chest, like asking earnestly).

Scott was putting Luke to bed the other night, and Luke was a little resistant since he LOVES his time with Daddy! They had done the normal bed time ritual (bath, reading books, etc.) and were just rocking with the lights off. In the dark, Scott could see Luke moving his arms but couldn't figure out what he was doing. Then it registered ... he was making the sign for "please" as if to say, "PLEASE let me stay up and hang out more with you Dad!" It was so sweet. Scott got Luke a bit more to drink and let him stay up for a few minutes longer ... after all, Luke asked so nicely!

Here's a toast!

Scott has been involved with a Toastmaster public speaking group at Motorola for the past 2 years, as one of the founding members and serving as president at one time. This past week, Scott was selected from his chapter to attend an area competition. He competed as an evaluator ... meaning that he was being judged on how well he evaluated the other presenters! He ended up placing 2nd and taking home a trophy. So here's a toast ... to the Toastmaster!

Sport Clips

Luke had his first professional haircut this week. To this point, Luke and Scott had a 2-for-1 deal with the family barber (AKA Jami). However, Luke had been a little too squirmy the last few times to really achieve any decent amount of haircutting, so his hair was getting a little unruly and uneven.

Luke's first "real" haircut was at a place called Sport Clips. They specialize in haircuts for men with the added entertainment of non-stop sports on TV. Luke was doing fine until she put the cape on ... at which time Luke realized that it was limiting his arm movement and he couldn't flap around as much as he usually does. So being confined to the barber chair and wearing the cape were more than he could tolerate ... and the screaming and wailing began. This subsided briefly with a lollipop as a temporary cure and distraction, allowing a majority of the cut to be completed.

We were on the homestretch when she had to do the final trimming around his neckline and ears. Luke had some major issues with that portion of the process! He decided he'd really make her work for her money by dodging and swaying away from her every move. But in the end, the hair stylist was able to add her finishing touches (with a little help from mom) ... and Luke was able to add his final "comments!"

When it was all said and done, the finished masterpiece was nothing short of a miracle considering that the poor woman cutting his hair had a loud, moving target most of the time. But the final result was a little boy with a grown-up haircut ... see for yourself!

You say it's your birthday...

October is a big birthday month for our family. We celebrated 2 birthdays this past week with Eric's birthday on the 13th and Scott's on the 14th ... and what better way to party it up than with Maggie Moo's ice cream as seen above!

Scott celebrated his 29th birthday on Friday. His closet had a major overhaul with most of his gifts being new work clothes. He's sure to be voted "Best Dressed Engineer" at Motorola this season! Luke's treat was to take Dear Ol' Dad out for pizza.

A Mass to Remember

We usually go to Mass on Sunday morning because they provide a nursery at the 9:30 and 11 a.m. services. Luke enjoys the hour in the nursery playing with the other kids, and we are able to focus our full attention on the Mass (rather than on keeping Luke quiet and out of trouble).

We decided to go to Saturday evening Mass this week. We knew it might be a little challenging because Luke usually gets fidgety once the homily starts, but we decided to give it a try. We even decided to bypass the cry room and sit in the regular sanctuary. And as luck would have it, we ended up sitting in the middle of a long pew. So there we were ... sardined in ... with a ticking time bomb who we just knew might create a ruckus in the middle of Mass.

Much to our amazement, Luke was so well behaved. We made it past the homily with no loud outbursts. When it was time to receive the Eucharist, the row in front of us stood up to file out of the pew to go up front. With a hearty wave, Luke bid them farewell saying, "Bye, bye. Bye, bye." Snickers all around us. We got the flapping and waving and bye-byeing controlled, but yes, we too were chuckling at his innocent gesture.

After returning to our seats, we were kneeling and trying to keep Luke somewhat still. A man near us sneezed. In the midst of quiet prayer, a tiny little Luke voice rang out, "Ahhh-choo." Again, chuckling amidst the pews.

This is sure to be a Mass we will remember for a while, not only because Luke hung in there for the duration of the hour-long Mass, but he also cracked a few smiles in church.

