Sedona & Grand Canyon

Cameron was a little surprised to have company in the house the morning we drove to Sedona. It took him a little while to warm up. They brought him a blue lizard and a little stuffed puppy dog so that helped.



Saturday (May 1st) we made the drive down to Sedona. Cameron was so good in the car...Olivia was the one asking how many hours we had left every five minutes. :-) We got to spend a lot of time with family. Grandma Anne, Aunt Ellen, and Uncle Barry were already there.

Cameron has started talking up a storm!! Aunt Ellen was trying to teach him to say Pennsylvania...then move to Pennsylvania. He actually made a pretty good attempt to say it. Although he has only really said it for Ellen so David doesn't believe us.





Sunday we went into Sedona. We saw the Chapel of the Holy Cross. Everyone pushed Grandma Anne's wheel chair up to the top of the hill to the chapel. We also walked around Sedona and did some shopping. It was surprisingly cold and at one point there were actually some snow flakes that fell. We couldn't quite figure that part out because it wasn't THAT cold.

We rented a house while there. There was so much cottonwood floating in the air from the neighbors trees it looked like snow. Cameron & Olivia had fun blowing it in the air all over Grandma Beth.

Monday we went to the Grand Canyon and drove the South Rim. It was a little scary how close you walked to the edge of the canyon. Cameron just wanted out of his stroller since he was so restrained in the car. He ran around and did so much walking that he eventually passed out.

This is Cameron hanging from a tree over the canyon. :-)

This video is of Cameron saying "Grand Canyon"

Tuesday mom and I took the kids to Out of Africa. It is like a zoo, but geared more towards desert animals. You ride on a bus with no windows and get to drive on a safari. They give you carrots to feed the giraffe. Everyone got to but because Cameron and I were in the back of the bus he didn't make it back to us. Poor little guy saw everyone else hang their carrots out the window and kept dangling his waiting for something to eat it.

We got to see lots of tigers. One was especially fond of Cameron. As we walked up on their cage he hunched down behind a bush to watch Cameron run up. He set his eyes and followed us all the way around the cage. At one point the tiger jumped up on top of their den to get a better view then ran full speed to the other side and got down like he was going to pounce. If that fence wasn't there Cameron would've been lunch.

Overall, it was a good day. He got really excited by the turtle that started moving after he touched it. We had a brief melt down during the tiger splash show so we had to walk until he fell asleep. Then he missed the big snake that Liv got to pet.

We took some 4 Generation pictures. Cameron wasn't too happy by the end of it.

In the car ride home from Sedona, Cameron got to eat part of Olivia's ice cream. He looked like he had a goatee.



The last couple of days Grandma Beth & Liv were in town Cameron got to stay home from daycare. They played so hard he fell asleep during lunch.

The last night Grandma Beth and Olivia were here we went to Bucca di Beppo's for dinner. Cameron had a great time eating his spaghetti. Then we ordered a big dessert for the table to share.

These are videos of Cameron eating his spaghetti by the handful...when he could deal with his hands being messy (or wasn't wiping them on me).

Cameron learned to say Grandma on this trip, too. Saturday morning Grandma Beth and Liv left early in the morning. When Cameron got up he pointed at everything in the guest bedroom and said "Grandma". When we show him the pictures he is pointing and repeating the names...at least for both Grandma's and Barry. We can't get him to say Ellen or Olivia. We'll keep trying.

18-Month Pictures

Here are some of Cameron's 18-month pictures. It took two sessions to get smiles! The first round he was stone cold and just stared. There was an appointment right behind us so we left and had lunch then came back. They pulled out the football & basketball and out came the smiles. Thank god...not sure what we would've done as the first group of pictures were horrible!!

My Little Man

We have been having so much fun the last couple of weeks! Lots has been going on. Cameron is really turning into a little man right before my eyes...he's definitely not my baby anymore. He has really developed a little personality.

