Luke's Second Birthday- for real this time

Today was Luke's real birthday, although it was a pretty low-key affair. We spent the morning taking our usual family walk and wandering around some stores. After nap time, we went out for tacos and tried desperately to find dairy-free ice cream substitute that Luke could eat. The first store only had lemonade ice tea and daiquiri flavors, so it took more than one stop to complete the feat. Inspite of the non-celebration, Luke was in a great mood, and I would like to think he enjoyed his special day.

We are so blessed to have our wonderful Lukey-Lou in our family. He is such a sweet, mellow, low-key kind of guy, which is something we desperately need in this family! Luke has such a thoughtful disposition, and he's one of the kindest little kids I've ever met. His favorite activity lately is giving Jack-Jack kisses, in typical Luke fashion. Now that he can hear, he's also been speaking more and more lately. It's been fun hearing a small part of what's going on in his head, and I'm looking forward to his language skills blossoming even more in the next few months. His most annoying habit right now is screeching at the top of his little lungs every time Max bugs him, so I'm really, really looking forward to him using more words! I'm fairly certain his first full sentence will be something along the lines of, "Max, knock it off!"

Right now his favorite toy is anything stuffed. He loves cuddling stuffed animals and giving them hugs. So cute! His favorite food is Cookie Crisp cereal with his coconut milk, but he's also pretty fond of grapes. Luke also has a strong sweet tooth, and he'll do just about anything for candy. Since he can't have chocolate, his favorites are gummies. His favorite thing to do during the day is go to the park, but he's also pretty content to look at the world from his stroller during our daily walks. In fact, he begs to go outside all day, every day. He stands at the sliding glass door, pointing and whining until we let him go out and play in the backyard. It's super cute when it's not completely annoying timing.

Since he's so quiet, I still think of Luke as my baby, and I often think he's younger than he really is. However, it's become more apparent in the last month that he really is growing up quickly, especially compared to Jack. I can't believe it's been two years already since his birth, and I truly feel blessed to be his mother. He's been through so many health issues in his short little life, and he's handled everything with a great attitude and huge smile. He's taught me so much about positivity and kindness. Luke's soft, gentle nature is such a great example to me, and I hope I can be more like him.