August 29, 2021 by Kelsey

CamO at SEVEN Years Old

We’re 2 short weeks away from Cam’s 7th Birthday so I searched high and low on the internet (one Google search and one click because I ain’t got time for much more than that!) for a set of questions that would help show who Camden is at 7 years old. While I wish there were fewer mentions of digital devices, I can’t pretend he doesn’t like them. This is my little buddy Cam in a nutshell.

What do you know how to do that you can teach to others?
How to build really well and how to play on an XBox.
If you could be a sound, what would it be?
“Ruff ruff!”
What is the funniest thing that ever happened to you?
When I fell like a starfish and I was about to cry, but then I farted and it made me laugh.
What do you think your life will be like in the future?
Good. And with a lot of treats and I’ll be really good at Minecraft. I’m going to have 4 pet dogs. I’m going to have 5 cats, 2 birds, 25 fish and a lot of computers, and make YouTube videos. I’m going to go to Disneyland a lot. I will work at YouTube and have a channel. I will have a bright green house or a bright blue house.
What is the most wonderful thing that ever happened to you?
My last birthday party camping in Inny and Poppy’s backyard.
Who is your best friend and why?
Morgan, because she was my first friend and she’s fun when she isn’t playing with Barbies.
If you could choose a new name for yourself, what would it be, and why?
Mila because that is the name of my very cute and happy puppy dog who is right next to me right now.
What’s the coolest thing you saw someone do today?
Today? Well, yesterday we went to 2 parties and one was at Heather, Travis and Easton’s house and they have a waterslide and I stacked all the floaties on the slide and I didn’t get all the way down because the floaties stopped me. It was funny and a lot of fun.
How would you change the world if you could?
I would change it so it would be exactly like Minecraft.

August 25, 2019August 25, 2019 by Kelsey

Holy TK!

CamO, Milestones
Elementary School, Learning, Me Bag, Milestones, Morgan, Ms Labshere, Northmont, Preschool, School, TK, Transitional Kindergarten
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The last couple weeks have been intense. Good, bad, highs, lows, happy tears, sad tears, stressed tears, all the tears.

Transitions are so tough.

First, Cam said goodbye to Taproot where he’s been learning and growing for 2+ years with Mrs. Karla and her crew.

Who cried the most? Me. Followed by Mrs. Karla who wished Cam well in English and in Spanish. “Mi Amor! I will miss you. You’re going to do so good and make lots of friends….”

And Cam? So nonchalant. He mostly had a little grin and maybe disregard? I’m not even sure. The best I can really translate, he was ready for change as much as a Cam can be ready. On the way home from his last day of school we discussed how he might be ready for more challenges, new people, new learning, new toys and he firmly said that he was ready. That gave me more hope than I’ve ever had in a Cam transition.

From Thursday at Taproot to Monday at Northmont Elementary, Cam didn’t really have time to think about and process all the change. He said he was excited, but we weren’t holding our breath.

Then, Monday.

Cam was so excited in the morning that when I asked if he was ready he said “let’s go right now!” So we went outside where neighbor Kaya was also leaving for her first day of school (different school, 1 grade ahead of Cam) so we snagged a pic before going separate ways.

At Northmont, we also snapped a pic with Morgan, the only person Cam knows in his new school and new class… thank goodness for that.

They hung up their backpacks and headed inside the Ms. Labshere’s classroom and assumed their seats at different tables.

He showed a little trepidation and as I tried to leave, I saw him put the legos he was working with back into his tables’ box and put his head down on his table. At that point, I made things worse because I’d forgotten to hand him his glasses and re-approached him. His wet eyelashes and nervous stare just wrecked me.

I tried to give him a pep-talk and not cry myself. I handed him his glasses, kissed him and left. As soon as I was out the door, I was crying and his head was back on his desk.

Luckily, he had a great day. Ms. Labshere said he was a happy camper the rest of the day. She attached this photo to an email update to Joe and I:

The next days are a blur… for Cam probably and me too. Tuesday – Thursday were smooth and then Joe encouraged me to drop him off on Friday in part so I could see his progress and excitement to go to school.

Well, Friday was pretty tough. He cried a lot and clung to me. At some point, Ms Labshere pried his little lizard body off of me and I had to leave quickly.

This week (week 2) was about the same level of smooth and rocky. We had a couple good days, then on Wednesday when he wanted to take his “me bag” to school, but it wasn’t ready yet, he lost his mind. He wouldn’t leave for school and was screaming over the me bag, no matter what Joe and I could think of to say. We tried gentle, loving, encouraging, stern, casual, … and then we gave up. We had to force him into the car kicking and screaming. It was awful.

