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!