Weekend of extra sensory fun

Yesterday (Saturday) Dad got up with Logan and after breakfast, he, Mom,
and Logan went looking for a charity event carnival meant for raising
money for 3 children to be able to go on a vacation trip after having
lost their Mother recently to cancer. Driving around looking for the
event, Logan repeatedly asked for a playground and the fact that he
wanted to go down the slide. Unfortunately, we could not find the
place, and drove home only to find out in the newspaper that it was on
Monday, not Saturday. By that point Mom had completely lost her energy
(lack of sleep from restless nights) and so Daddy took Logan to a
playground to get the slide he so desired. But the playground had a
large contingent of adult aborigines on and around the equipment who
appeared to have had a 'festive' time the night before, so Dad thought
better of it. Instead, he decided to go out to the Bond Springs air
strip where the Alice Springs Gliding Club was having its 30 year
anniversary open house. Luckily Logan forgot all about the playground
and slide as soon as he saw the 'airplane' gliders. A truck at the end
of the airstrip dirt runway had a pulley system by which it would launch
gliders via cable up in the air. The day was a clear and sunny one with
almost no wind (not unusual around here) and so the gliders were getting
good lift and finding the thermals they needed to stay aloft. Logan
enjoyed seeing the take-offs and landings, and really liked poking his
head in the cockpits and gliders themselves... as well as playing with
an old dog with a limp. At one point Logan got attacked by some thorny
stickers (a bindi as Aussie's call them) and Dad had to take off Logan's
shoes and pry the relentless sharp things off his socks. Stupidly Dad
lifted Logan up and unknowingly transplanted a huge number of them from
Logan's shoes to Daddy's shirt and jacket. Dad soon realized this by
the sharp pain he felt when brushing his mid-section, and this then made
the next 20 minutes go by slowly as each one needed to be carefully removed.
On Saturday afternoon after Logan woke up from his nap at 3:30 PM we all
got in the Toyota 4Runner and met outbush with some friends to have a
campfire under the stars. When getting there, we set up chairs and the
food and kiddie playing area, and the men then took Logan and Bradon out
for a walk. As is usual in this strange outback environment, we
stumbled upon an unfathomable object, a truck engine, just sitting out
in the barren wilderness with no sign of the remaining truck part
remnants anywhere. But what was Bradon and Logan's favorite object to
play with, but of course cow patties. They loved to pick them up and
toss them around. At least this climate made them excessively dry and
hard, leaving our noses alone from a sudden olfactory upturning. Later
the boys helped us start the campfire by throwing cow patties on the
fire. The boys were certainly wired that evening and loved pushing
trucks and an old found tire around the area while the two other babies
with us, Paige Young and baby Seth, kept closer together. For dinner,
Momma made Logan some hot dogs roasted over the campfire, while Dad
mostly ate chips with guacomole dip. By about 9:30 PM Logan finally
fell asleep in Mom's arms and it was cold enough that we all packed up
and headed the 20 minutes it took to get back home. Amazing how you can
be seemingly so far out from civilization in mere minutes when living
here in Alice Springs.
Overnight Logan had his usual 1-3 bouts of sudden cries, in which he
either is stuck in his blanket, or is cold and wants his blanket over
him, or wants his water. In one case he wanted his water and he can
normally can fend for himself in that his spill-proof straw-sippy cup
hangs from a flexible arm above his head in the crib, only this time
he'd run out of water. Mommy has been sleeping badly for the past week
or so, but when she is asleep lately she can't hear anything and so Dad
has been always getting up to check on Logan's needs.

In the morning today (Sunday) Logan got up later than normal, at around
8:10 AM, after the late night campfire. He was calling to be let out,
but then calmed a bit and sat back down. Then Daddy let out an
unexpected noise-filled bout of gas and Logan started laughing
hysterically. Daddy is somehow always the butt of the joke in the
family. Later in the morning Logan got a delicious frozen mango
'smoothie' sorbet with Mom at the Todd Mall bi-weekly Sunday morning
market. After finishing it, Logan took the empty cup from Mom and ran
back to the smoothie booth calling out "More! more!"
Dinner time and Logan preferred to eat strawberries and dates rather
than his other choices of peas, pizza, and noodles. After about 6 dates
his taste buds must've been a bit late in firing the rest of his neurons
as he suddenly proclaimed "I don't like it" and stopped eating them.
That's pretty much what he was saying for most of the food, so this is
yet another new phase for Logan. Afterwards Logan played the bag game
again with new objects that Logan hadn't really felt before. He'd reach
in the bag, feel the object he was holding, and make a guess as to what
it was. He did really well with things like the shoe and hammer, but
couldn't figure out the hair brush. Dad then helped Logan with the toy
xylophone by showing him how to hold the mallet and go slowly across or
upon the keys. Normally he'd just bash things with the mallet without
any care for what its true purpose was. Pretty soon he actually started
focusing and hit the keys correctly and precisely enough to make a
little tune.
At reading time before bed we were reading a book about counting.
Whenever we say "How many cows, or race cars, or anything" Logan will
start counting incorrectly aloud as in the following "four, five, four,
five, four, five, YAY!!" Repeatedly we must tell him to "say one" as
he continues with "four, five, four, YAY" until he eventually gets on
board and repeats after us with "one car, two cars, three cars..."