Just turned 4

Logan's birthday was a few weeks ago.  He turned 4 and he was super excited about it.  He would tell anybody that would listen, "I'm 4 now!" while beaming with pride.

Yesterday, the four of us was getting ready to go to a friend's house for a small party.  At first, Logan didn't want to go.  He was perfectly happy at home watching tv.  I was trying to explain to him that we were going to a party and there would be lots of kids there, and he would have lots of fun.  All of a sudden, he burst into tears.  I couldn't, for the life of me, figure out why going to a party would be such a bad thing.

Then he explained it to me...

"I don't want another birthday party!  I just turned 4, I don't wanna be 5 yet!"

No wonder...

New Phone

I got a new phone about a month ago.  To this day, Logan still says...

"I want to play on your new phone" with a big emphasis on 'new'.

I guess he wants to be clear which phone he'd like to play with (even though it's the only phone I've got now).

The Cat's Stomach

Logan was petting Ashton earlier today.  Now that Nova's gone, Ashton is back in the house and he's getting along with all the humans just famously....

Anyway, Ashton was sitting on my lap and Logan decided to pet him.  As soon as Logan put his hands on the cat, Ashton started to purr and he purred lots.  Logan put his head down on the cat's back and then he looked up at me with a big happy face.

He said "I can hear the cat's stomach!"

Brownie Tantrum

The night I decided to bake some brownies was the night Logan decided to throw another one of his tantrums.  I was passing out the brownies to Jon and a friend when Logan asked for some too.  I told him no and that it was his bedtime.

He gave me a long look and then yelled "I want brrooooooooooowwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn.........."

He actually forgot what he was saying for a second there.  When he finally remembered, he screamed "IE!" along with a "I want brownie!" while jumping up and down.

Kids are cute, but not when he wants a brownie!

Helping Mom Out

Last night, I was preparing dinner for my kids. Becki was upstairs and Logan was in the kitchen with me. When dinner was ready, I asked Logan if he wanted to help Mommy; he gave me the biggest grin I've seen and nodded his head excitedly. I asked him to please go upstairs and tell his sister that her dinner was ready. He smiled, said "OK!" and proceeded to the stairs. Instead of going upstairs, he screamed at the top of his lungs and said "Becki! Your dinner is ready!" After he was done screaming, he looked at me with another big smile on his face and said "Mommy, I helped!"

No doubt, even though more than 1/2 of us are Deaf, this is a pretty loud household.

Words Boys Say

It's interesting to watch a little boy growing up and know that he'll be a man someday. I often wonder what he'd be like as a teenage boy and what kind of a man he'll turn out to be. Whenever I let my mind stray far into the future, I quickly force myself back down to reality and tell myself to focus on the "now." After all, my son isn't going to stay a little boy forever.

My daughter and son are cut from the same cloth but they can be as different as night and day. Even though I was a first-time mother, raising my daughter was fairly easy. When I hear horror stories of babies never sleeping through the night until they turn 1, I feel blessed to have two very easy babies (but I'm making up for it now)! Becki started talking (9 months) and walking (13 months) at an acceptable time. Logan was the same. However, the difference was that Logan was hearing and he started talking verbally much earlier. Just like Becki, once he got started, he hasn't stopped.

He says the cutest things (oftentimes very silly) and I've been keeping track of what he's been saying. Like moms who embarrass their kids with silly photos from the past, I'll get to embarrass him with silly quotes.

One day we were at church and Logan brought along about 5 of his Hot Wheels. One of them went under a large shelf. A friend handed him a cane and told him to use it to bring his car back out. After he got his car out, he played with the cane for a while. My friend and I told him "be careful, don't hit anybody with it." His response: "Yeah, Becki will hit me in my eye. My eyes will break and they will fall out, and then I can't see." With an older sister as a semi-bully, it isn't surprising that he mentioned it but how he mentioned it was so cute.
Logan is a big mama's boy. Many times, I'm so proud to have a close relationship with my son. He can drive me crazy and he can make me furious, but I love him to death. It's apparent he loves me too. Sometimes I get annoyed and wish he'd be more independent but then I have to remind myself that he isn't going to be 3 years old forever. Whenever someone other than myself tries to help me, he tells them "You're not my mommy!" How cute. I feel like Super-Mom (but I'm far from it) whenever Logan prefers my help over others. It's like Mommy can do no wrong.

