New favorite treat

Cam has discovered corn on the cob. Thanks to Aunt Linda. I had been cutting off the kernels, but Aunt Linda served it on the cob to her a couple of weekends ago, and she loves it. She nibbles on it. Anyway, I think it's cute, so here's a pic.


Can't really say much is new. We haven't been doing a whole lot with Cam lately simply because we're still working on the toilet training and a little nervous about having her in public too long. I don't know if she sees not pooping on the toilet as a control thing, but she just won't do it. We don't overeact. We call it an accident and talk about what the right thing to do is, and move on. Tonight though, I made her clean her underwear herself. Ha, ha! I told her I didn't want to clean poop out of her underwear and made her dump it. The whole time she was like "ick!" and was trying to use just one hand. I said "Nope. You got to grab those things with both hands to get them clean." Ha, ha! She was disgusted, but probably not enough to do the correct thing next time.

Here's a picture from Father's Day. I forgot to blog about the day, but had to share this. Camryn's class made ties for the dads.

Craig has been fishing non-stop lately. Complete addict! Tonight he told me that there's only about 2 weeks of good fishing left this summer. Whatever! Just go fishing! :) Yesterday he rented a boat, sprang a leak, drug the boat to the nearest bank before it was completely submerged, and then took the really, really long way back to his car. He came home with ruined shoes, no socks, wet & muddy shorts, scraped up legs, a baby tick (which was one out of 5 he said he had already picked off, and a sore heel from a crawl dad (sp?) that from the sounds of it was hanging on for dear life for the last 20 minutes of his journey. Ha! Meanwhile, Camryn and I were at the Starbucks in Target enjoying a little treat. Hmm. My afternoon sounds like much more fun (and much less work).

It's Just Bad Customer Service

I realize I write mostly about our experiences with Camryn, but thought I'd make an observation. It's not a new one. I've discussed this with mom before. But one that makes me so angry.

I signed up for a new account with Bank of America. I did it online so I was the main applicant. I naturally placed Craig as the co-applicant since this will be our new joint account, but I was the one filling out the form. I used the same email address for both of us. I was pleased to see I had a status of the application process in my inbox, but completely ticked off when I saw it was addressed to Craig. How in the heck did the system place him as the main account contact, when I filled out the application? They could have at least said, "Dear Mr. & Mrs. Collins." UMB did that to me when we got married. I was the account holder. I added him to make it a joint account. And then afterwards, they wanted his signature if we were requesting a change. Not mine. The one who had banked with them since I was 16. The one who's father worked at the darn bank. What the heck is that about? Craig tells me to get over it and worry about something that matters. I don't expect him to understand. He's not a female.

I called customer service and made the comment that at least they could have addressed the communication to both of us since it's a joint account. The lady told me she wasn't sure how the co-applicant's name became the main contact, but couldn't change it in the system, which is what I asked her to do. I'll tell you how it got there. Because he's the male on the account. Credit cards do the same thing. I also chatted live with a customer service rep that didn't have access to the file, so I've now emailed customer service. They probably won't process our account thinking I'm a problem case, but whatever. I work for a company that focuses on improving customer service. Here's a clue: understand who your customers are. They're the ones that sustain your business.

One week into toilet training

So, we've made feeble attempts at potty training up until June 14th, when we graduated Camryn into regular underwear. One accident was all it took and she's pottied on the toilet ever since. The other, yuckier piece of potty training, doesn't seem to be clicking with her just yet.

So, I'm trying some good old fashioned bribery. She may be way too young to understand this concept, but here's what we're trying: For every time she poops on the toilet, she gets a sticker. When she gets 4 stickers, she gets to pick from one of the toys I have hanging on the wall just out of her reach. She looks at them and says "want that" or "need that" and I have to remind her that she needs 4 stickers. We even have a chart on the refridgerator. We just started this last night, so who knows if it will work at school. She might not have the ability at 27 months to think longer term. We'll find out. Once I explained the rules to her last night she ran into the bathroom and tried, but nothing. Will keep you posted...

