1.5 years old

Wow - today marks Logan's 1.5 birthday! I can't believe he's already 18 months old. He's continuing to babble and throw in semi-recognizable words in between. Some of the new words he's picked up over the last month are: "fish", "cracker", "buh-bye", "boy", "girl", "shoes", "there", "cookie", "belly", "eye", "nose", "more", "night night", and "mine".


Last month he started pointing to his crib when he wanted to go to bed. Now he's actually saying "night night" as well. He's also starting to vocalize some of his previous signed-only words, the main one being "more". It's cool because he hasn't dropped his signing, he just says "more" at the same time that he signs it. :)


He's gotten very good at identifying CARS!


and BALLS! (would ya look at that milk belly?!?)


and saying BUH-BYE to pretty much anything that's moving away from him. He also likes to remind you where his (and your) belly, eyes, ears and of course, we all know this one well, nose are.

Oh, and let's not forget his favorite red furry friend, Elmo. It's not a new word but it's definitely his favorite (or, at least, ties with car and ball for most used). In fact, just this morning, when he woke up, he greeted me with a sleepy smile and, not a "Good mornin' Mama!" or a "Hi Daddy!" No no no.

Instead, his first word of the day had to be, in a very sweet and innocent voice, "Melmo?" (and when I proceeded to change his diaper first, before obeying his command and flipping on the TV, he started screaming "Melmo! Melmo! Melmo!"


The "Melmo" demands aren't too bad. However, the MINE! are a totally different story. Because, you know, everything is MINE! (I'm sooo glad his school taught him how to say mine.)

The food you're eating is MINE! The toy he's playing with is MINE! The toy you're playing with is MINE! The toy that another kid is looking at is MINE! The chair you're sitting in is MINE!

Jon and I have seriously looked him square in the eyes and said, Look kid, you better just forget this MINE! shit. Everything in this house is Mommy and Daddy's. Ain't nothin' yours yet.

But alas, you know how that discussion goes.

Lots of grins and more MINE MINE MINE!

At least he's not biting?

He has started to count (or at least mimic counting), likes to wear our shoes and clomp around in them, is known to sit quietly for 4 minutes flipping through his books, and LOVES to bend over, butt straight in the air, trying to turn a somersault (he can't quite do it by himself, but absolutely loves it when you help him and can't get enough).


But what makes me swell with pride most of all, is sharing with you how our love has picked up the habit of saying "tank u" for everything. Whether he's saying thank you for something you've given him, or thank you for something he's giving you, he's got it down pat. It's the most precious, adorable habit in the world and almost makes up for the nasty MINE! phase that we can't wait to move past.

I said almost.

Rocks are a Boy's Best Friend

You never really want to wish a traumatic experience onto anyone, let alone your own child. Yet, this evening, as I was driving to an urgent after hours on-call doctor appointment, I have to admit, the thought definitely crossed my mind.

Just as I was packing up at work, I got a call from his school today. Logan stuck another rock up his nose. And, this time it was too far up for the teachers to reach and get out on their own. They were a little panicky and not sure what to do.

I called Dr. Safir - whose office was closed for the night, but gave a number for the on-call doctor. I called them and they told me it actually wasn't a terribly urgent issue and if I wanted to just wait until the morning and take Logan in to see Dr. Safir tomorrow instead, that would be totally fine.

Uhhh, I think I'd like you to take the rock out tonight, thank you very much.

I whisked him away from school (where he was happily sitting at the table eating his late afternoon snack, seemingly 100% unaffected by the fact that there was a rock lodged up his nose) and drove like mad to make the 6:15pm appointment clear across town.

And there I was, preparing myself for a traumatic event, where we'd need 5 adults to hold down my screaming writhing son as the doctor reached up his nose with long needle-nose pliers to painfully pull the rock out, all the while Logan imploring me with his tear-filled eyes to stop. But then I thought, well shit. Maybe this will finally teach him a lesson. Maybe he would finally learn that ROCKS DO NOT GO IN NOSES.

Unfortunately (or fortunately?), the rescue mission went nothing like I had imagined. Instead, Logan laid quietly still on the table while I pinned down his arms against his ears/head and the nurse held down his torso/legs, pointing a flashlight up his nose. The doctor took out a medium sized pair of tweezers (with long skinny tips) and within 5 seconds, the big honkin' rock was out of his nose.

Not a scream. Not a tussle. Not a tear nor a drop of blood. Not even a whimper.

Damn.

Instead, my kid just smiled REAL big, wondering what all the commotion was about.

And I'm pretty sure the lesson he learned tonight wasn't "Do not stick another rock up my nose", but rather, "If I stick rocks up my nose, I am going to get a lot of attention and an easy 5 second rescue mission right afterward. Score!"

Offending Piece of Evidence

A little smaller than a dime and still slimy and wet from Logan boogers :)

A weekend of new toys

It's been awhile since I've posted a video - so long that, the last few clips I had on the camera, which I had grand plans of putting together, were from when Logan had first started walking, some 5 or so months ago! Yikes.

