Mom, Logan and Delenn... On Their Own!

This was the first week Mom was on her own with the kids. Sadly, Daddy
had to go back to work "on the big bus" as Logan says.

Mom, Logan and Delenn had a great morning on Monday, playing games,
playing outside and so forth. Even nap time went well with Logan happily
going in to read books and sing songs. But then he didn't nap! (He
didn't nap on Thursday either!) So, we've instituted the mandatory
"Quiet Time." Mom said Logan could play with the toys in his room
(there's a bin of toys that he's essentially outgrown under his crib).
Throughout naptime Mom could hear him chatting away. At one point when
Mom went in to check on him, Logan was cradling a "baby" in his arms and
talking to it.

Logan's imagination play is really fun to watch. One evening this week,
Logan took about a dozen toys one-by-one to the "naughty spot" to "take
five." He still loves playing with cars and trucks, but has now added
people to the mix -- giving the firemen rides in the bus and so forth.

Logan also has become interested in puzzles. He particularly loves a
giant T-Rex puzzle that Melissa passed on to us -- a 20-piece giant
floor puzzle.

Logan still loves Delenn and wants her to play with him (though
sometimes there is some underlying aggression in those hugs and pats as
we found some fingerprint bruises on one of her feet). He still goes up
to her to talk to her, to bring her toys or to show her things like the
newest cicada he has found. In fact, he often doesn't want her to sleep
because he wants to interact with her. And, when she cries or fusses for
her 5 am feed Logan jumps out of bed and wants to join her and Mommy.
(Daddy tries to head him off before he goes into the room.) At times he
wants to comfort her and says "I'll pick her up." We have to make it
clear that she's too weak for him to pick up but that he can hold her in
the big soft chair. But, there's another side as well. One day Delenn
was crying to be picked up. Something was bothering Logan and he was
upset so he turned to Delenn and said "No! I'M crying!"

We've been telling you how well Logan speaks. He has 8 word sentences
and uses prepositional phrases well. He often says some amusing things.
For example, when he got a 3 liter jug of milk out of the fridge he
said, "OH! I'm SO strong!"

Logan really enjoyed arts and crafts with Mom -- helping to make and
decorate turkeys for Thanksgiving (by gluing the feathers and googly
eyes on) and doing hundreds of stickers and foamies over the course of
the week.

Delenn is becoming more and more alert. She's got huge smiles for Mom.
She still spits up a bit, but is not needing as much snuggle/arm time as
last week (a relief since Daddy had to go back to work).

That's about it from Mom this week. It's a rare thing for Mom to have
computer time -- and Delenn is making it clear that it's time for a
feed!

Peek-a-Boo

Logan officially knows how to climb out of his crib now.  Last night Dad put Logan to bed.  Dad was in there quite a while, but finally seemed to get Logan settled to sleep.  Mom and Dad were plotting what TV show to relax in front of when out popped Logan. “Peek-a-boo!!!” he said!  We had a hard time not bursting out laughing.  Logan was quite sad to realize he still had to go to bed!

 

Logan has been really enjoying his arts-and-crafts.  He has really delved into our sticker stockpiles, often putting 20 or 25 stickers on one page and flipping the page over to start over again!  He’s been coloring a lot too.

 

Meanwhile, Delenn is more and more alert every day! She’s got some wonderful toothless grins for her parents.  Logan is still great with her – and often wants to hold her.  When other adults have held Delenn in social settings, we often hear Logan say, “No, MOMMY holds Delenn!”  He always wants to know what she’s doing and where she is.   

 

Goodbye to good friends and hello to new games

12 November -
All night long last night Mom had to deal with a Delenn that insisted on
being held or the heavens above would hear of it. This has carried on
into today and for some reason within minutes of Momma putting the babe
into her bassonet or pram or chair or ground, the wailing starts to
commence. As this blog is being written, Delenn is back in bed and
okay, but it's only been a few minutes. Let's just hope and see if the
misery wormhole has now passed on by us. Yep, only a few minutes later
and she was back up, but then the evening was much more pleasant as she
slept through most of it. Delenn tends to wait until Mom's bedtime to
get all fussy and seemingly enjoys her sleep more when physically with
Momma.

