Overheard.

"Luke, please do not stick the pen up your nose."

"No, Luke, it's time to eat breakfast, not to play with scissors."

"Are you pooping in the closet?"
(Luke used to find something to lean on, and stand there, leaning, doing his job; now he wants absolute privacy, so tells us "bye-bye!" and finds somewhere to hide.)

Richie: "Oh, you want to see my bellybutton?"
Luke: "Yeah."

"Please don't draw on yourself, Lukey. No, don't draw on the desk either. Luke, don't draw on the floor."

"He doesn't pee on the couch anymore."
"ANYMORE?!"

Richie: Are you a boy?
Luke, in a sing-song, high-pitched, cruising-upward voice: Noooooo...
Bethany: Then what are you?
Luke, in a deep, confident voice: MAN.
Richie: Yeah, a little man.
Luke, in a very deep voice (well, it's all relative): BIG ONE!!!

"Son, I want to show you something. Look at this nail. Now look at this nail. What's the difference? This finger has no nail. You can't jab things into it, Son. It needs to heal."

"Oh, sweetie, you can't have that bus. It's part of the picture. It can't come alive." (We need to teach Luke the difference between 2 and 3 dimensions. Book illustrations are so vivid to him, that he points to something he wants in a book and begs, "PEESE! PEESE! PEESE!" Continually, we explain that if it is in a book, he can't hold it in his hands, and it can't come alive. A tough reality to come to grips with.

As Bethany and Richie had a dinner date at Steve's pizza, Bethany walked behind a couple in line, and the man whispered to the woman in an urgent caution:
"Watch out, there's a pregnant lady behind you!"
(YIKES! It doesn't get much scarier than that.) (We laughed later, then wondered: What on earth did he mean? Watch out for those raging pregnant hormones, she might knock you out? Watch out, her belly might fall off if you accidentally brush against it? Watch out, it's contagious?)

"Carpe poopem!"
(When Luke goes into hiding to do his morning deed, it is the only uninterrupted morning conversation we get that day. So this week when Luke told us "bye-bye" and shut himself in his room, Richie got very happy, hugged Bethany, and exclaimed this profound Latin phrase.)

Visiting Davis Lumber and all the animals, Bethany and Luke particularly enjoyed looking at the rabbits ("hop-hops"). Luke's imagination ran wild:
Bethany: "Let's go see the hop-hops again! Do you remember what color they are?"
Luke: "GEEN!" (GREEN!)

Bethany, regarding Luke, who looked exceptionally trendy and cute one day:
"Sometimes I feel like he's cooler than I am."
Richie:
"I came to that realization a long, long time ago."

So now for pictures of the Cool Guy.


Major cool factor here. Richie and Poppy were responsible for making a tower using every one of the blocks. Luke was told he was allowed to go knock it down. And this is how excited he got...


But before the Destruction, a photo of The Manly Tower Builders.


More towers. A little more boy than his daddy and poppy, a little less man, and a little less impressive of a tower. But still cool.


A few sweet shots Grammy took of her two grand"babies."


The proud Big Cousin!


Siena enjoys smiling, cooing, grunting, and sticking out her tongue. Luke rediscovered the joys of sticking out his tongue, too, to imitate his favorite girl.


Of course every Siena session must end with body-poking. Luke is now pretty good at not attacking the eyeballs. Hopefully Siena doesn't mind ear jabs.


Beautiful shot of our gorgeous girl.


In some pictures, Bethany doesn't look too pregnant; but in others, she looks gigantic. This one made us laugh. There's the belly, alright. She was recently told (a few times, actually, by different people): "You're HUGE!" Response: "Is that supposed to be a compliment?" :) Last pregnancy she was told she looked like an egg. Not sure which is more flattering. Maybe we should combine the two: She looks like a huge egg. Then the other day she went to sit on her favorite man's lap, and saw him firmly bracing himself first. They burst into laughter. Caught. Another time, he grunted as she plopped on his lap. "Am I really that enormous?" Again, much laughter.


