So… things look a little new around here – one of the many benefits of being married to a web designer! Not only does gummibunny have a new look, but will eventually have some new features I think I’ll enjoy. I’m going to have a place to post Camille-tested-and-approved recipes, which will be a helpful resource when I’m having a hard time coming up with menu ideas. And who knows, someone else may find it helpful too (or even send me a recipe to share as well!). I may also start doing reviews, because sometimes I feel fairly strongly about a product or service and it’ll be fun to have an opportunity to put those thoughts in writing.
Lee’s inspiration for the banner of the website was a watercolor card he made for my birthday several years ago. He painted this on the outside, with a cute little bunny just peeking over the hill.
Open the card, and he pops up to say “Hoppy Birthday!”
I have such a sweet husband, who happens to be super creative too. I’m a lucky girl!
Hello sweet sleeping bear. You’re all tucked in and I wouldn’t be surprised if you were dreaming about kissing your cousin Baby Jones on his head. After all, it’s one of your favorite things to do these days.
Auntie and Jones are visiting with us, and this is really your first opportunity to spend any time with him up-close-and-personal. And you really like to get up close! You love kissing him, covering his legs with a blanket, and pushing him in the swing. I think Jones likes all these things too, except maybe the swing. Sometimes you push a little too hard, so we’ve been trying to teach you to give very gentle pushes. Last night, he was chilling in the swing and you gave him a perfect little push, and I praised you for it. In your excitement, you jumped up and down, waved your arms and yelled, “YAY! MILLE DID IT!” Jones nearly jumped out of his skin.
This month, you and I have begun cooking together a lot. You got a super cute apron for your birthday, and we put it to good use. On the days when I don’t go to the office, we like to cook pancakes or waffles for your Daddy. Another specialty is your banana pudding – the hardest part is getting you to put the bananas and cookies in the bowl instead of your mouth.
“Whisk, Mama! Need whisk!” you say. Then the best part, of course, is letting you lick the spoon when we’re done. Mmmmmmmm.
This month, you were also introduced to ice cream cones. We were visiting Boo, and on a trip to Dairy Queen, she and I got ice cream cones and I got you a bowl of ice cream. I don’t know what I was thinking – of course you wanted a cone like Mama and Boo! And Boo couldn’t resist.
I’m not sure you’ll ever want to eat ice cream out of a cup again if there is a yummy cone in a 15 mile radius.
Another first this month was your first trip to a comic book store with your Daddy. He’s already done a fantastic job describing this experience on his website, so I won’t even try. But you not only loved your first trip to the store, you have loved, loved, loved your new comic books. We read them every day, and it’s what you always request for your bedtime story.
The other day, I asked if you wanted to go to the grocery store with me. “Go comic book store?” you asked, hopefully. No, sadly, they don’t sell milk and bread there, but I’m sure you and your Daddy will go back again soon.
When we do go grocery shopping, we always have to stop at the lobster tank so you can watch them swimming around. And you make me laugh every time because at some point, you’ll inevitably say, “Lobster go night-night mama. Need paci. Need blanket.” And I can just picture you reaching in there to lovingly put a blanket over that poor lobster’s shoulders. You’re pretty sure nearly everything needs a blanket and a paci. You repeat that phrase for the snake at Oatland Island, the owl, the eagles … pretty much anything that might require sleep at some point. Funny girl.
You are talking so much more this month, and I love it! You chatter all the time in the car, and I must pay rapt attention to everything you say, because you want me to repeat it. I think you really enjoy being able to communicate, and you like the confirmation that you’re understood. If I’m not paying attention, it goes something like this:
You: “Mille see sunshine. Mille see sunshine mama. Mille see sunshine. MILLE SEE SUNSHINE. MilleseesunshineMilleseesunshine MilleseesunshineMilleseesunshine.”
Me: “Camille, do you see the sunshine?”
You: “Yeah.”
You’ve also begun singing this month, and as much as it pains me to admit, I owe a big thank-you to Barney. I never really liked that purple dinosaur’s show and we never turned it on here at home. But you watched it occasionally at school, and apparently really dug it. One day you and your Daddy were playing with playdoh, and you handed him the purple stuff and asked him to make Barney. He did, and you made that playdoh Barney dance all around your table while you sang, “I love you! I love you! I love you!”
That’s just the first line of his trademark song, but you’ve since expanded to include a few more lines. Now, we regularly get to hear you singing, “I love you! I love you! We’re a happy family. Won’t you love me too!” Sure, you’ve left out a few phrases, but I love your version and would be happy to hear you sing it all day long.
We’ve crossed a threshold this month – one I thought we wouldn’t reach so soon. You’re totally and undeniably into princesses. I’m not sure how it happened – we don’t watch any princess movies at home, but I guess the other girls at school have influenced you. I didn’t know we were already in such a peer-influence stage! We were in Target looking for sunglasses, and I picked out a perfectly cute Hello Kitty pair, but you pointed toward the rack and said, “Princesses Mama! Want princesses!” I was shocked – after all, I didn’t even know you knew what princesses were. Now, anything you see with princesses on it is an instant attraction. And it’s ok – I just thought we had another year or two before princess fever took over!
