The Best Gifts Come in Boxes

Dear gift-giving world: save your money on gifts and just send empty cardboard boxes.

Gluttony, Thy Name is Luke

Luke's first birthday was a huge success, with the little man scoring lots of good presents and an unprecedented amount of attention from grandparents, great-grandparents, and a slew of aunts and uncles. The evening turned sour, however, when the guest of honor up-chucked all over his mother, perhaps resulting from the zealous consumption of birthday cake. This last picture shows how he was already beginning to regret his decision to be such a piggie.

Future Dawg

We went to Athens today for Luke to get his first view of the UGA campus (and to visit some friends).

Pickin' and a-grinnin'

Luke taught himself a new trick last week. We went to the mountains to visit my grandparents (all three were there) and Luke decided this would be a good time to work on his fine motor skills. What kills me is that he does this fluid movement (into nose, slide down into mouth) as if the mouth is the natural progression for boogers. Is this an innate habit, to pick and then to eat? Charming.

You belong in the zoo....

This is homo sapiens, in his natural habitat.

Battle with the Sippy Cup

Luke has been having trouble mastering the sippy cup, preferring most of the time to chew on the spigot. I also think he tries to shove the entire thing into his mouth. Finally tonight he got it, and even figured out how to pick it up himself and get it in his mouth the whole way.

The Namesake

This is Luke's great-grandfather Ford Morris, for whom he is named. Papa Ford loves Luke ("Pretty boy," he says).

The Cookie Monster

Luke loves cookies. The only ones he's had are these nasty teething biscuits that get slimy and smell awful. He thinks they're great even though a couple of times he's shoved them so far back he's gagged himself. He likes the idea of being able to feed himself. As you can tell, he eats cookies the way he does just about everything - with gusto and reckless abandon.

Piano Man

I can't believe how remiss I've been in keeping the little man's blog up-to-date. It's been a busy spring now that I'm back in school full-time. Luke is also staying quite busy - constantly learning new things and testing his boundaries. As soon as he's conquered one feat (like pulling himself up to a stand) he is immediately seeing how he can improve - like by letting go with one hand and trying to inch out away from the table or couch. I love the fact that he's not complacent - always on to newer and better adventures! He's been crawling for a while, and he motors very quickly. Last weekend my whole family went to the cabin in North Carolina, and I think Luke's favorite part was discovering the piano. He loves to create racket.

Old Man Winter

Graham and I were very irritated at the winter blast this weekend (we left DC for this kind of weather?), but Luke thought it was very cool, and Homer loved turning the snow yellow. Here are some photos from the very brief time we spent out in the snow. It was kind of pretty, the flakes were huge and fluffy.

Budding Biped

Luke thinks he's a super big shot when he's "standing." He can't pull himself up yet but, if he's holding on to something, can stand by himself for a long time. He loves to stand, but unfortunately doesn't seem to have much interest in crawling (he sort of scoots and plows his way across the room pretty quickly, but hasn't figured out the hand/knee locomotion of crawling).

A boy and his dog...

Luke thinks Homer is the most wonderful, funny thing in the world.  Homer thinks Luke is a pest, but he tolerates him very sweetly.  If Homer is lying on the floor, Luke will scoot over to pet (which mostly means pull/yank) and Homer will usually lick Luke's face and hands because he's an easy target.  I've been very pleasantly surprised with how mellow Homer is around the kid.  Look at the particularly pitiful look in poor Homer's face in the picture where Luke is jerking on his ear.

My Funny Valentine

This was our first Valentine's Day with Luke.  Graham and I cooked a really great dinner and had some wine.  Luke always tries to grab at Graham's beers, and we learned that he also has a yen for wine.  Mommy's little lush.  Graham and I made chocolate covered strawberries for dessert and Luke kept trying to grab those too (he's quite the piglet), we we let him suck on some.  It's his favorite taste so far.  We thought he might like the strawberries and savor them like a lollipop, but instead he attacks them like a vampire and sucks the juice completely out.  Luke will never learn how many licks it takes to get to the tootsie roll center of a Tootsie Pop, I'm afraid.

Sitting Up

Luke is sitting on his own now (although he still needs help getting into the sitting position).  He thinks he's quite the stuff.  His posture is not great yet, but at least he's not lopping over anymore.  He's learned that it's much easier to play with a lot of his toys in this position.

Adventures in Chow

I know the last post was about food, but I thought these pictures were hilarious.  We've been slowly introducing real food into Luke's diet and he's very happy about it.  So far he loves peas, sweet potatoes, and apples (that's all he's had so far).  He likes to "help" by putting his hands on the spoon to guide it towards his mouth, which usually means it ends up in his ears.  He also loves to take rub his bib on his face so that any residual food gets all over the place.