Mother's Day 2015

Dear Boys,

We made it another year. This one was a little bit of a solo ride with Daddy gone and I didn't know how it was going to go, but you made it simple, fun and humbling. 

Landon, your obsession with Legos this past year could have been predicted by your founding passion of jigsaw puzzles. Your "creations" and imagination have been an absolute joy to watch. And the fact that you let your little brother play with those creations demonstrates what a special big brother heart you have. Whenever I am laying down for a moment with my eyes closed, you come up to steal a light kiss on my cheek; you make me feel so very loved. 

Anders, your confidence and personality came out of left field this year, especially after Christmastime. For someone who wasn't a particularly smiley baby, you certainly are a funny guy and your laugh just lights up my world. You smile with your whole face - I love it. At the time of this writing, you are delighted by anything Rescue Bots or Transformers or Super Heroes. You love wearing a cape and slipping into your "Super Anders" persona; it involves a lot of running around and yelling "Pshooo!" with your arm extended. You give grade A hugs with your whole body and it reminds me of my mom's genuine hugs; thank you for continuing the legacy.

Together, you guys are one big, goofy energy ball. Whether its playing "goo" (in which you pretend to be stuck in blankets - aka goo - and let the other super hero brother rescue you) or "fight dome" (rough housing under the geo dome in the backyard - not mommy's favorite, but surprisingly a game that hasn't resulted in any injuries...yet), I see brothers. As your daddy likes to say, "Thick as thieves." 

I became more confident as a mom this year, for sure. I finally see the hard work starting to pay off when you stop and hug each other while reading a book (just because), when you express your feelings with words, when you demonstrate good table manners or when you utter "Thank you, Earth and animals, for this lovely food" before you dig into a snack. These snippets are a delight to see and rather incongruent to the constant feeling that no one is listening to me at all on most days. Thanks for planting some seeds of hope this year.

Love you with all my heart,

Mom

Mother's Day 2015

Anders 10 Months

Who loves cruisin' along furniture and is ten months old? The A Man. Mister Andereeno. The Poopmaster. The little brotha with the same motha. The... well, you get it. It's Anders.

Yep, so although he can walk with a push toy and cruise along coffee tables and the like, his preferred mode of transport continues to be commando crawling (with a cute swoosh of the tush while he does it) and of course being carried in mommy's arms. The latter being rather frequent these days as he tries to escape big brother's energetic "hugs."
 
There has been some evolution the last few weeks in the brother department. Perhaps because Anders is now mobile, Landon is intrigued more than ever. Kind of like he's thinking, "Wait a minute, he can hand me puzzle pieces?!?! I have my own personal slave available?! Score!" But of course said personal slave is still quite young and likes to do his own thing, such as chew on puzzle pieces. Soooo, it's a lot of love one moment and whining the next. Mostly whining, if I'm being honest. I suspect this trend continues until aboooouuut... age 18.

No toofies yet, but I think I see one trying to poke through. Until then, he doesn't mind flashing his gummy smile to strangers at the grocery store before he tucks his head back into my shoulder - a rather shy maneuver. Friendly AND shy? Can someone say sweetheart?!

Making mommy a gourmet meal of dinosaurs and cheerios.

Exploring.

Official 10 month photo, presumably flashing an unknown gang sign.

Yeah, the aerial capture didn't go so smoothly this month.

This captures their current relationship PERFECTLY.

Smooshy tush!

 

Picking out some night night books with brother.

Another snapshot of brotherly status these days.

Loves sweetly sitting in the grass at the park, inspecting each piece one by one.

Likes
- Cheerios (even better if found on floor)
- Going after brother's toys (even better if it's an elaborate train track set up)
- Wheat puff cereal and rice milk treats
- Sitting in the grass

Dislikes
- Having toys swiped from hands
- Being smushed by brother

A Monday Morning

"Breakfast was awesome - yesssss!"

My loveable shaggy-haired crumb-faced boy.

Picking a victim toy for the day.

Dinosaurs in their "cave." Thank you, Amazon, for all of your "caves."

Rockin' out on the cymbals.

Standard baby steamroll.

If you don't love that big-toothed smile, I question your taste level.

 

Anders' tree trunks trying to stand up.

"Hi, Mom. Hey, did you ever feel like something bad was about to happen?"

"I knew it. Standard."

Let's try that again. Here, Anders, have this sophisticated toy mom gave us this morning.

"And lunch was awesome, too - yessss!"

Thanks! I Think...

I see a trend forming in all of our videos in which Landon and Anders are interacting: something really cute is happening ("Get the camera! Get the camera!") and we are dutifully praising Landon for his gentle behavior when... things change. Video ends abruptly.

I'll give credit where credit is due, though. L has been doing much better around baby brother these days. Do I leave him on the ground unattended when L is in the vicinity? Heeeell no. I think it will be months before I even consider that. Until then, Anders rules the roost from his bouncy chair on the kitchen counter.*

**

*Yep, I know it's against every warning printed on an infant chair. I'll let you in on a little secret: every parent does it. 

**Stop looking at my baby's wiener.