Just some pictures.

When Grandma visited from Winnipeg, she brought the "Explorer" that Richie played on as a toddler! Aunt Susan remembers Richie wildly racing the little bus down hills, nearly crashing into people, then swerving away at the last second. Tricky, tricky. Luke loves his "new" bus, says it is Dada's, and keeps it inside, lest Orchard Park friends nab it from him!


Luke's "new" bus was not actually Richie's original one. This is the first one Richie got, for either his first Christmas or first birthday (not that those two dates are very far apart) (let's hear it for early-January babies). But then it was defective, so his dad traded it in for the newer version, which Richie still rode around like crazy, and which is the one Luke now has.


Here's Richie at about the age Luke is now, on his "Explorer"!


Luke also puts his calcium gummies in the driver's seat of his bus nearly every morning. We give him his gummies, he tells us "Two!" because that's how many he always gets, and then he takes up to 15 minutes to eat them. He knows they are precious. He puts them in his bus and gives them a tour of the apartment, licks them, holds them tightly while we read to him... anything but make them disappear!


A cute shot of Luke with his Auntie Sam ("TAM!!!") when she babysat him for Mommy's dentist appointment.


For Sam's baby shower in the Bay Area, Luke, his daddy, and his poppy were all ditched for the day, so they took off to Old Sac and visited the train museum. They all came back with reports of tremendous fun. When Luke woke up from his nap and saw Mommy, he immediately used his VERY BIG voice to tell her about the VERY BIG steam engine. He kept asking for the following three or four days to go back to the train museum. So we went to the library and checked out a train book instead.


Soooo big!


Picnic with the Yafrates. Fighting over crackers.


"See, buddy, when we fight, we BOTH miss out!"


Next fight: Both closing in on friend Nora's car.


Timothy got there first, but Luke wasn't going to let him enjoy it alone. We got the scene on videotape: Timothy pushing Luke into the steering wheel and squawking at his parents for help; Luke not budging; Nick pulling the boys out; Luke crying; Timothy crying; parents laughing.


It is a rare moment when Luke entertains himself. He almost always insists on someone playing with him, or at least watching him so he gets due attention. But there was once this week when Luke played for a while in his room alone. Then Bethany heard him call, "Ny ny!" Again. Again. Finally, "NY NYYYYYYYY" at the top of his lungs. Maybe, just maybe, he wanted her attention. So she went into his room and spotted Luke rocking himself wildly in the rocking chair with a book. Putting himself to "ny ny." (Doesn't look too sleepy though, does he?)


The other night at dinner, Richie showed Luke how to do a "thumbs up." Luke thought it was hilariously funny.


So Luke copied Daddy and did a "thumbs up" too. Only Luke's version is with his pointer fingers. He gets so happy lifting those pointers proudly in the air!