Logan's swimming lessons this morning didn't turn out to be the grand
event Daddy hoped. Instead, it was cold, rainy, and windy. All
miserable conditions to hop into a pool and listen to Daddy and the
teacher tell a 2 year old boy what to do. Logan put up with it until
about the last quarter of the class when the teacher, Bettina, tried to
take him from Daddy's arms and put him through a hoop that was partially
submerged. From then on all Dad had was a wailing and blabbering kid
plastered hard in a death hug around him. Logan's face wouldn't even
come out from Dad's shoulder area. Immediately after class Dad tried
to pry the frigid and teeth chattering child off him as fast as he could
in an attempt to warm him up with dry clothes. It took some doing, but
eventually he succeeded. A bit later the teacher popped by to check on
Logan and see if he was okay. Logan quickly grabbed Dad's leg and
huddled under and behind it. Only with Dad's prodding to say "I'm
okay" did Logan shyly lift his head and indicate his good health. Guess
the kid is getting more and more shy around folk, or perhaps this was
just a one-off event.

After swimming lessons we joined up with Melissa and Bradon at the
Telegraph Station (rather than continue the fun at the frigid pool).
There the boys spared no time in reaquainting themselves with getting
wet yet again by hopping in to the still-remaining water from the Todd
river. Down to the skivvies and pushing their dump trucks, they then
plowed around the park grounds picking up cicada shells. Well, actually
Bradon would point them out, but not touch them. Logan would actually
pry them from the trees and ground and place them into his dump truck.
By the time Daddy got up to the truck to take a look, there were about
20 or so collected. And to Dad's surprise, Logan got himself a few LIVE
cicadas that were still crawling around trying to get out of their
shell. Logan obviously hasn't quite reached the age where these things
are a bit yucky to the touch for him... yet. Heck, he enjoys prying
pieces of the cicada shell remnants apart and occasionally even putting
some of it in his mouth, much to Dad's displeasure.

In the evening we went to dinner with some friends, Austin and Shelly,
to give Logan a chance to play with Bradon and the rest of the Lynch
family for the last time. They all had a good time, including four year
old Alexandria (Alex for short). She was funny and kept calling Logan
"Baby Logan" which is strange to hear when we've got a baby Delenn now.

13 November -
In the morning Logan has been learning to say "Good morning" before his
normal yelping "Up Daddy or UP MOMMY!" He's also helping to take off
his pajamas and then gets himself a shirt from his drawer to wear.

We then headed over to Melissa and Jesse's pad to help them load up and
head on their permanent journey back to the States by going to the
airport. We had a fond and tearful bye bye send-off at the airport with
many of their friends there as well. Logan will not know it or realize
it, but he'll be hurting quite a bit with the departure of his good
friend Bradon with whom he played so well. We wish the Lynch family an
extremely joyful and fulfilling future in their further adventures back
in Texas and hope to see them again someday.

During naps, Logan made Dad laugh. This was because Daddy was picking
Logan up and putting him into Dad's lap, all the while slightly shaking
Logan around in doing so causing Logan to blurt out, "Stop wiggling me!"
After naps Dad and Logan played a fun game called Caraboo in which you
must match letters, colors, numbers, or shapes to open a box and get
magic balls that will eventually open a treasure box. Logan really
enjoyed the game and did pretty well at it, even considering his limited
attention span.

A bit later there was yet another farewell dinner and party. This time
for a airport fireman friend in town (funnily enough named Peter Sparks
and his Ukrainian mail-order Bride Inna). They're moving down to
Tasmania where Peter will continue working at the Launceston airport
fire station. The party was held at Yvonne and Trevor's house...
friends from when we first came to Alice Springs. They own the local
Penny Farthing Bike shop in town. Many other friends we hadn't seen in
a while were there too. This included Eddie, an 80 some-odd year old
man who still ride his bike often all around. A few years ago he still
would outdo many other bike riders in races. He's of Dutch origin and
rode 500 kilometers on a bike from Alice Springs to Kings Canyon wearing
only dutch wooden clogs. Dad has also ridden his bicycle 500 kilometers
to Kings Canyon before (took 3 days, camping 2 nights), but Dad wore
normal shoes.
At the party Logan enjoyed swimming in their pool and wore a funny pink
floaty borrowed swimmer that we'll have to use for bribery purposes in
the future. He also did a lot of running up and down their steep
driveway with a soccer ball (throwing it up and down). He actually did
surprisingly well playing with all the other children who were easily 3
times his age. There was also a huge black dog (believe it was either a
mastiff or a great dane, but can't remember which one is bigger) The
dog easily was 4-5 times Logan's size and was too intimidating for Logan
initially, but as the evening wore on Logan got extremely chummy with
Ebony and patted and pulled on her. He even got a short horsey ride on
Ebony once. There were also a number of two wheeled scooters at their
house and Daddy was impressed when Logan kept still and placed both feet
on, one in front of the other, and let Dad steer him around their patio.
Daddy was also really happy that he got to hold Delenn for a
considerably long while at the party as she slept through most of it.
As a going away gift for Peter and Inna, Dad and Mom gave them Hot
Chilli Wine. It is made in Australia and the producers of it are the
only ones in the world to make wine purely out of chillies with
absolutely no grapes whatsoever. It truly is a unique taste that starts
sweet and lingers a bit spicily afterwards!

