A Week of Learning...

Well Grandma and Grandpa must've been teaching Landon lots when he was there, because we've sure noticed some new things this week.
First off, they taught him that shaking his head actually means 'no', and so he's been shaking his head 'no' at us all week long ... whether he means no or not, it's still kind of cute. Sort of. I had been so careful to just have head shaking as a bit of a game "shake-your-head" without associating it to the word no ... but I guess I didn't tell G'ma and G'pa that :-/ Ah well ... it's cute.

Also, Landon has started to work on the things that require dexterity. Such as the fridge farm - before he just wanted to rip it off of the fridge and throw it on the floor (it made lots of noise). Now he's either forgotten how fun that is, or he's just realizing that working on getting the animals to stick to the barn is the point of the thing and it can be fun too because then Farmer Tad sings a song that Landon can dance to. So he works and works on getting the magnetic animals in there ... sometimes getting them in, but mostly trying to get them in there backwards or one on top of the other. He gets very frustrated too when it doesn't work for him ... it's hard to know when to leave him to figure it out on his own and when to step in to help him. He was more patient with it today than yesterday, so things are looking up.

Landon also is putting the shapes into his dumptruck now. Before he just pushed the buttons to make noises, now he wants to put the shapes in. So that's fun to watch, and I help him a bit there too. He doesn't get as frustrated with that toy, which is good.

And the best 'new' thing -- Landon loves to turn the tv off, then on, then off, then on, then off .... you get the picture! Little stinker. So we say "Landon, no" and he looks at us, shakes his head, and turns the tv off/on/off/on again. This is one trick that is so fun, we have to find distractions for him or he'd never quit! aiaiaiaiaiai

One more new thing too -- he has figured out how to move backwards ... crawling I mean. So he's been practising that too, getting down on all fours, and moving backwards. That's good, as it will help him to learn to go down stairs. He's figured out how to go up stairs ... thanks to lots of practising at Grandma and Grandpas house. Today he went all the way up our stairs on his own (with me right behind him just in case). Sometimes he stops to stand up and look around, he gets a bit wobbly, but then he gets right back to climbing. Coming down will take a bit more time -- he's still a bit unsure as he approaches the stairs, and usually won't even get close enough for me to pick him up if I'm sitting on the top stair. In fact, he won't even stand up when he reaches the top of the stairs - he crawls to his bedroom doorway and then stands. But he's a pretty big boy and we're very proud of him!!

So there's the update on Landon's new tricks. He's been very busy learning this past week or so! I am convinced more than even that Landon will be one of those kids that doesn't do it, doesn't do it, and then has it perfected the second time he tries it. Heaven help us!! LOL

Until next time...TK