Luke: January 2011

I think the stage Luke is at (9 months old this past week) is one of the cutest and funnest stages of babyhood.  My Lukie-pie is just so sweet.  He is getting very curious about what Gabe is doing, and he wants to be in on the fun.  He doesn't want to lay down or sit down, he just wants to stand.  He is starting to try to walk (with help).  He is super wiggly!  This kid has a smile that could melt anyone's heart, and I'm afraid he has got us wrapped around his little fingers!

Favorites:
Foods: Cheerios, any fruit (especially applesauce, apricots, peaches, pears, and fresh bananas), sweet potatoes, and carrots, and rice husk crackers.

Toys: Luke likes toys that make sounds, have wheels, or which can be chewed on, or anything that Gabe is playing with.

He LOVES things with buttons, so any remote, cell phone, or toy with buttons is an Luke- magnet.  Bonus points if something exciting happens after pushing a button.

Activities: Peekaboo and Pattycake are very entertaining, as are tickling and cuddling (sometimes).  We took this video of Luke about one week before he turned 7 months old, where he is playing peekaboo all on his own.  We were so surprised when he started doing it, but he loved all the laughs he got, and he continued doing it for quite a while that night.

Luke loves to watch Gabe run around and play, and he is beginning to want to be part of everything Gabe does. 
We recently got out this jumperoo thingy and Luke has got the hang of bouncing in it and he is happy since he always wants to be standing.

People: Luke loves his Mommy and Daddy and Gabe tons, and he recognizes and is delighted to see Grandparents and aunts and uncles.  Luke seems to pick up on and react to "love vibes"- or in other words he can sense when someone likes him, and he will cuddle right up- even if they are a stranger.  This happened in church last week when a grandmotherly lady held him for a moment while I had to lead some music.  He stared at her for a minute, then began smiling and snuggled right up in her lap.

Luke is happy any time Gabe is nearby, and thrives on attention Gabe gives him.  He puts up with quite a lot of poking and prodding from Gabe too...

Stats:

Luke began consistently sitting up by himself for longer periods of time when he turned 7 months old.

• Luke still has 7 teeth (he had all those by the time he was 7 months old), but I believe that is about to change.
• Luke is NOT interested in crawling.
• After we came back from Oregon for Christmas, Luke started pulling himself up to stand so that he could see what was going on up on Gabe's train table (8 months old).  Maybe he will skip crawling all together and go straight to walking?

I frequently walk into a room and find a picture like this- both boys just chilling together, often in unusual positions, and just content and jabbering to each other.