Giada’s Birthday Party March 22, 2012

Luca’s cousin Giada turned 2 a few weeks ago. We celebrated her birthday recently at Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Everyone had a great time, especially Luca, Giada, and Bella.

Birthday girl and her new Minnie from Luca.

The party was on St. Patrick’s Day, which explains Bella’s cool classes. Giada also loves her purses and likes to carry them around. This picture was supposed to be a cousins picture, but Luca refused to partake in it.

Luca did, however, enjoy a great deal of fishing, rock throwing, and quacking at ducks. It doesn’t get much better than that.

I’m pretty sure Luca could hang out outside all hours of the day.

Bella caught a fish, which meant Luca got to actually touch it. He wasn’t entirely sure what to think. In the end, I think he liked it. He is such a big fan of fish, I’m glad he finally got to see one up close and personal (without any glass in between them).

Wow, Luca’s 2 and a half! March 17, 2012

Luca is two and a half tomorrow. To be honest, I didn’t even realize this until today when someone asked me how old he was. Wow, time goes quick. I haven’t been doing this monthly, but here are a few updates on our baby (who isn’t such a baby).

1. Luca actually does think he is a baby. If we see a baby (as in an infant) and you mention the fact this child is a baby Luca will quickly correct you. He will say, “no baby” and point to the child and then point to himself and say “me baby.” He is also quite opposed to the idea of another baby in the house (no, I’m not pregnant) if we mention the idea of a brother or sister.

2. The fact Luca thinks he is a baby is likely due to the fact he sleeps with a daddy fish, mama bear, and baby fish. Obviously Tyler and I are the daddy and mommy, which makes him the baby. He LOVES these stuffed animals and it has actually made for wonderful sleep these last few months. Luca very rarely wakes up these days in the middle of the night. And if he does, he simply grabs hold of his fishes and bear.

3. Luca continues to be into trains, Cars, and fish. We watch portions of the movie Cars basically everyday. They say TV is a passive activity. And while I agree Tyler and I are quite passive while watching TV (almost comatose at times), Luca has another way to watch his movie. He reenacts the scenes to the movie as he watches. His favorite scene from Cars 1 is the final race when the King flips and crashes before being pushed by Lightning McQueen. And his favorite scene in Cars 2 is the bathroom scene when Acer and Grem beat up on Rod Redline.

4. Luca is continuing to enjoy school. He LOVES all the craft activities they make each week. He is so proud and loves to show them off. We signed him up to go two days a week in the Fall. I’m so thankful we have found a good fit for him.

5. Luca is still making progress with his speech. He is now saying two word phrases quite easily and even longer phrases at times. He still isn’t using connecting words during these phrases (like, is, the, at, etc). And he still makes numerous errors. However, he is more talkative out in public these days. And lastly, he has a few stories he tells others. The first is “org (orange) Popo, nigh Popo, up Popo, blue Popo.” Here he is talking about how his fish went night night (as in floating at the top of the bowl) and woke up blue! He loves to tell others about this. His other favorite (which can be a tad embarrassing at times) is “dad wee wee, me wee wee, no wee wee mom.” I think you can figure that one out. And one last thing, his favorite word to say really loud is “pay ya!!!!” While we understand most every word Luca says, pay ya still alludes us. All we know is that he loves to say this word at the top of his lungs and giggle about it.

6. Luca loves animals (with possibly the exception of his sister Cali). Luca has a set of farm animals that he loves to play with and trot around the house. He also loves to visit the zoo. Ironically, his favorite part of the zoo the last few times we have gone has been the blue “Dory” fish in the children’s zoo. He also loves the sand box about two feet away from this tiny aquarium. Luca also loves the big cats, the penguins, the monkeys, and goats (which he calls a moose).

