Drama King?

Having a three year old girl I know the meaning of “drama queen”.  She often takes things way out of proportion.  For example, right now she is throwing a HUGE fit…I’m not sure “fit” is the appropriate term.  It is more like a sporadic crying.  She is crying loud and laying on the floor…then she’s quiet…then she’s at it again!  I keep asking her what’s wrong.  Does anything hurt?  Are you making a dirty diaper (sometimes that’s the issue)?  Then more specific…does your hand hurt?  Your nose?  Your feet?  Still all I get is a dramatic cry! 

I say that…and now she’s quiet again…..take that back…now she’s crying! 

Anyway..the point I’m trying to make is that I’m used to a little drama from my little girl.  Although I’m not used to it from my little man.  Luke is usually upset when there’s a reason, like he fell down…or he wants more juice or food.  It’s pretty basic.  With our little girl…who knows!

Back to Luke…he decided to show his “drama king” status on our trip out to Baltimore to Johns Hopkins to see a new doctor.  It was a 14 hour trip, so we split it up into two days.  Even then we are usually “hard pressed” to get to our destination in a 7 hour trip and still have “decent” kids.  If you’ve been reading this blog a while, you know that Luke is not the best traveler.  He won’t sleep in the car and because he can’t feed himself…it makes it a challenge to try and feed him on the road.

All that said, Luke did really good on this trip…until the very last day.  He made it the two days out East, the day in Baltimore and the first day back.  But by the second and last day of travel home Luke had reached is “quota” of “nice guy”.  He was ready to be home!  (Much like his daddy)

We actually did ok, a little grumpy, but not too bad…until we were about 2 hours out.  He started a dramatic melt down…by an hour out it was a true “drama”.  My husband and I couldn’t help but laugh even though his cries were almost constant.

There was a cooler between the kids car seats, and throughout the trip the kids would push the handle back and forth and play with it.  When Luke started his “drama” he was playing with this cooler handle all on his own. 

Luke would reach over, grab the handle, and push the handle as far away as possible.  Then he would pull the handle back toward him…followed soon by him inserting his arm through the handle and pull back.  The result was Luke’s wrist stuck between he cooler and the underside part of the handle.  He would cry out at this point…and continue to cry until I “rescued” him from the “evil” cooler.  Once he was freed he stopped crying…then proceeded to do it all over again.  It was a constant “drama” the rest of the way home! 

I caught a great video on the iPad…only it is upside down and I can’t figure out how to change that!  So I’m going to share a great pic I also took of this “drama”.  The picture tells it all.

"Scoot Scoot Boogie"

Luke continues to show a little more independence.  Seems like every time I get used to the way Luke does things…he decides to switch it up on me.  “No mom…let’s do it this way this time!”

Luke’s latest “escapade” has left me singing “Scoot Scoot boogie”…I’m not even sure that’s the name of the country song. But, it’s the only part of it that sticks out in my mind…I can’t remember any more of the lyrics…I can even hear the “Scoot Scoot BOOOGGGIIIEEE”  all drawn out in the finest “country draw”.  Feel free to give me a hard time about this.  Anyone who knows me, knows that it is just like me not to know the whole thing or even who sings it!

Anyway…back to what Luke was up to….I’ve shared how Luke has taken off on the stairs and gotten all the way to the top by himself, seems he wants to be even more independent!  About a month ago our daughter decided she didn’t want to walk down the stairs…but scoot down them instead.  Not one to be “outdone” …Luke immediately let go one hand from the stair railing (up to this point we had been descending the stairs sideways using both hands on the rail), and squatted till he sat.  Mom took the “hint” and started to help him scoot down the stairs.  He continued getting better at this “skill”.

Then just the other day, I decided to go to the bottom of the stairs and just encourage him down.  Sure enough, he went the whole way!  Sometimes it’s hard not to do “too much” for our little man….but I stepped back …and look what happened!  Luke can do one more thing on his own!  Way to “Scoot Scoot Boogie” my man!

Where Oh Where?

