Logan learns water survival skills

They say that a child should learn water survival skills as soon as he is old enough to walk. It is important, especially when you have a pool in your backyard, that children know how to float if they accidentally fall in a pool. With much anticipation, Logan started lessons this week. We have heard horror stories of these water safety classes torturing kids by submersing them under water as they swallow gallons of water crying the whole time.

Thanks to a great coach discovered by Aunt Monica, our experience has been nothing short of awesome. Within minutes, Logan was floating on his back with his hands behind his head. He did cry through most of his first lesson, saying "all done" and "bye bye" during each break. He spent about 25 minutes on his back and when it was all over, he ran over to Brian and gave him a big hug and then burped for the next 2 minutes from all the air in his stomach.

The next day, he was able to float on his back all over the pool, even the deep end. He wasn't bothered by grazing up against the pool cleaner hose or walls of the pool. He kept his pose the whole time. When he saw Stefanie hold a camera to take a picture, he even said "cheese". Again, he spent the majority of his 30 minute lesson on his back without much assistance. When it was all over, this time he ran up to Stefanie and gave her a big hug while saying "Bye Bye Coke [coach]".

The third lesson was supposed to be the scary one where he is dunked under the water on his back and you hope he floats to the top and holds the correct position. He did great. He didn't cry. He kept his eyes and mouth closed and held his float position. Tomorrow, he will be dunked face down and we hope he'll know to turn over to his back.

For pictures of Logan swimming, click here.

We might as well take this opportunity to highlight some of Logan's other recent accomplishments. He knows all his colors, he can count to 3 and knows several other numbers like 8. He knows every letter of the alphabet from sight and sound. He knows several words (mostly body parts) in both English and Spanish. He has hand signals and sounds for most animals like touching his neck for a giraffe. He is also beginning to put 2 words together.

Disney Wonder with the Cohen Family

On April 2nd, 2009, Logan, Brian, Stefanie, Aunt Hollie, Uncle Jonathon, and cousins Jordyn and Benjamin, embarked on the Disney Wonder for a 3 day cruise to the Bahamas. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough room on the ship for Asher. The cruise set sail from Port Canaveral Thursday afternoon. The weather was perfect with temperatures in the mid-80's. As soon as we boarded the ship, we headed upstairs to the Beach Blanket Buffet for a late lunch. That was the beginning of the eating which continued until we returned to Port Canaveral three days later.


After lunch, we found our rooms, unpacked and got ready for the bon voyage party on the Lido deck. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Chip, Dale, and Pluto all came out to kick-off the fun. Logan had a blast as he danced on the towel cabinets while enjoying the music and the fun while Jordyn and Benjamin enjoyed a dip in the pool.

On a Disney Cruise, you eat in a different dining room every night. The first night, we dined at the Parrot Cay dining room. It should be no surprise that Logan thoroughly enjoyed meal time. Our server's name was Everett and our assistant server's name was Oscar. As you can see, Logan got a kick out of his cousins. They were playing peek-a-boo and looking out of the window to watch the waves crash against the ship.

That night, Logan spent a couple hours playing in the Flounder's Reef Nursery while the twins spent time in the Oceanear's club. Logan stayed up until after 10pm and finally crashed in our bed where he ended up sleeping with us all three nights.

The next morning, we awoke in time for breakfast and to watch the ship dock in Nassau, Bahamas. Logan stayed on board while we explored downtown Nassau and the Cohen's went on a beach break excursion to the Atlantis Resort. We picked up Logan for lunch and then treated him to the splash pool. He had a blast, though it took him a while to get acclimated. By the time we were ready to leave, Logan was fully engaged in play.

After a long nap, we met up for a game of Bingo. You could say we were all winners. Stefanie won Bingo in the first round and received a $108 room credit. Hollie won one of the raffles and received a free 30 minute facial. The kids walked away with Disney magnets and tattoos. Dinner that night was at Triton's followed by the "Toy Story - The Musical" show. We had spent the last couple weeks brainwashing Logan on Toy Story by playing it in the van non-stop. It seemed to work. He sat there the whole time, calling out names of things/people he knew like Buzz, Woody, the baby, the turtle (also known as the dinosaur), and the duck.

Friday night was "Pirates of the Caribbean" night where Mickey and crew dress up like pirates and are joined by Captain Hook and several other pirate characters to entertain the ship pirate-style. People dress up in their pirate-bests and there's plenty of food, drink, music, and dance. The festivities started at 10pm, but the kids lasted much longer than that.

