Is this her veterinarian stage?

Cameron's language development is phenomenal. I can't count the number of words she knows (granted, only DH and I recognize a lot of them) but she is picking up one or two a day. Just today she learned the word "match" when I put her hair in a ponytail like mine. She also wanted to match me by wearing her sweatshirt and sneakers. Too cute!

A few pictures from warmer days in October. Here Cameron feeds carrots to the goats.

As you can see, she loved it. She fed both goats and then moved on to the rabbits. I am pretty sure we weren't supposed to be feeding the animals but at least it was just carrots.

Cameron has also been obsessed with wagons lately. I'm on the fence about getting one because I just don't think we'd use it that much. She pulled her pumpkin a good 100 feet before I took back over.

Cameron loves animals. No fear, regardless of whether it has feathers, fur or scales. We have been reinforcing that love with an increase in her vocabulary. When we were in Hilton Head, I picked up a box of picture cards. I took this video of DH "quizzing" Cameron on the cards. It is in two parts because like most kids, as soon as I said something and she realized we were filming her she decided not to do it any more. Cameron either knows the correct word, sound or gesture associated with the 16 animals in the deck. Check out her hand gestures for the word crab. Adorable!

I don't want to brag but I'm pretty impressed with Cameron's language development. Now on to sentences! When can I expect that to start?

Capitalizing on my super power

I have a super power. It's nothing special but occasionally I am able to leverage it in my favor, like I did on Tuesday night. DH and I were watching a backlog of Parenthood (a great show by the way and in danger of being canceled so add it to your TV list). Two characters met each other for the first time, one established and one new character. The new character was fairly hostile to the established one (trying not to give away plot points here!). I immediately piped up from my spot on the couch to tell DH, "Those two are totally getting together." He said, "No way. Why would you assume that? It's not going to happen."

True, I was half a glass of wine into the show but I held my ground. "OK, let's make a bet. Whoever is right has to plan a date night. Schedule the date, get the babysitter, pick the restaurant. Everything." DH, "I'm in." I should note that typically I plan our date nights (which are infrequent) so it was no skin off my back either way.

We finished the first episode which was rudely interrupted halfway through by 30 minutes of tornado warnings (thanks ABC!). Halfway through the second episode the established character kissed the new character. I chuckled evilly and said, "I won!" Insert your own bwah ha ha ha ha here. DH argued that the new character didn't reciprocate so we still had to wait and see. Fortunately, 15 minutes later the new character confessed his feelings. Vindicated!

So what exactly is my super power? Predicting plots. I developed this super power for several reasons:

• I watched soap operas when I was younger (yes, Helen, I still check in on All My Children occasionally).
• I was a Creative Writing major in college. I had to write and read fiction every single day.
• I'm a voracious reader.
• I watch a lot of TV.
• Most TV writers are predictable and recycle plots constantly. Why do you think I respect shows like Veronica Mars so much?
• There are actually on about a dozen real plots. OK, I may be making that up but I swear I heard somewhere that there are only a set number of possible plots (star crossed lovers, revenge, etc.) I tried to Google it and failed.

It's rare that I get to put my plot predicting skills into action. Mostly because I don't want to ruin it for other people (although DH is tolerant when I pause the TV and tell him my prediction...see above). But also because let's be honest, it's kind of a lame super power. With that said, I did manage to turn it to my advantage the other night so I count it a win.

So what is your super power?

Show me the mommy!

I was complaining to my husband the other night that despite all my weight loss, I didn't feel like I looked a lot skinnier (he of course assured me that I did and of course that I always looked beautiful regardless - aw!). So I decided to play along with "Show me the mommy" today and dug up a picture from last year's trip to Hilton Head and the one from this year. Holy smokes! I'm glad I did it because I can totally see the difference.

To date (since April) I've lost more than 40 pounds. I'm thisclose to reaching my goal and lifetime member status at Weight Watchers. I still have a ways to go to stay motivated with exercise but I'm glad to have lost the weight I have and know that's it's made me a heck of a lot healthier.

Hilton Head, October 2009

Hilton Head, October 2010

Wordless Wednesday: more Hilton Head photos

Wrangling a toddler in Hilton Head

It's appropriate that we went to a farm and saw some tame animals while in Hilton Head visiting my parents. Because we have a wild animal on our hands lately! Cameron has entered the stubborn, whining, 5 AM wake up phase. And DH and I were sharing a room with her. At 5 AM on Friday I could hear Cameron saying, "All done, all done" for about 10 minutes. We ignored her and she did fall back asleep but this has been a pattern for the past 4 mornings. Not exactly something I was anticipating for a mini vacation in Hilton Head!

Growing up around a dog it's nice that Cameron has no fear of animals. She did get a little scared of the big horse. That was my fault as I showed her how to hold out her hand for the horse to sniff and it lipped at her hand looking for food. It didn't hurt her or anything but definitely scared her. I made her go back and pet the horse...the whole, "get back on the horse after you fall off" mentality.

We didn't realize that we could bring food with us to the petting zoo. A nice dad gave Cameron some carrots and she had no problem feeding the goats.

There was a tame deer wandering in the corridors that was a big hit with all the kids.
We attempted to recreate our family photo shoot from last year but a walking, talking toddler created a far different experience. We still got a few good shots in but there were a lot of deleted photos too.

Cameron loved the splash park area at the hotel. If you stand on the jet for a minute and then step away they would shot really far into the sky.

Besides feeding the animals, another first for Cameron was to get her own frozen drink from the bar pool. A virgin drink, of course, but never to early to start training her up! Right, Mom?

Cameron's shoe obsession continues unchecked. Here she tries on Grampy's shoes.

We didn't spend a lot of time at the beach because Cameron seems to really dislike sand. Especially wet sand.

Researching cold weather activities

Every weekend it is the same story. What can we do with Cameron to keep her occupied and wear her out? I've been looking into a few options around Charlotte and stumbled across a place a few miles from our house called Monkey Joe's. It's $5.99 for Cameron, free for me and DH. There are toddler friendly sections. Here are some videos and photos from our trip there on Saturday.

One of the reasons I'm spending time researching cold weather activities is because it is hard to find places that are kid proofed, not too expensive and easy to get to. So for all of my Charlotte readers, if you have any other suggestions for activities/locations, please comment!

It took Cameron a while to figure out how to walk on the bouncy floor but she didn't seem to mind falling down all the time. A good thing because as a toddler, she falls constantly.

Cameron loves the slide!

Friday Fun: Photo Post

My sister told me that I had to hurry up and create a new blog post. Apparently she's sick of seeing the one about my doctor! Her wish is my command....

Cameron has finally moved out of 12 month clothing into 18 month. The pants vary in fit but I've had fun shopping for some new clothes. Her hair is also getting really long. I can now put it back in a pony tail although it often has to be redone throughout the day. That baby fine hair is hard to corral!

Like all toddlers, Cameron has a hard time sitting still. So I haven't gotten many good photos in a while. I try to get her to look at me and she insists on moving toward me. Now I have to be sneaky in how I take photos!

Cameron "helps" me to empty the dishwasher. I give her the task of putting away the Tupperware and she actually knows how to stack them and that the lids go on the top shelf and the containers on the bottom. DH is so proud! A cute new outfit picked out by DH. Yes, I had to help by selecting the coordinating pants but he did a great job finding this shirt at a consignment store.
A side view of a decent ponytail. I have no idea how my mom handled doing all 3 of our hair on a daily basis when we were kids! I think I need to learn how to do more interesting things with Cameron's hair. Perhaps when it's a little longer...