22 months

2 more months and our baby will be 2 years old! No longer a baby at all! Though he was certainly quite cute, I'm really not missing the baby years because the older Lucas gets, the more fun and expressive and wonderful he is! We really enjoy seeing him grow up into such a loving, silly, thoughtful, active, intelligent and adorable kid! When Lucas was 18 months old I stopped doing the monthly "state-of-the-baby" blog updates and instead moved on to bimonthly- wrongly thinking that he wouldn't be changing as quickly as he got older.
Here's the latest in LucasLand:

For one, he's singing- and mostly in tune! His repertoire includes the ABC song (his very first song), Old McDonald, Row Row Row Your Boat, Twinkle Twinkle (he sings it "tickle tickle little star"), and Seven Bridges Road by the Eagles :). And, not only does he sing the ABCs, he can sing it in the voice a horse would use (the singing kind of horse), the way a duck sings it, and, of course, the way a tiger would sing it (assuming the tiger knew the whole alphabet; I'm pretty sure they only know the letter Arrrrrrr!).





He also has become quite agile and at 20 months climbed the ladder to our loft. At 21 months he began climbing on jungle gyms and wobbly playground ladders. There's very little that can be safely put out of reach of his little hands these days. Luckily, he's been good about rules like not climbing on tables. :).

He has mastered a very accurate Cookie Monster impression, using the blue monster's voice and crazy mouth-cramming style whenever he gets little bite-size crackers and cookies (called Cook-ohs in LucasLanguage). Afterwards he smiles at us as his audience- quite the showman!

Lucas' vocabulary is growing so quickly that I wonder where he learns some of his new words. He's also talking about his morning experiences with Dada when he comes home from work- his speech is no longer limited to labeling objects. It's so cool! He's not yet articulate enough for strangers to understand him, but that is quickly improving. Another cool language/cognitive thing: Lucas loves applejuice and thinks that everyone should have their own personal bottle of it- even inanimate things apparently... when we were admiring our lawnmower out back one day, Lucas noticed the gas can, pointed at it, and asked, "Lawnmower applejuice?". Yes, Lucas, that's exactly right! :). Not only that, he'll drink anything, including vegetable juice, if we call it apple juice. We are going to keep up with that for as long as it takes for him to catch on!

As far as growth, we think Lucas is about to catch up a little bit with his peers since his eating has increased to quantities so huge that we get raised eyebrows at restaurants when we tell waitstaff that the loaded plate they're holding belongs in front of the baby. He's outgrown his 9-12 month size clothing and is now solidly in the 12-18 month category.

Favorites:
FOOD: mac n cheese, breakfast tacos, bacon, apples, cinnamon yogurt, pizza, fancy cheeses like aged raw milk cheddar and those with french names (!), nectarines, and pesto pasta.

TOYS: anything that has a motor in real life, water toys, ride-on toys, puzzles, Elmo things, play-dough, sidewalk chalk, and anything that has opening doors.

ACTIVITIES: being outdoors, dancing and singing, walking with Annie (while he's in the wagon), visiting with Sufyan, looking at and talking to wildlife or neighborhood cats, playing chase, and hide and seek.

More "Growing Boy" Pics

Should have taken an intermediary shot here, but, oh well!

Still loving his catepillar

20 months

Lucas loves:
Running/chasing games
Vehicles. Especially loud ones.
Mac and Cheese
Animals
Elmo and Cookie Monster
Playing with water
Ride-on toys
Being outdoors
Pretend kitchens
Tools (real ones)
Giving hugs and kisses to people AND objects
Pretending he's sleeping
Playing in his big cardboard box

Lucas Dislikes:
Sitting in a highchair
All vegetables unless they're a minor ingredient
Going to bed

18 months!

The speed at which Lucas is developing and learning is so fast these days, that it now seems silly to write a monthly post about what he can do. It's no longer, "he can roll over to the left but not the right yet and he's swatting at his gym toys". Now, Lucas is making up games to play with us, can drink from a cup without supervision, can climb on any and everything fairly safely, and can buckle his own carseat chest harness. He can name and recognize 3 letters from his alphabet magnets (O, A and E are the only ones he's asked us to name so he can learn them so far), his speech is getting closer to understandable, and I can't even begin to name all the words he knows. Laith and I think he's pretty amazing and we're really enjoying watching him grow.
Lucas's current favorites are:
1. Rocks (we find small collections of them everywhere... in his juice cup, in a chair, in the hamper)
2, Dinosaurs (just caught him putting one in the toaster oven the other day- oh my!)
3, Animals (particularly pigs, cats, and monkeys)
4. Anything that growls- which, according to Lucas, includes coffee, rocks, and burritos. :)
5. Playing outside with, you guessed it, rocks. And also any push or ride-on toys.
6. Singing games like "the grand old duke of york" and "eensey weensey spider".

