Logan is 13 months old!

Logan, Logan, Logan.  What to say?  He just seems SO grown up!  A lady at school pick-up on Friday could not believe how well he can walk.  He was basically dribbling a soccer ball up and down the playground.  This is his favorite thing to do.  He can kick and throw balls really well for his age.  He even aims – and it goes where he wants (better than me half the time!).  He is also running.  He is really steady on his feet.  He spends a lot of time practicing his gross motor skills, so he can walk up and down slopes pretty well without falling.  He also walks up and down steps well with handrails.  He knows he should slide down them on his belly, but if there is something to hold onto, he tries that instead.  Today he tried to walk up the stairs one step at a time without holding on, but he is not quite that tall or strong yet.

He is a lot more expressive with his pointing and his noises.  He still doesn’t have a ton of words.  He says “hi” or “hey” and waves greetings.  He also says “ha” for hot when we are in the kitchen.  He sometimes says “Dad” and maybe “Joe” or “Seth”.  He says “ma” when he wants to eat something, which is often.  Usually between pointing and noises, he can express what he wants pretty well.

He has anemia, and so he wasn’t eating well for a while, but I think the iron kicked in and he is eating much better now.  Our best eater so far.  He loves soft vegetables (like carrots, parsnips, potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli), fruit (like bananas, apples, pears, clementines, etc.), cheese, yogurt, bread, crackers, pasta (esp. macaroni and cheese), cereal, meat.  Sometimes, it’s hard to tell because he really likes to throw his food.  All.  The.  Time.  It drives us bonkers.  He throws way more food than the other boys.

Speaking of throwing, he loves to throw and hit.  He is always carrying around a sword (inside) or a vacuum attachment or broom when he can’t find a sword or else a stick (outside).  He loves to look for sticks at the playground or when we are hiking.  He especially likes to hit people and especially me.  We are working on that.  I have had to say “no” a lot lately with him.  He gives me a mischievous smile whenever I say it, but cries whenever anyone else disciplines him.

He is still nursing 3 times a day and probably once at night unless he is sick or teething.  This month, he had had lots of teeth coming in and also a pretty bad cold, so it has been rough for sleeping.  He sleeps roughly 12 hours at night, maybe a bit less, and also 2 naps a day.  I usually end up sleeping with him on a futon half the night, but he is in the crib the rest of the time.  I don’t think he is ready to drop down to one nap a day, though sometimes that is all he gets.

Logan, except when sick or teething, is just a pretty happy fellow.  He loves to walk around and get into everything.  His favorites now – still the dishwasher, pots/pans/dishes from the cupboards, throwing cans from the pantry onto the floor, strewing the library books all over the floor, throwing out the DVD, using the drawers in tables as ladders, emptying coffee table drawers, dumping out all the toothpaste and floss, playing in the water in the toilet, taking underwear out of our drawers, and hitting the Christmas tree hard with a sword.  The most fun for him are the Christmas tree hitting and the toilet bowl splashing.  Oh, and the cat’s litter box – a personal sand box, you know.  Disgusting!!!

Logan also enjoys playing with his brothers, looking through any books (board, the older boys’, or ours’), ripping up magazines, playing with or body-slamming the cat, watching me cook and getting tastes, cuddling a/o biting me, and watching for Dad in the window.  He also loves to dance and starts shaking his head and body to any music – even the cell phone ring tone!

Fun Things This Month

• Voting – Logan was quite restless waiting in line and while I was voting (I had something like 25 judges to vote for), but thankfully, it only took about 15 minutes.
• Hiking at Route 66 State Park – Logan enjoyed running around in the visitor center and especially looking at the neon lights.  He liked running around a bit at hiking, though we kept in the stroller for most of it.
• Hiking at Elephant Rocks & Johnson’s Shut Ins – He slept on the drive, but he LOVED it when we got there.  He wanted to climb on everything, hike around on his own, and pointed at everything.  It was pretty exciting – as soon as we got there, he found a stick and had one in his hand most of the time.  He took another nap on the way to Johnson’s Shut Ins, but we all walked around and he enjoyed looking at the sites.  He screamed a good chunk of the way home, so we had to stop early and eat dinner at Steak and Shake.  They had no high chairs and he spilled water everywhere, but he enjoyed the shake!
• Pictures – we got his 1 year old pictures, tricky because he was walking everywhere and wanted to be in my arms, but we got some great ones.
• Meeting Santa – we went to the mall when Santa came in the carriage.  Logan thought the horses were pretty neat and definitely wanted to do his own craft when we were in there – he tried to make an ornament, but lost patience and feel asleep in the stroller on the way home.
• 3/5/7 Shichigosan Holiday – it wasn’t his turn to celebrate, but he enjoyed the buffet lunch and watching the performances and the koi fish.
• Thanksgiving – he got bored of the parade pretty quickly, but he loved the City Garden.  He wanted to walk everywhere, play with the Christmas light cords, and try to climb into the water.  He did like the balloons, though.  After a nap for Logan, we went over to our friends’, the Shumways, for dinner.  Logan ate some food, but mostly wanted to walk all around and check everything out.
• Ice Skating – we went to an ice skating party the day after Thanksgiving, but Logan got really bored of being held all the time and my arms got really tired.  He did like the Krispy Kreme donuts, however.  Logan had a cold and hives, which I am sure contributed to his fowl mood.
• Christmas decorations – Logan loves the tree and wants to look at it all the time, especially at night with the lights on.  He also likes to attack it and take down the ornaments.  It’s still standing … mostly, which is better than we expected.
• Second Thanksgiving – i.e., when we made our own turkey and ate it at home.  Delicious again and Logan LOVED the turkey and ate tons.
• Zoo – Logan and I went to the zoo together this week just the two of us and had a blast.  Logan loved the Children’s zoo and really liked watching the animals, especially the mole rats.  He even petted a guinea pig.  He loved running around the Bug House and enjoyed the butterflies there.  We even sat and watched the sea lions for awhile as they swum over us in the new tunnel.  It was a fun hour while Seth was at preschool.
• Hiking at Rockwoods Reservations/Santa’s Magical Kingdom – the weather has been so incredibly warm, we went hiking again!  Logan went right for a stick and really tried to hike a lot of the way.  I don’t know if he overdid it or was sick, but he threw up a little of the way through the hike, so we cleaned as best we could and ended up carrying him most of the rest of the way.  He especially thought the cave was neat and anywhere with a drop (of course).  We went to Pizza Hut for dinner (which he loved) and then to the a very decorated campground next to Six Flags called Santa’s Magical Kingdom.  Logan LOVED it – he was pretty quiet the first half – we thought maybe he was asleep, but I think he was just taking it all in, because he was wide awake.  He especially loved the tunnel.  As soon as we left he park though, he screamed the entire half an hour home.  Yikes – why we do not like driving with this kid.