My Baby turns TWO and a HALF

 Payton, 

On September 25^th, you reached the TWO AND A HALF year old milestone. I can no longer get by with saying you are 2...or “he's just 2” which I often found as my excuse for so many things.....discipline, potty training, etc. Now, you are closer to 3 than you are to 2. I can't believe how quickly these past 2 ½ years have gone by....it does not even seem possible that we will celebrate your 3^rd birthday in March. You are no longer my baby boy – in 2 ways – one, you are too big to be my baby boy and two, Owen is now my “baby.” You have moved into the category of mommy's big boy. WOW! How did this happen so quickly!?!

To all my friends and faithful followers who are currently expecting their first babies please be prepared....this day will come much more quickly than you can imagine right now. I always say to new moms “enjoy every little second” and now, that I am (emotionally) reflecting back on all the seconds of our last 2 ½ years I wish I had taken a lot more time along the way to stop and enjoy every little moment.

So, Payton, where are we...

The basics:

• You weigh around 33 pounds and I have no idea how tall you are!
• You are wearing 2T or 3T, most of your pants from the spring still fit you which tells me you haven't grown too much in the last 6-8 months
• You still love going to see Dr. Linker but you won't have another check-up until you are 3.
• Your favorite movies are Toy Story, Cars, and A Bugs Life.
• Your favorite characters are Buzz and Woody and Lightning McQueen and Tow Mater and Flick.
• You still sleep with your “rubby” as well as your “big rubby.”
• You are such a talker...I really don't remember you not speaking...but to me, you talk like a 5 year old now! Slow down!
• For the most part, you are potty trained. You rarely wet your pull-up during the day and most mornings you wake up dry. We had two successful “poops in the potty” but you still get very upset about pooping in the potty. This is my goal for the month. If you didn't go to school, you wouldn't have to wear pull-ups and I think the problem would be eliminated...but there is no easy solution to that!
• You still prefer chocolate milk.
• You eat a bowl of dry cheerios nearly every morning with one cup of chocolate milk.
• You love bananas, grapes, cucumbers with dip, raisins, noodles (spaghetti), hot dogs, mac-n-cheese.
• You unfortunately love to drink a “sip” of mommy and daddy's Diet Coke (which I am COMPLETELY against but do a bad job enforcing....if I'm drinking it everyday, how do I convince you it is so wrong...I need to give it up myself to set a better example).
• You feed Bailey every night and love to give her treats.
• You have started asking for Bailey to sleep in your room....and she does.
• You are VERY routine.
• You say your prayers every night and with every meal all by yourself!
• You like for mommy to sing “Jesus Loves Me” to you every night.
• You are still a daddy's boy!
• When you say daddy, you give it 3 syllables – Daa-ad-dy – there is no question that you are a southern gentleman!
• Your favorites sports seem to be golf, baseball and football for now (basketball season will be back soon!).
• You are a Tarheel (and you tell us that!).
• You are also a Redskin and a Dodger.
• You have a new obsession of playing with all your cars.
• You love school buses and firetrucks.
• You have started asking “Why?” for everything – and every answer gets another “Why?”
• You LOVE going to school and you LOVE Miss Rachel (Mommy loves her too!)
• Miss Camila left your class and now you have Miss Sarah.
• You are taking Karate at school – your first “organized” extracurricular activity. You have learned to kick and you show us what you have learned at home.
• You remember things from your past but you always tell us they happened yesterday. For example, when you see Cinderella's castle on your movie's, you tell me we went there yesterday.
• Your tantrums have finally started to slow down.
• You really respond to praise and we have started using stickers at the end of everyday to reward you for good behavior.
• This week your favorite books are Red Riding Hood (from Jenny Wood), your Firetruck book, Farmer Joe and the Music Show, and your Rameses book.
• You love to laugh!
• Your feet stink!
• You know everyone at school – including teachers, children and each child's parent. You often tell us that an adult is someone's mom or dad...and you are usually correct. You are a born salesman or politician!
• Your favorite friends at school or “Turnage” aka Hayden, Ganson, and Ayden.
• Your best buds outside of school still seem to be Ella, Lila and Campbell – you get very excited when you see them! Such a ladies man!
• You are the youngest by nearly 6 months in your class but you are doing great and you have adjusted very well.
• You are an AWESOME big brother! You love Owen so much and are so proud to tell people he is your brod-der. You often tell us “my brother is happy” or “my brother is awake.”
• You love your family and you always love seeing them or talking to them.
• If you aren't having a temper tantrum, you are so super sweet.
• You stay very busy! You are easily “captured” by the TV but if you are not watching TV you are playing...and you play hard. You do a great job with independent play as well.
• You have started coloring within the general area of the object on the page!
• You know all your colors!
• You are doing a great job with your letters and you can count to 16 (you get a little confused at 13...but 16 is always your final number).

Thank you for being you! You definitely have your very own, very distinct personality....though I think its very similar to your fathers (this is definitely a compliment)! I love you more each day...especially since those tantrums are slowing down. I am doing my best to be the best mom possible. Some days I think I do pretty good and others....well, I'm praying for help with those :). I think we've finally found a better discipline/praise system that works for you and I hope we can stick to that system.

You are 100% boy...and I used to be 100% girl....but its funny how I'm changing...for now, I'm happy I only have to worry with wetting your hair enough to get it to lay flat and attempting to brush it in the morning...we don't have time for matching bows and pony tails in our house right now...so, I guess God knew what he was doing when he gave me you! I think he did a great job...I'm so happy to have you as my big boy...and I'm going to attempt to do a better job of enjoying every little moment...only 15 ½ more years til you'll be 18 and out the door (sobbing)!

Love,

Mommy