Ok, so we have these easy shoes for our daughter to put on…pink Crocks.  They've been so great because she can simply put them on and take them off on her own.  So while I wrestle with Luke and his shoes, as he is throwing them across the room…while I am trying to put them on his feet, our daughter can simply sit by us and put on her shoes!

Yesterday, even though it was a little chilly out, I told our daughter to go find her “pink shoes”…they aren't the only shoes she has that have pink…but that’s what we call them.  Anyway…I tell her to go get them on and she keeps saying “where mommy where…where pink shoes mommy?”  I kept telling her places to look…all while wrestling with Luke to put his shoes, braces and shoes on.  When we were done, I joined the search…and the pink shoes were nowhere to be seen.  Although I knew I saw them very recently…I just couldn't remember where.

Out of time, I finally grabbed our daughter’s tennis shoes and made her put those on instead…even though they aren't her favorite “pink shoes”.

We went through our day with the usual routine…and never found the “pink shoes”. 

Then, last night I got home real late (around 11pm) and was putting away some groceries.  I pulled out the shelf in the pantry to put canned goods on…and low and behold there were the “pink shoes”!!!  “Someone” decided to put them away on the shelf with the food….very nicely I might add.

Oh…it was so funny to see them just sitting there..lined up and so “innocent”.  That silly Luke has been playing with the pantry a lot lately…I should of known...he would hide something in there.  After all that’s his favorite thing to do…next to opening and shutting doors.

Little Conductor

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you know that Luke LOVES music.  It was the only thing to calm him when he was little and the songs that ALWAYS worked were written by Randy Travis.  Everyone laughs at that…but it is so true.  We've had vacations where we forgot the Randy Travis CD and had to go to the nearest Wal-mart and hunt the music section for Randy Travis. 

This past Friday there was a concert at Illinois State University for kids with Special Needs.  It was wonderful.  It was well thought out, from assigning each child a “concert buddy” to providing special shakers that attach to the fingers. 

Before the concert started they had various students with their instruments for the kids to come to and “explore”.  Luke really liked the trumpet and helped make a note or two.  He wasn't really sure about the guitar, but sister sure liked it.  She got to strum it with a pick.

Then the concert started, at first Luke just sat and stared at the band and lifted his eyebrows at each high note or when the band got especially loud.  When we tried the shaker with him that attaches to the fingers, he found a way to take it off and throw it….of course.  It was wonderful though seeing the music through his eyes that night.By the last few songs Luke was refusing to sit and standing while holding on to the chair in front he would point and move a hand towards the band.  Then I grabbed his hips and he started swinging around both hands, like he was conducting the band. If you'd like to see him "conduct" check out the video below the pics.

Follow the leader?

I’m not sure what most siblings do when they play together.  I know some chase each other around and that most siblings fight over toys.  Well Luke and our daughter definitely fight over toys and sometimes they chase each other.  Although the “chasing” is more like our daughter running in circles with Luke crawling in one direction…like he is trying to catch up….then when he is “lapped” he decides to just sit still and laugh at his sister when she continues running in circles. 

The other day I saw a unique “game” they were playing.  I’m not even sure it was a “game”….but was funny to watch.  I was in the kitchen and our daughter was saying “come on brober” and they were both laughing.  So I look and what do I see?  Our daughter has a hold of Luke’s shirt and Luke is crawling beside her.  Our daughter was pull/dragging Luke around…reminded me of someone walking a great big dog or something. 

I’m not sure if she was trying to play some kind of “follow the leader” or what.  The kids have sure been creative in their playing lately.  (7-27-12)

Even more miracles

God continues to amaze me through Luke.  As I’ve mentioned in the past, every “small” milestone for “average” kids….is a HUGE milestone for a child like Luke.  Each time he meets one of those milestone markers I am reminded how blessed we are to have a special child like Luke, who continues to get stronger and meet those milestones.  It may take him longer…but he is meeting them!

Some may think this the things I’m about to mention are not miracles…but anyone who has gone through the process of a special needs child or even someone who has had something happen like a stroke and had to re-learn all these “skills”…those of you out there…you know how BIG a miracle this is…especially when you work at it for so long and finally one day..it just “clicks”.

