Happy Birthday experiment

Here's our first real experiment with iMovie!

Happy Birthday Grammy & Pop Pop (click here for youtube post)

the gift!

Logan had a fantastic night's sleep last night, and I woke up to him yelling very insistently, "Mama!...Mama!...Mama!". Very cute, even if a bit startling first thing. Jim and I got him off to school just fine, even got out the door a bit early to stop at Panera for coffee. When we got to Montessori this morning, Erin came to the door, L waved hello and ran right in. Then he stopped short, turned and said (again insistently), "Mama!" and ran with open arms and mouth right to me and planted a big huge wet kiss on my mouth, then ran equally fast right back into the classroom. The best!

Luge!

Here are a few shots from out in front of our place with L's new toboggan. It has been viciously cold here, usually near 0, but today it got to be near 20 and so we couldn't resist playing outside a bit. Here is a fun "luge" video of Logan sledding almost into the dog. You can hear him laugh at the end of it! He was having a great time.





This video is a bit longer than the first, and you get a better sense as to how fast the little toboggan can go, and just how excited Logan is to get it moving!





Here are two pictures of the two boys playing in the snow...this one is an action shot and you really get a good view of how much fun L is having




















Here is a close-up of L in his little toboggan!

Baby beluga...

L had us completely perplexed. He would run over to the iPod dock, start dancing a little and say "buh guh". We had no idea what song he was talking about. We went through all his favorites and then any which could remotely have a buh or a guh sound in them. To no avail. He was frustrated since we usually are pretty good at discerning what songs he wants to hear. It wasn't until we were staying at Montessori that we heard that the CD that the kids were listening to was a Raffi one that began with Baby Beluga (buh guh). L was happy when we downloaded it for him. Of course now he requests it all the time and Jim and I go to bed with it completely stuck in our heads!







Here's a fun picture of Logan with static-electricity hair while he was playing in his little ikea tent!

Dancing!!

We bought L a pair of slippers a while ago for Montessori, but since lost one of them. We were all really bummed because Logan loved them so much. Thankfully, his friend C didn't like his pair, so we bought them off of his mom! Here is L' dance of joy in being re-united with his favorite pair of slippers!

sweet sweet toddler moments

With the recent weeks of GI bugs, antibiotic side effects, L has been extra extra cuddly. And yesterday, L wanted to nurse, but as we had just nursed, I offered to cuddle with him. He laid his head on my chest, but popped back up and looked at me and my chest. He then pulled at my collar, and I was about to remind him that we were going to cuddle, not nurse, when he laid his head down on my bare skin. He wanted to cuddle without the shirt between us. So sweet and warm.

Then today, L accidentally head butted me hard on my cheek bone...particularly painful given my sinus infection and cold. As I held my hand over my cheek, eyes watering in pain, Logan placed his hands on my cheeks, and turned my head towards him, and then planted a big kiss on my lips and then hugged me. Of course, my eyes misted for different reasons then...

second week moments at Montessori

J & I both dropped L off today, we stayed for 10 minutes and then left. Our leaving today did bring a few tears. L's teacher, E, brought him over to the guinea pigs where we was quickly distracted. Also, R, a fellow classmate, who can best be described as a UN monitor, peacekeeper, and ambassador, all rolled into one, came immediately over to Logan to help him through his tears. She rubbed his back and then bent over to give him a kiss; she is a mature, older woman; probably at least 2 1/2. Logan greeted this advance with a completely open mouth and bent forward to receive it. Thank goodness for the two-way mirror that we got to spy through and catch that sweet moment. She then put her arm around him and all three of them walked through the classroom together. Very sweet!

Later, when we came to pick Logan up, the entire class was in the gym (it is below 0 right now in MI and they won't bring the kids out unless it is above 25). We waited there for almost 10 minutes before Logan looked up from his busying playing to notice that we were there. When we got there, he was busy at "work," pushing around a kid-sized vacuum cleaner. Everyone was very impressed with how well he has adjusted to the school setting, even the other toddler teacher came up to us and said how well L was doing, particularly for how young he is.

Other newsworthy notes: L is beginning to string words together now in earnest. Yesterday he said as we were going upstairs to bed "Go go nigh nigh" and while we were watching his favorite Wegman dog DVD at the part where the dog is asleep and dreaming of being a deer (for the letter D), Logan said "dog dog nigh nigh". Exciting times!

Hanging out...

Here are some other new pics of us just around...

Here is a fun one of Logan. He had decided to sit down outside in a puddle/snow and got his pants all wet with our new sitter. She had gotten his pants off him, but not new ones on before J snapped off a few of these cuties. Hot legs!

















Here is a great one of L and me. We were hanging out at our friends' The C's house for the afternoon.

















Here is a classic L picture - eating a whole apple by himself! What a big boy!!





















L is finally old enough to have both enough attention and interest in a little TV, well chosen material of course! He has fallen in love with the Wegman Weimeraners! Mostly because he thinks they are Sadie! Here he is watching the ABC video with J, all cuddled up on the couch.

















