Choo...choo! Look Who's Two!

Landon turned 2 years old today. I can hardly stand it. He's growing up way too fast. He's been my easiest baby and toddler by far. Here are a few things I want to remember about Landon at this age:

1. He LOVES trains and asks to play with them daily. He'll come up to me and say, "what does a train say?" Immediately after, he'll answer his own question and reply, "choo choo".

2. He LOVES cars and one of his favorite movies is Cars. He knows all of the main character's names and will proudly name them when they appear on screen (McQueen, Doc, Sally, Mater, etc...) Similar to the train question mentioned above, he'll enthusiastically ask me or Josh, "what does a car say?" And of course, the token response is always, "vroom vroom".

3. He likes to play blocks. He's so much like Jacob was at this age. He enjoys sorting and stacking, making rows and counting. He almost has counting to 10 figured out (with a few numbers missing or jumbled up in there...).

4. This child likes to be clean. He'd live in the bathtub if you'd let him. I can't tell you how many times I've put him in his crib so I can sneak a quick bubble bath, only to glance out into my room to see that he's quickly taken off all of his clothes hoping his naked body will somehow convince me that he needs another bath too. He's smart, because usually it works in his favor!

5. Landon has recently taken a new interest in stickers. Yes, you heard me right, stickers! Often, I gather Kaylee and Landon in my craft room while I am working on a project and start them on their own art activity. Kaylee wanted to put stickers on a picture she was making for a friend to "decorate" it. Since Landon wants to be big like Kaylee, he quickly adopted her decorating antics and has been hooked ever since. I have to say that it has been a life saver at church. I pull out a few sheets of stickers left over from my teaching days and he'll get through the first hour of church peeling and applying his stickers to paper.

6. He's a vulture. This kid can scavenge/forage food like no other. And, the kid can pound down the food like he's unsure of where he will be getting his next meal. Seriously. He out-eats both of his older siblings. This fact might explain why he is already moving from size 2T clothing to 3T clothing. You can be sure that the first words out of his mouth each morning will be, "eat food", usually followed by a desperate "pLEAse"!

7. He's by far our most polite child. He almost always says, "please" and "thank you". Recently, he learned to say "no way" when responding to something that he either A.) didn't want or B.) didn't want to do. Papa, taking immediate advantage of a teaching moment, taught him to instead say, "no thank you" and it stuck. What 2 year old, when told it's bed time will respond, "no thank you"?

8. He is an obedient, helpful little boy. I'm amazed each day when I see him get off the bed where I've changed his diaper and unprompted, go and throw it in the garbage. He cheerfully sings the clean up song and picks up his toys, takes dirty clothes to the laundry room and shuts open drawers, cupboards and doors. (Hmm, I wonder where he gets those tendencies, lol.)

9. Josh loves the fact that when he asks Landon whether he'd like to watch cartoons or football, Landon always responds "football". Landon certainly loves to shoot a basketball and run around kicking and throwing any kind of ball.

10. Landon gives amazing hugs. Ask him for a "big squeeze" and you will have a little boy squeezing you with all his might and making the cutest grunting noise letting you know he is trying his hardest to show you his love.

You are one amazing little boy Landon. Your daddy and I love you SO much! We look forward to a fun train party with you on Thursday when we get together with Papa and Nana to celebrate your and Papa's birthdays.