the opihi phase

for those of you who don' t know, an opihi is a small, snail-like creature that sticks to ocean rocks. it's also a cute term for "little one" since opihis are so tiny. hence, camden's current stage of being incredibly clingy to mommy has been coined the "opihi phase."

and an opihi he is. the last couple of months, he's become very shy around people he doesn't see often. in fact, he's pretty much shy around everyone except mommy, daddy, grandparents, uncle dave and emi. everyone else, he takes a good half hour (at least!) to warm up to. if he sees you more often, the time period is less but if you're a stranger? forget about it. this kid won't give you the time of day. he'll see you, run to me and grab onto my leg, hanging on for dear life.

but this opihi thing doesn't seem to only apply to strangers. sometimes, it applies to daddy. recently, cam's being doing this thing where if daddy's around, he ain't having any of brian. he only wants mommy. sometimes, he even wants grammy, gramps and uncle over daddy. poor brian. i don't know if it's because brian's away at work all day and cam is mad at him for being gone? brian seems to think that's what it is. makes sense, i guess. i do know for fact that camden really loves having both of us together with him. he'll start chanting, "mama, dada. mama, dada" over and over again. so perhaps he does resent brian because he's not around as much. can kids be that smart this young and unconsciously be punishing daddy for working? scary.

people say it's a phase and it'll pass. i sure hope so! i try my best to bring him around a variety of people and have been trying to have him play with other kids more often. there's a bunch of great, free activities nearby on the weekdays. bunjie the clown at the town center on mondays and keiki club at pearlridge on tuesdays. there's also tiny tots tuesdays in mauka. hopefully he won't be an opihi much longer. i want him to be more social!