Speaking Spanish

Well, Logan has never really been into Dora and Diego until about a month ago and now he is officially hooked! Thankfully he would still prefer to play outside than watch tv, but if the television is an option, Dora and Diego are the newest additions to our DVR. I am not opposed to either and think it is amazing how it can mesmerize him for the 25 minutes and then he remembers every story line, every song, facts about the animals and places, and has even been picking up some Spanish... with minimal amounts of additional work on my part! One day a couple weeks ago he just started counting in Spanish and though he wanted to stop at 8 (because that was the episode where Dora counted the Octopus' legs) we did teach him and encourage him on to 10.
I'll have to post a video because the way he pronounces
a couple of the numbers is quite funny!

Anyway, this morning after breakfast he was watching Dora while I was getting ready for the gym and he came and told me, "Dora speaks Spanish, Mommy." And I said, "Yes, I know. And our neighbors Rosa and Enrique speak some Spanish to you too sometimes." He inquired about who else spoke Spanish and we discussed that our trash man does, and probably some of the men that work in our neighborhood building the houses. I didn't think anything more of this conversation when it was over until we were getting ready to leave for the gym and we took the trash out to the end of the driveway... reminder here how awesome this is to Logan- he ADORES our trash men and thinks that trash days are the best days of the week. Well he brought a box down to the man and when the man took it from him and gave him his usual high-five, I reminded Logan to say Thank You and he said, "Gracias!" The trash man thought this was so cool, giving the biggest smile and saying, "De nada" followed by another high-five.

Gotta give some props to Nickelodeon here... my kid somehow knew that Gracias means Thank You and made the connection that if Mommy said the trash man speaks Spanish, then we should say "Gracias" to him. After a lot of praise from me for having done this, he has continued to say Gracias in exchange for Thank You all day... even to his teachers at the Y when he said good-bye to them today. How precious are little kids... and such sponges of information!

Paci Update

We are so proud of our BIG BOY! Each day without a paci has been better and better. On the previous post I mentioned that he was waking up A LOT earlier than usual for him, probably because his soother wasn't there to put him back to sleep. Well, each day he has slept later and later, today waking up at 7:50 (a great time back when he did use the paci!). Yesterday for both nap and bedtime the paci wasn't even mentioned, so we are DONE! This all started on Thursday and by Monday it became a moot point. Logan now tells everyone that babies use pacis and he is not a baby... oh how he is still my baby!

Our BIG Boy!

Some new things going on around here with a 2 (and a half!) year old. Take a listen and hear about what a big boy Logan is now!

So the whole paci thing... something I have totally dreaded having to deal with ended up being so much easier when it wasn't even planned. I have been asked when I was going to do this and sometimes I would think it was a big deal and getting rid of it needed to happen... other times I would think it wasn't too big of a deal and that as long as it was in bed only (which it has been since he was 9 months old!), it's really not an issue I wanted to deal with.

Well, on Thursday, he went to my parents to spend the night and when he went down for his afternoon nap, my mom couldn't find the paci I had packed. Logan seemed ok with the idea that she would keep looking or my dad would go buy a new one if they couldn't find it, as long as he laid down and tried to go to sleep. Well, by the time my mom got ahold of me and I told her where it was in the bag, he was ASLEEP! She decided to see how the nap would go and he slept his usual 2 hours! They made a HUGE deal out of the BIG BOY excitement of having napped without a paci and he said he was going to give all his pacis to baby Ryan (though he said he needs to take them to baby Ryan's house, obviously a sign that he has no idea what's about to happen when we add another member to the family!). At bedtime, his eyes filled with tears and his lip started to quiver and then my parents praised what a big boy he was becoming and encouraged him that he didn't need it anymore. He went to sleep no problem! Same went for the nap the next day, so no more pacis!

At home of course, he was a little more emotional (thinking that I would have found one here) but it didn't take him long to fall asleep and there wasn't very much crying involved... just more of a whine. He did wake up VERY early this morning at home, probably because he didn't have that soother to get him to go back to sleep, but I'm thinking that will adjust as he gets used to not having one. His nap this afternoon was almost 3 hours without it, so maybe he caught up on some of that sleep then!

Jeff and I really can't believe how big we were making this seem in our own minds, trying to plan the right time to do away with the glorified soother... and then by accident (let me remind you that the paci WAS in the bag) he ends up being weened.
Big news over here!

On another "big boy" note, we just ordered Logan's new furniture for his big boy room... he was with us when we found it and was immediately calling it his big boy bed!
Here are some pictures of him checking it all out.

Trying out the ladder...
"like at the park, Mommy!"

Checking out the top bunk

Sitting on top very proudly...
Gives you a better view of the furniture

Had to try out the bottom, as that is where he'll actually sleep.
I think the ladder will be stored in the closet for awhile!

The store said it would come in within 3-4 weeks, so now we need to get busy. Things to do... paint the room, buy matresses, pick out bedding (needing both full and twin sets!) and get stuff that is currently in his room re-disbursed to other places in our house. Not to mention that the closet in the room he is going into is currently our storage of ALL things baby that we have held onto as Logan has been growing! LOTS to do... and lots to organize!

Another thing he is starting to want to do on his own is dress himself. This is how he put his underwear on by himself for the first time... he was SO proud, letting me take pictures of both front and back! Inside out AND backwards... too precious!

See the tag in the front?

Not looking real comfortable!

Here are some shots of our big boy helping his daddy wash the car. He was so excited to get to help daddy with this task and was very proud of the job he was doing with the sprayer!

