Rise and Shine

In college (and a smiiidge beyond), Saturday mornings didn't exist for me.  They were reserved sleeping and mentally preparing for a Saturday night out on the town.  I used to think that Saturday mornings were the best 5 hours of my week...because I could sleep in and do nothing.

Those days, of course, are firmly affixed in my rear view mirror.  However, I had an epiphany this week - I still love Saturday mornings.  I don't get to sleep in anymore, but its my only morning where I get to wake up without having to pack up and rush out the door.  Saturday mornings for us mean a big breakfast, and then play time in the house, (or park, or neighborhood...if it wasn't so cold outside!)  So, despite the drastic change in my Saturday mornings, they are still pretty great - and I wanted to find a way to cherish those minutes.

So, I figured that a great way to remember what Luke's like at this stage (18 months) would be to keep a log of what we did this past Saturday morning.  It was a bit different this week, because Kara had school stuff to do, so after breakfast, she was off to Starbucks for some time to study.  That meant it was just me and Luke, all morning.  So, here's a log of our activities - just a couple of bachelors playing on a Saturday morning.  :)

1. Luke is recovering from a small bout of upset stomach, so he was worn out after breakfast.  The first thing we did was sit on the couch and watch a Shinedown concert that I had DVRed from Palladia. Luke sat in my lap the whole time and sucked his thumb with a big smile on his face.  He loves that concert, mostly because the lead singer is dressed up like a court jester, and it makes him laugh.  On this day, for the first time, he fist pumped with me during Diamond Eyes, which was the cutest thing I've ever seen.  He loved copying what Dada was doing while we watched music - and the kid already has rhythm.  
2. After the concert, Luke decided that he wanted to do some work in his kitchen.  He would "cook" the food, give it to me to eat it, and then he would put the dishes in his dishwasher.  This cycle (cook, pretend to eat, put dishes in dishwasher) continued repeatedly for an hour and a half.  One time, I forgot to make the dishwasher noise, and he started banging on the dishwasher door trying to get it to work.  I also made the mistake of putting the spoon in front of Dexter one time so that he could share with us.  For the next 15 minutes, Luke chased Dexter around and jammed a plastic spoon into his face.  It was hilarious (to me.  Not to Dexter).
   
3. After our work in the kitchen, Luke wanted to play with his car table.  Mostly, though, he wanted to sit Indian Style on top of it and bang the cars on the wall.  No pic here - because he caught his foot on one of the bridges on the car table, and had a meltdown.  :)   
4. Next, we rolled around on the ground for about 20 minutes.  Luke likes to run at me while I'm laying down the floor and go "Woooaaahhh as he falls on top of me.  There's nothing like watching the pure joy on his face when he laughs at himself.  He really is my favorite little dude ever.
   
5. After floor time, I let Luke play by himself for a little bit.  I like to do this because I love the idea of him thinking through things and deciding for himself what he wants to do.  I sat on the couch and just watched him.  He banged on his drums and drug Mo-mo (Elmo) around.  Occasionally, he would sprint over to his kitchen and bring me one of the pans, just in case I forgot what a good cook he was.  After doing this for a while, it was about 12:30, and he was ready to start calming down for nap.
   

The pic above shows him sitting next to me like a grown up watching Sprout before naptime.  I held him for a while and before I knew it, his little breathing had turned into snoring, and I had to carry him like a limp noodle up to his bed.

When I got to his bedroom, he woke up just enough to give me a big bear hug where he wrapped his arms around my neck and gave me a big sloppy open mouth kiss.  I laid him down, and he waved at me with one hand and said "Bah-bye Dada"

It was no doubt the best 5 hours of my week.  I can't wait until next weekend.