Training.

Not the potty kind.

(Yet. Though occasionally Luke asks to sit on the toilet when he admires our toilet skills and sits there straining as hard as he can. The most he has gotten out is a few drops of pee-pee. After all that work he puts into it, how disappointing!)

As parents, we're told, we must pick our battles, and we can't focus on too many things at one time or else The Boy will get frustrated, and so will we. That's the rumor, anyway.

So we have narrowed down the past few weeks' "We've Got to Tame this Kid" to five main things we are working on with Luke:

1. Lukey, it is okay to cry when you are sad that your will was crossed, but decent boys do not scream at the top of their lungs.

2. You mustn't throw Russian nesting dolls across the room, even if you kiss them afterward. ONLY THROW BALLS. (Hey Mom, do marbles count?)

3. Please don't lift up women's skirts to squeeze their buttocks cheeks; that is very bad manners. It is also impolite to lift up people's shirts to find their belly buttons.

4. Lukey Darling, the way you say the word "no" is very unpleasant. Please replace it with "No, thank you." ("NO da dum.")

5. When someone goes out of their way to give you something (which happens all day, you poor short thing you), it will warm their hearts when you tell them "Thank you!"

We feel like broken records, but it is rewarding to see progress day by day. Three times the other day, Luke came up to Bethany and touched the edge of her skirt, very tempted to pull it up, and refrained. Impromptu "Thank you!"s are increasing in frequency by the moment. And even in the middle of a tantrum, Luke will catch himself and tell us "No da dum." ("No, thank you.") He even said "No da dum" in his sleep during a recent nap.

Yet focusing on these five Lukey Lessons, we have had to put other issues on the back burner. So we ignore Luke's shouting loudly at the dinner table to get attention (the more people there, the louder he shouts) (why of course!), the pouring of the popcorn bag all over the back seat of the car, the picking of other people's noses.

First things first.


You've heard of The Muffin Man. Here is The Popcorn Man demonstrating his heavy lifting.


"Helping" Daddy.


Daddy makes Luke his waffle each morning, complete with peanut butter and Canadian maple syrup. Luke likes to eat it all by himself like a Big Boy.


"A a a!" is Luke's monkey sound, and it is also how he tells us he wants to eat a "monkeybanana." On this occasion he actually got to eat his monkeybanana next to a big monkey. What a life! He does love his monkeybananas... On one recent occasion, Luke woke up at 3 AM very hungry, begging for a monkeybanana. Richie gave him one, he ate a few bites, and then he insisted on falling asleep with a hunk of the banana held tightly in the palm of his hand.


Gracie's here! She wins over Luke's heart with sips of her soda.


And she has a gift for making him smile and laugh (even unrelated to soda. Wow.)


Smack!


Playing in a box (probably smacking again).


Tuesday evening, all the "kids" (Sarah, Shiloh, Sam, Richie, Bethany, Gracie, and Luke) picked up the Sorbello parents at the airport after they spent a month hiking across England. We were curious whether Luke would be afraid of them; although he talked about them a lot and enjoyed looking at their pictures, we thought he might be freaked out to see them in person. Boy were we wrong. He was beside himself with happiness to have his Poppy and Grammy back.


Yes, it's the Real Live Grammy!


So then we moved back to Orchard Park and had our work cut out for us moving back in. Look at the piles! The bags! The mess! Oblivious and carefree, Luke played with his plastic Easter eggs on the couch while we bemoaned the piles.


Opening up his eggs, one by one.


Luke has had a lot of fun back at Orchard Park, rediscovering all of his toys. And cupboards. He developed a knack for hiding in tight spaces recently, and surprised us by squeezing into the top shelf of a rather small cupboard.


Still able to eke out a smile.


Welcome home, Mom and Dad! Can we leave Luke with you overnight? :) Bethany's parents got home the evening of the 8th, and our 4th wedding anniversary was the 9th. So we left the evening of the 9th and headed to the Marin area to spend the night and the following day. Soooo grateful for their Lukey services. It was so nice to get a long date together, cool air, and smokeless views! (California, specifically Northern California, has wildfires raging. Davis is filled with smoke. We have had to stay indoors due to the poor air. Not that outside is appealing anyway... it has gotten up to 110 degrees!) When we got to the Embassy Suites that night, Bethany commented, "Whoa! A star!" Haven't seen those in a while.


We got to eat a huge breakfast (Bethany called it "The Art of Being a Pig"), play tennis, and drive a bit northwest of Stinson Beach to a little town called Bolinas. The Bolinas folks do not want their town discovered, made touristy, or invaded by developers, so they are known for always removing any signs officials put up that would point to their location. Richie found it, though, and we enjoyed the quaint town, ocean views, and yummy organic food from the town's restaurant (singular).


We had hoped to pull off for some beautiful views near Stinson...


...but as you can see, it was a wee bit foggy. It was wonderful to don bluejeans and a jacket. What a relief to have such cool weather! And only an hour and a half away! On our way to this beautifully scenic area (ha), we followed a convertible up Highway 1. There were two elderly people in the car, and Richie said wistfully, "Someday I want us to be like them." Bethany looked at him quizzically and said, "Honey, those are two old men." We got a good laugh out of that one. Richie thought the passenger's white hat was white, short, old-lady hair.


The best view we could get of the ocean beneath the fog. We were happy we did not pull a Jack-and-Jill stunt and fall down this hill.

We topped off our 24-hour date with the latest Pixar movie, Wall-E. Richie was enraptured. Bethany tried to stay awake. A highly-recommended film, but it is probably best to watch it when you're not pregnant and fall asleep anytime you are inactive for more than 3 minutes.

Then it was back to the little boy who must be trained.

We got a "good report" on his behavior: He slept from 8 PM until 6 AM, he provided several voluntary "Thank you"s, and he did not lift up too much clothing to find buttocks and bellybuttons. Well done, Lukey! (And THANK YOU, Poppy and Grammy!)