Just Imagine!

Landon loves the cartoon Caillou. So much so that he made his own version of Caillou:

I can't make the picture large enough on here to show the details because it keeps cutting it in half. If you just click on the picture, then the larger version will appear. Landon used bananas for Caillou's eyes and mouth. Followed by a paper clip of sorts for his tongue. He then used a plastic bag (that previously held the bananas) and his Buzz toy for Caillou's arms. Two pens served as legs and a wooden egg and some book marker tab things finished Caillou off by becoming his shoes. Caillou's family is also represented in the picture. The big pink marker is Caillou's dad, the flower on a stick is his mom, his sister Rosie is the yellow marker, and the pen is Caillou's cat Gilbert! Landon sure does have an imagination.

On a side not, you know you're a Mom when a Barney song pops in your head when you look at your child's creation!

Early Morning Road Construction

Today has been a long day and it is not even 10:00 a.m.! Landon woke up at 5:30 this morning and I woke up with a horrible headache. It was due from the combination of the lack of sleep over the past two weeks and the sinus pressure that I was having. I tried to persuade Landon to fall back to sleep, but he refused. He kept telling me that the sun woke him up. I told him that even the sun is still asleep. Landon's response was, "Oh, right. Moon wake me up!" I managed to stumble my way into the kitchen and make a pot of coffee. At this hour there was no point in a coffee mug. I put a straw in the coffee pot and was good to go! If only my coffee maker actually had a coffee pot. It would have been a time saver saving me from making several trips back into the kitchen for refills! With caffeine in hand I was ready to face the day. By 7:00 a.m. we had already made a tropical island out of Moon Dough complete with palm trees and monkeys. By 7:03 a.m. Landon was becoming bored. He was begging to watch cartoons. I wasn't fond with the idea of cartoon watching. I didn't want the day to be wasted in front of the tv. I also couldn't imagine going outside to play. I knew the outside allergens would have made my headache worse. Landon started playing with his toy cars. I kept thinking to myself that it'd be great if Landon had one of those floor road mats to play on. Then an idea came to me. I could make one. With duct tape in hand I set out to make a road way. The duct tape didn't go as far as I thought it would. The roll size was deceiving. I had planned on making a road wrap around the hallway and pass under the dining room chairs. I quickly learned that the road was only going to be a short one and only passing through one tunnel. Landon didn't seem to mind. He had a blast and it kept him busy for quite some time. Now I am wishfully hoping that it tires him out so that we can take a nice long nap this afternoon!

Play-Doh Making and Heffalump Trapping

Landon loves to play with Play-doh. I just hate how quickly it dries out and how often I have to keep buying it. We always put it away in the sealed containers as soon as we are done playing with it, but after a few uses it still dries out. I decided to make some play-doh. It was actually rather easy to do. Landon loved helping during the preparation process. I didn't take any pictures of that because it would have been a little hard taking pictures while supervising Landon pouring flour, salt, and water into bowls. Landon quickly lost interest during the cooking process. There wasn't anything that he was able to do because I don't allow him to get near the stove. Stirring the ingredients in the pot over a hot stove is not very toddler friendly. Landon stood there watching me for a minute or two and then he started rummaging through the cabinets. He walked away with one pot, two lids, and one colander. He left the kitchen to go and trap Heffalumps! I continued cooking the play-doh and realized that the yellow play-doh wasn't going to turn out. Before we began I asked Landon what two colors he wanted. He responded with green and yellow so those are the colors that we made. However, when I added the flour I realized that the yellow wasn't going to be bright yellow that we were hoping for. I didn't have any regular flour on hand so I had to use whole wheat flour. I failed to take into account that the brown flour would change the color of the light yellow. The end result was more of a mustard yellow. Thankfully, Landon is pretty easy going and having fun was the only end result that he cared about. Fun was exactly what we had! Landon has a Cookie Monster play-doh set that makes letters, fruits, and veggies out of the play-doh and then he can feed them to Cookie Monster. He loves this set. We were making some letters for Cookie Monster to eat and I made the letter "K". I told Landon that it was a "K" and he exclaimed "Barbie!" I guess he's been watching too much Toy Story. He automatically thought of Ken and Barbie when he heard the letter "K"!

 

On the hunt for Heffalumps!

Growing Imagination and Independence

Landon's imagination has really been showing these past couple of weeks. Landon will now sit down with a piece of paper and crayons and draw things. He will say "Pooh" or "Tigger" or whatever it is that he wants to draw and then draw it. These drawings of his are only scribbles and do not look like anything at all, but he truly believes that he is drawing Pooh. It is amazing to sit down with him and watch his imagination at work. He is also playing pretend now. He will walk like a monkey, roar like a lion, and jump like a kangaroo when he sits down and plays with his animal toys. I am amazed daily by how much Landon is growing and changing.

Landon is also talking more and more now. Landon now says about 20 words regularly. He will also try mimicking every word that he hears. I don't know whether that is a good thing or not! With his newly found vocab, Landon is now able to clearly express his likes and dislikes. He more often than not expresses his dislikes! He will now say "no" if he doesn't want to do something while crossing his arms across his chest. He's been saying "no" for over a year now, but now he says it with intent. The arms being crossed makes me smile every time he does it, even when he does it when I ask him to pick up his toys.

Landon is also gaining independence as well. He wants to brush his own teeth and climb onto the sink to wash his hands by himself. He pulls a chair over to the kitchen sink every evening to help with the dishes and helps with the laundry. He still goes around with his vacuum along side me as I am vacuuming and he still holds the dust pan while I sweep. Landon is growing way too quickly. Soon he won't even need me to dress him or bathe him.