Clayton is Two AND A HALF

As of September 21st, our sweet Mr. Baby is two an a half!  At this age Clayton is hilarious...the only bad part is, he knows he is hilarious!  He, much like his older brother Carter, will do anything to get a laugh...and his favorite person to make laugh is Carter.  AND Carter loves it.  These two are always giggling.  Clayton's favorite jokes are just saying "Peter Rabbit," "booty," or "poop."  Sometimes he will veer off his normal script of these three "jokes" and roll out something like, "Carter is a snake!" or "Carter is a kangaroo!"  I always know when he's trying to tell a joke though because he makes this HUGE grin and tucks his chin down toward his chest.  We've been trying to discourage the potty word (booty and poop) jokes that he tells, but it is SO hard to do because the three big kids cannot contain their laughter! He's a hoot.
Clayton is a big talker.  He talks all the time.  It's like living with four people who are professional talkers and must spend 99% of their waking hours talking. Hah!  He's getting to be a really good "talker" too.  His words are getting more and more clear and he's stringing together longer and longer sentences.  I love that he pronounces his name "Tayton," and I never try to correct it because I know one day he will wake up and start saying his name correctly.  For the longest time he pronounced "fish" as what sounded like a cuss word, then he switched it to "shif."  I was bewildered at how he was actually pronouncing it backwards.  And it's not like this is a word we rarely say.  We got fishing at least once a week.  We look at fish in our neighborhood lake daily.  And we have a pet fish.  He hears this word all the time.  Then, one day about a month ago he woke up and started calling them "fish."  He pronounces the name of where John works as "hilaris" and constantly asks, "Daddy at hilaris? Daddy all done hilaris?"  Also, he has all on his own doing started asking, "Gonna get a Ranger?" He wants a ranger! Haha.  He loves little songs and memorizes them quiet well!
Clayton loves books.  His favorite thing to do is grab a book or two or three, grab a blanket, and run to the chair in my room, ask to "cober up" with the blanket and then he says, "Read me!"  I love it!  
Clayton loves playing trains and blocks right now. He also loves his big trucks.  He wants to "walkie pond" (walk around our neighborhood lake) all the time.  He loves wagon rides, the plasma car, riding in the princess car with any older sibling that will drive him, and going on walks with lots of stops to pick up tiny little rocks and leaves and grass blades that catch his eye.  He asks almost daily to go to the "Rocket Center" or the "Terrible Gardens" (translation Botanical Gardens).  He loves the Botanical Gardens, but he thinks we are saying Terrible instead of Botanical...this makes us all laugh! 
We joined the YMCA and Clayton is really enjoying the pool and splash pad there.  I also think it's good for him to have a little time of being around other kids in the childcare area while I'm in the fitness center.  
Clayton is so sweet. He will just cuddle right up, give kisses and hugs, and is so sweet...on the flip side though he has a mischievous side to him.  He is a runner.  This keeps me on my toes.  I cannot let go of his hand because he is the kid who will be right by your side until the moment you look away and he will just get further and further out of reach.  Carter and Nora Kate were not like this.  Dawson was to an extent, but Clayton doesn't like to stay right with me or hold hands when we are out and about.  I think it's because he sees the big kids walking without holding hands and being big and he wants to copy them, but then that mischievous streak kicks in...whew! I've just got to keep up.  I think this is starting to improve a little though.
Clayton is really such a great kid.  He's always so happy, and he gets drug along to SO many things.  He has been spending over 6 hours a week at the soccer field along with getting taken along to the boys school for everything and has to go along on every errand.  He really never seems to mind.  And for all the things I take him to, he's usually always really happy.  He is not one bit shy, and he loves to get the attention of older kids.  He has made a million friends at the soccer fields already.  He will see another kid and ask me, "Go play friends?"  He will have never met or played with this kid before but he wants to go play with them.  So funny how outgoing he is.
Clayton is an eater, that's for sure.  He is not picky at all.  We have had a little battle lately because he wants to eat all the time, and in our rental house that we are in while we are building the kitchen is basically the same as the room we play in all day.  Being in close proximity to the fridge and pantry all day has been tough for him and he's been frequently asking for snacks.  There have even been a few times where he has helped himself to some food.
Clayton loves playing outside.  There's a hill in the back corner of our backyard and his drives his toy trucks up and down that hill all day long.  We drive over to check the progress on our construction daily, and Clayton LOVES getting to see all the construction equipment there.  He is also loving all the tractors we see on the cotton and corn fields too.  
Our sweet baby Clayton is two and a half, and although it really feels impossible that our "baby" is so big, I'm loving watching him grow and change.  We love you sweet Clayton!