Shampoopie

It's amazing how much this little man already makes me laugh every day. This one was good for a real good belly laugh :) So, whenever Landon is working on a nice poopie diaper, he grunts a lot and his little face reddens. This is when I usually say, "Are you pooping?". Well, apparently we do this little scene enough that now if I simply ask if he's pooping, he responds with a grunt whether he's pooping or not. This in itself makes me laugh and he smiles along with me, proud that he understands exactly what I'm talking about. (I know, classy huh?) Well...the other day we were hanging out at my mom's salon and Landon was VERY interested in the bright colorful bottles of shampoo on the shelves lining the hallway. He, of course, said, "dat? dat?" repeatedly until I told him that those were bottles of shampoo. His response??? A BIG grunt and a smile. Clearly I put a little too much emphasis on the POO part of shampoo.

Say, Peas!

It's hard to believe that someone with a face like this could be so incredibly sneaky. During dinner tonight, I actually caught Landon dropping some of his peas on the floor for the dogs! I thought it was supposed to be a few years until he started hiding his veggies :) When I turned around and caught him in the act, he just grinned at me...probably wanting to remind me of just how adorable he is...good thing, too.

My Little Monster :)

First of all, I'm beginning to think we've created a monster, an adorable monster, but a monster nonetheless. I say that affectionately, of course :) We were elated when Landon began signing his first few words and have been eagerly teaching him more and more. His favorite of all signs has been "light"...and this is where our little monster comes in :) He knows light so well and has to point them out everywhere...EVERYWHERE. Oh yeah, and EVERY time. We pass no fewer than 10 lights on our way from his crib, down the stairs, and into the living room, and he points them out and signs "light" for all of them...every time we pass them. First thing when he wakes up, he no longer wants to smile at mommy. No, he wants to make sure that I've seen the light in his room...the same one we talked about before his nap. Imagine his astonishment when we took a trip to the hardware store last weekend and took him to the lighting department. OMG! His legs were kicking like mad and he was signing frantically with both hands :)

Second of all, he has learned that he can control his eyebrows, with which he makes GREAT angry eyes. He enjoys making this face anytime something doesn't go his way and uses it at will to manipulate whomever he can. He also uses these angry eyes on poor unsuspecting, ogling strangers at the supermarket. They admire his cuteness and try talking to him sweetly, and then...all of a sudden...he gives them the angry eyes. They never know quite what to do at this point...I try to reassure them that he's just practicing a new trick he's learned, but...
The look he's giving in the picture isn't quite the same one I'm describing, (the usual one includes a closed mouth with pouty lips) but it is another variation...and also very fake :)

Ready or Not...He's Walking

I can't believe my baby is walking already! I'm not ready for this, physically, mentally, OR emotionally. We first caught him taking a few steps early last week. He would "walk" from the couch or chair toward a toy on the ground, taking one or two steps and then plopping himself down on his butt. Late last week, Somer and I saw him take 5 in a row before falling and couldn't believe it. It's crazy to me how quickly two little steps have turned into walking all the way across the living room. He seems so thrilled to be able to balance himself so well and loves practicing. I won't deny that he usually resembles a little drunken man as he does so, which almost always results in a good family laugh :) Good job, little man!

Yummy Tomato!

We planted a yummy salsa garden in our yard this year. Unfortunately, I seem to only be able to grow tomatoes...and LOTS of them! Then tend to grow wild and take over everything else I attempt to grow, in this case my peppers and jalepenos. Landon and I have been checking on the garden's progress and watching the tomatoes grow and grow and finally turn red. The other day we went out to pick one that had fully ripened. I intended to make myself a delicious tomato sandwich with it, but instead, Landon kept pointing to it saying, "dat, dat, dat?" I kept explaining to him that it was a tomato that we had grown but evidently that wasn't satisfying his curiosity. I finally pulled it off of the counter and handed it to him, thinking to myself that he was going to examine it as he often does with other things, and I was pretty sure that it would at some point wind up in his mouth. What I wasn't prepared for was that he was going to be able to take giant bites out of it (with only 2 teeth...on the bottom!) or that he was going to LOVE it! He was so funny to watch as he opened his mouth up wide, bit down, and slurped all the juices out of it. By the end, I couldn't believe how much he had eaten...and I guess I'll wait on that tomato sandwich.

Lights, Camera, Fireworks

This past 4th of July weekend we traveled the long way up to Crescent City for our first visit to Spencer's hometown since Landon was born. I loved getting away from all of the heat and the business of Sacramento and enjoying the beach for a few days, and Landon loved getting spoiled by his Nanny, Grandpa, and Poppy! Their house was, of course, stocked with new toys and two very entertaining little doggies :) We made lots of visits to family friends, enjoyed the annual parade of fire trucks, floats, and cars, and ate way too much! As you saw from my previous post, Landon has been busily learning new baby signs, and this 4th of July weekend was no exception. Landon has always been very mesmerized with lights and continually points to them, saying "dat? dat?". We'd been practicing showing him how to sign "light" by opening and closing his hand up in the air. He would watch us but hadn't really tried it out himself....until we went down to the docks to watch the fireworks the night of the 4th. As the fireworks burst, he looked up into the sky and signed "light"! We were so excited and impressed with the connection he'd made. It's just incredible to think about how much really is going on inside his mind. It's been remarkable realizing how much he has the desire to communicate with us and thinking about how frustrating it must be to not have the ability to "say" what he wants/needs. You should see the satisfaction on his face as he correctly communicates something to us...pure delight.

Baby Signs

Ok, so I may be a little biased, but I'm quite certain that Landon is a genius! :) A few weeks ago, he excitedly learned the sign for "milk". After he realized that the little movement of his hand held powerful meaning (as in, whenever he did the sign...he got a bottle of milk) it was like a lightbulb went off. He has been obsessively pointing at everything he sees and saying, "dat, dat" wanting to know what things are. He has also mastered 6 new signs! He is amazing me with how fast he picks them up. My favorite is the newest of them all, "frog". He has a favorite stuffed frog, and we've been modeling the baby sign (sticking your tongue out repeatedly) for him the past few days. Then I went into his room this morning and laughed at finding him sticking his tongue out super far as he snuggled his froggie :) I can't wait to keep teaching him more---the light in his eyes as he takes in new things is absolutely priceless.