The Great Pumpkin

We went to Dewey, Arizona, today to Young's Farm to enjoy a fall festival. It's a tradition of Eric's girlfriend Charity's family to go there every fall, so they invited us to go along this year ... and what a great time we had! Luke was a little afraid of the pony rides, but he did brave the big inflatable bouncy with his dad and Uncle Eric. We stocked up on some apple butter, sampled some cider, and picked out the biggest pumpkin we could! It's still in the 90s in Phoenix, but this spot about 1 1/2 hours north of Phoenix near Prescott was a nice breath of autumn air!

The Parrot

Our computer was recently in the shop for some major repairs ... which explains why it's been a while since we've blogged. So here we go.

Luke has been talking up a storm lately. He's getting really good at repeating words back to us ... just like a parrot! His latest favorites are -- up, down, ball, Thomas (for Thomas the Train), Dee Dee (our neighbors' dog), blue, bear, key, truck (actually he refers to all trucks as tow trucks), car, and the list goes on.

One of our favorite evening activities now that it's cooling off is to head to the park for a little soccer action with the Leahy team of 3. Luke is really good at running and kicking the ball, and he throws a great overhead pass, too. It's amazing how much he just likes to run around ... and chase after us!

Long-haired men scare Luke.

Luke is terrified of men with long hair! This phobia first surfaced when we were back in Kansas. Grandpa Jim has this funny Billy Bob hat with a wig attached that he likes to wear when he's in a crazy mood. As soon as Luke spotted Grandpa in that hat, he didn't want to get too close ... and then he even started to back away! We all thought it was rather funny at the time, but little did we know this was actually going to be a much bigger deal for Luke down the road.

Since then, we have noticed that Luke freaks out any time he sees a man with longer hair. He freezes in his tracks and won't budge an inch. And if you can even imagine the look he shoots the offender ... as if to say, "I'm not sure about you and that long hair! Just keep your distance."

Another related incident happened at the mall play area one day. Luke was having a wonderful time running around and climbing and jumping and expending a lot of energy, until he spotted a man with longer curly hair sitting on the side of the play area. Luke completely froze for about a minute ... long enough for other parents to point and comment and notice the look of sheer terror on his face ... and long enough for the poor man to realize that something he was doing (little did he know it was just his hair) was the cause of this poor child's fear. Luke just stared at him until rescued by good ol' Dad.

Tonight we went to a restaurant called Pita Jungle. It's sort of an artsy, ecletic crowd ... and yes, our server had long hair and was wearing a knitted hat. We were sitting inside, and immediately, we noticed that Luke was a little antsy about things. When we figured out why and saw that he kept a close watch on this waiter, we decided to move to an outside table where the waiter wouldn't be in such clear view. We couldn't help but chuckle about Luke's little quirk.

Poor Luke ... and all because of Grandpa's Billy Bob hat!

Our Animal Expert

Lately, Luke has been brushing up on his knowledge of recognizing various species of animals. He has a book that he loves to look at during storytime that has many colorful animal pictures. We started asking him to point to different animals. At first, he knew the basics ... dog, cat, duck, fish, etc. Now he's graduating to wildlife often found in the zoo ... elephant, rhino, turtle, giraffe, and more. He can't say all their names yet but soon! Overall, he can probably identify by picture about 10-12 different animals. Perhaps he's on the path of being a veterinarian like his Grandpa Nelson!

Choo, choo!

 

Luke LOVES trains! "Choo, choo" was one of his first words, and since then, he's always on the search for a train. In the morning when he's eating his breakfast, a train goes by about a mile away, and he stops to hear the faint whistle of the train in the distance.

Great Aunt Janette and Uncle Dick gave Luke a train set, and he runs that train around the track for hours. On a daily basis, Dad has to reconfigure the track so it can run a new "route."

The Entertainers

We have been entertaining a lot lately ... now that our house is finally in order! Jami hosted a meeting with the sorority advisors on Sunday afternoon. This evening we had some friends -- 9 adults and 3 kids -- over for dinner. On Thursday, the Leahy house will once again be the hotspot as Jami and Luke's Thursday playgroup is meeting at the house for playtime and lunch. It's so nice to have more space!