Two weeks ago, I got the kids downstairs and started our morning routine…getting medicines together first.  Well when I was ready to feed the kids breakfast I called for the kids and our two year old daughter says “oh no…mommy…brober..upstairs!!” 

I thought…surely not.  I was proved wrong!  I went to the staircase and sure enough…there was Luke waving at me from the top of the stairs!  When did he start doing that on his own?!  He has been able to crawl up stairs for a couple years…but usually only when coaxed and NEVER alone!!

I thought that was a miracle…then today happened and I was reminded again how God is working in our little guy.  I picked him up from school and his aide apologized for his messy shirt…which had some Blueberry Yogart on it.  Then she told me that he ate the yogart ALL on his OWN!!  I was so happy to hear this.  We’ve been trying to get him to this point for SOOO long!  Luke typically throws his spoon or fork…or plate with food…he has NEVER held onto a utensil long enough to eat an entire food item…like yogart or applesauce. 

To test out this new “skill”, I got out some pear applesauce for supper and gave Luke a spoon.  I had to hold the applesauce cup…but everything else was all Luke!  It brought tears to my eyes!!  Luke has made another step towards independence.  It may have taken him 4 ½ years instead of 1 ½ like our daughter….but he has done it!  I pray this skill will continue to develop and in the near future Luke will be able to feed himself an entire meal!!

Sun?

You think you know your kids, but they are always changing.  With Luke, its hard to even know about those changes since he can’t tell me…”mom, I don’t like green beans”…instead we get them thrown at us..or on the floor (even better).  This idea carries over into every aspect of Luke.  I’m learning his “preferences” because of his responses, i.e. when getting home from school he screams at me and hits his shoes…until they are finally off (including socks) and then he is “off” down the hall and perfectly happy.

Well, Luke started to do something at the old house a couple weeks before we moved.  I’m not sure if he was trying to tell me something or if he was just being a silly little guy…like usual.  In Luke’s old room there wasn’t a lot of space, which meant that the options for where to place his bed were only 1.  So his bed was against the far wall , the bad part was that he could reach the window curtains.  So he would often look outside and see what was going on or stay up and play with them.

A few weeks before selling the house, I found a new site for several mornings in a row.  I would walk in to Luke’s room to get him up in the morning and I would find the window curtains pulled all the way back and Luke would be in his bed with a blanket over his head.  It was so funny! 

I’m guessing that Luke would play with the curtains for a while at night causing them to be pulled back…but when morning came and the sun decided to peek in…Luke would cover his head so he could keep sleeping.  Silly guy wanted to see outside at night…but not in the morning I guess!

Weeeeeee!

Luke’s sense of humor continues to amaze me, especially since it has been rubbing off on his little sister.  Yesterday we were on our way to grandma and grandpa’s house, which is in the country.  As I was driving a long our daughter would tell me everything she saw, but Luke was quiet.  Then I hit some hills, and it started a cycle with the kids.

Every time I went over a hill, our baby girl said “wweeee!!”  Which then led Luke to laugh and then of course our daughter had to laugh too.  It was a cycle that seemed never ending (they did this at least 10 times).  Soon I found myself laughing with them.  Who can resist such easy fun?

Later on the way home from the grandparents house, by which we went a different way, they began to laugh and our daughter would say “wweeee” when I turned corners, i.e. getting on the interstate.  I’m not sure I understand that one, but as long as they were happy…I was happy.

The latest NASCAR Track!

If anyone wants to buy tickets, I can get you great seats at a new NASCAR track.  It’s a unique location….our new house!!  What I love about the new house is all the space we have so that Luke and our baby girl can have plenty of space to walk and play.  We are finally getting rid of most of our boxes which allows Luke to use his walker in the house!!

We let him have his walker in the old house…but only for a short period of time since he needed someone to follow after him and help him when he got cornered or aggravated because he ran out of space.  Now, at the new house Luke can walk in most places on the first floor…which is so great! 

What has really made me laugh lately though is our daughter.  I think she likes the space even more than Luke!  One day I heard pounding feet and looked to find our daughter running in a large circle around the staircase and wall to the living room.  She also likes to play “peek-a-boo” with Luke.  So she runs  in circles and passes Luke saying “found you brother…found you”…..all while Luke laughs at his silly sister who is running by.

