Reflection.

We have had an amazing Christmas.
Part 1 was in Houston with my Sister, Bro-IL, Nephew, Brother, and Dad.
Part 2 was with Andy's extended paternal side of the family.
Part 3 was our very own Christmas at home with Cam.
Part 4 was with my Mom, Sister, and Niece.
Part 5 was with Andy's extended maternal side of the family.
Tomorrow holds Part 6 - A's immediate family.

We have spent a lot of quality time with our loved ones.
There has been a lot of laughter, a lot of catching up.
Camy has received a lot of amazing gifts, as have Andy and I.
It's been happy and fun and magical.. I just love experiencing Christmas as a parent, making memories with my sweet daughter.

And just as with the last 2 years, I always find myself reflecting on Christmases past.
Namely, Christmas 2008.
Where right now, this time 3 years ago, we were feeling rather sorry for ourselves for what we were certain was yet another failed TTC cycle.
We were at the movies with my sisters and BIL, watching Marley & Me, probably crying.
I was half-drunk, as I had been the entire day after waking up to a drastic temp drop.

It wasn't until around 10pm, back from the movie, that our lives changed forever.
That on a whim, I took a pregnancy test fully expecting to see only one line.
I took the test, set it down, and walked away.
I returned a few minutes later to toss it in the trash, and saw the 2 lines.
I screamed for Andy, I cried, I may or may not have jumped up and down and all around.
My life forever changed in that moment.
Christmases will never be the same.

I have my precious gift, sitting on my lap right now, watching a Christmas short movie on TV.
Boxes and wrapping paper in every corner of our home, new toys strewn about... in various stages of being unpacked, a 5 foot tall Color-Me Playhouse taking up the majority of our living room rug....

These are the types of Christmases I never knew I always wanted.
Christmas celebrations from the Mommy Perspective? They're the best.
Listening to my Bean sing "Dingle Bells", watching her rearrange the ornaments on the tree and marveling at the beautiful lights.. dressing her in a big, pouffy dress with tights and sparkly shoes... hearing her exclaim "Meeeewwy Kiss-mas!" to everyone she loves.
Magical.
Simply magical.

3 years ago, we found out we were expecting our first.
2 years ago, we celebrated our first daughter's first Christmas.
1 year ago, we watched her truly experience Christmas for the first time (you know, being actually alert and not a sleepy 4 month old).
This year, we taught her about Christmas, had conversations with her about trees and lights and giving and love.. we sang songs with her, she opened her own gifts, she loved every minute.
Christmas just keeps getting better every year.
I love it.

I hope you had a wonderful day with your family.
I hope you found as much magic in the holiday as we did.
I hope you have a year full of peace and love.
Merry Christmas.

Finally Sitting Still.

This week absolutely knocked me on my butt.
Chewed me up, and spit me out.
It was terrible from start to finish, but I made it out alive.
And you know how?

This girl.

And her "You're my best friend"s and her "I. Love. YOU!!!"s and her "Just snuggle with me, Mommy."s. 

After all the crazy this week had in store, Cam and I just chilled all day today.

We sat around in our PJs, watched movies, put puzzles together.. just relaxed, her and I.

And it was wonderful.

Camy's Nana and Papa took us out for dinner (hooray for not having to cook or clean kitchens!) then we drove around to find fun Christmas light displays.

We stopped at the city tree, all lit up from the ground up... and Cam loved it. 

Sadly, we didn't have our real camera with us on account of the spontaneity, so this pic is a bit blurry..

But I kinda love it. 

Camy had such a ball running around that tree, and climbing in that sleigh.
I think we might take her back tomorrow with the camera in tow to see what kind of magic we can capture on film card. 

7 days until Christmas.... 

Are you ready?

5 more gifts to buy for us, then we're done.

And I cannot wait for Christmas morning this year... seeing Cam's excitement, hearing her (now verbal) reactions to the gifts under the tree, watching family love and dote on her as much as we do everyday. I seriously can. not. wait!

