That embarrassing moment when you realize that someone you thought was your friend has stolen your look.
The question remains… who wore it best?
Bendy Baby
We’ve reached a new milestone in baby Demi’s life. She can officially get her foot in her mouth! Congrats little girl, this is a very useful skill and it will open many doors!
Seriously though, look at her iron grip… both hands and every ounce of concentration and strength to get those chubby little toes into her mouth. Good form little lady! Mama is proud.
Cam Says the Darnedest Things
This is the latest installment of Cam Says the Darnedest Things. We are endlessly amused at the things that come out of his mouth.
Cam was “helping” me make dinner and we were cutting up the ingredients for the salad. He was holding half an avocado and digging his fingers into the meat of it. I asked him not to do that because I didn’t want it to be mushy. He said, “I’m just taking the pit out, no biggie.” Did my kid just tell me ‘no biggie’!?
Bathing Cam a couple nights ago, he was fiddling with the loofah and put his legs through the rope part. Of course the rope ripped out of the loofah. He said, “Oh, it didn’t have enough tensile strength!” I’m not kidding. That actually came out of his mouth. While I’d love to say he has been taking classes at our local JC, this actually comes from his show Blaze and the Monster Machines where they talk about all kinds of mechanical/engineering concepts. With practical application of the concept he learned, it makes me feel a little less concerned about screen time.
Last night Cam was jumping on the couch for about an hour solid and Joe told him, okay Cam, no more monkeys jumping on the bed. He replied, “But this is a couch and the rug is soft if I fall.” Point taken.
We were snacking on chips the other day and I decided to cut up some cheese to eat with it. Cam asked me if he could have some cheese too. So, I stacked a slice of cheese onto the chip and handed it to him. He took a bite and said, “Marvelous!”
Involving Cam on phone calls has become a lot more fun because he can sustain the conversation for a little bit now, whereas in the past he hasn’t really been into it. Joe called us while we were having dinner to tell us he was on his way home and Cam said, “Do you have any questions for me?” And he told Joe all about our dinner (salad with zuchini! and BBQ brisket!), then closed the conversation with “Drive safe. I love you.” I love that phone calls are more dynamic now. On the days where I don’t get to see him or play with him very much before bedtime, I know I can get a little love by way of a call and not feel like I missed out on everything.
Finally, here he is playing with maracas at his buddy Benson’s Fiesta-themed birthday party.
Dancing at the Same Party
File under: the family bed
Do you suppose Cam and Demi are dreaming about the same dance party? And if so, are they busting the same move?
Saturday Haiku
There were many lovely moments today, and yesterday, and over the last week for that matter. But I’m tired and Joe is working most of the day tomorrow, so I’m heading to bed to store up energy for a 2-kid day.
In lieu of a recap, I’ll share a Saturday Haiku:
Grandma Monkey’s here
Cam terrorized the pigeons
Lake, home, hair, park, home
What a 2-Year-Old Hears
Cam is a really smart kid and he often responds to our questions and conversations with things that show he’s understanding. Sometimes, though, his understanding is limited by his little world.
Twice in the last couple days he’s responded to conversations in ways I didn’t expect and both instances were super cute.
Yesterday when I picked him up from Inny’s house I was explaining to Inny that I had a presentation in the morning. When we got into the car, Cam asked “Mom, what you and Inny talking about?” So I told him I was going to be giving a presentation to my company in the morning.
I checked the rearview mirror and saw he was tearing up. I asked him why he was sad. He said, “why you give them presents? I want presents.”
Then, today after picking Cam up, he asked where daddy was. I told him that he’s working at Balboa Park and would be home in a little bit. He welled up with tears again and said, “but why he go to the park without me?”
Sweet kid, daddy wouldn’t go to play a park without you!
Four Months Old on the Fourth of July
Demi Grey is 4 months old!
She’s still smiley, happy and predictable. Her schedule is 1 hour of play time, nap time, 1 hour of play time, milk, 1 hour of play time, nap and so on. Makes it fairly easy to parent.
New tricks include:
- Talking up a storm. I think she enjoys hearing her voice and sometimes even babbles back when you’re talking to her.
