Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! As you can see, I went as an incredibly scary lion. Ok, so maybe more cute than scary. It was a great costume for the blustery day we had as I kept nice and warm in the wagon while mommy took me to a few neighbors houses, more to show me off than anything. Of course I didn't get to keep the candy they gave me.

In honor of Halloween, one of my newest words is "boo" as in ghost says "boo". I also will respond to cow says "moo". And just today I made mommy's morning when I said mama, dada, and dog on cue and with meaning. Typically I just point and grunt or whine when I want to communicate. I am especially good at pointing at fruit, cheerios, or any other food I want. I also let people know I'm hungry by going to my high chair and pushing it towards the table while making the sign for food.

This has been a rough couple weeks for me healthwise. Fortunately nothing too serious, but still a nuisance. Earlier this month, I apparently had some digestive enzymes enter my stool and start eating away at my skin, causing what looked like a very severe diaper rash and a lot of pain. Fortunately after following the doctor's orders of vinegar baths after every BM, lots of diaper free time, cortizone cream, triple paste, and other remedies, I started healing and feeling a ton better. You can still see where the skin was damaged, but at least it does not hurt anymore. Shortly after I recovered from that, I started cutting more teeth, including my elusive top right tooth. Mom and dad were very excited that it made an appearance, but I was not too pleased with the amount of pain it caused. And just the other day, right after getting over the brunt of this round of teething, I ended up with a fever of nearly 103. This was my first fever over 100 so it took all of us by surprise. I spent a couple nights this week sleeping with mommy in a chair for a couple hours in the wee hours of the morning. As much as she enjoyed cuddling with me again, I think she would have enjoyed sleeping through the night in a bed just as much. Fortunately my fever subsided after a round or two of Motrin and the doctor said everything else looked good and it could be a mild case of the flu, but nothing too serious.

Unfortunately, that somewhat favorable diagnosis did not help me sleep last night and once again I had mommy and daddy up for a couple hours in the middle of the night. Now that mommy is sick too, the timing wasn't the greatest. Good thing daddy says he feels ok as he has taken on lots of extra duties today to help me and mommy recover. I think it helped that I actually slept in until almost 10am (well really 9am with the end of daylight savings) so daddy and mommy could make up some of the sleep they lost this week. I'm just preparing them for having a newborn again!

On a happier note, I continue to learn about the world around me. I'm fascinated with body parts, especially the belly. I can point out my nose, tongue, ears, and belly and I enjoy lifting people's shirts and pointing out their own belly - fortunately I really only do that with mommy and daddy as apparently that is not acceptable public behavior according to mommy. I also enjoy playing peekaboo and find it especially entertaining when Jesse hides under my blanket. Dancing is another favorite activity of mine as I enjoy all sorts of music.

Other things I enjoy include playing with blocks, pushing trucks around while making "vroom vroom" noises, and my favorite activity of all - reading. I will sit with people and read book after book after book. I even know some of my favorite books and will make the appropriate gestures when we get to the right pages. I even am starting to warm up to the day care at mommy's gym. When mommy came to pick me up this week, I was actually playing with one of the older kids. Normally mommy finds me cuddling with my blanket sitting in one of the adult's laps. Since Grandma Linda will be here this week, I won't be going to daycare on Thursday, but hopefully the next time I go I have as much fun playing.

Well I better go catch some more Zzzs so I can get better in time for Grandma Linda's visit.

Love,

Cameron

The Gap in the Grin

Happy fall! Though today feels more like winter - cold and I even saw a few snowflakes before I went for my nap. Good thing I keep moving so I stay warm. I am now standing on my own without holding on to anything, but I will eventually fall down on my bum. I'm still not walking unassisted. I figure I can get places faster crawling so why bother? Though I practically run across the kitchen while pushing my car.

I now have 5 teeth. Two on bottom, my upper right (if you are looking at me, it's the right - it's my left) and both my incisors. However, still now upper left tooth. My grin is kind of goofy because of it. Mommy says it just makes me look even more endearing.

I still am quite an eater. Now that I can make the sign for "food"/"hungry", I use it quite frequently to let mommy and daddy know I want something to eat and then I get whiny because I really wanted it 5 minutes ago. I also make the sign when we go through the produce section of the grocery store. It's my favorite section for several reasons. One, it's very colorful. Two, my favorite foods (with the exception of bread and cheese) are all in that section. Bananas, kiwis, grapes, papaya, mangoes, tomatoes, etc are all in this section. Notice my trend towards fruits. Even though I have tried many veggies and some really interesting foods like risotto, homemade wontons and chili (and liked all three too), I'm still a fruit, cheese and bread kinda guy. I love lunch because many days I get a turkey & cheese sandwich with fruit and that's one of my favorite meals. So is pasta with cheese. Yummy!

