Company Christmas Party

Here are some pictures of Lucas from my company's Christmas party on Dec 7. We start off with him coloring with Marilu.


This next one may be a little hard to see (so click it to enlarge), but he's got a big ol' grin as he goes to see the baby one of my co-workers is holding. Too bad the red eye is making the little girl behind him look like an extra from Terminator 4.


Lucas tries to figure out how to get into the tent where all the bigger kids are.


Ah-ha! He found his way in.


Lucas gets his present from Santa...


...and promptly tears into it. I should point out that Lucas did pretty well with Santa this year. Yeah, he always approached him with caution, but he never flew into a breakdown like some young kids do. Who knows, maybe that's coming next year. Probably not though since Lucas is way too personable.


Later on that day, I got one of the few photos of our decorated tree looking normal. By that, I mean one in which all the ornaments weren't moved up and out of reach of his royal terror. You'll see in later posts what I mean.

We're back

Today was a LONG day, filled with delayed flights, missed connections, and lots of waiting around in airports. I think these pictures of Lucas, taken moments after we got home around 10 PM pretty much sums up how we felt after we walked in the door.




I'm now going to take a cue from him and retire to the bed myself. I'll be back tomorrow with the first of several posts, covering the Florida trip as well as all the Christmas and Christmas party pics.

Video Marathon

Tomorrow, we're headed out for nearly a week to visit my dad in sunny Florida. It'll definitely be good to get out of here since on the days it's not snowing, it's bitterly cold. I won't miss it a bit, let me tell ya.

If I have time later, I'm going to do what I've done the last few times I've been away, and schedule posts to run while we're gone so you still get your Lucas fix. However, today I wanted to put up an early Christmas gift of sorts, 6 brand-new Lucas videos!

One thing to note regarding YouTube: recently they have added the ability to view new videos in high definition so if you click the "watch in high quality" link at the bottom right of each video, you should be able to see a much crisper picture when watching the videos. You'll have to go to the actual YouTube site though. I think you can do that once the video completes on this page.

As you can see in the first video, the digital camera is still one of the main focuses of Lucas's life. I think he wants that thing more than any toy he's ever seen. No babies were hurt during the making of this video, but one sure was annoyed.



In the second video, Lucas plays around with a couple of spoons I gave him (he did much more off-camera), wanders around, and poses for the camera.



Video 3 finds Lucas in the tub. He's recently discovered how to make splashes much bigger than the small ones he does with his hands.



This is a sequel of sorts to last week's video where Lucas was putting blocks in his pajamas. You'll me amazed at what goes in there this time.



This is a very cute one where Lucas does his impression of ol Saint Nick.



And finally, a fairly straighforward video of Lucas eating dessert, a chocolate pudding.



If I don't post again before then, Merry Christmas, everyone!

Just plain cute

Just a few random shots of Lucas from Dec 4. I should warn you now, some of them are VERY cute so prepare yourself.

Cause sometimes the best way to eat a piece of bread is with a fork.


Here Lucas models one of the crafts he made at daycare, a reindeer antler hat.




And finally, Lucas shows off his favorite winter hat.



Bye!

Not sure how I forgot!

One other thing, Lucas turned 18 months old this past Tuesday, Dec 16. You can tell he's getting older when I forget a "milestone" date like that. Anyway, forget about it and scroll down to the new pictures!

I'm back!

Turns out it was my power supply after all so I was right. Too bad I know nothing about fixing computer hardware. So after a trip to the repair shop and a lot of money later, my computer is back up and running.

Lucas's daycare provider had a Christmas party for them today, which as she said, is the codeword for "they're going to have a lot of sugar!" Surprisingly enough, he was well-behaved and didn't seem too wired tonight, which was good since we went out to eat at Boston Pizza and then had to do a bunch of shopping. On top of my computer expense above, we also bought a new table for Lucas, a GPS for the car, and a portable DVD player (officially for Lucas but it will most likely help us keep our sanity). Luckily, all 3 of those items are Christmas presents from the parents so we won't go hungry this Christmas. Well, not yet anyway, since a 32" LCD TV and a new computer are coming up this weekend and within the next few weeks, respectively. Thank god for bonuses at work is all I can say.

Enough about us. Let's get to the pictures! Lucas has learned how to color recently and so he shows off his coloring skills in the next couple of photos.




It wouldn't be Lucas if he didn't try and eat the crayon.


This one comes from the next day, Nov 30. As I said a few posts ago, a lot of Lucas does makes no sense to us, but I'm sure there's a fine reason in his mind. In this example, Lucas sits in a pot while eating cheese. Yeah...you figure it out.


