We made no plans for today, so we could devote it toward training.  This morning as Logan was looking for a place to hide, I stopped him and convinced him to come with me to go poo in the toilet instead.  After a bit of hesitation and up and down on the toilet a couple of times, he finally told me that he needed to go. And he actually did it after sitting back up on the toilet !  He saw what he made and then proudly flushed the toilet.  We will celebrate with frozen yogurt later today.

     I decided to now begin weaning breastfeeding as Connor is turning one.  My plan is to stop feeding Connor during the day, and continue feeding only in the morning and at bedtime for a bit longer.  Major milestone: I stopped pumping as of yesterday and today is the first day trying whole milk on Connor.  So far, he does not like either the mixture of breast milk and whole milk nor the whole milk by itself.  We will have to keep trying the rest of the weekend.     Previously to assist in napping, I had been breast-feeding Connor to let him fall asleep.  But now, I have to implement an alternative plan: nap training Connor .  While Stuart and Logan went off to the library, I kissed Connor bye, laid him down in the crib and left the room like I do at night.  Connor immediately stood up and cried.  After 10 minutes of crying and rubbing his eyes, he sat down.  Since he had sat down, I did not go in to check on him.  He continued to cry on and off for another 9 minutes, then he flopped forward and fell asleep while his legs were still tugged under his butts.  I guess this ends the year of mommy and baby napping together.

For bike day at school yesterday, Logan once again did not ride his bicycle.  While I was driving them home, we talked about it.  Logan admitted that everyone rode the bike except him.  I asked him the reason that he did not, he said “I needed help”.  So I suggested that the teacher could help him, but he said “No, I need mommy’s help”.  We then talked about the Parrots show that also happened yesterday.  Logan told me that they all criss-crossed their legs to sit and watch.  When I asked him who he sat with, he said “Miss Jen”.  I talked with Miss Jen today.  She reported that Logan sometimes gets overwhelmed with loud noises.  When Logan was sitting in the middle of the rowdy kids, he did not like it, so he moved to the side to sit with Miss Jen to enjoy the show.  When talking about the water play in the mornings, Miss Jen said that Logan does not like getting wet at all.  When he finds some water activities that do not involve getting wet, he will have a great time playing them.  Logan also does not like having sand in his shoes, so he is not into the sandbox play either.  That’s our Logan Brown!  Very particular!

I got a phone call from the school this morning while I was working.  I often get nervous getting calls from school since they were usually to report an illness or fall.  The call was from Logan’s teacher; she told me that Logan had something to tell me, and handed the phone to Logan.  Logan said to me “I pooped in the toilet”, then he left to go back to play.  The teacher told me that Logan was so excited to tell me in person.  When I picked him up from school, I heard how it all happened.  Logan was told to sit and try in the morning, but he did not want to.  So the teacher had him at least just stand there, then after a little bit, it was happening and Logan was trying to stop it with his hand.  The teacher then helped him sat back down and finished the job.  We have been trying to bribe him with ice cream the past few days.  So to reward Logan, we had popsicles after dinner.  He was excited initially with the idea, but after a few licks, he decided he did not want it.  We ended up giving him half a Costco chocolate chip cookie which he enjoyed greatly.  Logan only had the morning poop today instead of twice daily, so now we will have to wait until tomorrow to see if this is a new trend.

Logan started summer camp last week at school (the beginning of July) and it will last until the end of August.  They have a packed schedule for the entire 2 months.  Almost every morning they are having water play, so we have been putting Logan in his swim gear.  Every Thursday is their bike day which means we have to bring in his bike and helmet.  The school also has a weekly school-wide performance that usually schedules on Fridays.  After the first day of summer camp, Logan told us that the teacher was getting him wet with the water hose and he did not like getting wet.  Since then I don’t think Logan has been getting that wet as his towel appeared dry.  But for a couple of days the teacher mentioned that Logan had fun brushing water on the playground structure as if he was painting.  For the first bike day last week, the teacher took a picture to prove that Logan actually wore his helmet and got on the bike.  He played with the bike in the closed-off parking lot for 20minutes according to the teacher.  He was not peddling himself but had fun being pushed by the teacher.  However Logan did not want to get on the bike at all today.  Last Friday, the performance was done by a comedian who sang, danced and juggled.  I was told that everyone had a blast watching him, including Logan.  I finally got to see the pictures at school today; I saw Logan laughing on multiple pictures.  Let’s see how much fun he will have at the tomorrow’s performance.

After 3 weeks of wearing pull-ups, the teacher suggested that it was time to switch Logan to underwear.  Yesterday was the first day of Logan wearing underwear.  He was not too expressive with this change even though we were appraising him for being such a big boy.  Logan is still not telling the teachers or us if he needs to go, but he is definitely holding it until the next time we ask him to do so.  So far, Logan has been doing quite well and has no No.1 accidents.  However we are still not able to get Logan to go No.2 in the potty.  The weekend before, we were encouraging Logan to sit and go No.2.  He just kept wanting to leave, and as soon as we put the pull-up back on, he did his business.  Today the teachers also had Logan sit on the potty multiple times, but he still did it in the underwear instead. They told me that it is not uncommon for boys to take a lot longer to potty training on No.2.  A few of his classmates are still having trouble with this as well.  I guess I am going to have many dirty underwear’s to clean  in my near future.

     We hosted our boys birthday party on Sunday.  To start this weekend off, the grandparents drove up to visit and attend the party.  Logan warmed up to grandparents quickly this time and was showing much affection to them too.  I saw him asking to play and throwing himself to them for hugs which were quite surprising, yet encouraging, to see.  Connor on the other hand was more reserved.  He did not want to go to the grandparents, but would happily wave and smile to them from a distance.  However, if Stuart and I were out of sight, Connor would then be quite content being carried by Grandma.  They both had some great bonding time especially on Saturday while Stuart and I did some more party preparation. 

     Finally the big day arrived.  The Grandparents came to the house early in the morning to get started.  Stuart and Grandpa loaded up their SUVs to deliver all the supplies to the park and to set up the picnic area.  Grandma stayed at the house to play with the boys while I finished preparing the foods.  Then we took off to pick up more items from Whole Foods.  We were able to have Connor taking his morning nap during the drive as we had planned, and as a bonus, Logan also took a powernap to freshen up before the party.  We finally arrived at the park at 10:40am, a little late.  There were still a lot of setting up to do, ie. placing the table covers, tying down the balloons and setting up the food tables.  Fortunately, we had the early comers, the Tsaos and Kathy/kids, help us out tremendously.  Then more people arrived and helped set up the games that we had bought for the kids.  The Grandparents were very helpful and watched the kids which freed us up during the set up in addition the entire party as well. 

     The party had a great turn out.  Many of our good friends were able to attend to help us celebrate our boys’ birthdays and I believe we were able to meet up and talk with most of our guests.  We brought many different park toys to entertain the kids, and I think they did serve that purpose.  The kids, including Logan, appeared having a great time running around and playing with everything.  The big hit ones were the stomp rocket, the Trac ball and the Styrofoam airplanes.  Connor was very happy watching all the commotion too.  My job for the party was to have adequate foods for everyone, and Stuart’s was to ensure the kids were well entertained. 

  After a few hours of fun in the sun and the cakes had been served, the party finally adjourned so everyone could go home to catch a nap.  Thanks to our good friends helping us clean up the picnic area and re-loading our cars with all the presents. 

     Logan is very excited to open all the wonderful presents he received.  So far, he has been opening 2-3 presents a day.  Their birthday celebration will probably continue for another week and a half with this gift opening rate.  This was a great birthday party weekend, and we now have many wonderful photos to cherish (photos).