Logan's Last Day at Shining Stars Daycare

"I don't want to leave!"

Today was Logan's last day with Marian at Shining Stars. He was so sad saying 'buh-bye'. He is going to miss his teacher and friends. At home, he opened up his gifts from the cats and dog -books! And Marian gave him some craft supplies too. Thank you!Dear Marian,

When looking for daycare for our ten month old son we were nervous about finding the right place for him. He was just crawling, everything he encountered went into his mouth and he seemed to thrive on the routine we had established at home. We were thrilled and happily relieved when we met you and found the perfect fit for our son.

Right from the beginning we could tell that our son Logan had found a caring, patient and loving teacher. Logan has thrived in your care; he’s now a 18 month old who ‘sings’ many songs, according to his doctor has above average vocabulary for his age, loves to go to daycare to see his friends and always has a hug and smile for his teacher, Marian.

Under your care Logan has had the flexibility in routine to go from two naps to one, has moved from sitting in a high chair to sitting at a table and has improved his attention span with your structured activities. We find that through his vocabulary and the baby sign language that he learnt from you that he is able to communicate better than other children his age. He was thrilled to perform at the concert you had all the kids perform at and watches the DVD you made of it often. Recently his bean plant from your science activity grew its first bean –he was so proud!

We have highly recommended you to our friends in the area and would be delighted if you were to care for our next child Please do not hesitate to share this as a letter of recommendation to other parents inquiring about Shining Stars Daycare. They are welcome to contact either of us if they would like to speak to a reference.

Thank you again and all the best,


Muriah and Allan

Getting ready for big boy daycare

On Sunday Logan tried out his 'indoor gym shoes' for his new daycare. He starts on Tuesday. Here he is eating an apple -a new snack for him! He loves it! And what's the best thing to do in new shoes? Clean the house of course! He's a modern man who could do this for an hour or two and not get tired of it!

Saturday night his cousins came over for a little play date.

Garden gnomes and night time bottles

Loggie is friends with our garden gnome...

Logan at 18 months has been surprising us with his independence. On the weekend he ate an ice cream cone by himself very neatly and this afternoon he ate a whole apple by himself that Lolo gave him.

Normally to go to bed we sit in the chair with his blanket and he holds his bottle, then when he gets too sleepy we hold the bottle for him and then put him in his crib when he's almost asleep without a soother. The last few nights he's been standing on his chair, grabbing his bottle and then sitting on the chair by himself until we put him on our lap moments later. Tonight after he did this we thought "Hmmm, maybe he doesn't need us at night anymore. Maybe can do it himself?" So we said our night-nights, gave him a kiss and put him in his crib with his bottle, dimmed the lights and walked out. Didn't hear a peep from him. Fifteen minutes later we went in and removed his bottle which he had removed from his mouth already and turned off the lights.

I think going forward we're going to slowly get rid of this last night time bottle. Yes, I've decided that by October 1st it will be gone! I got rid of Logan's night time feeding by reducing the volume of milk and watering them down. Logan was off night feeds by late April/ early May, so before he was three months. I'm worried about tooth decay so we'll make this happen. Next adventure will be getting him started on potty training....

Sunday at the Park

We discovered this weekend that Logan can eat a whole ice cream cone by himself...and not get too messy either!

Wonderland with the cousins

Yet again, we had an exciting Saturday. Never a dull moment for this family!

In the morning we went to Wonderland with some of the cousins. Auntie Beth and Uncle Andrew both had never went on a roller coaster before, so everyone thought it would be a great idea to start them off with a ride on the Behemoth. LOL

While Daddy went to the Behemoth, Logan, Mommy, Auntie Claire, Auntie Shirley, Jacob and Hannah went off and did the kiddie ride circuit.

Logan really liked Diego. He keep wanting to give him high fives and kisses.

What a great morning!

Auntie and Uncle invited us over for dinner so on our way we decided to stop and get some melons. On our drive of to the grocery store Allan spotted a funnel cloud. Freaky! I have never seen one in person. Ekkk! The sky didn't get green like on Thursday -this just came out of nowhere! This is really rare for Markham. OMG!

It was a bit scary driving home because it started to rain really hard and we couldn't see where the funnel was. We thought we were driving away from it but we weren't completely sure.

We turned on 680 news and they said funnel clouds were spotted in Markham and that they were closing a section of the highway that is just south of our house ---I guess that was where the police cars were headed. The tornado caused some debris and it was blocking some lanes.

Then by the time we pulled into Auntie's subdivision like two minutes later, it looked like things were getting better. Most of the streets were flooded though...

Phew! We made it to Uncle and Auntie's house safe and sound! --And hung out in the basement for a good while!

Logan at 18 months

Allan took Logan to his 18 month doctor appointment on Thursday and the doctor said that he has a better vocabulary then most toddlers his age.

