Gloria visited us over the long weekend.  Logan was excited and warmed up to her right away.  He liked holding her hand, and even snuggling with her to watch TV.  Connor was a bit shy; he liked saying hi to Gloria, but preferred staying with me instead.  Throughout the three days, we were quite active.  We went to the park twice taking turns playing tennis while watching the boys play at the playground.  The boys had a chance to practice to be ball boys too.  Connor took his job seriously, waiting for his call before coming to the court, but the good time did end when he decided it was more fun to keep all the balls in the containers instead.  We also went for a short hike and had a picnic one of the days too.  Gloria and I also sneaked out during naptime to do some shopping.  We walked so much that our legs were sore.  We definitely had a nice and productive weekend.

     Gloria also spent a great deal of quality time with Scottie who she missed a lot too.  It was funny that Logan suddenly asked Gloria on her last day here “Why do you love Scottie more than you love us?”  Gloria was caught off guard.

    Since last weekend, Logan started enjoying dribbling a bouncy ball.  He and I played with counting dribbles and a game of “switch” where we switch balls during dribbling.  Then this weekend, he has been asking me to play basketball.  He is dribbling better, and over 30 times in a row according to Stuart.  He and I played the “switch” on and off for a whole hour today.  He was giggling a lot while we played.  Toward the end I was tired, but Logan told me that he was not.  We are happy with this newly discovered skill.

    We went to Rohan’s house on Saturday to hang out.  When the boys found out about the plan, they were very excited, especially Connor.  He kept cheering “Rohan, Rohan”, then he added “Raz?”.  I answered yes that Raz would be there, then Connor said “I miss Raz!”  Aww!  They immediately started playing with Rohan once we arrived; they ran around the house and in the backyard.  I heard Connor using his words with them “Wait for me!”.  They played some more when Bar and Raz arrived, then we all broke for a tasty homemade lunch.  The kids watched TV while they ate, but at times, Connor rather sat with the adults instead.  We enjoyed several hours there that we almost missed the nap time, but fortunately we made it home just in time for Connor and I to take a short nap.

     This morning we went to JCC for swimming.  Both boys were very reluctant to get into the water; they just wanted to play with the water toys.  It took lots of convincing but Stuart and I finally got them in the water.  We played around a bit and got some exercise.  After cleaning up, we went to check out the Wellness Fair they had at the facility.  The boys played at the field a bit.  Logan was happy to try out the obstacle bouncy house to compete for the best time, but obviously he was not trying hard.  We then moved on to soccer; both boys tried kicking soccer balls into the goal.  We also checked out an ambulance and a fire engine too.  Logan had a chance to sit inside a fire truck while Connor did not care to get too near. 

    While Connor was napping in the afternoon, Logan went to his classmate Colton’s house for a playdate.  Logan was excited to go; when we arrived, Colton was even more excited, he quickly ran over to give Logan a hug.  They started running around the house to play.  They have a big dog that Logan seemed to like; he was a bit scared of him yet he kept wanting to play with him too.  The two boys migrated from inside the house to the front yard to play, then back to inside before we moved on to the backyard.  They took a small snack at some point.  Colton offered Logan to sit at a chair, then I heard Logan said “Thank You Colton”.  They were so polite with each other.  The funny thing was that they ended up sitting on the same chair together to eat their snacks.  After two and a half hours, I decided that it was time for us to go home.

     I am finally ready to start Connor on potty training again.  Knowing Connor’s likes, I got some tokens and a small piggy bank to be a reward system for him.  Connor was very interested in the idea of getting tokens and did not mind switching to the pull-ups as of Saturday morning.  I set my phone for hourly reminders during the weekend to take Connor to the restroom.  Half of the time he was willing to go with me, and it took some convincing for the other half.  Connor was able to get the job done often, but the pull-ups were still somewhat damp.  Pooping did not happen in the toilet either.  However, I am quite pleased with how the training has started so far, considering the relatively busy weekend we had.  Now I will pass it on to the teachers to keep the training up over the week.

    This morning Logan surprised me by bringing out a bag of school projects to give me.  It consisted of a nicely made and written card from Logan, a funny school photos card and a small little plant.  Logan was so excited and wanted to take good care of the plant that he told me to keep it out of reach from Connor.

    Initially I wanted to just hang out at the swimming pool to relax this morning.  But Connor has a runny nose, so we changed plan to go to Vasona Park and to have a picnic instead.  The boys had fun playing at the structures and we enjoyed our lunch under a tree.  While we were playing, an ambulance and a fire engine arrived.  From far away, I could see someone being resuscitated; very sad!  I guess it was a good learning experience for the boys on what the emergency vehicles do.  The kids went for a bike ride (Connor being pushed by me) before we headed home for a nap.

    In the afternoon, we suggested to take a walk to get ice cream.  The boys were so excited that we got out of the house much quicker than usual.  Logan immediately asked for his favorite chocolate favored frozen yogurt, and Connor was just happy that I put something in his bowl.  Connor actually did not enjoy it as much initially but seeing how much we all enjoyed ours that he wanted the last few bites in the bowl.  Logan loved every single bit. 

    We went out to dinner tonight after the kids requested to eat out.  Both boys were very well behaved at the restaurant that Stuart and I had a relaxing meal too.  Logan ate all the gyoza along with some salmon in the bento box, while Connor kept eyeing all our food and wanted to try different things.  He tried his first California roll and liked it too.  Today was a great day and nice way to spend Mother’s Day with my boys.

     Connor has been a bit more naughty lately that we have to talk to him sometimes.  His reaction is mostly "Okay!", but the way he stretches out the sound of “okay” is funny enough that Stuart can never hold his stern face.  Connor has learned his Daddy’s weakness and now has been trying to do something wrong, so he will have the opportunity to get a laugh from Stuart.  We ended up having one such extended moment at the restaurant tonight.