In the rear you can see part of the figure-8 model solar car race track we built last year to enable the event to become so successful.

Some of the students attending our Model Solar Vehicle Challenge Day and learning about solar energy. In front you can see Dad's model solar boat with paddle-wheels.

Yep, Son, that sure is kangaroo poop in your hand. What a waste!!

Doesn't every little boy that has a 'Jungle Trek' big truck T-shirt also enjoy picking wildflowers?

Boulderdash...

Back at Junction Waterhole for some sand digging and rock climbing.

Logan takes control

Logan and Bradon don't know exactly what to make of the conductor, who happens to be one of two remaining 'living' conductors from the old ghan railroad days.

Pals Jesse, Seth, Melissa, and Bradon hang on to eachother for fear of being on a runaway death train.

Dad, Logan, and Mom relax in the train's lounge car

Everyone takes a break on the scenic outdoor carriage

Playin' with my bud Bradon on the train

Logan starts warming up for his first train ride

Ooohhhhhh, here's comes a Logan favorite, a cement truck!

Logan enjoyed waving at the big rigs.

Now that's a truck of a different color

Now there's a big rig... a road train is one of 400 trucks that pass us by.

Waiting for the big rigs at the Truck parade

Big Haul Weekend!

Friday night Mom took Logan out to a dry river bed with some friends to
get a bunch of sand while Daddy went to his last Sunchase Model Solar
Car meeting (since the event is next week). Mommy needed the sand so
that we could layer the ground along our narrow side alley-way with it.
This way we could easily level some pavers down and provide Logan a nice
pathway to ride his toy bike along.

Saturday Dad and Logan got up at 6:20 AM for a day of joy and fun (for
Dad). We went to the computer store to get some parts, to the toy store
to get Logan some 'fake' food like veggies, fruit, canned items, eggs,
chocolate, etc... We also hit the playground for the usual expending
of energy reserves from the little one. The 'fake' food was because we
borrowed a kitchen set, to include oven and sink, from the toy library.
Well, Logan 'ate' it up and was entranced with using it, so we felt it'd
be worth it to stock full of other goodly items. While all this went
on, Mom went to her Alexandria Quartet practice as there is only one
week left until they perform as part of the Annual Desert Festival
(expected to be a big turnout this year what with all the hype and
promoting they've been doing).

After Logan's nap on Saturday, Mom and Logan baked cookies, then we all
ate them. To relieve ourselves of the sugar rush, we unloaded the sand
from the truck and started placing it along the side of our house. Hmm,
still there was energy. So we all went out bush again just outside of
town and got some more sand, brought it home, and unloaded that. Yay!
But we needed a bit more sand. That could wait until Sunday as our
cookie high had long since depleted by that point.

Sunday morning and Logan yet again woke up at 6:20 AM. This time Mom
got him (thanks Ma!) We didn't have long, though, because at 8:45 AM
we had to pack on up the truck and hustle ourselves out past the
Heavitree Gap ridge along Stuart Highway for the BIG EVENT! What was
the big event you might ask? Well, it was only the largest Truck parade
and rally that Australia has ever seen. It was the 10th anniversary of
the Road Transport Hall of Fame, so all the truck enthusiasts from
around Australia hauled butt over here for an annual convention. The
parade itself had 400 trucks of various vintage, type, and flavor.
Thousands of spectators were lined up all along Stuart Highway from the
north thru the south of town. From about 9:15 AM until 11:05 AM we saw
truck after truck pass us by, honking their high-decibel horns and
waving as we all waved back. At 11:05, after changing a diaper, we
quickly set back on the road towards the Road Transport Hall of Fame.
We needed to be there by 11:30 because we had to catch our booking for a
ride on the Old Ghan train. The train has not operated for three years
and we were to be the first ones on the re-built and operable train.
Of course we ran into a dilemma in which everyone else wanted to go to
the same destination as well... so we were stuck in a traffic jam for
about 30 minutes (good as Logan caught himself a power nap along the
way). As soon as we got there we jumped out from a faraway open
parking spot and practically raced to catch the train. Luckily
everyone was having the same problem and so it didn't leave until about
12 noon, giving us about 10-15 minutes to catch our breath.
Incidentally, the train still had extremely few passengers, perhaps
because most folks were enjoying the trucks, food, beer, and live band
entertainment and they probably felt they could just wait until the next
train run at 1:30 PM. Logan really enjoyed his train ride, especially
so because his best pal Bradon was there as well. They kept having fun
going from car to car as the train hobbled down the track about 30 km.
For some unknown reason, both boys seemed to be particularly interested
in the on-board shower! They kept saying "Let's go back to the
shower", "I want to see the shower", and "Let's get in the shower".
Perhaps this was because the shower was at the very front train car and
we were sitting in the lounge car which was almost at the opposite end.
A few heartbeats would be skipped as the boys went between cars; there
was an open gap that could easily have either one of them slip through
and down towards oblivion.

After the train ride, we disembarked and hit the rest of the
festivities, looking at trucks and hopping on tractors, eating food and
listening to the overpoweringly loud music. Once again, Logan knocked
back an entire knackwurst sausage (this one had cheese in it). To top
it off, he scavenged grapes, blueberries, and strawberries from his pal
Bradon. Our kid is one heckuva eating machine!

