Loveable Lucan

I can say with a fair amount of certainty that Lucan has to be one of the most easygoing 3-year-olds I've ever known.  Most of the time he is an absolute delight to be around, and his silly antics and constant random chatter keep us well entertained (for free, even!).  As you can see from the picture above, he is 100% boy--this was taken after he and his friend Sean entertained themselves for over an hour with a couple of snow shovels, lots of ice, and some dirt from the yard!

Lucan naps a few times each week, on occasion even putting himself to bed.  The picture below shows him as I found him, half asleep, in the entryway the other afternoon.  He uses his "Doof Dog" as a pillow and curls up with his "Soft" (owl blanket), with other stuffed buddies and pillows about.  The difference between this picture and a regular nap time scenario is that we generally don't allow him to sleep with pirate ships or blue balloons...

This picture shows Lucan with some of his favorite things.  While he isn't as obsessed with buses as he used to be, he does enjoy having a bus or a ship to place his Veggie Tale characters in.  These things go with us EVERYWHERE these days!  Even at the airport when we welcomed Ted home, you can see him in the pictures holding Laura the Carrot and Junior Asparagus with his USA flag!  He also loves his Cars lego set from Grandma J and really anything to do with cars, even though I don't know that he's super familiar with the movie.  He has hand-me-down pajamas with Mater and Lightning McQueen on them, which you can see in this picture of Lucan with my brother John, so maybe that's part of it.

Other Lucan tidbits:

• He is potty training!  Really, there has been--and is no--good time frame to potty train this kid.  Daddy deployed right after he turned 2, and now that Daddy's home, we're preparing to go on a major vacation and move overseas!  So, we're trying but not exactly expecting miracles.  Still, maybe God will be gracious!  Lucan loves the attempts and seems to think the whole process involves one long string of words:  "Pee pee poo poo potty, Mommy!"  Whenever he produces (always #1, so far never #2), it's still "Pee pee poo poo potty!"  He loves to get an "M L M" (what he calls M&Ms) as a reward.  Bet you didn't know potty training was a multi-level marketing endeavor.
• Hugs from Lucan include sound effects.  How can you not melt when he wraps his chubby arms around you and says, "Mmmmmmmm!"
• He is definitely in the independent phase.  He finally learned to say, "I did it!" instead of "I made it!"  Which was definitely an adorable phase while it lasted.
• I'm a much more patient mommy now than when I had other 3-year-olds in this independent phase.  I've learned it's much less stress and saves time to just let him do certain things himself, such as climb into the Suburban and into the car seat instead of lifting him up.  But I still have to sigh when he reverses a process that he thinks you've helped too much with and starts all over just so he can do it himself.
• I have NO IDEA where this one came from, but he is often heard muttering, "Little bit one zero [fill in the blank about whatever topic is at hand]."  This morning it was, "Little bit one zero Bob the Builder movie."  He has been saying these four words in connection with random things for at least a month now, and no one in the house has any idea where he came up with it or what it seems to mean!
• He is a very agreeable child and quite obedient, although we're working on coming right away when called; he tends to get very absorbed in what he's doing and doesn't want to come unless there is an obvious motivation, such as food.
• He is also a very polite child and even corrects others on their manners.  He once told me "thank you," and when I didn't respond quickly enough, he said, "Say 'you're welcome, You-can,' Mommy."  Oops!
• Lucan entertains himself amazingly well.  Like big brother Arden, he can be content with doing puzzles and building things for hours at a time.  The only bad thing about this is that because he is so content, I don't sit down with him as often as I might otherwise to cuddle and read to him or interact with him that way, because he plays so well by himself!  Hopefully we can work in some preschool cuddle and reading time once we get settled after our move!  In the meantime, this is a great season of our lives to have an easy-to-entertain boy!