It was a cold weekend but we did have some sunny moments.  We managed to spend a nice morning at the Happy Hollow.  Neither of the boys were into the the motorized rides, but they loved the playgrounds.  They spent quite awhile climbing up and down the huge structures.  They also enjoyed running inside the maze; they had a blast being chased by their monster daddy.  We had lunch there, then caught the puppet show before leaving the park.  They were showing the “Three Little Pigs” that they both enjoyed watching especially for Logan as he was familiar with the story.  During this weekend, we also went to the library to get new books, and went shopping to buy some birthday presents.  Stuart and Logan even cleaned my car while Connor and I took an extended nap today.

    The highlight of this weekend was going to the Kaos for an awesome turkey dinner on Sunday.  We had a big crowd, 10 adults and 9 kids, this time.  We got there shortly after nap, and the rest of the guests slowly arrived after us.  The kids had so much fun playing in their huge house with their big collections of toys.  The adults tried to mingle and catch up with each other while watching the kids.  There were snacks,  appetizers, and then the big dinner.  After the initial rush to get set up, we all managed to fill ourselves and the kids up with lots of yummy foods.  After a break of more playing, we regrouped for ice creams and pies.  The kids were all loving it.  I brought my big camera and were able to capture many happy faces.  It was a fun evening.  There were lots of laughing, talking, running around, sharing toys (sometimes not so much), and a few bursts of crying the whole evening.  After 8pm, we all said our thanks to the Kaos and good nights to each other before heading home to end the wonderful evening.  Here are some of the pictures from my camera.

     Yesterday was the daycare’s annual pizza party.  Stuart picked up the pizza for us, and arrived at school at the start of the party.  I had to leave work early and got there shortly after.  All the students stayed in their own classrooms; the teachers helped the kids situated and started the feast.  We were in Logan’s room first, and he was beaming to have us there watching him eat.  Logan wanted me to stay with him while Stuart went to visit Connor.  The rest of the kids were still munching on pizza, but Logan was ready to go out to the courtyard after eating just one slice.  While Logan was playing at the playground, I went to check on Connor as well.  Connor was so happy sitting and eating pizza along with his friends.  He asked me to sit with him, so Stuart stepped out to see Logan.  Connor had a good appetite; after eating a big bowl of cut up pizza, he wanted to try some salad and ended up eating many bites of it.  He was dancing with the music while I fed him the salad.  He was a happy one!  I finally convinced him to go out to the courtyard to join in with Logan.  Both of them had fun playing at the big kids playground, but after being there for awhile and Connor dodging some big kids, we decided to move on to the toddlers playground instead.  Logan’s buddy Rohan came and joined us there too.  We socialized a bit with some parents while the kids played until the end of the party..

     While we were in the courtyard, I got a chance to talk with one of Logan’s main teachers.  She reported that Logan had made a significant change since our parent-teacher conference in November.  He is more willing to participate in group activities, especially if he is being paired up with one of his buddies.  He seems a lot more active, and he enjoys playing tag with his friends.  He also has become more capable of doing some self care.  The teacher was happy to report the changes, and I was definitely glad to hear about that too. 

     This weekend Logan seemed quite confident in many things.  We started the weekend with a playdate on Saturday morning.  We were going to meet at the Oak Meadow Park with Logan’s classmate Rohan (and parents), but because of the unsettling weather, we changed to the Bouncy Land at the mall.  Rohan loves jumpy houses and immediately went inside, but asked Logan to join in.  Both Logan and Connor were reserved initially, took a bit of time before warming up and jumping into the fun.  Maybe it was because his best buddy was there, Logan became comfortable quickly as he climbed and crawled inside the inflatables.  There was one that was quite high and required some climbing, and Logan did not show any hesitation at all.  Connor had fun bouncing on one for awhile, then the rest of the times, he just wanted to go wherever Logan was even sometimes when the big boys were in one for 5 years and older. We took a snack break in between, and the boys played for over an hour there.  We then had lunch together at the food court before calling an end to the playdate.  One cute thing we learned from his parents was that when Rohan gets dropped off in the morning, Logan and a few boys always have a huddle together in the courtyard.  They talk about their hats and their shirts every morning.

     Logan likes to do mazes lately, and for the past few days, I decided to ask him to write his name on the papers after he completed the mazes just to start a new habit.  He only knew “L” and “O”, so I held his hand to write the remaining letters the first few days.  Then two nights ago, I wrote his name down on a paper and just had him copy it.  Logan never cared to follow my lead, but would just do it to move on to the next maze.  But last night, while I was paying attention to Connor, Logan wrote his name on the page without my prompting and did a nice job all by himself.  He was so proud to call my attention to what he did.