Well, the sun was getting to all of us and Logan's lack of naptime meant
it was time to hit the road (at about 1 - 2 PM). He was being a bit
grouchy as we got him into his car seat and so we thought that he'd be
out like a light once we hit the road... or so we thought. Nope, he was
wide awake and remained so... so... so... so we decided we'd burn
everyone out completely by driving up north out of town to get SOME MORE
SAND! Yes, what else would one do on a hot Sunday afternoon? After
a time, we hit the unpaved lesser-travelled road yet again, and as we've
done before, we convinced Logan that bumpy roads are actually fun (one
of these days he just ain't gonna buy that anymore). We hopped out and
everyone, to include Logan, helped put sand in a few buckets. This
didn't last long before Logan went to climb the rocks and play in the
water (we were at Junction waterhole) and Momma went along to supervise,
leaving Poppa to do the menial labor of hauling sand.

Some time later and finally at about 4:30 PM we arrived back home, Logan
dragging a bit on the way back, but still managing to keep control of
his faculties. Mom unloaded the truck of our day's asundries while Dad
unloaded the sand to complete our walkway (now will just have to haul a
bunch of pavers next week). While Dad did this, he saw Logan bring
Momma a cup of 'pretend' tea with milk from the new toy kitchenette. He
said, "Here's your tea Momma, with milk." Pretty cute. A little bit
later Dad could hear Mom and Logan taking a much-needed bath. They
kept giggling and laughing hysterically and Daddy was beginning to feel
the need to find out what was going on. Mom called Daddy in and he got
to find out what the laughing was all about. Logan had his hands on
Momma's belly and his little baby Sister was evidently moving all around
with her hands. Whenever she would move or punch Mom's belly from the
inside, Logan could easily feel it on the outside. This may not sound
like much, but Logan was getting a huge kick out of it and was smiling
and laughing from ear to ear. Mom explained that his baby Sister was in
her belly and trying to talk to Logan... Logan tried to respond back by
blowing hard on Mom's belly. What a great way to end the day!

At bedtime (an early one of 6:45 PM) it didn't take Logan long to drop
down to sleep. In fact, the previous 3-4 nights he's been pretty beat
and has decided to hit the sack prematurely after Dad or Mom has read
him only 2-3 books... very abnormal! Albeit he can be asleep and then
somehow still be awake enough to 'require' from us that he be set down
on the ground so he can be a kangaroo and hop over to the crib, to then
be lifted and dropped down in.

Logan is finally taking charge around the house and is making a meal for Mom and Dad.

You call what you got a rock. That ain't a rock. Now this here is a ROCK!

Stepping through a time portal at Standley Chasm

Future rugged Marlboro man (rugged without needing the ciggies)

Mom and Logan rock the time away

No, it wasn't a rock that I crawled out from under, it was a LOG!

Shhh.... I'm hunting wabbits... hehehehehehe

Now let me tell ya somethin' about these them here trees.

Taking a breather with Mom along the Standley Chasm path

Crawling through and getting stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Trying to fill in a waterhole with a bunch of rocks is serious business

Roll'em down the gully...

One day I'll get my sunglasses on straight.

Logan and Bradon get their bearings at Junction Waterhole for a new quarry site where they can give their trucks a real good workout.

Alice Springs Rodeo

Logan can now count to ten and can kind-of almost get to the letter 'M'
when saying his ABCs. On a naughty note, Logan said 'shut up Daddy'
several times this morning, but it was obvious he didn't know the
meaning behind the words... luckily. Last night we went out to the
Alice Springs rodeo for about 1.5 hours, but about 20 minutes of it was
in the dark due to technical difficulties with either the generators or
power. When the lights were on, we enjoyed watching the cowboys lasso
up some cows, get whipped around on bucking broncos and some pretty
rough and tough bulls! Several times the cowboys were thrown off and
then almost stomped upon by the bull. One time a cowboy was thrown so
far he almost flew into the metal gate at least 10 feet away. Luckily
the rodeo clowns were out in force and ensured the bulls went the right
direction back into their pens through the gates. While this went on,
Dad got some sausages from one of the food stalls; a knackwurst and a
chilli/cheese kranski. The kranski is too spicy for Logan, but he
devoured the huge foot-long knackwurst as if it were a little vienna
sausage! This afternoon, after Logan's nap, we plan on heading a
little bit out bush to a nice water-hole (called Junction or Possum's
waterhole) that is only accessible by 4WD vehicle. We'll probably have
a bite to eat out there for dinner, or just play around for a little
while and come back home for dinner.

Logan and Mom graze around at the Alice Springs Rodeo

Logan's 2-year Old Wellness Checkup

Most days Mom tells Logan at breakfast what we’ll be doing for the morning.  This morning, she said that Logan would be going to see the doctor.  “Listen to my heart!” Logan said excitedly.  The first thing he did after he ate was grab his doctor’s kit.  He and Mom did the full medical checkup on each other.  Logan was a great patient at the clinic and the nurse even brought out the ultrasound so Logan could hear his heart beating!

 

All checked out well.  Logan is in the 25^th percentile for weight at 25 pounds.  He’s in the 18^th percentile for height at 33 inches (84.5 cm).  He has hit all his milestones (or surpassed them)… for example, at a minimum he should know 7-20 words!  Since he’s speaking in full sentences, can count to 5 and chatters non-stop it made Mom chuckle.

 

After the doctor’s appointment Logan and Mom went to the Toy Library playgroup.  While he was excited to go, he was not on his best behavior (in his defense, he didn’t sleep well.  His top 2 year molars are coming in).  As a whole, this group was a younger group than the Friday playgroup; while there were 3 other boys who were also just at 2 years old, there were also a lot of kids that were younger. He roared at a number of the ‘babies’ – even when Mom told him (again and again) not to roar.  Later at lunch he kept saying that he was naughty and roared at the babies and had to ‘Take 5.’

