The Butterfly has landed

My niece Peyton is staying at my parents' house this week while my brother and SIL are on vacation. This was a wonderful trip for us, because we've never been able to spend any time alone with Peyton before. You see, Peyton is the younger sister, and she usually comes to us with her big sister in tow.

On her own, she is much more chatty than with her sister around. She gets into everything, loves to climb and is always very busy. She is quite sweet, although she has just discovered the word "NO." She likes to lean back as if she is throwing a tantrum, scrunch up her face, and scream "NNNNNNNOOOOO!" Luckily, right after she shouts no, she proceeds to engage in whatever we asked her to do. She is a great sleeper, and so kind to Micah. She hates to be restrained - after 5 minutes in her car seat, she starts to shout "out!"

We went for dinner with them on Monday night, and Peyton was busy feeding Micah his bottle. They were so cute together. She loves to call him "baby" and she is always trying to climb into his car seat. She even made sure to give him lots of kisses.

On Monday, my mom and I took her to see a butterfly exhibit at the botanical gardens. We were not sure if she was old enough to appreciate it, but to our great surprise, she LOVED it! She was running around, squealing at the butterflies, pointing at them, and very entertained for over an hour. The exhibit was in a greenhouse, and the butterflies flew all around us. They often landed on our shoulders and hair, and it was such a wonderful experience. Some of them had such gorgeous colors - some were cobalt blue and black, others were lime green and brown. I loved all the vibrant colors. They had coccoons on display as well, and some were hatching.

Tuesday, I brought Peyton with me to playgroup. I learned that she loves egg salad (I think she devoured the entire bowl) and watermelon. She kept begging for more of both. I also learned that she calls The Itsy Bitsy Spider by the name "Up Down" (you know... the itsy bitsy spider went UP the water spout. DOWN came the rain). She sings along, but mostly sings "Up Down" and likes to repeat it over and over again.

We have a few more activities planned before she heads home on Thursday.