Fireman Sam

We have always had a pretty conservative view towards babies watching tv, and haven't allowed Landon to watch very much at all. Until a few weeks ago. From birth to 15 months old, Landon probably watched his Baby Einstein Beethoven video about ten times total. But in the last few weeks, the combination of 20 degree temperatures, cabin fever, and in some cases unfortunately, very real fevers, has led us to relax our stance a bit.

With Phillip home on vacation, us snowed in from time to time, and no Little Gym classes over the holiday, we have had a few long days. Enter PBS's "Fireman Sam" show for preschoolers. Would you like to hear the opening song? Phillip and I can both sing it forwards and backwards!

Each show is only 10 minutes, but Landon has very happily settled into a daily schedule of watching a show or two in that witching hour between dinner and bed. Of course, he will grab one of our hands, take us over to the remote, then point to the tv a few other times during the day as well. Think this one is going to be hard to take away after Christmas break is over!

Up until today, Phillip and I thought that Landon just enjoyed the colors and the music. Turns out that the little fella has been following the plot! Today he surprised us both by bursting into his infectious giggles during two different scenes, both of them "uh-oh oops" moments in the show. We felt like we were watching a sitcom with another adult! Think we will hold off on the sitcoms for awhile though :)

One Man Comedy Act

Any day now, I expect Landon to tell me that he is hitting the road with his one-man comedy act, or that he has signed up to participate on Fox's latest variety show. Our little one loves to perform! He will ham it up for anyone that will watch or listen, and he has some very enthusiastic viewers (his parents)!

This morning he took charge of the Bose remote, then proceeded to go down our I-tunes playlist...doing a different little dance to each song. Al Greene's "Let's Stay Together" got a slow back and forth sway. Johnny Cash's "I Walk the Line" got a right-foot stomp. Jack Johnson's "Girl I Wanna" got a series of spins. I can't think of a better way to spend a snowed-in morning.

By afternoon all three of us had cabin fever. We braved the roads out of our neighborhood, then took off on the main roads (which were all cleared) to do a little after Christmas shopping at the mall. This included a stop at Stride Rite to find some new shoes for Landon; this little one has some stompers! Every time I do laundry I have to double-check the socks, because I get his and mine confused! Luckily, mine don't have non-slip grippers on the bottom.

But, back to my story. Stride Rite is not a fun place to go normally - the employees are grossly outnumbered by rambunctious kids and the weary parents trying to round them up. Landon seemed to sense this, so when the store clerk tried to measure his feet, he turned it into a game, moving his foot at the last second and laughing hysterically.

We could not get him to put his foot on the sizer (technical term) for anything, but all three of us couldn't help but laugh along with Landon - he was having such a good time messing with the clerk. Finally, Phillip convinced him to keep his foot still and the clerk was able to check his size. I think that a toddler laughing at/with him is much better than a toddler crying at him!

Let it Snow!

Late in the day on Christmas, we started getting beautiful, big flakes of snow. Christmas scene complete!

The next morning after some yummy blueberry muffins for breakfast, we went out to explore the winter wonderland with Landon. I was amazed how well he navigated through 6+ inches of snow...especially in his new snow boots! Once he got acclimated to the wintry scene, he took off sprinting towards his friends already playing outside.

I can't wait to go out with he and Phillip again tomorrow! Hopefully the snow will compact a bit more and he can go sledding down the hill again. He seemed pretty happy today on his first snow sled ride; somehow I held back and did NOT sing Jingle Bells. It was hard though. Don't want to embarrass the little guy in front of his friends!

Family Man

Landon LOVED the past week! And it wasn't all of the Christmas presents under the tree. It was creating memories with friends and family. The little guy had us "awwwing", tearing up, and laughing...every day brought a new surprise.

Like the time he reached over his high-chair tray and gave me a minute-long hug; wrapping his chubby hands around my neck, then patting my back.

Or the time he ran away in the middle of a diaper change, then casually went and stood in front of my sister, and subtly lifted his shirt up in order to moon her! You wouldn't believe the comic timing on this one!

Or the time he happened upon our family Christmas card, pointed out each of us in the picture, then clutched the picture against his chest and swooned from side to side.

Even the time he found one of my own paintings in the laundry room and brought it out to put it back in its place on the wall, where hours before I had replaced it with a new painting (from a real artist) I received for Christmas.

