PT's "Ball Patch"

I saw a fun idea on Pinterest and pinned it to my "for PT" board.  I found it while searching for things to do with cardboard over at the babycenter.com.  The thing is, sometimes PT sits up in my lap while I am on the computer.  More specifically, he sits in my lap and looks at what I am looking at while on Pinterest.

"Wait mommy, wait!"  he jumped and pointed to the computer screen.  "Go back."  He's now learned how to work the arrow keys to get to the pictures that he wants to see.  Oh, this sweet kid kept longing for that cardboard ramp for some balls to zoom down.  He was begging, but not in that annoying-no-way-in-heck-will-I-do-this-for-you way. So, I found this giant piece of cardboard at Costco, took it home, grabbed some extra cardboard and duct tape and set to work.  Then I called in my 14 year old back up because my husband refused to be a part of something he didn't understand.

It's been fun, for about a month.  I can't wait until Santa brings his next Pinterest creation and takes this big cardboard contraption with him.

And I Thought I Was High Maintenance...

(...says the woman who won't drink milk from a plastic cup, and thinks that water is better with ice in a glass glass)

This morning Payton saw that I had packed a bagel with cream cheese for Tasha to take to school for lunch, so he wanted one for breakfast.  Not only did he want to eat it, but it had to be wrapped up in aluminum foil and placed in a bag in the refrigerator, just like his sister's had been.  In the process of preparing his food, I cut his bagel in half, just like I did Tasha's, only he did NOT want it cut.  He had a complete meltdown- he fell to the kitchen floor crying, "no,no,no, I no want it cut!  Noooo...." He sat there, head slumped into his hands, lamenting over the cut bagel, while I wrapped it in foil, placed it in the cloth Zabar's bag I bought the last time I was in NY, and placed it carefully in the fridge.  I cleaned up, reaching over him to place the knife in the sink, and sat down to eat my own breakfast.  A good 15-20 minutes later, he retrieved his bag and happily ate his breakfast, realizing it was exactly like Tasha's and tasted the same cut as it would have uncut.

Of course, he needed a drink to wash the bagel down.  The drink was "in the blue cup, not the wed one," with ice, and poured from "that jug" (opening the fridge and pointing), not the pitcher of water just next to the jug.

Silly PT

You just never know what will come out of your child's mouth.  Ever.  Sometimes you can figure out why they said it though.

Payton was trying to get Tasha to come over to him and was trying to be authorative with her.  He wanted her over there, dang it, and he was going to get her there.  He even has a forceful voice that he uses- not mean or yelling or whiny, just forceful and demanding.  I wasn't sure what he said at first, but then as it registered I chuckled and told Bill.

PT furrowed his brow, pointed to the ground, and said, "Tasha Thomas, get over here right now."

"Tasha Thomas"?  Oh, silly boy.  I'm still chuckling at your antics.  Sweet Payton, sweet PT, we love you.  But alas, when we've asked nicely and you're not listening, how many times have you heard, "Payton Thomas, get over here right now"?

Payton-isms

"Doen even think abou it" (It's a warning, usually aimed at Tasha)

"Lissen to me-uh!" (You better listen!)

"whaz iz dis come from?" (Where did you get this?)

"Mom, hoel you me, peez." (He wants to be held)

"oh-grit" (yogurt- he and I are both partial to Greek Gods Honey flavor)

"three...four...zero!"  (He's counting down, and then you better do what he asked.  This is the only time he includes 3...typically he counts 1,2,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12)

I've Thought About Cutting It...

...but then I saw the pictures on the sidebar and decided he can rock the long hair look better than a shaved head.

Q: Why don't I spend 15 minutes a day working on cleaning out my laundry room so I have room to store the stuff that is cluttering my house?

A: Because in the 15 very productive minutes that I spent back there one morning Payton was able to :

• empty the laundry basket I had just taken out onto the living room floor
• take the empty basket to my bedroom to use as a step stool
• open my jewelry box and remove the drawer to bring to the living room
• get a carrot from who knows where (I thought they were all in the outside fridge!)

...and who knows what else that I did not find.

Pretty Boy Payton Turned 2

On his 2nd birthday, Payton walked into nursery on his own, without crying for the first time ever.

