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 :)

Thanksgiving in Iowa

We packed up the minivan and headed south of the border to Iowa for Thanksgiving this year. Aunt Paige flew into Minneapolis from Phoenix and we made the four and a half hour drive to Holstein on Wednesday evening. The boys did great both ways. A stop was necessary on each leg to feed all members of the family.

Aunt Lisa and Uncle Tony got to Holstein on Thanksgiving Day after visiting with Camden's Great Grandma Daleske. The weekend was packed with activities. Thursday, of course, was a day to feast. Then there was Black Friday so a couple of us packed up for Sioux City to battle the crowds.

On Saturday there was a belated wedding celebration at the country club for Tony and Lisa. That was really nice since we missed Tony and Lisa's wedding in September as we awaited the arrival of Ethan into our lives.

Finally, Sunday was Ethan's baptism. He did great and you can see some more pictures from Ethan's big day on his blog.

Happy Thanksgiving 2008 onsies courtesy of Aunt Lisa and Uncle Tony.

Aunt Paige and Aunt Lisa posing with the boys.

Camden and Daddy match!

Celebrating Ethan's baptism.

"Jazz Hands!"

The MacLagan's Visit

Camden and Ethan got a visit from their buddy Jack MacLagan today. After getting to watch and enjoy another monumental Buckeye victory over archrival, Michigan. We enjoyed some playtime with parents Brent and Melissa, and of course Jack. The MacLagans were in town for the Iowa/Minnesota game and it was so nice that they could squeeze in some time to visit with us.

Camden's Latest Milestones

Camden is at 14 months of age now and his personality continues to grow and make us laugh. He's very proficient at going up and down the stairs and even closing the gate behind him. We still don't let him climb the stairs unsupervised, but he can crawl up without much problem.

He's also very good at letting us know exactly what he needs. He'll point at the bananas on the counter and say "ba-naa-na" or "dis" or "dat". He'll do the same if he sees his sippy cup or a container of Cheerios. We gave him an apple recently and found that he would hold it in his hands by himself and eat it without any trouble. Peel and all. He also likes to toast you. So if you hold your glass to his sippy cup, or anything else he has in his hand, and say "Cheers!" he loves to toast with you. Camden has also been tossing his food over the side of his high chair to Oliver and following that action with an "uh ohhhh!" It's hard not to laugh at him.

Camden is also down to one bottle a day and taking the rest of his liquids in his sippy cup. We're also weening him from formula and mixing it with soy milk. The transition has been pretty seamless. We haven't seen any adverse reaction and he doesn't seem to mind the change.

On occasion, if you ask Camden, "Where's your belly button?" He'll raise his shirt and point to his belly button.

He's sleeping pretty well. On occasion he'll wake up at 3am for just a little bit, but that's been pretty rare. For the most part he'll sleep through the night waking up sometime between 530am and 630am. If we're lucky, he goes until 730am. He's only done that once or twice.

He and Ethan are getting along great. Camden will sometimes give E an eye gouge if we're not paying attention. We continue to practice "gentle touches" with him, but he still doesn't really understand his own strength. He'll tug on his feet or hold his hands at times, but he's not all that interested in playing with him.

We continue to be amazed at all of Camden's milestones and the kid just makes us laugh and laugh. He has such a beautiful little person voice and communicates with his in his own unique way. He's so aware of his surroundings now and that curiosity kids develop is starting to become more apparent.

Camden's One Year Well Baby!

In all the excitement of Camden's first birthday and Ethan's birth, I forgot to post details of Camden's 1 year well baby check up! We find that Camden is a precocious little person! He's hitting and exceeding all the well baby milestone lists (Such as "May take a few steps on his own (our little man walks, runs and climbs!);) and we learned there are very few things on the lists of things we as parents should do for our child's next steps (for example, encourage your child to eat on his own... Camden's been a self feeder for months!).

Camden actually sat fairly patiently on the scale this time and we were pleased that he weighed in at just over 20 lbs! I didn't know if he'd hit that mark or not. That bumps him way up into the 15% for weight among his peers :-) I forget his height, but it was over 30 inches and somewhere in the 65% percentile. His head has not deviated from the 50% mark since birth....so that particular piece of anatomy has maintained well!

In some ways, it's been a challenge keeping up with Camden. Since he only likes to eat what he can feed himself, we've been working at family meal planning and offering a variety of new food choices.

His early walking and great control of his large muscle groups, coupled with his determined attitude has given us several interesting run ins with unexpected objects, like his love and adoration of the Swiffer mop. He's nearly perfected the 'correct' use of his favorite object, but there's been some frustration around mastering the mop. All in all very cute and only a little scary when he wields the mop like he's ready to do battle :-)

Camden's First Haircut

We took Camden for his very first haircut on Sunday. He was long overdue, but we thought he looked damn cute with his straight brown locks hanging over his ears and tickling his eyebrows. But it was time. So we took him to a Kids Hair, Inc. for his first style. As you can see in the pictures, he wasn't a big fan. Thankfully, Grandma Sindt was with us and reminded us to give him a pacifier. Whew! That made a HUGE difference.

Well, until the electric razor came out. Then the waterworks started again. All in all, it wasn't the worst experience ever. Mommy kept a few strands of hair for his scrapbook and we were all done after only 8 minutes in the chair. His stylist, Andrea, was quick and definitely experienced with fidgety guys like Camden.

Afterwards, we all commented on how "mature" Camden looks now. It's amazing how a haircut immediately aged him. We already thought he looked more like a big boy after bringing Ethan home, but the haircut really did it. There's a sampling of more pictures from Camden's traumatizing experience and you can see all of the pictures in this haircut slideshow.

"Get me outta this chair!"

"What's she doing back there!"

"ahhhh.....my nook. thanks, grandma."

"enough already!"

Camden is not in love with his stylist, Andrea.

Big Brother Camden

Camden became a big brother last week, on September 9th to be exact. So far so good. I think he's pretty indifferent. Which is fine considering some of the behavior we've seen older kids have when introducing a new sibling. One of our friends' daughter's, Caitlin, said of her new sister Lauren, "Mommy, when is Lauren going back to the hospital?" I guess no one told her that there's a no return policies on babies.

Aside from when we hold Camden next to Ethan, he doesn't really interact with him much yet. When we hold him next to Ethan, he'll try to poke him or grab him and we try to teach Camden "gentle touches". Otherwise, Camden's more content to play with his toys or chase Oliver around.



He's been spoiled by having Grandma and Grandpa Sindt around. They've been giving him lots and lots of attention. Thankfully, Grandma is a morning person so she was able to take Camden's early morning 530am appearances and let mommy and daddy sleep in a bit. His nights have been pretty good. He had kind of a tough Saturday night, but so did all Buckeye fans :(

"uhhhhh...What's that?"

Camden's Birthday Party

What would a 1st birthday party be if we didn't celebrate with a some (little) friends?! Camden's little buddies Alex, Owen, and Karissa came over today to help him celebrate his first birthday milestone. The adults dined on homemade flatbread pizzas, while the kids snacked on their own assortment of formula, baby food, grapes, crackers, and napkins.

Conversation ranged from Cargill shop talk, fantasy football, Kim's pregnancy, to the variations in the ways mommy's and daddy's use the toilet.

Enough words...The pictures speak for themselves. Good times :)