On Saturday, the ship made its way to Castaway Cay, Disney's private island in the Bahamas. Before getting off the ship, we decided to introduce Logan to his first movie -- Bolt 3D. He had done so well at Toy Story the night before, we figured that he could last 1 hour and 47 minutes in a movie theatre. We got pretty close. The 3D glasses fell off after the first 30 minutes, but it wasn't until 15 minutes before the end that we escorted him out of the theatre because he started to talk and fuss. After the movie, we went to the private island for Logan's first beach experience since he was a baby. He absolutely loved the water. He wasn't even scared.

Logan had so much fun at the beach, that he fell asleep on the 6 minute walk back to the ship and ended up sleeping for another couple hours. We had to wake him up for the Castaway Club party for returning cruise members. During the party, he spent most of the time on stage entertaining the audience with some of the other children. After the party, we had dinner for the kids at Animator's Pallet and then we dropped off the kids at their respective play places so that the adults could enjoy a fine dining experience at Palo's. That dinner ended a very fun and exciting cruise. Logan had so much fun with his cousins that he left us at the port to go back with them.

To see more pictures of the cruise, click here.

A Disney Vacation with the Norris Family

This week, Logan had the opportunity to take a week off of "school" to play at the Parks -- the Disney Parks, that is. Jodi, Corey, Emma, Addison, and Hallie flew in from Ohio to spend some time with the Levine family.

On Tuesday morning, we went to the Polynesian Hotel for the Lilo and Stitch character breakfast at Ohana's. Not only did we meet Lilo and Stitch, but Mickey and Pluto also showed up to say hello. From breakfast, we hit the Magic Kingdom where we had the luxury of a "skip to the front of the line" pass, also known as a guest with a broken foot.

Without much waiting, we were able to go on Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, Peter Pan, Pirate's of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Goofy's Roller Coaster, Dumbo, Alladin, Buzz Lightyear, and others. Logan was able to join us on Jungle Cruise, Alladin, and Pirate's. He had a blast.

On Wednesday, we went to EPCOT where we went on Soarin', Test Track, Mission Space, and Nemo. With the exception of Nemo, Logan wasn't able to go on any rides at EPCOT, but he enjoyed himself all the same. We capped off the evening with a trip to the Fort Wilderness Campfire with Chip and Dale. Despite the freezing weather, Logan had had a wonderful time and loved the marshmallows and guitar player.

On Thursday, we hit Disney's Hollywood Studios. We rode Toy Story (twice), Rockin' Roller Coaster, Playhouse Disney, and The Great Movie Ride. Logan rode every ride except the Roller Coaster and his favorite was Playhouse Disney. He couldn't stop pointing to everything and yelling out their names like mouse, bubbles, dog, ball, duck, etc.

With all this action, you would expect over 100 photos, but we had some camera issues this trip. The Norris family lost their camera at the Magic Kingdom and then we forgot to charge our camera the night before the EPCOT trip. There are still some good shots, though. Click here to see some photos.

Logan is 18 months old!

The holidays (Chanukkah and New Years) seemed to come and go, as did a plethora of family and friends coming to the house to spend time with the family and meet Logan's baby brother. Logan celebrated Chanukkah at home. In fact, this was one of the first years in a long time that we were home every night of Chanukkah to light the Menorah. We had many people over the house during Chanukkah like Clay and Wendi; Todd, Monica, and Jared; Mimi and Poppi; and Uncle Ed and Eileen.


Before Chanukkah was officially over, we celebrated Uncle Todd's birthday where Logan got to spend some time with more family like Taylor and Aunt Rhonda; Uncle Harvey, Aunt Roxanne, and Craig; Grandma Esther; Grandma Elizabeth; and Grandpa Howie and Grandma Elise. Taylor and Rhonda stayed for a couple days and Logan really enjoyed their company especially when they babysat for him.

We spent New Year's Eve with the Hagen Family and Todd, Monica, and Jared. Logan tried to stay up until midnight, but didn't make it. On New Year's Day, we went to Tampa to have lunch with the Kissel Family and then snacks with the Fletcher Family.

After all the holidays and guests, Logan returned to school where he was transitioning from the little toddler room to the big toddler room. Now he will no longer be napping in a crib and he will sit at a table instead of a high chair drinking from a cup instead of a sippy cup. After a week of transition, Logan was rewarded with a trip to Disney to celebrate Stefanie's birthday. He had a blast on "It's a Small World". He pointed to all the animals that he knew, making sounds for things like monkeys and dogs.

