So funny

Almost every time Cam opens his mouth, he makes me laugh. I can't always laugh in his face... But I giggle inside.

Tonight he decided he would spell M-I-Z-Z-O-U on the fridge in honor of his time at the football game this past weekend. He didn't seem to be that happen when we were there, but man... It's the only thing he wants to talk about. It was great.

I just had to post the picture online before I headed off to bed. I didn't want to forget about this one.

Oh... And you know how I said Cam was throwing fewer tantrums? He threw one off and on all evening because he wanted to go somewhere for an ice cream cone. And we have a rule in this house -- if you cry for it, you don't get it. So he just kept digging himself deeper and deeper into the no-ice-cream hole. He gave it up and had apple sauce after a chicken burrito dinner.

Growing so fast

Cameron is a big kid. Everything he does these days seems to be so grown up. And he loves to brag about it to me. "Mommy, aren't you so proud of me that I can read?" "Mommy, aren't you so proud of me that I can hit the baseball?" And he continues to love the heck out of his sister... Cooing to her, giving her sweet hugs. "Mommy, when Jordan gets bigger, I'm going to give her HUGE hugs."

It's awesome.

Cam's temper tantrums have toned down. His teacher at school says he isn't having the big outbursts anymore. He even puts himself in the "safe area" when he feels angry. How grown up.

This morning he did a sweet thing. He woke up early because Daddy needed to get out of the house early. As he was putting on his Tiger socks, he told me he had to wear them, because he was going to play "the Tigers" at school. He got to go to the football game this past weekend and now he's been playing pretend football with his friends. Those socks were important.

Chips

Okay. So this week, Cameron's education seems to be clicking in. He finally started writing words... going beyond his standard C-A-M. He started writing MOM and DAD and CAMERON and all kinds of other words. It's so wonderful. I'm as proud as a mom can be.

Tonight was the clincher. We were sitting in a restaurant and he looked up at a poster on the wall. He points at it and says: "That says chips!" We spent the rest of the time reading and learning about all the words on the walls. Very fun. And I'm VERY proud.

His Grandma and Poppy are here today. They're taking the fun car back with them for a while. Cam got to play inside the car a little... And he noticed for the first time that there's a Cam plate in the front of the car. He LOVED it. So we got him to pose with the car. He still hasn't been allowed to go for a ride in it yet. I'm crazy... But just want him to be safe.

Family day fun

It was a really great day today. Actually, the morning started off rough. I tried to talk Cam into not waking me up until 8am by tempting him with pancakes for breakfast. So when he woke me up at 6:44, I gave him one more chance... Go to your room and play until 8am and then I'll make pancakes. By 7:00am all he could do was whine and cry. And after he woke up the baby, had a HUGE cry over the fact that he didn't get those pancakes... our day was great. We were outside most of the day playing baseball and t-ball. Cam is picking up a pretty mean swing!

To add to the day's excitement, I bought him a real t-ball tee. He had a toy one... so this one changes height, has a ball attached to the "home plate" with a long elastic string, 1st, 2nd and 3rd plates... and a net that he can use to practice his throwing skills. He LOVES it. By the end of the day, he was hitting the ball into the fence. Cam is also not incredibly modest. As I was putting Jordan to bed, I mentioned to him that he's an awesome big brother. And he replied: "And an awesome hitter! And catcher! And thrower!" We'll work on modesty later.

Speaking of Jordan. Cam just dotes over her. She got a new exersaucer today and he just loved showing her what it could do and playing with it with her. He tries to cheer her up (she's really, really clingy to me and not afraid to cry if I'm not close enough to her liking). He sings to her. He hugs and kisses her. Overall, he is still very gentle. He did try to pose with her outside and gave her a hug -- and the hug was a little too rough for her. He kissed and cooed to her to help her cheer up. He calls her "sweetie" and "cutie." I know this will change when she is mobile. But I just LOVE it right now. His only issue with Jordan is the amount of time it takes for me to feed her. He will HOUND me asking me if she's done eating every 30 seconds. It drives me batty since everytime he talks while I feed Jordan, she stops eating to look at Cam and smile at him. So his hounding actually makes the feeding process take TWICE as long than if he would just wait patiently. Love him. You just have to love him.

Tonight we played with his dinosaurs... Until my dinosaur mommy was eaten by a t-rex and Cam had the baby dinosaur standing over the mommy going "Mommy! Wake up! Wake up mommy!" It was very sad. So I switched to Legos. Cam built a lion all by himself a couple of nights ago... and it's AWESOME... He did such a good job that I created a few more lions like his design. Then I made an alligator, giraffe and a sheep. It was a fun way to end the night.

Oh one other funny thing Cam said. I was reading an article about Grand Rapids in the New York Times website. I mentioned the article to Randy when Cam says: "Grand Rapids? That's where you get babies!" And I agreed. That is where we "got" Cam.

200th Blog About Cam!

200 different postings about Cam. Fun stuff. Well, Cam has been really busy lately. We took another fast trip to St. Louis. He got to play with Shelbe and even go to another Cardinal's game. This time, he was really good and got to be friends with a girl who was sitting in the same section named Kate. I'd guess she was around 9 years old. The two of them got along really well... As you can see in the picture. Cam also got ANOTHER MLB ball from a Pirates player. Lucky boy. When Cam came home that night, he looked so grown up in his baseball hat. He told me: "Mommy, the Cardinals losed the game! The Pittsburgh Pirates winned the game. I'm so sad." He wasn't that sad. I think he was tired and was just looking for a reason for a Mommy hug.

Cam and Shelbe played so well again during this visit. For a little girl who is three whole years older, she really is willing to hang out with Cam and teach him everything she knows... Including her Game Boy. Of course, Cam wants one. I told him he'll have to wait until he gets older. For now, he gets to play with his super-cool Leapster toy. We also went to the Magic House again... And Cam had a ball. Only this time he was a little hoggy with some of the play areas. I realize it's the age, but I had a hard time getting him to share. I did get him a kid's membership so he can go as often as he wants.

We got back home late last night, Cam passed out in the last 30 minutes of the drive. So now I'm struggling to get him to take a nap to help make up for some of the lost sleep. I could use a little bit of that sleep myself (but I think that's been the case ever since Cam was born -- possibly before!).

Cam, Jordan and I had a really nice picnic outside at our nearby gardens for lunch today. It was a perfect day. Cool, blue skies and the bugs left us alone. Even Jordan joined in by eating some little snacks. Cam and I played "I Spy" for a while. It was just so pleasant. It was a nice moment of calm in this crazy non-stop life.