Yummo!

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Ah, Shucks

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Camden and Ethan enjoyed husking sweet corn at the farm this weekend

Happy 2nd Birthday!

We're happy to celebrate Camden's 2nd birthday today! In addition to mommy, daddy, and Ethan, the birthday boy got to celebrate his day with Grandma and Grandpa Sindt, and Aunt Paige. We made the trip back to Holstein, Iowa. Timing was nice because Aunt Paige was in town for her 10 year high school reunion.

Camden's birthday also falls on a game day this year as the Buckeyes opened the season against Navy. The Buckeyes squeaked one out and served as a nice gift for Camden on his birthday.

It's been a wonderful two years, sleepless nights and all. We wouldn't give back any of the precious moments we've had with Camden and are grateful and blessed to have him in our lives. Camden bring such joy to our lives and makes us laugh daily. We've seen and learned so much in the two years we've had Camden.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CAMDEN!

Urine Trouble

Has this ever happened to you? You're in the privacy of your own bathroom, minding your own business, when WHAM! a toddler decides he/she needs to join you?! Well, it happened to me recently and what ensued is nothing short of hilarious.

Like I said, I was minding my own business at the toilet going #1, you know the stand up type. In comes Camden, curious as can be. He comes right up to my right leg, places his hand on my leg, and just watches. Didn't say a word. I said to him, "What are you watching Camden? Are you watching daddy go pee-pee? When you're ready to go pee-pee in the big boy toilet, you let me know, okay?" Still no response. Eyes transfixed on one thing. A mysterious gaze at some wonder fluid coming out of Daddy's body.

My body finally stops it's normal urinary function, and Camden immediately speaks up, points at my boy part and says, "'GAIN!" Translated to, "AGAIN!" As if it's a hose that I can just turn on and off. I could barely contain myself and neither could Kim as she listened in from the other room.

As you might guess, no pictures were taken during this event to accompany this post :)

Three word sentences!

Camden’s ability to articulate sure has grown!   Last night, Camden brings in his current favorite book (which he stole from the Doctor’s office by putting in the diaper back while I wasn’t looking!) ‘Are you my mother’.    He went searching for that specific book and brings it in saying, “Da-dee,  read this”.   He handed it to daddy and in a very bossy tone says “Lap!” and turns around and backs into Steve’s lap, settling in for the 63 page story.     I used to be able to read every other page when I was in a hurry, but he’s already catching on to that trick!    You will never have to guess what Camden is thinking, he will tell you everything.   Here’s some of his more bossy instructions offered up while visiting Grandma and Grandpa Sindt this weekend:

 

Grandma, baby!   (Mommy, you need to give the baby to Grandma and take care of me! ) 

Outtide.   (You’ve got 30 seconds to get me outside before I have a meltdown)

Bump --   (the new high five)

Go Away :   (Warning to Oliver, even though I am holding out my super yummy snacks, do not take them from my hand, you need to go away)

Wipe!     (dirty fingers need a wipe J )

Po-Po  (Thanks daddy for teaching him this one --  he also thinks all the geeksquad beetle cars are po-po)

Elmo On, Couch.    (You co get the Elmo DVD and turn it on while I go sit on the couch….

 

Camden has never been a quiet and this trend continues as his vocabulary continues to grow.  It’s super cute! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let's pretend!

Camden may be 22 months but his imagination and pretend play is certainly emerging. A couple weeks back, we had a playdoh kit out. The miniature extruder has the little stencil that fits on the end of the tube. Camden ran around the house dipping it into the extruder tube and blowing (sometimes spitting) on it and then would proceed to watch his pretend bubbles. He would hold it out to me and I would blow him some make believe bubbles… to his delighted giggles.

Other imagination activities: He started pulling in and gassing up his little lawn mower. The next time, after watching daddy check and fill the oil of our lawn mower, he subsequently flips his lawnmower over and also checks the oil and fills it! Finally, while eating at his little table, he’ll run over to his little kitchen and grab his pepper grinder and return to his plate and grind a lot of pepper before finishing….

There’s more instances of pretend play and I wish I could remember them… they certainly bring a big smile and keep us very entertained!

Camden can count!

