CamCam Ate My Homework

CamCam has been following me around the house for the past half hour with a little bowl of cheezits. I don't know how he made them last so long, except that he did go to his brother's bowl and take some. Oh, I also think I saw him take some out of mine and refill his bowl. Anyways, he was driving me a bit nuts with them because he kept spilling them everywhere and then he'd pick them all up, just to fall down or jump or something that made them all spill out again. Finally I went up to watch some TV and had him sit at the kitchen counter to eat them.

I kept hearing odd noises coming from where he was sitting. Kinda like a crunching/crushing sound. I know he loves to crush his crackers, and I thought he was probably doing that. Or playing with them in some way. I kept asking him "CamCam, you're not making a mess are you?" and he'd always reply "No ma, I eat." I could see the top of his head from where I was sitting and let it go for awhile. When the noise didn't stop, though, I got up to check him out.

His face was a mess. It looked like it was covered in chocolate. His hands were covered in glitter and chocolate. His mouth was full of chocolate.

Today "Little Miss" came home from school all excited to show me her science project. I had heard about this project last week at parent teacher conferences, and her teacher had commented on how hard "Little Miss" worked on her project and how well it came out. I was eager to see it. I put it on the kitchen counter so that her dad could see it when he came home from work. Each child had to make a picture of an element. She had choosen copper, and she had the protons and neutrons represented in the middle with beads. Around the center were glitter rings. Glued to the glitter rings were the electrons, which were represented by m&m's.

This is what CamCam had been working on for the past 5 minutes.

He even ate the one in the key chart, picked right around the 2 beads showing they represented the protons and neutrons, and pulled off the m&m representing the electron.

Not one bead was missing from the whole poster. Honestly, I'm kinda impressed he could look at this poster and see right past all the glitter and beads and know that there was yummy chocolate glued all over it.

Invasion of the Sickies!

Poor CamCam has the sickies. It's not the "sleep constantly" sickies. Nor is it the "cuddle with mommy all day and be calm and quiet on the couch" sickies.

No, he has the "whining 24 hours a day" kind. No joke. Even in his sleep, he moans. His is the "I don't care how overtired I am, I'm not going to sleep" sickies. Accompanied by "I don't care what mom is doing, I'm going to sit in her lap or cry at her feet."

So yeah, it's been pretty tough on me. Errr, I mean on him.

I really do feel bad for him, it's been over a week now of him feeling miserable. I just think that if you're not feeling well, and you're feeling tired, you should go to bed. If I was sick, that's what I'd do. Well, it's what I'd want to do, but be unable to do because of my three little monsters. Last night he was up past midnight. He was whiny, and fussy, and his eyes were all red because he was so tired. However he refused to go to bed. In the mornings he wakes up whiny and fussy because he's so tired, but he will not sleep in. I have to get up to get the older 2 off to school, and as soon as I leave the bed, CamCam follows.

How did he know I was up, you ask? That brings me to the next part of his sickness- he WILL NOT leave my side. He's been sleeping in our bed every night, and even when I wake up to get "The Baby" during the night, CamCam cries mom! and whines until I get back. He's got to have a sixth sense or something, I don't know how he knows when I get up. I swear I'm super quiet.

During the day it's the same. He's constantly in my lap. But he doesn't like to lay down on me, he sits up so that whatever I'm doing I have to try and see through his head to do it. I've been folding laundry with him sitting on my lap. It's really difficult to fold laundry around another person! Who knew? I try to get him to sit next to me while watching TV, but he wants to sit right on top of me. Heaven forbid if someone else tries to get close to me, he pushes them away and edges his little body in closer to mine. I do dishes with him crying at my feet. I tried to pick him up and set him on the counter next to me, but he cried and leaned over and wrapped his hands around my neck, and it was really hard to do the dishes or cook that way.

