Luke's Third Birthday

Luke has accomplished so much in three years. It is such a fun milestone as a parent. There are a lot of things that I love about Luke but here are a few of the most recent...

How he will come by me 5-6 times throughout the day and say, "I love my mommy," and then give me a hug and kiss.

How he looks out the window at the dead grass, the arborvitae with winter burn, the grey clouds, and the wind blowing and says, "It is beautiful outside, it is beautiful." (That is the exact opposite of what I think is beautiful.)

How he sometimes just wants to lay in the pillows in the family room and talk together.

How he says, "excuse me," when I open the garage door into him and he is pinned behind the door and falling off of the stair.

I love him so much.

After receiving this puzzle gift (below) he completed it 8 times in 24 hours while he was playing with all his other new toys.



Luke was so excited for his birthday that he helped Dave do some of the shopping for his party. He bought the plates, napkins, and his candle. He slept with the #3 candle for two days before his party. He then carried around his plates and re-stacked them in all areas of the house while he was talking about who was going to be at his party..

Grandma and Grandpa Krause came over on Luke's actual birthday of March 31st. He got a Thomas the train car - James - that is motorized. He also got a basketball hoop. Eva also got a present, a pink camping chair, to match her brother's yellow chair. Luke liked it more than Eva and wanted to hold Eva in the chair.

My sister and Grandy also have March birthdays. Here is my sister who is fabulous at 40 and my Grandy who is magnificent at 95.

Priceless Love

I never counted on having children that love each other. Typically, I expect the worst so that I can not be disappointed. I didn't know I would love watching child one help child two. When I was doing laundry in my room after I put Eva down for a nap Luke insisted that she needed her stuffed animal. He went downstairs to get it for her and then ran back up the stairs. As he was doing this I just warned him not to put it on top of her face. Later, I went in and saw how perfect she was after Luke tucked her in for her nap.
Now Luke is wearing Eva's new sun hat and drinking from his pink bottle. He must like having a sister. He does love the part in the song, "He's got the whole world in his hands," where it says ,"you and me sister." He makes sure to point to Eva where ever she is...upstairs, still in the car sleeping, or sitting on my lap.

Having two kids is great most of the time. I didn't want to leave out a note about the difficult times, however, since Eva has been born here are the books that I have read:

Bringing up Boys

Love Languages of Children

Parenting with Love and Logic

Raising Kids You Want to Keep

How to Talk so Children Will Listen

Manipulative Children

Changing Your Child's Behavior by Changing Yours

My least favorite parts of the days are when my children hurt me (physically). Eva is really good at pulling my hair, scratching me, and pulling away about 6 inches while she is nursing while not letting go of me. Luke has started this new thing where he tries to strangle me and pull my hair and climb on me at the same time. It is a good thing these only happen once a day.

Occasionally, I want to be able to get more things done in a day. But at the end of the day I can always count on the fact that I have loved my children.

Luke helping at home

Luke recently switched classrooms at his Montessouri school. His new teacher is Ms. Kim. Luke has been loving school and enjoying being part of a community. His favorite things are helping set the table for lunch time and helping push the dishes to the dish washer. At Montessori school the first year is focused on doing tasks of daily life and developing sensorial awareness. Here are some things he has been doing at home...