 

Not surprisingly, Logan had a long nap (2 ½ hours).  Mom and Logan then met Bradon, Baby Seth and Melissa at the park and the boys had great fun driving their trucks up and down the dirt hills.  Still, it wasn’t quite enough to wear Logan out as it is after 8pm and Logan is still chattering away happily while Daddy is reading him books.

Logan's first independent phone call

This morning Mom wanted to take a quick shower, but Logan didn't want
to. Instead he wanted to take a bath. So while Mom was in the shower,
she watched him closely to be sure Logan didn't get himself into too
much trouble. Well, wouldn't you know it, Logan started raising his
leg up to try to heave himself over into the bathtub. It seemed as
though Mom was going to have to get out and get him out of a potentially
dangerous situation. But wait, no. Suddenly Logan had a startled and
surprised look on his face. His leg stopped abruptly and came back down
nicely next to the other one. Then he bolted out the bathroom like a
kid on steroids. What kind of brain wave patterns could have been
created like that to cause such a frenzy? Mom had to find out, if
nothing else to be sure Logan wasn't getting into any sort of mischief
(not our angel child). In about two or so minutes Mom was able to towel
off and make her way out towards the living room. Lo and behold what
did she find... her Son sitting and chatting up a storm on the telephone
that's what !? Mommy managed to commandeer the telephone handset from
little prying piggie fingers and in her most cordial, yet confused
manner, timidly said, "Hello?" It would have been one thing to have a
normal caller like one of Logan's friends' Mom on the phone, but no.
It was a rare caller, a prominent lawyer in town, who also happens to be
the clarinet player in Liesl's Alexandria Quartet woodwind ensemble
group (incidentally, he has no kids). Russell told Mom that he had been
having a very pleasant phone conversation with Logan and that he was
surprised at how well he pronounced words like Pteradactyl. Guess it
must've been some kind of conversation!

Logan is playing a 'shapes' game Mom read about and created from somewhere. We tell Logan to go to the green square and eventually he'll make it there... that is, after getting through the 'chinese jumprope' obstacle.

Shake shake shake that booty

Yesterday on Logan's actual birthday we didn't really do much, namely
because Logan had two solid days of birthday fun over the weekend.
However, the fun still didn't end as our neighbor, 'Uncle Noel', gave
Logan a 'Loader' Tonka truck and it was not surprising that Logan took
to it immediately. Logan always points and goes towards Uncle Noel's
door half-expectant that Noel will come out, which he often does.

When Logan turned one year old he hit a few milestones, that of him
starting to sleep through the night in his crib, and that he also
started his weening process off Mom's boob. For this year, at two
years old, we made the move to sleep in separate bedrooms now that we've
rearranged our two-bedroom flat to give Logan his own room. So on
Logan's birthday, Mom and Dad formally went to the new converted master
bedroom to sleep. It was a bit of a sad move, marking the passing of
Logan's growth towards independence, but after the first night we got
over it and Logan transitioned quickly; he already seems to be
sleeping quite well on his own (doesn't really seem to be waking up at
all as he usually does), although it appears he's got some more teeth
coming in and so the pain from that may cause a squelch for Mom or Dad.

Lately Logan has enjoyed being picked up upside down and swung around
eventually landing on the bed. He also loves more than ever to get
into the laundry basket and be picked up by Dad and 'flown' around as if
in an airplane. This afternoon when Dad got home from work, we all went
out to pick up film that was processed over the birthday weekend. Dad
and Logan stayed in the car while Mom went in to get the film. While
waiting, Dad asked Logan how his day was. The conversation itself took
Daddy completely by surprise as Logan responded more so than ever
before. It went pretty much just like this:

"Did you have fun today Logan?"
"Yeah"
"Did you go to the Desert Park?"
"Yeah"
"Did you see animals at the Desert Park?"
"Saw lizards"
"Oh, you were in the dark place weren't you? Did you also see a bilby
or any birds?" (Some lizards and the bilby and owls are in the 'dark'
nocturnal house)
"Yeah, dark. Saw owl"
"Did you eat a good lunch?"
"Yeah, ate pumpkin pie!" (I was surprised by the fact that he really
got excited by the pumpkin pie, but then found out that he'd really
eaten the pumpkin pie the previous day for lunch)
"It was good huh?"
"Yummy, want water!"....

Anyway, great conversation from Dad's perspective!

Later, after having dinner, Logan and Dad were playing while Mom was up
front creating a formal 'music program' for her Alexandria Quartet's
upcoming concert in two weeks. Dad told Logan "Let's play a game" and
"What game would you like to play Logan?" Not expecting a response,
Dad was making a motion to get an activity game or toy out when he met
with yet another surprise for the day. Logan said, "Play Shake Shake
Shake that Booty!" Dad was flabbergasted. He'd never heard anyone
say that around here EVER. How had Logan come up with it? Dad called
out to Mom and said "Logan just said he wanted to play Shake Shake Shake
that Booty!? Do you know what that is and where he got that from?"
Mom started laughing hysterically. Mommy said that he's never spoken
those words before, but that Mom sometimes has fun and says "Shake Shake
Shake your Booty" in the kitchen every so often, shaking her rear end
left and right while saying it.... which is exactly what Logan was doing
when he was saying it. Funny that Daddy finds these wacky things about
his Wife by way of his Son spilling the beans. After all these years,
Dad never knew Mommy did that.

