PAT

Back in Bethany's teaching days, there was something called PAT. Preferred Activity Time. In a nutshell: a bribe for decent behavior (harder to come by than you might think). Bethany relied on other bribery tactics with her students, but this was a popular one with many teachers. Students would garner whopping amounts of PAT minutes and then use their Friday-afternoon free time for their "preferred activities." Games, puzzles, computers, running around throwing erasers at each other, stealing snacks out of Teacher's drawers.

We have a young man who gets PAT time almost all of the time. (Enjoy it while you can, Son.) With one nap a day and forced feedings, the rest of the day is play, play, play.

Top ways Luke uses his PAT hours:

- Building towers with his blocks. Record: 4 blocks. Still doesn't get the idea that larger ones should go on the bottom, but never gets frustrated. Just keeps trying. Definitely gets the idea of size: He has a “big voice” for big blocks and a “little voice” for smaller ones. He thinks it’s funny when he accidentally makes the whole tower fall down. Richie thinks he will become an engineer. (Though he will have to learn that it is not funny when structures collapse.)

- Helping clean. He is very good at wiping up the floors, sweeping (though he sweeps everything: Mom, Dad, lamps, walls), and nit-picking anything out of place. (It bothered him yesterday when he saw an out-of-place sticker on the front of his stroller; and he saw two pieces of dried grass on Mom's pants and urgently needed to remove them.)

- Playing backgammon. He will tote the case to the person who seems most likely to want to play with him, we open it up for him, and then he grabs the pieces and runs. It turns into a game of chase, he ends up in fits of laughter, and that's the game of "backgammon" we play. He is learning not to catapult the pieces at people's faces and not to run around with the dice in his mouth.

- Pushing Poppy's lawn mower. His little plastic one will no longer do. He must push the big one. All around the neighborhood. The concrete sidewalk of Seine Avenue is now very well mowed. The City of Davis should pay him.

- Grazing on cherries. The five cherry trees at Bethany's parents' house have produced a massive harvest this year. Luke likes to sneak out and hide under cherry branches, eating cherry after cherry, pit and all. We will find him standing there with chipmunk cheeks, looking up at us with the guiltiest little hazel eyes. When we tell him to take the cherries out, he readily complies, and dribbles them out with a push of his little tongue.

- Eating paper. A conversation from yesterday:
Bethany: “Luke, what are you eating?” (He takes out a green wad of paper to show Bethany.) “Are you eating paper?”
Luke: “Yah.” (One of his cutest words, by the way.)
Bethany: “Is it yummy?”
Luke: “Mmmm!”

- Tormenting Sarah: stealing her glasses, rubbing her hair, picking her nose. He definitely assumes the annoying-little-brother role with her. But he absolutely adores her, regularly climbing into her lap to cuddle. They are back-seat car buddies and sit beside each other as Bethany drives them around, exchanging silly faces and sounds until Luke is in cahoots of laughter.

- Sneaking under Sarah's bed to where she hides her puzzle, so he can steal pieces and sit there and gnaw on them like pieces of Bubblicious.

- Dancing. He points to the stereo and head-bangs. His cue to us that he wants to boogie. So we put on the music, instantly he grins, and then he starts his head-banging and spinning in circles. He will pause when he gets too dizzy, look up at us and smile ‘til the dizzies go away, then go at it some more. He also likes to grab his teddy bear and make GGBear dance to the music.

- Turning on the T.V. in hopes of finding a basketball game to watch. He chants deeply as he flips through the channels, "Basketball, basketball." (More like "ba-ball," but in a really deep tough-guy voice.)

- Stepping on the bathroom scale to see how much he weighs. (Usually 27.)

- Trying to throw balls or rocks onto the roof of the house. Shiloh did this with him one night and now he regularly tries it on his own. Thanks, Shi.

- Driving. He grabs our keys, finds the correct car key (how he remembers, we would love to know), and cruises out to the car. So we put him in the driver's seat, and he steers wildly. We are very grateful he has 15 more years until he gets his license. He presses every button he can find, and especially enjoys pressing the "Panic" button for Bethany’s parents’ van. It honks and honks until we can figure out how to make it stop. When we start the car later on in the day after Luke has played in it, the ignition turns on and then the wipers start going, the music blasts at top-volume, the blinker clicks, and we remember with a laugh who was in the driver's seat last.

- Charging around the house with his "sword." ("Sword" = toilet brush.)

- Sitting in the office chair and typing on the keyboard, with occasional trips of the hand to palm the mouse and wiggle it around. He looks like a miniature receptionist.

