Lukie B at Two and a Half

Luke turned two and a half on March 16.  It is hard to believe how fast he is growing up.  I love him so much.  Since this is basically his scrapbook, here are the things that are going on with him at 2 1/2 years old:

• He has started saying, “I love you Mama” and “I love you Dada.”  He used to just repeat “love you” when we asked him but now he says the whole phrase.  And on Friday, March 13, was a big milestone—he said “I love you Mama” completely on his own.  We were sitting on the couch and I asked him if he wanted to go play Thomas.  He said, “Yes.  I love you Mama” with lots of enthusiasm.  It was really sweet.
• The Thomas table and all the trains are still BY FAR his favorite things in the whole world.  I honestly think we could throw all of his other toys away, except maybe the sandbox.  The trains go to the sandbox with him, go in the bath with him, and sleep in bed with him.  We’ve only lost one so far.  We accidentally left it at church.  Unfortunately it was his favorite and one of the most expensive ones.  So, we had to replace it.
• He is really cute when he plays at the Thomas table.  He’ll say things he has seen on the Thomas TV show.  His favorite things to say are “it made Thomas cross” or “Oh dear, cried Thomas” and he’ll tell the trains to “couple up.”
• We can understand about 95% of what he says.  It is nice to be able to know what he wants.
• He really likes to sing lately.  He sings the ABC song a lot, Jesus Loves Me, and Five Little Monkeys.  In the mornings, I hear him singing to himself on the monitor before I go and get him.
• His favorite books this week are (it changes all the time): The Grouchy Ladybug, Bob and Larry’s ABC’s, Blues Clues: Home Sweet Home, and Just Go To Bed.
• His favorite TV shows/movies are: The Thomas Christmas DVD (we watch this at least twice a day), Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and Blues Clues.
• His favorite foods are: chocolate milk, yogurt covered raisins, chicken nuggets, pizza, and goldfish pretzels. 
• He is sleeping with a pillow in his bed now.  I know we could have put one in a long time ago, but we just recently did it.  I know we need to move him to a big boy bed, but we are hesitant to mess with a good thing.  He is such a good sleeper and has never tried to climb out of his crib so we are holding off as long as possible. 
• He loves playing with Lilybug.  He isn’t very good about sharing with her but we are working on it.  We have been trying to get him to share “Lady” the girl train with Lily and usually he doesn’t want to share with her.  But tonight he was naming his trains and he said, “Lady, Lilybug’s train.”  So, maybe we’ve turned over a new leaf.  Luke and Lily have a lot of fun together and I am so thankful they have each other.    
• Lily and I both exclusively call him “Lukie B”—meaning that’s all we call him.  Mark calls him “Luke” (he’s not big on nicknames) and everyone else calls him “Luke, “Lukie,” “LBJ,” or “Lukie B.”  I’m mentioning this because someday when he is a lot older I want to remember all his little nicknames.  I’ll probably still be calling him Lukie B though. 

That’s all that I can think of right now.  He is so much fun and I love being his mom.