The terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Terrible Twos have moved into our home. With full force. Doug and I often find ourselves at a loss with how to appropriately or consistently parent Cameron. He is Trouble. Naughty. Mischievous. A Rascal. I love this boy to the ends of the world, but he is driving me crazy!! I have had to deal with bedtime shenanigans, bodily function painting sessions, and defiant tantrums like I never imagined.
So, in an effort to focus on the good, I wanted to sit down and reflect on the sweet and positive attributes of our crazy boy.
He is a peeing-in-the-potty success! I've been super low key with this transition, but he loves to be rewarded with M and Ms and has filled up his potty chart surprisingly fast!
He is really sharp. Cam has three storage boxes overflowing with cars, and yet, he remembers each one and will spend an hour lining up all of his cars, "talking cars", and "playing my own game." He loves to say "My doing my own thing" to Sophie when she decides she wants to play with him. It's giving her a taste of her own medicine! His newest sentence that cracks me up is "Mommy, My just talking to myself. Go downstairs." He plays independently so well and gets lost in his world of cars.
Along those lines, Papa and cousin Grady have introduced Cam to "Gone Deer" (John Deere) and he loves pointing out riding lawnmowers or tractors that we drive by.
One afternoon during Cam's nap, Sophie and I decorated the entire house for Halloween. The house transformed, becoming covered in pumpkins, orange and black decor, and friendly ghosts and skeletons. He woke up and explored the house with such amazement, essentially discovering this holiday for the first time. Now, when we visit friend's houses or drive through the neighborhood, he yells "They have Halloween too!" I love the idea of people having Halloween... so sweet.
I created an imaginary character, a little bunny named Hopper. Every day, Cam asks me to tell so many Hopper stories. His favorites are ones when the farmer tells Hopper "Don't eat my carrots!" or when Hopper goes to "the white airport." Lately, Cam has even requested that Sophie tell him stories. And there is nothing sweeter than my nearly 5-year old girl sitting in bed with Cam making up a random story about Hopper (and his bunny sister, Thumper).
Cam is originally funny. His wit cracks us up. He loves to be the clown, and part of that contributes to his naughty behavior because he doesn't understand the line between silly and naughty... and he pushes the line big time. When he gets a reaction (big sister laughing or my shocked facial expression), he will repeat the comment or behavior again and again. This is great when it's funny like a new sentence ("That not make sense") which he repeats in really hysterical scenarios. It isn't great in some situations ("You're a poopy head") said to the librarian in the middle of story time... Obviously, other 2-4 year olds laughed at that comment so he kept repeating it, while his one armed mommy tried to wrangle him out of the library. Disaster. But, again focusing on the positive, he is naturally funny, and his huge grin will probably help get him out of trouble in the future.
One of his gifts--that we hope he uses for GOOD and not for evil....-- is his ability to imitate other people. He does the best interpretations and impersonations of friends, family, characters from tv or illustrations in books. He observes and notices facial expressions, hand gestures, and repeated sayings. Since we have been able to spend extra time with Grady this fall, Cam will say "My be Grady"and then he repeats some of Grady's favorite sayings or behaviors. He noticed the facial expressions in Dumbo (his current favorite story) and can imitate the naughty and teasing boys in that book. (Hmmm, now that I put that in writing, maybe the Dumbo anecdote isn't the best example of using his imitation for good....!). Anyway, it's hysterical because he will imitate Rubble or Marshall, characters from a show he loves, and he is exactly right with what he notices about their words and mannerisms. It's awesome!
He copies many things that Sophie does, and this drives her nuts. I actually find it endearing and sweet, but in those moments, I see Sophie getting more and more wound up until she snaps! If she is pretending to be a character, he says he is the same character. And then she will change her mind to be a new character, and he follows suit. It always ends in tears, but I think it's so cute. As I'm writing this, they are arguing because Sophie wants to pretend to be Tinkerbell, and Cam says he is also Tinkerbell. So, she changed her mind to be Periwinkle, and he changed his mind. Repeat. It's escalating and all I can do is quietly laugh. I love that Cam is pretending to be a little fairy! And I love that he wants to play with Sophie and it's culminating in her screaming "Stop annoying me, Cameron!!"
He really is annoying and I mean that in the most loving way.
(Although I'm trying to publish a blog post on my unique son.... I had to throw in these adorable photos of Sophie and one of her best friends playing...)
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