I love the Dad he is.

Some Days

Some days start out with a whining, tantrum-throwing, crying child. Then, once the crisis of having his brother take a toy from his room has passed, and he has overcome the indignation of having to now have cold cereal for breakfast because his fit took so long there is no longer time for oatmeal, he chooses to be helpful and carry the cereal. And just when you think that the morning will now go swimmingly, he pops open the completely full bag of cereal and pours it onto the floor. There is a moment where panic flashes in his eyes--but I choose to laugh instead. And that made all the difference. So, yes, they did eat cereal off the floor before I could get the broom and them fastened into chairs, but there was no more crying--until later. And this day did get me to vacuum the floor, which I'd been putting off. So, obviously it was a day gone according to plan. 

Bathroom Re-do

I returned from Utah and promptly broke the bearings on the shower door wheels. We lived with this obvious inconvenience for days because we live by no stores that carry such things as shower door wheel replacements, and in the end the fixing of the shower turned into repainting the bathroom.

The children were obviously super helpful during the prep stage--Devin took his job of washing the tile very seriously until Rich pulled out the tools, then all helping stopped.

These are some before pics, though I didn't remember to take them until we'd already started the project.

And here is the after pic. The gray didn't turn out as dark as we'd hoped, but I love how bright the room is. I mean, who paints the ceiling the same as the walls? Rich is so wonderfully particular about projects, so the paint looks great and everything is so clean. It's pretty wonderful to have a toilet paper roll holder and a hand towel hanger. I mean, it's pretty amazing that we've gone without these things for almost 3 years. We are clearly low-maintenance people.

Where's the Cricket?

We got the book The Very Quiet Cricket from a garage sale last week, and Landon has fallen in love. He actually prefers all the Eric Carle books to most others. But this one. Oh, this one perplexes the child. He tries to rush through the book so we can get to the part where the cricket chirps, but once the cricket chirps he keeps trying to look behind the book in hopes that the cricket will appear. Once it's apparent the cricket will not be joining us, he puts his arms out and says, "I don't know" over and over.

Landon 18 Months

This little man is now 18 months! 

 

He continues to be such a joy and constant source of entertainment. He's busier than ever and steadily developing a 'tude. His favorite response to show his frustration is to stomp his foot and yell, "No way! No way!" He's already been going to Nursery for a few months, so he doesn't get to experience that Church milestone at 18 months, but the good news is that he loves going and likes playing with the kids. He is always the one to remind the leader that they have not yet had snacks. He takes his food seriously. 

He finally will sit through books without shutting them as soon as you open them, and most every day he runs for the books as soon as Devin is in roomtime, ensuring he gets some Mama reading time in without the distraction of a brother. He is saying so many new words and will try to say whatever we ask him to at least once. Which is great news because he also enjoys the screaming to get our attention, and I'm not loving it. He can scream really loud. 

  

He wants to help do everything. Heaven forbid I take something from the pantry and don't let him carry it. And he is always giddy when Devin leaves the stool around in the kitchen so he can then reach the microwave--or anything else taboo. He is a firm believer that the sign for "please" will get him whatever his heart desires.

He finds great joy in getting as dirty as possible in whatever task he is working on--even if this only includes getting his play area messier than messy. The world is his to destroy. 

He chuckles and giggles and smiles so cute and continues to freely give his signature slobber kisses. His man belly is only getting bigger, and he likes to rub it when his shirt is off. 

His most-played-with toys right now are his phones. He mostly just says "Hi!" 50 times in a row. And if I'm on the actual phone, he really must say "Hi" to whomever I'm talking to or he cries and throws a fit. Except that once the phone is up for the opportunity he just smiles at it and then tries to kiss it. He does love to drive cars and trucks and to bounce balls. 

He really likes the Buzz Lightyear toy (and can say "Buzz"), but I think this is only because he knows it will really rankle his brother if he takes it. A favorite past time is to run around in circles to make himself dizzy. He also enjoys climbing onto everything we own and attempting to take things he's not supposed to. As soon as we mention going outside he starts repeating "side, side, side" in anticipation. 

Oh how I love this toddler stage. He's so much fun and makes us laugh a lot. He's getting so grown up--but he's still the sweetest thing.

18-month stats:

Weight: 27 lb 8 oz

Height: 31.75 in

Potatohead Glasses

Devin started a trend one night by donning the Mr. Potatohead glasses. He even wanted Rich to take his picture. After this, in true little-brother fashion, Landon needed to wear the glasses. He took this quite seriously and wore them most of the night and asked to wear them the next day too. Daddy even got in on the action after scriptures. Not every night has these little moments, usually they're filled with trying to figure out how to fill the time or working. But sometimes there are nights just filled with fun and simple things that seem to make all the difference in the world. Just being able to laugh collectively as a family was such a nice end to the day.

Where's Landon?

Landon likes to play "Where's Landon?" in our closet. Whenever I'm in there he just backs up into my skirts and gets a little smile on his face in anticipation of our game. It's really quite adorable, as I can see him the whole time. And it brings him such joy every time I "find" him.

