We're Thankful For...

It's Thanksgiving, and our friend Adolfo, who is filming coverage of the Texas A&M game today, reprimanded us for posting so infrequently of late, so here goes, a holiday post to commemorate Logan's second Thanksgiving.

We're headed to my grandma's today for a Tofurkey extravaganza around 1:00 and I'm wondering what Logan will be persuaded to eat today. It's an amusing contradiction--on a day dedicated to stuffing one's self, I'm assuming at least some of my day will revolve around placing tiny portions in front of our very picky eater, only to see them fly through the air in different directions. If he's feeling more polite, however, he may place the food he rejects into my hand.

Maybe he'll surprise us, though. He did last night. Every time we come home (to my parents') for a visit, we have to make a trip to Roma's Pizza, which specializes in pizza that has a thin, cracker-type crust. It is deee-lish. Logan usually turns up his nose at any pizza pie, but last night, he actually ate some surprising new foods. Not only did he eat pizza, but also he ate pieces of iceburg lettuce generously dipped in Ranch dressing, of course. He had black and green olives as well, and even a piece of red cabbage. I was amazed! Either he was starving before we came to Roma's, or my suspicions are correct in thinking that they lace their food with some sort of addictive substance, urging their patrons to come back for more. In any case, we had a successful meal last night.

Aside from the food aspect of Thanksgiving, this holiday is all about being grateful for what you have, and we are, of course, thankful for our amazing little boy who has completely turned our world around in the best ways possible, barring those few months of intense sleep deprivation. We are also thankful to have such a wonderful group of loving and supportive family members and friends who enrich our lives through their funny stories, unique perspectives, and incredible personalities. We are, indeed, blessed, and we hope all of you know how very, very much we love all of you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Logan Has a Cousin!

It's been a couple of months now, and I've not received any bad news about Logan's hair-pulling, biting, or hitting anyone (I'm knocking on my coffee table right now). This morning, as I dropped him off at our sitter's, it was an adorable scene. Logan is always greeted at the door by at least two of the girls, and the youngest, who is Logan's age, is the one who never misses an entrance. She waddles up, her big eyes all aglow, waving her little hand and smiling. Today she gave Logan a hug and a kiss, and Logan hugged her back. Our sitter's eldest girl said, "They're best friends!" I couldn't resist saying in response, "A big change from the way it used to be, huh?" Logan, as an only child, did not take kindly to another person--especially someone his size--getting something he wanted, and she, being the youngest of four, was not used to being appeased by everyone. Predictably, there were many ugly clashes. It's been a long, dramatic road, but Logan seems to have learned how to make--and keep--friends. What a relief!

And it's about time, too, because today at around 6:00PM, Logan became a cousin. Eric's sister Jackie had an adorable little girl today. Isabel Alice is 8lbs, 21 inches and healthy as can be. Eric was so excited! He almost teared up at the pictures she sent via email and said, "She already looks like my sister!" So we are all excited to meet this new little person. Welcome to the world, Isabel!

Poo poo in the potty!

We are on the verge of exciting times here at the Hill household. Logan is showing some signs that he may be ready to begin potty training.
A few weeks ago, Logan started alerting us to "poo poo" in his pants, so we decided to get him a little potty to see if he showed any interest in using it. Lo and behold, last night, he decided to sit on the potty and make a small deposit. After dropping off his...stuff, he quickly stood up, turned around to see what he had left behind, exclaimed, "eeew!" and ran off naked down the hall. Before I could catch him, though, his big step forward was accompanied by a small step back...he peed in the hallway. "Logan," I said, "poo poo and pee pee go in the potty." Hopefully those sage words sunk in.
And so begins our long journey on the road to underwearhood...While we're not sure we'll start full-on potty training yet (he's 19 months today), I'd appreciate any sage words any of you might have to share on the topic! Thanks in advance!

As promised...

Hope the Great Pumpkin was good to all of you tonight! And, on behalf of Logan, please don't leave those lit pumpkins unattended all night. Only YOU can prevent forest fires! :)

"Schockat! Sucky!"

