Dethroned

Kingdom soon to be usurped by this little bugger:

Loyal Cougs

We have finally purchased Luke his heart's deepest desire: 

a BYU hat. 

It's still a little big, leaving lots of room for that giant noggin to grow, but is his constant companion, even in sleep. He is very concerned about getting it dirty, so it usually sits on the table next to him while he eats, and if it is ever misplaced I will hear an ever-repeating "mama, where's my BYU Cougars hat?" until it's found. He is very excited that he and dada both have BYU hats and asks dada to put his on often (mama luckily doesn't have one). 

And because it was promised several days ago but has taken us a while to deliver, here is the BYU Cougar fight song, as sung by a two-year-old. 

A Boy and His Baga

Last weekend Baga managed to squeeze a quick day-and-a-half trip into his business trip itinerary and stopped by to see us! Luke was very excited and made the most of every minute, following him around and forcing him to play lots of baseball and football. 

Luke showed off one of his favorite grocery stores, fed Baga some Tex-Mex and frozen yogurt, and let Baga play on one of his favorite playgrounds. 

We miss you Baga!

The No Good, Very Bad Day

I have to share a wonderful experience Lukey and I had at the Houston Zoo splash pad yesterday, so that any time your child does something that forces you to do something embarrassing in public you can think about this and decide yours isn't so bad. (with the exception of you, Wheelers, I doubt anything can top some of Caleb's antics) 

Next to the splash pad there are some very nice changing rooms for your changing convenience, and after splashing around for a while Luke decided to go check those out by himself. Before I could dash over there, he had locked himself in an empty stall and was happily playing inside. Unfortunately for me, the doors to the stalls go down far enough to the ground that it's a bit too small for an adult and the walls went up about ten feet (for all of those ten foot tall patrons out there). After several minutes of hearing "Hi, mama!" and "I locked the door!" coming from inside with clearly no attempts at unlocking it, I was forced to clamber over the ten foot wall with the aid of some other moms. I was not happy, let me tell you. 

Not. Happy.

But Luke sure was! He was sitting on the bench, kicking his feet, and seemed not the least bit concerned when I gave him a stern talking to in the most level voice I could manage. The conversation went a bit like this. 

Angry Mama: "Luke, mama is not happy. You are in big trouble."

Happy Luke: "Okay!"

Angry Mama: "We are going to have a time out in here."

Happy Luke: "Okay! I locked the door!"

While I counted to make the timeout official, Luke kept enjoying and admiring his surroundings (my bad, should have taken him out of his sanctuary). Every once in a while a brief look of confusion would cross his face as he would turn to look up at the ceiling, no doubt wondering where I had dropped down from. 

After the timeout we went back out and I gave him two more chances to go play (he kept headed for those darn doors!) before we had to leave. On our way out the splash pad attendants were laughing and called him their little buddy (did I mention he had also tried to escape the splash pad several times before this happened? had to be run down by the attendants). 

Sitting here writing this I can't help laughing as I remember it, but honestly at the time I think I was slightly insane. I don't really remember thanking the moms who gave me a leg up over the wall or what anybody said to me as we came out, I don't remember if this caused a scene (I guess enough of a scene that another mom thankfully took pictures) or if there was a crowd or something gathered around and I think it took a few minutes before I started really paying attention to anyone other than Luke. Honestly, how have we not all been committed? 

All By Hisself

Luke's ongoing independence kick has Kenny and I ready to scream on a daily basis. He adds new things he "need do by myself" every day, usually without precedent, and each one adds at least two to three minutes to our daily routine. Heaven forbid we forget and do something for him, because that requires a complete start-over of the entire process. For example: whenever we drive anywhere, Luke must open the car door, climb in, shut the car door behind him (we always have to sneak help on this one, but it has to seem like he shut it himself or he will insist on doing it over), and climb into his carseat unaided or else a major tantrum is triggered. 

In this case, Luke decided to throw some leaves from a flower on our kitchen table all over the floor and then insisted he clean it up himself. And to his credit he did a pretty good job! Perhaps all of our pseudo-patience is paying off. 

The Best Things in Life are Messy

Rise and Shout!

In case you were unaware, BYU has been killing it against some very difficult football teams. Ken has watched every minute of every game (of course), while Luke and I are a bit more subject to the time of the game. Nevertheless, Ken, as a dilligent BYU alum, has successfully instilled his BYU pride into his son, who can sing pretty much the entire BYU fight song (no really, we'll post a video later). And what better way to watch a game than with the Tanners?

UChicago crowd, we miss you and your riotous ways! We should do a conference call during one of the games for old times' sake. 

(very belated) Late Twenties

So much worse than early- or mid-. Two years away from thirty! We celebrated with a fancy Houston Restaurant Week dinner and karaoke with some of our good friends (neither pictured). Luke got a kick out of licking the ends of the candles and was really excited about my new game. 

Aren't you loving my shadow mustache?

I'm almost three decades old, where has it all gone?

Farewell, Mini-Cooper

About a month ago we said goodbye to some of our great friends the Coopers as they headed east (as in far East, as in Jakarta) for a few years. Luke will certainly miss his little friend Claire (or mini-Coop, as Ken calls her) and we will miss seeing their newest family member baby Lorenzo grow up! 

(and the unhappy outtakes...)