I'm rediscovering how much fun this age is. I always thought this age was so much fun with Devin, and it's ringing true with Landon as well. He's so interactive and learning so much and being so very himself that it's quite fun to watch. Course it doesn't hurt that he loves to give kisses and has the cutest smile.

Dirtiest Boys

I cannot even describe how much dirtier Landon is than Devin. He always comes in with dirt everywhere. But dirt and children go together, I guess. And we spend many happy hours playing in the dirt. Anything that keeps them occupied for this amount of time will have to stay, no matter the amount of dirt they bring indoors afterward.

Sunday Best

I always think boys are the most handsome in their Sunday best. And the Sunday best always makes Landon look even more like the little man he is.

Brothers

Yesterday Devin told Landon he loved him--unprompted. MIRACLE. The first two weeks back from Utah were rough ones for both Devin and me. I was grumpy and he was sassy. We hit a breaking point two Sundays ago during Primary. I held him back to discuss his behavior toward his Sunbeam teacher, where his attitude only got worse while talking to me. In fact, it was so distressing I had to whisk him down the hall for a family meeting with Daddy. But, since then, things have been so nice. He has been nice. To me. And to Landon. He has carried on conversations with his brother. He has offered to help him. He has played with him. Sharing is still an issue, but this week was so different. Hallelujah! 

All About Devin

I never did a 3.5 year update on Devin. He'll probably cry about this when he's older. But really, there wasn't much to say at the time other than "He's sassy." So, we'll gloss over those days of no pictures because he wailed and scowled every time I tried to capture a memory. The miracle of 3.75 years is that he wants me to take his picture! About face in one day. Which pretty much sums up his emotional state right now. He's growing up on me--a fact he likes to gloat over--but he's still very much my baby. And though I'm telling you, honestly, there is no one who makes me more angry, he also makes me laugh really hard. And he gives great hugs and kisses, when he chooses, and he is a great conversationalist when he's really interested in something. 

Here are some things he's said or done lately that made us smile. Or laugh. Or bite our lip so as not to encourage the insolence. Obviously I've been keeping this list for awhile in preparation for a post about him.

Devin told us that his room was scary at night now and that he needed a human to be with him. He later told me that he was so mad at me he wasn't going to talk to humans anymore.

He refers to his milk as "liquid." As in, "Oh no! I'm out of liquid. May I please have some more liquid in my cup?" And yes, he uses those words exactly.

I rolled my eyes at him once and he asked why I "twisted my eyes at him." Now he tries to "twist" his eyes at me by looking up and down really fast when he's mad at me.

He wanted to find a beetle outside but we couldn't find one. So he came inside and got a "beetle book" (a random story book) then proceeded to read to me all the fantastic things about beetles. Mostly they live in the grass, or the sand, or the rocks, or the garden, or the trees . . .

Devin is all about making his own sandwich these days. His OCDness is really hampering this effort because he must have all parts of the bread covered, but he's always so proud of himself for being such a big boy and tells me the sandwich tastes better when he makes it. Really he just likes to lick the Fluff knife afterward.

We were attempting to do night potty training, but it's not going so well, so we had a family meeting to see if Daddy should buy some more Pull Ups at the store that night. But Devin was adamant that he just wears big boy underwear because that's what big boys do. When Rich suggested he wear his underwear over his Pull Up, Devin just looked at him and with a disdainful voice said, "No, Daddy. That would hurt my bum."

When he was mad at me (another time) he said, "I challenge YOU! I challenge you for making me do this!"

When Rich got Devin up to go the bathroom before we went to bed, he wanted a drink of water. He started coughing afterward and said, "That was a really strong drink!"

I had to explain why we had to wait for the Netflix to come up, his response was, "Hmm, good to know. Thanks for telling me."

We had our FHE treats outside one night and since our game had been parachute on the grass we didn't get shoes on. After treats, however, playing ensued and Devin announced: "Not wearing shoes outside wasn't a very good idea."

Rich was spinning Devin in the office chair in the clerk's office, to which Devin scolded, "Daddy, that is not safe."

During sacrament meeting Devin refused to take the bread (this has become a problem), so I told him he couldn't take the water either. Which set off moaning and whining that Rich could hear on the stand: "I'm soooo thirsty!"  "How am I ever going to get a drink!?" "Oh no, I'm never going to get the sacrament ever again." "I am not happy with you Mama. Don't touch me!" All while scowling an awesome three-year-old scowl. (This isn't even his real scowl.) The girl behind me told me later that Devin really does have the best grumpy face.

Or when Rich and I will say something that he doesn't quite understand, but that makes us laugh, he'll tell us "That was the cutest thing I've ever heard!"

One night while cleaning up, Devin wasn't helping, so Rich took away his book and started putting it on the shelf. Devin started freaking out and crying, "Time out Daddy! TIME OUT!!" because that was apparently the book he wanted to read before bed. 

I really love him. To the moon and back.