Big brother Nathan

Logan and Nathan have a very special connection.  He trusts Nathan to take care of him and when Nathan is upset Logan often starts crying too.  I love this video of them going down the slide together.  This was at one of Evan's friends' birthday party.  Nathan took care of Logan in the "big kids" play area.

18 months

Logan's last weigh in at doctor's for 18 month check up was so low they measured him twice to be sure!  He grew in height but weight stayed the same as 15 months.  I think it's likely caused by him been sick several times in the last few months.  Hopefully will bounce back soon!

Logan's daily routine these days is to go to the Los Altos library in the morning with Wai-gong, fall asleep in the stroller on the way back (sometimes even on the way there).  After his morning nap, nanny Sarah arrives and feeds him lunch.  They also like to listen to music and sing songs together (“泥娃娃” is Logan's favorite right now).   After playing in the house for bit, it's off to the park again to watch kids playing baseball (baseball season just started) and also play in the sand (“沙沙”).  He often falls asleep on the way back from the park for a late afternoon nap.  When I come home the first thing he asks for is usually “奶” (amazingly still going at 18 months).  I don't think he's getting much these days but mostly for comfort and he way of asking for "mommy time".

Some other favorite activities:

- Watch garbage trucks (both real ones on garbage day and on YouTube)

- Bath time (likes to have a bath with Nathan, more fun)

- Dancing (especially during music time at the library.  Maybe it's time to try Music Together class)

- Books ("Here Comes the Garbage Barge" was his favorite book for a long time.  James recently learned the Chinese word for book “书” from Logan)

- Vacuum/sweep (We recently got a hand-me-down toy vacuum and Logan absolutely loves it)

- Talking up a storm.  I am constantly surprised by how much Logan is able to communicate.  I think he's picking a lot from the two older brothers.  Both Nathan and Evan love to teach Logan.  Just yesterday Evan was testing Logan "How do you say 'Elephant'", and surprisingly Logan managed to repeat after him.  He's definitely transitioned from single syllable to multi-syllable words now, e.g., "daddy" instead of "dada".  He's still calling me "mama" which I prefer to "mommy" :)  He pronounces "Evan" really well now, but "Nathan" often sounds like "all done".

- Favorite foods: bread, strawberries, beans, nuts, pasta

Another exciting development is more teeth coming in.  He has had 8 teeth for the longest time but in the last few weeks we 4 new ones on top and at least 2 on the bottom coming through... yay!

One recent challenge is it becoming increasingly hard to get Logan to eat a proper dinner. Sarah's trick is to give him a toy to play with but that doesn't always work for me.  Letting him feed himself is a hit or miss since it could get really messy really fast.

(picture)

One method that's proven to work every time is to introduce some competition - have Evan or Nathan eat a couple of bites of Logan's food and Logan will immediately want to eat too.  I took a cute video of Evan and Logan at the dinner table today (everybody else has eaten and these two were keeping each other company).

Logan and laptop

A video my dad took last month of Logan climbing onto his chair and playing with his laptop.  When he says "mmm...", it's referring to the "Happy birthday moon" video that he has watched over and over on my dad's computer.

Glass

For some reason Logan does not like me wearing Google Glass.  He always tries to grab it off my face.  Recently he's learns a new word "off".  Whenever I get home first thing he'd do is point at my jacket and say "off".  Here's a picture of him looking at me #throughglass saying "off" (with Glass).

Playing in the car

Playing in the car can be so much fun for a 1 year old.  Logan knows exactly which buttons to press to turn on the lights and emergency blinkers.  He is especially pleased with himself when opening the sliding doors on our minivan with press of a button.  Occasionally he would press the horn by accident but luckily he doesn't know how to intentionally trigger it yet.  He has tried a few times by pressing his entire tummy over the steering wheel but with no luck.  What really cracked us up when when James let Logan go for a drive in on his lap in the minivan (short distance in a parking lot).  Logan managed to use his feet to kick the transmission into 3rd gear.  Such a trouble maker!

Maisy

Logan has gotten very fond of Maisy mouse lately and Maisy books have become a part of daily bedtime routine.  James usually puts him in the go-go bag first then the two of them will read a Maily book together.  Logan calls Maisy "Mei-Mei".  He doesn't like Charlie very much though.  

Hair cut

We took Logan for his first hair cut at a hair dresser's a few days ago.  He was amazingly calm sitting on daddy.  Watching both big brothers get a haircut first probably helped and he was eager to have a turn.  Sat very still while James held him.  Only started crying towards the very end and a lollipop made it all better!