Rain! Boots! (LOVES any excuse to wear his rainboots.) Garbage-bag poncho! (Realized later: a very bad idea to get him used to putting plastic bags over his head.)


Just loungin' on Sarah.


Sarah turned 32 on November 14, and we realized that nothing is about the adults anymore. When there are kids around, they steal the show. Especially when their uncles teach them belly tricks. (Shiloh taught Luke how to push out and suck in his belly, rapidly, over and over again.)


What does it feel like to suck in a belly? Bethany wonders.


Grammy with her munchkins.



Shiloh turned 30 last month! Sam prepared a fine, fine dinner and invited the family over; Luke picked Sarah's lap as the Lap of Choice that evening.


Luke's first bus ride! We had secret Christmas errands to work on, so Poppy and Grammy watched Luke on a Friday morning, and Poppy took Luke to downtown Davis on a big red Unitrans bus! It is reported that Luke was silent and scared at first, but then wanted to sing "Wheels on the Bus." Now whenever he sees a bus (all day, every day) he begs to go on it. (Thanks, Poppy.)


The Boys! "Playing" "ping-pong" "together."


Scrubbing the porch together. We realized this week that kids have no reason to think chores aren't fun. At the park, Bethany told Luke she needed to go home and wash dishes, and he got all excited and exclaimed, "YEAH!!!"--like it was some thrilling thing, worth leaving the park for. So what if we always phrase chores as wonderful activities--when will he think they're not fun? Raking? Sweeping? Vacuuming? Dishes? Scrubbing? Wiping the floor? He loves it all...


What happens when Daddy makes a goat-yogurt-with-blueberries-and-broccoli smoothie, and gives it to Luke in a cup? This.


The two damaged Armstrong nails. Bethany's is the black one (Pyrex incident). Luke's is the missing one (door incident). People have asked Luke how his finger went "boom," and he says, "DADA!" Poor Richie gets the blame. In reality, Luke did it all by himself, as we both watched; but Richie is the one to apply Neosporin and Band-Aids and to otherwise take care of the nail, so he gets to be the Criminal.


Confession: Sometimes it is fun to dress up your kids like you are still six years old, they are your babydolls, and you are playing "house." Poor things. For Thanksgiving, Bethany pulled a little blazer out of the closet. She has had it hiding in there for over a year, looking for an excuse to put it on her handsome little man. He looked so cute, but almost comical, like we were playing a joke. I mean, what 1-year-old wears a blazer, for crying out loud.


"Ha, ha, very funny Mom."


The Boys find the playhouse! Bethany's dad and Uncle Richard built this in a circle of huge redwoods in the back corner of the Sorbellos' yard, back in 1985 or so. Gracie and Bethany would spend their summers in the playhouse, emerging only to drink water out of a hose or to request a delivery by Mom of macaroni and cheese. Haley and Bethany even had a full-functioning restaurant in that place. "The Girls' Place" was the name of it, by the way. Fine, fine food, served in plastic mugs with dried toads at the bottoms of them. Those days long gone, a new generation is discovering the Glories of the Playhouse... (But it needs some major cleanup. It smells like dirt. And who knows where all those spiders are hiding... Luckily, the boys emerged unscathed.)


Upon emerging from the playhouse, because Bethany couldn't stand the smell of the dirt anymore, the boys quickly found something else to fascinate them. Ants. They smashed them. (What is it with boys and destruction?)


The Thanksgiving Wrecking Crew, taking apart the birdbath.


And a Thanksgiving shot of Lukey with his Lilo.


And the three of us Armstrongs. Well, four.


No Thanksgiving is complete without Bethany's dad pulling out a platter of grilled "Mystery Meat." Bethany has never tried it. The idea of it makes her want to hurl. Richie is always excited about it, however. Shiloh ponders, "Hmm, and what animal could it be this year?" Moose, the first year. This go-round: bison.