Hey hold on a second. Here's one more birthday present that I found under the shrub next to Noel's place.

What in tarnations could it be?

Well whaddya know! A tonka truck Loader! Sweet, and it's ALL MINE!!! Mwaaa aahh ahhh!

Peace, Family, and Tranquility

Logan woke up on the right side of the crib this morning after having a
fun-filled day yesterday. He found all his birthday presents still
existed and he went at them like a moth to the flame. We also had a few
presents still unopened from the previous day and so Logan got to open
those, including a new little plastic tricycle (without pedals). It was
a day of enjoyment in talking with the rellies (that's Australian for
relatives) on the phone and just hanging out around the house. Well,
except Mom went out to a social function after making a delicious
7-layer mexican vegetarian dish. She chewed the fat with some friends
and talked with a few local Muslims in town, for whom the social
engagement was meant for. While this went on, Logan took a nap with
Dad in Logan's single bed in his room, rather than the crib, simply
because Logan didn't want the crib and because lazy Dad didn't feel like
forcing the issue this time. Some of the highlights of the day were
Logan and his counting whenever swinging on our backyard swing (counts
to 5 and says 'Go'), Logan getting better at swinging the bat and
hitting the ball off the tee, and Logan repeating his A, B, C's. Oh,
and he pooped in the potty for about the 4th or 5th time now.

Logan on his trike that he got for his birthday

More shapes and colors fun!

Opening more birthday presents

Here comes the motorized bus through the tunnel!

Getting good at ripping off the wrapping paper from my birthday presents

Birthday Party time

Mom got up with Logan after doing an amazing job getting things ready
for his Birthday party the night before, to include decorating the house
with streamers and banners and balloons! At 7:10 AM we all sat around
the coffee table and let Logan open some of his birthday presents from
Mom, Dad, and other relatives. A Bertie Bus from the Thomas the Tank
Engine cast of characters was a good hit as it was battery operated and
could move along his train tracks without the need for manual labor. He
also got a lion puppet, money, mini-cars (consisting of a mini truck,
motorbike, helicopter and ambulance). We then ate a quick bite of fresh
pumpkin muffins. After Mom cut up fruit for a fruit salad at the party
later on, we hustled into both our party-packed cars to the Telegraph
Station to set up for the party at 9 AM. Mom set up the arts & crafts
area for painting rocks and making 'contact paper sprinkle sticker
posters'. The kids, now to include others, were taken out to explore
for a special magic rock for which they could paint upon. Painting fun
was had by all, to include Bradon, Nicholas, Holly, Alice, and Maia.
After painting, they pushed the trucks and toy lawn mowers up and down
the nearby hill over and over... until it was time to sing 'Happy
Birthday' as Logan and others 'kind of' blew out the one candle (had a
numeric 2 on it) that rested upon the "Ambulance" and "Bull Dozer"
chocolate cake (It was a 'Bob the Builder' themed party). After eating
cake and drinking milk, goody bags were passed around to all the kids.
Logan loved one cheap item in the bag, a paddle ball that we adults all
grew up with... you know, the paddle ball that no one is good at hitting
that has an elastic string attached and stretches back-and-forth to
enable you to hit the ball with the paddle again and again. Well, Logan
loved it, and was so much into it with such force and excitement that by
hitting the ball so hard it took him only a few minutes to cause the
elastic string to break from over-usage. He also successfully popped a
couple balloons on the grass. It was at that point that we attempted to
get Logan to open some of his birthday gifts, but Logan loved his paddle
ball so much it was nearly impossible to tear him away!
Logan got some beautiful birthday cards, especially from Melissa and
Bradon, of a train with Logan's picture in one of the train's windows.
He got an ABC's Dr. Seuss book, a Little Tyke's Little Handiworker
workbench, a Formula 1 fast race car powered on batteries (Mom cut
herself semi-badly trying to get it out of the packaging). Logan also
got a toy freight truck, a geodesic expandable magic ball, a couple
Berenstein Bear's books of the Honey Hunt and Off to the Moon, an "I can
spell" book, a drum, a click-clacker, a Thomas the tank engine button, a
Triceratops dinosaur wood puzzle, among so many things! And that was
just the gifts from his friends at the party!
After the party, we went home and had a nice seafood salad lunch... and
then crashed hard into a nap (pretty much all of us after Mom cleaned up
and relaxed a bit first, naughty Mom) About 1.5 hours later we woke
up with great difficulty and made our way to a coworker's house (Bill
and Louise Gadd), for a farewell party for another family (Mitch and
Michelle Petree) who have also lived in Alice Springs around the same
amount of time as we have (8 years). Both families have a daughter that
is close to the same age as Logan, albeit the Gadd's daughter is about
twice as tall as Logan (and yet only about 4-6 months older). Logan
played around the sandpit and their huge toy house (with a two-way
working phone system in the toy house). We had great food, great tour
of their beautiful house, and had a great time with the company there.
Logan and some other kids ate at one point around a small kid's picnic
table. He had a fruit plate to eat while some of the other kids had
bowls full of gummi bears to eat. Needless to say it took Logan three
seconds to figure out that he wanted the gummi bears more than the fruit
(in Australia gummi bears are called 'lollies'). There was also
another little girl, Mariah, who is pretty much allergic to everything
in existence... from foods to cats to dust, etc.. she can eat only two
things without a problem, lettuce and something else (can't remember
what the other thing was). So poor Mariah, who is only about 1-2 years
older than Logan, sat at the picnic table with them eating a bowl full
of lettuce.
Just before leaving, Louise Gadd gave us heaps of food to take home
(naughty freeloading us!) Mom laughed so hard in embarrassment from
taking the food that she nearly peed in her pants.
That night Logan played more with his new toys, including our letting
him open one or two more. Mom and Dad think he became overexcited
because Dad desperately tried to get Logan down to bed, but as Dad
writes it is 8:15 PM and he can still hear Logan wide awake in his bedroom.

