Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue

Logan has "got big gums."

His little gums are so swollen so those teeth must be trying to come up. No surprise since he is nearly a year old. That very first tooth is bound to pop out soon. He is teething, but mostly I think he realizes there are things he wants to tell us, which is really difficult when you can't talk.

Logan has become quite the little communicator these days. Read: screamer. He does have the sound "da" which he uses in all contexts. The other night he was so angry with me for giving him a bath, Fillip came in to see what I was doing to torture the poor kid. "Da da da daDA DADADADDADA!!!!!!!!!!!!!" He puts his leg up over the side of the tub, shimmies up and over, sliding across the bathroom like a wet naked penguin when I don't get him out quick enough. Ok, ok. I'll let you get out. Sheesh! He then proceeded to scream bloody murder everytime I came near him, and ramped it up even higher when I tried to nurse him. As soon as Fillip would take him, he would snuggle up and lay his head contentedly on Fillip's shoulder, watching me suspiciously. If I dared take him, "dadadaDADADADADAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!" Sweet kid. Although I generally do realize it isn't personal when the kids start to favor one of us, this time I really wanted to cry. He now gets showers from Daddy and we are all happier.

Logan has become aware of things he wants, especially at meals and even more so if it is something Hayden has. Logan will stuff his face until he gets thirsty. Then he starts to swipe his food onto the floor and reach for his drink. Once we realize it, we hand it to him and he greedily gulps until he is DONE, then tries to throw it on the floor and goes back to eating. Last night I gave Hayden some applesauce at the end of dinner. Apparantly, Logan really wanted some. He started carrying on and had the angriest look on his face while he leaned over his tray toward Hayden, making himself practically turn purple. When I brought him some applesauce he gave me the silliest triumphant grin, like he was so proud of himself for telling me what he wants. He now throws himself backwards when he is angry and managed to flip himself right off the couch yesterday while I was sitting with him. It was a very ugly "thump!", but he seems to be just fine. I made the grave error of trying to get him to take an afternoon nap on Saturday, and he was so angry and crying so hard that he simply stopped breathing for a few seconds while he wound himself up for the next sob. I actually thought he might cause himself to pass out. Oy, I don't want to deal with that! So much for our initial thoughts that he was the milder of the two. I don't think so. Fortunately, he is still so baby that I can usually hold and snuggle him, and the other day he nearly fell asleep as I picked him up after that thwarted afternoon nap. Most of the time he seems very happy to be put in his crib, immediately snuggling his face into his blanket and coyly peeking up at me with a silly grin, before quickly turning his face away again.

Hayden has become an easy kid once again. He still challenges me, but not nearly so much or so stubbornly. His new phrases are so cute to hear and he impresses random people with his counting and observations. On Saturday, we all hung around in the backyard all morning. Logan crawled in and out of the playset while Hayden played with his chalk. I asked him to draw the letter D and he did! It was backwards, but I get that since he is left handed like me, and I remember always writing everything backwards. I was just so proud of him for knowing that. We went to the beach yesterday and I just have to say once again how great it is when just the two of us are there. It is relaxing and he is so cute playing in the sand and talking with me. He probably likes the individual attention as much as I do, and responds accordingly. What a little sweetheart. As he was leaving with Fillip a few days ago I called out that I love him. His response was "I love you back, Mommy!" That makes it all worth it.