7. Luca loves to “obey.” Okay, I think he actually enjoys saying obey more than actually obeying us. When he knows he has messed up, he will also say “sah ee” to us. He has to say “sah ee Be Bop” to Cali quite frequently these days. In terms of listening and following directions, Luca seems to do much better with others than his parents (which I suppose is to be expected). He also really enjoys being independent and at times can be quite strong willed (hmmm, I wonder who he gets that from). Tyler and I have really been trying to utilize less commanding (e.g., say “no” all the time) and more reasoning with him over the last month or so (because we recently read  the book Love and Logic). Luca loves when he is given choices and is also quite willing to accept consequences when he is aware of them ahead of time. A simple example is that he knows not to run his big Thomas the Tank engine into the wall. Luca will run it all over the basement and screech to a halt about 6 inches from the wall. Every once in a while though he can’t resist the urge to run it into the wall. He will then look to us and wait for us to move Thomas out of the room.  I can’t say things are easy breezy and not every example is as cut and dry as this one, but I never expected it to be. Parenting is filled with lots of grey areas. Our prayer for him is that he grows to be a strong man of God. A man that loves the Lord, loves others, and seeks to utilize his gifts toward the Kingdom. That being said, we pray God protects him from all the mistakes in parenting that we make along the way : )

8. Luca still loves iTube. For your enjoyment, here is his favorite to watch as the moment. Yes, it is 9 minutes!

9. Luca loves “blue juice.” When I was sick Tyler bought me some blue gatorade to help me feel better. Ever since, Luca has been a HUGE fan and requests it most hours of the day.

10. Luca is a walking “boo boo.” This past week we have had fabulous weather here in St. Louis. Not only has this meant we have spent tons of time outside, but Luca has also been wearing lots of shorts. And while Luca is not necessarily clumsy, falls are inevitable at 2 and a half. And, he seems to have acquired my ability to bruise at the drop of a hat. Just yesterday we were taking a walk with Cali. I was pulling Cali and Luca in the wagon. Luca decided it would be more fun to actually pull the wagon himself. I figured he would tire of this quite quickly so I let him get out and give it a whirl. Eight blocks and an hour later we arrived home. Luca fell twice and got a bunch of scrapes on his knee and even one on his elbow. I didn’t think much about it till I saw blood. Poor thing! He brushed it off, but loves to talk about his boo boos and get “ice” rubbed on them. That’s right, Luca likes lotion rubbed on not only his bum knees, but also his feet. Talk about the good life!

We went to a Pattonville early childhood sponsored event a few weeks ago. Luca got to go ice fishing with a hammer. It was actually quite a cute idea. They froze ice around little fishes and let the kids hammer them out. Luca was the first to go and was a pro. He loves to hammer (thanks to the cool workshop Betty and Papa (his names for grandma and grandpa Hill) gave him.

When we redid the floor in our kitchen, Luca pretended to be the foreman by sitting on top of the fridge. 

This is the most recent picture of Luca. He is of course playing with his cars. Also notice his long hair. It has since been cut, but is still quite shaggy.

Baby Jasper March 11, 2012

We visited some dear friends last weekend to hang out and meet their new baby, Jasper. While we always love meeting new babies, this little guy is quite special as his parents are some of our best friends (Tyler’s history with Sarah goes back to first grade and fifth grade for Judah). Even amidst the chaos of a two week old, we were treated to wonderful food and company the whole evening. Not only were Judah, Sarah, and Jasper there to greet us, but so were the grandparents, some aunts and uncles, and a whole host of cousins. It was a wonderfully nice, easy, and comfortable evening (I love comfortable evenings!)

This little guy has lots of uncles of his own, but Tyler is an honorary uncle : )

Luca was a huge fan of Judah’s skateboard all evening. He didn’t fair as well on hardwood as he did on carpet.

And Luca was also a fan of Miss Julie all night. He would take her around the house, while holding her hand. At one point I went and put Luca’s PJ’s on. Some of the other kids were watching a movie and I asked if he wanted to join in. He said “NO,” pointed downstairs and said, “pink.” He couldn’t say Julie but he could identify her by the color of her shirt. It was super cute.

