Logan is (almost 4) - written 1 month early

I never wrote a 3.5 yr blog for Logan because it is getting harder and harder to try to some up these wonderful kids in words.  Wyatt’s blog, though it captured a lot of him, I kept thinking afterwards about how it just can’t capture how wonderful (and occasionally mischievous) he is.  Logan, as a 4 year old is impossible.  He has developed into a sensitive, curious, friendly, playful, kind, smart, and adventurous kid.  I’m shocked at how well rounded he is as a kid and how much he surprises me every day.  He is that “good kid” who almost always makes the right decision.  He is a good listener and he is great with smaller kids.  I can leave him and Wyatt in a room and not worry that logan will do anything that would hurt him.  He is a kind and caring big brother and will look out for wyatt and keep him safe.  Of course it is fun as a parent and look down and realize the sky is the limit for your little guy.  Im so excited to see what the next year and 100 years will bring for this kid.

Language

Logan is still way ahead for his age.  He is extremely verbal and communicative.  He is generally good and expressing his wants and needs.  I think as a result, we didn’t have much trouble with the threenager year, though we did have a few bizzaro emotional moments.  He is very curious and asks lots of questions.  He has gained pretty complex understanding of many things and is really ready to hear anything.  We try not to shy away from answering the tough questions and try to feed his curiosity and show him new things and expose him to new activities.   Just today he asked what happened to my dog I had as a kid so we continued our multipart conversation about death.  We are constantly complimented by people on his communication, both how easy he is to understand and how much he has to say.  He really enjoys talking and will carry on long and complicated conversations. 

Reading/math

Logan has been doing reading Kumon for most of the year and recently started math Kumon.  It is amazing the progress he made over the year.  From only knowing the letter names in spring to reading well now and having mastered not just the short vowel sounds but consistently doing well with long vowel and weird sounds (think “ew” “ight” “th” “ch” “ay” “all” “oy” “ow”, etc).  He loves to do kumon now and is in the bedtime routine where we used to read a book.  He gets to stay up a little later and he really enjoys doing it.  He has had to work on focusing and not guessing when he is having trouble concentrating or when the word is hard.  But he has progressed tremendously at his focus.  It gets harder when the packet is harder, but overall he is great.  He also can write all the letters and his penmanship has improved dramatically.  He takes great pride in being able to read well and it is really fun to watch him succeed.  Kumon isn’t cheap but it is nice to be able to nurture his interest in reading and learning.  It is also fun to see how his ability to read is helping him pronounce things better.  He says “f” instead of “th” and it is nice to be able to show him, for instance that 3 is “three” and four is “four” so he can see how to pronounce it differently.

Logan has been doing math kumon for about a month now.  He really wasn’t picking up counting over 10 consistently and couldn’t recognize the numbers.  He also didn’t have much patience in counting.  He saw that other kids were doing math kumon and asked if he could too.  It doubles our costs but again we weighed our options and signed up.  He is so used to the kumon “system” that it makes it easiest to use.  He does math kumon as his “reading” before nap.  Both are now well integrated into his routine.  He is learning quickly and soon will move to the math part.  He already understands some math concepts, but I except he’ll pick up the rest quickly.

It is probably unnecessary to teach him all of this now still almost 2 years from when he will start kindergarten, but I see no reason to delay if he is interested and progressing.  We’ll probably have to work a bit to keep him interested in kindergarten, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.  It is also nice to be able to teach him all of this while still focusing 95% of his day on the soft skills that are crucial to learn at this age. We looked at some academic preschools, but those spend a large bulk of the day on education, which wouldn’t be ideal. 

Social

He goes to a preschool that really works on his friendship skills and he loves it. We actually moved him to 3 day/week school this year (9-12).  He was originally in tues and Thursday but the class was really small and all his friends were in school m,w,f, so they weren’t available for play dates on days logan was free.  We now have a great routine including gymnastics Tuesday morning and dance Tuesday afternoon.  He loves his school and has two best friends: Stephanie and Nicholas.  He had a third (Oliver) but he changed schools!  I met another mom of a kid logan never talks about who said logan was all her kid talked about.  I wonder if logan forgets his name or if it is one sided.  I hope he’s nice to him, but I’m sure he is. It would be fun to watch their dynamic at school.  He seems to be developing great bonds and kept telling me on thanksgiving that he was thanking for Stephanie and Nicholas.  We also have several friends on the outside and he growing good bonds with them.  He plays generally well and peacefully but can get egged on by other more impulsive kids to make poorer choices.  For instance, he shares will with a kid who shares well and takes turns.  If logan takes his turn and hands it over and the other kid doesn’t hand it back at the end of their turn, then things get tricky.  With the right group, he needs no supervision. 

He and wyatt also play well and are never violent or physical with each other.  Of course they are rough and tumble and run around and fall and trip, but he has never tried to hurt his brother and I am grateful for his kind and gentle (if also adventurous) soul. 

He’s also got a great imagination and has really (in the last few months) embraced playing pretend.  He will pretend they are going on a picnic or pretend they are taking a bath in the bed or all number of things.  It is fun to see him embrace this.  And if you get too into, he’ll say “mom, it’s just pretend, it’s not real food so you shouldn’t eat it.”  I can definitely see some of myself in that, but wow it is fun to see how he is using that imagination side of his brain. 

Physical

Logan is getting stronger and more coordinated.  He’s running quite fast, can jump high and is even learning to tap dance.  He is the in the 4-5 gymnastics class and had is first “show” the other week.  They performed a specific routine.  He did a great job!  It is fun to watch him learn new skills and also continue his love of physical activity.  Our nice open indoor play space really encourages the boys to run and jump and we recent brought the little slide inside.  It may give us heartburn sometimes, but it is great to watch the kids being so physical.  He loves to wrestle and play but is still very good at taking instructions and changing his behavior based on specific guidance.  He does especially well with concrete instructions like your feet have to go down the slide first, versus, don’t hit your head or don’t go down head first.  He needs to know what to do and then he’ll do it 99% of the time. 

Food/routines/sleep

Logan is a pretty picky kid.  He has great junk-dar (junk radar) and will try just about anything that is sugar, fat or carb.  But of course he also can spot and avoid a veggie a mile away (full tantrums available to protest any veggie).  He is getting pretty good and consistent with eating fruit and definitely has a favorite fruit – Persimmon!  Leave it to charles’ kid to love persimmons.  He also regularly eats blueberries, strawberries, banana, grapes and raspberries.  He likes pomegranates if Charles is fresh shelling them.  He isn’t as much a fan of oranges and won’t eat apples (neither kid will).  He is learning what different food does for your body and knows that eating fruit helps his bowels.  We also regularly talk about what helps you grow big and strong and what doesn’t and how important it is to listen to your stomach.  He has a bit of a sensitive tummy and it is nice to see him acknowledge (in the middle of a favorite food) that his tummy says it’s time to stop.  Since he is higher in weight, we have allowed him to leave the table whenever he is done eating so he isn’t encouraged to eat more than his body wants.  He loves junk food and sugar but has learned when we do and don’t get it.  I’m hopeful in this next year he will learn more about food an voluntarily make better choices.
 
Logan is great at the normal kid routine stuff now: putting on/taking off shoes, washing hands, using potty, brushing teeth, bussing the table, getting in and out of cars, opening doors, etc..  It’s fun to see him be so independent!  He can also help wyatt through these routines.  It is so nice to walk out to the car with both hands free and have both of my kids open doors and climb into car.  We still buckle both kids (logan can unbuckle but isn’t strong enough to buckle), but it is quick and simple and HANDS FREE.

