For months now Luke has been talking about PopPop coming and bringing him a tractor. He went back and forth about whether he wanted a red one or a green one, but he never stopped talking about it. Well, last weekend was THE weekend. PopPop and Grammy drove up from Atlanta and brought with them a green tractor (riding mower) for Luke and Daddy.
He was so excited. He couldn't wait for them to get it down.
He watched and watched, making sure PopPop didn't change his mind.
It took quite a while, so Luke entertained himself with PopPop's toolbox. He loved it, but proclaimed it "very dirty."
At last PopPop fired it up and got it down off the truck...
It was at this point that Luke realized...
IT WAS WAY TOO YOWD!!
He bawled and bawled and clung to Phil until the tractor was turned off.
Please no one tell him how YOWD that tractor on his shirt is.
Luckily Luke and Grammy found something quieter to do.
Just what the doctor ordered.
He then mustered up the courage to go have a chat with the green tractor.
(This is his signature move, by the way. Left hand up as part of a questioning shrug. He does it ALL the time.)
Apparently they reached some agreement and made up, but Luke never did ride on it. He loved climbing on it while it was sitting in the garage, but had we turned it on, he would have gone berserk. Again.
It ended up being a blessing in disguise that Luke didn't like the tractor as much as we expected him to. Our yard is way too curvy and small for such a big mower, and it really tore it up when Phil mowed. He and PopPop made the executive decision that it wasn't going to work for our yard, so when PopPop left, he took the green tractor with him. Luke mentioned it a time or two afterward, but really didn't care too much that he no longer had a tractor of his own. We are totally blown away that someone who is soooooo loud himself would be so scared of loud noises. Maybe one day he'll conquer his fear, but it seems that day will not be any time soon!
And then he hammed it up for us by patting the walls like he was trying to feel his way down the hall.
And this is what happens when you give Luke my mom's reading glasses:
Doesn't he remind you of someone?
I think he looks just like...
Ralphie.
The FUNNIEST part was when he started trying to walk down the hall.
He kept looking straight down at the floor and picking his legs up as if he were stepping over things as he walked. His eyes (glasses) were obviously playing tricks on him. I would have loved to have seen what he was seeing.
This picture is awesome for so many reasons:
1. the higglety-pigglety-ness of the glasses, which he just left like that.
2. the concentration on his face.
3. the BELLY.
3. Meghan cracking up in the background.
He eventually figured it all out and took a few leisurely laps with Pops. Yes, he still has the glasses on.
Realizing that I captured his embarrassing moments on camera, he then tried to make up for it by striking a calendar pose. Nice try, punkin!
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!
...he would let me turn it on. I'd have the cleanest house in town.
"This here beauty is my new favorite thing to play with. It's called a baff-yoom."
"This is the plug that I would plug into a live outlet in a heartbeat if Mommy hadn't already covered every outlet from here to Timbuktu....but then I'd scream and cry like a girl because it's so YOWD!"
"This is where I house my super powerful Mommy-and-Daddy-slaying Kryptonite, also known to some as 'DUST'. I like to scatter it around the house as I go."
"This is how I 'mow' my baff-yoom all around the house until I get it stuck in a tight corner and cry because I can't get it unstuck on my own."
"Mommy thinks I'm a Stinker because I do all these silly things ..."
"but I'm actually really TOUGH...even when I'm not wearing any pants."
"Now that I've proven my toughness to you, I'm gonna do a little dance with my favorite baff-yoom!"
Almost everyday, at some point during the day, Luke gets a hold of my phone. (Thank God for the key lock.) It is pretty much a given that when he gets my phone, he will put it up to his ear, he will pretend to call PopPop, and he will ask him to ride his tractor. He will alternate talking and listening while holding the phone to his ear and will say things like "yowd" (meaning the tractor is loud), "minute, one day" (meaning he wants to ride the tractor in a minute or in one day, because we are forever telling him, "you can do/have that in just a minute" or "we are going to do that/go there in just one day"), "da red one" (meaning the biggest one, the red Massey-Ferguson), "dive it" (he wants to drive it), or "fassss" (obviously, he wants to go fast). The funny thing is, though, that any time I try to get him to talk to PopPop or anyone else for real, he clams up and will hardly say anything beyond hello. As long as the phone is off, he's got lots to say and walks all over the house with the phone on his ear jabbering away--and always talking about the tractor.
A couple weeks ago he got my phone, put it up to his ear and screamed happily into it, "POPPOP!!! (I) WANNA RIDE TRACTOR! OH!!!" It was the same conversation that he always has with the phone, but this time much louder and with an exuberant "OH!", which I guess was just for effect. It made me laugh out loud.
Every once in a while, though, Luke will change it up during his conversations with PopPop and casually ask about Grammy, Phil's mom. Sometimes he even mentions Emma and Uncle (Uncle Brandon, Emma's husband), because they were there the last time Luke rode the tractor.
Just this past week Phil was in Atlanta for work and stayed with his parents. When Luke asked me about Daddy one morning, I told him he was at Grammy and PopPop's house, because it was much easier than explaining to him that Daddy was in Atlanta on a work trip. Luke's eyes got really big and he yelled out "DADDY RIDE TRACTOR!!!" It cracked me up. At least he's willing to share the love. So all of this is why I just had to take pictures the other day when he was in the middle of yet another pretend conversation with PopPop...and he just so happened to be wearing his beloved tractor shirt at the same time. Here he is talkin' it up with himself and the phone, pretending he's telling PopPop that he's coming in a minute one day to ride the big red tractor.
"So, let's see...what's PopPop's number again?"
"PopPop! What's up, dude?"
"Yeah, can you hang on...I'm trying to find a private place to talk."
"I know...she won't stop following me around..."
(This is so Luke, tilting his head and pacing the house while wheelin' and dealin'.)
"CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?"
"Seriously...is this thing even working?...."
"So am I coming to you or are you bringing the tractor to me?"
Having arranged to ride the tractor in a minute one day, he's all done and so proud of himself.
My sweet, silly Stinker.
And just so you too can experience the awesomeness that is riding the tractor, we have it on video. Yes, folks, this is what Luke hasn't been able to stop thinking and talking about since it happened. I'm sure you'll soon be calling PopPop and asking if you can take a ride, too.
**(like last time, if you hit play, then double click on the video you can see the video in its real size)**
He put it on and said, "Look, Mommy! I'm a cowboy!!"
