Finally February!

Just to prove how far Lucas has come in his potty training, we were actually surprised tonight when he peed in his pants since that was the first time in weeks that he has had an accident. Heck, he now goes into the bathroom by himself when he has to poop and doesn't call for help until he is done. So we're yet one more step toward the rebellious teenager.

He's been a pretty good kid the last couple of weeks, though we have resorted to a combination of bribery and blackmail to maintain that behavior. You see, in a few weeks, his Grammy (my mom) is coming to visit, and we have already told him that she is bringing him a Spider-Man scooter. He couldn't be more thrilled about this and just about lost his voice when he saw it during a webcam conversation.

So, with that information in hand, here's what we've been doing. Whenever he starts being a pain in the butt, we grab the phone, tell him we're calling Grammy and telling her not to bring the scooter, and start dialing. In 95% of the cases, this gets him back on the straight and narrow REAL quick. Yes, some may say this is not the best parenting, but our biggest worry is what we're going to use for blackmail once he gets the scooter.

Onward to pictures from early February...

I believe this is the first picture taken of him on the new hardwood floor that Marilu's brother Jonathan installed during his visit back in late January. It also shows off his wonderfully chaotic hair. Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't mention he was trying to wear my boxer shorts (which are straight out of the clean laundry basket).


I suspect Lucas doesn't have a career in the fashion industry (thank god) after seeing this ensemble: a raincoat and rainboots over his Superman pajama top.


This next picture was taken after we made an impromptu snowman. If you look closely, you can see Lucas has cannibalized the poor thing and is eating one of its blackberry eyes.


Lucas and some of the neighborhood kids make the most of a snow hill made in the yard of our neighbor across the street.


That's all for now. There aren't too many more February pictures--just some stuff from Winterlude and his latest haircut--so we may be able to hit March by week's end. I've also been better at taking new pictures of him so hopefully I can get some recent stuff up soon as well.

Easter 2010 Videos

I finally remembered to upload the two videos we took of Lucas Easter morning so check those out below. While handling that, I noticed that Marilu and I have been quite remiss in taking pictures of Lucas. Today is April 19th, and the last time the camera was used was on April 5. Yikes! Hopefully, with more warm weather on the way, we'll have more reasons to have the camera out, chronicling our demonchild.

The silver lining of that story is that less photos means it will take me less time to catch up on this blog since I'm still back around the beginning of February. So someone wins...me!

Anyway, enjoy the videos...

Cellophane Boy

Yet one more example of how weird Lucas can be. In this instance, from late January, he wanted to wrap tape around his head. I supervised insomuch as to make sure he didn't cover both his nose and mouth. Luckily, the tape didn't stick to his hair too badly and came off without any crying.

Easter 2010

This year's Easter started off the same way as last year's (which can be seen here). That is, with an egg hunt. Lucas was a lot better at it this year, and he really seemed to have a good time. He's surprisingly perceptive when it comes to locating eggs in non-obvious locations. Of the 18 eggs I hid, he only needed help finding a couple of them.





Yes, that's chocolate on his hands. In a follow-up post, you'll see the video that explains how his hands got that way.


Later that morning, I brought him to the Canadian Agriculture Museum in order to give Marilu a chance to work on some school stuff. We've been there several times since it's a great place for kids, what with all the animals, so this year we went ahead and bought an annual pass. That ought to pay for itself well before the end of the summer.





(For what it's worth, the next to last picture with the big cow lying behind him is one of my favorite pics of Lucas in a while)

In the evening, we had our next-door neighbors over with their kids (the older one, Tyler, is only a few months younger than Lucas) and had a tasty turkey dinner. No pictures of that part of the day, unfortunately. All in all, though, it was a good Easter.

On a related note to Tyler, earlier this weekend, we took down three of the boards in the fence that separates our two yards so now Lucas and Tyler can go back and forth between the two yards without having to go out front. It's been such a hit so far, I can't believe we didn't do it sooner.

For Poppy

Easter photos are coming soon, possibly tonight, but in the meantime, this post is for Poppy, Lucas's grandfather on Marilu's side. Quite some time ago, Lucas received this outfit from his Poppy, but only recently has he been able to fit into it. If you can't see the embroidery clearly, it says, "Poppy's Little Helper," and it has a picture of one of the trucks they use at the iron ore mine in Labrador City. Enjoy!



FYI, since I sometimes forget myself, this is the breakdown of grandparents and their nicknames:

• Marilu's dad Gerry: Poppy
• Marilu's mom Barbara: Nanny
• My dad George (aka Mark): Gramps
• My mom Elinor: Grammy
• Kevin, my mom's husband: Grampy

I think that covers everyone. It's like a quiz show trying to remember who is who sometimes.

Hmm

Sometimes there are no words.