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!

Peanut Butter Mayhem

Landon is able to tell when I am not feeling my best and he takes full advantage of the situation. Remember this post here? Well, today Landon took it one step farther. Seeing how he is now a toddler and no longer a wobbly one year old he can create much larger messes in record time. I was lying down on the couch with a heating pad trying to make my pain go away. Landon took all of his Pooh figures and cars over to the stairs to play. He lines his favorite little toys up on the bottom step daily so I figured he was doing the same thing again today. I wasn't checking in on him because I was in a lot of pain and needed to rest on the couch. About 10 minutes go by when I realized that I wasn't hearing him "talk" to his toys like he normally does. I went to go check on him and was in for a surprise. Landon somehow pulled a jar of peanut butter out from the pantry, opened it, and then proceeded to stick his arm into the jar to eat it. He then decided to paint the stairs and my sister's dog. I couldn't believe it. It was the first time that he has ever done anything like this. Up until today his messes have consisted of dumping q-tips all over the floor and re-arranging the DVDs. he has never pulled a stunt like this. I am now officially the mother of a toddler! The best part of this is that my discharged papers state to "rest in bed and avoid exertion". Doctors are funny people. The doctor who filled out my discharge form definitely was not a mother to a child. I am Landon's sole care giver day in and day out. There is no bed rest and avoidance of exertion. What there is, is my carrying a very happy boy covered in peanut butter up the stairs to the bathtub and then turning around and having to carry a 40 lb dog up the stairs to the tub. I couldn't even get mad at Landon. I was the one who chose to lay down and rest, allowing Landon to play by himself. In a way I was asking for some sort of trouble. When I saw him covered in peanut butter I couldn't help but to smile because Landon had the biggest grin on his face. I had to get a picture of him before I cleaned him up.

This too shall pass

I haven't written in a few days because Landon has been quite the handful and any down time I get I'm not wanting to get onto the computer. Landon has been testing us this past week and I have to keep reminding myself that this too shall pass. Landon has stopped any attempt that he was making with talking and is now whining. He whines about anything and everything. He has even perfected his whine based on his mood and how demanding he wants to be...it can become quite ear piercing. If he wants something he points and whines. He has also somehow forgotten how to do things on his own such as getting down from the couch. He has been able to get himself down from the couch for months now and all of a sudden he's forgotten how (I think he's just being lazy). He will stand up on the couch with his arms outstretched to Kevin or I and just whine in hopes that we will pick him up. If we don't help him down from the couch then he will just sit there whining until we come to help him down. I hope this is only a stage and a very short one at that. Landon has also been perfecting his temper-tantrums and can give any 2 year old a run for their money! If I tell him "no" he will throw himself onto the floor and cry. Another problem we're facing this week is that all Landon wants to do is eat. The problem with that is he refuses to eat most of his solids throughout the day for me and just wants to nurse ALL day long. When I tell him that he's not hungry because he just finished eating he will pull at my shirt and cry. I have tried diverting his attention by getting down on the floor and playing with him, but once again he'll just crawl into my lap, pull at my shirt, and throw a tantrum. If we are out of the house running errands he'll only nurse 3 times a day, but when we are home all day long he expects me to be an open milk bar! Once again I remind myself that this too shall pass and that one day he will be weaned (hopefully before he hits kindergarten!) and completely independent.

I did get out of the house on Wednesday night with my sister Jenn and we attended the Nickelback concert. She bought me a ticket as an early birthday present. It was a lot of fun and I actually enjoyed having a night out. I thought about Landon and Kevin the whole time, but it did feel good to get out for a few hours. My biggest concern about leaving Landon home was that he wouldn't drink any of the pumped milk that I prepared for him. He doesn't know how to drink out of a bottle so Kevin poured it into a sippy cup and he drank 5 ounces without a problem. I guess I was worried about nothing. Kevin even managed to get Landon to bed on time and no crisis happened like I kept imagining would.

Jenn and I at the Nickelback concert

Nickelback performing



Even though Landon has stopped putting effort into walking and talking he has learned a few things. He can sign hungry when he is truly hungry and not just wanting a snack and he can also sign all done if he is finished with his meal. The other week he had crawled down from the couch in the middle of his last feeding and went and stood next to the trashcan. He looked at me and waved for me to come over to him and then signed that he was hungry! He thought I was going to go to him- it was really cute and gave Kevin and I plenty of laughs. Landon has also learned how to brush his hair and his teeth. We had not taught him these things, but I guess he's seen us do it to him enough that he has picked up on it. He will pull his hair brush out of his basket and brush his hair and he will also pull his toothbrush out and brush his teeth. As odd as it sounds his tube of tooth paste is one of his comfort items. He crawls around with is everywhere and even took a nap while holding it the other day, who knows, maybe he is meant to become a dentist!

Yesterday I was putting a load of laundry into the washer and Landon went into his bedroom to play. I thought he was going to play with his piano or rocking horse, but he had other ideas. When I finished loading the washer I realized that Landon was being really quiet- never a good thing! I walk into his room and soon discovered why. He had pulled all of his q-tips (all 300 of them) out of their container and was playing with them all over the floor. When I walked in he shot me the biggest smile! He had so much fun with those darn q-tips that I had to take pictures of it.




Landon just woke from his nap so I must get off of here and go tend to him. I will post more updates soon.