So, once again I am a “little” behind in writing this
blog. They are almost 22 ½ months and I
am just getting around to the 22 month update.
I had set a goal to write more than one blog a month, but life seems to
have got in the way of that one- also unless inspiration strikes, I am sure you don’t want to read my ramblings
more than once a month. :)
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| Zootastic Park... she said to hold the feed cup with two hands and Landon took his job seriously. |
Awhile back, the Hubby and I had a conversation about toys
and we questioned whether or not we would have purchased “gender specific” toys
for the opposite gender if we had only had a boy or only had a girl. I can for sure say that we would totally be
missing out if we did not have a doll in this house right now. Landon is so attached to his “baby” and she
leaves the house with us on a regular basis.
We were in the store the other day and he dropped the doll out of the
stroller, a kind woman picked it up and instinctively handed it back to Riley.
My sweet little girl then said “Landon” and handed him the doll. He loves to hug and hold the doll. He high fives her and holds out her little
plastic hand for others to high five. He
pushes her around in the stroller. He
sits her on the floor next to him to play and she sits at the table with him to
eat and it is all just as adorable as you are imagining. They both love to play with the trucks and
cars. The play kitchen is a shared toy
as well and they both love to play. I am
glad that we have such a variety of toys – allowing them to grow into their own
personalities. There is some irony here
though. Landon has decided that all pink
items in the house belong to “NeNe.” He
got upset one evening when we tried to use the pink towel to get him out of the
bath and handed it to Riley. He looked
at the bottom of a bowl before I handed it to him the other day to make sure I
was handing him the blue bowl. So,
needless to say, he is not bound by the gender stereotypes with his doll (who
is in a blue dress by the way), but he does need to ensure he is only using
blue towels and utensils.
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| So, they decided to explore behind the gate. |
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| Expert cornhole players |
As for daily life – every day is an adventure in this
house. They are in a constant zone of
exploration and learning. I am no longer
allowed to do ANYTHING without them helping.
They assist with every step of my making coffee in the morning and then
three of us sit on the couch and watch a little Mickey Mouse. This has become such a habit that they now
demand it and will pull me to the couch and then cuddle in – one on each
side. They push all the buttons on the
washer and dryer and even bring me the clothes to put in the washer and they
prevent me from having to bend over to then put the clothes in the dryer
also. They climb on anything and
everything with only minor injuries so far.
They truly are little creatures of habit though – or maybe I am the one
with the habits and they are just following along. We are still working on some habits though-
teeth brushing for instance. They hate
it and if left to their own devices they will just stand there and chew on the
toothbrush. I think this is going to be
a frustrating one. They continue to grow
as individuals as well….
With Riley, we have finally achieved the tiny pony
tail. It was a necessity due to the mullet
like appearance her hair has taken. It
is growing, but only seems to be growing in the back. :/ She loves to eat and
will try just about anything, but she will also quickly decide she doesn’t like
it… and then in true fashion she will try it again just to ensure she really didn’t
like it the first time. She still has
the 16 teeth, but we are expecting the 2 year molars to be coming in soon as
she will let us know when she is in pain! I think she has a high tolerance for
pain overall, but when she has reached her breaking point it is over and there
is no consoling her. We are in a bit of
a difficult phase with the “nightmares” though.
She will wake up screaming and crying around the same time each night
for several nights in a row. We then get
a break for a day or two and start all over again. It is frustrating and I wish there was
something I could do for her. :/
Riley continues to be the adventurous one of the two of them – most of the time
– or at least she is usually the one to try it first. She runs everywhere she goes and her run is
too funny to watch as she has a bit of a quick “waddle.” She loves to play with her toys and her
newest obsession is going outside to swing.
She is still attached to her pacifier and now will refer to it as her “paddy”
(we think – it is hard to understand what she is saying). She loves to play in the water as she
demonstrated this weekend at a friend’s when she flopped all over the pool and
refused to leave. She adds new words to
her vocabulary each day and I have lost track of all the words they know. One of my favorites though is "thank you" and I hear it on average 20 times a day! Anytime I hand them something they say thank you so I am hoping that they keep that as a life skill. They are learning the individual letters
right now and she loves to point out letters on signs or t-shirts.
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| They love to read in bed now and take a book to bed every night. |
Landon, and I mean this with a lot of love, continues to be
my emotional roller coaster. He has his
moments during the day where there is no consoling him and I have learned that
you really just have to let him work it out on his own. Typically these moments come at an
unfortunate time – like when we are trying to leave the house, but we can work
through it. The main issue is that he
wants to carry everything with him ALL THE TIME. He averages three items in his hands at any
given time – today I saw him carrying a doll, a ball, a snack cup, a drink, and
a book. When he was unable to carry it
all any further he lost it. I think I am
going to buy him his own little back pack and see if that alleviates any of her
meltdowns. Landon is a bit more picky
about his eating, but he will eat anything if you let him use a fork. He even will eat his peanut butter and jelly
sandwich with a fork. He doesn’t really
like to have dirty hands – ha ha. He
struggles with the spoon though and gets frustrated because he spills and gets
dirty so he will stop eating. He still
has the 16 teeth as well, but seems to be working on the back four also as he
chews when he can. At some point in the
last few months Landon has stopped sucking his thumb. Neither the Hubby or I can recall exactly
when it stopped, but at some point it did, and I am grateful that I do not have
to break that habit later. Landon loves
to play with his toys and is especially fond of the “slide.” He likes to play with his trucks and cars and
balls especially and is mastering the art of t-ball in the front yard. He loves his Strider and it was hard to get
him off of it the other day. He wanted
to keep riding up and down the street all day! Landon talks non-stop and I am
able to understand more words here and there.
He also picks up on words that we say and adds them to his vocabulary so
we have learned to be especially careful. He is working on learning his letters also and
has a few favorites – I and O.
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| Checking out the planes at the airport. |
Together these two are my world and I love getting spend
time with them. They are trying and the
days honestly aren’t easy, but then there will be moments where they call out “Mommy”
or they will run up out of nowhere and give me a kiss and I forget all those
rough moments from the morning. They
have this game where they say “bye bye”, give me a kiss, and walk away only to
come back and do it again a few minutes later.
This is my favorite game of the day!
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| He takes his t-ball very seriously. |
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| A girl and her dog |
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| Exploring the police helicopter |
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| Don't the dogs prefer their food to be floating? This was a tough one for me because they were "counting" the pieces and I was so proud of the counting skills I forgot that I should be upset. |
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| Loving this forward facing seat now - getting so big! |
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| She waves at the camera now. :) |