So, I finally finished that little long-forgotten project. And, though 5 months late, I'm sure most of you will still enjoy it since Logan is just so damn cute. :)



This weekend we spent some serious cashola and bought a few toys for the house - a new TV for our bedroom, a new Blu-Ray disc player, and (so Logan wouldn't feel left out, of course) a new Bean Bag Toss game to hone his mad throwing/tossing skillz. ;-)

We took a bike ride this evening just after dinner and Logan was so wiped out from the weekend with Zafu and Zabuton (he spent last night at my parent's while Jon and I met with our friends for an adults-only night of dinner, hilarious movie and games afterward to celebrate Kim's recent birthday) that he actually fell asleep toward the end of the ride!

But, the minute we got home, he woke up, caught a second wind and decided to run around playing with his new tossing game. Here's a few clips I put together of him playing just before bedtime. Enjoy!

Another growth spurt?

For the last week or so, Logan's had a tough time sleeping through the night again. This has been really hard on us, as we have been working late hours ourselves and not getting to bed early enough, nor getting enough sleep through the night.

At first I thought he might be teething - which I think could still be the case, since I'm seeing some swollen whites underneath his canine areas. But, after the last few days of 4am bottle feedings and then another 1-2 FULL bottles a couple hours later when he wakes up for the day, I have to think our little guy is just hungry! And, as much as we try to get a full meal in him at dinner time, it seems like he's still hungry as he downs those bottles like nothin'.

So, now I'm thinking our kid's just growing like a weed. With all the eating he's doing, and the restless sleep, AND the short-short pants I noticed this morning that totally fit him fine like 2 days ago, I'm going to put my bet on another growth spurt. We have his 18 month checkup next Friday (seriously, it's already been a year and a half?!?), so I guess we'll see then how much he has really grown by then! :)

Out Sick

I've been home sick the last couple of days, just battling a common
head cold that stole my voice. But since I've got a bit more "free"
time, I've also been taking care of a couple errands in between the
downtime.

Get my son a much needed haircut? Check!

Build. Craft. Hack. Play. Make.

Although not quite as hectic, we had another full week last week and by Friday we really needed some time off. At the last minute, we asked my parents to babysit Logan for the night so that Jon and I could have some R&R time by ourselves. Thankfully, they said absolutely! :)

Unfortunately, Jon didn't get home until 8:30pm that night, but we didn't let that stop us from going out anyway! We had a late dinner at Willow Street Pizza, where we tried guessing how old the teeny-bopper girls at the tables near us were (and how they drove themselves there? since there wasn't a parent in sight), and then went on to the movies to see Up, another amazing performance by Pixar (arguably the greatest of all Pixar movies) that EVERYONE should go see! We didn't get to see it in 3-D, which is what I want to do next. It was THAT good.

On Saturday, we three had plans to spend the day at the Maker Faire (a large DIY festival). However, Jon's work got in the way so he had to miss out, but Logan and I still made it (albeit a little late in the day). We had a lot of fun - it was our first time ever, even though my cousin is the Managing Editor of Make and helps coordinate the entire Maker Faire every year! But, we will be back for sure. Most of the shows and activities were too old for Logan to really appreciate - yet he was still fascinated with everything and wanted to look at and touch it all. Mama was just as overwhelmed (possibly more so than Logan) at all the amazing creativity under one "roof". It was super nerdy cool.

Sunday, Logan and I met with several other friends at the Monterey Bay Aquarium to celebrate Nathan's belated birthday (two months ago), but also really just to have another excuse to get out of the house and get the kids together. :) Jon couldn't make it because he was up in the city getting shading done on his recent back tattoo, a multi-month project of his (to be chronicled later).

It was a lot of fun and was a much more interesting and interactive setting for Logan this time around, than last. Since he now knows what fishes are (and calls pretty much anything he sees in water a "fish"), he was fascinated by the giant bluefin tuna and hammerhead sharks in the Outer Bay exhibit and didn't want to leave the playful Sea Otters area.

Although Mama was enthralled by the beautiful special Seahorse exhibit, he couldn't be bothered (way too small, slow moving and "boring" for him) and instead sat backwards playing with the buckles on his stroller as we walked through the entire section (it was also the end of the day and he was beat).

Look Logan! Another seahorse! A dragon seahorse! TWO seahorses! OOooooh TINY seahorses!

Not even a nod or glance in their general direction, he was too focused on getting his buckles snapped (and then unsnapped by me to snap together again). *sigh*

Of course, the most fun of all was the Splash Zone, where he was allowed to run around freely with his buddies (in dizzying circles), race down the slides and get as wet as Mama would let him. :)

All in all, a fun-filled whirlwind busy weekend!(Click on any of the pics for more)

Turndown Service - At home

Just when you think you've had enough, the new housekeepers you recently hired stop by and turn your home into a gloriously fresh smelling haven!

I was a little nervous at first - they are more expensive than my last, which means I can only have them come every other week rather than weekly. And, for a house with two maniac workaholics, a messy toddler, two shedding dogs and three crazy cats, we need weekly, if not daily, cleanings!

But, I'm so glad I hired them (our previous housekeeper moved out of state). They are super thorough which is the most important part for me, but then they have these little touches like folding the first sheet of toilet paper, as if my house is actually some 4-star hotel.


I had to laugh. But hey, they know what they're doing. Next time I'm going to look for a mint on the pillow. ;-)

I have a much longer post (with pics!) from our past busy weekend, but that'll take me more time to write....so, stay tuned.