What a sweet, sweet little angel he was to the whole family! We couldn't have wished for a better Christmas...and a white Christmas at that!

Ho Ho Holidays!

Landon is eating up all this Christmas spirit! And when I say eating...I mean literally! He has said the word "cookie" about 432 times this week, and the last two mornings Phillip and I had to ask Landon to lay down flat on the floor while he's getting dressed - just so that we could zip his pants up!

We are so happy to have Phillip home with us for the next few weeks. Landon especially realizes that it's an extra special treat to have his Dad home during the day, so he has been giving him lots of lovey hugs, free pats on the back included!

And I'm soaking up every second of this Christmas; I promised myself that I would slow down and enjoy every precious memory, instead of thinking about the future, and planning ahead as I normally do.

Every time I walk into a room and find that Landon has abandoned his red Radio Flyer bike in the middle of the room, I am overwhelmed with emotion. For some reason that scene just reverberates family, love and the holidays to me.

Of course, I am also overwhelmed with emotion because Landon's bike so perfectly matches this year's Christmas color-scheme. What can I say, can't change who you are!

Boys Will Be Boys!

Landon is giving me such an interesting look into the brain of boys! I see him do something, and then I realize that so many behaviors must really be instinctual and based on our DNA makeup - if not, why would my precious son act SO MUCH like a monkey, or a gorilla, depending on his mood!

One of Landon's new favorite activities, as he explores the jungle that is our home: climbing onto the kitchen or dining table, then grabbing onto the chandelier. And sometimes swinging. Just a little thing to pass the time.

Big check in the monkey behavior box.

Yesterday I asked him if he wanted to go upstairs and take a bath. When we got upstairs, he tried to open the door of his bathroom, but could not. He put his weight into it and gave it a nice push, but nothing happened.

He slowly started walking backwards (another favorite), and continued walking backwards all the way into the guest room, whose door is directly opposite the bathroom door. I thought he wandered in there to look at something else, when all of a sudden, he ran out at full speed and slammed into the bathroom door - SWAT style!!! I couldn't help but burst out laughing - he wasn't even phased; just gave the door an "aw shucks" look and wandered off.

Big check in the gorilla behavior box.

It's rough out there - watch yourself in the concrete jungle!

Snowed In!

Today we had snow and freezing rain, so Landon and I spent a lazy day inside enjoying the Christmas decorations and music...here are some pictures!

My favorite is the one where he is showing his "swagger"....laaaaaid back on his tricycle!

Nope, I Can't!

Today Landon did the funniest thing. He and I were Christmas shopping in one of my favorite boutiques, when another customer in the store that I was chatting with offered up the idea that Landon could go play with her two children in the play kitchen set up in the back of the store for kids. Since we were the only customers in there and I knew the store owner, I felt comfortable letting Landon play on his own...but I wasn't sure that the toys would hold his attention...knowing that I have a climbing, adventurous son.

Landon and I walked back there with the other Mom and she introduced her children - all of them were fast friends and played together nicely. For about two minutes! I had stayed by to watch Landon and see if he would stay put, but sadly the stockroom and the store office proved too tempting for him and he ran off to explore.

I grabbed him up and walked back over to the children and told Landon to tell them that it was nice to meet them, but that he was going to stay in the front of the store with me. When the four year-old boy asked me why, I said "well, Landon isn't responsible enough yet to stay here with the toys and play; he's not as old and mature as you are!".

As I was halfway through the sentence (past the responsible part), Landon solemnly shook his head slowly from side-to-side, as if he was saddened to admit that "nope, I can't do it". The other Mom and I thought it was pretty funny! She was cracking up at Landon's antics!

Mr. Independent

Landon is very much in the middle of a very important developmental stage - the one where he is fully aware that he is his own person, with his own wishes, and ability to decide on his own actions. Phillip and I are also in a very important developmental stage - the one where we have to transition to disciplinary roles occasionally!

These days, everything with Landon is about "I". As in "I did it", "I do", "I know". It is so cute to see him congratulate himself, celebrate himself, or assert himself...of course sometimes he's so cute that I need a Mommy time-out.