He is a fantastic sleeper.  People always tell me stories about kids skipping naps or dropping naps but the only times Logan has not napped is when we have been travelling.  He ALWAYS naps.  He needs 12 hours and night and his 2 hour nap.  Wyatt seems to live better with less sleep, but not my Logan.  I’m grateful that he takes this time to take care of himself and dread if he ever stops napping. 
He loves his big boy bed tremendously and I’m so proud of him for moving into it.  As a quick side store, Logan has been pretty rigid about his sleep since about 1.  He was very particular about his crib, the animals allowed in it, and what was allowed in his room.  Pretty much nothing was added to the room after 1.  If he brought in a new toy, he would ask us to leave with it.  When he started climbing in and out of crib safely at 2 something, we asked him if he wanted the other rail and he said no.  Later when 3 he was interested.  We put it on and he and wyatt loved playing but when it was bedtime, logan was very upset and needed his regular rail back on.  We tried one more time at his request and then quick.  We decided on a new plan of buying a bed together, putting it in the room, leaving the crib in, and letting him acclimate.  He picked a bed my friend was giving away.  It is an ikea kura bed.  It is a lot bed or a bed at normal height with a boxy frame and canopy around.  We got to go to their house and pick up all the pieces (he helped carry it).  He then helped Julia build it and put it in his room.  When the first nap came with the bed in his room, we were all nervous and he got into his crib like nothing had happened (we were elated).  Shortly after he started sleeping in his bed for some naps but would not get in at night.  After a few weeks, one night while driving I said “you know Logan, at some point we might just have to take your crib out of your room if you don’t choose to sleep in your big boy bed.”  He said “let’s take the crib out tonight.”  I didn’t want to pressure him, so we discussed for a while and I said he had a lot more time but he was adamant.  So I got out the hex wrench and he helped take apart his crib and carry it into our room.  That night he happily got in his bed and never looked back!  I’m so proud of him for doing it and proud of us for letting him do it on his terms.  For some (like wyatt), the bed transition will be a non-issue, but for others it is.  We all have our things and sleep is Logan’s, so it was a big deal and he did well.  He sleeps much better now too because the bed is SUPER comfy (I did lots of research on a low voc, healthy comfy mattress) and he now has a sheet, which is great since he is a sweaty monster.  He has a paw patrol blanket and comforter but only uses the sheet.  He also has his snake, his baby, his owl and his mickey in the bunny costume in his bed.  Lately he puts toys at the foot of the bed to play with in the morning. 

Improvements

Logan has improved in his flexibility a lot.  The bed example is good above, but he also got on the carousal at the mall in California this summer which was a HUGE surprise.  He did better with Halloween this year but still doesn’t like people in masks and hated the candy bowl with the fake hand that snapped down (many tears were cried).  He is better with crowds and has gone from melting down in stressful situations to expressing his unhappiness or telling me later he doesn’t want to go again.  We went to a loud sports bar (we were going for an Oktoberfest thing with a life band but there was a dumb football game on) and instead of losing his mind, he just said “mommy it is really loud in here and I don’t like it.  Can we leave soon?”  it was great. 

He still isn’t a fan of big crowds (neither is wyatt) in a house.  They don’t seem to mind stores and other big spaces with lots of people.  Logan still refused to go into Santa’s house at the mall today (but a bunch of adults had just walked in).  Wyatt really wanted to go in, so I’ll have to give him the chance. 

Logan has always been empathetic and sensitive but it has just grown as he’s gotten older.  He really is a good human and a good friend.  He uses his words and is a great helper.  Every once and a while he’ll be a brat about something random, but for the most part, he wants to help and he cares about others.  We’ve also helped him figure out how to say things sensitively and sometimes if he is a bit brusque I’ll just ask him to “try again” and he’ll make the necessary adjustments.  Preschool has helped him play more cooperatively and work on fostering his friendships.  He is to the age now where he can play super independently with others and will make up games and explain them. He and wyatt do it but he does it with others too. 

He is still a kid and he still has moments where sometimes he can’t express his feelings.  He told me one time that he wished papa wasn’t coming over the next day and that he “hated papa.” My initial instinct is to say “no you love papa” but I realized a while ago that that is a very flawed message as a parent.  We need to listen to them and show that they can tell us anything, even when we are pretty sure what they are saying doesn’t make sense.  In this case, logan has a very special bond with papa and loves him dearly.  We talk about him a lot when he’s gone.  I listened to him and then said, “hmm tell me more, what don’t you like about papa.”  He said “I don’t like playing in papa’s car.”  Well now I knew it was extra fishy because not only does he love spending time with papa but he and wyatt can play happily for hours in the car and beg to go do it.  So we talked a while more and I realized that papa was coming for the 5th straight afternoon because my hip was so sore that I wasn’t able to play.  I asked him if he missed playing with me.  He said “yeah, I don’t want papa to come, I want you to play with us.”  When papa comes, I usually rest and he misses me.  He doesn’t mind papa and would be delighted to have me AND papa, but papa signified no mama, and he didn’t like that.  We had a really good chat and I promised to spend some quality time when I could and he greeted papa the next day with a giant hug and told me how much fun he had with papa at dinner.  I cuddled him extra and made sure to talk to him lots that night.  I love being able to fix these things and help him think things through.  Though at his age, he rarely gets there on his own, and sometimes it can be quite a puzzle.  It’ll be interesting to see if this improves over the next year.

Overall

I’m almost tearing up as I write this but I’m so proud of this little guy.  I met with my friend Kira and she has really worked on emotional maturity with her kids and I thought I was failing my kids.  But I look at them, and I think about the times I have helped logan work through his emotions or empowered him to communicate with others, or trusted him to hear my guidance and make good decisions, and I realize that somehow between our parenting and his innate nature, he has turned into a happy, sweet, sensitive and smart 4 year old boy.  I never realized 4 year olds had this much depth to them.  I am awed every day by him.  It is such a blessing to get to listen to him talk and spend lots of time with him.  I miss him during the day but I treasure my afternoons and early evenings with him.  I feel so hopeful for the future.  I know he’ll excel at school and make good friendships.  I know we have a lot of challenges as parents ahead of us, but I feel like I can breathe a sigh of relief that we have done right by this 4 year old super kiddo so far!

Wyatt is 2

My little baby Wyatt is 2.  I still call him “the baby” far too often and then I turn around and he is running, talking in sentences to Logan and doing everything on his own.  He definitely isn’t a baby any more, but he’ll always be MY baby.  It is so exciting to celebrate his 2nd birthday.  As he grows up, two things have gotten really clear:  1. He has a very different personality that Logan, which is delightful as a parent to see (so much is pre-programmed) and 2. He and Logan are the best of friends and get so much delight out of each other.  When you have a second (or I imagine subsequent ones), it feels like you take energy away from the first, but by this point, it is so clear the positive impact having a sibling is having on both of them.  We really have gelled as a family unit and I honestly never thought I’d be this happy to be a mom.  IT IS THE COOLEST! 

Okay, more about Wyatt, he is still relatively short (25%) but weighs plenty and he is developing great.  He is climbing, running and can jump with 2 feet.  He passed his “development questionnaire” with flying colors (100%).  All my old fears of physical development are clearly in the dust.  Starting about 20 months-ish one of his most popular sentences was “by myself.”  Whether it was getting into his booster or into the car (or anywhere else), he wants to do it on his own.  He is willing to work at it too.  To get in his booster, he drags my chair towards his, crawls into my chair and then transfers into his booster.  He is a hard worker and he is coordinated enough to pull off quite a few feats.  He is capable of walking everywhere out and about on his own and is improving his ability to listen and go the right way.  He isn’t thrilled by having to hold hands, but he has learned to accept it.  He much prefers holding logan’s hand than ours.  Sometimes when my arthritis is bad and I need to use a cane, I love that I can hold wyatts hand and then he’ll hold logan’s hand while we cross the street.  This keeps everyone safe and I love that my kids can be adaptable.  Wyatt loves parks and running around but is slightly more hesitant than Logan was.  He loves stairs but he isn’t a giant fan of big slides.  He will swing, but isn’t interested in swinging for long periods.  He loves to run and chase though.  He’ll often come up at home and say “chase you” and run off.  He wants us to chase him wherever he goes.  We also sometimes say “fee fii fo fum, I smell the blood of a wyatt man” so he’ll sometimes run off saying that.  It is quite adorable. 

