Funny thing today.  Julie told me how out of the blue this morning Ashlyn said “Logan”.  They were not talking about Logan, and Ashlyn did not say anything else other than his name.  Julie and I had a good laugh about it, wondering if Ashlyn just misses Logan.  Shortly later, Michelle shared that when she dropped off Mckayla at school in the morning, one of her older friends came up to tell her that her brother Marcus cannot be her prince as he is her brother.  Mckayla’s immediate response was that “No, Logan is my prince”.  How lucky was Logan to have two little girls remembering him today!  I guess his strategy of not talking to them “playing hard to get” is working out!

     Logan went on his second field trip today.  As today was my off day, I volunteered to be a parent chaperone.  This field trip was to watch a musical “Alexander, Who’s Not Not Not Not Not Not Going to Move” at the Sunnyvale Community Center.  We got to school by 8:30am.  The four parents hung out quietly in the room while the teacher filled the kids in with today’s activity and did a group reading.  I was assigned to take care of Logan, Ryan C and Ryan S.  This field trip started smoothly as the bus arrived at school not too late this time.  Everyone held hands (four people per group), and walked toward the bus.  The kids were called to enter by class and by alphabetical order.  Kira was called right before Logan, and Logan and I went up together after her.  I was helping Kira up the bus; as she realized that it was me holding her hand, she decided to hold on to me.  So the three of us found a seat together.  Both Logan and Kira were very excited; Logan looked outside the entire drive while Kira sat on me and talked to me.  We even sang a song together; she was very cute.  She wanted to continue staying with me when we were about to get off the bus, but she listened as I told her to return to her group. 

     Logan and I regrouped with both Ryans, and we entered the theater and were directed to our seats.  The show started quickly and captured the kids’ attention right away.  The show was one hour in duration.  I didn’t find the show exciting, but of course it was aimed to entertain the children.  The older kids in the theater seemed to enjoy it a lot and interacted with the show when appropriate.  I spent my times watching the reactions of Logan and his classmates; they seemed to enjoy it but did not laugh as much as the older ones.  The show however was a bit long.  The last 15 minutes of it, the kids started to be somewhat restless.  Ryan C moved a lot in his seat and touched his feet to the seat in front of him, so I had to signal him to sit still.  He was good and listened, and became more content when I held his hand.  Then Logan started moving back and forth from his seat to my lap; I also had to remind him to sit still.  Once when he returned to his seat, the handle bar hit his back that he almost wanted to cry; I did not think that he was hurt, but maybe was just whiny as he started losing interest with the show. Fortunately, he calmed down and did not cause any commotion.  The show finally ended and everyone clapped.  The return ride was quick and smooth.  All the kids behaved very well the entire morning.  I brought the boys back to their classroom, and I left the school after Logan gave me a big hug.

     Michelle told me about the walk Mckayla and her girlfriends were doing today, so I signed Logan up too.  The run was for a charity; they had 5K and 10K runs, and also this 1K family run.  Yesterday, we started telling Logan about the race that he and Mckayla would be doing and he seemed excited about it.  We got to Vasona Park in good timing this morning; the Kaos came shortly after.  Logan did not mind letting me put on the race bib for him, and he seemed to be proud wearing it, even allowing me to take a few smiley pictures of him.  Mckayla and her girlfriends were even more excited; they were lined up toward the front of the starting line.  By then, Logan got a bit shy, and preferred to be further back within the crowd.  Connor was in stroller being pushed by Stuart.  Once the race started, Logan got excited.  He held my hands the entire race; Logan enjoyed directing our pace, running fast sometimes and alternating with walking slow.  As I have a long stride, Logan basically was walking fast almost the entire way.  He did tell me twice that he wanted to be held as he was tired, but he did not complain when I denied him.  Toward the end, Stuart was able to pass through the crowd with the stroller, and caught up with us.  So we all ran together the last stretch of the race.  With more people cheering by the finish line, Logan was happy to continue running the remaining of the race.  I think we finished in 11 minutes.  As soon as we were done, Logan told me that we should do this again.

    We all went to play at the playground for a long while.  Both Logan and Connor really enjoyed themselves there.  At one point, Logan, Connor and Marcus were taking turns climbing up the structure and going down the slide.  Michelle, Stuart and I had to position ourselves in different areas to spot them; we finally had to call off their drills to move them onto another area.  We took a quick snack there, then said goodbye to Mckayla’s friends.  The Kaos and us went for a quick lunch before heading home.  We all were tired after this morning outing.  Connor took an almost 3 hours nap while Logan surprisingly woke up after only 45 minutes. 