"I'm finished with school!"

School. Who likes school? Maybe the academics (and the teachers - because they get paid). At first, Logan was so excited to go to school. Whenever there was a holiday, Logan would be so disappointed and asked where his bus was. After three months, the school district determined that he was on-level with his skills so he didn't qualify for the early childhood program anymore. Logan was definitely upset at first but then he got over it. He discovered that he actually liked playing with his toys, found new shows on TV that he liked (Dora the Explorer, for instance), and spent his days bugging Grandma. He's turning 4 this summer and he qualifies for Pre-K so that means he'll be returning to school in the Fall. Was Logan excited to hear that? Nope.

"Because!"

Logan has mastered the "why" questions. Yep. How? He begins all his answers with "because," even when it doesn't make sense.

It isn't easy to reason with Logan. He doesn't think logically most times, but sometimes he'll surprise me. Once when I was trying to get him into bed (it is usually easy, but because he's 3 years old it's in his job description to frustrate me at times), he turned around and looked at me very sincerely. After a few moments, he said "Becki has to go to bed because she has to go to school. I don't go to school so I don't have to go to bed." How would you answer that WITHOUT saying "because I said so"?

Once, we passed a house that was under construction. He told me "Mommy, we can't live there. That house is broken." It's not at all surprising when my son suddenly jumps to a semi-different topic and says "Animals don't like houses. I want a tiger, a lion and a monkey!"
Logan has already started to be a backseat driver. Once while driving, he tells me "Mommy, you need to go faster." I explained that there were cars in front of me so I couldn't. He gave me a big grin, laughed and said "Oh!"

My boy is growing so fast - he won't be such a little boy anymore. I just hope that he continues to say cute things.

Another ...Trip...to the Dentist!!!

The past few weeks (no, months - actually), my daughter has been having problems with one of her teeth way in the back of her mouth. It had become rotten and was causing lots of discomfort and pain. Poor thing!

I took her to the dentist shortly after she was experiencing pain. They told her that she had two rotten teeth (due to not brushing her teeth enough) and they would need to be pulled. They pulled one out, but they didn't do a good enough job of numbing the area so it kind of hurt. After that, my daughter refused to let anybody go near her teeth.

We made a second appointment to go back to fill in some cavities and try again with that rotten tooth. They filled in the few cavities that she had and then told me that they couldn't work on the rotten tooth because the dentist specializing in that area wasn't available. I actually asked them - specializes in what? They said (seriously) "Dealing with tough kids and putting them to sleep if necessary." Wow, huh?

So - we make another appointment and it wasn't for another month. The month finally passed and we went back to the dentist. The tooth was supposed to be pulled, but when the dentist checked Becki over, she decided that she wanted to do a cap. Ugh, another appointment! I don't know if this is normal but wow, I would think that they'd be able to look at my daughter's x-rays and plan ahead. It's annoying having to miss school/work for useless trips to the dentist!!!

Finally, we went back yesterday for the cap. They worked on Becki for an hour but not before giving her a shot. Becki freaked out at the HUGE needle and gave the dentist a hard time but it was done. The shot was administered and the dentist left me alone with my daughter to comfort her. After about 5 minutes of crying, Becki stopped, looked at me with a thoughtful look on her face and said "My teeth is sleeping." I laughed. Sometimes it amazes me how kids can go from one mood to the next in a split second.

After Becki's mouth had been numbed, the dentist went to work at filing away the teeth. After the teeth was grounded into nothing, the dentist started to put the cap in. At this point - I was getting mad. Becki was laying there not feeling a thing for about 10 minutes. The doctor had the cap in, tapped it in with a tiny hammer, took it out, shifted it around and hammered it back in. THEN she did it all over again! At that point, Becki was saying "it hurts a little now." Either the shot was wearing off or the dentist was pretty aggressive.....

