American Soldier and Preschool

When Luke was 7 months old, Brian deployed to Iraq.  I took so many pictures from that deployment day, I wanted there to be a ton of photos of Luke with his daddy and us as a family to show friends, family and Luke as he got older.  I made a video of all those photos, along with photos that friends sent me from that day, and I set it to music, Toby Keith's "American Soldier".  We watched that video a bunch while Brian was in Iraq and then once he was home, into the movie case it went.  Luke pulled it out the other day and asked what it was and I told him that it was pictures of mommy, daddy and Luke.  He put it in the DVD player and it has been played at least 2 dozen times since then.  He loves watching it, exclaiming "that's daddy on TV!" or "it's Luke and daddy and there are soldiers!" but my favorite is Luke telling me that he, too, wants to fly the "hepicopter" and when Luke sees a helicopter in the pictures he always says "be careful daddy!"  I have even caught him singing along with the video.  

This family might end up with more than one helicopter pilot.  Thank goodness I don't have to worry about that possibility for at least 15 years or so.  

Here are some pictures of our little man, who isn't so little anymore.  

A preschool update:  Luke was switched over from the part day and hourly care preschool to the full time preschool even though he is not full time.  Over at the part day and hourly care preschool, Luke was hot or cold - some days he had a great time, other days he met us at the door upset and couldn't get out of there fast enough.  There are usually 20 or more kids in that room and it can be pretty rowdy and chaotic over there.  The days that were full of chaos, Luke would tell us he doesn't want to go to preschool anymore.  About three weeks ago, the teacher of the full time preschool program took Luke over to her side of the classroom, where there is 1 teacher, 1 teachers assistant and less than 10 children.  They have a more structured curriculum and routine, the children are a little older and are ready for this type of program so there is more listening and learning and less fighting.  Luke now loves preschool, knows his teachers' names, tells me what he does each day, eats a full lunch and leaves happy.  

Anyways, Brian usually drops Luke off each day, I haven't had to take him to school since Hannah was born so when I had to take him this past Wednesday, I was preparing myself for Luke's hesitation about going to school and a possible teary goodbye from him with me trying to convince him of the fun he will have and the stories he can tell his friends.  When walking into the preschool building, Luke did tell me he didn't want to go but it was half-hearted and I laughed at him and told him he was silly.  We got to his classroom and he took a look around to see what was going on, I said hi to all the kids and then told Luke that I had to go and asked him for a hug.  He gave me a huge hug and said "I shut the door for you!" So he walked me to the door and I told him to have a great day.  He started to shut the door, then popped his head back out and said "Okay mommy! I see you Saturday!" and started to shut the door.  Saturday? LOL.  I laughed and said "I'll see you in a few hours bubba."  He popped his head back out and said "Okay, I see you in a few hours. Have a good day!", shut the door and ran back to his classroom.  Do you KNOW how nice that feels?  It was fabulous.