Look who's talking!

It is about time for another "what is Payton up to these days" post.  Read on....this will be long because he is into every thing!

Payton is now 17 1/2 months old.  I cannot believe he will be 18 months old on September 25th.  The time has flown by and it continues to seem like just yesterday that we brought our little bundle of joy home!

As you know, Payton started school on August 17th.  I knew this would be a great experience for him.  Since starting school, he has started saying so many new words and even says 2 or 3 words at a time now.  

Here are some of the most recent interesting things I can think of:

- alligator (because one lives across the street!)

- mawn-mower (for the toy lawnmower I bought him today)

- I see it!

- I found it!

- Flag! (He loves to see flags! We have our UNC flag proudly displayed on our porch for the fall)

- "atter" for water (fountains, ponds, lakes, rivers, the ocean)

- I love you!

- juice

- Meme

- Pawpaw

- Mawmaw (for Grandma)

- Papaw (for Grandpa Joe)

- "Arson" (Carson)

- K.K. (Calyn)

- "A-yen" (Uncle Allen)

- Boat (he LOVES boats!)

- air-pane (He can hear them coming!)

- "cool" (School - which he loves!)

- shoes

- keys

- bus

- truck

- Go! (Green means "Go!" Tarheels "Go!")

- Yes!

- No!

- Poop! (he is correct 50% of the time!)

- "ock" (Rock)

- Night-night

- Amen

At school he is the greeter.  He waves at everyone!  When we play outside in the front yard he stops what he is doing to wave at the cars passing by!  I think he got this from his Daddy!

He also waves at waitresses as they are working, he waves to people on the phone, he waved to the thousands at Keenan Stadium on Saturday.  Such a friendly little guy!

For at least 2 of the days this week they commented on how Payton and Ella interact.  When I took Payton in on Thursday morning, he wanted to sit beside Ella for breakfast.  They say he makes her laugh.  They sit side-by-side on the buggy and on the swings!  When I picked him up on Thursday they said he was extremely excited to see Ella's dad ("Mott") when he picked Ella up for the day!  How cute!

The teachers also comment on how happy he is and how good he listens!  One day he shared a ball with a little boy and they were very impressed.

When we get home from school he does not want to go in the house!  He wants to a)play with his bat and ball or b) rock in our new rocking chairs on the front porch.  No matter how long I let him play he is still mad when it is finally time to go inside!

Bailey had a minor stomach problem which led us to get her crate back out and put it up in the kitchen.  Bailey was happy to see her crate...until Payton moved in!  Payton has been in and out of the crate, he has laid on Bailey, he has loved on Bailey, and he has pulled his vacuum into the crate to clean Bailey! 

He still loves ball.  He loves his outdoor T-ball set and his indoor bat and ball.  His two other favorite toys are his vacuum cleaner, which is clearly genetic (not in my genes, but in all other females on my mom's side of the family) and now his lawnmower.  He loved playing with it outside today.

Speaking of genetic...Payton loves pickles and olives.  Thursday night we had dinner at the Mellow Mushroom.  We always order Payton a cheese pita pizza.  On Thursday, I added one topping - black olives!  Of the 8 slices, he ate 6 and the olives off of my pizza as well!  I asked Chad how many families were likely to order a pizza with black olives for their 17 month old...not too many!  His response was priceless - "It must be genetic!"  I think he may be correct.  My grandmother, Nannie Evelyn, loved olives.  Green, black, plain, or after being soaked in her martini.  My mother used to get upset when my grandma would give me the big green olives that had been sitting in her martini glass...I didn't seem to know the difference...I loved them!  I love olives.  My mom, my Aunt Linda, my cousin Kim, and both of her children (who are slightly picky eaters) also love olives.  I am going to check with my cousin Joey to see what his 3 kids think of olives.  All of the above mentioned, including Payton, have a curled under pinky toe...genetic as well.  So, Chad, I think you must be correct!  It must be genetic!  Either genetic or just plain "queer" as my Nannie would have said! 

My little Payton, you are surely a treat!  As I said to you and Daddy tonight, "You're not all bad, but you're not all good either!"  Chad and I attempted to get ice cream tonight.  This ended in Payton nearly stealing items from another baby's diaper bag, climbing on the table, and putting his feet on the table.  I was humiliated!  Chad engulfed his ice cream in a few minutes so we could rush back to the car.  I only had a few bites.  How relaxing!  He has been pushing the limits and testing us repeatedly for the past week.  It all started going down hill in Chapel Hill and has continued over the week.  Really, he is a good kid but when he is bad, he is BAD!  The real problem is that he knows what is right and what is wrong.  He deliberately does something wrong (throws a fork, a cup, food; crawls on the table; goes up the steps when he should be going down) and then smiles at me to get out of his punishment.  Today, he climbed into the shower and sat in water - he knew this was wrong - when we spotted him, he said "uh oh!"  When he has done something wrong, he moves to the corner and thinks he is hiding.  I try to explain to him that I can still see him!  I think he got this streak of bad behavior from his Daddy too!  My mom claims I was an angel :).

Either way, we sure do love our little angel!  He brings joy and excitement every day!  The stress is worth the love he gives at the end of every day!  There is nothing more precious than his bedtime routine of saying prayers and giving me a hug and a kiss.  This simple act erases all the bad memories from the day...almost!