-----------------

Oh, Oh.... andplusalso.... Camy's heart is totally fine. She does have a 1mm hole between the 2 ventricles (called Ventricular Septal Defect), but it is totally functional and should close on its own by her 4th birthday. We'll follow up with the cardiologist then, repeating the 2 tests that were performed, just to be sure.

First they did an EKG that went a little something like this:

And then an echocardiogram, that went like this:

We were there for nearly 3 hours, start to finish, and Cam rocked it out. 

I, of course, was beyond relieved that we have nothing to worry about! I am so so happy we got in as soon as we did, and got the all-clear! Whew!!!

------------

Now, its off to bed with my little Cam-A-Lam.

G'night.

Things My Camy Says...

This little girl cracks me up every. single. day.
I love the things she comes up with, and the way she articulates herself.
I love this age and how conversational she has become.

Here are just a few things she says or has said that I would like to remember always...


She loves pretending to call people, she will look up to the sky and ponder out loud who she needs to call, and she usually starts with her Nona. The conversations always go like this..
"Hello Nona! What you doin'? Good? Oh, ok. Bye!"
Then she'll think of who else to call and repeat the convo word for word.
And there are no pauses in between phrases, it's all rapid fire.
I love it. I will just sit there and watch her go through her mental contact list, having the same conversation with everyone she loves!
______
Yesterday morning she heard me making coffee in the kitchen and promptly turned to her Daddy and said, "Mommy gettin' her coffee... Daddy, where's your beer?" He laughed and informed her that he doesn't drink beer in the mornings...
______
When eating pierogies with dinner, she asked for more "pugeroni" which was both adorable and slightly disturbing.
______
Dora the Explorer is "Dora the Escabula", no matter how many times we try to correct her.
______
If I ask Camy for a hug, as soon as I start to give her a squeeze, she'll say "I the best!". Guess she's been paying attention the last two years, picking up on all the times I tell her she is, in fact, the best.
______
One morning last week, I couldn't find my phone when we needed to leave for school. After several minutes of searching, Camy found it. I told her she was the best (see, I tell her all the time) and her reply was "Yeah, I your girl!" I melted. And squeezed her.
______
If she wants her bop and I won't give it to her, she will let me know that she is "not a big girl right now"... so all the "babies use bops, big girls don't" talk is getting through, just not in the way I intended.
______
One of her toddler teachers coined the nickname "Cama-Lama-Ding-Dong" and it has caught on with everyone we know, it seems. The only bad thing about it being in such wide rotation is now when she hears her full name, she corrects whoever is speaking by saying "No! My name is Cama-Ding-Dong!" Oops.
______



This little girl. I just adore her.
:)

Catch Up and a Kiss-Mas Twee.

I seriously stink at updating this thing these days.
Something about having a 2 year old and a full time job, and laundry and dishes and take-home work... oy.

But here I am.
Let's get caught up.

To follow up on the allergy post I wrote forever ago, her lab results came back with a very high number for peanuts (14.4), putting her at a Level 3 allergy and at the top of the chart, greater than 95% chance of anaphylaxis. Her tree nut scores were much lower, but still considered a Level 2 allergy (out of 6 levels, where 3-6 are considered severe). We will repeat the blood test every year to see where her numbers go.

In other news, Camy is now fully daytime potty trained, but wearing a pull-up a night because this mama isn't ready for that battle quite yet. I can't even remember the last time she had an accident at school (knock on wood) and the accidents at home are becoming fewer and farther between. Yay!

She is sleeping in her room by herself now, finally. It took a little nudge from our therapist (oh yeah.. therapy, more on that in a minute).. but we finally bit the bullet, cut the cord, whatever you want to call it. Andy and I both lay down with her for bedtime, then when she's asleep, we leave the room. The first couple weeks, she woke up in the middle of the night and either called for us over the monitor or just walked to our room.. but more recently, she's been doing really well about staying in her room/bed til morning. Our next goal, of course, is to get her to actually go to sleep on her own. But that transition will be a much harder one... for her AND for me. We'll get there eventually.