14 November, Monday, Summary of events:
Logan got out of crib for first time on his own, little sneak.
Has been taking off his pajamas and putting on a shirt. Still won't go
poos in the potty.
Played games like Caraboo again as well as Hungry Hungry Hippos.
Played with Dad as we made a castle/fort/dark tunnel
Played outside on his own making pretend food to eat out of sand.
Liked reading books a bit on his own.
Got in trouble for hitting Delenn when he wasn't getting pancakes for lunch.
Pushed and steered his bike (from behind) by himself all the way several
blocks to get mail from the demountable and back.
Did his ABC puzzle completely by himself while we were talking to next
door neighbor Noel.
Delenn projectile spewed Mom's just drunk milk all over Mom and then
after handing her to Dad, did the same to him.
Delenn slept better last night and didn't need a feed until around 1:30
or 2 AM from earlier in the evening.
Last couple days she's been letting Dad hold her for much much longer
(as much as an hour or two at a time until Daddy puts her in her bed).
She prefers to hear voices and be looking around (i.e. from an upright
position either over your shoulder or facing forward away from you on
your chest.
She also seems to be much more at peace when she's outside.
Again, she also really likes to be on her side.
Delenn really looks as though she's gonna be a blondie. Hope that
doesn't mean she goes through all her life with the stereotypical
insults for a dumb blonde :-)
Logan got to hold Delenn today as he actively wanted to do so. He did
very well with her and enjoyed it for the 5-10 minutes he had her.
Immediately after Mom got her back, Logan grabbed a toy for Delenn and
gave it to her.
At the demountable Logan said "Thank you very much, Daddy" without
prompting when Dad opened the door for Logan.
At bedtime Logan actually asked to have his teeth brushed and to be read
stories without us even having to say anything.

15 November, Tuesday, Summary of events:
Logan is getting up and climbing out of his crib on his own every day now.
Last two to three days he's been getting up late, about 7:30 or 8 AM, on
account of later nights out socializing for engagements with others the
last five nights.
Naptime hasn't occurred the last couple days probably because of this.
Tonight we all went over to dinner at Carl and Janet's house where they
used Dad's projector to show pictures to everyone from their latest
Thailand vacation. Logan loved playing foosball with the other kids
even though he couldn't even see over the table's lip to see what was
going on, but he loved playing and turning the dials with Mom.
Delenn is more and more a sleeper in your arms baby and can take a
pacifier from Daddy only (Mom doesn't need one)

16 November night - 17 November morning
Logan was inconsolable at 12:30 AM so Dad put Logan in bed with him. At
4:30 AM Logan got back up and put himself back in his own crib and went
back to bed. At about 7:45 AM (yes, he's STILL getting up on the later
side of the morning now, woohoo!) Logan got up out of his crib and
started playing around. He checked out the closet, fiddled with the
baby monitor, and got himself a bit into trouble getting up on to the
back of the chair trying to reach and touch one of his hanging ceiling
stars. Then he settled down and read himself a few books and turned
the pages with a bit more dexterity than normal. Finally he was willing
to take off his pajamas and put on a shirt so he could go out of the
room and sit on the potty with Daddy before having breakfast.

