Farewell to the old Landon and Just a few things I want to remember

Since Landon's talking days, he has been "Yandon". Lately he's been practicing and learning to say his 'L' sounds better ("La la la Landon"). It's great to seem him learning, but I'm afraid I will miss my own little 'yandon'.

(And a side note -- Yellow is a tricky word for practicing the L's -- what was once "yeh-yo" is now "Leh-lo" :)

Landon's been sleeping in the munchkin room since we've had Ellie in his room learning to sleep through the night. We thought he was just about dozing off tonight when he came to the top of the stairs with a great tinker-toy creation, proudly saying something like "Look at this cool thing I made!" (So proud that he forgot he was about to be in trouble for coming out of his room...) We had to turn around to keep from laughing then sternly tell him to go back to bed, "But I was just having to make this cool thing..."

A bit later when we heard the sound of tinker toys again, Jordan went up to check on him again. When he walked in Landon told him, "I'm just cleaning these up. Then, if we want to play with them later, we can!"


We've been learning lately that he really is listening to us --

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Landon just discovered clementines and is in love. :) A few days ago, we were eating some we had this conversation about his new favorite fruit,

Landon: How does it feel? er... How does it feel you?
Me: Do you mean how does it taste? It tastes great.
Landon: Er...How does it feel? Does it feel you with joy?

(Upon later questioning, I found that Landon really was listening to his scripture stories - when I asked where he'd heard 'fill you with joy' he answered from Lehi, about the fruit from the tree.

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Yesterday we were riding home from a bikeride to the library and were all bundled up. Landon suddenly said (with vigor!) "Moroni ripped a piece of his coat for the flag, but I'm not!" (Apparently he was concerned for his new winter coat's safety... :)

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We were singing the "When I am baptized' song a few days ago (part of the lines are "I know when I am baptized, my wrongs are washed away...) After a minute, Landon said, "I don't want my wrongs washed away!" then, getting teary eyed, he added "I want to live at our home!" (I'm not sure where this came from...)

Tonight, when we sang it at bedtime, he was thoughtful afterwards and asked, "After we get baptized, do we get to come back to our own home?" When I told him we did, he answered happily, "Oh! I didn't know that!"

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Jordan calls Landon our 'Valiant defender of truth and right'. A while ago, Landon heard from a movie something like "I'm going to kill him!' and not understanding it's meaning, started repeating that when he was playing pretend with his animals and such. That didn't seem the greatest, so I'd told him that he should say something like "I'll get you" instead.

Yesterday, my mom and sisters were talking about something ( I think football accidents?) and suddenly Landon was on his feet and sharply reprimanding them "We don't say kill!" He really is a valiant little guy in speaking out for what he knows is right!

Great video :)

Jen showed me this video tonight - my cousin Lauren's A1 contest entry

Twenty Five...

...for just a few more days!

Some somewhat jumbled thoughts on being 25 --

Landon asked me a few months ago how old I was and without thinking, I answered "Twenty-one er... uh... twenty-five" It seems like in my mind I still haven't gone past that 21 mark in age. :)

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At the same time, I've been realizing that I really am not 21 anymore! Because of the demographics in our ward-- Jordan's realized that there is only one guy in Elders Quorum that has been in the ward longer than us-- I've really started to feel a little old as I watch all of the 20-21 year old newlyweds moving in and see that they really do seem much younger than us.

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Growing up, I was always the youngest in my grade at school and being a bit competitive or something, I had a pretty strong complex of needing to show everyone I was just as smart and good at everything than everyone else a year older, and I was always proud of being the youngest one to do such and such... For example -->

At 10, when we got to work at our own pace in math, I finished up the 5th and 6th grade math books and started on pre-algebra --so proud to be the youngest and the furthest ahead...

Then at 15, I filled my schedule with all the college prep classes - English, Physiology and Anatomy, Calculus, French, History, plus Choir, Sewing and Seminary along with all of the other school clubs, travels, and high school fun with friends and all... and I can remember distinctly feeling like I should be doing more.

By 20, I was scheduling out my days by every 15 minutes in order to fit everything in to my whirlwind life as I started teaching Junior High full time w/ 7 different preps, continued at BYU as a full time student in order to keep my scholarships, started dating Jordan, was engaged and married!

Now, at 25 -- I'm suddenly average. Married, two kids, stay-at-home-mom. That feels a bit strange, but I can't imagine being in any other situation than living this happy, average life. :)

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And just one more funny thought on being 25 -

I was telling Landon about my upcoming birthday and how I would be turning 26. He is determined that this year my birthday not mean 'one year older and wiser too.' As he says,

"But Mommy, I don't want you to be 26! I want you to be 25 forever!!"

