Logan says:

Eric: So, what do you want to do?
Carly: Well, Logan needs a nap now.
Eric: Oh, yeah.
Logan: (Staring blankly at the wall) No, I don't need a nap.
Carly: Yes, you do.
Logan: But I'm not nappy.

Screwy Schedules

As Eric mentioned briefly in the last post, Logan has taken to putting off bedtime as long as is toddelerly possible, which is a bit of an annoyance because as much as we love our kids, let's face it, we breathe a sigh of relief when they go to bed. And I've got four hours before I'm up for every two with Auden. So having Logan stay up way past his bedtime is not something I like to experience. I think it's the holidays and Eric being back home for the two weeks--it's kind of thrown us off our schedule, but we'll get in another groove here again soon. Until then, I guess Eric and I will continue to be crotchety toward each other, since New Year's Eve will only make things worse in terms of sleep deprivation.

And our lack of a regular schedule has thrown off my blogging, too. We didn't even blog about Christmas. We had a white Christmas down by my folks, which was really nice. Usually, southern Illinois gets the damaging ice instead of the picturesque snows, but this time it got cold enough to put on a pretty nice show. Eric has been keeping up with his marathon training, so on Christmas Eve, he prided himself on his feat of jogging to Missouri and back. It started snowing about one hour into his 2 1/2 hour workout, but apparently it didn't bother him. Nor did he get nervous about jogging across the suspension bridge, which has a really narrow shoulder, in poor weather. No, he was worried about the 25 or so deer he saw ambling across the trail he was running. He said a couple of bucks gave him a "So you want a piece of me?" look, but decided he probably wasn't worth the calorie expenditure.

We had a nice visit with Great-Grandma and pa Kop and Uncle Kevin--I actually washed all of the dishes without grandma catching on--granted, she was distracted by my dad and uncle who were teaching her how to work her new digital camera. Then we went back to mom and dad's to bake Christmas cookies. Mom makes THE best sugar cookies, and I'm too lazy to make them myself, so I'm happy to help out.

Opening presents was pretty fun this year. Logan got some really nice stuff--a kitchen set, plenty of cars and candy (just as he wished), and Auden got a few cute toys and cozy clothes. Auden was such a sweet baby--everyone remarked about how peaceful and happy he is. He's now sitting up pretty well when seated in his boppy, and, in true infant form, he tries to put everything into his mouth--including his feet. He bends all the way over, trying to reach those adorable toes. He just has a little too much tummy to get at them though.

Christmas Day at my Grandma O'dell's was nice, but I think we may have infected the family. My aunt took ill, and we soon dispersed after opening presents and playing a couple of rounds of Buzz Word.

Well, I think I had better go. Logan has switched his bedroom light back on for the second time tonight...

The Sleepless Wonder

Logan decided he did not want to go to bed last night. Fun for everyone.

Bug-a-boo

Well, I have been hit. Last night I got violently ill twice and today I feel sort of like a truck hit me, but fortunately, this thing should run its course and I'll be feeling better by this evening. I'm just continuing to wash my hands like crazy and saying little prayers that Auden stays well. We were going to head down to my family's this afternoon, but it looks like this launch has been scrubbed. We're hoping we'll all be able to take off on Christmas Eve day...

Logan says:

(While wielding a toy screwdriver)
"I'm going to screw you up, mom!"
Truer words were never spoken.

Eric and Logan are recovering from food poisoning or some kind of flu. I suspect food poisoning because they had no fever, but I can't seem to allow myself to rule out flu because Logan ate next to nothing for the two days prior to his throwing up Sunday night and Monday morning. Thankfully, because his bowels were so bare, it was an easy cleanup, but the poor guy and his dad felt pretty miserable. Auden and I remain healthy, and I'm knocking firmly on wood. Last time I remember getting the stomach flu, I was about 8 years old (so you know that was a bad bug, since it's the last one I can remember at 32 years of age) and my whole family were stricken one by one. I thought I was pretty tough--no virus can take me down! But then, after eating about three helpings of mostaccioli, I got sick on New Year's eve all over my aunt's bedroom floor. I don't think I or my aunt ate mostaccioli again for years after that. So here's hoping our holidays--and yours--are healthy!

