Norvis?

We celebrated Grandma's birthday tonight with ice cream and cake at home. Everyone except Cameron sang "happy birthday" to her. He declared that he didn't want to sing because "I'm a little bit norvis, mama. I'm a little bit norvis...but not too much."

We had been practicing singing the song, and he's actually quite good at it, but I guess he got stage fright. He probably told us 10 times that he was "norvis" and that's why he didn't sing.

What a character, I don't know where he picks this stuff up!

And it's also noteworthy that this was Cameron's first time having REAL ice cream and cake. "Mmm, yummy!" he said more than once. This moment has been long overdue; I'm really glad that we can share simple stuff like this without worry. Makes me happy.

The lasts

An article has been circulating on Facebook by a mommy blogger and the topic is not forgetting to live in the moment. Often parents get so focused on the next baby milestone that we look forward and forget to look around at what is going on now. This leads to overlooking what may well be the baby's lasts: last nap taken on mom's or dad's chest, last night spent in a swaddle, last night with a pacifier, last anything.

So, it made me think of all the sweet little things that happened in the past few months or are happening now that I don't want to forget.

• Back when I was still on maternity leave, my mom would still spend a few mornings a week with Cameron. When she would bring him home for nap time, he would always run in the door and ask me "Norah's awake?" (Because he knows that when she's sleeping he's supposed to use quiet footsteps in the house.)
• Cameron is very loving with Norah 98% of the time. He says stuff like "Hi Norah!", "Good morning my sweet girl," "That's my baby sister Norah, I love her," and "Awww, she's so cute!" The other 2% of the time he's telling her something like "No Norah, that's my truck! Don't touch it!" But then he'll also say something like "I'll go get you a soft toy." So maybe it's like 99%/1%. :)
• Norah is still eating once per night, usually between 2-3 a.m. In the past month or so, after feeding her at that hour, I would lay her down to re-swaddle her and she would just make the most content little sighs and babbling sounds. So sweet!
• I adore the few moments I share with Norah before putting her down to sleep, whether it's at night or for a nap. When truly tired, she is so content to lay her head down on my shoulder and let me rock her for a few minutes. I get to kiss her forehead and nuzzle her nose as she lays there looking at me. 
• Cameron likes to play with words and sounds lately. One of his favorites is to change the endings of our names and quite frequently he will say mommy, daddy, Cammy, Norry. 
• Cameron also has become quite the singer lately. ABCs, Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Thomas songs, and lots more. He'll request songs for us to sing and then sing along. He even dances while singing sometimes, or just while listening to music. He bobs his head and taps his feet to the beat. So adorable. Even if the song is Ozzy's "Crazy Train" played in Dada's car, it's still adorable.

I'm sure there are a lot more that I'm not accounting for at the moment, but I'm going to try to be better about documenting them (really!).

Milk, yogurt, and cheese, oh my!

Cameron passed his milk challenge at the allergist's office today. PASSED! I'm so thrilled that we can stop reading labels like hawks and he can now try all sorts of new foods. THRILLED!

I brought some 2% milk and some chocolate milk as a backup. I worried that he wouldn't want to drink the milk simply because we wanted him to, and what do you know, that's what happened. The nurse tried all sorts of things: a little plastic cup, a dixie cup, a syringe...no go. But he was very polite about it. "Oh, no thank you," he said over and over.

So the doctor finally relented and said he could drink the chocolate milk. It took a little more coaxing, but he finally took a swig. Which led to him smiling a big smile and asking "Can I have the whole thing?"

It was so cute to see him with his first milk mustache. :)

Switching schools

Next week will be Cameron's trial period at a new preschool. A few months ago, he had been wait-listed everywhere that I applied. Then, 3 weeks after he started at the school we found, I was contacted and told there was an opening at what was my top-choice school back when I was touring and applying.

I struggled with the decision to have him switch schools after only 2 months (since we had to give 30 days notice to the current school), but ultimately decided that my gut still said "yes" about the place with the opening. And Cameron has proven himself to be so adaptable, that I thought he would likely roll with it just like he has for all other other major changes in his life lately (new house, new sister, new bed, no pacifier, new school...man we've really thrown a lot at him!).

Plus, since he was placed with the older class at the old school (so he would only have to get used to one set of teachers), he would be getting a new set of peers anyway in September as the younger kids moved up to the room he was in. So...new school + new peers, or just new peers. I feel pretty good about the decision we made; hopefully he likes it at the new school too!

What dairy allergy?

I am so, so, so happy to report that we just got back from the allergist and Cameron is no longer reacting to dairy! Well, via a skin test. They still want us to come in and do a milk challenge, which will be much like the 3-hour peanut butter challenge we did. Start with drinking a small amount, wait and see, drink some more, wait and see, etc. My only fear with doing this is that he won't want any milk afterwards, as he now avoids peanut butter like the plague. "My tummy doesn't like peanut butter!" he says. :( I'm still hopeful he'll change his tune someday about that one!

