For every one who thinks they know better....

Parenting is meant to be challenging and testing of one's patience. But I never in a million years would have thought that the parenting relationship between mother and father would prove to be so difficult at times. Kevin and I have ALWAYS been on the same page about breastfeeding, self weaning, extended rear facing, baby wearing, and homemade baby food making. Why is it now that he is trying to flip the page and really test me? I have been a firm believer in extended rear facing from the time that I was pregnant with Landon. We picked out a car seat just for that reason. Kevin was on board with it until other people started telling him otherwise. When my close friends and family called me crazy about extended rear facing a few months ago he had my back. Now that the questioning is being done to him he is tooting a different horn. Instead of telling those questioning him facts, he is wanting to put Landon's life at risk and forward face him just to appease others. I'm sorry, but my son will NEVER be put at risk for someone else's convenience. I will fight tooth and nail to make sure that Landon is safe. If protecting our son makes me overprotective, then so be it. I would rather be overprotective and have Landon safely in my arms every night rather than giving in to the wants and beliefs of others and standing over a hospital bed or even worse a small grave site. It WILL NOT be happening as long as I am around to protect him. Landon will be safe and sound rear facing and for those of you that have a problem with it well you can go to Hell for all I care. Sorry, but I don't know how else to put it. If you are among the ones willing to jeopardize our son, then you are not needed in his life. Landon does not fuss in his car seat nor does he fight getting into it. He likes his car seat. He feels safe in his car seat. In fact, when we take the bus I have to have my arms tightly against his legs and chest because it makes him feel safe. No one can tell me that Landon is uncomfortable rear facing. If he was he would fuss and cry. Does he look uncomfortable to you?

Maybe it is just me, but I think that Landon looks rather content rear facing. For the person(s) urging Kevin to use another car seat, what is it in this picture that makes you feel like you know better than the statistics and our parenting decision to make Landon forward face? Is it because his feet touch the back seat and he keeps them bent? If that is what you are going by, then please get your own life and stop trying to co-parent our son. And if you are the one who actually bought Landon's "big boy" car seat, please hit the big red x in the top right corner of your screen. You apparently know nothing about us and our parenting decisions. Reading our blog has made little to no impact on you and you are still going to be stuck on your own stupid ways no matter what I say.

For those of you who do care to learn more about car seat safety then you are more than welcome to continue reading on. I also hope that Kevin reads this too so that he can refresh his mind because our "conversation" about it this morning did not go over so smoothly. By "conversation" I mean me flying off the handle and crying hysterically because Kevin would rather please other people above Landon's safety. In my defense, I had every right to get angry because he went behind my back and got Landon a car seat and actually planned on putting Landon in that car seat without telling me about it. I completely understand that by law standards Landon is able to forward face. However, the law is just a bare minimum. Landon's life means so much more to me than the minimum. I am not going to play Russian Roulette with his life just to appease others. I just won't do it.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that a child rear face until the MAXIMUM limits of their convertible car seat. For Landon's car seat that limit is 35 pounds. Yes, I realize that his legs are bent a little. But have you ever seen the way that Landon sits or plays? His legs are NEVER straight out in front of him. He will bend his legs while sitting and he plays while squatting. Children are much more flexible then adults and therefor have no problem sitting with bent legs. Landon is one vocal child, especially when he is uncomfortable. If he was uncomfortable sitting with his legs bent, then he would let us know in a heartbeat. It does not bother him to sit that way because that is the position that he is most comfortable in. Landon is not too tall to ride rear facing. A child is only too tall to rear face when their head comes within one inch of the top of the car seat. Landon has several more inches to go. Just because he is 33 inches tall does not make him too tall. You have to go by torso length and not by leg length. He made be over 33 inches standing, but he most definitely does not come within one inch of the top of his car seat. He just has long legs and a short torso. That is why you can not go by a child's height. You have to go by their head positioning. Landon's feet touching the back of the seat is perfectly OK and does NOT mean that he is too tall for rear facing.

