A Tale of TWO Claytons: October

Well this has been a month for milestones. The babies are officially on the move, opinionated and in one word . . . toddlers!

Ashton is still as sweet as they come. His smile is to die for and his laugh is absolutely contagious! The boy loves to eat and I am quite certain that he eats more than any boy his age. His Buddha belly is proof of that! He loves apples and sweet potatoes and all of Mrs. Hiam's cooking! He loves to ride around on his Y-Bike and can maneuver it throughout the house quite impressively. But, his favorite thing to do is play with his "bawls". Footballs, bouncy balls, soccer balls, basket balls. . . he loves them all and even has to sleep with a ball snug under his little arm. Ashton loves his sister and is constantly laughing at her funny faces and noises (except when she takes a toy and then he can get quite aggressive). He is saying several words: "Mama" (only when he is upset though), "Dada", "Dog", "Duck", "Ball", and "Uh-Oh". He is also really good at repeating words when we sound them out for him. He even attempts to say "love you" although it sound more like "LoLu". He is very cautious which is why I was certain he was going to be two-years-old before he walked on his own. Since September, he had been walking pretty well while holding our hands but he had never taken even one little step on his own. That is why we were absolutely shocked when he got up and walked across the room on October 18th. I guess he saw all the fuss we made over his sister the day before when she took her first stroll, and he was not about to be outdone. And so they days of chasing a toddler have begun because ever since he got his first taste of walking that Friday night he has not stopped. Literally, has not stopped! I love, love, love seeing him on the move!

Mary Seegars is one sweet little Peanut. She is still the littlest bit and wears 6-9 month clothing even though she is well past a year old. Her faces crack us up every day; especially when she scrunches up her little nose and purses her lips (an expression she does several times a day). Like her brother, Mary Seegars also loves to eat although we have no idea where it all goes. She loves any type of bread and gets the most excited when her daddy makes her pancakes. Mary Seegars is obsessed with stuffed animals. Her favorite right now is her monkey (well the monkey she stole from Ashton). She can always be found carrying one of her stuffed animals around with her and she often stops what she is doing to give the doll a hug and kiss. Speaking of kisses, Mary Seegars gives the sweetest kisses in the whole world. She will kiss on command and her kisses are always followed by the cutest and biggest grin. Mary Seegars loves to chase her brother and has even been caught stealing a few kisses from him! Peanut is also saying quite a few words, although the list looks very similar to Ashton's: "dog", "uh-oh", "ball", "duck", "shh (shoe)" and "kah (book)". She also says "quack quack quack" when she sees a duck and "mmh mmh mmh" when she sees her monkey. Mary Seegars can also point to her nose, eyes, mouth, ear, hair, and belly. She gets so proud of herself when she correctly identifies each body part (mama is pretty proud too). The girl is also on the move and actually started the walking trend for the Clayton twins. On October 17th, we got home from dinner and I put her down on the floor to get her pajamas. That is when she surprised us by getting up and sauntering across the floor like she had been walking for months. Since September, she had taken several steps on her own and even put five to six consecutively together, but that night was a whole different ball game. We were so excited and Face Timed both of our parents so the grandparents could be in on the action. It sure is cute to see that little peanut toddle to her next destination.

Another month down and a lifetime to go! We sure feel blessed by these two spunky, silly, snuggly, toddlers!!

October started with a trip to Charleston . . .

Where the babies played with Kimmy and Ziggy . . .