All Dressed Up

... and ready to go shopping at Sam's Club?? Landis has the weirdest uncles!

Anatomy Lessons with Landis

Landis: Paul are you a boy?

Paul: What do you mean, Landis?

Landis: Do you have a penis Paul?

Paul: Umm, yes.

Landis: I have a penis too. Monni is a girl. She does NOT have a penis. Nonni, are you a girl?

Nonni: Yes, I'm an old girl.

Landis: (Nodding head in agreement.) Paul, Nonni is an old girl. She does not have a penis either.

I almost died of laughter.

Old Family Picture

Goat, Aaron Scott, Landis and me at Landis' first birthday! Landis and Aaron Scott have grown sooo much in just 2 years.

My new favorite Landis-ism

Overalls = Rover-ralls

Dinosaurs!

As I was making lunch today, I heard a strange series of growls, yells and yelps emerging from Landis' room. Concerned, I poked my head in and asked Landis what was going on.

"Deinonychus is eating a triceratops," he replied.

The terrible scene was playing out on his bed. The small plastic triceratops had fallen, and deinonychus was slashing with the huge claws on his feet, then bending down to take bite.

My little boy is dinosaur obsessed!

Birthday Party Pictures

Landis had a great 3rd birthday party! He had so much fun with his big brother, uncles and friends.



We had the party at a local park, and Landis had a blast running around near the lake...


...and climbing trees with his friend Guinnevere!


Caleb had fun climbing too..


...so did Josh and Aaron Scott!

Landi's First Haircut!

Before and after pictures.. He looks like such a big kid now!

Landis' New Friend

Imaginary friend, that is...

Tonker is a girl who likes to go sailing with Landis on his sail boat. She has a green shirt and Landis has a green shirt that matches. She has a Monni and Daddy too. She likes to play with Landis. Her birthday is the same day as Landis' and she is very excited about it.

He is such an imaginative kid!

Landis Quote

"Monni, will you get me a dinosaur book where all the dinosaurs don't die in the end?"

Poor boy. Extinction is a sad, sad thing!

Sweet Tooth

Landis has apparently inherited my sweet tooth. Goat brought some candy home from work a few days ago. After dinner, we each had a piece, and I informed Landis that, in the interest of him being able to fall asleep at a reasonable hour, he could only have one piece of candy that night.

He looked up at me hopefully and asked, "Do you mean one at a time?"

Imaginary Friends

Landis has been playing with imaginary friends recently. Today he is playing with "Violin." According to Landis, she "likes to sing and she can play guitar with her singing. She is a girl, and her skirt is red and her shirt is blue. She likes to play with me. She shares her candy with me and then she saves the rest of it. She is kind of like Anna but not."

He is certainly an imaginative little boy!

Homophones

Today is laundry day and clothing choices were in short supply for Landis. I handed him a navy blue shirt to put on, and Landis asked if it was his motorcycle shirt, which is the same color.

"No, Landis," I said, "this is a plain shirt."

Landis finished putting the shirt on, looked down and then back at me, confused. "Monni," he asked, "where is the plane?"

We are in Gainesville for the weekend! We just watched the game (Go Gators!!) and arrived back at my parents' house.

Landis wanted to play with Caleb's toys. Josh reminded him that he should ask before he played with them. Landis walked over to Caleb and said, "Caleb, your toys are nice. I like to play with them. I am going to play with them now."

Umm, Landis, that was not quite what we meant by "ask Caleb." Silly boy!

Recently, Landis has been counting everything. Today, he told me he was going to give me three kisses. He held up his thumb, pointer finger and middle finger to show me, and counted the kisses out on his fingers.

He touched his middle finger, counted "one" and gave me a kiss.

He touched his pointer finger, counted "two" and gave me another kiss.

Then, he touched his thumb and said, "See, this finger is for a little kiss." After giving me one last little kiss, he ran off happily to play with his trains.

Reading Goggles

Landis was given a tool set by his Ludwig grandparents for his second birthday. He loves to pretend to build and fix all sorts of things, and also finds other creative uses for the toys. For example, these safety goggles have become Landis' official reading goggles. Several times each day he runs out of his room to find me with his goggles in place and a book in his hands!

Awwww....

Landis finished his lunch and ran over to my seat. He gave me a kiss, snuggled in my lap and said, "You always get me sandwiches. You are a good Monni."

What at sweet boy he is!

Big boy bed

Landis got a new big boy bed! He loves it. He picked out his own sheets - Thomas the Tank Engine, of course! He loves to snuggle his Monni or Daddy in his new bed and get lots and lots of books read to him before bedtime. When Aaron Scott was here last weekend, they tried to have a sleepover in the big boy bed but they were both too excited to sleep!

I can't believe how fast my little boy is growing up. He gets bigger and more independent every day. It is so much fun to watch him grow and change!

shapes

Landis has been very interested in learning his shapes recently. He also loves to eat a slice of peanut butter toast with his breakfast. Combining these two interests, I've come up with Landis' new favorite breakfast food - shape toast! Every morning, Landis requests that I cut his toast into a new shape. Triangles are the current favorite, but squares, rectangles, semi-circles, and this morning's choice, circles, are also options. Instead of dawdling as he sometimes used to, Landis happily chomps his shape toast up. It's made breakfast really fun!

