Camille Needs Her Own Blog Post

I'm stuck at home today while my car is in the shop (it failed the stupid safety inspection), and it's amazing the things I find to do when I can't distract myself by going to the store or the library!  I just finished scrubbing my stove top and putting away my food dehydrator!  Normally I'd just ignore those in the hopes that Craig might do them for me!  And now that those tasks are done and I've got a load of laundry in the wash and another in the dryer, I think it's time for some more blogging.

Because I need to tell you more about Camille.  They say that babies come with their own personality, and Camille is a shining example of just that.  I love her more and more every day as I get to know her better...

Where to begin?

For starters, she's super sweet.  She loves to give hugs and kisses to everyone and everything.  She's convinced that the (many) moles on my arms are ouchies and will lean over and blow copious amounts of kisses any time she notices them.  Sometimes, if she isn't close enough to actually give you a hug, she'll incline her head towards you, her version of a long-distance hug (or, as Craig put it, "She's blowing you a hug!").  She also loves to give good-bye kisses and waves, and has even been known to blow good-bye kisses to her poopy diapers as I throw them away.  What a nut.

She LOVES Big Bear and gives him a lot of lovin'

Giving Colton a lean-in hug, whether he wants it or not!

Carrying her elephant around

She's an awesome mix of girly and tomboy, and I love it.  The first thing she asks every morning is to wear a dress (she points at her closet and says, "DESS!) and her favorite thing is any ball.  If she sees one, she HAS to have it and carry it around with her.  Football, soccer ball, bouncy ball, basketball, pingpong ball...  She loves them all.  And she's loved them since she was pretty little (certainly before she was walking) so that's a fairly enduring love, for a toddler.  At the same time, when I finally managed to wrangle her hair into a little pony tail on top of her head, she wore it proudly all day and began sobbing when I finally took it out at night.  She also loves trying to wear my heels (which I don't even wear any more!) and necklaces and anything else she can find.  So yeah-- girly and sporty.  What a combo!

Just a baby, thrilled to be holding a football

With a ball she found at church

Trying to figure out how to pick up both balls at the same time

One of my favorite pictures ever.

Camille loves her brothers and loves to copy them.  She'd be great at improv, because whatever weird thing they start doing, she immediately joins the fray doing it, too, whether it means walking around with pieces of train track on your head or walking with arms outstretched, growling like zombie, she is GAME.  Every time.  (As I'm typing this, Colton just started hammering on the wall with a tiny Handy Manny tool and within seconds Camille was hammering away, too!)

Naked train time?

Camille's ready for it!

Jumping in the crib with Ryder

Sitting on Colton

She absolutely LOVES her little giraffe blankie (which she calls "Gah") and her binky.  If she's missing either one, she will wander around making that half whiny crying sound asking for them until she gets them.  But she still also loves throwing them at people to get their attention.  I washed Gah yesterday and when it was all clean and dry she was so delighted to have it back!  She wrapped her arm around it and just hugged that giraffe to her cheek.  So sweet!

Eating a bagel after church

Playing peekaboo while Daddy takes selfies of it

At the same time, though, once Camille makes up her mind about something, good luck changing it.  This girl is a force to be reckoned with.  This last week she woke up way too early from her nap.  I tried ignoring her for a bit.  I tried giving her her binky again and laying her back down.  No dice.  She was DONE with that nap.  I finally gave in and got her up, at which point my sister Tracy commented, "Oh, did she win that war?" and I could only shake my head and admit that Camille wins EVERY war.

Yes, sometimes she is less charming

She's learning new words faster than I can keep up with her.  Here, Nanas (bananas), Nuh-go (snuggle), go-gah (go-gurt)...  She's getting very good at telling me what she wants.  Which is nice-ish, depending on whether or not I want to give it to her!  But compared to Ryder who could only say six words when he turned two, this is a huge difference!  She also knows please and thank you and is probably better than all my other kids about remembering to say them.  She likes to use the words she knows, and will stand in front of you and begin pointing out her eyes, nose, ears, mouth, and head, naming each as she goes, and then pointing them out on your face, too.  (Watch out for when she gets to eyes, because she WILL jab her finger in your eye.  Ouch.)

She likes making people build towers for her so she can knock them down

I can't even say how much I loved this swimsuit that I found for her...

She's my fun girl who knows what she wants.  I love seeing her smile at me every morning when I pick her up from her crib.  She makes our home so much happier!