She does it so often now that I’ve decided it must be the latest NASCAR track!  So if anyone wants to cheer themselves up they can come on over and watch our daughter race in circles.  (video 7-27-12)

Can't Believe it!!!

He all!!  You have probably given up on me doing a blog ever again.  It has been so long..and we’ve been so busy!!  We sold our house and moved into the new one in late June…and we are finally to the point that we are “mostly” moved in.  There are still projects to be done…but we can take a breather once and a while.  So I will endeavor to begin writing my blog again.

Just to prove how crazy busy we have been, I have to share what happened just this weekend.  The kids have been to the grandparents on and off, along with all the doc appointments and doing things on the new house.  Anyway…Sunday morning as my husband was feeding Luke, he said “I think Luke lost a tooth”.  I couldn’t believe it….I said “no way”. 

But sure enough, when I looked close Luke lost a tooth on the front middle…and not only lost one…but one is growing back already!!!  Luke’s first permanent tooth and we have no idea where the baby tooth went.  I’m hoping he didn’t swallow it!! 

No matter how busy we are, I’m going to have to start paying closer attention!!

Doors!!??

So most of you know that Luke loves his doors.  Doesn’t matter the size or shape…no door is too small or big for him to “obsess” over.  Luke has to have the doors shut all the way….and can only be open when he’s playing with them…which consists of his constant open and shutting of them.

Well we are in the process of selling our house and buying a new one…which means we’ve had to take our a LOT of our toys to de-clutter the house.  Of course most of the toys with doors had to go.  Poor Luke has been so deprived of doors lately. I feel like he is constantly looking around, trying to find some doors he can play with.

I caught him in his sister’s room the other day and he was playing with the doors to her nursery for her babies!  He was so deprived of doors that he had to go to his sister’s room to find one!

Then, just this morning I was getting breakfast ready and kept calling for him to come and eat.  Of course, he didn’t come…so I went in search of him and found Luke in his room with the door shut.  What did I find him doing?  He was playing with the only “door” he could find in his room….the wipes container.  When I walked in, there was Luke laying on his back and holding the wipes container and opening and shutting the lid!! 

Poor…silly little guy!!  He got mad at me when I made him stop so we could go eat breakfast.  That wipes container really meant a lot to him!  

Little Pitcher

You all may remember how much our Luke loves to throw things.  Doesn’t matter if it is a ball or a car, if it gets in his hands…at some point in his play it will more than likely wind up getting thrown against the wall or over a chair somewhere.  Well my husband likes to play “ball” with Luke and our little girl.  We’ve trained our daughter to “fetch” so that when Luke throws she goes after the ball.  It works out pretty good that way.

The other night we went through the usual routine: bath time with mommy washing and daddy drying, followed by daddy getting Luke ready for bed while mommy gets our little girl ready.  I was blow drying our girls hair and I heard laugher, when I looked daddy and Luke was throwing a ball back and forth.  Luke was in his bed ready and waiting for mommy and sister so we could pray before bedtime.  While waiting my husband decided to get a ball and “play” with his son.

So when I finished drying our girl’s hair, she ran into brother’s room to join the fun.  By the time I got everything put away and joined the “fun” I couldn’t help but laugh.  There was Luke throwing the ball right on target to daddy and then daddy gave the ball to our girl and she climbed up the steps and gave the ball to Luke with the instructions to “throw brober throw”.  Like Luke really needs help knowing he should throw a ball.

I grabbed the camera and was able to catch part of the fun!

What do you think you're doing?

I tell ya….I’m so glad that Luke is getting stronger each day.  But, there’s always a “mixed blessing” when it comes to Luke and his “new tricks”.  Most kids learn to walk, talk, get into things all in the first few years.  I’m learning that with Luke all those things are drawn out, so each time he learns or is able to do something new…there he is getting into something else and we have to find a way to “block” his efforts.  Like with the whole bed thing, finding a perfect solution for him so he could use this new bed took a while.  Then, when he learned to cruise furniture we had a whole new range of things we needed to put “up”.