Bookworm

Landis and I got into a long discussion this evening about how libraries work. He's been to the library but hadn't ever really discussed how the library operates. We talked about it for a while, and Landis got more and more excited about the prospect of a never-ending supply of books. He looked up at me and said, "Wow!! That is SO COOL!"

We met our friends Natalie and Anna at the library last week for storytime. As I pulled into the parking lot, Landis told me, "Monni, I love the library. You know why? It has books and Anna!!"

Silly Landis Quote of the Day

"I don't have a guitar at my house. That is sad. If I had a guitar at my house, that would be happy. You see how that works, Monni?"

Happy (belated) birthday, Josh!!

Josh turned 13! He is now officially Landis' favorite teenage uncle (Paul turned 20 just a few days before Josh's birthday.)

We love you, Josh!!

Happy (belated) birthday, Paul!!

Happy birthday, Paul! You are strange, but we love you - even when you are wearing a smelly camouflage suit!

Converation with Landis

Landis: I heared a sound. You heared that sound, Monni?

Me: No, I didn't hear it.

Landis: It was a pop. Pop! Pop!

Me: Oh.

Landis: What was it?

Me: I don't know. I didn't hear it.

Landis: What was it?

Me: I don't know.

Landis: (much louder) WHAT WAS IT?

Me: I still don't know, Landis. It doesn't matter how loud you ask, or how many times. I didn't hear it, so I don't know what made the sound.

Landis: Please can you know?

Me: I'm sorry, Landis, I just don't know what it was.

Landis: I think it was a balloon popping. I heared it loud in my ear.



I thought it was so cute that he thought I would be able to tell him about the mysterious noise if he just said please. I still have no idea what he heard. There aren't any balloons in the house right now to get popped, so it can't be that. He was standing near the window when he heard it, so maybe the neighbor kids were playing with their paintball gun or something...

Landis just called my parents' house to talk to his uncles and said "Hi, Caleb. Do you want to come to my house or not?" What happened to Caylo? His adorable mispronunciations are getting rarer and rarer - my little boy is growing up whether I'm ready or not!

This is Weird

My little night owl boy has started going to bed at 8:30 pm happily and without protest. I never thought this would happen!

Landis Quote of the Day

Landis and I were talking about one of his friends. He asked, "Does he have a brother?"

I told him that, yes, that friend does have a brother.

Landis thought about it for a little while and said sadly, "But he doesn't have a Josh."


Landis thinks every little boy should have a fun uncle Josh!

He can swim!!

We went to the pool today, and Landis splashed around on the steps for a little while, then said to me, "Monni, go far, and I will swim to you all by myself."

I took a step or 2 back, and he motioned for me to go back further. So, I stepped about 4 feet away from the steps and he grinned, ducked his head under the water and swam to me!

I am so, so excited! He has been taking swimming lessons for a month and has been so close to swimming for the last week or 2, but I guess everything just clicked for him today. We spent the next 30 minutes with him swimming back and forth between me, Goat, Caleb, the steps and the wall. It was so much fun! He LOVES the water so much. I can't wait until tomorrow so I can take him to the pool again!!!

Swimming

Landis has been taking swimming lessons for the past month. He loves his teacher, Miss Marie, and has learned to swim short distances. He has a lot of fun interacting with the other kids in his class, splashing, blowing bubbles, floating and playing.


Today was the last lesson of the month and the teacher arranged for underwater pictures of the kids to be taken. Landis' caption for this picture is: "This is Landi, swimming by his self!"

We are looking forward to taking lessons again in July!

Love

Last week, Landis and I went to the swimming pool with our friends Jessica and Beni. We had a great time, and while we were there, Landis did what is quite possibly the sweetest thing any baby has ever done.

There is a big section of the pool with shallow water, so I let Landis run around while I sat in the water nearby. After a while, he ran up to me and threw himself into my arms. "Monni," he said, "I love you close." And he snuggled up in my arms.

He then leapt down, ran half way across the pool and yelled at the top of his lungs, "I love you far away!"

And then it was back to me. "I love you close!"

He is the sweetest boy anyone has ever had and I can't even begin to describe how very much I love him.

When I came home from school yesterday, I noticed that Landis was no longer wearing his pants. I asked him whether he had had an accident, or just wanted to take them off. He told me, "I just wanted to take my pants off because I pee'd in them."

Leave it to Landis to find a third option!

I was tossing Landis in the air earlier this evening. I told him it was fun to toss him. He told me, "I can toss myself by my own self" and jumped as high as he could, yelling "TOSS!!"

Landis-isms of the Day

Landis, Caleb and I had to run some errands today. As I was driving to the grocery store, I asked the boys if there was anything they would like me to add to my list. Caleb requested milk and tomato soup so that we could make "Grandpa's Penne Pasta" (pasta with cheese and tomato soup.) Landis chirped in, "I want tomato soup! I do! I do!"

Caleb, amused by Landis' response, asked, "Landis, do you believe in fairies?"

Landis replied, "I believe in tomato soup!"

Silly boys!!!

We all knew it was coming...

I'm surprised it took this long. Yesterday, was Landis' first (and hopefully only!) emergency room visit.

