I noticed that Logan had coughed three times on Monday morning, but no big deal and he went to school as usual.  He was fine the evening and had a great appetite at our taco dinner.  He went to bed but woke up at 11:30pm.  He complained feeling warm, and we noticed that he had a croup cough then.  He started to have a runny nose too.  He could not return to sleep and finally asked to sleep with me which was unusual.  Due to the bad sounding cough, Stuart decided to give up his spot for Logan.  Logan was happy to sleep in our bed, and after some twisting and turning, he fell asleep.  His breathing sounded like a whistle and a bit more labored initially.  Throughout the night, Logan moved around quite a bit but the breathing returned to normal.  This morning he sounded congested and still had some runny nose, but overall, he seemed fine.  But with the croup last night, we decided to keep Logan at home today.

    It was Stuart’s turn to take Connor today as I needed to go to work, and now he gained another kid.  It ended up to a relative tough day for him.  Logan was actually acting fine other than with a slightly scratchy voice and the mild runny nose, but Stuart wanted to keep them both at home to avoid taking a sick kid out.  Stuart also had to help troubleshoot something at work even though he had taken a day off.  Stuart played different board games with both of them.  Both kids were a bit high maintenance as they often wanted to do different things so Stuart was happy when I came home.  We all took a walk after dinner just to get out of the house a bit.  Tomorrow we should return to some routine but with me staying home with Connor then.

    On Sunday, we attended my work picnic at the boss’s house.  We arrived at the backyard and the kids were immediately drawn to the pool.  Since there were not much other things to do, the boys decided to change to go into the water and so Stuart had to do the same.  Tyler, Tyson and Apollo were also in the water.  Logan liked playing with the poolside basketball hoop while Connor just hung out in the water with Stuart as usual.  The boys had quite a bit of chips and guacamole to snack on earlier, so Connor was not too interested when the lunch arrived, but I got Logan to come out to eat first.  Unfortunately the food was a bit spicy, but he managed to eat a taco.  Connor did the same later too.  We hung out around the poolside chatting and playing for the next hour or so.  We ended up being the last few families to leave.  The boys were still very excited while we drove but after we suggested that they could skip quiet time at home if they took a nap, they both quickly passed out in the car and slept.

   Logan had the last basketball game on Sat, and he tried to do his best.  He did well defending but as usual not aggressive enough to get rebounds.  He tried a few baskets and did not make them, but it was cute to see his facial reaction of the disappointment on a missed shot.  In the afternoon, we met up with half of the team again at the Silver Creek Sportplex for the celebration party.  Connor was always excited to tag along with all of Logan’s events.  We chatted with the families for a little bit while the kids ran around playing with some games.  Then everyone took a break to eat pizza.  The boys enjoyed watching the hockey games during their dinner.  After eating and after few more games, we decided to let the kids played at the bouncy house “open play”.  All the kids, including Logan and Connor, were so excited that they ran straight into the area once they got their wristbands on.  I was watching Connor’s whereabout closely as I did not want the same incidence that I had with Logan a couple of years ago.  Fortunately Connor seemed quite efficient and I felt more relieved after watching him going through one of the bigger houses twice.  But not long later, Connor ran fast from one end of the play area to the other to climb into a jumpy house.  I was a bit behind so I was not certain which far one he was in.  I walked around waiting and looking around for him.  After a couple or a few minutes later, I started getting worried that it would be a Deja Vu.  I called out for Connor a couple of times, but with the big airy room, the sound did not travel well.  Connor finally came back out crying; he said he got nervous not seeing me and so he cried.  He was very sad and sobbed for quite awhile until Stuart finally distracted him with a drink of water. 

     Logan and the rest of the kids played for a long time.  Logan was mostly interested playing with the handballs there, and later he and his teammates chased each other all around the bouncy houses playing “tag ball”.  The coach retrieved the kids at some point so he could give them their medals for the seasons.  The kids were all proud.  After another go in the bouncy houses, we had to round up the kids to go home.

