Only Two Months Until Two!

Today last year was Logan's surgery (Brachial Cleft Fistula Surgery Over!). To be honest, it seems like several years ago! Thankfully, looking at his neck you can hardly see the scar. This is a super duper close up of what it looked like a month ago:Yesterday he turned 22 months old. For the first time in his life he's starting to act interested in television. A lot of moms have the "no TV rule until two years old" but as a stay at home mom that just wasn't possible/realistic for me. Prior to having Logan I hardly ever watched TV. But since having him, I've found that if I have the TV on in the background my day doesn't get monotonous. It makes Logan sooooo happy if I sit in his playhouse. Just sit. For two hours. So, I could either sit there for two hours and - as much fun as my little boy is, let's face it, anyone sitting in a miniature house for two hours would get bored - or, I could sit there and watch a movie while he climbs over me, brings toys in and out, peeks in on me through the windows, etc. and that way we both stay entertained and everyone wins. :-)

One of my friends said she thinks it's because I didn't make "the no TV" rule that Logan has never really cared. Her sister made TV off limits and her kids have always been mesmerized. (Isn't that the way it always is with things that are off limits?)

Now don't get me wrong, I don't plan to ever just sit Logan in front of the TV for hours and leave him. The American Academy Of Pediatrics is who came out with the rule of "no TV or videos for children under two because it may impair speech development." But in their same paragraph they explain it is because "for every hour in front of the TV, parents spoke 770 fewer words to children, according to a study of 329 children, ages 2 months to 4 years."

I don't think the impaired speech is the presence of television so much as the lack of parental involvement. If Logan wants to start watching TV regularly then I will come up with a "time limit" so that it does not take the place of his other activities or prevent he and I from interacting, talking, playing, getting exercise, etc. But there are times before a child reaches two years old that a portable DVD player can be perfectly all right. For example, we bought one for Logan when he turned 7 months old because we took a trip 9 hrs away. The only DVD that he had ever seemed remotely interested in was ONE of his Baby Einstein DVDs. (We bought it when he was four months old, I gave the specific title on my post, My Recommendations--Part Two.)

So, this would always distract him for a few minutes on car rides which was nice because for a long time car rides were one of my most exhausting places to be as a parent! Logan never liked being confined as a baby, and once he started crawling he didn't like to sit still!

On days when I wasn't feeling well, I'd turn on cartoons for Logan, but he'd just glance at the TV for two seconds and then never look at it again.

During football season, Logan would get so excited when Joe watched football (he still demands that I turn the TV to football even if he doesn't end up watching it, lol) but he wouldn't watch for longer than a minute. (That reminds me - there was one afternoon I was watching one of those little girl beauty pageants for some strange, odd, reason, haha, and Logan scrunched up his face and turned to me and said "No, no, I want football!")

Same thing with American Idol -- Logan will only watch a minute, but it is hilarious: he will climb on the couch, look at the TV and laugh the funniest fake laugh! Apparently he's seen us do that and is mimicking.

But it was yesterday for the first time that he actually asked to watch a movie. He still loves his Baby Einstein one but now he also likes Blue's Room. It was the first time in his 22 months that he just sat and watched something the whole way through. He sat on my lap and he pointed to each image and told me what they were and we laughed together, clapped together, and had a nice bonding time. (Here he is at five months old watching a few minutes of that Baby Einstein DVD. Wasn't he a doll? Haha)In other news, he's starting to understand colors. We started telling him about a month ago what was blue, red, green, etc. and he became obsessed with carrying around his crayons all day. I've actually had to throw most of them away now because they were all broken apart and he took the wrappers all off. One day he even took one to bed with him (I discovered this in the morning because he still had his hand wrapped around it!) and I'm like okay that can't be healthy, no more crayons except when coloring at the table. Sometimes he gets all of his colors right and sometimes he doesn't get any right - but that's fine because I just read on babycenter that the average age isn't until 36 months!

I've started teaching him about Jesus (at this age that means whenever he sees a cross he smiles and exclaims "Jesus!" and I say, "Yes, Jesus loves Logan!").

In the mornings when I wash his face I sing to him a song that my mom used to sing to me, it goes: "Did the sandman come to your house last night and sprinkle a little sand. . .in your eyes. . .in your eyes." He reminds me to brush his teeth next (two more months until toothpaste) and then we put on his lotion and his outfit for the day.

As of yet he is not a stubborn personality. When I read my mom's journal (If My Mom'd Had A Blog) it was obvious that I was by this age, so hopefully he doesn't change - because I got a taste of that side one morning when he insisted he put on his own socks. He can't pull them over his heel yet and so he was getting frustrated but would not let me help. This was a morning when he was going to Babysitter's and I was done getting him ready so we were just waiting and waiting and I was trying to distract him or make it fun for me to help but he wouldn't budge. I thought, we're going to be waiting all day so I finally just had to take the socks and force them on him.

He loves his Scout, it's really the first stuffed animal he's ever been interested in - probably because it plays music and he still loves music boxes. I put it in his crib and sometimes after I've put him down for a nap I will hear him press the button for "two minutes of bedtime music." So cute!

He's been sleeping well, so no news there. . oh I don't think I ever wrote about a day last month when I was tired so I was laying on the couch. Logan was being really good that day playing by himself and acting happy. He came over to me and started playing with my hair. Then he ran off and came back and resumed playing with my hair. I had my hand draped over by it so he started touching my fingers and I realized he was pretending to cut my fingernails which I thought was funny. Then he went back to my hair and I could tell he was pretending to cut my hair as well. He had a toy in his hand so I looked to see what the toy was.

