Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all! 

At a loss for words

I haven't been able to sleep through the night since Friday. I'm not able to wrap my head around the Sandy Hook tragedy. 26 lives lost. 20 innocent children just 6-7 years old. It's unimaginable and yet it happened. Landon has spent every night since in my bed. I'm glad he's out on Christmas break because I just don't know if I could allow him at school right now otherwise. Him leaving my sight right now just isn't an option. I've always hugged and kissed him and told him how much I loved him a thousand times a day, but somehow I have upped that. I just can't imagine the horror of sending my child off to school to receive news that he was gunned down that very day. I have never been so happy to scrub vomit off of the carpet at 4 a.m. as I was yesterday morning. At least my child was alive and able to create such a mess throughout the night. Life will never be thought of in the same way. And those poor children who survived. Who witnessed others being gun downed. Their innocence completely lost. Life as they knew it, life as being children is over for them as well. They may have survived this horrific incident, but they did not make it out unharmed. I just can't imagine....

I'm going to continue to hug my Landon Love a little longer and a little tighter. 

Letter to Santa

Landon wrote his Christmas list for Santa a few weeks back. I guess chocolate milk was on his mind because it made his list! A few days after writing this my sister asked him what he wanted for Christmas and he responded with "bags and bags of chocolate milk." He acts like I deprive him of chocolate milk or something! I wonder what he'll do if he actually winds up with a large box filled with chocolate milk. The other items that made his list were a new puppy (so not happening), a train table, Hulk, Thor and Captain America talking action figures. His wants were relatively simple this year. He did mark just about every page in the Toys R Us Big Book, but when it came time to write his list only these items made the "really want" cut. He informed me that everything else in the book was just a "kind of want". Landon is so excited for Christmas this year and I can't wait too see his face come Christmas morning. 

Fall Catch Up

This will be one more picture filled post to finish playing catch up from fall. Landon had his first field trip to a pumpkin patch. He was so excited to ride on an actual school bus. He was also excited to wear the shirt that he made in class just for the occasion. 

We went to another pumpkin patch as well. It was one with a large corn maze, hay rides, and farm animals. Landon had a lot of fun there as well. He has been really attached to a toy dog of his ever since Tink died. It's been two months and just this morning he took the toy with us to the store. We know it's his way of coping with things, but I'm starting to worry about his constant need for this toy dog. He's even talking about buying it a dog toy/present from PetSmart for Christmas. These next few pictures will show you just how attached he has been to Scout (the toy dog). 

Here he is during our Thanksgiving dinner:

 He made a Pilgrim and an Indian hat at school and wanted to wear both of them throughout the course of dinner.

 We ended the evening with a cake fight and Landon lost! 

Halloween 2012

Landon was Batman for Halloween. I was hoping he'd go with a different character because he's dressed as Batman every single day, but there was no changing his mind. He really did make a cute Batman though and stayed in character most of the night. And an added bonus- Landon went around for almost half an hour before asking to go home to bed. Maybe next year we'll complete an entire neighborhood before he realizes that it's past bedtime. 

 Landon couldn't decide between a cat pumpkin and a bat pumpkin so we made both. 

Pumpkin Patch 2012

I love fall because it means that we can go to the pumpkin patch. This year was our 5th annual visit to the pumpkin patch. Previous ones can be found here, here, here, and here. I love looking back and comparing Landon's pictures that are taken on the same props year after year. 

If they ever get rid of this tractor, then I may just cry! 

And in typical Landon fashion....

I'm Back!

I've taken a little hiatus from blogging. We lost our precious Tinkerbell over a month ago and it's been incredibly hard. I've been putting off blogging because I didn't want to have to think about this blog in particular, but I knew there was no way I could blog without mentioning her passing. She was such a huge part of our lives that there was no escaping this post. We're taking it one day at a time and getting through it the best that we can. 

On to a happier subject, Landon is reading now. He's been able to read simple words like "dog", "cat", "tree", "stop", short three to four letter words for about a year now. But that was due to him memorizing them. Now he's actually sounding out unfamiliar words to unfamiliar stories all on his own. I'm such a proud mommy! He also learned how to spell and write his last name which was no easy feat. He's becoming so smart and my heart just swells with pride. At night time he will be laying in bed and start singing himself to sleep by singing all of the songs that he has learned at school, in Spanish no less. He always ends his nighttime singing with reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. I never get tired of hearing him say that. School has really opened him up. Landon now has full conversations with complete strangers when we are out and about. He used to be really shy around people, especially other kids, but now he goes right up to everyone and talks a mile a minute. I know him being so excited about meeting new people and talking to strangers isn't always a good thing so he is fully aware of "stranger danger", but I love how outgoing he has become. 

Soccer season has come to an end. Landon loved playing. He can't wait for the next season to start back up.  I was kind of wanting him to try out t-ball, but he cried at the mention of it. I wanted him to try different sports to see what one really caught his interest. I figured now was the right time and age to get him try different things, but he wants no part of it. He only wants to play soccer so I guess soccer will be starting back up come January. 

 

A Little Catch Up

Soccer is in full swing and Landon is loving every minute of it. It took him two games to come out of his shell, but he scored two goals his last game. 