Always begging for one-on-one attention, Luke lured Poppy away from his pool game to read him a book of poetry.


Then Luke joined Lilo to watch the men do their pool thing.


The day after Thanksgiving: must play games. Luke is of immense help to Grammy in Boggle.


The days of uninterrupted games are gone, however. Luke begs for someone--anyone--(anyone besides his parents)--to go play toys. And Siena takes up half the game table, grunting as she sleeps.


At least she is a good sleeper. Splat.


Our favorite picture of Siena ever.


Armstrong tradition: Thanksgiving weekend trip to the Arboretum. Struttin' his stuff.


Running with Daddy.


Rolling with Daddy.


Lounging with Daddy.


Running down the hill as fast as he can away from Daddy.


Leaves with Daddy.


"NO DA DUM!!!"


"DUCK!" When Luke first learned his name, it was KKKKK. Then it turned into DUCK. Now, he can say the L sound, and calls himself LOOP! But out of instinct, usually DUCK still comes out. And he is reaching that fun two-year-old phase of wanting to do everything all by himself. So if we do something he wanted to do, he will shout angrily and frustratedly at us: "DUCK!" (i.e., I wanted to do it!!!")


Ahhh.


But oh yeah, we have a kid. Back to him. He discovered a dirt clod and was quite pleased with it.


"Um, Mom, I just put it in my mouth."


Despite having fun with dirt, and eating it, Luke does have a side of him that loves to be clean. Sometimes dirt upsets him. Case in point. Here he is, in the middle of saying, "DIRT! DIRT!" It can be rather traumatizing, actually.


Luke is good at inventing games. Here he hides (wow, what a hideout), in preparation for running up the hill as fast as he can and tackling his eight-months-pregnant mommy. What fun.


Here he comes...


Gotcha!


"If you tackle me I at least get to get a little lovin' out of the deal..." (Cheeks. Smash.)


Not unlike his father, Luke is king of finding something quickly to distract everyone from an awkward situation. (Yes, cuddling with Mama, to a boy, probably counts as awkward.)


And the end of our evening at the Arboretum. We had to ride back on our bikes before it got too dark (which happens so early now). This Happy Face photo was taken before the great Sad Face occurred, as we broke the news to Luke that he had to get back in the bike trailer... (The horror.)


Bethany's cousin, Shanon, joined the Davis Sorbello clans for a few days over Thanksgiving, and it was so good to see her. Luke quickly developed a crush on her; and when she came over for dinner, all he could do was stare at her in admiration. Of course, he also monitored her plate and kept proclaiming her "DONE!" so she would go play with him. Finally, she caved in and did it: entered his room, heard him tell Mom and Dad "bye-bye!", and read the book he picked out special just for her. She was probably glad it was not his thickest-book-in-the-shelf Baby Bible, the quick one he pulled on Nick!


Post-Thanksgiving week: It is getting cold! High of 52 today, to be exact. Our little bundled boy, "taking a picture" of Mom, telling her to say "cheese!" Worked great. As he told her to say "cheese," she snapped a picture of him!


Luke really has a hot-chocolate craving these days (warmed-up milk, really; but he calls it "hot choc" or something like that). He tried to scoop it up recently with his dirty shovel. Interception successful.


"Luke, say cheese!" (Oh, dear, not the best face.)


Natural smiles are always better. Tickle, tickle!


The "hot-chocolate" (milk) mustache! Or shall it be called a Fu Manchu?


Upset because of the "dirt! dirt!" (milk) on his hands. "Keen! Keen!" (Paper towel please, I want to clean it up!)


Happyman.


Smirk...


The biggest laughs out of Luke these days are in response to his mom's blowing her nose and then honking. His attempts to imitate her look like this.

And with a good "honk, honk," we say goodbye. 'Til next time...