I didn't get any pics, but he became quite the helper when we were visiting Jeff's parents in Graham. The windy day we had put branches and leaves all over the yards and Logan had his own sized rake, working hard to make piles with Papa. He loved getting to pick up the piles and put them in the garbage... it was play for him, as he didn't even know he was "working."

Oh, and one more thing. When we were in NY, Zachary made Logan a hot dog for lunch and just assumed he would eat it the same way that big boys do, making it with a bun and ketchup. This was a new thing for Logan (who has always had them cut up for him) and he ate TWO of them! He sat with all the big boys at the table and ate his hot dog just like the rest of them. Thanks Zachary... he wanted to be just like you! He has had a couple more since we got home, and eaten them with the bun too! What a big boy thing... no more cutting it up like I used to!

Almost 22 weeks

Here is the belly pic as we are approaching 22 weeks.



I have started to feel the baby quite a bit more the last couple of weeks and shopping for him and his nursery has really made it seem more 'real'. I'm still having some bad days in between a bunch of good ones, but I guess some foods just don't agree as well as others. Can't really complain with how much better things are than just 8 weeks ago!

Lots of Updates

The last couple weeks have been pretty busy around here. We went to NY the first weekend in April for my uncle's wedding, returned home for less than 48 hours, to re-pack and go to Jeff's parents house for Easter weekend. It was fun times for all, though I am pretty tired and very happy to be home. This week has been busy too as we are preparing to put Logan in his big-boy room and get the nursery ready for baby Ryan. It's all a work in progress, but furniture has been purchased and baby decor decided on, so a lot of decisions have been made this week.

Take a look at just a few of the pics from the last few weeks...

Flying to NY... what would we do without that DVD player???
Greeting Great-Grandma... he had been talking about seeing her for weeks leading up to this trip... such a special bond for being so far away!
Celebrating Grandpa's birthday

One of Logan's favorite people...
the person he asked for when he woke up every morning,
Cousin Ali
Showing off his jumping skills on her new trampoline
Playing at McDonald's with her when Aunt Maureen took them for lunch

Reading books to the dogs...
Uncle Matt's Tucker and Great Grandma's Precious
Logan LOVED all his boy cousins and I cannot say enough about how good they were with him. They just let him play all day with them outside and they were definitely my saving grace the day of the wedding too!
Only two boys missing... my brother and Gavin
A great shot with Uncle Mike.
Logan with Uncle Matt and Tucker

My little prince ready to attend his first wedding.
M&Ms and fruit loops definitely came in handy during the ceremony and were also used for bribery during the pictures, but he really was an angel. Getting to have the pics and ceremony outside definitely helped keep him entertained. The garden area was beautiful and there was plenty of room for him to roam.
Roaming the bridges with his buddy Zachary...
looking for the geese.
The hit of the day... a peacock.
Logan was so thrilled to see one up close.
Wanting to go outside during the reception to find the peacock.
Thanks to the boy cousins, Uncle Mike, Grandpa and Daddy, Logan had no problem finding people to stay outside with him late into the afternoon.
Mommy and Daddy at the cocktail hour...
such awesome food, all day long!
The happy couple that we made this great trip in honor of...

Watching the dance floor, trying to decide if he wanted to dance.

and of course, he wasn't going to miss out on a chance to perform!
Family Dance

Dancing with cousin Sarah
And Grandma...
It didn't take him long to realize who the guest of honor was, and he was literally following Aunt Marci all over the reception.

Nathan's in NY is like the hot dog Chuck E Cheese's.
Logan went in October with Grandpa and from the minute we started talking about going back to NY, he was set on a lunch date at Nathan's again... to play games and win tickets!
Here he is with my dad and one of his oldest buddies for HS,
driving race cars.

And playing a ball game of course, to get those tickets!

There were SO many pics of our visit, but this would be the longest post in history if I tried to include even half of them. Hopefully you got the idea of how great it was for Logan to see family and how beautiful Matt and Marci's wedding day was. We are so blessed to have so many people in our lives that love us and our son and make our visits there so special!

Returning home we were faced with sitting in an airport for 4 hours before finally taking off at 9:00pm... it was a long day and night, but the nightmare it could have been with a toddler was thankfully avoided due to the use of the DVD player once again (oh, and snacks galore!)


GRAHAM FOR EASTER

Logan LOVES going to the lake and thankfully the weather was suitable for outside play. He was outside from the minute he woke up each day until he went to bed. Naps each day were at least 3 hours long, showing how hard he was playing when he was awake. He fishes, throws rocks, jumps on the trampoline and explores the yard... and is very thankful for anyone that will go outside with him.

His own tackle box...

Learning how to cast the line...

Doing it all by himself...

Time for the bluebonnets...
making the trek there on Papa's shoulders!

He was much more interested in running through the flowers than actually sitting down in them, but after some bribery, I got a little of what I was looking for.


And then came the Easter basket time...


A little bit of the hunting action...

Jackpot!

Thanks to Aunt Kelley for being so willing to hide the eggs over and over and OVER again! After four egg hunts, I'm thinking she was tired. I was inside for the last one because I myself had had enough, but she just kept being the wonderful aunt that she is. On Easter Sunday afternoon, when we were all wanting to stay inside, she even did a hunt in the living room for him. He was very happy that she saw the need for this as much as he did!

Here he is in his Easter outfit, singing praise songs off his cds. He loves to sing and there were plenty of people to perform for!

And of course, he had to play with his eggs again, checking to see if he had missed any of the candy...

And, while we were all inside watching the final round of The Masters, he had convinced Aunt Kelley to go outside with him once again, so he could play golf himself.
Our little golfer...


And that wraps up our two great trips with all the wonderful family members in our lives! We are truly blessed.