(little) Mr. New York

Neither of Landon's grandmothers went on an airplane until they were 21 years old but he's now been on four round trip flights and he's not even seven months old yet. The most recent trip was to NYC. Mike Leraris, a good friend of mine from college, got married in the city over the weekend.

LT is shown above sitting in his mom's seat on the airplane. No big deal to him - he's done this many times before!


Although this picture doesn't really show it, our hotel room was unbelievably small. LT didn't seem to mind, however, and he thought the wallpaper was really really cool - it helped mom entertain him while she let dad go out with some of his old friends on Friday night.


What our room lacked in size it made up for in location - we were just a few blocks from Times Square (almost pictured above - you'd see it if you could look a little to the left!). As you can see from the smile on his face, LT loved walking around the city and just taking it all in.


We were also very close to Rockefeller Center and the famous Christmas tree (the gentlemen that took this picture didn't get much of the tree though). Unfortunately we were there only on the weekend so Kari didn't get to see any of her favorite Today Show talent.


Our big NYC site seeing outing consisted of taking a walk to Central Park. We were in one of the biggest cities in the world and what do we do? We go to the park. But really, what else would you expect from some native Coloradans?


The view at the wedding reception, held on the 64th floor of 30 Rock, was nothing short of amazing. And to think I used to be impressed by the view from my 33rd floor apartment in downtown Denver...

LT and his mom were looking pretty good too, if I do so so myself!


I am the first to have a baby among this particular group of friends from college. Landon was a huge hit among the current or soon to be wives of many of those guys. I'm sure that some of them are cursing my name at this very moment.




We woke up at 5 AM to ensure we'd make our morning flight out of JFK. Little did we know the flight had been canceled and we'd end up spending almost as much time in the airport as we did anywhere else that weekend.

In spite of the huge delays, LT was a great traveler! Even better than his parents much of the time!

So instead of a direct flight home at 8 in the morning we spent the day in the airport and had to make a connection in Cincinnati (and nearly missed it) which didn't get us home until about 8 that night. We did get to sit in first class on the way home however, which was nice...

Why do we buy toys again?

I had heard that babies don't need too many toys, they prefer things around the house. I have done my best to not buy too many toys for LT, but he has managed to have plenty of "real" toys. However, from these photos you can see that maybe buying toys isn't necessary at all.


Brian's Club soda bottle is fun....


and wrapping paper.....



And even the top of Nicholas's new Science in a Bottle.

Lunch with the Tanner girls

LT and I went to Mead Street with all the Tanner girls (sorry Meg, you will always be a Tanner in my mind!) Megan and I have been friends since we were LT's age. Her younger sisters, Kirsten and Lindsay, were in town for the holidays and had never met LT. As usual, LT played with all the things he isn't supposed to, the germ infested menu, a dirty coaster, straws and even managed to take a bite out of a cucumber (luckily I saw it before he tried to swallow it...) Our relaxed restaurant days may be over for awhile! Here is a picture of Meg with the little peanut (and his straw).

Cousin Brothers

Landon's cousin/brother (as Nicholas calls Landon) is here from Seattle for Christmas. They have enjoyed spending time together. Nicholas told his mom he doesn't need any brothers or sisters because he already has one cousin/brother in Denver.


Nicholas is very into magic these days and dressed LT as a magician, too cute :)

Some Firsts

LT reached a few milestones this last week.

He stood up on his own.

And by "stood up on his own" I mean that Kari propped him up on this play table and was able to hold himself there (and even play with one hand!) without her help. So "stood up" might not techically be the right thing to call it but still...

And he used a remote control for the first time. Kar and I were trying to have a conversation but we noticed the TV kept getting louder and louder. Sure enough, LT was banging on the volume button. One might think that this was unintentional on his part but there was a football game on and he does love his football on TV.

Jossilyn's holiday party, at her parent's house

The crawling host, Jossilyn.


