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Quite an adventure

Cameron is about to settle back into a normal pattern of school after a very exciting two weeks of Winter vacation. Along with the chance to play outside in the warm air of Florida, swim in pools (warm and cold), play in the waves of the ocean AND play at Disney... He pushed his comfort envelope in so many ways.

I am so proud.

But the moment I keep thinking about was while we were on the beach in South Florida. We were all enjoying the beautiful Christmas day. I was sitting on the sand and making sure Jordan stayed away from the dead jellyfish that were scattered here and there while watching Cam play in the waves. Randy was relaxing on a towel while my brother was reading a book. Suddenly I looked and watched Cameron start to run down the beach. I figured he wouldn't go far... but he did. He kept running and running and running. And I got nervous. The mommy in me was a little freaked about my not-so-great swimming son running away down the beach. He might get hit by a wave or start playing somewhere and I wouldn't be able to get there to him fast enough. You know, the mommy mind is kind of mean once you start to worry.

Anyway. He kept running.

He looked so free. So carefree. So happy.

In a tiny corner of my mind I wanted to just let him go. I know he must have felt an incredible freedom that you can only feel on a long and warm beach.

But the mommy in me couldn't let it continue. I ran after him as fast as I could. I screamed as loud as I could to get him to stop. And I must have looked scared because Cameron got upset once I reached him. He was sorry. He didn't mean to.

I understand. I really do. But he has a little more growing to do before he starts running the beach on his own. But when he can, I hope he can continue to run free like that. And it made me want to do that same. I wish I could escape and just run sometimes. I'm glad Cam got to... even if it was for a short time.

Bravery on levels we've never seen

The moment we got to South Florida, Cameron was a different kid -- A kid who jumps into the pool (a really cold pool):

After that, it got even more interesting. He rode his bike all over my parents' neighborhood... And then we went to Disney World.

Cam went down ALL kinds of rollercoasters. He can actually boast riding every roller coaster in the Magic Kingdom in one day. From the Goofy's Barnstormer to Space Mountain. Pretty awesome... And it seems like he's interested in riding many more in the future. I'm pretty excited!

He really wants to go to Disney

Can't you tell by the pitiful look on his face? I was packing for our big trip to Florida and encouraged the kids to really hope Santa lets them to go to Disney World. (I sure hope so since I have a room there for two nights!) Anyway... He's hoping things work out. He even made sure he brought it up when he left a message for Santa:



Happy holidays everyone! I'll try to post a few more stories about the boy before the year ends!!

And now a word from Cameron...

I want to see Bedtime Stories. I want to see Bedtime Stories because whatever the niece and nephew say in the story comes to life. I want to see it in Florida with my family. 

Singing is fun!

Cameron started singing with our church children's choir a few months ago. Today he got to show off that hard work in a holiday choir performance. He totally ROCKED out to Joy To The World:

If you can't see it here, view it here.

Cameron is getting very excited about the holidays and Star Wars Lego Saga on the Wii. He gets so focused on specific games and topics. It's pretty amazing. We're also moving to the final book in the Spikerwick Chronicles. It's an intense book series but we love it. It's another other one those things where you find Cameron doing something above his age... and the next moment he throws a fit or gets angry about something silly and it reminds me that he's only six!! Through it all, I'm thankful he still lets me give him a cuddle and a hug from time to time. He's a sweetheart and I'm so happy to be his mom.

So much to be thankful!

Cameron got to enjoy Thanksgiving this year with his family in Kentucky. Not only did he have a chance to avoid eating all of the traditional foods that comes with the meal, he got to play football with the "big boys." It was cute. He's not that great at catching, but he was all about running and tackling. He got to spend time with his grandparents, great-grandparents, uncle and extended family -- not to mention mom, dad and Jordan.

We're thankful to have Cameron in our lives - his analysis, his energy and his love is everything you'd want from a son. We're also very thankful to have a wonderful family and so many friends.