Well, Luke has learned something “new”.  I was getting ready the other day in the bathroom.  I got to the point where I was trying to do my makeup and here comes Luke.  I figured he would just come in the bathroom and play with the door while I stood at the sink.  No…Luke has something else on his mind. 

Instead Luke came in the bathroom and shut the door.  There I was putting on my makeup and all of a sudden I felt something on my elbow.  I look over and there is Luke standing up at the sink!  Well before I could really process this, the lights went out!  No….the power didn’t go off…Luke got the light switches!  I was so proud of him, but I told him to “knock it off, mommy needs to see”.  Did that stop him?  No…of course not…he continued to turn the lights on and off….it was a good thing that this particular day I wasn’t in a hurry.  It took a long time to get my make-up on with the lights going on and off the whole time!

This was a couple weeks back, but Luke continues to do this.  I’ve had to “kick him out” of the bathroom a few times because I didn’t have time to let him turn the lights on and off while I was trying to get ready.  After all….its really dark when the door is shut and there are no lights….or windows for that matter!

Music?

Ok, so we’ve been super busy around here lately.  We were planning to put our house up for sale in May and then my husband got the brilliant idea to have it ready by the time of the community garage sale!  When meant that we had three weeks to finish everything!  It’s been a long exhausting “sprint”, but we are finally done and our house is up!  I actually have one more thing to tackle…but have to wait until the weather cooperates.

Anyway…during our “sprint” towards the “finish” I’ve been painting two bedrooms and the living room and hallway.  Well the story I have to share today about Luke happened while I was doing all this painting.  No…Luke didn’t get into any paint…thankfully!!  But he did show me he was capable of some good OT skills!

While doing all this painting I used a radio with a CD player to keep me company.  I would leave this in the room I was working in, so I didn’t have to haul it all over the place all the time.  I thought this was brilliant, unitl one day I was down the hall (not sure what I was doing) and it was quiet and then all of a sudden music started playing!  I couldn’t figure it out.  Then I remembered the Radio/CD player in our bedroom and went to “investigate”.  Low and behold, there was Luke sitting right next to the radio/CD player smiling really big at me.  It was like he said “look what I can do mommy?!”  I just laughed and asked how in the world he did that.  It was then that I remembered that I had my “CD” on pause while I did some other things in the other room. 

Luke obviously didn’t like the quiet and wanted some music!  Not only that, but I soon realized that not only did Luke start the music, but he must not have liked the song because he skipped a couple to get to the current one!  Silly little man!

After this day, I caught him a couple more times trying to do this little “trick”.  One day he even paused the music and changed the volume for me!

My little helper

Our little man is turning into a true blue “helper”.  Luke’s been slowly making progress with his understanding of things.  But the other day he totally surprised me.  I was putting both kids down for a nap, usually I put Luke down first but this day I put down our baby girl first instead.  I was busy changing our daughter’s diaper and saw that we didn’t have all our “nap buddies”.  (Our daughter has to have her babies, all three, blanket, small pillow, and blue stuffed monkey).  The baby that is her absolute favorite was missing.  So I put our daughter in her crib and Luke followed me as I looked in the living room.  When I found the baby, I looked at Luke and thought “why not try it”….so I held out the baby and asked Luke to take it to his sister.  Sure enough, he grabbed the baby and crawled down the hallway while holding on to the baby.  I followed him as he continued down the hallway and into our daughter’s room.  Then he said “baba…baba…baba” and got on his knees and handed the baby to his sister.  Then she (as only a 2 year old could say), “thannnkk you brobber”.  It was a sight to behold!

Then, later in the afternoon after their naps I went to change out the diaper pail trash.  I got two bags out of Luke’s closet that are supposed to be “deodorizers”.  I put one on the floor in Luke’s room and then took the other to our daughter’s room to change out the bags.  By the time I came back to Luke’s room, I looked for the bag and it wasn’t where I left it!!  I looked all over his room, and then I looked at the diaper pail….and there was the bag, pushed down on the top part where you put diapers.  Luke was trying to help me out and put the bag in the only area he knew of to get it inside.  What a helper!

