"i yuh you"

This is the first weekend in about three months that we have been in Fort Wayne and I have to say, it feels pretty nice to just be home. This time at home has really given me the time to reflect and spend quality time with Chris and mostly Landon. He is just growing and changing so much. He is really trying to talk more and words that he needed some practice on, he is figuring out on his own how to say them correctly. There are a couple milestones that we are approaching quickly and that we are excited about; potty training and transition to the toddler bed. Potty training will come at least after his second birthday which is in November, but he has been showing signs that he is interested, so if it comes before he's two, I won't complain. The toddler bed. Something I wasn't sure I had the patience for, but Landon proved me wrong. It really hasn't been too bad. He has had a toddler bed in is room for about a month now, but he just wasn't ready. The reason we are pushing it is because he is just out-growing his crib. On Monday afternoon, I decided I would just see how he would do if he took his nap in the bed. I sat with him for a while and patted his back and he turned his head and looked at me and said "i yuh you. Bye-bye". I thought to myself, "no, you're supposed to fuss and not want mommy to leave because you're scared and you NEED me." So...after the request, I got up and left the room. Well, come to find out, he is just one smart little stinker because we have a video monitor which means there is a camera in his room and I can see his every move. As soon as he would tell me he yuh's me, I would leave and I would watch him on the camera and he would get up and peek out the door to see if I was watching. I would open the door and tell him it's time to go to bed. I would startle him and he would run back in the bed and say "night-night. i yuh you. bye-bye". This happened for about twenty-thirty minutes and then I finally told him I wasn't going bye bye until he calmed down and stayed in his bed. He finally did and I left the room with "i yuh you" and he fell asleep. Pretty painless I would say. Then came bedtime. It wasn't too bad except he got to the point that he couldn't figure out how I could tell he was out of bed without my being in the room, so he would try crawling on the floor and peeking under the crack between the floor and the door to see if he could see my feet under the door. What a little stinker. It was all I could do not to laugh when I slowly open the door and he runs back in the bed hoping I wouldn't see that he was out of it. I would get the ol' "i yuh you. bye-bye". Over the next few nights, it got a little easier and he is learning that we stay in our bed. Today during his nap, he didn't even get up. With all the things Landon is learning and all the new words, there is nothing like hearing him say "i love you". It's so different than hearing him say "grass" or "airplane" or "yellow". I know he doesn't understand what it means to love someone, but I honestly believe he knows what it feels like. Over the past few days, he has been saying "i love you" for no other reason than to say it. He knows it's different than saying "milk" or "thank you" or "book". Because he sees love daily and feels love daily and is growing in love daily, I truly believe that he knows and feels he is loved and there is something really special about those words. It's something I will hold onto for as long as I can until the day comes when it won't be "cool" to say "mom, I love you" in front of people. It's something now that we can share together and I know that he hasn't quite figured out what it means other than it makes mom's heart melt when it is said. That's something that can never be taken away and something that I will cherish. Just wanted to share with you all. Hope everyone is doing well and we hope to see some of you soon. The main point of this blog is to post some video of Landon. The first one is of him showing his new "big boy bed". The others are just for fun but I may have to post those later because they are uploading VERY slowly.