Dancing Machine

Campbell is a dancing machine. About 2 months ago she started shaking her head back and forth (like she is saying "No") when music would come on the TV or radio. Occasionally, if she was really excited, she would clap her hands together at the same time. Last night was her first real "dancing" experience. She turned on her Sesame Street music player and started bobbing her head, then she started stomping her feet, then she turned in a circle. She kept coming back over to the music player and starting the song over and over again. "C is for Cookie" is now stuck in my head, but she had us both in stitches over her dancing. I will post some video as soon as our good laptop is back from the shop.

BTW--was I the only person that didn't get the memo about Cookie Monster now being the Veggie (and sometimes, cookies) Monster? When the crap did that happen?

Turn, Turn, Turn

To every season, right?

Well, Spring has sprung and Campbell has just started doing something new. For at least 5-6 weeks she has been sitting on her bottom and spinning in a circle...she moves one leg and then moves the other to meet it and works her way around in the circle. This is big fun, especially when Daddy does it with her. Well, yesterday she started turning in a circle while standing! This is big because it means that her balance and coordination are improving everyday. She is such a big lady.

Yesterday we got back from going swimming and she would look at me and then turn in a circle and wait for me to clap. If I clapped, she would smile and do it again....if I didn't clap, she would make a squeaking noise, point to my hands and then turn around again with the expectation that I was going to clap. Either way, she performed and I clapped. That's how this is going to go for awhile, I think. :-)

It is starting.

Campbell has started whining...alot. Almost incessantly some days, and seems to think that we are very dumb because we can't seem to figure out what it is that she wants. Looking forward to some more words so that we can decrease this behavior, but I am worried that I am being naive to think that this behavior is language dependent.

She has also now thrown at least a small handful of full-blown tantrums with the back arching and the whole nine yards. They have been short in duration (couple of minutes maximum...most less than that) and not so terrible for the most part. I am suddenly realizing that we may be in for some adventurous times ahead.

At our last checkup, the doctor said "Well, at your next checkup she should be a championship tantrum thrower...that's usually how this works.". A-W-E-S-O-M-E.

Words, words, words.

I forgot to add this before, but Campbell is working on a nice little collection of words.

She says: Dada, Da-dee, Mama, shoes, HOT, hey, and Kiss. She also grunts and points her finger at things that she wants....then she opens and closes her hand to indicate we should give it to her....then she gets mad when we don't.

She is also coming to understand the concept of "hot" because she says it to my coffee cup in the morning and she said it to the grill the other day while pointing at the smoke coming off of it.

This morning I asked for a kiss and she repeated the word and then gave me one. It was AWESOME.

One year checkup

Campbell had her one year well-baby check up this week. Man. What a difference a year makes.....last year at this time, she was more like a bologna than a person and now she is a walking talking bundle of love and energy.

The Stats:

Weight: 22 lbs 4 oz (birthweight was 8 lbs 6 oz)

Height: 31 inches (birth length was 21.5 inches)

She is 95 % for height and 70% for weight....holding on to her original stats all the way through her first year.

I can't believe it has been a year. This has been an amazing time and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Second Birthday.

Leo---king of the baby jungleCampbell, totally oblivious to the other babies
More cake. In here. Oh yeah....that's how you do that.

There were 4 children born to our little circle of friends in the same two week period last year. Campbell was born, the next day was Alex, then Ruby and then a few days later Leo was born. Here are some pictures of the 4 way party for the kids. Campbell is wearing what Calvin Klein called a 3-6 month size, but I think he is a coo-coo....it was almost too big in the shoulders at 12 months.

Campbell relaxing.

Campbell decided that she would climb on the couch BY HERSELF. This is how Mary-Charlotte said she situated herself. Oh--and Campbell is walking like a big-time lady. She runs...we are scared.