Late on that same day I lost Luke’s Sippy cup.  When he got up from his nap I looked and looked and it was nowhere to be found.  Well, I gave up and figured I’d find it sometime and got him a new cup.  It wasn’t until the following day around lunch when I emptied out the dishwasher and I found his cup.  Luke had put it in the bottom section between a plate and a pot, I guess he was trying to make sure it got clean…only problem was the juice cup was still full of juice/water when he put the cup in the wash!

He sure is a silly little guy, but he’s turning out to be a pretty good helper too!

The Potty Stool

Potty training and Luke…hhmmmm…where to start.  So we started trying to potty train Luke about a year ago, but in order to potty train Luke had to be able to reach the toilet.  After all he is WAY too big for a “potty chair”.  So I thought, surely I could find a stool that went with the toilet that would be good for Luke.

All the ones I saw were just regular stools or were built more like ladders.  There was no way that Luke could ever do any of those without lots of help.  So then I looked into “special needs” potty seats, and found that all of those offered Luke way TOO much support.  Luke has “needs” but not like many kids who may be wheelchair bound.

So…what was I to do?  Well I put it off for a while, then one day I was searching on Amazon and low and behold I found something wonderful!  The Potty Stool.  It has handles so Luke can hold on and step up, and the base is big enough there is actually room to safely turn around.  So I just bought a potty seat to go with it..and we were all set!!

Only problem is, Luke wasn’t ready.  I’ve been told over and over that “when their ready..their ready”.  So after trying a month, we stopped.  Then we waited about 6 months and tried again for a month.  Then stopped.  I plan to try again soon, so we’ll see. 

I understand waiting till their “ready”….but when your son is 4 years old and not trained…you begin to wonder.  If you’re interested in the “stool” below is the link to the product on Amazon. 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Potty-Stool-Toddler-Training/dp/B000MZKTU4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332807959&sr=8-1

See ya later!

As I’ve shared before Luke has been opening and shutting doors of late.  Definitely his favorite pastime.  The other day he combined his favorite pastime with a new trick.  Of course he laughed as he did this, since Luke thinks everything is funny!

I caught him opening and shutting his sister’s door.  But when he opened I noticed something on his head!  A cowboy hat of all things!   It wasn’t a real one, by the way, but a plastic one from “Texas Roadhouse” that came with some steak seasoning and steak sauce that my husband got for Christmas.

The fact that he was wearing the hat was HUGE.  Not just that he put the hat on himself, but that he left it on….at least until he accidentally knocked it off…causing him to laugh.  Ever since Luke was a baby he hated having anything on his head whether it was a hat to keep him warm or to keep the sun out of his eyes…he would always throw it off.  He especially likes to throw his glasses.  But, in the last month or so he has been leaving his glasses on for as long as 2 hours and been putting on this cowboy hat and crawling around with it on.

You can check out his “hat” antics below. 

What was that?

So the other day I was sitting in the living room, I know….shocking that I’m not in the kitchen like I usually am with Luke does something, and I was busy doing something on the computer when the lights turned on.  It was just in my periphial vision, and before I could look the lights went off again…at first I thought the power must have had a surge or something…then I realized the computer and TV were fine….and so I looked to my right.  What do I find?

I found something that thrilled me and yet also had be perplexed.  There was Luke standing up against the wall.  Both hands were flat against the wall, and then I saw him reach for the light switch and on the lights went again!  I couldn’t believe it.  I think if anyone was watching I would have done one of those “double-take” kind of looks. 

My four year old son was standing with his hands braced on the wall and there was no walker and no person anywhere around.  I just couldn’t believe it!  Then I walked over to him and told him how proud I was of him and then I noticed how close the gate in the hallway was to where he was standing.  The gate was only 6 inches or so away. 

The only thing I could think of was that Luke must have stood up to the gate and cruised over to the wall and started playing with the light switch!  Crazy!  But ooohhhhh so great! 

I was able to get his little “stunt” on video so you can see what I mean.  After I did the video Luke must of gotten bored because he reached over with his right hand, grabbed a hold of the gate, cruised a couple steps till both hands were firmly on the gate, and then proceeded to lower himself down to the ground! 