A favorite activity for Camden is placing an ear of corn out on the squirrel feeder (thanks Grandpa, for putting that out there!).    Subsequently, we are a favorite neighborhood hang out for the local squirrel population.     Yesterday as we rounded the corner to the back yard, I pointed out the squirrel munching on the corn and he pointed and said “two squirrel”).    Sure enough a second squirrel was sitting  on the fence post.   While we recognized that he was aware of numbers, this is the first time he articulated his counting capabilities.   Way to go Camden!  

(P)ooops!

Camden may never forgive me for this one, but I think there are a few things that just have to be documented. Our bedtime routine is Mommy usually give Camden his bath and gets him dressed for bed. Then Daddy plays the closer role, coming in to read a few books, saying prayer, and ultimately putting him down for the night.

Another part of Mommy's routine, primarily because it's so hard to get Camden pinned down, is his penchant to run around sans diaper or with only his diaper on. Well, on this night, he was running around with nothing but the smile on his face. And on this night, Camden decided the carpet in his bedroom was the perfect place to go #2.

We didn't know whether to laugh or be grossed out. I laughed until Mommy asked me to clean up. Then I was grossed out.

On another occasion, Camden had just finished his bath and again was proud to be in only his birthday suit. We're doing some rearranging of our upstairs area and we had left a body mirror in the hallway. It didn't take Camden long to understand the meaning of "body" mirror. He was running across the hallway when he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror. The kid stopped on a dime and stopped to get a good look at himself. He must have stood in front of the mirror for a good two minutes just admiring himself and poking at parts of his body while the reflection in the mirror responded to his every move.

Mommy and I just watched from afar and couldn't stop laughing at him. The last time we laughed this hard at him was when he got his first anatomy lesson.

American Idles

We'd been meaning to get together with friends, Jeff and Sara Idle, but our schedules never seemed to match up. We finally had them over for some pizza, beers, and brownies. They hadn't met Ethan yet and Camden was in fine form being quite the entertainer. Jeff is baby-phobic, so there aren't any pictures of him actually holding Ethan.

Camden's World is Getting Bigger

With mixed emotions, Camden moved from the infant room to the toddler room at daycare this past week. It's sad because it's a sign that our little Cammers is growing up so fast.
The infant room just seems a little different without Camden in it. It's hard to describe. Just feels like something is missing. It just feels quieter without Camden's big personality occupying the room.

It's also sad because we have grown so attached to his caregivers in the infant room and they to him. Traci, Denise, Sheila, Carol, and Jamie have given him so much love and have taken such great care of him. On the bright side, we have the comfort of knowing that Camden's little brother Ethan will get the same love and care.

Of course, we're happy that Camden has reached this milestone in his life. The teachers there are great, too. So far we've met Nikki (his primary caregiver), Linda, Lisa, and Katie. Another benefit to having Camden in the toddler room is the reduction in his daycare rate. Like most of us, every little bit helps.

Camden's vocabulary update...He's very aware of Ethan now and even refers to him as "bayyy-bee" now. We might be downstairs in the living room and we ask Camden where the baby is and he responds, "Baby!" and points upstairs. Camden is becoming more useful as well. He'll bring a towel over to him and gently wipe his face. Or he'll bring over Ethan's nuk for him and plug him up.

Camden knows when it's time to go "bye-bye" too. If one of us goes to the closet and puts our coat on he immediately says, "bye-bye". He knows that if we put his jacket on then we're going "bye-bye". He includes the hand wave and everything. Speaking of putting coats on...here are some pictures from earlier in January of some outside time with Camden and the sled.

Camden Gets a New Pair of Shoes

Camden moves up to the toddler room at daycare this week. So we thought it was appropriate to commemorate the occasion by treating him to a new pair of sneakers. I've always thought those baby Air Jordans you see at Foot Locker are so adorable. I was fortunate enough to have a few pairs of Air Jordans as a kid, and I always dreamt of the day when I could buy a pair of baby Air Jordans for my son.

Well, that day arrived. I'd been talking about it for awhile, we found a nice pair, they fit, so we pulled the trigger. I must say, Camden certainly is stylin'.

This was the best picture I could get of Camden and his new shoes. The kid is just so darn mobile I had to wait till he was sleeping :)

Camden's Anatomy Lesson

We got together with our neighbors, Kelly and Jana Reger, for pizza on Friday night. They have two girls, Emma (3) and Grace (1), and of course they joined us as well. Grace is about 8 weeks younger than Camden. The highlight of the evening came when Emma needed her diaper changed and her dad, Kelly, thought the middle of the kitchen was a good place to take care of it. Well, Camden certainly got an eye full. These pictures speak for themselves and feel free to add your own captions.