I'm not sure why so much whining is necessary. It's impossible to tell what he wants. Even when you think you've figured it out, you're always wrong and he falls to the ground and has a mini-fit. I think he's too sick and tired for the big-fit. Every TV show is wrong. Every drink he's offered is the wrong one. Every snack or food he's presented with is wrong. The other day he wanted milk, and his big brother was kind enough to get it for him, and CamCam had a fit because he wanted milk from the unopened gallon of milk rather then the one that was already opened.

So I think that until the poor little guy feels better, I should make his day as easy on him as possible. I will not do dishes until he feels better. Sorry family, but you're on your own for dinner. Laundry isn't going to be done. My hubby should probably find a new place to sleep since CamCam prefers to sleep sideways and would rather have me all to himself anyways. I could try to carry him while I vacuum, but I think he wants my undivided attention. I swear I'd much rather be doing all these things over sitting on the couch with CamCam and watching cartoons all day, but, ya know. Poor little guy's sick, what's a mommy to do?

You'd think I'd have learnt my lesson by now...

CamCam has been sick lately, and so the days have been a bit tough. He's very fussy and whiny and wants me to hold him the entire time he's awake. It's been a very rare moment these past few days that he's happy to play, and so when he is I grab those few minutes and attempt to accomplish something around the house. He does take a nap, which is good. Today during his nap I tried to catch up on laundry. Usually I have my older two put their own laundry away, but I wanted a laundry-free hallway so I decided to put it away. I walked into "Leader of the FabFive's" room and was greeted by THIS:

I guess this is how he was busying himself while I unloaded the dishwasher earlier today. I don't think I even need to try and describe how I feel about this. Or how his brother will feel about the calendar he was keeping track of all his school assignments on HERE:

Autumn Trouble

The weather has changed. You can feel it in the air, winter is coming. The crisp fall air has been replaced by a cold that reaches into your body and chills you to the bone. The leaves have all fallen from the trees, and are brown and dead on the ground. You can actually see how cold it is just by looking out the window:

Kids, however, are not as sensitive to temperature changes as us adults are. While I shiver inside and only go out if necessary, they continue to play outside and ask me what my problem is. The other day when I dropped them off at school, I had to give them a stern talk about how the temperature is actually 33 degrees, only 1 degree above freezing, and that winter weather has, in fact, arrived, so "Little Miss Chatterbox" going off to school in a fall vest with her arms exposed all recess and "Leader of the FabFive" heading off to school with just a sweatshirt on was no longer acceptable.

Coats.

Hats.

Gloves.

I am so glad though that they do still play outside though. They do not have much time between when the bus drops them off and when it becomes dark out, but they are taking advantage of it. "Mr. Trouble" cannot wait for his big brother and sister to get home from school so he can go out and play with them. Especially now, they make huge piles of leaves for him to jump in.

CamCam wants to go out and play with his brothers and sister too. I thought not wearing coats to school was ridiculous, that was nothing compared to how CamCam thinks he's heading out the door:

Nakie Boy!

I can already foresee that there is going to be a problem this winter in our home. As the weather gets increasingly cold, CamCam's aversion to wearing clothing continues to grow and grow. I stupidly thought that the chilly weather would help him to see the error of his ways and he would start keeping his clothing on. It's one thing to run around in a diaper in the middle of July, quite different in November. But our little streaker cannot be deterred. His little goose bump-filled body runs through my house without a care in the world. He screams and yells at me when I try to dress him.


But CamCam, your freezing, I'll say. To which he replies: No, ma! I thought his ice cold hands and feet combined with the blue lips and goosebumps meant he was cold but I guess he would know better then me.


The one part that is difficult in all of this is that he cannot always get his clothing off by himself. He gets sooooo angry when this happens. So I end up helping him and in doing so become a cohort to his silliness. The other day he was quietly playing when I suddenly heard a scream from him, followed by lots of angry yelling and some frustrated crying mixed in. I went off to find him, figuring he was having a hard time with a puzzle or getting a toy to work. Here's what I found instead:

I tried to reason with him. I told him that we were leaving soon, that it was cold out, that he would be warm if he kept his pants on. I asked him why he wanted them off anyways? But then I looked at his frustrated little face and what was I supposed to do?

