10 months old

It's just mind boggling to think in a couple more months, Logan is going to be one year old! Time DOES fly, doesn't it?? It feels like AGES ago when I was super pregnant and starting to waddle and yet, it was about this time last year. :)

Of course, the latest developments for Logan have mostly been the experiences he's gained on his New Zealand trip. And, although I realize he won't remember any of the trip when he is older, I feel like all of the new people, new accents and voices, new sights and cities to see, all these new experiences are definitely contributing to his cognitive growth and personality which we continue to see blossom every day.

The last few days have been a little funky for us, adjusting back to "normal" life. Our schedule has been slightly wonky, as Logan is trying to figure out how to adjust back to Pacific Time, but more than that, I think he's trying to adapt back to life without Mommy and Daddy 24x7. And that has been VERY challenging for all three of us this week. He entered a bit of a "Mommy phase" right before we left for vacation - and has continued to want me, and only me, when he is super tired, exhausted and needs me to comfort him and put him to bed.

This has, unfortunately, overlapped a bit into our transition back to home life, since he's had a harder time adjusting back to school than we had imagined. He was very clingy for the first few days, crying whenever we dropped him off or picked him up, and was also having a LOT of trouble sleeping at night, often times crying WHILE sleeping (I still haven't figured out how that is possible) and yet calming down and snuggling into my shoulder fast asleep the minute I pick him up to rock him and settle him back down.

Fortunately, each day has been a tad bit better. We finally got two full night's of sleep the last two nights, and Logan also did much better at school, so that today when I dropped him off, he didn't even notice me when I left (ahhh, the good ol' days) and he was sound asleep on his little "pallet" (they start transitioning them out of cribs in this classroom) when I arrived to pick him up this evening. We're crossing our fingers this all continues!

A few firsts that Logan celebrated this past month (mostly trip related):

• Seeing all of New Zealand (duh)
  
• Traveling on an International Flight (12 hours. Each way!)
• Saying hi to friendly cows and sheep (LOTS of sheep) in nearby pastures
• Driving on the left side of the road
• Bathing on a beach and feeling sand between his toes (specifically, Hahei's Hot Water Beach)
• Laughing at Geysers and Blowholes
  
• Going on a Luge! Look ma, no seatbelt! :)
• Watching Waterfalls
• Riding on a Ferry
  
• Hiking up to a Glacier

He's also been working on walking to his left and is able to do that now (he mastered walking to his right very quickly but walking to the left has been really hard for him!). He loves picking up objects, taking them OUT of things (i.e. a box) and putting them back (although putting them back is A LOT harder for him, he doesn't always DROP the object back in). A take on this development, and probably his most favorite, is trying to put his bottle cap back on the bottle. He gets it right about half the time. ;-) He also likes using objects, such as a piece of bread, as a tool to help him pick up other food (say a Cheerio) to put in his mouth!! If it weren't so messy, I'd let him try to feed himself with his spoon - but that takes a lot of time and patience and clean up. So, I'm not quite ready to take that leap of faith just yet.

He's become VERY chatty and loud, as I've mentioned before. But, I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised, given he lives in a pretty loud household. *cough* JON. *cough* He's just trying to be heard amongst all the chaos.

I've also begun introducing him to ALL sorts of new solid foods this week, since he's been taking more and more of an interest in what WE are eating, and getting less and less interested with the jarred food. It was a little daunting at first, to think up foods that I could make for him, and that were soft enough for him to eat (most of the time, the foods we eat are too dang spicy!). But, with a little help from friends and the school, we are doing MUCH better and I think he's happier and possibly sleeping better too because of it. We've tried all sorts of freeze dried fruits and veggies, along with the fresh versions, tofu (not a fan), fruity bars, graham crackers, or any crackers with cheese on them, or just cheese alone. ;-) He LOVES quesadillas (cheese and bread, what's not to like?) as well as pasta (the rotelli pasta pieces are perfect for him to pick up, but what is funny is he's learned to just SUCK the sauce off each piece and then puts the pasta back down on his tray) and mac n' cheese (I think he liked the pasta better tho).

And since we've been back home this week, he's also learned how to drink from his sippy cup (tilting it UP gives him the juice - tada!) without Mommy's help.


Happy 10 months Logan!