One Year of Sweetness

Loves: Dancing. I've got another musical baby on my hands. Camden sits with one leg bent in front of her, and one bent behind and bounces up and down. She also wiggles and does what I have dubbed the "shoulder shuffle."

She likes to spend some time each day stirring in her soup pot.

She also claps whenever someone else does, imitates any sound she hears, and occasionally grinds her teeth--which I'm not such a fan of. But, she also has a new habit of shaking her head back and forth which is super cute.

Hates: Camden had to share the spotlight this month with Wimbledon. Daddy and Witten were into tennis in a big way, and the time difference was perfect to allow even toddlers to watch Federer. All this was just to prep her for the US Open at the end of August, which we will also watch almost every minute of.

Diaper changes are taking too long for Camden these days, and several times she has rolled over and made a break for it! This comprises the entire list of the things she "hates" because she is the most amenable one year old on earth.

Somebody learned how to unscrew my mascara. And has apparently been watching as I apply my makeup.

New Tricks: SHE CRAWLS!!!! She can push from stomach to hands and knees, can go from hands and knees to sitting, and has even been known to kneel from time to time.

I cannot believe how fast she moves. I see her crawling, look away, look back, and she's across the house and getting into trouble. Camden has also pulled up to stand once or twice on furniture and parents, and is usually found sitting up in her crib in the morning.

This month also brought her first words: Hi and Dada. More often than not, they come in quick succession when Daddy walks through the door! She is a literary genius. (note--as I write this, we are halfway through August and Camden has added a few new words to her repertoire: wa-wa (water), kkkkhhh (kitty), and baby).

Theme Song: Baby Baby, Amy Grant

(note--this song is a classic that my Mom and I used to dance to when I was a baby back in the early 90s. And of course I now dance to it with my babies.)

Summer Sweetie

For just a minute, let's be in denial about what day it is and rewind to a month ago...

Loves: Camden is finally on the move and loving it!! (physical therapy for the win!) After a few times of stretching so far she ended up rolling tummy to back on accident, she finally got the hang of army crawling. Now nothing, nowhere, and nobody is safe! I actually have to baby proof the house now, which is a totally foreign experience. But I'm not complaining. 

Cocoa Beach, Florida

I don't want to touch the water...Just let me eat the sand.

Will does NOT like the beach, and he has passed this feeling to his children. Maybe someday we'll spend a nice afternoon building sandcastles and splashing in the waves, but not this vacation...

While we were visiting with grandparents and great-grandparents in Florida she would almost inchworm to try and get places, but it was a real struggle. Our final stop before returning home from vacation was a visit with family in North Carolina and she started to army crawl. When your cousin is holding a toy that you want, you have to make every effort to get there!

The Orlando Aquarium 

Touching an Anemone 

Hates: How can you hate anything when you can move across the room? Especially when your brother drops granola bar crumbs almost everywhere he goes. Heaven.

Futon sleeping at Grammy and Pap Pap's house

My champion road tripper!
His sister needs a constant flow of cheerios and ritz crackers to keep her happy.

Raleigh, North Carolina Temple

New Tricks: Camden learned how to point this month. Her great-grandpa, Yes Yes, also taught her how to wave and to clap while we were in Florida. She's such a talented young lady.

Fourth of July Sparklers 

Our little lady is rolling all over the place. She chews her toes and is rarely seen without two fingers in her mouth. When she is put on hands and knees she even rocks back and forth--we are sooooooo close to crawling!

100+ degree heat emanating off the tennis court surface?
That's where my kids want to hang out every day. Will passed that on to them to, and I love it.

Theme Song: Love Forty Down, Frank Turner

Stop Eating the Paste Special

I have a love-hate relationship with Pinterest, leaning heavily towards hate. I like the concept of a collection of really great ideas on so many different topics. What I do not like is the lack of organization, and the way things stack up on my boards without me doing anything with them. I have hundreds of pins for kid activities, interior design ideas, gardening ideas...And I have done none of it.

For several years I haven't even been spending any time on the website just because it feels so useless. But, I have decided on a new tactic. I am going to (slowly) go through everything I have pinned and actually try these ideas, deleting them as I go, because--let's face it--I don't really understand how that website works, and I'll never find these specific pins on my boards again anyway. If I like something I will preserve the idea in hard copy, because that's how I keep everything else in my life organized.

The goal is to do a couple of things, from various boards, each month and eventually have a completely empty Pinterest account within a few years. I get excited just thinking about it.

The first idea we tried was edible finger painting. You can find the original idea here.

Rice Cereal + Water + Food Coloring

Butcher paper taped to the floor

Camden immediately poured out all the yellow "paint"

Thank goodness it's edible!

The gorgeous final product.
I'm currently brokering a deal with MoMA for it's purchase.

