It is easy to forget that Payton is only four years old. Sometimes she seems like such a big kid, but then something happens to remind you that she is still my little girl. It is hard to choose between so many great Payton moments this year. The moments I cherished the most were our little adventures together. Whether it be at Disney when we went swimming at the resort or trying to go see Raya and the Last Dragon.
There was also the adventure of tee ball. I enjoyed coaching, but Payton was just not that into it. Personally, I think this is a young age for baseball/softball. I hope she gives it a shot again next year, but if she decides against it then I would totally understand.
Two moments stick out though as being special: the Princess Party and the dance recital. The Princess Party was great because of her joy in meeting them (although she was disappointed that Jasmine was not there). I loved how excited she was all day for the party and she only asked me like ten thousand times if it was time to go.
I will not lie, I was not excited about going to her first dance recital. I expected it to be stupid and that the kids in her age group would be terrible. I figured I would be bored out of my mind during the other dances. Well, I was wrong! First of all, I was impressed by all of the dancers. We left during the first intermission (Logan was getting to his tired point and Payton was not going to last much longer), but I would have been more than willing to stay for the rest of it.
Every week after dance class, we would ask her what she learned and Payton would tell us nothing or just do something silly. And then during the recital, she did the dance and was actually pretty good. She did not seem to be nervous or scared up there like some of the other kids. I was so proud of her.
You made it this far, now for a story about my least favorite moment with Payton. Consider this like the post-credits scene in a MCU movie. I talked about her first time puking earlier this year. There was also another puke incident a few months ago and it was probably one of the grossest things I have ever seen in my life.
However, the worst Payton moment came at Myrtle Beach. We were at Murrells Inlet walking on the boardwalk and Payton and her cousin decided to run ahead of us. I was carrying Logan and had the backpack. For some reason, the girls thought it was hilarious to take off running and I was closest one, so I chased them. I kept yelling for them to stop and they just kept going. They would turn and laugh and run again. We were running fairly fast and it was a crowded place. I kept envisioning Payton tripping and getting seriously hurt or deciding to run into the parking lot and being hit by a car. The more they ran, the more scared I got. I could see her running into someone coming out of a bar and hitting her head. You know, all those crazy things that go through a parent’s mind when they are panicked.
When I finally caught up to them, I went from scared to very angry. When the other adults finally caught up with us, I looked at Lindsey and was like “we are leaving now!” I think everyone knew I was serious because that is what we did, we got in the car and went back to the condo. I yelled at Payton in the car and she cried. I felt bad, but I needed her to understand how wrong it was to run away like that. Also, I hate when someone makes me run!
