Little Moments

This is going to be one of those "for the babybook posts" that, without video or being able to hear Landon's voice and inflection, probably won't be nearly as entertaining to anyone else as it is to me. But he's growing and changing and I feel like I just have to get down a few of the things he's been saying lately. And sadly, since the phrases seem to leave my head almost as soon as I've chuckled over them, I had to copy most of these from my facebook statuses over the past month. I wish I wrote things down more often. It's these little moments in our regular every days that I want to remember.

My handsome little man is 3 1/2 and continues to be such a source of joy, fun, laughter, love, and so many other things (including the occasional frustration). His daycare class is becoming more of a preschool with a schedule and "lessons" and a theme to the week. He is loving this. Over the Christmas break when daycare was closed for 10 days we could actually see a change in behavior by the end. Nothing we couldn't handle, but it reinforced my belief that "school" with its activities and challenges and friends helps him to be the awesome little kid that he is. (I was going to say toddler, but he's not a toddler anymore is he?)

So, a random collection of Landon's December exclamations:

While driving home from the grocery store without any preamble or further explanation: "‎Santas are better than penguins, but snowmen are pretty good."

While looking at the stockings hung over the fireplace: "Mommy, which foot is mine?"

At dinner: "I love Santa. Santa is good. He doesn't bite or hit."

As I turned on the radio in the kitchen, with his face lit up like he was glowing: "Are we having a DANCE PARTY?!"

While running in the door after JP picked him up from daycare: "Mommy, all the dinosaurs are 'STINCT! A big rock hit them and they're all DEAD! What are we having for dinner?"

He remains the consummate big brother. He truly loves Claire and is excited when she wakes up, when they can play together, when she does a new trick - he's like a proud papa. He goes in her room in the mornings and entertains her for up to 30 minutes, depending on her mood, and JP and I just lay in bed and listen to them through the monitor. I don't think there's a feeling of obligation for him, he just honestly likes being around her. And she adores him in return. Watching the two of them together is my favorite thing.

Two nights ago Claire was up on all fours in the living room, practicing her rocking pre-crawling skills. JP and I were in the kitchen cleaning up from dinner and we looked over to see Landon crawling around her saying, "It's like this biscuit, you do it just like this!" And then, "Good job! Good job biscuit!"

They get to take their baths together now in our big tub, without JP or I joining in (a new development as of a week ago) and they LOVE it. Last night they were both in the tub and Landon looked up at me with this huge grin, saying, "Mommy look, she's splashing! And I'm splashing! We're splashing TOGETHER!" And he was so excited I got a little misty-eyed. I love that they have each other.

JP walked in as I was looking at them, all choked up for no reason I could explain, and I remember thinking that if my life was a romance novel, he'd walk over, know exactly what I was feeling, put his arms around me, and think the same thing. We'd gaze at our giggling, splashing children, full of love and happiness, and know for at least a moment that life, or at least this little slice of it, was absolutely perfect.

And then he surprised me and did just that.

And if I hadn't just written that down I know it would have been forgotten a few days from now. It was a minute in an otherwise unremarkable Monday, after a dinner of chicken parmisan and before a reading of The Berenstain Bears Go to the Doctor. I was nursing a splitting headache and JP was stressed about his job hunt, but as we stood together in the doorway of our bathroom watching Claire beat the water with fierce concentration while Landon laughed and cheered her on, it truly was perfect.