It's a mini-helicopter of course, let me just explain the aerodynamic principles of the thing to you if you'll just spend a few minutes with me and listen.

Resting up with some lunch after the birthday party festivities

It's hammer time on Logan's new workbench

Go speed racer, go speed racer, go speed racer GOOOOO!

Logan opens a birthday present. Luckily it's about the ABCs and not the Birds and the Bees.

The grand opening of the goodie bags

Yeesh, Momma is embarrassing me with all these flowers on my friends.

Mom painted a flower on my cheek. Hey, wait-a-sec, I thought the theme of this party was "Bob the Builder", not "Flower Power"

Hmm, this is some exquisite milk and cake and strawberries

Okay, the candle is lit and we're singing the 'Happy Birthday' song to Logan!

So where is everyone? I'm ready to light this baby and dig on in.

Pushing lawn mowers to their death down a hill

Logan pulls baby Seth in the wagon

Someday baby this is going into the Guggenheim

Gotta get those smocks on before we get down and dirty with those permanent lead paints

Looking for magic rocks to paint

Getting the birthday party festivities underway at the Telegraph Station

They're tiger paddles... you know... for hitting a ball, not for scaring people.

Learning to sort by shape and color

Logan's three loves, an ambulance, a bulldozer, and chocolate cake for his birthday party.

Yummy, nothing like licking the batter off of a mixer from a chocolate cake!

Logan got to learn how to use tongs for the first time. He handled it like a pro, not that there are many pro tong handlers out there.

Learning the proper way to eat plastic food, as long as you have a plastic fork in hand like I do.

Hey, I didn't know that Playgroup at the Toy Library meant we had to be playing in groups

Pushing tin, er, plastic, at the car port traffic control center

Arts and crafts with play-doh, or should we just call it what it is, 'demolition time'!

The lovely sound of one's own heartbeat

Dad took a good portion of the morning off today so he could go with Mom
and Logan to their first mid-wives appointment at the hospital. Logan's
favorite part during the appointment was where he got to listen to his
forthcoming baby Sister's heartbeat, and then he got to listen to his
own. Towards the end of our time there, Logan lifted up his shirt and
asked for "Heartbeat" again just to make sure his heart hadn't
stopped. The mid-wife obliged and Logan really loved sitting there
staring into space as he could listen to the thumping of his heartbeat.
When Dad went back to work, Mom took Logan off to a new 'Playgroup' at
the Toy Library. There he got to play with other kids, do arts and
crafts, learn to do basic things like deal with tableware, etc... both
Mom and Logan thoroughly enjoyed it. 'Playgroup' essentially was a
pre-pre-school only parents must be there for supervision.
All that activity in the morning meant Mommy and Logan were tired, so
they slept longer than normal for nap time, but when they got up they
started working on making Logan's birthday cake! They both had heaps
of fun, especially when they got to lick the mixer handles and bowl.
Mom commented that when Logan asked to lick the mixer handles she was
surprised because he hadn't ever been told he could do this before.
With all that effort put into making the birthday cake, Logan was
extremely upset after it was baked that he couldn't eat it yet! It was
difficult to get him down as he just kept repeating how much he wanted
to eat that birthday cake!
Oh, on another note, Dad took Logan a few blocks away to the
'demountable' to get the mail that comes from our Dallas PO box in the
U.S.A. What made this trip special was the fact that Logan rode on his
trike the whole way there, with feet on his pedals (Daddy pushing from
behind), for the first time ever. Normally before he'd make it about
20-30 feet before fretting and getting off to run back home.

Cause and effect, a law I must learn to live with.

Hmm, I think I'll just take all these fun balls home with me.

Stay calm, I'm too young for road rage

Logan gives Holly a little hybrid powered energy from the back of the car for an easier and more comfy ride

Self-made punishment from a 2-year old

Logan wasn't quite the angel today as he deliberately hit Bradon's baby
brother Seth several times; then he would give himself "take 5's" (as
he would announce to himself and everyone) as a self-proclaimed
punishment before going to his naughty circle. Obviously this was not
kosher and giving oneself your own punishment just ain't gonna cut
it. Perhaps this behavior was partially because of his waking up at 6
AM, not having a nap, and not sleeping that well the night before. At
least Logan is speaking better. For instance today he said "I ate
toasted cheese sandwich" and "That's my truck T-shirt".

Stiff upper lip

Today Logan had a stiff upper lip going over to day care at Rosalie's,
crying when Mom left him for the 3 hours, but it was great to see that
he was all smiles and happy when picked up at 12 noon.
In the afternoon Logan and Bradon really enjoyed playing a game together
(idea taken from Kindergym) in which a ball hangs from a tether rope
from above and they swing at it with a bat.

Hey, this is just like a bridge over troubled water, only this time it's a bridge under troubled water 'cause my diaper is leaking

Jumping for joy

Not a problem, I take these obstacles all in stride.

That's our little chimp.

Climbing the corporate ladder at KinderGym

Hmm, I don't think the hoop is quite large enough to get this ball through.

