Logan and Jared's Annual Halloween Picture

It is an annual tradition now that Logan and Jared get a professional photograph taken of the two of them in their costumes. Here is the picture from this year and last year. My, have they grown.

Logan turns 16 months old!

Wow, the big 1-6. It is hard to believe that our little boy has grown to be such a full grown toddler. Weighing in at 29lbs, Logan had a very productive and exciting Month 16. The blog is full of posts for this month including Halloween, Logan's new bedroom, Logan's school picture, and a handful of trips to Disney World.

Life has been good for Logan now that he can walk. He feels very independent. He is even been known to sneak away into his play room and play with some of his favorite toys alone. He loves the toy that shoots balls into the air or loves stacking blocks or making buildings with Lego's. He continues to get better and better at puzzles and shape sorters.

When it comes to eating, he is actually getting more picky in his old age. Now that he can communicate "no" to us, he makes sure we know which foods he wants to eat and which foods he doesn't. He is also less likely to eat something if we try to feed him. He is improving his eating skills now, though, with the addition of a plate and fork to his normal routine. Soft fruits seem to be his favorite along with grilled chicken.

In the speaking department, he has learned a couple new words -- agua, apple, hat, fan, daddy, truck, dog, and all done. He still has issues pronouncing the full word, but we know what he means when he says these words. He also learned how to play peak a boo by covering his eyes.

Month 16 was a cold month in Florida with temperatures falling to the low 40's. Logan came down with a slight cold that had him out of commission for almost 5 days, but he is on the road to recovery and has returned to day care to be with his friends. He got to see Grandpa Howie, Grandma Elise, and Great Grandma Esther while he was sick and it made him feel much better.

Staying at home with Logan for a couple days made us realize how much he was actually learning at daycare. We never realize that he knew what "lie down" means. Now bed time is much easier because we say "lie down" and he lies down so we can put a blanket over him. We also learned that he was introduced to the Wiggles while at daycare so we have added the Wiggles to his collection of DVDs.

For pictures of Logan in Month 16, click here.

Next month is going to be a really big one for Logan and the family. It will start with a trip to see the Wiggles tomorrow and of course will be topped by a new addition to the family. Logan should be a big brother in less than a week. Despite 9 months of planning, we still don't have a name picked out and at this point, we'll wait until we see him to figure out what or who he looks like. Stay tuned to the blog on Tuesday, November 25th for the posting "Logan becomes a big brother".

Happy Halloween!

Trick or Treat? You could say this year had a little bit of both. We had to trick Logan to get him to wear his costume 4 times this season. By the last fitting, he was busting out of the seams of his little monkey costume. The treat was seeing his excitement as he created a new game which he piloted with his baby sitter where he walks around the house with a candy basket and asks for Candy. When his bucket is full, he dumps the candy on the ground and starts all over again.

Halloween started early this year with a trip to Disney for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween early in the month. Halloween Day was full of activities, though. It started with breakfast at IHOP followed by a parade at daycare, then dinner with Jared and Parker, followed by trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. He started on his feet holding his Elmo candy basket, but shortly ended up in the stroller in order to keep up with the rest of the crew.

For pictures from these Halloween events, click here.

Walt Disney World - The Ultimate Play Date

October is one of our favorite months to visit Disney World. Amongst our favorite events are EPCOT's Food and Wine Festival and Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween. We also enjoy the occasional visit to Walt Disney World Restaurants like Ohana's in the Polynesian Hotel and Biergarten in Germany at EPCOT.

Logan enjoyed each and every visit this year and each time he enjoyed it with different family and friends. Now that Logan can walk, he has a new appreciation for what the parks have to offer like restaurant queue lines, fences, ramps, and railings. Logan doesn't need rides and shows to entertain him any longer.

See pictures from several visits to Disney this month by clicking here.

Logan's 1st School Picture

Is Logan Ready for His Big Boy Room?

As we prepare for Baby #2, we have begun to get Logan's new room ready for his transition from crib to Big Boy bed. His theme has already begun to materialize. He will have a sports themed room equipped with the sports quilt, football curtain rod, basketball night light, and baseball lamp. Slowly but surely, we'll integrate pictures of sports and maybe even a mural with sports icons. His favorite piece of furniture is his new monogrammed chair. He's not quite ready to sleep on the bed, but he is more than happy to play on it. With walking out of the way, sleeping on a bed and potty training are the next two milestones. Let's cross our fingers.

Logan Turns 15 Months Old!

It seems the older Logan gets, the less pictures we take. Perhaps he is much faster and the moments are harder to capture? Perhaps we're too busy chasing after him? Perhaps we're getting lazy in his toddler months. Whatever the excuse, we promise to do better next month.

This month can be best described as the month we wished Logan would learn to walk. With one day to spare, he snapped into action and proved that not only can he stand on his own two feet without holding on, but he can also go from a crawling position to a standing position and take quite a number of steps including navigating around furniture and dogs. This was his big accomplishment of the past month.

Logan is definitely growing nicely. At his 15 month check-up today, he weighed in at 28 lbs, 11 oz. His height was almost 32 inches. That puts him in the 80th percentile for height and 90th for weight. He impressed the doctor by his ability to point out his stomach, say "hi", wave goodbye, throw kisses, and walk.

In many ways, Logan is the same old Logan. He loves meal time. He always smiles for the camera. He says hi to everyone when he enters a room and waves bye as he leaves. He knows sign language for the most important words -- eat, more, milk, and all done.

His vocabulary is slowly expanding and he has created a few words of his own. "Dai" means "give me". "Duh" means he is done with whatever he has in his hands and he is going to throw it on the ground. "Dee" is the same thing as "Weee" and he learned the word for "hot" but he uses it when he sees any food. He can say "up" and "uh-oh" but you wouldn't know it unless you were his parents. He still says the letter "B" for book and balloon and "da da" doesn't mean Daddy. It is more of a question he asks expecting the response of "yes".

A couple cute additions to his repertoire is the shaking of the head to indicate "no". He can't help but crack up as he shakes his head when he doesn't want something. He also likes to bump heads, do a high five, and blow kisses.

He is much more advanced now with his toys as he learns to stack blocks, take apart puzzles, and open and close compartments. Talking about opening and closing, we had to baby proof the house because Logan loves to open doors, cabinets, and drawers. He gets on his tippy toes to open the door.

For some pictures of Logan since his birthday posting, click here.

Don't forget to check back next time (may be slightly longer than a month) for the announcement of Logan's baby brother, Logan's advancement in the art of walking, Logan's real Halloween experience, and more.