When I was pregnant, we told our family by having Cameron say, "Mommy has a baby in her belly!" It was exciting for him and funny to see everyone's reaction. Unfortunately, I miscarried, but we never explained what that meant to Cameron. He's only 4 and I guess never fully realized what we were talking about. He never asked anything about the baby, but did continue to say occasionally, "I have a baby in my belly!" We just laugh, and sometimes I used to cry, but now we just think he's cute.

Cameron loves babies and is the most gentle, the most sweet, and the most adoring boy I have ever seen around them. Everyday I have to stop by the baby room at their school so that we can say hi. He comforts them if they are crying, plays with them and makes them laugh, and lightly touches their cheek or chin and looks at them lovingly.

The other night I was cuddling with Cammie in bed, and he said, "When I grow up, I'm going to have a baby in my belly." I explained that boys don't have babies in their bellies. He looked at me with a pained expression and repeated, "When I grow up, I'm going to have a baby in my belly."

"No, Cameron, boys can't have babies." And then his eyes squinched up and he looked like he was going to cry. "Cameron, you want to grow up and by like Daddy, right?"

"yes"

"Well, you can grow up and be a daddy like your daddy, but only mommies have babies. So one day, you can grow up and have a baby, but the mommy will have the baby in her belly. Just like Mommy had you in her belly."

That seemed to settle him...for the moment. Hard to believe I had that conversation with him, but anytime I lay down with him for a while before bed he comes up with some funny things to talk about. Sometimes we have science lessons, sometimes we just talk about the day, sometimes we talk about his friends at school and how they treat him. It's a very special, quiet time that he just opens up and talks about whatever is on his mind. I know it won't always be like this, but I am going to treasure it for as long as it lasts.

Cameron has always been a great sleeper. He wasn't one of those crazy, nice babies that slept through the night at 6 weeks (or 6 months) but he would go to sleep fairly easily and wake up happy. He has always taken great naps. He will even still indulge me with some afternoon sleep a few times a week. However, he has acquired that atrocious habit that most 4 year olds torment their parents with in the morning, "is it time to get up?" Although his statement is more like, "MOMMY! DADDY! It's time to get up!"

My mom came to visit last week and slept on the couch, which happens to be right outside Cameron's room. Now before you think I am awful for making my mother sleep on the couch, let me explain the set up. Then I'll get to the point--I promise. First of all, I have no guest room and it's a little bit more annoying than I thought it would be when we moved from our 4 bedroom house. My brother, his wife, and my baby niece were all crammed into Mikaela's room. They loved sleeping in a princess bed--and who wouldn't?! Mikaela slept in Cameron's room and my mom enjoys sleeping on the couch for two reasons. One: she gets a feather bed spread out over the couch and the ottoman so it's like a double, and then she gets the down comforter over her; secondly, Cameron comes out of his room and snuggles her in the morning. She particularly loves it when he touches her neck with his icy, cold fingers. She told me so. Don't cry for her, Argentina.

We started talking to Cameron about "when Mr. Sun is out then you can get up" because it's still dark here for some time in the morning. Cameron comes out of his room now and says, "Mr Sun is out--time to get up!" Or, "is Mr Sun out?" or "where is Mr Sun?" Now, I know there are remedies to this and I think I have heard quite a few involving an alarm clock and setting it for an appropriate time to get up...etc etc but I haven't gotten around to it.

But then I saw this: Good Nite Lite. It's a moon! and a Mr Sun! and it tells Jr when to get up...and it's $35!! yikes. But maybe Ya Ya would like to sleep in a little next time she visits?

Oh, and Kaela could use one, too.

While I can't believe Cameron is four...my sweet baby boy...at the same time I'm thinking, "finally!" Since he is in a mixed 3/4 Pre-K class he does many of the things that 4 year olds are already doing. He definitely shows his age and maturity in some social aspects and in his speech, but otherwise he's a pretty smart guy and keeps up well. He'll be in PreK again next year since his birthday is so late, but I'm glad that he has been given the opportunity to be with the older kids this year.

Cameron has always enjoyed movies, cartoons and characters, but he never really clung on to any of them as I have seen other kids do. This is somewhat a relief as we are not totally charactered out, but on the other hand it takes away the fun of, "look! it's ____!" That is, until recently. I don't know if he suddenly loves the movie, or the love of his cousin Mark who loves the movie, or the fact that everything you could possibly imagine is made in the shape or likeness of Cars, but he's got the bug! And I'm cool with that. This definitely was a Cars birthday (and Christmas). I'm actually going to have to watch and pay attention to the movie so I know who/what he is talking about these days. Ah, kids these days. LOL

... IDK...my BFF Jill? I love that commercial. Sorry if I lost ya on that one. But if I didn't, you are ROTF or LMAO. Or maybe it should be LYAO. Whateve.

