Puppy want a trunk-or-treat?

Luke had a great time going trunk-or-treating on Saturday. He was dressed as a puppy dog, working for Amit the Pirate who had captured the Governor's daughter.  Because everyone knows that all pirates have puppy dogs, right? He sort of got the idea of trick or treating. He seemed to think it was a game to get candy out of people's bowls and put them into his (NASA) bag. Amit tried to teach some manners by saying 'Thank you!' and 'trick-or-treat' and it seemed to pay off by the end of the night - Luke said 'thank you!' a couple of times while walking around. Marinda decorated the trunk of our car as a pirate ship using just a few random household items - go Marinda! She managed to make a pirate ship with our own genuine pirate flag!

The scoundrel pirate (right) with his trusty puppy dog (middle) after capturing the Governor's daughter (left) for ransom.

Luke as a puppy dog. With accompanying leash!

What a menacing pirate! I'd be scared to be his puppy dog too, Luke.

Luke at least understood that you take candy out of the bowl and put it in the bag. He doesn't seem to feel entitled about eating it though. More for us!

"Okay, it's totally my bed time. We're done here, right? PJ's anyone? Anyone?"

"Save me, puppy dog, from this rapscallion!"

We also picked out pumpkins this weekend. Luke had fun crawling over the pumpkins. Funny story - Marinda literally tried to get a decent picture of Luke, not a great one, just a decent one, for like, 10 minutes, and he kept looking away. The first one Amit takes, pretty much turns out perfect. "It's all about the person who's waving their arms trying to get the person's attention," says Amit. "Marinda's much more pleasant to look at than I am when she's waving her arms around saying 'Where's Luku!' in a high-pitched voice."

Luke picking out pumpkins at our local neighborhood pumpkin patch (aka QFC)

"I want this one! It's the best!"

"Just kidding! I want this one!"

Luke pushing the shopping cart! What a big helper!

"Just kidding time two! I'm taking all of these pumpkins!"

Luke has become such a big helper around the house lately! When Amit is unloading the dishwasher he comes up and first tries to climb in, and after some gentle coaxing gets on board handing plates to Amit to put away. And when they're done Amit tells him to push it in and close it, and he does! And then Luke starts clapping! What a helpful boy!

Other things Luke has been up to - he loves chasing squirrels around the playground. He also likes to play little games like running away, smiling back at you, and running away again. He's had a blast playing with the leaves outside. He really likes to pick them up and try to throw them like all the big kids do. Inside, Luke is getting more into his books. Whenever Amit reads to him about planes he (Amit) moves his hand through the air and makes a noise like a plane. And now Luke imitates him sometimes, and even does it before him when he sees the plane on the page! When he's not reading, Luke loves climbing. Especially onto the coffee table. And he especially likes pushing mommy's laptop off of the coffee table, standing up and screaming like the incredible hulk.

Luke said his first 'sentence' at daycare this week. According to his teachers, one of the other kids tried to take away a toy he was playing with and he said "No! Mine!" We're not crazy about the meaning behind the words, but we're loving that he's picking up so many new words so quickly!

Luke's second sentence came while doing some music time with mommy. We have a picture of Jesus above the piano and he pointed to it and said "That's Jesus!" He probably thought it was just one word, but we're counting it as a sentence! Other words he's tried to sound out - bath, candy, and maybe roaring like a lion. Does that count as a word?

Another funny Luke story - Marinda went to pick him up from daycare on Thursday and while she was getting his bag ready to go home, he came up and sat on her leg. "He's so funny," Marinda says. "His 'please don't leave me!' action is to come and sit on you. I feel loved!"

Lastly for Luke's accomplishments this week, he has graduated to the big people table!  No more high chair tray for him, he is eating like a champ and only occasionally throwing food overboard.  He is even attempting to use his spoon more!  GO LUKU!

Luke eating at the table like a big boy!

Now for some big people news...

Marinda and Amit have a couple shows that they watch every week, but they don't really consider themselves big TV watchers.  The only exception is one week about every month or so when Marinda suddenly gets a craving for mindless action and intense drama.  She has also been known to watch OMG! and The Insider on these occasions and will even spend time watching the news about celebrities that she knows nothing about.  This last stint was the week before this last one and it ended with Marinda getting sick for three days and not being able to move off the couch.  Needless to say, having this come at the end was terrible because she had already watched all of her new shows she had found for the week.  So while surfing around Hulu trying to find something to pass the time she decided to try one of the many Korean Dramas that Hulu has to offer.

Little did she know how much that one click of the mouse would change her life.

"I Miss You is one of the greatest literary masterpieces of this generation," Marinda is reported to have said after watching all 21 hours of this epic portrayal of the human experience.  "The characters are rich, the relationships are complex, the plot keeps you invested in the well being not only of the heros but also of the villains.  If you can get past all the crying (which I am fully aware is half the show) it will change your life as well."

While we're not so sure about the whole "change your life" part, it is nice how it isn't like a normal TV series where you know they are just adding messed up new twists just to try and make it as long of a run as possible *coughHEROScoughLOSTcough* and it isn't like a movie where the emotional development happens at light speed because they only have an hour.  But because it is 21 episodes long they have the time to really nurture the richness of the story like you would find in a well crafted novel.  And it will feel like reading a good book too because it is all in subtitles.

Well, that's all for this week!  Happy Halloween Everyone!