18 months

Dear Luke-

You turned 18 months old yesterday! And to celebrate, we went to Disneyland! Okay, thats not really how it went. But we did go to Disneyland! For Thanksgiving we planned on going to California with Grandpa and Grandma Gatter and uncle Brandeis and aunt Jerilyn. We wanted to go to Knotts Berry Farm to see Snoopy and Charlie Brown and after a day of fun there, we thought, "Why not go to Disneyland tomorrow?!" Well...it was really fun BUT super super crowded. Needless to say, we will need to go back soon to do more stuff and meet Mickey! You did get to see Mickey in the live "Disney Jr." show at California Adventure. (But he was a puppet which is not as cool as the REAL LIVE Mickey.) We have had such a fun couple of months and LOTS has happened since I last wrote to you when you turned one. You are such a big boy now and I call you my toddler instead of baby. We had an eventful summer and were almost traveling the whole time. We went camping with the Jones family to Capitol Reef. We went to Moses Lake, Washington where you first learned to walk! And, we went to Heber multiple times to visit the cooler weather. Oh, and Grandpa and Grandma Jones. ;) I got a job part time as a Medical Assistant so you go to your friend Landon's house 3 days a week and you LOVE it. You love him. You pretend to call him all the time with any phone you see..."Hi landy..." It's the cutest. I miss you when I'm at work, but it's good for both of us to play with people our own age. For Halloween you were Elmo, and after the first house of trick-or-treating you totally caught on and knew what you had to do to get candy. You thought it was pretty cool! You have changed so much in the last 6 months. Here are things you love:

-Yo Gabba Gabba, Mickey Mouse, Elmo, and Toy Story!

-Grapes, quesadillas, chocolate milk, raisins, and pop tarts.

-Balls, blocks, slides, balloons, blankets (hide and seek/peek a boo), phones, and books

Words you can say:

-No No

-Nigh Nigh

-Bye Bye

-Di (Drink)

-Nak (snack)

-Uh-oh

-Mama

-Dada

-Bapa (grandpa)

-Maama (grandma)

-Landy (Landon)

-Play (plane)

-Ba (bath)

-Baba (Yo gabba gabba)

-Bee (Mickey...for some reason, we don't know.)

-Was tha (Whats that) or Wasis (What's this)

-Staw (Star)

-Choo-choo

- And your FAVORITE word (and everyone else's around you because it's so funny) "Oh oh oh!" When you are excited or see something new or exciting, you point and say " oh oh oh oh!" Like a monkey, It's funny. :)

You still are our best buddy even though we have our moments. You get time outs now, and you know what they mean. Which is sad. I don't want to have to start disciplining you because you are still my little baby but in reality, you aren't so we have to start sometime. You know what "no" means and you know when you shouldn't be doing something, so you are old enough for time outs. We are finally getting around to making a cute room for you. You've never really had a "put-together" nursery or room since you've been born since we have moved so much and have had other house projects that needed done. Once we re-do your room, we will probably put you in a big boy bed because you know how to get out of your crib, and it's by falling out! Not a very good idea, buddy!

We love you so much, Luke! So much has happened in the last 6 months and I know the next 6 will FLY by and you will be 2. So crazy. Here are some fun pics from the weekend and halloween!

Playing silly faces with mommy at Red Robin

And peek-a-boo with Daddy

Looking handsome for church

Painting your pop pop (pumpkin)

Cutest elmo I've ever seen...





Helping daddy put up our Christmas tree! (Or our "tea")

And playing in the halloween costume box...this picture is funny.

Waiting in line to ride the train in Knotts Berry Farm

Posing with all your toys that Uncle Brandeis and Aunt Jeri won for you.

First carousel ride :)

Thanksgiving night 2011

Sleeping during Charlie Brown on Ice

In line for the haunted mansion

DISNEYLAND!!!

Riding the Haunted house ride, not sure what to think.

In line again...LOVE the decor.

This is your "pig face" super cute.

And once again posing with all your goodies!

PS...a funny story that I don't want to forget:

We got a bunch of fast passes the whole day because it was SOOO busy and we were there really late Friday night. As we were waiting in line to ride Soarin' Over California, daddy went to get you a Mickey Mouse balloon because you had been pointing and squealing at them all day. He came back with one and you couldn't contain your excitement and just started shaking and saying "ooh ooh ooh!" You loved it. Sadly, when we were trying to tie it to the stroller, you got mad and thought we were taking it away and yanked it so hard the string came off. Luckily, we snatched it before it floated away. Daddy tied the string back on to Mickey's bow tie, and gave it back to you. You started SOBBING. (You were extremely tired at this point so we thought that was what was wrong.) So I took you out of the stroller and walked over to a water fountain and you were fine. The instant we took you back and you saw your balloon, you started sobbing again. When we handed you the balloon you pointed to the string with your lip quivering. You KNEW it was broken! Haha...we couldn't believe that 1-you would notice something like that, and 2-it would bother you so much. You must have some of your daddy's OCD in you! After a while you forgot and loved it again. :) But it was pretty entertaining!