luca highlights

• i was laying down before jesse came home and luca wanted me to get up. i told him i needed to rest and he ran and brought me back a toy. i told him i couldn't play at the moment, but he interrupted, "no, mama. for sleeping." then he sang me his dragon song. - part of his routine before bed is to snuggle with his toys/animals and for us to sing him songs. he was being my little caretaker.

• this weekend marked luca's first self-initiated declaration of, "my love you, mama." while running up and hugging my legs. the next day, i had my arms out for a hug and he ran up and said, "my love you too." i cried.

• while pulling out christmas decorations last night, we found a rudolph doll that no longer plays music, due to excessive banging by a 10 month old pico monster. both of our children are completely taken with this thing. luca brought him to bed last night and around the house all day. gia found him this morning and sat and pet his face for a few minutes. funny how one little toy can capture such attention.

• when putting candy canes on the tree last night, i was patiently letting luca put them wherever he wanted. i fought the designer in me and let him concentrate on one small area. i did think i could "convince" him to spread them out, by telling him that the other branches might be lonely without any candy canes. luca looked up at me and said, "no, these candy canes be lonely. they need be together." then he put two right on the same branch. my tree never looked better.

• while folding laundry, luca ran up and stuck his fingers in my face. i looked up and he exclaimed, "my hands have poopie on them!" and sure enough they did. while trying to undress himself (we have fully entered the dressing and undressing stage), he pulled down his diaper on accident and was very disturbed to find himself in a mess.

• i came across luca's doll david this afternoon (i though i blogged about him in the past but cannot find any reference to him now. so quick expanation, david has been a recent fave of the boy. he sleeps with him, he feeds him cheerios - and they get stuck in his mouth - he basically takes care of him and brings him around the house. we bought it for him when gia was born so he would have a baby like me.) so as i was saying, i found david in the hallway and told luca i would put him in his bed. luca shouted, "not in bed!" i assumed he wanted to play with him, so i turned around and held him out. luca did not want him, so i turned back around to walk in his room. he then said, "no, rudolph in my bed." confused i asked, "david and rudolph can't be in bed together? they'll keep each other company. they'll snuggle until you go to bed tonight." luca's answer, "david be mad. " my understanding is that luca thought david would be jeolous so we couldn't let him know he had been replaced. when i asked where we should put david, luca whispered, "gia's room."

• luca has become a picky eater and it can be frustrating. but it is kinda funny when he won't even touch the mini ravioli that i bought especially for him (which gia sucks down like a vacuum) but wants three bowls of salad.