Enjoying a beautiful fall

Fall has been just perfect. Luke and I have had time to watch every leaf fall. We have our daily

playground rotation on nice days. Luke will do the slide about three times and then he will take off on a "hike." The playgrounds that we go to are all connected to the Ice Age Trail. So every day Luke hikes about 3/4 mile through the crunching leaves. Sometimes he will even let me hold his hand. I love watching our shadows move together.

I also wanted to discuss some things I learned about motherhood. These items will not be depicted in the photographs. 1) Don't wear short running shorts when you go down the slide with your child. All you will feel is burning flesh on the slide, a wedgie, and comments from local dads about my bad clothing choice as they hear the squeak of my skin. 2) Don't be afraid to wear goggles and a swim cap if necessary. Luke gouged my eye with his thumb as he was reading a book and doing the sign language for hat. I totally did not expect it. The high velocity jab made my eye hurt the rest of the day. 3) Luke also has a tendency to pull out chucks of my hair when he is being carried somewhere he does not want to go. Not only does this hurt, but then my hair can be found in his sticker books, toy bins, and under the refrigerator magnets. A swim cap would be very helpful.

Also, I wanted to thank Leah for the cute bear outfit and Grandma and Grandpa for the stuffed animal bear. Notice Dave, bear, and Luke.

Emergency

Well, we made our first trip to the emergency room on Oct 6th. Luke was with Alyssa at Lapham Peak State Park. He was in an area that just had some brush cut when he tripped and fell down. When he got up he had a large cut... or more fitting... a large gash under his eye. The brush that had been cut poked his face because it was like 4 -5 inch sticks, that stuck out of the ground.

Urgent care doesn't deal with facial wounds that might need stitches so we went to the ER. The bleeding had stopped long before but at the ER Luke had his face "glued" together instead of getting stitches.

We are VERY thankful that his eye wasn't hurt. We know his face will heal. Today his face looks even more puffy and swollen than when these pictures were taken. Both Alyssa and I feel sorry for Luke, but he is in good spirits. He is still running around and laughing just like nothing happened.

Going to Chicago by Truck and Wagon

On Labor Day weekend we took a trip to Chicago for a visit. We went to see my cousin Julie, her husband Tom, and their new baby boy, Jacob. Luke wanted to drive his dump truck and stuffed animals down. Later, he thought being pulled in a wagon might be the way to go.

Luke liked the big city, with all of its new experiences. He enjoyed stroller rides on Michigan Avenue watching people and traffic, always pointing out the trucks. He liked running in Millennium park and Grant park. But his favorite thing to do was ride in the Intercontinental Hotel elevators with its mirrors and smile "cutely" at the other people.

My big guy

Luke has progressed this summer in many ways. He couldn't even walk on grass in the spring. Now he can run on the sand, push his dump trucks off road, and stand by the crashing waves. Here are pictures of Luke by Lake Michigan.

Family Vacation

This is what having a family is all about! I love spending time with Dave and Luke doing things we love. If it were up to me we would take a vacation at least once a month. This month we had three mini vacations, first Eagle River, then Minoqua, then Sheboygan. We spent time with both of our extended families.

Luke has always been a nature boy. He took to the northwoods quite naturally. He is already blazing trails walking through the underbrush, identifying rocks, floating sticks, talking to ducks, and surviving a bear visit. When camping we had a black bear come to visit and eat our peanut butter and trial mix on two nights. The bear ripped into the tent right next to where Luke was sleeping. After opening the tent the bear pushed a sealed and locked plastic bin out into the woods and stole the sweets. The bear was caught later that week.

Here are some photos of our three trips.

Father's Day

Luke has been a growing delight. He gives us so many gifts every day. He gives us gifts of love, hugs, and laughter. As you can imagine, Luke was laughing the whole way down the slide while on Dave's stomach. Dave wanted to go again and again just to make Luke laugh. He also laughs when he puts anything (bucket, strainer, hat, cow, sock, blanket, cantalope) on his head or when he is trying to surprise us.

Luke and Dad are writing a card to Grandpa Krause for Father's Day. Notice Luke's "I love Daddy" shirt that was picked out by myself and my mom.

