Half a dozen years

My baby is six today. This child brings so much joy to our family, and I am grateful every single day for his smile, his humor, his giggles, his freckles, his energy, his sweetness.

He is so precious to me.

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He’s currently keeping his hair longer because, in his words, “I wanna be able to flip it.” Um…okay.

He's always good for a laugh.

He’s always good for a laugh.

That face. I could cover it with smooches if he'd let me...

That face. I could cover it with smooches if he’d let me…

 

Goof

Goof

Goof take 2

Goof take 2

Perhaps his biggest flaw is that he knows he's cute, and he works it.

Perhaps his biggest flaw is that he knows he’s cute, and he works it.

Skinned knees and elbows are part of his every day wardrobe. "Play hard of Go Home." That's his motto.

Skinned knees and elbows are part of his every day wardrobe. “Play hard of Go Home.” That’s his motto.

 

He hates shoes so this is what his feet look like every moment of every day.

He hates shoes so this is what his feet look like every moment of every day.

He continues to grow taller, yet he has only gained about 4 pounds in the last three years. He's a scrawny little bugger...

He continues to grow taller, yet he has only gained about 4 pounds in the last three years. He’s a scrawny little bugger…

 

All the girls have crushes on him. What can I say? Chicks dig freckles...

All the girls have crushes on him. What can I say? Chicks dig freckles…

I’m constantly wishing I could freeze time with this kid, and yet each new season brings out a new aspect of his personality that is so much fun. I can’t wait to see what he becomes in the future.

Posts of birthdays past if you’re interested:

Someone’s One – December 16, 2008

To My Son on His Birthday – December 16, 2009

My Christmas Baby – December 16, 2010

Four is More – December 16, 2011

Delightfully Five – December 16, 2012

What was important is now a necessity

Three weeks ago Landon wouldn’t put his face under water without a good deal of weeping and gnashing of teeth.  If water splashed even in the vicinity of his eyes, he wailed and stumbled around blindly until he was given a towel to wipe away the unwelcome and foreign liquid from his face.

Then one day he decided he wasn’t scared anymore.  And now I’m the one who is terrified.  Because my cautious baby with a healthy respect for the water has turned into this:

While in the ocean, he is required to leave his swim vest on.  As soon as we enter the pool, though, the vest comes off and he is ninety to nothin’, balls to the walls, kamikaze, I’m-gonna-cause-Mama-to-gray-early scary.  Twice we’ve had to tell him not to do front flips off the side. To which he replies with wide eyes, “Why, Mom?  It’s so fun!”

This is why, starting tomorrow, he will be in swim lessons every day for the next two weeks.  Fun for him, peace of mind for me – everybody wins.  I knew swim lessons were going to be important when we moved to Florida.  Now, however, they have become a necessity.

While the other two were brave in the water, neither were this…um…terrifying.  Here they all are (with my cousin Leslie’s little boy) jumping off the back of the boat together:

You’ll notice the older three are all wearing masks to prevent salt water up the nose.  Not Landon.  Nope.  Salt water doesn’t phase him a bit.  That kid’s gonna have the cleanest sinuses on the block.

He’s a brave one, my little guy.  I have no idea where he gets it from:

What about you?  Do you have a child who is aging you early?

Dude

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DUDE.

We know.

He gets it all

Lee-Kelli 10 (2)-21

He came to me yesterday as I prepared myself for dress rehearsal.  The musical is set in 1947 so I had on dark eyeliner, a skirt, lips so red they glow in the dark and hair so curly that I vaguely resembled Simba.

He looked up at me with big eyes, then a slow smile spread across his face.

“You bootiful, Mom,” he said.

“Thank you, buddy,” I replied.  My heart sort of melted at that point.

Then he grabbed my hand and gave it a tug.  “Come down here,” he said, pulling me to my knees.  “I wanna give you a hug ‘tause you bootiful.”

We hugged. 

Then I promised everything he ever wanted and more.  Money.  Cars.  His brother and sister’s inheritance. 

He gets it all…

Photo courtesy of Lulu Photography

Tigger

My happy go lucky third born rarely walks.

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He doesn’t often run, either.

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He jumps.  Everywhere he goes…he jumps.

This makes it really hard to catch a decent picture of him.

