Uno

I am grateful every day to have a firstborn like Clayton. He's kind, friendly, trusting, smart, helpful, obedient (mostly), and sensitive. He's growing up so much this year. Since he's started second grade I'm really noticing a maturity in him that just wasn't there a few months ago. As his mom, I'm caught in the ackward space where I know that it's necessary and wonderful for him to grow and mature but I miss the baby, toddler, and little boy he used to be.

I'm not sure how many more Christmases I'll have with him before he stops believing. Fortunately for me, Clayton is a very naive kid (which I love because I think that nowdays kids grow up WAY to fast so you'll excuse me if I encourage my kids to stay naive about the 'ways of the world' for as long as I possibly can) so I'm hopeful that we'll have at least two or three left.

Right now Clayton is trying to grow and show his independence. We are starting to have power struggles at our house where there were none (at least with him) before. He's trying to take more control of his life - where he goes, who his friends are, what activities he does and does not want to participate in, what time he should be going to bed and waking up, etc. The list goes on. At times these struggles for independence cause problems. I want him to become more self-sufficient and self-motivated but ultimately, I'm the parent and obedience is key. He will try to reason with Justin and myself in order to get his way. Sometimes it works and is wonderful when we are able to compromise and treat him like an adult; sometimes it's a nightmare that ends with frustrated parents and a boy in time out who is cursing the unfairness of life at the top of his lungs. Although, I will say, even when life is "unfair", he has never once told Justin or myself that he "hates" us. I have heard other kids (much younger) tell their parents that they "don't like" them or "hate" them even. I've been mentally bracing myself for that over the last few years and so far my kids have been very good at keeping it out of their vocabulary. I love that even when we're all mad at each other (because it happens), I know that they still love me and they know that I still love them.

With all this growth and change, there are several things that remain consistent about my Clayton. These are the traits that I hope, hope, hope he carries with him into adult-hood. He's very inclusive. I've been waiting for him to catch "girls are yucky"-itis. It is certainly an afflicition that has been plaguing his brother for the better part of a year now but Clayton doesn't seem to have it yet. He wants to be friends with everyone. Boys, girls, people who are older, kids who are younger, kids with disabilities, kids who are "popular", and kids who are not. He just doesn't seem to notice a difference in these people. One of my most favorite stories about him right now (and I don't think I've actually ever shared this before right now - it's just really special to me) is when I took him to the grocery store at the end of the summer. There was a teenage boy bagging groceries who was very obviously handicapped. His legs were twisted and he relied on a cane to get around. Additionally, he had a large dark birthmark on his face. As I was checking out, Clayton went over to watch the bagboy. As I'm sure every parent does in similar situations I was saying a silent prayer, 'please don't let him say something to hurt this boy's feelings'. However, as I listened to Clayton he didn't once bring up the boys birthmark or the fact that he didn't move around like Clayton did. Instead, Clayton talked to him about how he liked his job, what his favorite groceries were, what he was doing over the summer, etc. He kept up a constant stream of conversation with this stranger. The checkout woman was listening also and as I was paying she commented to me, "You have a really special boy!" I thanked her and smiled and when we left Clayton was so happy that he'd made a new friend. I don't think I'll ever forget that. I hope that Clayton is always able to see people for who they are inside. It's such a gift and I pray that I am able to help him cultivate it.

He is also still a very sensitive kid. Sometimes it translates to whiney and that's not my favorite, but he's very in tune with the feelings of others. I think this is partly what makes him a good friend.
He's the most easygoing kid I have. Noah is as stubborn as they come, Josie's full of drama, and Sammie's a baby (which isn't quite so easy) so it's a blessing to have a kid that will mostly go with the flow and be happy to be along for the ride.

Bottom line: I have an amazing son. We're entering a rough transition for sure but, as everything else has proven to be, I know that we'll get through it with minimal scars and bruises (we'll save the battle wounds for Noah and Josie).

One more favorite thing about him right now. This year for Christmas he's asked for relatively little. The things he has asked for haven't been expensive. No electronics, nothing big, nothing extravagent. All around him, kids are expecting very specific things from Santa. Things that they might get angry about not receiving. Not Clayton. I've been saying all season that Clayton is the kind of kid who will just be happy on Christmas morning when he has anything under the tree and it's true. Maybe it's that Justin and I have just set the bar exceptionally low, but I like to think it's because that's his personality. A happy go lucky kid who feels overjoyed with any gift whether it's big or small, expected or not.

