My poor little valentine

My sweet Cam had a rough day. He woke up coughing and was having a hard day getting his day started. But he REALLY wanted to go to school for his Valentine's Day party. I kept asking him if he wanted to stay home. He decided he just had to go. That was okay until I got a call about four hours later saying that he threw up on the playground.

Poor buddy.

So his Dad took him home for the day. He got to take home all of his valentines and the treats that came with it all. Randy made sure Cam took it easy and gave him toast and water for lunch. When I got home, I started cooking dinner and asked Cam if he was up for the meal. Cam told me that his dad told him that he was going to have to eat toast. So I made him toast. I figured he must still be feeling a little queasy.

I was wrong.

When I took my poor, congested son up to bed, I noticed sugar all over his sheets and quilt. And there were little tiny pieces of hardened sugar. I look at Cam and ask if he's been eating cookies in his bed. He looks at me in shock: "NO!" It turns out it was Nerds. You know, those tiny chunks of sugar that I thought were AMAZING when Willy Wonka came out with them.

Apparently Cam snuck up to his room this afternoon with a box of valentine's candy and chowed down. And he left a sugary mess behind.

Silly boy.

So, we changed the sheets and talked about ways to properly eat candy (i.e. NOT in bed).

He's not feeling great, but at least his tummy is fine.

Holidays together

Cam and Jordan have been a lot more "together" these days. Sure, it's mostly because they're stuck with each other while we all hang out for the holidays. But they're also just playing together more. They're also fighting and arguing and bothering each other. But that's all part of being siblings. I just think it's cool to see them coming together and sharing their attention with each other. They chase, they hide, they scream, they giggle. It's fun to watch.

Right before school let out, I helped out with the holiday party at Cam's school. The teacher made it a craft-themed party. I decided to make "crafty" food. I mixed a bunch of frosting different colors so kids could decorate cookies. I also brought bagels and raisins for the non-sweets kids (those actually exist). It was fun to watch the concoctions they came up with. The kids had fun playing and eating at the same time.

Food

Food. It's an aggravating topic. Cam has made big strides this year in the types of food he'll eat. But lately it's just been a struggle to keep him in his seat and open his mind to at least try ONE BITE.

So this week, I stumbled upon a couple of interesting things. First there's this article from the New York Times. It claims my child's eating problems stem from genetics. From what I know from his father and my brother-in-law, I can blame them. Unfortunately, it doesn't really help us solve the problem of Cameron's bad eating habits.

So my Mom watches Oprah and found a possible solution thanks to Jerry Seinfeld's wife. Yeah. Jerry Seinfeld's wife. She wrote a book called Deceptively Delicious. It's a theory where we should puree veggies and fold it into food without the kids knowing it. Sounds like a possible idea. I'd also like to see if there's a chapter for working moms on where to find time to puree veggies and cook all of our dinners from scratch. Either way, I'll probably give some of her ideas a try. Anything to get healthy stuff into Cam's body.

Zoo fun

Last weekend Mr. Cam went with the rest of us to the zoo... And he had a blast. Honestly I think this was the best trip for him. He isn't afraid of the animals... Except for the penguin room. He still has issues with that cold, dark area.

He had a relatively good week... A couple of ugly fights over food this week. We had a nice fourth of July that included a lot of play time in the sand box and he went to the big fireworks show in town.

Today he's going to the little league night at the Cardinals... He's even getting the chance to walk around the field. Exciting stuff if you ask me.

Have you noticed how the majority of the pictures I take of Cam are of him wearing a red shirt? I think we've gone overboard with the Cardinals this year. What do you think?

Marriage talk

Today is Randy and my 9 year wedding anniversary. I'm proud and happy of this day. We were married on 4/4 at 4:00. I thought that was cool. I'm glad we didn't wait to get married on 4/4/04. It was actually 1998.

So I went downtown and picked up one of my favorite dinners to surprise Randy. I had to take the kids to get it without him knowing. So I started talking to Cam about our anniversary.

I told him how his Dad and I were celebrating the day we got married. Cam thought Randy and I were actually going to GET married. So then I framed our anniversary like it was the birthday of our wedding. Cam understood that. Then he asked:

"Did you dance at your wedding?"

"Yes"

"Did you kiss?"

"Yes"

"On the lips? Like you're married?"

"Yes and yes."

Update

He ended up eating one pea before breakfast. And that required a lot of drama. He's already asked if we'll have vegetables at dinner tonight. Of course I said yes.

Again?

I'm heading into a long weekend of family fun... And our dinner tonight was miserable. Cameron decided that he would return to the crying over vegetables tactic.

I turned the tables onto him.

He just wouldn't eat his peas and he just couldn't handle the fact that his sister had earned a yummy roll, milk and a Thin Mint. So he thought he could get that stuff by crying. So I let him choose: eat the peas now or eat them for breakfast? That made him cry more.

The peas are waiting for him when he comes down for that morning.

The morning will be interesting. Very interesting.

Why is it so hard?

Cam had such a fantastic day with us today until the end. He woke up with cuddles, he got to hang out with a babysitter... And during that time he even shared some of his breakfast with Jordan! He went to the mall with Jordan and I and he was helpful and sweet. Not to mention, he finally got a pair of Crocs... He's wanted a pair for quite a while. I think I passed on my love of shoes to him. I let him get a pair of yellow shoes. He really wanted them and I am happy to let him figure out his own sense of style... Although I think he picked up his love for the color yellow thanks to the soon-leaving-the-Wiggles lead singer, Greg.

Anyway. After shopping and a visit at the newsroom, he took a nap. It was a solid nap because he woke up all sweaty and groggy, but a bit whiny. But he helped me with a nativity scene craft -- we made a nativity scene out of foam cut out pieces. He helped me make cookies (the pre-made kind). But then dinner came. I made lasagna (the frozen kind) and veggies. Jordan and I gobbled it up. Cam decided lasagna is worth throwing a HUGE fit over. It was silly and I sent him to his room. But he dragged it out so long that he was finally eating while I was putting Jordan to bed. In the end, he only really ate 4 pieces. It was so exhausting and silly. I don't know what he thinks he's going to accomplish with insanity like that.

We are doing something cool... When we went shopping, I bought him a copy of Charlotte's Web. I told him that we'll read that book together before he can go see the new version of the book in the movie theaters. So we've read 4 chapters so far and he's so excited. The last thing he told me before going to bed (on try number three) was how he can't wait to read more about Charlotte. He also says he likes spiders now... We'll see when he comes face to face with a real one.

One other Cam moment. While we were in the mall, he noticed a movie poster hanging from the rafters. He said: "Mom, look: Eragon." I look up and it was right. I don't even know what Eragon is, but my boy read it and I'm guessing her pronounced it properly. I asked him how he knew about it, he shrugged, "I don't know. I read it." How did he read it? He's really figuring it out! It's incredible. His reading knowledge is growing so rapidly. What fun!