The past couple of weeks have been filled with sickness. Landon had a really bad stomach virus for a week and a half and then followed that up with a bad cold. We've been down and out for a couple of weeks now. I managed to not catch the stomach virus, but this cold has hit me hard. Landon was upset over the fact that he was sick yet again so I tried cheering him up by doing a couple of nice things for him. I baked him a cake, cleaned his room, and assembled all of his dinosaurs for him. Those simple little things made him very happy and it reminded me that sometimes the little gestures mean more than the grand ones. 

 

Landon is doing really well in school. He's learning Spanish and sign language. I love hearing about his day. He now knows all of the colors and the days of the week in Spanish. He also learned the Pledge of Allegiance. He's learning so much more than I ever thought he would in pre-school. His first field trip is coming up, which he is looking forward to. 

School and Soccer

The first two weeks of pre-school have come to an end. The first couple of days were a bit touch and go on whether Landon liked going. He would say that he had fun and would tell everyone that he wanted to go back, but he would come up to me as "Batman" to tell me otherwise. Batman would tell me that Landon didn't like going to school because it was "soooo long" and he missed his Mommy. I made sure to give Batman extra hugs on those days. Even if he said those things at nighttime, by the time we pulled into the school parking lot he was all smiles and shouting "yay yay yay" over and over again. I think it was just an adjustment for him those first couple of days. This is the first time Landon has ever spent any amount of time without an immediate family member caring for him. I think it also helps that Landon's best friend was able to get into the same class as him so he has a familiar face while at school. Plus, he's only there for three hours a day so he knows that he'll be back home shortly. His teachers tell me great things about him every afternoon at pick up. He listens well, he cleans up after himself and others, and he seems to always be on his best behavior while at school. I love hearing those reports. He may misbehave at times at home, but what four year old doesn't? The feedback I receive from his teachers reassures me that Landon is receiving the proper guidance and discipline from home. He knows how to behave and he knows how to respect authority. Yes, he may push my buttons or Kevin's buttons, but he definitely knows how to be on his best behavior while he's out of our care. 

This week was also Landon's first week of soccer practice. I was a little nervous just because I didn't know how it would be coaching a bunch of four year olds, let alone my own child. Things went well and I'm looking forward to this soccer season. Landon had so much fun and is asking every day if today is soccer day. I can't wait until his first game when he's in his uniform! 

Alligator Fun

We recently went to the Alligator Farm and Landon had a blast. That morning I watched as Landon started pulling all of his clothing out of his dresser drawers. I asked him what he was doing and he told me that he was looking for his alligator shirt. The only one he had was becoming too small so I placed it in a bin to donate. He was adamant about wearing his alligator shirt to see the alligators so I had to unpack it for him. We couldn't pull into a parking spot fast enough. Landon asked to get out of the car as we were still driving looking around for a place to park. He was so excited and the thought of waiting to park the car was just too much for him to handle! He ran to the first exhibit while yelling "come on guys" to those of us left behind in his dust.

Landon was able to pet a baby alligator. He then found out that he could hold that same alligator. His eyes lit up at the thought of it. That was, until he was informed that he was too small to hold the alligator all by himself. Landon was so offended by that, but his Uncle Matt came to his rescue and stepped up to the plate. I was going to hold it with him, but the second the thing was brought out of the cage and its head whipped around at me I screamed and stepped back. I knew right then that I wasn't a good candidate to hold its head. I took the picture instead from a safe distance away.

This baby alligator made Matt think that he could take on a 12 1/2 foot, 650 pound alligator. He paid money to potentially lose an arm or leg. Completely ridiculous, but he was Landon's hero for the remainder of the day. Matt made it out alive and Landon's first words to him were "Can I go down there now?" I think not, Landon! 

Once we saw all of the exhibits, we had to go around for a second time for Landon to lead us on an expedition with his binoculars!

First Day of Pre-K

Landon's first day of school was today. He did so well and kept telling me that he was going to be brave. And brave he was. He didn't shed a single tear. Me, not so much. I thought he was going to have a complete meltdown based on his reaction the night before, but he did really well when it came time for me to leave his classroom. The night before I made Landon cupcakes to celebrate the summer coming to an end. I invited one of his friends over to enjoy the cupcakes as well.

I then read a book to him that was read to me when I was a child. I love that this book was saved over the years and that I was able to share it with Landon. It was during this story that Landon became hesitant about going to school. In the story the mama bear leaves her bear cub at school. Landon realized at that very moment that I would actually be leaving him in his classroom with just his classmates and teacher. Before that point, he believed that I would be in class with him. The second I read that sentence his mouth dropped and his eyes grew wide. I reassured him that I would be back in just a couple of hours to pick him up and he promised to be brave. He made good on his promise and I of course made good on mine and came to pick him up.

 

 Landon was all smiles before leaving. I had a hard time containing his excitement.

 

 

I think this may just be the cutest backpack ever!

Random Pictures

This is going to be a post of several random pictures just because. I came across this little set up in the living room and it gave me a smile:

I would love to get into Landon's head one day. He has quite the imagination. I had him explain to me why the rhino was being surrounded by bugs and crayons. He said that the rhino was bad and the bugs were keeping him in his cage. Sounds good to me!

Back to school sales are always a great time to re-stock our arts and crafts supplies. I stocked up on crayons, colored pencils, markers, glue sticks, those sorts of things.  I organized Landon's desk and topped it with a couple of new coloring books and some drawing paper. Ever since, Landon has been spending much of his time coloring and drawing. I came across these pictures one night while I was picking up his room:

A snake slithering through bushes

 A giraffe eating from a tree

 A lion