Kickin' Chicken

Well I still love using my feet, hence the title of this blog. It’s what daddy says to me a lot when we are playing. But now I am also starting to use my hands more to explore. I will now grab toys hanging from my play mat and I even hugged a stuffed animal last night. Of course everything I grab ends up in mouth. How else am I supposed to know how my toys taste?

Mom continues to take me everywhere. I enjoy getting out of the house, but most of the time I just fall asleep in the car and miss all of the sites. We are still working on the whole sleeping in my crib thing. I gave my parents a nice gift on Sunday night and slept all the way until 5 am. I think it freaked them out a bit when they woke up and it wasn’t 2 am. But of course I am a tease and every night since Sunday I’ve woken up twice – once around 12:30 or 1am and then again around 4:30am. I feel bad about my 4:30am wake up call since daddy gets up for work at 5, but when a growing boy’s gotta eat, he’s gotta eat.

I also like to sit up with my back against the sofa, but whenever mom makes me smile while I’m sitting nicely, I start tipping over. Eventually I will learn to keep my balance. I’m also doing a little better with tummy time. It helps when I can see Jesse as he is my favorite thing to watch. Whenever he comes near me, I get a big ol’ grin on my face. I can’t wait until I can play with him more. Right now I just watch him and he watches me and occasionally he will come over and sniff me.

A few other faves of mine these days include sitting in my bouncy chair in the bathroom while mommy showers. I like watching the cool patterns on the shower curtain while playing with the toys hanging from the chair. I think mom really appreciates being able to shower regularly without me screaming for her attention. I also enjoy watching the bears hanging from my swing while mom and dad eat dinner. Although I usually only last about 10 minutes in my swing before I get grumpy (I’m probably getting tired while they are eating dinner, hence the grumpiness), it gives one of them enough time to swallow dinner so they can actually eat together. They’re learning how to work with me so they can still enjoy some of the simple pleasures in life like eating and showering.

Speaking of eating, mom and dad continue to take me out to lunch. We’ve met daddy for lunch during the week a couple times and then on Fridays we usually go out as a family for lunch. Most of the time I’m well-behaved. It’s neat having a family tradition already.

Well that’s all from here. I’m off for a play date with mom’s friend Jea and her daughter Bella and I don’t want to be late!

Love,
Cameron

Coo Coo Cuckoo

First, in honor of my daddy, Happy (Belated) Veterans Day. He served our country and I am very proud of him and all of our other veterans, past and present.

I definitely keep mom and dad on their toes with all my new developments. I started cooing a couple weeks ago and can be pretty vocal when I’m in the mood to chit chat. So mom and I have a conversation each morning where she tells me what we’re doing for the day. We usually don’t stick to the original plan. Apparently my nap schedule and my ever-changing moods disrupt our plans. But we still get out of the house a lot and see lots of things. Our latest favorite activity is to go walking at the mall. And if I fall asleep, I think mom does some shopping as I seem to come home with a new outfit each time we go. Mom makes me take a nap in my crib before she will take me to the mall. I do like to sleep in my car seat, especially this time of year when I get all bundled up in a warm coat and my cool new hat (see picture). So I usually only sleep 30-60 minutes in my crib and then let mom know I’m ready to go. What a sucker!

My new best friend is my dog Jesse. When I’m cranky, mom calls Jesse over and I usually will stop crying so I can watch what he is doing. I think he burps as much as I do. Pretty soon, I will have to start blaming my gas on him and maybe nobody will be the wiser…

A few other faves include sucking my fists ALL THE TIME! I don’t mouth a lot of my toys yet as my fists work just fine to suck on as demonstrated in one of the pictures. I am starting to enjoy my rattle and will occasionally grab it, but then I usually drop it so I can suck on my fists. I still like kicking, especially when I’m on my play mat because I have a kick board on one side that makes music when I kick it. When I’m playing, the music is constantly playing as I am always kicking the board. That is unless mom turns the music off on me when she’s had enough of the same songs over and over and over again. I am becoming more of a fan of classical music as that is what I get to listen to when I am put to sleep at night and for naps. Mom even has a CD of a string quartet playing REM songs so I still get my REM fix once in a while at night.

I attended my second wedding last weekend. I was very well behaved and stayed quiet the whole ceremony this time. I got to see two of my aunts and uncles as well as Grandpa and Grandma Kruepke and two of my great-grandmas. In case you couldn't tell, I'm the dapper young man being held by daddy in the picture. I even dressed up for the occasion.