Of course nothing is better than attention from Logan so they’ll play for long periods together on an activity one of them concocted.  Lately they have been putting their blankets over the seats of their little cars and playing some game I don’t understand but they love.  They also love to play in their beds.  Logan recently upgraded to a big twin bed and we put the toddler rail on Wyatt’s crib so that he can now get in and out by himself (which of course he loves).  He was very jealous of logan’s big boy bed, so the crib modification has been great for him.  He doesn’t get out on his own at night even though he can.  One of my original hopes was that he would get out to fetch his pacifier or toys on his own so he didn’t yell so darn much in the morning.  That hasn’t happened but he loves his bed.  He does need to stop using his pacifier soon so that will be a challenge in the months to come.  I think we might wait until after christmas travelling, but we’ll see. 

Although Wyatt is very independent, he is not as opinionated as Logan was.  At this age, you had to ask Logan for everything “do you want this shirt or that shirt” “do you want to flush your toilet or not.”  Wyatt doesn’t care that much about his clothes, though he will pick it out if you ask him.  He likes especially to match logan.  He cares about flushing toilet, but he’ll do every time and never forget so it isn’t as problematic as the parent.  Overall I realize that we ask him his opinion far less than we did Logan.  Then again with one kid the whole world revolves around them, and Wyatt has known since birth that that wasn’t true for him.  We do try to advocate for him and make sure we don’t always chose what logan wants because he will cry harder.

Verbally – Wyatt is a very verbal kid.  He has soo many words.  Of course (detecting a theme?) his language has developed differently than logan.  Wyatt still isn’t as good at pronunciation, though he makes progress every day. He now says “water” instead of “wawa” and has generally worked on pronunciation.  Some words he is stubborn on though.  He always says “push butt” instead of “push button.”  He calls Logan “Lilo” but can fully say “logan.”  He just prefers to call him “lilo” and honestly I think Logan prefers it too .  Wyatt has a more extensive vocabulary than Logan did at this age.  Partly this is because of exposure.  Logan didn’t know the word preschool and didn’t eat as much junk food.  So there is more exposure and more words to go with it.  He has a very good understanding of simple request and also can ask for things, however he doesn’t understand complex things as much.  We can do short term bribery often, but if he doesn’t perform the task he still wants the candy.  It does motivate him to try harder (this is mostly related to potty training).  He doesn’t understand the sticker charts that logan did.  Those concepts are too abstract.  That is totally normal for his age though.

Fav people – Logan is his favorite person.  Outside the family (of course he loves mommy, Julia and daddy too), he loves Papa and Mimi a lot, but has an extra special bond with Papa.  He also really loves Grandma and Tina and Mimi Maria who we skype with regularly.  Skype is such a wonderful way to connect to family.  He is quite a social person and has taken to hugging people who come over, which is pretty funny.  He’s never been that huggy to us, but now he will hug when he ask (and he gives really good hugs).  He’s also learned to kiss and he makes the cutest kissy noise.
Fav toys – playing in cars, anything paw patrol, things he can take out and put back in, houses, trains.  He is a good player and can play on his own or with Logan.  He is not interested in screens like Logan (and most kids) are at this age.  That means he usually plays on his own while Logan watches a little TV while I prep dinner. 

Emotional – He’s a pretty stable kid, with less highs and lows with Logan but he is a little more intense in some respects.  He yells more and hits more.  It probably comes from being a second kid and getting less attention.  However, he is pretty go with the flow and is happy just about anywhere doing just about anything.  He shares pretty well but does need to work on his propensity to hit people with toys.  He will just brain logan with a toy he is playing with while they are happily playing together.  It isn’t due to anger, he just wants attention.  He used to hit when made but he has learned over the last 6 months that he can’t do that and you can watch him get mad, pull his arm up and then stop himself.  He also is working on his self soothing skills when he is overwhelmed or in pain.  He knows that his pacifiers and his animals calm him so he will go in his room and get them.  Sometimes he’ll even sit in his chair or get in his crib.  The pacifier is his main way to calm himself.  I really like that he has learned to recognize that he is upset and that he goes to get the pacifier to calm.  That is great emotional awareness.  Of course we need to swap out the pacifier for something else, but I’m glad he’s learning the building blocks of coping skills. 

I joke that Wyatt is my little introvert and I think that could definitely be true.  Where Logan generally thrives in a crowd (of kids), Wyatt doesn’t.  He gets clingy and just cries and wants to be held.  It is interesting to me because he was so outgoing as a baby and now is less and logan was the opposite.  I think he is figuring it all out and once he understands better what it means when someone leaves (they will come back) or what it means to go to a playdate (we all stay), he’ll hopefully calm down a bit. 

Wyatt is full of joy though and can make a game out of anything and loves having fun.  He has a big smile and laugh and will always smile at you if you smile at him.  It is so fun to be with him.  He also has great focus and can do an activity for long periods.  In fact he can wear most of the rest of us out on things (30 plus minutes doing sandbox, bath, or a particular game).  And of course he’ll do anything with Logan. 

Food – Wyatt is a fairly picky eater in some things and not in others.  He actually doesn’t like some of the toddler staples that logan has sadly become so attracted to (grilled cheese, pbj, pizza, bagel).  He does like mac and cheese though.  That kid lives for mac and cheese.  He is pretty good at eating protein (hot dogs, sausages, cheese, etc) and loves fruit (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, banana, grapes and mango are his favs, but he’ll eat many).  He REALLY hates veggies, something we could convince logan to eat a lot of his first two years.  Wyatt hated them at the beginning and still does.  He is somewhat willing to try our adult food, but seems to really be averse to most of it.  I look forward to when he gets a little older and we can start figuring it out more.  If logan declares he doesn’t like something it is inevitable Wyatt won’t, so when he is less into following logan, this might change.  He also may be able to express better what he doesn’t like.  Both kids like a decent amount of spice and would eat our candied spiced (seasoning and cayenne) pecans for every meal if we let them!  Wyatt has a sweet tooth and he loves candy and annie’s bunnies and especially likes fruit snacks.  He LOVES popcorn and will eat it all the time, even the low calorie healthy stuff, though he and Logan are both junkies for caramel corn at the famers market.

Health –
Wyatt is pretty robust and healthy.  He’s had a few bad colds this year but he is a trouper and it takes a lot to get him down.  He’s had a pretty rough last month or so, including his first croup case and first trip to the ER and new record high temp of 104.5.  I’m hoping we’ve used up some of our winter cold karma and things will be better moving forward.  He doesn’t seem to have asthma like Logan, but he got diagnosed between 2 and 3.  However, when he had a nagging cough this spring, they tried him on albuterol and it did nothing (unlike logan who responds like a classic asthma kid).  He has no lasting heart problems, reflux problems, and symmetry problems.  He is developing perfectly and isn’t that such a SIGH of relief. 

