Letter to Logan (March 2014)

Logan,

Mom and I try to write down the funny and cute things you guys say and do, and sometimes we'll be lucky enough to get a photo or video as well. Here are a few photos and things you've said recently that have made us smile.

Logan, Luke, and Emmie in the bath

Mom sent me this picture of the three of you guys taking a bath a few weeks ago. Now that Emmie is getting bigger, we've started giving her baths at the same time as you boys. Luke got a big kick out of "styling" your hair after it got wet. It was pretty funny to see the three of you with funny hair, all sitting together, playing in the bath. I think every parent probably has too many bath pictures.

Case in point, another picture of you and Emmie taking a bath together. I thought this one was cute because you're both sitting there, playing with something I can't see from my angle. You have loved sea animals since Christmas 2012 when someone gave you a bucket of sea-life creatures for Christmas. The sharks and octopus are your favorites. Sometimes we'll play a game in the car or at the dinner table where we'll describe a noise or feature of an animal and ask the others to guess what animal we're thinking about. One of the first ones you did was, "Say which animal has spots" and the answer was the "sand shark" you guys play with which came from this bucket. It's a fun game and you guys crack us up all the time, especially when we get the answer right and you happily announce, "Yep! You got it, Dad!"

Logan and Emmie in the bath

A little over three weeks ago you and Luke must have been "wrestling" in the family room when we heard you cry out pretty loudly. Usually, if Luke has been rough housing a little too much, we'll hear you complain or cry a bit, but you generally quiet down. That day (I think it was Thursday, February 27th), we were concerned because you were pretty hysterical. Luke claims he "fell" on you, but we've since heard him recount the incident by describing it as "jumping" on you. We could tell something was wrong with your right arm or shoulder because you were favoring it so much. We decided to get you some medical attention the next day because you were still in pain and would cry anytime we tried to lift your arm. A trip to the doctor's office, an x-ray, and a bunch of phone calls later, and we had confirmed a diagnosis of a broken collar bone! That's two broken bones in our family this year already (Emmie broke her arm in January; ouch!). Check out the x-ray.

Logan's broken collarbone

You were a good patient though, and have been really pleasant despite not having much use of your arm for the last few weeks. After visiting the specialist, they prescribed you a sling, not so much to totally immobilize you (can you really expect to keep a 3-year-old still!?!) but rather to serve as a reminder to you and to Luke that we need to play 'softly' for the next six weeks. For the first week or so, we had to only dress you in button-up shirts or really big shirts so that you could get them on without having to lift your right arm up very high.

Logan with an Ace bandage, a couple days before going to see the Orthopedic Pediatric Specialist in Portland

Last weekend we did a "stay-cation" over Friday night into Saturday. I got off work early and we headed over to Embassy Suites by the Portland airport where we got a room for the night. We did some swimming in the pool and then went to dinner at a great Texas-style barbecue restaurant called Famous Dave's. You ordered a SUPER tasty cheeseburger; I was a little envious of your food because it was so good! You waited patiently for the food to arrive, but then in your excitement to take your first bite, and due to the gimpy arm in the sling, you lifted the burger awkwardly with your left hand and the meat fell right out from between the two buns, bounced off your shirt, and landed cheese-side down on the floor. You were so sad and started crying because you had waited and were really hungry. The people at the restaurant were really nice and got you a new burger pretty quick. I felt bad seeing you so sad, but I tried to reassure you we'd get you a new one, and I shared some of my other food with you while we waited.

After Famous Dave's we went back to the hotel and went to the reception they do every night in the big atrium/dining area. They had chips, salsa, crackers, and lots of soda. You and Luke were pretty excited to get some Sprite and then dip your tortilla chips in it (kinda weird, but funny at the same time). They also had a bunch of games out for people to play, like Sorry (your favorite!), Checkers, Connect Four, and a few others. The three of us boys sat down there and played Sorry and Connect Four for about an hour while Mom took Emmie upstairs to put her to bed. I was glad to see that the playing pieces were red (Luke's favorite color) and yellow (your favorite color). I taught you guys how to play and we had fun playing for a while. You were really sweet because you would let me take turns with your pieces and tell me "good job!" when I made my choices.

Logan pointing at his diagonal "Connect Four" (in yellow!)

You guys were also very intrigued with the fish that swim around in the indoor stream/pond that goes throughout the big atrium area. There was one fish in particular that was much bigger than the others, and he (she?) had a big brown spot on his head. You guys were fascinated watching the fish that swam over to us, looking up at us intently, opening and closing their mouths like they were expecting us to feed them. I don't know what kind of fish they were, probably goldfish, but they proved to be very entertaining to us all!