Cam turns 2 (three months ago).

Here are a few of her two year pictures that Bailey took. She did such a nice job. I waited until it was warmer to get some pretty outdoor shots that you can't get in March. I won't have her picture taken as frequently as her first two years so I figured waiting 3 months wasn't going to be a big deal.

She's getting so big. We have conversations with her now. She's such sweet girl. She has her toddler moments, don't get me wrong; but we've decided her sweetest time is when she first wakes up. She wants kisses and hugs and squeezes (tighter hugs). She gets to pick out her outfit most days (I give her two choices. Otherwise she'd wear her Mizzou Tigers dress or her over-sized KidsClub Gymbus shirt every day.) On school days when I drop her off, I get an eskimo kiss and hug before I leave. She marches right in like she owns the place and I think really enjoys playing with the kids. Sometimes she's there longer than other days and that seems to take a toll on her energy and mood toward the end of the day. It would do the same to me. On the way home, she takes the opportunity to point out the "little playground" just in case Craig is willing to make the stop. Sometimes we take her back up in the evening.

Since she's been about 21 months old, she's developed quite the nurturing instinct. She takes care of her stuffed animals & dollies...oh, and the TV remote control, telephone, shoes, windex & pledge bottles and even her books. When I say takes care of them, I mean she gently places them on the floor, face down, and uses up every one of my dish towels to cover them up. She'll then sit down next to each one and lightly (sometimes lightly) pats them on the back. Sometimes I walk in the living room and feel we have a pretend day care for inanimate objects. Lately she pretends that some of them get hurt and she'll pick them up and gently bounce them, pat them on the back and try to calm them down with a "shh". It's really a sweet thing to watch. When she asks Craig and me to lie down, I oblige sometimes. When I'm tired, it's a GREAT activity. She's strict though. My eyes must be closed. Otherwise, I hear "Close eyes! Right now!" Craig, poor guy, can't really play the game. He's so allergic to dust and putting his nose right into the carpet doesn't help. Cam doesn't understand this and it usually results in a tantrum just because she doesn't understand "I'm allergic. It will make me sick." But I think she's finally got the idea that daddy won't play that game.

I'm amazed how much she knows. Of course, I don't have any point of comparison for a 2 year old's learning ability; so about anything amazes me. She knows her basic shapes, her basic colors and then some. She's very curious about everything. "Is that?" is a popular question around our house. Or "Is that guy?" (no matter if it's a guy or girl) is a popular question in public. Sometimes she'll point to things she already knows and ask. I have to push back and make her tell me what it is.

She's loved to color since I can remember. Maybe around15 months is when she first started picking up things to draw with. She has her own cabinet full of crayons, markers, pens and all kinds of paper. One thing that cracks me up is every time I sit down to color with her, I only get to use the yellow markers & crayons and the white crayons. Those are the worst ones! I guess she knows that, and eager to pass them along to someone else. Even when we go to restaurants and she gets the box of crayons and place mat to color, she immediately hands me the yellow crayon. Ha!

She's not a picky eater...yet. However her favorite foods are bananas & strawberries (seems to have grown out of her blueberry phase), my spaghetti, cheese, yogurt, deli turkey meat, macaroni & cheese, noodles, cheeseburgers, sausage topping on pizza & cheese fries. I know, this is a really unhealthy list. She doesn't eat this stuff all of the time. They're just her favorites. Her favorite snacks are M&M cookies (top choice EVERY time), raisins & teddy grahams.

She's a great sleeper. She's adapted really well to us taking the front off her crib. Getting in and out of bed is a new independence for her that she handles really well. She still likes her binkies, but understands now that nap time and bed time are the ONLY place for binkies. So, she'll get out of bed, toss the binky onto her mattress, say "Binky bed" and be on with her day.

