Happy 2011

Well, it is now a new year and I feel like time is now flying by faster than it ever has. Do you remember when you were young and you always anticipated the next big thing about to happen in your life and it seemed like it would never get here fast enough? I really wish I could have that same perspective again because now I blink and the year is gone. I blame it on having a kid. I really want to just savor each stage and phase that Camden goes through, but instead it goes by at lightning speed. 

Enough complaining and reminiscing. I want to talk about my New Year's resolution. I only have one: I want to do better about blogging about the things that matter. I want to do better about putting Camden's accomplishments and funny sayings on this blog so I will have these memories out there for myself, Kevin and Camden. And whoever else wants to know...

I will start with writing about our December events:

One day, I went over to a friend's house to help them pack a moving van to move to Arizona. Camden was sad about them moving. He said, "Where is my Ms. Deb?" I told him they moved to Arizona. He asked, "Can I move to Arizona, too?" That sparked a discussion of where different people lives and he now knows that his cousin Callie lives in Illinois, Ms. Deb lives in Arizona, our friends, the Kites live in Nebraska, the grandparents, Matthew and Tio and Aunt Kay-kay live in Texas, and we live in Colorado. He also knows that Mickey Mouse lives in Disney World.! : )

We took Camden to see some Christmas lights around town and a special light show at one of the churches in town. He really liked seeing the lights and he would say "They're pretty. You're pretty, too, Mom." 

I ordered most of our Christmas presents online. It was cheaper and more convenient and most of it was free shipping, but there were a few things we had to go shopping for at the stores. After shopping at several stores and being out running errands for awhile, I asked Camden if I could go to one more store. He said, "Sure, let's go to one more store." I think I am turning Camden into a little shopper. Uh-oh, what happens if we have a girl?

The Monday before Christmas, we had a little Christmas party a couple of families here in town. The kids had a great time playing and opening presents from each other. Of course, Camden is pretty much a pro at opening presents now and is really getting excited about Santa bringing him presents. On a side note, he sometimes calls Santa, Noah. I guess they do kind of look alike.

We left on Christmas Eve eve to head for Illinois. Camden was a great traveler and did awesome in the car as always. We stopped for about a hour at our friends house in Nebraska. It was a great half-way break. We got to Illinois close to midnight. Spending Christmas in Illinois was so much fun for everyone. Camden had a great time playing with his cousins, Callie and Gabriel. I enjoyed visiting with my mom and dad, brother and sister-in-law. And Kevin, well, he enjoyed down time on his computer. We also celebrated our 6th anniversary in Illinois and then came back to Colorado the next day.

I guess that means we are in January:

We haven't done much this month, so I will talk about Camden's development. Camden is expanding his vocabulary and his sentences are getting more and more complex. His deductive reasoning is also improving and his imagination makes me laugh most of the time. The other thing that amazes me is his memory. He is really starting to remember the things that happen to him.

    We went to water world back in August, and he still talks about that. When we were in Illinois, we said we were going to a restaurant called One World and he got very excited because he thought we said Water world and he really wants to go there. We will definitely have to go there again this summer.

    When I picked him up from Bible class in Illinois, the teacher told me he was talking about going to the zoo and seeing all the animals. At first, I thought he might be making up a story, but then the teacher said he talked about riding the train with Jacob and I knew he was remembering about our trip to the zoo in August. 

    He still talks about bumping his head on Adalai's bed in Texas. (That happened at Thanksgiving.)

    Camden sings a lot: Jingle Bells is one of his favorites and he still likes to sing it. I think he may be still singing it in July.

    He loves knock-knock jokes. And this is where his imagination comes into play. He makes up knock-knock jokes and about 95% of the time they make sense. Example: Camden says "Knock. Knock." and I say "Who's there?" he then says "jelly bean" and I say "jelly bean, who?" Camden then says, "Jelly bean goes in my mouth." I think he is pretty clever.
  

To sum up:
  Camden's Likes:
         Singing
         Knock-knock jokes
         His puppy and paci
         Being around people
         Counting
         Coloring
         Dinosaurs
         Trains
         Toy Story
         Kids his age, kids any age really
         Babies
         Candy and chocolate
         Cars and planes and helicopters
         Taking his vitamins
         Music
         Sports of any kind
         the color pink
         Veggie Tales
         PBS kids, but especially Sesame Street
         Going to toddler time at the Library
         Playgrounds
   Camden's Dislikes:
         Bedtime
         Being alone
         Raw vegetables
         Time outs