Day at the Museum.

My good friend from college, Karen, took Luke and me with her and her adorable 15 month old, Clara, to the Indianapolis Children's Museum on Saturday. Luke was beyond excited to go.

They have the coolest, most enormous dinosaurs all over the outside of the building. They are all either breaking in or breaking out of the museum. These are just 2 of them.

For once in Luke's life he looks little.

 The first exhibit we visited was the train exhibit. We got to go in a very old train and pretend to take a ride. Luke loved it but it was really crowded and impossible to take pictures in.

 On the way to the dinosaur exhibit, we stopped at a play table to make a few dinosaurs roar at each other.

 Then we did a little archaeological digging for fossils.

After running through that exhibit like a wild man, we headed to the Mr. Potato Head exhibit.

 Somehow Luke turned into Vanna White there for a minute...

 So much of Mr. Potato Head Land seemed (to me) to have nothing to do with Mr. Potato Head. Luke didn't notice or care, of course.

 Going on safari in Mr. Potato Head's jeep?

Becoming a tour guide and taking charge.

Then we were off to the science area. Mommy was scared it was going to be torturously boring, but it was probably the best of all the exhibits.

The water table was the biggest hit and this was the closest he ever got to looking at me despite my constant begging for him to look at the camera.

 He found and put together a sail boat, only to ask if he could get in and play with it.

 When I said no, he took matters into his own hands and put his mouth in the water. Being the great mom that I am, I made sure to snap the picture before yanking him out of the water.

 There was a big area all about diggers and construction. Although he never got to drive the bulldozer because some unsupervised kids monopolized it forever, Luke was just as happy digging in the mulch for a while.

 Daddy will be so thrilled to have help later this spring when a big mulch pile appears in the driveway!

 This incredible Chihuly sculpture was right in the middle of everything and every time Luke saw it he asked if he could take some of the "snakes" home.

Then it was on to Lego Land.

 While we aren't really into Legos yet at our house (thank God), we couldn't help but be impressed with this Lego city.

 Then we found something that we could appreciate...


See that sign? We are all about it. Where do we board?

But this is by far my favorite. Not my favorite moment, but definitely my favorite picture...


We had to have a time out in Lego Land for banging on the plexiglass and not obeying when Mommy said no.

It's such a rough life.

Houston, We Have a Problem.

Playing with older girls always seems to end up like this.

You might remember last time.

This time things escalated to a full blown dress. Morgan thought it was absolutely hysterical that she put Luke in a dress. Luke thought it was just part of a super hero outfit. He was completely clueless and totally comfortable in his gown. I thought it was really funny that Morgan chose a tiny little sash for herself and her own princess dress for Luke. Phil thought the whole thing was catastrophic and made me promise not to put it on the internet...

 Oops.

The Awesomest Day Ever...

So this is a little belated, but give me a break. I'm only 2, and typing is hard. I don't know if you heard or not but the Superbowl was in Indianapolis a few weeks ago, and I was a pretty big deal. I've been dying to tell you all about it so here it goes...

Here's my ticket to "The Big Game" (aka the NFL Experience)... I was pretty pumped.

Here's me before suiting up, you can't tell, but I was crazy nervous. I thought I was going to throw up... but I didn't, because I'm a big boy.

Suitin' up before warm ups...

Ready to rumble...

You should have seen the picture after this one. I totally pancaked that guy. And notice all the scouts taking pictures. We got some verbal D-II scholarship offers which was pretty cool, but we're holding out for the big time.

Next up was combine-style drills. They told me I ran like a gazelle, I told them, "I know. I'm soooo fasssst."

 Thankfully Reggie Wayne was wide open... AND well-rested by this point in the playoffs. He and I were working on timing routes. I could see a little QBing in my future. My Dad was an amazing QB back in the day. He led the 7th grade Duluth Wildcats to a 2-6 record which he says was awesome!?!?

 Next a little running back action... with Shaggy.

 It was too hard.

Then, a position I'll never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever play in my life.

 Who's ready for the NFL? ...ME!!!

And lastly...

 

 I had to practice the Touchdown Dance. Watch out NFL, here comes Luke Daniel Tatum.

Oh, the bald guy? That's my Dad. He and I had the awesomest day ever at the NFL Experience!

-Big Luke

I believe I can fly...

Luke is all about Superman these days, even though he has no clue who Superman really is, as he's never seen a single movie/comic book/cartoon of the guy. He just knows Superman is a super hero, and, thanks to a show on Nick Jr. called Team Umizoomi, he thinks he knows about super heroes and super powers. Of course, the super powers on Team Umizoomi are called "mighty math powers" and there have been several occasions where Luke has called upon his own mighty math powers to do things like fly or run really fast around the house. Most recently when Phil discovered some broken things in his luggage after a trip to Mexico, Luke was very distraught and said, "Oh no! I need my super duper powers to put it back togeverd [together]!" And like a true super hero, Luke does not like to leave home without his special gear -- his Superman shirt from Flipper and his trusty fireman rain boots.

 Tearin' it up on our walk tonight. 

Y'all he is SUPER fast. Can't you tell?
Ha!

So fast that Daddy felt threatened and challenged him to a race...

 ...but those mighty math powers kicked in and led our Super Stinker to victory!

Super Duper.

The Super Bowl is in town!

Phil took Luke downtown to see part of the festivities on Saturday, while Mommy had the day to herself.

Luke was so tickled to get to see the big "yetters" (letters) on Monument Circle.

For a short time, there is an exhibit of Indy cars painted to represent each NFL team, and Phil knew that the Stinker would be all about it.



Of course this was the first car Phil took Luke to see.



Can you tell it was cold?



Somewhere between Atlanta and Tampa, Luke became a sheriff. 

(Maybe that will help get us through the speed traps in Lowndes County from now on!)



And then he was utterly confused as to why we would claim the Colts this year of all years. I don't know either, Punkin.

After looking at the cars for a while, Phil decided it was too cold and that they'd walked far enough, so they grabbed some lunch and went home. All three of us went back the next day to go to Super Bowl Village and see some of the other sites. It was even colder and miserably windy, but it was fun to see the city all decked out and feel the excitement in the air.



As you can tell...



...we aren't Giants or Patriots fans in this family, so we made the best of it.



Despite hating this picture of me and the Bucs being far (FAR!) from a number one team this year, I had to document Luke's version of #1. Precious.



Happy Super Bowl, y'all!

The Chant.

Believe it or not, Luke is still sleeping in his crib and has yet to climb out. Obviously, he is physically capable of climbing out, but he is a big scaredy cat....aaaaaaaaand I may or may not have taken full advantage of that fact by not so subtly implying that climbing out would be the most dangerous thing he could ever do. This means, of course, that the only way he can get out of bed is to be lifted out by some willing (and strong) participant. Since I am not a morning person and can sleep through just about anything in the wee hours (you know, before 11 am) of the day, poor Luke has gotten creative with his cries for release.  For months he has been calling me with the same chant. It is hilarious. It is long, loud, and sing-songy, and he says it the same way over and over and over until I show up. We had to ask him a few hundred times to say it in front of us so we could understand it. He says it so quickly that you can't even make out all the words. We have wanted to get it on video for a long time and finally did. See if you can understand it, and then I'll write out the words after the video link.

The way he says it after Phil says "say it loud" is the exact way Luke calls me. Just don't ask him to say it slowly...

Luke's chant:

Turn on da yite (light)
Open da door too
Dat's a gate (great) idea...
MAAAAH-MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!

It makes me wonder how he thinks I'd turn on the light without opening the door...