The Legend of Lobo

If you couldn’t tell, there’s a theme developing on the Sprout blog. I began to realize that the site has done very little to cover the various places that make up a big part of Logan’s life. Logan is very lucky in the variety of adventures he gets to have living in the Bay Area. There are so many things for a kid to do here!

And of course one of those great things is the Oakland Zoo. It isn’t the best zoo in the world, but it’s a fun way to spend the day with Logan. Oddly enough, he isn’t a big fan of seeing the actual animals. Every now and then they might be doing something to catch his attention, but generally he just loves to run around the place. As he’s gotten older his appreciation has grown; his favorite is the petting barn filled with goats and sheep. He laughs his head off brushing the smaller goats and chasing after them in the yard.

The nice thing about our zoo is that it also includes a small kiddie amusement park. Logan loves this place so much he would be just fine with seeing no animals at all. It has typical small go-around rides with cars, planes, and a carousel. The best ride is certainly the train. It goes through most of the park and hits areas you can’t get to on foot that let you see some Australian marsupials and ostriches. It also has a little roller coaster that Logan finally wanted to ride today; he wasn’t tall enough to go on his own so I had to ride it with him. It is a very small ride but it was enough to blow back Logan’s hair! He was pretty shocked at first as we hit the first big turn but by the end he was hooked. The entire rest of the day he insisted that we go back to ride it. I have a feeling I won’t have a choice 🙂

Today we celebrated Logan’s fourth birthday with a deluxe toddler bash at Chabot Space and Science Center.  We wanted to host our friends to a special day, and it seemed to work.  The parents and kids all had a wonderful time climbing into space capsules, trying on astronaut gear, and watching the “Secret of the Cardboard Rocket” in the domed planetarium.

Logan told everyone who would listen, “I’m four years old!” Grammy June made the day extra special by traveling from Texas to celebrate with us. She treated the whole party to a delicious gourmet pizza lunch, and she keeps finding other sneaky ways to be ridiculously generous during her visit.  Thank you, Grammy!

Logan finally understands what a birthday party is, after being a guest a several over the last year.  And he had the mixed blessing of anticipating his big day for the first time ever.  I was probably premature in telling him about his upcoming party, because for weeks he has been jumping out of bed in the morning and asking, “May I go to my birthday today?” It’s so hard to be patient!  I made an August calendar chart for the fridge, and each night before bed we crossed off another day.   Those seventeen days felt like an eternity! Next year I’ll limit the suspense to just one week.

Logan is in love with his early birthday gifts — a Sheriff Woody doll from Aunt Kate’s family and Evil Emperor Zurg from Grammy June. He carries one or both of them everywhere, holding them lovingly like priceless Oscar statuettes. He will have a ball opening his other gifts later, and we’ll dole them out one a day to make sure each one is appreciated.   I personally enjoyed having a birthday party that wasn’t focused on presents.  Logan’s big day was all about friendship, family, and fun!

One of the first playgrounds in Oakland for Logan was the “Library Slides”. That’s because this little park lies on the Eastern tip of Lake Merritt, a frequent walking destination. Our informal name was obvious since it sits right next to the Lakeview branch library.

The actual name of the playground is Astro Circle and is part of the larger Eastside Park. It was opened in 1968 as a joint project of the Oakland Park Department and the Kiwanis Club. Times being what they were, the playground was designed to resemble the moon. It originally had some space-themed play structures, including a cool space saucer that kids could climb up into. As time passed, most of the less safe attractions were replaced with modern, typical structures. The only thing left that retains the theme is a large half-moon that kids can climb on.

One of the many awesome places in Oakland is Lincoln Park located in the middle of Chinatown. The central feature is the amazing Junk Boat, a very unique play structure, which is what gives the place its Logan name of “Boat Slides”. The original was built in 1969 (opening just 13 days after the day I was born). That structure eventually wore out and a new and improved replacement was built in 2006, along with a smaller play structure off to one side for the little peeps. Logan tends to go back and forth between the two structures although he is spending more time on the boat and its more challenging features. The park is almost always a beehive of activity and Logan usually makes at least one “new friend” every time he goes.

We’ve been taking Logan to visit Chabot Space and Science Center for a couple of years now. This place is certainly one of the highlites of the area. As the name implies, it is focused on space science, but it also has an entire floor dedicated to eco science hosted by none other than Bill Nye the Science Guy. But on the whole Chabot is filled with rockets, planets, and other space goodies. It has a great planetarium where they show fun movies and three huge telescopes outside.

