Three Years Old!

Dear Landon,

Tomorrow you will turn three years old.  Tonight we celebrated by eating your dinner of choice: Corn dogs.  We ate your cake of choice: Oreo ice cream cake.  You recently discovered your love of oreos, I think when I bought some to make oreo balls, and you literally could eat a whole package of them in a couple of days!  Tomorrow we're going out to eat at Olive Garden.  I don't think you know what that place is, but when I named off places to eat, including McDonalds, that's where you said you wanted to go.  You got Chima legos, which I think are a bit old for you, but your dad insisted that you would love them....and you do.  You got a couple of shirts that I hope you'll wear--you are so particular about your clothes!!  You only like to wear dark blue jeans and your dinosauar basketball shirt, and your robot shirt.  The shirts are size 18 months, so I'm really hoping these 3T shirts will work. 

You are such a joy to me.  You still love music.  You are always singing, and you know the lyrics to so many songs.  When you and I go shopping, you'll sit in the cart and sing the whole time.   One time we were at Michaels, the craft store, and you were singing, the song about Santa, "...He'll be coming down the chimney down..."  You sang it over and over.  I couldn't get over the fact that you knew an old classic Christmas song.  You love primary songs.  One time at Grace's baptism, (my cousin Becky's daughter) you sang out nice and loud the whole time.  In the chapel, where she was baptized, and the room we went to after.  You were singing, "Baptism", "I Belong to the Church", and many other fine primary songs. 

You are so good at practicing. You are naturally good at physical things, but you get even better because you practice over and over.  Like dribbling a basketball.  You keep trying over and over to dribble until you hit your stride.  You don't get discouraged.   And you can definitely keep up with your brothers!! 

I love that you love Christmas!  For the past month, you pray about Christmas in every prayer you say.  You ask that it's Christmas tomorrow, that we'll get presents, and that Santa will come.  If I'm quick enough, I can remind you to bless the food.  :)  Even though you love Santa, if we ever said that we could hear him coming, you would get so scared!  We were at the doctor's clinic, getting my medicine, when all of the sudden you shouted out, "Santa!"  You pointed across the pharmacy over to where the doctor's office was, and there was an older man with a white beard and red coat and hat.  You were so excited.  He called you over, and lucky for us, he was prepared with candy canes. 

Landon, I love you.  I love your spirit.  The fire you have.  I love that you're so well behaved at nursery and that when you came into primary (to practice being a Sunbeam), that you knew all the answers and that you sang all the songs.  I love that you think you're teasing me with the "you're a baby princess momma!" insult.  I love that you love to look at the Where's Waldo books, that you know almost all your ABC's, and that you can count to thirty....almost.  :)  You are a good boy.  You are my boy.  And you have lots of important things to do.  I love you!

Love,

Mom

Little Landon

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?

Things about Landon

Now that Landon's one, I thought I'd post about all that he's up to right now. I didn't want to brag too much on our public blog, so I'll just do it here. :)

Landon is walking all over. He took his first steps at 10.5 months and was more officially walking at 11 months. He does not, however, walk in shoes. He hates shoes and hates that he can't walk in them.
Landon says: Dada, mama, all done, uh oh (more like uh), bye, and ho ho ho. I think he also says dance, but it sounds like dad, so I'm not sure on that one. Also, I believe he's also starting to say ball and more. It's so much fun when they start talking!
Landon signs: All done, bye bye, and more. He ways hello and good bye and gives awesome high fives!
He loves balls and loves throwing them.
In one of his books it says to give the dog in the picture a kiss, and whenever we reach that spot, he always gives the picture a big smack!
Landon loves reading and cries every time I close the book or any time he thinks I'm going to close the book. :)
Landon loves music, and the one way I can get him to eat when he doesn't want to is to sing to him.

Walking!

Landon is a walker! He took his first steps back at 10 1/2 months old, and I would say he officially started walking just before turning 11 months old. Both Ryan and I have commented on how determined this little guy is. He practiced standing and walking all of the time. It was really fun to see. He wouldn't hold on to our fingers to stand up because he always wanted to do it himself. I am proud of him for that, for his willingness to work hard...even though he's just a wee thing. :)

He's also become a crazy dancer. He absolutely loves music. Music has always calmed him down. If he starts spitting out his food at dinnertime, I start singing a song, and he stops and eats. I took a trip with the boys to Dallas to see my Aunt Teresa and her family (while Ryan was at training in San Antonio) so I bought a little mirror that plays music for Landon, to see if it would help on the 3 hr drive. It did. He would get fussy, I'd turn on the music, and he'd calm right down. In fact, it put him to sleep twice!

Landon loves getting into trouble. He knows when he's being sneaky or naughty, and always looks to me with his grin, waiting for me to get "mad". He laughs this great laugh and does it again. It's so fun to get "mad" at him, for whatever he thinks he's being naughty about.

Landon is also tough. I guess that comes with being the third boy, but he will climb on the boys and let them wrestle a bit with him. He can squish faces and pull hair really well when he wants to. He likes to be in the middle of the mayhem, especially when it's with his brothers. I just love him to pieces!

Bigger Every Day

Today Josh, Carter, and I were "cleaning" the big window in our dining area when all of the sudden, little Landon was at my side wiping the window with a paper towel. Normally the first thing he does with a paper towel is eat as much of it as he can before I take it away. He was just wiping away, looking over at me with a sweet smile, like he was saying, "Hey mom, I can help you too!"

Landon has always loved a good beat. If he ends up playing the drums, I wouldn't be surprised. One thing we do to calm him down and get a smile is do a beat box. (Is that what you call it? Hah.) As of yesterday, he's started dancing. All I have to do is say, "Go Landon! Go Landon! Go! Go! Go! Go!" and clap, and he's bouncing up and down all over the place. He even performed for daddy when he got home from work. Give him a beat, and he's all over it.