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!

A Mischievous Little Ring Bearer

My cousin Jesse and his beautiful bride Claire asked Peyton to be the ring bearer in their recent wedding. I was honored that they wanted to include him in their special day, but I immediately started worrying that he wouldn't fulfill his very important duty on the big day. He's 2, with a mind of his own, and a very strong-willed one at that. If he didn't want to cooperate, there was going to be no convincing him otherwise. My Aunt Dede assured me that it was ok if he didn't do it, and that I didn't need to worry about it. Whew!
As the big day approached, we took Peyton's measurements for his tuxedo, bought him some fancy black shoes (which I had to hide because he wanted to wear them all the time. He loves shoes - gets that from his Nanny!), got him a nice haircut, and even practiced walking up the aisle at our church after mass one Sunday. The practice went off without a hitch - Patrick took him to the back, explained to him what he needed to do, and I sat in the front. We practiced with the ring bearer's pillow from our wedding, and sure enough, he walked slowly up the aisle toward me smiling, delicately holding the pillow, and looked like he was a pro! As well as our little practice went, I figured we might not be so lucky on the actual wedding day.
On the morning of the wedding, we had about an hour's drive to Rayne, LA, after spending the night with the Gulottas in New Iberia. This had been carefully planned so that Peyton would take a nap on the way to the wedding. He slept the whole way there, and I was grateful that everything was going according to plan. The next part of the plan included eating lunch and getting dressed in Aunt Donna's cottage. Peyton insisted on only eating the grapes on his plate, and none of the cheese and crackers. But at least we convinced him to put the tuxedo on. Either we took his measurements completely wrong or he's grown a few inches in the last few weeks because the tuxedo pants didn't quite reach his ankles. We also put a pull-up on him because I didn't quite trust him enough to tell me when he needed to go potty and the last thing we needed was for him to pee in his tuxedo. Then we would have had a bottomless ring bearer.
We arrived at the church a few minutes early, long enough for Peyton to have a tantrum or two in the dressing room with the bride and bridesmaids. Oh, boy, I thought. This may not go well. I took my place at the front of the church and Patrick held him in the back. He kept telling Patrick that he wasn't going to do it and would throw himself on the floor crying. Meanwhile, I was holding my breath as the last bridesmaid walked up the aisle and Patrick placed Peyton into position next to the flower girl. She was older, understood reason a little better, and accepted our explanation and instruction to just walk down the aisle with or without him. Patrick told Peyton to go, and I finally started breathing as he took off running down the aisle. He ran towards me, although he held the pillow in both hands, but left the poor flower girl in his dust. This was nothing like we had practiced, but he got to me and said "I did it!" He was so proud. He then flopped on the floor in the middle of the aisle, so I leaned over and scooped him up so that the bride could make her entrance. It wasn't elegant, but he made it up the aisle.



Once the ceremony was over and it was time for pictures, I was hoping that Peyton would be a little cooperative and pose for a few. He is notorious for not wanting to have his picture taken. Seriously, what is the complex about? He's 2! As the bridal party stood in position, we carefully placed Peyton next to the flower girl and ran out of the frame for the photographer to get his shot. Unfortunately, Peyton was quick in wandering away or turning around so the photographer was having trouble getting the perfect picture. The best man offered to hold him for a quick shot, which Peyton protested, arms flailing and screaming. I'm sure the pictures came out great. We gave up after a couple of minutes, and tried to move on to the reception hall. On the short walk from the church to the reception hall, Peyton saw some tractors and ran off into a field. He gets distracted easily. Gawd, it was hot outside!
Once coaxed inside, he became fascinated with the candles on the tables and wanted to run around and blow all of them out. I let him blow out a few and then I cut him off. I know, I'm mean! Meanwhile, he spied some grapes on the food table and started grabbing them with his dirty hands until I made him stop. I'm not so sure the people that he cut in line appreciated his dirty little hands in their fruit. I thought that if I made him a plate of fruit he would stop grabbing it off of the table. But he apparently didn't want pineapple. Just grapes. He threw them back in the bowl. I retrieved what I could remember was his, but I'm sure some got away. Sorry about that, wedding guests. He pretty much spent the rest of the reception running around, touching things he shouldn't, and trying to take sips of other people's drinks. At one point, he took a sip of someone's wine, just as Patrick and I dove in to try to stop him. (Please don't judge me). When all was said and done, he was sleeping before we hit the interstate. It had been a long day! He sure was a mischievous little ring bearer. Its a good thing he's so darn cute!

Advances in Spelling...Well, Maybe Not

You may remember a post a few months back about Peyton's spelling abilities.
P-E-Y-T-O-N
Whats that spell?
Tobi!
So, we've continued to practice, and I was starting to think that I had him convinced that not all words spell Tobi. This was progress.
Tonight, as we played with his letters in the bathtub, he started placing letters in an order and calling them out:
P-O-O-I-U-T
He looked at me, and as serious as could be said, "That spells rocket!"
Now, just so we're on the same page, even though he didn't get the exact spelling of rocket correct, I still think my kid is a genius. He was clearly on his way to spelling it correctly.

Outta There!

There are some times in a little boy's life when he needs to sit and ponder the wonders of the world. Or, he just needs a little more time to get all of the poop out. With Peyton, we read books and look through Daddy's magazines, which are conveniently located next to the commode, in order to pass the time. His Pops taught him to stay "Outta There!" whenever he's watching a baseball game. This should be done with a flick of the thumb. Since we are raising him as a Tiger Fan, we've also tried to teach him to say "Geaux Tigers!". You'll see that Peyton gets a little confused between the two:

No Accidents!