My little monkey boy tried to climb onto the top of the fridge and fell onto his head on the tile floor. After a panicked phone call to my wonderful Dad, we determined the criteria for taking him in to the ER instead of watching him carefully at home. (As an aside - it is so nice to have a father who is a pediatrician when you have an injury prone little toddler! Thank you Dad!!!) When Landis started vomiting repeatedly, we took him in. As scary as it was - he vomited, his speech was slurred and he was as miserable and iritable as I have ever seen him - everything turned out OK. Several hours and a CT scan later, it was determined that Landis had suffered a mild concussion, but would be just fine. Caleb was NOT happy to be back in a hospital. He has spent a lot of time with my Mom and Grandpa. But, he made it through.

We were instructed to check on Landis every 2 hours during the night to make sure he would wake easily, just in case. I think it really sunk in that he was just fine when, in the middle of the night, between checks, I coughed a little bit and Landis rolled over, opened his eyes and muttered sleepily, "Monni, I want you cover your mouth when you cough. Remember that, please." He then rolled over and fell back asleep. Clearly he was not having any problem waking up!

I heard Landis' side of a phone conversation with his Nonnie describing the ordeal. In Landis' words: "I bonked on the tile. It hurt. I saw some people and Monni and Daddy at the other* hosital-tal. Monni says, 'No more bonks on the tile.'"


*Not the same hospital that we went to to see Great Grandpa Duggan.

Big Update Post

I've been neglecting this poor blog because we have been busy recently!

Goat is still working like crazy, making a valiant effort to do 6 people's jobs. In his spare time (Ha! What spare time?) he has managed to complete several computer and truck related projects, as well as taking over Monday and Wednesday evening Landis wrangling duties because...

I am back in school! My schooling was put on hold by the arrival of a certain 2 year old we all know and love, and I am finally going back. I'm taking classes at Brevard Community College - a speech class for the first half of the summer that meets Monday and Wednesday evening, then a Humanities class that meets Tuesday and Thursday evening for the rest of the summer. In the fall and spring, I plan to take a few last general ed requirements and several prerequisite courses so that I can begin the UCF education program in either the summer or fall semester of next year.

Speaking of school, Aaron Scott is out of school for the summer. He will be in 4th grade next year, and will be 9 years old in August. Time is flying by! He is an extremely fun and active boy. When he is here, we almost always end up spending a lot of time outside, running, jumping, riding bikes, going for walks, swimming etc. He has some exciting travel plans with his mom and stepdad this summer, and we hope to see a lot of him when he is not traveling.

Landis is also getting ridiculously big! He starts swimming lessons Monday morning, and I hope that he will be swimming by the end of the summer. He loves swimming at his Grandma and Papa's house, at the public pool and in the little kiddie pool in our yard. He has been really interested in learning about letters and their sounds recently, and enjoys playing on the Starfall website.

Josh had been visiting for the past week, which has been so much fun! We always enjoy having him around. We baked scones and a pie, went to the beach and pool, Goat took him target shooting, and now the guys are fishing. He has also been a huge help, keeping Landis occupied so I can get some projects done around the house. He even offered to mow the grass this weekend! We went to several garage sales yesterday and the best find was a 9 cube organizer similar to this one for $5! It fits perfectly in the boys' room.

Caleb is coming to visit next week and we are excited about spending some time with him. I am so fortunate to have 4 wonderful little brothers!

We are looking forward to going up to North Carolina to see Johnny and meet his girlfriend Andrea later this summer. It will be nice to have all of the siblings together.

It should be a fun summer!!!

"That Creeps Me Up"

One of Landis' favorite toys is the shelf from one of our cabinets which we removed to store some tall items. He pretends that it is his stove, and cooks me lots of yummy "food." Yesterday, I decided to help his imagination along, so I drew spirals on it to look like burners. For a while, all was well.

Then, a few hours later, Landis ran over to me and said, "Monni, there are giant eyeballs on my stove. That makes me angry."

It took me a few minutes to realize that he meant the drawings of burners. I asked him why it made him angry. He replied, "I don't like those eyeballs, Monni. That creeps me up. "

Now that you mention it, Landis, giant eyeballs on a stove top are rather creepy...

More Conversations with Landis

"Bye, Monni. I am driving to my school."

"Bye, Landi."

"You want a kiss, Monni?"

"Yes please."

"You want a hug, Monni?"

"Yes, I love your hugs."

"They are your favorite, Monni? I will give you more hugs. Now you say, 'Bye Landi.'"

"Bye, Landi."

"Bye, Monni. I will do lots of things in my school. You want to come wif me in my school?"

So He Does Listen to Me!

Landis really enjoys "helping" me by sweeping the floors with his toy broom. Today, we had a conversation that we have had many times - but in reverse!

"Monni, I am going to sweep."

"OK, Landis. Thank you for sweeping.

"Monni, be careful. Don't step in my pile!"

"OK."

"Monni, you say 'Yes, Landi'"

"Yes, Landi."

"That is good."

Observations of a 2 year old

"Monni, I don't fly. You don't fly too. But birds fly!"

My Long-Haired Hippie Boy

Mom, avert your eyes.









Landis' hair is getting LONG. He was bald for the longest time, and with his blond hair he looked bald even after his hair began to grow. No more!

Now all I need is to find some masculine or at least gender neutral contraption to keep the hair out of his eyes. Somehow, as much as my husband likes long hair, I don't think he would go for ribbons and bows in his son's hair. There must be something out there. I can't be the only mom of a long haired little boy to ever experience this quandary...

