Playhouse Disney LIVE!

Yesterday was our event at the Target Center. Playhouse Disney LIVE was playing and we went with our friends the Lamberts. The show had a lot of Luke's favorite Disney tv show elements. It had lots of Mickey, Donald, Goofy and Minnie. It also had Handy Manny, the Little Einsteins and My Friends Tigger and Pooh.

Luke sat there transfixed most of the time. He clapped, he sang and he danced to the Hot Dog song.

Then, the moment came when it all went down hill for me. Halfway through the show, they stopped for an 'intermission.' I'm sure that this would probably have been played off by the Disney company as a chance for young children to make sure that they got a potty break... but let's get real here for a second. The show was about an hour long.... What this really amounted to was a 'fleecing of the parents extraordinaire'... Literally, there were these stands set up where you had to open up your wallet for obscene amounts of money on plastic items that will break within minutes. There were light orbs and whirlygigs... Bob the Builder Hats with cotton candy for $20. Handy Manny toolkits, snowcones in Little Einstein mugs, pictures with Bob the Builder for $12. They even offered coloring books at 10 times what you would find them for in the local Target. I would rather have had them simply open the 'intermission' by announcing that this was open season on all parent wallets.

As, we were about the leave at the end of the show... they announce that this is the FIRST ANNUAL Playhouse Disney Live show... We have years more of this to come. The sedatives weren't working fast enough as we departed. The final parting moment was on the way out the door, they were handing out fliers to all of the children with pictures of Nemo to advertise the next Disney show- Nemo on Ice. It was a good thing that I had already digested my $6 pretzel because I was feeling nausea coming on.

After our show, we all headed to Applebee's for lunch. The boys were getting antsy, but seemed to tolerate it well despite the event running into lunchtime.

Luke took a very long naps and we had a great rest of the day.... and an exciting evening.

Luke has been having a tough time going down for bed at night and he has been waking up at least once per evening- usually around 4:30. It has been fantastic for mom and dad who look like modern day versions of Night of the Living Dead.

Well, just to make life a little spicy.... at around 10 PM, I thought I heard Luke's baby gate open and close. I told Al who thought there was no way possible it was happening. Of course, I needed to satisfy my own curiosity. As I opened the door to the hallway... I see this naked two year old leaping across the floor like a frog and giggling hysterically. Now, I assure you that we didn't put Luke to bed naked... this is his newest accomplishment... managing to get naked in less than 30 seconds. apparently, he can also get naked in the dark. I'm sure that this skill will serve him at some point in his life (although I'm not sure what naked leap frog will do for him).

Other than that, I'm attaching a quick picture of Luke playing baseball in the basement. We still aren't sure if he is leftie or rightie when it comes to his preferences... we'll work on that.

More to come...

Meeting Miss Anne

Yesterday, we got to meet Luke's new teacher, Ms. Anne. Ms. Anne is everything that you would expect a toddler teacher to be... young, cute and very gentle. I'm hoping that underneath all of the cute cuddliness that there is a backbone of steel... if not, Luke is going to be walking all over her in nanoseconds.

As part of Ms. Anne's intro to the classroom, she wrote a letter to the parents asking us for three special things about our child. All of this got me to thinking... what should I tell her about Luke? Obviously, as a parent, I have an all-encompassing love for my son, but even I know with the grain of reality that I still have left when I comes to my baby that Luke is not an easy child. So, how do I tell her about the wonderful things that I value in Luke without scaring the daylights out of her? I'm thinking right now that my list of three goes like this:
1) Luke is artistic. He loves to sing, dance, do gymnastics, paint, color- he creates. He also has a flair for the dramatic.
2) Luke is an adventurer and discoverer. He wants to know how things work, find new places, try new things and meet new people. He also wants to communicate everything he has done or is feeling.
3) Luke is persistent. He never allows anything to get between him and his goal for too long. Even when you think he has forgotten about something, it is never far from his mind. Luke will also take a task to the finish- especially if he is being a helper.
Hopefully Ms. Anne won't be running for the hills at the sight of Luke Joseph.

Today the big adventure is to go to Disney Live. I'm sure we will have an update tonight. :)

Au revoir, mon amie...

So, Luke learned a new song in school today called "Au revoir, mon amie" (Goodbye my friend). I guess that all of the yellow toddlers with sing this song to Miss Essi tomorrow on her last day in the class.

Miss Essi is taking the transition pretty hard, but at the end of the day, change can be good much of the time and this is a good way to Luke to learn about change and growth.

Luke's new teacher, Miss Anne, has intensive toddler and early childhood experience. So, let's hope it's a good match.