And he's become quite the little manipulator!! The other night David was making dinner. He cut up strawberries and had them in a bowl on the counter. Cameron kept pointing and wanting some. David told him to wait until dinner. Cameron walked over, wrapped his arms around David's legs and said "I wuv ooo". When David looked down he pointed at the counter and said "Moe" (for more). He kept doing it until David gave in.

He is learning the words up, down, and out. When he says up he adds M to the front..."Mup". No is still his favorite word. Any question you ask, the answer is no. He has a new found love...strawberries. Calls them "baberrie".

We played out in his pool today. It was the first time this year we've had it out. He really wasn't sure what to think. I had to stand him up in it...he refused for a while to sit or even move. After some coaxing, he started splashing around and had a good time.

Quite the fashionista!! I had to put his crocs on him because the grass was so hot. It was only 87. Guessing there won't be much time and it'll be too hot for him to play outside in our yard. Will need to invest in a big umbrella.

And yet again...the shoes! He loves my shoes. Will strut around in them. As you can see he also carries a purse. David is not too fond of it, but I think it's so funny. The other night we were leaving the house and I said to him "let's go downstairs so we can go bye bye". He ran back and found his purse, threw it over his shoulder and went to the stairs. He held it in his lap the entire car ride. David was relieved he left it in the car when we got out. Now he carries it all over the house and puts his little arm up to keep it on. Thinks he's so important.

This is one of his toy bins. Apparently not just for toys anymore.

This is Cameron chilling out watching Dora the Explorer. His new found obsession. He LOVES her. Walks around saying "Dora...Dora" until we put the movie in. He has even learned a couple of new words from the show - map & backpack. For those of you that know Dora, he sings the map song, "I'm a map, I'm a map, I a map..."

And I am proud to announce, we are officially bottle free!! Since he turned 1 he has been bottle free during the days. However, he refused to give up that bottle to go to bed. It was his security. We even switched to just water in the bottle, but he never lost interest. April 9th was the first night we went without and have remained bottle free ever since.

This time (we tried before and it didn't stick) we gathered up all the bottles and let Cameron throw them into a garbage bag. He then got to throw it in the big garbage bin in the garage. He thought they were gone for good...but I pulled them out and hid them. Anyways, it was a rough couple of nights. Then miraculously the last 2 nights there has been no crying!! He just lays down and goes to sleep. He has even been sleeping through the night entirely!! Loving it.

So the videos this time were too much fun. The first is of Cameron watching David blow bubbles with his gum. This is the first time he's ever really seen it and is totally fascinated. His little tongue starts going and he's trying to figure out how David is doing it. He was saying "balloon" initially whenever he saw the gum.

Then he has this little Backyardigans saxaphone. He has started pretending to blow into it and dance around while he pushes the buttons to make music. It is so funny!

This was one of his favorite X-mas gifts. It is a little dinosaur that roars. Now he roars back at it.

Today, he was having a blast pushing the bucket down the slide...kept saying "Down". Then he'd get a kick out of the fact the bucket slid to the ground. I guess this is the best amusement when the slide was getting to hot for him.

Next weekend we are scheduled to get his 18-month pictures done! Stay tuned.

Belated Easter Fun

We had our annual Easter picnic at Sunset Park this weekend. It was initially scheduled for last weekend, but Karina got really sick so we postponed. The kids had another week of Easter fun and egg hunts. It was such a nice day!! We were all exhausted by the time we left.

Cameron was quite the explorer. Testing how far he could go before we would follow. He spent majority of the time running around and checking everything out.

I got worst mother of the year award from David because we didn't bring Cameron's easter basket. This was now 2 egg hunts with ghetto baskets! The first was his Halloween pumpkin. This one was a grocery bag. It served it's purpose though.

All the kids posed for some quick pictures together. It seems to be a natural occurrence that when the kids take group pictures, Katya ends up in them somehow.

Cameron & his girlfriend Serafina sharing eggs.