Funny story - Landis went grocery shopping at the Downtown Produce Market with his Grandma and Papa the other day. (If you live in the area and haven't shopped there yet - go! Best store ever...) We do almost all of our meat, cheese and produce shopping there, and they know us by name. The cashier recognized Landis and was ooh-ing and aah-ing over him, and said, "Wow, his hair is getting so long, just like his Dad's." My poor father-in-law spent several years in the Air Force and is less than thrilled that his sons and grandson have long hair. He offers to take Landis for a haircut almost as often as my mom reminds us that it would be no problem at all to take care of Landis' tresses while she's outside cutting Josh and Caleb's hair. Goat and I found that conversation hysterical. Don't worry, Nonni and Grandpa - soon enough Landis will be in the teenage rebellious stage and decide to shave his head...

As sometimes happens, Landis stumbled into our bed in the wee hours of the morning for some Monni and Daddy snuggles. We woke up a few hours later, and Landis was in the sweetest mood ever. I gave him a hug and a kiss and started to get up. He grabbed my hand and said "Monni, stay here. I love you too much!"

How could I resist? Landis and I snuggled for a few more minutes, then played with his stuffed animal, George, who had come to the big bed with Landis in the middle of the night. After a while, Landis was ready to jump out of bed and start his day. He has been in the best mood all morning long.


A few years ago, just before Landis turned 1, we went to the Florida La Leche League Conference. One of the speakers used the metaphor that everyone has a "cup" that needs to be filled every day with love and affection and attention, and that many times a child will misbehave to get attention - even negavive attention- if that cup is not filled with positive attention by their parents. He said one of the best things a parent could do to make the whole day better was to spend a little while in the morning filling up their child(ren)'s cup by giving them a few minutes of completely undivided attention.

I've definitely noticed that our days run smoother when Landis and I spend some time together fist things in the morning, before I start to get busy and distracted by making breakfast and washing dishes and folding laundry and checking email and writing grocery lists and all of the other busyness of day to day life. I think we may have to make morning snuggle time a regular part of our routine!

Aaron Scott, Actor

We went to Aaron Scott's school play yesterday. It was great! The play was about the cheese from "The Farmer in the Dell" not wanting to stand alone. Aaron Scott played the farmer, and did a great job. It was a very cute play! They started out with the nursery rhyme, and then the chesse went to cheese town and the kids sang Aaron Scott's favorite song from the play. Eventually, the rat stood up for his friend the cheese and they all lived happily ever after. Goat and Landis were lucky enough to get the advance performance Friday night on the way back from his parents' house. Aaron Scott sang every single song in the truck.

After the play, Aaron Scott, Landis and Ethan had a great time running around and playing for a few minutes. Aaron Scott is such a great big brother. All of his younger siblings adore him - and I can't blame them! He is such a wonderful, fun boy, and I feel blessed to be part of his life.

Landis is really into wishing recently. Today he told me, "I wish Aaron Scott had a truck with a trailer on, and a boat on the trailer. Then we can swim* in the river together."


*Landis has not yet figured out the swim/sail distinction. To him, if it moves in or on the water, it is swimming. He means they will sail together.

Or Not Or Yes?

Landis has taken to using this phrase to end yes/no questions. Today, he called Goat and asked, "Daddy, do you want to go swimming with me, or not or yes?"

Going to the Hosital-tal

It's fascionating to watch Landis play. It gives me an interesting window into his mind. Last month, Landis and I spent a few days in Gainesville with my parents and siblings while my Grandpa was in the hospital. Landis went to the hospital several times, and I explained that Great-Grandpa went the hospital when because he was sick, and that the doctors and nurses were helping him get better. Apparently it had more of an impression on him than I thought.

Today, Landis asked me to play with him. "Monni, get in the car!"

"Where is the car, Landi?" He indicated the couch, and I sat down on one of the cushions.

"Monni, that is Nonni's seat. This is Nonni's car."

So, I moved to a different seat. "Where are we going in Nonni's car?" I asked.

"We are going with Nonni to the hosital-tal."

"Oh! Who is at the hospital? Will we see your Great-Grandpa?"

"No, not Great-Ampa. We will see Josh."

"Oh no! What happened to Josh? Is he sick?"

Landis grabbed his foot, then pointed to his big toe. "Josh has bad ows on this toe. Somebody at the hosital-tal will help him get better."

Yesterday, I talked to Goat on the phone while he was on the work. After I hung up, I told Landis who had called, and passed on an "I love you" from his Daddy. Landis, who is really interested in the different names, relationships and titles that one person can have, told me, "Daddy is not your Daddy, he is your husband." I told him that was right, and we discussed how Grandpa was my Daddy, and Nonni's husband, and Papa was Daddy's Daddy, and Grandma's husband. He was quiet for a moment, sorting through it all.

He was pretty sure he had it all figured out, but he just had one more question. "Monni, whose husband is Josh?"

Then we had to have a whole conversation about how kids don't have husbands or wives, but when they grow up they can get married and then they will have a spouse, and sometimes they will become parents. Landis was quite fascinated by the prospect of growing up and experiencing all of the different relationships he will have throughout his life.