Seeing as it's fall, that means mommy and daddy's two favorite sports are playing: baseball and football. I got to watch a few Brewer games in the last month and a couple playoff games this month. Plus we watch the Packer game each weekend, though I usually sleep through most of the early games and wake up in time to watch the late games. Mommy and I went to our friends Lisa & Scott's house on Monday for the big Packer-Viking game and I stayed up a little past my usual bedtime and watched some of the game. Actually, I was more interested in trying to take whatever toy my friend Allison had but eventually she grew annoyed with me and would just nudge me out of the way. I finally decided just to play with mommy's water bottle instead. It was still fun. You'll notice two of my pictures have a football theme - one is me celebrating mommy's favorite college football team (Univ. of Washington Huskies - GO DAWGS!) after a huge victory and then another picture is me rooting on the Packers.

Now for the other two pictures - one is me trying on my new helmet so I can ride safely in the bike trailer next spring and the other is me carrying around a sock in my mouth. I love cotton. I don't have a specific lovey, but anything cotton works - socks, blankets, burp cloths, clothes, etc. But I constantly am taking my sock off and putting it in my mouth and sometimes I will carry it around like a dog with a bone in his mouth.

Mommy and daddy also started their fall volleyball season and I have been to one of mommy's matches and one of daddy's matches. I really enjoy crawling around the big open gym and pointing to my daddy while he plays. I don't get to go this week since they both play after my bedtime. Oh well, I enjoy the nights I do get to watch them.

As for me, my sport of choice is swimming. I started up lessons again last month and have gone underwater twice. Both times I didn't really complain so mommy and daddy and Miss Heather are all very proud of me. I enjoy splashing in the water. My friend Michaela is in class with me again and there are several other girls so I enjoy charming them.

But my newest girl to charm is Lorelai Burie, born on Wednesday. We visited her and her family yesterday. It was fun playing with Ben and Abby's toys, but I really wanted to play with Lorelai. Mommy and daddy wouldn't let me touch her so I got pretty cranky about that. At least I didn't mind it when mommy was holding her. Since I have a baby sibling (and both mommy and daddy as well as the doctor think it's a girl) coming, it's probably good practice for me to watch mommy hold a baby. Daddy was there to give me attention though so that's why it wasn't a big deal that mommy wasn't holding me. Lorelai is a cutie and she will be in the same grade as my lil brother or sister so I'm sure I will see a lot more of her as she grows up.

Lately I've really wanted to stay close to mommy and daddy when I'm out of my comfort zone. On Thursday when mommy took me to the gym's day care so she could do her water aerobics, I grabbed her and would not let go. I didn't want to play with the other kids and for the first time, I didn't even want to cuddle with the adults. I just wanted my mommy to stay by me. She eventually left and I eventually cuddled and calmed down. I did something similar with daddy when we visited Lorelai's family. But I started socializing much quicker there, especially when Ben started showing me his toys.

I still am not much of a talker, but I will say "up" once in a while. I don't necessarily mean much by it as I am not asking to be picked up when I say it. I just like the word. I also like to point up when I hear the word "up". I'm very good at pointing at what I want, especially when I'm eating breakfast. If I want a banana, I will point at the fruit basket on the counter. It works though as mommy and daddy usually can tell what I want. It doesn't always mean I get it.

Though the last month has been pretty darn good, it had it's challenges. I got a cold and had a runny nose for almost 2 weeks. Daddy got a cold too and was sick for several days. Mommy had some runny nose issues, but we never know if it's a cold or pregnancy related as she has a history of allergies hitting in the early months of pregnancy. Either way, she was the least affected by whatever daddy and I had. I'm better now and back on my feet. So now maybe mommy and daddy can finally go out and celebrate mommy's birthday. They wanted to go to dinner last month, but with everybody sick and all, it made it hard to do. Plus one of my babysitters is in the middle of her volleyball season so her availability is very limited which makes it a bit harder for mommy and daddy to get out. Though I'm sure they don't mind since I'm so much fun to be around!

Well off to play with one of my best buds, Jesse. I love chasing him around and playing catch with him. He's very good at rolling the ball back to me so I can throw it back to him. I'm not as good at aiming so often I hit him in the face with the ball instead of throwing it near him. Oh well, he gets me back when we play with his tug toy. One tug and I usually get knocked over. But then I go grab tug and play all over again. Good thing I'm very good at falling onto my bum instead of my face or head.

Love,

Cameron