She's never been a big TV watcher. For the longest time her single request was The Wiggles. Thank goodness for the DVR. I think we saw each episode about 10 times. Now she's more of an Elmo's World kind of gal. Which I don't mind actually. Craig can't stand the sound of Elmo's voice at times.

Since she is 2 years & 3 months now, here are the latest things. She's singing all kinds of songs. Some we recognize and the ones we don't, we can't quite make out the words. It reminds me of when you're singing along to a fun song on the radio, and make up a word or two that you can't figure out. I love hearing her little voice sing. The ABC song is her bedtime song of choice and she only takes bubble baths now. On a rare occassion she'll request no bubbles. Her favorite night time books include One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Goodnight Moon, a book of opposites featuring the Backyardigans, and a random Tigger book that came with a stuffed Tigger animal that Aunt Linda gave her after being in the hospital with pneumonia. In fact she sleeps with that book only because on the last page, Eeyore is sleeping and so she invites him to go to sleep in the bed.

She's well on her way to being potty-trained. Her teachers are committed to it, which is wonderful. She still hasn't figured out the poop in the toilet thing. Just the other day, she pooped on Craig. Oops. I guess it got on his arm, but covered more of her. So rather than putting her straight in the tub, he briefly wiped her down and took a shower for himself. Ha! I wish I could describe it. I didn't witness it, but was greeted at the door after work with the story. Only to find out the nasty clothes were in a sink full of water upstairs for me to figure out what to do with.

In the last couple of months she's gone from social butterfly to painfully shy. The shyness only lasts about 10 minutes in most cases. Even with family. But she clings to me, literally, until she's properly assessed the situation and will go spend time with others or play with kids.

She does so many things, I just can't capture it all. We're just so proud of her and love having her around. It's a really neat thing to watch her grow up, develop her personality and skills; but it's a really, REALLY emotional thing to experience. I love every minute.

ABCs

Camryn has had quite a week! Beginning last Sunday evening we took the front off her crib, adding a much shorter railing. We did it because the mattress is at it's lowest point and she's just too heavy to reach down and pull up when she's having a hard time getting up in the morning. So it was more for us, but when she noticed the front came off, she was psyched! She'd say "Climb bed, self!" and climb up and get down. And again. And again. She LOVES the control. She has done pretty well too.

The first night she climbed out a few times and ran out of her room. I was sitting at the top of the stairs anticipating I'd see her. :) She was surprised to see me at first, but giggled and quickly turned back to get into her bed. It's definitely been a learning curve for her, but glad we did it. Most mornings she would walk over to the front piece of the crib and point and say: "Baby bed. Cam baby no more. Big girl bed." It's so sweet. This morning, she woke up before Craig and I did. I heard her saying "Awake...awake...awake," but thought she was still in the bed until I heard little foot steps downstairs. I went down to see her and she was looking for me. When she saw me she asked if it was okay that she get up. Now I just need to teach her to turn on cartoons and feed herself breakfast. Then I can sleep in. Hee, hee.

She's trying to figure out ways to exercise her newly acquired control. I can come in and tuck her in and hug her a lot easier. She tried to play that card about 15 times. It's hard to pass over a hug, but when it's delaying her shutting her eyes and sleeping, I yell from the other room to go to bed.
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One night while we were having dinner, she was singing her school songs. We knew they were working on the ABCs because she asks us to sing it all of the time. She chimes in on certain letters, but has never sung it all the way through for us. Go Cam! Hopefully the video will work and you can see for yourself. By the way, please forgive the topless child. She was eating blackberries and blueberry waffles with syrup. Two things I didn't want all over her clothes. She's still young enough I can get away with it.

And then the thing I've been dreading for a long time (despite others urging me to just get it over with) is putting Camryn in big girl underwear. She goes pretty well for me with the pull ups, but her pediatrician suggested I not use pull ups because it will just delay potty training. They feel too much like a diaper I guess. The teachers were particularly complimentary of her this week saying she went all of the time. OK, I decided to use the momentum to my benefit and move her to big girl underwear.

