Happy 2nd Birthday, Luke!

Today is my little Lukester's 2nd birthday. We had a great morning--the hallway outside his door was filled with balloons, he opened presents, and we had rainbow pancakes for breakfast. Then, while Matthew and I got ready for work, he and Myla had an epic dress-up session. See the results on the left--awesome!

Luke was in a great mood all morning, as he is most of the time these days. He's such a sweetheart--he seems to really be sensitive to other people's feelings, and if you're sad or hurt he'll be the first one to come see if you're okay. He's still a snuggler, which I love. He also has very strong opinions about things and knows how to get exactly what he wants. As maddening as it can be, I like his spunk. He's wild and daring, and it's even started to rub off on Myla a bit. At a baseball game the other day he was being a terror and Myla was following suit. A friend of mine remarked that Luke seemed to be capable of "leading from behind."

Luke and Myla are absolutely BFFs, and get so carried away chasing each other and teasing each other and pretending together. He calls her "La La" right now, which is so stinkin' cute, though Myla didn't like it at first. There are plenty of fights, but they make up for it with incredible sweetness to one another and by looking out for each other. And they give each other the best hugs.

Luke has many loves--he loves to read, and will still plop himself into any available lap with a book. His passion in life right now is puzzles. We have these four 24-piece Disney character puzzles, and he'll do them continuously, finishing all four and then starting over again. I think he might be a puzzle savant (though it's possible I'm biased). He loves playing sports of all kinds. He loves sunglasses and pancakes and cookies. His dislikes include ice cream and sprinklers.

Luke didn't talk too much until around the first week of July, when it just clicked for him. Now he says countless things. Some of my favorites--if he wants to show you something, he'll grab your hand and drag you, saying "Show! Show! Show!" And on this morning of his 2nd birthday, for the first time he said "love you too!" when I said that I loved him as he was leaving for school. Awwww . . . what a great present for me! Happy birthday to my wild, fun, thoughtful, clever, blonde-headed little chunky punkin'!