     We also thought that Logan only knew a few letters as he only often said “L for Logan”, “C for Connor”, “M for mommy” and “O”.  We tried to teach him more by playing some games with him in the past, but he did not seem too motivated to learn.  However at bath time last night, Logan all of sudden started pointing out many of the foam letters in the bath.  He pointed out “D for Devin”, “I for Ian”, “R for Ryan”, “A for Alex” and “Z for Zach”,  They all are classmates in school.  He also pointed out Q, F, N, P, and some numbers, 4, 5, 6 and he knew that when we flip 6 over, it was 9.  He was on a roll; both Stuart and I were so shocked.

     Stuart even told me that some of the things Logan had said this weekend seemed quite clever.  I guess Logan is learning a lot, but just not interested to show us until he is ready.

     We started the weekend by checking out the San Jose state library on Saturday morning.  The children area was quite large, and it was quiet.  Stuart was able to search for some books while Logan and I did some reading together.  Connor enjoyed walking around the area with daddy keeping an eye on him.  We made it home in time for Ted and Marcus’s quick visit.  We hung out for a bit, then Stuart had to part with the 2 beta fish that he was babysitting for the Kaos. By noontime, Connor and I both took off to go to Penelope’s 1st birthday party.  We parked at the Tsaos which was just a few houses down from the party.  Brandon and Peyton were giving me a tour to their house while Connor tried to catch a few more minutes of his power nap.  This was the first time Peyton ever talked to me directly; she told me many little things of the house and what she likes.  I felt so honored.  We all had a good time at the party.  Connor and I both ate quite a bit; he had a lot of the veggies and grapes while I enjoyed the roasted pork and many other delicious foods.  Connor finally warmed up to everyone, and had fun playing with Peyton and the balloons there.

     Today we hosted a get together for the “Mommy and Me” group.  I prepared some brunch items and the guests also brought some foods.  Logan and Connor both were very good in sharing their toys with everyone; no complaints from them at all.  Logan played toys with the guests and even some hide and seek.  Everyone left after 2.5 hours of playing, we then rushed the kids to bed for a nap.  As soon as they were up, we headed out to the Hashiguchi’s for their Superbowl party.  There were so much food that we started eating shortly after we arrived.  Logan only wanted breads and a hotdog while Connor had chow mein, egg roll, corn, carrots and strawberries.  I also had a good share of sashimi and sushi rolls.  The boys enjoyed their time playing with many different things in the house, and we discovered that Connor really liked playing with toy dishes.  We hung out a bit longer after the game was over, and we went home to prepare for the night and next school day.

       Our eating has been out of control lately, and we have decided that I need to return to the gym.  Stuart volunteered to pick up the kids and hang out with them while I return to my favorite aerobic class on Mondays after work.  It has been at least two and a half years since I went to that class.  Hope I will survive tomorrow.

     We think Connor is having another growth spurt.  For the past week, Connor has been waking up early, around 6:05am every morning.  Immediately he wants me to take him out to the living room, then he walks me to the kitchen and asks for food.  He keeps pointing a finger to his mouth until I offer him something to eat.  One morning, he ate 2 cups of yogurt, some bagel and some cereal squares while we got ready for school.  This week, the teacher asked me to bring more foods for his lunch and snack.  The teacher also noticed the change in his appetite as she reported that Connor used to just lay there for a bit after waking from nap, but now, he immediately gets up and walks to the little table to ask for snack.  Stuart even thinks that Connor’s double chin has returned.

     Almost the same time frame, over a week ago, we noticed that Connor is being very naughty.  When we ask him to do something, he refuses and walks away with the naughty smile.  He cries easily (or pretend crying) when he does not get what he wants.  He wants to be independent, does not want to be held and wants to do things on his own.  Getting him inside the car has been tough; he walks away from us until we have no choice but to pick him up.  He then struggles while we try to put him down in the car seat.  He is so strong that it is like a battle at times.  For nighttime, he is no longer the sweet little smiling angel saying night-night while laying down, he now puts up a fight for a little bit before falling asleep.

     The boys got a chance to bond with Auntie Dora during her week long visit.  Logan warmed up to Dora quickly and became quite attached to her as well.  He would ask to sit with auntie, ask to read books with her at bedtime, and even ask her to pick them up from school.  He told Dora that he wanted to go home with her, and when we asked if he would miss mommy and daddy, he even said “no”.  Today after dropping Dora off at the airport, when we were driving in the car, Logan suddenly said “I am going to cry”.  When we asked him the reason for that, he just said “Auntie Dora”.

     Connor, on the other hand, was not as nice.  After so many days with auntie, he still would cry for me when Dora tried to carry him.  However, Connor did have his ways to show affections; he would bring things/toys to Dora, say bye or night night to her.  Last night, he even threw in a blow kiss to Dora on his own after saying night night.  Today after bath, he wanted me to walk him to say night night to her too, but she had left us already.  Hopefully, it won’t be another year before they get to see Auntie Dora again.