Afternoon Fun March 6, 2012

Luca enjoyed a nice afternoon the other day. When I realized he was dressed as Nemo, I had to take a few pictures.

Luca sleeps with dada Nemo, baby Nemo, and mama bear during nap time and bedtime each night. They also get up and play every now and then as well.

Just taking some time out to read his cards. This is a daily activity, especially since this card sings.

And this is my favorite. Luca “helped” me ice grandpa’s birthday cake. It was a cool whip frosting (with a few other goodies mixed in). Luca got to have the left over cool whip and was in heaven. He gets his sweet tooth from his mama. Thank goodness I now have a partner in crime when I simply want some ice cream : )

The Finn Inn February 28, 2012

We headed over to Grafton a few Saturdays ago to eat at the Finn Inn. Since Luca is a HUGE fan of fish, this was an absolutely perfect place for him. Thanks Grandpa for thinking of eating here. It was a hit.

It looks kindof crazy on the outside. To be honest, it’s a little crazy on the inside as well. But, the food was good and the fish were pretty cool.

A big booth (no high chair), big fish, and cars. This is Luca’s perfect lunch! He didn’t even care about the food.

Luca likes big fish, but he also loves the little goldfish. He points to them and says “me!” Other fish are mama and dada

Having fun!

It’s only Thursday February 23, 2012

We have had quite a week. And, it’s only Thursday. Here is a recap of the past few days.

Monday:

Tyler & Luca: The boys had a fun-filled man day as Tyler had the day off for President’s Day. I wasn’t as fortunate so the two of them galavanted off to the Galleria to check out the Disney store, eat french fries, and watch Star Wars on the big screen. They loved it. Luca sat through the entire movie, even falling asleep the last 30 minutes. He had already seen Episode 1 at home before so he was quite excited to see the fish, Jar Jar Binks (he loves him), and Anakin’s race.

Me: I on the other hand went to work on Monday. I forgot my usual snack and was searching for anything to put  in my mouth around 4ish (when my classed ended). I ended up finding an old slice of  pickle that was catered to the department last week. It was in a plastic container, but was not sealed like a usual pickle. I didn’t think anything of it though and had one slice, enough to hold me over till dinner.

When we met: My grandma has unfortunately been in the hospital all week. She is doing okay, but we have been visiting her throughout the week. Tyler and Luca met me at the hospital around 5. It was at this time that I started to feel funny. And funny turned into bad. And bad turned into “we have to leave right now!” My mom offered to drive my car home later so we headed home in Tyler’s car. Half way through bad turned to ugly as I got quite sick IN the car (which Tyler had gotten cleaned earlier in the day). It was NOT good. And that was just the beginning. To spare you any graphic details, I will simply say I was literally SICK ALL NIGHT!

Tuesday:

Tyler & Luca: I was still in rough shape on Tuesday so Tyler went into work late and hung out with Luca in the morning. The two of them made their way over to PetSmart where Luca got a new fish. Out of all the beautiful fish, Luca picked out a single goldfish. He later named it “Popo.” He loves Popo! He says “hi popo” “bye bye popo,” “nigh nigh popo.” It’s quite sweet. Kudos to daddy for knowing what Luca likes. As you can see, Tyler goes all out on days that he stays home. He told me that even though I was in a sorry state, he had actually had one of the best weeks ever with Luca. I’m glad they enjoyed themselves

Me: Still very sick! I couldn’t even lift my head without feeling nauseous. I still didn’t eat anything other than crackers the entire day.

Wednesday:

Tyler & Luca: Tyler had two huge presentations for work on Wedseday so after getting Luca ready he headed off to work. My mom was kind enough to pick up Luca and take him to school. She also picked him up and took him to lunch. It was a huge lifesaver to me. Tyler’s presentations went well and Luca had fun at school. One caveat though-he wasn’t allowed to paint (his favorite activity) because he refused to put on the paint smock. We’ll have to prep him for next week as he HATES changing clothes after they are on each morning.

