A pumpkin patch

Seems like going to the pumpkin patch is a great Fall activity for kids.  So when I learned of one around here that is free, including the petting zoo, I was super excited to take Camden.

He really liked running around the pumpkin enclosure.  Even after he tripped and fell over and bit his tongue.

I just think he's so darn cute!

Camden was completely enamored of the animals.  We got animal feed for 50 cents and Camden was enchanted that the goats would nibble his fingers.  He didn't quite understand that he should open his fist so they could actually eat the food.  Poor teased animals.

They had a pony ride, which did cost money, but my very nice friend surprised me when she bought a ride for her girls and for Camden.  He loved the ride and was crushed when he had to get off.  Fortunately, this place is wise and immediately offered a piece of candy (your choice) when the ride was over.  I was able to bribe Camden with a string of Sixlets, which lasted all the way to the car.  Hooray!  

All in all, a really successful time.  I'll probably take Camden there once a week next October.  

Too many words

Okay, so I didn't realize how loud Camden's regular voice is until today at church, during the passing of the sacrament, when my precocious little boy repeated several times "nakee".  Hopefully, other people are more reverent than I am - I had to seriously repress the giggles.

A year and a half!

Camden believes he is the best helper ever.  He also wants to do exactly what Mommy and Daddy do - put toilet paper in the potty (even if you are in the way), stir the pancake batter (and stir and stir and stir but never actually cook them), use knives and drills and MP3 players, and paint.  He is getting so tall that we are running out of places to put things so they remain out of reach.  Everything that can be child-locked is, but it's still insufficient.  He has discovered that even though the drawer won't open all the way, he can snake his tiny hand in and have access to lots of things!

Here are his current stats:
Weight:  22 lbs 13 oz,  14%
Height:   33.25 in,  78%
Head:     48.5 cm,  70%

So we have a scrawny, skinny, tall boy.

Camden is obsessed with climbing and being taller to reach more things.  He thinks everything squatty is meant to be a step-stool, whether it be his child-size chair or a box or a paint can or a laundry basket or a shelf.  He moves his kiddy-chair all over to increase access and to watch me cook.

He is just an adorable boy!  

He found Dan's fedora and loved putting it on, but I couldn't get a good picture and he was so darn cute!  He just kept running up to me or too far away.  I need a faster camera!

He is getting really proficient with talking.  When I am cooking, I mostly hear "like it! like it!" especially if he sees vanilla or sugar or chocolate chips.  He also says "hold you" a lot and please.  The other day he was sitting in his car seat babbling "tank oo" over and over.  It was so cute!  He sometimes grabs one of Dan's lunch bags, throws it over his shoulder and says "ready? car? go!"

Camden loves peek-a-boo games, but he only recently started covering his face with his hands to play.

Where's Camden?

Here he is!

This kid is a teaser too.  If I say "Camden, don't walk in the street," then he walks one foot on the curb, one foot on the grass.  And sometimes, he will do something naughty and look at me impishly, watching to see just what I'm going to do about it.  I thought this stage didn't happen til later!  More often though, he will barely obey and push the edge to see exactly where it is.  Since I'm not too sure myself sometimes, it gets tricksy!

Biggest frustrations lately

Okay, so life with Camden has actually been quite frustrating lately.  He has passed the phase where he wants to please Mom and Dad more than he wants what he wants.  I knew this day would come, but it's sure lousy!  The parts of life I dislike most right now involved putting clothes on Camden, changing his diaper, and putting him in the carseat.  For some reason, he has decided that these things are all too horrendous to allow and there is usually a great deal of wiggling and crying throughout.

Anyway, Dan found this video made by the relative of a friend, which adequately demonstrates what life is like now.  It's only two minutes, but it makes me laugh - it's so true!

18 Reasons not to have Kids 

But I have to say, these still aren't reasons not to have a kid.  Cause even though I'm annoyed and I don't know how to persuade Camden not to put his hand in his crotch when I'm wiping poop from his man-parts, and I REALLY dislike the battle to buckle the carseat --  Camden has the BEST belly laugh ever.  And he says "tank oo" and "love oo" and "like it" and is absolutely adorable in a hundred ways.  Plus, he gives hugs (if he's not busy doing something else or mad at you) and snuggles you for a whole second before getting back to pulling things apart.  Camden is a great boy!

Attention, everybody!

We have an announcement to make!  At the end of March next year, the number of children in our family will double.  Yes, we are having another kid!  And it looks like it will probably be a boy.

As great as our firstborn is, we are pretty excited for his sibling to arrive!

What I had for my birthday

Okay, really, it was just for dessert.  Not dinner.  And I didn't actually eat all that by myself!  Oh, but it was very yummy!  

In case you wanted to see that it is layered, with a chocolate-crushed-vanilla-wafer crust, a caramel layer (with toasted pecans on top), covered by delicious chocolate cheesecake.  I drizzled leftover caramel, melted chocolate and extra pecans on top.  

I had a lot of fun planning it out and making it, but tasting it was still the best part!

Camden update

Camden is now 17 months old, but in some ways he seems way ahead, especially in the tantrum-throwing department.  Either getting his way has become much more important all of sudden, or all the things he wants to do are not things I want him to do!  This leads to some frustrating times for both of us.  But he is also a darn cute kid and so fun.