Anyway, here it is--the party in all it's lovely craziness.

I am writing this as my 2 year old is screaming, “MAMA!” at the top of her lungs. It is 2:19pm—an hour and 19 minutes at least—after her nap time. I may lose my mind while I am writing this. OR, I may just transport myself to a magical land of writing where there are no screaming mini-blondes pleading for some inaudible wish.

As for the real reason for this post today…cupcakes! And no ordinary cupcakes at that—ice cream cone cupcakes! I am a proud child of the 80's where she who has the cool cupcakes is Queen of the Classroom. I have been waiting 25 years to make these bad boys, but feared the level of difficulty. Um, I don't know. I guess it's the fear of the unknown. Cammie turned 4 last week and I finally decided it was time. I may get some real appreciation from these 4 year olds--not like those 3 year olds who may not recognize coolness when they see it.

They were actually really easy to make and decorate. The problem lies in transportation--there's just no good way. If anyone would like to join me in reviving the coolness of these cupcakes and create an ice cream cone cupcake holder--I'm totally in.

It always starts the same way...

Me: Cam, what else would you like to eat? [after he has already eaten a day's worth of food for lunch]
Cameron: It's red and it has seeds and it is yummy

OR

Cameron: It has four sides and is crunchy and yummy

OR

Cameron: It's soft and gooey and yummy

OR

Cameron: It's brown and yummy

Me: Can you please just tell me what you want??!!!

At school they had the kids draw themselves. Now all he does is draw himself. We're going to lie and say that he drew a really cute picture of our whole family, but really they are all Camerons.

Invisible friends are almost a rite of passage through childhood. I personally, never had any but you know lots of others out there know what I'm talking about. But...what about invisible pets? And I haven't been able to pinpoint what a toe frog is, but I have a feeling Diego put him up to this.

First, I have to say "welcome!" to my friend Jenn who has started her own blog--yea! I'm begging all of my friends to start one--even if you only write once a week. It's a great way to keep up with each other and for me to continue to procrastinate everything else I should be doing.

NOW, for a little brag session...you know me, you know that I don't go on and on about how wonderful, brilliant, gorgeous, and talented my children are. Even though that is all true, I don't get much in the way of hard evidence to share with all of you. More often than not, the little fumbles we go through are much funnier than the successes. And more plentiful. However, I have to say I am shocked, stunned, and seriously filled with motherly pride from today's event.

This morning we were getting ready to head out the door, and Cameron looked at my shirt and said, "Guh, Ah, Puh" and then continued with "athletics" but I'll spare you the phonics version. I recently discovered that he not only recognizes all the letters of the alphabet, but he also knows the sounds each makes! Great, but today he actually sounded out Gap. HE'S THREE!! Being a teacher and a book lover, obviously I am overjoyed.

Now the funny: I never taught him a thing. Sure, we sing "ABC's" and read books before bed, but I'm a big believer in age appropriate learning and well, I think three is too early for most kids to read. Leave it to my kid to do the opposite. (Granted, he's not actually reading yet, but he's well on his way.) So, how did he learn all of this you ask? The dreaded TV. Yep, you got it folks--TV actually can be educational.

It's no secret--I love TV. At one point, I felt like I was watching too much and wasting my life away and decided to only watch shows that teach me something. Then I had to justify Grey's Anatomy, Notes from the Underbelly, and ER as teaching me social skills and relationship building...well, whatever. DVR rocks my world and now I have something that I want to watch when I am folding laundry rather than whatever crap is on daytime.

Enough about me, this is about my brilliant son. So, I shared this in my "check this out" section a couple weeks ago, but in case you missed it: Kids: To TV or Not TV? And here's what I think helped Cameron. Now that we live about 1/2 hour from civilization, I ask for a little peace in the car and occasionally turn on the DVD player. One movie that we keep in the van is Leapfrog's Letter Factory. It was a gift from my in laws and even though it's Canadian and pronounces "z" as zed, I like it. After realizing Cameron was actually learning from this video, we purchased Word Factory and Math Circus (you know, so he's not only reading, but also computing formulas) Cameron has always loved Baby Einstein and Little Einsteins, Dora and Diego, or anything on PBS. No, I don't plop my children in front of the TV for hours on end. If we happen to catch any of those shows at the right times then I might turn it on. It's not on a daily basis or any regular schedule--and I don't leave the TV running all day long. That's a personal preference; I have never been one to like "background" noise. If there is a show that I want them to see, I will DVR it and turn it on when I need a half hour to cook dinner or whatever. Especially recently, our favorites are Word World and Super Why on PBS. There are other shows that encourage reading skills, but these are the ones my kids like at the moment.

