Annual Allergist Visit

Landon had his yearly allergist appointment this morning. I don't know why I always go in there with a small part of me hoping that I'll be told that he is no longer allergic to milk. I always go in there thinking that there is a small chance of that happening even though I know better. Not only did Landon not outgrow his milk allergy, but it became significantly worse yet again- to the point of the test being stopped half way through because of  how positive the reaction already was. This seems to be the trend. 

Several months back Landon had a severe contamination reaction at a smoothie place. His smoothie didn't contain any milk and the blender used to make his smoothie was sterilized (or so we were told). Landon took a sip of his smoothie and immediately started grabbing for his throat saying that it hurt him. Just a few seconds later he was throwing up everywhere and still complaining of his throat hurting. When I told his allergist this she told me that this was a severe contamination reaction. We now not only have to make sure that milk is not an ingredient on the food labels, but we also have to make sure that it wasn't made on the same machinery as milk containing items. It looks like we're back to a very restricted diet. If Landon doesn't outgrow this allergy within this next year, then it is very unlikely that he will. Every time he is exposed to milk then we reduce his chances of outgrowing this. I am always extremely careful about what Landon eats, but now I have to try to get it through to others what we are dealing with. I hate that Landon's meals aren't always in my control. Not everyone takes his allergy seriously and now we have to be even more careful about not feeding Landon food that came into contact with a milk containing food. 

As disappointed as I always am leaving the allergist I am also so incredibly thankful that this is all we really have to deal with. Landon's allergist is located at Nemours Children's Hospital. Most of the children there have serious disabilities and are so incredibly sick. I thank my lucky stars that my Landon is able to walk out of there with just a food allergy to worry about rather than being wheeled out in a wheel chair or walking with braces. I get a big smile on my face whenever he runs out of the elevator and bolts for the train display. My boy is able to walk away from there running and most of those parents can't say the same thing. I consider myself lucky that a milk allergy is all that I have to deal with along with the occasional asthma and other allergies because it could be a lot worse.

Ice Cream Dramatics

There are times when Landon says or does things that should make me want to correct his behavior, but I can't do so because I am too busy laughing. Today was one of those times. Landon started asking for ice cream (raspberry sorbet) at 8 a.m. He continued to request for ice cream every couple of minutes for four hours. Around noon he became tired of hearing my repeated "no" response and threw himself on the floor while screaming, "I"m tired of this!" I should have corrected him right then and there, but I was too busy laughing. He was so dramatic. I guess I say "I'm tired of _____" far too often. I usually tell Landon that I am tired of his bad behavior or that I am tired of his attitude. I guess Landon was tired of my repeated denials of his request.

After lunch Landon was finally allowed to have his ice ream. I was hoping he'd take a nap afterwards. Last night was brutal. He awoke just as I was heading to bed at 1:30 a.m. due to having a nightmare and allergy issues. He didn't go back to sleep until 5:00 a.m. and was ready to start the day just two hours later. I don't know how he had so much energy today with such little sleep.

The long night I had with Landon did make me realize that those late night cartoons are on for a reason. I never understood why cartoons were on at 3 a.m. I mean what child is up watching Caillou all night long? I had a new appreciation for those cartoons last night. The cable channels were one step ahead of me and have those cartoons there for when kids are up sick or can't sleep because of nightmares. I am glad that I was watching the cartoons with him or else there may have been a big misunderstanding. At one point Landon said, "Look Mommy. Caillou is playing cocaine." That caught my attention real quick. Thankfully, Caillou was not a drug addict and was actually playing croquet. At least he was able to give me a good laugh at that hour of the night/morning.

Ringling Brothers Circus

The circus recently came through town and I decided to take Landon. He kept talking about it for weeks from all of the fliers and radio commercials that were promoting it. I didn't tell Landon that we were going until the night before once all of the details were finalized. He went to bed at 6:30 that night because he was so excited to be waking up for "circus day" as he kept calling it. Once I received the phone call that Jenn was on her way to pick us up Landon ran outside. He sat in his car seat in the driveway for almost ten minutes waiting for them to pull up. I have never seen Landon this excited over anything before.

I remember going to the circus as a child, but it's a whole different experience watching the circus through the eyes of your child. Landon was completely mesmerized by every single act.

He clapped after each act and he even danced in the aisles in front of our seats.

The only downfall was the evening showtime. It meant that Landon conked out at intermission. I couldn't wake him no matter what I tried. He just can't seem to stay up late no matter how much fun he is having.

We all had a great night out. Although if you ask Jenn you may give a different answer. She has a severe case of Coulrophobia, a fear of clowns, and spent the entire clown performance hiding. She has even been known to cry when she comes across a clown face to face. She has a true fear of them, but sucked it up for Landon to enjoy his first circus experience. Thank you TT!

