Landon's Favorite Things

Landon is addicted to TV. It's almost as serious as his morning cup of milk addiction. We're working on it. It might be my fault. Kind of. If he didn't insist on waking up so early I might be more prepared to be a responsible parent. He knows the routine. I greet him with his morning cup of milk and then promptly place him in bed with me to watch a cartoon while I slowly come to terms with the fact that my day is beginning sooner than I had hoped. He LOVES to watch Disney's Little Einsteins. It is his absolute favorite TV show. (Should a one-year-old even have a favorite TV show?)

One item he insists on bringing into bed with us each morning is his blue blanket. He has become rather fond of it. If I forget to bring it with us, it usually means another trip into his room to retrieve it.

Animals. Especially dogs and cats.
Hiding. Especially when we tell him it's time for bed or a diaper change. Thankfully, he has yet to learn to hide well.
Cars. Landon loves anything with a car on it. For Christmas this year Santa gave him a box of fruit snacks that are in the shape of a car. He wanted to eat them all at once.
Lining things up. Landon has a funny habit of lining things up "just so". He will take his animals and line them all up against the bricks near the fireplace. Sometimes he will turn them on their sides all facing the same direction. He loves to build towers of blocks and sometimes he just makes one long line of blocks down the hallway. He likes order.
Cleaning. Landon is a great little cleaner. I can hand him something in any room of the house and ask him to take it to his room and put it away...and he does it. It's amazing. I wish he could teach Allie & Eric how to do it too.
Milk. He would live on milk alone if we let him.
Hats. He doesn't often leave them on very long; but he loves them!
Amber. Landon really, really, really loves his cousin Amber! His face lights right up whenever he sees her. He prefers her to me most of the time.
Closing things. It drives Landon crazy if anything (drawers, the fridge, the dishwasher, a cabinet door, etc) is open. I'm not talking accidentally left open. Just open. He sees it as his personal mission to keep everything closed at all times. It is nearly impossible to load the dishwasher when he is around. If I'm quick, and lucky, I can get one or two items put in before he comes along and slams it shut.
Light switches. Like all toddlers Landon loves to flip the light switches on and off rapidly and for long periods of time. One neighbor recently drove by at night while this was going on and called to ask me if we had installed a strobe light in our dining room.
Wrestling. He is all boy. He loves to wrestle. His favorite target is his unsuspecting sister. Thankfully Allie seems to enjoy it as much as he does. He is kind of rough. I don't suppose it will be too much longer before someone gets hurt and it's not so much fun for Allie anymore.
Shoes. Shoes are not safe at this house. If Landon spies a pair that have been left out he claims them. Grandma lost her shoes when she came to visit us on Christmas day. We had to search to locate them.
Coloring. Landon loves to color. Especially when Allie is helping him.

Christmas Traditions

December is such a busy time of the year! We have had a lot of fun spending time with our family and friends celebrating the holiday season. Allie suggested that recording some of our family's Christmas traditions would be a great idea for a blog post. She has been little disappointed by the number of posts recently.

One of our family's favorite traditions to kick off the Christmas season is new Christmas pajamas and a Christmas book for the children on Thanksgiving night.

We decorated our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. We were a little worried about how we would keep Landon from pulling the tree on top of himself, however, he has been a very good boy. As of this morning we have only had one ornament casualty this year. That's pretty much a record for this house.

Allie has been begging me all year long to buy an advent calendar that has candy in it. We bought both of the kids their own and it has become a fun morning tradition. It was a great $2 investment because I have learned a very important lesson about my daughter. For some time now I have been thinking that she had a serious issue with remembering things that should be a part of her every day routine (you know...homework, making her bed, brushing her teeth, etc). Would you like to guess how many days she has forgotten to eat her piece of candy before she heads out the door for school? That's right. None. I'm on to her now. "I forgot" is not going to fly around here any more.

Another tradition our family enjoys doing during the holiday season is giving service. Over the years we have participated in a wide variety of service opportunities. This year we made blankets for the Linus Project and Allie and I also made toy cars for the Humanitarian Services of the LDS church with the Activity Day girls.

A Christmas tradition that Eric and I both love is the adults only Christmas party that both of our extended families have. We have been abundantly blessed with many, many children in our extended families (our kids have 35 cousins and counting!). The opportunity to spend time with only the adults is something we treasure because it only happens once each year. It's amazing what you can find out about your siblings and parents without the distraction of small, demanding children present.

Every holiday season we go to see at least one family friendly movie. This year Allie is really looking forward to seeing "The Tale of Despereaux". She was a big fan of the book and can't wait to see the movie!

Here are a few more of our favorite things for the holiday...

• Driving around and looking at Christmas lights. This year we went to the Festival of Lights in Spanish Fork and we hope to make it to Thanksgiving Point before the season is over.
• Aebelskivers for Christmas breakfast.
• Attending the Ward Christmas Party.
• Each member of the family gets to choose a new ornament from the store for the Christmas tree. We have quite an eclectic mix!
• Watching the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.
• Baking and delivering sugar cookies to friends and family.
• Breakfast on Christmas Eve morning with friends.
• Playing Bingo!

I Think I'm in Love!

This beauty has made my life better already. I am excited that I was finally able to convince my insurance company that having an insulin pump is a medical necessity for me.