Working on our safety

So... Cameron is really pushing his limits and having a hard time controlling his temper. I talked to his teacher today and she says she's having the same problem. When Cam gets upset, he loses control of his temper and his extremities. He starts swinging in anger... Not thinking about what he's doing. We don't think he's hitting with purpose, he's hitting in anger without any premeditation. So his teachers are working on teaching Cameron ways to "keep his friends safe." Cameron became his teacher's "safe buddy." Cameron held her hand all through playground time while they worked on using their hands safely together. It's an interesting idea and I plan to use it at home as well.

So wish us luck. We're going through a challenging phase. And I think I know why. A week or two ago, I thought to myself abouut how great things have been with Cam when I compared the challenges we dealt with last year with all of his health problems. These challenges are different... I can understand why Cam is angry. Last year he was flipping out for no reason.

I have a couple of ideas why Cam is acting a little loopy. We've been so into the "big boy" transition. Here's just some of the things he's transitioned into in the last 6 months:
Big boy bed
Big boy underpants (okay that was about 9 months ago)
Pull-up free nights
Big boy chair in the kitchen (the toddler chair is gone to make room for a high chair)
Seat belts in the car (with a booster chair)
Pregnant mommy (and the belly is getting bigger)
Pre-school started two days ago

Heck, I even took the little toddler seat cover out of his bathroom... He balances on the toilet seat without it, so why keep it around.

It could be very possible that he's stressing out over all of these changes. I can totally understand that. I just have to figure out how to help him through this tough time.

Big day

Cameron started pre-school today. He was pretty excited and proud that he slept through the night dry... (I did wake him up in the middle of the night for a quick bathroom break).
So as we turned into school, Cam got really upset. He thought his new pre-school would be in a new building. But it was just in a new room. After I challenged Cam to a race to the front door of school, he gave up his anger and shock.

Instead of driving home like I normally do after dropping Cam off, I actually turned left and headed to work. I am officially a normal working person. Okay, probably not normal, but I started working a day shift today. 9 to 6... And I'm trilled. I actually got home in time to sit down for dinner with Randy and Cam. It was wonderful.

I got to give Cam a bath and put him to bed. Very cool.

I really missed you!

I got home tonight and Cam was pretty happy to see me... But he decided to go find his new transformer toy before he hugged me. Then I got monster hugs and kisses. Lots and lots of hugs and kisses.

I sat down to enjoy some dinner when Cam walked up to me and said: "Mommy, I really missed you."

Wow, that's sweet.

I gave him lots and lots more hugs and kisses for that.

We talked about how things are going and I put him to bed. When we wrapped up the prayer, Cam said: "Night, Dad." And he realized what he said and asked: "Are you Dad?" Of course I told him I wasn't. Then he asked: "Are you Jennifer Reeves?" I said yes... And I asked him: "But what do you call me?"

"Mommy"

At least he still remembers.

A REALLY big boy

Cameron decided to go to bed in his big boy underpants for the first time last night. We considered starting that this weekend, but Cam asked to do it last night. He's been getting out of bed often to go potty and Randy thought it was possible.

So at 2:30am this morning, Randy says Cameron walked up to the side of his bed. Cam asked if he could sleep with Daddy because his bed was wet. Bummer. So a late night change of sheets got Cam back in bed. I don't know if he returned to the pull ups for the second round of sheets.

I do know that Cam was ready to try again tonight. He's been dry every single day during naptime at school. I think he can do it. This has become Cam's personal crusade. We don't even have to push him on this issue anymore. Cam wants to master the art of being a really big boy.

I'm proud of him. I can't wait to return home from my work trip tomorrow and help Randy change sheets!

Rough night

Cameron has a long memory.
This morning I woke up at 6am to say good morning to the boy and Randy before they left for school and work (it's an hour earlier here in Canada). Cameron asked me where his big Buzz Lightyear doll was. I told him I didn't know (when actually we do know... It's hiding because Buzz has a hard time standing up and Cameron gets so frustrated, we hid the toy to keep us from going mad). I told Cam that maybe Dad would help him look for it after school.

And after school, Cam expected Dad would find it. He kept thinking about that ALL DAY.

So when he couldn't find Buzz, the rest of the night crumbled according to Randy. Cam didn't really calm down until 2/3rds through his prayer tonight.

That's rough.

