Amazing

Looking back over this year, I would have to describe Cameron's growth as amazing. He is tall for his age and talking up a storm. I would almost call it the "why" stage, but he doesn't say why. He points things out.

"Look, momma, a bird! Look, momma, a bird! A bird momma!"

And on and on until you acknowledge it, then he either moves on to a new observation or starts over.

He went to his first movie in the theater, Toy Story 3 and loved it. He went to Mount Olympus and Noah's Ark in the Dells, and a Brewer's Game. He still loves his Thomas trains, but also loves Bob the Builder with a passion and all construction vehicles. It's amazing how he knows the names of the different types. He rode a pony at the Midwest Horse Fair. He spent a weekend with my dad, "Boppa Tim", while we went on an extended weekend away. He likes carnival rides, go carts and slides. And he still adores the zoo.

My kid is pretty cool :)

From 2010

From 2010

From 2010

Cam is 2

Yep, the Terrible Twos are here. Actually, Cam is advanced for his age and started them a few months early! Hopefully that means he will end them early as well. Went to the doctor and did the standard poking and prodding. He is healthy and happy. Weight and height are on the right.

He currently loves trains ("choo choos"!), cars ("vroom vroom") and Dora and Diego cartoons. He eats bananas, apples, Joe's Os (like cheerios, only better), goldfish crackers, carrot sticks, chicken noodle soup and apple juice. And I swear he's getting cuter :)

Another late update

It's August, and a lot has happened in Cam's life. He has gotten soooo big! He is climbing on everything, and is saying words all the time. He's putting them together in sentences too. "Bubbles go bye" is a favorite. Oh yeah, he can open doors now. Yay....?

We also went camping, and he slept just fine in a tent. Keeping him up as late as possible helped!



That's all for now.

Weekend Away

Cam had his first weekend "away" last week. He stayed with grandma and grandpa while we attended a weekend-long barbecue with some friends from out of town.

It sounds like he was a champ, and charmed the hell out of his grandparents with very little whining. We missed him a lot, but it's great to know that we have someone we trust that can watch him occasionally. And they still like us and him, so that's good! Hmm, maybe we can make a regular thing of it....

A Haircut

Almost forgot, Cam got a cute new haircut. Now that we've started to get his hair cut, it needs to be done all the time!

Midnight Fun

It was a rough night last night. Cam didn't settle down after his bottle at bedtime, and fussed and cried for about an hour. He fell asleep, but woke up again around 11pm. This time I picked him up and we lay on our bed for a while. After a while I put him back in his crib. He was quiet for a while then started screeching. It was awful! Then I heard a THUMP. Worried, I hopped out of bed and went to his room.

Cameron was standing on his floor crying. He had crawled out of the crib.

Great.

He was pretty upset, so I cuddled him on the floor for close to an hour. The sniffling finally stopped and we moved to lay on the couch together, where he finally (!) dozed off for the rest of the night. I looked at the clock and it was 2:45 am.

This morning I woke up, brushed my teeth and looked in the mirror to see weird splotches on my shirt. Looks like the fall from the crib gave Cam a bloody nose and he bled all over my t-shirt. Poor baby! Hopefully last night was a totally random occurrence and it will not happen again.

Crosses fingers.

These are a few of (Cam's) favorite things

Cameron is now 19 months old as of May 2009. He likes things that most kids like, I think:

Matchbox Cars;




Playing with water in the sink;


Doggies;


Getting spun around in a circle by an adult 100-thousand times until the adult runs away because they just can't spin anymore;


Being a big boy and eating at the table;


Bath-time;


Trucks;


Blocks (knocking them down is best);


Carrots (he really does like them, cooked or raw!);


Outside toys (check out the brand new --to us-- playset);


and getting big bruises and scratches to make his mommy and daddy feel badly.


(more pictures on Picasa)

This message sponsored today by his royal cuteness:

Time Outs - Effective?

Something to think about when you put your child into time out ...



Speaking of time outs, the whole discipline thing is very trying. He doesn't recognize the word "no" at all, and time outs are not effective. Once released he goes right back to hitting, or whatever it was that he was doing before. We'll just have to keep at it, and hopefully things will get better! I think that we have definitely hit the Terrible Twos early.

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

TGIF

It's been a long couple of days. Ben had a really bad kidney stone, and had minor surgery yesterday to have it removed. He can't lift heavy objects (a.k.a., Cameron) and is moving pretty slowly. At least the pain is gone!

While he was in surgery, Cam and I hit Vilas Zoo. He really enjoyed the animals, and I let him run around on his own while I pushed the stroller. The tiger came pretty close to the fence!





And today we made a chair out of blocks, which he thought was really very cool =)

Argh

Cameron was in a hitting mood today.

Grr...Argh!