Although Logan has always had a good time here, he mostly played in the “Discovery Lab” playroom and ran around through the glass hallways. But he has gotten big enough now that he can start appreciating the various exhibits more. One of the big milestones happened today there is a stationery bike exhibit in the eco exhibit that he always wants to ride and today he was finally tall enough to climb on and reach the handlebars. He still can’t pedal it, but he can sit without falling off. He was thrilled!

You just can’t go wrong with Children’s Fairyland. Logan has been going here for over two years and he has a ball every time. What’s great for me is watching him interact with the place differently as he gets bigger. So, today we had a couple of milestones…the big one is the Dragon Slide. This thing is huge and he was either too small or too intimidated to ride it. But today he finally charged up the high ramp and slid down without a hiccup…then he did it five more times! The other was climbing up to the crows nest on Hook’s ship…you have to climb up a rickety rope ladder and he never even looked at it until today. He struggled to get up and needed help to get down, but the fact that he wanted to try was a big deal.

In all, Logan is becoming more fun and interactive on our outings. He engages with other kids at the drop of a hat and makes instant “new friends”. He has the energy of a stallion and the focus of a bumblebee, but he is also becoming more flexible and cooperative. Logan can certainly have his bratty moments, but he bounces back from them quickly. Today he had a blast and his increasing abilities and communication skills made it fun for me too.

Today we visited the Bay Area Discovery Museum located in Marin just in sight of the Golden Gate Bridge. Logan’s been maybe 6 or 7 times and he usually has a great time here. Frankly, I’m not sure why it’s called a museum…it’s really a very large play space, with child-sized boats, caves, bridges, mazes, and other areas to explore. It has a couple of buildings dedicated to creating art, but since Logan still can’t draw a simple circle, we’ve yet to invade those areas. He’s always enjoyed the small “pirate” boat, but today he branched out into other areas with more gusto than usual. He enjoyed playing again with the crabs and crawling in the giant tree. For the first time he scrambled up the crows nest by himself (climbing isn’t his strong suit) and played a bit in the shipwreck. Although the place wasn’t new to him, Logan’s imagination and confidence have taken his play to a new level of fun, both for him and for us.

Logan has started an incredibly amusing new hobby…he loves to act out various scenes from his favorite shows. He’ll view a movie or show that he knows by heart and actually mime the action as he’s watching it, although he’ll sometimes act out scenes from memory. A prop might get used if it’s available. The posted image is an example…we were at a Fourth of July backyard party when Logan found a couple of rakes. He instantly began to pretend to be a monster from The Little Prince. It is a scarecrow that has been animated by creatures called the Gloomies. When watching the show, Logan will ask to see this one short scene over and over again. At the party, he pretended to be the Gloomie scarecrow for about half an hour…we’re lucky that he didn’t stab anyone with those rakes.

Another funny thing is when Logan tries on different accents. The first time we really noticed it was when he was watching a Wallace and Gromit show and he mimicked Wallace saying “Don’t forget the crackers!” in his northern English accent, so it sounded like “crackahs”.

Another cute thing Logan does is mimic Wall-E. There is a point where he claps his hands in nervous anticipation. Something about that caught Logan’s attention and now when he’s excited he’ll sometimes clap his hands just like Wall-E.

Here he is dancing with WALL-E…

Here is a brief video from last year (Oct 2012). He was really into The Wizard of Oz at the time and his very favorite part was the scene in Munchkinland. This was the first time Logan really started imitating what he saw on TV. Specifically, he loved marching like the Munchkin soldiers. For several weeks Logan would march like this whenever he walked anywhere (in this particular video we were outside of our nearby Lucky)…

For a wonderful four days our family returned to Asilomar, our favorite Monterey getaway. Like last year, we first stopped at the famous Boardwalk in Santa Cruz. It was a glorious day, perfect for a themepark adventure. Logan rode several kiddie rides, but his absolute favorite was the Pepsi Big Rig, which he insisted on riding three times. We also rode across the park on the sky tram, which was a little worrisome for Janet and I since the cars were holding on to the wire by a relatively tiny piece of metal. But we managed to get across safely and after a brief run on the beach we ate at our favorite Santa Cruz mexican joint, Taqueria Vallarta.

Asilomar was as lovely and cozy as we remembered; a bit more so this time since we were able to snag a room with a fireplace. We were ready this time with marshmallows, which we roasted every evening we were there. Of course, Logan actually didn’t dig the roasted ones…he preferred his an unsullied white.