Rewards Chart

I mentioned the other day that Landon was driving me nuts with his whole throwing a role of toilet paper into the dirty toilet every single day thing. I finally decided that it was time for a rewards chart. With Landon only being three I decided to just put three areas that I would like him to improve in on the chart. This week his weaknesses are, first and foremost, the toilet paper nonsense, followed by brushing his teeth (he doesn't understand why he has to brush them more than once a day and will usually say, "But Mooommy, I already brushed my teeth today), and lastly dressing himself. I'm not expecting a miracle in the dressing department either. He has to at least attempt to put his own underwear and pants on. I will gladly help him with his shirts, but he is more than capable of the rest. Every day that he completes these three goals he will get a check mark underneath the task. At the end of the week, if there are 21 checks on the board, then he will receive a reward. He's been begging me for a new Hot Wheels car (apparently the bazillion of them he received on Christmas weren't enough) so I think a new Hot Wheels car will be his first reward. I'm seeing a trip to Dollar Tree in my immediate future. I'll pick up a few different items so that I have rewards on hand for several weeks worth at a time. The rewards will always be small things: cars, coloring books, reading books, craft items, just random things that I know he will enjoy. Today was the first day of the chart and so far it has worked like a charm. He insists on putting a check down each and every time he successfully completes his goals. He currently has five check marks under the spot where he goes without putting toilet paper into the toilet. I think he's trying to rush through the first set of twenty one checks. The rewards chart is very simple and the drawings are horrendous, but Landon enjoys it and was able to make out what the drawings were so that is all that counts. It's also made him on his best behavior all day today. He fears that I will erase his checks whenever he is bad so he's been stopping his bad behavior as soon as he realizes that he's doing something wrong and quickly apologizes before I can even correct him on it. I'm thinking the rewards chart will be around for a long time to come.

I was contemplating a chores chart, but so far Landon is always eager to help out with things around the house. So far chores aren't looked at as chores by him, but more of a fun way to help Mommy out. He's always leaving Tinkerbell outside whenever she stands by the back door and he jumps at the chance to fill up her water bowl. That's one of my favorite things to watch him do. Whenever he hears Tink paw at her empty water bowl he always tells her, "Alright. Alright. I hear you. I'm coming." He then carries her little water bowl into the bathroom, fills it up with water, and walks it back into the kitchen with minimal spillage. Landon is also in charge of putting his underwear, socks, and pajamas away in his dresser drawers. They don't always stay folded when he puts them away, but he always puts them into the correct drawers so I don't say anything to him when he just tosses them in there. He always jumps at the chance to mop and vacuum the floors and he is learning how to properly fold the clothes, but that has been a slow learning process. He's always responsible for taking his own plate to the sink after every meal and has to put his toys away once he's done playing with them. Since Landon does all of these eagerly every day, I didn't see the need of a chore chart. Maybe I will re-address that once he is a little older. For now the rewards chart seems to be the perfect fit for us.

Yo Ho Ho!

Have you ever been at the store and you see a child wearing a crazy outfit when it is nowhere near Halloween time? You've probably thought to yourself, "Why does that mother allow her child to go out dressed in such a manner?" Well, my friends, I am that mother and Landon is that child. He is often going around dressed as a pirate or as Woody. Some days it's just not worth the fight to make him change out of his dress up clothes. It's also the only way that he is guaranteed to keep clothing on during the day. If he's not dressed up in a costume, then he is most likely running around without any clothing on. I figure it's better to have him going to the store in a costume rather than him attempting to take his pants off in the middle of the store aisle because they are "bothering" him, which he has tried to do on more than one occasion!

Shopping as a pirate- that's just how we roll.

Growing Up

This morning Landon poured his own glass of orange juice with only one minor spill. He even cut his own alligator pancake with a cookie cutter. I'm thinking I'm pretty much useless these days! He did all of this without assistance because he was tired of waiting for me. I was busy showering so that we could start our day and Landon decided that he was still hungry and took matters into his own hands. It's looking like I can stay in bed while Landon prepares his own breakfast for now on!

He's becoming better and better at dressing himself as well. I guess my little boy really is growing up. Now if only he could break a few of his bad habits before turning four. Especially the whole dumping the entire roll of toilet paper into the toilet every single day. I really could live without that happening. No matter where I place the toilet paper (in the cabinet, on top of the sink, on top of the towel rack) he always manages to get a hold of it and throw the entire thing into the toilet. I'm ready to turn to bribery. I'm thinking if he goes a week without throwing the toilet paper into the toilet then I will allow him to buy a new Hot wheels car. A $1 car is a whole lot cheaper than seven rolls of toilet paper. Maybe it is time for a rewards/ chore chart.

