The Climber

Oh Luke, what will you climb next?   It is kind of hilarious watching him pull his tiny body up onto anything and everything within his reach.  At least he hasn't started stacking things yet.

(A lot of these are blurry phone photos because sometimes it just doesn't seem wise to run off and grab a nicer camera.)

His little ride-on car is a favorite to climb.  He uses it to get a better view of all of the treasures he has tossed into the laundry basket.

This is not really climbing, but he does love standing in his high chair.  He can wiggle out of the buckle and squirm his way up through the top.  Same goes in shopping carts, so he usually rides in the basket in the back. 

Here he is raiding Isaac's toy cabinet with the help of a little chair.  I think Isaac put the chair there but I'm not positive.  Wouldn't surprise me a ton if it were Luke.  (Crazy hair-do courtesy of the fan.) 

Climbing a fence at Charlie's company picnic.  

Luke does not like to stay buckled in his stroller unless the stroller is moving or if he has a snack to eat. In this photo he has turned around and climbed up the back side of it.  

The resort we stayed at in Scottsdale had lots of large landscaping rocks.  Perfect for climbing! 

Our bed is probably one of his favorite things to climb.  Luke usually follows me into whatever room I am in, but on a few occasions he has snuck off into our bedroom and climbed up on the bed.  It is all about the game for him because once he got up there he would call out for me "Maaaa!  Maaa!" just so I could come and chase him and tickle him and carry him off of the bed like I always do.  

Here's a fun one:  Isaac's car garage.  

A recent favorite is this basket that we use for recycling newspapers and magazines.  He especially likes to climb up there when Charlie is watching TV and he will bring a ball to throw at Charlie and play catch with.  He's also scooted this basket over to the coffee table to help him climb up.  

Tonight he reached new heights.  He discovered that he could climb onto one of the kitchen chairs and from there it was an easy step up to the table.  Oh dear!  I am a little worried about this new discovery. 

And I think the table stunt gave him some extra confidence because a few minutes later he made his way up onto Isaac's bed for the first time.  He has been trying to do this for months but his little legs are too short to bridge that big step.  So tonight he just gripped the comforter and used all of his strength to pull himself up.  I was actually kind of proud of him.  He & Isaac had a grand old time jumping around up there.  

He is a busy little guy!  He is getting pretty fast and when Isaac plays with him Luke will run around the house screeching and laughing.  

He also has this funny habit of putting things over his head.  

He does it a lot with his lovey blankets that he carries all around the house with him.  Before he could walk he would throw them over his head so that he could use his hands for crawling.  Now I'm not sure what the purpose of throwing a blanket over his head is, but it makes me laugh.  

I also have to mention his other favorite thing to do which is throwing.  But I don't have many pictures of that.  He throws anything and everything.  At first it was just his balls (which he still LOVES), but soon he started throwing food.  Not so funny.  He is kind of a picky eater and when he decides he is done with something he just hurls it in any direction. Usually Cracker will clean it up, but still.  Luke also loves to throw things out of shopping carts.  It was funny maybe the first two times, but it got old really quick.  His favorite is to throw produce that he can watch roll and bounce around, but he will throw anything that he can manage to lift up and over.  Little stinker!  Nothing in his little world is off limits: sand, rocks, toys, remote controls, pacifiers, etc.  He drives me just a little, okay a lot, crazy!  Good thing he is so adorable.

We recently switched from two naps a day down to one.  He was still sleeping well for both naps but we had a couple of nights where he would not go to sleep at bedtime and was awake until about 11:00 pm.  So I cut out the morning nap and moved his afternoon nap up.  It's been a rough adjustment because he is pretty still pretty tired during the day.  And three hours of church is tough for everyone, right?

And last but not least, Luke had his 15 month check-up last week.  He is a tiny little guy.  He is 30 1/2 inches, which is the 25th percentile and 21 lbs which puts him in just the 5th - 10th percentile.  I can't help but wonder if maybe this has something to do with all of the food he throws overboard from his high chair?  But the doctor says as long as he is still growing and in proportion that he is just fine.