    Connor has been off for one week, and we have spent most of the time together.  We walked Logan to school in the morning which Connor really enjoys.  He also sat through a new family orientation quietly with us this morning.  Connor liked to do some drawing or worksheets first before we left the house for errands.  We had done some clothes shopping together; Connor often pretended to be an outfit hanging by the rack and asked if I wanted to pick him.  He was helpful shopping for groceries with me too.  He asked me once why we shop for food so often and I explained that it is because we all eat a lot, which he repeated to Stuart at dinner time.  One morning I also took him to get his 4-year old vaccines that he was due.  I did not really give him that much heads-up until we were there at the waiting room.  He was a little nervous about it but was totally fine by my distraction and we happily watched the movie on TV while we waited.  He was happy talking and watching the nurse, and before he knew it, the shots were given and Connor did not complain at all.  The nurse and I both praised him for how well he did.  For the next twenty-four hours, Connor did complain of sore arm.  Overall, Connor is enjoying his time off and he will have one more week to go.

    Logan attended three days of school so far.  As usual he always tells us his day was “good!” but not sharing much details.  He finally learned the teacher’s name and mentioned one kid’s name so far.  But he shared a couple of sad comments.  Stuart told me later that Logan mentioned briefly on the first day that he had a small cry as he wanted to come home.  And this morning he told me quickly that he does not like the new school.  Learning a new environment is definitely not easy and going into a new place with some kids knowing each other already must not be as desirable.  I can totally understand as many parents seem to know each other already during drop off or pick up.  I talked with the teacher for a quick moment at the end of today.  She told me that Logan is doing great.  He asks questions and he sometimes thinks he could not do something, but after some encouragement, he does what he was told.  Hope Logan continues to adapt and do well in the new school.

     We all decided to walk Logan to his first day of school this morning.  It was interesting to see a lot of kids walking to school too.  Logan never complained once and seemed curious to see his new classroom.  We were told to go line up at the playground and Logan was following the instruction well.  When it was time, the teacher walked the whole line of students and parents to the classroom.  Parents were allowed to go in for five minutes to help the children get situated, and of course I was happy to do that.  Logan and I found his seat; he placed his backpack on the seat and sat down.  The children put the name tags on and wrote their names on the folders, then it was time for the parents to leave.  I said goodbye to Logan, then the three of us went over to the parents welcome back coffee.  Connor enjoyed his breakfast while we chatted briefly with one family before we walked home.

    I walked over to pick Logan up after school.  He was happy to see me and told me he had fun.  We walked over to CDC to familiar Logan with the walk even though I was going to take him home.  During our walk home, I asked many open questions, but I got many bits and pieces of information that did not really tell me too much.  The only one thing he clearly shared was that there was a bumble bee trying to eat their food during lunch time.  At home, Logan and I played a couple games of chess until Connor woke up from his nap and then we went swimming to end the evening.

   Today was the last day before school starts.  We decided to take Logan to spend some time at CDC (where his before and after school program is) to learn the new environment.  Logan was not too excited to go as he knew Connor was staying home, so he negotiated with me to just spend less than two hours there.  Logan and I left the house on foot to school while Connor waved goodbye to us from the window.  Logan seemed fine while we walked and had a little skip in his steps.  When we arrived CDC, there were two teachers and only two kids.  We said hi to the teacher, then a girl (probably a second grader) came over and grabbed Logan’s hand to take him to see their guinea pig.  Logan did not resist and followed her to take a look.  We learned where his belonging goes; then I said goodbye and Logan was off playing Lego with the two kids.

    Stuart had to work today.  So Connor and I spent some time together at home before we left to pick Logan up and for our outing.  Logan was at the playground when we arrived; after he was summoned back to CDC, he told us that he did have fun.  First we stopped by Target for some shopping and mainly to gather the remaining items for Logan’s school supply list.  Afterward, we headed over to our planned entertainment of the day, miniature golf.  The boys were thrilled and they talked about the order of hitting among the three of us.  We chose a different course this time, so it was interesting to see new scenery and new obstacles.  Logan was excited and wanted to be the first to hit at every hole.  He did fine with most hits, but would have been better if he took a moment to set up better.  Connor allowed me to help him set up and did his best.  It was hot but fortunately not too crowded.  We took a break for snack, then afterward, Connor sort of lost interest, so he just watched us finishing up the rest of the holes.  Logan would have loved to spend some time at the arcade, but I just directed them home for lunch instead.

     After nap, we went over to the cabana club to swim.  When Stuart finished work and joined us, we could then hit the big pool.  We swam for awhile; Logan and I got out and tried some ping pong.  Connor had so much fun being dragged around in the pool by Stuart that he did not want to get out until much later.  After we all dried off, we walked over to Logan’s new school again to check out his class list.  Now that we have learned Logan’s new teacher and classroom, he is ready to start tomorrow.