Here's a nice one of L with his "water play" - a favorite activity that will keep him busy for over an hour. What is great too about it is that because he gets so wet and a little chilly, he loves to cuddle afterwards. Best time of the day!

First Days of School...

*sigh* Logan started Montessori last week. Monday his teacher Erin came for a home visit, to meet Logan, get to know what he enjoys, and to answer all of our questions. Tuesday he had his first day in the classroom, just him and all those toys! Wednesday, the heat was out in the toddler room so he didn't go that day. And Thursday he started with all his new friends! He was initially scheduled to stay only 20 minutes, but didn't show any signs that he was tired until about an hour into it. We had kids all over our laps, asking us to read to them and such. I had expected that Logan would get a little antsy and ask for us, but he really didn't. Friday, he was scheduled to stay an hour, but ended staying there for 2 hours. We had a great time watching him play and explore his new space. He particularly enjoyed using the carpet swiffer, painting on the easel, eating snacks, playing with the plastic vegetables, the water station, and of course running back and forth between the guinea pigs and the "blub blub" (fish).

One sweet moment was when J, who is a bit older maybe 2 1/2, followed Logan around for a little while wanting desperately to play "with" him. Of course, because Logan is only 16 months old and he doesn't know how to play with anyone yet, so he got a little upset. Really sweet that he wanted so badly to play with L, even if L didn't know how!

Here is one with J and L in the parking lot giving kisses!

















We actually had to re-take this picture on a day other than the first because Logan ran into the building too fast for me to snap a picture!

















Here is one of the whole fam out in the lobby!

















All the kids have to ring the bell to let the teacher know that they are ready to come into the class after they change out of their street shoes. Here is L ringing the bell like a seasoned student!
















Here is L playing with a fun wooden alphabet toy! We actually were able to pick one of these up at the consignment shop near us, and he is having a great time with it!
















Here he is running around like mad with the carpet swiffer! On this first day he mostly just ran around screeching "THAT!" and pointing to things he thought were fun!
















Here he is taking lay of his new land! :)

Nature Center

Here are some fun pics from our visit to the Nature Center.






















Here Logan is playing with the kitty that resides at the Nature Center. He was super super gentle, and would then laugh really excitedly and really maniacally, and then touch the kitty again very softly or lay down on the floor next to it to "hug" it from a distance. So cute!

working at home

Logan was resisting getting dressed after I changed him, but desperately wanted to wear his sneakers, so we let him run (literally) around the house in his dipes and the sneaks. He looked like a little streaker. Here he is hard at "work".

















Here he is on Sadie. He really wanted to ride on her ("gotta go"). She was tolerant to a point, but not for too much longer!

















Here are some fun pics that we took today in the kitchen. I made him some homemade playdough (orange) and after he tried some (and needed help to take it out of his mouth), and he gave some for me to try, for Sadie to try, and for Dad to try, we then had a lot of fun playing with it. He particularly enjoyed picking up the dough and throwing it on the floor to here it splat. He also liked poking his finger in it and sticking magnets into it. Fun fun!!

Just for fun...

Thought it would be fun to list L's top ten favorite activities....no particular order...

1. Stacking blocks or shoes or anything really
2. Being read to, particularly books that can be sung (Wheels on the Bus or Itsy Bitsy Spider) and books that are about or feature dogs in some way.
   
3. Climbing, climbing, scaling, climbing
4. Watching "dog dog" on TV (we tivo'd the Weimaraner "Breed all About It" and it has the William Wegman dogs on it - he loves it! All 9 minutes of it and wants to watch it ALL the time!)
5. Playing in water, pouring water, dunking and plunking things in water, spilling water, trying to carry water, having mom or dad fill any random item which might carry a liquid with water.
6. Going to the nature center and running back and forth from the "blub blub" (fish), the "dog" (fox), the "Caw" (bird), the "Curl" (squirrel), and the "Tuh" (turtle). Very cute! He also likes to visit with the cat that lives there as well.
7. Giving hugs and kisses, especially to a reluctant Sadie.
   
8. Stirring up blocks, shoes, or whatever else can be put in a bowl.
9. Being swung in a blanket hammock by mom and dad.
10. Being chased or playing hide-and-go-seek.
    

Adventures of a young foodie

I am yet again amazed at L's willingness to try foods. Today, while grocery shopping, he wanted to "do" and to help, so I let him hold the baby portabello mushrooms, while I continued checking things off our list. Only when I looked back, he had pulled back the cellophane wrapper and was chowing down on the sliced mushrooms! Then when we got him, and we were unloading all the groceries, with his help of course, he yoinked a tangerine out of the fridge and starting eating it whole, peel and all. This all in a week when he didn't blink when I gave him garlicky pesto doused gnocchi and demanded more and more and more roasted carrots. Also his new fun food habit is to "DUNK" everything. He particularly loves to dunk his bagel or pancake into his yogurt in the morning, but he also will dunk his chicken in his soy milk or water if given the opportunity!