11 months old

DOOD.  Callum turned the big 1-1 this past weekend.

Next month, I will be a Mommy thinking back to that epic day one year ago, a Mommy in denial, a Mommy in tears, because her little baby has turned one and is officially, no longer a baby.

So this month, I will cherish my baby more than ever!  ;-)

Callum continues to do what he does best - charm the socks off any man, woman, or child, that gets near him.  He's such a super duper happy baby - there's really not a whole lot that gets him mad.  If he's getting whiny and impatient - it's generally one of two things.  He's either tired and needs to sleep or he's STARVING.

Speaking of STARVING.  Let's talk a bit about my baby boy's appetite.  The kid is a beast.  No really.  HE. IS. A. BEAST.  He eats, and eats, and eats some more.  Our doctor advised us to just stuff him silly before bedtime to try and get him to start sleeping through the night.  And I replied, Ummm, I do.  I feed him and feed him and feed him.  He's got an endless pit of a belly.  He's a bigger boy overall, I think, than Logan was, but he's not hugely fat or has multiple baby rolls like some babies do.  He's just an enormous eater!  (And, it doesn't matter how much, or how little, I'm able to feed him before bedtime - he generally still wakes up in the middle of the night - hungry for more.)

He LOVES music and LOVES to dance.  He can't stop jiggling and jumping and moving actually.  He will generally bounce while standing and playing with his toys, or knock his head from side to side and wiggle his entire body.  Whether you're blasting the tunes or not.  The happier he is, the more he shakes, rattles and rolls.  :)

This last week or so, he's had a few more "firsts" that I haven't yet mentioned.  He's babbling more "Mamas" and "Dadas" which is exciting (although, I'm not sure he equates them with us necessarily - instead, it may be a title for all adults).  He still says "Bup" and just today he has started to say "Uh-oh".  He recently started waving hi/good-bye, and also gives me the sign for "all done" when he's (finally) full from eating.  He's been discovering how gravity works, dropping whatever he can off his highchair tray, or side of the changing table when he's laying on top of it.  Which is most certainly where he learned "uh-oh" from. 

We did think, given how much Callum loves to stand (and almost always on his own - the kid is well balanced!), that he'd be walking by now.  But, he's still only taking a handful of steps at a time, on his own.  I think he could do it physically - but psychologically, it's still a big hurdle his mind is clearly trying to leap.  We're excited to see him start walking of course, but also cherishing this more "limited" mobile stage he's in now.  ;-)

Callum has also recently started to "share" - he loves this little game of give and take.  He'll take a toy and drop it in my lap.  If I don't give it back to him, he gets a little impatient and grunts and wiggles and makes a face.  Naturally, I've picked up on the game pretty quickly.  He does it with me, with Jon, with Logan, you name it.  He'll do it with toys, with food, with pretty much anything he can get his grubby little hands on. 

And, he expects you (or his brother) to share just as much back.

3 years old

Here it is over 3 weeks past my son's third birthday and I'm finally getting around to posting.  I think I've decided that I can't keep up with the monthly updates, and will just have to move to yearly from here.  It was a good run while it lasted Logan!  ;-)

So what can I say about Mr. Logan?  I say it every time (and I'm sure at some point I'll stop saying this), but this is now my favorite age!  I recently received my monthly newsletter from Babycenter about Logan titled:  Your Little Chatterbox

And oooohhhh, how true that is!

I would say that's the biggest change and development in Logan overall.  Every minute, every hour, every day, every month - he picks up additional words that just crack us up.  We have no idea where he hears them half the time but his ability to immediately recognize meaning and patch these new words into sentences (usually correctly!) is astounding.

Mommy, can I have some juice?

Sure.  (pours a glass of juice)

But I want some sugar in it.  I want A LOT of sugar!

(We normally add half water to his juice, because we've told him the juice has too much sugar in it... so our best guess is, he now thinks water is also called sugar... *shrug*)

He's also VERY interested in "bad words".  Everything is now a bad word.  And, he's quick to let you know it.

No Mommy, "fine" is a bad word.

Mommy, "I don't know" is a bad word.

Mommy, "stop that" is a bad word.  Don't say that.

Just the other day, while I was in the kitchen cooking our holiday dinner, Logan was playing in the living room with Callum.  I could hear Logan directing and talking to Callum nonstop - telling him what to do, what to play with, what to look at.  I then heard Callum whine - and I heard Logan say something about "that" being "his toy" and Callum couldn't play with it.  I yelled from the kitchen - Logan, you need to share your toys with Callum.

Logan yelled back, "But, it's not a party in here!"

I guess we're only sharing toys at parties now.

