A real toddler

Landon has morphed into a real toddler over the past couple months. Every day he adds to his vocabulary (he said "breakfast" and "garbage" in the same day last week) and he's constantly displaying new skills and personality traits. He LOVES to put things "back" right now. "Baa. Baa. Baa". He says, and then I have to help him throw a teensy piece of yarn or paper or whatever in the garbage. After I put his Goldfish crackers in a little bowl for him, the box has to go "back" into the cupboard, with his help.

The other morning I unplugged a nightlight from the bathroom outlet so I could plug in both my hair straightener and blow dryer, and he wanted to put the nightlight "back". I didn't know where he was going to put it since it's always plugged in, but I watched him open Tony's nightstand drawer and shut the nightlight inside. Weird! But the next morning as I was getting some lotion out of my nightstand, I saw an extra nightlight that I'd stored away and not noticed before. That pumpkin.  Isn't it so observant of him?

He says "up" at least 600 times a day right now, and I don't think that's an exaggeration. Especially since he usually says it 8 or 10 times in a row like that... "Up, up, UP!". Luckily for him, up can mean up or down, or open or close, or whatever he's trying to do at the moment. I'm getting soooooo good at deciphering the difference.

Here's a cute video from lunch a couple weeks ago. Another favorite word is "ball", as you'll see here:

He still LOVES boxes and climbing and using tools. Tonight Tony was home for dinner because he's fighting a bad cold and couldn't make it to the new house. So the guys were watching This Old House Hour, and next thing I saw, Landon was standing on an overturned toy bin, hammering away at our window seat with two different plastic hammers. What a little copycat! It's a good reminder to teach by action. And to remove those actions from our lives that we don't want Landon showing off to the neighbors : )

We got another new niece yesterday! I was telling my boss Thursday morning that she was up in the birth center, and she looked kind of surprised. I was like, "Yeah. I know. I had another niece up there just a few months ago!" And she said, "Your family is good for business!" Love it. And so true! I did get to visit Tori and our family on Thursday but I only saw Izabella through the nursery window. I've had a really gross cough for over a week now, and even though I don't know if I'm contagious, I'd rather not take any chances with a newbie like that. But she's beautiful, of course. Lots of features that are similar to her big brother's. Can't wait to see her up-close!

Hey. How did I get this far in without mentioning that we have a CLOSING DATE for the sale of Little Fargo Nest? Wahoo! Inspection and appraisal have gone beautifully and now we are waiting for February 13th. And for me to pack more than the one box of cookbooks that I'm sure I won't need between now and then. And for New Fargo Nest to be ready for us! We're hoping that all the details are complete over there later on the week of the 13th, so please keep your fingers crossed and pray for Tony to stay healthy and motivated! He is teaching class again this semester so really couldn't be any busier than he is. Selfishly, it's been nice to have him home the past couple evenings despite the fact that it's because he isn't feeling well. We just miss seeing his face around here!

Okay, you're nowhere near updated, but my daddio mentioned today that he hasn't seen an update since November. Not good blogging, Apes.