Look Who's two!

Cameron turned two and we were all very excited to celebrate with him!

The kids lead the way with decorating the house the night before, so Cameron could wake up to birthday festivities.

We didn't have a big party, but we certainly made him our prince for the day. He even got a nice visit from friends. I don't know that any other 2 year old boy is loved quite so much.

Austin and Brooke helped decorate the cake for Cameron with farm animals and tractors, complete with a road made of smashed graham crackers.

Cameron loved it, in many ways. :-) He liked the toys enough that he licked them clean and the cake wasn't bad either.

In fact, Mommy made a teddy bear cake in addition to the other one, so there was plenty of cake to go around! Cameron was thrilled that he was allowed to eat it his hearts content, and he certainly did that.

We got Cameron his own scooter for his birthday and he LOVES it! He hopped right on and started scooting all around the house. He rides it all over the place and lately he even likes to give his toys rides on it with him. It's very cute.

Cameron has grown up so much this past year and developed into such a funny little guy. He's a great blend of cuddly and energetic, articulate and baby-talk, sweet and sassy. It has been such a fun time to watch him grow and learn. He's a full fledged toddler now and still makes us laugh out loud every day. He's adorable and wonderful and we all love him so much.

My favorite Cameron word that has come and gone this year is:

"wowie" = shower ( now he just calls it shower, and he really loves to take them)

We really love the way he will look at us with his trademark mischievous dimpled grin and turn his eyes up, looking to the side like he's planning something wonderful. It's hilarious and precious all at once.

We love the way he cuddles, and kisses and still rubs his belly when he says please("cheese.")

We love the way he says, "watch me dive" and then points his hands in front of him before he jumps off the couch.

We love his obsession with shoes and being outdoors, petting the cat, looking at birds or examining bugs.

I love how he snuggles up to stuffed animals and says, "awwww."

I love the gleeful smile that lights up his face when he comes aross his blankie. I love watching him snuggle up with it and giggle.

I love Cameron's emerging personality, indepencnce, and sense of humor. He is wonderful and precious and I'm looking forward to many more years of being his Mama.

Happy 2nd Birthday little buddy!

As an added bonus to our lovely Colorado trip, we got to celebrate Cameron's birthday again with family. He shared a celebration with his older cousin and had a fun time being honored and smiled at by everyone as he opened his gifts. The little guinea pig shown in the picture was a big hit. He still plays with it all the time. :-)

Happy Birthday Cameron! We love you!

So sweeet!

This morning John and I were laying in bed, 1/2 awake, waiting for the snooze on our alarm clock to go off again when we heard Brooke coughing. She has been getting over a bit of a cough this week and was having a coughing spell in her bed. We could hear her from our room down stairs and John had just commented to me that he felt bad for her.

Then we heard something else that immediately brought smiles to our faces. We heard Cameron, on the baby monitor. From his room down the hall from hers, he heard his sister coughing too and it must have woken him up.

He didn't cry though.

He just said, in his barely mature enough to pronounce words, sweet little concerned voice . . .

"sissy ?. . . sissy?" pause . . . "o-tay ??" (in an obvious question form.)

Then more of the same . . .

"sissy? awww, sissy. o-tay?" . . . "oh sissy, otay baby?"

Then he repeated his concerns for her until Daddy went upstairs to get him. Of course he wanted to go straight in to see his sissy for a snuggle. :-)

It was soooooo very sweet to hear him that John and I both woke right up and asked each other if we had heard it correctly. I guess if our toddler who can barely even put words together is showing such sweet compassion for his sister, we're doing something right around here. It was a happy parenting moment. I'm so glad they love each other!

Happy Singing Baby

Cameron loves to sing. He sings a few recognizable songs, but his favorite is "Twinkle, twinkle, little star." He sings, ok, hums, it randomly throughout the day every day. He sings it in the car, at the table, walking around the house. I grabbed a phone and recorded him in the car today. It's not the best quality, but I sure LOVE to listen to my baby sing to me!

