Turning Pages

Luke has gotten very good at turning the pages of his board books when we read them. He can't yet get one page free by himself, but if I loosen a page, he'll grab it and turn it over. (Otherwise, he'd grab the whole second half of the book and close it!) He gets very excited sometimes - especially when I ask him to turn it and then cheer him on when he is successful!

Couch Cruising

Here's a classic-looking video of Luke cruising along the couch. He's getting more and more brave and cruises almost everywhere! He can even go from thing to thing if they're close enough to each other (about 2 feet apart). Life's getting exciting! (And I realize his pants are a little long for this sort of activity - I rolled up the hem just after I took this video)

Standing Practice

Here is a clipped version of one of his saucer standing sessions. I noticed that he was practicing standing alone ALL BY HIMSELF! It's SO CUTE!!! So, I taped it and cut the video so that most of what you see are his attempts to stand without holding on to the saucer. There's a great big attempt at the end!

Cruising!

Luke has crossed the "cruising" frontier! Here's an example of him cruising to get to the water bottle on the other side of the saucer. Most of the time still, he needs an incentive to go somewhere, but he's getting more mobile with each day! (Also notice at one point he stands up on his tip-toes!)

Throwing Ball

I've shown you Luke throwing a ball before, but he gets all excited now after he throws it!

Standing

Luke's getting much more confident standing! Here he stands one-handed for a while, and even though his solo stand is rather short here, he DID earn the "stand alone" sticker on his baby calender today for doing several longer stands!

Pots & Pans

This is my desperate attempt to keep Luke entertained one morning while he was fussy - it worked! These pots were being thrown away, so there's nothing he could do to them that would matter. :)

Ottoman Standing

Luke kept straining to reach the ottoman while standing at his other toys, so I let him have a shot at it - he did pretty well. And he enjoyed being closer to Cinnamon also. :)

Vijay & Luke

Here's another attempt to get the two babies interacting with each other. Vijay can be MUCH more vocal and excited than this, but hey, maybe he was just really interested in what Luke had to say. :)

Turtle Toy Sounds

I remembered that this turtle toy of Luke's (not pictured) makes ocean and bubble sounds when you press it's tummy. He got so excited when it made noises! (and it was actually kind of hard to press, so I set the camera down so I could use two hands)

Luke's First Swim

Once he got to try out the wading pool all by himself (with no crazy older cousins jumping around and splashing), Luke quickly decided he liked swimming! It's like one big bathtub (and about the same temperature, too!).

Saucer Standing

Here's a good example of what Luke spends a lot of time doing - standing on the outside of his saucer. He has a special "sound" that he makes when he stands and has walking practice, so you can hear that also. In addition, you can see how brave he's getting by only holding on with one hand!



P.S. Google Video has been giving me trouble. I prefer their video uploading method when it's working. If it gets the kinks worked out, I'll probably replace these Blogger videos with the Google ones - if only because the Google ones give you a larger viewing screen. :) Meanwhile, I couldn't wait to share Luke's latest milestones with you! Enjoy!

Walking Practice

Luke is doing better practicing walking. In these video clips, he gets off to a slow start, but still works his little legs. I have learned a trick to this - pull his hands slightly forward and that gives him the incentive to move his legs forward. If you just hold his hands, he's content to just stand there. :) Since this video (and mentioning my trick to Nathan), he walks very well with Daddy as well. :) We can get him to walk all over the house - just slowly.

Opening Drawer

Luke discovered that he's strong enough to open our bottom dresser drawer! And he copied me by pushing it back in for the first time as we were filming. :)

Toys

A little window into our play times.

High Chair Protest

When I've finished cleaning Luke up after he's eaten, I rinse out the washcloth, etc. before getting him down. This is how he lets me know he wants out - a mild protest. :)

Laughing

Here I am trying my dad's trick of popping out from behind the chair to make Luke laugh - worked pretty well!

Standing at Toys

Not super exciting, but shows how he plays while standing up. :)

Luke & Vijay

Luke and Vijay had JUST been laughing at each other, going back and forth waving their arms and exclaiming - but they were standing on opposite sides of the coffee table from each other and we couldn't take a video and make sure they were safe standing there at the same time. :( This video is a lot less animated, but you can still see some interaction between the two. Luke is 2-1/2 months older then Vijay, so at this age, that's enough of an age difference for Luke to successfully taunt Vijay with the toys. :)

Eating

Luke looked so big and mature sitting in this booster high chair, I just HAD to get a video of him. :)

Rocking Saucer

I put Luke in the saucer when we come home from the grocery store since I usually have to make a few more trips down to the garage for more groceries after bringing him up. That way I know he's safe and can't get into anything. When I have the saucer's legs put away, he can rock it back and forth - and has a happy time telling you all about it!

I tried getting a video of him closer, but he wouldn't "perform" with me standing there. So, I propped the camera on the counter and went about putting the groceries away. He doesn't know he's being filmed. :)

Pulling Up

This is the extent of Luke's pulling up at the moment - but it's still progress! He gets up onto his knees sort of - they're still "indian-style".

Scooting Backwards

At the end of our 10-month photo session, I put Luke on his tummy. He started pushing himself backwards - the next step towards crawling! Then, he started getting into the curtains, which is usually off-limits, but he seemed to be playing nice with them (pulling sideways, rather than yanking them down!), so I let it go this time. Pretty cute!

Swinging some more!

More swinging - this time the lighting is better, and he has such fun expressions of joy!

Sliding

This is Luke's second time down the slide (the first was just seconds before, but I didn't have the camera ready in time). He wasn't sure what to think, but I think he'll like it eventually. :)

Luke & Karis

Luke is having fun interacting with other babies a lot more now! Here, he's laughing with Karis when she visited. He was laughing more before I got the camera out (typical). A week later, he got laughing A LOT with Vijay, but I wasn't able to get a video of it. :(