Peyton's New-found Independence

This probably doesn't seem like anything that out-of-the ordinary for those of you who have young kids, but given Peyton's "history", this morning was quite impressive.

So about 7am I hear Peyton crying. I jump up out of bed slightly worried because a) Peyton rarely cries unless something is really wrong and b) Carson was miraculously still sleeping so I was frantically trying to get to Peyton before she woke him up. As I opened our bedroom door (which we always leave half-way shut) I see that Peyton's door, which is right across the hall from ours, is open and she's obviously not in her room. Then I start thinking oh CRAP - where is she? I go running downstairs following the sound of her whimpering....can't find her on the main level. My initial thought/feeling of "oh CRAP" was turning to a slight panic at this point. I thought maybe if I called her name she'd find me, but that didn't work. So I went down another level and as I got to the bottom step I see her sitting on the couch, holding her blanket and the TV remote, crying and signing "Elmo". She apparently had woken up, gotten out of bed, then decided to start her morning out right by popping in an Elmo DVD, only she can't reach the DVD player and she doesn't have a clue how to use the remote...thus the crying for Mom's help. As I sat watching Elmo with her, I couldn't help but wonder how long she'd been sitting on the couch patiently waiting. Then I started to feel like a bad Mom because I envisioned her coming downstairs looking around for us and not knowing what else to do but go with what's familiar to her...finding her spot on the couch to watch Elmo. : ) Guess we'll have to figure something out to keep her upstairs from now on.