Every Super Hero Needs A Costume.

Luke's just happens to be blue and held on with lots of velcro tabs! This is the Theratog outfit the I mentioned some time back. We got Luke one of his own so we are able to put it on him and manipulate his body with the rubbery material. His legs tend to splay out at the hips (like frog legs!) so by putting on these bottoms, for instance, we can help pull those leg muscles inwards. It's a very interesting concept and fortunately, Luke has been distracted enough to not start pulling off the velcro tabs.

Linda (Luke's physical therapist) has Luke standing a lot and is teaching him to side-step and move out of his comfort zone of arms length once he is upright. Even though we're a long ways off from Luke pulling himself to standing (transitioning positions are very hard for this kid- took until this past September for him to sit up on his own) it is important to build endurance in his legs so we stand him up quite often. His balance isn't great but he enjoys being big and tall. He's even learned to take steps so we're working on moving forward with the help of a walker. I'm going to predict that walking is definitely in this little guy's future.

The red barrel is the perfect height and tons of fun to throw things into. He also enjoys putting pegs into the pegboard on the mirror.

"Tesssssss!" (Linda's Cal Poly volunteer who Luke completely adores.)

Pegboard does travel. Here he is working on leaning forward.


Luke becomes way more motivated when it's Tess tempting him.


Barrel not always necessary. He's getting really good!

Luke now also has feet/ankle braces to help him with stability. Because of all the muscle tone issues people with cerebral palsy have, it's important to build strength correctly and Luke has a tendency to stand funny on his feet. The braces help correct that and offer support.

Marley & Me

Luke is still attending parent participation class on Fridays and greatly enjoys hanging out with his buddies. Unfortunately, this winter quarter has been crazy so our attendance has been less then stellar but we hope to turn it around with a less busy spring quarter.

This past Friday, we arrived to find new kids in our class and they are a set of triplets! Marley, Audrey and Cordell are a few months younger then Luke and are just as sweet as can be. Turns out the live right around the corner from us as well.

Anyway, I sat Luke down next to Marley at snack time and that's when Cupid struck...

First they were all about their graham crackers...

And then their eyes met.

Luke wanted nothing more then to share his cracker with Marley...


But she demurred. Instead, they continued to chew and share their looks of love.

It was too cute and Luke was so uncharacteristically QUIET. He just kept offering Marely bites and never took his eyes off of her. Even Marley's mom, Kelly, commented on our little love match. She warned me that Marley is quite high maintenance but I informed her that was perfect for Luke because he's super easygoing.

"Love, true love."

A Year Already?

It recently occurred to me that it has been a year this month since I began chronicling "The Life of Luke." To commemorate the occasion, I did a little photo shoot on our front steps like the pictures in the first posting last February. I've even included one from last year to compare. I CANNOT believe that the baby from last year is our little boy today. Time truly does fly.

If you look back at the posting from February '08, you'll see there is a picture of Rocco "kissing" Luke's toes. Well, Rocco doesn't kiss Luke's toes anymore. Not when there is an adorably tasty face now eye level.

Rocco is NOT known for his minty fresh breath... sorry kid.


And then he strikes.

Luke has become very aware of the camera and will smile on command and say "pick-tours" when I'm in his face snapping away. But being the social, good-natured child that he is, he is perfectly willing to ham it up if it makes mommy happy.

His signature pose. I guess it we could call it "Catching Flies"?

We often count with/to Luke and recite the alphabet. I'm pretty sure he has no clue what we're talking about but he's very good at mimicking our words so he jabbers away. He just recently started trying to copy our hand movements when we count to five on our fingers.

Looks like "1" but he just likes alternating wiggling his fingers up and down.

Possibly "2"?

I had to include this picture because this kid is just too darn photogenic. While he was in the NICU as a newborn, the nurses would always gush about how beautiful his mouth and lips are. I had more then one nurse compare him to Angelina Jolie. This picture just reminds me of that. We did good Matt!

"Lukie Jolie" -Neighbor Amy

On Monday, Luke, Matt and I are headed up to South Lake Tahoe for our first real family vacation. Luke has never been to the snow so it should be quite interesting and make for either some fabulous pictures or pictures of him screaming. I've already predicted that he will proclaim the snow to be "hot" upon touching it since that's the only change in temperature that he's grasped so far. We're looking forward to a relaxing, hot chocolate/coffee-filled time!

Love for Peggy, Marcia and... Remotes.

Right before we left San Jose on the 15th, my godmother, Peggy, and her cousin/our wonderful family friend, Marcia, came by to visit with and meet Luke. They live in southern California, so seeing them is always a treat. Marcia had never met Luke so he was extra excited to make a new friend.

He's a very huggable guy.

Luke and "Aunt" Peggy.

Luke and his "mote" that stays at Grandma & Grandpa John's house.


Marcia, Luke and "mote."


Fast friends.


He's a sucker for the ladies.

Friends since childhood.

Marcia, Carole & Peggy

aka T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Luke has always had a fascination with cell phones and remote controls (what kid hasn't?) but my mom finally gave him an old one so now it's been taken to new heights. Grandma Stephanie & Grandpa gave Luke one as well so that one came home to SLO with us while the one in these pictures was left in San Jose. Yet I use "came home" loosely. In addition to being requested at odd times (i.e. right as I lay Luke down for a nap- "mote?") it came with us to a birthday party on Saturday night. Unfortunately, "mote" had to take a nap in mommy's purse when it started to be used to swing at and knock down wine glasses at the dinner table. Sorry- no pictures of that.

Quality Time with the Quach Family.

We were up in San Jose the week before Valentine's Day due to Luke having two Stanford doctor appointments (post-surgery follow-up with neurosurgery and eye doctor.) Fortunately, we were able to spend some time with the Quach family. After a rough start the first time we hung out last August, Luke is now much more comfortable around his peers (I'm sure the glasses help) and he had a great time with Morgan, Matthew and Ethan. Plus, it's always fun to raid new toy collections!

Luke and Ethan, shooting the breeze and sharing a pretzel stick.

Ethan and Luke conferring over a giant dump truck.

Ethan (on his tippy toes-so cute!) doing some light reading with Luke's "Gram-boo."


Ethan, Luke and Matthew.

The Tupperware Tornado

I caught Luke dismantling my mom's tupperware drawer while in San Jose a couple weeks back. He's fully into anything he can open and slam (doors are his favorite) but after that gets boring, we move onto emptying the contents.

He removed his glasses before the chaos began. This is his "I know I did something wrong but how can you be mad?" face. It's good.

I'm usually mean mommy but the tupperware drawer was one of MY favorites as a kid (same drawer, probably same tupperware!) so we enjoyed a good laugh.

A small sampling of the damage. The corner of that drawer is responsible for a deep scar on Uncle Chris's face. Ah, memories...

Central Coast Goodness

With the amazing weather we experienced in January, we had to get out and enjoy it. One weekend we walked downtown, ate lunch at the Mission and then hit up a favorite park. Luke always enjoys a meal and anytime he's able to swing, he's a happy camper.

Dad helped with the messy stuff at Mom's request.

You can tell the temperature by Luke's cheeks. Obviously it was warm.

Since we have a million pictures of Luke swinging thought I would throw one in of the slide. He's not so sure- definitely prefers the swing.

I've got lots more to post and plan to do so this week. The drastic change in weather (lots of rain!) has made for some very lazy days so I need to get back into the blogging-swing of things. Hopefully we can get a video or two on here as well- Luke is talking up a storm and has no problem with a camera in his face. Stay tuned...