Turkey Lurkey Lukey

Luke went to Grammy & Grandpap Rosella's new house for Thanksgiving this year. He had a great time making himself at home, playing with his cousins, and visiting the first of Pittsburgh's many museums.

Luke quickly discovered Grammy's spare gloves and enjoyed wearing them around

He and Grandpap spent some time discussing serious matters

He had stories with Grammy & Grandpap before bed

And on Thanksgiving, he had a grand time playing with his cousins, Simon & Chloe - specifically Simon's cool Batman cars

On Friday, we went to the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh (which fortunately, unlike its website, does not play "the chicken dance song" on a loop). He enjoyed the sand table

And he did his Great Uncle Joe proud by using the bricklaying tools so well!

We also spent some time looking at the Mr. Rogers exhibit - here Luke gets a look at Daniel Striped Tiger, after which his lovey is named

And we sang some Mr. Rogers classics at the player piano

When we got home, he "shared" some crackers with Grammy & Grandpap

And organized Grammy's spices

I like this picture. It's wicked artistic.

Finally, Luke ended his trip by spending some quality time with Grammy & Grandpap's broom all while sporting his new sweatshirt from Grandpap

Santa's Cutest Elf

While Luke has his trip to Pittsburgh for Thanksgiving this week, he has not let that distract him from training hard for Christmas in Scranton with the Caseys, the Conerys, and the Casey Conerys. Just today, in fact, he stopped repeating "Ian" for "Amy" (sorry, Ian).



And as an added bonus, Grandpa isn't the only one who is mistaken for people in print. The illustrator of Luke's new Cookie Monster book did a self-portrait in the back of the book, and, well....

Sunday in the Park with Ben

Today, Mom and her friend, Sara, hatched a plan to wear out their boys before their afternoon naps. Luke and Ben go way back, and have a better and better time playing with every visit.

Luke enjoyed riding the "choo choo" while holding his ball (and then throwing the ball so Mom could chase it)

"Ball!"

He spent a moment missing Daddy, who is in DC on business
But then he got his ball back, and everything was fine

He and Ben commandeered another kid's car and had a grand time together. First, Luke pushed Ben...

...And then Ben pushed Luke

And then there were crackers and hugs

Welcome to the ool (there's no P in it, let's keep it that way)

A quick post that has been sitting around for weeks (as you can tell) summing up our trips to the pool this summer.

One one trip, Luke wore his "read to me" romper (thanks Grandma Casey) and insisted on carrying a bottle of soap, and touching everything on the way



He had lots of fun in the pool, especially after we realized that a ball would increase the fun, and spent some time "swimming" in addition to being held.



However, next to swimming in the pool, he had fun getting dry and snuggling with Mom while eating snacks and watching the other kids in the pool.

Last Saturday

Luke had quite a full day last Saturday.

We kicked the day off by playing his new favorite game, "Spoooooky Luuuuukey." We need to capture this on video - the picture doesn't do his "spooooookiness" justice.

Our little ham has also sorted out what the camera is about. Here he is saying "CHEEEEESE!"

Then he made Daddy take a picture of him with MOMMY saying "cheese." (he was emphatic about this)

Then he & Daddy need to take pictures of their toes?

Then! After naptime, we headed North to Uncle Charlie and Aunt Sharren's house - where he reacquainted himself with their youngest and friendliest kitty, Fig. Look at that gentle petting!

Then he and Uncle Charlie went fishing for Figs.

Look at that cast! We hope Grandpap approves.

But mostly, Luke was excited to spend time with his favorite Auntie, Aunt Sharrrrrrrren.

Santa, Grandpa, and Grandpap

Luke recently found a Duluth Trading Co. Catalog that had Santa on the cover....herewith, the results of his findings:

Choo Choo Too Too

By complete coincidence after the last post, and by dint of some cool hand-me-down overalls from the Jacob & Ronan Collection, Luke was a train engineer for Halloween. For the total of 3 minutes he wore the hat (thanks, Steamtown gift shop!)

On Friday evening, we went to a little party thrown by our apartment complex. Luke was a little overwhelmed by it all, and I don't think he's quite grasped the concept of Halloween. He got a little water out of it, though. He made repeated requests to "sit" and to have "water"

Mostly, though, he started at the big kids running around

He did take time to prove that he's not afraid of some stupid sparkly skeleton. Paul showed it to him, and he immediately kissed it. (he's weird)

On Saturday, even though it fell right at nap time, we took Luke to Hoboken's annual Ragamuffin Parade. Before the parade got underway, he and Dad got to take a close look at one of Hoboken Engine 1's cool fire engines!

Poke!

Mostly, though, he seemed to find it all a bit overrated

Once the parade got underway, he again took a strict spectator role.

And rejected his hat time and again

What we did find out is that we should have conceived a costume that involved Mom's winter gloves and Ezra Jack Keats' Peter's Chair. He spent the better part of Friday evening and Saturday morning wearing the gloves and carrying the book around, announcing his readiness to "GO"

And he was very serious about it

And even resisted photos

Again with the seriousness

And here he is yelling at Mom to "GO OUT"

And he tried to jump start the out-going

But mostly, he was a sweet guy in a funny outfit