Others
I also joke he is going to be my athlete.  He has a great arm and can kick well.  He picked up a bat at a friends house (first time ever) and hit the ball of the tee 3 times in a row, HARD!  Being 25 percentile for height he has a small strike zone too.  I see being a lefty slapper in his future .  He is actually more interested in sports on tv too and will let me watch them and yell “go huskies” though part of that is because he doesn’t care what is on the tv. 

Wyatt hasn’t fully learned his numbers and letters yet, which is something logan had down at 2.  The big difference is screens.  Logan played ipad educational games while we fed wyatt and learned a lot.  Wyatt doesn’t care to play them, so hasn’t learned.  He can count, but his 1-10 goes “1,2,(3 optional), 5, 6,8,9,6,8,9,6,8,9”  It is a funny loop at the end.  He knows parts of the alphabet song and can recognize a few of the letters on the wall.  Julie is going to start doing more learning with him while logan is at school, but it is a little hard to make wyatt do what you want to do, since he is just has happy to ignore you, wonder off and play on his own.  He also isn’t terribly interested in reading.  He’ll tolerate a book most days, but will often run off and screw around or turn his back while you read.  He doesn’t get mad about it, he just does his won thing.  I wonder if some of that is a 2nd kid thing too.  If logan didn’t want a book he would cry, because we were supposed to be attentive to his needs.  If wyatt doesn’t want something, he knows he can do something else.  We’ll have to work on teaching him focus.

Alright this has gotten long and I’m too tired to edit, so I apologize.  Wyatt is such a special kid and I’m so proud to be his mommy.  I remember how much I couldn’t wait until the age when I could make dinner and my kids could play together on their own.  We are THERE!  In the next year I expect we’ll see what’s personally emerge even more as he understands abstract concepts and learns to exert his will more.  I think we’ll also see his relationship with logan strengthen (and probably develop friction) as this happens.  Logan is a pretty good friend and likes to play collaboratively, so hopefully it all goes smoothly. 
Thanks everyone for the well wishes on his birthday.  Truly a special day as my last baby becomes an official toddler. 

Wyatt is 1.5 years old!

We are really settling into a rhythm these days as a family and as Wyatt turns the corner to being 1.5 years old, it feels like we really have two kids instead of a baby and a toddler. There have been a few key changes that make this truer.  1 – Wyatt can walk reliably anywhere and will hold your hand and go where you want him to go (though he’d rather follow a long at his own pace).  2 – Wyatt has dropped his morning nap which means the kids are now both awake from 7:45 to 1:00 pm.  It is great to have a long chunk in the morning to play at home or go on an adventure.  When he had two naps it really limited our activities and the social events the kids could do.  He now takes a slightly longer afternoon nap 1-3:45 (or sometimes as late as 4:15).  It can cramp our style a bit for afternoon adventures, but it is worth it to have the morning free.  3 – Wyatt is talking more now and can ask for what he wants in ways other than crying and screaming.  He is still very opinionated, but his communication has made it easier to keep him happy and know his concerns.  4 – Wyatt can feed himself reliably and we can take him to frozen yogurt and dinner and he can manage his own food (allowing us to eat too).  These 4 changes have been really awesome for us and are really but us in a good position for a fun summer. 

Other awesome qualities of my Wyatt:
• Easy sleeper – pretty much anyone can toss him in his crib (as long as he has his blanket, 3-4 pacifiers and his water.  He will sleep the amount of time he is supposed to and ONLY wakes up in the night when he is sick, and even then he rarely wakes up. 
• He independently plays very well (still).  This has been a quality of his since he could first play.  He loves to play with Logan, but he is just as happy to go his own way and entertain himself.
• He is comforted by water bottles.  He will carry his cup anywhere.   He loves his pacifiers, but he knows he only gets those in his crib, but he will be okay with water outside of crib. 
• He is pretty easy going about stuff we have to do.  At 18 months, we had a lot more fights with Logan about small stuff (car seat, medicine, teethbrushing, diaper changing, etc.).  Wyatt may cry and not be happy but we won’t but all of his energy into fighting you (unless you are trying to sit him on your lap to read and then good luck to you!). 
Vignettes –
• When Wyatt feels really sick, he knows he needs something to change, but he doesn’t know what it is.  With his pneumonia and his second cold this spring, when he would feel really yucky, he would want to be held and then just say “go” and point somewhere.  He assumed that somehow moving would make it better.  It was so tragic but also so sweet.  He really was such a trouper through two bad bugs and with the exception of a few bad nights with fevers, he slept well and played as much as he could. 
• Just like his big brother, Wyatt loves to make coffee with his daddy.  He does all the steps with him and is learning the words.  He loves grinding the coffee on his own by pushing the button.  If Charles starts making coffee without him, he wills say “oo-oo—oo” and run over to make it.
• Papa.  What more can I say.  Wyatt is OBSESSED with Papa.  He was elated when we were staying with Papa and Mimi during our roof project in March.  He was so happy to play with him regularly and would get mad if anyone would try to wake him up in the mornings or from naps.  Papa has this ability to just go with the flow with kids and they will follow him anywhere.  I’m pretty sure that doing yardwork with Papa would rank highly with both kids as favorite activities.  Wyatt missed Papa terribly when he was gone in April and is very happy to have them back.  Though not to make it sound one-sided.  Logan is also obsessed with Papa.  When Papa walked in today both kids yelled Papa and ran over to him and gave him a big hug. Wyatt also immediately asked for Mimi, who he knows belongs with Papa. 

• Potty – Wyatt loves to sit on his little plastic potty while logan uses the potty.  They sit right across from each other and it is crazy adorable.  If logan runs to the bathroom, wyatt will yell “poo poo” and run after him.  As usual, they often get distracted from the task at hand, but they love it.

• Logan his buddy – These kids love each other.  They really enjoy each other’s company and they often crack each other up or get into mischief.  Just today in the car they were just mimicking each other, wyatt would clap, logan would clap.  Logan would put his hand in his mouth, wyatt would do it.  Wyatt would bang his head on his carseat, logan would bang his.  They both takes turns being the leader and follower but they are so amused by doing the same thing.  Often this works well but sometimes it is such trouble because the first action is a bad one (like throwing a toy or writing on walls).

• Trouble making – speaking of.  Wyatt is the chief instigator in most problems.  Logan is always the one who gets in trouble, but it is because of wyatt.  18 month olds are just not coordinated or strong enough to cause damage, but if a 3 yr old does the same the thing, then trouble ensues.  It is hard to get mad because I love them playing together, but if I am cooking dinner, good hearted playing can turn into a disaster in seconds.  Overall I love that they love to interact and that they are doing it all together (even if it is bad stuff).  They almost never are having conflict between them. 

Language –
I know I shouldn’t compare my kids, but it is impossible not to.  Wyatt definitely compares favorably on overall easygoingness, but Logan is a pretty tough act to follow on language.  Logan had so many words at 18 months and had impeccable pronunciation.  Wyatt has lots of words (though not as many) and his pronunciation is pretty terrible.  I don’t think we realized what “normal” was like for pronunciation with Logan, but hearing Wyatt talk makes it make more sense how people would go out of their way to tell us how amazing Logan’s pronunciation was.  We had heard the standard was for a stranger to understand about half your kids words by 2 years of age.  A stranger could understand everything logan said all along.  However, Wyatt is more typical in this regard (though still massively overachieving in comprehension and number of words).  He still says “wa wa” for water and “shh” for “pacifier.”  He says some words like “cheerio” and “cracker” perfectly but then has stopped saying “cherry” and says “cheerio” for that too.  He also says “strawza” for strawberry.

