1. We had a lot of fun over the July 4th weekend. Spent time with friends and family, ate good food and had a generally full but low key weekend.
2. Lily has started to notice boys lately. I’m not sure whether I think this is cute or scary. She seems to have a thing for NASCAR drivers so we’ve got that going for us. She’s told us more than once that she “likes his face” in reference to a couple of different drivers and recently told me that she liked the way a couple of boys looked. I asked her what she liked about them and she said that “they look cool like the race car boys.” *groan* I was hoping we had at least a few more years before she became boy crazy.
3. In other very interesting news…we got a window air conditioner for our play room. The room is above the garage so it just doesn’t say as cool as the rest of the house. Wouldn’t really be a big deal except our treadmill is in that room and it gets quite steamy when you’re doing a workout with the door closed. Now we can turn on the window a/c while we’re exercising and keep it nice and cool.
4. Cam is so in love with his Batman and Superman jammies that I’ve started doing a load of laundry mid-week just so I can wash them and not have to fight with him to wear Buzz Lightyear two nights a week.
5. Jason and I are having a date night on Saturday and we’re going to check out this Brazilian Steak House place. Apparently there are guys walking around the dining room with swords filled with various types of meat. There is a dial on your table that you turn to green when you want more meat to be delivered. You turn it to red to say, “Whoa! That’s enough meat for now!” Then back to green, and so on. I’m not usually much of a meat person but I fully expect to have a meat hangover on Sunday.
1. Cameron always, ALWAYS wants to listen to ‘Rock and Roll All Nite’ by KISS and ‘Ruby’ by The Kaiser Chiefs. It’s OK by me if I never hear these songs again.
2. Lily has taken to chewing on her hair. I’ve threatened to shave it off.
3. I’m convinced they are the slowest eaters in the world. It routinely takes them upwards of 40 minutes to eat breakfast. This leads to lots of nagging and unpleasantness every morning as we try to get out the door to work.
4. Cameron can’t just go to bed at night. He’s often up in 5 – 10 minute intervals at least a couple of times after we tuck him in.
5. Lily must be channeling her adolescence because the girl is so very sassy sometimes. This, of course, lands her in trouble for making nasty faces to us and THEN when we follow through on punishment she tries to back peddle and swears that she’ll be good. Too late sister! You should have made that choice when I asked you the first time. So, we do this song and dance for a few rounds until she’s ready to accept our terms upon first offer. It’s exhausting.
1. Internet, 1: Melissa, 0. Yeah…so, Cameron has decided that he no longer wants to go potty by himself. Little stinker. He’ll be grabbing and dancing around and OBVIOUSLY have to go pee yet he will insist “all long day” that he doesn’t need to go. When we finally convince him that he does need to go he’ll refuse to go unless he help him. We’re trying to get away from helping him but he seems to have different plans. Considering starting a sticker chart for him again to get over this hump.
2. When we disagree with him or tell him not to do something his reply is often, “No, Mommy! I don’t like those words!”
3. He got a buzz cut a couple of weeks ago and it turns out he has a double cowlick. That helps to explain why his hair always has a really thick patch on the top. Now that he’s buzzed he has a little ridge between the cowlicks, ala a Rhodesian Ridgeback!
4. He has a big time superhero obsession right now. The Batman and Superman pajamas we got him a couple of months ago were our best and worst purchases ever. Best because it’s easy to get him dressed for bed. Worst because he pretty much refuses to wear anything else. He also tells us, “You can call me Bat-Cam.”
5. “Mommy! I have a dood idea!” “What’s your good idea, buddy?” “My dood idea is…” Love this!
1. Lily has been using her big girl booster seat in the car instead of the 5-point car seat. She is completely blissed out about this! As soon as our car is in park she unbuckles the seat belt and hops out of the seat with a huge smile on her face. She also loves that she can lean up and hand us things.
