Parenting: The legend of Lukas

I’m in the process of deleting my posts in my blogspot account, which was where Fully Housewifed housed for a time before I made the transfer to WordPress. As I was ticking them off to delete them by the bulk, I came across this old post of mine about our middle son, Lukas, when he turned 2.

I didn’t have the heart to let this blog go, so I’m reposting it here and deleting the one there.
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The screamer

They say he looks a lot like me. He might as well as he’s got my winning personality to top it off, ha!

Lukas’s arrival completely turned my world upside down – and topsy turvy.

As an infant, he was relentless. Hours of screaming would eventually make me give in and pick him up in my arms and he’d stay there for most of the days…..and NIGHTS!

The strength of his personality overwhelmed me at first and I fought hard and well to keep my sanity over his demands for my full attention.

You must understand, Pablo, our eldest, was so manageable as a baby, that I was able to live the glory days of my obsessive-compulsiveness. All that, of course, flew out the window when Lukas came into our lives.

Lukas was named after a rockstar

We named Lukas after my favorite “Rockstar Supernova” contestant, Lukas Rossi, who won the gig by the way, but that’s a totally different story.

Lukas means light. We added Rafael (“healed by God”/”healing”) after one of the archangels, as a second name.

Unbelievable skills

Having Lukas around is not short of adventure.

He’s our mini-Houdini! He has wiggled himself out of car seats and baby strollers so many times. Once, I caught him squeezing his way out of the small screen door of our 2nd floor window!

I’m guessing that it’s his incessant loudness that has driven our Korean neighbor out of the apartment next door. (He’s complained to our landlords).

Unbelievable! That guy has put up with the construction right next door for 7 months but was not able to withstand the howling of our little tornado!

It was also because of Lukas that we’ve discovered Jay a Hardy boy!

To date, Jay has solved the Mystery of the Missing Wooden Puzzle board. We’ve searched high and low for two days wondering where on earth Lukas could have put it, with hardly any place left unturned. Jay finally found it wedged in the most unthinkable narrow space on the side of the bookshelf that was pushed against the wall.

Currently, Jay is working on the case of the missing “Dinosaurs” VCD.

Sweetest baby on the block

But Lukas has just got to be the sweetest kid in the block!

He’d hug me and push his lips against my cheek for a long time. He’d wrestle me down on the bed and throw his arms around my neck tightly and with so much fondness, you can tell as I choke and sputter.

He’d say mommeeeee…..mommmeeeee and would make the funniest faces to make me laugh. He likes footwear but hates wearing anything else around the house.

He’d insist on putting on a pair of socks while only in his diapers and would wear it for his siesta time. That’s his fashion statement: Diapers & socks, Diapers & rubber shoes, Diapers & crocs, Diapers & my heeled shoes!

He’d cuddle up to me and ask me to read a book while he’d continuously flip the book from one page to the next. He’d point to the moon and say, “Mommeeee….moo!” Lukas is such a joy, I can’t imagine my life without him.

Batang henyo

While one of Pablo’s best qualities is that he’s teachable, Lukas’ is that he’s an independent learner. He’s been belting out the ABCs that he learned from a battery-operated robot.

He’s been singing “twinkle twinkle little star” in perfect tune way before he spoke his first word (I’ve got witnesses on this one, too!).

He’s learned to put on his shoes, feed himself, operate the dvd player and all that jazz, all on his own.

For a while there, I was worried that disciplining him would be a mountainous task, but after weeks of consistent reminding and correcting, we’ve been seeing some results.

Just last night, he cleaned up his small blocks by himself after playing with it. He finally stopped sucking the toothpaste off his toothbrush and is actually allowing it to make contact with some of his teeth.

He loves Judah and so adores Pablo.

Not a performer

Lukas is not in the business of doing tricks on cue, but would do so at home with the exclusive audience of me, his dad and his brothers.

I don’t mind. He’s not shy at all, he just chooses his audience, that’s all.

He has won my mom’s heart over and he recognizes the way back to her house where he thinks all snacks and juices originate. He definitely knows how to pick his sponsors (wink wink).

No sleep mommy

Since Lukas came along, I’ve hardly had a decent nightcap, but that’s alright.

Have you seen his eyes light up or that big smile of his that melts hearts? Have you ever heard his peals of laughter or him say “peas (please)”, “take yo (thank you)”, “wow, nice!”, “mommmmm, do-a-dis (mom, look at this!)” or “yaiks, poopoo!”?

Have you ever witnessed the cutest, most manipulative pout in the world?

There is nothing like it. And I wouldn’t trade these treasures of moments for anything I can have in the world.

I love him. He’s our son. He’s my son. And I will to see him grow, emerge into leadership and firmly make a stand on his faith in the not-so-distant future.

Happy 2nd birthday to our dearest Lukas Rafael. I am already proud of you.**

Update: This is Lukas now. He’s turning 6 next year.