As much as I loved having a snuggly, chubby, smiling baby and sometimes miss that stage in Landis' life, it is so much fun to have a curious little talking boy with a vivid imagination.

Landis had a great time stacking up his blocks after dinner tonight. I walked by, and he informed me, "I am building a spaceship! You like it, Monni?"

I did like it! He had arranged a blanket into the body of the spaceship and made two "towers" at the front and back of the ship with blocks. He is such a fun and imaginative boy!

Landis and Goat were having a conversation today. Landis asked a question, and whatever his Daddy replied, Landis would contradict him.

"What are you doing, Daddy?"

"I'm eating dinner."

"No, you aren't eating dinner."

Goat got fed up, and said, "Stop it, Landis. That is contradicting."

Landis' response? "That is not contradicting."

Daddy's Boy

Landis idolizes his Daddy. Here is a conversation we had after dinner this evening.


"Monni, I am a Daddy."

"Oh, that is nice. Do you have a baby?"

"Yes. And I am a Daddy. I came home for lunch."

"I'm glad you came home. What would you like for lunch?"

"How 'bout a sammich?"

"OK, Landis, here it is." I handed him an imaginary sandwich, and pretended to eat my own sandwich.

"Now you can drop me off at work."

"Where is your work?"

"Outside. We can go together!"

Keeping the Pearly Whites Clean

Here is a conversation Landis and I had after brushing his teeth last night:

"Landis, your teeth are so clean now!"

"But they might get dirty."

"That's okay, you can keep them clean by brushing when you wake up in the morning and before you go to sleep at night."

"And I won't eat dirt."


Yes, funny little boy of mine, not eating dirt will help you keep your little chompers from getting dirty.

Over the last few weeks, I have found several good deals on frozen seafood, so we have been eating a lot of fish. Since I am incapable of cooking only enough food for 3 people, we have leftover fish in the fridge.

This afternoon, Landis asked for a snack, and I offered him leftovers. "What kind of fish would you like for your snack, salmon or mahi?"

He pondered for a moment, then replied, "Goldfish!"

Landis has acquired an interest in knots and tying things. I gave him a piece of webbing and has been wandering around the house tying things up all day. He eventuall got bored with tying the inanimate objects in the house, and few minutes ago, he came over to me and started wrapping the webbing around the arm. He said,"I am tying you up now, Monni."

"Oh no, Landi. I will be stuck!"

"It will be OK, Monni. I will untie you up." He patted my hand reassuringly and continued to wrap the webbing around my arm until he decided I was adequately tied up, then he "untied me up."

He is such a funny little boy. Maybe he will be an Eagle Scout one day like his Daddy with his interest in knots. He will be good to have around on camping trips!

Happy Easter!

Christ the Lord is risen today!

Hallelujah, He is risen indeed!!



Hoping everyone is having a wonderful Easter Sunday. We are going to head over to Goat's parents' house for Easter Seafood Fest 2009. Landis is looking forward to searching for eggs, especially after we told him that there would be CANDY inside! Should be a fun day.

Riding the Alligator

Landis had a check up yesterday, and when we got to the doctor's office, he recognized the building. He got really excited, and told me, "Monni, alligator is here. We can ride alligator!"

I had no idea what he meant - there are no alligators at the doctor's office. We walked into the door and he ran up to the elevator and pushed the button to go up to the office on the 2nd floor. We got in and he said, "We are riding alligator!"

George Washington

Meet Landis' comfort object, George Washington. This Fievel (from An American Tail) stuffed animal was mine when I was a child, and recently Landis has taken to carrying him wherever he goes. Because he has a long tail, Landis decided that he is a monkey. Thus, Fievel became (Curious) George.

Landis has been learning to differentiate between pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters, and I've been teaching him about the presidents whose faces appear on our coins. After we learned about the quarter, George gained a last name.

George Washington is nearly as tall as Landis, but that doesn't stop Landis from dragging him to and fro by his tail wherever he goes. George sleeps next to Landis at night, and has a prominent role in Landis' play during the day.

I didn't think Landis would ever pick a comfort object - for the first 2 years of his life, he didn't latch on to any of his toys or blankets. Apparently he was waiting for a little monkey/mouse named after our first president.

My boy is so strange.

Landis just found one of my hairs on the floor. He brought it over and told me, "Some people have hair. Monni has hair. This hair is for you. It goes on yours head." He then proceeded to try to stick it back on.

Landis is playing some strange game that involves him pretending to splash water on his face. I asked him what he was doing, and he responded, "I need to put more water in mine eyeball."

OK, baby boy, whatever you say!

Landis is beginning to realize that Monni and Daddy have names other than Monni and Daddy. He is totally fascinated and trying to figure it all out. A conversation these days goes something like this: "Banana, please, Monni. Thank you, Erin Joy. This is good banana, Erin-Joy-Monni."

I'm sure he'll sort it out eventually. It's funny and cute, but also a reminder that my sweet little baby boy is growing up.

Sleeping Baby

Type-Woke Walking Update

Here is a video of Landis enjoying his new balance beam. :)

Future Engineer?

Landis' new favorite question is "How it works?"

Fortunately for me, there's one simple answer to that question - "Go ask your Daddy!"

We let the engineers and future engineers sort these sort of questions out amongst themselves.

