So much to be thankful!

Cameron got to enjoy Thanksgiving this year with his family in Kentucky. Not only did he have a chance to avoid eating all of the traditional foods that comes with the meal, he got to play football with the "big boys." It was cute. He's not that great at catching, but he was all about running and tackling. He got to spend time with his grandparents, great-grandparents, uncle and extended family -- not to mention mom, dad and Jordan.

We're thankful to have Cameron in our lives - his analysis, his energy and his love is everything you'd want from a son. We're also very thankful to have a wonderful family and so many friends.

Cam is reading the Spiderwick Chronicles these days -- It's a series of five books that was turned into a movie last year. He got the book set from my brother for Christmas years ago but I decided Cameron was old enough and able to read the books in the last couple of months. So he was reading the second book on his own for a little while when he emerged from the bedroom to announce: "The tooth fairy isn't real. I know that's true." I looked up in shock. Randy looked up in shock. And we asked him why he thought that. He mentioned the book (and I found the spot in book 2 where they talk about it) and said he planned to confirm it at school. I begged him to keep his ideas to himself... But I'm sure he went to school preaching his new found discovery. My fear: he'd transition this realization to Santa. So what did I do? I rushed him to see Santa with Jordan the moment we got back from our Thanksgiving trip. I wanted to sneak in at least one more visit. So what is the first thing he says when we get to the mall? "I know this Santa isn't the real Santa." I asked him to keep his ideas quiet for Jordan's sake. He was very skeptical about the experience. He even rolled his EYES! At least I convinced him to take a few pictures. I even got the kids ice cream to celebrate our first non-dramatic (and probably last) Santa picture with both kids. (go team!)

I'm going to miss my boy!

Cam was extra cuddly with me today before I left to go on a big trip to China. I was telling him how much I love him when he looked at me and said: "You're going to make me cry!"

Awwww. I just gave him the biggest hug I could. What a sweetie head.

Cam and I took the world's fastest trip to St. Louis yesterday so I could speak at the JEA/NSPA conference for high school journalism students. Cam didn't have school and I figured he could handle the back and forth. The bad part was getting up at 5am so we could get there in time without hitting really bad morning traffic. He tolerated it and got to watch Nim's Island (which is a movie) on my iPhone. He barely peeped during the presentation.

We've been pretty silly together while I was home for a few days. Here's proof:


We were goofing around with music and a video recorder. It's very easy to be silly when you mix those two things together. I'm going to miss my boy while I'm away. I can't wait to have some pure family time for a few days after the trip during Thanksgiving. Hopefully I'll be able to power through the jetlag.

Election season is over

Cameron spent this presidential election very focused on the experience and news coverage about the race between John McCain and Barack Obama. He can't stand how I wouldn't talk about my opinions but he clearly defined his opinions and where he stood in the presidential battle. So when Barack Obama came to our town, I couldn't pass up the chance for him to see history in the making first-hand. So here are a few pieces of video I took as we stood in line, walked into the event and listened to the speech. By the way - It was nearly impossible to see Obama and I was okay with that, but I made sure Cam could see by letting him sit on my shoulders a couple of times. It took my back a couple of days to decompress! That boy is BIG!







I worked all election night helping run a massive webcast/watch party. So I brought a bunch of patriotic balloons back home that night. I took them into Cameron's room where he was sleeping... Then I crawled into bed with him and whispered: "Cameron, America elected its first black president." He shot up, giggled and asked, "Barack Obama?" I said yes and he went back to sleep smiling. I just couldn't wait until the morning to tell him the big news. Watching this election season from his perspective was a joy. I'm proud of him for being civically engaged and I hope I'll be able to help guide him to use that interest in productive ways as he grows up!

