A slice of Christmas
On Christmas Eve
Mommy - Logan, are you going to leave Santa something to eat?
Logan - Yup.
Mommy - What kind of cookies are you going to leave him?
Logan - One cookie.
Mommy - Just one? Why not a few cookies? He's got a long night of work, I bet he could use a good plate full.
Logan - Nope. Just one.
Mommy - Ok, how about one from you and one from Megan.
Logan - Nope, he just needs one.
As the children presenting the pageant at last night's Family Service filed in
Look! There Mary and Joseph. Come on Mommy! Let's go. I want to see the manager!
For the record, he was persuaded to remain in the pew with the promise of a visit up to the manager on the chancel after service was over.
During a prayer in the middle of the Christmas Eve Family service
Clearly deciding Pastor David had prayed long enough, Logan began softly and built to a crescendo so loud, even the praying minister must have heard it by the end:
God, Thank you, AMEN!
When walking around the Sunday School wing with Papa after leaving service 2/3rds of the way through and finding the lights off his Sunday School classroom
Its ok Papa. We find Miss Shannon, she turn the lights on for us.
At 6:30 am on Christmas morning
Logan certainly remembered the the last thing Mommy had said to him as she tucked him in on Christmas Eve -- He had to stay in bed until morning light because if he got out of bed before he might scare Santa away before he got to leave any presents. Or something like that anyway. At 5:30am we heard Logan mutter to himself and flop around in his bed. Again at 6am he saw it was still dark and he tried hard to sleep. At 6:30 am he slammed on his fish tank music. Mommy went in to his room and he lay there with his eyes closed.
Mommy - Logan honey, its ok. You can get up now. Its morning.
Logan (squeezing his eyes shut tight)- No! It not morning. It still dark!
Mommy - Honey, you're right, it is dark, but the sun is starting to come up now. Its ok. Santa was here and left already I think. You can get up. Just stay with me.
Logan with eyes flying wide open - Really? I get up now and get presents?!
Standing in the entry way to the sunroom, staring at the tree and the loot left behind
Wow look at all those presents! And they all for me!
Luckily he graciously accepted the clarification that only the packages to the right side of the tree were his.
Opening the box of new Thomas tracks Santa gave him
Wow! Just like I asked for! Its what I always wanted!
As he helped baby sister Megan sort through her stocking
And using his best "high-pitched" talking to baby voice:
Oh Megan! Its your first Christmas! Mine too!
When Mommy said to him "Logan silly, its not your first Christmas," he smiled and said "I know."
Upon summarizing his thoughts of Christmas morning at about 10am
Oh, this is my best Christmas ever!
As he settled down for the night, getting ready to start his bed time routine
Hmmm, maybe Santa come again tomorrow.
Song Lyrics and other statements
Logan's new lyrics to the great Christmas classic
Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer:
Then one foggy Christmas Eve, Santa came to say. Logan's going to get lots of trains.
--
Logan - What you got there Mommy?
Mommy - A new scarf. Do you like it?
Logan - Yup. It very cute. Now you ready for snow.
--
One of Logan's new favorite self-developed phrases:
What wrong wit you?
---
Upon spying one of those inflatable Christmas decorations of the Grinch and his dog:
L- Oh! There the Grouch and his puppy. Let's go see the one at Grandma's house.
Mom - Logan, Grandma doesn't have a Grinch balloon.
L - Well then she got to get one.
Close-up of the proud little guy letting his light shine!
In the midst of performing! (Church School Program 12/12/04)
Proof of the big first performance. Here's Logan entering the sanctuary for last week's Church School Christmas program.
A Milestone of sorts
Over the last four weeks of Sunday School Logan and his classmates have been learning a song. He had learned the words but he refused to sing it for us. I knew he knew the lyrics because after he told you he couldn't sing it, he'd whisper it quietly to himself - too softly to pick up what he was saying, but loud enough that you knew it was a song. He'd get in the car each Sunday morning and announce that the man played the piano and the lady sang. His job, he'd say, was to sit still and be quiet.
