new words!

yes, i'm a blogging fiend today. trying to make up for my MONTHS of neglect on this thing. so, new words camden says:

WOW (yes, caps are necessary here)
uh-oh
ball
car
turtle
no (i've only heard it a couple times, which i think is a good thing!)
yes (sounds more like "yeah" but he's trying)

and ones you have to decipher:

doh-da = toy story
rhy-sh = raisin
coco = uncle

it'll be great when he starts saying crazy sentences like "mama, coco no doh-da. rhy-sh?"

veggie tales

i'm trying my best to get cam to eat more vegetables. he's not having it. i've been making him these cheese broccoli bites that tastes more like cheese than broccoli so that's the only thing he'll eat that's not a meat, starch or fruit.

one of my baby hui mommy friends suggested putting zucchini in muffins. genius! so, i found this zucchini orange muffin recipe that's awesome. cam loves it and yay! a new veggie. i also decided to finally try and make sweet potato fries since cam won't just eat potatoes on his own. found this recipe for it and he loves that too! two for two. i'm on a roll :)

emi and camden

took camden and his cousin, emi to the playground today. they both just loved it and cam was even mad when it was time to leave. it's so great to see them play together. now that camden's a little older, i think emi sees him more as a playmate than a nuisance. haha. she really takes care of him like a big sister and it's so cute. i can't wait til cam starts talking. that's when the fun between the two of them will really begin. i can just see it now..."no, that's MY toy!" ... "no, mine! i had it first!" ... "moooommy!!!" heart.

here's some pics from their time together today. no doubt, camden loves his cousin!

more of 'how cute is my son'

he's very into sitting in his toy bin at the moment.


my lunch date.


stickers!


can you guess where i am? :)

sick, sick, sick.

march has been a rough month. camden got sick at the beginning of the month, followed closely by me coming down with a nasty cold that is STILL lingering. camden's illness started with conjunctivitus. he had mucus coming out of his eyes but they never did get pink. but i took him to the doc to get eye drops and then disinfected practically everything he touched. putting eye drops in his eyes was a blast, btw. camden would shut his eyes as tight as possible, thrash around and turn his head from side to side so it's pretty much impossible to get a drop in. the first few times i held his arms and legs down with my legs and then tried to pry an eye open and quickly get a drop in. mind you, all the while camden is crying bloody murder. our neighbors probably thought i was abusing him. the doc said to give him the drops 4 times a day at a minimum. what??? you gotta be kidding me. i then opted for just putting a couple drops on his eyelids and just hoped some of the medicine would somehow get in his eyes. seemed to worked cause the mucus stopped. but then his congestion, fever and cough kicked in so that led to sleepless nights on all fronts. it seriously was like having a newborn back in the house! let's also not forget that i am now sick with crazy congestion and a killer cough. not sleeping then gave me the worst sore throat ever, prompting me to go to the doctor myself. he gave me antibiotics which were like a gift from the heavens. they made things better but 2 weeks later and my sore throat is returning! die, superbug, die!!

camden, thank goodness, is better. his fever broke after a few days of fighting him to take his tylenol drops (what else is new?) but then the hives set it. yes, that's right...hives. he'd break out in hives after his afternoon nap every day for 4 days straight. the doctor said some viruses just have hives attached to them and there's nothing you can do but ride it out. poor camden. :( here he is sick, wanting to do nothing but watch elmo all day long. he was a trooper though and is now back to his usual, happy self.

but mommy and baby sick at the same time? definitely not a fan.

camden's first crush

the cutest thing happened today. we were at kahala mall to meet the lady who makes these awesome it's mine baby blankets and after cam devoured some sweet potato fries at the counter, he was running around the mall having a blast.

that's when cupid struck. a cute little girl a little older than cam walked by with her mommy and twin brother. at first, i didn't realize that cam had fixated on her. we were walking in the direction of our car but when the little girl turned left, cam went after her. it wasn't until i called after him 10 times telling him he's going in the wrong direction did i figure out that he was walking with purpose. the little girl was a good distance away when the light finally went off in my head.

"cam, do you want to play with that little girl?" i asked.

he nodded vigorously.