With all the energy Logan has day in and day out, he's often times too busy playing to pay attention or listen to his Mom and Dad.  I can't tell you how many times we have to tell him to listen to us, and when he's not listening, he gets a timeout. I fear it's going to be a constant battle with him - to pay attention and listen to what we have to say or are telling him to do.  It's also kicking us in the ass - since there are times where Jon or I have work to do, or chores to do, or heaven forbid, want to engage in a conversation between each other.  It's usually at that very moment, that Logan tries to interrupt, yelling at one or both of us:

Mommy!  Daddy!  Mommmmmmmm!  Listen to me!!

And then the guilt sets in.  ;-)

A few weekends ago, I needed to stop by the pharmacy on our way home from swimming class.  Logan was full of energy and happy to be out of the house.  While at the checkout stand, he was busy using the shopping cart as his personal jungle gym, crawling up and down and in and out while I'm trying to pay and get the hell out of there before he breaks something (or a limb).  He's talking nonstop the entire time - pausing between jumps and climbs to wave and bellow out "Hi!" at the top of his lungs at each new person who walks by or enters the store.

The cashier (probably a grandmother herself), was laughing and commented to me, "He sure does have a lot of energy, doesn't he?"  To which I responded, "Yep, and this is after just finishing up a half hour swim class!"

She was a little surprised.

Because he's running around so much, I guess it makes sense that he'll fall or hit his head from time to time.  The nice thing is, we have a tough little boy.  Often times, immediately after bonking his head on something, he'll yell out to me:

I'm okay Mom!

and then return to his playing.  Before I even get a chance to look up.

It's one of the many reasons why I love that Logan attends preschool actually.  He's outside, playing in the yard, and running off this endless energy, at least 4-5 times a day.  I could never keep up with him on a regular basis on my own!

As I was getting him dressed today, to get ready for the movies with Daddy (Jon's taking him to see Tangled again, since the last outing with me he didn't fare so well), all he wanted to do was climb and jump on me and tackle me to the ground.

Mom, let's tackle and punch ourselves!

Punch ourselves?  No, we don't punch people.

Yes we do!  You have to punch nicely.  Daddy punches nicely.

Daddy punches nicely?

Yeah, because we're tackling.

Oh I see.

I later told this to Jon, who then laughed asking Logan to show him how to punch nicely - at which point Logan socks the shit out of Jon's chest.  Yes.  Nicely.  I guess we need to work on the meaning of that word some more.  (or perhaps, get him to learn not to punch at all?!)

Another one of Logan's latest interests is peeing and pooping.  Not the potty training stuff - he's a master at that (to the point that half the time, we don't even bother helping him in the bathroom since he does it all himself!).

No, it's the TOPIC of talking about peeing and pooping.  Really, I thought that we'd have a few more years before this started.  But, I guess it hits at a much earlier age.  In fact, at a recent neighborhood holiday party we went to, the "older" 6-8 year old boys that Logan was infatuated with and following around nonstop, thought the little 3 year old who wouldn't stop talking about peeing and pooping was REALLY WEIRD.

It usually goes something like this:

Mom, I'm going to pee on you!  

Callum, I'm going to poop on you!

Followed by something like this:

And that, my friends, is the epitome of sibling love right there.

7 months and 35 months old

Whee!  I'm behind again.  What's new?  Can I blame it on my surgery this time?  ;-)

Callum is looking more and more like Jonathan every day.  I love it - I feel like Logan is a mini-me, and Callum is a mini-Jon.  We've got one of each of us!  Of course, Logan's looks changed completely (in my opinion) from his baby days to his toddler days - so it'll be interesting to see if Callum continues to look like Jon once he outgrows his baby face, or if he takes on more of my looks too.

Jon and his creepy used car salesman look: mustache and all

Callum's a joy to be with and I'm so in love watching him grow up and continue to develop.  Of course, the big news this month is his rocking and scooting.  I thought it would take him longer to pick up on the crawling, because he's not good at sitting up on his own for long periods of time, nor can he get himself into a sitting position on his own!  And yet, those things don't seem to matter as he's full steam ahead on MOVING.  He has always loved to kick his legs and stand - but he's doing it more and more now that he has got the hang of his jumperoo, and now that he knows he can sorta scoot around.  He's not great at scooting forward, he hasn't quite got all the mechanics down, but as I posted earlier, he's a pro at scooting backwards (and eventually, getting himself into predicaments underneath furniture!).

He continues to enjoy being the center of attention, but given his new found interest in movin' and shakin', we're actually able to leave him alone for longer periods of time to explore on his own.  I have to admit I love that.  ;-)  Logan has found a new interest in watching over his little brother as well (since I'll often times set Callum down in the same room with Logan so that they can play together).  Sadly, he mostly loves to torment Callum with a lot of "claw" hands and roaring.... thankfully, Callum is usually in great spirits and takes all of this in stride.

