Today I am thankful for my "baby daddy"

So, I always wanted to use that term in a blog post. But I am truly thankful for my husband Greg. While he is my babies's daddy (did I do the plural possesssive right? I just want to clarify he's the daddy of all my babies). He's so much more than that... He's also quite possibly the best gift God has given me!

Before I met Greg, I felt like an old maid. Looking back, I wasn't THAT old.... and looking back, I now realize that Greg was just the right person at just the right time. I am so thankful that God really did know what he was doing! Greg is a very thoughtful husband. He always knows when to pitch in with the laundry or cleaning up the kitchen... and when to stay out of the way and let me do it... like the cooking, for instance. He even arranged for me to get over 20 cards in the mail for my last birthday!! He's also super handsome and sexy but I won't give you tmi...

One of the best things about Greg is that he's a great daddy. He gets home from work and wrestles with Logan. He entertains Logan so I can get dinner done or dishes done. He reads him books, he plays ball with him, he wrestles him, he spins Logan around until he's dizzy and can't walk and then laughs at him, he changes diapers, he wrestles with Logan (yes, I know I've mentioned that a lot but if you have a boy, you understand the importance), he cleans him up after dinner, he gives him baths-- he really puts a lot of time and effort into Logan and I am so thankful for that!!

Thankful for my healthy kiddo

Logan's parent educator came for a visit last Friday and did his yearly evaluation. He scored really well right at 18 months (and a little higher in language and gross motor). It was neat to just sit back and observe him. There were things that I didn't know that he could do. He got distracted a lot and there were a few things that I knew he could do but he didn't do for Tracy-- but the last thing I wanted to do was be the crazy, pushy parent who insists my kid can do it all :)
One of the things he had trouble with was pointing to a picture when it was named. Of course, he does this like 5,000 times a day when we read books but our parent educator sometimes talks funny and I think Logan couldn't understand her. So when Greg got home I was telling him about it-- well, I'll let you in our conversation--- it went a little like this:
Me: Well, Logan couldn't point to the picture of the cat. But the lady said, "Point to the kitty cat." Except she talks funny so it sounded like, "Point to the kit-a-cat."
Greg: Did you tell her "we say cat"?
Logan: We say "meow".
It was one of those shocking moments that you're not ready for.... when your BABY joins in YOUR conversation with a complete sentence. We're really going to have to start watching what we say around him-- if he's going to be throwing in his two cents!
Anyway, I had an "ah ha moment" (that one's for you, Oprah) when I looked at Logan's paperwork later that evening. I realized that he is healthy and smart and I need to stop and be thankful for that! I looked at the skills he should be doing next, "dress and undress self, wash and dry own hands, jump with both feet off the floor" and I realized that I taught some students who were very developmentally delayed and were working on the same skills in fourth grade!! I am so thankful that God has given Logan the ability to learn and grow and develop as a normal, healthy child!

Turkey Baster Ball

Logan has invented a new sport (I think) just in time for Thanksgiving. He found the turkey baster in his drawer of "stuff" in the kitchen. And he made up a new game. You put the ball on the floor and then swing the turkey baster and try to hit the ball. You can play with large balls or tiny bouncy balls.

He loves to play ball and is getting better at entertaining himself for short periods of time while I do other things. Unfortunately, he is also good at dragging everything out of the drawers while I am doing other things!

He also likes playing dress up with his firefighter hat. I guess I'll have to get him some more dress ups and hats!

Do you see what I see?

So this week, Logan and I are learning all about... (drum roll, this is exciting stuff)... EYES!

Logan loves eyes! He loves to poke people in the eye while he says, "eye, eye, eye." He loves to take Daddy's glasses off of his eyes. This week we are expanding the knowledge of what eyes are to what eyes do!

So of course, we're singing the hokey songs... "I use my eyes to see."

AND, once again we stole some ideas off of Hubbards cupboard unit on Five Senses (Joyful Learning- November). Except I had to adapt it for his age.

The book that was recommended for this week was "The Look Book" by Tana Hoban. Great book. Great author. Probably great for 2 year olds-- for which the curriculum was written. Not so great for an 18 month old. So we did some other books in place of it. We read "Brown bear, Brown bear, What do you see?" (And the Panda Bear version too). I also made Logan this book on Snapfish (Which I scored for FREE! Thanks to stlmommy.com and all of her great free deals she posts)

It's called "Logan, Logan, What do you see?" And it has all of his family members in it. He loves it!