"oh, well she's far away. wave bye to her," i said.

he immediately waved in her direction. now when i ask cam to wave at people, it's a crap shoot whether or not he complies. he usually does it for people he knows, but strangers? usually not. that's when i knew he really liked her!

the girl was outside of cpk with her mom and brother. they were looking at a menu and i felt bad for cam that he really wanted to go see her. plus, i was intrigued by this whole thing and wanted to see what he'd do. so i told him, "okay, well she's standing outside the restaurant so if you want to go see her, you can."

he practically RAN over to her. SO CUTE!!

i walked a little behind him as we approached the family just to see if cam would really go right up to the girl. he slowed as he reached them but definitely walked up to her and stopped about 2 feet away.

i told the mom that he really wanted to play with her and she and i chatted for a bit. her kids were twins, 23 months old. the little girl's name was sadie.

camden stood by her but not too close, suddenly shy as i told him to say hi to sadie. after a few minutes i said, "okay, well we gotta go. want to give her a high five?"

he went to do so but sadie wasn't interested. poor camden!

i took his hand and tried to pull him away back toward our car. he protested by whining. i told him we had to go and to wave bye to sadie. he protested again. finally, i had to pick him up and carry him away as he waved goodbye over my shoulder.

halfway down the hallway back to the car, he squirmed and wanted to be put down so i plopped him on his feet. and you'll never guess what he did! he laid himself on the carpet of kahala mall because he did not want to leave!! he literally lay there on his back looking up at me. i have NEVER seen him do this and i must say, it was so sweet because i knew it was for sadie.

i had to distract him with my camera and carry him all the way back to the car just so we could get out of the mall. my little man's first crush! cutest. thing. EVER.

who knows? maybe soulmates are real. and if he ends up marrying a girl named sadie, there will be no denying it.

checkmate.

feeding a toddler is like chess. you need a strategy. you need to outsmart your opponent (aka your kid). you need multiple players (food groups) to make its way across the board only to get knocked out by said opponent. it's a game and a constant battle all rolled up into one.

luckily, cam is a pretty good eater. he's usually not too picky but he does have days where he refuses to eat what i offer him and other days where he devours the same foods he refused just the day before.

but there is a strategy to feeding my son.

you have to offer him a number of different items. you never know what he's gonna like on any given day.

if you put too much in front of him at one time, he's overwhelmed and just starts throwing stuff around.

if he's eating something with vigor, but you mention something else, he will now ONLY want what you just mentioned. like today, cam was happily eating his fish, which i wanted him to eat. then brian comes along and goes, "cam, do you want noodles?" great, daddy. now all cam wants are those unhealthy noodles even if he has half a bowl left of fish that he was blissfully enjoying just 2 seconds ago.

and of course to top it all off, feeding is a completely messy experience and i feel bad for the clean up crew at restaurants. i think more food gets on the ground beneath his highchair at those places than in his mouth.

here's a list of the foods he likes at the moment. not that anyone reading this cares all that much, but it'll be nice for me to look back and remember it later on:

• chicken. he will eat chicken made in pretty much any way imaginable.
• oranges. his favorite at the moment. he can eat a whole orange PLUS other foods for a meal.
• pears. if it's ripe enough, he loves them. if it's not, he turns it away.
• bananas. loves them until i give it to him too much and then he's sick of them.
• tofu. if it's prepared with soy sauce, ginger or miso, he's all over it.
• purple sweet potato. LOVE.
• broccoli cheese nuggets. a recipe i found on wholesome baby food. it's how i hide that dreaded broccoli and it works!
• peanut butter sandwiches. he has mommy's genes! not allergic and can eat an entire sandwich.
• cheese puffs. a bunch of different "toddler" brands are available but basically it's just baked cheetos if you ask me. he gets it as a treat sometimes and loves the stuff.
• any kind of meat. he is daddy's son. this kid is a carnivore for sure.
• eggs. he loves eggs. maybe because i ate a ton of it when he was in the womb?
  
• fish. he really really like fish. it stinks up the house, but at least it's good for him.
• noodles! he will eat any and all kinds of noodles. no matter what.
• cream crackers. i'm sure these are not healthy for him at all, but he asks for them constantly.
  

on his dislike list?

• vegetables. i need to figure out other ways to hide veggies. i try to give him cooked carrots, peas, beans, etc. no such luck. i did get him to eat green peppers that were hidden with his tofu once. maybe i should try that again...
• asian pear. brian and i think they're delicious but cam does not agree.
• mushrooms. he doesn't seem to be a fan.
• cabbage. unless i stuff it in his mouth with some noodles, he won't eat it.
• applesauce. this is a crap shoot. some days he loves it, others he hates it.
• muffins. some days, love. other days, eh.
• grapes. i try and try to give them to him and he just does not like them.
• strawberries. same as grapes! not having it.
  

let the games begin!