On the road again!

So, the road trip to Destin just wasn't enough miles. I decided to make the trip to Louisville with mom and dad to see Bryan Fox perform. Jean & Bruce drove up from Jonesboro and wound up being about 30 minutes ahead of us on Hwy 64. They'd call mom and tell her which exit to turn off and what to see. Felt like we were living their trip 30 minutes behind them. Although we didn't go all the way to Santa Clause, IN or make it to the store of items only crafted from chain saws. But we did take the scenic route for abou 10 miles and stopped at St. Menidad (or something like that) at a small grocery store and ate. I felt good for supporting a small store. I made fun of their fancy (not really) artwork and their wide selection of fried chicken, chicken tenders or livers & gizzards at their "to go" counter, but I left with a happy feeling that we supported a small business.

Anyway, we got to Louisville and just hung out and chatted. Ryan & Bryan's house is amazing, and the tour took an hour in itself. (Just kidding Ryan.) Seriously though, it's a beautiful home, and I thought they've done a great job at making it feel homey.

We went to Bryan's concert, which was great. He had taken on a little more country sound from the last time I heard him play. Jon, Jeff & I drove over to see him probably 4 or 5 years ago and it was much more rock based. Great music. We're all rooting for you Bryan that your songs are picked up! Keep it up!




Back in St. Louis, Cam & Craig hung out with Linda & Carl on Saturday. And, let me just brag that on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, she was 100% on the potty training. Not so much on Tuesday. Craig said he asked her and took her frequently over the weekend, so I wonder if it's a time thing with the teachers where they just can't possibly be on those kids frequent enough. So how do we teach Cam to go to them or to us and say I have to go? She doesn't do that with us either.

Florida adventures

We spent a lot of time on the beach and just vegging for the most part, which was fine by us. With two little ones, you have to work your day around naptimes. This made it especially nice to be in a house. We could all go to our separate rooms, but we had a beautiful back deck, a living room and kitchen to gather and spend time together. It was ideal with this many people going.

This was the first time we've taken Camryn on a vacation. She did so well. We had been talking up the beach for the last month and when she got here, she couldn't get her swimsuit on fast enough. This was also the most time we've been able to spend with the entire family for a long time. It was nice. I think Charlie got pretty used to us by the end of the week. She's so sweet. It was cool to see the two girls play together every day. They'd dance for us and chase each other and play with each other's toys. Yes, there were power struggles on toys, but that's normal toddler stuff.

The girls were fun on the beach. Charlie loved having the waves rush up on her legs (although it's funny to read Liz's blog as she had a completely different take on Charlie and the waves). Cam not so much because when the water rushed back into the ocean, she'd sink into the sand a bit. Didn't seem to care for that. She was content playing with buckets of water in the sand.




Cam didn't like to walk far in the sand. She said it hurt her feet. I think it just felt so different to her. There were little dead plants in the sand and she'd come up to one and scream. I'd turn around and it wouldn't be any larger than a dollar bill on the ground by her feet. I asked her to walk around, but for some reason refused. With all of the toys we hauled to/from the beach that I'd have in my hand, I finally said, "see you at the house" and she'd figure out how to get back.

The water was not great for swimming in it. There was quite a bit of seaweed and jelly fish. Although that didn't stop the boys. All of them would swim quite a ways out there, despite the purple flag flying (warning of potential dangerous marine life). Some folks we spoke to that come every year say this July was the dirtiest they've ever seen the water. June is usually crystal clear, but with more storms in July, the seaweed comes in and stays for a bit. Still, the water great to look at, walk along side and listen to. I could just sit on the beach and listen to the waves coming in for hours. It's so relaxing. We took a great walk on the beach the first evening.






On Tuesday, Craig, Dad, Jon, Jeff and his friend Mike got up before dawn and went out on an ocean fishing adventure. Their boat was called Don't Let Go!, and they all did pretty good. Dad said he was the first and last to catch the fish. Craig got a large King Mackeral (40" long). Several of them also caught an Amberjack, which apparently have a lot of fight in them and are tough to reel in. Craig said when he caught his, the pole was almost bent in half. When he got it in it was something like 27.5", which is considered a baby, so he had to throw it back in. I teased him that it was that hard for him to catch a baby fish. I wondered how hard it would be to get an adult. They had the fish cleaned there, and brought a bunch of Red Snapper home to eat. Not being a fish eater, I figured I'd load up on the sides, but Mike grilled them up for all of us, and it was really good.

Here's Craig with his King Mackeral.

The captain said it was the largest one he's seen caught this year.

Here are the boys with their catch for the day.

On Wednesday, we took Camryn to a place called Gulfarium. It was like a poor man's Sea World, only we paid $40 bucks to get in. The tanks needed a fresh coat of paint and the bleachers were super old. There was a dolphin show, a sea lion show and a combined dolphin & sea lion show. Each were supposed to be 30 minutes. The dolphin show started 15 minutes late, and Cam had to pee so we ran down to the bathroom and made it back just in time. One of the dolphin's tricks was to splash outside the tank. We happened to be standing in the lucky spot. So we were drenched. Then Cam had to pee agian. By the time we raced back up to the dolphin show, it was over. Oh, the joys of potty training. The next two shows were short as well, but cute. Cam spent more time asking me for another sip out of my soda and playing with the snap on her pants. A little too young still I guess.

