Nice try

Kisses from Landon are hard to come by now that he's closing in on three. It used to be that we got sloppy kisses anytime we asked, but now we have to be sneaky in our search for sweet baby boy smooches.

Last night Sutton, Landon and I were in the living room. Sutton was on her never ending quest for snuggles from Landon, and as usual, he denied her; so she decided to try a new approach.

She leaned forward and whispered, "Landon, I want to tell you a secret."

Unable to pass up a secret-hearing opportunity, he inched forward, hopped onto Sutton's lap, and buried his head against her mouth. She looked at me and mouthed, "Oh, he smells so good."

She whispered in his ear and he jumped down and scurried over to me, kissing me on the leg.

"Wow, Landon!" I said in disbelief, "I didn't even have to work for that one." He giggled.

Sensing a new game where I, too, could get in on a little baby sniffing, I urged him to let me whisper to him as well. I said, "Sutton needs a kiss," secretly taking in my own ration of after-bath sweetness.

He ran over and gave her a wet smack on the cheek, to which she squealed and told him to come back; she had a new secret.

She whispered yet again in Landon's ear and he sidled up to me and said, "Susson said me have a pookie." (Translation: Sutton said I could have a popsicle.)

"Sutton said you could have a pookie?!" I said glaring at her. It was 9:30 pm and he did not need a popsicle, even if she did need a kiss.

"I didn't say that!" she insisted.

Understanding now that he was making up his own version of the secrets to suit his fancy, I whispered in Landon's ear, "Tell Sutton, Mommy said 'NO POOKIES,' it's too late and I've already brushed your teeth."

Landon smiled maniacally and slinked back to Sutton and whispered in her ear, "Mommy said you get me a pookie."

She looked at me with her mouth agape, shocked at his devilishness.

As I told her, he's getting more and more like his Daddy every day.