The Legend of Lobo

The wing’d spectre of ickiness has cast a snotty shadow over our humble home this week. Janet has a hideous cold that’s keeping her mostly in bed and little Logan isn’t doing so great himself. His is mostly a runny nose and something of a cough, so not as bad as his mommy has it. I have something myself, but it’s a pale reflection of what the other two are going though. Our goal is just to get well before Grammy June arrives tomorrow. Crossing fingers!

Oakland boasts a unique and whimsical kiddie amusement park called Children’s Fairyland. Opened in 1950, it was charming young people and their parents long before before Disney World. Fairyland is an early example of a theme park, and the theme here is Mother Goose fairy tales and other beloved children’s stories. Scattered throughout the park are delightful sets illustrating stories and rhymes like The Three Little Pigs, Hey Diddle Diddle, and Alice in Wonderland.

Somehow this magical place has survived sixty years of cultural change, growing consumer cynicism, and endless city budget cuts. The set designs are frozen in time, and the quaint fairy-tale characters are a welcome respite from the licensed movie merchandise and action figures that are pushed on today’s kids. Tom Thumb and Pinocchio are old friends to parents and grandparents, and the little ones seem to love them, too. There is a slight shabbiness to the park that makes it even more dear, like a faded valentine.

The place also has several tunnels that Logan enjoys exploring, especially the Rabbit Hole. A couple of small streams flow here and there with charming little bridges that Logan likes to walk over. There are pirate boats, a working train, a live mule and llama, and an area to buy lunch and treats. There are also little boxes in each area that tell stories if you have a little plastic key, and Logan really enjoys putting the key in and out of them. Although Fairyland is not very big, for a toddler it is like an entire world.

Logan’s favorite attraction is the live puppet theater. It’s rare to see fifty little children sit perfectly still for half an hour, and that’s a tribute to the talent of the puppet players. The show is even better than Sesame Street! When we visited, the troupe performed “Young King Arthur.” Logan laughed with delight at Merlin’s dizzy owl Archimedes and he was entranced by the talking forest animals. Next up will be “Sleeping Beauty,” and it promises to be magical. We won’t miss it!

In the last few days Logan has made some big cognitive leaps. We’ve noticed that he started learning a lot of new words. He still doesn’t articulate most of them, of course, but he’s able to identify them by pointing. Logan can now point to all the major parts of the face (even forehead and eyebrow), many items in the sky (his favorite is moon, which he can say), new animals (he likes bees), and various objects, like umbrellas and balloons. All it takes is a few trials for him to get a new word now…for instance, he has a book about the Toy Story characters and he was able to identify Woody and Buzz after only three times of me pointing them out. It’s really fun to watch his vocabulary exploding the way it is right now.

But more than just words, Logan is also starting to understand the ABC’s. He loves to chant the beginning of the alphabet song, although he only hits a few of them, and he never starts with A. Then he adds this funny go go go! sound at the end. So it sounds like, B C D B E C go go go! Janet and I crack up saying go go go! with him. He is slowly starting to recognize the letters as well when we ask him to point them out. He has a ways to go with the alphabet, but he’s off to a good start.

Logan is also starting to understand colors. He can say blue and green, and he can correctly identify the primary and secondary colors most of the time. Red is hard for him for some reason, but I’m sure he’ll get it soon. For extra cool points, he’s also using colors in two word combinations. Blue ball is the most common.

It’s like his brain went into high gear in the last few days. On top of that he’s climbed over 27 pounds and stands at 34 5/8 inches.

Not only is Logan’s hair finally growing in, but it’s getting curly. Normally it’s flatter and more wavy, but for some reason his curls will pop up suddenly, multiplying his cuteness factor a hundredfold!

Today I witnessed Logan playing symbolically—this refers to the ability to use actions, objects, or ideas to represent other actions, objects, or ideas. He was using a small piece of apple as if it were a car, including the vroom sound. This represents a leap above playing functionally, which focuses on the apparent characteristics of an object. This is important because it is indicative of symbolic reasoning, which is critical for literacy development.

