Lucas and Sufyan

At the playscape above the downtown Whole Foods...

GrandDad and Lao Lao Visit!

My Dad and Janice came to the States to attend my cousin Patrice's wedding 2 weeks ago and since they were in the country, they made a side-trip to come see us too! Lucas is in a clingy-mommy stage still (though not as bad as when he was younger) so it took a day or so to warm up to his doting grandparents but once he did, he LOVED them (as evidenced by his sharing his beloved Pirate's Bootie snacks with Granddad). It was a fun visit as we spent time outdoors, ate at Whole Foods, and visited the Nature Center to see the rescued wildlife and play in a cave. Weee!

Smithville

A little family vacation out in the boonies. It's nice to get away from the city for a weekend...
While sitting on our little patio one afternoon, we noticed that for 30 min straight we didn't hear a single man-made noise. No motors, airplanes, yelling, doors slamming, etc. Just the wind rustling through the trees and the birds singing. SO relaxing.

You know the town is tiny when the water tower looks like this!

Lucas sees a big tanker truck:




I found a rock. It's pretty.I think I'll keep it. I can put it in my pocket!

The Elusive Garbage Monster

I finally captured it on video- the Unpredictable Garbage Truck. This is Lucas' absolute favorite truck. Not even a schoolbus or excavataor gets him this excited. Just look at that super-cool robotic arm that lifts our trashcans! We run outside when we hear it rumble down the street and point, mouth agape. However, the past month or so, Mr. Garbage Man has not been coming down our street at the usual time. Every Friday, we wait around the house, hoping we'll catch it before we give up and leave; only to return and find our garbage has already been collected. This time, I was ready. I kept my video camera on in the car in case we passed a garbage truck so I could film it for Lucas to watch whenever he's fussy. :) This guy was particularly elusive. I followed him a couple blocks where he would pick up a few cans, skip a few houses, and then turn down another street. Lucas and I got out of the car and ran ahead to station ourselves for the garbage can show TWICE (that's in and out of the carseat twice) only to be thwarted by his willy nilly collection pattern. We finally caught him 5 blocks away. Woo hoo!

Lucas' First Hike (without a carrier)

Lucas has been such the little walker lately and also has been enjoying exploring the natural world (walking through last fall's leaf piles that I finally raked last week :) , collecting rocks, and pointing at bugs) so what better time to take him on his first hiking trail! I picked the shortest trail in Austin so that if he got tired I could carry him. However, he walked the whole thing (half a mile) by himself and had a great time poking around and enjoying nature.
These are camera-phone photos so excuse the pixelation.

16 months

I must credit Liz's Bodhi Blog here because each month when I prepare to do Lucas' "State of the Baby Address", I read Bodhi's first for inspiration. :) He's 3 days older than Lucas and it's always fun to see what changes and developments are going on in their world.
As is typical, I suppose, there's a whirlwind of growth during the 2nd year of life that for some reason takes me by surprise as Lucas turns from a baby into a boy. I marvel at all the things he can do and delight in how much fun he's been lately. As cute and cuddly as they are at the baby stage, I'm not very much of a 'baby person' and have been looking forward to this time in Lucas' life ever since I was pregnant with him. I imagined having a little boy who could play with a hose
and jump through a sprinkler outside in the summer, dig in the dirt and help mommy garden, play chase, kick a ball, and play pretend games. Now, all those things are being realized. Yay! So, here's a list of the new things Lucas has been doing since his 15 month update:

* He can blow bubbles in his milk!

* He can play pretend games and makes his stuffed animals, puppets, and dinosaur bath toys "eat" his food. Here he is with Bodhi and Ravyn, feeding a very hungry Bert:

* He rarely lets us feed him anymore because he can handle forks and spoons by himself!


* He can play on toddler-sized play structures by himself- getting up on platforms and going down slides.


* He's graduated out of his crib and into a bigboy bed as this allows cry-free bedtimes and naps. When he wakes up, he gets out of bed and takes with him whichever stuffed toy had the privelege of sleeping with him as he comes to find us.

* He can point to human and various animal body parts including head, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, lips, feet, hands, and toes.



* He can follow simple directions such as "bring mommy your shoes" or "put the teddy in the truck".

We can't wait to see what changes month 16 will bring!

Little Little

One of the benefits of Lucas' slowed growth these past 6 months: wearing last summer's outifts! Though I must add that he IS growing... we recently were able to retire his 9 month sized onesies! Yay!