First Grade Photo

I almost forgot to post Cam's new first grade school picture! Here you go:

Super busy guy

Here's a quick rundown of Cam's weekend:
HSM3
Parade
Lunch party
Tailgating
Football
Morning hike and picnic
Halloween neighborhood party

When Cam went to bed tonight, he told me this was the best day ever. Not the first time he's ever said that, but he's certainly had a great weekend. That's for sure. The movie was awesome for anyone who loves the High School Musical series. Cam and I (and Jordan) jammed to the show. Cam barely moved the entire time except to grove to the songs. He's tried to sing one song that he hasn't downloaded yet - "The Boys are Back." He was just as excited when he got to wear his costume tonight. The moment he puts that thing one he gets into character. It's awesome. I have a thousand pictures that are on our Flickr page - I don't have enough time to post all of them on this website!

Fall weekend

I love Fall. It's comfortable and makes you want to hang outside and just enjoy it. The air is calm and crisp and you want to cuddle with your kids. Last weekend I got to play outside with the kids and get our pictures taken at the same time. The pictures turned out really well. So I tried to take pictures on my own. So far, I got the boy looking at his dog lovingly and the girl swinging in a swing. The seasonal air has left me itching to get out and hike with the kids. Hopefully we'll find some time to do that next weekend. There's are a couple of really cool events in the works this week. First, we had all of the alumni coming into town for homecoming! We'll have cool events including the big parade and football game. But there's one other really cool thing: High School Musical 3!! Cam and I are into this little guilty pleasure. I'm getting all kinds of harassment from my friends, but I'm not going to let them take away my tiny goofy Disney-style fun with my kids. We plan to go to the movie on Friday. It should be fun with the help of popcorn and sing-along music.

Goofball football fan!

Big deal choir performance

Cam performed for the first time as a big kid in the big kid choir. His group performed with the adult choir. Here's a portion of the performance without the adults singing. Cameron is a little fleck in the front middle wearing a bit of navy blue.

Priorities

We took Cameron to his first football tailgate today... Before a doomed game where our Tigers lost. (sob) Before the game Cam got to stand on the side of the crowd cheering on the team as they walked to the stadium. The marching band was there. Cheerleaders were there. It was quite a production. Cameron high fived his favorite players and seemed kind of excited about the experience. Before the team walked through I asked Cam if he'd be a football player or a band player when he grows up. He looked at me in disgust and declared: "Mom! I'm going to be a SCIENTIST."

Ohhhhh. Sorry. Apparently you can't play in the band or the football team if you're going to be a scientist.

I didn't know that.

Kissing in a tree

Okay... I have to share this one.

Cameron and I were talking after the prayers and the lullaby (yeah. I still sing him a lullaby. I will sing him a lullaby until he's 25 if he'll still let me sing it to him.) Anyway. He says:
"Mom, Kayla starting singing this song: Cameron and Austin sitting in a tree... K-I-S-S-I dont' know... First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage. I don't even know what that means. It's so strange."

HA!

I told him the full song and I told him people sang that when I was in first grade. It's REALLY REALLY OLD. I told him to tell Kayla that the next time she pulls out the kissing in the tree chant. It's SUPER old and SO not cool.

He thought that was SO funny.

By the way, we went to Cam's school's 50th anniversary today. The first principal was lucky to be there AND his granddaughter is a Kindergartener this year. How cool is that? Anyway. It was a big deal and I don't know how we survived the ceremony with it starting at Jordan's bed time and lasted 50 minutes! We also found out the school is hoping to raise enough money to build a walking track around the school field to make it easier to get exercise. I'm pretty excited about that. We live really close to school and I'd love a track to enjoy a beautiful day and get exercise near home. I donated a little bit just to feel like we could help out. We got an old brick from the school in return. I think we're going to put it in our tree house somewhere.

Who is this big kid?

At some point since school started, Cameron started calming down. Not all the time, but he's mellowing. Maybe I'm learning to react to Cam differently. Maybe he's maturing. Maybe it's both. Either way, there's a happier understanding between Cam and I and the rest of the family. He's not reacting adversely to everything at home and his teacher says she's seeing improvements as well. It's very exciting.

I'm also seeing funny things happen as Cam grows up. Case in point: I bought Cam a pair of Buzz Lightyear khaki pants. I thought they were really cool. Um. Apparently they aren't cool. They're for babies... Even though I still have to roll the bottom of the pants so they fit him. And there's no way he's going to wear them again. Wah.