The next two days were spent soaking up as much beach time as we had left. Jon rented a kayak and the group shared it throughout the day. We even took Cam out, which was probably one of her favorite things. Maybe next time we'll rent a boat for a while.

This picture looks like Craig is about to knock Cam and me out of the boat. What's up?

On the last night we went over to a popular shopping area that had a water play area for kids. Camryn & Charlotte were in heaven!

We even had a temporary pet that Camryn called Dewey. The name stuck around. And so did Dewey. Maybe that's because Mom kept feeding him bologna and cheese.
It was a wonderful trip. Great time with the family. Thank you mom and dad for such a wonderful week!

The road trip to Florida...

...was supposed to be a quick 2-leg flight from St. Louis through Memphis, ending in Ft. Walton Beach, with a quick drive to our destination in Destin.


Craig, Camryn and I met Jon, Liz and Charlotte at the airport. We had about 30 minutes to spare before our flight was scheduled to board, so we quickly shoveled in 2 pizzas and a salad, that set us back $30, and eagerly awaited them to begin boarding.


We were in line to get on the airplane for our 5:25pm flight. Liz was actually the next one in line to board when the pilot came out and said not to board any more passengers. There was an issue with the windshield wipers. They were calling maintenance. This made us a bit nervous. Our stop in Memphis was supposed to be very short. Less than an hour, but enough to give Camryn and Charlie a little time to stretch their legs, a bathroom break, and maybe a quick snack before we boarded another plane. We were nervous because any delay in STL would endanger us making our flight.


About 20 minutes later, they cancelled our flight, and said there were no others we could get on that evening. They would pay for our hotel (silly, because we live there), and would re-book us on a flight tomorrow. Only we were supposed to wake up in Destin. They asked us to call the 800 number (rather than dealing with us in person) and make our own arrangements. All that was left (for all 6 of us on the same route) was a 3 leg flight, leaving at 7:30 in the morning, and going through Indy & Memphis on 3 different airlines, getting us in town about 3:30 on the next afternoon. No thank you. Not with two kids. This evening flight was working around both of their nap times. Or we could drive to Kansas City and leave at 6:50 in the morning, or we could drive to Memphis and fly out at 9:30 in the morning, both getting us there about 11:00am. I could make the justification to drive the several hours to Memphis and fly out in the morning. It would be an early morning, but we'd be on the beach by noon.


But, Craig and Liz began campaigning to drive. Not to KC or Memphis, but through the night and straight to Destin. Jon and I laughed at the idea of making a 12 hour car journey with a one and two year old in tow, and continued to work on getting both of our families on a flight to Florida. But the longer we tried and failed to get a flight option that would get us in later than first thing in the morning, the less the driving sounded like a hair-brained idea. We gave in. We'd all take legs. It wouldn't be so bad. We were starting to psych ourselves up. It was was about 6:30pm. An hour after our flight was supposed to leave. The girls would sleep through the night, and so with just a few stops on the way, we'd be pulling in by 7:00 in the morning and have breakfast with mom and dad. 8:00 tops. Let's do it! And so the adventure began.


Jon and I called Northwest back to request a refund for our tickets. Only when we purchased them through Travelocity it was a Delta flight, so Northwest, who cancelled the flight said they couldn't help us. Delta would have to and would probably direct us back to Northwest. Delta did. But with some firm pushback, they refunded 5 of our tickets. Liz, somehow really did have a Northwest ticket, and we're hoping she has a flight back.


So while Jon was battling that, I headed to the rental car counter to change my reservation from picking up at the airport to driving one-way. FYI...the one-way trips have a hefty premium attached. The Northwest discount we were supposed to receive (for our trouble) wasn't being accepted because one-way rentals were sold out. The lady said she'd help anyway. Literally, a little more than an hour later, we had our reservation. Don't ask me why it took so long. The lady was afraid to tell me the $750/wk rate we would be paying was now $2300 for a big Surburban. She punched in all kinds of scenarios trying to get me a discount (I think at least) and was still coming up short. We were trying to get a bigger vehicle than the minivan we planned to use to hold all of our luggage and still have leg room for 12 hours. Jon said a Tahoe was the same thing as a Surburban, and with that change, the lady could shave off $1000 (with a military discount...which is a secret). Done! We got our paperwork and then climbed onto the shuttle to get the car. It was now about 8:30. The girls were doing quite amazing. They were running all over the place. By this time, they were showing signs of getting quite sleepy, but hanging in there like champs.