Delenn slept reasonably well. Reading in a book, we found that babies
between 4-6 weeks old suddenly have a major growth spurt. One such
change is the much improved ability to see and that they are suddenly
opened up to the world around them rather than secure in their 'limited
vision' world that makes them feel somewhat as if they are still in the
womb. Evidently changes such as these have caused many a mother to have
to hold their babies almost non-stop for between 1 day and 1 week,
depending upon the active nature of the baby. This is perhaps why
Delenn has suddenly become a bit of a hellion in needing this, so we can
only hope that this is a phase that will soon come to pass.

Mom headed off with the bubs to the town pool for a bit of fun.

17 November mid-afternoon
While Dad was out getting bricks for Mom (so we could continue laying
down a path on the side of the house) Mom attempted to get Logan down
for a nap. It was really rough going because Mom kept getting
interruptions from various folks. There was a couple phone calls, a
couple arrivals from the mail man and package delivery man. Also, there
was Peter and Inna, who were just heading out to drive south on their
big move to Tasmania (where Peter Sparks will be working as a
firefighter). They stopped by to give Logan a fantastic gift of a super
fancy Thomas the Tank Engine Big Big Loader track set that does all
sorts of things. Of course Logan wanted to play with it while they
were visiting and afterwards during nap time, but Mom had to do her best
to keep him from it. Oh, just before Peter and Inna showed up, Delenn
did a rather large number in her pants. Then Logan immediately did so.
Then the door bell rang and Peter and Inna came in. Liesl tried to tell
them that Delenn would start crying momentarily because of a dirty
diaper, but they still acted surprised by her sudden fits of anger when
they held her and so Mom whisked her away to get her changed. Logan
intervened and jumped right up on the changing table to get changed
first, which Mom did. Peter commented on just how easy this whole
child-rearing thing must be (based on the few minutes they were visiting
and the fact that Logan was so willing this once to get changed)
:-) When Peter and Inna have kids I think Peter will be in for a bit
more of a rude awakening then he thinks. Anyhow, finally it all
settled down and Mom was able to get Logan down for his nap.

18 November
In the morning Logan and Mom and Delenn went to PlayGroup and played
well with Nicholas and Holly. Logan made a turkey out of his hand as
prep for Thanksgiving and stencilled a car and dog.
Just as Bradon did to Logan last year, Logan got on Nicholas' case when
Nicholas doesn't talk in meaningful words to him. Nicholas hasn't quite
got the talking thing down yet and so Logan gets frustrated when
Nicholas says nonsensical words to him.

Delenn continues to give Mom little chance for a break from her. Daddy
has been getting really good at giving Delenn a pacifier and calming her
down to keep her in his arms for long enough that she can be put in her bed.

Naptime and Dad tried singing Logan all sorts of songs, but Logan
usually responds with "Not that song please" and Dad gets exasperated
trying to find a song he feels like listening to. One song was "Rise
and Shine and Give God your Glory Glory". In that case Logan's
response was "No girly girly song please."
A little bit later Dad heard Logan say, "I'm rubbing myself." Luckily
he then followed those words up later with "I'm rubbing my eye Daddy."

We have been continuing the potty training for Logan and so no pants are
generally worn at home, even through our meals. Only problem with this
is that Logan tends to touch his privates a bit more than we'd like,
especially when he likes to also play and touch his food quite often as
well. Mommy and Daddy have been telling him to only touch there when
using the potty. So Logan then gets reprimanded at the dinner table
for touching his privates, but he'll then respond with the words "I
don't touch my wee-wee except on the potty." A lot of times he puts a
good deal of stress and emphasis on certain words to make it seem so
completely serious, yet by doing so he makes it all a bit comical.

At bedtime, Daddy left a boy in his crib after reading, singing, and
saying goodnight. Dad also left the door open, which is why he thought
Logan was okay with his having left the room and not crying for once.
Well, a few minutes later, while Dad and Mom were talking in the living
room, we suddenly heard a gleeful exclamation of "PEEKABOO!" from our
boy coming out of his room. This was the first time Logan has ever done
anything like this before (leave the bedroom on his own after being put
down at night) and it caught us unawares. Mom and Dad were desperately
looking for a pillow or cushion or something to hide our laughter and
smiles while chiding Logan at the same time for getting out of bed.
Poor kid's excitement was suddenly turned end over end when he was
quickly placed back in his room and he became a heart-wrenching
inconsolable kid with a river of tears.