Girl is talking up a storm and her imagination has really developed over the last month or two. It is so fun and just amazing to watch her play now. I love to see and hear the things she comes up with, and most of the time, she has me (or anyone around her) belly-laughing from the crazy things she says.

Her asthma had been doing really well for a long time, but with the colder air that's blown in, it's been a bit harder to manage. I am really worried going into cold & flu season this year, because anytime she catches anything, her breathing gets all cuckoo. Like this week, where a simple cold basically knocked her on her butt.. had her waking at all hours of the night, coughing and wheezing and needing neb treatments. :sigh: My poor girl.
We took her in to see her pedi Friday morning just to make sure this cold wasn't something more, and unfortunately, while we were there, her dr picked up a heart murmur. It is most likely a "functional" heart murmur, meaning essentially harmless.. but we were referred to a pediatric cardiologist to follow up. We have that appt Wednesday morning.
Even though I know she will be fine and that its probably nothing, I had a bit of a breakdown on our way home from the doctor. I mean, this poor girl... she has been seeing specialists nearly her entire life. Dermatologist for the terrible skin problems she had in infancy, allergist for her food allergies, and now a cardiologist for her heart. She's seen the inside of ER exam rooms more times than I count, had 3 chest xrays in her short 2 years, skin tests, blood tests, breathing treatments... we have to carry a med-pouch with us everywhere we go with benadryl, epi-pens, an oximeter, and an inhaler. I mean, really?!
I am so so so thankful that she is as healthy as she is.. Lord knows things could be much much worse, but my heart still breaks for her and all she's had to go through. I'm ready for to have a break. I wish we could go a year, or heck, even six months without a specialist appointment for her.

And the last little update.. Andy and I are in marriage counseling. About 2 months ago we hit a breaking point where we both realized that we have been far too disconnected for far too long. We don't want Camy to grow up with parents who basically live as roommates, we want to set a good example for her on what a loving relationship looks like. We want her to grow up in a happy home. So we started therapy and its been wonderful, albeit difficult at times. Things have improved dramatically over the last couple months, and I am so glad we both agreed to take that step for our family.

So, there ya have it. All caught up.. at least on the big stuff.
Now, I will (once again) vow to do better about blogging. I need to.. there are so many things happening with Cam that I want to remember forever. Little things like funny stories she tells, big things like potty training and independent sleeping.. and everything in between. I need to do better about blogging, for myself. So... I will. Even if its just a quick weekly recap.

Before I go, what's a post without a pic or five?
Last night before bed, Cam spent a few minutes marveling at the Christmas tree, all lit up in the dark.
I happened to still have the camera out from earlier in the day, and thank goodness it was handy, or I would have missed this shot:

She said she needed to hug her "kiss-mas twee" good night, and she did.. while telling the "twee" that she looooved it. {favorite. picture. ever.}

She was examining ornaments...

Just taking it all in.

Rehanging one that she felt should be moved...

And, oh, those chubby little fingers. 

I die.

Experiencing the holidays with a child is a magical. And it just gets better every year.

Under The Sea

Finally, a party post.

This summer Camy was all about the splash park, so when a totally awesome new one opened up close to us, we jumped on reserving a pavilion for her birthday.
We got the pavilion for the whole day, but opted for a mid-morning through lunch party in hopes of wearing all the littles out and sending them all home for super naps.
Worked for us... Bean was sacked out before we were done loading the car in the parking lot. No lie.

Our theme for the party was, obviously, "Under the Sea". 

I ran with it when it came to menu planning and we had some {Octopus} Hotdogs..

Some Sunbutter & Jelly{Fish} Sandwiches..

Some {Sea}Shells and Cheese..

