We are one short month away from another first birthday in the Lehnhoff house and I can’t believe it! And this also means that we are only 3 ½ months or so away from having another human in the Lehnhoff house! Whoa <and insert Scott having small panic attack>!

Rex is such a sweet, happy, delightful little boy full of spunk and energy! I know I’ve written at least once before that we no longer view him as the “laid back child,” and I’m going to go ahead and note that again, stating that Rex has definitely joined Landri in the wild child category! They are slowly beginning to team up together as he gets more mobile and I can only imagine where it’s going to go from here as he gets older! Rex takes small human energy to an entirely different level. Yes, Landri has always been a bit on the hyper and active side, but he’s definitely surpassed her in that regard. And the more tired he is, the more wild he gets. In his older years, I can see this as a potential recipe for disaster! He’s a pretty fast little dude, never holding still, always moving, investigating, getting into things, and exploring. He also eats insane amounts of food. For example, he will happily and quickly inhale TWO adult size pieces of pizza if given the chance. I actually think he might keep going – I just haven’t let him. He wants to eat his weight in food at every meal – it’s insane! He eats way more than Landri. And of course, he likes to eat every non-food item he can get his hands on as well: clumps of dirt, leaves, rocks, twigs, trash, etc. You have to be on high choking hazard alert with him, especially if he goes someplace not baby proofed – like outside. Rex also guzzles bottles, water, Landri’s milk (when he can get his hands on it), and smoothies. It doesn’t matter what receptacle it’s in: a bottle, sippy cup, regular cup with a straw, whatever. He will consume it. Rapidly. So yeah, between the energy level, the climbing, trouble-making and destruction, food and beverage consumption, and the filth, everything I’ve heard about typical boys has been completely true. I fully expect him to be a ginormous handful as far as cliché boy parenting adventures go and I expect things to get really crazy when he has a little brother to teach, train and torture too!

As I mentioned, he is just a happy little boy. Rex smiles all the time. He’s got amazing fat cheeks, and beautiful blue, expressive eyes. He still “speaks” with his eyes – a quality that will assist him with the ladies in the years to come, no doubt. He now has nubs of teeth across the top coming through to match his two lone pearly whites on bottom, changing his sweet smile slightly, giving him a more grown up look. His hair is getting longer and it might be time for a buzz pretty soon! He’s still a chunk with delicious thighs and wonderful little Buddha belly. I also still like his lack of wrists, ankles, and neck! He is very ticklish and giggles like crazy when the tickle monster attacks him and it’s adorable. So fun to love on his rolls!

Rex is sort of walking. He takes a series of small steps several times a day, but falls down. I’m actually a little surprised that he hasn’t picked it up totally already, but I think he knows that he’s SO fast crawling, that walking is just way too slow. I hope he learns soon though as his little knees are constantly bruised, red, and cut from excessive crawling all over the place. As far as other skills go, he is completely OBSSESSED with basketball. He has little hoops at school and at home and will literally sit and play basketball alone for a half hour. It’s unreal. And along those lines, he loves picking up (putting away) toys – I think because it’s the same: he picks up the toy and throws in in the basket or box, kind of like a ball through the hoop. It’s actually kind of nice because Landri comes along, dumps out a giant box of toys, and Rex spends fifteen minutes picking them all back up, ha!

There are a few place in the house that Rex loves and will do anything to get into: the pantry, the refrigerator, and the bathroom, the last of which is his favorite. Rex is similar to a cat in that he LOVES toilet paper rolls. He could win the Olympics for fastest unrolled roll of toilet paper. And entire fresh roll can be completely unrolled within seconds. And he’s so sneaky about it, always keeping half an eye on the bathroom to see if you forget to shut the door. If you leave it open for even a minute without noticing, it’s too late. He’s already discovered that, made his way in there, unrolled all of the paper, dumped all of the trash (as he loves small trashcans and trash), and has begun toilet fishing. It’s actually incredible. Rex is still a huge fan of bathtime, and comes screaming around the corner on all fours, going a million miles a minute towards the tub when he hears the water running. It’s still my favorite! I love seeing him so excited for a bath, mostly because he needs one constantly (when eating, he will sometimes rub his dirty, nasty hands all through his hair, in essence using spaghetti sauce as hair gel).

Scott Says…

M: Describe Rex using a full sentence with as many words as possible.
S: Fat body. Good basketball skills.
M: What else? Those aren’t complete sentences by the way.
S: He smiles a lot, I don’t know!

M: What is Rex’s favorite thing to do?
S: Shoot hoops.

M: Does Rex like Landri?
S: Most of the time.
M: Tell me about the other times.
S: She makes him cry.

M: Speaking of, what does Rex dislike the most?
S: Hunger.

M: On a scale of 1-10, 10 being a wild child, where does Rex fall on the spectrum?
S: 7.
M: Interesting. I would have said 9 or 10. I think I spend more time with him, ha!

M: What is your favorite thing about Rex?
S: How he fast crawls to me when I come in the door.
M: Awe! It really is sweet!

M: What do you look forward to with Rex as he gets a little bit older?
S: Putting his big sister in place.
M: Ha! I think I asked that before, and I don’t remember your response, but it’s never what I expect. I still thought it would be something about throwing a perfect spiral!

M: Oh! I neglected to write about his “hitting.” Can you describe why I always call Rex a “hitter?”
S: ‘Cause he hits a lot. Stupid question.
M: <laughing> Well, hits what? When? How?
S: He hits! What do you want… you’re so dumb!
M: I was looking for something along the lines of, “He hits. He hits people, toys, furniture, walls, his high chair, the floor, anything and everything, all the time, flingin’ his arms around!”

M: Moving on, count down to baby. Are you adjusting?
S: No.
M: Good to see some progress.