11 months of loving Luke

I know Luke, I can't believe it either.

Every day these days I'm aware of how precious this time is and how quickly it's going to pass. 11 months. That's all I need to say.

Sweet sweet Lutey-Lou. Lutey-Lou is my favorite nickname of the moment. We have to call this guy something that just rolls off the tongue because that's him - such a sweet treat. Very randomly, I have all these chants and raps (and I'm not cool enough to rap) that I do with Luke's name. For his sake, I hope I get over that before he gets too old :)

So what's Luke up to these days? My most favorite thing is how when we go in to his room in the morning (not mind you because we hear him crying, because 6 days out of 7 we hear nothing from his room) and find him sitting in his crib sucking his thumb. When the door opens, he leans forward so he can see under the crib wrap and check out who is coming in. So our morning sight are these two round, wide eyes, and the quiet sounds of thumb sucking. And we fall in love all over again.

During the day, Luke is independent and on the go. In our house, he has his favorite places. We try to keep Cora's room picked up so that we can leave her door open. This gives him a great course - from our room, down the hall, through Cora's room, and into the "doll house," the child sized, carpeted play room. Rather than favorite toys, Luke has favorite things to put in his mouth :) Lately, I've been redefining what is too small for Luke to play with, because he's been stuffing entire toys in his mouth and that can't be safe.

Such a great crawling route

He's been stuffing toys in his mouth because he had FOUR top teeth come in all at once! That had to hurt but it didn't throw him off too much.

At day care, he doesn't look back when we bring him. He's very at home with Ms. Larita and his best buddy Addison. And gosh, Mom, there are more toys that need to be gnawed on, so go, get on with your day.

He's really eating now! Meaning, he's actually really swallowing the food and it's not just all over the floor. His favorite food by far is a banana. Followed by oatmeal (I knew he'd end up liking it), orange slices, pears, bread, and, the latest hit, blueberries. He likes roasted vegetables when they are warm and freshly cooked, but won't eat them in his lunchbox. He hasn't taken to cheese yet and he's been hot and cold about apples. This month he started taking a sippy cup with water. He's a very efficient nurser and usually nurses 6 times a day, for about 5 minutes a feeding.

He had his first word this month. Mama. Shoot me through the heart little one.

And his second definitive word: nana - as in, give me another banana. He can eat more than a whole banana. This is a universal favorite food over here so our banana consumption is crazy at the moment.

Luke also says dada, but he's not yet looked right at Jacob and said it, so the jury is out. I think he says "muh" for more.

He now waves goodbye as well as hi and, on cue, he'll clap either his hands or his feet, depending on what you ask. So cute :)

He is not in a rush to pull up and I've only seen him do it twice.

We see you Luke!  So we know you CAN stand.

First Mardi Gras

You just stay our baby, Luke.  Time, people.  Time.

11 month olds bust their heads regularly