What's Lucas like?

I couldn't think of a really appropriate title because it could just as easily have been "Living with Lucas" or "Lucas Lights up my Day." I just wanted to tell a bit about my second son.

I was sitting on the couch after a long day of work yesterday with Lucas on my lap and I could tell that he was really tired. I had both of my arms around him and he was just leaning his little head back onto my chest and occasionally saying "Ugh" and kicking his left leg halfheartedly each time he'd say it. He seemed content to just lay there on me resting and I know I was super content to just hold him. He's much more cuddly than Xander ever was at that age, or even at any age really.

Lucas lights up my life in a different way than I experienced with Xander. I love Xander and he's an amazing boy and he changes my world every day. Lucas though, I didn't realize I was missing him in my life until he showed up and changed everything for me, again.

Lucas will talk to me non-stop, and he doesn't even have to use any words. He only knows 2 words, Mama, and Dada, and yet he'll have whole conversations with me. Most of these he initiates too. He'll look at me and, while tilting his head back slightly, say "Uuugh." I'll respond in kind saying "Eh" and tilting my head back a bit too. He'll then continue this for a good long while, letting me know we are communicating.

Xander loves to play, and I mean LOVES it. But Xander get's tired of playing the games I make up and just wants to do something else sometimes. Lucas though, this kid will play any game I can think of with me and he'll play it to the bone! I've often come up with random things trying to turn them into a game just to see if Lucas would play. Every time I've done this Lucas is all in.

Lucas is calm in a way that Xander never has been. I often find myself comparing him to a rock weathering a storm. He's as patient as a tree and as unflappable as a mountain. I've seen him toss a toy out of his reach and then try to get it back and then fail, all without crying. He just tried and tried for a while, and then gave it up as a bad job and went on to something else.

He's also content either by himself or with others (us). He'll often play by himself for long stretches but also be happy playing with his brother or with us too. His brother has made him tough too. Xander is tough as nails and that has rubbed off on Lucas. I've seen Lucas fall off a step a third his height, fall on his face while crawling too fast, fall off the couch, hit his head on the underside of a table, and get body slammed by his older brother all without making a sound.

His toughness doesn't lessen his emotions either. I've received 5 kisses and 6 hugs all within a few minutes from him. Lucas kisses like no one else I've met too. He just opens his mouth as wide as possible, sticks out his tongue and then proceeds to head butt you, mouth leading the way. It's an experience not to be missed. He loves his brother too, I've watched him watch Xander constantly. He's en rapt when Xander is doing one of his routine antics.

It's hard for me to explain this because he's only ten months old, but I feel like I've known Lucas forever. He's what was missing in my life, even though I didn't think anything was missing at all! We truly named Lucas well because he certainly is a light in our family.

My PS3 is dead. Long live My PS3!

This past Tuesday morning, at the crack of dawn, my oldest son asked me to turn on Curious George on Netflix for him. I complied and turned on my PlayStation 3 Fat to get Netflix going for him. The light on my PS3 turned green, as usual, stayed on for a few seconds and then immediately turned a kinda sick looking green-yellow for a moment and then changed to a constant blinking red light.

Needless to say I was nonplussed. After doing some research, I found that this could be a symptom of any number of things the two most prominent are: my PS3 was overheating because of too much dust, or my PS3 had contracted the dreaded disease known as the YLOD or "Yellow Light of Death." This is the death of my machine. Apparently I can fix it if I want to get my hands really dirty and buy some parts. I don't think that's gonna happen though.

This is the end of an age for me. Once I finally get past the denial stage and throw the PS3 away this will be the first time since I was 9 years old that I have not owned a console gaming machine at my house (not counting my time spent in Panama).

I feel like having a funeral because I feel like a younger part of me just died. I had this last console longer than almost any of the others. I bought my PS3 in 2007, used, from a guy who bought his when they first came out in 2006. That means my PS3 is 7 years old. Some are saying that it's a miracle mine lasted this long.