Great traveller

Cam and the rest of the family went to Kentucky to visit family. It's so obvious that Cam is getting big enough to travel well. We didnt' even let him know we had the DVD player in the trunk as an emergency hush machine. When his Leapster ran out of batteries just 15 minutes into playing, he freaked, but he was pretty quickly convinced to read books. When I told him I couldn't read the books to him... He read those books to himself for a good hour. He colored and made up stories as he drew. He had toys talking to each other... He was making up games. It was awesome. Around dinner time, he made sure we knew he wanted "Old McDonald." (McDonald's for those of us who didn't know)

It was a relatively calm experience. Enjoyable even.

I guess that's why we're going to have another one... It will get dramatically more tricky with Jordan's appearance.

Please I sleep with...

So for some reason, Cameorn has suddenly discovered the joy of being naked. That's a little strange... Doesn't that happen earlier in life? Who knows.

Anyway... Recently, Cameron started asking to sleep without his pajamas on: "Please I sleep with my belly?"
So he sleeps with his Pull-Ups.

Tonight he tried to push it a little further and asked Randy: "Please I sleep with my butt?"
Daddy said no... Cam isn't ready for that just yet.

I'm walking around the newsroom giggling and saying: "Please I sleep with my butt?"

Cameron's baby thoughts

So since we know Cameron's new baby sister is on the way (notice the picture above)... Cameron has now decided that he has a brother baby in his belly. Last night he told me his name is "Baby Dad." Ah the brain of a 3 year old.

This morning, Cameron quietly crawled into bed with me after going to the bathroom (without flushing, he never flushes without encouragement) and announced to me very quietly: "Mommy, I went potty all by myself!" He was actually dry all night and earned another car... The first car in 3 days. We're very proud.

Her name is George

So we took Cam to the ultrasound today. He was interested for a little while, but started playing with a toy as the testing kept going on.

The big news is, Cameron is going to have a baby sister. He was okay with it... Not overly excited or anything, but he was cool with it.

On our way to school, I had Cameron practice the fact that has was going to have a sister and her name is Jordan. He practiced a few times and pronounced Jordan like "JOR-dan." I guess the JOR isn't really easy to pronounce. So we get into school and Cameron makes the big announcement: "I'm going to have a baby sister... And her name is George." I quickly corrected him to say Jordan.

Now that's funny.

We've done a silly thing

So, we're trying to encourage Cam to use the toilet when he needs to go at night. With the bribe of a hot wheels car, we've told him that if he's dry in the morning, he'll get that prize. Well, it's working... Except he's waking up a whole hour earlier. Yesterday it was 5:45am, today it was 5:20am. Today, I talked him into going back to sleep. That only lasted about 30 minutes. That wouldn't be a problem if he'd stay in his room and reed books and play. But he walked back and forth between his room and our room to tell me stupid things... Like how he had a dream about the Incredibles. No matter how many times I ask him to play on his own so Mommy can get some sleep, he just doesn't get it.

I'm tired.

Challenges of a 3 year old

So Cameron is in this non-stop whiny phase. We've been here before. I usually assume he's sick or over tired or something. It's just aggravating and tough to dig out once it starts. We know that time out doesn't work... But we want him to go away when he's so annoying. Yesterday I held him after time out, talked to him about how difficult it is to communicate through whines and cries. I was sure we worked past it and he started up again. Eventually, we started playing fireman and he got past it. And shockingly, a trip to the grocery store cleared up the problem. Most kids go nuts at the grocery store. My kid calms down. Mainly to get that promised cookie.

But hey, whatever works.

Cam got to go to his Uncle Barry's house this weekend. We went to the zoo along with the Overby's... Including Shelbe! He really likes her. And even though they're three years apart, they play really well. It was fun to watch and not have to hover over them. It's really nice to have Cam at an age where he can play and I don't have to worry every second if he'll kill himself. He did draw crayon on a glass table. That was bad, but he didn't do too much damage when we weren't looking.

The first LIE

Randy was on the phone while Cam ate dinner tonight. It wasn't his favorite: rotini pasta with sauce. He had eaten about two-thirds of his dinner... And he must have noticed Randy wasn't in the room anymore. He dumped his food in the trash can and put his plate back on the table.

Randy came back and Cameron played it off as if he had eaten all of his dinner. I guess Randy noticed the food in the trash can. So now Cam is in time out.

Wow. His first lie. Let the scamming begin.