Swishing and swaying at KinderMusik

Tuesday's Activities

This morning Logan helped Mom make pancakes for breakfast.  He helped pour the flour, baking powder and other dry goods into the mixing bowl and then stirred the batter getting it ready to cook.  He then climbed into his chair awaiting his pancakes.  Just as the butter melted, the power went out.  Liesl suggested he get down and play, but he wouldn’t get out of the chair! In fact, he waited patiently (more or less) for five minutes until the power came back on and then another five for the pancakes to be done!

 

At 9:00am Mom and Logan were off for the morning activities.  He was a bit shy upon entering Kindermusik, but quickly warmed up and enjoyed the running, dancing and rolling activities!  A couple of times other kids ran over to the window and stopped participating.  Liesl quietly told him they were being naughty and that he had to stay with her.  He resisted the temptation to run over with the other/s and actually stayed with the activities (tapping sticks and doing circle dances). 

 

After Kindermusik Mom and Logan were off to the next activity, Kindergym.  Logan asked for water.  This happened to be the one day Mom didn’t bring both milk AND water (since he normally asks for milk).  Logan kept saying, “No, I want water.”  Luckily they have a drinking fountain at the YMCA! As always, he enjoyed all the different activities.  Today, he especially liked the ball that was hung up (with a small tennis racket to bat at it).  And, he did a great job waiting for his turn!

 

One of our family traditions since Logan was about one has been to hold hands at dinner for a moment to give thanks.  We say, “Let’s be thankful,” close our eyes and are quiet for a minute or so.  Logan usually closes his eyes and obviously understands the concept of being quiet for tonight he said,  “No talking.  No talking!”

 

 

Day of ups and downs

This morning when Mom and Logan got up, Logan was told that his friend
Chloe was going to be coming over to play. But unfortunately Holly,
Chloe's Mom, called to say that she was feeling sick (from her
pregnancy) and wouldn't make it. So then Mom and Logan packed up the
car to go to Squiggles, the indoor playground, to play with Bradon... so
Logan was once again really excited again. However, it turned out that
Squiggles is closed on Mondays! Finally, they went to the playground
and Logan and Bradon really enjoyed pushing their trucks down the
hill... they played so well together that they stayed a bit longer than
normal. This meant Logan went down for his nap a bit later. While
Logan napped, Mom made an apple pie and tried out a new recipe for honey
curried chicken. After Logan's nap, Bradon and Melissa and baby Seth
came over at about 4:00 PM to play until the two Dad's arrived home from
work to enjoy eating dinner all together. Playing for a bit longer
outside in the backyard, we then ate a wonderful meal. Bradon's Dad
played tickle monster with the two older boys and there was an abundance
of giggling and laughing as a result. We all then had apple pie and ice
cream, to which Logan really only ate two helpings of ice cream (and
then wanted even more). A bit more playing and our guests all departed
for the night. Probably because of the ice cream Logan was not ready to
go down and so his sudden crabbiness and temper flared up a bit for a
few minutes until he was finally calmed down and accepted the fact of
reading night-night stories before hitting the sack.

Learning how to use a joystick to manipulate his environment, Logan can kind-of grasp the idea behind his first videogame.

Pac-Man attack

Let's see, this morning Dad got up with Logan at 6:30 AM (as usual,
Logan gets up early on Dad's days to get up with him, just like Friday
when Dad stayed home from work :-) We had some left over waffles and
we played some games, like this airplane game where Logan gets in to a
laundry basket and Dad picks him up and carries him around our place,
mostly on top of Dad's head, while Dad makes airplane whirring noises.
It was pretty darn cold, a little under 10 degrees celsius, but of
course Logan wanted to go outside. Needless to say, after getting all
our clothes on, he didn't last long as even he felt the chill of the
air. So we got on more clothing and went back out for a bit, Logan once
again counting from 1 to 5 and then saying GO when he's ready to be
pushed high on the swing. Mom woke up and quickly made a new game for
everyone to play. It included three shapes on large pieces of thin
padding (a rectangle, triangle, and square). We played by announcing
which shape to jump to and then we'd jump there. And speaking of
jumping, we put up a chinese jump rope between two chairs and jumped
over those too. At close to 11 AM, Dad went out on a long 2.3 hour
mountain bike ride with a friend along the 12 hour Enduro race course
that he volunteered to help at a few weeks prior. It was fun but quite
tiring! Meanwhile Mom took Logan out grocery shopping and then put
Logan down for a nap.
Waking up from his nap, Mom and Dad started moving furniture around as
part of our master plan to prepare for Logan's forthcoming new Sister.
We moved the single bed into what will now be Logan's room, and moved
the queen bed into the front master bedroom. Well, we never used it as
a master bedroom until now, but instead it was always an office and
computer work area. Guess now it'll have to make due as both (as well
as a nursery!)
Dad played with Logan some more since he wasn't too keen on the whole
moving idea, although he immediately fell in love with the idea that the
single bed now in his room is HIS bed. Hopefully we'll keep Logan in
his crib for a bit longer until he's at the stage where it's really time
for him to sleep in a bed.
Just before bed, Logan played some computer arcade games for the first
time. There was Pac-Man, Galaxian, Dig Dug, Rally X, all on a little
handheld joystick that attaches itself to the TV. Logan needed a lot
of help and barely understood what he was doing, but we played for a
good long while as he attempted to hit the fire button and move the
joystick around. When putting Logan down to bed, he really wanted to
spend the song singing time in his new single bed before being
transferred back into his crib.
Incidentally, when Mom suggested reading books to Logan before nap time,
Logan was quite upset and irate as he never wants to willingly go down
for a nap. However, Mom put on the 5 minute oven timer and indicated
that they'd be going to read stories and have nap time in 5 minutes.
When the beeping occurred, Logan joyously hopped over into the bedroom
and didn't put up any fuss for reading and going down for a nap. The
same thing happened tonight for when it was sleep time. Looks like we
know how we'll be getting Logan down to bed from now on! Use the old
beeper and give a five minute warning. It's so much easier now without
any muss or fuss.