Towards the end, my daughter was crying again. Yes, I was annoyed that my daughter was giving the dentist a hard time all these times before but yesterday was different. I was annoyed at the dentist! FINALLY, the cap was securely in. I told Becki that we were all done! Yay! Becki was thrilled - you could have thought it was Christmas morning. The dumb dentist had to ruin it and say "come back in 6 months." Becki was NOT thrilled to hear that.
I went ahead and made the appointment, but I think that in 6 months time, when the appointment is due, I'm going to go to another office. My daughter deserves better than this.

First Professional Haircut

This is interesting... Logan is 3 years old and yet, he seems to be having many "firsts" this year!

He had another "first" today. I took the day off work because I had to take Becki to the dentist and to enroll the kids in Cy-Fair for when we move in October. Employees at Cy-Fair couldn't agree on what I was supposed to do first - so I ended up not being able to enroll the kids in school. By the time I found out I couldn't go and enroll the kids, it was too late to head over to work. My mom went out of town for the day so there wouldn't be anyone to meet Becki when she came home - so I decided to just stay home.

Determined not to waste my day off, I ran a few more errands (to free up my weekend) and decided that Logan would finally get his first professional haircut. Ever since he was born, he has been getting haircuts from me. I could be biased but I think I generally do a good job. Sometimes it doesn't turn out too great because Logan gets impatient and moves too much.

Logan was pretty shy when we went into Sports Clips. I ended up going there because it was right next to the bookstore (where I needed to make a stop afterwards), and because the other haircut places had Asian people (no offense, but I don't work well with hearing Asians - they don't understand me and I don't understand them). I wanted Logan to get a good haircut so I figured that Sports Clips would have a better chance of less misunderstandings.

Anyway, there were two men in there already reading manly magazines waiting for their turns. I signed Logan up and went to sit down with my friend, who came along with me on my errands. My friend and I were chatting, not paying too much attention to Logan because he was quietly walking around and looking at sports posters on the wall. A few minutes later, I noticed that it was pretty quiet. If you know Logan, you know this is unusual. I looked around and found him sitting next to my friend. He was sitting and reading a motorcycle magazine. He looked so grown-up (and so fascinated with the pictures), that I decided to take a few shots.

After waiting about 20 minutes, it was his turn to go sit in a chair that was much too big for him. He smiled shyly at the lady who would be cutting his hair and tried his best to climb into that huge chair with a booster pillow in it.
The lady wrapped him in the haircut coat thingie and Logan giggled. He kept smiling at me and looking at himself in the mirror. He was so cute, I had to take another picture....

After the lady got her things ready, she pulled out the electric hair clipper and turned it on. As soon as Logan heard it, he... freaked... out... The lady tried her best to talk to him and explain that it wasn't going to hurt him. She placed the clipper against her hand and my friend offered her arm. Logan wouldn't budge. I had to hold him down while the lady tried to buzz off a little bit of his hair. Logan put up a huge fight. So we decided that the lady would just have to clip them off with scissors.

During the haircut, Logan was a little fidgety so I gave him my phone to play with. In any situation where I want Logan to calm down and be quiet, I just have to give him my phone and it'll occupy him for at least 10 minutes. Thank God for modern technology. Here are photos of him getting his hair cut.

After about 15 minutes of cutting. Logan was all done! Well, not exactly. The lady wanted to use a smaller clipper to trim off the side burn hair and hair along his hairline from his ears to the back of his neck. Logan freaked again. There was another little boy getting his hair buzzed off with a big clipper. Obviously, he's done this before because he was sitting quietly and patiently. The lady spoke to Logan and showed Logan that the little boy is fine and that the clipper isn't hurting him. After a while, she convinced Logan that it was alright to use the little clipper on him.

Now Logan is officially done with his very first professional haircut! Doesn't he look adorable!?

First Day of School

 Logan... Loves.... School!!!!

Oh boy.... he was SO looking forward to school! When he came home from visiting his dad for the summer, I told him that he was going to be in school - just like Becki! He was thrilled! Honestly, who remembers being thrilled about going to school? I know I was once - when I was VERY little... Logan isn't going to be too thrilled to go to school in a couple of years!!!

