Yeah, something like that...

Logan clearly has a rudimentary understanding of marriage: a man and a woman that love each other and live in the same house.

A few weeks a go he decided that when he grew up he'd be a Papa. Well a Papa needs a Grandma and he adores his. He informed my mother that my dad would need to move out and get his own new Grandma because grown-up Papa Logan would be marrying her.

Yesterday Logan handed me a small plastic heart on a satin string. The little bottle had been filled with colored sand during one art class this past Spring.

"Here, you have to wear this." he said with a most serious look on his face. I didn't ask why, just put it on with a barely noticable shrug. Still he felt the need to explain. "Its like the ring Daddy gave you because I'm going to marry you one day."

I thanked him and hugged him. "Oh Logan, I'm so glad you love me, but I'm confused. I thought you were marrying Grandma. How many wives are you going to have?"

He didn't even think about it. He just smiled and walked away to begin his next task as he said "Just two."
--

All right. So I know there are those of you mom's out there that despise little Elmo. The red furry preschooler has not met a pronoun he likes enough to use. I know. I know. But really, Logan was addicted to Elmo for quite some time and he never ever did that whole "self as 3rd person thing." He was using proper pronouns as soon as he was using simple sentences by 15 months old.

It remains to be seen what my latest Elmo addict will do. She hardly actually watches anything on TV but when she does, its most likely Sesame Street. She's in love with it. I can say that looking back at my accountings of Logan at one year, Megan's verbal skills are truly on tract to mirror his so I'm not concerned that Elmo is going to adversely impact her speech.

Last week, while at Target running errands, my fairly spoiled children were amusing themselves in the toy aisle. Megan latched on to a wide array of items - most of which were over the $5 limit I had set when I agreed to let them each pick out something. She finally settled on a small, four-sound option See-and-Say featuring Elmo. She hugged the hard plastic image of her hero monster. She kissed it. She chanted his name over and over "Elmah! Elmah! Elmah!"

Logan pushed the arrow button for her. The thing sings. Its Elmo La-la-la-laing his way through his theme song. The arrow points to four different sounds that complete the song. the "Elmo's World" part. We've got bubbles for the underwater part, cell phone for that electronic ring, trumpet for brass sections, and crayon for nails on chalkboard...er, squeaking.

She played with it the entire way home in the car. I put my ear piece in and made a phone call I had been putting off. I had sort of hoped my conversation would drown out the "wah, wah, wah..." repeated over and over. Megan had just figured out how to turn the arrow and liked the trumpet sounds apparently. Voicemail. I was leaving a message when Logan's laughter pulled me back into the middle of Elmo's World. Meg was singing it. She was really singing it. I mean the girl, my little 11 month old child, was actually "Da, da, da" singing IN TUNE the moment Elmo finished his la-la-la'ing. I thought maybe it was a fluke. But no. She's done it every time she gets that toy in her hand.

It makes me remember a dream Bruce once had. At the time I was pregnant with Logan but we didn't know it yet. He had dreamt that we were all, as in the whole extended family on either side plus a slew of other guests, sitting in our yard at a BBQ of sorts. There was a young school-aged girl with long, strawberry blonde hair that curled at the ends who seemed to be our daughter. She was singing. She sung well and she loved to do it.

A week later we found out about Logan. Daddy had been convinced he was a she until the ultrasound. Perhaps he was just dreaming a child too soon.