Logan's first luxury cat house

Dad and Logan form the building blocks of a strong bonding relationship

Logan learns to roll with the flow, pushing a tire down the front porch driveway.

Wheel rolling

Logan woke up a bit on the wrong side of the bed for poor Momma, with
morning fits of screaming bouts, not getting this food or that
(chocolate, etc...). When Dad got up, Logan wanted to see his most
recent favorite movie "Snoopy Come Home", although he doesn't spend more
than 5-10 minutes at a time watching it. Mom worked on the new baby
book for Logan's forthcoming Sister as well as printed pictures of Logan
himself for family members. While this went on, Dad played with Logan
by playing hide and seek (Logan can be extremely quiet and won't move
when looking for him, but he only has so much patience waiting for Dad
to find him), as well as balloon and playing lego's to build another
castle with towers. Logan also likes to be picked up upside-down and
swung around, finally to be swung up on to the bed and bounced down.
Outside in the front Dad put Logan's bike seat on to Mom's bike and
while this went on, Logan learned on his own how to roll the tire down
the hill, much to his great delight. This was quiet ingenious of the
boy as Dad had given him the rough foundation for rolling a wheel about
one to two days prior, but Logan barely had the dexterity to fling the
previous little wheel himself. So Dad was really happy to see that
Logan figured out how to use a larger wheel and gravity to his
advantage. Also of note, Logan is getting better and better at opening
and closing doors (as well as the sliding doors) in and out of the
house. He is just barely tall enough to reach them. We have found this
can be both a good and bad thing, but mostly a bad thing.
After reading a few books and nap time, Mom took a crabby little Logan
on a walk with a friend (music friend Marg) on an unseasonably cold
day. They still enjoyed it and when he got back, Dad played with Logan
by making strings and things out of play-doh. For dinner Logan ate a
good helping of fish sticks and apple, but would spit up his veggies of
carrots, peas, and corn. We can't figure out his recent rebellion on
veggies! Dinner being over, Logan went for a bath with Mom, and
afterwards he proclaimed his need to go potty. Not taking but a moment,
he went. Dad then cleaned the bowl in the potty out and set it back
down. Then Logan once again, just before getting his diaper put on,
that he wanted to go potty, only this time he dashed fast to it (Mom and
Dad looked at eachother as if to say "He just is trying to avoid getting
ready to go to bed" But no, after a few bouts of wincing and
groaning, Logan got up and had done only his second successful poo-poo
in the potty! Yay! For that it was worth it for Daddy to have to
clean the portable potty bowl twice in 5 minutes.
When Mom came out of the bedroom after reading Logan stories and putting
him in his crib, she commented on how it is easier and easier getting
him down at night. Tonight when Mom was leaving the bedroom he told
her, "Night night Mommy." Now if we can only get him to sleep
peacefully throughout the night then we'd really be getting back into
shape. As it is, it's 10:30 PM now and Logan has already woken up
crying 3-4 times since his 7:30-8:00 PM bedtime. He does settle himself
right back down to sleep usually, but it is always disconcerting to have
it happen, especially for a light sleeper.

That's a bit 10-4 good buddy. I'm headin' out for that big sky country.

Logan loves the assist that his walker gives him (just something borrowed from the Toy Library)

New playgroup at the Toy Library

Dad got to stay home from work today after spending all night Wednesday
night and most of Thursday at work (boy was he zonked though Thursday
night). To celebrate, Dad made waffles. After eating the waffles,
Logan went with Mom to a new possible weekly playgroup at the Toy
Library for a couple hours. On their return, Mom indicated how much
fun it was and that Logan really enjoyed playing with various items and
toys. At first there were only six kids, but by the end there were
about twenty! Logan checked out a couple of toys, including a large
freight truck and a 'balancing' stepper/roller, in which Logan can hold
on to and roll along the hallway. Mom then went out for a nice break
with her friend while Dad slowly got Logan down for a nap. Mom and Dad
relaxed a bit while Logan napped (a rarity where we can do the fun
things we like to do, if we still have the energy) When nap time was
over, Dad had to go off to a weekly 'Sunchase' Model Solar Car meeting
that he continues to help out on. Mom as usual takes Logan out for a
walk to 'wake' him up, which can be trying on Momma at times as he can
be a bit crabby.
All back home together and Logan enjoyed getting picked up upside-down
and swung around before being flung on to the bed by Dad while Mom
attempted to work on one of her sewing projects. Logan likes to take
Mom and/or Dad's hand in his and drag us down to his level by saying
"Sit down, Daddy" or "Come play, Mommy". That's what he was trying to
do with Mom this time around, and wanted her to give her a horsey ride,
but of course Mom is in her third trimester and so it'd be more like a
hippopotamus ride. Needless to say she can't do that so Daddy quickly
stepped in to provide Logan the thrill of the ride. Finding some legos,
we started building a house with large towers, Logan proclaiming to Mom
along the way "I'm building it up, Momma." Logan is getting better at
concentrating at certain tasks, like counting to five, or playing the
xylophone, or listening to Mom or Dad. We kept reminding him to use the
potty since we only had his training underpants on, and eventually he
would say "Go Potty" and run into the bathroom to go. He also spilled
water all over the floor in front of the sink after brushing his
teeth. Logan was given a dry washcloth and asked to dry it up, with
which after a little bit of prodding, he proceeded to do. He did so
well that he even dried the cabinet in front of the sink, the area
around the sink, and his stool too (in addition to the floor area).
When reading at bedtime, Logan is able to last through most way through
some of the longer books with a generous amount of words.