So, we plan to do that challenge soon. We have been experimenting a little bit lately, with dairy in cooked things (like waffles) and he hasn't had any reactions. The thought of not having to read labels anymore and him being able to eat whatever is SO exciting! I will be able to cook with cheese again! And, we found out he can also have nuts and shellfish! We had been avoiding those since they are considered high-allergen foods and he had and "allergic" profile. But this opens up a whole new world of food possibilities for us, especially at restaurants. Also, the thought that he can now partake in eating birthday cakes at friends' parties makes me ridiculously happy. :)

The not-so-great news is that he is still reactive to cat dander. He still doesn't show any symptoms when he's around the cats (or just at home for that matter), but we don't know how much having the cats in the house might be contributing to the fact that we have to periodically use the nebulizer when he gets sick and it moves down into his respiratory system. However, we haven't had to use the nebulizer very much lately. I guess this winter will be interesting, what with school in the mix and all those lovely germs he will bring home.

Potty successes

We'll be going to the Academy of Sciences this weekend, as Cameron's reward for using the potty and successfully getting 10 stickers!

I made him a potty chart and added one of his favorite characters, Lightening McQueen, at the bottom. That, coupled with the motivational Thomas stickers I picked up on a whim at Old Navy last Christmas, gave me hope that he'd be excited to fill up the chart and get his special reward of going somewhere fun, his pick.

We still have to prompt him to visit the potty, but hopefully soon he'll start listening to his body and telling us when it's time to go. Hopefully!

Preschool bound

Cameron attended preschool for the first time today. I cried a little bit after dropping him off, but it was a good cry. It makes my heart happy that he didn't cry at all and was comfortable enough to let us go with a goodbye and a promise to see him later. My big boy!

Pumping gas

It's never too early to teach your kid how to pump his own gas for the car, right?

Happy Mother's Day!

We headed out to meet with the extended family today. It's so wonderful to see my kids (plural!? still kinda amazes me) interacting with all the relatives. 

I love my family, both little and big. I'm a lucky girl!

Bye bye pacifier

We have been debating Cameron's use of the pacifier for awhile now, thinking about when would be the best time to get rid of it, and how to make it the least traumatic for him.

With his move to the big boy bed, the paci falls on the floor more often into spots where he can't necessarily see it or reach it. He'll occasionally call out for one of us, asking for help to find it.

So awhile ago this happened, and I went in looking for it. I looked and looked and honestly couldn't find it, and told him so. (Eventually I did spy it after poking around a bit more, but I didn't tell him this.)

He accepted the fact that we couldn't find it, and went back to sleep without it. Over the next few days of naps and nights of sleep, we stuck with the story that we couldn't find it and he was able to fall asleep and stay asleep without it. Success! Though, he did still ask for it periodically and question why we couldn't find it.

Realistically, I do feel a bit of mommy guilt over the way it happened, and in hindsight, I don't know if it was the best way to get rid of it. Should it have been more his choice, etc.? I have friends who told their kids about the paci fairy and when the fairy would come the kid would get a toy in exchange for all the pacis. Or, friends who took their kids to the build-a-bear workshop and had the paci dropped inside the bear's foot before it was filled with stuffing so the kid could still feel it, but not suck on it.

But, it is what it is, and even though I found the thing, I don't want to give it back and go through this withdrawal all over again.

It'll be interesting once he knows that Norah can have one and he can't, but I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it?

Big boy bed

Last night was Cameron's first night in his big boy bed. It's been set up for about a month now and he's been able to climb, sit, and bounce in it. Basically get comfortable. And since he's had a few successful naps in it, we figured he was ready for his first overnight.

We all gathered for his bedtime stories, and then it was lights out. Well, almost out. The crib is still in his room since Norah's room is still Cairo's room. So I hung his waterfall crib soother on the outside of the crib rails instead of the inside so he can reach over from his bed and push the button to get a little bit of light and music if he wants. We pushed the button for him before leaving the room.

Just like with all his other transitions lately, he did great. I'm so proud of him!

I love you

Yesterday morning I was making pancakes with Cameron. Chris came downstairs while we were working in the kitchen and asked what we were doing, to which Cameron happily replied "making pancakes, Dada!"

And then later, when he was taste testing them, he said to Chris "I love Mama, Dada." It was the first 'I love you' that I've heard directed at me; before it's been Wendell or Rabies, or other belongings of his.

And then this morning, Chris was leaving for work and my mom was getting Cam dressed. Chris went in to say goodbye, and Cam said "Bye Dada, I love you!"

So sweet!

Christmas cookies

I thought it would be fun to make some Christmas cookies with Cameron this year, so I made some sugar cookie dough (dairy free, of course), rolled it flat, and handed him the cookie cutters. He had a good time cutting them out and decorating them with sprinkles. He tried to eat the raw dough a few times; he didn't really want to wait for them to bake!

When they were finally done and cooled, he ate quite a few. "Mmm, yum!" he said. Lucky boy then got to go take a nap while someone else cleaned up the mess. :)

Rainy day gear

I am loving the fact that Cameron will actually wear his raincoat and rainboots now. For the longest time he would claim that he "didn't like them" and would refuse to even try them on.

Well, now that he's discovered splashing in puddles, he's singing another tune. I'm as happy about it as he is!