It’s been 3 months since I have updated on Logan and his development. I swear he does something every single day that absolutely amazes me. Watching him learn and grow has been one of my favorite parts of our whole parenting journey! This post is going to be pretty in depth for my own sake. I want a record of where he was at this time in his little life and since it’s been a while since I’ve written, I have a lot to catch up on! We are talking about getting the whole blog made into a book since I did a decent job at posting all throughout Logan’s first year… like a really in depth baby book. I think I will appreciate it when he gets older.
So, in the milestone department:
Gross Motor-
Logan has finally started running. And usually, it is him running away from us when he has something he isn’t supposed to have. His favorite game right now is to swipe my cell phone when I’m not looking and take off running with it. He learned how to pull up Siri on my phone and had his first conversation with her yesterday. He is definitely his parent’s child… asking where the nearest bar is. 🙂
Since he eats breakfast and lunch pretty much exclusively at his own little table now, we have worked on him taking his cup and bowl to his table when it’s time to eat and taking his bowl to the dishwasher when he is finished. He enjoys helping me empty the dishwasher. I give him the tupperware and he puts it away. Next we need to work on teaching him how to organize the tupperware cabinet cause it’s a crazy mess since he took over! Sometimes I can get him to help me transfer the wet laundry to the dryer, but that’s not as much fun as putting away tupperware for some reason. Maybe he doesn’t like the feeling of the wet clothes. Or maybe the dog food that is in the laundry room is just too much of a distraction. Because everyone knows that dogfood is delicious, or at least Logan thinks so. He also is climbing. On absolutely everything… and I let him. Gasp! I know, I know, he’s going to fall and hurt himself, but I believe that he’s just a naturally curious little guy and instead of stifling his curiosity, I am trying to work with it and teach him how to climb and investigate things safely. Yes he has fallen, but he has also learned the natural consequences of his actions and natural consequences are going to be a better lesson for him than me running behind him taking him down from everything and telling him that he’s going to get hurt.
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Here’s a video of him kicking a volleyball around the house. He started this about a month ago.
Fine Motor
Coloring! He loves to color. I have a huge mat of paper that I used when I was teaching. He likes to lay it on the floor, sit in the middle of it, and scribble on the paper. He also likes to eat the crayons, but we’re working on that. We are still working on using a fork and spoon for eating. He’s got the spoon down, though he prefers to just use his hands. Using a fork is taking more time. He enjoys painting, pouring water out of cups, banging things together, turning the pages of books, and trying to put his shoes on… but he is a long ways away from that one.
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He also likes to help make butter with our fresh cream from the farm:
Language-
His expressive language has exploded lately. As of my last count, he had 29 words/approximations that he uses consistently. His words are: Momma, Dada, Nana, Pop Pop, up, over, eat, water, help, boobies, blanket, paci, hi, teeth, bath, ball, Yo Gabba Gabba, show, cheese (the food and for photos), apple, banana, papaya, uh-oh, dog, brown bear, hot, yeah, more, and shoe. If you model a word for him, he will almost always try to imitate you, though his imitation might be completely different than what the actual word is. On thing that I find funny is that he has never said the word ‘no’. We don’t use that word a lot, but I’m sure I use it more than I realize. As stubborn as he is, I’m shocked he hasn’t started with telling us ‘no’. I’m sure we’ll get there before long. 🙂
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We are still doing a few signs. Right now his main signs are ‘more’, ‘all done’, ‘help’ and ‘milk’ to ask to nurse. ‘Help’ has come in handy and has definitely decreased his frustration and tantrums tremendously. Right now we are working on the sign for ‘angry/mad’ to also help with his tantrums and to give a name to the emotions he feels. Here is a video of Logan asking for help to get down from his stroller.
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His listening skills are pretty darn amazing for being such a tiny guy. The other day he told me he wanted an orange so I started peeling one for him. He was getting impatient so I started talking to him about what we needed to do next… which included getting a bowl. I asked him if he could get me a bowl not thinking he was going to be able to do it since we’ve never actually worked on this. Would you know that little stinker went and got himself a bowl out of the cabinet. I was amazed and so glad that Chris was there to witness it. He also has been following 1-step commands like sit down, come here, take it to your table, and give me a kiss. If you tell him it’s time to take a nap, he goes to his room… or if you tell him that it’s time to brush his teeth, he will go to the bathroom. If you are in one room and tell him to go find someone or something in another, he will go and try.
He’s also been making animal noises… my favorite is most definitely his bear growl. It’s quite possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen. And filling in his favorite parts to songs and books.
Miscellaneous-
I don’t know if I mentioned it in a previous post, but our guy started sleeping through the night… finally! It was right around his 1st birthday. So, we are officially night weaned and sleeping from about 8:30-6:30 every night. It’s crazy to think that he went from waking up every 1.5-2 hours (for MONTHS!) to now being able to sleep all the way through. We also have stopped co-sleeping. It worked so well for us from the time he was about 3 months until right around the time he turned 11 months. He just got SO wiggly at night, I couldn’t handle it anymore. I loved snuggling with him and miss it very much, but I do not miss getting kicked in the face in the middle of the night. Luckily the transition was very easy for him and on us!
In the food department, he’s eating just about everything in site, especially lately! I don’t know if he’s going through a growth spurt, or what but he eats as much as a teenaged boy. Example… I made homemade pizza the other night and he ate 3 pieces. 3!!! And a plate of fruit… and the kicker is that he was asking for more after his 3rd piece. He recently learned how to eat a banana without it being cut up. The following video is a little on the long side, but it makes me laugh. I think it’s the dogs sitting and waiting SO patiently for some food to drop on the floor.
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And this video is just plain gross. I was cooking one evening and he started telling me he was hungry. So I gave him a hunk of raw onion… and he ate it!
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His favorite book is Brown Bear, Brown Bear and he prefers that Daddy read it instead of Momma. Daddy does these ridiculous voices and sounds (some that don’t even make sense!) and it’s just more entertaining than my noises. It’s the duck sound that gets him. Chris reads it like Donald Duck and Logan thinks it’s hilarious. The following video is really long and actually pretty uneventful except for Logan giggling at Chris’s duck noises.
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And last but not least, a video of Logan tooting in the tub. I posted this on facebook, so most of you have seen it, but for the few who have not, enjoy. It’s the best video ever.