Somewhere Between Baby and Boy

Our little Lukas is growing into a little boy so quickly now that I thought I better share all that he is doing. There is just so much about this little boy that I could go on and on, it amazes me that someone so little and so young can have such a large personality and presence in my life.

At 16 months old Lukas is somewhere between baby and boy. Some days I think he is closer to boy, but then suddenly I will realize how much of a baby he still is. He has very few words, less than 10 in fact, which makes him so much more like a baby, and yet somehow he is able to communicate so passionately that I often don't realize that he hasn't said a single word though I know exactly what he is "saying".
His words:
UhOh, No, Mommy, Keyyie (Kellie), Shewi (Sheri), Don (our neighbor), and just recently, Kitty.
His non verbals:
pointing and saying "no" until I find what he is looking for,
grabbing a hand and leading that person somewhere,
stomping his feet and running in circles to show that he is mad (my personal favorite)


This kid is the master expressionist. I am constantly cracking up at all his little faces he makes. The cutest one is when something seems to have gone awry he turns his mouth into a little "o" and just looks at me waiting to see what will happen next. Hmmmm, or maybe the cutest one is when he sees someone he doesn't know, puts his head down while staring them down and then gives them an eye roll. Oh yeah, it doesn't get any funnier than that:)


His most common look is with his tongue sticking out. I love that little tongue:)
Luke has now begun to give kisses on command, and Tone' and I are taking advantage of it! Luke will kiss whomever he is nearest as soon as he hears the word "kiss". He especially loves to kiss his big brother, Nikolas, Mama, Daddy and his buddy, Nathan. Nathan usually sees Luke coming, screams and runs away. There's some history there however.....some certain fingernail scratching and possibly some biting.
Lukas also is our little tool man. He loves to push around his wheelbarrow and "help" mama garden. He will try to lift any tool left out; shovels, rakes, lawnmowers, rototillers......I'm hoping that carries over into his teen years.

In case you were wondering: He has a mouthful of teeth! Funny thing, though, he doesn't use them to eat with as he still refuses to eat hardly any solids and simply would rather nurse for sustenance. Why end a good thing, I guess......mama is ready though. One thing he does use his teeth for is biting! Little stinker. We have learned to never leave a toe or finger dangling off the couch as it attracts little chompers. Tone' learned this the hard way as he was taking a peaceful nap one Sunday afternoon and then suddenly this little piranha came up and took a bite of his big toe! OUCH! Though there were some other words that came out of Tone's mouth.

As a mother of a 3 year old, I would have to say that so far my favorite stage is the 1 1/2 year old stage. They still have their chubby baby bodies, they are learning to protest but can't yet do anything about it, they have the cutest little language all their own and they are constantly learning new and exciting things. So if you haven't seen Lukas for a while and want to then you better come on over as 8 months from now he will be a TWO YEAR OLD. And we all know what that means....