Florida Sunshine

Only in Florida can you go around in pants and short sleeves and wish that you had thought to put on a pair of shorts in mid January. It was such a beautiful day outside today. I wasn't expecting an 80 degree day today. We've been taking full advantage of our weather lately by spending most of our time outdoors. We spent today playing soccer, jumping on the trampoline, and playing in the sand box.

Days like today make me never want to leave Florida. Unfortunately, today reminded me that the hot days of summer are right around the corner.

Landon's Day Through Pictures

The unexpected gifts always turn out to be the best ones. Landon received a toy camera for Christmas. It was something that he has never seen or played with before and I had only seen the commercial for it once and never mentioned it to anyone thinking it wasn't something Landon would particularly want. Boy was I wrong. This camera is actually more camera and less toy. It takes pictures and videos. You can record sound to descibe your picture afterwards and it even has frames and stickers that you can place onto the pictures. You can even turn the pictures into memory and puzzle games on the camera. I love looking through the pictures that Landon takes to see what he found to be picture worthy throughout the day. Here's a few of his pictures from yesterday:

Mommy the pirate

 Chuck

 Tinkerbell the Bucaneer

 

 Kota

 Berries- he always picks these and places them in his pockets every day when we pass them. I don't know what his obsession is over these things.

 A bag of leaves. He even back tracked when he realized that he forgot to take a picture of them!

 A fallen tree

I come across many random photos on his camera. These were just a sampling of today's randomness! I can't wait to take Landon back to the zoo to see what he deems photo worthy there. The only thing that is confusing Landon is the fact that his camera is not a touchscreen. I guess that's a sign of the times! He's insisting that it should be because he's used to Mommy's camera and Daddy's phone camera being touchscreen.

Dreaming of You

Last night Landon was having trouble sleeping. I have to hand it to him, his excuse was a good one. He told me, "I'm busy dreaming so I can't sleep. I'm dreaming about you. I'm dreaming about 'I love you'. That's why I can't sleep." He sure does know how to kiss up!

I love all of the silly little things that Landon says these days. This morning he said, "Oh no Mommy! Call the police. My monkey has a broken nose." His sock monkey had a string come out and now one nostril is no longer. Landon is convinced that any indoor "emergency" is for the police to handle and anything outdoors is reserved for the firemen. I use the term "emergency" loosely. As you can see, Landon thinks that a pulled string is considered an emergency that warrants the attention of the police department. He asks for me to call the police whenever one of his toys breaks. He also thinks that firemen can solve any outdoor issue. There was a spider on our tree and he wanted me to call them to remove it. He actually became rather frustrated with me when I explained to him that I couldn't call the fire department to remove a spider off of the tree.

Cows Love Chicken!

I have always told Landon "I love you like pigs love pies." It's been something that I have said to him ever since he was an infant. It came from a bed time book that I recite to him nightly. He usually responds with "I love you thiiiiiis much" and he stretches his arms out really wide. The other night he responded with "I love you like cows love chicken!" Yeah, some little boy goes to Chick-fil-a a lot and always has chicken and cows on the brain!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! I'm not one to make New Year's resolutions, but there is one thing that I would like to work on. It's remebering that the days are long, but the years are short. Day to day life may seem to drag on, but I have to remind myself that the years fly by. Looking back on the past couple of years I don't remember in great detail the sleepless nights or the tantrums. I do, however, remeber how small Landon once was and now I have a growing boy right before my eyes. In a blink of an eye he has grown. The daily struggles are nothing in comparison to how short the years really are. I just need to remind myself that when Landon has a fit over the smallest things, such as my entering the room ahead of him which was the cause for his tantrum this morning. He wanted to be the "winner". I was unaware that a race was even occuring. We were both walking into the kitchen for some milk and the next thing I knew Landon was screaming and crying because I made him a "loser". Moments like these can make a day feel so incredibly long, but I have to remind myself that I won't even remember those moments several years from now.

Landon did manage to pick out his entire outfit without me even asking him to get dressed the other day. He even topped it off with a winter hat for some reason (it was 70 some degrees outside!) and then requested to have his picture taken. He insisted on doing a little pose for the picture. He's such a ham! I'm hoping this is a sign that he'll be getting himself dressed this coming year. Although I'm in no rush for that. I'm sure there will come a day when I miss dressing him just like there are times when I actually miss diaper changes. Yes, I know....I may be a little crazy, but I really do miss diaper changes at times. I hope everyone has an amazing 2012. I have a feeling it's going to be one of my best years yet!