Cam is reading the Spiderwick Chronicles these days -- It's a series of five books that was turned into a movie last year. He got the book set from my brother for Christmas years ago but I decided Cameron was old enough and able to read the books in the last couple of months. So he was reading the second book on his own for a little while when he emerged from the bedroom to announce: "The tooth fairy isn't real. I know that's true." I looked up in shock. Randy looked up in shock. And we asked him why he thought that. He mentioned the book (and I found the spot in book 2 where they talk about it) and said he planned to confirm it at school. I begged him to keep his ideas to himself... But I'm sure he went to school preaching his new found discovery. My fear: he'd transition this realization to Santa. So what did I do? I rushed him to see Santa with Jordan the moment we got back from our Thanksgiving trip. I wanted to sneak in at least one more visit. So what is the first thing he says when we get to the mall? "I know this Santa isn't the real Santa." I asked him to keep his ideas quiet for Jordan's sake. He was very skeptical about the experience. He even rolled his EYES! At least I convinced him to take a few pictures. I even got the kids ice cream to celebrate our first non-dramatic (and probably last) Santa picture with both kids. (go team!)

I'm going to miss my boy!

Cam was extra cuddly with me today before I left to go on a big trip to China. I was telling him how much I love him when he looked at me and said: "You're going to make me cry!"

Awwww. I just gave him the biggest hug I could. What a sweetie head.

Cam and I took the world's fastest trip to St. Louis yesterday so I could speak at the JEA/NSPA conference for high school journalism students. Cam didn't have school and I figured he could handle the back and forth. The bad part was getting up at 5am so we could get there in time without hitting really bad morning traffic. He tolerated it and got to watch Nim's Island (which is a movie) on my iPhone. He barely peeped during the presentation.

We've been pretty silly together while I was home for a few days. Here's proof:


We were goofing around with music and a video recorder. It's very easy to be silly when you mix those two things together. I'm going to miss my boy while I'm away. I can't wait to have some pure family time for a few days after the trip during Thanksgiving. Hopefully I'll be able to power through the jetlag.

Election season is over

Cameron spent this presidential election very focused on the experience and news coverage about the race between John McCain and Barack Obama. He can't stand how I wouldn't talk about my opinions but he clearly defined his opinions and where he stood in the presidential battle. So when Barack Obama came to our town, I couldn't pass up the chance for him to see history in the making first-hand. So here are a few pieces of video I took as we stood in line, walked into the event and listened to the speech. By the way - It was nearly impossible to see Obama and I was okay with that, but I made sure Cam could see by letting him sit on my shoulders a couple of times. It took my back a couple of days to decompress! That boy is BIG!







I worked all election night helping run a massive webcast/watch party. So I brought a bunch of patriotic balloons back home that night. I took them into Cameron's room where he was sleeping... Then I crawled into bed with him and whispered: "Cameron, America elected its first black president." He shot up, giggled and asked, "Barack Obama?" I said yes and he went back to sleep smiling. I just couldn't wait until the morning to tell him the big news. Watching this election season from his perspective was a joy. I'm proud of him for being civically engaged and I hope I'll be able to help guide him to use that interest in productive ways as he grows up!

First Grade Photo

I almost forgot to post Cam's new first grade school picture! Here you go:

Super busy guy

Here's a quick rundown of Cam's weekend:
HSM3
Parade
Lunch party
Tailgating
Football
Morning hike and picnic
Halloween neighborhood party

When Cam went to bed tonight, he told me this was the best day ever. Not the first time he's ever said that, but he's certainly had a great weekend. That's for sure. The movie was awesome for anyone who loves the High School Musical series. Cam and I (and Jordan) jammed to the show. Cam barely moved the entire time except to grove to the songs. He's tried to sing one song that he hasn't downloaded yet - "The Boys are Back." He was just as excited when he got to wear his costume tonight. The moment he puts that thing one he gets into character. It's awesome. I have a thousand pictures that are on our Flickr page - I don't have enough time to post all of them on this website!