He now lets us read to him. His favorite books being:

• If You Give a Cat a Cupcake (he asks for "cupcake, cupcake")
• If You Give a Pig a Party (we enjoy finding all her friends)
• Blue Hat Green Hat
• Who Stole the Cookie from the Cookie Jar
• A stupid pirate book that has a "(s)cary bug" that we squish with our thumb and a "peencha c(r)ab" that we immitate by pinching each other with our fingers
• 10 Little Ladybugs (another "bug" book, but they are not scary)

He's not nursing anymore. He completely weaned about 2 weeks before his birthday.

He's settling in to a bedtime routine: teethbrushing, stories, and sleep.

When we bless the dinner he folds his arms, lays his head down on the table, and then after we've all said "amen", he will lift his head up, smile and kindly say "amen" as well. (this, instead of declaring in his loudest voice "A-MEN", or telling us "no pray, no pray"... I'm glad those 2 phases are over, although the first was hard not to laugh at)

He still likes "cook-een" in the kitchen with me. He mostly stays away from the oven though.

He has generalized that anything you plug in is either "loud" or "hot". It cracks me up. I was plugging in the hot glue gun and he said, "oh, loud!" On Super Why he always says "oh, HAUT!" when the pig saws out the letters creating a bunch of dust.

He knows the following shapes: cir-coe, tie-an-goe, oh-boe, ec-tan-goe, and kwair.

His favorite color is "lelloe". If you are familiar with the Sandra Boynton book, Blue Hat, Green Hat, he will read, "lelloe hat, lelloe hat, lelloe hat, oots!" This is precious. I need to get it on video.

The only way I can cut his fingernails is to bribe him by painting them as I go. I try to stick to boy blue, but he really likes the green and purple. Bill absolutely LOVES this.

He really likes to try on clothes when Tasha is. He especially insists on trying on the dresses and spinning. When he does this, Tasha and I say in our sweetest voices, "awe PT, you're so pri-tee!" He then gives us his most petite smile ever.

He can walk pretty well in Kyra's slip on high heals, even with his toes poking through the front and hitting the floor. (this may help, actually)

Bill might get concerned about all this pretty boy stuff, except that he has the following disgusting habits that I would like eliminated:

• He calls most brown things "poop", including the dinner I made last night.
• "too-pid, too-pid, too-pid" is a regular word, along with the phrase, "oh, c(r)ap"
• He likes to pretend to hawk loogies (is that how you spell that?), complete with a hand swipe of the mouth.
• He's fallen asleep more than once with his hand in his diaper. I got a picture, but it is very dark.
• He is VERY good at being a little brother. Ask his sisters. Someday we hope all the bullying will be put to good use and he can fend off undesireable male suiters.

PT is 2 Today

My mom passed me a note at church today. She asked, "Does Payton say, 'oh crap'?"

Yes mom, yes he does. It comes out "oh cap", but it is used appropriately with the right intonations so you really know what he's saying.

He also says:

"give it" when he wants something

"give it bak" when you've taken something from him

"shu-up" when he wants you to stop talking

"go way" when he wants you to leave

"cum ON!" when he's ready to go, usually while pulling on a part of your body or clothing

"ah dis" when he wants you to hold him or something else

"oh can-ee, can-ee, caaaannnnn-eeeee!" when he'd like a piece of candy

"chock-it" for chocolate chips, only when "yem-en-emm's" are not available

"shu-de-door!" which is actually quite cute. Sometime he's telling you that he will shut the door, sometimes there is a question mark at the end of the statement as he's asking you if you would like him to shut it.

"gim-me" if it's clear that he'd like what you have

"NO PUTER!" as he climbs onto your chair, up over your body, onto the desk, and puts the screen to the laptop down. What can I say? The boy takes things into his own hands if you've been on the computer for too long. Unfortunately for me, "too long" is not very long at all.

And a nice rendition of the "clean up" song that he sang today, on the bench, during sacrament:

"keen up, keen up, evee buh-ee, shu-up!"

I couldn't be more proud of this rowdy boy. (please note the sarcasm!)

How To

Today I should have googled many "how to" articles and videos, including:

• How to remove vanilla scented lotion from carpet
• How to remove vanilla scented lotion from leather
• How to remove vanilla scented lotion from Bullseye, the plastic horsey
• How to save lunch after it's been dumped on the floor
• How to teach a toddler to make a pb&j sandwich
• How to read the directions on the dinner that takes 5 hours in a crock pot to prepare, before it is an hour until dinner (oops)

Instead, I watched a how to video on how to make avocado rolls. I can now make them, but I am deeply disappointed in humantiy. The girl on the video was annoying as all get-out, but very thorough. The comments were more about her appearance and asking her out than they were about the food she prepared. Don't concern yourself with the fact that she claimed her eggrolls were vegan and then smeared egg on the wrapper to seal them, go ahead, leave your number and contact information for all utube fans to view. Ugh.

