Septembers Gone By: A Trip Down Memory Lane

Logan (September 2004)

Wish that Cobapple had been well-established years ago? So do I. Here's my attempt to turn back time. Please feel free to e-mail some of your favorite September pictures, and I will try to add them to the site. Watch for another "memory lane" installment next month!

September 2002

September 2003

September 2004

September 2005

Back to School

Logan headed back to preschool this morning. He is in the same classroom he was in last year and even has the same teachers. This year he goes three times a week: Monday (9-11:30), Wednesday (9-3 ~ he stays for Lunch Bunch), and Friday (9-11:30).

I had to unwrap Logan from my right leg before leaving the room, so I guess we're not totally over the separation anxiety yet. I'm hopeful that the readjustment won't take quite as long this year though.

Liam recently began attending Mother's Day Out (MDO) on Wednesdays (9-3). He cries when I drop him off - but not for long. I've been enjoying his artwork from craft time.

Liam's Art Gallery:

Sticker-decorated nametag

Painting with cars

Spreading glue with a paintbrush and applying colored pom-poms

In other news...Jason and I are preparing for our first sprint triathlon (sometime next spring). We promised each other that we would start training after Labor Day weekend, and yesterday we both kept that commitment with some running. I'm looking forward to improving my health and working some "non-running" muscles with the cycling and swimming. I think we're both pretty excited about the challenge!

What the..?

Last night before bed, Logan was hungry and wanted a snack. He asked for, and I am not making this up, a bowl of All-Bran cereal. This is a cereal that resembles crushed bits of brown pine needles, and he loves it. He won't eat the red part of peaches, or anything on a piece of chicken that isn't chicken-colored (like seasonings, sauces, or grill marks), but a big bowl of fiber cereal is just fine. Go figure.

4 Years Old and Already Shaving

Last night was bath night for the boys, and one of Logan's favorite things is to use his "Berry Soap", which is just kids' soap in an aerosol can, much like shaving cream. He likes me to squirt it into his hand and make all kinds of squiggly shapes, then he slaps his hands together and splatters it everywhere. He scrubs, I rinse.

Last night I was getting ready to rinse him off, and he says "Wait! NO NO NO, not yet!" Then he starts rubbing the berry soap all over his stomach.

"I have to shave my tummy first. That'll make it smoooooooooth..."

Swimming Lessons

Logan just finished up a 2 week session of swimming lessons at the Rec-Plex, an indoor recreation facility in St. Peters. He is a bit timid in the water, but every morning he eagerly put his swimming trunks on, so at least we know he enjoyed the lessons! Part of the fun was taking the class with 3-year-old friend Nate.

Logan never dunked his head under the water, but he walked in shoulder-deep water, blew bubbles, kicked in a prone position, "jumped in" from the side, and spent some time on a kickboard. His favorite activity was chasing after rings the teacher threw into the water.

At the end of his last lesson today, Logan asked when he could take more swimming lessons. We're taking that as a good sign -- and more swimming lessons will likely be on the agenda later in the fall. Many thanks to Nate's mom, Sherry, for the great pictures!

Blowing bubbles

Kicking

Splashing with Nate

Freaking out

"Jumping in"

A Picture Story

Sorry we've been remiss with the photos and stories. Logan and Liam just really haven't done much lately. I kid. The fault is all ours, of course. At the moment I don't have time to get into much, so I'll just leave you with this brief story in pictures from our dinner this evening:

Liam before trying the green beans:




















Liam after trying the green beans:

Proof that Guyhood is Genetic

Logan and I were playing around with his trucks and cars earlier today, and being that we're both boys, the playing naturally evolved into crashing the trucks into each other at high speed. Not just crashing, but a contest to see who could crash best. We can't just destroy, we have to be competitive about it. Crashing Tonka trucks, Cold War arms race. Same thing.

Anyway, so where was Liam in all of this? Watching intently, of course, clapping and yelling out "Waaaooooo!!!" every time the trucks collided. How awesome is that? I don't even have to teach them, they just know.

Random Snippets on a Birthday

So, it's my birthday, the 32nd so far. It'd be nice to get out and do something special, but given the ridiculous 95-degree heat and the fact that I've been out of town all week, and kicking back to some World Cup and playing with the boys today sounds pretty okay.

Logan had a tee ball game today (he's actually starting to enjoy them), and on the way we somehow go tto talking about baseball and softball. I think he was asking something about whether girls played tee ball. I told him maybe, but they also play softball.

"Dad, what's a softball?"

"Well, it's kind of like a baseball, but bigger. You know how big a grapefruit is?"

"Yeah."

"Well, a softball is about the same size as a grapefruit."