Since I've done a series with 'The Faces of Noah' and 'The Faces of Josie', I thought this would be a great place to add 'The Faces of Clayton'.
Goofy thumbs up face:

 "neener, neener" face:

 Crazy face:

 Um, not sure what to say about this one:

 'Whatever' face:

 'Are you serious' face:

Crazy sign language face (yes his teeth need to be brushed, it's the end of the day):

 My boy (I love how his eyes light up when he smiles):

I'm a lucky mom to have a kid as wonderful as Clayton for my firstborn. I know that as the years pass we'll continue to have power struggles as he grows and as we attempt to figure out how to navigate life with a _____ (fill in the blank: older kid, pre-teen, teenager, etc.) but knowing Clayton, he'll probably make it as painless as possible. My biggest wish for him is that he'll be able to know how amazing he is. That he won't need to try to change the kind of person he is to "fit in" with the others around him. Let's face it, as adults we (hopefully) know that if you have to change who you are to be friends with someone, then they aren't someone worth being friends with. I just hope that Clayton is always able to be friends with people who accept and love him for who he is and that he ALWAYS knows that no matter what, there are five people who live in this house who count themselves lucky to get to be related to him! Love you Clayton!

Diva

That's the word I'd use to describe Josie right now. She definitely has a major presence in this house right now. Allow me to demonstrate (even more than I just did two posts ago):
She has started escaping from her room at nap time and night time and engaging in all manner of naughtiness (see the 'make-up' picture from two posts ago). I went to check on her a few nights ago and she wasn't in her room. I found her in Clayton's bed, snuggled up right next to him. The flash of my camera actually made her move, which was too bad because they really were very cuddly and cozy.

 I love that they're sort of holding hands. What sweet siblings (for the record, Clayton is the only one who would dare share his bed with her, any of the rest of us would have kicked her right out. He really is the sweetest kid - love him).

 Two Sundays ago, we got to church a little later than we usually do and ended up sitting closer to the front that we typically like. As we were sitting there listening to the Sacrament hymn, Josie escaped the pew and stood in the aisle (in the front, remember) and put her hands in a circle above her head and twirled around on her toes and whispered (in a loud whisper) "I'n a ballerina!" I knew that if I forced her back into the pew she would scream so I chose the quieter of the two evils and let her finish her dance. All around us I could hear muffled (and not-so-muffled) laughter. It didn't help that one of her little two-year-old friends was shouting, "Josie's dancing! Look! Josie's dancing!" At the end of her dance she took two very dramatic bows. I think we were all dying by that point. Our bishop's wife still comments on Josie's performance when I see her (and it was two weeks ago). She laughs and tells me that her dance was the funniest thing she's ever seen in Sacrament meeting.

 Again, Josie escaped after bed time and I found her crashed at the top of the stairs.

 Silly girl.

 A crown and pink high heels. She sports this look at least once a day.

 I gave her an empty paper towel roll. She immediately got Clayton's snow boots on and told me she was a pirate. She kept saying, "Ahoy!" Funny girl.

The other night after dinner Josie disappeared for a while. When she returned she was a monster. She kept jumping around corners yelling, "Arrrgh!"

This is her monster face.

Today I put her down for a nap wearing navy blue wide leg sweatpants and a cute yellow shirt with a red giraffe on it. When I woke her up from her nap she was wearing this lovely ensemble. Yes, it's pink pants and a pink shirt. Yes, the pants and the shirt are inside out. Yes, the shirt is also backward. What can I say, my girl's got serious style!

I love that she has 'just-woke-up' face.

She was seriously proud of herself though for choosing this winning outfit.

You better believe I'm leaving her in this outfit for the rest of the day.

I realize that a few of my posts lately have been super Josie-heavy, but she's at that awesome age where she does so many funny and random things that I have to capture them. Not that the boys or Sammie aren't equally interesting or cute, it's just that when you're two-and-a-half you do so many things that are funny-bordering-on-naughty that it causes me to take a disproportionate number of pictures of her. In order to compensate for that, I've been taking more pictures of Clayton lately and I have a post ready to go that will feature him (because he's been up to some awesome stuff lately - I'm a proud momma). So stay tuned!!

Snow Day!

We had our first snow today. While this made me cringe, it had the opposite effect on my offspring. They were chomping at the bit to get outside. Clayton got ready for school in record time today in order to get to the bus stop early so that he'd have a bit of time in the snow before the bus came.

