Dear Camden (23 month edition)

Dear Camden,

Happy 23 months to you! You know what that means? It's time to start party planning! I'm ridiculously excited about putting this party together for you and seeing your excitement on the big day. One month to go!

This past month has been a busy one for us. You started speech therapy with your new therapist, Amanda. You're doing really well with her, but you do get frustrated and let your temper show from time to time when she really pushes you. No worries, though- you forgive her when you're given a lollipop at the end of the session.

Mommy took a road trip this month and left you alone with Daddy for an entire weekend-- the longest I've ever been away from you. You had a great time with your dad, though, and I love watching the way your relationship with him continues to evolve. You pretty much think he's the coolest thing alive right now, and I told Daddy to enjoy that while it lasts. Like tonight, you and Daddy were having a jumping contest and you were so excited by how high Daddy could jump. I asked you if you thought your dad could touch the stars and you nodded earnestly and said, "Yeah".

You've also developed quite the shoe obsession this month. You always want to wear Mommy or Daddy's shoes and walk around the house. When we took you to Rack Room, it was like Disneyland for you. You ran right over to some dominatrix looking black heels and scooped them up while frantically trying to take your boring old velcro shoes off. We settled on getting you some Cars snow boots instead.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I'm going to say it again: Camden, you are FUN. You make me laugh every single day. Tonight, when I was putting you to bed, you stuck your milk cup in my mouth and said "Mmm" while rubbing your belly. Then you took your milk away from me, laid it on your pillow and told it "Shhh". And at the store yesterday, you grabbed a tiny race car off the shelf, looked at me and signed "drive", placed the small car on the floor, and sat down right on top of it. You sincerely believed you could drive that miniature toy car.

When I was out of town a couple of weeks back, an old friend of mine was asking how I like being a mom. Without hesitation, I told her that it has been the best experience of my life. I know your dad would agree too. You, my son, are such a blessing.

Love,
Mommy

What You've Been Up To:

Reading the morning paper with Daddy.

Dancing with Daddy.

Jumping contest with Daddy.

And doing yard work with Daddy.

Well hello there, Cutie. You loved this box Daddy brought home from work until Maggie decided to snack on it and tear it to pieces.

Giving Snickers some love. She is so patient with you. Maggie, not so much.

Just chillin' outside.

A regular site around our house. And those are your Daddy's size 13 shoes.

This is the result of Mommy asking you to smile. Nice try, anyway.

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And now, the speech stuff (AKA: the part that's only interesting to me & mommies who have speech delayed children):

Words & Sounds:                                            

Mama

Dada

Yeah

Nan

Baby (not always in context)

Banana (nana)

Me

Oh (not in context yet)

No (not in context yet)

Shh (goodnight)

Eew (gross)

Mmm (moo)

Baba (sheep)

Sss (snake)

Neigh (horse)

Approximations:

Mah- Maggie (usually prompted)

Mmm- moon

Shh- shoes

Eee- eat (usually prompted)

Mmm- milk

ABC Song:

Camden's speech therapist gave me a CD to play for him as often as possible. I am going to keep track of the sounds from the CD he's able to make each month just to document his progress. I realize this is painfully boring to anyone who's not me.

-Hammer Sound (huh)

-Igloo Sound (ih)

-Monkey Sound (mmm)

-Ostrich Sound (ahh)

-Undershirt sound (uhh)

-Yoyo sound (yuh)

-Scissor sound (sss)