Fall weekend

I love Fall. It's comfortable and makes you want to hang outside and just enjoy it. The air is calm and crisp and you want to cuddle with your kids. Last weekend I got to play outside with the kids and get our pictures taken at the same time. The pictures turned out really well. So I tried to take pictures on my own. So far, I got the boy looking at his dog lovingly and the girl swinging in a swing. The seasonal air has left me itching to get out and hike with the kids. Hopefully we'll find some time to do that next weekend. There's are a couple of really cool events in the works this week. First, we had all of the alumni coming into town for homecoming! We'll have cool events including the big parade and football game. But there's one other really cool thing: High School Musical 3!! Cam and I are into this little guilty pleasure. I'm getting all kinds of harassment from my friends, but I'm not going to let them take away my tiny goofy Disney-style fun with my kids. We plan to go to the movie on Friday. It should be fun with the help of popcorn and sing-along music.

Goofball football fan!

Big deal choir performance

Cam performed for the first time as a big kid in the big kid choir. His group performed with the adult choir. Here's a portion of the performance without the adults singing. Cameron is a little fleck in the front middle wearing a bit of navy blue.

Priorities

We took Cameron to his first football tailgate today... Before a doomed game where our Tigers lost. (sob) Before the game Cam got to stand on the side of the crowd cheering on the team as they walked to the stadium. The marching band was there. Cheerleaders were there. It was quite a production. Cameron high fived his favorite players and seemed kind of excited about the experience. Before the team walked through I asked Cam if he'd be a football player or a band player when he grows up. He looked at me in disgust and declared: "Mom! I'm going to be a SCIENTIST."

Ohhhhh. Sorry. Apparently you can't play in the band or the football team if you're going to be a scientist.

I didn't know that.

Kissing in a tree

Okay... I have to share this one.

Cameron and I were talking after the prayers and the lullaby (yeah. I still sing him a lullaby. I will sing him a lullaby until he's 25 if he'll still let me sing it to him.) Anyway. He says:
"Mom, Kayla starting singing this song: Cameron and Austin sitting in a tree... K-I-S-S-I dont' know... First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage. I don't even know what that means. It's so strange."

HA!

I told him the full song and I told him people sang that when I was in first grade. It's REALLY REALLY OLD. I told him to tell Kayla that the next time she pulls out the kissing in the tree chant. It's SUPER old and SO not cool.

He thought that was SO funny.

By the way, we went to Cam's school's 50th anniversary today. The first principal was lucky to be there AND his granddaughter is a Kindergartener this year. How cool is that? Anyway. It was a big deal and I don't know how we survived the ceremony with it starting at Jordan's bed time and lasted 50 minutes! We also found out the school is hoping to raise enough money to build a walking track around the school field to make it easier to get exercise. I'm pretty excited about that. We live really close to school and I'd love a track to enjoy a beautiful day and get exercise near home. I donated a little bit just to feel like we could help out. We got an old brick from the school in return. I think we're going to put it in our tree house somewhere.

Who is this big kid?

At some point since school started, Cameron started calming down. Not all the time, but he's mellowing. Maybe I'm learning to react to Cam differently. Maybe he's maturing. Maybe it's both. Either way, there's a happier understanding between Cam and I and the rest of the family. He's not reacting adversely to everything at home and his teacher says she's seeing improvements as well. It's very exciting.

I'm also seeing funny things happen as Cam grows up. Case in point: I bought Cam a pair of Buzz Lightyear khaki pants. I thought they were really cool. Um. Apparently they aren't cool. They're for babies... Even though I still have to roll the bottom of the pants so they fit him. And there's no way he's going to wear them again. Wah.