 He loved catching snowflakes on his tounge (the snow was fat and heavy this morning so it was perfect for catching them)!

 My little man is getting so big. He's such a handsome kid!

 Making tracks (all my kids love doing this).

 Eating snow off his mitten. I kept telling him that he needed to be careful about getting his mittens and pants wet because it was going to make him cold, but he wouldn't have any of it. I hope he wasn't too cold on the bus!

 So excited!

A few hours later, I caved and let Noah and Josie go out into the snow. At first I was hesitant because I know how long it takes to bundle them up and I was worried that they (especially Jo) wouldn't stay outside long enough to make it worth the effort. It turned out that my worry was for nothing, they LOVED it outside and stayed outside for over an hour (until I had to bring them in so we could go to the grocery store).
This is one of my favorite pictures. I LOVE the look of joy on Noah's face. The kids' fondness for the snow will eventually start to fade and they do reach a point where they become sick of the snow but I love how much they love it at first!

Pure bliss!

At first, Josie wasn't sure what to think. It didn't help that this snowsuit forces the toddlers hands to stay inside (because toddlers are notorious for taking mittens off). It took her a while to figure out how to manuver in the snow.

You can see that Noah literally dove right in.

It didn't take Jo long to follow his example.

Then she started to really love it. Last year I didn't let her play in the snow much because she was too little, but I gave her a shot today and based on how she did, she's earned snow privileges this year!

Noah loved making snow angels!

Cute Josie on the swing (an activity you don't need hands for).

This is her 'I can't use my hands Mom!' face. She did earn snow playing rights this winter, but she hasn't yet earned mitten privileges. Maybe next year Josie!

She wanted to do everything that she saw Noah doing. So Noah taught her how to make a snow angel. I thought it was so sweet. These two fight and pester each other a lot so I love moments like these where they are getting along so well!

And bonus, snow angels are another activity that don't require hands!

Disco loved the snow just as much as the kids did! Usually we have to keep him on his chain when he's in the backyard because he's a known flight risk, but I took the chance and let him off the chain. He was in heaven! He played with the kids, he ran laps around the yard, he played on the playset, and (perhaps most importantly) he didn't run away!

I like this picture because it looks like he's jumping over Josie. He's not, but it looks cool.

I threw a ball for him. It was the best day ever for him!

Of course, we can't forget about our girl Sammie! She, of course, has a few years before she's going to be given snow privileges so she hung out inside by the fireplace. (Check out her wild hair today. Syndrome from 'The Incredibles' anyone?) Love that sweet smirk.

I also thought it might be cute to take a few pictures of her as the first 'present' under our tree. They didn't turn out quite like I thought they would, but they were still pretty cute (mostly because she's just a cute girl, it'd be hard to find a bad picture with this girl in it!).

In our defense, we do have gifts, I am just not going to put them under the tree this year until Christmas Eve. Mostly because I don't trust Josie to leave them alone and wrapped for a month!

Today turned out to be a pretty good day for the Smith kids. Lots of snow and lots of fun. While I am not a fan of snow at all, I love how magical it is to my kids. So here's to the first of many snow days this season (apparently it's supposed to be a brutal winter)! Huzzah!

To Be a Smith Lady...

You must always be presentable and ready for company:
Yesterday she was stealthy. Like, join the S.E.A.L.S. and go on a covert op stealthy. Her mission: make herself "pitty". And she did.

Of course I couldn't be angry at this face (which very much reminds me of the Joker from Batman). I usually keep my bedroom door locked to protect my make up and jewlery against just such an attack, but I was doing laundry and was in and out and had forgotten. She however, knew she'd done something wrong so, even though I wasn't angry and she didn't get in trouble, she refused to smile. Isn't her remorse adorable??

I love it!

You must find a way to keep your energy up:
Keep sipping little girl, if there's an open Diet Coke can in my house, you can bet it's already been emptied.

You must protect all the babies (especially baby Jesus):
She won't leave my nativities alone. I find her playing with them constantly. I love my nativities though and don't want to keep them packed up until she's older. I hope they survive the next few years (because Josie will probably start leaving them alone at the same time that Sammie develops an interest).

She was so cute. She was sitting on the stairs saying, "Look at all the babies!". I suppose there are worse things she could be interested in.

Keep practicing Josie (or not), we Smith Ladies must stay on our game!