For you, Stine

Epicurious Babe and Candyland

Christmas is so close now we can taste it...literally. On Thursday, it was a really cold, overcast day, so I proclaimed it Pajama Day in the Hill household (for some reason I was the only one who actually remained in my pjs for the entire day...and slept in them again that night) and embarked on making comfort foods. I threw together a batch of yummy lentil soup, dragged our bread machine out of storage, dusted it off, and made a big loaf of wheat bread, and baked two dozen Snickerdoodles. Fewer things say Christmas to me more than Snickerdoodles, my favorite holiday cookie. Logan helped with the cookies, which we made while Auden was napping. He dumped the ingredients into the mixing bowl for me and then retreated to his bedroom, frightened by the mixer. That kid really has to get over his fear of noisy things. He came back in time to help dip the dough into the cinnamon-sugar mixture, but decided on the first one that it was much better to dip his finger into the mix, rather than the soon-to-be cookie. In fact, before long, he was dipping his whole face into the bowl, sticking his tongue into the cinnamon and sugar. So the idea of bringing the cookies to Aunt Jackie's went right out the window. I guess deep down I really didn't want to share them anyway.

Auden has been trying new tastes as well. At his four-month appointment, the doc said Auden can now have solids, and that it's best to give him a variety of stuff, rather than introducing foods slowly. So, we decided to try carrots for his first food endeavor. We put him in his Bumbo and spooned the lukewarm stuff into his mouth. Surprisingly, he seemed to like it. Of course, he's still getting the hang of swallowing stuff that isn't liquid, so he pushed a lot of it out of his mouth, but he ended up eating about a tablespoon of the stuff. Next we tried pears mixed with cereal. Not quite as fond of the consistency of that, but still he ate a bit and wasn't displeased.

We just returned from a very nice couple of days with Eric's family--we traveled to Wisconsin to be with Grammy and Papa Hill, Aunt Jackie, Uncle John, and Isabel. We drove there last night, put the kids to bed after a short visit, and woke up ready to celebrate--especially Logan, who was harping on us to open gifts as soon as he regained consciousness. He got some very nice toys, and Isabel had fun with the toy cuttable fruit we got her. So fun seeing little ones at Christmas time. The boys, except for Auden, decided to brave the cold and trek outside for a while. Logan suited up, and the guys took turns dragging him in a sled, Eric on cross-country skis and John and Papa in snowshoes. At one point, the dog dragged Logan, but I think he needed a small dog team to pull him through the drifts. Still, it was a pretty adorable sight.

Logan says:

"Mom, I a big kid, so I can go to pretty-school!"
"You mean pre-school?"
"No, pretty-school! I can go there and talk to kids, and you can leave maybe."

Logan says:

Logan: The dinosaurs will crush our house and it will be in their bellies, and we will cry.

Mom: Well, you'd better tell them to leave us alone, because they're scared of you and they'll listen to you.

Logan (exits his bedroom to yell out the living room window): Hey, you dinosaurs! You leave our house alone! Go away!
(returns to his bedroom) I think I scared 'em, momma.

And the pictures are showing some brotherly love. Auden's starting to roll to his sides and can kind of scoot himself around serpent-style. Here's a pic of him roughing up Logan a little; one of the boys in their similar winter hats, and one of them just before going out to play in the snow.

Meanderings

Since it's snowed, I've felt a little claustrophobic around here. I grew up in southern Illinois, where I didn't really have a serious winter coat, but a glorified windbreaker, my entire life, so let's just say I am a weenie when it comes to facing the cold months here. Nonetheless, I know snow can be fun, so I bundled up Logan and Auden in their snow gear and braved the frosty day. I decided to have Logan sit in a little sled we bought at a garage sale this summer, and I pulled him around the back yard. Fun for him; not so fun for me, who was trying to lug not only my 2 1/2 year old on the sled, but also my 19-pound goliath, poofy snowsuit-wearing infant across the yard. Still, I made a nice little track before I called it quits and encouraged Logan to make some snowballs or shovel some snow. Unfortunately, the snow wasn't the packing kind, so Logan was freaking out because his mittens wouldn't allow him much mobility and the snow wasn't cooperating. At that, I threw in the towel and decided to retreat indoors for some hot cocoa.

