Don't You Love How They Squat All The Time?

Sippy Cup

For the last couple of days, Lucas has been playing with the sippy cup you see below. It doesn't have water in it; in fact, it hasn't been used in months. He's just been hanging on to it for most of the day (even while he bathes), cradling it under his arm like a football or pretending to drink out of it. It's especially funny watching him try to juggle holding the cup together with his blankie and sometimes Curious George.

You might also be able to make out some minor scratches on his red nose and forehead (it's not spaghetti sauce)... Remember that tree at the park that Lucas so loves? Earlier this day he took a nose dive underneath it and ended up literally eating dirt. After I picked him up from the rocky patch, he immediately perked up upon seeing a city bus drive by. Yea for short attention spans!

Like Our New Look?

No, you didn't stumble upon the wrong weblog... Now that warmer weather is slowly creeping up on us here in NYC, we thought we'd change our background to reflect how light and Spring-y we're beginning to feel these days. (We'll probably return to our original template in a few months, so enjoy for now!)

In the spirit of that joy, we're posting a picture of Lucas having a raucous time with our downstairs neighbor and landlord's daughter Kaleope before bedtime (just the kind of exciting activity that makes getting to sleep oh-so-easy to an already resistant Lucas).

'To Blathe...'

Doesn't he look here like Miracle Max of The Princess Bride?!

Spring Is In The Air

Here's Lucas as we were hanging out at our local library yesterday:

At first he was fascinated by the fun carpet, as if it were the first time he'd seen it (even though he knows the library as well as any one of our other haunts):

Then he was no longer in the mood for sitting and reading, as you can see by the following book dropping experiments that I didn't allow to last as long as he would have preferred:

It was just as well, as it was too beautiful and warm outside to be staying indoors, so we took a much longer afternoon walk than usual. One of the best things about living in a neighborhood with such a high Middle Eastern population is the great food, so we sat on a stoop eating a hummus sandwich and facing the street so that Lucas could see his favorite buses and commercial trucks roll by. Here he is wanting to share some of his food with you:

Notice that the straps are loose because he's no longer wearing a coat to fill in the space. Yea for Spring!

The Boys

The Pamper-ed Chef

His secret ingredient is soy sauce... and just a touch of duck sauce.

Beads

Every moment with Lucas gets cuter and cuter. It's just a matter of whether or not the camera is close by to catch one... like this little game below. In the first shot you see more squeaky ooh's and aah's from Lucas as he was impressed with each necklace I kept pulling out of the drawer for him to play with. He watched me put one on, and though he didn't like for them to be put on for him, he then learned how things worked and began draping the beads over his own shoulders and neck as best he could.

Blankie vs. Monkey?

A few months ago we gave a monetary donation to PBS, and in return they sent us a plush doll of Curious George the monkey to say thanks. We thought, "Just what we need. More junk for Lucas."

Lucky for us, monkeys don't hang out on the street because Lucas loves Curious George and monkeys in general; our daily errand runs are getting less and less productive because of all of the trucks and buses Lucas requires us to stop and watch or follow...

Then today Lucas discovered the stuffed monkey that we had put away and he didn't let go for hours! He hugged George repeatedly, ooh-ed and aah-ed, and gave him kisses (in the usual way: Lucas's nose to the other person's mouth), all the while still holding on to blankie. Sometimes Lucas tried to gather them both up together against his chest but inevitably kept dropping one or the other. Finally he found his groove and held blankie in one arm with George in the opposite hand.

Will Curious George become Lucas's new best friend? Will blankie get booted? Maybe, maybe not. Stay tuned...

No Coat Required!

We've had a lovely taste of Spring these last couple of days, and though it seems like it has come too soon, we won't deny how much we're enjoying the warmer weather. This means off to the park every afternoon, where our little Nature Boy makes a b-line for, of all things, one of the few trees around (one of those that sort of reminds you of that children's book which describes a tree seemingly growing out of concrete and despite its unfriendly environment...). For a while he'll play in the little patch of dirt, then touches or hugs the tree, even though there are swings and jungle gyms and slides and lots of interesting big kids to look at. Our boy.

