Pow!!! Bam!!!

Batman took a spill last weekend (captured on my phone) while showing off his wheels.  Showing super-heroic resolve, he immediately signed up for more, with "Let's try again, Dad (/Robin)." 

The New Line-up

Time to roll out the comparison photo.

We originally did this when Luca was just a little older than Julian is now.  Back then, we thought that Luca looked like a decently even mix between us, whereas nowadays the prevailing opinion is that he leans heavily towards T's side of the genetic formula.  As for Julian, we have yet to meet the person who thinks he looks more like T than me.  All that said, I see a lot of overlap between the boys and I must confess that I hope they bear a brotherly resemblance to each other as they grow up.

Getting a decent photo of a baby is hard.  As evidence, some of the outtakes:  

 

Good Things Come in Threes

Both LT & JR hit the "three" mark this month - Julian is now 3 months and Luca is now 3 years old.  Hard to believe...and seeing our big boy in action is all the more stunning when we look at Julian and see how many changes take place between 3 months and 3 years of age!

Julian at 3 months


When the time comes around to write about Julian, the hardest part for me is that we never have pictures that capture him as truly as I would like.  A classic story of the second-born - we spend far less time staring at Julian and snapping photos than we did with Luca.

That sweet face...

Perhaps in part because of this, Julian adores eye contact and dedicated attention.  He lights up when one of us connects with him, and has the warmest, whole-face smile.  From the look on his face, I would guess that he already feels that the sun rises and sets with his big brother and I can only hope that that feeling lasts forever.

In the past month he's plumped up and is growing fast enough that everyone is commenting on how big he is getting.  When we brought home that little guy, I couldn't have imagined the delightfully chunky thighs that he is now rocking.  We'll have to wait until his four month appointment to get the details, but there's no doubt that he's a healthy, growing baby.

In other news, he is an expert at clasping his hands, gnawing on them, and drooling while doing all of the above.  He continues to have remarkably strong leg and neck muscles and is working on rolling over, a sign that sedentary babyhood is drawing to a close.  Most importantly, he strikes a lovely balance between being willing to go along for the ride (critical to family happiness) and being able to make his voice heard (critical to his own happiness) - and I admire him for it.

Luca at 3 years

Where to begin?  Well, I can get the stats out of the way.  Our suspicion that Luca is the biggest 3-year-old on the block was confirmed this week at his doctor's office, where he weighed in at 36 pounds and came in at 38 7/8 inches tall, both in the 75-90th percentile range.  He's doing a perfect job of his most important job: growing big and strong.

Every day, Luca lives up to his name.  He is a veritable lightbulb in this house, with all the energy, interest, and hilarity one could ever want. Sometimes I can't believe my good fortune at getting to spend every day with him.  Of course, there are some days when I feel I've gotten some other kind of fortune, but that's just life with a toddler.  Recently he achieved a major communication breakthrough and is suddenly speaking and telling stories at a whole new level.  In the weeks leading up to it he was very difficult, and only in retrospect could we see why - he couldn't understand why we couldn't understand him.  And thank goodness we can now, because these are some of the gems he comes up with:

Conversation #1:
Luca: Murphy
Me: (blank stare)
Luca: sometimes I say Murphy

Conversation #2:

Scene - I am in the powder room, holding Julian while peeing while Luca chats with me - proof that I could not tell the future when I was 26. 

Luca: can you bounce it?
Me: can I bounce what? Do you mean balance it?
Luca: no, I mean bounce it. Can you bounce your penis?  And the water goes straight into the toilet when you shake it?
Me: no, honey, I don't have a penis.

This summer Luca has been just slightly less interested in sports, and a little more interested in scooters and bikes.  As always, he is obsessed with cars, airplanes, helicopters, and anything else that goes.  His fascination with super heroes is up and running, with rarely a day passing without the need to wear a spider/bat/super-man something.  And he is a generous-hearted boy who adores his baby brother and his dad with total devotion.  Oh, and he really, really likes sweet corn. 

Turning 3...and fireworks!

The 4th of July weekend has become a particularly festive one in our family, with Luca's birthday adding excitement to the holiday weekend.  This year we kicked off his birthday celebration on July 1st with an attempted gathering of T's family.  Unfortunately, we have no pictures because a) we forgot our camera (but remembered the cupcakes) and b) the party was cut short by one of the most dramatic and frightening storms that has ever caught us outside.  Right as Luca began to open his presents, straightline winds picked up and had us all scurrying for cover.  Everyone made it home safely and all of Luca's new, wonderful toys made it, too, but since then he has been asking a lot of questions about what can and can not be blown away by the wind...

The weather cleared for his real day, when we gathered some of his friends and their families at Kenwood Park for a sweet, Cars-themed party.  Luca was adamant about having a Lightning McQueen birthday cake and was not disappointed with the results - he ate two slices in short order.

A couple of barbecues and a block party later, we reconvened with T's family for a 4th of July celebration. Luca had a ball playing tag with his Johnson cousins and absolutely loved his first ever fireworks.  Julian had a pretty good time, too.

Asleep on Dad's shoulder

Ready to run!

Big 3-year-olds like strawberry/rhubarb ice cream

4th of July fun with the cousins



Happy boy in the block party bouncy house