So I helped him take his pants off and he went on his merry little way. I just hope he grows out of this phase before he reaches adulthood.

Ice Cream Truck

When I was a kid, I remember seeing TV shows or movies where kids would hear the playful music of an ice-cream truck and they'd all become so excited and go running out to meet the truck. I always thought how wonderful it must be to live in a place where ice cream was brought to you daily. When we were building our current home, one day I heard that tell-tale music driving by our house. I couldn't believe it! My kids were going to grow up on a street where an ice cream truck visited all summer long!

My kids were just as excited as I expected them to be by the ice cream truck. I quickly learnt though, that it's not nearly as exciting as a parent. Those trucks have a way of coming by just as your making dinner. Or we'd take the kids out for ice cream, and minutes after pulling into our driveway, the truck would come by. Children just do not understand that sometimes it's ok to say no to ice cream. If the truck is here, we must buy. For a short amount of time, we actually had two competing trucks coming through our neighborhood. When the first one came through, my kids wanted to buy from it because who knew if the second would show up that day. And when the second came by later in the day, my kids thought we really should buy from that one too. It's only fair, after all.

However, it really is quite special to live in a neighborhood where ice cream is brought by your house on a regular basis. Ice cream trucks sell all the cool ice cream you cannot get in stores. Ice cream shaped like characters from your favorite shows. Ice cream that has gum balls for eyes. Ice cream that turns your tongue, lips and hands a different color for hours, sometimes days.

This past summer was the first one where CamCam understood the ice cream truck was his gateway to wonderful, tasty treats. After two visits he, too, understood the music drifting through our open window meant ice cream was nearby. My hardest part with him was getting him to stop running out without me. As soon as he heard the music, he'd start yelling "i-eam, i-eam, i-eam!!" and go running for the door. At the beginning of the summer he still had a hard time opening the front door by himself, but luckily he had his almost 4 year old big brother to help him out with that. By mid-summer, he didn't need any help opening the front door.

We'd stand at the end of our driveway waiting for the truck to make the loop and come back around by our house. My older two calmly waited, but the little two were just balls of excitement. The excitement built the closer the truck came. They yelled their excited ice cream chant, which got louder and louder as the anticipation built. CamCam would bounce up and down so hard, I had to keep one arm around him because at any moment I knew he wouldn't be able to take waiting any longer and would run off down the street. Once the truck stopped in front of our house, the two loudly yelled "yaaaaaayyyyyy" and clapped and clapped for the truck.

Now came decision time. CamCam usually just picked whatever "Mr. Trouble" chose. Which was good, because if they didn't have the same thing, you just know that once the truck left they each were going to want what the other had, but neither would want to give up theirs. They were practically ready to explode from excitement while they waited for me to open the packages. I handed them each their treat, and it was FINALLY time to eat! I think more of CamCam's ice cream ended up on his shirt then in his mouth. He sure did enjoy it though!

We have a long time to wait before next summer, but I cannot wait for the first time of the season when we hear the whimsical music floating though the air. It's so much fun to see the kids get so excited!

His cheeks and hands were pink for three days from this one!

A Picture is Worth 1,000 Words...

Do you see how far it is from the step stool to

CamCam's feet?

What kind of upper body strength must CamCam have to be able to push himself up that far?

And he's still smiling???

Pediatrician's Office

Today "The Baby" had his 9 month checkup. It was at 9:50 AM, so I knew it would be really hard to get to it. It's not easy to get my three little monsters ready to go out the door in the morning. We arrive at the office, and I'm in a hurry, so I decided to forgo the stroller this time. I grab "The Baby" out of his car seat. He has one of those fleece car seat covers, so he is not wearing a coat. It's a really short walk to the office, and I'm tempted to carry him in as-is, just so I do not have one more thing to carry. However, it is his appointment, and the pediatrician is going to be checking him out and I assume checking out how well he's cared for, so bringing him in with no socks, no hat, and a light-weight one piece outfit in November in Maine probably isn't going to cut it. I grab the quilt in the van and wrap him in it. Then I grab my purse, and then the overstuffed diaper bag. The diaper bag is overstuffed because along with the normal diaper changing stuff I need, it's also filled with things to bribe good behavior out of "Mr. Trouble" and CamCam.

