He's been replaced by this adorable and wild, but equally sweet little man that I love to bits.
Who thought it was the funniest thing to color on his belly with a (color wonder) marker.
It was tickling him and he would laugh until he couldn't take it and then start all over again.
At almost 21 months Camden is really coming into his own now. He speaks a lot and while all his words aren't clear he lets you know with the signs he knows and tone of his voice what he means. In the span of a month he added the words: Wub you, Ridee, nack, no, oh no, monk monk, nigh nigh, yum, shirt, shoes, elmo, dog, duck, kitty, moo, book, cake, wader, birdie, Osky, Errrnie, ouchie, and smoody just to name a few. When I get him up in the morning he will ask "Where Dada?" Then if I tell him he's gone, he'll make a pouty face and say "Awwww. Dada at werk. Erry buddy?" Which is his way of telling me he wants to come down and see everybody.
Cam still sleeps like a champ in his crib. He goes to nap and bed without a fuss and happily stays there for 12-13 hours a night. I remember we went through a phase around 7-12 months where he would cry every time he woke up. Now he either bangs really hard on his wall or he sings and calls out Mama? Dada? until we get him. His must have sleep friends are his dear lovey Monk Monk, his fish mobile that plays music and lights up, and now his new Elmo pillow pet. While he can stand and bounce in his crib he has yet to attempt to climb out. I am thankful for that.
The wild and many tantrums we endured from the 18 month mark on have drastically decreased as he has learned how to communicate with us. Most of the time now we can make it through the day with only 2-3 mini meltdowns. 95% of the time his tantrum is over a ball - he wants us to rip one out of the package in Target, he wants a ball from a page in a book, he is pissed that the soft soccer ball in IKEA has a tag on it, he wants a new ball from whatever store we are currently in (really Old Navy you have to sell balls too???) or someone takes one of his hundred balls. He is obsessed with all types of sports balls and is constantly holding, kicking, throwing, or juggling one in his hands.
His comprehension is skyrocketing and I've enjoyed watching him pick up on our family routines. He throws away his own trash, helps clean up the toys when we're done, sings the tubby time song when it's time, puts his dishes into the dishwasher and lays out all our shoes when we tell him we're getting ready to go bye bye. Last week we took him to the mall to get some new clothes at HandM. After we avoided a tantrum over a sa-weet but needlessly expensive motorcycle jacket that we tried on and he did not want to part with, we ended up with a few cute long sleeve tees. There was one in particular that he was so happy to get that he insisted on stripping down at the check out and putting it on. He was just so big standing there grinning and rubbing his belly and looking at me to say "new sherrrt?".
Food is still a battle, but I've learned to stop stressing over it (as much). He loves chicken (grilled, fried, nuggets), corn dogs, mac and cheese, pizza, grilled pb sandwiches, sweets and breakfast foods. Vegetables are a hard sell so I sneak them into smoothies which he LOVES. Some morning he will even come down and open up my cabinet where the blender is and say "Smoody"? He loves yogurt too, and still prefers water and juice over milk.
He loves to play all sorts of games and he's fearless just like his big sister. If he gets hurt most of the time he'll say "ouchie" and after a quick kiss continues about his way. He loves wrestling, playing with Riley, bear fighting (as Riley calls it), and when we pretend to be a wild animal and chase him and tackle him. Cam also likes coloring, painting, playing with the iPad and looking at his books. Choo choos and all types of vehicles are big right now. Elmo is still his favorite, obsessed over show, but thankfully he's started watching other things like Little Einsteins, Despicable Me and Shrek.
Camden is the sweetest and funniest little man and we love each other like crazy. He laughs and smiles easily and we can't help but join in when he does. Boys are definitely a different ball game than girls (in my opinion), but he's no less darling, obedient, smart or loving than his big sister was at this age. It's just taken me twice as much work to help him get there. I imagine it will always be that way and I'm more than happy to be the one helping him along every step of the way.
If he likes trains and the iPad, I highly recommend the Build A Train app. Hayden LOVES this app- you can build trains by picking the engine and cars and then the course and you drive it everywhere. He will play it for hours if we let him.
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