This isn’t the first time he’s engaged in this kind of play. Last week he suddenly picked up a small piece of furniture and started using it like a vacuum cleaner (see video below). There was packing material all over the floor, and I guess Logan felt like cleaning it up. This was a real surprise to see and quite hilarious. For quite a while he’s engaged in a kind of proto-symbolic play. For instance, he’s used a wooden block as a phone. However, he was imitating what he saw his parents doing, suggesting that there was a functional component to his play. With the apple/car, he was playing with the apple in a way that was novel; it came straight out of his imagination.

He is doing this right on time in his development, but it’s great to see…it will soon lead to adventures with spaceships, dragons, and robots.

Logan has started imaginative play with his toys, and it’s wonderful to see that he’s also learning empathy. Last month he started “feeding” cookies and other bits of food to his little stuffed rabbit. Now when he sits down to eat, he’ll first offer Bunny a bite before putting it into his own mouth. Yesterday he picked up Bunny and mashed his little nose into a plate of bananas, pretending that he was eating them. It was messy, but thankfully Bunny can take a bath in the washing machine. Logan chuckles each time he does this and he obviously enjoys the idea of feeding his little pal.

What’s so remarkable about this is that I never demonstrated feeding a toy for Logan. He just figured out one day that Bunny is a creature like him and so must enjoy the same things. This little game of make believe is such a simple act, and yet so profoundly touching.

Logan is also learning words for body parts, his first and favorite being belly button. Now that he’s wearing fewer onesies and more “big boy” shirts, he’ll lift the hem as soon as he hears me say “Where’s your belly button?” and point to his navel. He’s also getting the hang of nose, eye, ear and mouth, and he’ll point to these parts on his parents or his Big Teddy — another display of empathy.  Last night I heard Logan chuckling about half an hour after I put him to bed.  I tiptoed into his room and found him sitting up in his crib playing “peek-a-boo” with Bunny and his tattered blue blankie.  He was completely enthralled with the game and his fuzzy friend.

In June, I finished my year-long pre-doctoral internship at the Psychological Services Center. Although very rewarding, it was a tough year. By the end of it, I was ready for a vacation, so Logan and I visited Austin for a week. Of course we would have all loved it if Janet had come along, but she stayed behind because it’s in the 100s in central Texas and it was a chance for her to get some peace and quiet for working on her thesis.

This was Logan’s fifth time traveling by airplane and he’s not even two! Our little jet-setter did okay on the flights back and forth. Going out there was a little rough because he didn’t really get a mid-day nap; he only dozed in my lap for about 30 minutes. So of course he had a brief melt down. But it was short lived and for the most part he was a grand traveling companion.

It was really great to spend time with the family with no real agenda. Because it was so hot outside, we mostly stayed in a lot. The grandparents were over the moon to see him, as were his cousins Claire and Vivian. They came over several times (along with Aunt Kate and Uncle Trent) and they had a ball together. The most hilarious thing was a giant stuffed penguin that they all played with that sent Logan into hysterics.

I had been worried that Logan would have separation anxiety being away from his mother for so long, but he actually did very well. It wasn’t until about five days later that he started showing signs of seriously missing her. But even then he was a very resilient kid and I was proud of how he handled being without Mommy.

While I was in Texas I naturally had to take Logan to visit his Grammy and Carmen in San Antonio (his grandfather was away in Panama). We had a very nice visit and Logan charmed them both. I’m glad I brought my camera equipment with me so I could get a shot of Logan and Carmen together. We ended the visit with a wonderful lunch prepared by Grammy.

Before I left, I helped Logan’s grand purchase a couple of things: a Wii and a new iMac (which I have been pestering him to get for a couple of years now). They wanted the Wii so they could use a “game” to work on their balance, but I’m sure Logan will have all kinds of great games to play on it by his next visit.

Logan with cousins Vivian and Claire

Logan and his great grandmother Carmen

Logan with Grandma Betty and Grandpa Jim

Logan’s receptive language skills are much stronger than his expressive abilities, so I’ve been trying to help him develop his speaking skills. He continues to add new words to his vocabulary, though he’s not yet speaking in sentences. He still loves “reading” his books — as well my magazines, mail, newspapers, and anything else in print.