This outfit is Dave's favorite on Luke. The camo pants are from Aunt Jackie and the shirt says "I do my own stunts."

A Few Videos

I have posted some new videos showing some of Luke's latest achievements. Take a look.

Video - Climbing Stairs (June 6, 2007)

Video - Clapping (June 4, 2007)

Video - Watching Dad Mow Lawn (May 2007)

Like father, Like son

My two favorite men always look cute together, but they look especially cute when on a Suzuki, Intruder 700. Luke naturally grasped the handle bars and was ready for action. We are discovering Luke likes Dave's toys better than his own. For example, he loves Dave's lawnmower, snowblower, blower, shop vac, car, and motor cycle. Luke will have to settle for his radio flyer, however, his feet hardly touch the ground.

Dave and I had fun carting Luke in the bike trailer. Luke liked the high speed travel and the wind puffing his already puffy hair. I am sure Luke will want his own bike as soon as he knows what he is missing.

A Busy April

During April Luke went on his first Easter egg hunt (in Wisconsin) and his first trip to the beach (in Florida).

He is also becoming a great help at home - trying to mow the lawn. He likes his John Deere mower. There is only one problem - he doesn't like to walk on grass yet. We will continue to work on that.

Luke's Birthday

Its has been a while since I last posted and during that time Luke had his first birthday. This year has gone by quickly. Luke has learned many things: how to eat solid foods, how to feed himself both food and bottle, how to walk/run (no crawling yet), and his favorite - how to push and shake random objects.

His first birthday party was just immediate family. Luke's cousins were more excited about the opening of presents, so they helped him. Luke did like his birthday cup cake, not the frosting, but the cup cake. We are very thankful for Luke and are having more fun with him every passing day.

Because Luke likes to walk around so much Alyssa conducted an experiment with a pedometer to see how many steps he takes during the day (this was done around 11 months old). The picture to the left shows his pedometer attached to his waist. He kept the pedometer on for 8 waking hours - and during that time took 8,000 steps, all inside our house. The next day it was repeated for 3 hours and he had over 3,ooo steps. Conclusion: He really, really likes to keep busy by walking around and exploring.

A New Badger Fan

Luke was very happy about the Badgers win over Penn State a week ago. With that win the Men's Badger Basketball team went on to be ranked #1 for the first time ever.

Go Badgers and On Wisconsin!

Play Time

Luke is becoming more playful. He is interacting with his environment in many new ways. He is very busying walking from room to room. He enjoys pushing boxes or his toy bin around on the floor. When that gets boring he will push his high chair all the way across the kitchen (even though it is twice as tall as Luke). He likes to open up doors and extract their contents. Luke pulls cords from there outlets - it doesn't matter if its a light, a computer, or a working hair dryer. He likes to bang on glass coffee tables, with a new added twist of using a large, heavy, plastic block. Of course he also plays with his normal toys as well.

I have posted some new videos, which you can check out under the Video Clips section on the right side of the page.

We feel very blessed to have a healthy little toddler. We love every new thing he learns and enjoy watching him figure everything out.

Walking

Luke has always liked to stand. He has never wanted to be on his stomach. He doesn't crawl.... but what he does really well is walk. His first offical steps were on December 18th when he was 8-1/2 months old.

Video - Luke’s First Offical Steps

At just 18 pounds and standing barely 27 inches tall Luke is built for speed.

His main area for walking is the living room where we have carpet to soften the falls. He walks from toy to toy. He also scoots along the furniture. Sometimes he ventures into the kitchen. This presents a little more of a "danger" or "adventure" factor because of the hard wood floors. But.... it is usually no big deal. He has very good control in starting, stopping, standing, and starting again. He does pretty well and has only suffered one major bump on the head.

Video - Luke walking at 9-1/2 months

Luke can't pull himself up. Therefore, he gets frustrated a lot because he knows he can walk he just can't get up.

Regardless.....It's time to baby-proof.

ps....
When I get time to post I try to catch up with current events. I have 3 more new postings below. Also Luke is still very adept at maneuvering his walker, check out the video.

Video - Stoller Antics

Expressions