Pumpkin Patch 2010

 

We took Landon to the pumpkin patch last night. It's always a fun place to take him, but a sad place at the same time. We've taken him to this pumpkin patch for the past three years. So much has happened since our first visit. Landon has grown and changed so much. Not to mention that our family has changed. It was a rather hard day on me, but it was a great day all at the same time. Here are the two posts from previous years of Landon at the same pumpkin patch. This was his first year and the second year. My how much he has changed when looking at these pictures. I can't believe how big he is getting. If we ever move out of state, then we'll have to make the trip back to FL just for the annual pumpkin patch pictures! Here are some pictures from this year's pumpkin patch trip.

 

All Done Eat Eat!

Warning: This post contains topics on breastfeeding- or the lack there of these days. There is nothing crude or obscene, but I know not everyone shares my views on extended breast feeding. For that reason I have also posted another blog today that you can read.

Yet another milestone has been reached by our Landon Love. He has finally weaned from breastfeeding. Or starting to at least. I better go knock on some wood. It's been three whole days of not a single nursing. It hasn't been easy and it most certainly hasn't come without a few tears. The other morning Landon awoke without asking to "eat eat". I decided then that it was the perfect opportunity to try to wean. He did ask for it a short while later, but I was able to distract him with his sippy cup. Nap time, however, was a completely different story. He cried and screamed, but I was determined to stay strong. We skipped nap time and went for a bike ride. He fell asleep during the bike ride. The next challenge was bed time. I was prepared for a fight from him. Landon asked to "eat eat" and I explained to him that he was now a big boy and told him that he was to "eat eat" from a cup now. He took it really well and fell asleep within an hour. A lot sooner than I was expecting. The second day went just as smoothly. The only set back was nap time once again. He finally wore himself out and fell asleep while on a time out. The only problem was it was at 6:00 p.m. He didn't wake from his nap until 8:30 p.m. so he was up until almost 2:00 a.m.

 Last night Landon snuggled up next to me when he was finally ready for bed. He patted my chest and signed "all done" followed by saying "eat eat". He then proceeded to ask to "eat eat" milk from a cup. I gave him a long hug, smiled, and went to fill his sippy cup. With him weaning we are going through an incredible amount of milk. I was buying two containers of his soy milk a week, but he has gone through two containers in these past three days. We had to run to the store again this morning for more milk. He doesn't even want water or juice right now. He wants nothing but milk in his cup all day long. I wouldn't really mind, but the cost of soy milk is $3.19 a carton, which equals $6.38 a gallon! Good thing we're starting to cut back on diapers to make up for the cost difference!

This third day is going rather well .Landon hasn't asked to "eat eat" at all today. It's after 11:00 a.m. already so we are doing really well in that regards. We still haven't had a nap time, but I am hoping that after a few more days he will learn to nap on schedule on his own. I thought it was going to be hard on me that moment Landon decided that he no longer wanted to breastfeed. In all honesty I am overjoyed. I have been ready for this day for quite some time. 2 1/2 years is a lot longer than I had ever imagined. If you would have asked me during those first three weeks of Landon's life how long I was going to breastfeed for I would have told you I was quitting right then and there. Once we both got the hang of things my goal was for one year. We surpassed that goal when we learned of Landon's milk allergy. We were informed not to give him soy milk until he had further allergy tests. I knew we wanted him to have some form of milk nutrients for brain growth and overall well being so I took yet another one for the team and decided to keep breastfeeding. His allergy testing came back that he could in fact have soy milk, but Landon was 18 months old at the point. Making a toddler quit breastfeeding cold turkey at that point would have been a nightmare, not to mention the pain of clogged milk ducts since he was still nursing rather frequently then. I knew he would have to wean on his own. As long as him and I were comfortable with continuing then I didn't care what others thought. Now here we are- almost 30 months later and Landon has weaned himself. I must say that I am rather proud knowing that I have provided Landon with the best nutrition for this long. I am sad to know that it is just one more step to him becoming a big boy, but I am glad to have a little bit more freedom. I will also be glad when I collect on my promise. I always told Kevin that he would owe me one heck of a drink once Landon weaned. He promised we'd go out for a drink once that day came. That day is now here- hint hint, wink wink Kevin! I'm not even a drinker, but not being able to drink for over three years (9 months of pregnancy and 30 months of nursing) has made me want to go out for a drink or two just because I can now. Plus, I think I deserve it after all of this time. 