I can’t tell you how great it was to see!  It was like watching a completely different kid do this little stunt.  Even if Luke gets himself into a situation like he did, by that I mean standing with his hands braced on the wall, he would normally cry or fuss until someone helped him get back down.  So the fact that he did all this and then got himself down without uttering any kind of cry was a miracle in itself.  Thank the Lord that Luke is getting so strong and confident!

Support Easter Seals!

We are gearing up for Walk With Me 2012.  If you didn't help out last year, or you didn't see the video of Luke.  Here is a video reminding us what all Easter Seals has done for our little man.  Enjoy!

Communication

With Luke this has become a BIG thing.  It’s one thing if your child can’t walk at the age of 4, but for him to also have limited communication skills also…that is totally different.  I know I’m not alone out there, but there are times…like last night where I felt so alone and frustrated.  Luke has been sick on and off since Dec 1, 2011.  We get over one thing and something else comes up.  We made two trips to the ER last week, and finally got an answer for his cough and fever, Bronchiolitis.  So we started breathing treatments which, thank the Lord, helped him tremendously.  His fever went down and his cough has grown better and better…and I thought we were on the road to recovery until last night.

After Luke was asleep for an hour, he started crying.  Sometimes he does this in his sleep or will cry for 5 minutes and go back to sleep.  First, I tried getting him up and holding him a while and then putting him back in bed…that didn’t work.  Then I tried getting him up, giving him Ibuprofen and holding him a while and putting him back in bed….that didn’t work.  Then I tried getting him up and holding him even longer…to let him calm down good….and that didn’t work.  Finally I got my pillow and blanket and crawled into bed with him…which kept him quiet…but he didn’t fall asleep.  After 40 minutes of getting poked, pulled, and pushed…I finally left his bed at 12:20am when he tried crawling over me to get to the “door/gate” of his bed…so he could play with it.  The good news was he only cried for about 5 minutes and was quiet and I assume went right to sleep.  It was still a long night….and still frustrating.

You remember those early days when having a baby?  How tired you are and when the baby doesn’t go to sleep and you are so tired you just start crying because your exhausted and you just don’t know what to do?  Yep…those fun days!  That is how it felt. 

Last week, when I was on the phone with a nurse and we were trying to get Luke’s temp down from 105.3, I was trying to explain how Luke can’t communicate and she said “kind of like having a baby”.  So right she was, it is like having a 4 year old baby. 

What do you do when a baby cries?  First you check their safety (any fingers pinched?), then you check the diaper (maybe change it just in case), then you try feeding them, and if all that fails you just try to rock and sooth them.  That is so much what it is like.  Only Luke is starting to communicate a little.

In fact I have to share how wonderful it was when a few weeks ago Luke came home from school and he started crying at me.  I know…that sounds silly.  But it wasn’t that he was crying, but what he was doing while he was crying.  I noticed that he put his feet in front of himself on the floor and started hitting his shoes.  So…I took off his shoes….and he still wasn’t happy…but after he hit his socks…I took those off too…and sure enough he just crawled off like nothing happened!  It may seem small…but it was so great!!  For a kid who doesn’t point and things he wants, he finally figured out that he could tell me what he wanted by touching his shoes!

Now this has become a daily thing….and I’m wondering if the braces he wears are starting to hurt him after he walks for so long….but I’m still glad he is telling me he wants his shoes off!

Keep trying little man!

You ever see your child try something and they are SO CLOSE and you just want to do it for them?  I get this all the time and it’s so frustrating.  Luke gets SO CLOSE to doing things like, putting coins in the toy pig or putting the triangle in the triangle shaped hole. 

The other day we had another one of these moments that I couldn’t help but laugh.  Lately Luke has been getting this certain magnet off of the refrigerator and then putting it back on.  Usually this ends in frustration for him, because he tends to put the magnet back on the fridge backwards.  A few weeks back he took this magnet off the fridge, then tried to put it back on the fridge backwards.  I told him “flip it over” and low and behold, he flipped it over and it stuck!!  I was so excited!