Please don't give me the excuse that because his legs are bent that he is at risk for a broken leg in a car accident. There has NEVER been a single reported case of hip/leg/foot injury from extended rear facing. Even if there were, a broken leg is much better than a broken neck. There is a reason why car seats have extended rear facing weight limits. It is far better for the child. When rear facing, the back of the car seat absorbs the force of the crash. The child's head, neck, and spine are kept in alignment allowing the car seat to absorb the force. When forward facing, there is a lot of stress put on the child's neck during a crash. The weight of the child's head causes the spinal cord to stretch up to 2 inches. It only takes 1/4 of an inch of stretching before the spinal cord snaps, which will then cause paralysis or death. I am not going to watch my baby boy push himself around in a wheel chair or worse yet attend his funeral all because people have different opinions. They are just that- opinions. Kevin and I have always allowed others close to us voice their opinions and we have always listened while they were doing so. We then always went home and talked about how we weren't going to allow their opinions affect our parenting. Even when I was reluctant to try Landon with new foods we were being told that we were malnourishing him. All because he wasn't eating table foods before 6 months of age and he was closer to 10 months old before he ate table foods on a daily basis. My mommy instincts were right then because it turned out that he had several food allergies. I am going by my mommy instincts once more and not allowing him to forward face. Especially on long car trips that require the crossing of the 3 mile long Buckman Bridge. Kevin, you can either get behind me once again and get on board with the way things will be or we can continue to fight daily. The decision is up to you. I have ALWAYS done what is in the best interest of Landon and you know that. You have always had my back on parenting issues. Don't allow other people get to you. You are better than that.

Here are some pictures of other children rear facing. All of these children are well over 2 years old. One little girl is even 4 1/2! At that age, they would definitely protest if their legs were uncomfortable. They look way too happy and content to me to be in any discomfort.

If this wasn't enough to convince you that rear facing is best, then please watch the video of little baby Joel.

Joel was MUCH bigger than Landon when he broke his neck. Our Landon Love is going to remain safe, even if he looks uncomfortable. If this can happen to a baby larger than Landon, then I am not going to be taking any chances.

Mimicry

I took Landon to the park yesterday and realized just how much he is NOT a baby anymore. He wanted to swing on the swings, but all of the baby swings were being used. He had to wait his turn and instead of having a complete meltdown like the other boy that was waiting for a turn as well, Landon walked up to the baby that was in the swing and started pushing him back and forth. It was by far one of the sweetest things that I have seen Landon do for another person. That moment made me realize just how far Landon has come from the baby stage. He is no longer the little tiny baby who just lays still in the boppy because he is immobile. He is very much so mobile and he has his own mind and is becoming increasingly independent. I can't wait to see the young man that Landon becomes. I just know that he is going to blossom into such a caring and considerate young man. He even takes breaks while he is playing to run up to me with his arms outstretch just to kiss my knee or arm, which ever he comes into contact with first. A second later he will go back to playing, but every so often he will take a break just to run up to me and give me a kiss. It amazes me daily of how sweet he is.

When Landon is not running and jumping all over the place he is mimicking my every move. He is like my shadow these days. If we go for a walk and I sit down on the steps outside then he stops what he is doing and sits right along side me. Today while playing at the park I sat down on the sidewalk while Landon was sliding down the slide. Once he slid down the slide he saw that I was sitting on the curb and immediately ran over to me to sit next to me. He wouldn't get up until I did.

Landon sliding down the big slide

Sitting just like Mommy

This picture doesn't look like too much, but Landon finally figured out how to rock himself back and forth on this triceratops thing.

While Landon's mimicking ways are cute at times, they can also be quite troubling. I can't seem to be able to discipline Landon these days without laughing. The other day I placed Landon on time out and while I was explaining to him why he was on time out I must have been frowning and had my arms crossed. Landon took one look at me, crossed his arms and frowned. It was the funniest thing and I couldn't help but laugh. Needless to say, that was the end of Landon's time out because we were both laughing. If I laugh, then Landon laughs. Most of the time he doesn't even know why he is laughing. He is just laughing because I am. That moment the two of us could not stop laughing and time out came to a quick halt.

Not Me! Monday

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

I did not laugh at Landon mimicking me while he was in timeout, which completely defeated the purpose of his timeout. Nope, not me! I always keep my composure and would never laugh at something Landon did when I am trying to discipline him.

I did not insist that Landon eat all of his dinner since I spent all day cooking it only to then eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for dinner because I didn't even feel like eating. Nope, not me! I always follow my own advice and eat well balanced meals.

I did not put Landon to bed in just a diaper the other night because I was too tired to fight with him to put his pajamas on. An hour later I did not feel bad about him sleeping in only a diaper and then proceed to get his pajamas on him as he slept. Nope, not me! Only a crazy woman would risk waking a sleeping baby to put pajamas on them.

I did not allow Landon to have complete roam of the room while I caught a few more minutes of sleep one morning. He then did not unfold all of the clothing that he came across as I caught a few more Zzzs. I most definitely did not allow him to watch his cartoon on repeat 2 (or 3 or 4) times to keep him occupied so I could nap a little longer. I then did not wake up completely regretting that decision once I saw the mess that he had made with all of the recently folded laundry. Nope, not me!