And this is the last page.

The coolest part of these activities is that Logan now "reads" Brown bear. He turns the pages and says, "I see duck" He even knows the color blue and says, "I see blue horse."

Oh yes, and since we were seeing with our eyes, we also worked on colors this week. Logan loves to color and he knows right where to find the colored pencils and crayons!

We also did this art project from Hubbards cupboard. We finger painted without a mess. Logan had trouble isolating one finger and marking with it so I showed him how to make handprints in the paint and then I gave him lids and cookie cutters to press into the finger paint. The best part? There was NO CLEAN UP!!

Next week is Thanksgiving and I'm going to take a break from the Five Senses to do some turkey art with Logan. I'm still looking for some projects so if anyone has a cute one, please share!!!

A walk down Memory Lane (and Dink Marler Lane)

So, Logan officially has an old momma. I turned 32 this weekend!! Seriously, how did I get this old? Greg was out deer hunting so Logan and I spent the weekend Christmas shopping and hanging out with family. He was a really good boy all weekend but he really missed daddy. Greg still found a way to make my birthday special. He somehow arranged for me to get a TON of cards in the mail from friends and family. (He won't take credit for this act, but I know he was behind it somehow...) And, he hid birthday cards from him in different places. Then when he would call, he would tell me where to look to find a card! Sweet!
Greg spent the weekend sitting in a deer stand-- even getting rained on a bit! Of course, the deer came to ME... literally, this one walked right in front of me when I was visiting my alma mater, Missouri Baptist University. For the record, I wasn't wearing deer pee, camoflauge, or being quiet. I think deer know who is after them!!

Also, while Greg was sitting in a deer stand (Which he loves but I am SO not jealous of that), I got to go with my family to Mobap homecoming. It was nice of Mobap to plan a party for my birthday! My sister and I realized we hadn't been back to homecoming- well, EVER. I graduated almost 10 years ago. Mobap had a free carnival for kids on Saturday afternoon so we thought we'd take the boys to that and stick around for the chili supper. The carnival started at 2 but we had to kill time until the chili supper at 5. So we got to the carnival a little before 3--it was over. Ooops! BUT, they still had all the free food, and they just gave the leftover prizes to the boys, and the bounce house was still set up so the boys were happy.
We also took a tour of the campus. Here we are in front of North Hall where Julie and I were roomates during my freshman year. I also lived here with Holly, Jessica, and Kate my junior year. Lots of memories of this place! I never thought I'd be a fatty mommy pregnant lady posing in front of this dorm but alas, I am!

Then we went over to Pillsbury-Huff. The home of the former "Pink Palace". My mom, who can talk to anybody, had struck up a conversation with a college guy and he said PH is an all boy dorm now. BUT, he had a high school teacher who told him a story about when it used to be both boys and girls in that dorm... he made it sound like she told him about it on the same day they learned about when dinosaurs roamed the earth. I felt super old!

Then we took the boys to the rock at Dink Marler Lane. Look how good Logan's big cousins are protecting him! (OK, well Alex looks like he just climbed Everest and is very proud, but Nick is paying attention to Logan and has a protective arm around him!) I just wish Nick had been closer to Logan later in the evening. When we went to the chili supper at The Perk, Logan somehow fell backwards in his chair and landed face down on a concrete floor. I saw him falling but couldn't stop him in time. He busted his lip open and there was blood everywhere. It was pretty scary but luckily he is a super fast clotter, just like daddy, so the blood dried up and he was happy again. I think my heart beat at quadruple speed for a few minutes. (Sorry, Tyson!)

The food was great, it was a beautiful day for walking around the campus, but homecoming was seriously dead. Julie and I saw three alumni that we recognized but we couldn't even remember their names... ooops! There were hardly any students out and about on campus. It was kind of weird.

After homecoming, we came back to my house and ate cake and opened presents. Then I attempted to put Logan to bed after a giant sugar rush (actually he went down easily).

I had a good birthday but was happy when Sunday came and daddy came home!!!!!

We use our hands to touch

I've been doing activities on the five senses with Logan. He is able to identify his body parts so I thought it would be good for him to know what his five senses do. I got ideas from hubbardscupboard.com. She has a curriculum for 2 year olds so I have to pick and choose which ones he can do or modify them for his age.

