X-mas Triple Play

I have heard it said that the only good part about divorce is that you get double the Christmas presents. Now do not be alarmed, I am not advocating for divorce instead I have discovered a better system. Spread your family throughout the country and then visit them annually around the gift giving time. Using this strategy you can more than double, but triple your X-mas haul. Tonight, I began phase one of my three prong strategy as I celebrated X-mas with my father and mother. In a couple of days I shall travel south to visit grand parents number 1 and then ascend to the north to visit grand parents number 2. When all is said in done I will have maximized my return during the holiday season. (I just hope they all remembered to get gift receipts)

LT, X-mas Master

I love visitors

Living out in the suburbs it is hard to get visitors.  For whatever reason not many people want to drive out of the hoppin' city into the calm serene of the suburbs.  Given that, every so often a special treat happens that brightens up my whole month.  The special something I have in mind is my good friends coming to visit from Cincinnati.  I guess the dad of the group was in town to go to a football game with my old man.  However, I am the one that won out when I got to meet my new best friend, Madison.  We had a wonderful weekend, bouncing on beds, playing chase, sharing toys, taking a bath and generally just being our pleasant selves.

My dad has promised that we can visit them sometime in the future.  I can't wait.

Luke T.

Halloween and Flickr

I have heard from more than one source that people enjoy viewing my blog.  Their favorite part of the blog is not my witty insight into "all things baby" or my unique view on the world, but looking at pictures of me.  Now I am not blind, I realize that I am an extremely attractive baby, but even I do not understand my fans.  I imagine that the desire to have one's fans gaze upon your beauty is eventually what caused the Beatles to break up.  Plus what is going to happen when I hit those awkward teen years?  Regardless I must bow to the whims of my fans and therefore have created a whole flickr account full of Halloween photos. 

http://flickr.com/photos/dtnehring/sets/72157608539056092/show/

Enjoy,

LTN

Indian Summer?

So, last weekend the weather was quite nice. This prompted my father to rush home after his run and inform my mother and I that we were heading to the beach. Immediately, I thought the old man had lost it. After all this was the middle of October and any logical person would know that the average daily temperature would dictate that all little boys be playing indoors. Regardless of my disapproval, my mother and father took me to the beach. Much to my surprise the weather was very pleasant. I overheard them talking about how this was an Indian Summer, which made me ponder this curious phrase. After all what dictates an Indian Summer? Clearly the Native American did not come up with this phrase. The indigenous tribes of what today we call the United States of America lived in the Northern part of the continent and would not have coined the term Indian Summer. So, perhaps it was the people of India? However, they did not speak English as a Native Language so clearly they did not come up with the term. What a curious term this Indian Summer. Why can't it just be called warm ass day? If there is a warm day in the middle of winter, they don't call it Indian Winter. Why does fall get this special phrase from a prolonged summer solstice?  I am not sure but I will make it a point to correct my parents at the earliest convenience.

LTN

Ouch, my cheek

OK, so no sooner is the drama about my daycare over, then a personal injury falls into my life (My father calls this foreshadowing). There I was minding my own business on a Sunday afternoon, when my body fails me. My left foot decides to go right at the same time my right foot decides to go left. Normally, this wouldn't be cause for alarm, but at this particular moment I was in close proximity to the bathroom door. Now I don't know what I ever did to the door, but it is pissed off. The door was so mad that it jumped off its hinges and smacked me right up side the cheek. Check out the video for visual confirmation.

P.S. Someone please tell my dad to stop attacking me with tidal waves.

LTN

Storms and Disaster

Disaster has struck my home away from home. My peaceful and calm daycare has been struck by a flood. It turns out that the whole basement has been flooded. (See pictures here - flood.openarmsglenview.org) Questions run through my mind, where shall I sleep, where shall I play and most importantly where will I be changed??? I hope they don't try to bath me in that flood water... yuck!

LT

Birthday Wishes

Today I am sending out birthday wishes. Not wishes for myself, but birthday wishes out to my Aunt Susan. Susan had her birthday on Wednesday when she turned 25. She is now officially an adult and very busy with her new career in San Francisco. Sometimes, I dream of simpler times when we would play on the couch or teach me the ways of the world. It wasn't that long ago that she taught me how to crawl and a short time later I strutting down the streets of Chi-town.

I hope she has a great year and I dream of the day when we can be reunited for some more playtime.

LT (slumber bunny)

English Hard, Sign Language Easy.

English is a hard language to pick up. I have been trying for over a year now and still don't have the hang of it. Therefore, I have changed my direction and am now focusing on sign language. This will allow me to communicate with my fellow man without worrying about using the proper tense or being politically correct.