Logan takes a shot at holding his little Sister Delenn

Logan asks if Delenn could please stop playing Hungry Hungry Hippos and beating him

The family gathers around to all play Hungry Hungry Hippos. Delenn ends up beating the pants off everyone else.

Yet one more use for an airport chair, a jungle gym.

Logan thanks Ebony for the little horsey ride by giving her a big hug.

Looks like Ebony will hold out a little patience for a bit of a ride for Logan.

Let's see if Ebony will let Logan ride her?

Katherine and Logan race up and down the steep hill with the soccer ball.

Sitting around and digging in for some grub.

Katherine chimes in to show Logan how to pet a dog 3 times your own size.

Logan starts to get chummy with Ebony.

Friend's Nicole and Dorothy.

Getting ready for the big chowdown. Fast Eddie, an amazingly fit and fast bike rider (especially for his age), sits on the right

Ebony doesn't know what to make of this baby in Mom's arms.

Trevor holds out his beer 'stubby cooler' that Dad gave him a few year's back on Trevor's 40th birthday.

Over at Trevor and Yvonne's house for a farewell barbie dinner for friend's Peter and Inna. Logan is given a pink floaty swimsuit to try on. Dad takes a few pictures for bribery material in the future.

Logan gives Bradon a farewell present just before they go through the gate and on to the airplane.

Just some of the many friends that bid adieu to the myth that was the Melissa and Jesse clan.

Jesse tries to pick his kid out of a line-up

Airport check-in counters have always been designed for little boys.

Logan and Bradon hunt for more grasshoppers. Just before, they had surrounded one and ever so gently Logan touched it. It hopped away and forced high pitched hysterics and fitful laughter out of them. Then over to the grasshopper's new location, a slow and cautious advance, a touch, and REPEAT!

Shelly gets a nice final cuddle with Seth.

Bradon and Seth give a nice goodbye to Emily. Emily was their babysitter and is still Logan's.

Logan gives his 'dope' look with pals Alex and Bradon.

Logan couldn't help but get in on the fun.

At the airport with pals Ausin, Shelly, Alex, Melissa, Seth, Bradon, and Jesse.

Even Seth is ready for the big adventure.

Over at Bradon's house to head out for their big trip moving back to the U.S.A.

Something has got the attention of these little tykes... what could it be... hmm... could it be... maybe... the TV!!! And even better, could it be... maybe... "The Lion King"!

Delenn tries to indicate her interest in eating with the bigger kids.

The stud muffin twins, Seth and Jesse

The women dote over the little woman.

Seth snaps his fingers and the world *poof* suddenly starts to revolve around him... his greatest wish comes true.

Alex, Bradon and Logan dig in to an exquisite feast.

A last dinner to say goodbye to friend's Melissa and Jesse over at Shelly and Austin's house.

Water, the never-ending fun boy toy.

The look of cicada love.

Running around and filling the dump truck with cicadas.

Chumming it up at the Telegraph Station.

Last days of river truckin' are nigh.

Delenn gets a break from Momma when Melissa takes over.

Weekly Delenn health checkup and Logan behaves well today

Delenn got another check up today at the Flynn Drive Health Clinic and
is confirmed to be 56 centimeters long, which is about the 80th
percentile for her age. She's also gained 245 grams since last week so
she now weighs 9 pounds (from a newborn birth weight of 7 pounds)!
Unfortunately she's also becoming more and more of a spit-up baby than
Logan ever was. It's called posseting. Daddy never before has had to
change out of his shirts as much as he is these days. And likewise,
Delenn is definitely one fashion conscious gal with her changing into
the latest trendy outfits several times per day as if a model in a
fashion show. Delenn is much more alert and smiles in response to our
smiling at her or cooing voices.

