Fun day

Cameron had a ball today. It was teddy bear picnic day at school. Cam got to wear pajamas to school and bring a teddy bear. They even got to watch Goldilocks and the Three Bears. He was very happy. To make the day even better... His Poppy and Grandma picked him up from school (They arrived today with Moma Dot and Daddy Jr). And the day continued to totally rock because it was so warm outside, we got to play and run around.

To make my day great... Cameron actually ate a barbecue sandwich... He didn't eat all of it. But it was great to see him take bites of something without crying or complaining. That was big.

A big owie

Cam woke up around 3am this morning crying: "Owieee!!" His ear was hurting... And I decided it's swim ear. He hurt on Monday during nap time at school. I put in swim drops into his ear and everything seemed okay until early this morning. Fortunately, the doctor's office was willing to listen to my analysis of the situation and prescribe him ear drops without him having to come in. How great is that?

Anyway. This morning, I asked Cam how his ear was feeling and he said it was okay. But later he told me his voice changed, he could hear it in his ear. Clearly, it was clogged up. Poor buddy. So he can't take swim lessons again until his ear gets better. I'm sad about that for him. But Randy said he may work with Cam later next week so he doesn't fall behind. Poor guy.

Swim lesson!

Cam started swim lessons today! I'm so proud of him. Randy says Cam was very brave... He really liked using a kick board and took risks he's never taken in a pool before. I'm thrilled. And from talking to Cam, he's proud of himself.

Big birthday weekend

Cam got to go to brthday parties on Saturday and Sunday. A swim party on Saturday and a standard run around and eat sugar party on Sunday. Randy took Cam to the pool party while I shopped for Sunday's party. I took Cam and Jordan to the party on Sunday. Cam was pretty good this weekend... His desire to fight control continues. He cried through almost all of church today. That was rough. But we're hanging in there. The best part of tonight: Cam and I sat together and listened to a fun CD that has a lyric book. Then later, during dinner... Cam, Randy and I made up songs together. It was cool.

Tantrum Central

I realize Cam has a lot to deal with these days. There's a new baby and there's a lot of focus on her... And not Cam. But all he's been doing is throwing fits. I swear, he cried more than Jordan today. I'm tired and I know my patience is low... So is Randy's. I feel terrible about it. But if he had his way, Cam would have spent the entire day watching movies. He is testing the hell out of us... I just wish that testing would not include so much crying.

Beyond the tantrums... Cam is picking up an amusing sense of humor. When we were at church today, he spoke out in the middle of the children's sermon and made the congregation laugh. He turns to the crowd and says: "Don't laugh at me." But you know he loved it. He also told his friend Camryn's parents that he plans to teach Jordan how to be funny. I think he'll be very good at that.

Space Grandma

Cameron had breakfast with his Grandma Lee one more time this morning before she left for home. She went downstairs with curlers in her hair. Cameron told her she looked like a Space Grandma. She went up and took it off. He thought she looked much better without the curlers.

He was also very persuasive when he was asking for his breakfast... He asked for milk, cheerios, yogurt... and an ice cream sandwich. It's like he thought he could sneak that in. Nice try kid.

More proof he's a big boy

For the last 3 nights, Cam has made it through the final step of potty training. He actually wakes up on his own to go potty in the middle of the night. Incredible. Randy was going up to take Cam to the bathroom a few nights ago when he found the boy was already there. No accidents since then. I realize I just cursed us by posting about this development. Oh well.

Some Christmas Tidbits

I just looked at the blog and realized I never wrote a thing about Cam's Christmas. I was uncomfortable and soon after the holiday, I went into labor. So, who knew.

Cameron had his entire closest family members visiting our house: Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Jon, Grandma and Poppy, Moma Dot and Daddy Junior and Uncle Barry. And the boy was PILED with gifts (as you can see in the picture). The amazing thing is he recognized and enjoyed each gift. He even enjoyed his clothing gifts. He never opened a gift and just threw it to the side. He thanked everyone, gave out hugs and admired everything. Gift opening took FOREVER! But we weren't going to stop him from being respectful.

The gift of the year: The Buzz Lightyear rocket toy that Cam has asked for since this summer. It's a smash hit. He still plays with it obsessively. He has a huge imagination and comes up with all kinds of adventures for Buzz and a little alien toy.

