Camp gives me a run for my money! ; ) He is so full of energy and into everything. From the moment he learned to walk he started running and has never stopped; he runs everywhere!
- He has really gotten into playing ball and he is actually very good. Just this week he started throwing the ball so hard at us that it pops when it hits our hands. What's even more amazing is that he has thrown a couple of spiral passes with the football this week too! I can't wait to watch this boy play ball!
- We have really begun to punish Camp more often for his actions. Although we don't necessarily do 'time-out' at home, next year at school he will have to learn to sit in 'time-out' for punishment. Whether he gets a spanking or not he has to sit on the bottom step of the stairs until we tell him he can get up. It has taken time but he is learning quickly that sitting on the stairs is not a happy place to be. I just hope he doesn't have to visit that chair too often at school. : 0
- He still takes at least a 2 hour nap in the afternoons and sometimes a shorter morning nap. We have been letting him stay up a little bit later this summer but most of the time he is in the bed by 7:30-7:45pm and wakes up about 7:30am. He has been such a good little sleeper!
- Camp has begun to speak a bit more in a language that we understand. : ) Sometimes he just jabbers and tells us all kinds of stories.
- Words he is saying...
- Momma, Da-Da, bye-bye, cup, ball, car, run, more, RaRa, Paw, sissy, nite-nite, whoa, no, hey, uh-oh, jump, bite, hot-hot, go, nose, eye,
- Phrases he says...
- let's go, o' cool, where'd it go, there it is,
- Animal noises he will make...
- cow, duck, pup-pup, bear, pig, cat, lion,
- He is so rotten!! Camp will love on you and give you the best hugs then the next thing you know he will swing that arm and hit you just to get something started. He loves to run up to Benjamin, hit him on the leg, and then take off running. The best part is that when he takes off running he will let out this shrill scream like someone is coming after him.
- His favorite toys right now are....
- balls, puzzles, sorting activities (Which he is so good at! He can sort by shapes and color. Amazing.), cars, he loves playing t-ball in the yard, sketch board,
- Camp's favorite movie right now is Diego. He is so funny because as soon as the song comes on he does his best to sing it to the top of his lungs. : )
- He is still a very picky eater and will chose not to eat if we try to feed him something that he cannot feed himself. His new found love is chicken nuggets. No ketchup needed. : ) He also enjoys any kind of fruit you will give him.
- Camp loves to laugh and to make you laugh. When he gives me that silly grin and snarls his nose I can't help but squeeze him up in my arms!
- Camp is very independent and strong-willed. We are struggling with things like... holding hands in a parking lot, not letting us feed him, getting mad when it's bedtime (although he goes right to sleep it's just the fact that he had to go to bed), hitting when he doesn't get his way, seeing just how close he can get to something without touching it after we have already told him no, not wanting to take turns, separating with Mommy when it's time to go in class, screaming when he doesn't get his way because he hasn't mastered all of his verbal skills, and diving into the bathtub fully clothed just because he loves water. ; 0
- Camp is a pretty good mix between being a Mommy or Daddy's boy. When he wants to play and be rough he wants his daddy. When he needs a little loving or just need a cuddle he goes straight for mommy.
Emma Claire is so completely full of life. Everything she does is either all or nothing. She has a huge imagination and has grown so much in her speaking/thinking skills, and still is just hungry for more!
- Emma Claire thrives on learning. She will ask question after question after question just because she gets so excited to learn more. She is just like her daddy and the questions have gotten so hard that a lot of times I will send her straight to him for an answer. : )
- Emma Claire still has that huge imagination. She loves to pretend and will spend hours playing out a plot if you will just play along with her. Her new favorite thing to do is to pretend she is the princess while watching one her Disney movies. Today she even asked me to play the part of the grandmother! Uh, no.
- She is really beginning to over come her fear of water. She has always hated water in her face screaming in the bath-tub when it accidentally gets in her eyes. She has begun floating around in the pool in a floaty all by herself and just tonight poured a bucket of water over her head while keeping her eyes closed. She was sooooo proud of herself.
- Emma Claire is such a wonderful big sister to Camp. Although sometimes she may set a bad example most of the time she is always looking out for what is best for him. Every afternoon after school she will go down to the snack room and fix him a little cup of snack so that he doesn't get upset as we are trying to get our things together. That is just one example of the many things she does for him.
- Emma Claire has just started using some new phrases about emotions or feelings...
- that's so romantic, they hurt my feelings, I'm mad at you, that's not fair,
- If Emma Claire gets something in her head it doesn't just go away, it stays there for days. Her new idea is that she wants a new baby sister. WHAT!?!?! She will remind me of that often and continue to ask me why I haven't just asked God to put another baby in my tummy. I don't think she understands the gravity of what she is asking!
- She is also fixated on Disney World. She wants to know when we will get to go and who exactly all she will meet there. We talk about it at least 4 days a week and talk about it like we are going tomorrow. One day, baby, one day.
- We have begun to take speech breaks with Emma Claire. She talks so much and so often that it can wear on you really quickly. Benjamin calls them speech sabbaticals.
- Emma Claire still LOVES to sing. She sings to the top of her lungs and writes most of her own songs. Her newest goes like this.... "God said it's time for me to die..... but I said I'm not ready yet.... but I still beeeeeeeeeeelieve in yooooooouuuuuuuuuu"
- She has gotten so much better with change! A couple of months ago if something were to change, for example her teachers were different, then she would have a hard time separating and there would probably be tears involved. Now she is so awesome and just goes with the flow. Actually I think she has become more excited over change and gets so excited to do something new.
- Emma Claire is still a Mommy's girl. Although she LOVES her daddy there is just something about her mommy.
- Punishment with Emma Claire has become so much more simple. A spanking is sometimes still necessary but most of the time a verbal rebuke will straighten her path real quick. : ) She will never straight out disobey, but her trouble comes from being deceiving. She works really hard to try to get her way. To be honest, I have to be really careful because she is really good at making you think something was your idea when really it was something she wanted all along. I can only imagine what this would look like when she is a teenager if she is already this good. WE MUST GET A HANDLE ON THS NOW.
- Emma Claire is still very much strong-willed and a leader. Right now she is doing very well with this and if we can help her to keep steering that in the right direction then I hope she is able to be a strong leader and example one day. I pray that God would give us wisdom in how to help lead this gift in the right direction.
- She has really gotten into drawing and coloring these days. Actually she has gotten rather good and her pictures look more like scenes instead of just random objects on a page. She definitely got this skill from her daddy! : )
