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Update about Logan at 13 ˝ months
October 5, 2004
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We have been meaning to write, but life has sped up now that Logan knows how to run! Right now as I'm writing, Logan is running
down the hall -- looking back to make sure that Daddy is hot on his tail! Logan is every bit the toddler now. The decade
of cuts and bruises has officially begun! Logan is fairly steady on his feet, but still miscalculates and stumbles into table
edges and sharp corners -- or will fall flat on his face if he's really tired.
This past month Logan's personality has begun to shine through. He is very active and loves being outside. Logan has
HUGE smiles for his parents and loves playing with us. Grams and Grampy bought Logan a slide/climber for his birthday. Logan
is fearless. He not only slides down the slide, but also jumped off the platform (which is 3 feet off the ground). Anticipating
such antics, we have put a large foam pad there, but it still makes us shutter at life to come. Liesl's Dad at age three
put on his Superman cape and jumped off a barn roof (and still has the scar to prove it). It must be in Logan's genetics
then! Logan is also climbing the indoor furniture -- he'll try to climb on the open dishwasher door and his small chair.
He'll be up on the dining room chairs within the next week or two. Watch out counter tops!! Among all the toys he's experimenting
with, none seem to lose his fancy and he certainly enjoys when we put on little shows with our puppet theater, to the point
that he can't help but come back behind and join in on the fun.
Logan has definitely improved in the communication area. He has a number of new definite words-- STOP (which he says
constantly!), drop, Mumum (yup, now even Mom is on his radar screen!), that and this. He also points to things that he wants
(Dad to turn on/off the fan, the door when he doesn't want to nap, and objects he wants us to name). Logan will also run
over to his chair when he's ready to eat. (On that note, he's a great eater. Sometimes he'll eat five or six meals a day!
He'll eat most anything now -- veggies, fruit, meat, pb&j sandwiches, cheese, pizza, sour cream beef, Thai food... and
the list goes on!) Right now he's having a favorite treat in a cool blueberry smoothie.
Logan is also more easily frustrated. He objects strenuously when things are taken away from him that he knows he has
the RIGHT to play with -- such as the phone, pieces of paper, the checkbook, sunglasses and anything adults use regularly!
Logan still needs his Mama -- especially around mealtime. He will cry if he isn't picked up to watch what is going on.
Another development is his expression of affection. Logan will now come up to us and give us open-mouthed kisses! Earlier
this week he even kissed Rosalie -- who watches him for daycare (twice or three times a week for 2-4 hours each).
Logan has a number of little friends he meets up with regularly. He's still enjoying Kindergym and Kindermusik -- and
also we have an informal playgroup coming with Bradon (age 2), Nicholas (12 months) and Holly (12 months). We Moms really
enjoy each other's company. On Wednesdays we often doing something out in the community. Last week, for example, we went
to Squiggles -- a playgym with equipment similar to a McDonalds in the States except instead of fast food, it's got a café
in which Mom's can have a drink. This Wednesday we'll be visiting the reptile center to see the snakes and lizards. On Thursdays
we get together at one of our houses and have a good play with other kid's toys.
On the family front -- we are once again going through the IVF process. We'll all be going down to Adelaide from Oct
21-31st for the next round of treatments. As there were no more embryos left from the first extraction we had, Liesl is undergoing
the spray and injections and will have surgery around the 26th or 27th. We're hopefully and upbeat about the process this
time. Last time through it was quite emotionally draining, but knowing that such wonderful things can result for us, we have
a much better outlook.
Logan has been completely weaned for over a month now. His last nursing was on September 6th. It was hard for Liesl
to give up that special bonding time, but Logan does really well with his straw cups.
Logan also sleeps on his own much of the time now. When we returned from the States just a little less than two months
ago, Logan was sleeping with us all night long. Now he always sleeps for at least 8 hours in his own bed -- and often sleeps
the whole night (11 or 12 hours) in his crib!
| We stayed in an apartment just to the right of |
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| Tony's head. Great view! |
| Logan pets a pademelon. |
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| Logan and Daddy sharing a moment of understanding! |
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| Liesl got a haircut while we were away! |
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| Logan enjoys the backyard. |
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Logan at 15 months
November 16, 2004
This has been an eventful month for the whole family. We were down in Adelaide for about ten days. We went through our
second round of IVF -- trying for baby #2. Unfortunately, it did not work this time, but we have two embryos that were frozen.
We're still optimistic that things will work out sometime soon.
When we were in Adelaide rented a nice apartment that overlooked the beach. Despite the fact that we were there for medical
reasons we had a good time. Logan enjoyed the sand at the beach -- and we enjoyed good food, shopping and movies. We took
Logan to the Cleland Wildlife Park, where he got to walk freely with kangaroos and emus. He also got to pet a koala. Another
day we went to the Adelaide Zoo. We visited lots of parks in the area too. That's life with a toddler in tow!