Last night at dinner after he threw his milk on the floor for the upteenth time, I said to him: "Landon, we do not throw our food in this household". I even used my serious voice! He looked me straight in the eye and said, "I do". Touche little one, you do indeed!

Good thing that we are introducing him to some new activities to help divert all of his new learning! Yesterday we took him on his first museum trip to our local kids museum, and he had a blast exploring all of the stations. His favorites were the water station, the submarine science lab and the ambulance and hospital center. I think we will be spending a lot of time there over the next few years - and the fact that it's only a few blocks from both of Raleigh's Krispy Kremes has nothing to do with that decision!

Note: no turtles were harmed in the taking of these pictures!

Little Drummer Boy

Landon is overflowing with holiday spirit! And no wonder; I think that's what happens when you live life in a winter wonderland! Snow on the ground, Christmas carols playing on the i-pod, fresh greenery all over the house, red and green m&ms in the candy jar...you get the picture.

Which all explains why I found Landon using two of his Dad's drumsticks to play a drum solo on the glass ornaments on the Christmas tree! He thought it was very funny when I called him "The Little Drummer Boy", and really he did look quite sweet. My ornaments somehow escaped intact as well!

After this adventure, I decided to log online and buy him a musical instrument from Santa - I don't think we can handle drums yet, but I did buy him a lovely wooden tambourine!

Here are some pictures that should have published with the last post as well...

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

This Saturday we hosted a tree trimming party at our house to kick off the holiday season. Good thing that the snow I ordered for the party arrived just in time! We basically had a Currier and Ives day: the family choosing a Christmas tree in the snow, relaxing by the fire with eggnog and champagne, chatting with friends and munching on all sorts of goodies!

Landon loved the snow, but was even more excited when his friend Steele came over for the festivities. The two of them grabbed some snacks, snuggled up into a beanbag, and sat in front of the fire watching a Christmas cartoon. Landon was so overcome with holiday spirit that he kept leaning into Steele and hugging her with the sheer joy of the night - snow, a party with adults, and watered-down cranberry juice (with a raspberry for garnish!) in his sippy cup. Aah, it's the holidays!

I'm Going Pro!

Wow, Little Gym used to be a fun place for Landon and I to meet new friends, have some special bonding time, and get a little bit of exercise. Now, we are rubbing shoulders with celebrities!

This week we went to the Tuesday class to make-up for some missed classes while we were out of town, and guess who was there? Eric Staal...Carolina Hurricanes player and Stanley Cup winner!

Landon was playing with his son, and kept trying to get Mrs. Staal to pick him up because he thought she was pretty, when I noticed that his Dad looked familiar to me. As soon as I heard him say "eh", I knew it was the Canadian hockey star! Who also seems to be a very soft-spoken and attentive Dad!

Who knows, maybe all this Little Gym stuff is legit, and we are building an athletic foundation for our kids. Maybe there is a future Stanley cup winner in our Little Gym class? Of course, it's probably baby Staal, but maybe Landon can pick up some tips!

Curious Landon

This is Landon. He is a good little boy and always very curious. Yesterday Landon and the lady with the curly hair were at the UPS store. They were mailing some care packages to their cousins away at college and in the marine corps.

Inside the UPS store there were many things for a little boy to explore. The lady with the curly hair told Landon to stay nearby, but since there was no other customers in the store for him to talk or play with, Landon decided he wanted to run around and see everything.

One corner of the store had sparkling mailboxes with numbers and letters on them. Landon wanted to see if he could open them; he could not. Then, Landon noticed several large bags of something that looked like snow. He walked over to them - they were so tall! Six feet tall each, and stacked up on top of each other too!

The lady with the curly hair told Landon to only look, and not touch the snow-filled bags. But Landon couldn't resist! He gave the bag closest to him a huge shove, and then all of sudden, all of the bags of snow came toppling down on him!

For a second, Landon was scared. But then he realized that the lady with the curly hair caught the bags before they fell on him! She showed him that they were actually feather-light, and filled with something called "styrofoam peanuts" that the UPS men used to fill boxes before they mailed them.

The lady with the curly hair apologized to the UPS men, who thought that Landon was a very big helper, as they had meant to move those bags for quite awhile. So it turned out that Landon saved the day! And he was very happy. And the lady with the curly hair needed a cocktail. The End.

