On an adventure

Cameron left today to visit his grandparents for the holiday... And he traveled with his uncle! Mom and Dad stayed behind for an extra day... So when Cam left: He was going on an adventure!! He was very excited and got there safe.

Cameron loves singing Jingle Bells... And even holds the tune! Very cute.

This is going to be a really fun time. We have a really great camera and hope to get a ton of video that's easy to edit... Something Mom hasn't done much. (I'm much more into the still photography)

Catch up

I noticed one of my posts didn't actually get on the site.

Here's a quick rundown on what's up with Cam this month:

He's totally into the holidays. He loves it. He loves the lights and the gifts and the music. All of it.

When we talk about Christmas he says two things: Santa gives me presents and It's Jesus' birthday. He's a sweetie.

We're considering this the most pure of holidays. Cameron can't tell us what he wants. He talks about lights and "It's the holidays!" He's absorbing himself in the joy and not the greed.

What fun.

No more pajamas

Cameron's teachers told a funny story I should share.

The day after their big performance, the entire school had pajama day. So Cam got to spend his day in comfy clothes.

Around 4 in the afternoon, Cam went to the bathroom. When he was done, he came out without his clothes on. Why you ask?

He told his teachers he was done wearing pajamas.

It took some time, but they convinced him to put the p.j.'s back on.

Another name

Today I was named "Woody Mommy"

Cam also often pretends we're climbing a rope and we fall down. I'm not sure why. But it's funny to watch him fall down and giggle.

That reminds me of a strange moment over Thanksgiving.

Cam was standing on the top of his step stool when he suddenly yells: "Humpty Dumpty had a great fall!" And he belly flopped onto the floor. He expected the adults in the room to complete the nursery rhyme, he'd laugh, climb up and do it again. I had to put a stop to it... I figured dealing with a couple of broken ribs was a poor way to end the holiday weekend.

I'm Woody

Cameron not only makes up stories that I'm Mr. Incredible and he's Dash. He's now calling me Woody while he's Buzz Lightyear. Hillarious.

He has a different style for running depending on which character he's pretending to be: If he's Dash, he takes very fast, quick steps and waves his arms back and forth quickly. If he's Buzz, he sticks his fisted hands out in front of his face and kind of tilts his head down as if he's going so fast, he needs to be a little more aerodynamic. It's quite funny.

Christmas is in your heart

We put the Christmas tree up in the house and decorated with lights in the front yard... Cameron is talking about Christmas a lot now.

When we first turned on the tree, the look of excitement in his face was so cool. It's was like someone just told him he could eat an entire chocolate cake by himself. The next morning we came downstair to turn the tree on and Cam exclaimed: "It's beautiful!"

That night, Cameron and I were walking upstairs to go to bed. Cam looked up to me and asked: "Where I find Christmas?" I told him it's in his heart. He looked down at his chest and back up to me in amazement. I'm sure he didn't quite understand what I was talking about, but he gave me a Christmas hug when I asked for one.

So many things...

But I just haven't had enough time to list the funny stories about Cameron lately.

He's hillarious and having a ball with his Grandma and Grandpa Lee from Florida and Uncle Jon from Washington, D.C.

We were sitting at the table the night his grandparents and Uncle Jon got into town when Cam announces: "See all ten peoples at the table?" We counted for real... And Cameron stated: "See the six peoples?"

This Thanksgiving morning, Cameron asked for a family hug: "Faah-mah-lee hug." He also said repeated prayers during our Thanksgiving dinner... Including his secret Cameron word: "Vaah-vah-veh." I ask him what it means and he replies: "I not know." But he only uses the word when he's happy. So the prayer went like this: "Vahh-vah-veh. The whole wide world. Amen."

One other thing. Since Cam saw the movie "The Incredibles," Cam likes to say: "Mommy, you Mr. Incredible. I Dash. Let's run Mr. Incredible." We've been running a lot lately. It's fun... And I like pretending I'm Mr. Incredible. By the way, Cameron says "Mr. 'Credible" I consider that what a superhero would be named if he was a journalist.

We opened up a can of worms

Cameron discovered he can get out of his bed all by himself. That means nap time is not guaranteed and a smiling face can pop up in my room very early in the morning.

We're currently dealing with a high level of toddler obstinance. Any command is denied... In the last 24 hours, my wonderful potty trained baby decided he'd rather pee on the floor. He's angry, challenging... And then two seconds later, he's sweet and saying the cutest stuff.

I'm beating my head into the wall.

It doesn't help that his daddy is out of town. I think that upsets Cam more than I realize. He asks about Randy at the strangest time. Yesterday we were walking to the Tiger football game and suddenly asked: "Where's Daddy/" He's not a fan of doing things that we do normally as a family just with Mommy. The good news: Daddy comes home late tonight!! Hooray!

Big boy bed... Almost

Cam stopped sleeping in a crib as of tonight.
We turned his bed into a day bed. So he can actually get in and out of bed on his own. I'm not too sure if Cam understands that. We removed it right before bed time.