We also had some goldfish, and fruit and veggies with an octopus-cut pepper chilling in the ranch.

Unfortunately, we also had a bunch of bees lingering around, so we kept the food covered as much as possible - which made a cutesy little table-scape photo impossible. Blah.

And another "unfortunately": Texas heat killed our awesome cupcakes. My little sister stayed up late the night before to make some fish-themed mini cupcakes for us. They started out all cute-like:

the one and only photo of them pre-party, phone pic

But by the time we were ready to set them out on the table, they looked like a sad, tie-dyed mess:

I was so disappointed. 

But it didn't stop anyone from gobbling them up. 

Especially not Cam - I think she ended up with one cupcake pop, 1 regular cupcake, and 2 minis. 

But it was her party, so I let her chow down on crap if she wanted to.

Oh, the cupcake pops. 

I found these holders online and fell in love, ordered 2 sets, and had a ball putting them all together. 

Figuring out how to display them posed a bit of a problem, but a gift-wrapped plastic basket did the trick. 

The pops were definitely a crowd-pleaser. :)

 

Cousin Sydnee, with her pop

And Cousin Ty

My girl takes her cake seriously, guys. 

For serious.

A great time was had by all. I was so happy to see {almost} all of our friends and loved gathered in honor of my sweet, sweet girl. And my big 2 year old made out like a bandit. She came home with some seriously awesome gifts! Lucky little lady, she is.. to be surrounded by so much love. 

Before I wrap this up.. I have to say that beyond the great party, the icing on the {birthday} cake for me was spending a little time with my nanny girls. I miss them so much!

Happy 2nd Birthday, my little CamyLove.

                 

on her birthday, rocking the pigtails and learning how to show "2" fingers!

Toughest Little Bean I know. :)

Well, following Bean's allergic reaction Saturday, we had to cancel her appointment with the allergist today. But because we have a super awesome allergist, he met with me in the lobby anyhow to talk about our game plan - no copay, no testing, just reassuring me and trying to figure out how to help my little girl. He is seriously the most awesome doctor ever... well, tied with our super awesome Pedi, anyway.

So, he said that had he realized that we were one the schedule for repeat scratch testing, he would have called me last week to tell me its not necessary. That appt was scheduled automatically, without a direct order from him, and he strongly feels that repeat testing would be completely useless for her. We don't need to see that she is allergic to peanuts/tree nuts, her previous testing and history of reactions prove that. What we do need to see is how allergic she is. We need a number. And a blood test can give us that. It would tell us where we are now, and give us a baseline for comparisons in the future (to see if she's outgrowing the allergy over time or not). 

So he wrote our lab orders himself and told us he'd be in touch as soon as they got the results.

Cam was already at school for the day when I stopped in to talk to him, so I made plans to pick her up right after nap-time and take her to the lab. But this mama is seriously anxious about blood draws (and IVs and epidurals, and other things where needles are fishing around in one's body).. so I asked my own mama to accompany us. She was happy to oblige. And she was a rockstar at keeping Camy distracted during the draw. I held up Camy's "Poppy Dog" stuffed friend to block her view of the needle in her arm (and let's be honest, to block my view too!) while Nona played videos of cousin Syd on her phone. Worked like a charm.

Cam didn't flinch. Didn't cry. Didn't jerk her arm or try to pull away.

She sat in my lap like a champ and toughed the whole thing out. 

Then when I was holding the cotton ball on her arm, she wanted to help me hold it in place, and was drumming on the arm of the chair with her needle-arm. 

Once she was bandaged up, she cheerfully got up, gave the tech a high five and toddled away saying "bye bye!" to everyone we passed.

What a tough cookie.

I love her.

And now we wait. 

3-4 days. 

The test was for all nuts, sesame, and pumpkin.

I hate allergies.

I hate what allergies do to my sweet girl.