Snuggle Love

Adorable Landis quote of the day ahead. As context, I tend to call Landis my however-he-is-acting love. E.g. my trouble love, goofy love, playful love, etc.

"I want to be Monni's snuggle love. You want to be Monni."

How could I ever hope to resist snuggling my sweet little snuggle love?

Landis is feeling sick. He's managed to come down with a cough, runny nose, pink eye, ear infection, etc, etc all at once. We are heading to the doctor's office tomorrow morning.

This afternoon, he seemed to be doing a little bit better. I asked him how he was feeling. He shrugged and said, "Not feeling very well."

Poor little guy - but great job on the adverb/adjective distinction!

Nick-uh-rawg-uh-cuh

My brother Paul is headed to Nicaragua (I've tried to replicate Landis' pronunciation above) for a mission trip with Love, Light and Melody. Please keep him in your prayers over the next week. :) We are looking forward to meeting him for lunch Sunday when he returns and hearing all about his amazing adventures!

Elbow Clock

Landis is fascinated by his Daddy's wristwatch. Yesterday, he found a roll of tape and slipped it onto his arm. It was too loose around his wrist, so he moved it further up his arm and ran to tell us, "Monni, Daddy, this my elbow clock!"

Landis was really excited about taking a trip to his Grandma and Papa's house with his Daddy one evening this week. That afternoon, excited and grinning, he told me all about his plans for the trip.

"Landi goes to Grandma and Papa's house. Play with toys. Play with Grandma. Play with Papa. Look at Papa's boat. Eat a cookie." Then his face fell, and he told me about the end of the trip in his saddest voice. "Have to say goodbye to Grandma and Papa. Give Grandma a kiss. Give Papa a kiss. Get in car, buckle seat. Go bye bye."

Don't be too sad, Landis. We will go to see your Grandma and Papa again soon.

Spring is Coming!

My lime tree has little buds! They smell so good. I wonder if we will get some limes this year? I wasn't expecting the tree to produce for another year or two, but it would be a very welcome surprise! The lemon tree, on the other hand, is not doing well. I think the week of cold weather we had may have done it in.

Pictures to follow once I locate the camera...

Turkey Apple Sausages

I found a great recipe for turkey apple sausages. Check out the recipe here. They were really good. We had the sausages and scrambled eggs for lunch/brunch today. I didn't think I liked sausage, but I like these ones!

Landis usually wakes up from his naps happy, refreshed, and ready to play, but this afternoon he woke up on the wrong side of the bed. He kept fussing until I came and picked him up. We sat down on the couch together and he kept fussing until he found the best and most cuddly spot in my lap. Then he smiled, looked up at me and said, "That's perfect, right there." He stopped fussing and snuggled for a few minutes and then was ready to get up and play.

Landis has a new obsession: type-woke walking (known to some of us as tightrope walking.) There is a picture in one of his books of a tightrope walker in a circus, and he has decided that he would like to emulate that illustration. We've been encouraging him to try walking in a straight line on the grout between rows of tiles, and are planning to set up a low balance beam in the back yard. It's nice that he is interested in activities that will improve his balance and coordination, and we feel pretty comfortable about his safety on the ground or only a few inches above it.

This evening, though, he decided to practice tightrope walking along the edge of the kitchen table, above the tiled floor. He just about scared me to death! He now knows that the table is off limits for his "type-woke walking" adventures. I'm amazed we've managed to stay away from the ER this long... Here's hoping that we make it another 2 years without an ER visit!

Landis' Bible Commentary

Landis and I read the story of Samuel being called by God in his little toddler's Bible today. God keeps calling Samuel, but Samuel thinks that Eli, the priest, is the one who is calling and keeps waking him up. Finally, Eli tells Samuel that God is the one talking to him. After I finished reading, Landis said, "Look - this Samuel. It is night. Waked up. Samuel is tired. God is tired too."

Landis Quote of the Day

"I'm not cute trouble, I'm just trouble!"

Landis Ludwig, Space Explorer

Landis and I just read a book about Sam, a monkey who was sent up into space in a rocket in the 50s. Landis is inspired. He just told me, "Landis go up in rocket. Bring special monkey. Go to moon. Not see Monni and Daddy ever."

Landis, you have to at least come back for a visit!!

Landis and I just finished tidying his room. I walked into the living room to grab a couple of toys that were on the floor there, but ran back to his room when I heard a crash. Landis had overturned a big bucket of toys. Exasperated, I asked him why he had done that when we had just put those toys away. He shrugged and said, "Monni, sometimes I make a mess."

Happy Birthday

Caleb!!! We love you. Have fun being 9!

Adorable Figure of Speech

When Landis sees someone mowing, edging, trimming, planting, or otherwise working in their yard, he says they are "lawning." He gets really excited when we take a walk on the weekend. "Monni, look! Neighbors all lawning!"

Landis the Artist

Landis is coloring. To the uninitiated eye, it looks like a bunch of meaningless scribbles, but if you ask Landis, he will explain the scene to you. Here is his explanation of today's drawing.

"Landi draw Johnny, Caylo, Josh, Paul. See? Josh, Caylo, Paul, Johnny. Moon, stars are here. Color more stars. Color a cloud. Look at moon! Moon's light on, shine in sky. See? This Jesse Bear."