    Even though the run was only 1K, I was happy to have the exercise as we had an incredible dinner at the Kaos the previous night.  Ted and Michelle had prepared some delicious ribs and grilled vegetables, and I made the chocolate mousse cake again.  The kids had a great time playing at the Kaos, and we all ate so much that I was still full this morning when I woke up.

     When I picked up Logan from his classroom, I saw this paper posted on the wall.  My first reaction was a big laugh.  All the other kids talked about playing, yet Logan mentioned about sleeping.  Then I got a bit confused as I don’t sleep with Logan.  So I talked with the teacher, and she asked if Logan and I have any routine before bed, then it dawned on me that Logan was being thoughtful.  He was probably referring to when I read stories to him at bedtime.  Oh!  How cute!  So I read to Logan last night as a reward for such a nice statement.

     Speaking of bedtime, each night after story time, Logan tries to fall sleep, but often, he calls daddy to come back in.  Stuart then gives him a quick talk or a toy to hold on to before Logan falls asleep for good.  Lately, Connor has been a bit tougher at bedtime.  I read books with him, sing a few lullabies, a brief cuddle, then I put him in the crib when Connor says and gestures night-night by pointing.  But the past few nights, he stood back up shortly after I left the room, and he kept calling “ma-ma-ma-ma” until we returned to see him.  Stuart has mostly been the one going in there, picking Connor up to hug for few minutes before Connor would go to sleep for good as well.  Tonight for the first time, Connor actually called for “da-da-da-da” instead.  Connor has also been waking up overnight the last five nights, usually once around 2-4am.  We don’t hear any crying, but just a loud cry of “ma-ma-ma-ma”.  Stuart has been responding to his calls; fortunately, Connor would return to sleep after Stuart gave him just a few minutes of holding. 

     Logan’s classmate Bar and Connor’s classmate Raz invited us over to their house on Saturday morning.  Logan’s buddy Rohan was also invited too.  It was a beautiful sunny day, so we spent the morning in their backyard.  Logan, Bar and Rohan spent lots of time inside their medium sized trampoline that has a fence around it.  They were jumping, hanging out and playing with the balls inside it.  Later on, they moved on to inside of the house, hiding from the monsters and watching a cartoon on the ipad together.  Connor and Raz just hung out in the yard playing with the playhouse or anything out there.  The two of them played well together sometimes, then fought and cried for toys at times; I guess this is how they are at school everyday.  The adults were able to sit in the sun, talk, drink Mimosa and have a brunch for hours.  We all had a great time.  It was tough trying to keep Connor awake during the drive home, and we barely made  it.  Connor ended up taking a three-hour nap in his bed.

     One of the things we did today was taking Connor in for a haircut.  His hair was so out of control that we could not wait until Logan needed his.  Connor was very good sitting in the seat the whole time; he just kept looking back to me to ensure that I was still there.  Just right before the end of the haircut, he asked quietly to be picked up.  Here are the before and after photos.

     Connor has always been a mommy’s boy.  It may be because he was a breastfed only baby for the first year, or things are usually just fair like this; ie Stuart and I each have our own attached little one.  Connor was so clingy to me that he would cry every morning at school drop off and the teacher had to peel him off of me most of the time.  Up until two weeks ago, we discovered that we could use Connor’s other love, books, to get his attention away from me, thereby avoiding the tears.  Now, he actually gives me a hug before going off to find books or toys in the morning.

      For bedtime, Connor also prefers me over Stuart.  I usually read to Connor while Stuart reads to Logan.  But Logan often asks me to read to him, so we trade off just to be fair.  When Stuart asks Connor who he wants to read with him, he says “mama” and points to me.  Or when Stuart tries to take him away from me, he leans his head on my shoulder to shy away from daddy.  When Connor is with daddy and tries to say night night to Logan and me, Connor cries immediately and attempts to come toward me.  But of course, Connor does stop relatively quickly once Stuart and him are settled in the room with books to read.

     Connor and I sometimes have our little morning routine.  When Connor eats small muffins with milk for breakfast, I sit with him to feed him to avoid a big mess as the muffins are very crumbly.  One morning before breakfast time, I wanted to use the restroom first, and so I asked him to wait for me.  Stuart got the muffin for him, but he gestured to daddy that he was waiting for me.  Connor actually refused food!  As soon as I came out, he gave me a big smile and pointed to the muffin bowl.  What a cutie he can be sometimes!