And we wrap up this entry with a couple pics of our little gangster. One looking sly...


...the other looking precocious. I think. I really ought to look up that word.


I may update tomorrow. That'll be the start of my 2 weeks of vacation so it's also possible I may be sampling a few adult beverages. So we'll see. Good night all!

AFK

Just a head's up to let everyone know there may not be any updates for at least a couple of days. When I came downstairs earlier tonight, I noticed my PC was off, which wasn't how I'd left it last night. I turned it on, it booted up, and less than a couple of minutes later, it turned off again. Since then, it's done something similar 3-4 times. I'm no hardware expert so my best guess is that there is something wrong with the power supply. I'm going to bring it in to get it looked at tomorrow so hopefully it's not something that will require much more than an easy (and cheap) fix. I've already planned to buy a new computer within the next month or two so this should speed up the process.

For what it's worth, I'm writing this from Marilu's PC. You may ask why I don't continue to update from here. Well, the majority of the photos are on my PC, and Marilu's keyboard is so unintuitive, it makes me want to kick a kitten. So that's why.

We're off to Florida for vacation on Tuesday so hopefully it will be fixed by then; otherwise, my next update will probably be around New Year's. Merry Christmas, in case I don't write before then.

The boy's a-changin'

Lucas sat at the table for the first time tonight (no pics unfortunately). Well, officially. Normally, he sits in his high chair, but lately, we've found that he's been very finicky when eating. On a hunch, Marilu decided to put him in his booster seat contraption on the chair and move him right up to the table. I'm not sure if that was the only reason, but he ate like a champ tonight. So for the time being, he's moved to the big leagues. We're also planning to buy him a kids' table this week, so that should help as well.

One thing I haven't mentioned in the past is that Lucas loves babies. Anytime he sees one, he shows a lot of interest in them and typically pets or touches them gently. It's really cute. In late November, Marilu had an Epicure party (not sure if these are in the States; it's kind of like a Pampered Chef party, only more focused on spices), and her friend Nicole brought her baby. Lucas immediately went over and checked him out. Afterwards, he sat in Nicole's arms for quite a while, presumably so he could be close to the baby. Cute stuff.

Joe Cool

Back when he was younger, Lucas would thwart any attempt we made at putting sunglasses on his face. Although he's still apt to rip them off eventually, he's now willing to keep them on for a little while longer. I think he likes that we both call him Mr. Cool when he has them on.

Hugs

I took the following two photos back on Nov 23. I think both of them do such a good job at expressing the love between Marilu and Lucas that I couldn't pick one over the other. As you can tell, Lucas can definitely be a cuddler when he's in the mood. Hope you enjoy.



Of course, I couldn't keep this completely serious. Earlier that same day, Lucas decided to show off his new fashion statement. Bare chests and blue slippers will no doubt be all the rage at Gymboree come spring.

Whatever floats your boat, kid

We don't pretend to always understand what's going through his mind.

Mishmash

This afternoon, my company had its children's Christmas party. Lucas seemed to have a good time, and it looks like he's becoming quite the social butterfly with other kids. I guess going to daycare does help out those social skills. He was still hesitant of Santa, but since he didn't get put in his lap, he didn't have a chance to freak out or anything. I took a few pictures, but I haven't uploaded them yet so look for them in the next day or two. In the meantime, some more pictures from November.

Remember the bathtub video? This picture is from the same night. Lucas is showing off his 5 o'clock bubble shadow.


Sometimes his "say cheese" smile looks surprisingly like he's in pain. In the following picture, he's very happy to have his hands stuck in his two boots.


Whereas in this picture, he's not so pleased to be stuck behind the TV. See the difference?


You can never have too many pictures of the dalmation outfit. In this one, Lucas cuddles with some of his stuffed animal friends.


Finally, nothing of any great importance in this picture. I just find the Cars overalls to be pretty cute.

You know what they say about big feet...

Fat boy

One of Lucas's quirkier habits as of the last week or so is to stick things down the front of his clothes. We first noticed it when some of his magnets went missing and eventually showed up post-washer/dryer in the foot of his pajamas. At daycare yesterday and today, he put several more magnets and other small items down the front of his shirt. It all culminated tonight where he went for the motherlode (as seen below).

I'm not sure why he does it: storage? it feels good? wants to sympathize with pregnant women? I have no idea. What I do know is that it was damn funny so take a look and let me know what you think. The kid is definitely a character.

November update

Before this post starts properly, I just wanted to point out that I've taken plenty of pictures over the last couple of weeks so I should have more than enough for updates in the near future.

