31 months old

I want to say just a few things about my growing-up-so-fast-I-want-to-freeze-time toddler.


Within this past month Logan has really taken the notion of "scared" to a new level. He's brought up the idea of "scary" before - usually asking me if something is scary. But now he's brought the scary factor into his bedroom and bed. So far, it hasn't been too bad, thank goodness. He notices shadows cast onto the ceiling from his nightlight and tells me they are scary. But, when I explain they are just shadows and show him (putting myself or my hand or whatever, in front of the light) he tends to just accept it and moves on with a cheerful "Oh, okay!".

Since those first couple of nights where I think he truly was a little scared of the shadows, he's tried telling us he's scared of [fill in the blank] when going to bed, using it now more as a delay tactic than anything I think. We treat all of these exclamations very lightly and don't make a big deal out of it, but inside, it has started to worry me a bit that we've entered the "nightmare" phase. Especially since he's also had a couple of rough nights here and there where I think he actually was stuck in a bad dream. But, like I said, so far, it hasn't been too bad so we're just hoping this is another one of those blips on the parenting radar.


Potty training has been going wonderfully. Logan has really taken to wearing his underwear every day - he continues to operate accident free at school, and now at home too! However, I must admit that there are some evenings when I know Jon will be home later than I'd like, that I'll do my best to keep up with the potty training to a point, but then I switch him to his pj's and nighttime diaper if only because I can't deal with the accidents while rocking a tired baby to sleep. But, essentially, he's progressing just fine, even napping with his underwear and most mornings waking up with a dry diaper! (I'm just not brave enough to try underwear through the night yet)

The one area we continue to struggle with, is his pooping. *sigh* He just does NOT want to poop on the potty, and has even now started telling me he wants to poop in his diaper.... so we'll see. I know it's only a matter of time but MAN. Right now it feels like we're going to be one of those parents of a 7 year old who still likes to wear diapers from time to time. ;-)

(Update: since I drafted this post a couple of days ago, he just pooped in the potty on his very own last night! There is hope yet.)


Swimming classes continue through the summer and I'm so happy we're going. Don't get me wrong, it's a half an hour struggle with the little punk. He has decided he hates getting his face wet (he also screams at me not to put lotion on his face, so maybe there's something about touching his face that he doesn't like), which of course doesn't bode well for learning to swim. However, we're plowing through. I trickle water over his head and face throughout the class and encourage him like nobody's business anytime he gets his face just a TINY BIT wet.

I'm also that parent bouncing him on my knees and joking and laughing and squirting water and pretty much turning everything into a game - because I've found that he's much more receptive to trying anything out if he thinks there's a tiny bit of fun involved. The thing that kills me is he actually likes being in the water, and has a fun time with all the little toys they hand out, etc. He just isn't so into the drills that the teacher wants us to work on. It'll be interesting to see if he takes to Hawaii or not - when there aren't any lessons to work on, but just playtime to be had. ;-)


I forgot to mention a month or few ago, that Jon decided we should do away with Logan's milk bottle at night. There was one too many puke sessions in the bed for Jon to deal with :) so the NO MILK FOR YOU Nazi came out of the closet. At first, it was a real struggle. Logan did NOT want to give up his milk bottle and frankly, I wasn't 100% on board with it myself. I figured, he'd give it up when he was ready, just like everything else in his life to date. But, I didn't argue too much - so we moved his milk bottle out of his room/bed first and at the dinner table. After doing that for a bit, we changed out the bottle to a sippy cup at night. It was really hard for him to accept that he could drink milk out of a sippy cup and frankly, that's I think what helped end the night time bottle all together. He just can't grasp the concept of drinking milk out of a cup! (even though he does it at school, so who knows)

We still allow him a bottle of milk in the morning when he wakes up (at the table), but he's done away with the one at night. We figured this would also help us with the potty training anyway so that he's not going to bed with a full belly of liquid (which seems to be working). I'm not sure how long we'll continue with the morning milk bottle, but for now, it's sticking and we're not fighting it.

Every day, when I would drop Logan off at school (prior to maternity leave, since that's now turned into Jon's duty), he would throw a fit. He seemed to hate the idea of being left behind, being "abandoned" by his mother, and would cling to my leg with big fat tears streaming down his face. The teachers were great at helping distract him each morning so that the drop off wasn't as bad, but it was hard (for both of us). Some mornings he did wonderfully, but the majority of the time he was a big cranky mess. Since Jon took over this job, he's been slightly better, but still had tough mornings the majority of the time. However, I'd say this last month he's really turned a corner - and he's suddenly decided it's fun to go to school and leave us in the dust. So now, when Jon (or occasionally, I), drop him off at school, he skips off to hang with the cool kids, waving us a kiss goodbye. Just another sign that our little boy is growing up. :)


One of the newer developments in Logan's personality, which I've noticed just in the last week or so, is "The Boss". Logan's always been more aggressive and in-your-face than most of the kids at his school. He gets impatient at the flip of a switch and is louder than all hell. He's very much like his two parents. So, I don't know if this was just the eventual evolution of all that, or the emergence of his increasing vocabulary, or the birth of his little brother, or what. But he's starting to become a little bossy dude!

I first noticed it with me - he'd tell me what to do, to come with him somewhere, to eat or cut a piece of food a certain way or instruct me to share something with him. I didn't think much of it. But then I started noticing him bossing the dogs around - mostly Odin since Grover is still too much of a puppy for Logan to try and contain. He'll tell Odin to sit, to eat, to lay down, to walk over there, to go in his crate. Whatever it may be, he's been practicing his leadership skills on the poor dog. At the time, I just chuckled and thought it was kinda funny. Especially since Odin would usually just look at him and stay in whatever position he was in.

But the most recent of all, I've now noticed him bossing other kids his age. One day I happened to be early picking him up from school and the kids were still playing outside in the playground. He didn't notice me yet, so I got a few minutes of time to observe my little guy - standing strong, feet planted into the ground and literally hands on his hips, very general-like pose, and - I kid you not - YELLING instructions and POINTING at the other kids to do whatever it was he wanted them to do. He was telling them to go here and go there and pick up the dirt and put it in that garbage truck and move it to that other truck and whatever else. I was a little surprised and not quite sure what to make of it quite frankly, but put it to the back of my mind pretty quickly. I forgot about his behavior until a few days later when we were hanging out with the Jodoins, and I suddenly noticed Logan bossing his BFF Robert around as well! Telling him to play with his trucks a certain way or pick up the dirt from one area and put it to another.

Now, anyone who knows me, knows I've always been pretty bossy myself. Is this a first born trait? Likely. Do you pick it up from your parents. BLOODY likely (Hi Mom. Hi Dad.) Can it get you into trouble at times? Of course.

But I also like to think, it's that trait that can help you become a great and confident leader. In work, in your relationships, amongst your friends. In your life. Once you've matured and learned to simmer it down a bit of course. ;-) I know my son is going to have a lot to learn - I've certainly had many a hiccup being the boss (or thinking I'm the boss) in my life, but I'm hoping whatever I've learned along the way, I'll be able to help him through it too.

In fact, I look forward to it - just one more thing that we first borns have to share together.