Luke:Overjoyed

My sister’s 4th child is Luke. He is 2 years old. He was a very happy baby (only showing a little frustration when all 3 older siblings would try to kiss him at once). Last summer he was so excited when the kids played in the sprinkler outside. When I visited last summer, he was in that stage where facial expressions are very entertaining and peek-a-boo is still fun so we had a great time doing that in the car. He loved putting things in his mouth, especially my fingers. And just because I am a loving (or crazy) aunt I was quite willing to let him do this even when he would bite just because it brought him such happiness.

Luke is always happy and having fun with his family, but he is very shy around strangers. When I would visit, it would take him a day to warm up to me before he was comfortable being himself (reminds me of myself). Ruth tells of a funny story when they were at a sporting event in a large crowd of people. He kept hugging onto the leg of the stranger standing next to them. Ruth couldn’t figure out why because Luke isn’t like that around strangers. She finally figured out that the guy was wearing shorts similar to his dad’s. Ruth lifted Luke up to show him the face of the stranger whose leg he had been hugging. He was shocked it wasn’t his daddy. After that, every few minutes he would look over at the man and give a low growl and furrow his brow in a scowl! Too funny :-)



One of my favorite memories of Luke is during last Christmas. The extended family all opened gifts at the home of my grandparents on Christmas Eve. We gave Luke a play vacuum cleaner that makes noises and talks when you push it. We had noticed that he was at the stage where he liked pushing things around, but the only thing in their house he could push was his sister’s baby stroller and she was never too happy about that. We know we gave him the right toy, because he spent the rest of the evening pushing it around. He was very engrossed in it.

I’m sure he’s onto a new phrase now, but I can still hear him in my head saying “Don’t!!”—a word taught to him by his older sister who makes sure he is always clear on what toys he can’t play with. Luke is a real cutie!