We had another practice today, and the weather was perfect for it.  I put both kids in their track suits along with a green T shirt underneath to celebrate St. Patricks Day.  When the practice finally started, both kids were ready and lined up for warm up.  Connor was having fun doing his soccer stand, but most of the time he needed my assistance to stay balanced.  Everyone did their warm up; Connor tried to follow through and was giggling the whole time.  The usual first drill was the Green Light Red Light.  Logan was a bit too strong with his kicks, and did not freeze completely with each red light as his ball was still rolling.  Connor on the other hand liked doing his tiny kicks; he dribbled slowly but very well, all the way to the goal.  He also did well with the red lights, proudly holding still with a smile.  The second drill was new; the coach held the ball up in the air for the kids to kick.  Logan was hesitant before his turn, but he did a great kick off the coach’s hand, and finished it off to the goal.  Connor totally understood the drill, and attempted his kick, but did miss it.  He however went on dribbling the ball to the goal too. 

     With the third drill, we stood in a large circle with the coach as the monster in the middle.  The kids should kick the ball away from the monster; Logan usually does well with the drill, and today was the same.  By then, Connor started to get a bit silly; he was making funny moves or dancing, and tried going over to stand with Logan instead sometimes.  But every time when he received the ball and when I told him to kick it to someone, he managed to kick it off.  After this drill, Connor decided it was time to stop as he just started walking to our mat.  I asked if he was done, he just answered “Yes”.  I thought it was time too and I was actually happy that he stayed in for quite awhile.  Stuart and Logan finished the last drill which was a passing one among the four players.  Logan did well there, following instruction and doing small kicks with good aims. 

   After the boys got their stamps from completing the practice, Logan immediately went to play at the structures while Connor and I enjoyed our picnic.  Stuart eventually recruited Logan to come eat.  He ate quickly and returned to the playground.  Not much later, Logan came back and suggested to go home.  I think he was tired, so we packed up and said goodbyes to go home for naptime.

    Logan was invited to a birthday party for a classmate from the old school today.  We spent the whole morning at Los Gatos downtown, and came home just to get ready for he and I to leave the house again.  Connor seemed a bit jealous and sad as he heard us talking about leaving for the party, but when I told him that he could go nap with daddy and we would be home shortly after he woke up, he was fine.  Logan did not seem to be interested to go, but once I brought up that his friend Rohan would be there, he got excited.  While we were driving, I told Logan that I liked him to listen to the instructor and try to follow through the activities.  I also suggested that if he did not, daddy might not let him play games when we returned home.  I then convinced Logan to take a power nap, and he finally fell asleep only at the last 5 minutes of the drive.  When we entered the gym, especially as some of his old friends called out his name loudly, Logan was a bit shy.  He was fine taking off shoes and socks, and following the instructors and the kids to the starting area.  But then he returned to his usual longing look for me and not wanting to participate.  It took 5 minutes of convincing, and Logan suddenly listened to one of the instructors and doing the activity.  For the rest of the hour, Logan participated as told with everyone.  He seemed to be having fun doing everything even with tumbling that he could not do too well.  I heard the instructor advising him to keep his arms straight for a back flip. 

    When the activity part was over and when the kids were directed to go wash their hands, Logan turned to me and said “Can I play game when we go home?”.  I guess he did remember our deal.  We were then directed to the party room for pizza and cake.  Logan initially did not want to eat as we had lunch just shortly before we came to the party.  But eventually Logan ate one whole slice, some apples and half of the cake.  Logan talked with one of his old friend, Ian, while they ate, and he played with Rohan for a little bit afterward.  Logan suddenly learned the game of staring, and Rohan definitely could not stand Logan’s stare and had to giggle and run away from him.  At the end, Logan said thank you to the hosts, and he was happy to play XBox game when we arrived home.