Review: I wouldn't really call what I created "paint." It was just colored rice cereal. Maybe I got the rice to liquid ratio off, but it was more goopy than typical paint texture. And yet, the kids did not care a bit. They squeezed, squelched, tasted, rubbed, and "painted" for almost an hour! Basically, they had a blast. The butcher paper made for a relatively quick cleanup, and some wet paper towels took care of the rest. My one regret is doing this on the kitchen floor instead of the bathroom floor--holding Witten at arm's length to keep myself clean, then carrying him up a flight of stairs, and into the bathroom, is, surprisingly, not as easy as it sounds. But a quick rinse in the tub and both kids were clean and ready to go. It was a good afternoon activity. And, most importantly, it has been deleted from my Pinterest page!

Theme Song: Try Everything, Shakira

First Spring

Loves: Camden is turning into a little social butterfly! One of the highlights of her day is when Daddy comes home from work or tennis practice. She wiggles and smiles, and buries her face in my shoulder when the joy and excitement becomes too much to handle. Once she recovers, she's back to smiling and wiggling and chattering away. It is very sweet.

Witten is also an extremely important part of her life. Sometimes he will play peek-a-boo with her and she giggles almost uncontrollably. She may even laugh just because he walks by where she's sitting. He is also gradually coming to accept her increasing presence in his life, now that she's more vocal and mobile. He even likes to go into her room in the morning to say "Good morning, Camden! Have a good sleep?" (Side Note--Two is definitely my favorite age so far. Just about everything he does is the cutest.)

She is still such a happy baby. Smiling, playing, wiggling, splashing in the bath, "talking," life is just one big adventure!

Her easy-going nature has been a real blessing where the baby carrier is concerned. By eight months, Witten was done with being placed in the baby k'tan; it was just too constricting for his taste. On the other hand, Camden is perfectly content to be wrapped in it for hours at a time. She was quite happy, strapped to my chest, looking at all the people and trees along the tidal basin when we went to see the cherry blossoms this month. She is an especially happy camper when grocery shopping in the baby carrier. Witten sits in the grocery cart, directly in her field of vision, and she squeals and kicks with excitement the whole time. Hooray for big brothers!

Chilling in the Baby Carrier

Witten was pretty concerned about the noisy waterfalls in the FDR memorial.

"Wash DC," as Witten says, really wore them out

Hates: Mobility is a difficult thing right now. Camden is agonizingly close to crawling but still no forward progress and she finds it intensely frustrating. When she is on her tummy, she curls her toes under, rolls onto her side body one way and then the other, reaches out her arms, lifts her bum in the air...and she is no closer to her goal. Sometimes she pushes up on her arms with such force that she moves backwards, especially when she's on the kitchen floor, but that isn't her intent and it makes her angry. She is very good at rotating around at least, and can access a wide array of toys, and keep an eye on Witten, no matter where in the room he happens to be.

Showing off one of her new outfits that Granna made for her! And drooling. Always drooling...

Camden is also experiencing some frustrations around food. Lately Mom hasn't been quick enough to accommodate her when she decides it's time to nurse. Her mouth is open, and nothing happens for a full five to ten seconds. The horror!! As soon as the situation is resolved she is just fine, but it is one of the great struggles in her life right now.

As far as solids go, she is a champ. She has eaten every vegetable I have offered, as long as the puree is perfectly smooth. She insists on a silky texture and any time I have tried to add a few lumps to the mix she refuses to eat another bite. Girl knows what she wants.

Spinach, broccoli, and prunes. The dinner of champions.

We are on the cusp of Camden enjoying reading books. Sometimes she'll actually look at all the pages for an entire board book before getting distracted. She does still spend a lot of time looking at mom or dad as they read or grabbing at Witten. We'll get there.

New Tricks: Camden continues to experiment with her vocal chords and noise making abilities. She has learned how to blow raspberries and hums and "aaaaahhhhhhs" whenever she's playing with toys. She is also into growling--very low, guttural sounds that sound pretty funny coming out of her angelic face. Her tongue continues to be very important in her life, twisting and turning all day long. She has even started to "da-da-da-da" occasionally! Hooray for tongue control.

Witten's favorite quiet time activity

She has also made some impressive progress in the sitting up department. Camden's core is rock solid and I'm confident having her sit and play without a pillow to catch her. However, a few weeks ago there was one day where this became a problem. Camden figured out that she could fall back onto the pillow and then roll over to grab a toy she couldn't reach while sitting up. Then, one time I forgot to put a pillow behind her, and she slammed backwards. Poor baby.

The plus side of that incident is that she has learned a more safe variation. She falls from sitting to the side and slightly forward, landing softly on her tummy and forearms so she can get on with the important business of reaching whatever toy was previously inaccessible.

Tooth #2 popped through this month!

Camden is also improving her motor skills. She loves to wiggle her wrists back and forth, both while holding a toy and not, and I think it's vibrato preparation for when she becomes a concert violinist! She has also finally mastered passing a toy from one hand to the other, and remains a huge fan of banging two toys together as noisily as possible.

Her poor fingers are starting to scab from all the sucking.

Theme Song: April Come She Will, Simon and Garfunkel