Time has been passing by so quickly, and I've failed to keep note of it by blogging. Landon is now 19 months old. And before he changes too much, I wanted to write down what he's like right now.
-Landon is petrified of fireworks. When we went to our friends', the Gladwells, house for the 4th of July, Landon screamed at each and every firework and tried to climb up out of my arms (but into my arms). I think it partly was the waiting for the explosion that really scared him. But after that, he screamed when seeing pictures of fireworks, looking at nightlights, and watching the water buckets tip over at the splash park. I think we ruined him a little bit.
-Landon loves birds. Every time he looks outside he tries to find a bird. He'll signs "bird" backwards, with his fingers pointing to his lips.
-Landon is very very active! He's always been fast to walk, then run, then jump. He does somersaults and can jump repeatedly with both feet off the floor. I've said this before, but he really practices to get better at physical things. And he doesn't seem to get discouraged either.
-Landon loves music. When I was driving the boys to Dallas by myself (a 2.5 hour drive), I figured it would be a good idea to buy a little mirror-toy thing that played music, to try and keep active Landon entertained. It was the best $8 I've ever spent! Landon really loves the "Sugar Free All Stars" cd we have. It's kind of like rock for kids.
-Landon still loves to dance. He loves to clap, flap his arms around really fast, and he'll do these sumo squats over and over again.
-Landon can hold his own. In fact, he's borderline a bully with his brothers! They're so good with him and he'll come sit on them or pull on their shirts to pull them down to the floor. Sometimes it's to give them hugs, but if he's being ornery, it's to pull their hair.
-Landon is a firecracker!! He is so active and so fun and loves to laugh and be chased. Along with that is his fiery grumpy side. :) He throws a lot of tantrums. Part of it I would attribute to the move, and part of it I think is just what he's like. Hah. I've found, though, if he's entertained, he's much less grumpy or bored. With us working on the house and moving in, I think he's been bored too much. I need to work on that! But, if he's in a grumpy mood, he's not easy to get out of it, that's for sure. Sometimes I just have to put him down and tell him to walk away to try and diffuse the situation.
-Landon loves canned fruit, but isn't a huge fan of fresh fruit. He's getting better. He'll eat grapes and oranges, but he just loves the canned!
-Landon is probably our pickiest eater. He doesn't like eggs at all, he doesn't like peanut butter stuff, and he doesn't like carrots or apples (he doesn't seem to like hard to chew things even though he has all his teeth). He's gotten much better at eating things. It seems like I'd be about to give up on a food, but on the 10th try he'd start eating it.
-Landon loves to sign. And he loves to speak. He will repeat something over and over and over until you say it back to him. You can't fool him by saying, "Yeah" or "Really?". He knows you don't understand. Once you say the word though, his face lights up and he says, "Uh-huh".
-Landon says his "S"s like he's clearing the back of his throat and his nose. It's so funny to hear him try to say something that starts with "S" because it takes him so long to get it started!
-Landon loves bugs. He picks up any that he finds and comes to bring them to me. Once that included a live scorpion! I honestly have no idea how that little scorpion didn't sting little Landon.
-Landon is daring along with his being active. He loves to climb and slide and do everything the bigger boys are doing when we go to playgrounds. There have been a few times that he was dangerously close to a ledge and I've had to calmly and slowly walk over to him to move him away. I have learned my lesson to never run after him. One time he was too close to a big slip and I ran over to grab him, and he started running toward the edge of a platform almost 5 ft off the ground. Like, running really fast. I had to jump over the bottom of the slide and I had barely grabbed his shirt as hid foot was leaving the platform. I nearly had a heart attack!
-Landon is a mama's boy. He'll play with dad, and he loves it when dad comes home from work, but Landon's always by my side. If I'm out of the room, he starts yelling "Mama!" and comes to look for me. If he's happily playing while I'm away from the room, I cannot show him my face or else he's crying and wanting to be with me. I love it, but it can sure make things difficult to get done!
-Landon is a sweetheart. His smile lights up the whole room. He is my little blondie, and he's just a hoot. I love him so much.
I love the age that Landon is at right now: 14 months. He is crazy and into absolutely everything, more so than my other two were at that age. Part of that is probably because I have more kids to pay attention to, but still, he's very active! He's also learning new stuff every day. He's a great imitator and is understanding a lot. I'm sure I'll forget something, but I thought I'd try to write down new words he's said and signed. (Some of these things he's just said or signed once, but it's pretty exciting to see him thinking about what we're doing and trying to copy it).
Signed: Hot, bye-bye, thank you, more, all done, please, milk, cracker, bath, dog, gorilla, fish, peekaboo, and clapping (for doing a good job).
Said: Hot, mama, dada, Josh (Jaw), Carter (Da-doh), Grandma and Grandpa (both mama :), cracker, all done, balloon (bah), bottle (baba), uh-oh (uh-uh).
Landon has been really clingy to me lately. I think it's partly due to teething and being sick, but man, he wants me to hold him or do what he wants at all times! He's gotten pretty impatient with me and screams for a long section of the day, but I think I've gotten the hang of tuning out the I-want-to-be-in-charge scream, for the most part. :) I'm really hoping that once these major teeth come all the way in, he'll go back to the non-screaming child we once knew.
Landon has learned to run. He is so fun to watch, bookin' it across the floor. He's pretty bouncy when he runs, so there are often times I'm sure he's going to do a face-plant, but for the most part he just falls into the couch or on the carpet, luckily. I guess, though that he's done with falling off of steps, because he now screams for me to come get him when he's at the top of a ledge that's over 1 inch high. No joke. He'll stand there and cry like he's in pain, until I come take his hand and help him down. I've shown him the get-down-on-all-fours-and-back-up method, which he's starting to get the hang of. It's just funny to see this otherwise reckless kid scream at the top of a little step.
He's absolutely loves the vacuum. He used to be fine with me holding him while vacuuming. It quickly progressed to me holding him while he vacuums, and now he wants to vacuum all on his own. Makes it difficult to get any of it vacuumed to an adult's level of approval. :) Landon's gotten really good at cleaning up. The older boys will ask him to put a toy in the box, and almost every time he does it. He loves to accomplish something he's asked...you can tell he feels good about it, especially when he receives he due praise.
He also loves to do things you tell him not to! He is a major tease and will get that mischievous look and laugh as he's pulling the books off the shelf or throwing the food on the floor, etc etc. He laughs often, and it's such a joyous laugh. His whole face lights up when he smiles. I just love him so much!
Loves Daddy
We've been visiting family in Utah for two weeks, and I believe Landon is missing his daddy. He has been saying "Dada dada dada" constantly. I thought he might be trying to say a new word, but after talking with Ryan on the ipad last night, I'm not so sure. I showed Landon the ipad while talking to Ryan, so he could see his dad. His eyes lit up and he came right to screen and gave Ryan a big wet kiss. By the end of talking to Ryan, Landon had given him about 30 kisses. I think it's time Ryan came out to be with us, what do you think?