Me: Still sick but now able to have some relief. Early in the morning it was apparent, however, that I could not teach all day. I teach for a total of 7 hours on Wednesdays and I simply did not feel well enough to effectively lecture, lead discussions, etc. So I did something I have NEVER done-I cancelled my classes. I felt terrible about canceling, but I had to. I couldn’t stand up without getting quite queazy. By that evening I still felt bad but moved from saltines to rice. That is a sure sign of being on the mend. Another cute story from yesterday was that around 6 at night Luca pointed to our room and said, “mama nigh nigh.” I guess he had gotten used to me going to bed early the past few nights.

Today:

Tyler is at work. Luca is napping. And I am recovering. I finally felt well enough to get myself ready this morning, play a bit, and slowly do tasks around the house. Yay!

So that has been our week. It’s been very eventful in both wonderful ways and terrible ways. Special thanks to my wonderful husband for taking care of me while I was sick. He cleaned the car, bought me gatorade, kept Luca busy, rented me movies, and encouraged me that I would at some point get better. He is the best.

Meet the newest addition to the Campo family…Popo

“hi Popo”

Luca likes to really investigate Popo. Oh goodness, you might want to say a little prayer for Popo’s safety.

Happy Valentine’s Day February 17, 2012

We aren’t a huge Valentine’s family. It all started in high school when Tyler and I broke up two days before this glorious day. For some reason, Valentines just hasn’t had the same feel sense. Good thing the break up only lasted a week…who knows where I’d be (probably still crying. Yes, there was lots of crying).

This year, Luca got to celebrate his first Valentine’s Day with friends. They passed out Valentines at school (his were of course Cars themed) and he also made a few Valentines for us. He was particularly proud of the heart he made out of finger paints. Luca’s Valentine from mommy and daddy was a new Nemo stuffed animal. He loves fish and we thought it would be fun to get him the real deal. Luca, however, was a bit unsure of the new Nemo. For the next day or two he kept going back and forth between his old Nemo (a small stuffed animal Tyler won at the state fair a few years ago) and the new and improved Nemo (Disney certified! : ) He still likes to carry both around (and sleep with both), but I think his preference has switched to the new Nemo.

Here are a few pictures of Luca.

Receiving Nemo…you can see both the little Nemo and new Nemo are in staunch competition.

Luca was pretty quiet yesterday morning as I was cleaning up a few things. I ended up finding him on a chair in the kitchen youtubing. He had pulled the chair over to the counter to get my phone. You can’t see it in the picture, but he also found the rest of his Valentine candies and had to have one.

We had kindof a lazy day yesterday so Luca decided he wanted to stay in his PJ’s. Here he is eating lunch. Notice all the “friends” that eat lunch with him. Three stuffed animals, a bus, four cars, and a valentine he created at speech. He also ate chili mac for lunch, which is one of our favorite meals.

Luca took off the stickers from the wonderful Valentine he made and recreated them on my arm. He was so proud he wanted us to take a picture.

Listen to this… February 11, 2012

Well, Tyler and I finally shot a little bit of video while Luca practiced his speech this afternoon. This video demonstrates a lot of the stuff we have been working on lately. In addition, Luca has finally started adding some ending sounds to words. For instance, he says “mom,” “up” and “boat,” all while adding the ending consonant. This is huge as he has ommitted these sounds in the past. And while I say “finally,” I am thankful that it really hasn’t taken him that long to start saying these sounds. We only began working on this a few weeks ago. Go Luca!

 

And before I get ahead of myself. Here are two more quick Luca stories.