We think this darn reaction comes as the result of an allergy trifecta: spending 4 days at my mom's house with a cat during the evacuation + the worst-its-been-in-years air quality in our area this week + Starbucks Pumpkin Bread. Darn it all to heck.

Cam's one year follow-up appointment with her allergist is on the books for Monday at 9:20 am. We got a friendly reminder call Thursday that she needs to be allergy med-free for the retesting, so no meds after Thursday night. We made it to Saturday night before we had no choice. Sooo... I guess we'll be rescheduling that appointment, and hoping like heck that leading up to the next one we don't experience devastating wildfires tearing through our city forcing us to live in a cat house for several days and that Cam's mom doesn't pull such a dumb move as giving her baby something with a high-risk of peanut cross contamination.  {To say I feel like a jerky jackass over the pumpkin bread is an understatement.}

Ugh.

Baby Big Girl is doing well this morning. Hives are gone. Eyes are still red and a little puffy and her congestion is off the charts and she hacks up a lung every once in a while, but she is in great (spunky) spirits. Thank goodness.

Hellish Week, y'all. Hellish.

Let's do a brief day by day summary before getting to the deets (in a potential future post), shall we?

Saturday: Woke up in the middle of the night to Camy gasping and breathing funny - rescue breathing treatment normalized her and all was well. Park Playdate with CoCo in the morning cut short because CoCo got hurt on the slide and we were worried he broke or sprained something. (He didn't, he's fine now). Trip to Target with Cam - we were rear-ended driving home and had to deal with the guy who hit us being a jerk, Cam had to be checked by EMS (per protocol, she was totally fine), and we had to wait for cops to help us take statements because other dude didn't have a valid license.

Sunday: Fires broke out around our city, and one of the bigger ones evacuated 4000 families from a large neighborhood in town - the neighborhood I nannied in for 8 years. My beloved nanny families were forced from their homes, along with several friends I have from those days... very scary. Tragic. Sad. Couldn't sleep that night.. stayed on the computer until 3am tracking news of the fire and relaying info to my most recent nanny-boss (who was sequestered in a hotel room with his family, without his laptop because they didn't have time to grab it in the evacuation).  {This particular fire burned around 175 acres, destroyed 24 homes, and damaged 30 more. All of my friends fared well. Thank God!}

Monday: Exhausted from being up all night worrying about the fires and packing essentials by the door just in case. Spent the holiday off work at my mom's so we could tag-team the girls and I could rest a little. Still stayed glued to my phone and laptop following fire news and trying not to panic about just how close to home these devastating fires were hitting. Went home for dinner and to do laundry for the week of work ahead. Home for 20 minutes or so before WE WERE EVACUATED for a fire literally blocks away from our home. Grabbed our shit and went back to my mom's where we stayed for 3 nights. {This particular fire burned burned 300+ acres, destroyed 11 homes and damaged 8 more. Just across the street and approx. 5 blocks from our neighborhood.}

Tuesday: Called out of work on account of the fires burning just across the street from our neighborhood, but had to go in for a couple hours in the middle of the day because they were short staffed. Looked like a homeless person, and probably smelled like one too. While at work, my coworker got word that ANOTHER fire broke out in our part of town, this one burning 2 properties (though no structures) and was literally extinguished as it approached her fenceline. Panic set in once again.

Wednesday: Regular workday. Refreshing. But exhausting.

Thursday: Was supposed to be off work for the day. Was called in at 10 am to cover someone else who was going home sick. Didn't have my keys because they somehow went to work with the husband, so my sister had to drive me to work and bring me some lunch. Got to work to find some troubling things took place that morning with a coworker and had to give a statement to document what I found.. still stressed about how that whole situation will play out. Because I had to work, I was unable to take care of getting my car looked at from the accident over the weekend, getting our house cleaned up, and moving back in without Cam in tow. We managed to get most of our stuff home late that evening and spent the first night at home since Monday.