I could not stop laughing at Camden. The reactions on his face were priceless. And he kept pointing and babbling and pointing and babbling. He seemed so inquisitive. Maybe it's just a guy thing, but I found it hilarious.

We don't get together with Kelly and Jana enough. They live right behind us and we really have no excuse for not getting together more. I'm sure our boys and their girls will have some fun times as they get older so they'll be lots of opportunities for us to hang out. Here are a few more pictures from the evening.

Camden really enjoyed playtime with Kelly.

Camden really enjoyed playtime with Kelly.

Left to right: Emma, Grace, Camden, Ethan...Kelly insisted the boys and girls be separated with the pillow on the couch.

Emma cuddling with her Daddy.

Christmas 2008

Santa was good to Camden and his brother Ethan this Christmas. Ong Noi and Ba Noi came up to brave the cold Minnesota winter with us again this year. Although not fully aware of what Christmas means or how he can best benefit from the holiday, he certainly had fun unwrapping his gifts. He also enjoyed everyone else's gifts as well. He quickly latched onto Mommy's new running gloves and hat and paraded around the living room as if they belonged to him.

On Christmas Eve, the Slipkas came over with their kids (Jack, Charlie, and Lucy). They shared in a Sindt family tradition of ham and fugens (pronounced foo-jin). If you don't know, fugens are a kind of bread sort of like a dense pancake ball. We make them with raisins and chocolate chips.

On Christmas day, we woke up to a nice bounty of gifts under the tree. We opened our generous presents from family and friends and then we enjoyed a Nguyen family tradition which consists of a nice steaming hot bowl of phở. Phở is a traditional Vietnamese soup made with a beef broth and served with fresh herbs and slowly cooked beef. The broth takes about 5 hours to make, but it's so worth it and it makes about 12-14 servings. Camden seemed to enjoy it and even tried his hand at chopsticks...Rather "chopSTICK" in his case.

Camden and Ethan are the best Christmas gifts we've received in the past two Christmases. We truly feel blessed this holiday season and with the same for all of you. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy [insert holiday here], and Happy New Year!

Camden prepares to tear into his presents.

Camden draws on his new truck book from Aunt Lisa and Uncle Tony.

Camden thinks his mommy's new hat and running gloves look better on him.

Camden and Ethan on Christmas morning.

Winter Fun

Winter weather came hard and fast to Minneapolis this year. That doesn't put a damper on Camden and Ethan getting bundled up and enjoying the snow. Grandma and Grandpa Sindt came to town for a quick visit this weekend. They, of course, enjoyed some time with the boys while it allowed mommy and daddy some time to put up the Christmas tree and spread some holiday cheer.

"Hm. Not bad."

This reminds me of the kid in the "Christmas Story" all bundled up to go out and play.

Camden's smiley brother, Ethan.

A little taste of Christmas with Grandpa "Papa" and Grandma Sindt.

What's Your Sign?

Camden's vocabulary continues to grow, both verbally and physically. He's really good at letting us know what he needs, whether it's by hand or mouth. At daycare, they work a lot with the kids on sign language. When he wants more of something he signs "more" by pointing his index finger to the palm of his hand. Or he'll sign "please" by rubbing his belly. Or "help" by patting his chest. He signs for milk by squeezing his hands together as if milking a cow.

His current vocabulary includes words such as:

• "ba-naaa-na" (banana)
  
• "bah-ble" (bubble)
  
• "bow bear" (for his book "Brown Bear")
• "da!-deee" (daddy)
• "papa" (he says this when he sees Grandpa Sindt)
  
• "mama" (mommy)
• "moo" (moo)
• "dah!" (done)

He's said a couple of other random things that he hasn't repeated again, but funny nonetheless. On the day of the Michigan game (11/23/2008) Camden came up to me and said "Go Buck!" I was on the phone with a friend of mine and he said, "Did he just say what I think he said?"

Another time I came home from work and Camden comes to the top of the stairs to greet me by saying "Yer back!" Kim and I looked at each other in amazement and just laughed.

Camden texts his friends :)