Camden likes to read, or at least, have someone read books to him.  Mostly he likes to turn the pages and hear the same ones over and over.  

He's actually growing hair!  Dan says it is a mullet and we should probably cut it, but it curls a bit in the back and is quite adorable.  Besides, at this point, our kid won't hold still for a diaper change.  I suspect a haircut could be dangerous.

Camden LOVES going to the park.  I thought he was too little, but we started going a month ago and he wants to try everything.  

He likes climbing the big kid ladders, and he does very well, but I still like to stand there and hold on to make sure he doesn't fall. 

Slides are his absolute favorite!  And he is almost fearless, too.  Although the are a couple slides he will not go down a second time.

We went to the local bass pro shop and Camden liked these "toys" out front more than he enjoyed the aquarium and indoor pond of fish.  

 Camden is a copy-cat.  He wants to do whatever he sees other people doing.  Since he has seen us playing Wackee Six, he likes to play with cards and smack them on the table.  The carpet guy came last week to stretch the carpet.  Yesterday Camden was laying on the floor, stabbing the edge of the carpet with a fork.  If I am stirring a pot, Camden wants to do it too.

We had a family home evening about prayer a month or so ago and here is the result:

 Camden thinks we should pray a lot more!  Every time he sits at the table, every time we bring our plate to the table, before naptime, before bedtime, before Daddy leaves for work in the morning, and any other time he feels like it - Camden will clasp his hands and say "pray?"  It's awfully cute and a very good reminder for me!

Our boy just loves to be outside.  Unfortunately, whenever he is in the yard, he thinks we need to turn on the hose.  Which typically involves a good bit of drenching, me and him.  

Our son has become a parrot - he repeats the last word of just about everything I say.  Makes me much more careful about my final words!  It's so cute to hear him try to say what I'm saying.  Camden does know a lot of words though.  I started keeping track of words he definitely correlated to items or actions properly and he knows about 100 words.  He seems to pick up a new one every day.  His latest acquisitions are diaper, song, again, and watch, as in to watch what someone is doing.  He also knows things like cookie, poop, oven, noodles, rice, toys, chair, and sippy.

Things he says most often - "doin'"  as in, what are you doing?     "water" which he says ALL the time, and has even said in his sleep.  "Down" because he does not like being confined in his carseat, so a minute or two after beginning a ride, he starts repeating this ad nauseum.

Current Dislikes include:

• Diaper changes - I think he feels too busy to be interrupted for such inconsequential things as poopies on his bum.
• Clothes On/Off - Not sure if he just doesn't like to hold still for this, or if he feels undignified being manhandled in that fashion or what.  Hope this phase ends soon!
• Having his investigations cut short - he wants to figure things out and understand them.  You  know, stuff like the knife drawer and what the toilet handle tastes like and exactly what is in the garbage.  Some things I don't mind him exploring nearly as much, but there are times I cut short his fun and he isn't happy.
• Me doing things for him that he wants to do himself.  Like opening string cheese packages.  Eek. Who knew?
• Taking his binky and/or blanket.  Camden wants these with him all the time.  I didn't realize he had gotten so completely attached.  Not sure what to do about that.
• When I say bye.  He's a little sensitive about me leaving him and starts crying as soon as I leave or say I'm leaving, even if I'm just going to another room.  This is about the most effective behavior tool I have - when he hits me, I get up and leave the room and he is immediately contrite.  Or at least, upset.

Anytime Camden gets upset, the waterworks on come, the volume increases, and things go downhill from there.  I keep hoping his dreadful scream will evolve into some more pleasant expression, but that hasn't happened yet.  Anyway, it's not hard to know when Camden is bothered.  But he is a great boy and so cute!

The house saga continues

I am sure you all desperately curious to know:  Does the piering process ever end?  Do Dan and Miranda and Camden ever get to move back home?  What's happening?!!  I'll attempt to satisfy your rampant interest. 

Well, it took a week and a half to pier our house.  Camden and I mostly stayed with a friend, since I was a little nervous having Camden around holes he could fall into.  Plus, the interior piering process is not a particularly clean one.  

As the drill goes down, dirt comes up and pools around the hole.  Where this is enough dirt, it gets moved to the bucket, and the bucket gets dumped in their truck.  It's pretty noisy too.  Apparently, a couple of our piers went extra deep.

Most of the piers are in our bedroom.  Here it is, all ready to be lifted.  Each jack top was hand levered, a few at a time, til the floor was lifted up properly.

So we moved back home last Wednesday, after the foundation was lifted, but before all the holes were cemented back in.  I spent most of Thursday cleaning dirt from all the surfaces of our house.  I really dislike that gritty feel, even when touching the couch or cupboard doors.  I know, I've gotten prissier as I've aged.  So yeah, I wiped down EVERYTHING and vacuumed and mopped and organized.  I'm pretty sure most of the house hasn't been so clean since we moved in.  

Unfortunately we didn't get the carpet laid back down until Saturday.  Camden only stepped on the tack strips twice total.  Poor kid had to wear shoes all the time he wasn't sleeping.

Yesterday the plumber came to re-check our water lines to be sure they were not affected by having the house settle onto them or by drilling during the piering.  Unfortunately, it appears our drain pipes were affected.  Sigh.  So we have a more significant leak.  Now the plumber has to come back to find it and then come again to fix it.  Sigh!  I guess I am going to have to cut ice cream from our budget.