- Playing with the hose. He knows how to turn it on, and how to turn it up. If we turn it down to conserve water, he stomps over and turns it back up again. He is very good at not spraying Mom and Dad, though he does like to wash our toes. He is not so good at not spraying his friends, however; and his friends are not so good at avoiding the watery stream. The other day, he put his hand over the nozzle to make the spray go everywhere, pointed it at Shealyn, and gave a dramatic Scaryman face (which he does every time he does something naughty that he thinks he maybe ought not to do). So there the water pelted Miss Shealyn, and she shrieked, and he kept spraying her. She didn't move. "Run, Shealyn, run!" No. She just stood there in Naughty Luke's aim of fire, screeching with horror.

And so our fun continues. Luke is a hoot. We just love him. Especially now that he sleeps so well.

We have enjoyed recent visits from a host of friends, and mourn yesterday’s departure of Liz, who had to go back to Indiana after a three-week California visit. Consolation (okay, so we’re really excited): Gracie arrives on Sunday! The other day he picked up the phone and asked to call her. So he left a message on her voicemail telling her he loved her ("la loo") and that he wants to see her ("Do you want to see Gracie?" "Yah.").

Richie has Matthew Kwok visiting from Canada this week, and is taking coffee, lunch, and tennis breaks with him while pressing on with his research. Last week we celebrated Richie's one-year hip-breaking anniversary, and are so grateful that everything has healed up perfectly.

Bethany is mostly busy with Luke-playing and baby-growing, along with hosting all the fun friends who have trekked to Davis and who have been very compassionate about divided time and interrupted conversations. Baby-growing during this first trimester involves lots of eating and sleep maximization. Overall, she is not as tired this pregnancy as she was with Luke. That's a good thing. She escaped without morning sickness this time around, too, so we’re shouting a hearty “hooray” for that. It was all just the cruel joke called Stomach Flu. She is showing much earlier than she did with Luke (at least she likes to think so), and comparing month-by-month belly profile shots reveals that her current almost-three-months-along tummy is about where she was at four or five months with Mr. Luke.

Meanwhile, Luke begs for his Poppy (“Pa Pa!”) probably 20 to 30 times a day, and when we talk about Grammy he begs us for her with "P! P! P!" When he sees pictures of his Poppy and Grammy, sometimes he tries to make himself cry to tell us that he is sad. Two more weeks, Little Guy.

His vocabulary is expanding daily; we think this is the “language burst” we heard about that happens somewhere around 18 months. He surprises us every day with new words and sounds. One morning he woke up and "told" us with those words and sounds that he wanted to go with Dada on the train to the ocean. Well, well! Last week he mastered the word “no” and uses it appropriately during tantrums. We're trying to teach him a more polite, "No thank you," which comes out always in a sweet voice, "No ta tum." Today he saw his bat and shouted out with perfect pronunciation: “Bat!” His cutest words are “ny ny” and “ping pong ball.” He is also making word associations with people; when he sees something of his Poppy’s, he says, “Pa Pa,” and when we mention Shiloh, he says, “Ball!” When he sees a picture of the ocean, or a wetsuit, or sand, of course he says, "Da Da!"

And for one more little Luke tidbit: One of his recent kicks is a need to cuddle with his basketball while we rock him to sleep. Chest on our chest, one arm on one side of us, and the other arm cradling his little basketball. It warms our hearts.

Now for lots (and lots and lots and lots) of pictures!


Some of the pictures on this post will be old ones, since we haven't posted in so long. This is of the two men with their fresh Daddy-given buzz cuts.


Very secure in his manhood, Luke enjoys playing with the pink-and-purple tricycle that hangs out at Orchard Park.


New trick: "Luke, where's your fuzzy?" He rubs his head.


One benefit to not nursing Luke to sleep (hooray, he's totally weaned!): He falls asleep everywhere.


Enjoying an Asian pear on the sofa.


Now for a few pictures from our weekend in Carmel for Elizabeth Stoffers's and Adam Causey's wedding. Here is Bethany all lit up upon seeing a glimpse of the gorgeous bride coming down the aisle.


The gorgeous bride herself. Doesn't she look like a model out of a bridal magazine??? (We stole the next few pictures from her blog.)


The happy couple.


Our personal favorite shot.


Or maybe this one is the favorite. Check out the back of her dress. And the backdrop. Everything about the wedding was perfect. It was so incredibly gorgeous.


Here's Bethany during the ceremony, very serious.


And very sentimental. (This picture cracked us up.)


All the bridesmaids. And the bride. And Adam. As you may notice, Bethany is about to collapse. (Though she didn't.) She was very tired and hungry at this point! Still recuperating from that nasty stomach bug, and very weak... Someone afterward told all the bridesmaids that they looked beautiful, then came up to Bethany and said, "Are you okay? You were awfully shaky up there." Oh honey, if you only knew... :) Anyway, next to Bethany is Abby, Elizabeth's baby sister; then Kohar, Elizabeth's friend and roommate from UCD; and Sarah, a friend of hers from her nurse-pracitioner program at Yale.


At the reception.




Elizabeth's family is so thoughtful and generous. They arranged for us to stay in a nearby house. We got the "yellow room." So cozy! Not a meager house, either, eh?


