22 months old

Yesterday marked Logan's 22 month birthday. It's amazing I have an "almost 2 year old" when it feels like he was just born yesterday. Yes, time is whizzing by. I used to hear parents say that all the time; now I actually get it. Jon and I have really enjoyed Logan's development - despite his "terrible twos" we are constantly entertained by his fun-spirited, loving and happy personality. I keep thinking ok, now this is it. This age is better than the last few months. This is my favorite age. Of course, every month I say the same thing. We are just enjoying our little guy to no end.

He has also taken a strong bond with the two of us as well. We've noticed he wants more and more of our attention (ack!); pulling our hand along to come play with him or sometimes not play (or touch) but just watch. He loves our company and prefers to be with us at all times. Mornings are probably the easiest example of that. We three lounge in bed until we absolutely must get up and ready for work - but we spend those glorious first moments in the morning cuddling and kissing and playing. Logan LOVES to tumble in bed, using Mommy and Daddy as pillows to soften the landing, standing up next to one of us and leaping into the air, crashing onto either of our bellies, backs, sides, or faces. He screams with glee asking for MORE MORE MORE.

Jon has started a new game with him that they play morning, noon and night. It's so fucking adorable I'll have to catch it on tape sometime. Jon snuggles in real close to Logan and says ok, which side? Logan replies with "that side", while also touching his left or right cheek.

Jon swoops in for a big fat kiss on that cheek. Logan replies "more". And Jon repeats. "Which side?" Logan responds now with "that side", touching the other cheek. And another kiss. They go on and on until Jon's lips are blue. It's precious.

It's just one example of many where Logan is slowly learning how to tell us what to do. ;-) His favorite new expression these days is "my turn". It can be anything. I can be typing away at my computer. He asks to sit up on my lap and says "my turn". I'll be cooking dinner and he'll be standing on his stool next to me watching my every move, begging for "my turn" to begin. We will be reading him a book, and suddenly it's "my turn". I'll be helping him stack some new legos together when he tears them out of my hands with "no, my turn". He wants to try anything and everything himself, and doesn't hold back letting you know. ;-)

For the most part he's really been doing well at school. He listens very well, loves playing with the other kids, is obsessed with "art" time or reading books or dance time. We still struggle with the meals - some days he'll gobble up everything I pack him for lunch, and other days he picks at it and barely eats anything. He seems to be a grazer and can't get enough of snacks throughout the day. The class he's in now is pretty flexible with that, but I'm worried that as he gets older and moves up to the next level, they'll be more rigorous about sticking to lunch and only a couple snacks a day. We'll see.

We did have a problem just the other day when I picked him up from school, which I'm hoping was a fluke but I'm afraid may be the start of a new habit that we need to nip in the bud quickly. While picking him up, his teacher came up to report to me that Logan had punched a kid in the face today.

Not hit. Not slapped. Not pushed. But punched.

Like, with a fist.

*sigh*

The teachers seemed a bit upset by it - telling me they've never seen that happen before with a kid his age. The other kid that Logan hit was fine, mostly just shooken up from the experience (of course!) so that was a relief. And, they put Logan in a nice long time out so that he'd learn his bad actions have consequences. Still, our son has always been physical, from day one, and there is definitely a part of me that is seeing some spooky foreshadowing of parent-teacher conferences and detention in his future. :( We definitely have our work cut out with this one.

We haven't had a doctor's visit in some time (save when he catches a cold) so I have no idea how tall he is, but it definitely seems like he's had a growth spurt in the last month. We had to raise his basketball hoop from the 3' to 4' level and his clothes all of a sudden seem shorter, tighter, smaller. That, mixed with the colder weather that's finally coming on, meant we needed to get some new clothes. So, we spent most of the day yesterday at the mall buying all kinds of new fun stuff for our kiddo to wear. The good news is, a kid's growth does slow down a tad and start evening out by this age, so these clothes should (hopefully) last a full year before I need to start buying new ones. I'm really hoping that's true!

I'd say the other significant change within the last month is Logan's preference for a new TV show he's been watching, called Ni Hao, Kai-Lan. It's a cartoon about a little Chinese-American girl named Kai-Lan (who Logan has shortened to Kai, which he says perfectly, because he loves his Uncle Kai!). She and her friends speak both Chinese and English and work on teaching the kids new Chinese words and cultural traditions. There's a lot of singing included which can be sickening for any adult to listen to over and over, but seems to work magic on the kids. Logan has often times repeated words and phrases that the characters on the show are practicing that day. For example, Logan picked up on the word "Ye Ye" very quickly (which means grandfather, a main character of the show) and often times he'll now refer to the TV show as "Ye Ye" when he wants to watch it.

The funny thing is, he's been so mesmerized with the show lately that he even prefers it over his beloved "Melmo"! Which, can be a bit tricky when your absent minded husband decides to delete all the saved episodes of Kai-Lan you had recorded on the DVR to watch on a rainy day.

Jon now knows never to do that again. ;-)