Ball Popper Shenanigans

What would one do with a wrench, masking tape, and a wire coat hanger? Pull out stuck toys from a ball popper of course! Landon's ball popper has been one of his favorite toys for over a year now. We got it when he was about 9 months old and he has used it almost daily ever since. Now that Landon is a toddler it is no longer a fun toy for Mommy. Almost daily I find different toys or odds and ends stuck in the ball popper. I always have to hardest time getting these objects out. Yesterday's stuck toys consisted of a Buster(not pictured), a Tigger, a Pooh, and a monkey toy. I was able to pull Buster out with a pair of pliers. The other toys were stuck so far in there that pliers weren't working. I attached masking tape to the tip of a wrench since the wrench was thin enough to fit down in there. I used that to stick to the stuffed monkey to pull the monkey out. The Pooh toy slid right out once the monkey was removed. Tigger, on the other hand, was pretty well jammed in there. I finally wound up getting Tigger out with the use of a coat hanger. I straightened out a wire hanger and used it to push Tigger out the other side. It took some time, but eventually even Tigger made his way out. This was by far that hardest I ever had to work to get his toys out of the ball popper. I'm sure later on today I will be fishing something else out of it. Landon no longer uses it as a ball popper. He just stuffs it with as much stuff as he possibly can. I really should get rid of it and replace it with something else, but he still has so much fun with it. I can't part with a toy that he still love, even if it does drive me nuts every day!

                                       

I'll end this with one more cute Landon story. He was watching his Winnie the Pooh movie. In one scene Pooh and Piglet fall into the water. Landon kept telling me that they were cold. I tried to reassure him that they were ok, but he asked for a towel. He thought they needed a towel to dry off and get warm. Here is a picture of him trying to dry them off with his Woody towel. Landon loves his hooded towels. I don't think I have posted pictures of him in them so here they are. One is of Buzz Lightyear and the other is Woody. He uses these towels every single day. Sometimes both at the same time!

Loving Handful

There are two words that describe Landon best these days, handful and loving. Somehow Landon always finds a way to cause complete destruction in a matter of seconds. I call our afternoon clean ups the aftermath of Hurricane Landon. He can make a mess of his toys like none other. He's always so proud of his messes too. The other day he called me over to see what he had done with his toys. He took all of his toys out of the toy box. He was sitting in the middle of the mess while saying "cheese". He wanted me to take a picture of his mess! What a ham! No matter the mess he makes or the trouble he finds, he knows how to flash that cute smile of his and plant a kiss on me to make everything all better.

When he's not causing messes, Landon is as sweet as can be. Last night we went to the park for a few. I went off for a minute and Landon was playing with his Uncle Matt and Uncle Alex. Once Landon saw me coming back he ran up to me with the biggest smile. I love seeing his face light up from complete happiness!

I also cut my hand last night and put a band aid on. Landon saw the band aid and insisted on wearing one too to be just like Mommy!

I have to remember these moments when he has a not so great moment. Such as, hiding under the bed while chewing four sticks of gum that he found. Whenever he gets into something I just think back to smiles like this one.

I have also found a great way to tire Landon out. Spend the day making forts out of the couch cushions. When we were done playing he fell asleep right on top of one of the cushions and napped for two hours! We may be making forts every day!

Fall Festivities

 

I take Landon to Chick-fil-a every Tuesday night for kids' night. He always has a blast and he eats for free so it's a win/win for me. This past Tuesday they held a Fall Festival. There were all sorts of activities for the children. They had small pumpkins for every child, bubble blowing machines, music playing, horse rides, and free brownies! I thought Landon would be hesitant of the horses at first, but he loved them. Not only did we do the horse and carriage ride, but he also rode each of the saddled horses. Even the big one! We finished the night with a stroll around the Town Center. It really was an almost perfect evening.

 

 I rode with Landon as well. I just got off to take the picture.

 Landon riding the pony!

 Landon had so much fun on the pony that he wanted to ride the big horse as well. He was all smiles the whole time.

Now if I could only get Landon to stop saying "I want to go to...". This is how our conversations have been all day yesterday:
Landon: Mommy! Mommy! MomMY!
Me: Yes Landon?
Landon: I want to go to.
Me: Where do you want to go?
Landon: Horse. Ride.
Me: You want to go on a horse ride?
Landon: Yes! Shoes. Cows. Go car.

I love his one word sentences that I have to piece together! We have this same conversation every day with a different go to place. Yesterday it had been the horses. The day before it was the beach, today it is the park, and I am sure tomorrow it will be the zoo. He always says "I want to go to" and then brings me his shoes. He really thinks that we can just up and go to these things and when I tell him that we can't today or that it is too late and dark outside he throws a fit...gotta love the two year old mind!