One last thing before I go to bed. Most nights we take a family walk to one of our neighborhood parks, and one of my favorite things in this universe is watching you play there with your Daddy. At some point while we’re playing with sidewalk chalk or pushing the stroller or walking the dog, you’ll suddenly take off running and yelling, “I get you! I get you!”
You want us to chase you and to say, “I’m gonna get you!” And it’s so cute. Your Daddy will run all over the park, staying just a little distance behind you, until he catches you and swings you up into the air. Then he tickles you as you dissolve into giggles. As soon as your feet touch the ground, you’re off again, saying, “I get you! I get you!”
Oh sweet girl, I’m so glad that I get you. That I get to spend another day with you. That I get to be your Mama. That I get to hear you sing your Barney song and tell the lobsters night-night. That I get to watch you fall in love with princesses and comic books and ice cream cones. Thank you for another great month. I love you so much.
I thought a baby pool, water games and birthday cake were the perfect ingredients for a good 2-year-old birthday party. But apparently, Camille would’ve liked a DJ, a bunch of teenagers and some Cheetos just as well.
Yesterday we were partyin’ fools, with two different birthday parties on our social calendar. The first was for a friend’s 7-year-old and was a beach shindig. It was GREAT! Not only did our sweetie hang out contentedly on the sand and play, but when she did want to get in the water, there was a large swath of very shallow water leading out to a sandbar that was just right for a toddler. I think we’ve found a new favorite section of beach, as long as we can time our trips with low tide. The party was fun, and the hosts were renting a beach condo so we even had a place to bathe our beachy child before putting her in the car seat for the trip home.
That night, we were invited to a birthday party for our friends’ 13-year-old twins. We dressed Camille in her hippest clothes, and Lee got this somewhat-fuzzy photo from his phone as we walked out of the house.
I wondered how we might be received by this young bunch, and whether or not it would be “cool” to bring a 2-year-old to this affair, but my fears were unfounded. We’d barely begun walking up the driveway before a red-headed flash came rocketing toward us – it was the birthday girl so excited to see Camille at her party.
There were nearly 100 kids invited to this party, and from the looks of it, most of them came. At first, Camille stuck close by our sides, munching a Cheeto, but she couldn’t ignore the thump-thump of the bass for long. The DJ was blasting hip-hop from the garage, and suddenly Camille was jumping and spinning and waving her arms to T-Pain singing “Buy U A Drank.” I’m sure he’s talking about milk, or perhaps some lemonade, right? As long as Camille thinks so…
She danced and danced and danced some more, smiling so big and getting lots of smiles in return. I kicked myself about 4,587 times for not having a video camera to capture that scene – Camille bringing down the house, while all the 13-year-olds tried to keep up.
Unfortunately for our fly girl, she has an early bedtime so we couldn’t party for long. But she had a blast – almost as much fun as I had watching her!
Maybe Camille reads this blog, because today she decided to say something nice while I was trying on clothes instead of just repeating her usual insults.
We were in a store fitting room, and as I checked out a new shirt in the mirror, she pointed and said, “So cute, Mama! So cute!”
This weekend rocked – both figuratively and literally.
We traveled up to see the Valleses, and as usual, it was a ton of fun. It’s fun on two levels – I really enjoy getting to spend time with one of my best friends, catching up, hanging out, and watching her family grow. I also love watching Camille play with Nia and Nate because she has a BLAST.
They were constantly in motion, but I managed to get a picture with all of them in it as they tore around the front yard on their bikes/jeeps.
And Camille was introduced to the fine sport of tee ball, with her excellent coach Mrs. Nikki.
The trip also rocked because Lee and I got to see The Hold Steady in concert at the 40 Watt in Athens. I’ve really begun to like the band a whole lot, but I was also excited to be at the 40 Watt again. Lee and I used to love going to concerts there when we were in school, and it holds a lot of good memories.
I was afraid going there would make me feel old, but was pleasantly surprised to see plenty of other thirty-somethings and even forty-somethings in the crowd. The 40 Watt is always good people-watching.
Another pleasant surprise was the “no smoking” rule enacted since my college days. I used to hate leaving the club reeking of cigarette smoke and the stale beer that was inevitably poured down my back at some point. But I could breathe! Hallelujah, I could breathe!
And can I just say – The Hold Steady was AWESOME! These guys not only play good music, but have so much fun doing it. Their energy was contagious, they were hilarious to watch, and I really enjoyed seeing them perform.
A really, really good weekend.
Okay – I normally don’t do this sort of thing. I usually just like to write for my own entertainment and don’t try to give advice, etc., but I thought this was worth passing along.
As we continue to search for the right child care situation for Camille, I’ve found a state website particularly helpful and wanted to share a link in case it helped anyone else. It’s the website for Bright From the Start, which is Georgia’s Department of Early Care and Learning.
These folks inspect every licensed child care facility in the state, and they’re the ones who follow up on complaints too. A facility’s latest inspection report is usually online, and I’m glad for the ability to read up on a prospective daycare or preschool (here’s a link to the provider search page). Of course, it can’t tell you everything you’ll ever need to know, but it has told me enough about some of them to know I shouldn’t waste my time there.