Another dinner success!

Landon is still a very picky eater. Meal time is always a hit or miss with Landon. He'll eat one day and then go a day or two without eating. Landon will eat anything pasta so I had great success with baked ziti. Hopefully some of you other Mommies who are dealing with picky toddlers will be able to use some ideas. I puree a bunch of veggies into the foods that Landon does eat. I've mentioned it here before. I was able to puree spinach and squash into the baked ziti. I also used whole wheat noodles and ground turkey as well. In a perfect world I would have made the tomato sauce. However, when dealing with a rambunctious toddler pulling out the can opener is about as homemade as sauce gets around here! I cooked the noodles and the meat as normal. I added 2 oz of pureed squash and 1 oz of pureed spinach to the spaghetti sauce. I combined the sauce and meat together and then layered it on top of the noodles. Landon is still allergic to milk so I couldn't use any cheese, but he still loved it none the less.

Toddler Tantrums

Landon is able to throw a tantrum with the best of them. So how do I handle his tantrums? I take pictures of them of course! Landon didn't want to put his pants on so he threw himself to the ground and then proceeded to try to walk up me by pulling on my shirt and climbing his way up my legs. I just happened to have the camera in my hands because I was putting it away. Since there is no way of stopping his tantrums I figured I'd take pictures of the craziness that is my life!

After a few minutes my legs and arms couldn't take any more of his attempts to climb up me so I bribed him with a trip outside. The moment he saw me reach for Tinkerbell's leash his tantrum was over. He immediately grabbed her leash from me and carried it over to Tink. He then lifted his legs up to me to motion that he was ready for his pants and sat down for me to put his shoes on. Once I opened up the front door he was off and running!

He made a bee line for the slides where he quickly forgot that he was mad and was all smiles from that point on!

Landon has been working so hard the last couple of weeks to be able to climb up these poles. He is way too small to be able to climb up them, but he doesn't allow that to stop him. The boy has no fear and loves to give me a heart attack. He is finally able to climb up them all by himself.

The afternoon ended with a game of "Follow the Leader"!

Sugar and Spice

Landon apparently has no toys and has to resort to stacking spices. How he can't find anything to play with in a living room full of toys is beyond me. I guess it is just more fun to stack the spices up then it is stacking up his Winnie the Pooh blocks. Whatever keeps him happy and preoccupied as I make dinner is fine with me. Unless, of course, he decides to drink the vanilla extract again- that was not a fun day.

Stacking them to just kick them down again!

Biting and Pinching

I really wish I knew what was going through Landon's head. It sure would make life a lot easier at times to know what he was thinking and wanting. Lately, Landon has been biting himself whenever he gets mad or upset. Whenever I tell him "no" he seems to bite himself as a way to get out of trouble. He really bites down too. He will continually bite himself on his arms and hands until he is bruised or bleeding. I have never seen anything like it. I just wish he would stop. He has bruises on his hands from it. I brought it up to his doctor on Wednesday and even she said that it wasn't normal behavior. She said that most toddlers will bang their head into the wall when they are upset, but they will stop once they realize that it hurts. Landon does not stop biting himself when it hurts. He will keep at it until he's crying and then he will show me the marks that he made to himself and want me to comfort him. It doesn't stop at biting either. He will also pinch himself and smack his hand into something hard enough to make his hand hurt. If he throws something onto the floor or pulls something out that needs to put away then I will tell him to pick it up. If he doesn't want to pick the item up then he will hit the item repeatedly with his hand until he hurts his hand. If Landon wants something from me and I am unable to guess what he wants in a timely manner then he will pinch his arms and start crying. I just wish Landon would learn to express himself in other ways that don't include self mutilation. I don't know how to fix this. If I ignore his behavior then he will bite me, but if I hug him while he is biting himself then it seems to only re-enforce his behavior. I wish there was an easy fix for this. Unfortunately, I don't think there is. Let's hope that he outgrows this stage on his own and sooner rather than later.