2. Cameron is still getting used to the whole big boy bed thing. Even before the new bed he had started resisting bed time. He tells me, “I tan’t, mama. I tan’t go to sleep. It’s too tricky. I want you sleep wif me.” He’s usually pretty content after a few songs in bed though and we don’t usually see him again until around midnight when he comes groaning into our room. I am going to stand strong and continue to take him back to his room and lay down with him in his bed instead of pulling him into our bed. His bed is actually pretty comfortable as long as there is an extra pillow in there for me to use. So, I take him back to bed and lay with him for awhile until he falls asleep. Sometimes I fall asleep too and then sneak out of his room the next time I wake up. He usually comes back to our room around 5:00 so back across the hall we go until morning. It’s doable. Not perfect, but doable.
3. I am very frustrated with these running injuries that are plaguing me right now. First the shin and now my knee. My left knee was really sore during the last 6 miles of the marathon in January but felt pretty good since then. I ran for the first time since the marathon last Monday and had to stop after 2 miles because of my knee. It started to get stiff at around 1.5 miles and I finally called it quits a half mile later. It was sore for another day but hasn’t felt too terrible since. Dr. Google tells me that I’m suffering from illiotibial band syndrome which is a common runner’s injury. I understand that it’s also a difficult recovery. Super.
4. I’m really itching to do some home improvements. I think my main goal is to plant a tree in our back yard to help with shade in the evenings. Our back yard is like the surface of the sun in the evenings and it really just plain sucks. I want to plant a big ‘ol shade tree back there. Next up would be the kitchen counters and adding hardware to the kitchen cabinets. A new kitchen floor would be nice too. My BIG house project is gutting and renovating our master bath but I’m doubtful that will ever happen.
5. Hey! It’s Friday! Date night with my hubby tonight and then it looks like it’s not going to be absolutely freezing all weekend!
1. He likes to sing his bedtime songs in a silly voice. Sometimes warbly, sometimes growly. The best is when he starts to giggle while he’s doing his silly singing! On a related note…he only likes me to sing silly for a few seconds. Then he says very seriously, “No Mommy. Sing Twinkle.”
2. We have a Ralph’s World CD that we listen to every. single. day. on the way to and from day care. In one of the songs Ralph sings about putting a skunk in swimming trunks. Every time he hears this Cam says, “Skunk in trunks? Whaaaatttt? That’s silly!”
3. In the spirit of Halloween he has decided to ‘be a ghost’ several times a day. He does this by pulling his sleeve over his left hand and rocking side to side while moaning, “oooohhhhh.” It must be the left sleeve over the left hand and the ‘ooooohhhhh’ must be done correctly or it’s not a valid ghost in Cam’s mind.
4. His recent language explosion has really opened up some comedic possibilities for him. Lily called him a stinker the other day and he fired right back, “I not stinker! YOU stinker!” Now he goes around calling everyone ’stinker boy’…we’re working on curbing that little bit of fun.
5. He has started looking for monsters anytime he can get his hands on a flash light. We often hear, “*gasp* Monster in my frib (crib)” or “Monster on my head” I was sitting outside with him one day a couple of weeks ago and he saw monsters in the flowers, on the truck, on the house, by the ball, etc. My best was “Monster on your nose! Nooooo! That’s silly!” The good thing is that he’s not scared of these monsters. He just does his ‘go away monster’ laugh that he perfected at King’s Island a few weeks ago.
In some ways I feel bad because it almost surprises me when I realize that Cameron is a really funny and silly little boy. It’s like I should already know that and just expect it of him rather than be floored when he cracks me up. I guess that’s just part of getting to know their personalities.
1. Mickey Mouse: Chewing on his nose
2. Monster trucks: See birthday video below
3. His Mama: Until very recently wanted nothing to do with Jason between 7p and 7a. Now he allows him to play ‘monster’ while he’s getting his jammies on.
4.Watching the Dream Along with Mickey show (aka: Dreams Come True): For a couple of weeks he begged for this every day. He even sat quietly for a hair cut while this played which was a first! He MUST have the sword and wand that they got from Cinderella’s Royal Table breakfast during our last visit to Disney World. The bad news: BOTH of those toys broke last week and are sitting on the kitchen counter along with about a dozen other toys that need some kind of repair. Need to get out the super glue soon and get to work.
5. Asking “Wah dooooin’?” (What are you doing?): I love this! If one of us leaves the room he’ll ask, “Wah Daddy/Mommy doooin’?” or “Where Daddy/Mommy do?” So cute!