As an added bonus, using sign language allows me to speak to animals. (See attached video).

LT - back in action.

Not Just for Breakfast

As you get older doctors are always telling you to eat more fiber. I believe they calling it "Staying Regular". Well given my recent first birthday I have decided to get an early start. However, I have decided to go straight to nature for my fiber and take to ingesting wood chips which are must better than the potato variety.

A few small steps

Today is a day that will go down as a key decision point in my own personal history. This was the point when I decided to let go of security and take the plunge. Fearing not for my own person safety I decided to talk the next step as a man. Yes, my friends I walked the three biggest steps of my life. Straight from the love seat over to the couch.

Let the Baby Anarchy begin!

LT "Walking Terror of the Mid-West"

Cupcakes!

They say you get wiser with age. Well today I took a quantum leap in my wisdom as I discovered cupcakes. These devilish little morcels hide behind their wrapper that there is a full blown cake inside. Now the only problem is that the cupcake is actually much larger than my mouth. Plus no one has bothered to teach me how to use utensils, which is evident in the photo.

Luke Thomas (one year old and still kickin')

Home from Hospital

Well my dad is back. After lying around the house for two weeks complaining about being hot and then going away for a whole week, he is back at home. They tell me he went to the hospital because of a liver abscess. Upon his return I noticed that the hospital not only makes one feel better, but also removes all your hair. My father left with beautiful flowing locks such as myself, however quickly upon his return his hair was nowhere to be seen.

He can't quite play with me like he used to. Mommy says daddy has to gain his strength back. I personally believe much like Samson that he lost his strength with his hair; or if could be that he is quite a bit smaller than I remember, something like 25lbs.

Anyway, I am glad he is home and look forward to playing more in the future.

Luke Thomas

My Own American Idol

Many of you follow a favorite program of mine - American Idol. The ability of the performers to lay their talents on the line for enjoyment of others is amazing to me. I long for the day, when Simon Cowell will come and judge my baby performances. For inspiration this week, my father gave his best Michael Winslow's human beat box impersonation. Personally, I think the old man is losing it a bit - but it was good for a giggle none the less.

LT

I found a profession

Like many of us, I have been searching for my profession. That one true calling that will allow me to move forward in live and bring me a little peace. Now, I am not looking to get rich and famous. No, I have seen way to may sorry washed up teenagers to on American Idol to case that dream. I just want a simple job to call my own, which will bring me joy. So there you have it. My job of choice, dropping the kids off at the pool.

YUCK!

I've been Skyped!

I have been Skyped! Don't fear, Skype is not a strange disease or a new tax code aimed at leveraging the untapped resource of baby earning potential. No Skype is the George Jetson technology that allows me to communicate face-to-face with fans all over this land. You ask, "But Luke Thomas, is Skype a fly by night operation?" Not at all, Skype is owned by eBay. Yes, the auction site we know and love for purchasing slightly used toys at hugely discounted prices. Nothing makes this little heart go pitter-patter more than the trill of landing an auction of a brand new toy to bang around. So, if it is good enough for the largest online auction house, you know it is good enough for yours truly.

Just check out the photo that a fan sent in of me on Skype. If Skype can make me looks this good, then you know the technology is ready for primetime.

LT "Skype Lover" Out.

Baby Tube

It is time for me to make a name for myself. The Web 2.0 is all about self marketing and I have decided that for too long the world has gone without my gifting acting abilities. So, today dear readership we take a big step together. No long with our communication be merely through the spoken word. Today we take the plunge together into the world of Baby Tube.

How to carry items

Being of small stature, I am constantly challenged with how to carry large items. If you think about it, each one of my digits is only about an inch long. In order to overcome my size handicap, I have taken a page from Mother Nature and begun carrying items in my mouth. Much like a lioness will carry her cubs in her mouth, I have discovered that utilizing ones mouth to hold everyday items frees up the hands for more important tasks. Heck ants are known to carry items up to 50 times their weight in their mouth; which I have decided to use as a benchmark for my own feats of strength.

So, let me recommend to my readership that you think "outside the box" and realize that one's mouth can be used for more than speech and consumption. I look forward to reading your levels of success.

LT

Not everything is for eating

Guess what... not everything is for eating. I learned this recently at my Baptism. Shortly after being baptized is the coldest water in the world (no one ever thought of adding a little warmer to the font), I was quite hungry. As the adults dinned on post baptism chow, I was forced to fend for myself. So forgive me if I accidentally decide to ingest my baptismal robe.