Logan starts day care

Logan started day care on Wednesday with his big brother at Miss Shahnaz's house. The first two days seemed to go well. As I dropped them off Wednesday Brody was a little territorial, pushing the other kids out of the way as they came in for a closer look of the baby. At the end of the day Miss Shahnaz said that Logan ate and slept well, crying only when the other kids made loud noises, which is typical of Logan. Once in the car Brody said "Logan cried a lot". It's nice to have our little spy there with Logan but I wish he could tell us details, like what does he mean by "a lot".

When I picked up the boys at the end of day two I found Logan rocking happily in a baby seat, watching the big kids run around. He was clutching his taggie blanket and a hand towel in both hands. We can already see Logan's tendencies to hold onto security blankets. He definitely soothes differently than Brody, who never took to pacifiers or blankets. Logan loves both.

As I picked Logan up from the rocking chair I found a toy car and a small dinosaur stuffed under his legs. Miss Shahnaz said that the other kids like to share with him and were giving him toys all day. To make her point, one year old Alex toddled over and put a duplex block in Logan's carseat. Logan is the only non-crawling baby at Miss Shahnaz's house and I love to see that he's being doted on by the big kids. I think he's going to do very well there.

Fish not working

When we drive past construction vehicles that are parked and not in use Brody typically tells us that they're "not working". For instance, "backhoe not working". On Sunday night I heard that term used in an entirely different manner. As Brody and I went to feed his fish before bedtime, Brody said "oh no, fish not working!" Sure enough, one of his fish was parked- laying on it's side at the bottom of the tank. 10 days after we received the fish one was already dead. And the other two looked like they were struggling.

Brody helped me find the net and we put his poor fish in the toilet. Brody asked me to close the lid then he flushed his fish to its final resting place. He didn't seem traumatized. When I told him the fish was dead, he said "like the bugs" that he had stepped on no more than an hour earlier on Mamie's porch.

In the morning my fears of a mass death were confirmed. Brody's two remaining fish were floating at the top of the tank next to the filter. Brody said "put fish in potty" and I let Brody and Jacob to take care of it. I hear they watched the fish swirl down the drain this time.

Brody seems to understand that the fish are gone for good. He hasn't asked about them or about his empty tank. He hasn't tried to feed them, which he loved to do while they were alive. I can't say that he understands the concept of death but he handled it much better than I expected. Jacob and I are going to wait a while before replacing his fish. We have a beach trip coming up and it'll be nice to have one less animal to cover with interim care.

ABCs, Brody style

Brody mastered his ABCs soon after he turned two. He loves to perform and will repeat them over and over again for friends, family, and video cameras. He's pretty consistent with his delivery, which is good because he has customized them in a way that cannot be described in words or writing. Pay special attention to the letter that follows K and preceeds P. When he's feeling dramatic he'll drag it on for quite a bit.

Brody's first hockey injury

It's rare for Jacob to have a hockey game while the kids are awake, so we try to attend every 7:45 game to watch and support him. Brody loves going and often brings his Diego hockey stick and puck to play in the stands while his Daddy is on the ice. On Sunday Jacob took Brody early and he wowed the guys in the locker room with his slapshot, which is surprisingly accurate for a two year old.

Halfway through the game, as Logan was sleeping peacefully in Judy's arms, Brody was running up, down, left, and right in the stands. He was everywhere and having a great time. At one point he ran up to the enclosed viewing area and I followed to make sure he didn't get into any trouble. Of all places in the ice rink, this is the safest. It's carpeted and climate controlled. There are no stairs. It's enclosed in glass. Yet, this is the place where Brody managed to get his worst injury to date.

Brody was running towards the glass overlooking the rink to watch Jacob play and in his typical graceful style, tripped over his own feet. This is normal and happens often. However, this time there was a row of chairs in front of him, set up so fans can watch the action down on the ice. Brody pitched forward and hit his head on the bar that connects the chairs together. As he started to cry, I picked him up and apologized to the hockey mom sitting nearby while consoling Brody as best I could. When I got my first look at his face, I couldn't believe what I saw. All I could say was "ohmygosh, ohmygosh, ohmygosh" as I ran out the door waving frantically for Mamie to come. Brody's entire right eye was covered in blood. I couldn't tell where he was cut or how badly he was injured. Once we were in the bathroom I sat him on the counter and held onto him while Mamie and Amy took care of his injury. Thankfully, as they wiped away the blood it started looking less and less serious. We found a cut that went along his eyebrow, a little less than an inch long. He'll probably have a scar but it wasn't nearly as bad an injury as I first feared. He's excited to wear Diego band-aids and will be able to call it his first hockey injury as he gets older. I'm sure it won't be the last.

Anna Kate, Taylor, and Fish

Jacob and I attended a beautiful wedding Saturday, the wedding of Anna Kate Patton to Tom Murphy. Anna Kate, her mom Amy, sister Taylor, and grandparents Judy and Don are long time friends of the Weaver family and Brody thinks of them as part of the family. Often when we visit Mamie and Paw Paw's house and ask Brody who we'll see there, he will include "and AMY!" in the list along with Mamie, Paw Paw, Mo Mo, Cabey, and GG. I think Amy is as big a fan of Brody as he is of her.

Anna Kate and Tom incorporated live goldfish in their wedding decorations. There were three swimming among the flowers and candles in the centerpiece on the place card table. I asked Mamie what their plans were for the fish because I thought Brody would love to have a pet of his own. Mamie returned within minutes and said the fish were ours as long as one was named Anna Kate and one was named Taylor. Deal.

Amy brought Brody his fish Sunday morning and he was so excited. He named the third "Fish" and would happily point to them individually as "Anna Kate, Taylor, and Fish". As Amy left that morning, Brody walked away from the front door smiling and said "fiiiiish" under his breath. He couldn't stop watching them swim up and down the glass. They're active little guys!

We went out later in the day to get them a tank and put it in Brody's bedroom, right next to his crib. He can see them as soon as he wakes up. He knows that he feeds them in the morning and at bedtime and looks forward to those times. Every night before he goes to sleep, he turns off the tank light and says goodnight to his fish.

My childhood memory of goldfish is that they live very short lives. Lucky for us, Anna Kate, Taylor, and Fish are your typical orange goldfish with no distinguishing markings. I have a feeling Brody will have three fish in this tank for a very long time.

The best laughs induce hiccups

How is our baby already three months old? It happened so fast. Suddenly he's an interactive little boy, smiling often and sleeping for longer durations at night. He's slept from 10pm-6am six times now. Just as Jacob and I started getting comfortable with a full night of sleep, he switched it up with a bad night, waking at midnight, three, and six am. Then the next night was smooth sailing again. We're thankful for the nights we do get sleep and look forward to many more of them in the future.

Yesterday Jacob triggered Logan's first true laugh. It was hiccuppy and repeated several times as Jacob shook his long, out of control hair above Logan's head. It was such a great sound- one of the best a parent can hear. After three months of little sleep and little interaction, our baby is laughing. What a great day, and a great birthday present to me.