Bye, 08...

Hi, 09!

And now for the last blog entry of the year: nothing profound, just a really tricky math problem that makes us excited about 2009.

January: 01.

Eighth: 08.

Two thousand nine: 09.

01 + 08 = 09

Sweet. The baby has a cool birthday. Should we name him/her after a brilliant mathematician? Albert? Descartes? Euclid?

Only 8 days to go; our paper chain is wimpy!

Now for some shots of the 2007-2008 celebrity, soon to be sharing his throne.


Pre-Christmas: the arrival of Luke's adored Ya-Ya and Toopie (or Topie, depending on his mood). Loving the attention. The sound of "TOOPIE! TOOPIE!" (Luke calling Grandpa Tony to get his attention for some brilliant trick, like jumping onto the couch or sending his train flying down the track) will ring in our ears for a loooong time.


The three (four) of us spent Christmas morning in good ol' Orchard Park, exchanging stockings at 6 AM (awoken early, of course, by our Lukeyrooster). Is making his stocking over half-full with a big bag of pistachios some sort of mean trick? (Actually, he's a pistachio addict and loved them.)


Ah, the satisfaction of checking off a lifelong "to do." Homemade stockings. Personalized so that Richie's R is a map; Bethany's B is her favorite fabric, the one she associates with this new stage of life called mommyhood (the same fabric as the blanket she picked out for Baby Luke); and Luke's L is nothing but a "Choo Chooooo!" Another of Bethany's lifelong "to do"s that she got to check off this season was recording an hour of piano for her parents and making them CDs as a surprise for Christmas. She ended up making several copies of the CDs and sent them to dear family and friends. So satisfying!


After stockings, Luke called his Ya-Ya and Toopie on the phone and told them to come. They did.


They spoiled us with a pile of presents almost bigger than our apartment, Luke's favorite of which was a gigantic (gigantic) fire truck. A real movable ladder! Buttons that make noise! He would pause from playing with his new truck to go open a present, and then ditch it to go back to the fire truck. There was no competition.


Though his one-and-only present from Mom and Dad he didn't think was too bad. A 12-dollar set of tools. It was worth buying just to hear him say the word "tool." It is so deep and gutteral and always makes us laugh.


Did you ever know that tools are very useful for pinching Grandpa's nose?


After the Attack of the Stack (of presents), Toopie and Ya-Ya went home to recover while the remaining Armstrongs napped. Post-nap: taking Fire Truck for a walk.


On a walk. Luke ignored us. We are no competition for a fire truck.


A stop at the playground: contemplating whether the slide is really worth going down. Not one to take anything lightly.


"Walk the line."


Luke is a Swing Stalker. When we go to the "little park" here at Orchard Park, Luke is obsessed with swinging on the low swing, which he can actually get on by himself. If anyone is on the swing already, he stands as close as possible without getting hit and stares at them until they are weirded out and abandon the swing. Works like a charm.


Whee!


On sunny days, one of Luke's and Mama's favorite things to do is to explore a nearby construction site. Dirt. Tractors. Etc. Christmas afternoon was no exception.


Soon enough, it was time to go to Bethany's parents' house for a big, tasty family meal. Luke wanted to bring his tools. Nothing like bringing a hammer to Christmas dinner.


Banging his knee with the hammer, then moaning, "Boom!" He did it over and over again--a sucker for pity.


Then it was time to make Mom and Dad laugh (he loves being goofy to get a laugh out of us). So he decided to hammer his nose.


The little Christmas man.


Arriving to Bethany's parents' house after the long less-than-five-minute drive. TOOLS!


Luke was quite overwhelmed by the hoards of people, and really weirded out by the fact that cousin Shanon was staying in HIS ("his") room! So he welcomed any escape. Poppy was good at making that happen.


Poppy with his big brother, Bob, after Luke helped him pick tin-tin-tins (tangerines).


The day after Christmas, we went with Ya-Ya and Toopie to Sacramento. First stop was at Discovery Park, where Luke stalked some fishermen; tried to follow balls into the dirty, freezing water;


chased after his grandparents, shouting his demanding, "TOOPIE! TOOPIE!";


and even "hid" in a "cave."


Next stop: Old Sac. Boats. Ramps. Trains.


Luke, Richie, Bethany, and Melon.


Bethany, Melon, and Richie.


Then on Saturday it was time for a trip to the ocean! Quality time with Ya-Ya while the men braved the frigid water. They went rock hunting!


Tony's time in the water was cut shorter than he would have liked with a nasty wave thrashing him into the sand (the gruesome side of shorebreaks).


Making a mountain with the bounty from their rock hunting.


Sarah came, too! She got to ride in Toopie and Ya-Ya's car: a very smart decision on her part. Tony bought her a Diet Coke at 8 AM, and on the way back they bought her a candy bar to "tide her over" to In N Out. Had she been in our car, she would have gotten a whole-wheat bagel and water! This sequence of Lukey/Ra-Ra shots is so funny. He is such a little twirp with her! "Ra-Ra! Play! Ball!" He literally picked her up.


"Yessss, she's coming."


Throwing a spiral.


"Ha ha! I beat you!"