- Drooling like brother. She’s very oral and everyone is suggesting she’s teething, but Cam started this at 3 months and didn’t sprout a tooth until almost 9 months. So, I think she’s just following in his footsteps.
- Observing brother with amusement. He’s much more interesting than adults.
- Grabbing things and getting much more coordinated
- Putting things in her mouth–favorites include her Wubba Nub and anyone’s fingers
- Exploring toys. She turns them around in her hands and studies them.
- Giggling, but not consistently and I still haven’t gotten her full blown laughing. I hope month 5 includes a video of her cracking up.
Here she is telling me about her day while we swing in the hammock.
June Be Cray
June was a bit of a wild month. It was really challenging for every one of us, but for different reasons. For me, it was going back to work during a thunderstorm of stuff–mostly good, but it just demanded a lot of time and was stressful. For Joe, it was handling Cam and Demi every morning and many afternoons without my help, in addition to working more days a week than not. For Cam, it was a sleep regression that has us guessing every day whether he’s going to nap and not go to bed until 10:30 (or later) or if he’s not going to nap and the nighttime routine is out the window.
And it certainly was for friends and family too (Inny, Poppy, Regina, Brett & Morgan) who put in the extra effort for us to close the babysitting gap.
But, we made it, “…with a little help from our friends!”
A typical morning with dad gets adventurous.
Inny is smiling because even though she is probably exhausted and glued with sweat to both babes, this was likely the most relaxing part of her day.
Demi’s first time in the “circle of neglect”… or the play bouncer. She’s still too small/unstable to stay in it very long, but Inny says she was definitely interested. (Side note: Demi looks so darn sweet in this pic, I can seriously smell her when I look at it.)
Hot weekend days without dad are best spent outside. With no clothes. Who said scootering with no clothes was a bad idea? This looks totally safe.
Sweet Morgan Rose helping Demi with her morning bottle.
Going to work in the morning, leaving a sleeping babe without having had any interaction is SO HARD. It’s so tempting to wake her up just so I can get a smile.
Luckily when I work from home I still get little visitors.
Now that it’s July, things will change a bit. Cam will be going to preschool within a matter of weeks (maybe days), and grandma Monkey is officially a San Diegan (La Mesan to be exact!!!) so we’re going to take a breath and reorganize. With 2 grandmas and preschool, things are bound to be a teeny bit easier than June!
Just a Girl and Her Bumbo
File this under “new talents”. Little sis is sitting in her Bumbo. And I think she likes it too! So funny that Cam fit in the Bumbo for approximately 1 week and then his thunder thighs outgrew the leg holes.
Throwback to Cam in the bumbo!
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times… Father’s Day that is
Father’s Day was mostly wonderful. We hung out at the house in the morning enjoying the new hammock chair Cam got for Joe as a Father’s Day gift (isn’t he thoughtful!?).
Then, we packed up picnic foods and drinks and headed down to Mission Bay to join the Stadlers on their boat. This was such a treat for all of us. The weather was perfect and any day on the Stadler’s boat is a special and memorable day.
The last time Cam rode on the Stadler’s boat, he fell asleep almost immediately. This time he was obsessed with the cabin and climbing in and out of it while munching on cheese and grapes. I have to say, this kid lives a really tough life.
Brett’s mom was a SAINT and kept an eye on the kids while the rest of us enjoyed the views.
Also notable, it was Demi’s first boat ride. I can’t say she loved it. But I can’t say she didn’t like it either. I think she was a little disoriented with all the wind and bobbing around. As always she was a good sport.
After docking, we took turns paddling around the bay in their kayaks. The fathers and their first-borns…
Then Shara and I took a jaunt around the bay. Apparently kayaks have cupholders, so I put mine to use.
After our boating adventures we met Poppy, Inny, Uncoco and Nicole at Modern Times Brewery…
… this is where things took a turn for the worse. Cam fell asleep in the car and after we woke him up, it was nearly impossible to get him out of his funk. He was an 11 on a 10-point grumpy scale. We pressed on and had a lightning round of BBQ with the folks before heading home and prepping for the work week.
All-in-all, it was a lovely day celebrating fathers.
CamO+DemO 