Happy Easter!!

This was Cameron's first real easter. He had his first easter egg hunt (the day before Easter so we could break up the candy). He was like a pro! Knew exactly what to do and with a little help quickly found all of the eggs we "hid" (pretty much in plain sight). He loved shaking the eggs that made noise and even did a little dance for us while shaking the eggs. I felt bad because he found an egg that didn't get filled...he has been playing with it for a while (I didn't even realize it was still out). He had it on the floor of the office with the rest of his toys and when he spotted that one he was a little disappointed there was nothing in it.

The Egg Hunt Videos




Then we had to open them all. We had a couple little happy dances while he was eating the candy. He got some more money for his piggy bank, which he loves putting in there. And enough candy to keep him hopped up on sugar the rest of the day.



The Peeps turned his lips blue.

Last night the Easter Bunny came to visit Cameron. He got a Dora video, a kite, crayons, and candy.

This is a video of him finding his basket in the morning. He was so excited! There are points that may make you sick...David was moving the camera around a lot. :-)

This morning when Cameron got up, he said his own name for the first time! I was changing him and he was throwing stuff on the floor. I said "Cameron No"...he repeated Cameron in the same tone. Can't get him to say it again though.

18 Months

So I have completely slacked the last month and only posted once. Oh how time flies! Really not anything new to report. Cameron is getting really picky with his eating these days. Not a fan of meat. Doesn't eat many veggies. Not a big fan of french fries either, which seems strange for a kid. Trying not to cater to him when we make dinner, but I know I can't let him go hungry either...then we all suffer.

We had a play date at our house at the beginning of the month. All the kids fought over who got to ride in Cameron's fire truck...except Cameron. He just sat back and watched it all go down. He's so laid back! Then Papa came to visit recently and spoiled him with lots of candy & a balloon. He even got to stay up really late the last night of his visit to play. Still woke us up at 7:30 the next morning. Quite the internal clock.

The weather has started to get nice and so we've been playing in the park. He loves going down the slide. However, the highlight of the day seems to be pigeons!! This kid is fascinated with animals, especially birds.



Cameron with his artwork in the bath tub.

Such a cool dude with his sunglasses on. He loves to have you put the on him. Then he walks around all important with a strut. He has just figured out how to push them up on top of his head.

Otherwise, we're hitting the whiny stage. The entire way home from daycare the other night he whined "Mama...Mama". Thank god it's a short car ride! Could it be the terrible two's striking early?! I guess time will tell.

17 Months

It's hard to believe Cameron is 17-months! He's talking a lot...more and more of it is recognizable. He has mastered walking backwards. He is learning body parts. When talking about his nose he will touch yours (or his) and say "honk, honk". He's been learning to color...at least in the bathtub. We have lots of pretty pictures on the sides of the tub. He is very helpful when we are cleaning...he helps to load & unload the dishwasher. Today he took the mop and ran it all around the floor while I was vacuuming...easily spent 15-20 minutes occupied by it.

He has learned to climb inside his cupboard.

Cameron loves his bubbles!! We bought one of these guns that is supposed to continuously blow bubbles. What it really does is soak his hair and my carpet. We've only played with it twice so far and we've gone through almost an entire bottle of bubbles. This will be a fun outside toy for him this summer.

Cameron got a new toy! My thought was to get him a sandbox...David had other ideas. I say this is David living vicariously through Cameron. While he does like it, he hasn't quite figured out how to really jump on his own yet...so David bounces him. Cameron just lays down and flails around until someone starts bouncing him. Ideally this will be used outside. However, the nice thing is it's small enough we can inflate it inside when the weather isn't great (it's still a little cold to be outside playing for extended periods of time).

This is a recording of Cameron waking us up in the morning. He will lay in there for 30-45 minutes and just talk, sing, and make noise. You will hear him say "Bella", which is the dog at daycare. I think some of them are also "Bah La", which is now banana.