"And now we get to do it all over again! This is FUN!!!" (Luke got a twinkle-eyed kick out of it all, and Ra-Ra was a great sport.)


Time to play with the boat. Again, serious business. This is no light-hearted lad.


Lounging on Ya-Ya.


Later that Saturday: Christmas, continued! A package arrived from Tatum (Timothy). Luke still talks about him, but doesn't seem sad about it anymore--just heart-warmed. We recently checked out a book from the library featuring a page called "Friend," which shows two boys playing together. Luke always smiles a warm, contented smile when we come to that page and says, "Tatum!" Typical of toddlers, if Tatum had sent just a curly-ribbon, Luke would have been happy!


Analyzing the loot.


Then on Sunday, more Christmas! Before church, the Sorbello side gathered for feasting and gift exchange. This NutQuacker, a duck who waddles side-to-side to the tune of the Nutcracker Suite, has kept Luke highly entertained. When it mysteriously disappeared yesterday into the Christmas-decoration bin, many, many tears flowed. So back out it came, returned to the hands of heartbroken Luke. It just may be a year-round NutQuacker. And we may pass it back to Siena next year so Shi and Sam can see what havoc the thing causes.


One of the best parts of the Sunday-morning Christmas: Siena!!!


We're all charmed.


Sleepy-eyed... Meeeeery Christmas...


When it was time for presents, Luke spontaneously hopped in Sarah's lap. He knows who loves him!


A little boy's dream: a mower from Ra-Ra AND a tricycle from Poppy and Grammy!!! Poppy's dream, too? But when Luke opened the mower, he was distraught. He has examined the roaming Orchard Park mower and the Toy Library mower enough to know there should be a purple key on the handle. This one didn't have it. He was beside himself, worried and anxious, going around to people saying sadly, "Key! Key!" He quickly got over it when we inserted a substitute key. And as for the shiny, classy, amazing tricycle... When he learns to enjoy pedaling he's not going to stay off the thing!


Off to mow the lawn before church. Anyone need to hire a landscaper?


This week we made another trip to the ocean (Richie's goal was to go two times before Baby. Again, nothing quite like the satisfaction of checking something off your lifelong "to do" list... and ah, how our lists diverge...)

This time we got to tote Dut-Dut along. She was a jolly-good back-seat entertainer. It was the most blissful post-baby trip to the ocean we can remember. All we had to do was to listen to someone else entertain our child: you know, the invented games of making a finger come alive (Luke kept calling, "Foo Tee! Foo Tee!"--in his language, that means MR. FINGER!), pressing different parts of the face to make different noises, "finding" Luke "hiding" in the car seat (as he ducked his head and called out loudly, "DADA! MAMA! DUT-DUT!" to show off--very subtle), singing Freres Jacques with the words "cracker cracker, cracker cracker, cracker CRACKER!" (Gracie made him sing this each time before receiving a cracker). In fact, Luke had so much fun with Dut-Dut that he looked at Mom and said, "Bye! Bye!" As if Mom would jump out of the car on the freeway just to give him alone time with Dut-Dut.

Sure beat our last car ride to the ocean, when Luke got fussy as we passed Dixon. OH boy, loooong ride. Tantrums every time we passed a tractor too fast and he didn't get a good enough look. Wow. He is such a happy little fellow as long as he is getting 100% of the attention on him!

A couple of overheard car conversations:

As Gracie was running low on games, Bethany handed her a toothbrush. (Luke is very into imagination games lately and pretending objects are actually alive.) So she handed the toothbrush to Grace and said without much thought, "Here, maybe the toothbrush can come alive." This is just part of life these days. But Gracie laughed hard. Who else but a mom would hand someone a toothbrush and say it could come alive?

Later Luke pulled up his pant leg and said in his "Look at me I'm showing off!" voice, "DUT-DUT! DUT-DUT!" Gracie responded appropriately: "Oh, is that your knee?" Luke, enthusiastically and proudly: "YEAH!" Gracie: "Are you trying to get fresh with me?" Luke: "Yeah."

So in the picture above, the Auntie Dut-Dut gives the little Luke a farewell kiss before venturing into the waves.


"Where have all my people gone?"


"DADDY!!!"


"Here I am!"


Richie came in often to say hi and play with Luke; Luke charged at him with his bucket and shovel, demanding, "Play! Play!"


Gracie would come in occasionally, too. The surf was amazing that day! Of course, Grace is amazing too...


There was something we liked about this picture. The contrast of man-boy profiles? The blur? The dimple on Luke's chin?


Dut-Dut and Lukey sharing a moment of peace before Luke shouted out his classic, demanding, loud, "DUT DUT!" and begged her to run... so they ran... and ran... and ran... (stopping occasionally at a log, which they would hop on; and Luke, driftwood (i.e., steering wheel) in hand, would drive).


Making the most of the end of a great, long ride.


Luke performed many tackle-hugs on his Dut-Dut, trying desperately to disturb Dut-Dut and Mommy's conversation and refocus the attention to where it belonged, on himself.


Mama with The Boy.


"Sheesh, Mom, do you really have to kiss me in public?"


"Hmmm, where are my toes?"


The four (plus Melon) of us before departing, after a fun-and-sun-filled morning at Pacifica.


Happy New Year! Ahhh!