Fish in the 'pond'

We eventually went back up to the room and got ready for bed quietly as Emmie slept in the other room. We put on a show for you boys as a special treat as you lay in the sofa bed (which was also super exciting and intriguing to you: a couch that turns into a bed AND watching a show at bedtime!). It took a while to wind down that night and get comfortable enough in your surroundings to go to sleep, but I think you guys slept pretty well considering the excitement of it all.

The next day included a great breakfast at the all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet with pancakes, sausage, bacon, eggs, yogurt, milk and juice. Of course, we checked out the fish again for a while before going back up to the room to get our swimming trunks on again. We then went swimming in the pool again and sat in the whirlpool for a few minutes. You guys asked me to tell you the Pool Rules which were posted on the wall and we started making up some of our own, like "No making hot dogs in the pool!" and other funny things.

Here's a picture of you and Emmie from a week or so ago when you and I had been playing "Sorry!" Emmie acts like she plays too and doesn't just mess all the pieces up. She'll grab an unused pawn and make it move like she's counting the spaces. 

Emmie and Logan "playing" Sorry!

Here's a "serious" picture of you and me from the hotel. Sometimes when we ask you to smile for the camera you'll go way overboard and make a crazy cheesy grin and squint your eyes so much that they close entirely.

Dad and Logan, looking serious

Here's one other picture of you and Emmie. She took her first steps about a month ago, but it was finally just this weekend that she started walking all over the place. Since she can now stand up from sitting in the middle of the floor, she's more fun to play. The two of you played for a long time in the family room today. You would hold this little Octonauts toy (Captain Barnacles?) in your mouth and she would try to pull it out or shove it back in. Then after a minute you stood up next to her and she would "push" you over. It was so cute to see you playing nicely with her and being gentle.

Emmie and Logan playing on a Sunday afternoon

I got a good two-minute video of you guys playing. I'm uploading it right now to Vimeo, so I'll include a link here and hope that it works!

I love it because you get excited to come with me to Ward choir practice. You usually sit quietly next to me playing with toys and listening as we rehearse. You have a great ear for music and like to look at the sheet music and ask me if the songs have "crescendos" in them. You've learned a lot of music-related things from watching Little Einsteins, and you'll often hum the themes from classical music you've heard on the show or make up your own funny lyrics. Sometimes at night when I'm tickling your back and tucking you in to bed, you'll ask me to sing songs from Ward choir, and I love it when you sing along during practice or sing the songs to Mom when we get home. It's a pleasure to take you, and I hope your love of music will continue! Music has a unique power and ability to touch and affect people in ways that written or spoken word cannot.

Here are a few funny things you've said lately:

Today during choir you said, "Your first name is 'Dad,' your second name is 'Coach Mark,' your middle name is 'Park.' That's your nick name!" (I am the assistant coach for Luke's soccer team, so Logan heard the kids and head coach calling me 'Coach Mark' the other day.)

Also today, after hearing Luke reciting the "Bubblegum, bubblegum, in a dish, how many pieces do you wish?" rhyme, you tried repeating it and said, "Bubblegum, bubblegum, how many dishes do you want!"

You often ask, "Whobody's gonna play with me?" usually with desperation in your voice. I love that you created the word "whobody." I use it sometimes now, too.

Earlier this week you said to Mom, "You scoot me in too squeezey!" after she had pushed your chair a little too close to the dinner table.

For a while now, you'll ask us things like, "Mommy, do you think I need to go potty?" which is code for "I need to go to the bathroom right now!" It's usually accompanied by nervous dancing. Or you'll ask, "Mom, do you know what words I'm going to say?" And then you'll say, "I love you, Mom!" It's super cute and makes our hearts melt.

Last week in Primary you were chosen for the Spotlight. You're in the Sunbeam class right now, but you were paying close attention as they started at the top of the list and read all the clues. Kids in sharing time are asked to raise their hands if the clues read are true for them. The first clue, of course, was "favorite food" and when they said "Hamburgers" you raised your hand and said, "I love burgers!" Favorite color: yellow; favorite story: Nephi building the boat; and on and on it went. You raised your hand for every clue and were the spotlight kid for the day and were pleased to get a little treat out of it.

I think it's cute that while Luke mostly calls me "Dad," you often call me "Daddy," and Emmie will call me "Dada." That's pretty much the best thing ever, to hear you guys calling me by the different versions of "Dad." I still feel surprised and humbled and overwhelmed all at once when I realize that I am a "Dad" to the three of you little guys. I know you don't like it right now when I call you "little" since you insist that you're a big boy, but to me, you are Little Logan right now, and I don't want you to grow too fast! Your time as a kid is short. That's why I try to take a lot of pictures and enjoy making memories so we can happily remember what a fun, pleasant, exciting, sweet boy you are. You also don't like us using the word "sweet" to describe you since you think it's a "girl word" that describes Mommy. But it's true. You certainly are a sweet kid, and I love you, Logan.

-Dad