Babbling, trucking, running, and giggling

Yesterday (Friday), Daddy took Logan to the grocery store to get food
and drinks for Dad's Zombie movie night with some of the guys from work
(Mom would be taking Logan to a friend's place for the night to camp out
there so as not to have to worry about overly loud movies waking them
up). While at the grocery store, Logan was a chatterbox and was just
yapping away non-stop about this and that (nothing coherent or eloquent
enough to be able to take dictation). At the checkout, a little baby
girl in line on the next row sat there and they started babbling back
and forth to eachother as if they were chums and catching up on old
times! Several people around me were quite amused by the entire episode
and commented as such. Upon return from the grocery store, one of our
neighbors, Noel Mackrill, brought up a garbage bag and opened it for
Logan. Inside was a brand new (still in the box) large size heavy-duty
Tonka dump truck (yellow)! This was a gift for Logan and he devoured it
completely. His fascination for trucks lately is quite interesting. In
fact, this Tonka truck looked identical to the dump truck in his current
favorite bedtime book. Anyway, we didn't waste any time putting rocks
in it and then hurling the truck down the hill in front of our garage.
Later that evening Logan was extremely upset (for what reason neither
Mom nor Dad could fully comprehend). He was crying out while trying to
move the truck, but whenever we would help him he'd get even more
upset. Daddy was able to calm Logan a bit by having him sit in the
truck's rear bed (he could just barely fit) and then pushed him around
the house in it.
On this past Thursday, Mom and Dad got to experience an unusual
first-time event from Logan. He began running and giggling around an
empty box repeatedly, non-stop, for what felt like a long time (perhaps
10 minutes at least). One of our friend's sons did this same thing when
he was young, only he would run around the dining room table for
half-an-hour to an hour at a time. We'll see if Logan builds up his
stamina and starts to do the same :-)
Other than last night when Mommy and Logan were away, Logan has been
requiring Dad be in the room at bedtime for reading, whether it be
Daddy's night or not with him (and with or without Momma, albeit it
appears that he may just simply require BOTH of us).. just thought we'd
note that.

Logan's Longest Bike Ride Yet!

Liesl took Logan on a 10 km bike ride up to Flynn’s Grave and back.  With cookie and milk in hand, Logan did really well!  He enjoyed the ride and gave commentary the entire way (mostly, “Truck!” “Car! “Bird!” and back to “Truck!” again!)

 

Logan also had a quick appointment at the doctor’s again today.  He’s been pulling at his ears, but he checked out just fine (no infection, no wax build up).

 

 

 

 

The excitement and joy of brushing teeth

Yep, same pic as above, except this time Logan is really all smiles after salmon filling in his teeth from dinner

Logan checks to make sure he's brushed his teeth in all the right places so he can have his pearly-whites as glowing as Momma's.

The Darker and Lighter side of Bibs

Logan spent the day with Mom going to Kindermusik and Kindergym (see
Kindermusik pics below), as well as enjoying time with fellow friends
such as Holly, Nicholas, and Bradon. Logan was a good guy tonight and
we all had fun together. At dinner he did put up quite a fuss and had a
meltdown regarding letting us keep his bib on, but then relented and
began chowing down after Momma made us all a nice blueberry, banana, and
milk smoothie. Surprisingly, Logan didn't really want much of his
chicken, but instead opted to eat our grilled salmon! Something we
didn't expect. Not realizing the size of his own mouth, Logan stuffed
more and more bits of salmon in without swallowing, until he suddenly
understood that he'd now be unable to swallow any of it. Mom let Logan
release some of it into her hand, in which he then was able to enjoy the
meal in bite-sized morsels. Upon putting Logan down to bed after
reading some books, once again Logan put up a fuss. Would you believe
that this time he absolutely HAD to have a bib ON before going to
sleep! Two hours after dinner the little tyke did a complete about-face
in his thoughts about bibs.

Logan giveth and he taketh away

Participating or not?! You be the judge.

Getting ready for some flag-swishing with Holly

Talking into the echo microphone at Kindermusik

Logan sure is testy when overtired

Tonight Logan was being quite a bit trying in that he was having a
tantrum about anything that didn't go exactly the way he wanted it. He
had to have a drink of water, without a lid of course so that he could
be like Mommy and Daddy. In doing so he spilled some on his shirt and
got overly upset about getting a little wet from it. Strange when he
normally loves to get wet. The only thing he didn't get upset about was
with Daddy jumping him up in the air, but after about 20 tosses, I
couldn't do it anymore (Logan is getting to be a heavy toddler!) This
again resulted in another Logan fit. Liesl indicated that he'd only
gone down for a one-hour nap today at Rosalie's (Day Care). That pretty
much explains it.

