Landon at 4 Months

Landon at 4 months has dimpled knees, rubber-band wrists, and a smile that lights up his whole face.

He really is such a calm, content, sweet boy, and we are lucky to have him. As Rich says, he keeps us all sane!

4-month stats:

16 lbs 4 oz (75th percentile)

25.5 in (75th percentile)

Our Landon boy is discovering the cute baby in the mirror and chuckling in the most adorable way.

He is always interested in his big brother and loves to watch Devin do whatever it is he is doing at the moment. Though a lot of the time he has a concerned look saying, "What is that unnatural noise coming from my brother?" or "Why is my brother whining/crying about such an insignificant matter?" or "Devin is crazy, no?"

Landon is sleeping great at night, usually going around 8 hours most nights and is stretching out his days. Right before turning 4 months he was going through a growth spurt/my milk supply was low due to stress and wanted to eat every 2 hours! This went on for 3 weeks. I was positive we were going to have to start feeding him solids to keep my sanity, but I think I've finally caught up to his needs.

He has started reaching out for things, is constantly sucking on his hands, and can get a death grip on my hair. He continues to love nursery rhymes and songs and lights up at the book Hooray for Fish! He enjoyed all the cousins and attention in Utah and proved to the relatives that he is a happy boy.

Love his chubby face!

The Day Devin Attacked Landon

It started out friendly. Devin just wanted to sit next to Landon.

Then he started giving him loves, which Landon appreciated.

Things got more intense, and Landon begins to wonder why I'm allowing this.

Landon gives me a "Save me" look.

Devin then makes sure Landon is looking him in the eyes while telling him how chubby he is.

And then he sings him a song, and Landon remembers that he loves his big brother.

Summer, Summer

Pretending to spray me with the hose is almost as much fun as actually spraying me.

Eating the Dinosaurs

A few days after the prior dinosaur breakfast, Devin decided to again have an imagination during breakfast and I caught it on video. 

This is totally candid Devin. He's great.

4th of July

Happy Fourth of July!

Yes, Devin is sitting in the Bumbo chair. He likes to try to get attention by sitting in the baby's chair.

We celebrated with fireworks on Sunday night. Ally and Erin came to enjoy with us, and Devin was overjoyed to have a friend to play with. 

The kids ate their ice cream on the steps, though the allure of the outdoors distracted them a lot. 

This picture isn't great, but I liked it because it shows Devin "edging" the lawn, one of his favorite activities lately.

 

When the fireworks started both kids wanted to have some snuggle time. It was a great show and we loved having some friends to enjoy it with. 

Clearly Rich is really super excited about the fireworks.

The morning of the 4th we headed to the Allred's pancake breakfast, where Devin again enjoyed playing with Ally. (Erin put on her 4th of July post that she was recapping for the second year in a row how Devin and Ally spent the 4th. I just laughed because that's pretty much our post too!)

The rest of our day was low-key, though Rich did grill us up some yummy hamburgers and corn on the cob. 

 We then enjoyed popsicles out on the lawn, which thoroughly coated all our mouths a pretty red color :)

Family Night Activity

We decided to have a family activity for family night this week, so we headed to the pool so Devin could show off his new-found swimming skills. 

He was in heaven getting to swim and splash with Daddy.   

Landon and I hung out on the side.

Swimming Lessons

I wanted to somehow keep Devin in the water this summer since I knew it would be harder to get to the pool with Landon, so I signed Devin up for some swim lessons. 

I still think he's a little too young to really get the full benefit from them, but he does like being in the water, and I think the continuity is good for him. Perhaps next year he'll care more about actually swimming than playing with the water toys?

His teacher was Mister Chase. Though Devin called him "Sister" Chase. Devin really is a little fish and loves being in the water.

He's always been pretty good about kicking his legs and blowing bubbles, but I was really impressed with his improvement on the monkey walk. He, being the great listener he is, just started going along the wall all by himself one lesson when "Sister" Chase wasn't watching, by the time Chase got there Devin had gone quite a way and didn't even need help to pull himself out of the water!

That's Devin's story, and he's stickin' to it!

As evidenced by the previous post, Devin loves him some raspberries. We thank the previous owners for planting these bushes, and in between asking me every 5 seconds "Is this raspberry ripe?" and trying to feed the neighbor's cat leaves, Devin tries to eat the raspberries as fast as I can pick them. And even though he knows "Only Daddy and Mommy pick the raspberries," he tends to find his way to that corner of the yard when he's playing.

One day he ran over to me chewing something. I asked him in my mother voice if he picked a raspberry. His response was priceless:

"No I didn't pick some raspberries. I was looking at them, and one just fell off. And I ate it."

The follow-up response was pretty great too:

"Yeah, it wasn't ripe. It was cuck-y."

I hate when those unripened raspberries just start falling off the bush! But he did make me smile. I was also in disbelief that my child just told me this story!

Breakfast with Devin

This particular morning started out so wonderfully. His extreme excitement began when I told him he could have some of the raspberries we'd picked the day before.

A dancing two-year-old boy watching me get breakfast ready: "I love food! I love breakfast! We are gonna have some steel cut oats, some toast, some banana, some raspberries, and fresh milk. All those things. Is it going to be yummy? I'm so excited!"

Waiting for his food: "Don't forget my raspberries Mama. Don't drop them. Be careful Mommy."

Saying his prayer: "Thankful for our good rest. Bless that Devin could have some raspberries for breakfast. Bless that they will be yummy and that we can go outside and see the excavator."

After receiving his food: "Thank you very much Mommy. Thank you for my raspberries."

While eating his food: "I'm a dinosaur in the Cretaceous forest. [You are? What kind of dinosaur are you?] A T-Rex. T-Rex's are from the Jurassic. [Oh, really?] They are carnivores. [That's right. They just eat meat, huh?] They don't eat plants. They eat other dinosaurs. I don't eat other dinosaurs. I just eat steel cut oats. And raspberries. I'm an omnivore."

While scooping his steel cut oats and pretending to be a T-Rex: "I found a Triceratops. I'm going to eat it. Roooarrr! Oh, oh, I found a Pachycephalosaurus! Yum! Oh no, there's an Ankylosaurus in my steel cut oats! Ankylosaurus, what are you doing in my steel cut oats? Roooarrr!" Apparently he does eat other dinosaurs? He ate many "dinosaur" bites on his way to downing the entire bowl of steel cut oats and entertained himself for at least 10 minutes in this fashion.

This kid loves his breakfast. He eats A LOT for breakfast. Though most mornings he just eats the food instead of devouring it as if he were eating actual dinosaurs. And I have no idea if T-Rex's are from the Jurassic. This was news to me. And I also don't know how to make "T-Rex" plural. So thus the incorrect usage. :)