Yesterday was his chance to do "his job" - which really did entail him looking adorable, singing and doing a few hand motions and gestures with a paper candle someone had made for the little ones to hold. Yesterday was the Church School Christmas program. We gathered in the sanctuary at 4pm - Miss Megan perched upon my lap thinking she could actually read the music and lyrics in the hymnal. We had left Logan playing in a classroom with his classmates and teacher - clad in his brand new, bit-too-big-for-him, green t-shirt that all program participants were to wear.
The school aged kids (grades 1-6) came in first and gave reports on 'light bearers' in the community. Each class representing reporters and interviewees from various organizations. The little ones - 2 years old through Kindergarden - came in at the end to sing the last song medley and look adorable.
Megan, being her usual "can't stand not be up and swaying" self, demanded I move to the side wall and dance with her as the program got underway. This just meant I had a great vantage point to see Logan coming down the hall with his classmates and the other young kids. They marched up the center aisle to the music. Logan spied his father and grandfather with the cameras and paused proudly to say "CHEESE!" and as such, held up the line for a moment. He followed his teacher's direction and got himself lined up on the risers in just the right spot.
It took a moment to find in that crowd of kids. You'd have thought the red-hair would be akin to those balls people put upon car antenae to aid location - but no. When you're 3 feet tall its easy to get lost amongst the bigger folk. He did remain true to his oath to not sing. He smiled instead. He did move his candle back and forth as he was supposed to. And, the little ham that he is, he did clap proudly for himself and his peers as the audience erupted into applause.
He stepped down the risers as he was supposed to and fell inline with the other kids. He once again held up the flow of traffic to pose for another photo and then he waved his goodbye as he followed Miss Shannon back to his classroom.
He'd tell me later that he had fun. He'd retell how he pulled on his teachers arm and said "Please, Please, can we go?"
"Go where?" I asked him, wondering if I had seen him walking in holding her hand because he hadn't want to come in to the program.
"Go into the big people church. I wanted to come sing but Miss Shannon said it wasn't time yet." replied my ham.
Apparently he's moved a bit beyond the shy phase. . .
Almost 2 and half
At the end of this month Logan will be two and half years old officially. Wow. For some reason that seems so much closer to three than it does to two. I figured I'd do the 'update' now because otherwise I'd have to find the clarity of mind to do it Christmas week. Nowadays its better to just do things that require the coherent thought when you can muster that ability.
Always a big talker, Logan's language skills just exploded over the last six months. There is very little he does not articulate and articulate well. In fact tonight he showed off his song writing capabilities. He and I went out to look at Christmas lights. We sang Christmas songs along with the radio. As Jingle Bells began to play Logan belted out (to the tune of the song) "We're driving in our car. We're looking lots of lights and having lots of fun."
He is still longing to read on his own, which we work on when the mood strikes him. He does his phonics books and games, works on the exercises in the rhyming book and just sits and recites the books he has memorized. Tonight while we read one of his books I over enunciated the words "Mom" and "Dad" then asked Logan to find them on the page. He did. Both of them. I've also started to assign him parts of books to read - not as in the homework sort of way, but in a "keep up the bouncing finger along the text of this story and you fill in the words I know you know by heart." Tonight his line was "I love you" throughout the book "How much I love you." By the end of the tale he was saying 'his' lines as he ran his finger over each word. He was so proud of himself when we were done with the book. He smiled a beaming smile and said "Mommy! I READ!"
He loves to play with his trains - anything trains will do, but he truly loves his Thomas and Friends collection. He gets on the floor - a vehicle in either hand - and he does the talking for them. "Help me Jack! The Bridge falling!" to which the red, smiling, front loader in his right hand replies "Don't worry Tommy! I save you!"
His imagination is boundless. He is even inventing his own language. I'm not sure why or how he came up with this, but he makes up various 'words' and when we dare to admit we're clueless to what he's saying, he tells us what his word means. I think this started around the time we told him Megan's cooing sound "Ahh-goo" meant "I love you" in baby talk. :)
He loves to create. We make lots of 'arts and crafts' of all sorts of various shape and size. Anything he can glue or attempt to cut with his plastic round tipped scissors is worth doing. We often use this crafty time to learn about new things. Last month it was Thanksgiving. This month we talk about the various holidays in December.