Well, about a week or so later he was back at the fridge trying to get a magnet to stick.  I started to tell him to flip it over, and then realized it wasn’t a magnet at all, instead it was a Luke’s sister’s “debit card”.  It is small, flat and plastic and has stickers on it so that it looks like a real debit card.  It was the right size and shape for most of our magnets so I can see where he was a little confused. 

I couldn’t help but laugh though, as much as I told him it was not a magnet…he kept trying to get this “magnet” to stick to the fridge and it wouldn’t.  I caught a little of this on video so you can enjoy it as well.  Although in this video I caught him trying out the "magnet"....then he decided to try another use for his "magnet" if it wasn't going to stick.

Is that laughter I hear?

I know I have mentioned Luke’s sense of humor several times in the past, but once again he just cracked me up the other day.  He has been sick…again..so he’s been home a lot lately.  I wonder if being home so much…he got bored….or what happened.  Either way, Luke found something new and funny.

I was in the kitchen cleaning and I hear laugher.  (You know, one day I hope to have a kitchen that opens up to the living room, so I don’t have to always leave the kitchen just to find out what the kids are up to).  Anyway, I go in the living room and I hear a “thump” followed by a laugh.  I look to the recliner and there is Luke up on his knees playing with several toys, but then Luke lifts his arms high and drops them down to the recliner fast, “thump”!  Luke then laughs, because the result of his hitting the recliner is that all the small toys jumped up in the air!  He continued to do this for a good 10 minutes.  I tried capturing it on video, though he stopped laughing once I broke out the camera…he didn't stop hitting the recliner.  

                                                                             

Smart Little Guy!

First, for those of you who usually read by blog weekly…I apologize for slacking the last couple weeks.  Luke has been really sick and on top of that my husband has given me a long “honey do” list for the house.  I’m sure all moms/wives out there can relate!  Despite the list, that will take me months (literally) to finish, I will do my best to keep you all updates with the funny things our Luke is up to.

Just two days ago my mother, so Luke’s grandma, was over while she waited on grandpa to visit someone.  Anyway, the kids flocked right to her when they got up from their naps.  They don’t see this grandma very often since they live further away than their other grandparents, so I was surprised but pleased that they both wanted to play with grandma.

Anyway, I was in the kitchen getting supper ready when I hear laughter…so I went to investigate.  (For my “loyal” readers…do you see a pattern here?  They always do something crazy when I’m not in the room.)  Anyway, I turn the corner and I see grandma in the recliner and Luke and our baby girl are sandwiched between the recliner and the wall.  At first I thought they were just having fun in a new unexplored area, since we usually have two gates stored where they were at the time and have never been back behind the recliner before.  But…then grandma said “Oh…Oh…No” and reached over to grab her mug that held water.  I then saw Luke’s little hand extended out, like he was just getting ready to get the mug when grandma caught him.

I found this very funny and also great because grandma placed the mug towards the back of the end table so that the kids couldn’t reach it from the front.  So Luke didn’t take long to figure out that there was a cool mug on the table and if he wanted it, he had to find his own way to get to it.  And he did!

I’m very proud of his thinking skills, which seem to get better day after day…and I still find Luke quite the funny little guy.

New home for garbage can

Well, I didn’t do the duct tape idea.  Instead I tried to think of a way I could still easily use the garbage can, yet keep it out of Luke’s way.  So I looked around our kitchen, and our cabinets are too small to put a garbage can under the sink, like I know many people do.  It took me a while but I realized we had the perfect spot, on the small landing that is located at the top of the stairs to our basement.  The landing is basically part of the kitchen area, so it isn’t too far out of the way and we don’t have to keep our garbage outside…which this time of year would be just too cold, even in the garage.

So I put our garbage can on the small landing, only the second day I did this Luke decided to reach over the gate, located at the top of the stairs which leads to the landing, and pushed the lid open!  I couldn’t believe it!  So now the garbage can is on the landing but over just enough and at just the right angle that I hope will work. 

I forgot until writing this today that I caught Luke on video opening the garbage can and putting his toys in, so I’ll share that with you today.  He is so organized about it, that I can’t help but laugh.