Friday: First morning back at home.. lovely to get ready in the comfort of my own bathroom, with my things, my shower with its adequate water pressure, my coffee pot. Just lovely. Was so so grateful that we even HAD a home to return to, because in our area of TX, thousands of families have not been as fortunate as we were this week. The Bastrop Complex fires have destroyed over 1000 homes. One Thousand. Homes. Gone. I can't wrap my brain around that. Anywho, I was excited to learn that we would only have 7 babies in our room that day, as opposed to 9 or 10. But was "just 7 babies" a break? No. Not when 4 of them were sent home with stomach bugs so we were literally being puked on all. day. long. and cleaning the floors and carpets and changing clothes, and soothing sick kiddos. Geez oh man. Long day.

But, I went out for drinks last night with two great friends. Came home to find an awesome gift for Cam had arrived in the mail from our playgroup. And I am home today picking up the pieces of the last week's craziness. So all is on it's way to well again, friends. And that is good news.

Holy Mother of Hellish Weeks, friends. Holy Mother.
I am beat.

Park Playdates

We have had glorious weather the last week or so. And by "glorious" I mean under 100 degrees. Hallelujah. 

When our city wasn't burning to the ground (more on that in a bit), we tried to get out and take advantage of the "cold front".

Park Playdate with our BFFs J & "Co-Co" (Cohen = Cam's "boyfren").

And a park date with our little fam + my mom and niece, Syd. 

So glad we were able to squeeze some fun into last week, in all its crazy. 

And, I need to do better about getting in front of the camera. I just realized that we are seriously lacking photos of me WITH Cam. Boo.

{two}

***don't know why I didn't post this when I typed it last week***

Our Little Bean turned 2 on Friday. 

I took the day off of work so I could keep her home with me and soak up all the 2 year old goodness I possibly could! As we woke up that morning, I sang her "Happy Birthday" and wanted to just snuggle her.. I wanted to tell her all about all the ways she's grown and changed our lives, all the love she's brought to our home, how much we adore her... but she had another idea. She immediately climbed out of bed saying "I poopy, Mommy!? C'mon Mommy. Go Fast!"

So, there went my moment of sappy affection... off to the potty. 

Where she did in fact need to poopy. 

I tried to help her get her diaper off, but was met with "I do it SELF, Mommy! NO help!"

Okay.

Then she sat on her little potty (which she insists on using instead of the big toilet, now that she uses a small toilet at school), she did her thing, then asked to wipe herself (with my help), then wanted to flush it herself, wash her hands herself... all the while exclaiming "NO help, MOMMY! STAY! NO! I do it I SELF!"

:sigh:

Our big girl turned two, and even though she's been growing and changing and learning every single day, suddenly she seems so big. And smart. And independent. And two.

The potty training thing has been a slow and steady process for a very long time now - if you recall, she started pooping in the potty around 15 months after she decided pooping in the tub every night was the cool thing to do. Once she started school, we backed off a little bit because her toddler room couldn't accommodate potty training. We kept asking her to sit on the potty before bath time, but that was only a success a few times a week. No consistency. 

Last week she started in her Early Preschool class at school, and one of the perks is potty training. They have a little tiny potty in their room, and she was put in a class where most of the kids are older than her by about 6 months... which means she's seeing lots of kids using the potty throughout the day. 

At every diaper change, they set her on the potty, and they mark on her daily sheet "potty attempts" and "potty successes". I love getting that email at the end of every day and seeing how well she's doing! As the week progressed, her successes started outnumbering her attempts. My big girl. 

Since I would be home with her all day Friday, over the weekend, and again all day Monday, the Husband and I decided to jump right in. No diapers during the day. Only panties or bare bottom. And ya know what? We are on Day 3 - and ::knock on wood:: - NO ACCIDENTS! 

She has been telling me when she needs to go potty or poopy, she does most of the process by herself (with help in the wiping and flushing areas). And she is so proud of herself!

