Goodbye PDO, Hello Preschool!

Brian and I both work full-time, and Logan has spent most of his time with his Mimi (Brian's mom) during the week since I returned to work when he was 3 months old. When he was 6 months old, we started him at Christ Methodist Parents Day Out twice a week. We wanted to let him have some interaction with other children, and his Mimi needed a couple of days to herself since she works as a nurse on the weekends. 

We had a great experience at Christ Methodist PDO and would highly recommend it!  We love the teachers and other children at PDO, and Logan's favorite teachers were Ms. Beatrice and Ms. Alicia (but they are all great!). The Director, Amy Edwards, is very sweet and easy to work with.  We loved it!

Last week, Logan started the Pre-K 2 year old class at St. Luke's Day School. So far, it has been awesome! We decided to move him because we wanted to give his Mimi more of a break during the week and we had heard great things about St. Luke's. He is now going three days a week, and he seems to be learning so much. They treat him like a big boy there- he sleeps on a nap mat, cannot use his pacifier during naps, etc. I think it will be really good for him! His lead teacher, Ms. Chara, is great. She gives Logan tough love in a way I never could!

On his second day there, he even used the POTTY! We have not even tried to potty train him yet because I think he is too young, but apparently he decided he wanted to go. Ms. Chara said that he came up to her and said, "poop, poop" (sorry for the graphic term--- it is what it is!), so she asked him if he wanted to potty and he said "YES!"  I think it was a fluke because has not gone since, but he does request to sit on the potty regularly. Maybe they will do all of the hard work for us when the time comes!

Another reason we chose St. Luke's is because is offers a Kindergarten program that is a feeder for the U of M Campus School.  If all goes according to plan, we will likely send Logan to the U of M Campus School for elementary school. I cannot believe I am even talking about that yet, but I feel like it will be here before we know it!  Anyway, we are impressed with St. Luke's so far and glad he is in such a loving environment. 

Speaking of a loving environment, Logan's cousin Kaylie is going to St. Luke's, too! Here is a picture of them pretending to go "night, night!"in Logan's bed.

23 Months!

As of June 8, Sweet Logan is one month away from being 2 years old!  He is so much fun, and we enjoy watching him grow and learn something new everyday.  While we are seeing glimpses of the "Terrible Twos" on a regular basis, Logan is still as sweet as ever and a joy to be around most of the time. 

Logan is saying more words and phrases daily.  He is a little sponge!  Some of his most recent phrases are "I'll do it!" and "I'll start it!"  He also starts many phrases with "I said HUG" or "I said KISS" or "I said Habe (have) it."  He sings a version of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and can count to at least 10.  For some reason he skips from 10 to 13, but we are working on that.  He usually counts to 13 (give or take a few numbers) and then says "GO!" when he is about to jump off some piece of furniture.  He is also very familiar with the alphabet and can say all letters clearly and will even say some in a row on his own.

Logan's favorite playtime activity is cleaning.  It is crazy how much he loves to vaccum, sweep, dust, and anything else you do to clean.  He has his own toy vaccum, but he definitely prefer the real "baccum."  After he eats, he always runs to get the "boom" (broom) to clean up his mess.  If I give him a baby wipe and tell him to clean, he will go and wipe down everything he can get his hands on.  I hope this love of cleaning lasts through his teenage years, but something tells me that it won't!

We spend a lot of time "owside" (outside) in the backyard, at the park, at the Zoo, and at the Botanic Garden's My Big Backyard.  Logan loves playing ouside, and he has tons of energy!  He is not afraid of anything and goes head first down even the biggest slides at the park.  We have also been swimming this year several times at the river and at the pool, and he loves that too.  He is up for anything he can do while being outside.

I have called Logan "Sweet Logan" since before he was born, and he definitely lives up to his name! He is very sweet and loves hugs and kisses.  He is also sweet to babies we have been around and other children his age.  When leaving PDO, his Mimi tells me that he has to hug all of the other kids before he goes home.  He is such a sweetheart, and we love him so very much!

Here are some recent pictures:

Wow, he can jump!

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This was all Logan's idea...

Fun at Redbirds Game

Tonight we went to a Memphis Redbirds game, and we had a blast! We thought it would be a good activity for Logan because it is outside, there are lots of people to look at, there is great food, and he can be as loud as he wants! We opted for seats rather than sitting on the bluff because we did not want to spend the whole game chasing Logan in a wide-open area.

We had a very nice group from Jonesboro sitting in front of us during the game, and there were several girls around age 6 who entertained Logan just about the entire time.  At one point, they had him hugging them one after another.  It was hilarious! I just had to take a picture (with my phone hence the quality) of our little ladies man and his three admirers during the hugging game...

We will definitely go back to another game soon!  We made it two hours and decided to head home at bedtime even though Logan was still happy. Much better to leave with a happy toddler than a screaming one!

My Big Backyard

Logan was out of "school" today for the Easter break, so I took off work to hang out with him.  Our friends Shea and Jack (who were also off for the Easter break) invited us to go to "My Big Backyard" at the Botanic Garden this morning, and we had a blast!  I have always heard about it, but we have never been before. There are lots of things to do for kids (and adults!) of all ages.

