Rockin' Out.

Last Saturday our sweet neighbor, Reid, gave Luke a hand-me-down guitar. This was such an exciting moment for Luke because he is newly fascinated by guitars, which he calls "good-tars".  This particular "good-tar" was well loved, to say the least. Its strings are all stretched out and bent, the battery cover was lost ages ago and replaced with duct tape, and the recorded music that it plays has a lovely tinny sound to it. Luke couldn't care less, though, and thinks it's super cool. He also thinks that his ill-fitting yellow hard hat (another beloved hand-me-down from Reid) finishes off his rock star ensemble perfectly.

Rockin' out and looking extra tough with his black eye (the result of a run-in with his book bucket) before church on Sunday.

Looking a little too much like a member of the Village People. 

"Muah! I love my good-tar."

 On Saturday when Reid handed over the guitar, Phil pointed out to Luke that it was just like the guitar of our friend and music minister at our church, Josh. Luke's favorite thing to do at church is to climb up on the stage and visit with all the musicians and instruments, so he was tickled when Phil pointed this out. Phil then suggested, kind of rhetorically, that Luke could take it to church to show Josh some time...

Well, the next day was Sunday, and you can bet that when I told Luke it was time to go to church, he wanted to take his guitar with him to show Josh. I told him that he could but we needed to put his shoes on first. I put his shoes on for him and then told him to go get his guitar. He immediately ran off to get it and came back with not only the guitar, but also the hard hat. It cracked me up, so of course I had to run and get the camera.

Standing at the back door, ready to go.

"Wait, Mom! Take another one of my tough guy face!"

So excited he can't contain himself.

"Umm, I think my good-tar needs a seat belt."

This is what I got when I asked him to say cheese.

Apparently rock stars don't do "cheese".

Posing with his buddy and fellow rocker, Josh.

That was fun, but what else can I do?

Another favorite instrument. This one doesn't do much for his tough guy routine, though.

This one's for you, Uncle Johnny!

(but if you ever give my son drums, you'll pay for it in more ways than one.)

All done and watching as the guitar goes nigh-night!

Sing to the Lord a New Song.

Ever since Luke was about four months old, he has had a specific bedtime routine. 

 It all starts with bath time.

 Then there is story time (added once he got a little older).

The last and most essential part of the routine has always been rocking and singing to him for a few minutes before putting him in his bed. We started out at 4 months singing "Jesus Loves Me" to him every single night. Even babysitters and grandparents knew to sing a few rounds of "Jesus Loves Me" before putting him down. After many, many months of the same routine and same song, Phil decided he was tired of singing the same song over and over and over. He started singing some of his favorite songs instead, like Coldplay, Weezer, and Death Cab for Cutie songs. I have always stuck with "Jesus Loves Me", because I love the message and also because it is a song that I know so well that I can sing it over and over while simultaneously thinking about what I am going to make for dinner or what chore awaits me the minute I walk out of the room or which of my TV shows is on tonight or whatever (hey, a mom's got to multi-task). A few months ago, though, Phil started singing a new song to Luke. It is a song by our good friend, Ryan Kiesshauer (pronounced KEES-ow-er), who released his first album last January. The song is our favorite song on the album and is sung in Globalscope ministries around the world. It is a praise song called "King Forever", but Luke just calls it "Kee-OWWW-er". It has become his most favorite song to date, and he asks for it at every nap time and bedtime. In fact, it's the only song he will let us sing at those times. He asks for it all the time in the car, too, and when the next song on the album comes on, he says, "No. I wan' kee-OWWW-er gen!". We've tried explaining to him that all the songs on the album are Kiesshauer, but he refuses to believe us. While it is a challenge for me, one of the most musically disabled people in the world, to sing "King Forever" a cappella and not sound like a howling dog, I love the song so much that I don't mind. (I just pray no one turns on the baby monitor downstairs while I am singing.) My favorite line in the song can bring me to tears at almost any given moment:

Never again will I ask the world to tell me who I am
For I know I am Yours.

So good. And such a good message for the Stinker. Not to mention every other line in the song is totally awesome too. So I am not sad that Luke has chosen to 'sing to the Lord a new song'. It's a darn good song. And I can't wait till he starts singing it in his own words. I'm sure it'll melt this mama's heart.

Since I want you to be able to hear Luke's new fave, here is a link to our friend Ryan (yes, the real deal!) singing "King Forever" on YouTube as part of a contest to win the opportunity to have his song played on the radio in Atlanta. Unfortunately he didn't win, but he should have. I hope you like it as much as we do.
(and if you do, buy it!)

Helping Daddy Out.

After Luke stole his hat the other day, Phil decided to get out the camera and take advantage of some free marketing for Globalscope. I'll let you know when the billboards go up.

Goodbye My Love...

It has finally happened. 

We have taken Luke's beloved bottles away from him. 

He has been totally and completely in love with his bottle since he was 11 months old and weened himself. He wanted nothing more to do with Mommy's milk, and since he was completely unable to make a sippy cup work at that point, it was a bottle or nothing. For a long while now, we have allowed him to have his milk in his bottle in the morning and after lunch and ever since learning to use a sippy cup way back whenever that was, he has drunk his water and juice in the sippy. I have wanted to get him off the bottle for a while now, but have been a softie about it. He used to be a thumb sucker and LOVED his thumb. I loved that he loved his thumb, because it was such a comfort to him when nothing else was....like when he was tired of being in his stroller or car seat. He'd cry for a second then pop his thumb in his mouth, and he'd be happy. Unfortunately, when he got Foot and Mouth in September, he gave up his thumb from one day to the next. I guess the sores on his hands and in his mouth were bad enough that he was willing to give it up. Once he got better, he seemed to be lost without his comfort item (even though it was still attached to him), and the only thing that gave him a similar kind of comfort was his bottle. So I didn't push him to give that up too. Then I was going to make him give it up once we got back from Christmas/New Year's vacation, but that didn't happen either. He completely refused to drink milk out of anything other than his bottle, and at the time he was not eating much at all (I know...you don't believe me...but it's true), so I let him keep using his bottle so that I could at least be sure he was getting in that much nutrition in a day.

That is, until last week. He had strep, so while I was at the doctor's office, I mentioned that I had yet to be able to get him off the bottle. She was adamant that I bite the bullet and do it immediately (well, once he was better). I told her how much he refuses to drink milk out of a sippy cup and asked if it would be a problem if he didn't drink any for a while. She said he was so big that it wasn't a problem and that I should just be sure that he ate yogurt and cheese on the days that he didn't drink his milk. Well, folks. It's been five days now and Luke has not ingested more than a sip or two of milk. Every time we ask him to drink his milk, he either says, "No fane-chew" (no thank you) or puts the spout up to his mouth barely touching his lips, looks at us, and then puts his cup down again. We have tried bribing him with all sorts of things, and it does absolutely no good. Tomorrow we are going to try using his new favorite food, big chewy chocolate chip cookies, to get him to drink even one sip. I'm not very optimistic. Thankfully, the Big Man has only thrown a few little fits about not being allowed his most favorite thing in the world anymore. He still asks for his bottle every morning, but we just tell him no, that bottles are for babies, and he's a big boy now so he has to drink his milk in his cup. 

Obviously, he's not buying it at all.

Savoring his last bottle ever.

Look at those sad eyes. I think he knew. 

Not even the new shirt I made him could cheer him up.

Oh well. At least we are saving some good money not having to buy milk!