And the video that I should have made:

"How to get age defying face moisturizer out of your son's hair" would have included a fit as I shoved his head under the shower head and would have ended in a nice soppy towel that he decided needed to be on the floor of the shower instead of hanging up.

It's NOT Just Spilt Milk

After finding his milk in the fridge, but having a new cup in hand, Payton convinced me to pour his old milk into his new cup. Then he proceeded to take sips from his cup and spit his milk into a shape sorter bucket. He did this repeatedly as I sat in disgust. Then he picked up the bucket and dumped a good couple of teaspoons of spit-milk onto the floor. Of course, this needed rubbing in, so he did it. Now, why use a middle-man bucket... sip milk and spit it directly onto the floor. He's now brought me a new cup, without a lid, and is respectfully asking me to pour his milk into this cup. I don't think so!

I'm Tired of Saying "NO!"

After listening to myself say "no" to Payton so many times, I just get tired of it. I wonder if it's worth it, doing any good, or necessary. So, this morning I decided to restrain unless I absolutely had to. I realize "necessary" is a relative term, so guess which 2 items below I did NOT say no to:

1. Eating his baked potato in the living room, dumping it on the ground .
2. Pushing the chair around the kitchen to climb up onto the island.
3. Pushing another chair over to the sink to play in water and dirty dishes, some of them glass.
4. Playing in the beads for the vase that holds yet another stem of dying bamboo.
5. Playing in the bowl of flour mix leftover from Sunday dinner.
6. Drinking from the gallon milk jug after I poured him a sippy cup full of "muck!".
7. Shoving a DVD under the door while I was taking a shower.
8. Throwing a metronome on the ground with the possibility of it busting to pieces.
9. Climbing yet another chair to reach into the knife drawer.
10. Pulling my computer chair down the hall for who knows what reason.
11. Taking cucumber and zucchini into the living room to remind Potato Head that if he loses his body he can just use one of them.
12. Playing with scissors.
13. Playing with our double deck of Canasta cards. (the ones that haven't been crumpled to pieces yet by his grubby little hands)
14. Trying to cut through a henna tube with scissors, then going back to the drawer for a knife.
15. "Cutting" the homemade granola bar on the counter by himself with a spatula.
16. Pulling out the vaccuum and bringing it to he living room.
17. Pushing a chair to the freezer to withdraw some ice from the door.
18. Topsizing the chair as he tried to get it onto the carpet, for who knows what reason.
19. Climbing me like a jungle gym.
20. Pulling off the counter and stepping on an unopened CD, repeatedly.

UGH! Boys. Seriously, I only stopped him twice and it's not even noon. Maybe I can convince him it's naptime soon.

Like Father, Like Son

Payton is obsessed with Toy Story, but he won't watch the beginning of the second one. It's the one where Rex is playing the Buzz Lightyear video game. Now, who knows Bill well enough to know why Payton does not like this part?

A Thespian, however, Bill is not. Payton acted out one of the Toy Story 2 scenes at Sonic one day:

Fortunately he did not cause any traffic accidents.

Dear PT,

I am not:

• a stepping stool
• a chair
• a towel
• a tissue
• a jungle gym
• a punching bag
• a Stretch Arm Strong
• a balance beam
• a trampoline

Please stop treating me as such.

With sincere love and care,

Mom

"Bickit"

We've been wondering for months what "bickit" means. We've repeated it, questioned Payton, and looked around wondering. I FINALLY figured it out! He has said it in every room of the house, except the kitchen.

1. Yesterday morning Payton wakes up to nurse at 5:30, finishes, rolls over, "bickit" and falls asleep.
2. Last night I'm carrying him past the crib full of all kinds of stuff because he doesn't sleep there. He's just showered, points to the crib, "bickit", and we continue on to get dressed for bed. No cries or concerns over whatever bickit is.
3. He takes me to his bed to nurse this afternoon, looks under his bed, "bickit". He follows it up with a "oh no" and a "ah gone", shaking his hands because the bickit is all gone. He crawls up on the bed to nurse because milk is way more important that whatever this bickit thing is. (at this point I think I've figured it out but I'm distracted by something and forget to look under the bed)
4. I'm at the computer in the livingroom. He points, smiles (I kid you not!) and says "bickit". Yup, that's a bickit and it's exactly what I thought it was. There's more than one in this house and the one in his room is gone, best I can tell. It probably is under his bed.

