Yet another interview with Chance.
This is the “Happy Birthday, Daddy” version. Enjoy!
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Happy 1st Birthday, Paxton!!!
Today is Paxton’s FIRST birthday.
His first year of life has flown by, but it’s as if he’s ALWAYS been a part of our lives.
Pax has got 6 visible teeth right now — 4 on top and 2 on the bottom. He’s walking EVERYWHERE and can get up the stairs in less than 5 seconds. His talking sounds like gurgling and babbling ALWAYS brings a smile to Brian and my face.
He’s gonna be a big blogger, obviously!
Paxton Joel,
YOU are cherished. You help me look outside myself. You give Mommy hope that I can be a better person… for you, for Chance, for Daddy AND for myself. Your smile melts my heart. Your cry breaks me into a million pieces. All I want to do is make your world right for you. And I know I don’t have that kind of control, so I just hold you… and drink in your presence.
“Pax” means “peace” and you have brought JUST that into our lives. You have no idea the kind of restoration you’ve brought into Mommy & Daddy’s life just by existing. I thank God EVERY DAY for letting me be a part of your life. There is NOTHING you could ever do to make me stop loving you. NOTHING!!! And when I forget to tell you I’m proud of you, or that I love you… I hope you’ll know by my actions that you mean the world to me.
Happy first Birthday, sweet Paxton… my darling peacemaker. You came just in time.
Love Forever and a Day,
Mommy
“You’re Grounded!”
Chance got grounded for the first time ever today in his 4 years of life.
Usually, I just do time-outs or certain toys get “time-outs” if he can’t share. Well… today, he chose to ignore me when I asked him to pick up the toys he had pulled out. For those who KNOW my child, you’ll know he’s actually quite clean and tidy. He doesn’t usually play with more than 2 different toys at a time. For some reason, today, he emptied out the whole toy box AND toy shelf, as well as EVERY CONTAINER that held small toys.
Here’s what my family room usually looks like (with the bouncing kid):
And here’s what it looked like when I asked Chance to clean it:
What you don’t see are the two buckets of legos that spilled INTO the kitchen and dining area. It was ridiculous!
I gave him the option the FIFTH time I asked him (I usually give him three warnings MAX… I guess I was feeling gracious today) of me cleaning it up for him, but that would mean he would be grounded and not have access to his toys for the REST OF THE DAY. He said, “I want YOU to clean it up.”
Ok.
So… I grounded him from all his toys for the rest of the day. ALL HIS TOYS. Really… what was I thinking?
I think the hardest part for Chance was watching Paxton play with HIS toys and not being able to ask him not to. OUCH!
I finally gave Chance some hope. I said, “Honey, you can earn your toys back after your quiet time/nap if you really help Mommy out by doing some extra stuff to help out around the house.” He agreed. Chance asked me multiple times during the day if he could play with certain toys. I had to keep reminding him that he chose to be grounded. We definitely got to dialogue about disobedience and consequences. He was pretty much an angel the rest of the day.
We read.
We practiced writing our letters.
We colored.
We twirled.
We wrestled.
We counted to 100… 100 times.
We sang songs… and made some up with the word “poop” in it.
We baked chocolate coconut bars.
We cleaned up Paxton’s toys.
It was all going SO well… then right before dinner, Chance started playing a bit rough with Paxton. When I asked him to stop, he didn’t listen. He didn’t get a second warning. The negotiations were off the table.
Chance was mortified.
He apologized and BEGGED me change my mind, but it was too late. He made his decision by not obeying.
I reassured him that tomorrow is another day and he gets to start the day with all his toys. It’s up to him whether he chooses to keep that privilege or not.
How old were you/your kids when you/they first got grounded?
Halloween
Just thought I’d post some photos of our night trick-or-treating with the Smith’s.
The kids had so much fun… and it was just great to see Paula, Jason and Morgan again.
We stopped by our old house, and the new owners let us come in to see all their new upgrades. Their kitchen is EXACTLY what I would have done if we were still living there. I won’t lie… my heart hurt. That was the house Chance came home to. *sigh*
Other than that, it was an amazingly fun evening.
Oh… and that third to last photo is of the Johnson twins feeling Chance up. They liked his superhero “boobies” too, I guess.
My Family’s Historian
Some people joke about our family having a photo shoot every other week.
Yes. we have a lot. Maybe not THAT much, but we have a few a year.
Here’s the deal: I am the CEO of my home. That makes me my family’s historian as well. If I don’t document as many family moments as possible, who’s gonna do it, right?
We actually take a lot of photos and videos of our kids, but what happens is we end up having lots of pictures… with one of us missing. Usually me. HA.
Anyway… our friend AND Portland photographer of choice is Kimberly Whipps (Barefoot Photography). She actually helps sponsor JenniClayville.com and is responsible for the amazing rotating banner you see on the home page.
We had our winter/Christmas card photos taken last weekend.
You can CLICK HERE to see some more of them.
If you live in the Portland area and want to capture some amazing moments with your family to keep FOREVER… contact her NOW. You will NOT be disappointed.
Thanks, Kimberly, for capturing some crazy Clayville moments. I love that you just laugh and hang out with us. You are AH-MAZ-ING and I am blessed to call you “friend”!
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