Cock-a-doodle-doo, here comes 2008.

A rooster has taken up his home in Orchard Park these last days of 2007, and will charm us into the new year with his crow.


Luke awoke from a nap on Sunday to find the rooster perched proudly on our steps, cock-a-doodle-dooing triumphantly. Luke was in bliss and awe, and bocked like a chicken at Mr. Rooster.


"Oooooooo."


"Aaaaaaaaah." What fun it is to live here!


New Year's Eve morning we spent at West Manor Park with friends, Richie playing a safe version of football (no more broken femurs here, pleeeeease) and Bethany watching Shealyn and Luke be hilarious together. They fought over the red ball. Shealyn, with far more vocabulary than her younger friend, told him "Mine," then looked up at Bethany with a look of wonderment, like, "Why doesn't he understand what I'm saying?"


Our University of Manitoba Bison fan looking rough and tough... in a baby swing. Good contrast.


Little Miss Shealyn herself. What a cutiepie!


Shealyn took wonderful care of her little pal, following him around with her bag of All Bran calling out, "Loot! Loot!" (Her version of "Luke.") She stuffed handfuls of All Bran into his mouth, and he happily complied by opening up his mouth and eating the handfuls she had to offer him. Then she licked her hand clean, digged back into the bag, came out with another handful and started again: "Loot! Loot!"


Luke needs to learn friendliness from Shealyn. Because when Mommy's friend Elizabeth came over, he just stared her down! Just imagine if adults acted like that. New people come, and you sit on their laps and stare at them, faces inches apart, expressionless.


Bad hair day.


Luke wears his monkey costume daily, a good warm top layer. The tail gives him extra oomph and cuteness when skateboarding. And the ears flap him along.


One of Luke's Christmas presents was a bike trailer! So we promptly headed out to buy him a helmet. We gave him the choice between a blue helmet with pictures of pigs on dirtbikes, and this obnoxious red and orange one called "Duck Duck Goose" covered with fowl. Repeatedly, he stuck out his chubby little pointer finger and expressed his interest in the "Duck Duck Goose" helmet. So it was the winner. Luke throws a tantrum when we put him in the bike trailer, but once we get going, it's the cutest thing in the world. He hums, sings, ba-ba-bas, bocks at the crows, makes truck sounds when trucks pass, sirens when he hears the fire trucks, and... screams. Here's a story for you:

We were biking along a West Davis bike path, and there was a couple walking ahead of us. They didn't hear Richie announce "On your left," so they remained in our way. As we approached them, Luke released a blood-curdling, high-pitched scream. This is what he does when he is overjoyed and has no other way to express it. But the timing was just impeccable. The woman jumped in the air (no exaggeration) and moved aside, then looked to see who was screaming. It was a little 11-month-old boy in a monkey suit whose Duck-Duck-Goose helmet took up half his body.