For example, there was the one daycare with inappropriate child-to-teacher ratios (a class of 39 three-year-olds with just 2 teachers). Another daycare was cited for having barbed wire hanging from the playground fence – what the heck? Yet another had a complaint filed after a one-year-old wandered, unsupervised, into an empty room and hung out there for a while, and was only discovered after his mother arrived to pick him up. Some reports even had statements like, “Teachers should watch their tone of voice when redirecting the children.” All I need to know, thanks.
We still haven’t decided what we’re going to do about Camille’s daycare situation, but I like knowing this resource is here as we look around.
I can hardly believe it had been almost 2 months since our last trip to the beach. You know, that large expanse of water that is only about 25 minutes from my house.
But that’s how rotten our last beach experience was. It seemed like a lot of hassle to drag all our beach stuff across the dunes, only to have a baby who didn’t enjoy hanging out on the sand.
So we decided today to break our beach moratorium and give it another try. Camille hadn’t forgotten about the beach, because as soon as I walked down the stairs in my swimsuit, she asked, “Beach?”
I said, “Do you want to go to the beach?”
“Yeah! See ocean!”
We were very relieved after crossing the boardwalk that Camille wanted to play on the sand, and didn’t immediately rush into the ocean. She definitely still wanted to swim, which is fine because I like swimming too. But this time, she was willing to get out of the water too – and without a fight.
So I’m feeling very encouraged that our beach trips can be fun again! She really enjoyed herself, and I really enjoyed playing with her. Lee tried to get some photos, but she was a blur of action – so here’s a beach pic, up close and personal.
Now I’m hoping to get a chance for a few more beach photos before the season is over!
First things first. Here’s a picture of Camille, because it’s been far too long since this website had a new picture.
This is what we get now when we ask Camille to smile. Cute thing – she’s trying to smile so big that she ends up with her eyes closed! She makes me laugh. Cutiepie.
Now onto business. We’ve been doing some school shopping these days – not shopping for clothes or supplies, but literally shopping for schools.
Overall, we’re still pretty happy with the daycare Camille currently attends, and it’s the only one we’ve ever personally known. But there are a few things about it we’ve never loved (too much TV in the classroom in my opinion, and we don’t always agree with the school’s religious doctrine). But they really seem to care about Camille and she usually appears to enjoy herself, so we’re ok on that front.
But they only offer a five day program, so we’re paying for 5 days of daycare even though we only use 3. That’s annoying, not to mention expensive. Cost isn’t the overriding factor for us in choosing childcare, but it is a factor. And the religious doctrine thing bothers me more as she gets older and may be more aware if certain ideologies are taught in the classroom. So we started hunting back in March.
On the recommendation of a friend, we discovered what seems to be a great daycare that offers a 3-day program. No TVs in the building at all (except for the security camera), religious but not overbearing, a seemingly loving staff, and it’s right between home and work so it’s very convenient.
But we’re not the only ones who think so, because they’ve got a serious waiting list. We’ve been on it since April. At first they thought we might get in in August when their new building opens. Now completion of the building won’t happen until at least January, and even then, we’re not guaranteed a space.
So yesterday we checked out a local Montessori academy that offers a 3-day program. We liked a lot of things about it, and I think Camille could be happy and well cared for there. But there were a few issues too, like the fact that they don’t serve a hot lunch. I don’t know why this bothers me so much, but it does. I mean, Camille’s not really into cold cuts and doesn’t particularly like PB&J yet, so what do I pack for a 2 year old’s lunch? Cheese and fruit, but what else? Doritos? I don’t think so. And it’s across town, so that’s a negative.
But the atmosphere was nice and the director was wonderful, so it might be worth the cold lunch and extra commute. I’m so picky, but it’s such a big decision, trying to determine who can best care for your child while you’re working. Determinig who will help shape her during these formative years.
So do we wait on the one daycare we really like? Do we enroll in the Montessori school and see what happens? Do we keep looking? I don’t know.
I was getting dressed for a playdate this morning, and as I was slipping on a pair of jeans, Camille observed, “Too tight. Tooooooo tight.”
The thing is, these jeans are actually a little big on me. And she says everything is too tight on her. No matter what I put on her, she almost always remarks “Too tight” at some point as I dress her. But why does she have to now direct those comments at me?
Not too long after, she watched as I put on a little makeup.
Camille: “Mama put makeup!”
Me: “Yes, baby. Mama is putting on makeup.”
(pause as she watches)
Camille: “More. Need more makeup, Mama.”
This continued the entire time I was applying makeup. Thanks for the input, little stinker!
Camille’s birthday was almost a week ago, but she’s still celebrating. Today she spied the leftover paper plates from her party, and asked to hold the one with a pig on it (“Hold pig! Hold pig!”) She held it up and exclaimed very clearly, “Happy Birthday to you!”
She also opened a birthday card that had been sitting on her windowsill and shouted, “Happy Birthday to you!”
What a cutie.
