Things Luke likes - March (2 years)

It's amazing how fast Luke goes up and how fast he picks up new things.   He still likes everything he did at 21 months but new favorites have popped up too. 

1) Bike Rides

It's still early in the year for bike rides but we have taken advantage of the few nice days we've had so far!  Luke loved bike rides last summer and fall and still does.  Even with just 2 rides in the last 5 months, he still talks about them almost daily, about how he wear his helmet and drinks his water.  And how Daddy rides his bike to work (which has happened once this year but it really stands out in his mind!).  When we do ride he points out birds, ducks, cars, trucks, buses, kids, water, and so on and and so on.  It's so fun to experience everything with him again!  Hopefully as it continues to warm up we can get in a lot more rides!

2) The porch (or outside, if the weather permits)

We haven't played outside much this year.  The few really warm days we've had have been very wet and I'm not so inclined to clean up a muddy kid (yet).  However, we spend a lot of time on our porch.  It's fully enclosed but not heated so it's not used for much besides shovel storage and boot drying/melting November - February.  The first day it was about the same temp on the porch as in the house and I opened the door between them...Luke loved it and hardly left the porch for hours.  I was baking something at the time and usually when the mixer is out Luke is right up with me at the counter.  That time he barely stuck his head out the door.  On the days it's been cold Luke practically begs for the porch.  I don't know what it is about it but he loves it out there.  I guess I do too since I spend a lot of time reading out there in the right weather too.  Anyways, from Luke's reaction, everything is better on the porch.  Snacks, books, pushing stroller around, ringing the doorbell on the door between the house & porch (we suspect the porch wasn't always enclosed).  The doorbell is a big favorite of his.  Until it's warm and dry enough to play outside, the porch is a nice change of location from inside!



3) Hooray for Hat!

This is a current favorite book, recommended by an old college librarian friend.  It's a really simple story of a group of animal friends sharing hats but there is stomping and marching and "Hooray!" and animals to point out and hats.  We've had it from the library for about 5 weeks now and have read it many many times.  Luke points out things on each page (the owl is a favorite) and says "Hooray!" with a fist pump.  It's adorable.  I get so overwhelmed by all the kid books at the library that I like when I get recommended good ones!  And I really like the colorful pictures too.  It's very aesthetically pleasing to me. 

4) Cozy Coupe

This is a very recent favorite (he just received it 2 days ago for his birthday).  But the few times he's tried them out at friends/cousins houses he wouldn't even share them back with the kids they actually belonged to (we're working on sharing).  Matt really wanted to get him one of these months ago and we finally got a great deal at Target around Christmas (like 40% off good deal).  Luke was so excited when he got up from his birthday nap and saw it assembled downstairs.  He then sat in it for 2 hours straight.  Matt gave him a few rides around the house but he did not get out of the car.  Two hours for an (awake) two year old to willingly stay in one spot.  That was worth the money right there!  A lot of his waking hours since then have been spent inside.  He gets rides with his lemur and puppy, he gives them rides, he just sits in it by the front door and watched the birds, squirrels, cars, and neighbors.  It's hilarious and adorable.  It will move outside when the weather is warmer and then will probably become a basement toy next winter, but for now it's fun to see his excitement (also, I get a lot of extra walking in around the house, just giving him rides!).


5) Berenstain Bear Books

Matt's sisters and sister-in-laws threw Luke and I a book baby shower shortly after Luke came home.  My SIL had asked what my favorite book was growing up and it took me a few days to decide it was probably the Berenstain Bear books (when she asked my sisters separately they came up with the same thing).  I have all the ones I owned as a kid and have slowly been collecting more from Half Priced Books.  I remember my sisters and I would look over the back covers, which pictured all the books out at the time, and check off which ones we had and which ones we wanted.  I still want to collect them all to fulfill my childhood wish (of the old ones...there are tons of them now!).  Between the ones we own and the ones we've been getting from the library, we've read many many of these to Luke before bedtime.  He doesn't have a favorite one but he recognizes the "Bears!" and can point out their names (which aren't that hard) most of the time.  I know a lot of it goes right over his head (he had to have gotten nothing out of the In-Crowd) but he still does a pretty good job of listening to them.  And I really like reading them to him.  I hope these are books we can and will reread as he grows.  They were the first long-ish books I read as a kid and I know I enjoyed them for many years.  They are the book equivalent of Legos and Duplos - classic.

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When thinking about this list at first I had a hard time coming up with 5 new favorites but then they just kept coming and coming, I could easily have 5 more.  It's so fun watching him grow and try and like new things!