Milestone Minutiae

A few nights ago, Luke woke up crying, pointing at the ceiling, and saying, "My balloon!" I talked to him softly and assured him that we'd go get a new balloon, and he quickly fell back asleep. I guess two-year-olds dream at night, too.

Tonight when I was flossing Emmett's teeth, I noticed that one of them is loose! It's his right lower incisor, and it's just a tiny bit wiggly. They grow up so fast! I wonder how long it takes a tooth to fall out...

Although it's hard to believe, we were in Disneyland from the time it opened at 10am until it closed at 8pm! We had lots of fun. Big hits with Emmett include Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain; Luke still loves Winnie the Pooh and the Astro Oribter, and this time he stayed awake for the Tiki Room and he loved that, too. The Buzz Lightyear ride was loved by all, kids and adults alike. I figured we'd leave the park sometime in the afternoon when everyone was tired, but Luke took a nap in the stroller and when we were tired we took a round-trip on the Disneyland Railroad to rest and relax. Around 7pm, the line for the Submarines wasn't too long so we got in it. Shortly after that I realized I'd never fed my kids dinner! Oops. Thank goodness for fig newtons and the ice cream we'd had earlier! On the way out of the park (around 8pm), we stopped for hot dogs and sure enough, the kids were famished. Nice to know I can starve my kids and they won'

After having been to a wedding on Saturday and a 70th birthday party for my mom on Sunday, Luke turned two on Monday. Three days, three parties. Luke's party was very low key - Grandparents, a great-grandma, Emmett, Luke and I all made Birthday Crowns from gold paper and stickers. We had helium balloons, lunch, and cake. Although Luke has recently decided that ice cream is yummy, he still doesn't like cake, so I gave him the whipped-cream icing off of my piece and he was happy. And now he's two!

We all had a good time at the wedding, though at the time I found myself wondering what on earth I'd been thinking. Emmett is perfect; just like when traveling on a plane, he takes care of himself well enough that I can focus on Luke. But really, what do a five and two year old get out of a wedding? And why didn't I see it from their point of view before we were sitting there? Both Luke and the flower girl had their second birthdays within a day or two of the wedding, so the Bride and Groom got them cupcakes and sang "Happy Birthday" to the two of them. It was really sweet. At first, David was trying to give the cupcake to Luke, but Luke said, "You eat it!" Eventually, though, Luke did eat the frosting off of one half of the cupcake. Emmett ate the other half - it made a great diversion after the appetizers and before dinner was served. If you ask Luke what he liked about the wedding, he'll say, "Cake!" In all, a successful evening.

Today was our first music class, and everyone was wearing name tags. Luke was studying mine, touching it, looking at the letters, so I asked him if he knew what it said. After studying it a little longer, he paused and said, "It says mom." Close enough. He's been singing "Shoo fly, don't bother me" since we left class.

The air has cooled. At Costco, the Halloween and Christmas displays went up simultaneously. The toy catalogs have started to arrive everyday in force. And yesterday, Emmett spent hours pouring over one of them, narrowing their offerings down to only 20 or 30 that he really wants. When he reads that one is for kids 6 and up, he tells me he can't have that toy. I've been trying to convince him that he'll be 6 shortly after Christmas, and those are only guidelines anyway.

Luke will say it to David when he leaves for work, or to me when I've been trying to get him to go to sleep but instead he climbs off the bed and heads off to play with Emmett.

"You're a silly baboon" has been the tease of choice around here lately. It gets passed around among all of us, dogs included. A few days ago in the car, Emmett was calling Luke a silly baboon when Luke piped up and said, "I not silly baboon. I Luke!"