Dirt. Lots of dirt.

That's what little boys are made of.

Crawling Lessons

Luke had the advantage of learning from his two dedicated uncles over Christmas break.

Unfortunately for mom and dad, he is apparently quite a fast learner.

We are in serious trouble. 

Farewell to Luke's Luscious Locks

Say so-long to the long wispies.

New Tastes

Since the holidays are a time of fun food, we let loose a little and let Luke try some not-so-baby-approved foods. Which he loved, of course. 

We just loved the faces.

Trying Grandpa Shaner's drink: a delicious concoction of ginger ale, pineapple juice, lemonade, and some other fantastic liquids. 

His first chicken wing...

...and my personal favorite, his first taste of Martinelli's on New Years Eve.

Auld Lang Syne

You can't go wrong with some Great Dalmuti and Reverse Charades to celebrate New Years' Eve Mormon-style. 

Even though Luke checked-out early, he still enjoyed some fun new tastes and lots of fun family. 

And a quick tub in the sink. 

Seven Months

Our baby Luke turned seven months on December 29th. I can't believe he will be a full one year old at the end of May! Doesn't seem like that much time has passed. This has been his month of greatest change, I think. Here are some quick highlights.

Before we left for Boise, Luke suddenly decided to start sleeping through the night! He kept it up even after the (small) time change in Boise and only regressed after getting his first big cold during the week of Christmas. His sleeping is still much better, however, and he now takes two hour-and-a-half to two-hour naps during the day and sleeps for roughly ten hours at night. And even when he decides to wake up his mother once or twice (or four times) a night, he is usually so excited to see her and so happy to be picked up that it's hard to really get that angry (says a fully-rested mother--ask me again in the middle of the night).

Luke loves people and attention and demands it by squealing or staring intently at people until they look in his direction. Having six people to attend to his every need over Christmas break was absolute heaven for him. He loves to smile and laugh and talk! and blow raspberries and clap and bang things and do anything that will make noise. Loud noises made by others don't usually faze him (he did get a bit upset when I put his hands in an automatic hand dryer at the airport, however), and he loves to be thrown and tickled and twirled. He learned to do pat-i-cake over Christmas and now mom and dad get to stop mid-sentence and join him in his new favorite pastime whenever the fancy strikes him. Luke also loves to eat! He is still experimenting with solid foods and has only refused to eat plain oatmeal (who can blame him, really). He can easily put away an entire half a banana at breakfast by feeding himself and watches closely to make sure he's not missing out whenever we try to sneak snacks. His favorite foods so far seem to be grapes and citrus, but he will also happily eat all sorts of veggies and loves anything cold or sour.

Luke has moved onto nine-month clothing and twelve-months don't look all that big on him anymore. Six-month can sometimes be squeezed into if necessary, but they usually look pretty uncomfortable. His cheeks seem to forever be getting larger and are usually the first thing people comment on when they meet him. He has very expressive eyebrows and little baby jazz hands that he loves to twirl and grab and scratch with. I have been trying to teach him a bit of sign language, which I have yet to decide is successful or not, but he does seem to know the signs for "milk" and "all done", though he has yet to make any signs of his own.

I really wish we could take credit for Luke and his adorable little self, but I really don't know what we did to deserve such a good little boy!

"I've fallen and I can't get up!"

Luke's new snow suit, courtesy of grandma and grandpa and some good old-fashioned Chinese manufacturing.

Helping Grandpa

Luke is such a helpful little guy. 

This trip, his favorite person to help was grandpa on his computer. 

And he was so grateful for the help.

Baby's First Christmas

Although Luke had his first big-time cold and ear infection thanks to the airplane ride over, he still enjoyed all of the bright lights, laughter, and shiny presents of Christmas day. 

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

Luke's first Christmas was spent in the freezing cold that is Boise, ID this time of the year with his grandma and grandpa Shaner and his two doting uncles. On Christmas Eve we got to spend some time with Luke's great aunt and uncle Eric and Kimberli and their family. After a delicious Christmas Eve buffet, we all joined in acting out the Nativity, with Luke playing the part of a very wiggly baby Jesus. 

Thanks to the Eric Shaner family for making our Christmas Eve a night to remember! 

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year