Gobble, Gobble

I think that Landon may share my love for the holidays. He certainly embraced every event, get-together and meal that we shared with family and friends over the last week!

We headed down to my Mother's house on Tuesday, and were amazed at the weather - 78 degrees! Holidays at the beach are always interesting; you never know what you will get. Some years it is freezing, and some years it is warm enough for shorts!

Phillip and I both got together with friends on Tuesday night, and on Wednesday we had a playdate with Josi and Ian, and all of Landon's "aunties" - my best friends for the past two decades. Highlights of the day: Josi trying to catch a ride on Landon's bike, the kids (and us) chomping down on Julie's pumpkin dessert, and Ian and Landon doing some hip-hop dancing!

Wednesday night we had dinner at Bridgetender, and Landon felt very special because we let him stay up past his bedtime and he could watch the boats while he ate.

Thursday brought the traditional dinner with the family, and Landon loved all of the attention and goodies that his aunts and grandmother gave him!

This weekend we celebrated with Phillip's family; another dinner, plus college football! Since we have three boys aged two and under between the two brother's families, we headed outside for some playtime at the local park. The boys ran around, made friends, threw a football...and sometimes helped us watch the babies! Ha ha, actually the whole family loved the fresh air and the chance to stretch our legs; what a nice way to end a week of eating!

Ice, Ice Baby!

Watch yourselves on the dance floor people - Landon has a new dance move! And I mean literally watch yourselves, his elbows are flying everywhere!

His Aunt Andrea and I sang "Ice, Ice Baby" to him yesterday while doing the cabbage patch dance, and he has created his own version. I really think it's going to catch on...

There Are Some Things Money Can't Buy...

All-Clad Stainless Steel stock pot: $315

Wire whisk, rubber spatula and wooden spoon: $19

No Yolks egg noodles: $3

Turning egg noodles into...well, broken egg noodles with Landon, and having more fun than I ever had cooking a gourmet meal - priceless!

Don't Worry, Be Happy

It's true that the simple things in life can bring you happiness.

Sometimes this comes in the form of joining forces with your BFF Josi and staging a revolution in a Kindermusik class (Landon decided that it looked like more fun to do what the teacher was doing than to sit quietly and watch her, and Josi quickly agreed).

Sometimes this comes in the form of making a new friend named Rae-Rae, and having him chase you around the playground yelling "Boo!" every three feet.

Sometimes this comes in the form of playing a casual game of football with your Dad and some of his friends.

Sometimes this comes in the form of having a "picnic" with some new friends at the park (did I mention that all of these new friends are ladies?).

Whatever it is though, Landon takes advantage to the fullest. What a nice thing to have a happy home with an always-laughing baby!

I'm All Grown Up!

Today Landon turned 15 months old, so he and I headed to the pediatrician's office for his check-up. Wow - he has grown so much since his 12 month visit!

Landon grew TWO inches, and is now 31.5 inches tall. He actually lost weight, which the doctor said is common for babies like him that run everywhere, so he now weighs in at a slender 24 lbs!

He was very polite to the doctor, saying "thank you" as she left the exam room, and showing-off a bit when she asked him to show her his walking...he did a few steps normally, then got up on his tippy toes and did a little spin move for her. That baby loves to shake it!

Tonight when we were cleaning up his playroom I started singing, "It's time to put the toys away, the toys away, the toys away...in Landon's playroom". Instead of helping, he broke out a few dance moves. Guess I must be a better singer than I thought! Either way, Landon dancing as opposed to walking behind me and taking out each toy that I just put away is a major improvement in my book!

Brrrrr!

Have I mentioned before that Landon is hot-natured? On road trips, I wear a sweater, have a blanket in my lap, and crank up the heated seats...while Landon sweats in the back seat. Luckily, he has found a new space to cool off - the fridge! A toddler-sized seat, plus snacks; it doesn't get better than that!

Golden Tee

Tonight Phillip, Landon and I headed down to a new microbrewery, Natty Greene's (of Greensboro fame). Phillip's and his besties were getting into some Golden Tee action, and Landon and I tagged along for dinner and to watch the beatdown begin. Luckily, Ms. Heather came with her husband, so Landon and I had a buddy.

So, I know that I am biased, but I think our kid is pretty funny. He thinks that he is pretty funny as well. At least once, and sometimes several times a day, he gets himself so cracked up about something that he practically has tears running down his face.