A couple days later, I went shopping for school supplies and got him a brand spankin' new backpack. I brought it home and showed it to him. He insisted on wearing it all night! Here's Logan wearing the backpack while walking the dog....

He kept anticipating school, asking me each night before bed "School?" "No, Logan... not tomorrow." Then I had to watch him make that little frown and pout.

Finally... it was time for school! He woke up immediately, got dressed quickly, ate his cereal and was all ready for school! I guess he thought he was riding with Becki (the school district wouldn't put them in the same school for transportation reasons), so when Becki's bus arrived and she hopped on, he got upset. Poor baby.

Can you imagine thinking that someone was lying to you all this time and that you weren't going to school? I am sure that's what he thought I was doing - lying!

I had to calm him down for the next 20 minutes and explain that YES, he is going to school - he is just riding a different bus and I PROMISE, his bus is coming...

Finally, it was time to go outside to wait for the bus. We played around and I took a couple of photos. As soon as the bus came, he went running out to the doors and hopped right in without looking back. Of course, I had to stop him so that I could take pictures!

My mom said that he looked like a total zombie when he was getting off the bus after school. First day excitement sure wore him out! The next two days after that, Logan refused to get off the bus... he wasn't done with school! The bus driver had to explain that she was coming back to pick him up the next day for another day at school!

School has been in session for two weeks now. Logan has gotten used to the routine and no longer cries when Becki leaves first. He waits patiently for his bus and happily greets the bus driver and the attendant when they arrive.

Childhood is blissful, isn't it?

Here are some photos for you to enjoy...

Becki's First Day of 2nd Grade

Unlike Logan, Becki wasn't too thrilled to be going back to school. I can understand how she felt - I felt the same way year after year. I was terrified of the first days of school!!!

Not much of a story to tell here - Becki just woke up, got dressed, ate breakfast then waited for her bus to come. The bus came and she looked at me and said "Bye" and got in. She was nor happy or sad. She was.... "just"

We were in a rush that morning. Her bus called to say that they were coming at 8am. They showed up at 7:30 - I was thankful that at least Becki was ready.... Each morning, we all get up at 7 to start our day. I get the kids up - tell Becki to get dressed and let Logan watch TV. I jump in the shower and am out in 10 minutes. Becki's done getting ready by that time and is eating breakfast. I get myself dressed and then start on Logan.

By the time I finish getting Logan dressed, Becki's bus arrives. I see her off to school and then make Logan his breakfast. While he's eating his breakfast, I take the dog out to pee and poop. When I get back in, I make my coffee and decide which frozen food I will put up with at lunch.

At 8am, we wrap things up and head outside to wait for the bus. As soon as the bus arrives, I get in my car and go to work. Crazy, huh?

My little girl is growing up!

Logan's Third Birthday

This is late.... very late. But better late than never!

This year, I decided to give Logan a birthday party he deserved, regardless of whether I could afford it or not! Boy, it was SO worth it to see Logan enjoy this special day of his.

We had his birthday at Chuck E Cheese. This was his first "real" birthday party. His first birthday was for family only. His 2nd birthday - we didn't really have a party for him. A friend and I took him and his sister to Chuck E Cheese to play games. We held a very small party after church the next day.

So... this year, I decided that I owed him a party he'd remember (hopefully). It felt amazing to see Logan enjoy his party. He was all smiles all the way through the party. He KNEW this party was all about him and he KNEW that this was HIS special day. No words can describe how it feels to see your children happy. The only way to understand the feeling is to be a parent yourself. It's awesome.

It was fairly small if you consider the number of children that showed up. It was just Logan, Becki, their two cousins (Ava and Callie) and just two friends from church. The others couldn't make it. But that didn't matter.... not to Logan.

I got him a huge cookie cake. I am forever indebted to whoever invented the cookie cake. It's one of the best desserts around - sure wish I came up with the idea first.

A funny story about the gift I got him. Earlier in the week, I stopped over at Target, Wal-Mart and Toys R Us trying to decide what to get my special little boy. He's crazy over a couple of things and it was hard to decide which to get. I was out of a job for about 7 months at the time so the cash was running a little bit low. I had to decide whether I should stick to my budget and get him a $10 gift or get him something nice that I thought (and hoped) that he would enjoy.

