lukester turns 5

Five years old. FIVE. Why does that sound so old to me? Once again I'm surprised by how quickly my kids are growing up without me knowing it.

Luke is truly one of a kind. He has earned the title of my most loving kid and my most challenging kid (although, Asa has just about taken his place on the latter). He often leaves me scratching my head or pulling out my hair. But, he also makes me laugh and reminds me that I need to stop and smell the roses more often. He truly brings something special to our family and we are grateful for this sweet, loving little guy.

Here are some of the things that make Luke, Luke:

1. Luke LOVES his sister. L O V E S! I can't begin to describe just how in love with her he is. He literally cannot see her without going into a lengthy rambling of baby talk. Intense baby talk. I tend to intervene and tell him to take it down a bit, but Elise thinks he is hilarious. It's just the rest of us that it seams to bug.

His favorite nick name for her is "Cutie Miss". There are other similar names that I have mentioned before, but I wouldn't be able to count how many times in a given day we hear the words "CUTIE MISS! cutie miss. Cutie Miss!"

2. Second to the love he has for his sister, is his love of flowers. If he could have his way, he would transplant every flower/weed he found in our yard into a cup and keep it alive in our house - but, I've limited him to two. It's not enough to just pick the flower - he wants it to live, so he carefully tries to keep the roots intact.

3. Luke is a collector. I always joke that he is going to be a hoarder someday. He will collect the most random things, but his favorites are: feathers, rocks, bugs, leaves/flowers, and anything shiny, colorful, or beautiful. Endless amounts of baggies and jars have been filled with Luke's treasures.

4. He loves arts and crafts. It's interesting to see the difference in my boys as they get older, and one area that I see these differences the most is with their artwork. While Isaac tries to be meticulous in his artwork and doesn't handle mistakes very well, Luke is much more relaxed in his approach. He doesn't worry about making sure his colors are appropriate - the more the better, is his style. And, he displays his work proudly all over his room.

5. Once Luke gets something in is head, there is no deterring him. The words 'wait', 'hold on', 'later', and 'in a minute' are just about the worst possible things you could say to Luke. If given such an answer, he will usually proceed with his agenda anyways. It absolutely has to be done right at that very moment!

6. Luke is extremely affectionate. So much so, that he often inflicts pain from the act of hugging. It can get pretty intense. Adam's family has told stories of Adam as a child and how he was constantly hanging on them - craving affection. I imagine he must have been just like Luke as a kid.

7. It's always interesting to listen to Luke's interpretations of various subjects. He is always explaining how or why something is the way it is, and his reasoning can get pretty out there. He especially likes to speculate on why Heavenly Father made certain creatures. One that I heard today was, "Heavenly Father made rattle snakes so that they could make medicine for when someone gets bit my one, huh?"

8. That leads me to the next one: Luke ends almost every sentence with "huh?". He pretty much speaks in question by doing so. And, if you don't respond to his "huh", he'll keep saying "huh", until you acknowledge it. I guess he needs the reassurance that you are listening to him.

9. Luke is extremely loud. His volume control seems to be stuck on high. Even when you are just inches away from him, he talks as though you are in another room.

10. He is still a big fan of Spiderman. But, he's expanding his love to include ninjas.

My mom gave him a bouquet of flowers, and it ended up being one of his favorite gifts. I took this picture the next morning when I saw him admiring them. Did I mention how much he loves flowers?