Fun with Landon

Here's how a typical night with Landon goes. We were getting him ready for bed, changing his diaper, clothes, etc. He decided he wasn't ready for clothes and started playing with Christi. Landon was trying to type on the computer (remember the other video?) Landon is getting bigger and hits things a lot harder, so we don't let him play with the computer as much. That doesn't stop him from trying, though! It started as something funny: Landon was trying to move Christi's hand so he could play with the keys. Then it turned into, well, just watch as see. 45 second mark has something great

Finally got some steps on tape! I watched the video over and over to see if those counted as actual steps, and I'm saying yes. He took a few steps to get his balance and was in the process of moving forward when his feet got tangled in the blanket. At least you get the idea that he is letting go and trying to walk forward. He's obviously fascinated by the camcorder and thankfully he didn't sit down like he has been doing while I am filming.

As you saw he has tons of energy. He is all over the place pulling up and crawling. You can also see his toys take over our house at night and he goes around from toy to stations and back. He has a great time and it's hard to keep up with him on video, especially when I get caught watching him and not moving the camera.

Hope you enjoyed the video!

It's a Mouse... It's a Deer... It's a Mouse Deer! - ZooBorns

Crazy. Who knew these existed?

It's a Mouse... It's a Deer... It's a Mouse Deer! - ZooBorns

Christi's 26th

There hasn't been much going on lately. Work is work for me and Christi is very busy at school. She's teaching 2nd grade this year and so far she isn't liking it. The kids are getting better than they were, but she was unwillingly moved from 1st grade to 2nd grade over the summer. Her old principal liked to shuffle the teachers every year, and she got caught up in it this year. I think she is starting to like it better, but she loved teaching 1st grade and it was the only grade she had taught since she became a teacher in 2007.

Friday was Christi's 26th birthday. Landon and I made her a poster-sized birthday card and surprised her with it inside of her car that morning (I put it in there after she went to bed the night before). I think she liked it a lot. It had Landon's hand print in it, which was challenging to get him to be still while I painted his hand. For dinner, Christi chose to go to Longhorn's to eat. We had a large group with her parents, her brother Jason and his girl friend, Christ's grandmother (Nana), my grandparents, my mom and my sister. It was a fun dinner and of course we got them to sing to Christi. She doesn't like the attention, but the free deserts are always worth it! We had a Cold Stone ice cream cake and a cake Mrs. Debra had made back at home, so we shared the ice cream bowl they gave her. We fed some to Landon too (after taking the chocolate off of it.) It was his first time tasting ice cream and he LOVED it. After his 2nd bite he almost dove out of her arms trying to grab the bowl!

Landon eating ice cream for the 1st time

After dinner we went to Mrs. Debra's house to eat some cake and talk for a while. Christi seemed to have a great time on her birthday. It was good to have everyone in one place.

Other than that, there hasn't been much going on. Landon has a runny nose. We've been putting the Little Noses drops in his nose, which he hates. When his nose gets stuffy we have to use the booger sucker (I don't know what that thing is formally called, but that's what I call it) to get them out. He HATES that. We still haven't caught him on camera taking steps. Whenever you want to him to do it, he will sit down and crawl. When you are folding clothes or putting up dishes in the kitchen, he does it. Maybe we need a hidden camera in the living room to catch it. Once we get it, I'll share it.

Big Landon News

I was hoping to post a video of this, but we haven't been able to capture it on camera, yet. What is this I am talking about? Landon taking steps! Yes, Landon is taking steps. It is hard for me to believe, but it is true.

He really started this on Sunday. He will let go of the couch and start taking steps toward where he wants to go. He will also walk back and forth between people if we get 5 or so feet apart and encourage him to walk to each other. He doesn't make it all the time, but he's doing well. Most of the time it is 4-5 steps before he decides to sit down or he falls onto his rear. The most we have counted is about 9 or 10 steps. A lot of the time he stops after a few steps and will just stand there. He can also stand without taking steps for a long time, especially if he has something in his hands that he is playing with or trying to put in his mouth (pacifier).