I contemplated for at least an hour over what to get him. It all came down to a wooden train set or just some clothes that he needed for school. I had to decide between fun or practical. I finally decided that I was going to splurge on the train set. Who wants clothes for their birthdays (or Christmas)? I know I never did....

So... I brought it home and wrapped it all up before Logan could even see it. He knew I had a gift stashed away for him but he didn't know where. Thanks to his sister, who has a big mouth, he found out where the gift was. He was a VERY good boy and treated the package tenderly - careful not to rip open the wrapping. I told him he had to wait until his party to get his gift. He was SO excited and SO eager for his party to start! He kept trying to lug that big box around the apartment with him all day - afraid to let it out of his sight. All of a sudden, he turned to me and said "it's a train!" Now, I looked at Becki - she has a huge mouth, remember? - and this time, I couldn't blame her. Even SHE didn't know what the gift was.

Finally, it was time to go. We put the package, the cake, two kids and myself in the car and headed out to the party. It was a blast.

Now... when Logan started opening gifts, he kept eyeing the big package I got for him. I made him wait and open it last. Finally, he opened it and took one look at it and had a HUGE grin on his face. "It's a TRAIN!" He said it as a matter of fact - like "I told you so!" So cute!

Anyway, enough chatter... here are a few more of my favorite pictures.

                                      

Another First for Logan

I took the kids to the dentist today. It was Becki's second visit in the last 6 months. She has a rotten tooth that they tried to take out the last time we were there. She made such a big fuss about it that they decided to leave it in there and told me to come back in a couple of months. While I decided it was time to get another look at Becki's bad tooth, I figured it would be a good time to get Logan his first dental check-up.

I showed up 15 minutes before appointment time to anticipate filling out forms for Logan. I filled them out and turned them in at 11:00am on the dot - just in time for the appointments. They called us into the room at about 11:05. I thought - good, they are keeping their appointments, unlike other offices.

We had a consultation with a nurse, which was very brief, and the nurse set up supplies for the dentist to work with. Becki was supposed to go first so that they could work on her tooth then Logan would get his teeth checked out and cleaned.

We ended up waiting two hours. I was not a happy camper. After the first hour, the nurse started to give me dirty looks. This dental office did not have offices that were closed in but were separated by walls (and no doors). The nurse was giving me looks because Logan was being rowdy. I told him "How do you expect me to keep a 3 year old still for over an hour in a small room?" At this point, I was fed up with the office and didn't care if Logan ran around naked.
After the first hour, I spent another 30 minutes of dealing with Logan and trying to shush him (I gave up after that) and the last 30 minutes just sitting there playing with my phone. I was pretty peeved.

Finally, the dentist came in only to tell me that the dentist who can work on Becki's tooth isn't here today and I have to reschedule her appointment. Boy, was I mad. However, they told me that they can work on Logan... give him his first check-up and clean his teeth.

I was nervous for him, but he did exceptionally well!!! He was scared at first, I could see, but once I told him that it was ok and touched his leg, he calmed down and let the dentist start working. I was so proud of him - so I took a picture!

I'm a Big Kid Now!

When you raise a child, you experience many firsts. Today was a first for Logan.

It was about noon and I was at the computer checking emails and whatnot. My daughter was watching one of her favorite shows on TV. Logan wasn't anywhere around to bother me - which is unusual nowadays. I assumed he was in his room playing with his toys (for once) or watching a DVD on his TV.

After about 10 minutes on the computer, my daughter came running up to me, her eyes wide and said "COME LOOK!" I immediately thought "OH no! What happened NOW!?" I went into the kitchen expecting a huge mess. I was afraid to look.

Logan was standing up on his cute little chair with a pink plate that had two hot dogs on it. There was also a big blob of ketchup. Logan had cooked (yes, cooked) his first meal! I can proudly say that Logan cooked his first meal at 2 1/2 (even though he used a microwave). That breaks my daughter's record. She started making meals for herself (sandwiches and hot dogs) a little after she turned 4. My - what a big boy I have!