"Ohh, okay."

Silence for a minute from the backseat, then:

"What's a grapefruit?"

---------

After we got home we played a game of "Sequence, but a different game than regular Sequence". Logan is big on inventing his own games, most of which are constantly re-written as the games progress. This one was no different. We started playing what was basically checkers, but with the little Sequence chips as checkers and cards laid out to make the board. Apparently you were supposed to jump over four of the other person's chips to get them out.

So we're playing, and Logan and I are basically trading jumps. He made a rule that you can move your playing piece three spaces per turn. Until, of course, he needs to move four.

"Actually, Dad, I can do this -" he moves his piece across the board to jump one of mine - "because actually, you can move your pieces as much as you want."

"What? I thought you told me you could only move three spaces." He did tell me this, not that I care all that much.

"Yeah, I must have forgot to tell you that part," Logan says with just the barest hint of apology. This phrase would sort of become the theme for the game.

So we play some more, and he wins. He requests another game, so we set it up. This time I'm savvy, and jump out to a 3-1 lead. Hey, I want him to have fun but I'm not going to coddle him.

He looks at the board for a minute and then says "But look what I can do, because actually, you can have three turns at a time!" He moves three of his pieces to jump over mine, and wins 4-3.

"I must have forgot to tell you that part."

Someday I'll win, but only if he decides to make it a rule that I get to.

Having a Ball

Last week, we enjoyed an unofficial summertime kick-off when the Barlands came to visit us in St. Charles. Cousins Jack (4), Logan (4), Alex (almost 2), and Liam (1) had a blast at the St. Louis Zoo, a bubbles and sidewalk chalk session at the library, a local playground, The Magic House Children's Museum, and Grant's Farm. They also spent some time in our subdivision pool and in the sprinkler in our backyard. Fun, fun, and more FUN!

Only a couple of activities are captured in these photos (and Liam tends to be the featured subject just 'cause he was so darn cute at The Magic House). I suspect you may find more pictures on the Barland blog before too long.

Long Live the King

The King of Suave, baby.

I'm trying to think of words to accompany this, but you know what? I got nothing.

First Words and More

Liam is really starting to talk! Just before he turned one, he began to say "uh-oh". At that time, it sounded more like "aw-oh" with both syllables run together. Now we hear a much more definitive "uh-oh", and we hear it with GREAT frequency. (Liam enjoys dropping things.)

Jason and I have heard an occasional "mama" and "dada", and in the past few days, Liam has also begun to say "ball" (bah!).

Lately, one of Liam's favorite things to do is bat any kind of ball around on the floor and chase after it on his hands and knees. (This is a sight to see, because Liam ducks his head and wags it back and forth...must increase his momentum somehow.) He also enjoys "practice walking" with his riding tractor, a birthday gift from the Barlands.

Many of you have witnessed a "hello" wave from Liam on recent visits. The gesture involves alternately clenching and opening his hand with his arm fully extended, and most of the time Liam will throw in a great big smile to boot.

Liam is giggling a lot when we encourage him to take steps while holding onto our hands, so I think he's starting to sense that there's a new kind of freedom coming his way. He's not quite brave enough to go there yet though...pretty soon I'm sure he'll change his mind.

ONE!

Liam's first birthday was lots of fun! We spent the weekend in Lenexa and celebrated with Jason's homemade pizza (which Liam loves) and turtle shaped birthday cake (yellow cake, caramel and chocolate frosting).

A few pictures of the festivities...

Driving Mr. Logan, Part II

So Logan and I went out to Home Depot this afternoon to pick up some more landscaping stuff. On the way home we had a very animated conversation. A brief synopsis ensues.

As we get into the van, Logan decides to play the Guessing Game, in which he pretends to be someone and it's up to me to figure out who he is. As he climbs into his seat, he says "Hey Dad - who am I? I'm from a movie. It's your choice to guess who I am."

"Hmm...Buckaroo Banzai." It's the first movie character that pops into my mind. Which gives you some idea of the average state of my mind.

Logan is baffled, of course. About two decades before his time. "Who's Buckaroo Gone Guy?"

"Buckaroo Ban- you know what, never mind. Can you give me a hint?"

"Sure - I'm red!" he says, as if this is practically giving it to me.

We go back and forth. I guess Darth Maul from Star Wars. "What's Star Burst?" he asks. I try to clarify - "No, Star Wars".

"Star Wurst". Images of interstellar sausage conjured up, I try a different track. "Logan, I'm completely baffled. I have no idea who you are."

He replies as if I'm the four year old, needing an explanation. "Dad, of course you don't know. That's because I'm hard tricky people."

