I know it’s been done before and I couldn’t quite think of a cute/original title for this new series because well, this is what Lucas says. So onward. Lucas is talking so much these days and every day he comes up with something new and hilarious (can you tell I’m his biggest fan?). Here are a few gems from the past few weeks:
After stuffing all his ninja turtles down his shirt, he comes to the living room to show Ivan and I his turtle belly!.
Turtle power! Anyone else noticing a recurring ninja turtle pattern? I live for this kid and his turtle obsession. We can thank daddy for this one.
The ball is goneeee! A four word sentence, ya’ll!
No way, man. This phrase isn’t new but it’s still going strong.
After he falls or takes a spill he gets right up and shouts I’m ok! or I good! He sings an awesome cover of “Elmo’s Song” and replaces Elmo with mommy or daddy, depending on his mood. My favorite is “Mommy’s song”.
He is an absolute mamas boy and any time he is “injured” (I use this word loosely) he comes to me, points to said ailing ligament, and says Mama I hurt. And then he receives 10 mama kisses which makes everything better.
Lucas woke up this weekend and found an empty bag of sour candy on the couch that Ivan and I had polished off once he went to bed. He brought the bag into our bed and shouted Daddyyyyy ate allll maaaaa candy!. At least he didn’t blame mama 😉
And the ultimate mystery – old man poo! He shouts this daily and neither Ivan or I can figure who or what he is referring to.
Little Quote Jar is the fab little sister to Time Capsules – one of my all time favorite gifts for baby. Created and designed by the same amazing Make History team, this little beauty is now available for sale. Lucas is becoming quite the chatter box and often times I find myself looking at him and thinking “where on earth did you come up with that?!”. I’m sure I am not the only one with a funny kid! These pint sized comedians really do say the darndest things, huh? Little Quote Jar was created with this in mind. Every time you find your little one spewing out something ridiculous, funny, or wise (Lucas is my little wise owl, ya’ll ;), you can scribble down their quote and add it to the jar. Genius! It comes complete with 2 notepads, a pencil, and the jar itself is gorgeous. I am purchasing mine this weekend and plan on displaying it on our front console. In celebration of it’s debut, Make History is offering free worldwide shipping all this week – use the code ‘MAKE HISTORY’ in checkout. xo
My better half lovingly dubbed Lucas his monkey when he was born and the monicker kind of just stuck around. When one of us is home alone with the boy the back and forth texts read something like this: “how’s the monkey?”“what’s the monkey up to?”. Any who I find his nickname suits him and he loves his knit monkey hat so there’s that. Now an update.
The phrase “no way, man!” has made its way into Lucas’s vocabulary. I don’t know where he learned it but it’s hilarious and I love it.
When we arrive at his school he willingly hands over his pacifier to the teacher and doesn’t ask for it all throughout the day. We are thinking of going cold turkey next week. Positive pacifier vibes please!
We enjoy going over all our animals accompanied by some pretty awesome roars and meows. Our favorite is the monkey which apparently is the funniest of all the animals and also has the best dance moves.
He is drinking milk from a cup at school. No bottle! We are working on his night time bottle but soon we will be home free.
I love you’s are becoming more frequent and my mama heart is filled to capacity. “I yuh youuu mama.” Yep. The best.
We “cheers” everything. Sippy cups. Bottles. Glasses. Every beverage break is a celebration.
There’s a new building being constructed up the block from our apartment and a make shift side walk has been put up. There are plastic windows dotted along the wood walls where you can peek in and see all the demolition. Every day we have to stop at every window and with each peek Lucas says “wowwwww” with big saucer eyes. Such a boy this one!
Two is such a great age! Every day is an adventure with the kid.
We have technically started potty training but there hasn’t been much progress. We bought the pull-ups, have the potty (well I should hope so, right?), and have big boy undies (sniff sniff). Even armed with all the necessities, Lucas isn’t having it. “No way, man” he says while shaking his head when I ask him to join me in the bathroom. That thumbs up he’s giving in the photo above? Don’t believe that cute mug for a second. He’s just working on his acting skills ;)This weekend I’m planning on creating a potty chart. I’m headed to the store to pick up new supplies: poster board, stickers, and his favorite lollipops. We haven’t accomplished much else besides looking extra cute. I’m hoping for a new and improved update to share with you in the coming weeks. In the mean time, if any of my fellow mamas have any tricks or tips I’d love to hear them!