Negatives

Landis has been figuring out the meaning of words like "no" and "don't" and "not" recently. He practices as often as he can. I asked him today to "Come over here to Monni."

"Okay. *points to self* Is not Monni. This Landis. That *points to me* not Landi. That Monni."

He does this at the zoo too. I say, "Look at that giraffe, Landis!"

And he says, "That is not rhinoceros. That is giraffe."

He's also obsessed with the word "only", though he hasn't quite grasped the meaning. We were grocery shopping a few days ago and passed a cart which contained a bag of dog food. He asked what it was, and I explained it was food for dogs, and not for little boys.

"Oh! Only dogs eat it. Only Landi doesn't eat it." While dog food is only good for dogs, not eating dog food is a pretty common trait for those of us over the age of 3 or 4. I explained that Monni and Daddy don't eat dog food, and, in fact, most people don't eat it either. We'll see when he figures "only" out.

It is so much fun having a talking little boy, and I am loving every minute of it!

Landis cracks me up. I looked over and he has put his toy dinosaur into one of my my smelly, sweaty tennis shoes and is tenderly cradling both dinosaur and shoe. He saw me looking at him and said, "Look, Monni. I put my baby dinosaur in!"

Hopefully by the time he becomes a Daddy to a real baby he will have learned not to carry the poor kid around in stinky gym shoes. (Although if he hasn't figured it out, I'm sure a newborn or 2 could fit into Uncle Paul's shoes! :) )

Poor Landis

He inherited all of my worst characteristics.


Here we have Landis "Not a Morning Person" Ludwig in his favorite shirt.

As he says: "Is my favorite. Josh got it for me! Has al'gators on it. Also helmets."

Everytime he wears it (and he wants to wear it every day, and gets up set when it needs to be washed) Landis wants to call Josh to thank him and have a chat about the Gators. Funny boy...



One time when Landis was about 6 months old I tried to wake him up in the morning before he was ready. I talked to him, gave him kisses and rubbed him back, but he didn't so much as move a muscle. I flipped him over onto his back. He didn't flinch. I grabbed his arms and pulled him into a sitting position. His eyes remained resolutely shut as he flopped forward back onto the bed. I took off his pajamas and dressed him. Nothing. Picked him up and popped him into a sling. He made a slight grunt, the only sign of life so far. Walked out to the car and put him in his carseat. He rested his head on the side of the seat and kept sleeping. Arrived at our destination, pulled him out of the carseat and back into the sling and started walking around. He woke up an hour later, when he was good and ready to be awake and not a moment sooner.

I've been trying to teach Landis to be respectful of other people's belongings, and to think about the effects of his actions on others. Every time he plays with one of Goat's, Aaron Scott's or my things, we go through this conversation about how it is important to take care of other people's things and return them in the same condition they were in when they were borrowed, and how it makes people feel sad when their things are broken. Here is a conversation we had yesterday.

Landis: Monni, Monni, Monni! *tugs on my skirt* Orange, please.

Me: Okay, Landis.

Landis: Peel it, please.

Me: Of course, silly boy.

Landis: Monni no drop orange on floor. Monni break Landi's orange, make Landi too sad.


He made this ridiculously over exaggerated sad face, and I couldn't suppress a giggle as I assured him I would take good care of his orange and not drop it on the floor.

He got my sweet tooth...

Me: What do you want for breakfast?

Landis: *noncommittal shrug*

Me: You can have cereal and fruit or eggs and toast.

Landis: OR Landis could have candy!

As the smell of regurgitated Goldfish wafted through the air

I suddenly but irrevocably lost all desire to eat that deliciously cheesy snack food ever again.

In related news: Landis has a stomach bug. We've fallen into a pattern of about 18 hours of fitful, feverish sleep and intermittent vomiting, followed by 6 hours of relative good health and happiness. My poor little boy is miserable. He keeps crying as nausea overtakes him "No more! All done! All done!" I feel so powerless. There is nothing to do but keep him clean and well hydrated, and to just be present for him, physically and emotionally. Get better soon, sweet little Landi-love!

Blue Eyed Boys

Gratuitous cute pictures of our adorable blue eyed boys!


How did they get so cute????

Important Life Lessons, by Landis

This important life lesson was related to me by Landis on our walk today.

"People DON'T go in road. Cars go in road. If Landis go in road, then car pish* me flat [STOMP] flat [STOMP] flat [STOMP STOMP STOMP]. Daddy told me."

There you have it. It's simple to avoid becoming a pancake.


*squish

(Click on the comic to view larger.)

A few days ago, I had a busy day, with lots of things that needed to be done and not a lot of time to do them. I told Landis that he needed to go play by himself for a little while, and gave him a few different options - his cars, his train table, or blocks. He picked the trains, and played by himself for about 5 minutes, then came running up to me. "Monni, monni, come SEE!" He grabbed my hand and pulled me over to the train table to show me how Percy had fallen off of the tracks and Thomas was going to rescue him. I oohed and aahed, then asked him to keep playing so I could finish the things I was working on. He decided to go play with his blocks then, but a few minutes later, he was tugging on my skirt again. "Monni look stack!" He had built a tower and wanted an audience for the demolition job. And so the day continued, with him playing by himself for a few minutes, then seeking my attention, and me not getting anything done fast.