Today we learned about our sense of touch. We sang a song,

"I touch with my hands, I touch with my hands, I use five senses every day, I touch with my hands."

Then we played in "Clean mush".

Clean mush:

1 bar grated bar soap

3 rolls of toilet paper

1/3 cup borax

1/3 cup warm water

(I cut the "recipe" into 3rds bc I figured we didn't need that much mush for one kiddo).

At first Logan was really unsure of the new texture. He would only touch it with one finger. But pretty soon, he was practically diving in.

It wasn't even that messy! We did it right before bathtime and I was planning to mop the kitchen floor after bathtime, so a little extra soap on the floor didn't hurt anything.

(I have to say, the texture and smell-- even though it smelled clean-- bothered me more than him. UGH! Pregnancy!!)

After we played in the mush, we read "Five Senses" by Aliki. The first 5 pages of the book were the best for Logan's age. The illustrations are big and clear and there is little text. Logan liked finding the eyes in the picture and then finding his eyes.

We also played with a "feely box" this week. I filled a kleenex box with items of different textures (smooth, bumpy, rough, soft, hard.) As Logan pulled the items out of the box, we talked about those language labels and about how we use our hands to touch.

Other things that he learned from these activities:

- He learned to use his hands NOT his mouth to touch. (i'm not saying he's mastered this one yet but we need as many reminders as possible :) )

- He was introduced to the concepts of in and out as we took each item out of the kleenex and then put it back in.

Next we are going to practice hearing with our ears!!

No crying over spilled milk

Logan had a lot of fun drinking out of his big boy John Deere cup at lunch today. He found out he could blow bubbles in his cup, put noodles into his cup, and a variety of other tricks. The worst part is, he kept trying to get me to look away so he could do more playing and less drinking. He would point outside and pretend to see something so I would look away and he could add noodles to his milk. I informed him, however, that I taught public school for 8 years and pulling one over on mommy wasn't going to be that easy. PLUS, I'm married to his daddy and they have a similar mischievous smile...

18 months old

Logan turned 18 months old on November 1st. Wow! I have a 1 1/2 year old!!!
The night before he turned 18 months, he dressed up as a lion for Halloween. We went trick or treating on Main street in Festus with a pirate (Nick) and a fireman (Alex). Then we came home and passed out candy to our neighbor kids.
Today, Logan went to his 18 month check up. He got 4 shots-- including his seasonal flu shot and his first dose of H1N1 vaccine. The poor baby got 2 shots in each arm. Ouch! He cried more when Dr. Glines looked in his ears than he did when he got the shots! He does not like people touching his head!!!
He was also weighed and measured. He weighed 26.13 lbs. He's in the 60th percentile for weight and head circumference. He was 36 inches tall! He's off the charts for height (again). The doctor told me, "He might be a basketball player." I said, "Not if he inherited his mommy's athletic abilities." Luckily, he seems to have already surpased my abilities. He loves to play ball and has recently learned how to kick the ball.
Other things he can do at 18 months:
- He loves to read books. We went to the library last week and he picked out "The Home Depot Big Book of Tools" He is literally obsessed with this book. I can name a tool and he can point to it on the page. (He has also surpassed his mommy on tool knowledge). He also has started "reading" books to himself- which is nice for me!
- He loves to talk and makes little sentences now like, "I want juice." or "I see elephant."
- He loves to sing his ABCs-- although he doesn't know most of the letters past c-- he just makes it all up :) He likes lots of songs and will try to sing along even if he doesn't know the words.
- He likes to count. He counts, "Two, free, fries, six, seven, eight, nine, TEN"- He usually just skips one-- and sometimes skips 6-9 as well :) I'm pretty sure he doesn't get the concept of numerals but it's a good start!!
-He loves bath time and asks for bubbles. And then asks for more bubbles.
-He loves to laugh. And he loves to tickle mommy and say, "Tika, tika"
-He likes to kiss mommy's belly and say, "Baby". He also lifts his shirt and points to his belly and says, "baby".
-He loves to play with dirt, bugs, leaves, worms, etc.
-He likes to hold hands and say the prayer before we eat. He says, "Amen" at the end of the prayer... or when he thinks you should be done praying!!
He's a good little boy and we are so lucky to have him. We're looking forward to our second little boy. Only 10 weeks until our due date!!!