Hey, I'm not saying that any of this will make your kid read or that I feel every kid should watch TV. Kaela really isn't all that into TV, no problem. I'm just saying that my kid has given me a reason to shout from the roof tops, so I'm gonna. :)

Today my heart filled with pride and joy as my son, the difficult potty-trainee, not only stayed dry while we were out today, but told me that he had to go potty without being prompted! (FYI I went to the Outlet Mall, into Osh Kosh, Carter's, Old Navy and Gap and did not buy one single thing.) On top of that, he then stayed dry for his nap time. I know, I know...if I weren't a mother and going through it myself, I would think this is a ridiculous thing for someone to write about, let alone feel such pride. However, this is a skill that we have been working at for a very long time. Much longer than I care to recount. I had a plan for Cameron. I would not spend 6 months to a year potty training him, I would wait until I was "sure" he was ready and stay home for 2 weeks and get it done. Um, well, not even close. I wasn't ever sure if he was ready. He showed some signs, and showed some interest, but then he suddenly totally regressed. He wanted nothing to do with the potty and not because he couldn't, but because he didn't want to. I'll spare you the rivoting details, but it's been a long road. Now he has a definite routine with the potty, starting with the phrase, "Mom, I want to stand." As if I would protest. Go for it, kid! Just hit your mark, make the bubbles and we are all good. I don't know why he says it every time, but he does. We discovered yesterday that he LOVES marshmellows. We were using M&M's like everyone else as a reward, but I ran out. The only thing I could offer was a marshmallow...and a loyal, enthusiastic pee-er and pooper was born. He'll do anything for that darn marshmellow--even eat his dinner. I am going to bow down to the marshmallow god and celebrate with a couple of s'mores. (benefit of having a wood burning stove!) Tomorrow is his first day at his "new school" so we'll see how it goes. Keep your fingers crossed and pop a 'mallow!

I have to premise this post with this: I have no time for this right now. I have had a busy mom kind of day, the last few hours of which were spent holding my son while he puked all over me. I couldn't rip the clothes off my body any faster. And I'm the one who can stand the puke smell. I have to work tomorrow and teach a class that I've only taught once before...I could use some practice, but alas...I find it much more important to write to my adoring fans. All 10 of them. And three or four of those don't count because they are my family. They have to read my blog, or they have to deal with The Wrath of Melanie as it has been pleasantly dubbed. And that ain't pretty. I know, you are all very scared right now.

So here's what's prompting these thoughts. This post makes me thing of two things:

1. I love the smell of new books and new shoes. I don't know why, but I go around inhaling the sweet, sweet aroma of new books. And every time I buy new shoes, I find myself grabbing a shoe just as quickly as possible and shoving it into my face. (picture Molly Shannon doing the Superstar SNL skit) There's something so comforting, yet exciting to me about those smells. Maybe they remind me of starting a new school year, which was always something I looked forward to. I swear I'm not a total nerd. I think I would be appalled at a stinky book. However, I also enjoy the crinkly pages of a book that gets wet. Again, I can't explain my odd affinity, but I'm just putting it out there in case anyone else can relate to weird things like this....anyone....Bueller...
2. Smells...my mom wrote a post about this...isn't it funny how certain smells can take you back to a place or moment in time? I can't at this moment say anything nice like the smell of dill, but I know that when I smell stale, cheap beer I have fond memories of small, local bars in college...ok, no really..when we bought this house I was so excited to have fires in our multiple wood burning stoves. I have been wanting a fireplace for a while, but it wasn't until we started using the wood stoves that I realized why I like them so much. The smell of burning wood (and smoke) reminds me of some very fond times in my childhood. When I was young, we had a wood burning stove and that smell reminds me of all the great times we had at that house. It reminds me of a time when my brother and I were friends and used to play and pretend to sing on our "stage" or play Judge Wapner (?). I'm too tired to check that name...It reminds me of when we had a blizzard and my family was stuck inside and with nothing else to do, my parents were forced to play Monopoly with us for hours. I loved having their full attention. It reminds me of all the times we went camping and had family campfires, or when I was a camp counselor for a summer and cooked over a fire quite often. It reminds me of when Kyle and I took Cameron (at 7 months old) on a camping trip across NC for two weeks. Lots of great memories associated with fires, so it makes sense that I would want that smell and that warmth represented in my house.

I'm free! (That's three for all of you that don't speak toddler! Hmm...is three years still toddler? Yikes, I think he's a preschooler now. Uh oh, bring on the baby thoughts...)


Pat Pat Rocket and Construction Helper Toolset were both hits (for both kids!)

You can't have too many hair accessories...




Did I mention that they both enjoy the tools?



Unfortunately, Kaela had a fever last night and off and on today. Yeah, today was a rough one for me. I had to do this:


And look at this all day:



And it was the perfect day for it because outside really looks like a winter wonderland. It snowed all day--nonstop. Luckily, our friends Nick and Renee walked their snowblower over and did our driveway. I love friends. Actually, Renee came in and we chatted while the boys did the driveway.