The view from the house.


Home from Carmel, it's back to business.




We wish this picture captured Luke's red nose and lip. He had three major injuries in one week, this being his worst. (The other two were a crack on the head from a heavy vase, and a fall into a curb that gave him a week-long limp!) This one was a fall from a toy onto the concrete: a total faceplant that resulted in a very bloody nose and blood gushing from the mouth. We are still waiting to see if his front teeth died. Bummer.




Hanging out with Dad.


There's that gorgeous smile again!


"I've got my eyes on you!"


Toooooo cooooool.


Sporting a battered face from his face-smashing-into-the-concrete experience, but still so squishably cute.




This should have been on the list of Luke's favorite things to do. Making wheelies with Poppy's mower!


Ordinary pushing. (Isn't this a sight you typically see?)


Then for another wheelie. (Notice how proud he looks.)


It took Luke a week to warm up to Liz; then he realized she wasn't too bad. She even knew how to play with vacuum attachments!


Unaware that Mom is watching, Luke tries to steal Sarah's puzzle pieces from under her bed.




Caught!


Liz took Sarah as her date to a wedding. Rumor has it, Sarah's dancing was showstopping.


"If I smile real cute will you pleeeease give me a piece of Daddy's licorice?"


Whenever Luke gets hurt, he shows us where, says "boom," and asks us to kiss it.


Bethany's latest strategy for getting makeup put on: letting Luke draw on the mirror, tile, scale, WHATEVER! JUST LET ME HAVE TWO MINUTES!, with her eye-liner pencil.


Father's Day ended up being a lot of Luke hanging out with Daddy while Bethany slept the day away. Poor Richie. Lots of visitors is fun, but it does make a girl extra sleepy. Bethany came outside after one of her naps to find Luke playing field hockey with Gracie's little toy field-hockey stick.


Luke's coordination is really fun to watch.






Happy Father's Day, Richie! Our end-of-the-day Father-Son shot.


Father's Day weekend we were graced with the presence of Harmony and her boyfriend, Bubba (whom we hope she marries soon because we are really big fans of him). This picture sums up a lot of our time with visitors: Here Liz and Harmony demonstrate the art of lounging.


Harmony made tiramisu for Bubba that weekend to celebrate his 30th birthday. Who was right by his side to celebrate, but Sarah of course! Sarah assured him that turning 30 wasn't all that bad.


Visits from Haley and Val (pictureless! Sad!!!) were flanked by roommate visits. The weekend after Harmony came, the other three roommates drove up from Southern California to hang out for a couple of days. One thing they all love: They are all the same height. Suddenly 5-foot-10 doesn't seem ogreish anymore. Liz told Bethany not to put this picture on the blog, because... well, look at her eyes! But it is too funny to resist. Sorry, Liz. We love you.


Luke showed off his tantrum skills for Jennie, who was awesome and brought Luke a tow-truck flashlight! He loves it.


Sunday-afternoon helping.


Sunday-evening showing-off-of-the-huge-cold-sore.


And Monday we took a trip with Matt, Liz, and Sarah to the ocean! We remembered everything important... except a jacket for Luke. So we wrapped him in Sarah's denim jacket while the ladies jaunted down the way to ROSS and picked up a new jacket for him there.


Here he sports the new jacket, with his hat pulled down of course.


Luke was too fascinated with the waves going "boom" to look at the camera. When we got to the ocean, he was beside himself with excitement and squealed with glee while dancing in place.


A tantrum because he wanted to run free on the sand. How dare we contain him for a 5-second photo shoot.


So there. We win.


Happyman!


New discovery: "If I toss sand in the air, it sticks to my boogers!"


Chasing Liz.


Vroom vroom! (We needed to get warm.)


Grasping onto Liz's hand.


There was something priceless about this face.


And of course we love this one, too.


All warmed up, we went back out to watch the waves and to try to find Daddy surfing.




Mama found him first! The winner gets a salt-water kiss.


No salt-water kisses here.


Father and son.


When we left the ocean, it was nap time, so Luke fell right to sleep in the car seat (let's hear it again for being weaned!). We drove to Daly City; and Bethany napped in the car while Richie, Matt, Liz, and Sarah chatted it up in In N Out and Krispy Kreme. (OK, so they got some food, too.)


After an almost-two-hour nap in the car (let's hear another hooray for weaning), Luke woke up and we drove on to the City. Sarah's special request for the day was to see the Full House "painted lady." So of course, we did.


The park across the street had huge trees that Luke was in awe of.




And then we finished our time up there with a careening ride down the stair railing. Thank goodness for daddies.


And of course we had to take a stop on the way home at Crissy Field to admire the foggy Golden Gate.

Then the next day, Liz left and we entered The Great Depression.

(No, but we do miss her!)

Next time: Pictures of Matt! And Gracie! And... And...