Luke Lately

**Luke had to give an oral book report at the beginning of May.  He needed to choose a picture book, read it, and tell his class about it.  We practiced this for a few days leading up to the book report and he did a great job!

**This is also a good time to mention that Luke is becoming a very good reader.  He knows a lot of words, he sounds out what he can, and he spells for me the words he can't read so that I can tell him what the words are or help him figure them out.  And he has good comprehension.  I love that when he was reading this Little Critter book and got to this page about Little Critter and Little Sister and Dog's names, he giggled and said, "That's a coincidence!"

**I brought Luke with me when I volunteered to help monitor the cafeteria and playground during lunch and recess one day.  It was sweet to see the way his older siblings hung out with him: Eliza carried him on her back and shared her pizza with him; Jack ran around and played with Luke and another younger sibling during recess.

**Luke and I have been spending more time with Oma lately and I really appreciate seeing them together.  Sometimes Luke gets bored during our visits but no matter how many times he acts out and does something Oma would have scolded me severly for doing when I was young, she still loves seeing him and misses him when I don't bring him.  (I know old age doesn't make everyone soft, but I'm glad it seems to have for her.)

**Luke is very proud of this Bear on Top of a Fish Totem Pole he made in art class!

**"Now I have everything I need."

**Maybe he sleeps with all of those stuffed animals in case he decides he doesn't want to use his pillow at some point in the night?

**Luke was pretty bummed when I forced him to re-pack this backpack (which he bought for $2 at Claire's) for our summer trip, since the only item he'd be allowed to bring or use on the plane was the pack of fruit snacks.