I get so bummed out about trying to good seats to shows--it seems like the scalpers get everything. There was actually an article about it in the Bflo News a while back. Somehow I was looking at Sesame St Live and signed up for their friends club to get presale info. I received an email today with the presale code, so I decided to see what was left. I GOT 9TH ROW FLOOR SEATS! I know, it is really kind of sad that I am so excited, but I think these are the best seats I've ever gotten!! Not even when my mom slept out all night for Michael Jackson tickets did I get this kind of view. (sorry mom, maybe you should have joined his friend club....then again, maybe not!) I can just picture Mikaela dancing in the aisle now! And it's actually at a good time--mid-morning so we won't have to worry about cranky kids. Can't wait!!

Today is Cameron's birthday. I'm going to have to post about it another time because this week has totally gotten away from me. But, until I get the pics out, here's my guy:

On most days, Cameron wakes up and says, "Mommy!" Sometimes he says, "Daddy!" and when he's feeling colorful he says, "hello! hello? hello!" Today he woke up saying, "MommyDaddy! MommyDaddy!" So, I rolled out of bed and went to get him. We were doing the usual and just trying to get to the potty, when he said, "Mama, you're my friend," out of nowhere. I really was just stunned--I have no idea where this came from, but it absolutely made my day.

I feel like this is my mantra lately. We have had so many ups and downs with Kyle going back to work, kids going to daycare (and getting sick every week), a lot going on at my work, and then all of the house stuff, that people have asked if I regret moving. If there is anything that I have learned from all of this craziness, it's that I don't have control over everything--as much as I would love to--and I have to deal with it as it is. So, yes we have had things pop up with our new home that are extremely stressful, but we did everything right. We had the inspection, we checked out the home ourselves, we visited several times...there isn't anything different that we could have done to make things turn out differently. Therefore, I feel like we need to just fix the problems, build our new lives in our new home and move on from here. I can't dwell on regrets or mistakes--and quite frankly I just don't feel like we made a mistake.

I also feel pretty stubborn about the fact that I refuse to let anything bring me down or hold me back. It may take me a few minutes, hours, or at the longest a day to let the reality of a situation sink in, but then I tackle the issue head on and find a solution. What else can I do? Sitting at home moping about a problem isn't going to change the situation.

I've always been a journal-er and I've realized that blogging has helped me to continue that therapy. It helps me to clarify my thoughts, align myself on the right path, and keep my family up to date! I started because I wanted to journal about all of the funny things my kids do and say, but it has turned into much more than that. I have to remind myself though, that I do want to document the kids lives and not just what is happening in the adult world :) So, on that note, Cameron has been wearing "big boy underwear" at home and has been doing great with me telling him to go potty. We're definitely not at the stage where he tells me when he has to go, but at least we are moving forward. We sing a little song after each potty and Mikaela comes in to join us in the celebration. Their relationship has gotten to be one that is supportive and playful--but don't worry, they're not angels. Yesterday, I Cameron was watching Diego and when he watches tv he totally zones out. He was sitting and Mikaela was standing behind him and running her hand through the top of his head and hair. It was very cute, except for the couple seconds I cringed to think what kind of food she was smearing all over his head. So, I'm smiling from a distance and she of course spots me and continues knowing that I'm watching. Then she started grabbing his hair as she ran her hand through and all the while Cameron just sat there and watched tv. After a few times of this he did realize and told her to stop, but it was cute while it lasted.

I had a bad day today. I don't often have bad days at work, but when I do they are really tough. A few things about our house has come to light---and that wasn't good news either. All of this wrapped together put me past the breaking point. I picked up the kids from daycare and felt a little better. The kids always make me see the bright side of things. When I came home, I was telling Kyle about my day while the kids were eating dinner. I was crying, and at one point really broke down. Cameron came over and hugged me, took my face in his hands, and said, "are you sad, Mom?" (He has recently taken to calling us "Mom" and "Dad". I don't know where this little 6 year old came from!) He then took a quarter of his grilled cheese sandwich and gave it to me to make me feel better. The love of a child makes everything else disappear.

It turns out that the kids do not have roseola. Apparently, the virus that they have caused hives on Cameron. I gave him some benedryl and they disappeared! Yea! They are free and clear to go to daycare, so they will be heading to school in a couple days and I will be packing up! I did the final walk through this morning and everything looks great. It's weird how different a house looks with no furniture! I'm so excited to get in there--I just can't wait. Too bad I have to work (one day this week) before we can get this ball rolling. We also are waiting to hear on the closing date. It seems that the lawyers did not get their act together and are a little late on the paperwork. I'm sure it will work out somehow, but we'll see how it affects everything else we have planned. We are still planning on a move date for this weekend!