Landon's Latest

Landon has been working on his 'Gordon chart' since his birthday (in July) and finally finished it! He got one mark (= 1 penny) for every dish that he did. Four months later, he got to buy Gordon. Here's the proud helper -->

And he had a HUGE accomplishment this last month -- he gave up his binky!!! I thought this would never be possible, but we lost it in Logan and he managed to sleep without it that night (amazing!), so we continued with it and he is binky-free now. Wow!

(I put off ever taking away Landon's bink because it was the one time when he would/could be really calm - he'd take breaks during the day to go lay on his bed w/ his binky and 'sleep', but now he's without that one calming thing... I'd thought at least he'd still have his soft blue blanket to 'pull fuzz', but apparently, that went along with binky use to him because his room is now fuzz free too!)

Landon's been having fun running with us at the track (my batteries died before I could get a great picture...) He sure is one tough little kiddo!

("I sure love you Billy!")

Landon loves to have friends. Today at church, he came with me to the end of primary and happily sat talking with one of the other presidency women while I conducted (with an occasional not-too-quiet "And what's next Mommy?"). As soon as it was over, he ran into the throng of kids and grabbed the first little boy he saw to tell him "My shoes are matching with Daddy's!" On the way home he yelled hello to everyone who passed, and when he saw Emma (one of my past piano students) run by w/ a friend, he tried to catch up with an "Emma wait!", then walked back to us shoulders slumped saying, "I was too late Mommy! I was too late!"

He loves to go to playgroup and see Josh and Jackson and has a great time playing with Josh while Jordan watches the boys and Ellie on Saturday mornings during Yoga.

He is one determined little boy -- one of our favorite things was him saying in response to Jordan's observation "I am NOT assertive!" :)

Landon loves to dance, 'play and play and play', help cook, watch his favorite movies, run, climb on the stairs, play with Ellie "I say silly words to Ellie and she laughs!"...

What a wonderful little boy we've got!

10 Months

Up, up and away with our beautiful Ellie! :)

Ellie loves to be up -- climbing up the stairs in her mischievious little game, up in our arms or in the backpack with Jordan, up standing or walking along the furniture -- up! And she's getting pretty quick with her crawling and very quickly comes to find us if Jordan or I leave the room.

She is loving some new foods -- especially graham crackers (leaving home without these has become an emergency at times), baby-made spaghetti, and cereal.

She's talking and playing around with all sorts of sounds these days, lately a lot of "diggadiggas"

She still loves to cuddle, for quick moments at a time, then she's got to get back to looking all around and taking in what she sees.

She's learning to vocalize and point to what she wants and is getting some definite preferences. And, she's learning to say please in sign language (we learned with Landon that this was worth teaching to avoid the initial scream-for-what-you-want technique. :)

She's playing with Landon and loves to chase him around or be chased (as long as she knows she is safe.)

We love sweet Ellie!

(Lots of cute pics :)

"Can we do all those fun things again tomorrow?"

Yesterday, after some very rough days with Landon, my whole focus was to make it a happy day for all of us. When I put Landon to bed, we talked about all the good things of the day. A bit later he came out to the top of the stairs to ask something, then said, "And Mommy, can we do all those fun things again tomorrow?" What a nice ending to a day made sweet through some really hard work.

Here are some of the fun things we did --

Made "3" pancakes (funny side story: as Landon ate his 3-shape pancakes, he'd take a bite then ask "What does it look like now?" he eventually got down to one little piece that he was trying to get me to guess with the hint "Like on our camping trip..." then by acting out it's motion on the table -- Landon turned his 3 pancake into a lovely banana slug. :)

Did puzzles 'lots of times!' and even a few times with our toes, by Landon's request.

Read stories in the munchkin room

Recorded some little videos

Went for a walk and scooter ride to the church on Jordan's lunch break, then stopped on the way home to lay in the grass and look at the clouds and tell poems and songs (again, all by Landon's request)

'Played and played and played' - w/ trains, giraffes, animals...

Watched Clifford

Made up songs and rymes about Landon's animals

Did lots of jobs

Had a dance party to the Mac song and a few others

Played with Ellie on the stairs

Had some quiet 'sleeping time' on the couches

Went to the running track

Had a yum Rumbi Island dinner at home

Watched a Mickey Mouse Christmas movie

Made a family of aluminum foil people

And mostly, I tried so hard to be ever patient and kind and help Landon be sweet and kind too.

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

The latest Mormon Messages -->

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

And while you're there, these three are great.