I suppose I should fess up about the bald spot on the back of my head. I know I’m a bit young to be balding, but there is a perfectly good explanation for it. Because I’m not allowed to sleep on my tummy and I’m not a huge fan of tummy time so I only stay on my tummy about 15 minutes a day, I spend a lot of time either laying on my back or sitting with my head against a head rest in my swing, bouncy chair or car seat. As a result, I have a bald spot on the back of my head because I can’t sit or lay still so I’m constantly moving and rubbing the hair right off of my head. Eventually my hair will fall out and grow back in and hopefully by then I’ll be sitting up on my own and not always leaning and rubbing against stuff.

Here is a funny story for you (at least I think it’s funny – you’ll have to ask my mom if she agrees). One of my new favorite games is airplane Mommy puts me on her lower legs and lifts her legs so I fly in the air. She had the bright idea to play this game shortly after I ate. She also had her mouth open because she was making airplane noises. Let’s just say, my spit up bomb landed only about a centimeter away from mom’s mouth. That would have been a tasty treat I’m sure. I think she learned her lesson as I noticed a spit cloth nearby when we play and she doesn’t play this game right after a feeding anymore.

I think I made up for my spit up bomb last night. While mom and dad were getting me ready for bed, we were talking. Mom imitated a sound I made and I found her imitation pretty funny. So I laughed. She imitated my laugh and I laughed again. They got pretty excited both times I laughed so I’m pretty sure I have them smitten with me even more. Man are they easy to please. I just have to make some new noise or do something new and they get all gaa gaa over me. Chumps!

Finally, my mom’s coworker Laura asked me to let the world know I was actually awake for her visit last week. This is a first since I tend to sleep through all of mom’s trips into the office and I slept through Laura’s first visit to us. I was not the greatest host that particular day as I was only pleasant for about 15 minutes, then I needed to eat, then I was good again until I pooped. Then I was good again once I was changed. At least this is how she described her visit. My story is I was good the whole time.

Wow, guess I had a lot to say. Mom says I’m a talker and now you know why. I think I take after mommy and Grandpa Brian in that sense.

Love,
Cameron

Hail to the Chief - ME!

Well it’s hard to believe it’s November with the weather so nice. Because it has been in the 70s, mom has taken me on walks in many places. Today we went to Frame Park and walked around the Fox River. I got to see lots of bright colored leaves. Yesterday we walked the Glacial Drumlin Trail and also took a little unscheduled detour through a neighborhood. Mom thought she could get back to the car through the neighborhood, but eventually realized there were no sidewalks from the neighborhood’s entrance to our car and the two-lane road was not safe to walk on so we had to turn around and back track. She only went off the trail and into the neighborhood because I was making such a ruckus with my crying and she felt bad for the two women walking right behind us as they had to listen to me for a good ½ mile before our little detour.

We also got to walk over to the Elks Lodge this morning so mom could vote. She was very proud of how well behaved I was. I didn’t make a sound the whole time she was in line. Fortunately there were only 2 people in front of her so it went quickly. Daddy didn’t have that same luck as he had to go after work like most everybody else. Only 18 more years and I’ll be able to vote too!

I experienced my first Halloween on Friday. Mom and I handed out candy to the trick-or-treaters. It gave me an opportunity to scope out costume ideas for next year. This year I dressed up as a ghost. Boo! Unfortunately mom and dad didn’t actually take me trick-or-treating so I didn’t get any candy. What cruel parents.

Mom is working with me on a nap schedule. So far I have been cooperating in the morning. In the two whole days we have been doing this, I have started my morning nap around 8:30am both days. And, I have taken those naps in my crib. Big difference from last week’s blog. We’re still working on the afternoon naps. I say mom is to blame for me not taking a consistent afternoon nap as she always has me out and about in the afternoon. Something about the nice weather and wanting to walk. But I did sleep in my crib for about 45 minutes this afternoon so that’s a start. I think mommy is going to be the disciplinarian – she’s already enforcing arbitrary rules.

I finally got to meet our friends, Victor, Ann and Erik. Ann likes holding babies so she held me for a while. And then I demonstrated for her and Victor what happens when people are holding me and don’t walk around. I cry. A lot. Now they know what mommy and daddy go through almost every evening – lots of walking laps around the house! Note - you will see in the picture that daddy is holding me, but not walking. And I am crying. A lot.

Not much else here. Just waiting to meet my future girlfriend, Allison Veronica Olson, who was born on Thursday. In the meantime, I will keep busy with a play date on Friday and I think tomorrow mommy and I are going to visit daddy for lunch. And I’m guessing we’ll probably go for more walks since that seems to be mommy’s favorite activity with me. I suppose she is just taking advantage of decent weather before the cold, crummy winter weather arrives.

Love,

Cameron