Walrus Swing

Here's Luke in his new, fleece, walrus PJs from Grandma Stewart.

He's sitting on his Daddy's lap.
I can't believe how old he looks here. Does he even look 6 months old?
Mama and Luke do not want their pictures taken.
Grandma and Grandpa Siorek arrived today! Daddy bought a swing at Lowes. We hung it from the pergola. Here is Luke being very amused by Grandpa Siorek.Luke likes the new swing!

Luke and Grandpa.

6-month Check-up

Luke had his 6-month check-up on Friday. He weighs 21pounds 6 ounces (9.75 kg) and is 28.75 inches (73 cm) long. That puts him once again in the 98th percentile for both weight and height. The doctor gave him a glowing review of health and then Luke got 4 immunization shots. That's always the worst part of these visits, and I'm a total wimp and make Matt do the dirty work of holding Luke down for his shots.

We didn't take any photos this week, so here are random photos from the previous 4 weeks.

Luke moves around a lot in his sleep now and we never know how or where he's going to be lying in his crib when he wakes up.

Luke can briefly sit up straight unsupported, but he tends to flop forward.
His mode of self-transportation at the moment is the roll maneuver. He'll roll back and forth until he is approximately where he wants to be. He doesn't seem interested in crawling, but is very keen on standing with the support of a table or a parent.

Luke continues to eat very well!

Hygiene is very important. Luke takes a bath every night as part of his bed-time routine.

We waited 5 months, but we finally took Luke to a restaurant. Luke made his debut at the Kennedy School McMenamins. Here we are seated in their beautiful courtyard. Luke did OK, but mom and dad had to take turns walking him around to look at the plants.

Luke continues to be a delightful boy with a very easy-going personality. He smiles a lot and mostly only has a meltdown when he is very hungry. He whines when he is tired or bored.

Who does he look like? In the first few months, people thought he was the spitting image of Matt. As he is getting older he is looking a bit more like his ma. But mostly people exclaim over what a neat composite he is of both me and Matt. And his face continues to change, of course, with each day and each new expression.

Sweet Potato Elephant

Sweet potatoes!

Luke is doing well with solid foods. After the ladies at Day Care said we should be feeding him solids 3 times a day instead of once, we stepped it up. And boy, now do I feel like I was starving him. He's eating oatmeal (yum), peaches (ok), pears (ok), prunes (yum yum), bananas (ok), green beans (yum) and sweet potatoes (yum yum yum).

We decided to try on the Halloween costume that Aunt Ronny gave us before Luke was even 4 months in my belly. An elephant! Luke was surprisingly game.
I think he was so into trying out the costume because Matt and I were laughing so hard. (He really studies us and reacts to what we do. Today as he was lying on his changing table I was blowing on his mobile to make the animals move and I looked down and he put his little lips together and blew. It was too cute.)
He doesn't quite fill it out.

And now some random pictures.

Luke on the go with Daddy.
Luke with invisible hands!

Are you ready for some Football?

Go Rams.

Brothers

Roosevelt and Luke playing together.

"Hey, what are you playing with? Maybe I want it."

"OK, we can share."

Yeah, I know it's kind of weird to refer to pets as if they were human, but Roosevelt really was my baby before Luke came. At first Roosevelt would flee the room when this new thing started to bawl, but now when Luke cries Roosevelt comes right up to Luke and rubs his head with his head, as if to tell him it's going to be alright.

Luke playing and Roosevelt being very "Zen."

Zoo Day

On Saturday Luke went to the zoo for the first time!

The Oregon Zoo was super crowded because everyone wanted to see the new baby elephant that had just been born earlier in the week. This was the first day the baby elephant would be on view. But we did not have time to wait in the long line.

Luke saw many other animals instead. Like this giraffe.

And a polar bear doing the backstroke.

And baboons.

Luke studied the baboon very closely.

Luke wanted to grab this Amazon fish! I think the fish wanted to grab Luke, too.

Seeing the bats hanging upside-down gave Luke an idea.

No babies were harmed in the making of this photo.

Luke is very comfortable being upside-down.

And a picture from today of Luke and Mama.

Luke was very smiley today. He has started to make a different kind of smiley face. He'll crinkle up his nose, show his upper gums, and squint his eyes. It is very cute.

My New Favorite Photo

Here is my new favorite photo of all time.

This was at a birthday party. Luke had never seen a cupcake before but he practically ripped this one out of my hand and put it to his mouth. Somehow he knew what to do with a cupcake.

Here is Luke hanging out in the crib.

And after a relaxing bath.

Grias di!

Ich heisse Luke!
Ich wohne in Portland, Oregon in einem kleinen gelben Haus mit Mutti, Vatti, und Roosevelt, unserem Kater.

Hier bin ich mit meiner Mutti.
Und Vatti. Er ist gross und stark.

Unsere Nachbarin hat Huehner!
Ich bin ein grosser Bua. Ich kann vieles. Ich kann fast sitzen.

Und stehen.

Und fahrradfahren. Hier sind wir bei einer Paty.

Bei der Party ist das Gras sehr gruen und kuhl. Es macht mir Spass, auf dem Gras zu liegen.

Aber, es macht mir auch ein bisschen muede. Also dann, Pfiat di!
Und viele liebe Gruesse an Tante Irene und Tante Marianne und Petra und Silke und Stefan und Thomas und Bruno und Marie-Theres und Martin und der kleine Martin und Tobias und Florian.