What's YOUR guess?

Payton Speaks

Payton will repeat just about anything you say to him, ask him to say (if he's in the mood), or wish you never said and he never repeated. Most of the time it's stinkin' cute, but sometimes he can be a trouble maker. Here are a few of his best moments:

(of course, we all have names) "mom, mommy... dad, daddy... Tash, Tasha... Keya... Bee-y" my favorite are when he wants his sisters to do something or they aren't paying attention; "taaa-SHA!" and "Keee-YA!"

(repeating you, one word at a time) "I...wuf...mommy" he won't say "you", won't even try. He'll repeat any family member's name though.

(more affection) "hoe chew" with his arms up, dancing in front of you to pick you up. It's only sweet if it is followed by "hug", which is rarely.

(a few of his favorite foods) "peeza" was originally his word for all food. "oh-gurt" which he now just likes to get out and smear anywhere he can before I take it away. "eg" is his favorite breakfast food, he'll eat an entire serving of them at IKEA. "ap-oe" he's still mostly biting it to pieces and spitting out all the skin, but it entertains him for quite a while and is fairly easy to clean up. Sometimes he'll even spit the skin into my hand, lucky me! He has a word for ice cream but I can't figure it out yet.

(usually done while pointing his finger) "Bickit!" We have no idea what this means.

(any time the water is running) "showuh" He mostly likes to drink water from the shaving cream lid and doesn't like to get clean. Typical boy.

(while looking in a mirror) "paytin" SOOOOO CUTE! The first time he did this I squeezed him and teared a bit.

(when he was ready to leave) "mom...van...go"

(a declaration) "dun!" or "ah dun!"

(he agrees) "hoe-kay" usually said with a sweet little smile, a jump up, or a cute little run in the right direction. I like it especially when it is "hoe-kay, mommy".

(he doesn't agree) "NO!"

(he really doesn't agree) "NO-wAH!"

(polite manners) "tank oo" and "peas"

(to get under his sisters skin) "Nya nya nya nya naaah!" said with an awful face, hands on hips, shifting his weight back and forth. I'd get upset but he totally got this one from Tasha. Tasha gets really angry, almost cries, and screams "shut up" to him. This, of course, is what he wants.

(a variation of the above) "Nya, nya nya... shup!" This is him acknowledging that he's not going to make anyone upset but wishes that he could. I try hard not to laugh.

(he's now, officially, a Toy Story finatic) "Moo-ee?...Buzsh?" We watch one a day, fortunately there were 3 made. Again, he's cute, I just can't resist. I'm so in trouble with this little boy. I bought him a Buzz action figure and he lost it. We searched and searched. When we came back into the living room he kept saying "ar, ar, ar..." I thought he'd seen something on TV. Then it occured to me that he was asking me to check in his ear for it. Poor guy, mom doesn't find stuff in your ear to pull out, only dad does that. I held him close and almost cried.

(with a wave) "bye bye...balaLAla" see you later.

Pirate PT

I was browsing older posts from last year, seeing how things were the same and different from last summer...

July 2011:

July 2010:

Same pirate shirt

Same shaved head

Same PT

(Interestingly observation, now that I look closely: Tasha is still wearing those same clothes as well. I guess my kids stopped growing last year. Except for their feet!)

An Hour of Peace

1. Go outside
2. Turn on the water
3. Fill up the holes with water
4. Get soaking wet so mom takes off your clothes
5. "Wash" clothes in water hole

This scene can be viewed in our backyard just about any given late afternoon. Usually it happens while I am fixing dinner. Sometimes it waits until after dinner. Other times it happens right after awakening from a nap or when I'm trying to leave without him for one reason or another.

I can not remember the last day that has gone by this summer when this boy has not ended up outside watering the lawn. He's going to make such a good landscaper someday.

Ugh, shoes.

If someone would be so kind as to come to my house and throw out these shoes I would be very much in debt to you. They keep showing up. I've put them in the garbage, thrown them to the dog, placed them on top of high objects, and screamed not nice words at them. And yet, somehow, as I was lurking on Bill's facebook account this morning, I looked down at my child that was urging me with, "shoo, shoo, shoo" (to get going) and found these nasty things. The only thing they are good for are smashing roaches, which, I might add, we are 2 for 2 on this season. We've seen 2, smashed 2.

WW: Try Sharing a Bed with THIS Guy!