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Unless, of course, his gymnastics instructor manages to get him to sit still for 2.3 minutes.  She might even convince him to kiss his knee.  If he’s sitting still long enough to listen, that is.

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Mostly, though.  This kid is a hopper.  A bouncer.  He bounces all day long.  Bounces and smiles.

I like to call him Tigger.

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Sometimes it exhausts me, all that bouncing.  But then he grins and waves.  And seriously…

How can you not love that face?

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So yummy.

Potty Training 103

I’m not one to talk about all things potty on my blog.  It isn’t my schtick.  So you will not be getting all the gory details of Landon’s potty training, as diappointing as I’m sure that is to all of you.

Actually, things have been going as well as they could be around here.  We’ve had plenty of accidents and when I say plenty I mean I’ve got six pairs of soiled underwear sitting in the basement waiting to be washed today.  But we’re also having plenty of successes too. 

The issue with child number three is the mobility of our lives.  When I was enduring this conquering this with Sloan, we stayed home for a week.  We did not leave the house.  It was like house arrest…with leaking bodily waste.  But we got the job done and after seven days it was over.

The second time around proved a bit more challenging thanks to an active four years old and a newborn in the house.  There were many more accidents, but ultimately, we survived.

The third time around is almost feeling like an impossibility.  He is having to be trained in Pull Ups most of the time, which is not overly effective in my opinion.  But he really doesn’t like the picture on the front to disappear so that works in our advantage quite a bit.  So far we’ve only had one major accident in public and that was yesterday at Walmart.  Thankfully we made it out of the store before the dam broke. 

He told me he had to go, then changed his mind and said he didn’t have to go.  And I believed him. Sheesh.  It’s like I’ve never done this before.  Mom fail.

Otherwise we’re doing alright in public.  And at home.  Thankfully we are planning on getting new carpet soon so I’m not overly concerned when accidents happen on the floor.  In fact, I’m kind of glad because I figure it will speed up the much needed process.

And speak of the devil, he just said he needs to go potty.  Excuse me while I go fulfill my motherly duty and get up close and personal with my child.  No one ever said motherhood was boring, right?

Guess what we’re doing this week?

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This is the part where you get down on your knees and pray…

He’s not having fun at all…

While his older brother and sister are galavanting about Florida with their grandparents, Landon is left here at home to experience something he has never known – what it’s like to be an only child.

I don’t think he likes it.  I mean, he’s got his dad all to himself…

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where he’s allowed to climb,

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stand,

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and jump

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onto daddy’s belly

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and he doesn’t have to fight

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with anyone else for daddy’s attention.

Daddy makes elephant sounds

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And Landon makes them back.

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He’s got daddy’s undivided attention,

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and he’s clearly not enjoying himself.

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Nope – not one little bit.

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The Plague is Upon Us!

Good grief. We were back at the pediatrician yesterday, this time for Landon. That’s 80 bucks in co-pays in just five days! Poor little guy has a terrible cold. Of course, yesterday when I took him, he was just congested but his lungs were fine. Today his nose seems a little better, but he has the most awful sounding cough. We are just praying that this clears up soon and doesn’t worsen into the dreaded RSV. The only advice the dr. had for us at this point was to sit in a steamy bathroom with him, which I did for about 40 minutes at 3:00 this morning. I guess it helped a little but he still seems pretty miserable. As long as his breathing remains regulated and his color stays pink we should be okay. So far so good in those areas…
I’m learning a lot right now about God’s perfect will and His Providence in our lives. I’m reading a great book called With God in Russia about a priest who was falsely imprisoned in the Soviet Union during World War II. He was an American priest who went over there to share God’s love with the Russians, but was ultimately accused of espionage. He spent 15 years in a Siberian labor camp before he was finally released and sent back to the United States. His attitude and recollections toward that time are amazing and convicting. But one thing he says over and over is that he relied on the knowledge that God had a purpose and a plan and that he was in that place for a reason and that reason was to bring glory to God. Even when he spent an entire year in solitary confinement, he looked for every opportunity to glorify God and spent hours a day in prayer and meditation. In light of that, my momentary trials seem pale. I am trying to spend more time today thinking about how I can glorify God in this situation and less about how I can feel sorry for myself and how tired I am. It’s 8:43 right now and so far I’ve had a pretty good attitude. We’ll see how I do at 5:00. That’s the true test! Anyway, that’s me this morning…