Growing so fast

My baby can't be 18 months! Where did the time go? Cameron has really matured recently and is quite a little boy now. I have to do double takes all the time, because he seems to be more grown up every time I look at him. Not a day goes by that he doesn't crack me up. He has such a silly, fun personality. He is talking up a storm and says new words every day. My favorite word this week is, "YAY!" He has gone from just clapping his hands about things to gleefully shouting, "Yay!" when something makes him happy. It's very cute. This evening, I was getting him ready for bed and I asked him if he wanted to take a bath. He jumped up, clapped his hands and said, "Yay!" Then he grabbed my shirt and proceeded to lead me along to the bathroom. There he clapped and cheered while I got the bath ready for him. It's just one very cute example of why "yay!" is my favorite word this week.

Cameron loves lots of things. He loves to eat and still does the sign, which is so cute, especially since I know it will probably fade away soon, as "more" has, since he's learned to say the word. He loves to eat and will usually cheer "yay" when I get him something he loves.

Cameron loves balls. He loves to bounce them, throw them, roll them, toss them and kick them. Most of all though, he loves to stand at the top of the stairs and drop them down through the railing. This got to be such a favorite pastime of his, that I moved the basket of balls from the play room downstairs. Now they aren't so easily accessible to throw down consecutively. It's a cute game, but rather messy and sometimes dangerous. Yikes, watch out for flying balls!

Cameron loves his blankie!! I think it's safe to say that he rivals Austin with his adoration of the special blankie. Austin was a blankie baby, and Cameron has followed suit. He will lay on his blanket in the middle of the living room floor, or hug it in the car and he loves to caress it. He will rub his hand softly across the surface and smile at me. He just loves to snuggle his blankie and we almost always have more than one with us, because we have several to spare. Thank goodness! Recently, Cameron has started to say, "night, night" when he snuggles his blankie. We aren't sure if he's starting to call it that, or if he's just making the connection about snuggling with his blanket at bed time. Either way, it's very cute and I can't help but pick him up and join in the snuggling!

Cameron is a happy boy and likes lots of things. He LOVES certain things though and the top o the list is being outside. He will run for the door, front or back, at every opportunity. He absolutely loves being outside. He likes to pickup sticks and rocks and he loves to call our cat, Oreo. It's very cute to hear him say it. It sounds more like, "oowoh" but it's obvious that he knows the cat and loves him. He is very fond of petting him and is very gentle. Oreo doesn't run from him, so I guess he's doing something right. :-) Cameron loves to play in the back yard and here are a few shots of him having fun a few days ago.

Baby Talk

I just have to say, I LOVE hearing my little boy learn to talk. He says new things every day and it just brings huge smiles to my face every time! That little voice is absolutely precious. I love it so much and could listen to him talk to me all day long. This week the favorite words he's been using repeatedly are:

"ah - oh!" - said with a pointing finger at various items on the ground, or counter or elsewhere in the house, that he thinks are out of place.

"Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum" . . . in that order, until I answer him with a "Mama" and he grins at me and replies with, "Mum, Mum, Mum"

"Mi-ee." or "mi-ee . . . babble, babble." He has learned that when he wants something, he says, "mine" to tell us that he wants it. Or if he wants something that we took away, he says mine and then attempts to name the object. It is so cute to hear him making these little conversations with us. "Mine" is even cute for now, but I can see the future well enough that I don't encourage it, too much. :-)

"Mmmmmm" is now the favorite response to anything he eats that he likes. A few days ago he sat in his highchair with a spoon in one hand and a fork in the other eating lunch. He would take a bite, look up at me and say, "mmmmm," then take another bite. He did this the whole time he was eating. It was great entertainment for me while I did the dishes next to him! Who knew cleaning the kitchen could be so much fun?

My personal favorite is "shoooooo - shooo." It is said repeatedly in a sing song voice, as he walks around calling for his shoes, which he always wants to put on. He is under the impression that if shoes are on, we are going outside. This is not always the case, which is very disappointing to him. He LOVES to be outside.

It is baffling how much my baby has turned into a toddler recently. He's not just bigger, he understands and communicates with us and hangs out with the family just like one of the big kids. It's so fun to watch them grow, but "sigh," can't they stay small just a little longer?