A day ago Connor started coughing, and every time when he has previously had a cold, his cough often sounds very bad and deep.  Last night his cough got worse; he seemed to be wheezing too.  But other than that, he did not have any other symptoms, still eating fine and playful.  After he went down to bed, we were monitoring his cough which was worse while laying down.  An hour into his sleep, he started waking up crying every 15 minutes or so.  We would go see him, give him some water and a little cuddle, then he would return to sleep.  But unfortunately, the cough kept waking him back up.  He did not have a fever, but we decided to give him a dose of Tylenol for comfort.  I tried to sit with him on the glider to pop him up, but he eventually wanted to return to bed.  After midnight, Stuart decided to give up his spot to let Connor come sleep with me.  After a long while, Connor’s cough finally calmed down and he eventually fell asleep.

    But at 3 something, Connor sat up and cried sadly.  He was burning hot and he must be very uncomfortable as his cry was different than usual, and it was hard to calm him down.  He did not want anything but held by me.  He was 101.8 axillary.  We sat together for awhile on the glider after another dose of Tylenol; he cooled back down, and we went back to sleep together on the bed.  Unfortunately, he was up at 6am sharp, and kept telling me that he wanted something to eat.  Once we were in the family room, he was quite happy and enjoyed watching Mickey Mouse.  He even went to get his stuffed Mickey to accompany him while watching the show.

    The rest of the day, Connor was doing well, did not have any more fever; his cough was gradually improved throughout the day.  We had an earlier lunch knowing that Connor would be tired and he almost fell asleep while eating.  After nap, Stuart and Logan went to library and then to the neighbor’s house for a playdate while Connor and I stayed on our own.  We went to Target for some shopping, then played in the yard and then took a walk with Connor in the buggy.

    Just now at 10pm, Connor woke up crying again.  He was again having a fever, 100.5 axillary.  I held him for awhile on the glider after Tylenol, and he now went back to sleep.  We will see how tonight will be.

      Today was considered the last day of school year as summer camp will start on Monday.  To celebrate, the school decided to do a crazy dress up day.  Stuart considered having the kids wearing the shirts and shorts insides out, but I just did not want to embarrass the kids or have the kids look too bummy.  So having unmatched socks was the extent of craziness I was willing to go.  Connor was complaining about the different socks when I put them on, but was fine with them after showing him Logan’s.  It turned out that there was not too much participation on this activity at school.  I saw a girl with colorful leg warmers in her arms and another girl with different shoes on, but that was about it.

    The past few days, Connor has become more naughty.  We can tell that he is purposely not following instruction to test his limits.  He continues to run when we ask him to stop.  When he does not get what he wants he may softly hit Logan or us or swings his arm at us.  He talks even louder when we ask him to be quiet.  He whines when we don’t read him books, especially his all time favorite “The Wheels on the Bus” (which we are reading that book to him at least three or four times a day via his request)  Even the teachers have noticed his naughtiness too, they said he has been saying more “no” lately before following instructions, and he has been running away when told to have his diaper changed.

    Logan brought home a spiral notebook from school yesterday.  He and his classmates have been keeping a journal at school for awhile, and now they were being sent home for the parents to see.  Every page, I mean every single page, in that notebook was full of Logan’s pencil drawn explosions.  Stuart said the journal reminded him of the pages written by the guy in “The Shining”.  (ie. when the wife found page after page of the same sentence written over and over again for hundreds of pages).   Stuart was tired of seeing only explosions from Logan, so he spent some time with him drawing tonight.  Logan does actually draw other things, like rockets, but at the end of every drawing, he tends to cover everything up with random lines to make explosions again.

     On an unrelated note:  Yesterday out of the blue, Logan said “I want two mommies”.  I asked him the reason for that, and he answered “one for cooking and one for camping”. 

      After two slightly frustrating days getting the grass in the backyard, it was finally completed by Friday.  The transaction closed out on Saturday morning after the guy dropped by.  Stuart and I still have some work to do, but for now, it is nice to have grass instead of dirt in the yard.

    After having a late start on Saturday, we decided to take a stroll at Happy Hollow.  Nowadays the boys only have a couple of interests in the park, with the huge structure being their favorite.  They played there for awhile as usual.  Connor was interested in riding the cop car this time, and he was quite patient while we waited in line.  We then went to see the puppet show per Logan’s request.  They both were focused at the show especially Connor; he did not take his eyes off the stage the entire time.  We ate lunch, then walked around the zoo and played at the sand area before returning home for a good nap.

   This morning we took our bikes out to encourage the boys to get on them.  Logan was still a bit fearful and lazy, but he managed to peddle a few rounds on his own while we pushed him down the road. We were at least making some baby steps finally.  Connor was not very adventurous either; he did push himself on the scooter a few steps, but preferred to sit on the bike or stand on the scooter while I pushed him.  We took an early nap as Logan had a party to attend at Pump It Up Jr at 2pm.  Stuart took off with Logan while Connor and I continued napping.  I decided to take Connor to the mall for a quick errand before going to the “Crab Night”.  Connor and I enjoyed walking around in the crowd; I did some shopping, returning an item, and brought the boys a water bottle each.  Connor had fun holding the water bottles for me while we were in line. 