Our playgroup has turned out to be mostly girls (although with the triplet boys, things even out a bit). This is a picture of the boys team, Zack, LT and Dylan, at Jossilyn's holiday party. Ben (Dylan's dad) says they look like the three stooges, but we aren't sure which is which...

Sushi Hai Playdate

Renee, Sofi's mom, had a good idea to have a last minute family happy hour the other night at Sushi Hai. For a last minute idea, we had a pretty good turnout of moms, dads, babies and even a few friends sans babies!


From left to right: Jamie and Dylan, Annick and Sofia, Shawn and Z, Brian and LT, Albert, Mike and Sofi.

Z and LT sporting their holiday wear...

Jamie, LT (minutes before he slept through yet another play date) and Annick's mom with Sofia.
Annick's mom and Sofia.


Renee and Sofi.

XMAS BBQ

On Monday night we started what may well become a new family tradition. We grilled steaks for Christmas eve dinner and even LT got the baby version of a steak (although I must admit that my bacon wrapped fillet was much more appealing than his pureed hamburger mixed with mashed up squash). After dinner we opened some gifts. Most of the presents were for LT but somehow we managed to not go completely overboard with stuff for him and we didn't forget about the dogs either.

Tuesday morning we woke up to a very white Christmas and nearly a foot of snow would accumulate by the end of the day. BBQ one day and snow the next - go figure...

A night with Z

Shawn and Albert went to Albert's holiday party last week and Bri and I were in charge of Z. The night started off well, we took Z and LT to yoga again.



Then Z came over and we all had some squash, Z loved it, LT was OK with it.

Soon after this, Brian and I failed at watching Z. We put LT to bed, but must have missed the cues with Z because he wasn't too happy with his babysitters... luckily he came back for more the next day and it was a success! (Stay tuned for these stories and pictures!)

More time at Grandma and Poppa's house

LT and I moved into my parents house for the weekend to spend a little more time with cousin Nicholas and Uncle Scott and Aunt Ying. Friday night we celebrated Christmas because it was the only 5 hours that my brothers were both in town. LT had a usual night that night, waking up regularly for eating. However, Saturday night Brian and I went to my highschool reunion and yet again left LT in the care of Poppa and Grandma. I got home at 10:30 and LT was sound asleep in his pack-n-play. I was bracing myself for several awakenings, however they never happened! LT slept until 6 AM. Grandma must be the baby whisperer. I wish I had the magic touch...


Family pic after opening presents Friday night.
Grandma with her two grandsons.

Becky and I at our reunion.

Fantasy and Reality

This picture is a few months old now but it's still the best picture I have of LT watching football (in his football shirt no less) and I've been meaning to put it up if for some time now. I figured that, at the least, I'd better post it before the season ends.

Thanks to a first round playoff upset, my fantasy football season just ended - so the end of the real season must not be too far off either (especially for the Broncos). I thought destiny had picked me to win at fantasy this year - LT helped me pick my team on draft day and even took a big poop while sitting on my lap during the first round. I took that to be an sure sign of an impending championship season - wouldn't you? Looking back, however, maybe he was trying to warn me that my first pick would suffer a season ending injury after only a few games. LT and I will have to make sure we have our signals straight next year.

In spite of that injury, I was leading in just about every major statistical category going into the playoffs but lost anyway. Heck, this year I was even voted to be the league commissioner* so you'd think I could have somehow figured out how to use that to my advantage. But apparently I don't even know how to cheat (I could learn something from New England). Oh well, maybe next year when Landon is a little older he'll be able to make better picks for me...


* Saying that I was voted to be the commissioner makes it sound like it's an important job that many people wanted but only I got because of some special talent or something. In reality, however, the job kind of sucks and my election to the position came about simply as a result of being the only one willing to do the job. I was elected to co-chair the OASIS Security Services Technical Committee earlier this year and, now that I think about it, that election process wasn't too much different... kind of takes some of the luster off of it, don't it?

Dog Fight

No, not the kind of dog fight you get 23 months in federal prison for.

