Landon's 1st Birthday Party

We celebrated Landon's birthday a little early, but I don't think he'll remember nor mind. If worked best to have it a week early as we wanted all of the grandparents to be able to come. All grandparents were in attendance, as well as great-grandpa Joe and Uncle Ty and Aunt Ryn. We had a soup and sandwich lunch, followed with a time of presents, and then eating cake. Landon seemed to like all of the attention quite a bit. This first picture is his reaction when we sang to him.

Landon got a dump truck and a front loader with a whole bunch of mega blocks. He also got a Radio Flyer Scooter, a glowing green bear, and a whole heap of clothes that will fit him this summer.

Landon wasn't real sure what to do with his cake at first. We normally don't get very messy with our eating. He just dabbled his fingers in the frosting. And then Adam squished his hands in the cake and Landon wasn't sure how he felt about that. But I think he enjoyed eating his cake as he would occasionally let out an "Mmmmm" when he would put some in his mouth.

It' hard to believe we've had this little guy in our lives for almost a year. At times it feels like we just brought him home from the hospital, while at other times it's hard to imagine what our life was like without him.

Here are some of the things going on his life these days:

- His walking is getting very good. We have to keep our eyes on him as he likes to climb stairs. He still stumbles quite a bit, but gets around really well.

- He likes to hold things up to his head and pretend they are a phone. It started off with an actual toy phone, but now it's just about anything including shoes, toy blocks, cars, etc.

- He says versions of things like "daddy," "momma," "kitty," "hi/hello"......although I'm not sure how much he has connected them with things yet. He also babbles quite a bit.

- He is very much an extrovert. He loves attention and being around other people. I think he gets kinda bored with just him and I at home sometimes. Hopefully he'll like an invasion of a younger sibling this summer.

- He only uses a pacifier at bedtime and naptimes. I think it's gonna be kinda tough to break him of this.

- We've started introducing cow's milk to him this past week. All is well so far. Otherwise, I stopped nursing at around 9 1/2 months.

- He goes to bed around 8:30 p.m. and sleeps til 8 a.m. And he still takes 2 naps a day (usually 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 hours at a time). I'm a big fan of his sleeping habits.

- I'm working on teaching him how to hug his stuffed animals and make car noises when he pushes his cars around.

- He likes dancing to upbeat music.

- He doesn't sit still for very long and only cuddles when he is sick or really tired.

- He has hardly no concept of strangers. He smiles at anyone that looks at him.

Overall, he is a very easy and happy guy. We feel very blessed to be his parents. Happy Birthday bubba!