I just love seeing her tiny little bottom in panties. She's so stinking cute. But at the same time, every once in a while I get these pangs of sadness. The bedtime bottle is (finally!!) gone. The pacifier is on the way out. And now diapers. My baby isn't a baby anymore. 

She makes me so proud.

----

Her transition to Early Preschool is going much better than I anticipated. I was really worried about dropping her off in a new room with new teachers because after 6 months in her toddler class, I still got tears most days of the week. I knew she calmed down immediately because by the time I made it to the lobby to see the cameras, she would be happily playing.. all of 90 seconds after her waterworks saying goodbye. Little Stinker! But the tears as I was walking out the door were still painful. 

I thought for sure the hysterics would be a bit more dramatic in a new room, and the first day they were.. but since then? Nothing. She happily says "bye bye Mommy, go see babies!" and finds something to do with her new friends. And according to her new teachers and her daily sheets, she has transitioned very well. She has had no problems with nap-time. She is rocking it out at circle time. She loves eating her meals in the cafeteria. She is doing really well making trips to the specialty classrooms (the Library/Computer Lab and the Art & Animal Science Room), and much to my surprise and relief, she is not falling from atop the gigantic playground. Whew. 

I am (getting) over my sadness about her being on the opposite side of the school from me, and I am now very much looking forward to all the things she will learn in her new class. 

My big girl.

---

Party Pics and Recap Coming Soon!

I thought I had more time!

I thought I had one more full week of my baby still in the toddler classroom.
But noooope.
On Thursday I was asked if I would be okay with bumping Cam up to Early Preschool only in the mornings starting this Monday, and then making her official, full-time transition on the 23rd as planned. I thought about it.. and really, the only reasons I would say no would be purely selfish. For my anxiety. For my desperation to cling to the baby toddler version of my sweet girl. And that's not fair to Cam. In fact, having a week of half-days may be a good idea. A nice way to ease her into her new class, with 2 new teachers and a bunch of new friends. A new routine. A new playground. Eating lunch and snacks in the cafeteria like a big girl. Being exposed to potty learning. Its going to be a whole new world for her, so perhaps starting slow would be to her benefit? We have the option to just let her stay in the EPS room all day next week if she's totally rocking it out, but if she is struggling, she can return to toddler for naps and the afternoon. So, we'll see. Maybe she'll handle this far better than I probably will.. maybe she'll just jump right in!
So after giving it some thought and talking to a few teachers I work with, I agreed. And justlikethat, I had just one more day of her in Toddler instead of six. Justlikethat, I was filling out "All About Me" forms for her new teachers. I was reading letters sent home about potty learning methods at school.
Oy.
Just Like That.
She's a preschooler.

Her Toddler teachers were also a little sad to hear the news as they too were looking forward to one more week with her. She has stolen their hearts, and I know Cam loves them just as much as they love her. We will both miss her wonderful toddler teachers so much! I was going to wait until this Friday to bring in some "Thank You!" gifts for them on what should have been her last day in that class, but since I had such little notice of the new transition plan, I will have to bring them in Monday, which is fine.
I am going to get each teacher a bouquet of flowers and arrange them in a vase or mason jar filled with magnetic letters (thank you, Pinterest, for the inspiration!) I will probably add some corny little tag that says something like "Thank You for helping my Sweet Camy bloom!" and write each one a more personalized note of gratitude.

We really hit the jackpot with her teachers in Toddler. I had high, high expectations for them, and amazingly enough, they exceeded them all. I so wish that the teachers could move up with her, but I have heard wonderful things about her new teachers as well, so all I hope is that they love my girl as much her toddler teachers do. That they see her caring spirit through her sassy attitude strong will. That they can guide her and teach her and help her grow as much as she has in the last 6 months. I have high hopes for my little early preschooler!

She is so ready.
And I'm getting there, too.
Here we go.... the adventure begins on Monday!