Overall, he is communicating extremely clearly with us and his number of words grows every day.  Today he told me “zipper” as he grabbed my zipper pull on my jacket.  Then Papa taught him the word “button” and he immediately picked it up.  I think if he was an only kid his vocab would probably be as big as logan’s was, but because of logan, we don’t spend as much time drilling in each word.  On the flip side, the variety of words he heres I think makes his comprehension fantastic.  He understands almost everything you say and will complete small tasks like “go get your blanket from your room and bring it out.” 

He is more likely to pick a sound for a word and stick with it.  We haven’t seen him correct himself from words that set in.  He still makes the sound of a coffee grinder for “coffee,” though he knows the word “coffee” and will make the sound to us when we way it.  He also likes to say “quack quack” instead of ducks, though he can say both words.  He says “caw” or “tweat” for bird and won’t even try to say the word bird.  This drives me a little crazy, but I’m sure he’ll get there. 
He has some compound words like “get it” and a few others that are two words but he thinks are one, like “thank you”.  He is beginning mini sentences like “uh oh daddy.”  And “daddy go outside.” But mostly he is still expressing himself in one words.  He knows the words for many body parts and can say many (Belly, belly button, eye, ear, nose, feet, knee, hair, teeth, hand). 

Activity –
Wyatt has figured out his run and it is super cute.  He is also still an excellent climber but seems to have tempered that with a little more caution and purpose.  He loves to just climb chairs and sit like an adult.  If he sees and chair or a bench, he wants to try it out.  Interestingly, he is more interested in pulling up with his arms then he is climbing up with his legs.  I’ve been trying to teach him to climb into the van but even though he can climb a ladder, he seems less willing to use his feet when climbing odd things. 

Wyatt is, what I call, park-capable, now.  This means he can climb the ladder, stairs, etc., walk over the slide, and sit down and go down the slide.  Since stairs are hard for me, I can’t follow him up but now he can do it without needing me too! This makes the park with both kids much easier.
Well, it is super fun to look at Wyatt and know I’m his mommy.  I have moments where I feel guilty because I feel like I don’t KNOW him in the same way I knew logan at this age.  That is probably true, but I think he has also had such an entertaining life with logan around.  He has had far more experiences and has a best friend.  I am sure he wouldn’t trade it for being an only child but sometimes I wish I could take a week and just hang out with him.  He is such a pleasant, smart and adventurous kid and I look forward to what the next half year will bring.  I can’t wait for him and logan to talk more to each other!

Logan is 3!

These blogs gets harder to write because Logan is so much more complex at 3 than he was at 2 or certainly at 1.  He is a truly exceptional kid and he makes us laugh and warms our hearts daily.  He is easy to parent and easy to love and we are lucky we chose him

Of course today is also New Year’s Eve so I find myself reflecting on the year so I’ll do a little year reflection in here as well and then go back to the blog: I feel blessed about how peaceful this year was.  We didn’t struggle with the terrible twos and overall we survived a year with two pretty small kids.  I feel really blessed for how much peace we had and how well both of our boys have done.  My health was good and despite some struggles, both kids are really healthy too.  Our lives have been so wonderfully stable with our jobs, house and amazing nanny and it is so much fun to just sit back and enjoy.  We kept up our good habits – cooking at home, Charles going to gym, and I was able to lose my baby weight.  We missed our family who are far away but cherished skype time and encourage you all to get more on our skype schedule.  I know that there were many parts of this year where we were tired and exhausted but I feel proud that we found a way to enrich both of our kids life and make sure that this year was a special.  Charles and I also did a better job staying connected this year than we did during Logan’s first year.  As all parents know, newborns are uber-stressful (and exhausting) and I think we worked incredibly well as a team to give the kids what they needed and have more fun.  Also personally this was a hard year because Wyatt ate so often at night for so long and was so uncomfortable eating that nursing him was a real struggle (though bottles were worse).  I am so happy to be on the other side of that and have a happy healthy baby who sleeps through the night.  I can’t wrap my mind around what an entire year of sleep will look like, but I’m excited to try it ;).

Personality

Logan has a tremendous personality.  He is very outgoing and social and extremely loquacious.  He likes his routines and he thrives on predictability in his day.  When he understands what is happening (and is well slept), he is generally calm, compliant and interested.  As a result, we have had very few tantrums in the 2s.  In fact, all tantrums were related to missing naps because of travelling.  He loves school and gymnastics and seeing his friends and family.  He loves skyping with family and is wonderfully connected to Auntie Tina, Mimi Maria, and Auntie Gina through skype.  Although Logan is overall an adventurous and happy kid he does have one quirk.  I am not sure exactly what to call it but I’d generally say it has to do with strangerphobia and sensory overload.  He gets very scared in many situations and will fall apart.  Public bathrooms are a nightmare (though not uncommon at this age).  He also won’t go on a carousel or wouldn’t even go near Santa.  He actually refused at preschool to go into any classrooms that weren’t his own during their Christmas party.  Yet he dives into a b-day party at his gym with 35 kids all at least a year older than him and he thrives.  He mostly hates adults unless he knows people (though he is willing to get to know people if they aren’t too in his face), but he loves kids, especially 5 and over because they talk more.  This quirk can make some circumstances a little rougher (travelling is much harder as a result), but he does great with his normal routines and really does well when we can explain things ahead.  He had a lot of doctor appointments recently and he did great when we explained ahead what would happen.  He can be so patient and understanding as long as we treat him with respect and let him know we are understanding what we are asking of him and how hard things can be.  His sensitivity is interesting as a mix to his outgoingness.  Overall it makes him very compassionate and empathetic and since it doesn’t get in the way of his life, I am glad to not try to push him out of his comfort zone.

Preschool/My gym 



Logan has been involved in a class at mygym since he was about 1.5.  However this year he went up two different levels (he has been in 3.5-4.5 year class for a few months).  Given his social skills and physical ability he tends to fit in with kids that are at least a year older than him.  This means he is now in a drop-off class (though this change happened after the pre-school prep class).

Logan started preschool prep this year in the spring.  It was a new 2 hour class that they started for kids his age to work on drop-off classes of a longer length.  We really love it.  The teachers at mygym are AMAZING and kind and it has a great mix of crafts and learning with physical gym activities.  The ratios are also great with 2 teachers (or sometimes 3) for 8 kids!  We partially chose this class because we knew Logan has separation issues and we wanted him to work on it.  It was rough at first, but he did great and he now loves his drop off class. He has gym on Wednesday and Thursday and the same teachers for both and he loves it.

This fall Logan started actual preschool at Kindering in Bellevue.  We toured 2 schools and Logan really loved this school.  It is a beautiful school and is interesting because there is a mix of special needs and not special needs kids in every class.  Each class has 3 teachers, 1 speech educator, 1 occupational therapist and one aide.  He really loves going to school and has made some good friends there.  This school focuses on social interactions which is the right counterpoint to Logan’s morning “school time” with Julia where they work on his learning.

Logan will have to stop at Kindering when he turns 3.5 (the special needs kids leave at 3) so he will have the summer off and then we’ll start a new school in the fall.  We are looking at a co-op style school that will continue the same high adult to kid ratio and focus on social interactions.  All the studies I have read said that the purpose of school in the preschool age is really the social and interpersonal stuff. 

Friends

Logan has some good friends and his friendships can definitely get deeper now as he communicates more.  However, he still gravitates towards kids around 5 and older.  He still prefers girls but will make friends with boys too (I think generally 5 year old boys are less interested in young boys than 5 year old girls).  We did a good job the first half of the year (especially with Julia’s help) to have lots of playdates.  However, when everyone started preschool in the fall the schedules got complicated and we have struggled to get good play dates.  We need to continue to work hard to make this happen.  He still has 4 structured events per week though so he gets plenty of socialization.  At preschool his bestie was a new friend Mason who he befriended his first day at school.  He just graduated though, so he’ll be missed by Logan.  At mygym his best friend is Jaymie who just turned 5 (so is his favorite age). 