     Stuart put together the toddler bed yesterday, so that Connor could finally graduate from the crib.  The bed is actually the same length as the crib, but Connor looks very big in it.  However, at least he can now go in and out of it on his own.  Connor was so excited to see it when they came home from school on Friday.  He enjoyed sitting on the edge of the bed and then climbed in and laid on it.  He keeps saying “me no baby, me big boy!!”.  He enjoys referring to the bed as “big boy bed”.  He was happy lining up all his stuffed animals around the bed, and putting up the blanket on the foot of the bed.

    Connor was so excited after reading bedtime stories and singing a lullaby last night.  He was so giggly as he climbed up his own bed.  He kept the same routine; he asked for two thin blankets to put on top of him and I left him after saying goodbye.  As soon as I closed the door, he called out for me.  When Stuart went in to see him, he asked to have the two books placed under his pillow and have blankets put on him again.  Then he was out.  At 5:30am, Connor did call for help.  When Stuart went in to see him, Connor told Daddy that Teddy had fallen to the ground; he returned to sleep after Teddy was retrieved.  At 6:40am, he called for me.  He was still sitting on the bed; he said “morning” to me, then asked “Done night night?”  I approved, so he happily climbed out of his bed.

    Several times this morning, Connor asked to play with him in his room.  He was so pleased with his new bed.  We read next to his bed.  He also kept asking me to watch him “see this!”, then he jogged next to the bed and dived into it.  He did the routine multiple times.  Tonight while skyping with the grandparents, he wanted to show his new bed to grandma and grandpa too.  Our little boy is growing up!!

    On the same note, Connor is growing up in another area too.  He has been trying potty at school occasionally for the past month or two now.  I remember seeing maybe one or two happy faces (successes).  But on Friday, he had four tries and four happy faces.  Apparently his buddy (Conor L) is being potty trained and so that made our Connor more motivated too.  When Stuart picked him up and again at dinner, Connor proudly told us “Me big boy! No more diapers!”  He is trying to push me to start his training.

     Connor had three owies recently.  On Sunday as Connor was walking toward for snack in the front yard, he tripped on the concrete.  He landed flat on his tummy, and his head also bounced on the ground too.  He was so sad, and it took awhile to calm him down while icing his forehead.  There was no cut on the forehead, just a big bruise.  The next day while I was working, I received a call from the teacher to report that Connor had bumped into the playground structure at school.  The teacher thought that he hit his forehead as it was red, so they iced it.  But I explained to her that the redness was from the day before, so it turned out that his bump at school was not significant.  On Wednesday I received another call.  This time was one of his classmates running the wrong way and bumping into Connor.  Connor ended up falling and biting his lip.  They iced him again.  Probably just a clumsy phase.

     Logan is using big words now.  One day he suddenly said “I am frustrated!” (I could not remember the reason).  Another day he came running to tell me: “Connor was frustrated.  I am hiding and he can’t find me”.  Suddenly one morning he talked to me about Stuart’s office: “We can’t go into daddy’s room.  It is very complicated in there.  We can’t touch anything inside”.  One time I suggested that we do some kind of physical activity (ie.biking), Logan replied “No, I can’t. I am exhausted”. 

    Scottie was scheduled for his 6 month weight check today.  Since Logan’s school is very close to the vet, I decided to pick up Logan to come with us.  Logan was happy to come along, but as soon as we were in the car to the vet, he was asking for his Mobigo to play.  I did not have his Mobigo in my car, but fortunately the vet office offered Logan some crayons to draw.  Scottie had some matted hair again and needed his nails trimmed, so the medical assistant took him to the backroom to do the jobs.  Logan drew for awhile and we played tic-tac-toe too.  Logan complained once that we waited a long time.  Logan actually offered to help brush Scottie from now on, so he would not have to come back to the vet for that.  Scottie finally came back and they reported his weight which was only 6lb 14oz.  He has lost almost 2lbs this past year, and now only half of his all time peak 13lbs.  I totally thought that his weight should have been stable as Scottie’s appetite has been good and I have made an effort to give him additional treats every other day.  Other than the weight, Scottie is doing fine.