I can't really say if she loves it or not. I would think anything would feel better than those diapers. Yesterday she had one accident (on the laundry room floor, thank goodness). Didn't make a big deal about it other than to tell her when she needed to go, she should go into the bathroom or tell mommy or daddy. She started to go again and said "uh-oh". We rushed into the bathroom and she went. She went the rest of the day on the potty making sure to tell Craig or me afterwards (whoever wasn't in the bathroom with her already) that she went. And so far, so good today. Should I dare send her in underwear to school? I guess Friday she had diarrhea all day. Those poor teachers. That room stunk so bad. They were really sweet about it and said it didn't bother them. Maybe I'll bring in flowers for them along with the underwear as a peace offering.

Clarification

OK, so according to Craig, I didn't actually slam her thumb in the car door. He said I would have shattered her little finger bones, so let's just say I squished it. I still feel awful and figure her thumb will be ugly tomorrow.

I'm such a horrible mom.

I smashed Cam's thumb in the car tonight. It wasn't in the normal part of the door that closes. It was near the hinges. She was all clear (at least her head was). I turned around to grab some bags out of the trunk and closed the door. It was a delayed response, but a scream that I can still hear. I felt so horrible. She wailed for a good 10 minutes, and then despite the swelling, it was like nothing happened. I dread seeing the bruise in the morning. She wouldn't let me keep an ice pack on it. I'm sorry Cam! :(

Take me out to the ball game! (pictures)

I know why I love digital so much. In this day and age, consumers expect everything now. Technology is an enabler and when you're without, you wonder how you'll make it through. I'm only talking about having to use a disposable camera vs. my digital camera, but my point extends to much more than that.

Anyway, here are some pics from Cardinals' game from this past weekend.

These are pictures that Camryn took. She figured out how to wind to the next picture and take it. Only she hasn't quite figured out how to aim.

Here's a great picture of mom getting ready to sneak a sip of Camryn's icee. (Maybe Cam's got a future as a private detective.)



Here are some real pics. :)

Go Cards!

I realized I haven't posted any pics from Memorial Day weekend, so here are a few. We had three BBQs, a road trip to Columbia, saw loads of family, and squeezed in a trip to the zoo. It was fun, and Camryn handled it pretty well for as little of sleep she got during the days. We had a fun BBQ on Saturday to wish my cousin Kai good luck in California. How exciting would that be?

Gigi and Cam blowing bubbles.

Dad figured out a new way for us to gamble. Even Charlie's getting into the action!

Then a quick family trip to the Zoo with Jon, Liz & Charlie. Too bad it rained on us and we got caught in the reptile house. Well, it was way better than being caught in the monkey house next door. Stinky!

On Monday, Camryn went swimming in Columbia at Craig's cousin's pool. We haven't seen that family in 2 years! Luckily the rain stayed away.

From this last weekend, I don't have any pictures yet, but we had another crazy weekend.

Bailey took Camryn's 2 year old pics at the Botanical Gardens this past weekend, so I don't have any to show right now. Cam didn't do much smiling. She's so shy! Maybe there will be some cute serious pics come out of the morning. I found myself getting frustrated, but have since thought that was silly. Camryn is Camryn. Shy or not. So any pictures we get will represent sweet little Cam just as she is.

On Sunday we went to the Cardinal's game. We got there in the 2nd inning. I figured it would be easier to get her to our seats when the crowd of people weren't coming in, plus we were running late because I forgot my camera. We were both saying "bummer" in the car. It was her first Cardinal's game. I had her in a cute little red & white outfit and her Cardinal's hat. We stopped off at one of the 52 Walgreens we pass on the way downtown to get a disposable. So, I need to drop those off somewhere to be developed. Haven't done that in a while. Anyway, the cheering kind of freaked her out, so we left after 2.5 innings. Then we built a bear on the way out. When we stepped outside of the ballpark she said "watch ball game?". Oh well. Maybe she'll be old enough next year. It was a bit hot anyway.