I don't want to jinx the situation, but Peyton hasn't had an accident since Wednesday. This is really great. He's been able to hold it for longer periods of time and seems to have the general idea of the potty concept. We've been busy the last couple of days with Gymboree classes, lunches with friends, trips to the park, grocery store and swimming pool and he's done great with all of this.
Everywhere we go, the first thing I look for is the restroom. I've actually been quite surprised with the level of cleanliness in most of these restrooms. I really haven't been grossed out yet, and I get grossed out in public restrooms pretty easily. I actually tend to avoid them at all costs. But with a little one that can pee or poop at any second, I've made sure that if I need to make a run for it, I know where I'm going and the quickest way to get there. I'm going to be really embarrassed one of these days when he makes a big stinky poop in one of these restrooms, but so far he has saved these for home. We are still reminding him to go to the potty every hour or so when we are home, and I'm noticing some resistance that I actually think is because he knows he doesn't really need to go yet. Other times, he'll go without much of a fuss and do his thing. I think we're going to need to start giving him some opportunity to tell us on his own that he needs to go, since he's only done this a few times. I think we make him go frequently enough that he can hold it in between and he doesn't have a need to tell us.
I think that big accident the other day upset him enough that he realized that he needs to go on the potty and not his pants, which is exactly what I needed to happen. I feel like we've done pretty well with the potty training, and I really shouldn't complain. He's pretty much got the hang of it. After reading that stupid book, I thought he would get it in a day or two, but as I talk with other moms and read stuff online, he's picked this up pretty quickly, and 5 days is really reasonable.

Day 6 - A Success Story!

Out of the blue this morning, Peyton told me he needed to go pee-pee on the potty. We rushed into the bathroom and he easily peed on the potty. I made such a big deal about it that he told me "Be Quiet, Mom". But this was grounds for a celebration. He had never told me that he needed to pee-pee before. It was only the pooping part that he had figured out (which I was extremely grateful for). There were a couple of other times throughout the day that he asked to go to the potty and there were some times when I asked if he needed to go that he responded "yes" rather than his usual "no". We survived the day without any accidents, too, which I thought was a HUGE accomplishment! So, maybe, just maybe, he's starting to get the hang of this. But I've been a mom just long enough to know that just when you think you've got it figured out, something unexpected happens to ruin that feeling of accomplishment. But today I'll take what I can get, and I'm happy that we've come this far. I'm anticipating that tomorrow will be a good day too, since its my birthday and only good things can happen.

Dear God, is it Already Day 5?!

I bought a book several months ago. "Potty Training in One Day". I read it front to back, reread the important chapters, and I was easily convinced that this method would work. I was on the bus one day when another woman, a mother herself probably, commented, "that's rather ambitious!" when she saw the title of the book I was reading. I thought, obviously, you haven't read this book. The author was completely convincing that this was a foolproof method. Basically, you and your child potty train a doll that is capable of going pee-pee on command. As the doll has accidents, you and your child explain to the doll that he needs to tell you when he needs to go to the potty. He shouldn't go in his underwear. You use a system of stickers and treats as rewards when the doll is successful. As you're doing all of this, your child is supposed to be picking up on the concept of going on the potty. All of the rewards gets them super excited and anxious to go on the potty too. As the day progresses, you give the child underwear and they start the process of potty training. Because they've taught the doll, they understand the concept, and its easy as pie to get them to hold their pee and go on the potty. Yeah, right! As I'm writing this, I'm laughing at myself for ever falling for this crap. I've always known I was gullible. But seriously, I can't believe I didn't know better.

So, here we are. Day 5. I guess we're still seeing small improvements. Yesterday afternoon, I decided that Peyton and I needed to get out of the house. We went strawberry picking (which was a hoot, Peyton loved eating more strawberries than he put in his bucket), and we were probably gone for about an hour and a half. I was pretty impressed that Peyton was still dry as I was getting him out of the car. As we were entering the house, I noticed him start to grab his crotch and took this as a sure sign that he needed to pee. I hurried as fast as I could to the bathroom, but before I knew it, there was a puddle on the floor in the hallway just outside the bathroom. So close! A little later as he and his Daddy were watching 101 Dalmations, he confessed that he had an accident. I thought this was promising because he at least told Patrick that he'd gone in his pants. I was cautiously optimistic.

Today, a babysitter came by the house to stay with Peyton while I went to work. (Mrs. Lauren is away this week.) We started setting the timer for longer periods of time, and the report from the sitter was that he told her when he needed to poop, as he did for Patrick yesterday. So this was a really good sign. He seems to have the hang of pooping. She also reported that he only had one accident that morning. I asked if he told her or if she just noticed it on her own and it turns out that Peyton peed in his pants, said nothing, and continued to play with his trucks. Ok, he had the afternoon to redeem himself. When he got up from his nap, I took him to play at a neighbor's house, who coincidentally is also potty training her daughter, so we commiserated together and offered each other some moral support. He did pretty good while he was at Kalina's house, going to the potty twice with about an hour in between. The difficult part was getting him to take a brake from playing with all of the cool toys to try to potty. Once home, however, we started having a little trouble. He was difficult all through dinner, which ended abruptly after he started throwing his food. He continued to be whiny and cross (probably because all he'd eaten was a little bit of rice for dinner), and all of a sudden peed all over himself. This seemed to upset him even further. This may sound harsh, but I was actually quite pleased that he got upset that he peed on himself. It contrasts with the morning accident where he was perfectly content to wear wet underwear. My hope is that the accidents will become less frequent if they upset him.

So, tomorrow we enter day 6. I don't think there is any turning back now. We have a big morning planned: a gymboree class and then lunch with my lab on Franklin street. I plan to have a bag packed with clean underwear and clothes, probably several sets, because I'm bracing myself for the worst. This could turn into a disaster.

I realize these posts are getting longer and longer, but this is quite therapeutic for me.