Landon Boy's 12th Month

Landon went to the doctor on Monday and was pronounced happy and adorable. It's true, the nurses and doctor all love him. Big thanks to Marinda for keeping Devin because that was the calmest doctor visit I've had in a long time, and we even had to wait for awhile since they were behind schedule!

12-month statistics are:

Height: 28.5 inches 

Weight: 23.4 pounds

Landon at 12 months loves to drive cars and makes a car sound while pushing them around the floor. He also likes to push and throw around balls for himself. He's really quite good at entertaining himself. He still loves to walk behind anything and everything he can get to move, but he's also what I like to call an "official" walker and has started leaving disasters behind wherever he goes. He enjoys putting things into the speaker and looking at us to make sure we are watching. He laughs about dropping food on the floor, and giggles before pulling on the wall outlets. He has sonar when it comes to the dishwasher being open and beelines it hoping that this time we may actually let him play with the dishes. He hates eggs and loves milk and bananas. He is finicky on book reading though he loves to flip the pages. It's more that he wants to be in charge of the book himself because he's one stubborn boy. He has a distinct protestation scream for when Devin attempts to do something he doesn't appreciate, which is a lot of the time. I pretty much want to gush his chubby cheeks all day because he is just so darn cute.

Landon Boy's First Birthday

Our Landon Boy turned 1! 

Devin and I went in singing "Happy Birthday" this morning, and he was pretty thrilled to learn that it was his birthday, obviously. I made him a wonderful egg-in-the-middle breakfast that he didn't care for. But Devin was in heaven, so it was worth it. During the food prep he chilled and drank his milk and was essentially the most adorable birthday boy.

Once Daddy came home it was time for the celebrating to begin! We had homemade mac and cheese and green beans for dinner. Surprisingly, Landon has turned into a picky eater, but he does love himself some pasta and green beans. Once his special dinner was over, he tried to escape outside and generally got into mischief.

After clean up it was time for the real fun! We face timed with the Millett crew (which was a surprise--we thought it was only going to be Grandma and Grandpa) so they could be a part of the presents and cake. Devin and Landon were both so intrigued by the people on the screen, it was so much fun to have them celebrating with us. Landon took opening the presents very seriously. Also, I've learned that I can never include Devin in the gift giving information since he repeatedly told Landon (and everyone else) that he had bought his brother a fire truck for his birthday. Good thing Landon liked it, or Devin would have been upset. (Not really, he would probably prefer that scenario so he could play with the fire truck. Ah, the trials of being 3.)

After presents came cake, of course. I am so super talented at cake making, no? And I wasn't even trying to make it into an Easter egg! Landon was timid at first, just pawing at the frosting, but after Daddy smashed his hand into the cake Landon just got down to business and slowly but surely ate his way through a good part of the cake.

Landon then displayed his newfound walking skills to the fam on the computer and hoarded his fire truck, growling whenever Devin tried to take it away. 

 

I think the boy had a pretty good birthday. Oh, how we love him. He is a happy, sweet boy who makes the cutest faces and makes us laugh and smile all the time. We love you Landon Boy! 

Happy Birthday little man!!

He's Walking!

Hard to believe this kid finally decided to start taking some steps. His first steps were really back on on the 19th of February, but since that event ended with him smacking his face he hasn't been too keen since then. Every day since then he's just pretty much walked around the house behind anything that he could move. 

 

Today (March 20th) was a big day for Landon Boy because he got braver and braver as the day went on, taking more and more steps. 

 

He still doesn't love the walking, as is evidenced by the crying when I make him do it, but the point is that he can do it! The videos aren't great since Rich wasn't home when I was trying to get this on camera, but it gives a good idea of how adorable his tentative toddle is.

Reading Discovery

I think most of the pictures of Devin involve reading. But I really don't care because his love of books gets me every time. One of the best days in the past two weeks was when we discovered the book Flashy Fantastic Rainforest Frogs together. Did you know there are frogs big enough to eat mice and rats? Devin and I snuggled on the chair and discovered all sorts of wonderful things. He keeps re-reading the book to discover more wonderful things. Love my little reader.

The Husband's Birthday

Rich had a birthday, shout hooray! His birthday/Valentine's/everything present from me was an iPad mini, so on the day of his actual birthday he received some carefully picked candy. Devin was so excited to give him the candy--mostly because he wanted Daddy to share--that we had to open it as soon as Rich got home from work to stop Devin from telling Daddy exactly what the gift was. Daddy let Devin do the unwrapping since he was beyond excited.