Easter Quickie

Due to an unfortunate death in the family (one of my mom's older sisters), we were up north visiting the family this Easter holiday. Things went well, and Cameron adjusted very nicely to the altered schedule. He missed his nap and went to sleep late most days, but it all worked out. I think that he was very happy to be home (me too!).

Tues-Sat we were at my mom's house in Hayward for the wake and funeral. On Sat-Sun we went down to Cadott for Easter. I would have just skipped it, but my dad was in town and had to spend time with his grandson. On Sunday we went to my cousin Tiffany's house for dinner and an egg hunt. Then the three-hour-twenty-minute car ride back to Madison.

Back to our regular schedule. Yay! I had such a bad headache almost the entire time we were gone, probably due to increased vigilance of Cameron. That kid can get into everything.





And we got a cute shirt:

A Revolutionary Breakfast

Cameron has recently been demanding to have anything that Ben or I is using. Sometimes we can give him the item, depending on it's safety factor. One thing he really likes is silverware. The reason I personally gave in on this is because sooner or later he will have to learn how to use them. It DOES make me a little nervous when he gets a fork, but I guess that's parenthood.

So this morning I made french toast. He started "eeeenh eeeenh"-ing for my fork, so I got him is own, a salad fork. He truly does not know how to hold them! Usually I hold his hand and help him skewer a piece of food. He's really good at getting it into his mouth. Eventually, though, he had the fork in his hand with the tines facing down, and managed stab his own piece of food and eat it! All by himself!

I think we need baby silverware.

Frustration

I am frustrated with:

• Cameron waking up in the middle of the night almost every night now
• Not eating his food
• Hitting
• Not accepting comfort (i.e., hugs/cuddling when upset) - he pushes you away
• Tantrums
  

Also, I know that it's getting to be time for him to stop drinking out of the bottle, but I have no idea on how to accomplish this. His bedtime routine is: (bath every other night), diaper change, sleeper, brush teeth, bottle on the couch, then crib. One thought is to do bottle, THEN brush teeth. After he gets used to this we can cut the bottle out cold turkey and hope for the best.

I guess I'm just feeling a little worn out. It seems like nothing we are doing is very effective. If he hits, we tell him no and he does it again. Firm voices make him laugh. This would all be kind of funny if it wasn't so maddening. The waking in the night is tough, because a bottle is almost the only thing that will get him to sleep again.

He's lucky that he's so damned cute....

wordle.net

This is just too cool. I copied the text from my last post and made the following:




You can't see it very well unless you click on it. Very, very neat!

St. Patty's Day

I'm so bad. If you look, you'll notice that my last post here was on October 18, 2008. It is March 11, 2009 today. Yep, it's been a while. But in my defense, I've been busy!

Cameron is all over the place. He is walking and jabbering like crazy. Today we took advantage of the awesome weather (around 60 degrees--in March!) and took a walk. This was a real walk, no stroller. We walked around the block, and ran into a woman walking with three kids (only one of them was hers) right around Cam's age. Apparently our neighborhood is absolutely CRAWLING with children. I'm sure we'll see a lot more this summer.

I am constantly amazed to watch his development. It's hard to really describe it. He's so interactive, and I must say that I am really enjoying this age. There are some annoying things too. He can't talk yet, and so when he wants something, usually something to eat from the kitchen, he makes this annoying whining sound.

Favorite foods:
Yogurt
Cheese (American, cheddar and string)
Bananas
Apples
Peanut butter sandwiches
Carrots
Bagels
Goldfish crackers

Least favorite foods:
Most veggies (doh!)

From Fall & Winter 2008/2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Happy First Birthday Cameron. We love you.

Another Horribly Cute Video

Cameron is turning 1

That's right, in 18 short days, Cameron will be one year old. I'm uncertain what to do for his birthday. On one hand, it's his very first birthday and should be celebrated enthusiastically. On the other, he's only 1 year old and will not remember anything that happens. So I think we'll take the middle ground. As long as there is a cake photo-op, everything will be just fine.

It's so hard to believe that he is one. Time has both dragged by and sped past. I actually really like his age right now. We don't have to be holding him constantly, and he is very amusing. He's been walking a lot, and making funny noises (talking?).

Back to the b-day. I've been thinking about gifts, and started a wishlist on target.com. This is just a guideline, and doesn't mean he should get EXACTLY what is listed, thought that is ok too. Clothes are good...anything for 12 months - 18 months for the upcoming fall/winter would be nice. We got so much clothing at the baby showers that we haven't really had to buy clothes yet, but now we are running out of those. So it's a pretty easy list: clothes and toys. And books. Ah, childhood!

And now, a trip down memory lane:

One day old


Two weeks


Two months


Three months


Four months


Four months


Five months



Six months


Seven months


Eight months


Nine months


Ten months

First Steps

Last night, Cam was standing up, using my body as leverage, and took four or five wobbly steps away from me! So I guess that he has taken his first steps.

It is exciting, but I guess that I need to hurry up with the baby proofing of cabinets now.