He was really excited about his "big boy" bed... Until I tucked him in. He asked: "Where the wood?" He pointed to the space where the crib railings used to be. He looked a bit panicked. I told him it would be okay.

So far, so good. He's been asleep for four hours.

This very well could be one of my last nights when I can enjoy silence and peace and not worry my child is wandering around the house awake.

Bare bottom

Okay.
I promised not to write too much about potty training. But we discovered the greatest training for Cam: No pants. Nothing. Bare bottom time is the best. We played all afternoon after our third soiled outfit was sent to the laundry. It was the first time the boy stopped what he was doing and went into the bathroom on his own.

It was amazing.

I'm a geeky mom. I know it.

Heck, I'm blogging about my child's potty training. That's really geeky.

Potty training is fun

Okay. Actually it's messy. But Cameron's doing a good job.

This is gross, but funny. He was bragging to me and his Grandma Lee that he made a "Big poop" in the potty. Then he stopped and said, "No Mommy. I mage a HUGE poop." Then he ran around the house yelling: "HUGE poop! HUGE poop! HUGE poop!"

I'll try to not talk too much about pee and poop in this blog. I promise

Trick or Treating!!!

Cameron absolutely loved Halloween... He loved the candy, he loved the costume (he was a lion this year). He really loved the fun and games in our neighborhood. The older kids in the neighborhood put together a party for the younger kids... There was throw the pumkins in the big pumkin, dig for candy in hay, decorate a pumpkin cookie, broomstick limbo... They even had a mini-hay ride. It was awesome.

It started raining just when we started trick or treating... But Cameron didn't care. We stopped at a number of houses. Cameron would yell at the door: "TRICK OR TREATING!" He'd take the candy, say thank you and then roar like a lion. We had a tough time explaining why we couldn't eat chocolate after each stop. (By the way, Cameron says: Choc-oh-latt)

Once we got home wet and happy Cameron kept trick or treating out of our bowl. Every time trick or treaters came to our door, Cam grabbed extra treats. He'd run around the house yelling! "I trick or treating!" He did well with his sugar high.

Daddy 46

Last weekend we had a big surprise party for Randy... There's a big 40th birthday balloon in our house. Cameron likes to play with it. Today he looked at the balloon and exclaimed to me: "Daddy 46!"

I'm getting scammed

Cameron woke up at 2am announcing he needed to go potty. He didn't really go potty. He wanted to play. I was scammed. It took Randy and I an hour to get him back to bed.

We met with our Parents as Teachers educator today... She says we were scammed.

We're going to have to nip this one in the bud.

Potty time

I think we're actually in the potty zone.

Cameron used it a lot this week. He used the potty a lot in Kentucky. He even used his potty in a gas station rest room in Illinois. (Yes, we traveled with a kid potty)

I'm tired of cleaning up pee.

Cam went to bed an hour late tonight because he wouldn't stop peeing.

Mommy make me sad

On our drive home this weekend, Cameron was a little moody. He ate too much chocolate. (Or as he says: Choc-coh-latt) So before and after his 2 hour nap in the car, he'd periodically start whining.

We'd ask him why he's sad. His reply: "Mommy make me sad." He wouldn't explain why.

He said it so many times, we couldn't help but laugh.

Cam likes to puddle

Every year we visit our good friends in Lexington. Since Cameron was born, we've all grown accustomed to Cameron keeping us awake and making life difficult and exhausting.

This visit, Cam was pretty darn good. He grew out of the pack and play bed. So he slept with us both nights and took a huge nap on his own on Saturday.

The whole time, we talked about cuddles. It was a reward for laying in the bed quietly. But when Cameron wanted to cuddle he'd ask me to "puddle." Yes, Cam likes to puddle.

Mommy happy?

Cameron's paying more attention to emotions. When he does something wrong and I send him to time out, he cries a little, stops and then asks: "Mommy happy?"

I tell him no and that I'm actually mad. That turns Cam into a ball of tears. When he proves himself a changed boy (I usually expect an apology for what he did wrong), I tell him I'm happy. Then he smiles.

We also play a game where he tells me what emotion I should do and we make our faces look mad or sad or happy. You should see Cam's mad face, it's very funny.

Thanks...

Cameron thanked the guys at the grocery check out today: "Thanks guys."

They looked at me like Cameron was some kind of freak for thanking them.

Who says you can be too polite?

What do we do?

So Cam and I have this thing for laying on the ground in our front yard and look up at the leaves. We stare and talk about the colors of the trees. On Friday, I noticed the brown leaves were all gone... The green and yellow are the only ones left. The brown ones fell to the ground.

Cameron looked over to me and said: "What do we do?" (In his astonished toddler way)

I told him we could play with the brown leaves since there were on the ground. That's when I took that sweet black eye shot of him in his firefighter coat.

Today we tried to fly a kite in the backyard. Cameron wouldn't let go of the kite's tail, so we just ran back and forth while Cam yelled: "The kite fly, Mommy! The kite fly! I did it!"