Our Side of the Mountain: Logan's "Baby Book" Entry

Logan's Favorite Activities:

Logan entertains himself frequently by "driving" his little cars along a variety of surfaces in the house. I am amazed at how long he is occupied with his cars. He has far more cars than the older children ever had at this age, because he has access to all the matchbox cars that are technically for older children. Happily, since he is not in the habit of putting toys in his mouth, and since he is always around people to watch him, we let him play with big boy vehicles. "Oh no! Crash!" is a frequent refrain we hear from him as he drives his cars.

Lately, Logan is almost obsessed with drawing. He draws more than Sophie did at this age, which is saying a lot! He obviously doesn't have trouble with his vision or fine-motor skills. We let him draw on paper at meals, because a lot more food ends up in his mouth with that distraction. We also keep a large newsprint pad beside the desk which he can haul out himself and draw all over. He draws zigzags which he calls a "fence" and long, skinny ovals which he calls "sausages" or "carrots" as well as spirals. I am just hoping against all hope that Logan won't draw on the wall. So far none of our kids have tried that trick, but the odds are against us when it comes to Logan. Recently he drew on a table with a crayon that Mr. Nobody left out. Fortunately crayon comes easily off of a glass tabletop, and pen can be wiped off of a little hand...

Logan is also into pretending to be a dog. He often crawls around the floor panting. Amusingly, the dog often spontaneously develops an opposable thumb when pretending to eat. He likes to pretend to grab invisible food with his hand and shove it in his mouth to "chew" with lots of lip-smacking.

Logan is like a big doll for the older kids, and fortunately he likes it when they dress him up. Before our hike on Saturday, Sophie decked out his many overall pockets with "baby equipment." He had crayons, a little guy, a little pig, a small car, a paintbrush, a phone and two sets of keys in and hanging out of his pockets. He seemed to think he was big stuff, striding around jangling his keys. The same day, the boys put his daddy's hard hat on him and took his picture. Yesterday, Evan dressed him in a costume fireman coat which caused Logan to beam with pleasure (until I got the camera out of course so no picture.)

Talking:

We can carry on simple conversations with Logan now. He loves to talk. Last night he heard a helicopter and talked about the airplane "up high in the sky." I clarified that it was a helicopter, and he told me, "No, no have it. No, no touch it. 'Copter up high."

Logan apparently has a need for personal space. This weekend, when Sophie touched him, he frowned at her

and said, "Naughty. Boy." to her great amusement. He often tries to push people away, saying, "Go away." or "Leave alone." (We have begun the ongoing process of training him in politeness and kindness.)

He sometimes calls the living room couch "Grandma's couch" because that's where she most often sits when visiting. After his cousin Elijah visited several weeks ago, he said, "Elijah's cup" every time he saw a cup that Elijah used.

Logan can't quite say the "er" sound which ends up sounding like "ey". Recently he stumped the rest of the family by repeating what sounded to them like "Pee pee. Pee pee. Pee pee." His mommy came to his rescue and translated, "Paper." "Diaper cover" is "dipey covey" in Logan-speak and "More water" comes out as "My watey."

Logan has the disconcerting habit of saying "Ow!" about anything that bugs him. He first started saying, "Ow! Ow! Ow!" when I changed his diaper one day which caused me to try to pinpoint (no pun intended) what might be hurting him about his diaper. We don't take him very seriously anymore when he exclaims "Ow! Ow! Ow!" every time we change his diaper, or get him dressed, or put on his shoes...

When we went hiking last weekend, James carried Logan the whole time in the backpack. Logan apparently felt a little out of control when James took him into a cave and when going downhill. He kept repeating, "Careful. Careful. Careful."