Christmas fun!

Here is Logan trying on the Santa hat. I think this was taken when we put up our Christmas tree several weeks ago.  Such a cutie, even though his outfit does not match!

We had a great Christmas this year!  It started last weekend with a celebration at my Dad and Sandra's house, and we got to spend time with Sandra's sons and their families.  Then Friday, the 23rd, we celebrated with Brian's family.  Christmas Eve and Christmas morning was spent with my Mom's side of the family, and we ended Christmas night with dinner at Huey's.  Whew- a busy weekend for sure!

Logan enjoyed most of his 2nd Christmas, but I will say that all of the moving around and getting him out of his routine took its toll on all of us.  He was a good sport most of the time, particularly since he stayed up later than normal, missed naps, and interacted with a lot of people he does not regularly see.  Brian and I were so excited about Santa Claus coming to visit this year since Logan would know a little bit more about what was going on.  Here are Logan's gifts from Santa:

Logan was still tired from Christmas Eve when we took him into the living room Christmas morning, and he just started crying! I think he wanted his milk, breakfast bar, etc., first, so that part did not go as planned.  However, he quickly recovered and started playing with all of his new goodies!

I was not able to get very many pictures this year.  This was partly due to Logan's temperament, and each time I got the camera out, he thought he should be the one taking the pictures!  Here are some that I was able to get of Logan:

And here are some other family pictures:

Holly, Mom & Me 

Grandmother & Papa 

Mimi & PawPaw

I failed to get any pictures of my Dad & Sandra, but this is a cute one of Logan and Sandra's granddaughter, Isabelle.  Logan loved her and kept hugging her!  Isabelle is going to be a big sister next year, and she will be a great one.  She was so patient with Logan!

And finally, here are my two favorite guys enjoying a Christmas morning pre-brunch nap.  This was right before I had to wake them up to head to Holly & Jason's.  So sweet!

17 Months & Christmas Card Pictures

Below are some pictures taken of Logan by Lisa Mac right before Thanksgiving.  We used several in our Christmas card this year.  Logan literally ran the entire session and never sat or stood still.  I still cannot believe that Lisa was able to get any decent pictures of him.  She worked hard!  The first one is my favorite- it looks just like him always running and smiling!

As of December 8, our sweet Logan is 17 months old!  Since I missed the 16 month posting, I will update on what he has been up to the last couple of months.  We celebrated Logan's second Thanksgiving and we are busy getting ready for Christmas now.

Logan continues to be even more active, if that is possible!  He is climbing on everything and has already managed to climb (and fall) out of his crib.  Right at 16 months, Logan decided he would get out of his crib, and it left a nasty knot on his head.  So, that night we decided it was time to convert his crib to a toddler bed.  It was definitely bittersweet!  Having him sleep in his toddler bed makes him seem even more grown up.  Luckily, the transition has not been too bad and he is sleeping pretty well with the toddler rail up. 

Here are some other things Logan has been up to:

• Something he has done for as long as I can remember is play with my hair when he gets sleepy and is going to sleep.  He also does it to Brian and his Mimi.  Such a sweetheart!  If he is in the car and cannot reach anyone else's hair, he will play with his own.  
• Saying lots of new words.  Some of these include girl, child, hot, bath, baby, cup... the list goes on.  He also likes to say "go, go, go" and "no, no." As soon as he wakes up in the morning, he immediately asks for his "Ba, Ba" (his sippy cup).  He just has the sweetest voice!
• Also still talking a lot of nonsense but it is super cute! He talks long sentences that do not make any sense.
• Becoming more independent all the time! He wants to feed himself with a fork or spoon, and he is actually doing pretty well.  He also wants to brush his teeth himself, so we have two toothbrushes- one for him and one for us!
• Watching EVERYTHING we do and trying to do it, too.  He pulls out my blow dryer and roll brush daily and stands in front of the mirror to "pretend" he is blowdrying his hair, too.  Then he will grab the broom of vacuum cleaner attachment and "pretend" to clean the house.  He also loves playing in my makeup each morning when I am getting ready, much to his Dad's dislike! 
• If Logan is in a room and everyone starts laughing, he will start laughing, too.  He does not want to be left out of the conversation!
• Still loving to be the center of attention.  At a restaurant, he will try to get the attention of the people at the nearest table.  Once they acknowledge him and smile, etc., he expects them to just keep talking to him!  He does not understand that they are having their own conversations.  We are working on that :)
• Speaking of saying hot, asking if something his "hot" is one of Logan's favorite conversation starters.  He always walks up to the oven and puts his hand out and says, "Hot?" But, he also wants to make sure his food isn't hot, so he always asks, "Hot?" and holds his hand over his food.  He then proceeds to blow (aka, spit) on his food to cool it off.  So funny!  His "hot" kind of sounds like "ha" but it is still precious!
• Taking his climbing to new levels- he can now climb into almost any piece of furniture, and he loves to show us that he can.  One of his favorite places to climb is one of our chairs in the living room that is underneath light switches.  He climbs into the chair, and then stands up on the arm so he can reach the light switches.  He then proceeds to turn them on and off repeatedly.  I am so afraid that he is going to fall off the arm of the chair and hit his head on the hardwood floor!  So, we try to stop this as much as possible or sit beside him while he is up there, but there is really no stopping him most of the time!
• Wanting to sit at the big table with us, rather than in his highchair.  We have finally given in!
• Using a fork and spoon pretty well for foods that are easy to pick up.
• Still eating most anything, but his appetite varies from day to day.  Sometimes he will eat everything in sight, and the next day he will barely eat.  From what I have heard, this is typical toddler eating behavior.
• Still wearing size 2T clothes, but some of his longalls and t-shirts are getting too short!  We will probably be in 3T before we know it.  His shoe size is still around a 7.  Luckily, we have been able to get a couple of month's wear out of his newer shoes.
• A negative habit that Logan has started is hitting.  He does it sometimes for attention and sometimes in the middle of a tantrum.  We are using "time outs" with him, and it seems to be getting better.  I'm sure it is frustrating for him to not be able to communicate all of his feelings with words!

We have so much fun with Logan, and we just love being around him as much as possible and watching him discover more about the world around him.  We can't wait to see what else he has in store for us!