In other somewhat related news, all the plans for her party (which is 2 weeks from today!) are made. The menu is all planned out, cheesy food names and all. The favors have been discussed. The "cake" has been decided on. I have visions of the decor ideas dancing in my head. I love this stage of planning... the implementation. The shopping. The excitement!
It's going to be such a fun-filled day!





13 days until my baby turns TWO.
13 days.

Ten on Tuesday: Almost TWO, y'all.

1) 17 days until my sweet little chunk-a-love turns 2. :sigh:

2) Tonight is the third night in a row that she's had a fever just before bed. The first two nights were low grade - 100* or under. Tonight was 101.1*. My poor love. Anyone care to diagnose her via the interwebs? 2 year molars? Maybe? She would never let me look that far back in her mouth, so I guess we may never know. And... When do we have to stop blaming every blip on teething? Cuz I'm not ready to quite yet.
I am taking her to the walk-in clinic at our pediatrician's office in the morning to see if the fever may be related to this stupid cough that's been lingering for the last 2 weeks. Hope they can fix her right up!

3) When I went to pick her up from school yesterday, her toddler teacher gave me a transition packet. All the info we need for her big move up to Early Preschool is in that little packet. Her new teachers' names. When her first day will be (Aug 23). What their potty training philosophy looks like. (ZOMG) Too much scary info for my tender heart to digest. My baby.... er, toddler... crap, preschooler. :sob: My girl.. she's getting so big.

4) In talking with a friend yesterday :hi, Kel!:, I noted how fun this age is in terms of verbal skills (among other fun things, like finger-painting the carpet when unsupervised for 12 seconds). She is fully conversational now. And learning loads of new words every week. Words like "geez!" and "baking" and "rectangle" and "my turn to type!" and "no more breathing, mama!" (where "breathing" = nebulizer). All of which I heard in the 3 hours between school pick up and bedtime.

5) She is such a compassionate little dear. Always asking "you okay?" if she hears someone cough (uhh.. paranoid asthma mom, much, self?). Patting backs. Kissing boo-boos. Saying "bless-choo" when someone sneezes. Asking "You sad?" if she sees a less-than-happy face or her sweet little "Crying?" if she hears anyone crying or laughing (don't know why that always confuses here).  I love how much she loves others.

6) Her eating has pretty much gone to crap. She has become so picky in the last couple months. That's what I get for all the "my baby is such a great eater" bragging I've done the last 18 months. 6 months ago, had we eaten at Subway together, home girl would have easily and happily eaten a kid's turkey sub with cucumbers, olives, pickles, tomatoes, and cheese. We got her that very sandwich yesterday and she ate the olives and the cheese. Awesome. She'll eat just about anything if you give her some ranch dip though. Chicken dipped in ranch? Okay. Stir-fry veggies and ranch? Um, yeah. Grapes and ranch? Sure! GrossGrossGross. But whatever works, right? Right?


7) I always do the unthinkable and benchmark Cam against other kids her age, and about a month ago I started really working myself up over the fact that she wasn't very good at identifying shapes and colors. She knew some color words, but had no consistency in naming them accurately. It was all a guessing game with her, and usually her guess was "red?!". Well, all of the sudden, kid knows her stuff! We were drawing shapes on her chalkboard over the weekend and she correctly identified heart, circle, square, triangle, rectangle, moon, star, and oval!!! And it wasn't a fluke, because we kept quizzing her and laughing at how smart she is! Colors still trip her up.. but she'll get there!

8) Get a load of this...

 ...and this....

...oh, and this awesome little one here!

9) I want to always remember this little conversation we have several times a day:
Me: "Camy, you're getting to be such a big girl."
Camy: "No, I not."
Me: "You're not a big girl?"
Camy: "No."
Me: "Are you a baby?"
Camy: "No."
Me: "Well then, what are you?"
Camy: "I ME!!!"

Funny girl. That is right. You are you.. and I love you for it!

10) My oh my... I adore this girl.