His dexterity is improving each day as well - he's not only able to grab (and hold on for dear life), but he's moving objects back and forth between his two hands (and into his mouth), showing an improvement in his fine motor skills.  He still has trouble picking up smaller objects with his thumb and forefinger, but we've been practicing that as well, with bits of finger foods here and there.

He's also become quite a talker this past month - much more goo-goos, ga-gas, ba-bas, and ughs.  He loves to babble, particularly when he's practicing his jumping or crawling.  I'm not sure what it is but he just puts his entire being into his exercise!

Perhaps his chattiness comes from his continuing awareness of Logan.  Logan talks nonstop, continues to develop a demanding, loving, funny and quirky little personality.  I was describing Logan to a coworker of mine just last week and he said "Gee Bree, I'm not really surprised that your son has quite the personality.  Look at his mom!"  I thought it was a funny, and ironic, comment.  Since I think of myself as the boring wall flower in our family household compared to the boys and Jon.  ;-)

"I got Callum's nose!"

Logan has constant energy as well - and it wears Jon and I out just trying to keep up.  He LOVES school and playtime with his friends, but he's also become more aware of the time he spends at home with Mom and Dad.  Or perhaps he's becoming more aware of our time dedicated to Callum and wants some of his own.  Whatever the reason, I've noticed he asks for our time more - he wants us to play with him, to read to him, to watch TV with him, to lay down in bed with him.  He likes our company and enjoys our time together.  How can I resist or deny such requests?  I have to say, I eat up every second of playtime, cherishing every minute I have with him.

Most of the play time that he and I do together are these wild crazy "Mr. Dinosaur attacks Mr. Shark" episodes, but I've noticed his imagination kicking up a notch or two as well.  He dreams up these funny stories and situations for his animals that we will then enact as we're lying together in bed.  Or, he'll talk to me about what is happening with the characters in the book that I haven't started reading yet.  It's actually quite nice - because as much as he likes to play with us and his friends, he's also content to play on his own, talking to his trains and cars like they are listening, narrating out the story playing in his head, and their (usually) ultimate demise.

I suppose it goes with having a vivid imagination, but Logan has been waking up more and more each night.  He has dreams that make him cry and dreams that make him laugh.  Often times Jon or I will crawl into bed with him and spend the rest of the night by his side - it makes for a rough night on us, but he seems to sleep much better with one of us there, and to me, that's most important than anything else right now.

32 months old

One thing that irritates both Jon and I to no end is whining. From anyone - child or adult. Neither of us have the patience for it I'm afraid. To say this past month has really tried our patience is an understatement, as Logan has picked up whining with a vengeance. :(

We'll say, "Logan, please stop whining."

And he'll whine back, "But I'm not whining!"

*sigh*


Logan continues to mature day by day (baby whining aside). Some of the biggest changes for him this last month happened in the bathroom. He now, often times, runs into the bathroom all on his own, pulls down his pants/shorts and underwear, and sits down to pee (he's not yet able to pee standing up, thank goodness!). He still needs a little help pulling his underwear and pants/shorts back up, but he's getting there (sometimes he'll walk out of the bathroom calling for my help, with his shorts halfway up his butt. hehe)


While he continues to have constipation battles (ever since he was an infant really), he's now pooping in the potty too! This was a biggie for us, since we really struggled with getting him to understand that he needed to poop in the potty rather than his diaper/underwear. He really resisted us for a long time on this one, but has finally seemed to get over that hump. THANK GOD as my laundry load lightens just a little.


He has also started waking up in the middle of the night, asking to go potty, and just recently, we started putting him to bed at night diaper-free. We're only a couple of nights in, so it's hard to say if we're officially finished with diapers, but so far so good! Let's hope the trend continues since it is soooo much nicer having just one kid in diapers to deal with rather than the two! ;-)


I consciously decided against packing any milk bottles for Logan, for our trip to Texas. I just didn't want to deal with it, and I figured it might get him out of the habit of asking for a bottle every morning. The plan seemed to work - he went without a milk bottle (and didn't seem bothered in the least bit!) the entire time. However, the MINUTE we got back home, he woke up demanding his daily morning milk. I was a little bummed - it's just one more thing I'd like to move past, frankly. Still, he's doing better. Now he only asks for his milk every once in awhile rather than every. single. morning while practically still laying in bed. We have a couple more trips coming up both this weekend (LA) and next week (Hawaii - woo!) - and I plan to stick the course and not pack any milk bottles then too. We'll see how he does. :)


You can clearly see my boy getting older, and it makes me both happy and sad. He loves to sing his ABCs and point out letters and count 1-2-3-4-7-go! And, with numbers comes the all important proud moment of telling everyone how old he is. He's usually accurate - holding up two fingers while telling you he's two. But, every now and then he'll either hold up three fingers or say "free" when you ask him how old he is. I don't blame him though, I used to tell people I was older than I really was for a loooong long time. Funny how I don't do that so much anymore.