Speaking of holidays . . .Logan has a wicked sweet tooth and LOVES chocolate. When we read a story about Hanukkah and he learned that he could win chocolate coins if he played driedel he asked me to get him one to play with. His favorite part of advent to date is the calendar he gets to open a door on each morning - because he gets a piece of chocolate when he does.
Lately he's adopted this stuffed hippo of his as his baby. It wears a diaper and a shirt Megan has abandoned. It has socks she never wears. It goes everywhere with us. It has a car seat. It gets fed. It gets bathed in the no-longer-used-infant-bathtub. It gets rocked to sleep with lullabyes. It gets hugged and kissed a whole lot. It takes naps when Megan does so Mom and Logan can play alone. It goes to sleep in the big boy bed, tucked nicely under the covers. Sometimes its a girl baby named Megan. Other times he refers to it as "Little Logan." Either way, he's a pretty good parent - if you ignore the fact the baby gets pulled along by its ear sometimes and other times its carried in a choke hold.
Logan loves to cook. He sits in his chair with his own bowl and spoon when we bake. Mixing small bits of ingredients as he goes and chattering away as he does. If he's not given this chance then he's sneaking the dog's food into an empty bowl so he can 'cook' her food.
He loves to snuggle. He loves to dance. He loves going to his Sunday School class. He loves Gymboree. He loves hanging out with other kids and playing. He loves helping care for his baby sister.
He loves to do things on his own - he's started undressing on his own (and does a lot of the 'dressing' by himself too when he's in the mood). Each time he masters a task he beams with pride and makes a mad dash to tell someone close to him that didn't witness the event first hand. He's still toying with the idea of the potty and has figured out the concept of being sneaky. He sits on the potty and tells me he peed in the hopes that it'll earn him a car. I think he succeeded once but since I had to leave him for a moment to get a screaming Megan I couldn't be 100% sure he didn't go just a bit. My gut says he pulled one over on me...but that's ok. He did make one heck of an effort that day so down came one of the 'potty prizes' we have stored over the medicine cabinet.
He loves being two. I keep telling him that when someone asks him how he is now he can say he's two and half...and he yells at me, "No Mommy! I not two half. I TWO!"
So I say back to him "Well yes you are, but you're moving closer to your birthday - you're half way there so we say 2 and half. What are you going to say when its your birthday in June?"
"I say I three."
NOW he gets it!
Remember a few posts ago we wrote about how Logan didn't quite get the concept of "Its a surprise, don't tell daddy what you got him for Christmas." Well now he gets it.
Mommy said "So Logan, what are you going to get me for Christmas?"
Logan said "I get you your own fingerpaints." Apparently those "magic" fingerpaints we got on sale and brought out as a 'rainy day' activity yesterday were a hit.
Mommy said "Want to know what I asked Santa for? I told him I wanted slippers, something nice Logan painted for me, and. . ."
Logan grew very serious, scruched up his forehead, wrinkled his nose and pucked our his lips. Then, brow still furrowed he snapped, "Mommy, stop asking me. It supposed be surprise. No peeking. You no ask me again till after Christmas."
A laughed escaped me before I could squelch it down and act very serious. "Ok, Logan, you're right. It is supposed to be a surprise. I'm sorry."
He smiled back and said "You can ask me after Christmas then I tell you."
Working Man
Logan, sitting chest high in warm bath water and bubbles said "I gonna go to work tomorrow too," after I informed him that although it was Thursday, I'd be going to work tomorrow and he would stay with Grandma and Megan. Since Logan has visited my office a few times lately and enjoyed his rampant run through the open areas, the yo-yo he scammed off someone and the "MM" lady (aka the sales rep with all the M&M gadgets.) I worried that this comment of his meant he was planning on literally going to work with me. So I clarified this was a "mom goes to work only" type day.