And finally, for those who care about such things, :) he's 32 inches tall and 20.8 pounds.

17 Months

I swear I combed his hair before this shot. Everything about Lucas just tends towards entropy. :)

17-month-old-Lucas' Favorites:

Foods: Cheese Pizza, Pirate Bootie Corn Puffs, dried cranberries, oranges.

Activities: Anything outdoors but particularly pushing large wheeled objects and running amok making joyful noises. Also likes to play with his stuffed animals by throwing them, jumping on them and making them dance to music.

Firsts:
* Called me Mama!
* Is asking us to give him words for objects and then tries to repeat after us. Has coherently said "lettuce" and "dirt" but with "W" in place of the l and r.
* First TV appearance http://www.kvue.com/news/vess/stories/033009kvue_small_business_bill-cb.8705469f.html once you get through the ad, we're 15 seconds into it. I'm wearing a cowgirl hat in case you don't recognize me and Mr. Lucas is about to eat a cupcake!

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!

15 months

For those of you who ask for this sort of info, here are his stats:
Height: 30.5 inches (30th percentile)
Weight: 19 lb 13 oz (off the chart... more about that in a minute)
Clothing size: t-shirts: 9-12 m. onesies/pants/: 12-18 m.

So, his last Dr. appt revealed further dropping in his weight percentiles. We know there can be some normal weight loss when baby starts crawling or walking, but for a baby who started out at 75% while born 3 weeks early, his steady drop down the charts between his 6th month and 12 month check up had me a little worried if not our doctor. Laith and I decided to start loading on extra fats and calories to get our Mr. Skinny to gain some weight. Everything was buttered and had cheese added to it. We were confident that by his 15 month appt he'd be heavy enough to turn his carseat around to front-facing (20 pounds) and that he'd begin climbing back up the charts in growth. We were wrong. Lucas had gained only 3 oz since his 12 month appt. I gained 10 lbs. :) The doctor has given us roughly a month to get him to gain a whole pound just so that he can get to the zeroth percentile (!) So, now, with our increased resolve to fatten our son, instead of that sweet baby smell, our little Lucas smells like butter when you sniff his head. :) I'll let you know how he fares after his follow-up appt the first week of March!

Now on to the fun stuff... So much developmental growth happened during month 14 that I'm really excited about the fun in store with our just-turned-15-month old! He just learned how to walk independently and has also just begun one-handed overhand throwing. It's kind of funny to peak in at him at night and see his 6 or 7 stuffed animals that we put in his crib are now clear on the other side of the room. He also has a new interest in utensils and is doing a great job with adult size spoons and self-feeding. He can point to what he wants to eat in the fridge even though it may look different once prepared (like eggs), and he can help with some basic tasks (besides swiffering :) ) like stirring, wiping down counters and windows, and putting toys away (for a few seconds). His favorite things to do are: visiting neighbor doggies, anything that has to do with trucks, buses or heavy construction equipment, playing with a ball, getting into small boxes and containers, and exploring electronics (like the alarm clock and boom box). In other words, he's 100% boy. :)

14 months!

This is Lucas' favorite book- a touch-n-feel story about ponies. Here he is waving bye bye to the pony as it loads up in a trailer on the back page.

13 months

Okay, so I couldn't just stop taking Lucas' monthly photos after doing it a whole year! This one won't be added to the 1-through-12 collage, but I still wanted to have it. :) Isn't he cute?

Big Baby!

Hmmm. I should have looked at the first 3 photos before taking the 12 month one today at Target (we gave away our bouncer seat shortly after the 6-month photo). I may try again this weekend with his legs crossed and sitting a little lower in the seat so that I don't have to crop out sections of his body to keep everything to scale! Or do you like it this way? Let me know if I need a re-take in the comments. :)

12 months

We're finished the month-to-month photos! I can't believe it! Not to worry though, friendly blog-readers. This tradition will continue in an adapted manner. I'll probably take the 6 month and 12 month pictures and use those to start a biannual series that goes on FOREVER! Or at least until he won't cooperate because he's too cool for school. :) We're also doing one called the 'front door series'. Am I nerdy or what? Those photos will be available for viewing on a later blog post.