Eventually Lucas decides he's ready for the swings, and off we go. Yesterday he noticed that there was a rhythm to the swinging and so he began singing and inventing some hand signs to go with the motions. I thought it was so fun, so that's what you're seeing in the last photo below.

He Always Wants A Taste Of What We're Eating...

(...even if it's the exact same thing he has on his plate.)

Playgroup Has The Best Toys

Going Nuts

Things are chugging along in the A-S household as our happy boy grows bigger and sillier each day. During the last couple of weeks, Lucas has added a few more words to his repertoire, has made this new activity a regular part of his bedtime routine, has cut another molar, has begun to insist on hearing this song several times a day (with the volume turned high and requiring that all present dance along with him), has experimented with new and exciting foods, and has been feeling Spring Fever along with Mami and Papi. We're loving this age!

On one particularly frigid day I decided to skip our usual morning walk, but of course Lucas didn't like that plan, so I ended up slightly desperate for any new activity to occupy our time. I grabbed a bag of unshelled nuts, and Lucas enjoyed long periods of feeling the unique textures and sorting them from one container to another. We now do this a few times a day or whenever he spots the container and laughs and points for one of us to open the lid. The cutest part is when I sometimes count as he transfers each nut from one box to another and he echoes "eh... eh... eh..." as if counting along with me. Check it out:

It Still Gets Him Every Time

Where's Lucas...?

There he is!

Two Of My Favorite Things

1. In the first picture you see Lucas in the midst of wunderball or whirling ballvish. He sits in this corner waiting to pounce. Then his Mama or Papi roll and bounce balls to him as he in turn catches them and rolls them back out. He prefers to have at least two balls going and can handle up to four. When there are four, he is constantly spinning and working hard enough to sweat and cause his father to sweat. It should be made known that he is quite content to do this non-stop for 30 minutes. The second shot above is a break in the action in which he subtlely tries to convey his distaste for Papi upsetting his rhythm.

2. My off days are Wednesdays and Saturdays. One of the few really treasured gifts we can give an exhausted Mama is a little bit of sleep-in time. It became apparent to me that this is when Man Training should occur in an intense format. I had initially planned to teach him the stereotypical fundamentals of Man World so that he doesn't get beat up at preschool (i.e., farting, burping, selective listening, etc). Much to my surprise and, I must sheepishly admit, pride, the boy already has those skills down. Actually, he could teach me a thing or two in a continuing education class of sorts.

So in place of that training we have trash time. My offdays happen to coincide with trash days. These trucks come by between 6:30-8am. On Wednesday we see two trucks and on Saturdays we see four trucks. One truck for each side of the street and on Saturday there are bonus recycling trucks as well. On a typical Saturday morning Lucas and I will be in the midst of some intense play, and then all of the sudden he starts flapping his arms like a duck and implores that he get picked up. We go to the porch window and try to wait patiently for the trash truck his sonic ears picked up a 1/2 block away. Then we delightedly watch the sanitation workers, and let the trucks bedazzle us with all of their entrancing lights and mechanisms.

Unfortunately, there is no picture of this moment because Mama is asleep, I am holding Lucas up to the window, and Lucas is NOT to be disturbed with taking a picture while the trucks are passing.

Balls and trucks. . . . I guess he was born all boy. Apparently, Man Training is not necessary with this one.

That Can't Be Comfortable...

He's also lying on top of a couple of books.

Family Crib?

We talk all the time about how much we miss sleeping with Lucas and all the snuggling that came with it. He co-slept with us until around 8 months or so, when bed crawling became a new sport and made it more difficult for us to fully relax. We brought in the crib, expecting the transition to take weeks, but Lucas loved his new place right away and never looked back.

Today we decided that Mami would pay Lucas a special visit when he awoke from his nap. It was a pretty cozy place! Here's how he reacted:

At Our Front Door...

...this is what you'll see when you look down. Lucas has huge feet; he's already wearing sizes usually worn by 2-year olds!