Logan did well at playgroup today. He painted (getting red head-wound
Harry paint all over his head and hair) and generally did well playing
with others. While he is not anywhere close to being good at sharing
without the prodding of his Dad (or Mom), it's good to see that he is
still much better at it than other kids older than he. As usual at
playgroup, Logan tends to eat double or triple the fruit that is served
to everyone at snacktime. At least this time Dad convinced him the skin
of the fruit was good for him and so he went along with the old man and
ate that up as well.
That afternoon while Mom did the man's job of putting pavers (flat
bricks) on the side of the house, Daddy played baseball with Logan.
Generally speaking Logan does a great job of hitting the ball (on a tee)
with the bat. About 60 percent of the time the ball goes in the
approximate direction desired. In fact there were a number of hits in
which the ball went completely across the small yard, twice nearly over
the fence into the next yard. While we hit the ball, Dad would have
Logan identify the color of the ball before hitting it. He's got
yellow, red, blue, and green down. But orange and purple were giving
him issues.
For dinner Daddy took Logan out to help him get some fish. This was the
first time Logan went anywhere without a diaper on. Daddy took a chance
and asked him not to go potty until we got back home. Nothing more was
said on the trip (other than Logan's usual asking for 'his' children's
music to be played). When we got back, Daddy was thrilled to see
nothing out of the ordinary in his car seat. Without prodding, as Dad
removed the seat belt, Logan exclaimed, "I didn't go pees or poos
Daddy!" We then entered into the house and Logan proceeded to remove
his shoes, hat, and sunglasses, and place them in their appropriate
designated pockets that hang off the garage door. For being such a good
boy, Logan got a STAR sticker that he could put on his star sheet that
hangs on his bedroom door!
The only hiccup in terms of behavior Logan had today was in waking
Delenn up from her slumber (he had to 'take 5' and go to the naughty
spot for that). We have repeatedly asked him to not bother her when
she's sleeping, but excitement for his little Sister sometimes gets the
better of him and he feels compelled to gently shake her bed or touch
her or suddenly yell loudly next to her.

Logan patiently and nicely waits without complaint in the car seat as we drive home to eat dinner. He's smiling because it's the first time he's ever left the house without a diaper on.

Going to get some fish for Dinner at 'Eastside Fish and Chips', one of our well-liked favorites in town.

Remember to blow bubbles or close your mouth as you go under Logan!

Logan and Bradon practice newly learned skills by going under the water.

Holly gets tongue-tied as she prepares to go under the water.

Holly, Nicholas, Bradon, and Logan all cool off in the blistering heat.

New furniture arrives

Today a new set of furniture arrived from our In-town Housing folks.
The sleeper sofa and two armchairs were brand new and much more comfy.
To top it off, they are primarily blue (with an interesting gold leaf
type pattern) so it matches our Lazy-Boy. Guess it's nice to have it as
a perk being over here and getting free furniture replaced if desired or
needed. Heck, they even delivered it and set it all up for us, as well
as taking the old stuff away. In fact, that's how we got an additional
full-upright freezer as well.
Logan enjoyed helping Dad open up the sleeper sofa into a bed and then
laying on it. He wanted to then have his nap time on it, but Daddy told
him the bed was for 'fun' and 'occasional' use only.

The dark redness is beginning to slowly go away, but now the baby acne is starting to set in. Poor kid. It's too early to start thinking of beauty salons.

A yawn is so much more delghtful than a scream or a cry.

Daddy is happiest when the simplest of things, a Delenn look, gazes his way.

Logan and Dad get close and personal with the new love of their lives, Delenn.

Delenn is more responsive and Logan pops his top

Last Thursday Dad took Logan and Bradon to Squiggles since it was a
cloudy and cool, wet day after a night of thunderstorms and
lightning.... funny since Dad just read Logan a book about the Bernstein
Bears getting through a thunderstorm the night before. Afternoon and
Mom took Logan to play at the playground while Dad kept Delenn at home
for the first time by himself for some Daddy & Daughter bonding time.
As Delenn gets older, she is definitely getting more responsive to our
facial expressions. She is also very slowly getting more receptive to
letting Daddy hold her. This could be because she does seem happier
being upright to laying down on her back. She also sleeps more
contently on her side. Bad thing is that if Dad holds her upright for
too long, he might inadvertently break her into the habit of expecting
it and then Daddy will be in trouble for making Mommy and Daddy's lives
more miserable at night.
Back at the playground, Logan was told to stop by Mom after he started
running away towards the road. Logan was very good and stopped
immediately. Goodonya Logan for learning to listen.
Logan continues to be conscientious about his baby Sister and can be
very loving, giving her little toys and stroking the top of her head,
hands, and chest. However, he still doesn't notice, however, when he's
in play mode, that there is something small that is living and breathing
and that needs to be watched over and can be easily stepped upon.