Thursday, we had his “me bag” ready, darn tootin’. Heaven forbid we lag another day and face the angry and sad snot monster that was provoked the day before. And he could NOT wait to go to school. Go figure.

So, here is a pic of him and a few of his classmates presenting their me bags.

Inside Cam’s bag:

A ziploc full of jewels and rocks, of course! This was for his favorite possession.
A drawing of a BBQ chicken pizza representing his favorite food.
Photos of his family and his Mila dog.
His favorite toy, which was his Ironman… I can’t say I really think this is his favorite toy, so I think there was some 5 year old psychology going on when he picked it, like perhaps he thought it would be cool? His real favorite toys are his Angry Birds game, games in general, string/tape/scissors. Here are the pics of his family and Mila that were in the me bag:

Overall, I thiiiiiink we’re going to survive this transition. But it certainly isn’t easy, even in the moments when I think things are happy I can’t help but worry about my little guy and wonder what he’s thinking, how he’s doing and if he’s making friends.

I am extremely proud of him. He’s being brave and trying hard and bringing home little tokens of success. Gosh I love him.

October 13, 2017 by Kelsey

DGO is 7 M.O.

Uncategorized
Bath Time, Crawling, DemO, Milestones, Teeth
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Demi Grey is 7 months old, oh my!

This month I left town twice for work, the first time for 2 days and the second time for 4 days. The first trip was okay, but the second made me miss my kids so much! Even when I thought I would have time to facetime and catch up, I couldn’t because there were too many activities crammed together. So, while I missed out on some things this month, I’m glad I didn’t miss any major milestones.

She sprouted her 2 bottom teeth a couple weeks ago and she’s had a bit of a time with it–low fever, runny nose and fussy. (This is one of those milestones that hits me hard–no more gummy babies, ever 😦

She still has an iron grip and often pulls out strands of my hair, but she has started playing with our hair sometimes too, twisting her fingers around the backs of our heads when we’re holding her.
She took her first big girl bath with her brother. Both of them were amused.

Her favorite part of any toy is the tag
Dad and brother make her smile and laugh and kick her feet around, but generally speaking she is still generous with her smiles
A few months ago she would let anyone hold her and while she may not smile, she also didn’t fuss. This past month she developed some sense of stranger danger, which mostly applies to bearded men, but if she’s tired may apply to anyone that she doesn’t see regularly.
She’s eating more solids and getting the hang of opening her mouth for a spoon. Sometimes she tries to show us she knows how to chew, but sadly, we’re still on foods that don’t require such skills.

I realized somewhat recently she no longer gasps for air at night. Thank goodness she grew out of that!
She is very interested in crawling and has started lunging for objects, going split-legged and falling forward. Alas, she is a big girl and I think it’s going to take some more practice and muscle before it actually happens. This photo shows both her split-legged stance as well as her poop face. Ha!

And here’s a random assortment of Demi cuteness over the last month (and no, she is not pulling herself up to stand. I totally cheated and propped her up against the couch)…

October 1, 2017 by Kelsey

Cam’s Birthday & Open House at Preschool

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Birthday, CamO, DemO, Funny, Grandma Monkey, Milestones, Preschool
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Cam’s preschool does a celebration for each kid’s birthday. I was out of town with work, but Joe, Demi and the grandmas attended. They reviewed photos of significant events in Cam’s life and had him walk around the sun, one time for each year. Then the kids got to enjoy a special treat. Ralle, Cam and Joe made fruit snakes on silly straws and the kids gobbled them up!

Making Silly Fruit Snakes

But you know the saying…. every party has a pooper. Yes, this really happened. The Olanoffs really know how to make an impression.

Then, on Friday, his preschool hosted an Open House. Since I don’t get to drop off or pick up, I was a little too excited to have him show me everything. We followed clues around the school to visit all the major areas and he showed me his favorite things. I was impressed by the organized way they play with everything. He’d take an activity tray from the shelf, find a desk, play with the activity start to finish, clean it up, push his chair in and return the tray to the shelf.

I was also impressed by his motor skills. The activities required concentration and coordination and he was really good at doing each activity like pouring sand from one small container into another small container.

Last, but not least, I almost fell over dead of excitement when he DREW 2 LETTERS! Cam hasn’t been very engaged by pens, crayons, pencils in the past. He’ll scribble for about 15 seconds and then move on to the next activity. So I assumed writing the alphabet was many months away. But he was playing with a letter bubble where you push it and the dice pops around. It landed on a lowercase j. Cam said, “Look! J for Joe!” and proceeded to go to his tray, draw a dot (while narrating “first draw a dot”) and then a curved hook underneath it. Then he pushed the bubble again and a lowercase l popped up. A lowercase l isn’t quite as impressive of course, but he drew a straight-ish line in proportion with the j. *Proud mama moment*

I also loved how I told him I was excited for him to show me things and he took my hand and led me around telling me all about it. Listening to a 3-year-old explain what’s going on is one of my very favorite things.