Logan’s attention has always been captured by music, and he learns a lot from songs. So I’ve been singing the first few letters of the alphabet song. Over and over. I’m hoping he’ll catch on but so far his version of “A, B, C” is “Bee, Bee, Dee!” He’s having trouble starting off with A, and it’s probably because most of his spoken words include syllables that begin with consonants and end with vowels. I think this is a common pattern in early childhood speech, and it’s the basis for many global languages (and in fact Logan sounds a bit like he’s speaking Chinese sometimes). I’m hoping we can help him learn to pronounce words more distinctly and get those final consonants down soon. And add some verbs to his list, too, as well as Please and Thank You. Those last two will take him far!

Meanwhile, he’s having lots of fun identifying new objects each day. This week he’s added Bead, Fish, Balloon, and Cracker (or something that sounds vaguely like those things to his parents).

Bead was a big surprise, as I hadn’t taught him that word. Yesterday he broke through the baby gate and rummaged in my art boxes. When I discovered him he held up a round blue glass object and happily shouted, “Bead!” I guess he absorbed it from watching me play with my toys and discuss them with Ash. It’s time for us to watch what we say! It’s amazing how Logan’s little mind continues to expand each day.

A few weeks ago Logan’s weight topped 25 pounds, a whopping ten times his birth weight of 2.5 pounds. For comparison, the weight of a full-term baby born the same time has increased only about 3 or 4 times.  It’s hard to believe how much growing and changing we’ve witnessed in less than two short years.

Sometime after the new year Logan’s motor development skyrocketed. He started walking in February and was running by March. He’s gone from being the smallest tyke at any gathering to one of the biggest in his age range. I don’t often adjust his age now, and when I share his chronological age no one gasps and says, “He’s so little!” as they did for so long. Now it’s just the opposite. Most people guess that he’s about 2 years old and are surprised to hear he’s several months younger. I never expected him to “catch up,” because many preemie parents warned me there’s no such thing. And yet that’s just what’s happened, finally and all of a sudden.

After being bald for what seemed like an eternity, about two months ago Logan’s hair suddenly starting growing long and thick. Ash had been urging me to do something about it for several weeks, so I finally broke down and trimmed it while Logan was distracted by Sesame Street. In an instant my sweet baby was transformed into a little boy. I nearly cried. Fortunately, the curls are already returning.

Logan before his first trim

Last week at Lotus Bloom I overheard two Guatemalan mothers discussing whether Logan is a niña or a niño. I smiled and said, “Niño!” One mother touched his head and said his hair is so soft and pretty she thought he might be a girl. It’s a funny idea because to me he’s an absolute little man (including some new Michael Jackson moves that are 100% male). But he’s getting cuter by the day, and I don’t mind.

Logan doesn’t have any grasp of verbal syntax yet, but he keeps adding new nouns to his vocabulary. Recent ones include strawberry, butterfly, pear, tree, grass, and car. Car is not exactly new, but it’s his current favorite, replacing froggie and duck for the time being. Logan identifies cars everywhere—in magazines, on television, and even on his clothes. Yesterday he spent hours pointing to every little automobile in a tiny graphic design that covered his shirt. He almost pulled it inside out looking for more cars! It seems nothing escapes him, but the opposite mode of attention is also sometimes in effect. Often we’ll be on a long walk, passing dozens of vehicles, when suddenly Logan will point to a single, seemingly random one and shriek, “Car!” I always wonder what it is about that one car that captures his attention. It’s never anything obvious to me.

He still perceives a few broad categories and classifies new objects into them. So for now “car” includes trucks, vans, buses, and trains. Grass includes our neighbors’ doormats, which he likes to touch, squatting down to brush the bristles with his hands, just as he does real grass in the park. He’s definitely an urban boy! Duck (or “duh”) includes geese, egrets, gulls, pelicans, and pigeons—anything with wings and a beak. His favorites are the lake cormorants. He loves to stop to watch them dive and then resurface yards away. He refuses to leave the spot until the cormorants pop back up, so I’ve learned to be patient. When they emerge, shaking their shiny black heads, Logan points and squeals with joy, “Duh! Duh!” The flocks of Canada Geese that loiter on the lake path transport him into raptures! It’s hard to remember that last summer he didn’t even notice them from the cocooned comfort of the stroller. Now he spots them a block a way and bounces with excitement.  Then it’s a genuine wild goose chase!