Then Friday's claim to fame event was in an unholy temper tantrum the
likes of which few creatures have ever witnessed. Just before nap time,
we received a phone call. That prompted Logan to hop up to the phone
and start playing with the buttons, which included mute and the hangup
switch, and caused our phone conversation to be shortened abruptly.
During this short interlude, Logan noticed that there was a lollipop
sitting next to the phone. Well, he was going to have the lollipop come
hell or highwater. We explained that he could perhaps have it after his
nap time, but would not be allowed to have it yet. To a two year old
time means nothing and patience is absolutely not in the vocabulary.
Logan proceeded in popping his top all over the house, up and down on
the floor, bawling out the seven seas worth of tears, and becoming
incoherent and utterly deranged to the point where no reason, no matter
how well laid out, could be presented. We don't have to tell you that
it all ended well as he was in sheer delight after his nap when he was
finally presented with the tempest inducing lolly.

Saturday morning the whole family went out to enjoy Logan's swim
lessons. Afterwards, Dad went and bought 3.66 x 7.1 meters of
artificial grass to pretty much cover the area of our backyard where
only sun-heated rocks exist. Also, Dad had bought some shade cloth to
keep it tolerable enough for fun to play in our small backyard area.
Only problem was that they didn't sell shadecloth with eyelets (holes by
which you could place rope around to tie it up. Dad spent a few hours
on that job! It was an expensive weekend as things ain't cheap in
Alice and the artificial grass alone cost $910! The shade cloth and
eyelets cost $220. Ugh! But now our backyard is at least a factor
of four better and is so much more pleasant now that we are getting into
the summer stride. It's also so nice that Mom has been our gardener
and over the years has made a wonderful shaded area with all the lush
vegetation around. Speaking of which, 7 years ago Mom bought an orange
tree (it said orange tree on the label). Well, finally we started
getting oranges this year... at least a hundred or more of them! Only
problem is, they aren't oranges! They're grapefruit! And Mom doesn't
like grapefruit. Poor Mom.

Sunday night at bedtime Logan and Dad read 'Green Eggs and Ham' as we
have done many times (among hundreds of other books). Only this time
Logan did a great job of understanding the rhyming scheme and Daddy's
pointing to finish the sentences for Dad. He also was focused in
hitting each key on the piano keyboard going all the way up the scale
vice just banging on the keys and hitting them haphazardly. None of
this means he is always focused. A good deal of the time he isn't all
there :-)

Monday morning Mom took Logan and Delenn to the swimming pool to play
with Holly, Bradon, Nicholas. Logan did more arts and crafts after
spending a good long time, a couple of hours, coloring the day before.
The kid is getting to be quite diverse in his interests, yet can
sometimes be a pain in his relentless desire for specific things he sees
and wants.

Today, Tuesday, the family went out to Kindermusik and Kindergym. We
took Bradon along and had a great time. Logan brought into the house a
few cicada shells and continues to be enthralled by them. He also keeps
coming up to Daddy and Mommy while pushing his big dump truck around and
proclaiming "I'll be back" kind of like Arnold Schwarzenegger, only he
doesn't know anything about Arnold.

Delenn was so much more active today and really mobile (in a 4 week old
kind of way). It was fun to watch and she absolutely bends over
backwards to keep her head upright every chance she gets, to the point
that Daddy sees her red-faced more often than not.

Everyone helps put things away at the end of Kindergym.

Logan and Dad pull Bradon on the little scooter.

Watch out Logan... there's a predator close behind!

Logan and Bradon practice for the Kentucky Derby and the Melbourne Cup.

Mom helps Nicholas on the balance beam.

Holly and Rachel do some tough rock climbing

Logan and Bradon meet on opposite sides of the fence at Kindergym.

Practice for the Future Picketers, Rioters, and Protesters of America and Australia Association

Delenn mistakenly thinks she's supposed to be a hummingbird instead of a butterfly (like everyone else) and hovers closest to the food.

Running around and flapping their wings trying to be butterflies

Dad tries desperately to not look like a complete dufus while prancing around with a scarf.

Dad attempts to tickle their fancy.

Remenie, Holly, Logan, and Bradon all run up to the table to listen to the sounds from the CD player. Afterwards we all got back together to try and duplicate the sounds.

It wasn't long before Dad had both boys in his lap, one on each leg.

Daddy felt like the Pied Piper as the boys chased him during the running part of a song.