Oh. And the day before Christmas Eve, Cam was on a local variety show to celebrate the holidays. He was a camera hog and ended up upstaging the hosts of the show a few times. By the end of the show, the hosts even knew his name and called on him to give him a chance to talk. The boy ain't shy.

Wow. He needs to go to school.

Cameron has been out of school for more than a week. He's been consumed with family time and nothing is normal. And if he tells me NO over a stupid thing one more time... I think I'm going to lose it.

Here's the funny part.

Cameron's tantrums are loud, violent and upsetting (to him and I try to not let it bother me). Jordan doesn't react. Not one bit. Her brother doesn't phase her. It's amazing. Cam's going to have to work harder to get to her.

"I like being a big btother"

That's what Cam told me yesterday -- our first full day home with Jordan.

He's learning how to balance my attentions. I can't play hard, physical games. His tackle hugs hurt my newly renewed feeding abilities. Plus, he's been surrounded by all kinds of family members. We aren't in any kind of normal life pattern.

We return to school on Tuesday. That should help.

Where is the baby coming out?

Yeah. Cameron is starting ask very specific questions about the female body and how Jordan will arrive. Yesterday he learned the fact that I don't have a penis. Yeah. He asked, I told him I don't have one and that girls don't have one. He's been begging for me to show him. And I wouldn't dare. So we're in the middle of some very challenging questions for a Mommy and her 3 year old.

I'm hoping he moves past this phase. I'm thinking the actual arrival of Jordan will be the only way to really clear Cam's mind about this topic. Yikes!

Singing tunes and playing the piano

There's this new show on Disney... Maybe it isn't new. But we discovered it recently. It's called Little Einsteins. We TiVo it every day so Cam can watch it when he gets home. It's based on a classical song... just a piece of it and a piece of art... and the characters have an adventure of some sort. Cameron really picks up on the songs and he's learning words like allegro and staccato.

Pretty cool.

By the way... Cameron is moving into this phase where he thinks he can ignore us. It leads to some ugly scenarios. He also doesn't like it when I laugh around him. He says: "Don't laugh at me. I don't like that." And then he hides. He's also tried to totally screw up our sleep in the last couple of weeks. He gets out of bed, says he's scared, asks to sleep with us and cuddle... It's not like we've allowed him to sleep with us EVER. But we've let him jump in a little before the time when we wake up (or I wake up)... I started it when I was exhausted in the first trimester of pregnancy. But for some reason, he's tried to take it beyond that. I can't. I won't. And we're all tired.

So the addition of Cam's wake ups, my pregnant wake ups... and I'm a little closer to feeling the reality of when Jordan gets here. Sleep will be really screwed up then.

...And movies

Cameron finally got a chance to see Santa over the weekend. He was very focused during his time with Santa and told him all the things he wants: two movies and a Buzz Lightyear rocket. Very cute.

So tonight Randy was helping Cameron go back to bed after his latest excuse as to why he wasn't in bed. I always sing a lullaby -- it's sweet and I never change the way I sing it. But Randy sings a lullaby with a different song to it. Tonight he sang something about being good so Santa can bring him toys. And Cam chimed in with a tune and added: "...And movies!"

That boy just doesn't forget what he wants.

Giggle crack

You know, watching Cam watch "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is like crack... You can't stop, you want more. Every time Snoopy did something funny, Cam would break into the deepest and most fantastic giggle. You have to stop what you're doing to eat it up and enjoy the moment. It's wonderful.

By the way... There's a new challenge since the addition of the night light. Now he's afraid of the shadow the night light is casting on his ceiling fan. So he's sleeping with his sheet over his head. That imagination of his is in overdrive.

I'm playing with new technologies

I know this is not a surprise since I'm a nerd.

But I have set up an account on Flickr... It's a photo website that I started playing with in August, but just found a little time to play with it. You can see some of Cameron's recent adventures (which by the way, he pronounces: E-ventures) by visiting The Reeves Kids Flickr Site.
You'll probably have to sign up as a member to see the shots. I'm not sure.

Have fun.