It is fun to watch Logan make friends better as his language and social skills develop.  He is still nervous about starting interactions with people.  He will play but he doesn’t know quite how to introduce himself.  He is also taking his social skills and deepening his relationships with adults.  Of course with us he can connect deeply.  But we can see him connect more with our friends (Chris and Mo are favorites) and his family via skype.

Brother



Logan and his brother get along amazingly.  Logan was not terribly interested in Wyatt at first but acted out his feelings and named his baby Wyatt and he would take care of his baby while I took care of his.  Since Wyatt has gotten more mobile and more interactive Logan has bonded more.  He is really interested in playing with him and wants to boss Wyatt around (sweetly) to get him to play games.  He is so elated when Wyatt plays along.  Of course Wyatt has the attention span of a 13 month old and will only do something a few times before he tires of it. 

Logan is also really sweet and looks out for Wyatt.  He will tell us if he does something he shouldn’t or if he goes somewhere he shouldn’t.  He is very concerned about closing doors to keep Wyatt where he is supposed to be.  It is very sweet how he looks out for him.  He also really likes him to come play in his crib with him. 

Overall they are so sweet together and they really love chasing each other and playing together.  Seeing them together is so wonderful and I am so glad to see how much Logan gets out of having a brother (since at first it feels like just like we are taking away from him).

Food

Logan has become a much pickier eater (shocker since he is a toddler after all).  He eats far fewer veggies and fruits than I would like but still does okay on protein.  This year he has many feast or famine phases and he has some weird tummy stuff in the summer than caused him to not gain weight most of the year.  He is gaining weight again now but I think the total on the year was 5 lbs ish. That is fine at this age and he has leaned out in a good toddler way (though I think he is still pretty high on the percentiles).

He has been less adventurous overall in sharing with us but we have been trying to get him to try more with some mixed success.  Of course he will gladly try anything sweet or bad for you, but they can recognize a veggie from a mile away.  Overall I think he eats healthy enough for this phase of life.  His favorite foods are pizza, pretzels, rolls, chicken nuggets, macaroni and cheese, quesadilla, bagel, and sweets (cake, muffins). 

Health issues

I don’t want to spend long on it but the beginning of Logan’s year was somewhat plagued with mild asthma, which once we figured out was pretty manageable.  The end of the year had a really bad run of UTIs (after a year of minor issues with his foreskin).  This was our hardest experience yet in parenting.  Logan is a sensitive but strong kid and this didn’t serve us well.  Overall we got him better and we have a path forward.  For now, in addition to some specific creams to hopefully help, we have been asked to try Logan on a gluten free diet.  The theory is that an irritant in his body might be contributing to his propensity for these types of infections.  We are two weeks into that, so we’ll see how it goes.  So far he is in infection free (but he had been for two weeks before we switched too).  I think it will be clearer when we reintroduce gluten after 3 months to see how his body responds.  I hope he isn’t gluten intolerant since it is more work for him (and for us to make sure he doesn’t feel left out), but he is in the right household for this.  We had an amazing gluten free Christmas Danish, coffee cake, lasagna, crescent rolls, kettle corn, pizza, birthday cake, etc.  Overall I think we did pretty well and he isn’t missing out too much. The hardest part is going to be sending him to school and mygym with his own snack and hope he doesn’t eat someone else’s food.  Logan has been through so much and I hope that he doesn’t have a recurrence of UTI anytime soon.  His last doctor said the odds aren’t in his favor and estimated a 20% chance that he won’t have future problems.  He has a good memory and he thinks about his penis issues a lot.  Just tonight Wyatt crawled into the bathroom when he was using the potty and he said “Wyatt is so happy it doesn’t hurt when I pee.”  Overall we are in a good place now and we really like our doctor.  I hope this is the end of it, but if it isn’t I think we will be able to move forward in a way that helps him most, even if that means a circumcision. 

Big boy

It is fun as Logan turns 3 to look at all the “big boy” things Logan does.  He is fully potty trained during the day.  I think he could be potty trained at night but we haven’t quite tackled it yet since he isn’t super interested in peeing all on his own at night.  We tried waking him up at 9:30 pm for a bit and then he would wake up dry but he is like his dad (who doesn’t like waking up from sleep) and some nights he would refuse to go.  So now he wakes up slightly wet and he pees in the morning.  Overall not a problem that needs fixing yet.

Logan eats super well on his own with utensils.  He doesn’t need bibs, he sits in an adult chair and he drinks out of a normal cup.  He is clean and does a good job.

Logan can dress himself but often he likes if we do it for him. Same deal with shoes and coats.  He takes everything off on his own quickly but takes longer to put on and often we are in a hurry. 
He does pretty well at brushing his teeth and is now good at not swallowing his toothpaste so we have switched to fluoride toothpaste.  He has all of his baby teeth now so hopefully we can take good care of them.

He is also a good helper in the kitchen and skilled at many things.

His probably only baby thing left (besides his nighttime diaper) is that he still sucks his thumb at night.  We will need him to stop doing this at some point. 

Reading/Writing/Understanding

Logan knows all of his letters and numbers.  He also knows their sounds.  He can count well (though is often impatient with it).  He knows his colors and shapes (obviously) and he learning the meaning of the days of the week.  He is also very interested in smells.  He can identify many things by smell and asks to smell every ingredient we cook with and everything we eat.  He is getting more interested in coloring (and markers are his favorite).  He also likes work books and will do good school work.  He is generally less interested in crafts than some but Julia has come up with some great activities that he has really loved and he does neat crafts and school and gym.  He also loves playdough and pretends he is cooking in the bath (or when playing his favorite iPad games).  He has learned a lot and it is fun to see him peace together things about his life and day.  There are some funny moments though where he still doesn’t quite understand the difference between nap and bed.  I think it is worse when Julia isn’t here so there is less difference between the two. 

Overall he is the sweetest little boy.  He acts more like a 5 years old than a 3 year old so although it is significant that he is turning 3, he already acts much older.  I can’t say enough how glad I am to be his mommy and how much I’ve grown and changed as a person in this important role.  Obviously being a mommy is hard work and rearranges your life and priority, but more importantly, Logan’s zest for life and attention to detail has made me hoot for joy when I see a snowflake, perk up when I see a cement mixer, and point to the air when I hear and airplane.  I think I see and live so much more than I did before kids.  I know some of that would be true with any kid, but Logan’s pure enthusiasm for life is so contagious and so wonderful.  I can’t wait to see what he will be like over the next year. 

Here is a year of pictures.  starting December 2014 through December 2015.  A lot are in the kitchen because these are all from our real camera and we take it out most when cooking!

Wyatt is 1 year old!!!!!

Wyatt seems to be growing up so fast!  I can’t believe he is 1.  He is such a sweet and easy going baby and is generally happy all the time.  He is also very opinionated though and is getting good at yelling at us when he wants something or grabbing/pulling on what he wants.  He is strong and determined.  He is amazingly good at self entertaining though so it doesn’t come up often. 

I don’t have his numbers yet because his appt was cancelled and couldn’t be rescheduled until December 7th.  I’ll update with numbers.  He is definitely gaining weight well (though still much skinnier than logan was at this age) and still seems pretty short for his age (but we’ll see).  He got his first major haircut right before his birthday and he is looking slightly more boy-like now.  He is still quite a beauty though and has the most amazing smile.

