Excitement and Dread

Whenever we’ve gone on trips with Luke, whether it be to grandma’s house or Winterfest, I start off really excited. So when we decided to take him to the Spring Retreat with us at Palmetto Bible Camp, I was initially thrilled: “Wow, this is going to be great! Luke loves the outdoors, and it’s so pretty up there! They have a really nice staff cabin where he can sleep. He’ll get to interact with the kids, and I’ll get to be involved with the retreat. And I’ll get to see our old college friend, Sean McAfee, who is our retreat speaker.” There was no downside in my mind. Then, as always, as the time to leave for the retreat came nearer, my excitement was slowly replaced with dread: “Wow, that’s a long way to drive for a weekend! And packing is always such a hassle—when am I going to have time to do all that? Plus, Greg won’t be able to help much with packing or with Luke b/c he has so much to do for the retreat itself. And Luke doesn’t sleep well away from home—what if he keeps everyone in the staff cabin awake? And when I think about his early bedtimes and naps, I wonder if I’ll even be able to attend most of the retreat! Maybe I should just stay home…”

Luckily, I decided to go b/c we had a great time. The retreat itself went off without a hitch, and I had a great time with the teens. Plus, I got to have a couple of amazing conversations that just made my weekend. The weather was absolutely amazing, and Luke had a great time being outside. There was one big swing he particularly enjoyed : he would swing on Greg’s or my lap, and it would tickle his tummy. One of our chaperones volunteered to watch him while he napped or anytime I needed to do something with the retreat, and she was great with him. Plus, the kids treated him wonderfully. At one point, Luke was sitting in the middle of a field holding a ball, (right before the kids played slip-n-slide kickball), and within five minutes, there were about twenty kids sitting in a circle around him. That was the mental image that, to me, was indicative of the weekend: Luke, surrounded by people ready to entertain and play with him. He truly had a blast. And he slept relatively well, too.

This might be a mistake…

In other sleeping news, I guess you could say that Greg and I have regressed, as far as Luke’s sleeping techniques go. He’s gotten progressively more cuddly, so we’ve ditched the “sleep training” in favor of rocking him to sleep. I know, I know…what are we thinking? Well, what I’m thinking is that I’m only going to be able to rock Luke for such a short time before he grows out of it. And I absolutely love the chance to snuggle with him before bed. Plus, it hasn’t seemed to affect his sleep during the night. He still sometimes wakes up once, but a bottle puts him right back under. And about half the time, he sleeps solidly from about 8:00pm to 7:00am.

In other news

We are so excited for summer! It already feels like summer here, so we have become beach bums! Luke loves crawling around in the sand and looking at the waves, though the water is still a little too cold for him. He also hates the part where he’s stripped down and rinsed off at the end, but can ya blame him? Also, our seniors are getting ready to graduate, and the interns are going to be here soon, so we’re reminded more than ever that summer is just around the corner.

We’re also completely addicted to the show, Lost. And its third season is coming to its heart-stopping conclusion (so the ads tell us), so we’re getting even more obsessive about watching it.

Lastly, I’m excited that my mom is coming in for a visit tomorrow. For Luke, that means a tireless playmate; for me and Greg, it means a little relaxation!

Little Greg

I've decided that Luke is the spitting image of Greg in more ways than one. It's undeniable how much he looks like his dad, but we're now also seeing more and more of his personality, and it is positively Greg-like. For example, he's mild mannered and has a generally sweet disposition, but it is becoming quite clear that when it comes to people, he can take them or leave them. At church, he is routinely swamped. I would love to have a camera that could record things from his perspective: upon entering the building, he hears his name roughly 82,000 times and sees approximately 63% of the congregation as they thrust their faces right up to his. People all but stand on their heads to amuse and entertain him, and if he's in a good mood, he might reward them with a smile or laugh. But more often than not, he stares back at them in a friendly but impassive manner. (Sidenote: And yet, they continue to love him and think he's the smartest, cutest, most vibrant baby ever--this is especially true of the youth group.)

I was also talking to a friend about the difficulties of raising a toddler and a baby, and she said that one of the biggest problems with her toddler was that he hadn't learned to play very well on his own. He always wanted her around to play with him, which was often difficult for her with the baby. Luke, on the other hand, enjoys playing with Greg and me, but half the time, he ends up forgetting that we're there. He makes up his own games--usually involving balls--and will entertain himself indefinitely. The other day, he played a game where he would retrieve one of his rattling balls, crawl over to the ottoman, lift himself up and place the ball on the ottoman, wait for it to roll back off in one of several possible directions, and then chase it down and repeat. He played this for well over half and hour and was completely content.

And sometimes, he'll start to crawl toward something and then change his mind, seeminlgy thinking, "That looks like fun, but is it really worth the trouble to crawl all the way over there?" Greg and I laugh at that b/c it seems so much like a thought Greg would have.

Oh, and Luke is also incredibly stubborn. But truthfully, he could have gotten that one from either of us!