Holiday season is alive

Since I keep getting larger and more uncomfortable by the day, we decided to use the weekend after Thanksgiving as a time to decorate for Christmas. On Saturday we set up the tree, put lights up in the front and backyard (white lights in front, colorful pepper lights in the back). We talked about why Christmas is important. After Cam talked about Santa, he asked when Jesus would come for a visit. I told him that his spirit is in our heart and we're celebrating his birthday. Hopefully that made sense to him.

Today we put the ornaments up on the tree. Cameron did a pretty good job putting ornaments up on his own. We also did a project to create presents for the family.

I figure, the more we do for the holidays early, the less work I'll have to do when all I want to do is sit and make a baby.

Funny moment I almost forgot

So Cameron was hanging out in the newsroom on Thanksgiving. I was printing the 6pm newscast scripts when one of the printers was acting up (not unusual in the newsroom). Anyway. Cameron walks up and says: "Do you have a paper jam?" I said that we could have a paper jam. He goes: "Where's the easy button?"

The director of the show looks up at me and says: "Did he really just say that?"

Yes he did.

I think the boy is around too much TV. We play often in the basement while Dad watches sports. Clearly Office Depot advertises often during the football games.

A day at home

I finally had to take a day off from work thanks to my nasty cold. So Cam and I have spent the day together. I was cleaning a little junk off our TV to help make way for our new Tivo when I discovered two checks from Cameron's birthday. That's right. Two checks from Cameron's birthday in April. That is so wrong. I'm a terrible Mom.

I know I've bought him cool toys and games that would include that money. But now I feel bad cashing a check that is THAT old.

Anyway. Cam took a good nap, and so did I. That helped me catch up on sleep I lost last night. Now he's playing with shapes from a shape puzzle book. He's been really into building and creating things with his toys. It's very cool to watch him in this creating phase. He's still not into drawing or learning how to write his name (which all the girls are really into at school). But it's great to see where he likes to put his imagination.

BTW... You know we're really parents after Randy made the ultimate sacrifice today. During a break from work, he trekked to Wal-Mart to buy some Leapfrog books for Cameron. 7 dollars each... I really wanted to take advantage of that deal. Randy was willing to sacrifice the insanity to get something for the boy. What a Daddy.

Too much pepper

Cameron and many family members gathered over the weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving since we have to work on the actual holiday. I cooked my first Turkey and didn't screw it up.

Randy cooked the mashed potatoes and dressing... Both had way too much flavor for Cameron. So he's been walking around saying: "Daddy put too much pepper in the dressing." We're going to eat another batch for a newsroom Thanksgiving meal, we'll see if Cam likes that version better.

I also got Cam to pose for his Christmas card picture this week... After doing a little computer work on it, I think it will work. I ordered a few more things for the holidays. That means I'm just a few gifts away from wrapping up holiday shopping. That's a good thing -- Since I'm going the cash-only route this year to save money.

Cam and I are building space guns with mega blocks (larger version of Legos) and we're watching the Thanksgiving parade. He's really into the balloons.

After Cam's nap, we're headed to the newsroom to eat holiday food and I'll produce the 6pm newscast. Fun.

Fun weekend for Cam

My cousin Christie brought her daugher Ginny to our house to have fun for the weekend. They drove 12 hours to get here... So we were very lucky for their visit. Cam and Ginny played as if they were friends for years. It was very cool.

Cameron and Ginny were very busy -- On Saturday, they went to the Mizzou football game. It was Ginny's first football game... And it rained, so the kids weren't on their best behavior (not to mention, the game started smack in the middle of nap time). But it was fun. We also went to a free movie earlier that day and went out to dinner that night. By the way, the second picture is of Ginny and Cam growling like Tigers in the stands -- Just like the Missouri Tigers. On Sunday, we went to a baby shower for me and three other co-workers. (Acutally, one woman was a co-worker's wife) The kids played and played and played. Christie made us an awesome dinner last night -- But Cam was sleep deprived (the baby shower was smack in the middle of nap time as well) and he was not willing to try a bite. That ended with crying and screaming. Not a very pleasant eating environment. But the food was good!

Cam woke up looking for Ginny... She and her mom left really early this morning to get home. I heard them getting ready to leave... But I didn't have the energy to get out of bed and give them one more hug. We can't wait to see them again sometime soon. First, Mommy has to bring our next family member into the world!

(by the way... this was my 100th post on this blog. that's a lot of talk about a kid)