A few more skills for Logan and a few more pills for Momma

Yesterday morning Logan went to Kindermusik and according to Momma he
did wonderfully. Throughout he listened and duplicated the particular
steps, from rolling on the floor during the Rolling song, to tapping
cymbals and his feet in rhythm. Logan enjoyed it so much that he was
upset when it was time to leave. Logan and two others are now the
oldest in this particular group so it's understandable that he is one of
the top students in the class, but it's encouraging for Mom that after
so many lessons, they appear to be paying off and the worry of it being
a futile effort seems to be fading away.
After Kindermusik was Kindergym and as is usual, Logan loves it. He
tends to also be upset when it is time to leave Kindergym (believe it is
only about 45-60 minutes long at the YMCA). There Logan climbs up and
down ramps, ladders, small stairs, and crawls through tunnels. He plays
with blocks and balls (what kid doesn't) amongst numerous other things.
In the afternoon Logan played well with his pal Bradon while Mom cooked
Lasagne for dinner. After Daddy got home, Logan showed his prowess in
sorting colors and shapes into an egg carton that Mom had devised a few
months ago. Outside in the backyard, Logan wanted in his swing. Dad
would pull him up but not let him go to swing until he counted, "one,
two, three, GO!" After a while, he got to the point where he'd count
up to five before saying "GO!"
On a magnetic 'easel', Logan was making dots and drawing the letter 'A'
as he proclaimed that is what it was. In actual fact, this letter 'A'
looked more like a sideways 'V', so he's making some 'progress' there!
On a down note, last night (as well as tonight) Logan has not been
behaving very well at dinner time. He hasn't been eating much, sitting
well, or being careful with the food in front of him. After dinner, Mom
went off to her weekly oboe practice with her Alexandria Quartet
woodwind group and came back happy that she had played much better than
last week when she had little to no energy for playing.
And speaking of Mommy, she has indicated that her butt and back has been
hurting. Also, the BabyPlus system we use (for simulating an extra
heartbeat in various rhythmic patterns for our forthcoming little girl)
has been causing the little one to maneuver herself quite a bit in Mom's
belly. The other day she had the hiccups in the middle of the night and
definitely let Mom know it.
Tonight, Logan was successfully catching a large balloon that Daddy was
throwing to him. Also, when putting balls in to a basketball hoop, we
counted numbers for every ball that went in. Logan successfully went
from one to five. Just before bedtime and after Logan painted with Mom,
Mom attempted to show Logan how to do a sommersault. This was quite fun
to see for Daddy because Mom soon realized that her belly prevented her
from doing such a move. At that point Dad stepped in to show Logan, and
then helped Logan perform the same act. Earlier, once again Logan
asked to see the "Lion Movie", just like last night and the night before
that and the night before that and the.... he really likes that old
classic movie "Born Free".

Early Mornings for Mommy

This morning I (Liesl) was catapulted awake at 4:08 by "I fart!" Yes, Logan is becoming quite the eloquent speaker now!! I wasn't able to go back to sleep because the baby had the hiccups... Now it's 4:50am and I've given up. What's ironic is that tonight I have rehearsal (instead of the normal Thursday evening)... and most any time I have to stay out late (until about 10pm), somehow I'm up and moving before 5am!!

Mom also indicated that at Kindermusik this morning Logan played the Rolling Song and rolled well, listened well, tapped cymbals well, and generally behaved well! Well, he is one of the oldest kids in the class now. At Kindergym he also did well, climbing down the rock wall quite adeptly.
Later in the day Logan and Bradon played well together and were quite civil with eachother.
Logan is doing pretty well with shapes and sorting them. He also did some drawing of dots, lines, and what he calls the letter 'A' even though it looks like a sideways 'V'. On the swing outside in the backyard he can count to five by saying "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, GO!" just before Dad hurtles him into the stratosphere.
On a sour note, Logan didn't behave so well at dinner, but you win some and you lose some. In this case he kept wanting down to watch his Lion movie, "Born Free".

Tonight Mom went to play her oboe with her Alexandria Quartet group and felt much better than last week when she didn't have much energy for playing. Unfortunately Mom's butt and back has been hurting because of the pregnancy. The BabyPlus system and the baby likes to give her fits. Lately the baby has been getting the hiccups quite often which then is causing a little storm in Momma.

Some of Logan's arts and crafts handiwork

Helping to plant

Logan helped Momma choose a flowering bush at the nursery. They brought
it home, dug a deep hole outside Mom's bedroom window (below her desk),
and planted it. Logan was very helpful with all this, including bring
bark chips to put around the new plant. Earlier this morning Mom and
Logan walked to a charity carnival event in town (as mentioned earlier
in Saturday's blog). Fun, fun, fun. Logan also painted rocks as part
of his arts and crafts activities, and caught a toy crab, lobster, and
fish with his toy fishing hook while in the bath just before bedtime.
Dad, meanwhile, went on a 1.5 hour tough, but fun mountain bike ride.