NOLA!

We recently came back from a great trip to New Orleans for a few weeks. It was jam packed full of fun. We had my cousin Jesse's wedding, my cousin Michael's wedding, the Foret family reunion, a couple of 4th of July celebrations, Matt and Abby's wedding shower, and side trips to the aquarium, City Park, the movies, and the science museum. Patrick and I even got to spend a few days by ourselves - we spent a few days in the French Quarter and took a trip to Gulf Shores and had a great time.


Here are Claire and Jesse:


Here is Peyton and his cousin Abby - nothin' but trouble, those two!


For more pictures of our adventures, click on this link:
NOLA pictures June/July 2010

Peyton didn't like that we left him behind and protested by peeing himself and completely forgetting that he was potty trained. Potty training is a lot of work and I was pretty disappointed when he was no longer cooperating. Thankfully we seem to have him back on track - I actually had no idea how effective the treats and stickers were. I reintroduced those and they seemed to have the effect we were looking for - he hasn't had an accident in quite awhile. In the meantime, he has learned how to pee standing up and has learned how to pee on a tree. Each were desperate attempts to make going to the potty more interesting and appealing.

Since then, he and I have been hanging out together and checking out what all the cool moms in Durham do with their toddlers. Its been quite a lot of fun. Peyton will start his new daycare in just another week. I think he's looking forward to making new friends and learning all kinds of new things!

Random Peytonness

Peyton often does things throughout the day that make me laugh, scratch my head, and wonder "where in the world did he pick up on that from?!" I'm off right now until I start teaching in August, so Peyton and I are getting to spend quite a bit of quality time together. At first, I worried about how I would keep him entertained, knowing that when he gets bored he gets into trouble. Usually a lot of it. But we're actually having a great time together - blueberry picking, Gymboree classes, story time at the library, outings at the park, etc. And he manages to stay out of the trouble for most of the day, although he has his moments.

Anyway, this morning he did something that I thought was interesting. We were standing in the bathroom and I was trying to get him dressed. He's not usually interested in cooperating and has some kind of strategy to stall. This morning, he was distracted by the box of kleenex in the bathroom. He pulled a kleenex out and quickly put it up to his nose and said, "A-choo! A-choo! A-choo!" He was acting like someone that was having an allergy attack, yet all it was was a bunch of sound effects. Where did he get this from?!

Clearly, he's watching and observing everything around him. He's starting to make connections and understand larger concepts. He spent the afternoon at Lauren's yesterday and she even said she was impressed at how much he's developed in the last 3 weeks since she'd last seen him. His thoughts are starting to come out in much clearer sentences, and he's able to express himself more clearly. Its really amazing to see him develop. I'm having a great time at home with him!