In other news, today I got to sit in on one of our execs being prepared for a media interview. It was absolutely fascinating and a really fantastic experience- even as an observer. I learned so much in the four hours of the session about how to land messaging, the techniques that reporters use to lead you and confuse you into saying things you may not intend, etc. I have a whole new respect for people who deal with the media on a regular basis. Wow!

This weekend we have plans with friends to take Luke to see Disney Live at the Target Center. It should be a blast.

More updates to come....

Missing Miss Essi...

Well, today I got what I considered to be horrible news. Luke's teacher in day care is being moved to a new classroom on Friday. (Nothing like ample warning.) Miss Essi is a wonderful woman who is originally from Togo. She adores Luke and the feeling is mutual. He often cries when she leaves the room and cries out for "My Essi." Miss Essi speaks French to Luke (it's her native language) and she has already taught him to say "Au revoir, Maman" when I say goodbye in the mornings and how to count to 15 in French.

Needless to say, given the bond my son has with Miss Essi, I am terribly upset at the abrupt way in which she is being taken from my son's daily life. She is being relocated to another toddler room, two doors down. Luke may still see her from time to time on the playground or if he goes for a visit to the Green room, but she won't be a part of his daily routine any more.

After discussing with the center director, I'm simply left with the option of having Luke stay in the current Yellow toddler room and meet the new teachers on Monday. Too many parents are asking to move their children with Miss Essi and there isn't sufficient room in Green Toddlers. This is definitely a leap of faith for a nervous mom.

My biggest worries are that Luke has such a loving advocate and teacher in Miss Essi. For all of the challenges attendant with a spirited child like Luke, Miss Essi seems to revel in his uniqueness and encourage him to channel his energy in very productive ways. With a new teacher coming in, I worry that the next person may not realize just how special Luke is and how his energetic approach to life really is a wonderful gift. I worry that he won't form the same bond with the new teacher as he had with Miss Essi- it's hard to replicate that level of closeness. I also worry that Luke will miss out on the experiences of having a person from another area of the world teach and inform him- especially with the foreign languages.

I guess that we will see what Monday brings. I have started preparing Luke that Miss Essi isn't going to be his teacher any more and that a new teacher, Miss Anne, will be his new buddy. He doesn't understand yet and I think that Monday may be a bit tough overall.

More updates as the days go on.....

Comin' back from Cali

OK... so we really didn't put up much information about the trip to California.

It was a whirlwind weekend for the entire family, but a good time was had by all. Uncle Nate was a very gracious host and Luke absolutely adored him... so much so that every morning (usually shortly after 6 am) Luke would say "where's Uncle Nate?" and run around to find him. He also would proudly pronounce that he is Uncle Nate's 'wingman'.

Luke, of course, ran immediately into his Nana and Pop-pop's arms and would immediately ask for them (very insistently) every morning at the crack of dawn.

The first night we had In-n-Out burgers... Heaven!!!!

Then, on Friday, we hit Disneyland. Luke loved the Dumbo ride, all of the character meetings and the Nemo submarine the best. He thought that Disney was his own little park and remembered all of the names of his favorite characters. It was a long, but very rewarding day for everyone.

On Sat., we had a very busy day as well. We all travelled down to San Diego and went to Seaworld. Luke fell in love with Shamu and all of Shamu's friends. He wanted to go swimming with Shamu, but I told him that the water was a bit too cold. Uncle Nate managed to arrange for a special up close breakfast with Shamu. It was amazing- definitely an experience for everyone to remember.

After Seaworld, we headed over to visit Ron and Carol Davis at their house and have a little birthday cake celebration for Luke. Carol had little surprises for Luke around every corner and he was pleased as punch to be the center of attention.

Weeks later, Luke still talks every day about his trip to California. :)

A whole new world

Well, the Lentini family is finally starting to 'get with it.' Call us late adapters, but we've been a bit resistant to starting up an actual blogspot. We did have Luke's old website, but now we are moving into a new era. ;)

Things in Minnesota continue to go well. We are now in the process of researching a car to purchase (hopefully this spring.) So far, we have tried out the Subaru Tribeca and the GMC Acadia. Good god, these cars are expensive. Nonetheless, the 1997 Chevy Lumina just isn't going to make another winter and we need a Minnesota-ready car.

Luke is currently coloring his Elmo book. He will probably resort to body art shortly since he seems to love coloring his belly with all sorts of designs.

Never mind..... he just started coloring his palms and doing palm prints in the coloring book.... never a dull moment here.

We're probably going to get some more snow tonight and then we'll be soaking up the cold for the rest of the country. I'm already looking forward to the spring.

Here's a quick picture of our trip to Turks and Caicos to start out with. You can see that Luke was having a blast at the beach...

More later-

The Lentinis