Sam, my mom's dog (pictured at right) loves his rawhide bones - I mean he really really loves them. On Wednesday morning Sam was enjoying his treat when Bowen decided that he might also like to have Sam's bone. As you might expect, Sam disagreed with Bowen on this particular issue. One thing led to another and before we knew it we had a dog fight on our hands. Conventional wisdom suggests that you shouldn't reach in and try and break up such a fight but I've never seen conventional wisdom prevail in such situations. My mom, Kari and I jumped in to try and break it up (until I realized that LT was on the floor in the middle of the action so I grabbed him and pulled him to safety). Not to be ignored, conventional wisdom showed why it became convention in the first place and my mom ended up with a pretty good bite on her hand.

Once the dust had settled a bit (LT was safe and Bo and Sam had been separated) I was getting ready to take my mom to the ER* and I noticed little Hailie in the corner all by herself looking a little suspicious. I went to check on her and, sure enough, she was happily chewing on Sam's bone - she had waited until the fight was over, the boy dogs were in trouble, and the rest of us were distracted before she made her move. I was so impressed with her crafty little plan that I almost let her keep it. Almost.

A while back I commented on Bowen's choice of sleep location and said he was the only one of use with any sense but apparently I didn't give Hailie enough credit because sure showed some cunning with this move.
In the picture below Hailie is demonstrating her smarts by hanging around LT while he eats - she knows this strategy will surely pay big dividends in the not too distant future.


* The ER visit was mostly just precautionary - they cleaned the wounds out and gave her some antibiotics - no stitches or anything.

Landon spends the night with grandma and grandpa

Megan and Marty (two of Brian's and my oldest friends) had a holiday party on Friday night. Luckily with Grandma and Poppa in town we were able to drop LT off at their house and both go to the party. I was a little worried about how the night would go, but apparently LT loves Grandma and Poppa's house because he slept through the night (6:30 PM- 5:30 AM) AND learned to like solid foods! Mom and Dad, can we drop LT off everynight????




Here LT is happily sitting in his sleep sack by the fire in the early morning.




Poppa reading LT a story about animals, except Poppa forgot the the names of each type of animal... maybe he can learn with LT!



Seconds before the big breakthrough for LT actually liking AND swallowing solids. It only took him a month of mom and dad trying to give him food twice a day!

Sign Language class

LT, Z, Sofi (if she gets up in time!) and the triplets (Gavin, Casey and Liam) have been learning sign language in an unofficial classroom setting (Chrissy's living room) with no official teacher, only a sign language book. Luckily this week Becca, who is fluent in sign language (except she doesn't know the sign for avocado... or pear....two important words when feeding little babies) came to help out.


Zack, Gavin and Landon "sharing" toys. Landon loves toys now, finally!



This is a short video of Zack and Landon riding on rocking animals. Zack apparently loves these rockers as you can tell from his hysterical laugh!

LT gets mad too

Shawn has been telling me for months now that Zack will yell at his toys if they don't do what they are supposed to do (which is go into his mouth). I have been very insistent that LT does NOT do this, however, as this photo shows, LT apparently DOES get mad at toys when his mom isn't looking.

Fightin' over Books

LT and Zack are like brothers, and now they even fight like brothers. In these pictures, they are fighting over a book. Zack won the fight. Wonder if they will still be fighting over books in highschool?

Common Grounds

Last week Kar took LT to Common Grounds Downtown to see some of his friends. Here he's doing what babies do with keys - putting 'em in his mouth!
Looks like LT is trying to find some 'common ground' with Sofi here. Renee (Sofi's mom) sent Mike (her husband) this picture on his cell phone and within minutes he called her demanding that, "that boy better not be touching my daughter!"

I'm a little worried about what Mike and Sofi will be like in 16 years or so...

Landon's latest stats

LT and I went to the doctor today for his 6 month check-up and routine shots. Here's the latest, although not a surprise:
Weight 17.3 Lbs- 50th percentile
Height: 28 inches- 95th percentile
Head: didn't listen, but 50th percentile