Doctor Update Pt. 2

We took Landon to see his new pediatrician yesterday. Kevin and I both walked away with good feelings about this doctor. I think we have finally found someone that we feel is a right fit for us. What I love most about this office is that there are only two people who will be overseeing Landon's care- the doctor and a nurse practitioner. There will never be a guessing game when we go to Landon's appointment about which one of the 6 different doctors will be seeing him. I also loved that they took so much time with us yesterday. They were really thorough with everything and we spent a lot of time talking with them about some of our concerns. We never once felt rushed. We did mention to them that Landon still is not talking. He was talking at one time and then stopped when he was about 15 months old. He refuses to say anything other than "Momma". I think he stopped talking as a way to shut down. I think it is his way of dealing with a particular situation. I definitely can't fix the situation on my own and I am still unsure about whether someone else has any interest in fixing the situation. I am glad that the doctor seems to feel like there is nothing wrong with Landon and that he is just being a little lazy. They did do a screening for autism because babies don't generally just stop talking, but we knew it would come back that he was just fine. They even commented that Landon was fine before my filling out the autism screening forms because Landon is able to follow all commands. The doctor asked Landon to lay down on the table so he did, but he layed down on his side. So the doctor then asked Landon to roll over to his back and he did just that. Landon can hear just fine and is able to perform any task that is asked of him. He is able to point out all of his body parts when asked and he can even imitate animal sounds when asked. He can now growl like a tiger, baaa like a sheep, ney like a horse, and thanks to Daddy he can even spit like an elephant. You may be thinking, spit like an elephant? Yeah, those were my thoughts exactly! Kevin tried teaching Landon how to make an elephant sound by doing some weird thing with his lips. Landon can't make the sound just yet, but he has learned that by trying to make the sound that he can spit at people. If Landon spits on you, then please thank Kevin for that! I am taking no credit for this new found hobby of Landon's. Landon may be regressing when it comes to his speech, but he is making up for it in many other areas. He has now learned what a circle, square, and triangle are. We are still working on the difference between an octagon and a pentagon. He has a shape shorter that we sit down and play with for about 20 minutes everyday so that I can teach him his shapes. I think once he gets all of the shapes down then we will move on to the different colors followed by his numbers and letters. Landon has also become very good at putting puzzle pieces together. He pulls his puzzle out everyday and puts it together within seconds. Once he is done he will give each of the animal puzzle pieces a high five and then carry it back to the toy box to put it away. Landon still loves to read and will often bring a book over to me and then sit in my lap so that I can read to him. He has very little patience though and often turns the pages before I finish the sentence of each page. I think patience will be another thing that we will work on this year.

Doctor Update Pt. 1

Yesterday we met with a urologist so that we could get a second opinion on Landon. Landon's pediatrician thought that Landon would have to be re-circumcised. We had to wait 8 months for our appointment. For 8 months I have been dealing with the thought of Landon having to be put under anesthesia. For 8 months I have been driving myself crazy. Thankfully, yesterday my anxiety was able to come to an end. With just one quick glance at Landon the urologist knew that Landon would not need surgery. Without going into too much detail, he was able to fix things right there in the office within seconds. Landon was such a big boy and did not cry or fight the doctor. Once we got him home he was crying quite a bit. He was continuously grabbing at himself and walking with his legs out to the side. He was up all night long crying off and on. I felt so helpless because there was nothing that I could do for him. All I was able to do was hold him and cry right along with him. I hate seeing my little boy in so much pain. He's doing better today, but diaper changes are still a nightmare. He doesn't want me to change him, let alone tend to the area like I need to. I hope that his pain does not last for much longer. He is finally taking a nap and I was hoping to join him for a nap, but I have too much to get done. I'll eventually get sleep- in 18 years or so! I am going to get Landon outside for a bit once he wakes up to try to take his mind off of the pain. We will take a nice walk to the store for diapers and such. If he's not up for the stroll, then I could always ditch the diapers and hope that he will miraculously potty train! I can't even describe how relieved I am that Landon is ok and that no surgery was needed. I know it would have been a quick procedure, but he would have still had to have gone under anesthesia. My heart goes out to all of the parents who do find themselves sitting in a waiting room while their child is under anesthesia. I don't think I could handle it and I hope that I will never have to find out. Tomorrow is Landon's appointment with his new pediatrician. Let's hope that all goes well and that we finally found a permanent doctor for our Love Bug.

Not my child Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Landon most certainly did not pick up a dead lizard and call out "Momma" to get me to turn around so that he could throw it in my face. Nope, not my child! Landon would never do such a thing. He has far more control to throw a lizard into my face. Landon did not flip the dog water bowl over for the umpteenth time this week and then splash in the puddles of water soaking his newly bathed and freshly dressed self. Nope, not my child! He is always on his best behavior. Landon also did not then go and dump all of the dog food out and try sweeping it up himself which caused even more of a mess. Nope, not my child! Landon did not go to story time the other day and only last for two minutes before having to leave. Nope, not my child! He is always on his best behavior and will never have to be asked to leave story time because he can't sit still. Landon would also never throw his shoes into a tub full of water and then proceed to get them out and splash the water from them all over me while laughing hysterically. Nope, not my child! He would never find such a thing to be so funny.