Although we try hard to get him to do it on camera, he will only let go and walk when he is ready. Once I finally get it I will post is ASAP. He's having a lot of fun when he does it. Landon likes the attention and will just stand there and smile at you like "look what I just did."

That reminds me of something else he has started to do. For whatever reason, he has always thought coughing was funny. So, we will fake cough and he will laugh and laugh all day. Now he has learned how to do that and we laugh at him. Sometimes he will fake cough and then start laughing at himself. It's pretty funny. If you laugh at him he will start to do it more. Like I said, he loves the attention and loves it when you laugh at him. He's picking up on other things that we think are funny and does them more often too. It's cool to watch him learn things and be able to repeat them when you didn't think he was really capable of that.

He hasn't been sleeping as well lately. He has been waking up about 2 hours after he goes to bed, and then again around 4 am and 6 am before finally waking up around 7:30. Some nights he will sleep all night, and others we have to get up. It is surprising how bad you feel after getting up only once. When he was younger we were used to it, but now it can really throw you off. He will be either sitting up or trying to pull-up onto the crib while he still asleep when we go to check on him. If you lay him back down he might fall back asleep, but normally you have to pick him up and he will lay his head down and fall back asleep fairly quickly. The hard part is putting him back in the crib. When he lays on you 1 hand is between your arm and your chest in the armpit area holding on tightly to your shirt. The other will be around the collar or opposite shoulder, also gripping. He knows when you are laying him down and he tries to hold on and/or roll-over in mid-air to get onto his stomach. When he realizes he doesn't have your shirt to hold on he can get upset. So, this process can take 2 or 3 times before he finally stays laying down. The doctor mentioned this might happen and said it is separation anxiety. I can see where it could be that, but it is strange that it is only certain nights.

He has already woken up once tonight, so that means it will probably be another long night tonight. I should go to bed. I have more Landon updates and should have some more pictures to post. Check back for more updates

Landon's New Word

Here is a video of Landon saying his new favorite word.

We have been working on getting him to say that while people leave, and sometimes he says it, but like him saying mama and dada, it isn't really associative with the meaning. However, he is getting where if you say it he will repeat it, which is what he did in the video. Speaking of the video, it is from my phone (Palm Pre) so the video quality isn't the best. It got worse when I uploaded it.

More posts coming soon. Have a good week!

All about Landon - 8 months

I know, it has been forever since I did an update about Landon. I was looking through the archives and it appears the last big update was in April or May, which was almost 4 months ago. I cannot believe how fast time has gone by or how long ago that was. A lot has happened since then, so without wasting more time here is an update on Landon (in no particular order)

Landon has 2 teeth, both on the bottom. He got his first tooth the day after we got back from our trip and his 2nd about 10 days after that.

Landon is now crawling! He learned this at about 7 months and 3 weeks. He has been so close for a long time. He does the traditional crawl, but if he wants to go somewhere fast he leans on his left leg and sticks his right leg out straight. He uses his right leg to push and slides on his left leg. It looks funny, but he's pretty quick.

Landon can pull himself up from the ground on many objects. This means we have to be very, very careful with him. The couch is his favorite.

Landon is able to walk along the edge of the couch and crib, among other things, by himself. He's fallen several times doing this, but he's getting better.

Landon has learned how to get down from the couch by himself. He will get on his stomach, push himself to the edge with his feet hanging off, and then slide off the edge until his feet hit the ground. Now he is in his favorite spot - standing while hanging onto the couch

Landon learned not long after we got home from the beach how to get into the sitting up position from the ground. This was significant because before he could pull himself up from the ground, but he had to be sitting. Now, he became able to go from laying to sitting to standing relatively quickly. The mattress in the crib was lowered immediately.

Landon loves cables. Most of ours are hidden, but he finds ways to find things we didn't even know were there

Our entertainment center has glass cabinets. Landon loves looking at them because he can see his reflection in there. He also loves mirrors, as seen in the Myrtle Beach pictures.

