The Rhea Family

Saturday, May 5, 2012

For the Love of Animals

It is very important to me to instill the love of pets and respect of animals in my children. And Clayton is certainly making her mom proud.

She loves her big sister Sadie so much. Clayton lights up when she comes into the room. She showers Sadie with countless hugs and kisses.

Clayton likes to open any type of beauty product and then runs to Sadie and smears it on her. Sadie doesn't think this is the greatest but endures it.

When Clayton began crawling and interrupting Sadie's nap schedule, Sadie wasn't so sure about it. She was annoyed and occasionally growled. I was confident that the way to Sadie's heart was through her stomach. So for about a month, we watched them like a hawk and didn't let Clayton encroach upon her space. When Clayton started feeding her, it was love at first bite. They are now best buds!

This is Fluffy. My parents gave her to Clayton for Christmas. She treats Fluffy like a real dog (except for the holding her by her ears and throwing her on the couch) giving her many hugs and kisses.

Clayton is drawn to any animal. She leans down, cups her hands, and makes a squeaking noise trying to call them.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Get Down Girl!

Clayton is a HUGE climber. Our house was completely toddler-proofed until Clayton decided awhile back that she needs to climb on everything. These pictures don't do her climbing justice as these are just a few in the last month and most times I'm grabbing her from wherever she has decided to make a perch instead of photographing her antics.

She pulls the kitchen drawers out, throws their contents on the floor, and uses them as steps to reach things on the counter. I've since added locks to them all which made for one unhappy, inquisitive baby.

She still likes to get into cabinets but recently hiding in a bedroom dresser is a new favorite activity.

Thankfully she hasn't figured out how to open doors quite yet. This will open another set of issues when that day occurs.

Clayton likes to sneak in the guest room bath and turn on the faucet and play. This equals a wet baby and wet floor. And I have to run in there to make sure she hasn't turned it on completely hot. I guess I need to research faucet locks.

Most kids would be content playing with the water/sand table but Clayton isn't satisfied unless she's in it.

I heard her screaming and found her wailing in anger that she had trapped herself in the dining room chair under the table. Her goal was to get onto the dining table and get into the box I had put there 3 minutes prior. She now pulls the chairs out before climbing on the table.

She saw a cake on the table and decided she would get her herself.

I figured the wooden goose was a safe decorative piece for the coffee table since it couldn't be broken. Never thought Clayton would insist on riding it daily. So guess we will have a bare coffee table.

Yep, hazardous items like scissors and knives are no longer safe on the counters.

Clayton definitely keeps us on our toes but I couldn't imagine her any other way. The main problem is she's just so stinking cute being "bad". I love her determination, curiosity, and energy.