I walk around to the other side of the van to get "Mr. Trouble" out and then CamCam. "Mr. Trouble" pushes the button that shuts the automatic door. CamCam starts to throw a fit. He drops to the ground and starts whining/screaming "I ush, I ush, I ush!" He wanted to push the button, so I open the door and tell him to push it. Nope, he just throws his fit. I put the diaper bag and my purse around my arm that's holding "The Baby", and hook my other arm around CamCam's waist to pick him up. He makes his body dead weight. I don't know if you've ever experienced trying to pick up a child that has done this, but in one second they are miraculously able to make themselves weight an extra 50 pounds.

So I walk to the front door, what a sight we are- two people stop and stare. "Mr. Trouble" has run on ahead to use his "magic powers" to open the automatic door. I hope no one ever tells him that the door is automatic and he actually doesn't have magic powers as this is the only way I can get him into the office willingly. I have "The Baby" on my right hip with the diaper bag and purse hooked over my arm, and CamCam is facing out with my arm around his waist holding him, but he is arching his body and kicking and screaming.

We reach the elevator and I ask CamCam if he'd like to push the button and he immediately stops his fit and runs to push it. However "Mr. Trouble" runs ahead and pushes it before CamCam can. Grrrrrrr. I speak to "Mr. Trouble", and tell CamCam he can push the one inside. But an elderly couple get in before us and the woman pushes the inside button. Apparently they never had kids and so do not realize that one of the great joys of childhood is pushing buttons. I vow that as long as kids are around me, I will never ever push a button without asking the child if they'd like to first. CamCam starts yelling his angry jibberish at the elderly women, and then resumes his fit. I grab him again as the door opens and we walk down the hall to the office. Only 5 minutes late, not too bad.

I tell CamCam he can go play toys, but he says no and cries a bit in the chair instead. After a couple minutes he changes his mind and goes to play. At that exact moment "Mr. Trouble" has to pee. Poor CamCam is so mad he has to leave the toys, so again I carry him as we head off to the bathroom. We get back to the waiting room and they have about 5 minutes to play before we are called in. I watched the fish swimming in the tank, it was heavenly.

CamCam is NOT happy about going to the room, I think he must believe the appointment is for him. Eventually we make it there and I pull out the box of car cookies I have. "Mr. Trouble" eagerly sits to get his cookie. Not CamCam though. I give him 2 and he throws them on the floor. I throw them in the garbage and he cries and yells at me, now he wants them. That's pretty much how the entire appointment goes: CamCam telling me no at everything I suggest, then him crying and yelling because he wants it or wants to do it after all.

I'm so grateful when it's over and we all head to the front desk to check out. The phone rings just as we get there, and the receptionist picks it up. It takes FOREVER!!! My little boys cannot take being there anymore. I have run out of things to bribe them with to stay close to me. CamCam starts to run off, I tell "Mr. Trouble" not to run after him but he does. They run down the hall with me chasing them, take a right, run down that hall, take a left and run about halfway down before "Mr. Trouble" tackles CamCam to the ground.

I'm beginning to think that "The Baby" not wearing a coat into this appointment would have been the least of my problems.

We finally are leaving. I give "Mr. Trouble" a very stern warning not to push the elevator button, that it's CamCam's turn. He actually listens and CamCam finally gets to push his button. We go inside the elevator and CamCam sees another red button and pushes it. Off goes the emergency alarm. It's so embarrassing whenever this happens. But this elevator has an extra button I do not know about. We're going down when suddenly I hear a voice say: "911, What's your emergency."

Oh my goodness, they actually made a button that instantly calls 911 RIGHT at kid level!!! It's only like 2 feet off the ground, adults can't even see it, did they actually make it for kids only?!?!?! I'm tempted just to run and say nothing, but I tell her what happened and off we go to the van.

Next time, I think we'll take the stairs.