Turns out that Golden Tee is one of those things. Every time one of the guys went up for his shot and spun the controller-ball, Landon broke into hysterical giggles. Funniest thing I have seen in the last 12 hours! Seriously - that's how often he cracks me up!

There is some i-phone video footage floating around from this one, probably not the best quality since we had a little bit of a Sweet Home Alabama moment, aka having a baby in a bar, but we'll see...

Sweet Baby

Landon has had some fun times this week; a nice surprise for both of us, since he has been under the weather for awhile. By Thursday afternoon he was all better - and ready to play! His first fun encounter was with a beautiful little girl in Printer's Alley.

I was in their discussing bedroom drape options when he heard tinkling baby laughter from a distance, then happily found the source of the sound - a little girl his own age! Since she was running around the store, I thought it was only fair to let him join in. He ran right up to her, they looked at each other for about 10 seconds, decided they were kindred spirits, then ran off and immediately began playing and mimicking each other's actions. Between their (incidentally) color-coordinated outfits, and the beautiful fabric and design backgrounds they looked like an incredibly sweet toddler version of Hansel and Gretel. Minus all the scary fairy tale stuff!

He found his next playmate at the park, and again became instant friends with her and her 3 year old brother. The children's mother and I swang the babies back and forth on the infant swings, and somehow they were both under a very peaceful spell - rare for our munchkin. The two of them sat swaying for probably 20 minutes, cooing and making other sweet baby sounds back and forth at each other. I felt like I was swinging a pair of cooing doves - it was too funny!

Boo!

Tonight while we were changing Landon into his pajamas and getting him ready for bed, he squirmed away from his Dad and made a run from the door. To help acclimate him towards going to sleep, we normally do his bedtime routine in the dark...with just the light from the hallway to help us see.

Since Landon tried to run out of his nursery, leading us to quickly close the door, the three of us ended up in the dark! Was Landon scared you ask? Umm, not quite. We spent the next 5 minutes playing a raucous game where we all ran around sneaking up on each other and yelling "Boo"!

Landon broke into his famous belly-busting laughs; you never know what series of random events will lead to a fun family moment and a special memory. Just thinking about it now makes me smile. The funniest part to Phillip and I (aside from Landon's contagious laughter) is how Landon would break into an absolute sprint - in complete darkness! Although I have heard that babies have very good night vision, so perhaps his eyes adjusted more quickly or better than ours...we are in our 30s now!

Mom, I'm Broke - Help A Baby Out!

Landon loves playing with anything and everything electronic in our home; including the wireless printer that is so conveniently stored on the bottom shelf of a bookcase, primed for picking.

So I was not surprised this morning when I asked Landon if he wanted to go downstairs and eat breakfast, and he shook his head and marched purposefully into the bonus room, turned on the tv, then headed straight for the printer.

I settled in on the laptop for a quick peep at my email and Facebook, all the while watching Landon push a very complicated series of buttons on the printer.

About thirty seconds later I heard the printer start up...and Landon very excitedly showed me what he had printed...wait for it, wait for it...three pages of deposit slips for his 529 college savings account!

I'll have some of that please!

It all started innocently enough. One chilly morning I had a sore throat and made myself a spot of tea. Landon of course wanted to try it, but as it was too warm for him to drink, I compromised with him by letting him dunk his finger in my tea, then lick it off his finger. He was very satisfied with this outcome and both of us had a nice time enjoying our tea.

A few days later he wanted to try something that his Dad was eating, so he licked his finger, then pointed it at the food item that he was interested in. He kept repeating this motion until Phillip gave him a taste, both of us laughing at the "new sign language" that Landon created.

Yesterday, Landon decided to take it to the next level...while I was cleaning out the refrigerator. As I grabbed leftovers, etc from the fridge and walked with them to the sink and trashcan, Landon happily played with the condiments on the side door. Suddenly, I heard a slurping noise and realized that in less than 30 seconds, Landon had quietly removed the stopper from a bottle of Chardonnay, poured it on the floor, and was using his index-finger-licking technique to help himself to a little afternoon cocktail!

Geez - this parenting stuff is happening way too fast! Just a few weeks ago Landon had his first kiss, and now I'm going to have to talk to the little munchkin about responsibility and alcohol. I've already been warning him about texting on his phone while he's driving his car!

