Christmas Video

Here is a 4-minute video of highlights from Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning.

Joy and Peace

Last weekend we went to Peacock Lane, a short street in Portland where every house is lit up with Christmas lights. It's a Portland holiday tradition to visit Peacock Lane and it was indeed very very crowded. It was almost impossible to get any good pictures but here's one that I like just for the contrast between the expression on Luke's face and the message in the background.

Luke loves outdoor Christmas lights. It has been his favorite thing about the holiday so far. We drive around the neighborhood almost every night after work just to look at the lights. He gets very excited and points and says: "More lights too!" and names the colors.

The other obsession these days is firetrucks. If you want some advice on good firetruck videos to watch on YouTube, email me and I'll fill you in. Here is Luke wearing firetruck jammies and his Junior Firefighter badge he got from a real fireman.


I like this picture because Luke and Roosevelt have the same expressions on their faces.


Pink Ga-Ga

"Santa Claus is coming."

Luke says that Santa Claus is coming, so we thought we should put the tree up. Here is Luke putting the star on top.

He was pretty excited at first to watch daddy put the lights on the tree.

But he lost interest in the process pretty quickly when he realized that the round glass ornaments weren't the kind of balls that you can throw. Matt ended up decorating the tree by himself while I tried to contain a meltdown. Oh well, there is always next year to fulfill my dreams of a happy family tree trimming party.
Good photos of Luke are rare these days. He is obsessed with the digital camera and whenever he sees it he immediately wants to look at the photos on it. Immediately. He will not sit still for a picture and he starts to whine and cry. Here is a lucky shot.

Here is what it looked like the other night when Matt tried to take a picture at dinner. Luke became upset because he wanted the camera. He was perfectly fine and cute before the camera came out.
I did manage to get some OK pics the other morning of Luke in his green froggy boots.

Here is a video of the kind of whining we hear a lot of these days from our camera-obsessed boy. In the second scene he is calling for the "black camera."

Thanksgiving and Trains

Today we went to the Columbia Gorge Toy Railroad Club to see their toy train layout.

Luke loves trains, like most little boys do.
He had a great time.
It was quite an impressive show and it was packed.
Here is Luke and his Thanksgiving dinner guest, Cameron.

After dinner, Luke and Cameron played chase. They must have run back and forth about 20times.

Luke from a few weeks ago.

School Pictures '09

Here is Luke's "school" picture for the year. Luke wasn't feeling well that week, so this slight smile is the best that they could get.

And here is the Toddlers' Room '09 class photo.Back row: Teacher Brittany with Morgan, Nora, Teacher Rachel with Tom, Jacob, Teacher Yorda with Harlow. Front row: Max, Raife, Lily, Luke, Camille.


And here was his school photo from just a year ago.

All Saints' Day

Today on All Saints' Day we took a short walk through The Grotto, a beautiful Catholic shrine and botanical garden in North Portland.

It was a serene, slow walk. A little chilly. Luke liked the trees and the spiders.

Then we stopped off at Gartner's Meat Market for some meat.

Luke has started showing his affection for Roosevelt by pulling his tail, petting him hard, and full body tackles.

I did not take these photos or else I would have stopped what was happening. Roosevelt is actually very calm through it all, much calmer than I would be.

Halloween

I stole this photo from Silas' blog. Thank you, Alysha! This was a Halloween party at the Sykes' house, our neighbors across the street. I think 15 seconds later Luke jumped off of the couch. He was not very cooperative this day and refused to wear a costume.

The babies and toddlers are from left to right: Clara (3mo.), Silas (16 mo.), Langston (2yrs.), Graham (10 mo.), Luke (19 mo.) and Zane (3 wks.)

Swimming Lessons

Luke has been taking swimming lessons through the Portland Parks and Recreation program.

He loves the water so much that we thought it would be good to teach him early how to swim.

But right now there's not actually a lot of "swimming."

It's more about making him feel comfortable in a pool.

Reading and Counting

Luke really loves books. He surprised me one night a couple of months ago by asking for a book when I put him into his crib for the night. Since then, it's become part of the bedtime ritual; he gets a book or two to read in bed. When I told the pediatrician this at Luke's 18-month appointment he was very amused and said that he didn't think he'd ever heard of a child this young asking for books to read in bed, but that he didn't think it would hurt.

Here's a video of Luke reading Sheep in a Jeep, a story about sheep who get their Jeep stuck in the mud and then crash it into a tree.
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When Luke is in the right mood, he can count without any help. One time he counted all the way up to 12 while I was changing his diaper! But it's a little like that dancing/singing frog in the old Looney Tunes cartoon. That is, when we try to capture it on video he won't do it. Here's the best we've been able to capture. You can hear Matt cheating at the end by feeding Luke "6."

The Patch

Every October, the pre-Halloween ritual

Families descend upon the Portland area pumpkin patches.

Luke picked out this little green one.

We took the three best pumpkins back with us on the hay wagon.

Luke was very still and contemplative on the hay ride.

He really like being pulled by the tractor.

Video of Luke surveying the carnage.