Happy Birthday Landon Man!

Today is my Mr. Magoo's birthday!
He is THREE years old today!
I cannot tell you how happy and blessed I am to have this wonderful little boy in my life.


Landon was born August 5, 2006, weighing in at 7 lbs., 14 oz. He was full of love and smiles and laughs from the beginning and it's only gotten better with time. He loves to be outside and enjoys the water like he should live there. Some of my favorite times with Landon now are cuddling with him while he wakes up and when he goes to bed. Because I wake him up before he is ready to wake up in the mornings. I get up especially early to be able to cuddle with him and love on him. Then when he's up I tell him I love him and he says in his little boy voice that turns up at the end, "I love you too!" He is the sweetest and funniest little boy you'll meet.

He's gone through stages...

The NO! stage.
Landon started to tell me No for everything! No joke... I ask if he wants a drink of water after coming in from playing in the pool in the backyard and he says No... he got out of this stage pretty quickly when he learned if he said No he really wasn't going to get what he said No to!

The 'Why Mama?' stage.
There was about a month or just under a month where Landon would ask me why for everything and when I said anything! We would be going to Wal-Mart...
---
Landon: "Where we going Mama?"
Me: "To Wal-Mart."
Landon: "Why?"
Me: "To get some groceries and toilet paper."
Landon: "Why?"
Me: "Because we are out of toilet paper and we are running out of food at home."
Landon: "Why?"
Me: "Because we use toilet paper to go to the bathroom and we have used every roll in the house that we bought last time."
Landon: "Why?"
Me: "Because we need to be clean when we come from going to the bathroom."
Landon: "Why?"
Me: "Because we don't want to be dirty."
Landon: "Why?"
Me: "Why are you asking, 'Why?' so much?"
Landon: "I don't know!"
---
Seriously this happened ALL THE TIME!
At first I answered his every "why?" question with a logical answer and spend minutes going through all the possible boring answers to those multiplying Whys! Then when my patience was cut short, I started asking that ending question again and again. It stopped soon after... I think he realized he didn't really know why he was asking those "Why?" questions.

The sticking-his hand down his pants stage.
I don't think this one needs a explanation... but I'm pretty sure that every boy goes through it. o_O

The Money! stage (still there).

He is currently still in this stage where he has learned that money buys him things... so he wants it! I have started to pay him a penny a day for picking up his room. I figure this will evolve into weekly allowance when he gets older for doing chores... but seriously! I have one happy little boy who is willing to clean his room for a penny! That's awesome in my opinion! And he doesn't throw fits or tantrums anymore about having to do it. When I give him the penny he immediately puts it into his giraffe 'piggy' bank I got him on his last birthday. :)

The I Wipe Myself stage (still there).
If you have a solution or previous experience on this one please let me know. Landon has been potty trained for a while now and has started to wipe his own bottom before he calls me when he's done. So what ends up happening... yeah... you guessed it! Clogging the toilet happens every time! So I'm caught in this trap! I am excited he's wanting to wipe himself, but not excited about having to plunge the clogged toilet every time!

The Lay on the Ground stage (still there).
Landon has never been one to throw tantrums because that is one of my Pet Peeves. I hate it.
So Landon has found something else... when he doesn't get his way or is told to do something he doesn't want to do... he lays down on the ground and puts his face in his arms... Yep... that's it! This doesn't bother me... it's not into that Tantrum yelling/kicking pet peeve of mine. So it is how he expresses himself without me getting upset with him. I leave him alone and ignore it to the best of my ability and when he's done he gets up and comes and hugs my leg or does what he's been asked to do in the first place. So I guess you could call this his "cool down" thing. :)
I kinda like it.

While he's been 2 years old, he's learned to do a lot of things. Landon tells me every morning and every evening, as well as some points in between, that he loves me. Most of the time it's preceded with me telling him I love him... but there are times when it comes out of the blues from him. I remember the first time he said it by himself to me. I was so ecstatic and beaming with pride and love. I picked him up just held him. He has come to adore rolly pollys, worms, and caterpillars. If you're not familiar with these little rolly creatures I've included some pictures of them. :)



One thing that I've enjoyed is that Landon cuddles more now than he used to. He doesn't mind putting his head on my shoulder or giving me BIG hugs and just sitting there with me. He's received many bruises, scratches, rug burns, and scraps. He's been covered in bandaids, neosperin, and kisses. He loves to brush his own teeth and enjoys brushing my hair and putting 'pretties' in it. Landon still prefers my bed to his and is attached to a little, blue, silky and soft blanket... (which reminds me of my favorite blanket I drug around as a little girl) but not so attached that he can't go to sleep without it. He has told me that he LOVES: Rolly Pollys Tractors Nicole (play friend) Bubbles Zoey "ZoBo" (the dog) The Rain Watermelon Flip Flops and so many many more things... In the car he continually makes me laugh because we'll be driving and I'll be thinking about what I need to get done when I get home... when I finally tune into what he's saying (mind you it's as fast as he can get the words out!): "I love my NaNa. I love my MaMa. I love my DaDa. I love my Linzey. I love my Auntie. I love my Uncle. I love my ZoBo. I love my Mathias (boy at daycare). I love my... my... ME!" hahaha

Landon is just such a sweet boy. He loves everything and everyone. He loves to make sure he puts his Sunday Nursery drawings on the refridgerator and is getting more and more patient during sacrament meeting, which might have to do with the large volume of children we have in our ward. He loves to sing and dance. Anytime he hears music he starts dancing. Lately as all of you might have noticed he's into flashing peace signs and whatever hand signal comes out in the photo shots. He learned that from his nephew Nicolas on the Mother's Day Camping Trip and hasn't "forgotten" it yet. *Sigh* Oh well... hand signs or not, he's still so stinkin cute in my book.

Landon loves to play with all kids and I have been told by his daycare lady, Andrea, that he is the one that gets picked on all the time by Adrian and the rest of the kids because he doesn't fight back. He has such a soft heart and is so caring. I love that he knows when to mess around with mommy and uncle and when not to. He's very gentle with bugs, babies, and flowers. He picks flowers for me all the time. While we were in Oregon on the coast we were walking and he saw some dandelions and picked a huge handful of them for me... came walking over to me and deposited them in my lap with a huge grin and saying, "These flowers for you mommy!" Who could not adore that kind of smile is beyond me.

I am so blessed to have Landon in my life. He's truly the thing that keeps me running. And there are times that I want to pull my hair out because no matter how many times I tell him NOT to get out of bed, he reappears a few minutes later around the corner saying he needs to go potty or whatnot. But in the end I kiss him before he goes to sleep and realize that I'd rather be bald then live without him. He's been such a blessing in my life. Heavenly Father definitely knew I needed his tender, caring, fun-loving spirit in my life. And I thank him every day for my Mr. Magoo (aka Landon Man).

Happy 3rd Birthday Landon. Mommy loves you!

P.S. I know the fonts and stuff are off, but I tried 5 times to change it all to the same one and it didn't work... so I am not caring at this point. I really did try to make it look nice though. Never had blogspot do that to me though! Frustrating... *shrugs*