Lucas Camilo

Lucas shares flower spells with Nonna and Papa

Lucas has been getting lots of quality time with his extended family lately – stop-ins from his cousins and Aunt Ashley, a visit from Portland by Gramma Susan and Charles, and multiple reading/fetch sessions with Nonna, Papa and Bruno (the annoying dog who travels everywhere with Burke’s parents).  Lucas really enjoys having his family around, as everyone brings something different to the table.  Aunt Ashley teaches him sayings like “hang loose!” and “cool, dude!” which he repeats with relish; Madden, Tya and Ellody are a whirlwind of energy that Lucas (mostly) enjoys observing; Gramma Susan is a tireless reader who also introduced him to a great set of flashcards; Bruno plays fetch (for a few minutes at least – he doesn’t have much endurance); Nonna knows all the names of the flowers we find in the neighborhood and can quiz Lucas on them; Papa also reads lots of books and is a darn good speller (something Lucas very much admires).

Hanging with Gramma and Charles by Lake Washington

The recent Susan and Charles trip was highlighted by the aforementioned flashcards which Lucas preceded to devour.  For a 2-year old Lucas has a remarkable appetite for words and spelling.  Whenever he meets someone these days he quickly tells them the first letter in their name; he also prides himself on knowing more than a dozen penguin, shark and hummingbird species (respectively), and he’s well on his way to identifying all the flowers in our neighborhood.  What seems to drive all that is a love of words, something especially remarkable in a kid who doesn’t have the strength in his facial muscles to fully form most words.  At any rate, it was no surprise that Lucas was so excited by the flashcards.  Within 24 hours he had memorized all 44 cards, able to spell and identify each word.  Gramma Susan would hang him a card, quiz him and then upon getting the correct spelling he’d slam it down and exclaim “anuh-der one!”

Finger painting with Madden!

Krista was gone on a 80 mile bike ride this weekend (more on that later) so Burke’s family came over for Father’s Day brunch.  As often happens when other young kids are running around, Lucas at first buried himself in a book to avoid the commotion.  But eventually he sat up in his chair and got into finger painting with his cousins.  The whole gang went to the park together and Lucas enjoyed watching the frisbee get tossed around on the beautiful, sunny date.

With Friends at the Caring Across Generations resolution City Council hearing

This last week featured a number of other exciting events.  On Tuesday, while Lucas was home napping with his nurse, we went down to the Seattle City Council to support a resolution around caregiving that was drafted by the national Caring Across Generations campaign.  The campaign – which we originally joined back in DC – has a well-conceived strategy of bringing together caregivers with those requiring long-term care.  It demands better wages and benefits for the growing industry of direct-care workers, while also seeking to strengthen support and programs for people with disabilities and the elderly.  Burke was set to testify but the time ran out; we plan to return in another week for the full Council hearing in which one of us will testify.

Then on Thursday we took Lucas to his first play, a production of the Hungry Caterpillar (and other Eric Carle works) at the Seattle Children’s Theater.  At first Lucas was totally put-off by the scene at the theater and we only avoided a total meltdown because we happened to bring a book that he could bury himself in.  Once the lights dimmed and the colorful puppets came out Lucas settled down, and from the comfort of Burke’s lap he watch the entire play through.  He even predicted certain parts of the play that he knew from the book, shouting out “2 pears!” or “4 strawberries” before the fruit appeared on stage for the hungry caterpillar to eat.

Finally, Krista hit the road early Saturday morning for a 2-day, many-mile bike ride.  The annual Solidarity Cylers ride (the traditional of which we helped start back in DC) was a fundraiser in support of the local Seattle chapter of CISPES (it’s not too late to donate!)  The riders cruised across Bainbridge Island and stayed at a historic camp for anti-nuclear activists called Ground Zero.  The ride was wonderfully successful – bringing together people with all different levels of experience with cycling (this ride included a nine year old on a one-speed Huffy) to enjoy the outdoors and the great company of other activists, all while raising money for a great cause.

And for an encore this evening we made our way out to a party at the 41 Legs Urban Farm which our friends have started here in Seattle just a couple miles from us.  On their small urban plot they have a greenhouse, many raised beds, flowers, rabbits, ducks, chickens, and pigs.  Lucas loved checking out the flowers and all the animals, but he was especially smitten with the dozen or so ducks and Babette, the pig.  And on our way home, Lucas remembered the date and (with little prompting from Mommy) told Burke that he loves him very much, and “Happy Special Daddy Day!”, and that he’s his “favorite Daddy!”, and the “Best Daddy in the World!”