ELEVEN

A snapshot at 10 months

Everyone tells us that raising a baby gets better and better the older they get. We're both finding how true that is as Lucas is developing new skills, a more complex personality and a sense of humor! We love it! I do miss some of the sweet mannerisms of his 6-month-old self, which I get to enjoy with our friend Sufyan, but our ease of communication, our predictable daily napping and nighttime schedule, and the new games we can play (along with more laughs!) make his getting older pretty sweet too.
Here are his stats from his doctor appointment today:
Height: 29 inches
Weight 18 lbs, 13 oz
Long and lean like his cousin Zayna!

Lucas has recently developed a fascination with anything that gives him the opportunity to use his little pointer finger. Anything that looks like a button gets poked and he likes to "trace" the pictures in his board books.

He's also learned how to feed Annie from his highchair even though we've never modeled this to him. He'll even give her his all-time favorite food (bread) just to watch her eat it.

Another recent development is his love of methodical mess-making. He loves to take each book off his toyshelf one by one and drop it to the floor- considering each book for one second before releasing it dramatically like it's a dirty undergarment.

He also enjoys playing "chase the baby" with either Laith or I crawling after him. It's so much fun as he squeals with delight!

His favorite foods are anything new and anything very flavorful. Hummus, pesto, seasoned pasta dishes, guacamole and bakery breads are his current favorites along with whatever is on our own plates.

His favorite toys remain anything that can be banged on and also anything that's a little bit challenging for him to manipulate. Mr. Baby likes to discover how mechanical things work and is very creative with his problem-solving- just like Daddy!

Here's to lots of fun and learning for month 10!

TEN!!!

He's hit the double-digits, folks! More Lucas stats and stories to come mid-week.

Nine is Fine!

I know it's been more than a week since Lucas turned 9 months old- I'm a bit behind. This photo was taken at the 9 month mark but it took me a while to cull through the 30 or so images from this session to find a picture that would work with the rest of the "1 year by the month" series I've been shooting of him. He's going to be REALLY hard to pose for month 10 11 and 12, I can tell you that! We barely got this one for month 9! Mr. Explore and Squirm and Climb and Reach didn't want to sit still!
Lucas has been so much fun at this age. He can eat a lot of the same foods that we're eating for meals so no special prep other than dicing and fork-mashing, he makes up games for us to play with him (watch me stand up at the window sill and then I'll fall down and then you laugh at me and come tickle me!), he crawls all over the house and is starting to stand unsupported (for only a second though). Not interested in walking yet. Just standing and cruising. He lets us know what he wants (or that he's excited) by panting like a puppy- it's kind of like playing the 'warm, getting warmer, hot hot!' game. The panting and leg-kicking gets more intense the closer we carry him towards his requested item. We try and use signs and words as much as possible with him but I think he's happy with his current communication methods and his favorite (and pretty much only) sound is still ba ba ba. It's awfully cute to watch so we're not complaining. :) I'll post some excited leg-dancing videos soon.

I Eight the Baby!

Why is it that when something is so cute we want to EAT it?! Anyway, Lucas is 8 months old today and this age is proving to be the cutest yet! Here's a snapshot of our baby boy this month:

Latest skill: crawling! He's up on his hands and knees now. Watch out, world!

Skill he's working on: pincer grasp and cup drinking.

Favorites:
Food: bananas! (Fitting for such a monkey boy)

Toy: Anything he can bang on or bang with. He also loves empty plastic water bottles and his caterpillar stuffed animal.

Places: the great outdoors and in our arms.

Cute Behaviors:

• Whenever we open the fridge doors, Lucas gets really excited and starts kicking his legs and panting like a puppy.
• He tries to put his pacifier and his baby spoons in our mouths and thinks it's hilarious if we pretend to suck on them.
• He blows raspberries when he's tired, stressed or upset and it helps soothe him. These have a vocalization behind them. He also blows short, fun raspberries with no vocalization when he's playing.
• His favorite word is Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba etc.
• He often hums himself to sleep.

Seven Months old!

I've got quite a backlog of photos to post here. Lucas turned seven months old May 25th. We've been busy with a lovely sleep regression and a bottle strike as Lucas processes all the changes going on in his life (lots of travel and visitors) and as he works on crawling. We're just hanging on and riding it out until things settle down. Once we get back from Charlottesville, there will be no more travel until September. Whew! Seven months old is proving to be a very active month for Lucas. We love watching him creep around on the floor; exploring and reaching and learning.

Little Pavarotti displays his skills

Lucas' opera training has really paid off- he sure can hit some amazingly clear notes in the highest register. Good work, Lucas.

Here he is in the beginning of his singing career and now:

More Growing Baby Photos!

Click on each set to see them bigger! :)