There’s lots of bouncing these days. Grocery trips have become more like rodeo rides. Logan recognizes many of the foods on the shelves and in the shopping cart, and he’ll wiggle and twist, trying to leap out of the cart and grab his favorite snacks. Yesterday everyone in Trader Joe’s heard him shouting, “Cookie! Cookie!” over and over. Sigh. At least he also identified the strawberries and frozen peas. (Do other toddlers adore peas? I wonder.)

Logan enjoys the local playgrounds, and he’s started to anticipate them in our walks. He also now associates the library with Saturday morning’s toddler story time, so today when I took him with me to check out a book he got upset when we left and tried to drag me back inside. I felt guilty that there was no story group for him.

So, overall he’s showing more awareness of his surroundings, more pleasure in familiar places and things, and more frustration when he’s denied an anticipated treat. We’re hurtling into the terrible twos. Time to hang on!

A few blocks from our home is a wonderful children’s center called Lotus Bloom, where Logan attends a multicultural toddler playgroup twice a week. He’s learning to play with other children, to share toys, to put them away, and to participate in group activities. This enriching opportunity has come along at just the right time. Logan spent the better part of two years mostly in the company of his parents, with few chances to socialize with other children, so Lotus Bloom is helping to civilize our little savage.

A typical two-hour play group will include several fun activities for short little attention spans: free play, group dance or exercise, a circle with songs and a story, snack time, craft time, and more free play. It’s kind of like pre-preschool, and it’s just perfect for Logan.

Logan with Winnie at Lotus Bloom

In addition to the marvelous selection of toys and activities, and the warm and caring staff, the children are the best part about Lotus Bloom. It’s a wonderfully diverse group that reflects our neighborhood, including first generation Latino and Asian toddlers. Their parents generally speak little or no English but are eager to give their children language skills—and popular American names like Ethan, Joshua, and Abby. The names tickle me, my favorite being a tiny Guatemalan boy christened, for some obscure reason, Schneider. The American parents seem to go in the opposite direction, shunning common names for exotic ones.

Logan is starting to develop a group of buddies—Kai, Oran, and Miran (all named by American parents) and adorable Kyle, whose family just arrived from China. Logan’s best buddy seems to be spirited Estella, but I’m not sure she knows it yet. Winnie is Logan’s favorite staff member. She’s fun and patient and always gives him a big smile and a warm hug. She seems crazy about Logan, and he never hesitates to jump into her lap, bringing a toy or book to share.

Although it’s not a true daycare situation, the environment at Lotus Bloom is similar, except for the presence of parents. It’s reassuring to see how much Logan enjoys his play group. I was thrilled (and very relieved) to learn yesterday that this program has been funded for another year and will resume again in August after a short summer break. I wish every child had an opportunity like this.

Today Logan has been in the world for 20 months. Although it seems like we say this in every post, the rapid changes we see in him shock us and always keep us off balance. Logan remains incredibly energetic and willful—this little guy knows what he wants and goes after it with gusto. Fortunately the baby gates still keep him out of the forbidden zones (when we remember to close them). Alas, we have also begun to see some early tantrums, although at the moment they aren’t too severe. He will stand there and wail like the world is ending, but he hasn’t started falling on the ground and kicking (I think it’s just a matter of time). The good news is that it still isn’t too hard to distract him…he can pull himself out of a crying jag pretty quickly.

Although Logan still babbles most of the time, his vocabulary continues to expand. Not every word is English…for instance, di or didi is his term for juice or drink. He has added several other words, such as dog, strawberry, and keys, and he clearly knows a lot more words than he speaks. He still doesn’t speak ending consonants, which makes his words funny…like he says “buh!” instead of book. We figure that his speaking will manifest much like his other milestones where he was somewhat delayed but then suddenly exploded with a new skill (this happened with smiling, crawling, and walking, for instance).