I knew from other people's pictures that there were areas for kids to get wet in, but I was not planning on doing that day since it was only about 70 degrees when we got there.  However, as soon as Logan heard the fountains, he screamed "water" and headed straight toward them! I tried to stop him, but he was so excited that I finally let him go.  Here are some pictures of Jack and Logan from the morning.  They both had a great time and are in the middle of long afternoon naps now! We will definitely be going back soon.

Happy Easter & Happy 21 Months!

Happy Easter! This is one of the best pictures I took of Logan today- he never sits still and is not interested in taking pictures, either!  We spent the weekend in Nashville and went to the Easter Service at Brentwood Baptist Church today.  We had a great time!

Logan is 21 months old as of today, and his biggest development is certainly his speech.  He can say almost anything he wants to these days, and he is saying a lot of phrases too.  Sometimes we can even have successful conversations, and it is so sweet and helpful to know what he is saying and needs or wants.  Some of the recent phrases he has said this week include, "this is cute," "I see Kaylie (his cousin)," and "this is loud." Definitely the sweetest thing he says is "wuv you."  He will want me to kiss both of his hands, then his head, and then he will say "wuv you!"  It is definitely the sweetest thing in the world!

Here are some pictures from the weekend.  We went to Cheekwood in Nashville for an Easter Egg hunt and some outdoor play time on Saturday, and then we took some pictures after church today. He is always on the go!

20 Months!

Logan is 20 months old! We have moved out of the teenage months, which I remember reading a few months ago would be trying at times.  I would definitely say this is true- a toddler in his teenage months certainly has a lot of opinions about the way the world should work.  These last few months have also been lots of fun!  Logan is talking more all the time, and he says new words daily.  A few weeks ago, Logan started saying phrases like "I get it" and "I fix it."  Just today Logan and Brian were riding in the car with the windows down, and Logan said, "I like it!"  He is such a cutie.

Logan is still as wild as ever!  He is constantly climbing and jumping off furniture.  A few weeks ago we went to Florida to visit my Grandparents who go south for the winter, and Logan took to jumping into the pool from the side.  This was completely unsolicited, and he had a ball.  He did not mind going under water briefly after he jumped in before I pulled him up.  Honestly, he loved it.  I have got to get that boy into some water safety/swimming lessons ASAP!

Logan still likes a variety of foods, but some days he rarely eats anything.  I think this is pretty typical of most toddlers.  Some days he will eat anything and everything we place in front of him.  However, other days we can only talk him into eating breakfast bar and a "nana" (banana).  I am not sure of Logan's weight and height, but I definitely think he is growing.  He is filling out all of his 3T clothing now!

Other recent news- we found out that my sister & brother-in-law (Aunt Holly & Uncle Jason--- Logan knows their names very well) are expecting a baby BOY in July.  Graham Michael Cousar is due in mid-July, and we cannot wait for him to get here!  I know Logan and Graham will have a lot of fun together.  Holly and I are 18 months apart in age, and we have always been very close.  Logan and Graham will be right at two years apart, and I am so excited that they will be so close in age.

Logan is so sweet, and we love him dearly!  It is amazing to see all of the new things he says and/or discovers everyday.

Logan has an addiction...

And that addiction is... Yo Gabba Gabba.  For those of you lucky enough to have never heard of this show, let me give a brief summary.  DJ Lance Rock is the host, and he takes you to "Gabba Land" where you mostly sing and dance about a variety of things.  Some of these include going to the doctor, teamwork, brushing your teeth, eating healthy foods... you get the idea.  At other times in the show, there are times to make funny faces and then there are random cartoons inserted at various time.  Basically, the 30 minutes just keeps you guessing.

When we were headed to the beach in September, I was looking for shows to download on my iPad and a message board for toddlers recommended this show.  Up until then the only thing he had ever watched and liked was Baby Einstein, and the DVDs were not available for download.  In all honesty, I try to let him watch TV as little as possible, but we needed some entertainment for the long car ride.  After watching the two episodes over and over on that trip, he was hooked.  More recently, if Logan is getting impatient when we are getting dinner together, we will let him watch the show on the iPad for a few minutes.  He will stand in his kitchen helper and put the iPad on the counter and dance and even try to sing to his favorite songs.  He still primary loves one episode- "Dance."  He literally knows every song and the dances to them.  He even starts making funny faces before the segment actually starts.  Not to mention he can work the iPad like a champ- starting and stopping new episodes and even sliding the iPad display to the correct screen if it somehow gets changed.  This generation of kiddos are going to be crazy smart when it comes to electronics!

Now that Logan has started talking even more, he regularly asks to watch "Gabba."  When I got home from work today, he was walking around the house saying, "Gabba, Gabba, Gabba, Gabba."  I told him we might watch it later (which we didn't have time for tonight!), and he did not like my response.  Oh well, it is tough to learn at only 18 months that you cannot always get everything you want!

Since I try not to do a post without a picture of my sweet boy, here is one from this weekend with his cousin Kaylie.  Such cuties!  Logan and Kaylie are almost the same age- Kaylie is about 2 1/2 weeks older.  Logan spends most of his time trying to drag her from one side of the room to the next.  They have a big time together!