The Cul-de-sac Crew

(Please excuse the Ugly that is the header of my blog right now. We're kind of Under Construction, though not by choice. I woke up one morning to an absentee header that promised to be back "soon", but I'm losing hope that it'll be back at all. New header coming soonish. Until then, bare with me and The Ugly.)

(Almost) 17 months is such a fun age. I know, I know-- I sound like a broken record, right? Every stage has its perks, for sure, but I'm loving the increasingly active and independent little boy Camden is becoming these days. It's become a fairly regular part of our routine to play outside in the cul-de-sac at the end of our street in the late afternoons. I've mentioned before that Camden is a shy guy, but that shyness only applies around adults he doesn't know. He loves other kids and will jump in and play with them without hesitation.

Nearly every afternoon, Camden rolls up to the cul-de-sac in his little red car and excitedly joins in the Organized Chaos. This Chaos I speak of includes Camden's cousins (Jacob, Alex, and Will) and it also includes Camden's cousin's cousins (Daniel and Lainey). Got that? Yes, this does mean that my sister lives down the street from me...and my sister's sister-in-law, Tricia, also lives a few doors down. I swear we don't live on a commune and we're not part of a cult. It just kind of happened that we all ended up in this neighborhood a few years back-- it wasn't even planned! So, take all of the cousins and add in a few neighbor kids and you've got the wild, mostly blonde bunch that overtakes the cul-de-sac in the afternoons.

Since I don't get to watch Camden in daycare or school settings, I love observing his interactions with the other kids during these afternoon playdates. Right now, he gravitates towards the "big kids" (3-6 year olds). He follows them as they run around the yard; he picks up a hockey stick when they're all running around wielding sticks. I had to laugh the other day when Camden was running, full steam ahead, trying to get to where the Big Kids were gathered in the garage. The moment he arrived next to them, breathless, they took off again to their next destination. Camden hesitated for all of 3 seconds before he was off, sprinting behind them, wanting so much to be a part of the group. I love how much he looks up to these kids (and, to their credit, these Big Kids are amazingly sweet to Camden and the other Littles).

So, yes. It's a good age. Even though his vocabulary is still lacking, he has matured in so many other ways that leave me feeling both very proud and a tad nostalgic for the baby he once was.

And now-- some pictures of what we've been up to the past week:

Playing cards with Cousin Will...

...until Will decides he'd rather go for a swim.  

Camden's Cul-de-sac Crew

Watching Tricia blow some bubbles...

I could do without my red, sweaty face in this picture, but I love Camden's adorable expression.

"What? This is a perfectly acceptable way to play with this toy."  

[PS- I've been having some major issues with Blogger lately-- namely, whenever I go to publish a post, it converts it to one gigantic paragraph even though I clearly have separate paragraphs in my post. This has been going on for weeks. I figured out how to fix it today, so if any of you are having the same issue, let me know and I'll pass the quick fix info along.]