For dinner Logan ate heartily a healthy dose of chicken, fish, and mixed
veggies. Just before, as Mom was about to reach for a bib in the lower
drawer, she fought back tears of pain after 'handily' slamming her left
middle finger in the upper silverware drawer. We both felt really sorry
for Momma and even more so as she berated herself for her clumsiness.
Mommy then gave Logan a bath, but just before putting him in, Logan
surprised Mommy with a tickle on her left side (on the ribs, just like
Daddy does to Mommy :-) This made for a quick and shrill yelp of
laughter from the unsuspecting Momma, a nice highlight for the evening.
For bedtime, Logan was overtired and didn't want to go down. After
reading several books (our usual which involved trucks, cars, airplanes,
and trains), and even giving in to allowing a little cuddle in Mommy and
Daddy's bed, he finally succumbed to slumber, and once again there was a
little bit more peace on earth.

Logan hits terrible two's head on

The past couple of mornings Logan has not wanted to go out to the park or pool or anything.  Instead he’s been interested in playing with his toys at home. 

 

He wants to be very independent without any help from us.  For example yesterday, Logan didn’t want to ride in the stroller when we walked over to get the mail.  He insisted on walking next to us instead.  He also becomes very frustrated/angry when we do something that he can easily do (for example, if we put his hat on his head instead of handing it to him to do for himself.

 

Logan has become really helpful with household chores.  He likes to help push the big vacuum around for a while, then gets his smaller (toy) vacuum and cleans along side with us.  He also helps push the furniture when we’re moving it to vacuum.  Logan also has his own swiffer (broom) that he uses when we are sweeping the floor.

 

Favorite 20 Month Old Activities:

*Reading books -- Logan can sit for 30 minutes or more when we read him stories before naptime and bedtime. His favorites at the moment are pop-up books such as "This Old Man" and "Who took the cookie from the cookie jar?"

*Watering Plants; Water related activities like going to the swimming pool and taking a bath. Logan is doing really well in the water. He puts his entire head under and blows bubbles like a pro! He'll even make swimming motions with his arms and kicks pretty well with his legs.

*Arts & Crafts -- Logan started doing "nail drawings" -- which consist of taking a nail and poking holes along a black line. This helps with small motor control and Logan has gotten pretty good at punching holes. Of course, the best part is proudly displaying his work to Daddy and then taping it to the kitchen cabinets!

Logan also enjoys using stickers and gluing things on paper. Again, we can see a lot of progress with his ability to manipulate small objects (holding the glue and actually getting stickers to go where he wants them).

*Trucks and cars -- This month Logan has had a lot of fun taking his trucks outside and rolling them down our (hilly) driveway!

*Playing in his play tent and play boat

*Stacking and sorting colored disks

*Hiking (and walking with Mom in the morning)

*Playing at the park -- Logan has gained a lot of skill. Today, for example, he climbed up a ladder and across a bridge all on his own.

*Kindermusik & Kindergym

*Watching his "Brainy Baby Animals" movie

*Counting Money -- Logan has several film canisters with different kinds of coins. He really enjoys dumping out the "MONEY" and putting them in one-by-one while Mom or Dad counts. He'll repeat numbers now and then (especially the number 8).

Liesl played the oboe (and did marvelously) as part of the 'Alexandria Quartet' in a five-member group for the annual Eistedfodd music competition.

Already climbing his way to the top of the corporate jungle

Logan gets a bit more umph and successfully makes it across the playground bridge for the first time (without assistance) on Saturday, 23 April.

Hanging loose with a new stool to sample

Logan getting ready to break a speed record for toddlers on the slide

Grams and Grampy recently went to Epcot Center in Orlando, Florida, and sent us this photo from one of the fun entertainment areas within the park.

Grandma and Grandpa share a bit of the fun they experienced in Hawaii! The rest of us can only drool in envy :-)

I am astounded at how quickly Logan progresses all the time. Just reading back on what I wrote a couple weeks ago, I can see that Logan's communication skills have improved. For example, when Logan woke up from his nap today, he called out "Mommy. . . " I went in and he asked "Where's Da?" (partially with the sign for "where"). I hadn't yet had a chance to reply when he said "work"! When Logan and I go walking in the morning, Logan usually spends about twenty minutes looking through his picture books. As we walk I'll ask him where the X (clock, spoon, bear or whatever) is. He can point to lots and lots of words. His speaking skills improve daily too. Last week I was making him oatmeal for breakfast. He was getting upset so I asked if he wanted to look. "LOOK, LOOK" said Logan. Since then he's used the word "look" frequently. It seems that once he can say a word, it's often adopted right into his vocabulary.

This past month, we've also had a good turn of events with our discipline methods. We've been using "1,2,3 Magic" in combination with LOTS of praise for the things he does right/well, pointing out when he is helpful, uses good manners, did a good job putting on his shoes or whatever. When he's hitting (throwing, doing something he shouldn't) we'll say "That's 1" without emotion. If he continues, "That's 2." And if he still hasn't stopped, "That's 3. Take 5." He then is put into time out (in the bedroom or in the corner). Almost immediately he began to catch on. Often now when we say, "That's 1." Logan will say, "NOOOooooo. . . " with great desperation in his voice and stop his behavior. What a great thing to have a method that *works* on these toddler tantrums! Of course, we know not all kids would respond to this method, but we're very happy to have found something that works for us!! :)

Here are a few of the highlights from this past month:

March 23 -- Logan woke up not feeling well. He threw up for a couple of hours and had a temperature between 101 and 103 degrees all day. Luckily, it was a one-day sickness and he bounced back quickly!