The other "entertaining" that's been going on in the house is Luke and his acrobatics. Tonight, he did a somersault for the first time. He's been trying to figure it out for a while, but it finally all clicked and over he tumbled! Of course, he had to show off this milestone in the middle of when our company was over. What a performer -- perhaps he just needed an audience!

Arsenio Hall joined us for dinner

Remember the talk show from the early '90s called the Arsenio Hall Show? Well, it resurfaced at the Leahy household tonight.

I tried a new recipe for dinner -- sausage stuffed manicotti. When I asked Scott what he thought of it, he replied with a rather funny yet positive response of, "I have this to say about it -- Woo, woo, woo!" Now imagine with that last sound, the gesture of great approval that Arsenio Hall used to do on his show. Arm up, 90 degree angle, in a rah, rah arm-pumping motion. This was one of those "hey, I forgot about that" moments that made me just stop and laugh (and try not to spit my manicotti all over the table!)

Well, apparently, the youngest Leahy also saw the humor in this and started laughing, too. Scott repeated it a few more times just to make Luke laugh, and before you know it, Luke busted out the move, too. So there we were at dinner, just me and the 2 Arsenios hooting away!

Moral of the story: Be careful when you ask your family what they think of your cooking!

It's all Greek to me!

With the school year starting at Arizona State, things are heating up for us in our roles advising our respective Greek organizations at ASU -- Delta Upsilon and Kappa Alpha Theta.

Last semester, Scott and his younger brother Eric started to get more involved with advising the DU chapter which is re-establishing itself on the ASU campus. The wisdom of these 2 former K-State DU presidents comes in quite handy for the chapter here!

Jami is starting her 2nd semester as the Advisory Board Chair for Theta. Between Monday night chapter meetings and an inbox full of Theta-related emails, there's always something new to keep things lively. The one great perk of being a sorority advisor is that there's a pool of more than 100 babysitters to choose from for Luke!

Corn on the cob -- Deeeeelicious!

Gotta put these teeth to work now that I have them! 

Another new first for Mr. Luke this week ... he tried corn on the cob for the first time! It took a little teaching from Mom to figure out the technique, but it wasn't long before he was chowing down on that ear of corn. Another new item on the menu gaining Luke's approval -- black licorice. Go figure!

Luke's other new trick is to ask him, "Where is your nose?" He grabs his nose and says, "Right here!" He has also figured out to pat the top of his head for his hair, but so far he hasn't figured out where his ears, eyes, and mouth are. Soon to follow I'm sure!

What's in a name?

Luke has decided that rather than calling me "Mom" he'll just refer to me as "Jami" from now on! We noticed some jabber a week or two ago that sounded something like "Jami." Now he walks into the room, sees me, and shouts "Jayyy-meee." Scott and I crack up about it every time. So grown up!

Kansas Whirlwind Tour

We just returned from a whirlwind tour of Kansas and had a blast. Here are the highlights...

Manhappenin' -- The Little Apple
We spent several days in the Wamego/Manhattan area for a family reunion with Jami's side of the family. We planned an early surprise celebration for Jami's parents who will be celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary next month! Luke enjoyed running laps around Aunt Briana and Uncle Craig's house and spending time outside in the cooler weather. Jami braved her first 4-wheeler ride ever!

On to Salina
We attended the wedding of our good friend from college Will who got married in Salina on Saturday. Scott was the best man, and we enjoyed celebrating Will's big day.

Goin' to Kansas City ... Kansas City here we come
The last leg of our trip we spent in KC with Scott's side of the family. Luke enjoyed time playing with his cousin Sawyer, who's about 2 months younger. The boys took a trip to the Deanna Rose Petting Zoo, went swimming, and stopped by for a visit with Chuck E Cheese. Luke hit another milestone and learned how to jump with 2 feet while in Aunt Juli and Uncle Paul's backyard. I'm sure they'll be placing a historical marker there soon! Ha!

It's always good to return back to the old stomping ground to see our family and friends. Luke gets an A+ for traveling on this trip. He was such a happy camper the whole time.