an only child's quest for entertainment

Logan's gotten the short end of the stick with this icy weather.

We've been housebound for a couple of days and I've used that time to try and finish my Christmas sewing. So he's had to come up with creative ways to occupy his time.

Yesterday, he constructed an obstacle course for our dog. The highlight was a high-jump made from bungee cords he drug up from the basement.

Augie's tired of being inside, too. So he had no trouble playing along.

That's the bird cage on the left. Bud was thrilled to be part of the event staff. His neck's probably sore this morning from repeatedly trying to get his head through the bars to bite the dog.

They both crashed like a ton of bricks at nap time. I guess that for Logan, a four-legged sibling is better than none.

a Christmas visitor

Meet Tom.

He's taking a long vacation at our house and will be here through Christmas Eve (yeah, I know the cat lamp looks a little creepy in the photo).

Tom is part of the Elf on the Shelf gift set. He came with a book that explains his job, which is to report each night to Santa the behavior of the child who resides under our roof.

His book explains there are certain rules necessary for him to work properly. Most importantly, no one can touch him or he'll lose his magic.

Each morning, we go on a search for Tom to find where he landed after delivering the previous night's report.

Yesterday, he was in our bedroom clinging to the cat lamp. Today, he's on the living room shelf.

Logan's behavior since Tom came to visit has been incredible.

Best $30 I ever spent.

let's play school

My young scholar wanted to play school the other night.

Todd and I agreed to join in on the fun, then waited for him to assign our roles. We assumed he would take on the part of the teacher and that we'd pretend to be his students.

Instead, he walked over to the corner, and with disturbing familiarity and ease, assumed the above position.

It must be how he spends a lot of his time at preschool.

I should probably consider this to be foreshadowing of the future behavior we can expect as he embarks on his public school career.

that's my boy

Here's a picture of my son taken this afternoon.

Yes, that's a tribal armband temporary tattoo on his arm.

Yes, he's wearing a wife-beater.

And yes, he's digging in the trashcan.

p.s. There's another one of those tattoos on his other arm. I can't wait to take him to church in the morning.

catching the bus

This year, Logan gets to ride the bus home from school. Thursday was his first day, and although he was a little bit scared when I dropped him off, he was all smiles when he got home.

I've been really, really resistant to this although I knew it would be something he'd enjoy. Don't ask me why, but I hate for him to ride with others.

Doesn't make a lot of sense; I'm not such a great driver myself, so it's doubtful he's safer just because he's with me.

Anyway, he loved his first bus ride and can't wait to go back Tuesday so he can do it again.

picture day

Today was picture day at Logan's school. I tried to get a photo before we left this morning but the little stinker wouldn't stand for me to get a shot of his full outfit.

I had to take what I could get, which is a picture of him sitting in the minivan.

and that's a wrap

Is it just me, or did this summer fly by?

night owl

I've been burning the midnight oil lately, sometimes staying up three or four hours after Todd goes to bed. I do this so that I can surf the Internet, shop on ebay and play computer games take care of important household responsibilities.

Until recently, Todd would take Logan to bed and they'd fall asleep together, allowing me to goof off complete tasks without interruption.

But in the week and a half since we've been back from Texas, Logan refuses to go down without a fight. He wants to stay up with me and get in on the fun.

His insomnia isn't quite as well-developed as mine, though. So at the end of the night, this is what we have.

The photos were taken on two different nights this week, by the way.

"Bejeweled totally wears me out."

This is SO MUCH more comfortable than my bed.

how's this possible?

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you. He's drinking a soda and sucking his thumb at the same time.

child protective services should be here any minute

I had nothing to do with this. I swear.