Ridge Hunt 2010

This morning was our church's annual Easter egg hunt. We have loved going every year since Luke was nine months old. There's always a petting zoo, a firetruck, puppet shows, bounce houses, and, of course, the Easter egg hunt.

I'm not sure what was up with Luke, but everything was freaking him out. At the beginning of the egg hunt, he just clung to me and refused to pick up any eggs. He did this until Nate showed him that there were treats inside the egg. THAT got him to pick up the eggs. At first, he would try to open each egg as soon as he picked it up. Then he started shaking the eggs and if he didn't hear anything - since some of the eggs were stuffed with stickers - he would throw it back down.

After the egg hunt, Luke and Nate hit the petting zoo and then attempted the bounce houses. Luke insisted that he wanted to go in each one, but then we would get up to the entrance and he would panic. Somehow Nate got him on the small slide, but that was it. After a few more attempts, we told him no more bounce house and he threw a fit...so we left. Again, I don't know what his deal was.

Here are some pics from the morning:

Waiting to hunt eggs with his friend Natalia


Finally getting the hang of it






Enjoying some post-egg hunt spoils with friend Sarah




Giving hugs


The petting zoo








The only trip down the slide

Polar Bear Baseball

This afternoon Nate called to let me know that his little brother's high school baseball team was playing in a nearby town and that he was going to be pitching, so we decided to go to the game. It was a source of confusion for Luke, who has been repeating "Sam not play basketball anymore. Sam play baseball. Jake play basketball," since December. He had gone to watch a Polar Bear basketball game and couldn't figure out why Sam wasn't playing anymore (he graduated last year and now plays baseball for Navarro College.) Well the fact that Jake is now playing baseball just blew Luke's mind. Now he's repeating "Jake play football, basketball, and baseball. Sam just play baseball." (We won't tell him that Jake also plays tennis and runs track and does who knows what other sports, too. His head might explode.)

Anyway...it was extremely windy, which made it really cold, but Luke had a blast watching the game and then running around and playing with his cousins. He ended up spending most of his time playing with his second (or third? I'm not sure) cousin, Madison. She was the flower girl at our wedding...and she's now 12 and really great with kids. He looked at her with such admiration, it was adorable. He talked the whole way home about playing with Madison.

A few pics from the game:

Luke and his "sisters"

Luke and I have been picking up my friend's girls from school since the school year started back in August. Since we spend almost every weekday afternoon with the girls, a very special bond has formed between them and Luke. He loves Ashley and Raylee, and they love him right back. They really are the older sisters he'll never have!

This afternoon I treated the kids to Slurpees and time at the park to celebrate it being Friday. I just had to get a picture of Luke and the girls together.

Luke Rides His Tricycle

Last Wednesday, March 17, Luke finally figured out how to ride his tricycle by himself. It came out of nowhere - he just jumped on and started pedaling. Before then, he would only move the pedals backwards and just sit still unless one of us was pushing him. Now we just have to work on steering.

Butterfly House

My mom took Luke and me to the Texas Discovery Gardens at Fair Park today. Luke loves going to see all the butterflies in the butterfly house. I thought he was so adorable pointing out all the butterflies to us. He waved at them, he laughed at them, he followed them around trying to convince one of them to land on his finger. It was very, very cute.

Luke and Mammie.


Looking at the butterflies emerging from the chrysalis(es? I don't know the plural form of chrysalis!)


Sweet boy.


Pointing to a butterfly as it starts to fly away.


Watching a butterfly eat some pineapple. He found that hilarious.


Pointing out an orange butterfly.


Watching a butterfly.


This pic is blurry, but I love his face.


While we were there, one of the workers brought out all of the butterflies that we saw hatching earlier to release them. It was so cool.


Luke and Mommy


Some of the different butterflies:








When we left Fair Park, we had lunch with my dad and then headed back to my parents house to pick up some things before we went home. Luke was so happy when we pulled in the driveway and Oreo was waiting for us.

I Not A Baby Anymore

A conversation between Luke and me from this morning:

Luke: "Mommy, what is this?"
Mommy: "I don't know, baby."
Luke: "Why you call me baby? I not a baby anymore."
Mommy: "I know. It's a pet name."
Luke: "A pet name?"
Mommy: "A term of endearment."
Luke: "A term of endearment?"
Mommy: "Yes. What will I call you if I don't call you baby?"
Luke: "You call me Luke."

How You Know Luke is Sick

Instead of playing in his playroom, he makes his own bed:


And he falls asleep in my arms:


The first picture was taken on Friday morning. It should have been my first clue that something wasn't quite right with him. He and Lily were playing in the playroom like they do every morning, and when I went in to check on him, I found that he had taken his pillow and blankie and made his own bed. When I asked him why he laid down on the table, he told me that he wanted to watch the birds. (He and Nate built a bird feeder that is in our front flower bed and he will sit and watch birds for hours!)

About an hour after that picture was taken, I was getting him dressed to run some errands and go to the mall to ride the carousel with our friends Michelle and Sarah. As I took his shirt off, I noticed that his back felt really hot so I took his temp and it was 101.4. Of course, this was after I told him we were going to ride the carousel. All morning he tried to convince me that he wasn't sick and that he could go ride the carousel.

By Friday afternoon he had cratered and his temp was up to 104...and it hasn't been below 101 since Friday morning. When he has Motrin in his system, then he acts normal but once it starts wearing off, he goes downhill FAST.

The second picture was taken this evening. He had seemed a lot better this afternoon after a three hour nap. Although he still had a 101 temp, we let him go out in the backyard for a little fresh air. He enjoyed being outside, but once we got inside it took about 10 minutes before he crashed. We managed to get him to shower, get dressed, and brush his teeth before a full fledged melt down that led to us snuggling on the couch. Luke likes to snuggle - but only for a few minutes at a time. And I can't remember the last time he went to sleep in my arms.

Needless to say, I'll be calling the pediatrician first thing in the morning. At this point I'm not sure if he just has a virus that needs to run its course or if he has an ear infection...but I do know that after almost three days of running fever, I need to get him checked out by a doctor.

Monday Update
Luke has an ear infection and possible strep throat. We saw the PA at his pedi's office and she said that his throat was red and his tonsils were swollen so we needed to swab for strep. But then she checked his ears and found that his right ear was infected, so she recommended not doing the strep test since he needed to be on antibiotics anyway for the ear infection. Since there would be no further course of action if he had strep, I opted to not put him through the strep test. So he's on Omnicef for the next 10 days.

The Pledge of Allegiance

While eating dinner tonight, Luke instructed Nate and me to stand up and put our hands over our hearts. He proceeded to say the beginning of the Pledge of Allegiance. He got all nervous, though; all we heard was "pledge allegiance" followed by a bunch of babble.

Later tonight, Nate and Luke were playing in the playroom when they called me in. Luke ended up reciting the entire Pledge - and he did awesome! We were so impressed. I had to get it on video. Of course, he got all fidgety once the camera was turned on, but you can still hear the words (for the most part).

L-U-K-E

Luke spells his name and says Luke with an "L" sound...a recent accomplishment for him. Prior to last week, he said his name like "Wuke". Now you can tell its really "Luke"!

See for yourself: