Chase

Chase is coming up on 11 months and I feel like I have not dedicated one entry that has been all about Chase. Chase is an amazing little man and is so completely different from Landon. He is much more outgoing, seems to be more patient (Landon tests this daily), and he is not as complacent - he likes things to be happening around him all of the time. And if there is nothing going on, he whines at my feet until I pick him up. And when I do, he snuggles his precious little face into my shoulder and melts my heart - is it too early to say "ladies man"?

At this age, he loves playing peek-a-boo, loves when I stack blocks so he can knock them over, loves walking around the living room table but won't even attempt to walk on his own, and is obsessed with the outdoors. If he is ever overly fussy, I just take him outside - it really is a cure for him. He loves playing "chase" with Landon - Landon will push around a toy and they both crawl to get it...and however and whatever they do to get there, they both end up laughing hysterically. And just yesterday, Chase actually was teasing Landon for the first time - offering up his cup of juice and just as Landon would grab it, he would snatch it back...I can only guess who taught him that. He loves music and loves to dance...he wiggles his whole body when he listens to music - in fact, I think his moves are better than Andy's!

And the most amazing thing about Chase is to see how so completely different he is from Landon, Andy, and myself...but yet is so much the same. And hopefully he will be walking soon...so we can ALL get around the same!

Just busy...

I have not been very diligent about writing lately...there has been so much going on down here. Andy was in London last week and my parents came into town to help me. Thank you both so much for your much needed help and visit - the boys miss you - playing playdough is just not the same without you both! And I really miss your dinners, dad! On top of all of that, I am really making a huge effort at trying to get Landon potty trained...not such an easy task I am finding. The amount of time I spend hanging out in the bathroom (which I am trying to get him to relax by talking, singing, reading) waiting for one eensy trickle of pee or one tiny poop to come out makes me wonder if Landon is even ready. It really is ridiculous. But he did poop today - and he worked hard for those "poop treats" - which he opted for M&M's - he informed me that the candy hearts are "too sour" - not sure he fully understands the meaning of that word! I am attaching random pictures of the past few weeks...Chase is finally pushing around his walker! It won't be long before he will be walking all by himself!

Braaaaake!

I was driving home from my sister's last night with both boys in the car...it was dark...and rainy...and I was looking for my exit (I am not familiar with her area) when all of a sudden...RED LIGHT! So of course I slammed on the brakes as something like "Oh Sh*t!" fell out of my mouth and we skidded to a halt. We all sat in silence for a millisecond as we watched the cars proceed through their green light, thanking my lucky heavens that we weren't in the middle of that intersection and then I asked if everyone was okay. And Landon's little voice from the back says..."I'm okay, mommy." More silence... and then "Heh, heh, that was funny, mommy! Car-slipped-on water....that was funny!" And then as if to remind me..."Red means stop...green means go, mommy."

Spring

Spring has arrived in the south... and I love everything about it... the feel of the bright sun on my face... the bold green color of lawns and trees making a come back... the sound of the birds chirping... and just spending hours and hours outside playing while losing track of time.

Landon and I spent the majority of the afternoon outside yesterday while Chase napped - I catching up on the outdoor "chores", and Landon playing around me. And while I worked, I was listening to Landon's play and found it pretty amusing... he found the power washer and began pushing it around (it's on wheels and probably weighs about as much as Landon) and he pushed that thing all around and was talking to inanimate objects and explaining that he was going to take their picture so "Say Cheese!" ...he took pictures of his Tonka truck, the bounce house, the car, trees... it really went on for a good half hour. It's amazing how their little mind works... and amazing how much our imagination fades over the years...

Doh!

The weather down here has finally warmed up and of course taking advantage of it, we were outside using playdough early this morning. I ran inside to get Landon a cup of juice and in my 30 second absence, Chase decided that the playdough would suffice for his lunch...I spent the rest of the time scraping playdough from the roof of his mouth with my fingernail - I didn't realize playdough could be so "doughy".

Charleston Trip

Finally, pics from our trip last weekend. We packed everything...minus the kitchen sink...but I realized as we were halfway there, we forgot the camera! So we picked up a disposable camera for the trip. We walked down to the River Park on the first day, visited Fort Moultrie, the beach, and the aquarium on day two, and ventured over to tour a plantation on our way home. It was a great trip - Charleston is an amazing city!

Sick boys...

I am finding that when one gets a cold (or whatever other sickness that decides to attack their immune system), the other is destined to get it. We went for a mini-vacation to Charleston (pics and stories to follow) and Landon started with this deep, raspy cough like he had been smoking packs of unfiltered cigarettes for years. And since we were all packed "snuggly" into one hotel suite, not one of us had great sleep for the two nights we were there. Landon took the prize for the "best and most frequent" cough on the first night, Chase pretty much matched him on the second night. And we were able to get one nap to overlap - Landon in the living room, Chase in the bedroom, and the parents...locked in the bathroom drinking beers and "relaxing".

Toddler Talk

Landon talks so much now...really nonstop from the moment I walk into his room in the morning (even sooner as he calls for me or Andy through the monitor to come and get him) until the moment his little head hits his pillow at night. Funny though how once kids begin speaking, they focus on the main words of their thought or sentence and will leave out the prepositions and pronouns in between. Landon loves to "help me" discipline Chase...here are a few things that Landon says throughout a day along with the translation next to it:
"Know better, Chase" - You should know better, Chase
"Me alone" - Leave me alone
"No Chase, unnerstand?" - No Chase, do you understand?
And my personal favorite: he loves to put the words "so bad" at the end of everything he says..."Need drink mommy...so bad." "Want to go outside...so bad." "Need pajamas on...so bad."
And if you dare ask aloud, "Who has poop?" His immediate reply, "Not me...Chase does!"

