Classic neighborhood day

I had to get Cam away from the Wii this morning, but once he was out, he decided to invite a neighborhood kid over to play. This kid is such a sweetie and the two boys got along really well. This friend is more than a year younger than Cam but that didn't seem to matter at all. It was nice to see Cam play with a neighbor nicely. There's another kid nearby who just doesn't mix well with Cam. It was good to see that Cam can play with a neighbor without someone breaking out into high level anger.

Cam ended up playing with the other kid for a short time this afternoon as well. It was short enough to prevent a lot of screaming.

But all in all, it was a classic neighborhood day. You have to push to get our neighborhood to flow socially. We live on a rolling hill street. There's enough privacy in our yards that you can seclude yourself in the backyard and not seek out friends. So you really need to get out and say hello to encourage social stuff. I'm not comfortable letting Cam wander around in the neighborhood on his own yet. I know that's crazy, but I'm like that.

By the way. The out of control protests at dinner continue. Tonight's freak out was over corn on the cob. At some point, I told Cam he was going to eat it when he yelled: "No I ain't!"

No I ain't?

Woah. That's not going to work under my roof.

By the way. While Cam was freaking out, Jordan was eating her corn and declaring: "I eat it. I like it."

Playing a lot in the neighborhood

Cam is getting to know some of the kids in the neighborhood. One of the boys (a 4 year old) who lives up the street -- on the same side -- Keeps knocking on our door to play. So Cam has him over or Cam goes over to his house. Either way, they seem to play pretty well for an hour or so at a time. If it gets much longer, they start a power play over a toy or over who is in charge. I think it's great to see Cam running around pretending to fight the bad guys. Tonight the neighbor's older brother (who is a year and a half older than Cam) came over too. I couldn't really figure out what game they were playing. They were earning points or something and they needed to get stuff from a "garage sale" that was in our basement. Either way, the boys were climbing up the treehouse and down the slide... up and down... up and down. It was funny to watch.

Jordan wanted to play "ide." That's how she says "outside."

SO I think Cam is ready for another week of school. I won't be here for most of the week, but I think he and I need a little time off. I get him worked up, he gets me worked up. We spent a lot of time drawing pictures today. Oh! And Cam read some amazing books to me. He's really comprehending and sounding out words. I love it.