Toddler translation

I have a few new favorite words. They are, of course, all thanks to Luke. I have always loved the way kids mispronounce words and have adopted their version as my own on many occasions, and now, to my great delight, I have my own little person to imitate. So here are a few of the latest: pumbers = cucumbers, broccolideli = broccoli, peek kee goo = peekaboo. Those are topping the charts but I find everything he says quite witty and cute. One of my favorite Luke moments this week was one day at lunch while we were all three outside and Julio and I were eating strawberries on a blanket while Luke had a hammer and was doing something important with his tricycle. Julio asked him if he wanted a strawberry and he said, "No, I working". I think I laughed for five minutes straight, I had to ask Julio if I heard him right because I couldn't quite believe he said that. Another common Luke phrase these days is "I'll help you" which is really his way of asking for help because if he's in a jam I usually say "I'll help you" so I guess it works both ways in his mind.

And now for a little video, some outdoor fun and giggles.

I have to say, this great weather has been wonderful for all of us. I think we (Luke and I) spend more time outside than inside these days. And I'm finally getting off my butt and doing some walking which is great, I had quite a lethargic winter! Although I must say, with my ever growing belly and a busy kid, the ten minute walk to the park is often a twenty minute walk on the way home. But I can't stop, I still have three months to go and we can't live in our backyard! We are actually seriously contemplating buying/making a sandbox. I think we need to make our backyard a bit more exciting so that Luke has stuff to do back there, because once this baby comes I can't imagine that I'll have as much time to go to the park and I'm already feeling more fatigued due to my size with three months to go! So yes, that's our new excitement, a sandbox.

Another exciting event was receiving a package from Switzerland! We got a whole bunch of great wooden animals from our friends out there as well as a musical French book. I told Sandrine (my good friend from there) that I was teaching Luke French and now she has taken it upon herself to provide us with music, books, etc in French. She is lovely. Did I mention there was amazing swiss chocolate in there too? Yes, truly lovely. So, here's Luke enjoying his new book, this is mostly for their benefit to see him using his new gift in action, but I thought his moves were good enough to post: (Actually, after re-watching this I realized it wasn't quite so exciting...but the grandparents will approve I'm sure...)

And finally, a few pictures:

A day at the park

The wooden toys & new book

Self-portrait

Current events...

I haven't updated in a bit so I thought I'd put some recent pictures up. Sadly, most of our pictures are in our house because I always forget to bring our camera along anywhere fun. Once in a while, believe it or not, we do leave the house and do fun things! In fact, with the current warmer weather, we've even gone on a couple of picnics, one of our favourite things to do. Of course, this year there isn't much lounging on a blanket, reading books all afternoon and maybe taking a nap. But toddler chasing is fun too...I keep telling myself that :). Luke constantly amazes us with his stamina...we were at Assiniboine Park for about 2 hours yesterday and Luke walked about 90% of the time, which Julio figured was at least a kilometre, and when we finally got home and tried to convince him that a nap would be a good idea we had the following conversation, while all lying on our bed:
Me: Okay, Luke, let's lie down and take a nap
Luke: ni-night
me: yes, ni-night
Luke: I seeping (sleeping)
me: good
Luke: halleluyah...bear? ni-night...I seeping!
me: close your eyes Luke
Luke: eyes? daddy? eyes? (poke poke) cose eyes (1 sec eyes closed) I seeping!
me: good
Luke: ni night. DAD!!!
Julio: shhhhh
Luke: shhhh (loudly, finger to mouth)
This went on for about half an hour. He did not quit talking. Eventually he started looking at my stomach and saying "baby" and giving the baby kisses, and trying to learn the art of touching the baby gently. (Side note: The other day while looking at my belly, he got frustrated and said, I want to SEE!!! I think he's figuring out that babies aren't just stomachs and there's something more to this baby thing than just a growing stomach. Although I'm not sure, he saw a magazine in the store of a girl in a bathing suit and said "baby" so I think all bellies are babies to him. Even his and his dad's.) So, after much negotiation on his part, I said he could go play and he quickly jumped off the bed and went to play. Thankfully, by 7pm he was more than ready for the night and slept for 13 hours...
In other news, this week was a big one for Luke, a new tricycle and a haircut, not to mention a birthday party where he got his very own helium "manoon"! Very exciting.

So, here are a few pictures.

Luke getting into freshly baked cookies.

The new tricycle.
The new haircut.

A new favorite game which he discovered with his friend Rachel. This is how it works: throw stuffed animals and blankets into the crib, climb into crib, throw animals and blankets out of the crib, ask for help out of the crib, repeat. Many, many times. When he plays with Julio he just stays in the crib and screams : I'm weady!!! (ready) and Julio counts to ten and Luke says 2,3,6!!! and Julio throws all the stuff in for him. This could go on for hours I'm sure if we would indulge this game, but I, for one, don't have much stamina for it. I much prefer "pool" where I can lie on the couch with my "pool cue" (a broom) and try to hit balls that Luke arranges on the coffee table. Much more relaxing.