This 4-day weekend was a fun one, I think, for Lucas. I took Thursday and Friday off for American Thanksgiving, and keeping with a tradition we started last year, the 3 of us (Marilu was "sick") went to a nearby mall to get a picture with Santa. It works out well since there aren't nearly as many people as there would be on a weekend. Even so, it surprised me just how many people were there for pictures with Santa. Must be nice not to have to work. We got a nice picture of the 3 of us with Santa done up as one of those glossies that go up on the fridge so some of you may actually see that in your mail soon. I'll also post it on here once I get around to scanning it.

Also, we brought Lucas out yesterday to sled around our tiny backyard. We didn't have the camera so nothing to see there, but I'm sure we'll have plenty by the end of winter.

In the meantime, let's take a look back at a couple of photos from early November. First up, Lucas hams it up for the camera. This is obviously pre-haircut.


Not too long ago, Marilu's dad bought Lucas a special jacket called a grenfell jacket. I wouldn't know what it was by name, but once you see it, you'll know exactly what it is. We haven't had weather cold enough to require it, but rather than wait, we finally decided to put it on Lucas and take a picture of it. As you can see, he wasn't in the mood to put it on. I'm sure he'll be happier next time.



Of course, this is what it SHOULD look like when it's on properly. :)

Our dalmation

Last weekend, I decided to put an outfit on Lucas that had been sitting in his closet for a while. It's actually more of a costume, I guess, but it immediately shot to the top of his "must wear" list. If he sees either the top or bottom anywhere in the room, he starts making his grunts and other assorted noises that we need to put it on him immediately. I actually plan to put it on him for daycare for the first time tomorrow so that ought to be interesting. Anyway, below you can see a couple of pictures of just what the heck I'm talking about. I think you'll find it sufficiently cute.

Halloween and LOTS of pictures

Our little Spider-Man, back before he lost his Samson-like hair. I really gotta spend some time cropping and working on these photos. Lucas being off-center here is just plain lazy on my part.


This had the potential to be a cute picture, but then he apparently changed his face at the last minute. Now it's not so good, but it's the best shot of him at the door giving out candy back on Halloween. I'd blame my mom since she took the picture, but it's happened to me more times than I can count.


In photo news, I've finished uploading the following albums to PicasaWeb. Follow the links below to see all of the pictures that didn't make the blog. Trust me, there's a LOT.

• Trip to the pumpkin patch
• Heidi's Halloween party
• My trip to London
• All other photos from October

Hope you enjoy!

Preparing for winter

Lucas is suffering through a slight fever, though it's nowhere near as bad as the last one. However, he's also got a very nasty cough, which sounds like it's coming from the chest, and when you combine the two, it's been giving him some sleepless nights. On the plus side, he is a very happy kid during the day, and the fever/cough doesn't seem to be slowing him down at all.

Last weekend, Marilu put me to work and we started preparing for winter. One of those tasks was to break down the table and chairs on the back deck. I hadn't really thought about it until I saw other people doing it, since this is the first winter we've had the set, but I suppose if we got another 14 ft of snow this winter, it's bound to come crashing through the glass top.

Anyway, the whole point of that paragraph is to serve as introduction to today's photo. After we took apart one of the chairs, Lucas decided he was going to kick back and relax in it. He's got a good start on a career in middle management apparently.

Haircut #2

Yesterday, Lucas turned 17 months old. It was also the day we decided to get him his second haircut. If you recall, when he was born, he had a fair amount of hair, and it's been growing like crazy ever since. His first haircut was quite some time ago, maybe at 9 months, and as you've seen in recent pictures, he's become quite the raggedy-looking child. It's gotten so bad in the past month or so, that I could completely understand it if a stranger wasn't sure which gender he was. So something had to be done.

We brought him to a nearby "salon" named Goobers that was designed expressly for kids. The waiting area has lots of things to keep young kids entertained, such as a DVD playing G-rated movies, a table with activity books on it, and several other toys. The chairs where they get their hair cut are also pretty nifty. On one side, you have themed seats, as seen in the picture below. In addition to the truck Lucas was sitting in, there was a tractor and two seats presumably for girls, since they were pink vehicles (hey, to each their own if your boy wants to sit there). :) On the other side, there were 4 seats for kids who are a little older, as the chairs themselves are normal, but each one has its own Xbox 360 and a plasma TV. Where was all this when I was a kid? Though I suppose it would be hard to mount a huge 20" black and white TV on the wall for use with an Atari 2600.


After we got home, Lucas checked himself out in the mirror? Whaddya think? Pretty good look for him now, huh?



And finally, since he doesn't do it often anymore, his "say cheese" face.