The Darndest Things

I had a big oops mommy moment the other day. I was on the computer looking for a Tigger and Pooh video clip for Landon. While I was waiting for the show to finish loading I was playing Minesweeper. When I opened the game Landon said “darn it”. Only I didn’t recognize it as “darn it”. He was saying it over and over again while pointing at the game screen. I still couldn’t figure out what he was saying and continued playing the game. When I struck a mine I said “darn it” out loud. That is when Landon started repeating his “darn it”. I then realized that he heard me say “darn it” the day before while playing. I didn’t realize I had said it, nor did I realize that I had said it every time I hit a mine. I said it so frequently without noticing the day before that Landon thought the name of the game was “darn it!” Oops..bad Mommy! 

While I’m on the subject of Landon talking I want to share just how much of a genius our Landon love is. When I can’t figure out what Landon is saying he will say a word to correlate his unrecognizable word. The other week I asked Landon what he wanted for lunch. He was trying to tell me that he wanted a hot dog. I asked him over and over to repeat himself because I couldn’t understand what he was saying. Instead of getting frustrated with me he decided to say “Mickey Mouse”. I was then able to associate Mickey Mouse with hot dog because Mickey always does the hot dog dance at the end of the show. Complete genius I tell you! Since he worked so hard for his hot dog I then gave him one for lunch. Landon does that a lot when I can’t understand the word that he is saying. He will stop saying the word that he is trying to tell me for a second and think of another word. I swear I can see the little gears in his brain moving every time he takes a second to pause for another word. He always comes up with a word that I can immediately associate with the unrecognizable word. He has done this with a number of words, but the hot dog/Mickey Mouse association has been by far my favorite one!

Hands On Museum

I have wanted to take Landon to the Hands On Museum for a while now. I went ahead and took him and am so glad that I did. Landon had an absolute blast there. We were there for 5 straight hours and I still had to carry Landon out of there kicking and screaming. He did not want to leave. There was so much for Landon to do there. There is even more for older children, but there was no shortage of activities for those ages 3 and under. They had all sorts of different rooms there. Each area had a theme to it. There was the fire station with a fire truck and a fire pole. Landon loved playing on the fire truck. He didn’t want to wear the firemen outfits, but did wear the fire hat. He especially loved the stuffed Dalmatian puppy that was there. He pretended to drive the fire truck and talk through the radio. He even went down the fire pole several times with assistance from me.

Landon also like the police car

Next to the fire station area there was a train table. Landon loved the train table. He could have played with those trains all day long. I think I have a Christmas present idea for him!

What really won Landon over was the ball pit. He went back to the ball pit over and over again. He would jump all over the place in the ball pit. He got a big kick out of hiding from me in there. Whenever I told him that it was time to leave he would run to the ball pit, jump in, and try to hide from me. When I informed him that I could still see him he pretended to be asleep!

Jumping in head first

 Hiding!

 What did you say Mommy? It's time to go?

 Well I can't hear you if I am sleeping!

 Hiding himself again!

Landon also loved the castle that was there with a large assortment of dinosaur toys. Landon is really into dinosaurs right now and sat playing with them for the longest time.

Another toy area that he loved was the vet office. There were numerous stuffed animals that he could line up and play with.

A few other areas that I liked, but Landon was still too young for was the Winn Dixie store, the theater complete with fold down movie theater chairs, and the 50’s diner. I also can’t wait to take Landon back when he is a bit bigger so that we can play wheelchair basketball!

The fun didn’t end when we left the museum. I had to make a quick stop at Michael’s to try to get the last piece needed for Kevin’s costume. They didn’t have what I was looking for, but Landon sure did find something. He made himself right at home with their animal figures. Wherever Landon goes he finds animals to play with. He always does the same thing with them no matter where we are. He lines them all up into a straight line. He does this with all toys. Even at the book store he lined up a bunch of planes and boats that he found in a toy display bin. He’s such a silly boy!

Another (wo)man's Treasure

We have all heard the saying, "one man's trash is another man's treasure". I just never took this phrase seriously. That was until this weekend. Someone was throwing out a child's art desk. I couldn't help but stop and take a look at it. The dry erase board on it was covered in stickers and markers, but the rest of it was in perfect condition. I decided to bring the desk back home and clean it. With a little bit of Goo Gone, a few Clorox wipes, and a lot of elbow grease the desk now looks really nice. I have been wanting to get Landon one for some time, but haven't been able to spend the $90 price tag on one. I am so happy that he now has a place for his art work. Landon loves to color and draw and now he has a proper place to do it at. Landon had the biggest smile on his face and let out the most excited laugh when he saw it. I also had a new large coloring book on top of it for him. I am not going to make dumpster diver into a career, but I will pay closer attention to what is sitting on the side of the dumpster for now on. Who knows what we will find next. While I am waiting for people to drop off more treasures at the dumpster, I will watch Landon enjoy his new coloring desk.