I never thought of Logan as Hard Tricky People, but now that he's laid it out, it makes perfect sense.

----

So a few minutes later we're driving along, and I honestly have no idea what we were talking about, but Logan had a hard time hearing me, apparently. I asked him offhand if he was deaf.

Logan: "Who's Deaf?"

Me: "No, I mean are you deaf?"

Logan: "Who's Deaf?"

Me: "No, it means can you not hear me."

Logan: "What?"

Me: "IT MEANS CAN YOU NOT HEAR ME."

Logan: "Deaf means I can't hear you?"

Me: "Yes."

Logan: "Oh, no I can't hear you."

Me: "So you are deaf."

Logan: "What?"

Abbott and Costello, meet the new generation.

----

Logan was quiet for awhile, then I heard him start playing his little toy harmonica. He blew a few notes, then yelled out excitedly "HEY DAD, DID YOU HEAR THAT? I JUST PLAYED THE HARMONICA IN MY SHORTS!"

Beauty Secrets of the Preschooler

Ever wonder how young kids manage to look so...young? You might think it's their lack of age, but in fact we discovered today that there's a whole regimen of activity most people don't know about. Logan was examining some rough patches on his knees, and let slip a closely guarded secret.

"Hey Dad, see these? You guess what I do? I think what I do is get some slobber from out of my mouth, and rub it in there real nice and good so it doesn't get dried out."

So now you know. Next time you're salivating over a brownie sundae or bag of chips, just get a finger dab of that stuff and apply where needed.

Liam Learns to Read

Well, okay, not really. But he is starting to take more of an interest in some of his little board books. He even has the concept of pages down. Next step will be trying to explain which way is up.

Hey - it's better than not being into books at all. Jill and I are both pretty big readers (even if it is a nearly perfect soporific for her) and I'm sure we both want to instill that in both of our boys. So far Logan's still pretty big into the bedtime stories. I'll be excited to see how much more that increases when he learns to read for himself. He's starting to show the inklings of reading ability already.

Liam obviously needs more practice.

Driving Mr. Logan

I took the boys to get haircuts last night, which meant 20 minutes or so of Logan being cooped up in the back of my car. I'm not sure what it is, but whenever I take Logan anywhere the confinement of my smallish backseat seems to bring out the philosopher in him. Perhaps there's just nothing else to do.

Anyway, it's always interesting to see the kinds of things he comes up with. Just a random sampling of our conversation:


"Hey Dad, do you like giants?"
"I don't know. I don't think I know any giants."
"Well, I don't."
"Why not?"
"Because. They're GIGANTIC."


"Daddy, do you think you could drink a house?"
"How would I even drink a house? Besides, they're pretty big."
Logan thinks about that for awhile.
"Daddy, do you think you could drink a wheel? A wheel is small."

Sometimes this kind of question is obviously just him goofing off. But he sounded quite serious.

Spring Break: A Trip to Hutchinson

During Logan's preschool spring break, my mom and I took both boys down to Hutchinson, KS to visit Granny Fran for a couple of days.

On March 16, we visited the Dillon Nature Center. The weather was chilly and windy, but it was a nice sunny day. Here's a glimpse of our visit...

Trendsetter

Logan is on the cutting edge of fashion with his African cap and collar, Hawaiian lei, and heart-shaped glasses. He really pulls it altogether with confidence, doesn't he?

Liam Pulls Up to a Stand!

Over President's Day weekend, Liam pulled himself to a stand on the train table, and he's been steadily improving this new skill ever since! He is now capable of pulling up on low-level tables, chairs, couches, my legs...if it's sturdy and within reach, it's fair game.

Liam put his new skill to good use yesterday by pulling up on Logan's computer table and standing at the keyboard. He subsequently began tapping away until lo and behold, a Sesame Street computer game appeared before him on the screen. Needless to say, he was quite pleased with himself.

I also wanted to mention that my mom (aka M'Amy) taught Liam how to play Pat-A-Cake when she was last in town. He claps ("pat it") and makes a subtle rolling motion ("roll it") by clasping his hands and rocking them back and forth (and then he gives a really big grin). It's very cute, and he tells me when he wants me to play by clapping his hands.

4-year-old Vocabulary

It's always fun hearing Logan try out new words. I got a real chuckle tonight when Logan was putting on a pair of sweatpants with a couple of false drawstrings. (You know the type ~ there are a couple of drawstring ties sewn into the waistband, but they don't actually cinch up the waistband ~ they're just for show.)

Anyway, Logan gets his pants pulled up, and looking down to check that his drawstrings are not tucked into his pants, he asks himself, "Did I lose any antennae?"