You wake up then it hits you ITS YOUR BIRTHDAY! That’s my b-day morning . Then I got a early birthday present: Harry Potter Gryffindor scarf with Harry Potter motion activated wand!

Then Dad and I went to Waffle House for breakfast. Then Dad dropped me off at TRYPS theater camp.  At the end of the day I had a Harry Potter play I was Ron Weasley. After that I opened presents and had cake (which happened to be a potion book) and that was a cool birthday !
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Cam and I have a nighttime tradition. Each night we read together (lately it’s been Harry Potter – we’re on book 6). Then we cuddle and Cam says his prayer. He’s said the same prayer in the same order since he could talk. He’s said the same prayer for so long that he inserted his sister’s name AFTER the dogs’ names. He’s said the same prayer for so long that often he still asks for his Aunt Jan to feel better… even though we lost her to ovarian cancer earlier this year.

I don’t have the heart to correct him on some nights… Because honestly? I’d rather he was prayer for her to feel better than knowing I don’t have her around anymore. More often than not, Cam catches himself and instead he blesses his Aunt Jan “who is now in heaven.” It’s very sweet and heartbreaking for me.

When I took Cam to his seven-year-old check up, he had an eye check up where the nurse mentioned there was a little chance Cameron might need glasses. So… I waited because I didn’t think it was a big deal.

I was wrong.

Cam and I were sitting on the edge of his bed last week when I asked him what time it was on his clock… And he couldn’t see it. He really couldn’t see it. Enter: Mommy guilt. We should have gone back in April. But we went last week. He got the full eye check complete with dilation and everything. The diagnosis: He has a pretty pronounced astigmatism and nearsightedness. Poor buddy.

He’s proud and excited about the chance to really see!! I am too. I can’t wait for the glasses to arrive… I’m keeping my fingers crossed they get here soon.

To add to this… I have to wonder if a bunch of his challenges at school this past year were because Cameron couldn’t see and focus on his work. I’m really looking forward to the coming school year. I’d love to see if glasses help him.

Oh MAN does he look awesome with two missing teeth. I was the brave mom and helped pull his second tooth out. I was tired of listening to that wiggly tooth hit his bottom teeth. I decided the gross experience of pulling a teeth was less disgusting than listening to Cameron play with that tooth.

GROSS!!!!!

But Cameron is pretty darn excited. It’s a rite of passage and he’s proud to be a part of that. Those grown up front teeth are already moving in!! Now if I could just convince him to really get good at brushing his teeth!

Cam lost his first front tooth yesterday… And he’s days away from losing the other one. He’s so proud AND having fun with the strange feeling of a huge gap in the top of his mouth. The added plus: He talks funny. I can’t wait to hear him try to talk with both front teeth missing.

SO… we’re very close to his birthday. I was telling him how seven years ago I was really really really wishing he would be born. He thought that was pretty cool… we talked about how happy I was when he arrived and how lucky I am to be his mom. Just as I walked out of his room he asked me: “Mom. How do you know when the baby is ready to be born?” I simply responded: “It hurts. A lot.”

He seemed to be okay with that answer.

It’s been a crazy couple of months since my last post about Cameron. He had a pretty rough start to the year at school… But I feel really certain that we’re working through it and finding ways to enjoy school again.

So what has he been up to? Well, he’s getting really social with a couple of kids on our street. He’s at one house or another – or they’re hanging out at our house each weekend.

In between the cold days, we’ve had some really nice days. So we’ve hiked, we’ve played… and he’s gotten REALLY good at the Wii Legos Star Wars game. Cameron really, really loves it. It’s his new passion. I look forward to things getting warm more often outside so his passion can return to fun things like riding a bike and going swimming.

Speaking of swimming – I joined a new gym and added a membership to a pool so the kids have a place to go this summer. I’m excited to have a chance to take the kids to a pool often enough that swimming can become much more natural. Cameron and Jordan both love the new gym and they have a blast playing over there. I’m thrilled to have a place they like to visit while I finally get myself back in to healthy mode. Heck, Cameron even got to watch me run a 5K on Valentine’s Day.

The best of all… Cameron still loves the morning cuddles. He quietly sneaks into our room (always after 7am… ALWAYS or Mommy gets grumpy) and cuddles under the warm covers with me almost every morning. It’s almost as sweet as a night when I read to him at bed time when we are able to get through the entire book without his sister coming in and interrupting us. We have to be pretty sneaky some nights to make sure that happens.

In other news… Cam’s birthday is coming up and we’re planning his first out of the house party in a long time. He’s excited. I’m actually thinking it will be his first party where we have presents. I still don’t feel right with that… It seems greedy. But at the same time… Those little gifts seem to be so darn exciting for kids. We’ll see how it goes this year.

Oh! Speaking of birthday parties. Last weekend Cam went to a bowling party and bowled the highest score of all of the kids. It was bumper pool… but he rolled a 98. It was pretty cool to watch. All of the boys at the party were SO excited. I had no idea how exciting bowling could be. Wow.