Landon's favorite food is apples. He also loves bananas, carrots, and sweet potatoes. He is not a fan of green vegetables

Landon's favorite TV show is Super Why. He sits amazed at this show and when there are points for you to respond to the show, he does every time. At first we thought it was just a coincidence, but he does it all the time. He also really likes Dinosaur Train.

Landon can has learned to say a lot of words now. He can say "da-da", "ma-ma", and "pa-pa". He also says various other things are not discernible as well as a bunch of sounds and noises. He'll lay in bed in the morning talking to himself or just hold his passy in his hand (or mouth) and talk and talk.

Speaking of noise, Landon likes loves to make noise. He'll bang toys on the ground or anything else that he can reach.

If he hasn't seen you for a while (like half a day), Landon will want you to hold him so he can hug you and then touch your face so that you know he missed you. It's a great feeling coming home from work.

Even though he is crawling around the place, Landon prefers to be standing up to sitting down. Since he has started crawling though, he doesn't like his exersaucer as much as he did. He would rather be on the floor so he can crawl over to different places and try to stand up.

Landon is getting very good at walking around. He can move very easily and if we were able to walk him around the house all day, that is what he would do.

Landon is able to stand up by himself. I cannot tell you when he was able to first do it, but when he lets go he can stand up fine. He can do it for 3-4 seconds, easily. Normally he will sit down because he isn't sure what to do. He reaches for your hand or something to hold onto because he knows he is supposed to be holding on. That has changed recently, however...

Landon may have taken his first steps already. It's under debate. He slid off the couch and wanted to get to Christi, who was on the other couch. Instead of waiting for me to take him there, he turned and took some steps towards here, unassisted. This gap is only like 1-2 feet, so he was able to grab on to the couch. We were in disbelief.

Since then, we have worked with him and he can definitely take 2-3 steps on his own. Normally he starts sprinting and falls forward, but he is getting better. It's not what you would call walking, but he's getting brave and starting to let go from the couch. Exciting and nervous times ahead.

That's all for now. It's time for Landon to eat lunch, so I have to go. I hope to do this every month or so from now until the foreseeable future.

Myrtle Beach Pictures

Originally I had planned to post pictures of our Myrtle Beach trip in the daily blog posts, but I didn't get the pictures uploaded in time for the first few posts. My bad. To make it up, here is a whole post full of pictures! Enjoy!

The condo

Our condo, from the beach



The pool



The lazy river... that wasn't very lazy at all



The indoor pool



The kiddie pool that Landon spent a lot of time in



The poolside "bar". Very good frozen drinks, unfortunately all non-alcoholic.



The beach in late afternoon

Broadway at the Beach

The lake at Broadway. There is a person in that ball on the water.



Landon ready to go in the stroller






Margaritaville



Christi feeding Landon



Landon getting ready to grab the camera

Having fun

Landon playing with his toys



Debra and Landon in the condo



Landon smiling



Landon trying to climb across the couch






Love the expression on his face



Landon hated these sunglasses. Everyone thought they were hilarious



Mike and Landon relaxing on the couch



Landon passed out on the couch



Landon's 1st time in the ocean



Landon and I on the beach



Landon getting hit with waves



Landon playing in the kiddie pool. He was fascinated by the waterfall feature. That water was very cold, for the record. He usually hates cold water but he enjoyed himself in there.



Landon smiling in the car



Remember my post about Medieval Times and getting blocking in by the 18-wheeler trailer? Visual Proof.



Mike and Debra at putt-putt night



Jason putting

Christi striking a pose



Landon loves mirrors. He was having a great time with this one. His little hand prints were all over it.






Landon karate kick!

Family Pictures

Me, Christi, Landon, Debra, Mike, Jason, and Lynn. It was extremely windy when we took these pictures, so if you see hair looking funny that is why.










Landon loved playing in the sand