“I found I could say things with colors and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way – things I had no words for.”
– Georgia O’Keefe
My wild boy. You are always on the go. Always on the move. Everything you do is filled with passion and gusto. In between these moments, there are minutes filled with calm and concentration. Moments where you slow down, observe, and really get into the groove so to speak. On this particular day I loved watching you get your hands dirty and create – even if it lasted a total of 10 minutes. I hope you always enjoy creating because you’re pretty darn good if I do say so myself. I love you my little artist.
So here we are. Two weeks into Nursery school and I couldn’t be more proud of my boy. There have a been a few emotional mornings (on both our ends) but my fellow mama amigas assure me this is par for the course. Just yesterday as we walked into school, he let go of my hand and ran into his classroom yelling “Mama, I go play!”. Everyday when I pick him up I’m greeted with the biggest hug and a new work of art to hang on the fridge. I’m also starting to acquire the most amazing collection of toddler masterpieces that I’m certain will be worth big bucks some day. Something I wasn’t expecting at all? Bobo (aka pacifier) weening. Well, not this fast. Each day he hands me or his teacher his bobo and he has been spending the entire day without it. He doesn’t even ask for it before nap time. A bloody miracle. The moment we leave school he asks me for it in his most pitiful voice accompanied by puppy dog eyes and I hand it over. Baby steps I keep telling myself. As much as I wanted to get rid of the dreaded pacifier, it honestly leaves me feeling a bit weepy knowing just how quickly he is progressing. It’s ahhhmazing and all sorts of sad at the same time. Mama issues I suppose.
Overall the kid is rocking it. Truly, he never ceases to amaze me. I love you my big boy!
For the past few months I could sense a shift in Lucas’s behavior and needs. I felt it in my heart that it was time for him to interact more with children his age. I knew he was ready and as much as it killed me (no, really) to realize just how fast he was growing, I was certain he would thrive in a new environment. Thus began our search.
Now for all my NYC mamas (and really – mamas everywhere), I don’t know how you do it. Besides the obvious emotions of not wanting to let my baby go, I had major sticker shock. $20-30k a year for my two year old? Call me naive but I had NO idea that I was supposed to be paying the cost of a college tuition for my toddler. I want the very best for lucas, there’s no doubt about that. But there had to be an alternative. I felt stuck. Frustrated. So because I can’t afford the going rate in my neighborhood for a preschool education did that mean I would have to sacrifice quality teachers? A clean, safe environment where I would feel confident leaving my son? It just didn’t seem fair. This fueled my fire and resulted in hours upon hours (ok, weeks) of research and visiting several day care and nursery programs in our area.
We finally decided on a program that we loved and could afford. Before we made our final, executive decision, I took Lucas with me to visit. The first time we explored the school and I got to speak one on one with his future teacher. She made me feel at ease and Lucas loved her. On the second visit Lucas was able to participate in the classroom and joined in on dance time. He was in heaven! I mean, the kid loved it. Not that I’m entirely surprised. Lucas is extremely social and a total people person (I take full credit for that one ;). When it was time to leave homeboy threw an epic tantrum. His teacher was so understanding and reassured me that it was fine, and well, at least he didn’t want to go! His new teachers are also going to assist in potty training and weaning him off the pacifier. What more could I ask for? Truly!
So this morning we arrived at 8:50am. I switched him out of his wet snow boots, put on his sneakers, and headed to his new cubby. As I was hanging up his coat he ran into his classroom and didn’t look back for me. My heart sank. I followed him in and actually yelled “Lucas! BYE!” He looked back and gave me a weak “bye”. Crushed. I was crushed. I left to drown my sorrows at a nearby Starbucks and returned at 11:30, 1/2 hour before pickup, and planted myself in front of the observation window. He was eating lunch family style with his classmates. He looked so darn happy you would have thought he was having brunch in Disney World. He was SO happy. He was beaming. I felt a sense of relief wash over me.