Toddler or Teenager?

I think that I will start a new segment on the blog called "Toddler or Teenager". It's a riff off that old-classic "Criminal or Professional Athlete" where someone describes an act or recent event, then must guess which group the offender belongs in.

Todays installment: a leggy brunette with sparkling green eyes (we'll call her "Mom") tells her son that he cannot play with the carbon monoxide detector. Said son scoffs in scorn, runs into his Mom's bedroom and slams the door.

Toddler or Teenager? See, isn't this fun?!? I especially liked the "leggy" part.

Happy Halloween!

Farmer Landon loved trick-or-treating for the first time! He started off tentatively at the first house, slowly grabbing one piece of candy, then deciding he had room for a second piece of candy in his other hand. By the second house he was quickly assessing the candy bowl, and again grabbing a piece in each hand and throwing it in his pumpkin treat bag :)

Especially cute since he was making a sweet tinkly-music noise as he moved; created by the stuffed farm animals that we hooked onto his overalls after we finished his pictures (you can see them in the back of his tractor)!

Always Learning

Today Landon learned to do three things:

1) climb on top of his playroom table,

2) swipe my credit card at the register, and

3) turn on the bathtub faucet

Life is going to be very interesting the next few days as he continues to practice these new skills! I would say that I am looking forward to the day when the novelty of doing these things wears off, but I'm afraid of where his interests will take him next!

Gotta love having a boy though - never a dull moment, and I wouldn't change a thing :)

Dr. Seuss is Hilarious

The other day, Phillip and I were talking about the i-phone videos that Phillip has taken of Landon over the past year (many of which I've never seen). He showed me several, and this gem from the archives is one I have to post! I was reading a Dr. Seuss book to Landon, and loudly slamming each page as I turned it; Landon is laughing so hard that he can't stand up and keeps falling all over himself :)

Also - a thanks to all my readers - I recently surpassed 2,000 blog views!

We're Back!

Whew! What a week it has been! We're home and the laundry is almost all folded and put away...

Last week we spent Tuesday through Friday accompanying Phillip on a business trip to Washington, DC - what a great time! I can't say that Landon is a huge fan of sleeping in a pack-n-play, but other than that, it was pretty smooth sailing for us. We explored a number of Smithsonian museums, played on the mall in front of the Capital and the Washington Monument, took a behind the scenes self-guided tour of the Whitehouse (thanks to a friend of a friend that works there as part of Obama's staff), explored Georgetown, traipsed on the parkway outside the city for some awe-inspiring leafs and views, and ate in the oldest restaurant in town (also a first- ordering a milk in the bar while we waited - we felt like the family from Sweet Home Alabama - you have a baby in a bar?)!

Landon's favorite activity was definitely looking out of our hotel window and watching all the activity down below; I think that he, like Eloise, could really get used to hotel life. He loved running around in the marble and crystal lobby (we stayed at the JW Marriott), making frequent stops in the lobby Starbucks for organic milk and snacks, and greeting guests coming off and on the elevators.

He also enjoyed the world's most-popular and most-visited museum, the Air and Space museum. Although to be honest, he liked eating lunch at the space-age McDonald's in there the most. But the planes were life size and hanging from the ceiling so that he could easily see them and repeatedly point and say "(pl)ane".

We were both mesmerized by the Sculpture museum and the surrounding gardens and fountains; it was breath-takingly beautiful. Oddly enough, the newspaper museum, Newseum, was displaying my hometown, Wilmington, NC's Star News as its daily pick for NC - each state is represented by the cover of a newspaper from one of its cities, which changes daily.

In between stops at museums and historical sights, Landon happily rode in his stroller, making power calls on his calculator phone. Yes, he is in love with one of my old Deloitte calculators, and loves holding it up to his ear, talking and laughing away.

I did learn that Washingtonians love two things above all else: honking their horns, and Starbucks. This is followed closely by wearing drab colors and ignoring my beautiful baby while he waved from his stroller - as if they have more important things to do, like run the country or achieve world peace?

I will say that the honking thing is infectious; by my last day there I was honking and cutting off taxis in the traffic circles along with the rest of them, all the while laughing merrily in my dark-colored cardigan!