If you can't beat 'em, join 'em

23

Why do people get sick?

My aunt is in the hospital... She's battled ovarian cancer for the last eight and a half years. It's a mean, mean cancer. Right now she's in the hospital due to blood clots - a danger that is created from the chemo treatments.

I've made sure Aunt Jan is in Cameron's prayers in the last few nights. Each night he's asked me about illness and hospitals. Tonight he asked me why people get sick. I told him that some people get sick because they didn't wash their hands or they happened to be close to someone who was already sick. Then there are other people who get sick and no one knows why. Cameron asked if that's what happened to Aunt Jan. I said yes... But honestly, I wish I had more answers why some people get these kinds of horrible illnesses. My mom has Type 1 diabetes. That's supposed to be a genetic terminal illness - but it isn't in our family's history until my mom got it. No one we know in our family tree has had ovarian cancer but my aunt got it. It all just sucks. That's all I can say. It sucks.

So if you have a moment... Say a prayer for my aunt. If you don't do the prayer thing, I ask you to think positive thoughts in the direction of Dallas. My aunt deserves every bit of it.

[update on 1/6/08: She's out of the hospital!!]

Found in Cam's bag:

Two pieces of paper.

On the front of the first page: A big heart with the words, "I love you. Look on the back"

On the back of the first page: "Lets have a sleep over this night."

On the second piece of paper: The girl's phone number








Wow.

Wii are having fun

Cameron loves his new Wii. LOVES it. Did I mention how he loves it? I'd say that if he could play it all the time and win that entire time, he'd play it non-stop. He's an incredible bowler. In his first day playing, he bowled a 178. Wow.

He's enjoying that, but he did have a really hard time with his sister's birthday. He felt so dang jealous of how she was the center of attention. Poor kid. I know how hard that is... It's a big part of growing up with a sibling. At one point he went to me and said: "I'm feeling jealous." So we talked it out. I'm not sure it helped... But we did find a little time in the day to get away from it all and go for a little walk/run around the neighborhood.

On the whole, this time off from school has been good. I think he's enjoying the family time away from school. He gets some extra family fun for the next few days. My parents are up from Florida to watch the kids while Randy and I travel for work. They should have fun watching Cam and I know he'll enjoy the Grandparent time.

Merry Christmas!

You gotta love it when your son is as excited about books as the new Power Ranger helmet he got for Christmas.

Cam didn't want to go to bed tonight before he got a chance to try and bowl on our new Wii. He immediately threw a bowling ball into the crowd of people at the bowling alley. He seemed a bit distressed about that. I told him we'll work on it. By next week he'll be a bowling pro.

Cam had a hard time waiting for present opening time. He was the oldest kid in the bunch this year. I think that was a little different for him. But he did write a sweet note to Santa. I expect Cam will find the four cookies and glass of milk will be a hit with him. I'm not sure how much longer we'll enjoy Santa with Cam, so I'm eating it up this year. Next year, Jordan will probably buy into it. That will be fun to see.

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.

Sledding fun

Cameron is starting to really enjoy his sled... And living with a really cool, steep road next to our house makes things really fun -- With parental supervision of course.

That little giggle of his as he's sliding down the hill is fantastic.

Figuring things out

The holiday season is interesting as Cam gets older. He's always kind of understood why we celebrate Christmas and he's always been much more excited about the Santa stuff than the God stuff. But recently, he started seeing through the Santa stuff. He announced to me:

Cameron: "Mom, Santa is already dead. There's just people pretending to be him."

Me: "Hmmmm. Interesting theory."

I didn't really say much more than that... But I think he's starting to see through the ruse. I haven't spent a ton of time trying to keep him from coming to the conclusion that Santa is just from our imagination... But I have a feeling this is the first crack in the Santa foundation.

Other than the Santa think, Cam's teacher and I are discussing ways to help direct Cameron's attention to constructive work when he's done with the class assignments. Apparently, his teacher finds Cam dwelling on super heroes when he doesn't have to do work at school... And we've seen a bit of a correlation between super hero obsession and violence against his friends. So we're trying to limit his time dwelling on superheros. So instead, his teacher is thinking about giving Cam a "six-year-old's" research project. Cameron and I are going to pick out a topic and Cam will get to go to the library, look up books and work on a research project. I think that's pretty great. It will give Cameron a new challenge and help him focus his time on something more constructive. Pretty exciting stuff.

