the swiffer! i want the swiffer!

who the heck knows why, but cam LOVES the swiffer sweeper. after this little tantrum, i can no longer sweep in his presence cause he immediately wants the sweeper and gets pissed when i take it away from him. it's so interesting, the things kids want. if only i knew what he was thinking. i bet his inner monologue goes something like this:

cam: "man, that long pole things looks fun! mommy sure likes pushing it around the house. i want to do that! must. push. pole. thing."

me: "it's just a sweeper, baby. mommy needs that."

camden: "why are you taking it away? i just want to play with it! why can't i have it? why? i want it! i want it! i want it!"

crazy kid.

almost 14 months!

hard to believe, but in 3 days cam will be 14 months old! strange how time flies but moves at a snail's pace simultaneously. i know that makes zero sense but that's really what it feels like!

these days, camden's very into sesame street. he loves elmo and for some reason, cookie monster. he even says "cuh" when he sees cookie monster so i assume that's his attempt at "cookie."

he's running all over the place and follows me around the house. it's pretty cute but sometimes annoying, especially when i want to say, use the bathroom.

his new thing is taking small objects and either hiding them or lining them up. the other day, i found all his animal puzzle pieces in the compartment under the seat of the bike (altho B says it's not a bike cause it has four wheels. details, details). he also put all of our coasters on top of the dvd player. i had no clue for days and wondered where they all went.

and this one was the cutest. he started lining up his animal puzzle pieces on the ledge of his tent! haha.




here's some recent pics of our quickly growing little man:

Cam as Russell from UP

Funny how being a mom somehow makes me more into the holidays. Take Halloween for example (though not a real holiday, it sort of counts). Brian and I never dress up and haven't gotten into Halloween since college. But this year? I made Cam a costume and we even created lame costumes for ourselves. And after the trick-o-treating fun was over, I immediately started thinking of ideas for "family" costumes next year.

This year, Cam was Russell from UP. Why did I choose that? Well, everyone says Brian looks like Russell. Everyone also says Cam looks just like Brian. So if a=b and b=c then a=c, right? haha.

Here's the real Russell. And then Cam dressed up for Halloween. Not as extravagant a costume as it could have been, but I think the scarf pulled it together, no? :)

insomnia=more camden updates

Brian's snoring away and I can't sleep. Blogging it is. But, I'm too lazy to upload new photos of Camden at 11:00 at night. Boring, random bullet points are all I can muster.

• Cam now consistently says two words: mama and nana (for banana). He loves those nanas, I tell you. And even asks for them!
  
  
• His animal sounds have expanded in the last week to now include "ga ga" for turkey (gobble gobble) and "rrrrrr" for lion. He really growls when you ask him what a lion says. It's awesome. I think I need to see if I can get him to do all of his animal noises on camera.
  
  
• Without trying I somehow taught him to understand that mommy's the boss. In the last month, if Cam would do something I didn't like I'd say, "Who's the boss? Mommy!" in a very fun, excited tone. He thought it was funny every time I said it and would laugh. It became a game. I hadn't said it for awhile and then the other day I said aloud, "Who's the boss?" and Cam said, "Mama!"
  
  Agh!! This is obviously my new FAVORITE Camden trick. Now, at random times during the day I'll ask him the question just to hear him say that I'm the boss. It's better than making your kid go to the grocery store for you.

So good, in fact that I will put aside my laziness and upload the video of him saying it. So, here you go. Enjoy and goodnight!

more documenting of camden

I really need to start filling out an actual baby book in case my blog crashes or blogger somehow ceases to exist.

But, until I get off my lazy butt and pick up a pen, these entries will have to do. Here's what Cam's doing these days!

• Walking? Check! Walking on his own at 12 1/2 months.
• Pointing out body parts? Check! He knows head, nose, mouth, ears and belly. In both Japanese and English! For some reason he doesn't know eyes. I guess we didn't go over that one as much.
• Words? Check! Well, sort of. He says "da da" a lot when he wants something. Since it's combined with pointing, I know what he's asking for. I think he's trying to say "that, that." Like, I want that! He also says "mama" with more purpose. He says "duh" for duck. And of course still does his animal sounds -- moo, baa, quack quack, woof and his newest, cluck.
• Sleeping through the night? Check! (Man, I really hope I didn't just jinx his winning streak) Since we implemented the CIO training, Cam has slept through for 3 nights in a row! Woohoo! Crying it out WORKS.
  

Some of his favorite things at the moment include Elmo and the Sesame Street gang, Mickey Mouse, fans, his Kindermusik cds, turning pages in books, putting his hands in the water under the faucet, remote controls, cell phones and typing on the computer. I guess that tells you a lot about what he sees mommy and daddy doing! Oi.

He's a total social bug, especially if he gets to play with other little ones. He's wary of strangers though and takes a few minutes to warm up to them. But if he already knows you, he's a ham!

Can't wait to see what he does next! He really is the cutest thing ever. :)

it's great having photographer friends!

My Aunty Jenny is the bestest. She takes awesome pictures of me and captures great shots in like 2 minutes. All mommy can do is point and shoot. These photos on the other hand, are all fancy and fabulous! Here's my most recent pics.

Thanks, Jen!

this is my "i'm so innocent" look


hey, is that a bird?


tee hee hee


i'm a hunka hunka burnin' love!

rear-facing side or forward-facing middle?

Cam's finally outgrown his infant car seat and yesterday we upgraded him to the Britax Boulevard 70 convertible one. It's supposedly a top-of-line car seat and should be because it was not cheap!

It's convertible so you can put your child rear-facing up to 40 lbs and then forward-facing up to 70. They say if your child is 1 year and 20 lbs, by law, you can put them forward-facing but it's safer to keep them rear-facing for as long as possible.

But here's our dilemma. In my Altima, rear-facing in the middle seat (the safest place in the car) would not work. Brian spent 2 hours trying to install it so it's tight and flush, with no luck. The way the car seat is made, the clamps make it impossible to install snugly in my car. The seat ends up tilted to one side and feels loose.

So, we had three options:

1) Put the car seat rear-facing on either the passenger or driver side back seat. The issue here is yes, rear-facing is better but the side position in the car is worse. I want Cam rear-facing but don't feel comfortable having him close to the door where he can easily be hurt if we get side-swiped -- a common thing to happen if there's a car accident.

2) Put the car seat forward-facing but in the middle. Forward, the car seat installs great. And it's where is should be, in the middle back seat. And yes, Cam CAN be forward facing. But if we're rear ended or something, it would be better for him to face the other way so more than just his little neck absorbs the impact.

3) Buy a new car seat. Well, this would be ideal but I bought his seat on Amazon. I don't know how I'd return it without a huge headache. So, thanks for the great advice, car seat gurus. Send me a money tree with those words of wisdom and I'll happily comply.

So, what did we decide? Well, yesterday anyway....

...we put him forward-facing in the middle seat. I'm still a little concerned but on the plus side, Cam LOVES IT! Rear-facing, he's been crying and fussing while we're out cause I think he's bored and is done with staring at the back seat of the car. But forward? He was all smiles and even laughing up a storm!

Brian says we should factor "quality of life" into our car seat placement equation too. Cam happier during car rides makes for a less-stressed driver, and that's also a good thing. But, I'm still not 100% convinced. I'm debating putting him rear-facing on the side. He sure was being cute yesterday facing forward, though. Hmmm....what to do, what to do?