Here are the words that he says without prompting:

banana, Momma, Dadda, bye, dude, cheese, knock-knock, ball, bubbles, oh-oh, balloon, I love you, choo-choo, what's that?, tree, dirty, more, hot, happy birthday to you, all done, bear, elephant, and thank you.

He can also do a bunch of animal noises -moo, meow, ruff-ruff, roar, etc.

He can say a lot more but needs prompting --such as names of animals, people's names and body parts.

He can also "sing" Happy Birthday, Ba Ba Black Sheep, Twinkle Twinkle, The ABC Song and Bingo. But it's more about the tune than the actual words.

Allan said that when the nurse came in to give him his needle he started to cry and said "All Done! Bye! All Done! All Done!" LOL Smart boy!

****
That evening when I got home from work we were going to take Logan to the splash park together since it was so humid. But it quickly became windy and overcasted.

We were eating dinner and Grandma called to say that there was a tornado warning for Markham. We turned on the news and they were saying that Environment Canada was urging people to stay indoors and go into their basements. We looked outside and it did seem a bit dark to the north of us and breezy but not really stormy. Allan is terrified of tornadoes so he kept an eye on the window, the Internet and the TV just in case.

After Logan’s bath about 20 minutes later we looked outside and the sky was an eerie green. Then the satellite went out. Then the power cut out a few times. I looked out the front window and saw a garbage container blow down the street and the clouds moving fast. Within a matter of a few minutes it started to lightning really bad. Not wanting a Wizard of Oz moment we decided it was time to seek cover!

Allan quickly set up a chair and Logan’s portable crib in the basement. Logan and I went down with a flashlight –I gave him his nighttime bottle and we cuddled.

Less than thirty minutes later the storm was done. The sky was shining in this wired bright yellow glow and there was a massive rainbow outside.

I saw that Wisconsin got some Tornadoes too. Hope you're alright, Omro friend!

Sunday, Sunday...

Sunday morning Logan's Godmother Jacqueline and Kathy and her daughter Kayla came over for brunch.
Then in the afternoon we took Tita Helen to the airport and shipped her back to England.

We finished the day off with a BBQ with Lola and Lolo.

Happy Birthday Caprii!

Caprii had her 5th birthday party this Saturday; with a Hawaii theme.

Logan was very happy to see Dora there -he gave her a big hug and kiss and told her

"I love ya!"

Logan was also happy that he is big enough to play with the older boys now.
Rock Band!
"My turn to sing!"

He even sat and played tea party with Hannah for a bit. He kept trying to eat the pretend cookies on the plates that Hannah would pass to him...

In the bouncy castle.

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Caprii....but someone else blows out the candles! LOL

We sang again for Caprii and she blew out the candles the second time around. Logan loves singing "Happy Birthday" and didn't mind having to sing it a second time!

Friday Summer Fun

This Friday was Tita's Helen's last day of working with Mommy. So Logan and Daddy came downtown to have lunch with her. We went to a sushi restaurant and Logan made friends with the sushi guy that was working behind him.

Here is Mommy and her co-workers ---and Logan trying to push people out of the picture! It was such a hot day that Mommy took off of work to join her two boys at Wonderland's splash park.

Here is Logan clapping as water pours down on the bigger kids.

What a great day!

Day with Dada

Logan had a fun day with Dada on Tuesday. The two of them went to Wonderland together.

And in the evening we had pizza and fries -with ketchup so Logan could dip his fries.

Very, very messy!

"Cheese!"

Happy 95th Birthday Lola!

The grandkids got together and planned a 95th birthday party for Lola

-and got their parents to pay for it!

We're wearing traditional Filipino garments:

Mommy is wearing a Kimona and Logan and Daddy are wearing Barongs.

Grandma and Grandpa even came down for the weekend!

Logan liked all the clapping and laughing at the video messages that were played.

He was very good for eating about an hour and a half later than usual.

After dinner all the great grandkids presented Lola with a bouquet of flowers.

Logan didn't understand that he was suppose to hold on to the ribbon and decided to just run ahead instead.

After presenting the flowers, Logan gave his Lola a hug...Logan and Daddy sharing a laugh -she is telling him to dance!
The happy family on the dance floor!

Since it was after 9pm, we put Logan in his PJs and put on his sandals that light-up every time he takes a step.

He really liked looking at the lights on the dance floor and getting his groove on.

When Logan got tired we just put him in his stroller and give him his bottle there. He was soon fast asleep even though there were lots of people around him chatting and the music was loud. This gave mommy and daddy a chance to salsa and merengue and pretend they were in Cuba.

The next morning when Logan woke up he saw the surprise that daddy brought home for him -lots of balloons! He was very excited and can say 'balloon' now.

We could tell Logan was a bit sleepy from the excitement the night before as in the morning he was a bit zoned out.

Here he is in slow motion while watching his favorite show, Yo Gabba Gabba. LOL