When I walked into the classroom to pick him up he shouted “mama!” and proceeded to give me a tour of the play kitchen and all the yummy wooden produce. I’m feeling pretty confident about the rest of the week. On Thursday he has a Valentine’s Day party and I volunteered to bring the apple juice. We’re only one day in but so far Lucas and I are loving this nursery school thing.
Today we had a date with my mama, pretty much the greatest lady of all time, in case you were wondering. We drove out to Jersey to shop for new coats and of course I took the opportunity to ogle at some house wares. There are some big decisions to be made such a white or black pendant lamp for our entry. I know. Crucial. We also got to check out some big boy beds. Lucas hopped from bed to bed, tucking himself into the sheets. I think he is ready. I on the other hand, am not. I’d love to know when any of you started the transition from crib to bed. I’m a nervous wreck! Do your kiddos get up in the middle of the night and pour themselves a bowl of cereal? Do they turn on the play station? I keep having visions of him just strolling through the apartment getting into massive amounts of trouble. Any advice is much appreciated!
Also, that adorable boy in the pictures was on turbo and thought it would be great fun to hide under every. single. clothing rack. I’m currently nursing a big cup of snapple and ice (my vice..I know..pretty lame) and searching pinterest – my new nightly routine. Hope you all had an equally eventful Thursday.
beanie (thrifted) | denim shirt from baby gap (old) | tee c/o sweet luka mo | sweats c/o nununu
Sunday was supposed to be a day of crossing off the many mundane items off my dreaded to-do list. After Lucas’s morning nap we headed out for a walk to get rid of those post sleep wiggles. After Saturdays hair cut fail I sort of came to terms with the fact that a hair cut for my tot was not in the cards and removed it from my never ending list. What happened on our walk was what I least expected. I left the house with a long, curly haired baby and came home with a clean cut toddler.
As we walked beside Lucas, making small talk about his upcoming birthday, we came across a new kids salon that recently opened up in our neighborhood. If you follow me on Instagram then you know I was totally against paying $30 to have Lucas sit in an airplane. Welp. Here we were, sitting in an airplane, about to dish out 30 bones for his first cut. Motherhood is funny that way, isn’t it? I’d like to tell you a mushy story about how happy and overjoyed I was but if I’m being honest I stood quietly beside my son, snapping photos, and feeling sick to my stomach. I was naseaous you guys! I could only offer my baby an occasional, meek “you’re doing a great job honey!” We walked home and I couldn’t stop staring at this little person beside me who seemed to instantly transform from a baby to a boy. I held it together until I called my mom to tell her that her grandson got his first cut. I ugly cried for 20 minutes all the while blaming my poor mother (sorry, mama!) for forcing me to cut his hair. She did after all let me know on an almost daily basis how crazy Lucas’s hair was getting and to “cut that poor boys hair!”
It’s been 2 days and the short do is growing on me. Another milestone for the books I suppose. I have a ziplock filled with his hair and a certificate to prove it. Long or short hair, forever my baby you’ll be my sweet boy.
My toddler is 23 months today. TWENTY THREE MONTHS! Holy where did the time go? I’m in complete denial that this kid (who shockingly is beginning to look like a teenager in some photos. is it just me?) is going to be two next month. Lucas is vivacious, spunky, smart as a whip, and loving. Man is he loving. This week he has been willingly giving mami and papi some pretty delicious on the mouth kisses. Toddler slobber is the best you guys. He says “peeese” (please) , “dank uuu” (thank you), and can count to five (although he is partial to two and five). He’s all boy and is a great collector of all the things. In particular acorns. Please see the photographic evidence above of the acorn/Lucas cheek affection. Swoon.
We spent all morning in the pediatricians office and he has gained 1/2 a pound in 3 weeks. Who knew weight gain would make me so happy. This summer has been a battle getting this kid to eat but we are finally – slowly, but surely – getting our foodie back. Basically he’s a big boy now. Oh Lucas. Te amo, te amo, te amo.