"No, I go my work." he said seriously. And so I asked the obvious - What is your job?
He said in response, "I go down to sidewalk and go to work where I make money to go to boardwalk and play skee ball."
"Oh, and what it is you do when you go to work?" I asked.
"I play Mommy. I play skee ball wiff my quarters."
Toddler Holiday Logic
There these giant inflated holiday sculptures all over the place now. Huge Santas, snowmen, Winnie the Pooh in hat and scarf, you get the picture. They each have this internal eery lighting that makes them glow at night and a small air compressor that keeps them inflated. There is one house near us that boosts a train - a steam engine named North Pole Express that has Santa hanging out its window waving. Logan is enamored with this train. Every day he asks to see it, yet its only up after dusk because the home owners only run the generator when the sun goes down. As a result, Logan tries to get out in the car (or even on a walk) after the sun goes down.
Tonight as we sat at the dinner table we talked about how if he finished up his dinner in something akin to "real time" Daddy would take him for a quick ride to see the lights, including the train.
"Trains not blowed up yet." he said.
"No, it wasn't up when Grandma and Papa brought you home was it. It wasn't dark then," I explained, "But I'm sure it'll be up when Daddy goes out with you."
"If it not up, I get out of car and I put my mouth and it and I blow it up!" Logan decided.
"Ummm, honey, that's a great idea, but I'm not sure even *you* have enough hot air to puff that up!" I teased him.
"Oh, I just take more wind in my mouth and then I blowed it up." he said.
Star Worthy!
Determined to learn to read, Logan likes to do exercises in his Phonics and Rhyming books. Here's an example of some of his work...
It starts young
Today as we drove to the craft store Logan and I talked about how he could paint a Christmas ornament for his Sunday School teacher and for the woman that watches Megan in the nursery. As we talked I asked him about the song they're singing next weekend in the Church School Pagent. He won't sing it for us and he won't say anything more than the man plays the piano and the red lady helps them sing about the sun and the light in the sky. The man would be Michael, the music director for the Saturday night contemporary service who sometimes works with the kids and the red lady is the kids music director who apparently still has her choir robe on when she's working with them on Sunday morning.
Well as we talked about it all he said "I sat next to the little girl in my class." I asked him if the little girl was Jackie - I know her mom from some various groups we've been in together and I know he often plays with her when we drop him off at class. She's 3 for what its worth.
Logan responded with "Nes and Jackie hug me in class and we walk down hall to the big room near kitchen to sing our song with the man on the piano and the red lady. We walk and Jackie hold my hand." He then informed me that not only were we picking out something for him to paint for his teacher and Megan's, but he was going to get Jackie a present. He's even decided which wooden ornament is hers.
Geez, he finally stays in class on his own and he picks up a girlfriend in the process.
Out of the mouth of babes. . .
Some things Logan says:
1. At 4:30 am this morning:
Oh my! I awake and it not morning et!
We should note that 'et' is 'yet' because Logan can't seem to say anything that starts with 'y.'
2. Above statement followed quickly by:
Lady no playing, its time go back to sleep. Its still night-night time.
Lady, by the way, is the Golden Engnine on the Magic Railroad of the Thomas world. AND, Lady goes to bed with Logan, along with the Daddy Block, Logan's "Baby" (a green stuffed hippo), and a Matchbox truck converted to "Diesel 10" also of Thomas fame because the truck has a grabber like the infamouse Diesel.
3. At 5am this morning:
Oh no! Where my Daddy block go? I need my Daddy block!
At which point the real Daddy went in to find his block counterpart.
4. As Daddy searched for the block:
Look high! Look low!
5. This morning as Logan padded down the hallway fresh out of bed:
Hi Mommy. I got myself out of bed 'cause its morning now.
6. As we snuggled in his room today:
Oh Mommy, you my best girl.
7. As we drove home from our morning errands:
I love my house.
8. As Meg drifted to sleep in the car (as Mommy wanted her to!):
No sleep Meggie! Here, look at my finger! See! See my fingers!
