Clayton is 4.5

A few pictures from the past six months of our sweet, funny, outgoing, opinionated, independent, hilarious, baseball-loving, bike-riding (with no training wheels), baby brother of the family CLAYTON!

Go Clayton and Giants!

He loves the beach!

Picking grapes. He was the perfect height to get under the vines and see the grapes for us!

Always the life of the party.

He definitely has favorite shirts for every season and really wants to just wear those on repeat. This has been one from summer.

Loves twinning with his siblings.

With his buddy Ruby

Picking peaches

On a boat with Daddy fishing in the ocean. His favorite part was playing with the shrimp bait—yuck!!!

 Our sweet baby is FOUR AND A HALF as of September 21! This half has been a big deal this time around.  Now that Clayton is 4 AND A HALF, he loves to say, “I think so-and-so is just four, not four AND A HALF like me.” He’s feeling big....and he’s acting big too.  There have been lots of changes over the last six months for Clayton. The biggest one being that he started preschool.  His teacher is Ms. Cindy and the most frequently talked about friends from school are Everett, Asher, Vivian (he always has a sweet little smile when he talks about Vivian), and Beck.  We’ve had a few funny stories from his preschool this year.  For weeks and weeks he told me about two kids in the other 4 year old class.  He told me one was named Fork.  The next day he told me there was another kid named Pan.  I questioned him and he smiled slyly.  I couldn’t figure this out, despite lots and lots of trying....Fork and Pan?!  Really?!  He said yes.  Finally he confessed there was no kid named Pan that he had made that one up to be friends with Fork. (Hah). But he promised there was a kid named Fork.  I couldn’t figure it out...FINALLY I got a look at the class list for the other 4’s...his name is Ford!  One other funny from his first school experience is that for weeks he told us they were getting to play in the cornfield, and while there are tons of farms around us here in Alabama his school is in downtown...not near a field.  I asked him if there was corn in the field-no. I asked him if there was grass, other plants, if it was  big-no.  I couldn’t figure it out.  Finally Dawson said that he thought maybe Clayton meant courtyard.  OH! YES! Clayton said he did mean courtyard.  I’m not sure if he had never heard the term court yard before or if that was just what he thought his teacher was saying through her mask when she was telling them they were headed to the courtyard, but we all got a good laugh out of this one.  Clayton has done pretty well about preschool despite getting a little sad when we returned from the beach about having to get back in the school routine. He goes to school two mornings a week from 8-12, so he’s basically there the same time that the big three are at their school each week.  He feels big getting to have school time that overlaps with theirs.  He asks every day if it’s a “building day or a homeschool day.” On our homeschool day he has a journal that he works in, Bob book curriculum, math seeds, reading eggs, and lots of other little projects I find for him on Pinterest.  He says homeschool days are his favorite, but he always has lots of great things to tell me about preschool when I pick him up too.

Look at that sweet face.  This was one morning at preschool before I dropped him off. He requested a selfie with me. Sweet smile.

In addition to school being a big change, another big change for Clayton in the last six months has been getting to play his first sport! I honestly cannot remember how long Clayton has been telling us he wants to be a “base baller” but it seems like forever. It is especially interesting because no one else in our family plays baseball, so it’s not like he sees them and wants to copy.  He has also always had surprisingly good hand eye coordination with a bat and ball for his age. So when baseball sign ups for t-ball/wee ball rolled around I signed him up. John was one of the assistant coaches for his team. Clayton was placed on the Giants and so was his buddy Cooper. This made it extra fun for him. I think Clayton looks like a little baseball player.  He loved playing his first sport and can’t wait to play again. 

Baseballer Clayton with his Gatorade

Coloring Easter Eggs

Go Clayton!

Clayton with his siblings and buddy Cooper eating homemade ice cream they made by shaking ingredients in a bag!

Clayton loves travel more than I knew any kid could.  He always requests to go to the beach or a hotel anywhere.  I think it started when we went to D.C., but he loves traveling, packing, hotels, condos, different places. I joke that he will be our world traveler one day...hopefully he invites me to tag along.

When we adopted Duke back in June, I was hopeful that Duke would love all the kids equally though some might be rougher with him than others...and Duke does.  It has been really sweet to see Clayton love a puppy and take care of him.  Duke really does LOVE Clayton...and the feeling is mutual. Duke loves to go in Claytons room each night as we are tucking him in and put his two front legs on the bed as if he’s telling him goodnight. Each morning when Clayton gets up, Duke practically gallops across the room to greet him.

Clayton loves the beach as much as his Mommy.

Here he is holding a pin fish we caught in the cast net.  Clayton loves holding fish and throwing them back in the water. When we fish in our neighborhood, he says wearing the glove and throwing the fish back in is his favorite part. Haha

Looking so big on the first day of pre-school.

We cannot believe that 4.5 years have passed so quickly, but what excitement, joy, energy, laughter, snuggles, and FUN our sweet Mr. Baby has brought to our family.  We love our Clayton so very much!

Happy half birthday!