Up next for Cam – a trip to Jefferson City. We have some appointments there including a trip to the State Capitol. Cam is going to get a personal tour of the building and see politics at work. It’s going to be amazing.

The moment we got to South Florida, Cameron was a different kid — A kid who jumps into the pool (a really cold pool):

After that, it got even more interesting. He rode his bike all over my parents’ neighborhood… And then we went to Disney World.

Cam went down ALL kinds of rollercoasters. He can actually boast riding every roller coaster in the Magic Kingdom in one day. From the Goofy’s Barnstormer to Space Mountain. Pretty awesome… And it seems like he’s interested in riding many more in the future. I’m pretty excited!

Okay… I have to share this one.

Cameron and I were talking after the prayers and the lullaby (yeah. I still sing him a lullaby. I will sing him a lullaby until he’s 25 if he’ll still let me sing it to him.) Anyway. He says:
“Mom, Kayla starting singing this song: Cameron and Austin sitting in a tree… K-I-S-S-I dont’ know… First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes a baby in a baby carriage. I don’t even know what that means. It’s so strange.”

HA!

I told him the full song and I told him people sang that when I was in first grade. It’s REALLY REALLY OLD. I told him to tell Kayla that the next time she pulls out the kissing in the tree chant. It’s SUPER old and SO not cool.

He thought that was SO funny.

By the way, we went to Cam’s school’s 50th anniversary today. The first principal was lucky to be there AND his granddaughter is a Kindergartener this year. How cool is that? Anyway. It was a big deal and I don’t know how we survived the ceremony with it starting at Jordan’s bed time and lasted 50 minutes! We also found out the school is hoping to raise enough money to build a walking track around the school field to make it easier to get exercise. I’m pretty excited about that. We live really close to school and I’d love a track to enjoy a beautiful day and get exercise near home. I donated a little bit just to feel like we could help out. We got an old brick from the school in return. I think we’re going to put it in our tree house somewhere.

The boy and I have spent A LOT of time together since he isn’t in school yet and hasn’t had much scheduled in his life. But I’m starting to figure him out.

First – I need to take advantage of his interests. He really likes superhero/science fiction stuff. So this week I bought Cam a Star Wars Clone Wars book that’s about the movie that came out this weekend. He read the entire 24 chapter book on his own!! He also read it in two days. Did he totally ingest everything he read? No. But he did get the gist of the story line. It was pretty amazing.

I took the boy to that movie today — He was SO into it. Star Wars Clone Wars was created for six year old boys. It wasn’t a challenging plot, it wasn’t that bloody or gross — just a lot of red vs. blue. I also think he really appreciated the one-on-one time. It was really funny when he needed to go to the bathroom. We RAN to the bathroom. BOOKED to the bathroom. It was so funny as we washed hands and ran back. We almost ran down a mom and her little kids as they were walking out of the theater.

Second – I need to get Cam out and playing with other kids more often. I’m lucky he’s had a neighbor up the street who is fun, sweet and a buddy. He goes into Kindergarten this year so the boys will see each other at school. Cam is so much happier when he gets to hang out with kids every once and a while.

Third – My boy has a lot of teeth moving around in there. I need to give him a break every once and a while and wonder if he’s in pain. He’s had some headaches lately and his teeth are super sensitive. He’s going to be okay. Thank goodness for Motrin.

It’s been challenging to have Cam everywhere and all the time… But I know I’m going to miss having him around. He’s a really sweet guy. A really sweet, emotional guy.

Cam has had a tough time rejoining the family since his trip to his grandparents house. He’s been very emotional. VERY emotional.

I think I may be to blame. I’ve let him surf the web on kid sites while he spent time in the newsroom with me at work. So he’s enjoyed a brainless, non-involved time on his own. So I’ve tried to get him out and about at least for a little while each day. That still didn’t seem to be enough to improve the whining and complaining at home. On Friday I took him out for the morning to go on a bike ride on the local bike trail and go to a park with water sprayers and a playground. I packed a lunch and everything. I was excited. I really want to bike more and it’s so cool to have Cam on his bike now… Until he had to pass a person on the trail. It freaked him out and he decided he didn’t want to bike. Tantrum on the trail. It was rough. I ended up pulling his access to the work computer and he snapped out of it. THEN we had fun. We enjoyed lunch, water and running around. Biking back tot he car was even great. I just don’t know how to deal with his moods.

I think some of it has to do with his teeth. Those molars are moving and his front teeth are wiggling. He’s lost four bottom teeth and two have poked through. He isn’t sleeping as well and he’s cranky. It’s kind of like Cameron is the six year old version of his 4 months teethingn self. I just want to hug him when I don’t want to jump off the roof when he’s crying and screaming.

I’m not going to dwell on this… But someone at the university mentioned that I should consider testing Cam for ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). I’m very uncomfortable even thinking about considering treating Cam with drugs. We see so many students who are medicated. I had a friend in college who went off his long-term ADD medication while we were in school. He was so messed up. Anyway, it does confound me at times when Cameron is so highly sensitive to the smallest things and he’s six years old. It made sense when he was two or three, but I’m sure it’s not right for his age.