Only a few days later, Logan had his 18 month check-up where he weighed in at 30 lbs 15 ounces with a height of 32.75 inches. The doctor was very impressed with his ability to drink from a cup and the fact that he calls water "agua". Logan wasn't really performing that day, but he has developed a lot in the last month.

For one, Logan has finally reached the stage of toddler dancer. He only dances to a handful of Wiggles songs but he moves his lips and everything. He also participates in songs like "If you're happy and you know it" and "Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes". His vocabulary is growing every day. This month he learned words like pillow, yellow, blue, puzzle, bubbles, cracker, waffles, mouse, and pretzel, to name a few. He also added some animal sounds to his repertoire like "who" for an owl. We hope that by next month he will start climbing and putting two words together to form sentences.

For some pictures from this month, click here.

Stay tuned next month for the Norris visit from Ohio, Debbie's visit from Boston, Ava's Baptism, Brian's birthday, and more.

Logan turns 17 months old!

You know it has been a good blogging month when Logan has 5 entries. His month started with a trip to the Wiggles concert (or as he calls them, "ga ga"); followed by becoming a big brother to his baby brother Asher; followed by a trip to Disney to see the Osborne Festival of Lights; followed by Thanksgiving; and ended with a joint photo shoot with his brother.

The birth of Asher alone was enough to make life interesting for Logan especially with all the visitors. Logan LOVES his baby brother. He points to him all day long and says "daydee" which is his version of baby. He kisses his brother every chance he gets and brings him all of his baby things like blankets, burp cloths, bottles, and pacifiers.

He also had a couple of opportunities to get closer with his cousin Jared. We finally have a handful of pictures of the two of them together.

In terms of development, it is as if Logan blossomed when baby Asher came along. He is saying so much more (or we are just understanding so much more). Every day we are surprised by what he knows. For instance, he knows how to say and sign "please". His vocabulary now includes animal sounds like the sounds dogs, monkeys, sheep, lions, and pigs make. He can also point at pictures when he talks so it is getting easier to understand him. His vocabulary now includes more than 50 words like please, milk, water (in spanish), mimi, mama, daddy, wiggles, car, truck, vroom, blocks, box, dog, up, down, more, bye, bye bye, hello, hi, duck, apple, hot, eat, elmo, hat, all done, night night, blanket, shoes, knees, ears, head, belly, baby, book, ball, balloon, etc.

Of course, the walking turned into running. He is doing much better navigating around and over objects. He is also doing better at getting down from the couch and/or bed. Although he started using a fork last month, this month he has become much better at stabbing the food to go on the fork. He also stopped throwing food or his cup when he is done eating and now pushes everything away when he is done and says "all done". He's getting a lot better at stacking and sorting toys and he has fallen in love with books. He needs to hear 2-3 books before he lies down at night. He even sleeps with a few in his crib and reads them when he wakes up in the morning. He also started sleeping with a blanket in preparation for the day he transitions to a big boy bed. Did we mention the start of potty training?

To see pictures of Logan this month, click here.

Stay tuned next month to hear about Chanukkah, visits from Mimi (Grandma Barbara), Papi (Grandpa Sumner), Great Aunt Rhonda, Cousin Taylor, Great Uncle Harvey, Great Aunt Roxanne, Cousin Craig, Great Uncle Ed and Eileen, and more.

Logan teaches Asher a little thing about Photo Shoots

Logan's big brother duties have officially begun. His first real task was showing his brother the ropes when it comes to professional photo shoots. Although Logan is no stranger to photographers, this was the first time we visited the Portrait Innovations studio in Winter Garden. Logan was ready to go as soon as the camera came out. He showed his brother how to smile and act casual as the photographer took over 60 pictures of Logan and Asher. We especially like the ones of Logan and Asher together in their Big Brother/Lil Brother T-shirts. Check out the entire photo shoot online at Kodak Gallery.

Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Disney's Hollywood Studios

After a weekend of getting acclimated to being a big brother, Logan was well deserving of some time with mommy and daddy, away from Asher. We decided to treat Logan to some Disney time at Hollywood Studios (formerly MGM). It is that time of year again when the Osborne Family Spectacle of lights are on display. We went with Clay and Wendi to see the lights this year. Logan was mesmerized. We capped off the evening with a trip to Pizzeria Uno where Logan proved his "big boy" status by sitting in a booster seat instead of a high chair. For pictures of the evening, click here.