January 4, 2005

Logan is quickly coming up on 17 months of age. With Logan more and more aware of his surroundings, the holidays were quite enjoyable. Logan enjoyed unwrapping the Christmas presents, but if the toy came encased in plastic--LOOK OUT! He'd look at the car/dough set/tools and grunt "UHHhhrrr"--and throw it on the ground in frustration. Later he'd pick it up and say "ow" (out)--which obviously meant that we should open it/get it out!

After Logan's nap, we still had about 1/3 of the presents still to open. We had a hard time enticing him to open presents--especially with the "buh" (bug)--fly buzzing around the window where he likes to stand.

We haven't had Logan weighed or measured recently, but comparing him to some of the other kids his age, he seems quite small. He's about 23 pounds now, but his friend, Nicholas, who is six weeks younger is 26lbs and about 2 inches taller! We're not particularly worried--he eats like a champ! His diet is basically the same as ours -- with his current favorite foods including tomatoes (Liesl says yuck!) and corn on the cob.

Logan's activities are still about the same--just that he is become more skilled at everything he does (climbing, running, throwing). We've been house sitting for some friends and he loves to chase the cats. He plays peek-a-boo with his little friends. Bugs hunts are still part of our daily ritual. Logan carries around matchbox cars.

He's getting better about going up stairs as well as the more important backing up to got down the stairs approach. He can certainly have a will of his own and still goes nuts to get outside. The only way to slow him down from his desire to go outside is to ask him where his shoes are. At this point he'll quickly point or run to go get them as he simply loves to put on shoes. In addition to shoes and bugs, he also really enjoys playing with his various balls and cars, trucks, planes, and trains. At bedtime he can enjoy us reading books to him and singing him down to sleep for anywhere from half an hour up to an hour! His vocabulary is increasing and on New Year's 2005 morning he put his first two words together on his own (dropped ball) as opposed to just dropped or just ball (or his regular saying 'there it is' when he finds or opens something).

The mornings are adventurous and Logan can have a lot of stamina when we take him for walks in the heated summer of Alice Springs. Walking him from one playground to another (in the runner/jogger stroller) at two different parks. . . as well as going on to housesit some cats at a coworkers can take 3-4 hours, all of which Logan puts up little resistance to. The best thing about it is then he'll usually take about 2 hours to nap in the afternoon, giving the folks a chance to rest themselves as well!

Tonight at dinner we enjoyed Logan's antics as he placed a food container lid over his vegetables and then soon thereafter he proceeded to wave his index finger (sign language gesture for 'where') and then lifted off the lid exclaiming 'There it is!' to the veggies!

On 7 January, Liesl and Logan flew to Adelaide for the second try at our attempts of having another baby through IVF. Liesl noted that during the flight Logan was very giggly, especially during take-off and upon hitting any patches of turbulence.

January 23, 2005

Liesl and Logan went down to Adelaide for about ten days while Liesl went through a new round of IVF (with frozen embryos this time). [No news yet.] They were gone from January 7th to the 16th. While they were down south, they had a marvelous time. After a quick trip to the clinic most every morning to have blood drawn, Liesl and Logan would head out for the day. They went to the zoo and saw zebras, hippos, giraffe and other animals. They went to several parks throughout the city, but the favorite was one right near the one-bedroom apartment they were staying in. That park had a helicopter and car to climb in and explore. Logan surprised Liesl by climbing up a 5 foot ladder (rings were about 8 or 9 inches apart!). He also climbed up a rope ladder!

Being near the ocean was a lot of fun. He loved the waves and played in the sand for hours! They also spent time at some indoor playgrounds and Liesl was able to get some time in at the mall. They also went to an indoor aquatic center that had SIX swimming pools. They spent most of the time in the baby pool or in the "cave" -- showers, turning the water on and off! One of the days it was extremely crowded, but the other time it was pretty empty and they had a great time!

Another surprise about the trip was that Logan slept well. He took two hour naps most every day and slept in the portable crib each night. That is such a big change from just six months ago!!

In the last couple of weeks, Logan has made remarkable progress in his language skills. He can now say about thirty words (and understands considerably more than he can say). He seems to add almost a word a day now.

Some of his new words include:

*stuck--About a week ago, Logan's leg was stuck as he was trying to get out of his high chair. Liesl said, "Uh oh you're stuck." She was surprised later that day when he was in her lap and was trying to pull his foot from under my leg. He said, "STUCK" -- and he was!
*truck--Logan now points to all the passing trucks (and some cars) and says "TRUCK"!
*BOO!
*clock
*apple--(app ah)
*orange--(it sounds more like urng)
*what
*puppy
*poo
*eye--He now points to his own eye, our eye and last night we heard him tell his puppy "EYE"
*cracker--Logan picked up a piece of cereal this morning and announced "CRACK-AH"
*shoes--he says this and signs it
*bear
*baby
*ee ei ee ei oh -- When we sing "Old MacDonald," he'll sing the refrain.
*Round & Round -- Again, when we sing "The Wheels on the Bus go Round & Round" he'll say ROWN-ROWN

(Words he's used for some time now include: Daa (Dad), drop, stop, up, dog, bug, this, that, hereitis, or thereitis (more the tone of voice than clear, separate words), out (OW)-for open and go outside, car, star, Mum. And, of course he knows quite a number of signs as well--shoes, where, eat, bird, hat, etc.)

Logan also follows instructions (when he wants to, that is!). He has taken responsibility for his dirty nappies by throwing them into the rubbish bin! He'll fetch his shoes and look around for his hat. He'll give it to Daddy (or Mama) -- but only if he's not feeling possessive!!

Logan is quite a water-lover at the moment. He happily jumps into the water--belly flopping forward and sometimes even putting his whole head under water. That's a bit scary for the parental-types who quickly scoop him up and place him in the vertical position. Still, he has no fear of water and doesn't seem to inhale or swallow water. Logan has started to "kick" while in the deeper water with Mom or Dad. The "kick" is more like a dolphin wiggle, but he's definitely trying to make forward progress! It's neat to see him enjoying the water so much.

I think we mentioned a few weeks ago that Logan enjoys little matchbox cars. If anything, that love has intensified. He spends most of the day carrying around a truck, car or train! It's quite surprising, but Logan can keep a grasp on one of his trucks/cars for more than an hour (when we're shopping or going for walks with the pram).

Logan definitely likes to be up where the action is. He spends a lot of time on the stepstool. In the kitchen he'll "help" wash the dishes or stand and watch while his meal is being prepared. He also likes when we take the stepstool to the front door and give him house keys. He tries very hard to stick the keys in the door.

Logan is single-minded--which often leads to temper tantrums. For example, he likes to color, but after a while doesn't like to his artwork to be contained just to paper. When Mom or Dad takes the marker away, there's tears and screams of frustration. That's the same for most any forbidden object (or an object that is needed by the parental folk, like car keys). Sometimes we've been able to get Logan substitutes (he now has his own set of (fake, but real) keys that were rejects at the key shop in town.) Other times we just have to put up with the temper tantrums (and sigh. . .)

For the most part, Logan is a real joy. He's developing a sense of humor and a sense of love. He'll give smooches and blow kisses. One evening when Liesl was lying on the bed with his port-a-crib right next to it, Logan stood up, started rubbing her back and gave her a kiss. Logan will also laugh out loud and can make a joke (mostly having to do with hide-and-go-seek).

That's about it for this month. Sending all of you love and hugs!

Logan enjoys time at the beach in Adelaide.

Nicholas (white hat), Bradon (blue hat) and Logan (red hat) play ball!