Exasperated, I told Landis, "You need a little brother to play with so Monni can get her work done." (When Aaron Scott is here, the 2 of them will very happily play together for long stretches of time. When it's just one of them, they constantly want to be entertained, or have a parent ooh and aah over their creations.)

Landis thought about it for a minute, and then said, "Okay. Landis and Monni go to store. We buy brother."

Kwinkawoo

It took me a while to figure it out, but apparently kwinkawoo = kangaroo in the tongue of the toddler.

Earlier this morning, Landis and I read an article in Aaron Scott's National Geographic Kids magazine about a kangaroo joey that was rescued after his mother died. I looked at him perplexed when, a few hours later, my imaginative little boy brought me an empty basket and told me that "My kwinkawoo lives in."

"What lives in your basket?"

"My kwinkawoo, Monni."

Of course!

Silly Ludwig Brothers

The Ludwig brothers are so silly! While Aaron Scott was here last weekend, I asked him and Landis to sit down together on the couch so I could snap a picture of the two of them. They sat down, and decided to show their brotherly affection by elbowing each other in the ribs.

What in the world are we going to do with these silly boys?!?

Silly Songs with Landis

Chicken Satay

I tried out a new recipe for dinner tonight and it was a hit! It's a relatively quick and simple recipe (especially since I made Goat do the grilling) and tastes great. The chicken would have been great by itself, but I really like the peanut sauce. It tastes a lot like a Pad Thai sauce. Without further ado: Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce.

This evening, Landis very sweetly climbed into my lap for a snuggle, and being the mean Monni I am, I told him I loved him and started tickling him.

"I love you Landi!" *Tickle, tickle tickle* "I love you so much!" *More tickling*

Between giggles, Landis managed to say "Landis loves Monni!"

I tickled him some more and said, "We were talking about how Monni loves YOU! Don't change the subject."

He got very serious, looked up at me and said, "Okay, but, we do change our underpants."



Where does he come up with these things??

Personal Space

(After a long and busy day, as I sat down on the couch for a moment and Landis decided to try to climb onto my head.)

"Landis, please get down. Monni needs some personal space right now."

"No, Monni needs Landis in personal space!"



It was a nice try, but I was not convinced. He is a sweet and affectionate little boy, which I love, but sometimes I need a break - at least for a minute or two!

Awww!!

Landis just came prancing into the living room from the back of the house, gave me a hug and told me "I love you Monni! I love my Daddy! I love Caylo! I love Josh! ..." He proceeded to name all of the people he loves - his parents, brother, grandparents, aunt and uncles.

Could be be any sweeter??

Thomas the Tank Engine Obsession

Landis loves to play with his wooden tracks and trains (thanks Mom and Dad!), read books and watch movies about Thomas the Tank Engine. (We don't have a TV, but Landis usually watches 2 or 3 3o min. Thomas movies over the course of the week on the computer.) If he is not near his toys, he grabs the nearest object and pretends that it is a train. Sometimes he pretends to be driving a train. Today, he walked up to me and said, "Landi is Thomas. Monni is Percy. Daddy is James. Play!!" He got us to reinact his favorite Thomas story, when James comes off the line and is rescued by Thomas, then we pretended that Thomas and Percy were going for a long trip on the tracks. He is so funny!

Landis at Play

Landis and I have been playing with wooden ABC blocks all morning. They're a perfect toy for Landis, who is really interested in imaginative, open ended play, and also in letters and numbers.

We built stacks of blocks for a while, tall towers that were fun to build and even more fun to knock over, stepped pyramids which were not quite as tall, but much more stable, and a little city of block buildings.

After a while, Landis' attention turned to the numbers and letters on the blocks. He wanted each one identified and to know "what it was for." He has a good memory for that. Although he isn't consistently identifying letters, he remembers that D is for Daddy, L is for Landis, T is for Teagan, and so on. He's also interested in numbers, and wants to know who is "that many." Fortunately, we know enough kids that we can tell him the name of a friend for each number.

Last night, Landis took all of the cushions from the couch and spent 15 or 20 minutes arranging them just so. Then he called us over to look. He had made a playground, with cushions representing slides and swings, monkey bars and climbing structures. He showed us how he could slide, swing and play, then moved on to his kitchen. One of our cabinets had a shelf which we removed to store some tall objects. The little wooden shelf has become a stove, the focal point of Landis' kithchen play. He enjoys "cooking" lots of food for Monni and Daddy. Yesterday he mostly made pizza, pretending to knead dough, shape it into a circle, top with pepperoni and cheese, and bake until it was "very hot." He very sweetly shared with us, cautioning us to "blow on it - it's too hot!"

Landis also enjoys pretending to be on a boat. He chooses an item, usually a blanket, to represent the boat, and steers it through the "water." When we ask whose boat it is, he answers, "Landi's and Papa's." We're pretty sure he thinks he has joint ownership in Papa's real boat! Sometimes he gets out and "swims" or "floats" on his back. Sometimes he travels across the river, and sometimes he drives the boat to an island to play. He is a very imaginative little boy, and more fun every day.

Landis' Career Aspirations

Landi and I were talking yesterday and somehow got on the topic of how, when little boys and girls grow up, they can become teachers, dentists, accountants, etc. He thought about it for a minute, then told me what he wants to "be when big." Landis aspires to be the ticketman who sells tickets for Thomas the Train!