Everyone paddles their knees during one of the Kindermusik songs

Even Delenn joins in and dances around during Kindermusik

Bradon and Logan (with Delenn to Logan's left) all ride in the car with Mom and Dad to go to Kindermusik and Kindergym.

Logan and Mom are in awe of Melissa's excellent scrapbook making skills as they intently examine each page for any possible flaws (but find none).

Reminiscing good times in an exceptional custom made photo album that our great friend Melissa made.

Logan, the Unstoppable Artist!

Logan had a tough morning this morning. He didn't get to go on a walk
with Mommy and Delenn because he wouldn't change out of his diaper.
Then he had a tantrum or two because he didn't get to play with a
mechanical bug, until he used his nice words to ask for it (which he
didn't). But everything changed after he took a bath. Mommy mentioned
that we could do the hickory-dickory-dock project. About a half-hour
later, Logan reminded Mommy that he wanted "to do the hickory-dickory
dock." We got a piece of cardboard and cut out a clock and mouse (Logan
used the scissors to get us started). Logan colored in the mouse and we
attached it to the clock with yarn so the mouse can "run up the clock."

That project took just ten minutes, but Logan wanted to continue to
color. He went through lots of various printouts (from a pre-school
magazine that Liesl gets)... and then colored 7 or 8 trucks pages and
continued on with some pages from coloring books. Some books say that
kids should just be given plain paper to color and paint so we hadn't
ever introduced coloring books... but he did MORE THAN 30 pages this
morning!!! (And colored for well over an hour.) The artistic endeavors
didn't end there... After that he spent 10 or 15 minutes doing stickers
and then decided to do a stencil painting (Grams gave him some lizard
and snake stencils).

Sometimes Logan shows little/no interest in doing artwork, but today he
did a month's work of drawings and paintings!

Meanwhile, Daddy has been busy working on making the backyard more
pleasant. After just one year, the shade cloth we had up had
disintegrated from the strong sun. Tony bought new shade cloth and has
spent hours putting in eyelet rings so it can be attached to the metal
structure. He also bought some artificial grass to put down in the
backyard. It's VERY expensive here, but it looks wonderful and really
makes the yard more kid friendly than the burning hot little rocks.

What you see is some of the work Logan did in the space of a couple of hours. From coloring to helping Mom make a 'Hickory Dickory Dock' clock with a mouse that runs up and down, Logan was a temporary Picasso.

A sudden surge in interest for arts & crafts leaves Logan in a frenzy for coloring anything within reach.

Logan gives his girlfriend Holly a leisurely cruise on the turtle mat.

Taking a welcome snack break after swim lessons, Holly and Logan dig in as if they'd never eaten before.

Learning to kick your feet by hitting the ball is all just a quick part of the fun at swimming school.

Remember last year's swimming lessons Logan? Remember how we reached and kicked toward the side. Yep, okay, well let's do it again!

Daddy, Logan, Tom, and Holly enjoy their second week of swimming class (Saturday mornings at 9:30 AM)

Logan gives Daddy five for succeeding in getting Delenn to stop her crying and fall back asleep.

Two parasites latch on to Daddy and slumber to rebuild their energy for an eventual offensive

Sad day as Grams departs

Today was a sad one what with the departure of Grams. She was a huge
help to us in the approximately 5 weeks she was here (2 weeks
pre-Delenn's birth, 3 weeks after). She did a good deal of cooking,
entertaining Logan, cleaning, and laundry! And she let us sleep in!!
Thanks so much Grams! We had a tearful goodbye at the airport and bid
Grams a fond farewell. Daddy now has 3 weeks off of unpaid leave with
the Family & Medical Leave Act. This will hopefully help facilitate an
easier transition for Logan and Delenn into being able to handle the new
changes of a growing family.

That afternoon Dad took Logan on a bike ride. This time it was on
Daddy's bike with the toddler bicycle seat. We rode to the other side
of town and stopped at a playground to ride on the see-saw and zip down
the slide. On the way back we got lucky enough to see a digger making a
big hole in the ground for a pool and dumping the dirt in a dump truck.
In case you hadn't read any earlier blogs, this is one of Logan's true
passions!

A little later and back at home, Daddy and Logan built a castle out of
legos. We built it so that there was a large entry in which cars and
trucks could enter. Since then Logan has been showing much greater
signs of interest in building things with legos (among other resurging
arts & crafts interests).