The Rhea Family

28 Month Claytonisms:

Right now, I'd say the biggest thing Clayton is into is babies. She loves all things babies. And is is not because I'm cramming baby down her throat. (Which is the opposite.) She is cramming babies down ours. She loves playing with her babies. They take naps in her old crib/new baby's crib. She will put them in the crib, turn on the music for them and close the blinds and shut the door. She then tells me to "shhhhh, baby is sleeping." She loves using all the real baby paraphernalia (bottles, pacifiers, toys, blankets) for her babies. You name it and her babies 'need' it. I didn't want to be so organized OCD that she couldn't play with the baby stuff and think all the new baby stuff was off limits to her. But I finally had to get it under control. So I organized the baby's closet and put the off limits stuff really high and put some things lower that she could play with and I didn't mind cleaning up numerous times a day. However, I quickly realized that she would out smart me. She pulled a chair from her room into the baby's closet and helps herself to whatever her babies' need. So I had to resort to locking her out of the baby's closet and she has to ask me when she needs something so I can regulate the baby mess. She also loves going to Mother's Day Out not to play with friends but because she says she plays with babies there. She comes home from MDO super baby charged and ready to take care of all of hers. She obviously sees them making bottles for babies as she vigorously shakes her baby's bottles before giving them to her babies. She also rocks the babies, soothes them and give them pacifiers. She is the best baby momma. My mom thinks she maybe too good of a baby momma for when new baby comes.
Clayton is very animated when she talks. She uses hand and arm gestures a lot when she is trying to convey something. An example is her saying where is Say-dee and she will hold her little hands up and shake them. It's a favorite of Harris'.
"Let me do it" is heard frequently around our house. She is slowly becoming more and more independent and wants to do more and more things herself. Somethings I let her do, other things I don't (mostly to prevent a mess or injury-- pouring a bottle or something on the stove) and somethings she just takes the liberty to accomplish herself without asking (moving a chair over to the kitchen cabinets and getting a snack out of a high cabinet). Many times it is convenient that she is becoming more self sufficient but it's just plain sad. Why is my baby growing up so fast? It wasn't that long ago that I was filming her trying to rollover.
Night's at our house are hell on mom. Clayton is still a bedtime nightmare. Bedtime certainly tests my patience and I find myself closing my eyes and taking a deep breath (or many). I'm hopefully there is a light at the end of the tunnel although there is no sight of it anytime soon.
A secret from our pediatrician as Clayton still loves her ba-bas (milk bottles). She mainly drinks them before taking a nap or going to bed. But they also provide comfort when she gets injured or upset. I don't see them becoming a thing of the past anytime soon. However, I don't think she will be wanting one going into her freshman year so I'm not concerned. We are definitely helping support the dairy industry.
A game Clayton and I like to play for months now is that she calls out family member's names and I write them down. Not sure what started this but she enjoys naming all her loved ones. This month she has started telling me to list names and she acts likes she is writing them. I enjoy watching her intently scribble names.
She does not like to get wet and will strip her clothes with the slight spill. It's probably just an excuse for her to get naked because she would definitely be naked all day long if she had her choice.