All About Camden

Poor Dude, always in Big Sister's shadow. Well today he gets his own post!

I have been keeping a running list of all the cute and funny things he has been doing for the past couple months, because his budding personality is emerging and he is changing from week to week.  

Here's what I've got so far:

1. Makes animal sounds. Back in February when I started my list, Camden would insist that all animals made the monkey sound ("Ah ah ah!").  Now he has added a few more to his repertoire: Cow - "Mooo," Lion - "Rar," Kitty - "Mao," Doggy - "Fff Fff,"  and my favorite, Bee - "Bzzz," which he does while tickling his own tummy, as I taught him this one while tickling him.

VIDEO: ANIMAL SOUNDS

2. Forces you to read to him.  This kiddo loves books. He routinely pulls all the books off the bookshelf and sits down in the middle of them and reads quietly. However if one of us is in the room sitting on the floor, he will select a book and then walk backwards until he plops down in a lap. 

And if you happen to be lying on the floor, he might just back up and sit on your face.

3. Slams a book closed when it is over (or when he has had enough), and says, "EE  EHHH!" (The End!).

4. Has a zero tolerance policy for dolls in strollers. He likes to push Avery's little baby doll stroller, but if one of us places a baby in the stroller, he will yank it out and throw it on the floor, then proceed on his walk with the empty stroller.

5. Flirts and then gets shy. Each morning the teachers at Avery's school say, "Hiiiiii Camden!" and he smiles and then puts his head down and covers his eyes with the backs of his hands. He also does this shy routine when asked to blow a kiss to someone.

6. Lets you know when he is done eating by pushing all the food off the high chair tray.  He is slowly getting better about not doing this, but if we leave him in his high chair too long, he shows his disapproval by swiping everything onto the floor. 

Of course once we set him free, he beelines over to Avery's table and starts picking food off her plate like a vulture. (He's been in this habit since he first learned to walk, as seen below)...

7. Says "eh eh eh" and points like a caveman to tell you that he wants something. He knows quite a few words now, but if the desired object is not in his vocabulary, you just get this grunting to give you a clue.

8. Says "Uh-oh." He mostly uses this word properly, like if something spills or falls. But when it's funny is when it's a preemptive "uh-oh." Like the "uh-oh" he says right before he chucks his sippy cup out of his crib. Or the "uh-oh" he issues while hitting Josh when getting buckled into his carseat, knowing he is about to be scolded.

9. Josh will play a game with him called "What tickles more?" and then give him two options (i.e. Does THIS tickle more, or does THIS tickle more?).  When the game is over, Camden will say "Mo? Mo?" (More) and try to tickle himself.  

10. Loves bath time and teeth-brushing time.  As soon as he hears the word "Bath," he will run to the base of the stairs and point up towards the bathroom, shouting "Ba! Ba!"  

When it's time to brush teeth, he says, "Teeee!" and will again point towards the bathroom. Josh will sit him up on the counter and he will open his mouth and say "Ahhhh!"  And then shout "Momo!" at his Elmo toothpaste. Avery used to scream and fight us when we would brush her teeth at this age, so this is a welcome difference between them.

11. Loves music, and loves to dance. Sometimes we will just put on the stereo when we get home, and let the kids dance around in the living room. If he hears a tune or a beat, he will start moving. Even if it's coming from a musical greeting card.  And his dance is awesome. It's so gangsta. We call it the "Limp Walk."

VIDEO: CAMDEN DANCING

12. When he gets excited about something, he will screech, "Dih Dih Dih Dih Dih Dih Dih Dih!" and run around. I hear this one a lot when I arrive to pick him up from daycare. Sometimes he gets so excited that he flings himself on the floor while still screeching this noise.  Sometimes James will copy him, and other times the kids will just stare at him like the crazy man that he is.

13. Somewhere along the way, he confused me saying "no" with me saying "nums." So if he sees me eating something, he will say "naw?" and shake his head "no" at me. But what he really means is "nums," and he wants a bite. There were many days of frustration on his part before I finally figured this puzzle out.

14. Says "Niiiii, niiiiii" when he sees the cats. This means "Nice, nice," because that is what we tell him when he tries to touch them. He used to say "Niiiii" while hitting the cats, which was sadly funny.  He has improved on his cat-petting skills in recent weeks, and now Piper will reluctantly let him approach her. She will even tolerate him give her slobbery kisses on her fur sometimes. (The other two cats still hate him).

15. Thinks that the only person who rings the doorbell is Gammy. This week, there was a doorbell on TV a couple times, and he started shouting "MAMMY!" and ran to the front door. He was pretty confused when I tried to explain to him that she wasn't out there.

16. Has a growing vocabulary. A couple months back, I wanted to make a list of all the words that he can say. But by the time I got started, he was saying too many words to count and adding new ones every day. So I gave up. But a couple of our favorites include "Di-door!" (dinosaur) and "Tuh!" (stuck). Which brings me to....

17. Everything is stuck. All the time. If he can't open a lid, or operate a toy, or climb off the couch, he says, "Tuh!" to let us know he's "stuck."  And the most hilarious example of this was when he rolled himself over a ball and got "tuh" against the bookshelf, with his arms and legs unable to reach the floor.  I am so glad that Josh was a heartless enough parent to get an awesome picture of this before he helped Camden get UN-stuck.

18. He throws tantrums. Ok, so this one isn't really funny or cute. I hate his tantrums. He gets really angry really fast if he is not getting his way. He is extremely dramatic and emotional, to the point where I have actually considered taking him to the ER because he was screaming so hard I thought he was in pain. And then he will just switch it off. Literally in the middle of a psychotic tantrum, he will point at something and just start laughing or talking.  A perfect example of this happened twice this week. 

On Monday, after leaving him at Lizzy's house wailing his head off and reaching for me, I drove down the street feeling like the worst mom ever because he usually isn't that upset when I drop him off. No sooner had I gotten to the end of the block, and Lizzy texted me this picture:

Yup, that's him. 30 seconds after I left. Skipping/mocking me.

Similarly, on Wednesday, I had to pry a sobbing and clinging Camden off of me and hand him over to Lizzy. I got into my car once again feeling upset and stressed. And again, I had just turned the corner off of her block, and I heard a text message beep on my phone:

Seriously? I am so over these tantrums. 

But I do love that face though...