What is Cam into? Star Wars, soccer, football, baseball, Batman, High School Musical (HSM3 is out on the 24th... OMG we're so excited. No really. We are.), Spongebob Squarepants, Danny Phantom. He still tolerates Little Einsteins for the sake of his sister. He's interested in being his sister's third parent (no matter what his two parents say). He tells me little snippets of what life is like at school. Did you know there are first grade bullies (there are two)? Did you know some of the girls don't like to play with boys anymore? He likes math and social studies. Someday Cam wants to travel the world to research. What will he research? He just says he's going to research the places he travels because he plans to be a scientist. I love it.

Presidential politics

There's something very interesting about Cameron. He is fascinated by presidential politics. Seriously. He's into this. During the primaries he would check the delegate numbers to see who was ahead. He's discussed how he thinks Obama can beat McCain because Obama beat Clinton. (And Cameron wanted Clinton to win) This week he told me he wants John McCain to win. Tonight he told me he wants Barack Obama to win.

I never tell him where I stand and that drives him nuts.

I discuss politics with Cameron in a Socratic way. I ask him why he supports the candidate. I ask him what made him come to conclusions. He is so desperate for me to leave this questioning process and agree to disagree with him. I'm a journalist and I try very hard to keep my opinions to myself and not let my opinions effect the way I help cover political news.

Tonight I let Cameron stay awake to watch some of the first presidential debate. He's desperately wanted me to help him learn more about each candidate (I'm thinking I need to find some kid news magazines). So I told him he could watch the debate to get a better understanding of where the candidates stand. He talked over most of the candidate statements. But he did listen to each man. During this time we had some really great six year old perspective. First, Cameron couldn't believe there's never been a black president. He went on to discuss Martin Luther King and how he was a leader. Second, Cameron started questioning why there is a president and why our country needs one. I asked him what he thought would happen if his school didn't have a principal. We talked about leadership and oversight. Suddenly Cameron started wondering what would happen if skateboarders were all over the place and the president decided that the skateboarders could only skate at a park. I guess you had to be there. I was so amazed to watch him analyze what a president does and which man is the right person to lead our country.

Pretty amazing.

So I put him to bed. Right before I left him, Cameron begged me once again to tell him who I am going to vote for. I once again told him I wouldn't. Cam told me I was making him sad. My silence is driving him batty. Poor kid. I guess being a journalist's kid is pretty rough.

"He's got a strong foot"

My boy got props during his soccer skills during his game Saturday. I was pretty proud. For the first time, Mr. Cameron scored a goal. I was very proud. He's very proud. This was his third soccer game ever and he's starting to figure out his strength and finding ways to direct the ball. It's pretty cool to watch. What was even more fun was watching Cam celebrate when something went right with his team. I just loved it. It's thrilling to watch Cam play in a sport where he can feel really confident. Plus, he really gets to run and run and run.

After the soccer game we went to another football game. It was a little warm under the sun and Cam wasn't that interested since he had a big neighborhood birthday party to attend a little after the first half of the game. He had a blast.

I'll be honest. I'm exhausted. All of this running around for work and the additional running this weekend has left me exhausted. I took Sunday off to catch up on work and just not move around too much. Well, just not as much. Cam is on a quest to run or walk a half mile through October - it's a fitness challenge at school. So he and I are spending time walking and running together. He's got five miles down so far. Eight to go!

Cam's first soccer game (AKA I'm an official soccer mom)

Cameron had his very first soccer practice and game today. I told myself that Cam wouldn't play soccer... The stigma of soccer mom and all the other things that come with that. Not to mention watching soccer reminds me of how bored I was watching the games when my brother played when I was a kid. Anyway, I bit the bullet after Cam had so much fun playing with his team. I'm the official team mom which is kind of funny. I don't have to do much and I bought a big 2 gallon jug for water. To make it even cooler, I bought Spongebob Squarepants paper cups. The team was VERY excited.

Cam ran and ran and ran. He understand the importance of defense and BOY he was in the mix the entire time they ran up and down the field. He was disappointed he didn't get the ball enough, but I know he'll catch on in time. I was proud and I'm excited about our team. The parents are very cool.