In Celebration of Luke

I think Friday officially marked the end of babyhood for Luke. We took him to Kindergarten registration at Baldwin Elementary, which is a grand total of 1.5 minutes' drive from our house--and that's only because there's a stoplight. It's a year-round school, which Chris and I both think is a good way to do school. We talked about it with him for days before we went--we told him he would go off with the other kids and do "Kindergarten" things while we sat in a room and learned about sending him to school. Having worked in registration before, I told him about some of the questions they would ask him, like his colors, his name, and how high he could count. Being the humble child he is, he thought to ask, "Are they gonna ask me if I'm smart?" :)

And oh, he is smart. He amazes me, even though I see him do new things every day. Thursday afternoon I handed him a library book he'd never seen before as we got into the car at preschool and he began reading it as we drove home. Friday at the school we visited their Book Fair, where he opened a book about bugs and just began reading us whole sentences like we'd read him the book from birth. He also got a new Lego set for spending almost the entire month of April on green at school (think of a stoplight: green=good behavior, red=much-less-than-good). The set has 193 pieces that combine to make one of three different critters and is designed for children 6-12 years old. After about 24 hours, he could use the instructions to put together the spider, the wasp, and the snake on his own.

When I look at him now, I see a little boy. I can no longer say he looks baby-ish in any way. He has long, skinny, muscular legs. With his shirt off, his little back looks like a miniature man's back--bony, smooth, and skinny. He buttons his daddy's suitcoats for him at church. He feeds his baby brother spoonfuls of carrot-raisin salad. He tells us he wants to learn how to tie his shoes (what child says that???) and that he only wants us to tell him how, not show him. He laughs in a loud and wacky way, the way you picture little boys doing, and makes up jokes that may or may not make any sense. And when he knows he's done something absolutely adorable and I'm about to laugh at it, he flashes this sweet little grin and looks so incredibly cute!

Now, don't even get me started on how the other two are bigger than they ought to be. We'll talk about that when they start Kindergarten!