Today, we went to story time at the library, and it was a nice change of scenery. Many other moms seemed to have the same idea I did, as the place was wall-to-wall with toddlers. It was funny seeing Logan's reaction to the event, though. The woman read from books that had little motions to go with them--a smart move, since she had a roomful of toddlers to entertain. Logan just stared at her and everyone else for most of the session, not really engaging in anything, and I start to worry: "Is my son going to be totally awkward and shy around people, or what?" It's funny how you're afraid your child will succumb to all those weaknesses you had as a child, or have as an adult. I remember when I was little my uncle's friend would call me "shy girl" because I was always so quiet at family parties and I would feel so embarrassed. So after story time was done, the woman passed out papers for coloring, and the kids moseyed over to the tables with crayons. I decided I'd hang back and see how Logan would interact with the other kids, so I struck up a conversation with a couple of moms and let Logan do his thing. He colored for a bit, but soon lost interest and left the table to look for some cars. He played by himself for a while, and one by one, the kids started leaving for home. Then, Logan spotted a little girl and her older brother a few feet away. They made eye contact. Would Logan try to talk to them? Suddenly a lightbulb seemed to go on, and he said to the little girl, "Hey, when I was born, I used to be a baby!" What a pickup line. Well, being a baby seems to work for Auden, who gets plenty of attention these days, so why not go with it? The funny thing is, it worked. Instead of looking at him like he was daft, the little girl smiled and said, "I used to be a baby, too!" Logan gave her one of his cars; they found a third one somewhere else for the big brother, and the three of them played some sort of wagon train game, following each other around the children's section for quite some time. Phew. I guess Logan isn't doomed to be a social outcast after all. Or is he? Tonight when I picked him up from the Y and asked him if he talked to any other kids, he said, "No, I was kind of being shy. But I did talk to some older kids." "What did you talk about?" "I don't know. Probably about something stupid." I couldn't help but laugh over that one.

Auden still has it easy. This weekend, he was baptized. All the family was there, soaking up all that adorableness. Auden usually sleeps through church, but he had to be "on" this Sunday, so he missed his nap and was a little surly looking when we went up to the altar to have him baptized. He wasn't on the verge of wailing or anything; he just looked at everyone with this surly expression, his forehead wrinkled like an old man's. The pastor said she thought he would be very studious, an excuse for his serious expression. Even when he wasn't being his usual smiley self, he still got some laughs. At the party afterwards, he was passed around like a hot potato and everyone said what a good baby he is--he's just so happy and pleasant. He doesn't have anything to prove--people just love him automatically, just like they should. When do things stop being that simple?

Holiday Hustle and the Hamper

In my list of Thanksgiving "I'm thankful for's" I should have also expressed my gratitude for online shopping and Amazon's free shipping on orders of $25 or more. They have made my holidays so much more pleasant, and I was able to ignore all the Christmas junk that was set up WAY too early this year. Now I think it's out a week before Halloween or something. Let's just skip Thanksgiving all together, shall we? I mean, there's hardly anything about that holiday retailers can sink their teeth into. Maybe eventually we'll have a strange permutation of Thanksgiving one of these years in the future that involves a jolly old turkey who scuttles around leaving presents for grateful little children. He's paying it forward for another year of avoiding the chopping block or something...

Anyway, Logan is cognizant enough to know what he wants for Christmas this year, and he's pretty excited about the holiday. When I asked him what he'd like Santa to bring him, he simply asked for "Cars and candy." How adorable is that? I could spend maybe $15 on his gifts this Christmas and he'd be overjoyed. Of course, I won't, but it's nice knowing that I don't have to. I'd better remember this year because it's probably the last one which will involve such simple requests.

While I was procuring some things for the holidays and this weekend's festivities (Auden is being baptized), I picked up a clothes hamper for Logan. It's pretty cute: a collapsible, canister-shaped hamper made of nylon, and it's cleverly fashioned to look like a lion. When the top is pulled closed, the lion's face shows, so it's like the opening of the hamper is the lion's mouth. I was hoping he might be interested in it enough to want to deposit his clothes into it on a regular basis. Boy was I wrong.

I put the hamper in Logan's closet and asked him to check out the lion living in his closet. He looked at me like I was crazy, but then I explained that I wasn't lyin' (yes, I had to say it), there was indeed a lion in his closet. He cautiously walked into his room, and he smiled and giggled to find the hamper waiting for him with a pile of dirty clothes beside it.
"This is your lion, and he needs to eat. You know what he likes best?"
"What?"
"Dirty clothes. So when you take off your dirty clothes, you should feed them to your lion."

I did not expect the frenzy of activity that ensued after that explanation. He quickly dumped all of his clothes into the hamper, and then started on the basket full of clean clothes I had folded and was about to put away.
"No, Logan. The lion only likes dirty clothes."
"But there ISN'T any more!"

I directed him to our bedroom, and he scampered off, bringing back a couple armloads of mommy and daddy's dirty clothes. Before long, the lion was full, so we took it into the laundry room to deposit its first meal. I had no idea I had bought a bulimic lion for a clothes hamper, but, hey--it worked out. I had a pretty good laugh about Logan's excitement over a simple clean-up session.