Neighbor Kaya was also at Open House so we got a cutie little photo of them together. One funny thing is that during Cam’s birthday celebration he got to pick a person to come up and look at the photos with him. He chose Kaya and Joe said that 2 girls started crying. Then, at Open House, a little nugget named Elizabeth (who informed me she is also 3 years old) exclaimed “Camman” when we arrived. She ran over to hug Cam and he ran from her. Again on the way out Elizabeth came to say goodbye. Turns out Cam isn’t ready to hug Elizabeth. As best we could get him to explain, he just doesn’t know her very well.

September 22, 2017 by Kelsey

Camden Cruz is 3 Years Old!

A Portrait of the Boy as a 3 Year Old

He knows his ABCs, although when he sings it, ‘S’ is ‘X’ so there are two Xs (exes? X’? Exi’?). He has recognized “C” on the computer keyboard for a while as well as a few other letters like J for Joe and X (I’m realizing his favorite letter is X). He also has said, “Look at that stop sign! It has an O next to a P and a T and an S!” He can count to 20ish pretty consistently but when there are a lot of things in one place he says there are a hundred or a million of them. He recognizes many numbers like 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8. He knows his shapes including spheres (pronounced ‘spears’) and cylinders and semicircles.

He has been able to get his bottom half undressed for a while and recently started pulling off his shirt. He can get his pants on now and it’s fun to watch him concentrate as he does it. He is not potty trained but he wants to be. He’s excited about his Paw Patrol underwear and would prefer to wear them though he’s often too absorbed in what he’s doing to recognize he has to go to the bathroom. I think that being at school makes him want to ditch the diapers too because it’s the cool thing to do.

He just started getting into music. Usually after the bath he dances around his room and asks to hear certain songs. He always has another dance move (“Did you see my new dance move?!”).

Favorite books:

Goodnight Moon
The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Give a Mouse a Cookie series
Clifford

Favorite color: red
Favorite show: Blaze and the Monster Machines
Favorite school supply: tie between scissors and glue
Favorite activities:

Going swimming
Going on “the cation“
Building and smashing everything
Playing store with a giant box in the garage or in the toy box in the playhouse at Poppy and Inny’s
Filling buckets, moving buckets, emptying buckets, repeat
Chasing imaginary monsters on our night walks
Pretend picnics in the yard or the house
Blowing and chasing bubbles
Wasting water disguised as washing his hands or watering plants or filling buckets or cleaning dishes etc

Favorite toys:

His hammer
Hot Wheels racecar track
Marble Maze
Blocks
Anything that lights up. His flashlight, “beary,” his elephant that projects stars on the ceiling
Dad’s tools

Favorite movie: none. I’ve discovered that every Pixar, Disney and classic starts with something dramatic. He’s typically in tears within the first 15 minutes and we shut it off.

Favorite foods:

Peanut butter and jelly toast, not toasted
Every fruit on the planet including loquats, pomegranates and persimmons which all grow in the neighborhood
Pizza
Cupcakes
Salad (this video cracks me up, he’s so excited)

Low points from the last year:

Going to the dentist
Staying overnight at the hospital when he had his infection

When he ate _____________ (fill in the blank with your favorite item below):
- floss (twice)
- Chapstick cap
- licorice from the Vons parking lot
- hunks of grass
- sea snail eggs (yes, we called poison control) … sorta can’t blame him. They look like candy.
- a stranger’s gum off the ground (this was followed by croup and a trip to the ER… I swear it was the germs from the gum)
Tantrums, 50% of the time over milk, 25% of the time over wanting something sugary and the last 25% misc. Even though it’s normal at this age, that doesn’t make them easier or less sad.
Starting preschool

High points from the last year:

Vacation in Palm Desert
Bringing home sister–he had a little gray bunny ready as a gift to her
Starting preschool
Gymnastics and pool time at the YMCA
Going kayaking and paddleboarding and paddleboating
Going to Disneyland
Riding the train to Oxnard
Moving into a new bedroom with a big boy bed

His birthday! If the point of celebrating a birthday is to make someone feel special, then we nailed it! On Saturday, he had a Paw Patrol-themed party with his best buddy Morgan. On Sunday, we went apple picking. On Monday, I took the day off, we went to the lake in the morning, to Urban Jungle in the afternoon and had a BBQ at Poppy and Inny’s house with all his favorite people and all his favorite food. He was genuinely having the best day ever. As a mom, this is all I can hope for.