What is Cam into? Star Wars, soccer, football, baseball, Batman, High School Musical (HSM3 is out on the 24th... OMG we're so excited. No really. We are.), Spongebob Squarepants, Danny Phantom. He still tolerates Little Einsteins for the sake of his sister. He's interested in being his sister's third parent (no matter what his two parents say). He tells me little snippets of what life is like at school. Did you know there are first grade bullies (there are two)? Did you know some of the girls don't like to play with boys anymore? He likes math and social studies. Someday Cam wants to travel the world to research. What will he research? He just says he's going to research the places he travels because he plans to be a scientist. I love it.

Presidential politics

There's something very interesting about Cameron. He is fascinated by presidential politics. Seriously. He's into this. During the primaries he would check the delegate numbers to see who was ahead. He's discussed how he thinks Obama can beat McCain because Obama beat Clinton. (And Cameron wanted Clinton to win) This week he told me he wants John McCain to win. Tonight he told me he wants Barack Obama to win.

I never tell him where I stand and that drives him nuts.

I discuss politics with Cameron in a Socratic way. I ask him why he supports the candidate. I ask him what made him come to conclusions. He is so desperate for me to leave this questioning process and agree to disagree with him. I'm a journalist and I try very hard to keep my opinions to myself and not let my opinions effect the way I help cover political news.

Tonight I let Cameron stay awake to watch some of the first presidential debate. He's desperately wanted me to help him learn more about each candidate (I'm thinking I need to find some kid news magazines). So I told him he could watch the debate to get a better understanding of where the candidates stand. He talked over most of the candidate statements. But he did listen to each man. During this time we had some really great six year old perspective. First, Cameron couldn't believe there's never been a black president. He went on to discuss Martin Luther King and how he was a leader. Second, Cameron started questioning why there is a president and why our country needs one. I asked him what he thought would happen if his school didn't have a principal. We talked about leadership and oversight. Suddenly Cameron started wondering what would happen if skateboarders were all over the place and the president decided that the skateboarders could only skate at a park. I guess you had to be there. I was so amazed to watch him analyze what a president does and which man is the right person to lead our country.

Pretty amazing.

So I put him to bed. Right before I left him, Cameron begged me once again to tell him who I am going to vote for. I once again told him I wouldn't. Cam told me I was making him sad. My silence is driving him batty. Poor kid. I guess being a journalist's kid is pretty rough.

"He's got a strong foot"

My boy got props during his soccer skills during his game Saturday. I was pretty proud. For the first time, Mr. Cameron scored a goal. I was very proud. He's very proud. This was his third soccer game ever and he's starting to figure out his strength and finding ways to direct the ball. It's pretty cool to watch. What was even more fun was watching Cam celebrate when something went right with his team. I just loved it. It's thrilling to watch Cam play in a sport where he can feel really confident. Plus, he really gets to run and run and run.

After the soccer game we went to another football game. It was a little warm under the sun and Cam wasn't that interested since he had a big neighborhood birthday party to attend a little after the first half of the game. He had a blast.

I'll be honest. I'm exhausted. All of this running around for work and the additional running this weekend has left me exhausted. I took Sunday off to catch up on work and just not move around too much. Well, just not as much. Cam is on a quest to run or walk a half mile through October - it's a fitness challenge at school. So he and I are spending time walking and running together. He's got five miles down so far. Eight to go!

Cam's first soccer game (AKA I'm an official soccer mom)

Cameron had his very first soccer practice and game today. I told myself that Cam wouldn't play soccer... The stigma of soccer mom and all the other things that come with that. Not to mention watching soccer reminds me of how bored I was watching the games when my brother played when I was a kid. Anyway, I bit the bullet after Cam had so much fun playing with his team. I'm the official team mom which is kind of funny. I don't have to do much and I bought a big 2 gallon jug for water. To make it even cooler, I bought Spongebob Squarepants paper cups. The team was VERY excited.

Cam ran and ran and ran. He understand the importance of defense and BOY he was in the mix the entire time they ran up and down the field. He was disappointed he didn't get the ball enough, but I know he'll catch on in time. I was proud and I'm excited about our team. The parents are very cool.