But probably the change that has strangely, impacted me the most, is his words. His new found words. His ultra hip, very 8 year old and not at all 2 year old words.

Logan, would you like some juice?

Sure, Mom.

Insomnia

Callum is wide awake at 4am and has been cooing for 20 minutes straight. At least he's not crying?

I recorded some of it on my phone, but the audio isn't posting to the blog correctly, so I'll have to share the recording with you later... :)

Grumpy Sunflower

I think this is my favorite piece of artwork from Logan yet. It probably speaks volumes that I am most fond of the artwork that has a grumpy face rather than the smiling cute happy go lucky kid most parents want to see. But this is SUCH an expression of his! How can I not like it? Plus, it goes perfectly with the sunflower background. ;-)


Yesterday, out of the blue, Logan started asking "Why not?" at dinner. But, what cracked us up was his incorrect application of the question.

Here are some snippets of the conversation between Logan and Jon.


Logan - finish your sandwich.

Why not?

You can have some apples and chocolate milk after you eat your sandwich.

Why not?

It's late. It's almost your bedtime.

Why not?

29 months old

Logan is one month shy of the 2 1/2 year mark! Crazy how time is flying by. He seems so HUGE and ANCIENT and OLD to us, now that he's side by side with Callum. But, there's still a lot he's learning and growing himself.


He loves to say "Yay, I did it!" (or Mommy did it! or Daddy did it!) whenever he's working hard to try and solve something, open something, create something, etc. He may have said this before, I'm not sure, but he's really into proclaiming his accomplishments now. I would say overall he's a lot more independent than ever actually. His imaginative play has really picked up recently (could that be partly because we're spending more time with Callum?), and I often times will hear him playing on his own in the living room his toy room, talking to his stuffed animals and cars and trains. He's starting to create stories about what his toys are doing and saying and feeling. It's fantastic to see.

Last month I commented on his realization of remorse, which he continues to do today. Anytime he does something wrong, misbehaves or doesn't follow instructions, he generally apologizes about it. This month he's also picked up on the appropriate response to "Thank you", often times telling us "You're welcome" before we even have the chance to say "Thank you" first. ;-)

Recently at school, the kids planted a few seeds in little paper cups and watered them every day to learn and watch how plants grow. We took the little project home the other day and he's now obsessed with watering his plants (and my lilies) EVERY. SINGLE. MINUTE. It's tiring but also adorable to watch!


He's continuing to potty train at school and home. He's learning how to pull his pants on and off (we're using pull ups at school now), which is making things a bit easier. He's also taken to STANDING at his potty and pretending he's pissing in it (by holding his penis, pointing it at the potty, and even making the "pissing" sound).

Although he hasn't yet actually peed standing up. :)

The first time he did it I started laughing out loud and yelled out to Jon to come watch. I'm toying with the idea of buying a potty urinal, which I think would be lots of fun, especially now that we have the two boys. If we ever strike it rich and remodel our house someday, take note Internet: I want to install a urinal in each bathroom.

Since seeing the Sharks last month, Logan is very adamant about wanting to go to another game, he loved it that much! Whenever we leave the house, he will demand "I want to see the Sharks." Or, he'll ask "Are we going to see the Sharks Mommy?" So far I've been able to ward off these questions and demands with a "Later buddy - we'll see the Sharks again later". But, his memory is improving every day so it's only a matter of time before he starts calling me on that.


He's also transitioned from "wanting" to "needing", which has actually been pretty funny for Jon and I. Some typical NEEDS of Logan's, are as follows:

I need my Sharks hat.
I need my milk (accompanied by "Go get my milk").
I need rabbits (fruit snacks in the shape of bunny rabbits that he's obsessed with).
I need my dinosaur/hippo.
I need to take a bath.
I need to do art.
I need to watch TV.
I need to go outside.
I need my Daddy.

Most of these demands usually result in us questioning his "needs". Oh, you NEED your dinosaur do you?

YES.

Or do you mean you WANT your dinosaur?

YES.


There is one "need" however, that we never question, but comply with every single time.

Mommy, I need to hold my baby brother.

Of course, he stopped holding Callum the minute the camera came out, so I'll have to get a better pic of him holding Callum later. :)