AHHHH!

Scissors! When he'd run out of the room he'd run to the kitchen and grabbed a pair of scissors off of the counter! (In my post Tis The Season in December I'd explained how Logan can reach anything on our counters nowadays.) I was so relieved that he didn't actually know how to use them or else I'd have needed to make an emergency appointment at my salon as well as put bandages on my fingers, lol!

A scary incident that happened last week was related to what I said in my post in November titled Kicked Our Colds - when I said that Logan had begun putting things around his neck. I had thought it had improved since then but one day I was washing dishes and Logan ran out of the kitchen. I usually give him exactly one minute to see if he comes back, and if he doesn't then I go after him. Well just as I turned off the water to go check on him I heard him scream. So I RACED to him (he was in my bedroom) and was horrified to see him clawing at his neck.

When Joe takes naps he puts on one of those eye masks so the sun doesn't bother him. Logan had wrapped the strap around his neck twice! He wasn't crying or scared, more just annoyed that he couldn't get it off - which I immediately did. But then I started bawling!!! I already mentioned in my other post how his putting stuff around his neck sets off major panic mode in me because I've heard so many stories of toddles accidentally strangling themselves. But this was the worst time ever because I hadn't been there! What if it'd been too tight for him to scream and by the time I got there he was already unconscious?! I kept hugging Logan and saying "please, don't ever, ever put anything around your neck again. It's a no-no-no!" I think the message actually did get across this time because ever since then whenever he sees something that he used to put around his neck he points to it and then points to his neck and says "no no" and shakes his head. Of course I congratulate him like he has just won the Olympics!

Not much else to report from our week, other than as I said in my post Observation Of The Day, Logan and I went to the library on Tuesday. (We'd gone to the grocery store on Monday - he's still a good shopper.) We stayed for two hours which was the longest we'd ever stayed. We hadn't been since November when I met that other stay at home mom (Start of The Week) - I'd hoped to see her again because I never called her about getting together (that was the week of Cosmo's surgery, then came Thanksgiving, then Christmas, and then I was without a car for awhile in January). But I remember that her baby #2 was due in February so I doubt even if we had gone to story time in the morning she would have been there. Towards the end there was a little girl around six years old who was with her mom and Logan ran right up to her and said, "Hi baby." I had to stifle a laugh 1) He normally doesn't just run up to other kids like that and 2) She was not a baby, haha! So I said, "Yes, that's a little girl." She smiled at him and Logan smiled back. What a flirt :-) She followed her mom to another area and Logan called after her "More? More?"

So he just played by himself that day. . .puzzles, climbing on chairs, sitting under tables, grabbing every book off the shelf and pretending to read, etc. I also picked up a couple for myself. :-)Usually he just goes to Babysitter's one day a week (Wednesdays) but I asked her if he could start going on Fridays every week, too. Because -- Joe was informed by his job that he's to work 60-70 hrs for the next two months. So if I'm a stay at home mom on the evenings and weekends, too, then I need to increase my break. In December Logan went 18 hrs a week (the most ever) for the first time and there have been a few times since and he's enjoyed it and continues to do well.

Speaking of breaks, I am looking forward to my vacation this July for Sarah's 30th birthday. In my post Happy New Year! I mentioned that we aren't going to do the Michigan trip this summer to my dad & stepmom's summer home because I'm still not ready to travel that far with Logan. The other trips we had planned for this year (without Logan) were to visit my brother in L.A. and my friend Sarah in Seattle. But, it's looking like rather than Sarah celebrating her birthday in Seattle (where she spends every day) she wants to go on a vacation, too! So since I'm going to be spending more $ than originally planned for that, we've decided to wait on the L.A. trip. My brother moved out there in 2006 and plans to stay, but Sarah moved in 2004 and, as I've blogged before, plans to leave soon. So nothing else on tap until then. . .but that will be here before we know it!

In conclusion, I discovered what made my face break out! (Over Half Done With Winter) In my post last month I mentioned that I'd started using moroccan oil for my hair. It really is miracle stuff - no matter what hair type you have, no matter what problem you have - it somehow works wonders for pretty much everyone. The problem? If you're prone to acne it may make you break out.

I had actually read that when I researched it, but didn't think anything because some people use moroccan oil as a skin product so I assumed that's what they were talking about. Well that is true, but after weeks of getting so upset because my face wasn't improving at all (even after stopping my healthy Sephora skincare to try AcneFree, the store-version of ProActiv), I was horrified to look at myself in the mirror one day and see that it looked like someone had punched the right side of my face. I wash my sheets regularly, I had gone without any foundation or powder for over a month hoping that would clear it up, so what else had touched my face to cause a colony of blemishes all in the same place?!

Then I saw it. My hair. When my hair is over my ears on my right side, it falls onto my face! Three weeks of AcneFree didn't do anything, but I immediately stopped using the moroccan oil and my face immediately started clearing up. Now, for the first time in six weeks it is "back to normal" so I'm going to resume my Sephora cleanser, etc. next week. (I canceled my appt. that I had scheduled with a dermatologist this past Wednesday. Instead I went to my counselor, haha.) Apparently, as the moroccan oil works into the scalp to improve hair, it also works into the pores in your body which is why my acne actually started on my chin (thus why it took me awhile to figure it out)! But not everyone has this experience. . .so I'm hoping that I can still use the moroccan oil once or twice a week because it really is good for the hair. Isn't that life - can't have it all! (But I do have this cute little guy, pic taken today!)