My son, my sun

Luke recently celebrated his 5th birthday. we have been parents for nearly 5 years. Amazing. Luke is the first baby we ever had. He was 2 months old on our first day with him. His big brother Landon was 2 1/2 and came to live with us just 2 days prior to Luke's arrival. He was a sweet little bundle. He was pretty tiny- at least he seemed small at the time. He had a very reddish complexion, and people were constantly asking what his nationality was. He had a bunch of soft, straight black hair. And he cried. all. the. time. He was stiff, and would shudder from time to time. We did lots of stretches with him to loosen his muscles, and the shudders stopped after about a month. He had us all fascinated and completely in love with him from the first moment, which was a really good thing. Did I mention all the crying? Luke was not a great sleeper. He had to be swaddled TIGHT in order to get any sleep at all. His little arms were very jerky, and he'd punch himself in the face even while he slept and wake himself up squalling. We considered ourselves lucky if he slept for a 3 hour stretch. Scott and I had Luke "shifts". We often fell asleep in the recliner with Luke on our chest, because we were so exhausted. He didn't nap well. mostly, he just cried. Until he was about 6 months old. Then, blissfully, the crying stopped. He started sleeping through the night. And he started smiling. all. the. time. I tell people he cried for the first 6 months of his life, but he's spent every day since then making up for it. Luke is one happy, crazy, wild, exuberant, joyful boy. He makes it very hard to ever be mad at him. Even his siblings put up with more from Luke because he just has such a happy spirit. here are some recent Luke-isms. Dylan fell off his little ride on toy, and Luke beat me to him, snuggling him and saying "oh, sweetheart, are you ok?". We had Luke's birthday party the Saturday before his birthday, so on his actual birthday I let him choose what he wanted for dessert. He chose chocolate chip cookies, which he then helped me make. After dinner, I got out the ice cream, and brought the nice warm cookies to the table. I asked luke if he wanted ice cream with his cookie, and he said he just wanted ice cream. I asked why he wanted me to make the cookies if he didn't want to eat them. He asked if he could whisper it in my ear. So I leaned over, and he whispered "so everyone else could have them". What lessons I learn from this sweet boy. My sweet son loves to put his cheek on mine and sing "Dear Prudence" and "You'll Be in My Heart" with me. He loves to sit and watch Star Trek with me. He's the first to run in and say Good morning, Mom! He's rarely grumpy. He is my little ray of sunshine and I'm so thankful he will forever be my son!