Luke . . . I Am Your Father

So, I guess we should have known. We aren't HUGE Star Wars fans, but we get that a lot of people (especially men) have a hard time hearing the name Luke and not automatically going, "LUKE! I am your father!" Such has been the case for our little guy in his short three years of existence. (We still love the name though and wouldn't change it for the world.) However, Luke truly has NO idea why random people - especially those he just met - say this to him . . . all with the same voice inflection. Strange. The other day, I guess he decided that it's just what you say to little kids because he went up to Miles and said very loudly:

"MILES!!! I AM YOUR FATHER!!!"

On another note, Luke is totally and completely a Daddy's Boy! He always says, "Daddy my best buddy!" I could tell him to do something and he'll ignore me. If Jacob says it - consider it done. He always picks daddy to do things with him and he copies everything daddy does (no pressure on Jacob, right???) All this being said, this summer job where Jake's hours are 12-10pm and gone all day Saturday is hardest on Luke (See story below.)
He just can't get enough time with his daddy.

Our condos here have a great basketball gym within walking distance. This is pretty much the best thing ever for our little All-Star. His love of ALL sports is never-ending. He loves when Daddy plays "for real" with him. If Luke can tell he's going easy on him he says,
"Come on, Daddy. You supposed to steal the ball in basketball. Like this!"
(He then "steals"the ball from Daddy.)

Oh yeah, Luke can slam dunk. Oh yeah, he LOVES it!!!

This was Luke's first moment in the ocean. (Cocoa Beach last month) Please ignore the pink colored life vest you see in every swimming picture this summer. A friend loaned it to us and we decided he was too young to care. We may as well save the money for when he DOES care about such things. (Of course, years from now he may be mad about these photos. . .)

Sand buddies

When Jacob does P90X in the morning, you can bet Luke is right along side him! It is truly hilarious to see him concentrate so hard and try and move his body into the different positions Jake does. I especially love when they are at the cardio section of the workout. Luke works so hard and then wipes his brow and gives a dramatic "Whew!" at the end. The stretching section is pretty great too. Then he and Jacob take their water bottles and drink together. So cute!

I know Jake looks a little crazy in the photo below, but they were having fun after a great workout together!

Okay, now here is the story I referenced before (about Luke really needing more Daddy time). Yesterday, Luke had awakened too too early and didn't take a nap (He rarely does these days - even though he still really needs one. Sniff.) So, by 5pm he was EXHAUSTED. I knew this would be the case, so I started the bedtime routine a little earlier. We went straight into the bath. However, Luke was so beyond tired that it became a knock down drag out to get him to take the bath he usually loves. When that madness was over, it was a total meltdown that he didn't want his jammies on - it was still "playtime" in his eyes - and he wanted play clothes. I have seen tantrums before (I am a seasoned mommy! :) Luckily, though, they are few and far between these days. So, this one took me by suprise because it came on so fast and so out of the blue. On top of that - this was a little different. In and amongst the refusals to do anything I suggested - he kept sobbing "I want my daddy! I like Daddy better! (ouch) I want Daddy to come home! I don't want him to be at work any more! " I tried everything I could (and by this point Miles was getting very worried) so I left the room and told him he could come out when he was ready to put clothes on (by now I didn't care if he was sleeping in jammies or clean play clothes - anything to get him dressed and in bed!) Two minutes later he was silent - he had fallen asleep completely naked in the middle of his floor!( I will spare you the full body photo, but I must say his bare bum was cute!) He hadn't even had dinner yet! This was a first. So, when he came in our room at 4am hungry - I knew we had to do a middle of the night snack for him. Poor guy!

I am happy to report that tonight our bedtime routine was a dream. He loves me just as much as daddy tonight (whew) and I even got to share a funny, yet simply profound, moment with him. Every night I read to him out of the children's Book of Mormon Stories. Tonight was King Benjamin prophesying of Christ's life. In five pictures it showed highlights from His life. His birth, teachings/healings, Atonement, Cruicifiction and Resurrection. Luke had a lot of questions about the crucifiction picture.

Luke: Mommy, why Jesus up there? (on the cross)
Me: Some bad men wanted to hurt him.
Luke: Why they want to hurt Jesus?
Me: Because they are mean and don't understand why He is so good.
Luke: Who the bad guys mom? (I pointed to the soldiers)
Luke: Mommy, I going to PROTECT Jesus!!! I going to FIGHT the bad guys!!! (He showed me his muscles) I not be on THEIR team. I be on JESUS' team!!!

Ah, life is good.

I am pretty sure this is what Luke was imagining he would do to the "bad guys."
Fighting them off with his wicked arm!