He loves the snow

We had a great snowy morning to enjoy yesterday. Cam hopped into bed around 6:50 and I said: If you get dressed quickly, we'll eat a fast breakfast so you can go out and play in the snow. That boy was fast. I had both kids fed and dressed by 7:06. They were bundled up and out by 7:10. To top it all off, Cam got a new sled! He loves it. I'll be honest. I've never bought him a real sled before. I always think of it before it's too late in the season. We have a really sweet sled, but it's a classic sled, not a fast sled. So this year, he has one. It's a cheap piece of plastic and it's exactly what my boy always wanted. He had a BLAST sledding down the slight hill in our backyard. It's a great starter hill.

We got to play for an hour before packing up for school. We walked to school with all of the neighborhood kids and they were all high on snow excitement. It was great. The thrill of snow isn't exciting until you've spent a good 10 minute walk up and down steep hills with super-hyper kids (ages 5-10) trying not to throw snow. It was fun. The whole morning was fun.

New World

So I'm trying to de-violence Cam's world... We're focusing less on super heroes and more on positive things. I'm thinking about leaving Tae Kwon Do and moving Cam's attentions to piano lessons.

So a funny thing as I try to make these changes. I walk into Cam's afterschool program and there he is in a Spider Man costume running around "fighting" someone. I immediately found the director of our program and talked to her about Cam's recent violence issues. She's so cool and responsive that she's willing to take the costumes away from all of the kids to help restore my boy's grip on reality. I think that's super kind. She seemed impressed that I wanted to talk about Cam's problems... I think it's important that every person who watches him is on the same page. As Randy mentioned: It's in her own best interest.

So true.

Go Tigers

Questioning my ability as a mom

Today went really poorly and all of those gut issues I've had with Ben 10 came to a head today. It's gone. Cartoon Network is gone. Ben 10 is gone. I'm sad that the deep pit of my stomach told me that he should have never watched the show in the first place. I should have never encouraged or allowed it to continue.

The big issue: Cam is so grown up on some levels, but so immature on others. I realize no one can know how role play and games can affect a child, but Cameron can take it too far. He took it too far today. And I blame myself.

I feel pretty rotten right now.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Cam enjoyed a delicious meal for Thanksgiving with his Uncle Jon and his boyfriend Erik. We're lucky to have enjoyed a yummy meal thanks to Erik's expert cooking skills. Even Cam enjoyed the turkey and Daddy's dressing.

Cam's been really good during his time off from school. He's reading up a storm and playing every single video game on the Cartoon Network's website. I'm not a gamer type (Until we get our Wii up and running after Christmas) so I think it's amazing to see all of the games Cam has figured out how to play without ever asking for help. He has an interesting mind.

Updates on the boy

Okay -- First a few little comments Cam said in the last week that I have to remember forever:

1) Jordan finally started saying Cameron's name. When she said it, Cam announced: "She said my name in her REAL voice!" I guess you had to be there but apparently Jordan's real voice is only when she uses understandable words.

2) I was walking down the street with Cam last Friday when he had the day off from school and got to follow me around at work and on campus all day. He was incredible, patient and so grown up. So I asked him when he got so big. He immediately responded: "Because I can read." And it makes sense. The world opened up to him in an instant when words made sense to him. He can surf the web (yikes), he can read signs and books and notes and shirts and whatever he finds. I told him that math can do the same when numbers and information start working together. (I'm trying to make sure he gives math as much love and attention as he does words... JUST to see if we can lead him to a more lucrative career as compared to journalism)

Other updates -- Cam is growing so dang fast it makes my head spin. He still has emotional outbursts at home and at school... But he's learning and dealing more often. He's also MADLY in love with drawing and writing and learning. He's asking SO many hypothetical questions these days: "What would happen if kids didn't have parents?" (He decided that kids wouldn't have money and then I asked him if that was all I was to him: a source of money. He said yes.) "What would happen if there wasn't a world?" (I told him nothing would exist and everything would be black) "Why do people die?" (That was a toughie) I could go on and on. He isn't being annoying with the questions, he really just wants to talk about the things that are rolling through his mind. It's really amazing.