March 27 -- Easter: We decorated eggs and met friends at the Telegraph station for a picnic and Easter egg hunt.

April 1 -- We went camping with friends along a dry river bed outbush. We had the good fortune to see the fiery re-entry (and break up) of a Russian Proton K rocket body hull that was launched two days earlier. It was a spectacular fireworks scene that went from one end of the horizon, right over top of us and disappeared at the other horizon. Anyway, the weather was so nice and we had such a good time that Tony took Logan out for another night. Liesl took the opportunity to sack out from 4pm until 7am! Tony and Logan weren't so fortunate -- as the night was hot and muggy. They sweated and slept fitfully all night. The next morning Tony took Logan to the town pool where they finally cooled off!

April 4 -- Liesl started teaching her Modern American History Class (an upper level class). It ends in July and then she'll take time off until sometime after the baby is born.

April 7 -- Our friend Kristin had a baby boy!

April 15 -- Liesl and Logan spent a night out-- We went swimming, fed the wallabies, and spent the next morning at the Desert Park. Tony had some time to himself for the first time in MONTHS!!

April 22 -- Logan got his first bike helmet. We all went out on a bike ride with Logan in the bike trailer behind. We road to Sammy's Pizza which has a climbing gym for kids. We all had a great time!

On a different note, Liesl felt the baby move for the first time a couple weeks ago (April 7). That was VERY early on (roughly 14 weeks into the pregnancy). It lasted about ten minutes and was in one localized spot on my right. VERY cool! Everything seems to be progressing well. I'm not as tired and never did have any morning sickness. I'm into maternity clothes now, but mostly because I have a very large scar that is irritated by clothing (with an expanding midriff, it's just more comfortable to wear looser pants!) We won't know the gender until June or so, but are looking forward to finding out!

Dive on in! There's always more!

Logan has started putting words together this month, mostly food related -- "more milk," "want juice" He also responds better to questions. "Do you want any more meat?" NO! or "What color is the truck?" (Usually it's "purpur") He'll occasionally tell us when he has a poopy diaper, but not always (because who wants to be interrupted from exciting play to have his diaper changed?)

Interesting campout this weekend

We enjoyed our campout this Friday night as it was a beautiful cool
evening in a picturesque setting surrounded by white ghost gum trees and
hills in a dry sandy river bed. At about 7 PM I stood up while holding
Logan and was just about to put him into the tent to sleep when out from
behind the hill something caught my eye. I called out to everyone
"Hey, look at the fireworks show!" I realized the absurdity of
fireworks being behind a hill when we were an hour away from any sign of
civilization and there would be only the remotest chance of someone
being behind the hill lighting fireworks (it would've been impossible to
get there with any modern day vehicle). The sparkly flashy light kept
getting higher and higher and brighter and brighter, moving extremely
slowly as it did so. Soon thereafter (about 20 seconds later) it broke
up into many pieces and filled a good portion of the night sky as it
made its way directly over us. I was quite concerned and decided I'd
take about 4 steps to the right in the hopes it would miss me and Logan
should the giant fireballs decide to land near us! As it passed over
it was absolutely beautiful and mesmerizing, seemingly right above us
and yet so obviously far above, leaving a lengthy trail of smoke and
lights in its wake. It probably took about 1-2 minutes to completely
pass us from start to finish. We were mystified and in awe... as well
as a bit afraid and everyone around was in dead silence. We couldn't
help but talk about it all night and into the next day. This was
something none of us had ever witnessed in our lifetimes, but the two
year old boy, Bradon, who was also camping with us couldn't quite
comprehend that fact and asked us if we could have another fireworks
show again. However, they must've known something special was going on
as even Logan was dead silent and mesmerized staring up at it throughout
the entire event.

The next day we investigated it on the internet and found (at the
following website http://www.reentrynews.com/28630.html) that a Russian
Proton K rocket ship stage 4 body hull had been scheduled to re-enter
the atmosphere over Australia during the time frame, so that had to be
it. This made sense because a meteor shower moves far faster than what
we witnessed. So while the mystery was solved, it was a bummer that it
was something so mundane. In any event, I think I'll try to schedule
our campouts in the future based upon the above website for when space
junk is scheduled to reenter the Earth's atmosphere! That was the
coolest and most amazing thing we'd ever seend!

Then I took Logan out on Saturday night for a campout (at Clifford's waterhole, or Possum's waterhole depending on who you talk to)
of just me and the 1 1/2 year old son to give Mom a break (well, with another Dad and his
Son, but they ended up leaving at about 9 PM because Bradon wanted to
go home). Needless to say it was miserable as the temperature was about
100 degrees and quite humid. All night long I had to put cool towels on
Logan as we were sweating profusely and couldn't really sleep at all.
It sure was an eventful weekend! It's been tough recuperating!

Logan and Mommy try to blow bubbles while on the campout the next morning

Camping in a riverbed

Logan kisses baby Seth during the campout