We managed to pack in quite a lot in those few days. The main adventure was the day-long trip down Big Sur, which was as breathtakingly beautiful as we remembered it, except without all the gray clouds we had last year. We also went a lot further down the coast, ending up at our first planned stop, the nice and massively overpriced cafe at Lucia Lodge (fantastic fish and chips!). We continued on south to our furthest stop, Sand Dollar Beach (which, sadly, had almost no sand dollars). Logan didn’t quite know what to do at the beach…he mostly just walked around. He would play in the sand a bit but he’s gotten really fussy about his hands getting “sticky” lately, so he was a bit conflicted. We then headed back up with a quick stop at McWay Falls, an idyllic cove with an 80-foot waterfall.

Of course we visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium. This place really is magical. There is so much to see that we split up our visit over two days. Our favorite exhibits were the jellies and the seahorses.

We did something new this time, which was to drive down the 17-mile Pebble Beach road. This area is absurdly wealthy, populated by movie stars, captains of industry, and at least one astronaught. The center piece of the area is the Lone Cyprus, a lovely tree on an outcropping of rock. We managed to get some photos in near sunset, which was lovely. To top it off we had a scruptious dinner at Peppoli, a high class Italian joint in the Pebble Beach Resort. Although we felt a little like intruders into that world of wealth, they treated us like honored guests. And Logan even behaved well (thankfully!).

In all, we had a fantastic time…so much so that we are plotting to get our entire family to stay here next summer!

Yes, Logan is officially potty trained. It feels like it took forever. About a year ago we started the process…he got off to a pretty good start but it stalled. For many months he strongly resisted going to the potty. After a while he was okay with it, but he just kept missing the opportunity. We finally just shoved him into underwear. He hated it at first and kept trying to get out of them, crying “I’m a little boy! I’m not a big boy!” But after a couple of days he got used to them. He had a couple of accidents but soon got the hang of it. Since then he’s been awesome…he doesn’t even need reminders anymore. He still wears diapers at night, but he is waking up drier and drier. Chalk up one more milestone!

Logan and I took a week-long trip to Texas in April during my Spring Break from Toyon. It was a great visit although it had a lousy beginning…although the flight had been delayed, the baggage guy wouldn’t check my bags because we had arrived “too late” based on the departure time on the ticket. So, we had to go the next day, which by itself wasn’t a big deal except we missed out on Easter festivities. 🙁

But the rest of the trip was great. The main goal was to have Logan spend time with his family, and boy did we succeed! He got massive amounts of play time with both sets of grandparents and his cousins. We didn’t have any other plans other than the drive down to San Antonio…this gave Logan some time with Grammy June and I was able to take portraits of some of her staff.

Logan’s favorite thing was the backyard at my folks’ Austin home. He called it the “back garden” and it became a magical place for him. He wanted to go out there every day to play with the watering can, to find bugs, and generally to enjoy being outside.

An especially adorable moment (alas not captured on film) was the last day in San Antonio when we went out to eat with both grandparents. We met in separate cars in the parking lot and when we were ready to go inside, Logan asked to hold Grandpa John’s hand. It was a very sweet moment as we walked into the building, and one I’m sure that made a lasting impression on John.

As usual, Logan loved playing with his cousins. Claire and Vivi keep getting bigger, as children are wont to do, and both did a great job keeping him entertained. Logan is very lucky to have such a wonderful and loving family.

Logan has a new best friend. Terry is a Lotus Bloom kid that’s been going for a while, but just recently Logan has really taken a shine to him. They act like two peas in a pod when they are together, laughing and giggling almost constantly. Logan mimics pretty much everything that Terry does and Terry clearly gets a kick out of this. It’s really wonderful to see Logan playing so positively with another kid, especially one that’s a little more developmentally advanced than him. For instance, Terry can put on his own shoes and is potty trained…we’re still waiting on both of those for Logan. But more importantly, Logan is learning great social skills and we’re happy he’s found a great friend.

Logan wants to know everyone’s name. Now he understands that mommies and daddies have individual names and that adults and children have both first and last names, and he’s started to remember some of them.  Often while we’re driving or getting ready for bed he’ll ask me about his friends’ names, and we’ll repeat the list over and over, almost like a bedtime blessing.

This week his attention has turned to his toys.  Tonight when I tucked him in he asked, “What’s Peggy’s last name?” Peggy, a giant stuffed penguin given by Grammy June, is Logan’s loyal bunkmate.

I said, “She can be Peggy Hayes, like I’m Janet Hayes.”

He turned to another stuffed toy. “What’s Ladybug’s last name?”

“Ladybug Bowie.”

“What’s Grandpa John’s last name?”

“He’s Grandpa John Hayes, like Peggy and me.”

“He lives in a house with Grammy June?”

“Yes.”

“I want to see Grandpa John.”

“He’d like that. We’ll visit him and Grammy June when we’re in Texas.”

Logan paused to think about that.  Then he asked, “Do they have snacks?”