   We showed up to Thuy’s house right at the start of the party.  Connor took a little bit of time before warming up, then started playing with the toys.  After everyone arrived, we were able to dive in to the feast.  Connor was not hungry as he had a huge banana, so he was just wandering around me.  Kimthy volunteered to take him out to the yard to let me focus on eating.  After quite a bit of yummy crabs, I switched off with Kimthy.  Connor had fun pushing around a toy wheel barrel for a long time; we also looked at the fish and played with other toys.  We finally migrated back inside the house; Connor sat at the kid table to have an egg roll while I had some more crabs that Michelle saved for me.  Connor had a good time hanging out and playing with Tina, Michelle and Christine.  Connor said goodbyes to everyone, then we went home just in time to have bath time with Logan.

    According to Stuart, Logan had fun playing at the jumpy houses, but did not participate at the group activities as usual.  He also got a bit upset when the playtime was over.  When they returned home, they spent a long time in the yard playing with Caleb and on their own too.  Logan take some golf swings which he had not done for a long time.  They seemed to have a good time together as Connor and I had together too.

      Logan turns 4 years old today, and we had a packed day of celebrations.  After dropping off the kids at school, I picked up some grocery then came home to finish making some Oreo cupcakes.  I brought the cupcakes to school at 10am for their morning snack.  When I arrived, the teacher began the birthday activity.  She had Logan came up to sit in the front of the class, but Logan would go only after I was invited to sit with him.  The teacher announced that it was Logan’s birthday and he would be the king for the day, but Logan did not want to wear the crown. She told the kids that Logan would be the first doing everything today (i.e. go outside, sit down for lunch, etc), and his friends would do his chores for him too.  They also made a birthday board together by having all the kids spelling out Logan’s name.  Afterward, we moved on to sitting down at the tables, then everyone sang the birthday song to Logan.  Logan was shy getting all the attention, and wanted to hold my hand for comfort. The kids enjoyed the cupcakes; Logan loved the Oreo cookie, licked off all the whipped cream and only ate a little of the chocolate cupcake.  After snack time, I said my goodbye to let the class returning to their routine. 

     On my drive home, I thought about how time has flied.  I got a bit emotional thinking about how I felt when the nurse placed the newborn Logan onto my chest for skin-skin bonding four years ago today, and how I got sad the first day coming home with baby Logan and discovered that most of my prepared receiving blankets were too small for him.
   At 2:30pm, I went back to school to pick up Logan for our movie date.  It was funny that most kids were up from nap by then and it was quite loud, but there were still two girls sleeping comfortably in the middle of all the happenings.  When we got to the theater Logan was so excited as we waited to get inside the movie room.  He was happy to start watching advertisement then the movie “Madagascar 3” which he enjoyed along with his special popcorn treat.  During the show, the word “stupid” was said three times in a row; Logan pointed it out to me every time (as this has been labeled a bad word at school).  After sitting down for an hour and 20mins or so, Logan suddenly had enough and wanted to leave.  He was antsy for a little bit and took some convincing before we could finish the movie.  The movie was good, but I did fall asleep briefly in the middle of it to take a break.  I asked Logan if he liked it, and he actually said “No, because they were shooting the animals and that was not nice!”.

    We then drove over to Chuck E Cheese to have our final celebration of the day.  Stuart picked up Connor and met up with us there.  A couple of Logan’s school friends, Rohan and Bar, also came to join us for the fun dinner.  The kids were excited to check out all the cool games and rides inside.  Logan wanted to play with the bigger kids games while Connor was into the electronic rides.  Logan liked checking out games on his own, but he did play with Rohan and Bar sometimes.  Bar’s sister Raz and Connor loved hanging out together, squeezing into the seat together during many rides.  Raz kept running around calling out for Connor.  In between playing, we took a break for pizza, then another one for trying some lollipops that one of the dads bought.  Rohan, Bar and Raz were loving it while Logan did not even care to try it.  Connor was excited to try it; he enjoyed licking it and holding it; fortunately he declared done shortly before making too much of a mess.  We made another break for birthday cake; Logan loved the cake as it had his favorite Mario Kart car on it.  The kids enjoyed the cupcakes while Logan once again declined them after taking just one bite.  Connor ate an entire one all on his own.  We played a little more, then it was time for everyone to head home.  The kids and I used our final tokens on a cool photo machine.

    It was a late evening by the time we got home, but Logan wanted to eat a little more pizza.  He only had a chance to open a couple of his presents.  The celebration will continue briefly tomorrow.