Logan has never really been a snugly kind of kid—he just wants to go go go! But he has started to sit on our lap when we are watching television or reading something, which is incredibly adorable. Of course, he rarely wants to finish the books we start on…a few pages go by and he’s up and looking for another book.

He’s also starting to think in musical terms. For instance, there is a great Muppets video with Beaker who sings the Ode to Joy in his usual high-pitched “mi mi mi” voice. Now when Logan wants to watch his music videos, he will point to the screen and say “mi mi mi!” just like Beaker. And in the tub, I have a game with him where I’ll take a little dolphin or fish that spurts water and have it swim under water while I fill it up singing the scary tune to Jaws until it “attacks” Logan—well, now Logan has started to sing “na-NAH, na-NAH” like the Jaws tune when he wants me to play that game.

Although Logan is exhausting, he’s also a ton of fun. He is really funny and is often in a great mood. He’s the best!

It has been a long time since we have paid much attention to tracking Logan’s height and weight. Once it became clear that they were nudging into the average range, we stopped being too worried about it. This last week Logan was seen by a pediatrician and went through an assessment by Easter Seals. Now at 18 months, Logan is currently 33.5 inches tall (80th percentile), 24 pounds and 4 ounces (40%), and with a head circumference of 48 cm (60%). So, he’s still tall and lean, but his weight is now solidly average.

Easter Seals evaluated Logan in five areas. Communication, Personal-Social, and Gross Motor development were all well out of the zone of concern. The first two were no surprise to us, but it was nice to see that Logan’s gross motor development has caught up to his age. His Fine Motor development is not quite where it should be, but is closer to normal than to serious concern. They also looked at Problem Solving, but I question the validity of that particular measure—it was based on only three questions and one task, which was novel to him. Based on what we see at home, Logan has no deficit at all with solving a wide range of problems. In all, Logan is doing great and is essentially a happy, healthy, and normally-developing boy.

At home, Logan continues to expand on his new skills—he is walking now more than he crawls and his vocabulary is expanding. He is a little lazy in his speaking in that he doesn’t always finish his words…duck is “dah!”, car is “cah”, and so on. But it is clear that he knows many more words than he is yet speaking. When we look at picture books, we can ask him to point at various objects and he will frequently pick correctly.

Speaking of books, Logan has started a new thing that is unbelievably cute. If one of us is sitting on the floor, he will look through his book collection, hand one to us, and then turn around and plop into our lap. If he misses, which he often does, he will skooch back trying to get into a good position to be read to. His favorites right now are Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See?, Eric Carle’s Opposites, and the ever-popular I Love You Through and Through. He also loves his two big picture books—he especially enjoys pointing out the “babies”. It’s great to see him get so interested in books, and we are more than happy to encourage it.

In general, Logan continues to dominate the house. He is able to climb up on the big chairs now with no problem. He frequently wants to watch Sesame Street—he really loves Elmo, who he calls “Na!” He’ll run up pointing at the television shouting “Na! Na!” and we know exactly what he wants. When Logan sees something he particularly likes, he’ll shriek and prance around. He is exuberant and full of life, which is exhausting for us but also thrilling and fun.

Logan has become the master of buttons. Every kid has some superpower, and pushing buttons is his (along with his UltraDestructo powers!). It started with the remote for the television—we would let him play with it because he mostly enjoyed the lights and how it fit in his mouth. Then one day he figured out that hitting the buttons made the television do things. From there, he started pushing every button he could find.

And he’s getting more sophisticated…being the tool-using monkey that he is, Logan has not only figured out how to press the “home” button on Janet’s iPad, he can slide the digital button to wake it up as well! We didn’t teach him this, he just figured it out. Also, his Twilight Turtle has big buttons and those were easy for him, but it also has the main on/off switch on the bottom behind a velcro flap—and he figured out how to get to it all on his own. Nothing is safe from this kid! When it comes to buttons, Logan’s a genius.