September 9, 2017September 9, 2017 by Kelsey

Half a Trip Around the Sun

My sweet little poonum pie is 6 months old! She is just a delightful little lady showing off her chubby smile any chance she gets. In fact, she’s so charming I almost lost her to a Home Depot employee who wanted to babysit her “forever.”

She had her 6-month check-up scheduled for this afternoon and so, when I finished up with work, I grabbed a couple diapers and wipes and ran out the door with her. Well, shame on me for thinking that’s all I’d need. When I got there, I took her out of her car seat and discovered a slimy trail going up her back. She blew out her diaper and had poop all over her back and onesie. What’s a mom to do?

I changed her diaper, bagged the onesie and wiped her down. Then I put her shorts back on because they were in good shape and then I made a baby blanket halter shirt for her so she didn’t have to show up naked. Très chic! You can get your own soon when I open my Etsy store.

As for the check-up itself, she got 4 shots and 1 oral vaccination. She cried for about a minute and then was back to her happy self. She also got weighed and measured and, let’s just say if it were a competition (which it isn’t, I know), she’d be winning.

Weight: 21 lbs, 98%ile
Length: 27.5″, 96%ile
Head Circumference: 17.7″, 98%ile

At least she’s proportionate!

For the sake of comparing my babies, I looked up Cam’s 6-month numbers. Here they are:

Weight: 21.87 lbs. 96%ile
Length: 27.8″, 85%ile
Head Circumference: 18.1″, 94%ile

I think because Cam didn’t have a neck he looked a lot bigger, but according to the numbers, they’re practically the same!

Other fun things about my Demi Grey:

She went from sitting up assisted to sitting up unassisted in about 2 days. She has a nice sturdy base. She also sits and plays with toys for up to a half hour perfectly content.
She can wave and say “hi”… she even did this for Dr. Vu today who made a note in her chart. “Hi” by the way, is officially her first word.
She also says “blah blah blah” (typically when adults are talking) and “dadadadada” but not in reference to Joe (yet).
She rotates her hands and feet vigorously throughout the day.
She’s eating a few solids: avocados, bananas, carrots, sweet potatoes. She loved sweet potato the most.

She loves beer.

She loves baths now that she can sit up (hated laying in the sling).

She absolutely loves watching her brother. He still makes her laugh the most.

She goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes up twice for a little milk. Then she wakes up in the morning smiling and waving hi.
She’s wearing 12-18 month clothing… and got to wear my childhood bathing suit a couple weeks ago. Farrah Fawcett eat your heart out.

And she’s recently discovered her furry sister. She’s curious but not too curious. Mila on the other hand wants to protect the littlest member of her wolfpack.

And finally, she shows us her determination daily. She knows what she wants and will work hard to get it.

August 21, 2017 by Kelsey

More Demi Firsts

Little woman is just knocking down firsts left and right.

She’s sitting! Although still needs practice. Sometimes she does a slow fall onto her face and it’s rather funny because apparently the instinct to put a hand out to catch yourself is learned, not an involuntary reflex.

She also tried a couple different solids! Buuuut still needs practice there too. She is somewhat interested and continues to put the strainer/lolli-looking thing back into her mouth, but when any amount of food really gets through, she gags and makes faces.

First was avocado, then we tried carrots. Neither received an enthusiastic ‘yes,’ but I think she is just struggling with the mechanics. Bless her cute little heart.

We’ll keep trying though. Lord knows Olanoffs are eaters.

August 8, 2017August 8, 2017 by Kelsey

Demi Grey is 5 Months Old

My little love is 5 months old. The 4-month zone was a lot of fun–she began holding her body a little better so we could have more fun playing, rolling around, lifting her up, taking her places, and she started showing more of her personality. She is still mellow, but now she has a fiery “I know what I want” streak. She’ll go from 20 minutes of self-sufficiency, exploring a soft, crinkly book to squealing like I’ve never heard before.

Milestones:

According to her 4-month check-up, she is still 95+ %ile in all categories–weight, length, head circumference. [Insert high five to mama’s milk]
She started giggling, though not with regularity. When you do something that makes her start giggling, it’s natural to think, okay, I’ll do that some more and get more giggles. Well, not so much. She’ll give a little giggle and then look at you like, “what else you got?”
She started rolling over
She started sleeping in her crib (at least until the first wake-up of the night)
She went on a swing!

