Lately

So, here's a glimpse into life lately.  I've kind of scaled back on doing stuff.  It feels like I am busy all the time without actually doing anything.  

But Camden is 22 months old today and here is a bit of what has happening with him.

We had a great rainstorm at the beginning of the month and we introduced Camden to puddle-stomping.  He was quite appreciative and enthusiastic.

He really likes wearing our shoes.  

It cracks me up when he puts on my ugly black low heel grandma shoes.

We've seen a lot of this expression.  Camden was sick a week or two ago and emerged from illness into a dreadfully obnoxious new phase of impressive temper tantrums.  He cries and screams and kicks and flails and hits and rolls around on the floor and will go on for an hour or more.  He will cry so long and hard that he speaks in a raspy voice the rest of the day.  But he definitely does NOT want to be consoled or held at all.  Oh, well.  Maybe this will pass quickly and he will have more coping skills when baby brother arrives in four weeks.

This is Camden's good buddy Hudson, who is just 12 hours older.  Hudson spent several hours with us while his mom had a baby.  Hudson was easy!  Camden was a bully.  But it went really well on the whole.

With the weather turning so warm, I took Camden to a fantasticly large park with some friends.  He had a great time.

This park had a couple of enormous slides.  Camden really liked this one, even though it was a little bumpy and required climbing up two flights of stairs.  There were two taller tube slides, but I was too weeny to let him go down and I was too scared to take my pregnant belly down them either.

Camden just wants to be a helper all the time.  He LOVES it when Daddy takes him out to the garage and let him play with tools, especially the drill.  Not sure how many screws he has stripped, but he has a really good eye for spotting all the places screws are used.

I have to add, though, that Camden LOVES to be a helper.  As soon as I say the word "helper" he will run to the dishwasher and open it and either pull dishes out or wait for me to hand him dirty ones to put in.  He helps gather the trash cans around the house on garbage day too.  He can be motivated to do things if you tell him it makes him a helper.  I love his helper heart.

So one night when I was away at meetings, Dan put Camden to bed here.  It went surprisingly well.  Only took 2 days for Camden to stop getting up at strange times of the night.  Took a little longer for him to do naptime in his bed instead of wandering all over the room.  I'm really glad to have this transition done though, because it will be so helpful after this new baby arrives (via C-section) not to have to lift Camden out of the crib!

Here is my handsome boy!  He loves pockets - he won't wear pants that don't have pockets.  I think he's finally discovered he shouldn't run with his hands in his pockets - after several significant face-plants.  

I love my boy!  He is no longer a baby and I love watching him grow and gain new skills.  He is always so proud of himself.  I wonder at what age it becomes obnoxious to see them so smug when they discover something new.  

Camden's First Haircut

 Well, Camden would have been the coolest kid in my third grade class, with the mullet he has been sporting lately.  When it's curly, it doesn't look so bad.  Usually though, due to the general wear-and-tear of the day, he ends up looking more Christopher Lloyd-ish (think  Doc from Back to the Future). 

So, since we were visiting Grandma, who has much better cutting skills than I do, a haircut seemed like a good idea.

 He handled it pretty well at the beginning.  Grandma handed him the really loud bell to ring and he was delighted.  And distracted.  Until he realized someone was pulling and poking at his head. 

That's when he started pushing Grandma away.  Unsuccessfully. 

 Which is how we got here. 

So some bribery seemed to be in order.  A little bit of white chocolate worked a wonder.

Sort of.  The soothing effects lasting the whole three seconds it took him to bite, chew twice, and swallow.  Then Camden was back to abject misery.  Fortunately, two chocolate bites and Grandma was all done with the trimming.  

You can kind of see the end result here.  Sad boy and a little less mullet.