How Cameron found out he was going to a Springsteen Show

Springsteen Revealed from NerdyMom on Vimeo.

First day of First Grade: "Awesome"

The day didn't start out as I had expected. It was wet. It was really wet. It was so wet even psycho-walker Mom decided that I should drive Cam to school today. Of course a lot of parents drove their kids to school today so considering where we parked, we half drove-half walked.

I took Cam to his spot in the gym where the kids wait for their teacher, gave him a big smooch and went back home to wake the girl for her day. I'm thinking positively about the school year. I think this is the year for the boy to relax, have fun and learn. If he lets himself learn how to relax, his enjoyment of everything will jump.

The best part of the day was when I was working late and I called to check on how Cameron's big day went. The very first thing he said was it was "AWESOME!" He met new friends, saw old friends and he has a new desk mate who doesn't really speak English. He thinks she's from Korea but doesn't remember. I challenged him to help her speak English and see if she can help him learn Korean. His first task: Learn how to say hello in Korean. I think that's cool.

Preview of the school year

So... I hate to be whiny. But Cam didn't get my dream teacher for the school year. I'll get over it. To add to the stress, his assigned teacher will not start the school year with her students because her husband is very sick. So I met the temporary teacher who was asked to come out of retirement. She spent 14 years teaching first grade at our school before she retired. I spoke to her about our terrible summer school experience and she looked me straight in the eye and said in the 23 years she taught, she never sent a student to the principal. I hope that's true. To me, that was a good start for the school year.

Cam and I had a good time together the last few days and I think we're headed into the school year with a good state of mind. We went to the local indoor play place yesterday -- he ran around and climbed and had fun. Then we played in the arcade area - I've never spent money on arcade prizes before so he was really excited. He also had a great time playing with another neighbor kid who was out of town all summer. I think I convinced his mom to let him join us in our daily neighborhood-wide walk to school. The more kids, the more fun the walks!

By the way -- that's a picture from our big hike over the weekend. I just think it's sweet and worth posting.

Let the countdown commence

The boy and I have spent A LOT of time together since he isn't in school yet and hasn't had much scheduled in his life. But I'm starting to figure him out.

First - I need to take advantage of his interests. He really likes superhero/science fiction stuff. So this week I bought Cam a Star Wars Clone Wars book that's about the movie that came out this weekend. He read the entire 24 chapter book on his own!! He also read it in two days. Did he totally ingest everything he read? No. But he did get the gist of the story line. It was pretty amazing.

I took the boy to that movie today -- He was SO into it. Star Wars Clone Wars was created for six year old boys. It wasn't a challenging plot, it wasn't that bloody or gross -- just a lot of red vs. blue. I also think he really appreciated the one-on-one time. It was really funny when he needed to go to the bathroom. We RAN to the bathroom. BOOKED to the bathroom. It was so funny as we washed hands and ran back. We almost ran down a mom and her little kids as they were walking out of the theater.

Second - I need to get Cam out and playing with other kids more often. I'm lucky he's had a neighbor up the street who is fun, sweet and a buddy. He goes into Kindergarten this year so the boys will see each other at school. Cam is so much happier when he gets to hang out with kids every once and a while.

Third - My boy has a lot of teeth moving around in there. I need to give him a break every once and a while and wonder if he's in pain. He's had some headaches lately and his teeth are super sensitive. He's going to be okay. Thank goodness for Motrin.

It's been challenging to have Cam everywhere and all the time... But I know I'm going to miss having him around. He's a really sweet guy. A really sweet, emotional guy.

Vacation memory: Skipping rocks Part 2

Here's a cool moment with my Dad and Cameron during the big rock skip lesson:

Skimming the day away

Cam, Jordan and I had a great time hanging out this afternoon... I had a long split day at work so I spent the full afternoon playing. The weather is pretty close to perfect for playing outside. I pulled out the skim board pool and watched the kids go crazy. I love watching them giggle and splash. So, this is a quick moment to show you how Cam is figuring out his skim board. Very cute.