Other fun things:

She can hold her own bottle. This is no surprise because she loves eating and she’s always had an iron grip.
She’s a side sleeper. I noticed this very early on when I was trying to lazy feed her at night and especially on her restless nights. If I tipped her onto her side, she would sleep more soundly. Now that she has the strength to lay how she wants, she rolls to her side to sleep.
We think she knows who is who. When I say “what’s brother doing?” she’ll look around the room and fix her eyes on him. When my mom asked her “where is Larson?” (their dog), she’ll look down at the ground and around the room until she sees him.
She went to the zoo for the second time
She’s aggressively reaching for and begging for our food, but her gagging tells us she’s not ready. We tried the teeniest bite of avocado and it was not pretty.
We can finally hold her toward our chests in between feedings without her burrowing and getting angry like it’s mealtime.

On a final note of cuteness, here’s a video of her now-famous squeals, the most epic tired-eye rub of all time (she got it from her Poppy), and a sneeze.

Excited to see what 6 months will bring!

August 3, 2017 by Kelsey

Demi Grey is Rolling Over!

Look at this sweet, smooshable, super proud baby! This is what a baby girl looks like when she rolls over for the very first time! Actually, this would technically be the second.

We had just gotten back to the house from our friend’s pool. I laid Demi on the floor on her back, left the room to grab water and when I came back she was on her tummy! Shocked, I spent the next few minutes trying to replicate it on camera. Lucky for me, she did it again! And I lost my noodle!

Two observations.

It took Cam a LOT longer to roll over, so this little milestone just snuck up on me. I didn’t realize it was so close!
I think rolling from back to tummy is the harder way to roll. Since this happened on Saturday, we’ve seen her roll the other way too. She’s an ambi-roller!

I’m noticing she is a very motivated little girl. When we lay her down, but she wants to sit, she does mini-crunches trying to sit up (I’m convinced there is a very strong core underneath that pudge). When she’s on my lap and I’m eating, she reaches and grabs and leans to try to get the food. And she often doesn’t get frustrated, she just keeps trying.

A couple more milestones are upon us too: first foods (starting as soon as I have time to purchase said first foods), and 5 months! Oh boy!

August 2, 2017 by Kelsey

Cam’s First Days of Preschool

It happened and we all survived. Some of us are unscathed.

Seriously though, what a flood of emotions the last week has been.

Cam was on the waitlist at this preschool for a couple months and about 3 weeks ago, they called me to say he would be starting on July 25th. At that moment, everyone started stressing in their own ways. Every time I thought about it, I’d get a shot of adrenaline and anxiety. Grandma Inny lost a ton of sleep the week leading up. Grandma Monkey stocked up on presents. And Joe was a little more sappy over his son than usual (and honestly, he’s already pretty sappy).

We talked about school as much as possible the few days before so it wouldn’t feel like a surprise to him. Some conversations were met with comments like “I don’t want to go” and some were much easier–especially after his new lunchbox came in the mail (Blaze of course). It seemed like he was warming up to the idea.

And then the day was here. We prepped Cam’s backpack with the essentials and packed his very first school lunch. Joe had the onerous task of dropping him off because Tuesdays are commute days for me. When they arrived, Cam immediately hit the playground and Mrs. Karla told Joe he should go. So, he went. And Cam didn’t cry!!

I called Joe about 45 seconds after drop-off because I was on pins and needles. Joe answered the phone and couldn’t talk. He was completely choked up. And that made me cry. Who knew Cam’s first day of preschool would turn us into puddles.

Inny and Monkey drove to daycare promptly at pick-up time. When Monkey walked in, he cried tears of relief and excitement. Mrs. Karla said he did great. They all got in the car and the grandmas asked him about his day. His first comment was, “there are a few too many kids.” Ha! What a ham. The grandmas reported he was a happy talkative kid all afternoon.

Each day since then (there have been 3 more drop-offs) has been teary. Cam has been upset for a few minutes, but has stuck close to Mrs. Karla and then gotten into the groove. And each day, the report has been the same, that he did great, talks a lot and asks a lot of questions.

After day 1 and then reflecting on week 1, I felt sentimental that my little guy is now in school, I felt proud that he’s doing well, I felt grateful that my “village” cares so very much and has helped us both logistically and emotionally with the transition, and I felt excited about the new people Cam would meet and things he would learn. I know there’s so much good stuff ahead for him.

We don’t have a lot of photos because, well, with all the change and anxiety, we’ve been focused on the matter and not really pausing for photos. But hopefully we’ll snag some as it becomes a little more routine.

For now, big exhale. We’re over that hurdle.

CamO+DemO

The Life and Times of Camden Cruz and Demi Grey O.

Tag / Milestones