Another thing: Cam's really into Ben 10. It's a cartoon on Cartoon Network. I'm not a fan of the network, but I've let him watch things on cartoonnetwork.com and now he's a HUGE Ben 10 fan. Ben is a kid who finds a wrist-watch-type-thing that is now permanently attached to Ben's arm and it lets Ben turn into ten different aliens. It's like every boy's dream show. It's an animated show, it's too violent for my liking and I can't figure out a way to help Cam "quit" the show. Kids are going to pretend and run around and "fight" things... There aren't any guns, but some of these aliens can throw fire or heavy things and hurt "the bad guys." I guess I'm just kind of torn between letting Cam enjoy boy stuff and pretend things and keeping him away from any ideas of violence. And I say this as a mother of a boy who is in Tae Kwon Do where they use weapons. I guess it's all a moot point.

Santa Visit

Cam and Jordan visited Santa on the first day he was in town. Why you ask? I'm crazy and I just like getting it over with. The local mall had a fund raiser for Habitat for Humanity to have "breakfast with Santa." They had crummy food options but the carousel was free so we went on that a bunch of times. We saw friends, we smiled and giggled a bit and then I made the kids get in line for Santa before Santa even got there. Yes. We were the first ones in line because I just wanted to make sure we got it done before both kids lost patience. Is that bad? Unfortunately, Jordan doesn't like Santa so I had to sit with them. But hey - Cam got to pitch hit top toy picks of the year: A Ben 10 watch (it's not really a watch, I can't even explain to you what it is) and the Power Rangers Mega Mission Helmet. Big deal stuff.

We're funny

So... I'm trying really hard to make sure I make time for the boy. When he and I got silly tonight, we pulled out the computer and made funny faces again into Photobooth. It's great for giggles.

Fall, glorious Fall.

Today was gorgeous. So I grabbed the kids and headed out for a hike. Cam is a fantastic hiker... Except when he forgets to watch his feet. Not long into today's hike, he starts running, trips on a rock and falls flat on his face. No injuries, but a great reminder that you have to watch your feet. He was great the rest of the time and actually quickly recovered from his fall. We admired the trees that are past the peak color so we admired the leaf covered hills, we admired a piece of bark that became his sword for the rest of the trip, we had fun taking pictures (yes, that's my official Fall pic of the kids for this year), Cam bravely climbed across a huge tree trunk a couple of times, we checked out a cave and Cam was BEGGING to go deeper into it (but I couldn't since the baby was on my back in the backpack and I didn't want to bang her head on the cave ceiling)... It was just a great time.

As we drove home, I asked the kids if they had fun and they both yelled: "YEAH!" Then Cam said: "Thanks for taking me out on the hike!" He said the same thing as I closed the door after putting him to bed. So dang sweet.

When we got home, the kids and I had a leaf fight. We chased each other with leaves and giggled a lot. Jordan kind of chased around with us. It was great.

These are the kind of days I live for as a Mommy.

Official Kindergarten Picture

I paid the extra 15 dollars to get Cam's Kindergarten picture on a CD -- so here it is. His official picture proving that smiles on demand are just a little too much for some 5 year olds.

Another awesome Halloween

Cam had a ton of fun today. He had a really cool school party, followed by a quick visit at Jordan's school party, followed by a quick dinner and a REALLY long trick or treat session in our neighborhood. He was INCREDIBLY patient as I asked him to wait for his sister to walk up to each door with him.

He's a great big brother and a fantastic superhero. Picture will come soon. I promise.

My hands smelled like pumpkin all day

I got to spend the morning with Cameron and his class. We carved pumpkins! Now the first response is -- Good Lord! Kindergarteners with knives? That's nuts! Well, this was a chance for me to learn about ways kids can carve pumpkins WITHOUT knives. It was pretty great. The kids used mallets and cookie cutters. Cameron wouldn't help us get the seeds out of the pumpkin... But he and his friends were all about hitting the pumpkin with a mallet. The end result looks strange, but it was a fun time for all.

I went straight to meetings on campus and smelled VERY pumpkiny.