Back to the Tahoe...we couldn't find one on the lot, so we went in to ask where there was one parked and thought I'd take the opp to make sure our luggage would fit. Nope. There was no room for all of our luggage, Charlie's pack n' play, 2 strollers and 6 people. So they showed us some comparable Dodge SUV. Nope. Then he suggested a third vehicle that was like a mini van but a little bit larger. Awesome storage space. This will do. We loaded all the luggage in and were getting the GPS system fired up. Only when we went to install the car seats, the middle seat wasn't anchored into the floor. It was just sitting loose. Back inside we asked the guy for help and he came out, trief for about 5 minutes and decided he wasn't going to deal with it that night. So onto vehicle #4. They had a Toyota Sienna mini van. Great space for luggage. Ample room for car seats and 4 adults.

At long last, we had a vehicle. At 9:08pm, Liz and I began documenting the trip by photos. We were in our 4 of our journey and still right across the highway from the airport. Luggage was loaded, Charlie's seat strapped in, and done. Whew! Craig, nor I wanted to haul Cam's big car seat through the airport, so we had rented one for scooting around Destin. So, when we saw what we got for the $50/week charge, we gave it right back. Total piece of crap. No way she was going to make it for the 12 hour car ride in that thing. So stop one was 5 minutes away to the airport parking garage to get her car seat out of my car.


Thankfully we were able to rent a GPS system, which we affectionately named Judy. (Somehow, the Garmin system sounded like Garland to Liz, so she began calling her Judy and it stuck.) God bless Judy! She dropped us 2 miles from our destination. At 10:15pm we hit a traffic jam on hwy 70. CRAP! We were 3 miles from our highway and moving about 1 mile per 10 minutes. It was the total shady part of town. There were large girls in clothing 3 sizes too tight getting out of their cars dancing and hugging (we thought they were fighting at first). One dude opened his mini van door while the they were moving and was making weird faces at us. Yikes.


The girls finally fell asleep about 10:30. And we finally got moving around 10:45. Once we got out of the city it was relatively painless. They woke up periodically when we stopped for gas, which was good because they got to stretch their legs a bit. They didn't really get a ton of sleep overall, but maintained a low stress level for the car ride. There were a few moments they hit a wall where they were so tired, one would cry and set the other off. You couldn't blame them really, but I can't say enough about how well they did. From the time our flight was cancelled our entire adventure lasted almost 18 hours. Thank you Camryn & Charlotte. They entertained each other a lot.


Craig took the first 6 hours. Whoa! How he had energy, I have no idea. We were all so drained, and none of us could get comfortable really to rest up for our leg. He also drove through really heavy rain.


Judy estimated the time we'd arrive in Destin. The whole time we were thinking she was accounting for the time change in Florida. Only there's no time change as we eventually learned. We did have that extra hour of driving to go. She took on a few odd paths, but dropped us right into the heart of Destin. We pulled in by 11:30, Dad greeted Jon & Craig with a beer. By 12:30 we had our suits on and were on the beach.


It was the best ending to a long road trip. Now that it's been several days, and I can reflect on it, it's nice to know that we're only 12 hours from the beach. And now that I know Cam can handle it, maybe it's an option down the road.

Pictures to come when we return home.

Celebrating independence!

As usual we celebrated July 4th at the Horn Extravaganza! Lots of family and friends. It was the best weather I ever remember having. We could actually sit out side without needing a towel to wipe off the sweat that would form from doing nothing. Way more comfortable. No fireworks this year, but the washers were going. There were activities for the kids this year. Mom set up this game. They had to fish out a rubber ducky in a net. Not much skill to it, really, but they loved it. Because then, they got to run inside and pick out a prize. They had about 30 options. Mom had a bunch of little items in bowls. From necklaces to tiny lizards. I wish I would have thought to take a picture of the prize table. I guess Cam talked Dad into getting her fish for her. You're such a sucker PaPa!

Here's Camryn and Charlotte in their matching 4th of July tops that Liz got them. And yes, it's impossible to get them both to look at the camera at the same time. That's okay girls.

Auntie Jay and her sweet little neice, Charlotte.

The Fox family drove over to St. Louis for the day. It was so nice of them to make the 4 hour trip (each way!) to spend the day with us. We only see them one time a year which is too bad, but it's so fun to see how the girls are growing up. Jean & Bruce came up as well.

Ryan & Pepper

Bruce & Dylan

What's up Liz! You know you love

that I make sure to take pictures at EVERY family function.

Aunt Linda was playing with Cam in the water after the duck game was over. She thought she'd squirt Camryn and wound up with water on her own head.

Aww! What a great looking family! I took three pics to get

that smile from Linda. Hee, hee.

The next day Camryn caught Craig and I not paying attention, so she went "shopping" in the pantry. When she does this she normally grabs the sprinkles and a glass container of bouillion cubes and other random stuff. Then she'll pretend to pour them on paper plates and serve me or her dollies dinner. Well, she's gotten REALLY good at opening containers, and I guess we both heard her in the pantry and assumed she was feeding her dollies. Assuming was the wrong thing to do. I walked in and she had sprinkles every where. These pictures don't do the mess justice.
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I hope the video works.

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.