After dinner we had more presents--a barbeque set from Leonard and Rich's mom and gift cards from Coralie and Rich's dad--and then a family walk. 

 

Then it was time for cake! Rich wanted the coconut cake a former co-worker used to make. I didn't have the recipe, so I made a coconut tres leches cake that I modified a bit. Rich like it, so that's all that mattered.

Happy Birthday to that man of mine!

Rich's Favorite Day

I only ever put pictures of dead animals on the blog when Rich uses his manly skills to kill some ferocious animals like bats or moles. Saturday was a proud day for Rich as his special mole trap finally did the job and caught one! 

 

 

 

Devin was pretty excited and did a little dance for Daddy. Daddy was elated the rest of the day!

Devin is Growing Up

Love this boy so much. He says the greatest stuff, and we have so much fun. He has made great strides the past few weeks in becoming even more adult-like, and I continue to be amazed at the things he says and how often he brings a smile to my face. He frustrates me a lot, too, but I've been laughing a lot more lately because he's just so darn funny. He really sounds like a mini-me and it kills me when I am reprimanding him and his response is, "I know you're upset Mama, and I'm sorry, but you know what? It's going to be okay." He seriously says stuff that makes it difficult to discipline, like the day he told me to "calm down a little bit so I can talk to you" and then prayed for me in his lunchtime prayer: "Bless Mama to be happy and to not be upset with me." And the smiles keep coming when he uses phrases like, "Tell the truth Mama. Tell the truth." or "Oh no, my [insert current block creation] has broken into bits! What will I do!?" or, after Landon took a few steps, "I'm so impressed!" It's also a lot of fun that his new favorite thing is to "make a deal" and "shake on it." This is usually in reference to candy or TV time. He likes to make his own, not-Mama-approved deals involving these privileges.

His biggest accomplishment as of late has been learning/wanting to dress himself. I was SO proud of his figuring this out (finally!). He was pretty proud of himself too, and he likes to inform everyone that he gets dressed by himself now. He still needs help finding the arm holes, but he's getting better. Makes me smile every time when he says to me, "Now, I will put on my pants. I'm not very good at putting on my pants, but I'm still good. Is this the way you do it?" The only downsides are the unmatched outfits, which I can live with, and that he won't put on his own shoes now, which he would previously do. One of my favorite days was when he got dressed all by himself and I didn't realize that his underwear was inside out until we got to church. Rich's favorite day was when Devin put on his pants and then attempted to snap his button, after trying for a second, he just sighed deeply, saying, "It's no use!" and gave up. His defeatist attitude really hinders his growth sometimes.

After learning to dress himself he has been much more interested in being a "big boy" and helping. I've finally gotten over my OCD tendencies and need to control everything (a little, I'm still working on it) and am letting him help more in the kitchen. He loves washing fruit, carrying dishes to the table, rolling out dough, putting in the toast, and seasoning things. We haven't instituted a chore chart yet because he's still wonderful about just doing his jobs, though he will get distracted halfway through the silverware every once in awhile. His main jobs are now: getting dressed, brushing teeth in the morning, pulling his and Landon's laundry baskets to the washer and loading their clothes in (I don't sort their clothes), putting away silverware, and taking garbage bags to the garage.

Another "big boy" thing was he gave his first talk in Primary! He had the whole thing memorized and was so excited about his talk--until he stood up in front of all the kids and realized it wasn't the same as giving the talk to his stuffed animals. He still said most of the lines, even if they were quietly. Still proud of him. I tell him to stop growing, and he responds, "I'm growing up on you Mama! I need to grow big like Daddy!"

Fairyland in Oakland

We headed down to Oakland on Saturday to meet up with the Stockings at Fairyland. We weren't overly impressed with the place, maybe our kids just need to be older? But it was a lot of fun to be in the sunshine and enjoying a beautiful day with friends. Devin was pretty scared of everything until Rich made him ride the train, which he was also afraid of before boarding. After the ride began, his comment was, "This is a really nice train. I like it. It's not scary." We finally got him to go down a slide after this and he loved the Alice in Wonderland "Rabbit Hole." After Fairyland we drove into San Francisco for some dinner at a place featured on the show "Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives" (I've never even seen the show, the Redfords just said the restaurant was good so we tried it) and demonstrated to the Stockings by our driving that we never go into the city!

Sunday Best

I was so happy when Rich came home before I'd changed Landon out of his Sunday clothes so I could get a shot of these handsome boys. Landon was pretty happy too. He sure does love when his Daddy comes home. He scoots right over and tugs at his pant legs till Daddy picks him up.