I was SO proud of him. He didn't burn the hot dog! Although he put a little bit too much ketchup on his plate, he did remarkably well. I was so excited so I took a picture. Isn't he cute!? All excitement put aside - now I have to really watch out for him. Maybe he won't do so well next time.... I'll find out eventually.

Remember when I was 4?

Kids are cute. Sometimes they're annoying. Sometimes they can be very articulate and sometimes they make no sense at all. My daughter is all of those.

Many times she likes to tell stories. Stories about what she dreamed the night before, stories about what she wants to do when she grows up and stories about what happened at school (and sometimes these are made-up!). Most times, I enjoy her stories. It's like living through childhood all over again. With my two kids, I guess that means I'll get to live through three childhoods.

One of the joys of having children is being a kid at heart. I've swam silly in the pool, I've ridden in a laundry basket, I jumped on my bed (then told my kids not to do again, lol), and watched numerous Disney movies time and time again. My favorite part is reading my childhood books.

My daughter gets into her story-telling mood about once a day. Usually it's just a few minutes and sometimes it's long and drawn out.... and MANY of them start with "Remember when I was 4?" She seems fixated on that age. It seems that whenever she goes through deja-vu or remembers something from her past, she connects it to being 4 years old. Many of them are hilarious. I thought I'd list a few that I remember (or almost remember).

"Remember I was 4 and Logan was 2, we went to Chuck E Cheese?" When she was 4 - Logan wasn't born yet or he was about to be.

"Remember when I was 4, you and daddy got married?" We got married when she was 6 months old.

"Remember when I was 4, you took me and Logan to the library and we saw a horse?" We didn't start going to the library until she was at least 5, but hey - close enough! And we never saw a horse.

"Remember when I was 4, I went to Uncle Al's house?" OR "Remember when I was 4, I rode on the plane for the first time?" Her first plane ride was when she was 6.

I'm sure that for years to come - I'll hear much more of "Remember when..." stories. I just hope they are more accurate as she gets older!

One Tough Cookie

There comes a time when everybody sits back and thinks about what they want to do with their lives and what they want to be remembered for when they're gone. When you're a parent, you start thinking about other people's lives - mostly your children's. Often, I've wondered what my children will grow up to be like, what careers they'll have and how big their families will be (if they have any). Today was no different.

For as long as I can remember, my son likes to bang his head on things - especially on me. He's rough with everything. I guess it's because he's a boy. He loves cars and planes... what little boy doesn't? Playing up to his "big boys don't cry" role, he approached me last night with a bloody leg. He calmly climbed up onto my computer tower, tapped me on the shoulder, showed me his leg and simply signed "hurt." There certainly hasn't been any knives, scissors or anything sharp that he could get into, so when I saw the leg, I was startled. What did he do!? Turns out he scratched away all of his scabs. When he was up in Dallas, he spent a LOT of time outdoors and has lots and lots of bug bites to show for it.

Today, he was my little monkey. He climbed on everything. That's not unusual but today, it was a bit unnerving. Most times, I am his personal jungle jim. If I'm at the computer, he'll climb all over me. If I'm on the couch, he'll climb all over me. If I'm in the kitchen trying to clean or cook, he'll cling to my leg and expect me to drag him all around. Earlier, when I was fussing over a photo editing program, he decided he wanted to play with me. He pushed the trashcan and a bunch of toys out of the way. He dragged the side table over to me. He hoisted my legs up (one at a time) to the side table. At first I thought, "Aww, he's pampering me." Boy, I thought wrong. He was building a playground for himself! For the next 10 minutes, he would climb up on the side table, crawl across my legs, sit on my lap, press my cheeks together (making a fish face), get off then start all over again.

Times like these, I wish I was 3 again.

In keeping up with his crazy energy, today was the day he decided he wanted to swim independently. With a life jacket, of course. He doggy-padded all around the little spa/pool for at least an hour. I figured he'd crash after swimming and that I'd get a little rest... Right? Wrong!

As adorable as he can be, he sure is a lot to handle!