Smiley Face

Luke probably has not used a bottle in about a month.  He does best with some of those disposable sippy cups.  He still has not really figured out how to give himself a drink from the cup and needs help, but he definitely doesn’t need bottles anymore.  So, this week I threw out all the bottles and the bottle warmer (which had been acting wonky anyway).  Luke really is a little boy and not a baby in so many ways now.

This morning Luke turned on the tv in the office, which had been set on VH1.  A new Avril Lavigne video was playing, and Luke loved it.  He got a big smile on his face and started dancing around in a circle.  Good taste.  Mommy likes Avril too.

Walking is Luke’s primary mode of forward propulsion now.  He walks about 75% of the time and will get up and walk before he will crawl anywhere.  Now he is also doing this funny ape walk where he will walk on his feet but have his hands down on the ground in front of him.  This makes all of us burst out in laughter, and Brooke and I have named this the “Luke monster walk”.

Really, I don’t know how Luke does some of the things he does at only 13 months old.  He is an avid climber and quite skilled.  Yesterday I left Luke playing with Brooke in her room.  I only left the room for a minute to check my email.  Brooke was on the bed and Luke was at the bottom of the slide on the floor.  Then I hear a frantic call from Brooke and run in to find Luke on top of the bed with her.  I ask her how in the world he got up there.  She tells me that he climbed up the slide.  It is probably a 4 foot long slide to the top of the bed.  She says she did not help him and he did it all by himself.  I am completely dumbfounded, impressed, and freaked out all at the same time.

I guess it is clear how often I have to tell Luke not to do something by the fact that he now responds to the word “no” by shaking his head back and forth at me.  He will do it even if the “no” is not directed at him.  Today I was getting Luke buckled into the car and telling Brooke “no way” about something she asked me, and Luke starts shaking his head back and forth.  Luke did hear one big “no” today when I found him sitting atop the coffee table.  Evidently he climbed onto Brooke’s chair and then onto the table.

Luke is not walking all the time or anything, but it seems like tonight someone flicked a switch and suddenly walking made sense.  Luke walked about 5 feet from the couch to his chair and then back again.  He had a look on his face like “Wow…I can really do this!”

I was going to talk about some other cool things he has been doing, but I will just let this accomplishment stand on its own.