1. Luca is quite the stinker these days. A personal favorite was a few days ago when Luca was slap happy just before bedtime. He wasn’t listening particularly well and Tyler asked him to look him in the eyes so he would pay better attention. Luca’s eyes immediately turned directly toward Tyler. Instead of actually looking at his daddy, however, Luca closed his eyes as tight as he could and just giggled. It was so hard not to laugh (in fact both Tyler and I had to turn our heads). He definitely takes after Ty.

 

2. Luca loves YouTube. It is a special treat for him to play with our phones or iPad and watch YouTube videos of either Cars or Hero of the Rails. The other day Luca kept saying “tube” and I immediately knew what he was referring to. I then taught him to say “U-tube.” However, every time he would say it, it came out “I-tube.” I could not figure out why he was not imitating me. We are long past his vowel sounds by this point so it made no sense that he would be having trouble with “I” and “U”. It just didn’t make sense. Finally, it dawned on me that Luca was switching “you” and “I” because he has recently learned to switch the pronouns (e.g., you, I, me) when he normally talks. So for the past few days, he keeps asking to watch “I-tube.” Hahaha.

 

Winter Retreat February 6, 2012

We took the middle school and high school students on a Vineyard retreat this past weekend. It was a wonderful weekend to grow closer with our students and also grow closer to Christ. I always end up getting just as much out of the weekend as the kids do. I love seeing our students worship and bond together through events like this. What a blessing to have such wonderful students, wonderful fellow leaders, and a great retreat to attend (which we didn’t have to plan!!!).

The important stuff must come first…Tyler was pumped for the annual dodge ball tournament. He was so pumped up his shorts ran a bit high : )

These boys are serious!

The middle school girls.

The high schoolers got to take a special coffee trip during rec time. I’m pretty sure we provided most of the revenue for the shop owners that day. 

Dancing to I Believe I can Fly. Gotta love how uninhibited our kids are when it comes to dancing. They rocked the house with their sweet moves.

 

They also had a photo booth rented for one of the evenings. Since most of our kids don’t attend weddings as frequently as the leaders, they were impressed with all the props and making crazy faces.

Tyler schooled these innocent souls in a tough match of bloody knuckles.

And the worship was amazing. They sing a great deal of Jesus Culture music at these conferences. If you haven’t heard their music, check it out. Really great!

Group shot!

Is it Spring yet? February 2, 2012

Like most everyone else, we have been taking advantage of the nice weather this week. On Tuesday we utilized our new zoo membership for the first time (thanks Grandma and Grandpa). Luca loves the zoo and I was excited about the (a) free parking and (b) free access to the kids area. The free parking backfired a bit as Luca threw Acer the pacer (a car) onto the street as we were walking across the bridge that connects the parking lot to the zoo. I saw it coming but couldn’t act quick enough to stop it. Thankfully another mom was down below and rescued Acer for us. The rest of the day Luca did not carry his cars close to any body of water or animal habitat. We were lucky to get Acer back (the King was not as lucky as he recently got flushed down the toilet). I didn’t want to lose anymore.

Luca’s favorite part of the zoo had to be the neon blue fish. You would think elephants, penguins, giraffes, etc….but no, a single blue fish in a rather small tank. I’m thinking we need to take this kid to an actual aquarium. He LOVES fish. In fact, we have been watching the AT&T access channel as of late to simply enjoy the fish. As much as I don’t want to buy a fish, maybe we will have to invest in a goldfish sometime soon.

Here are a few pictures hanging out today and enjoying the nice weather.

Mommy thought Luca needed a jacket (although I’m not sure Luca agreed). This is what happens when you ask Luca to smile for the camera. “eeese”

Getting serious about his bike.

Luca’s favorite part of his trike is the trunk. Today I found a car that had been lost since Tuesday (the last time we hung outside). Luca has conveniently stored the car in the trunk until today. He enjoys putting the cars in, riding a bit, getting the cars back out, playing a bit, and then putting the cars back in. And mind you all of this occurs in about 3 minutes.