Brotherly love

Chase finally decided to get revenge on Landon after almost ten months of teasing and torment:
I heard a scream and then crying...the crying was not from Chase this time but from Landon...and I ran into the living room to find Landon's head in Chase's lap and Chase with two, full, fists of hair...Landon's hair...and he just kept pulling and pulling...and smiling and grinning...

Fashion Sense

I picked Landon up from school today to find him not in the clean, "stylish", blue jeans he was wearing when he left. Instead, the teachers informed me that he had had an "accident" on the potty - things weren't pointed in the right direction, so they had to change him into one of their emergency stashes of pants which for Landon today was a pair of light, light, light gray, skin-tight sweatpants. Landon was not a big fan of the sweats, as after they changed him, he patted them down and stated, "No, these won't work."

L-O-N-G January

I do have to say that January is always the longest month of the year for me. Christmas is over...it hasn't warmed up yet...all in due time, I know. Since Landon does not like to feel cold at all, we have been spending many hours indoors...this is how Chase and Landon have been occupying their time together.

Pretend Play

I always wondered when the "pretend" play starts with kids. I think for Landon it has been just lately that he will be playing with his cars and saying things like..."scared, come on...", "go under the table...", "stuck in here...", and basically has a conversation between his cars which is very cute to listen to. He also likes to "play" with Chase which means they crawl around the house chasing each other until Chase surprises Landon and then Landon will scream out of surprise, and then fall to the floor with a deep belly laugh.

On another note, Landon continues to be a big bully to Chase who just adores him. Yesterday as I was literally taking a two minute shower, Landon was squishing Chase who was sitting behind my closet door by pushing on the door until Chase was up against the wall. And all the while Landon was telling me that Chase was stuck. Chase is just waiting for his day of revenge...

Candidates...

Geesh...there is so much information to read through. I have chosen the two most important issues to me - education and immigration...and am basing my candidate choice on that for now.

Let it Snow...Let it Snow...Let it Snow...

We woke up to a beautiful, frosted, white yard today! For most of you, this has been your scene for months. But for South Carolina this is rare - schools and businesses are closed today due to our little "dusting".

Voting in the South

Just read that in SC you don't have to be a registered party to vote in the primaries...I guess I have a ton of reading to do on each candidate...

Lansford Canal State Park

So Landon has been trying to be a great big brother to Chase, but it usually starts out where they are being playful and Landon is chasing Chase around (both via the crawl) and they are both laughing and having a great time until Landon closes the door on his face or Landon is sitting on top of Chase trying to listen to his heart with his pretend doctor stethoscope, or he closes what he calls "the gate" which means he lies across a doorway so Chase cannot get through all the while Chase is crying and Landon is laughing his little devilish laugh which makes me wonder if I am raising a serial killer...

Then I was thinking maybe Landon is just a little bored and we could channel his energy elsewhere, so we ventured down to the Lansford Canal State Park today. This canal was dug by hand and used in the early 1800's to move goods from the coast inland. We also were able to see the ruins of the locks, canal culverts, and stone bridges that were used during this time. This river also played a huge role in the Revolutionary War as both British and American troops crossed here. No sibling rivalry today - both boys had a blast and passed out on the way home - it was a great morning for everyone!

"We"

Have you noticed that many moms with little ones tend to talk about their little ones using the pronoun, "We"..."We're not walking yet.", "We are almost off the bottle!", "We slept through the night last night!", "We are almost into the next size of clothes." Could "we" moms be the ones with the separation issues?

Eewwww!

So trying to hurriedly dress after my shower, I realized there was silence in my bathroom, where I left Chase only milliseconds before. I ran in to find him sitting by the toilet, holding the toilet bowl brush, and gnawing on the top of the handle - it COULD have been worse, but that was bad enough! "Mom of the Year" award...

"Pinky Eye"

After our fun day in uptown Charlotte, Landon woke up from his nap with "goo" in both eyes. And I knew it was definitely pink eye. So, we were off to Urgent Care yesterday afternoon only to arrive and find that we had an hour and a half wait. (Since pink eye is so contagious, I took Chase in to get checked too). Two boys under the age of 3 were not going to last in an Urgent Care for that long. So Andy on his Blackberry was hurriedly looking for other places in the area. We called another one close by and there was no wait. We rushed over only find that 7 people had just walked in and they were also at an hour and a half wait. So we decided to dig up the old drops and hang in there until this morning. On our way home Landon was saying he needed medicine for his eyes, they were itchy because he had "pinky eye".

Imaginon

We trekked uptown today to visit an amazing public library called, Imaginon. The website is even full of fun! You can check it out: http://www.imaginon.org/index.asp

It was Rainbow's birthday today (a radio station's mascot) and we went up to help celebrate. Landon had his face painted, a balloon made into a puppy, and we watched a puppet show (well five minutes of it anyway) from stadium seating. Landon was more impressed with the colorful, fold up chairs and running down the aisles than the show itself. And the visit would not have been complete without a stop in the bounce house.

New Truck

Landon with his new truck from Uncle Josh - thanks so much! Landon loves it!

Happy New Year!

We rang in the new year (well until 10 pm anyway) with friends from our neighborhood along with the Skinner family. The kids had a blast - after running numerous laps around the house, they finally crashed with their "jammies" on. I wish everyone a very happy new year filled with good health, wealth, and most importantly, lots of fun!

Winter Fun!