Movement

Wyatt hasn’t started walking yet, which is a little surprising considered where he was 3 months ago, but he is very mobile.  He crawls very fast, pulls up on anything, loves to climb, cruises and stands for up to a minute at a time.  He is just recently (the week since he turned one), is taking a few steps forward, but always ends with falling.  He suddenly seems very interested though.  He will only walk to us and only from standing (hasn’t let go of an object to walk to us).  Until recently, he would sit down if we tried to stand him up and would only fall if standing instead of taking steps.  He is still pretty wobbly and it may take him a bit to get his balance.

Language

He doesn’t have any clear words yet, but vocalizes regularly and he will repeat sounds.  For a long time he used to say “mama” at me, but he has been doing it less.  I hope to hear some real words soon.  I think he doesn’t get the same focused language we gave logan and hopefully that doesn’t affect him greatly.  He definitely still hears a lot of words with us and logan around.  However, for Logan, we would focus only on him and say “open” and “close” or “off” and “on” fifty times in a row. I know he’ll get there soon though.  Of course Logan speaks enough for the both of them right now.

Playing

He loves toys of all kinds but especially likes cars.  Not sure if this is because there are so many around, because his brother likes them, or if it is something he just naturally likes.  He will drive them around and has been for quite a while.  It is cute seeing him push around his little cars.  He also has discovered how much fun opening and closing things is and is starting to let himself into the bathroom and kitchen more regularly.  He is very adventurous and curious and, as I mentioned, determined.  We have had to rig up several chair/box blocks to keep him from turning on and off the xbox, playing in the craft supplies, and messing with the receiver.  He also loves rough housing, of course, and loves anything his brother is doing.  He and logan play together more and more and it is the sweetest thing.  They both really enjoy each other’s attention.  Logan is really sweet with him and it is such a blessing to see them together. 

Food, Reflux, Sleep

Wyatt sleeps through the night from 7:15 pm to 7:45 am.  He takes two naps, 9:15-10:45 and 1-3:15.  He is a good sleeper.  I am very grateful for my full nights of sleep and our peaceful nap times.  It is great to have one-on-one logan time during the morning nap and time to ourselves (or for Julia to clean) during their combined nap (logan still naps 1-3:15 too). 

Wyatt’s reflux is doing great.  He is off both of his meds without a problem.  He has little pukes occasionally but is comfortable and not making too  much of a mess or losing too much food.  We are not totally sure how he does with dairy since his puking gets worse with dairy.  We are starting him on an ounce of milk in the morning (tomorrow will go to two oz) to see how he does.  I don’t have much breastmilk left so we will need to supplement with something after about 10 days from now.  Therefore we need to have a plan.  I hope either regular milk or lactose free milk works and we don’t have to do anything extreme. 

Wyatt loves food.  He didn’t drink as much milk in the past but as the reflux gets better, he drinks more and more milk.  He is now decreasing the amount of solids he eats accordingly, but for most of the last few months would pound solids and only drink about 15 oz milk.  He loves fruit.  Really loves fruit! Raspberries are his favorite but pretty much every fruit works.  he is much less keen on veggies but he likes delicate squash and a few others and intermittently peas and carrots.  He loves pumpkin when we have it too.  Yes I realize squash are technically fruit but I am calling them veggies for now.  He loves bread too and will eat cheese and meat regularly but always eats the fruit first. 

Overall

Our little baby is such a wonderful boy.  I was curious how I’d feel when he turned one and if I’d be at all sad that my second (and last) baby was not a baby anymore.  That hasn’t hit me yet.  I remember being much more emotional on Logan’s first birthday. Part of me wonders if it is that I am still nursing and he is still not walking.  When these two things change it may hit home more.  However, I also think I am not super sad because I don’t want another kid and I love the ages 1-2 the most.  So I am excited that he is one and not sad about not doing the infant thing again.  Either way, Charles and I are both excited for the next year.  We loved that Auntie Tina and Auntie Josie joined us for the birthday celebration as well as Mimi and Papa.  It was really special. Logan picked the cake design (hot air balloon) and Tina helped me decorate it.  Overall it was a wonderful birthday for my sweet Wyatt.  I love him more than you can possibly imagine.  Being a mom is the highlight of my life and these boys make me happier than I ever dreamed possible.  Between my pefect kids, my amazing husband and my fulfilling job, I can’t imagine that there is a way I could be happier.

Wyatt is 9.5 months old and boy do we love him!

[sorry for the back to back posts]

Wyatt is an incredibly happy kid and I love being around him.  Over the past month and a half his personality has blossomed even more.  Weight-wise Wyatt was at the 50th percentile at his 9 month checkup, which is an increase in percentile, so he is growing well.  He is on the super short side of things though, coming in between the 3rd and 5th percentile.  I hope he will hit a growth spurt soon.  He is so much smaller in weight and height than logan at this age and yet so much more physically capable.  It has made this whole thing a very different experience (though I am guessing no two are ever alike). 

Wyattisms:  Wyatt loves to crawl to his people (mommy, daddy, Julia).  If any of us walks in the room he will immediately crawl over (panting with excitement) to us and crawl up us and greet us (even if he was playing with another of his favorite people).  At the same time as showing affection for his “people” he is also recognizing strangers and although not afraid, will prefer us (and usually make it happen).  He knows how to physically get what he wants and almost nothing can stop him.  He will lunge out of our arms or crawl over us or push past to get what he wants.  He is determined, strong, and quick!  He also loves to pull up on EVERYTHING and I think a room with a bunch of different level surfaces would be his dream.  He will find a raised surface in any room and pull up to standing.  It is a little predictable in that in logan’s room his first task is to pull up on the chair, so you have a few seconds before he tries to eat the sound machine cord (cords are still high in his list of favs).  He also sees things that are up higher (couches and tables) and knows he can get it.  We used to be able to throw a forbidden toy on the couch or on a table and now he will just go get it!  He is happy and will self-entertain for a long time, playing anywhere.  After Logan being a harder-to-entertain kid it has been fun to see how self-sufficient Wyatt is and how well he will take care of himself.

Movement:  Wyatt has mastered cross crawling.  He is fast and he never crawls on his tummy anymore.  He is much more interested in crawling and pulling up than cruising.  Logan developed so different physically.  Logan slithered for a long time and then took a while to master pulling up but liked when we would stand him up and would cruise back and forth on the couch (of course all when he was older and much bigger).  Wyatt is agile and small and that probably helps his physical development.  He is much less interested in cruising.  He uses a combination of pulling up (which he does quickly and easily) and crawling (same) to get to anything he wants.  He will cruise if there is something else that he wants nearby, but he won’t cruise just for the heck of it like Logan seemed to.  Wyatt also is stubborn (hmmm wonder where that came from) and will always do what he wants.  If you think it would be fun to walk across the room holding his hands (with him walking to) he’ll do it for a few steps until he decides there is a toy he would rather play with it.  Then he will sit down and crawl off.  He doesn’t seem to be developing the balance to stand on his own yet which surprises me given his other strength and development, but I think it will come.  He has certainly been developing better balance and will pull up and shoot up fast and then catch himself.  He also doesn’t seem to mind if he loses balance and falls down so I think he will pick up this skill soon.  Then I think walking will come quickly.  I would be shocked, given where he is now, if he wasn’t walking by 1 year, but I’m in no hurry.  I always liked that logan got language before walking because it made things easier. 