So, it's nearly Halloween, and how could that holiday exist without...candy! the inspiration for today's post. The subject line is Loganese for "chocolate" and "sucker." Yes, you can tell what he's been asking for lately. It all started a couple of weeks ago after our neighborhood Target (which is now a Super Target, mind you) had opened, and Eric and I, drawn like moths to a flame, went shopping for various odds and ends, thrilled not to be forced into going to Wal-Mart any longer. (Our Target was closed for several months to become "Super.")

The Halloween isle beckoned us in with its festive decorations and aisles of monstrous bags of candy. Knowing we'd have to buy sweets for trick-or-treaters eventually, I suggested we stock up immediately. Why wait, right? So we piled a few bags of candy into our cart. Now I see the error of my ways. Note to self: Never buy Halloween candy early...at least don't buy the stuff you really like early.

Through this perhaps misguided purchase, I've found that Eric and I have a rigid hierarchy of Halloween candy consumption. We quickly gobbled up all of the Almond Joys and most of the Reese's cups within the first few days of having the candy in the house. This weekend, we're settling for the Kit-Kats, and it's only a matter of time before the ho-hum Hershey bars will go the way of the others before them. Aside from the occasional Dum-Dum, we don't usually keep candy in the house. Well, Logan clearly approves of the change. Eric and I unwisely shared a bite or two of our Almond Joys, Reese's, and Kit-Kats, and now we have a chocolate-demanding delinquent on our hands.

This afternoon, I decided to move the candy from the dining room table to the kitchen counter, hoping the move would foster an out-of-sight, out-of-mind scenario. Nope, he was begging for "Schockat" with a vengeance. And as much as I hate to give in to his whining, it is pretty darned adorable to see him grabbing that chunk of Kit-Kat in his fist, doing his little dance of chocolate-induced joy (which closely resembles someone running in place while having to pee). Ah, how he loves sugar. He may just get a new supply of it, too, as we're going to Sycamore's Pumpkin Fest parade tomorrow.

Hope you all have a Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin patch

Columbus Day weekend is always a special one for me--my parents come up for the weekend and we take a trip to Jonamac Orchard in Malta. They always have a funny little antique motor convention and a petting zoo. So, on Saturday we braved the bitterly cold wind and made the trek to Jonamac. Logan got to pet and feed the sheep, the burros, the goats, the cows, and a llama. We also went to a little corn silo they had for the kids--imagine a really big sandbox filled with corn--lots of fun!
Finally, we took a stroll through the display of motors, bought some apples--Honey Crisps, yum!--and took off for the day.
The next day, we went to Applebee's for lunch. Fortunately, Logan was in good spirits, and as we were starting to pack up to leave, he started saying "Bye!" to everyone in sight. A young guy passed by, and said in reply, "See ya!" Logan must have thought that was incredibly clever, because he started saying "See ya!" really loudly to everyone as we walked out. We, along with everyone else, were in stitches. All in all, we had a great weekend.
Hope you all had a nice weekend, too!

DigDug

So today was a typical Monday--so frustrating! It was the day back from Homecoming weekend, so my Juniors were comatose. I took the Freshmen to the computer lab to show them how to format papers--how can something so simple be so tedious!? When I picked up Logan, I was in a sour mood, and my mood didn't improve when I learned he was "a bit rough" with Kaleb again.
On I drove, thinking of how bad the day sucked, when I noticed Logan singing this really nasally "Neener, nah, nah, nee, nee" or something similar to that. I turned around only to find him with his pointer finger waaay up his nose, twisting his digit to the beat of his song.
"Okay, this is a bad habit that could form. Should I tell him to stop, or will that only exacerbate the situation?" That thought went through my mind at about the same time that I burst out laughing. Bad habits be damned! That silliness is just what pulled me out of my gloomy mood!
Thought I would post a new pic--it's of Logan picking another orifice, a more acceptable one this time, but the Paul Frank outfit was furnished by my friend Barb. Thanks, Barb!