Logan has learned so much in the past month that it's hard to know where to begin. He climbs up onto furniture and the
picnic table outside. He has even learned to climb up the ladder on his "wave runner" plastic slide. He runs (especially
when he has something that we don't want in his mouth). Logan loves playing Hide-and-Go-Seek with Dad. He gets the idea
of hiding and will stand behind a door or peek out from behind furniture. Sometimes he hides out in the open though too!
He often squeals and screams with delight when we call "where's Logan"?! It's wonderful to hear him having so much
fun!
Logan can scribble with crayons and markers -- and had his first painting experience last weekend. He's also learned
to use a spoon in the past couple of weeks, though lots of the food winds up on his bib!
Logan's vocabulary has increased as well. He regularly says "Uh oh, dropped." That can mean all sorts of things--
oh I dropped my peas OR my milk spilled OR I threw my spoon/toy OR the girl is lying on the ground OR I fell OR you dropped
something, Mom OR it fell off the table. Logan also says stop, dog, up, cup, shfly (fly, but since we always say shoo-fly
the sh is also pronounced!), hereitis (not so much the words, but the tone of voice we use when we say it), da (Dad and Mom--he
can say "MumMum" but it never seems to mean Mom), fr (frog) and that/this. We also use sign language a bit and Logan
signs and says all done. He also signs the word for airplane. Logan also knows/signs the word for sleep and of course waves
and says tata (his word for bye-bye).
Logan also knows many, many more words than that. When we ask him to get his shoes, he'll bring them to us. He can point
to pictures of ladybugs, butterflies, ants, telephone, socks, spiders, books, and on so forth.
On a similar vein, Logan is definitely "Mommy's big helper." He will hand me his spoons when we put dishes
away, will help wipe the table or floor and hands me the laundry as I fold it.
As many of you know, we have lots of ants here in Alice Springs -- big ones, little ones, medium sized ones. In fact,
if you were to weigh all the ants in Australia and all the people in the world, the ants would weigh more! On that note,
you wouldn't be surprised to hear that ants try to make their way into our house from time to time. When we returned from
Adelaide, ants had found their way in under the doors and through the windows. Liesl would take a wet tissue and squash lots
of them as they marched through the kitchen or as they climbed on the window sill. Logan quickly got the hang of it and took
his own tissue to squash ants! (Luckily "barrier spray" ant spray has stopped the ants from coming in for the time
being!)
Logan and Liesl still go walking regularly. He is very observant when we walk -- pointing to birds, dogs, cars, workers
and all sorts of things. He also makes it VERY CLEAR that he wants to get out at the playground and run around!
Now that summer is here, Liesl and Logan meet friends at the town pool every Wednesday. Tony and Logan are taking swimming
lessons on Saturday -- Logan is doing well, but Tony needs some improvement!  Lessons include lots of nursery
rhymes and water toys. Logan especially like "Humpty Dumpty" when he "falls" into the water and is swirled
around. We also have a inflatable "playground pool" in the backyard that we got on sale for $10 at the end of the
year last year. Logan really has enjoyed that!
Logan is a pro at pushing buttons. They can be on any type of toy, but he also excels at pushing the buttons on the VCR
and DVD player. Some skills would be better left til adulthood, right?! Logan's favorite toys now are probably the shape
sorter (circle, triangle and square) and an empty soda bottle with clothes pins in it. He loves emptying out the bottle,
putting the clothes pin back in and screwing the lid on and off. He also loves balls. He has heaps of toys (and we share
toys among the four friends we mentioned last month) -- and plays with things all day long. He's quite active and is not
much of a TV watcher. And, one great development for all of us is that he will now play quietly on his own -- for up to ten
minutes or so!! What a change from just a couple of months ago when he was semi-permanently attached to Liesl's leg or demanding
to be "up" in Liesl's arms (in the sling to save her back!!).
Logan also loves books now. We spend at least a half hour before bedtime and some time during the day (usually before
his afternoon nap) reading. He loves a book called Kat Kong about a cat that terrorizes a mouse city! He also likes looking
through and identifying pictures of household objects and animals. A few of his other favorites include Good Night Moon, Chick:
Tickle Your Tummy, Ten Little Lady Bugs, and flap books.
Logan generally has just one nap a day now and sleeps for somewhere between one and two hours. (Today is an unusual day
-- he's still asleep at 2 ˝ hours. On the other hand, I wore him out with a walk, KinderGym, KinderMusik and a visit to his
friend, Bradon before letting him crash!)
Logan is a great eater. There isn't anything he can't eat at this point. He eats all sorts of fruit (esp. bananas and
watermelon), chicken in most any form, ground beef (meatballs mostly), fish sticks, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches,
lots of veggies, breakfast cereals like Cheerios, Oatmeal and Cream of Wheat, Liesl's homemade muffins, Graham Crackers (and
on and on!). He generally eats whatever we're having for dinner. He sits up at the table with us in his booster-seat and
uses a mat (with suction cups).
Well, that's about it for now! What fun it is having a toddler in the house!
| Logan enjoys the water at home... |
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| and at the town pool... |
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