Food:  To say that Wyatt loves food would be an understatement.  Unfortunately I think this makes it easy to overfeed him.  If we are all sitting at table he will keep demanding (shrieking for – we are working on it) food and so I’ll keep giving it but we are having issues with more spit ups (but also tied to his schedule change, see below).  He especially loves finger foods (chicken, chicken hot dogs, carrot, peas, blueberries, grapes, banana, peach, bread, cherrios), but also loves purees.  Our freezer is well stocked from the summer and we probably won’t make too many more before he is on all solids (corn, nectarine, carrot, pluot, cauliflower, green bean, sweet potato, red pepper, and avocado).  He is certainly less interested in eating the veggies in either form, but combinations like green bean and sweet potato work well, so we’ll keep doing. 

Sleep:  WYATT IS SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!  It is amazing.  My step-by-step plan actually worked out exactly as I hoped.  After our appt at children’s at 8 months, I stopped his more powerful reflux meds (kept him on the acid neutralizer, zantac).  This is a med they don’t want the kids on long term and unlike all the other times I had tried to stop (as recently as after our trip to California), it actually worked this time and there was no noticeable increase in pain and discomfort, especially during eating.  The next week we added milk to his small snack in the afternoon (something he hadn’t tolerated well before without lots of discomfort and painful spit up).  We gradually increased the amount of milk until he was having 4 oz of milk and puree and finger foods.  At this point he was finally getting 4 meals during the day (the goal for crying it out at night).  The next big change was to separate food and sleep.  Wyatt has always nursed/bottle right before sleep and then we would hold him for 10 minutes upright and put him in crib.  This process caused issues with sleep training because often he would fall asleep on us (and we aren’t willing to comfort him anytime he has trouble falling back asleep at night).  It also was becoming harder because if he didn’t feel like being held he would try to jump out of our arms.  So, we switched his meals to when everyone else eats.  Each meal starts with nursing and then high chair time as his 10 minutes upright.  In high chair he would have purees and finger foods.  Breakfast is at 8, lunch at noon and dinner at 6, with snack when he wakes from nap between 3-4 (cup with frozen thawed milk because my body doesn’t make milk at this time).  I was expecting that this change would be really hard.  I thought he would cry if he ate at 8 and then we just put him in crib (after a story and a song) at 8:45.  But he just went to sleep!  We only had one day that he cried for about 5 minutes.  Then about a week later he had a night where he woke up around 1:30 for his first night feeding but had his pacifier and was only whining.  I decided to just let him whine and after about an hour he fell back asleep and woke at 6:30am and wasn’t hungry.  He played happily until 8 when I nursed him.  That was the evening of August 22nd, for those of you tracking these things, haha.  This proved that he didn’t actually NEED the food (which is what doctors had said, as long as we got that fourth daytime feeding in).  So the next few nights were more rough with him losing his pacifier and crying for a while, but I didn’t nurse him and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.  After about 4 bad-ish nights things have been great.  He will whine a bit if he loses his pacifier and he definitely wakes up at night and will stand up or sit up for a while, but he puts himself back to sleep and wakes up happy between 7 and 7:30 generally.  Logan and wyatt usually wake each other up at this time.  I am very pleased with where we are with sleep now.  He takes two 1.5-2.5 hour naps (generally about 2 hours) and sleeps about 12 hours at night.  The only downside of this whole change is that wyatt pukes/spits up a LOT more than when he slept after eating.  It doesn’t seem to be causing him pain and he is still growing so his doctor isn’t concerned but it is gross and messy.  I still wouldn’t go back to night nursing though ;).

Talking:  Wyatt has phases where he is very verbal and phases where he is silent.  He seems to yell at us a lot, especially when food is involved or if we take a toy he wanted, but he will talk too.  Today he said “ba” about a billion times.  He also seems to very regularly say “mama” only when he is crawling to me or wants something from me.  Hard to say if random, but seems he is getting a meaning for that word.  I really hope he develops language as early for Logan (but Logan had no words at 9.5 months, so we aren’t behind).

Object permanence/Routines:  Wyatt is developing cognitively too (most of these aren’t recent but worth mentioning).  He has met his milestones including object permanence.  If you put toys he is playing with under a blanket, he will move the blanket to get the toys back.  He also has clearly learned routines.  When you unbuckle the carseat he will move his arms to get them out of the straps and then lean forward to help you get him out (we have to be ready otherwise he’ll throw himself on the ground).  He also has adapted to our new bedtime routine and knows what comes next.  He is getting a little bit better about some of the routines like diaper changes, but less tolerant of waiting when it is related to food!  He has a great memory and great perception.  He knows everything that is usually in our house and will (within seconds) identify a new object and crawl over to get it. 

I am realizing writing this blog that he is getting such a different experience with us as parents since we are so much distracted by Logan and routine, but he seems to still be thriving and learning daily.  I certainly hope that his language doesn’t suffer from this decreased experience.  I am trying to be more aware of talking to him even when the world around us is crazy (like at a store or at dinner).  He is so happy that we can ignore him, but he won’t learn as much if we do.  Good to be aware and try hard (which we are). 

I hate to sound sappy but I feel lucky with how much fun I am having with two young kids right now.  It is “relentless” as someone described it, but there is also a tremendous amount of joy.  We have largely avoided the terrible twos for the most part and Wyatt has been an easy kid.  I can genuinely say that most days I have a wonderful time.  I don’t think this will always be true in all phases of this journey (and all phases our kids go through) but it is pretty amazing for now!

Belated post (wrote a while ago but forgot to post) - Wyatt is 8 months

Wow, our little baby is really a functioning human now and it is so fun to watch.  Between a nice regular schedule, his happy personality and now his ever increasing super powers and it is such a pleasure to get to spend time with him.

Crawling – Wyatt is very self-motivated to move!  It is fun watching him want to move.  Logan was a little slower in things but Wyatt is in a much bigger hurry.  I think it is partly that he has been happier just being on his tummy and playing than logan every was, the fact that he weighs significant less than logan did at this size, and also because he wants to be like his brother.  He isn’t quite cross-crawling yet, but as of exactly his 8 month birthday (8/11) he can move forward consistently when he wants to.  The whole week before each day he would get a little better.  He consistently gets up on all fours, but he would often scoot backwards and each day he got a little better until the 11th when he was consistent about going forward.  He also still rolls freely and can get across the room in seconds if motivated to get something.  It is fun to see him enjoying his new freedom and abilities.  He likes to stand and it will be interesting to see when he picks up more balance or starts wanting to cruise.  Probably will be soon!

Eating lots of food – loves to pick up puffs, blueberries, peas, etc.  He is an enthusiastic eater.  He knows what his bottles look like too and he will lose his marbles if he is hungry and sees one.  He also knows me as a food source and will cry when I come out to get my lunch near his food time. 
Playing with toys (chewing on everything) – He is very skilled at flipping toys around and doing everything he wants with them.  His favorite toys are anything he can chew on and anything Logan has.  Bonus if it is 2/2.  Logan gets a little annoyed, but wyatt is determined.  Wyatt will yell at us if we try to take away a toy he worked hard to get (we only take away when chokeable), but of course those are the ones he is SOOOO drawn too. 

Took his first plane trip and did great on the trip. He was a pretty easy baby.  He nursed to sleep and slept pretty well.  It took a little bit of an adjustment, but overall he did well.  He enjoyed the family, the sites, and the toys.  He was great on the plane and in the car.  It was interesting

Sleeping – He is generally a pretty good sleeper and on a good schedule.  He still eats too much for my taste at night, but he is overall stable and I think stability gives me sanity more than anything else.  Charles has recently started doing one bottle a night and that helps me get a little more sleep. 

Talking – Wyatt likes talking and making noises.  He seems to be saying “mama” pretty consistently when he wants food (aka me).  Several people have pointed out that it seems purposeful but who knows. 

Can’t wait to see what this little mover and shaker will be doing at 10 months and I can’t wait to hear his little voice say more words.