Since I wrote all of the things that Landon did not do this week it is time to air my dirty laundry. I most certainly did not hide one of Landon's toys so I would no longer have to hear him whine over the fact that it is defective. Nope, not me! I would never hide a defective toy from my son to give my pounding headache a break. I then did not go and e-mail the toy company to tell them that the toy is defective and it will not stand straight up on its own causing my son to scream and cry because he can't get said toy to stand up straight. I know my e-mail will do no good and I can't return it because it came in a set with 8 other Pooh figures (thankfully, all of which work fine) and all of the Darby figures were made the exact same way- her head is too heavy for her body and she falls over. At least I felt better by telling the company how I felt. I would never write someone just to make myself heard. Nope, not me!

No pockets? No problem!

No pockets? No problem! Just do what Landon does and stick the loose objects down your pants!

20 Months Old

Say it isn't so...Landon is 20 months old today. I can't believe that in 4 months my baby will be 2. In just 4 short months Landon will be in our lives for 730 days or 17,520 hours. I just don't know where the time has gone. Landon has grown and changed so much over these past 20 months. I know he has so much more growing and changing to do, but I am not ready for it. I want my little baby boy back. Don't get me wrong, I love the age that Landon is at right now. I love receiving kisses from Landon daily and him running up to me and hugging me. I love watching his mind at work when he is playing on his own and I love watching him climb up and down the slides at the park. I just don't love how quickly time is going by. I know that his 2nd year of life is bound to be a great one filled with many more memories. I am looking forward to it, but I just wish it would slow down a little.

As for an update on Landon, he is doing really well. He is just the sweetest little boy, but can be so very bad at the same time. He wakes me up every morning with a kiss, but he also hits me in the head with the remote control every morning as well! He is always in a hurry to watch Tigger and Pooh first thing in the morning and figures that by hitting me with the remote it will get turned on quicker. He is also able to help me with his breakfast every morning. He is able to open the microwave for when I make him oatmeal and he is able to pull his milk out of the fridge. But once again, those helpful moments are overshadowed by him dumping over the dog water bowl as I am filling his sippy cup up with milk! Landon definitely knows how to keep me busy.

This next week is going to be a rather busy one for us. On Monday we take Landon to meet with a urologist. His pediatrician feels as if Landon needs to be re-circumcised so we are meeting with a specialist come Monday. I am hoping that this is not the case and that all is fine. I don't even want to think about Landon going under anesthesia. I teared up at the doctors office with just the mention of it being a possibility. I will keep everyone informed once we know more. We also meet Landon's new pediatrician on Wednesday. I am hoping that I finally found someone who will take the time to get to know Landon. His last pediatrician had several different doctors in the office. I hated that we always saw a different doctor and I hated how they would always ask if they had ever seen us before when they in fact had several times. They just couldn't keep up with the number of patients and I felt like Landon's health and well being were being jeopardized because of their over crowded office. The pediatrician that we will be taking Landon to on Wednesday is a single doctor office (does that make sense?) so I am hoping that we will be provided with the one on one attention that I am expecting from a pediatrician. It is definitely going to be a challenging week next week and I am looking forward to it coming to an end before it even begins!

Wrestling Fun

My last post was Landon's 1st picture for the year of 2010. It was a picture of Landon running on the couch. He was doing what he does best- wrestling! Landon loves to climb up onto the couch and jump on whoever is on the couch. Most of the time it is poor Tinkie who happens to be on the couch. Landon has learned how to climb up on the arm of the couch and jump from it. Aunt Jenny's couch will never be the same again!

Landon tried jumping on top of Tink, but fell a little short


Hugging Tink


Giving Tinkie kisses to make up for beating her up


Getting ready to jump on top of me

What is that in Landon's mouth? It is my shirt. He went to bite me and then took my shirt with him. He tried pulling me by it!

He's having so much fun and all it takes to make him smile this big is a kick or two to my spleen!

Hello 2010

Today is the first day of the New Year. I never make New Years resolutions because I don't like setting myself up for failure. I will, however, strive to be the very best mom that I can be this year. I am also going to embrace this new year and live the best life possible. I am certain that 2010 is going to be filled with many new memories, surprises, challenges, and new life experiences. I am looking forward to what 2010 has in store for us. Here is the first picture of Landon for the year of 2010: