Keeping It Clean on Halloween

This year, we debated for quite a while what Cameron would be for Halloween. We knew from our experiences at the Children's Museum in Seattle this summer that Cam would not enjoy being a postal worker - I mean, we all know first hand that postal workers don't enjoy being postal workers!


He seemed to like being a fireman though. And in my humble opinion, he's good looking enough to be a fireman (inside joke for Mike's mom).

However, it just didn't seem right to dress him up in a random costume. We wanted to find something that was meaningful to him. A couple of weeks ago, Mike had this great epiphany: Cameron loves picking up trash and throwing it away, so he should be a garbage man for Halloween! I went on a hunt to find a mini-sized trash can that looks like the trash can that gets picked up every week, and let me tell you, this was harder than I thought it would be. While shopping for a basketball hoop at a sporting goods store, I found a small green cooler with wheels and a handle. When I showed it to Mike, he said, "Oh, a cooler." And when Cameron saw it, he immediately said, "Trash." So it was a winner!

I was also able to complete the garbage man look by finding a safety vest in the hunting section at the sporting goods store. (Why young children are hunting is an entirely separate discussion and blog post.) I printed off the Waste Management logo and pinned it all over the vest and trash can, and voila - we had ourselves our very own garbage man!

Cameron LOVED pulling around his own-sized trash can...until he found the real thing.

He seemed to enjoy walking around the neighborhood and ringing people's doorbells. When people told him he could pick out candy out of the bucket, he stared and studied all of his options. After careful examination, he would finally pick out a piece, and then if the candy-giver said he could have another one, the process repeated...and he would pick out the same exact kind of candy! He loved to put the candy in his trash can, and then he'd go back to the candy-giver and ask for more. At least he's not afraid to ask!

The little guy trick or treated around the neighborhood for about an hour and a half. Last year, we made it maybe half an hour and just went down our street. Unfortunately for him, he didn't partake in any of the candy, but fortunately for Mike and me, he got some good treats from the neighbors! And true to his profession for the night, he did pick up trash that he saw along the way and threw it in his trash can! Overall, it was a fun night. Special thanks to my dad, who tagged along and took pictures for us.

It's An Elmo's World For Us

Cameron LOVES him some Elmo. Consider the following examples:

• Cameron has started to categorize and label items as "Elmo" or "Not Elmo." If Elmo's not in the opening sketch of "Sesame Street" long enough for his liking, he will furiously shake his head and say, "Not Elmo, not Elmo, not Elmo!" Mike and I like to think these terms are synonymous with good versus bad, so we've started to give each other topics like gun control and the legalization of drugs and ask, "Elmo or Not Elmo?"
  


• Last week, we realized we had created a monster. Mike likes his Lucky Charms and he would occasionally give Cameron a few of the cereal pieces. That turned into a few of the marshmallows and before you knew it, we had a marshmallow addict on our hands. If you gave him a small bowl, he would only pick out the marshmallows to eat and then ask for more. Anyways, Cameron woke up angry one day last week, and he was insistent on eating marshmallows - and just marshmallows - for breakfast. When Mike refused to give him any, he threw a temper tantrum that involved throwing things across the kitchen and banging his head on the floor. The only thing that could console him was - you guessed it, Elmo. Mike turned on Elmo's World, and Cameron was able to talk himself down. Thank goodness for Elmo.
  


• Yesterday, we took our family portraits. I knew it would be more challenging to wrangle Cameron this year, so my dad came along to help. In order to get Cam to look in the general direction of the camera, my dad had to hold up my phone while it played an Elmo video. He did a really good job, and I can't wait to see how the pictures turned out.


• It was Wear Your PJs to School Day at daycare on Friday, so Cameron got to wear his Elmo jammies and slippers to school, which he LOVES. He looked fairly ridiculous but definitely very cute. All he needed to complete his head-to-toe Elmo look is a furry Elmo hat. I'm sure Heidi, Michael, and Nina would all agree that this look is too matchy-matchy and over-styled, but I think he looks monster fierce.

If you're not sure who Elmo is, I thought I'd include one of Cameron's favorite videos below so you could see why he is so beloved. There are over 8.25 million views, and I think the Graves household is responsible for at least 100 of them. (By the way, I noticed that there are 715 dislikes - who is feeling strongly enough about this video to dislike it?!?) Watch the very end for Adam Sandler's awkward and hilarious goodbye.

Guess Who's Back

We're baaaacckk! I'm not really sure why it's been so long since we've last blogged (almost four months to the day), but it's been a long time. I guess we unintentionally took a break, and then it seemed too daunting to have to catch up on everything, so I kept procrastinating until I had enough time to give a proper update. And here we are, four months later. But don't worry - I'm only going to start with recent happenings. I will also try to convince Mike to post something again.

As it is Halloween time, we did what every suburban parent does: we took Cameron to a pumpkin patch to take pictures. Of course, every parent at this particular pumpkin patch had a camera, and I even saw one dad with a two-foot telescopic lens...and his kid was less than three feet from him. Not an exaggeration. I'm sure you could see every pore in that extreme close-up. Anyways, we met up with the Hoards, and we valiantly tried to get Kevin and Cameron to take a picture together. We found out it was extremely challenging to get them to be in the same place at the same time, let alone sitting and looking at the camera at the same time! In the end, all it took was either: A) snacks or B) sunglasses to get them to willingly cooperate. Here are two of my favorite pics from our photo shoot:

In other news, we realized that the big chunk of money that goes to daycare every month is not for nought. A few weeks ago, Cameron was standing on a chair, so I told him I was going to take it away if he was still standing on it by the time I counted to three. I counted to three and he sat down at the last minute of course, but as I turned away, I heard him quietly say, "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6..." I had no idea he could count!?! We've been counting a lot since then, and it usually goes something like this, "4, 5, 6...4, 5, 6...4, 5, 6, seben, 8, 9, DEN! YAY!" with profuse hand clapping.

In another aha! moment, Cameron and I went grocery shopping this weekend. I told him we had to go get some bottled water for Daddy, and he looked up at me, and said, "Agua." Amazing. I had no idea our child is bilingual!

Finally, in closing, I thought I would share a humorous story that happened at Soccer Tots this weekend. There was an Asian couple there with their son. Mike and I watched as Cameron came running up to the Asian mom, stopped when he got to her legs and started to hold his arms up to her, but then he looked up and saw it wasn't me. He gave her a half-smile and stood next to her for a second, and then came running over to me with a sheepish smile on his face, like he was a little embarrassed. It was hilarious. I guess he thinks we all look the same?!? Mike said he should have marked my arm (reference from Michael Scott on "The Office")!

P.S. For those of you who care, I promise we will do a better job about blogging in the future.

Two Months - One Post

Forgive me readers for I have puttered out. It's been almost two months since I last blogged. I like to imagine our faithful readers getting up each morning, sitting down in front of the computer with a cup of coffee and a faint hope that maybe this will be the day that the Graves have returned to ignite their hearts and enthrall their minds with sarcastic tales of mundane events. That is why I participate in this blog: to amuse you and mock my family. Nothing else.

Anyway, a lot has occurred since we last blogged. So I'm not exactly sure where to begin. Cameron no longer hates day care. He doesn't exactly run into the classroom in the morning (it's more of a drowsy waddle), but he no longer cries when I leave. I think he's just given up on the fact that I care about him enough to rescue him from that evil place. He's just resigned to the fact that life sucks and his parents will abandon him three times a week. So that's been an improvement.

Cameron has turned into the most inquisitive mute I've ever met. Every word and sound is posed in the form of a question. And a very high pitch question at that. I want everyone out there to find the "high c" note in their head. I now want you to say the word "Dis" or "Dat" in that high c. As you near the end of the word, quickly switch to a high f. Congratulations - you now speak like my son. And he says this all the time. He wakes up in the morning, stands up in his crib, points aimlessly out into the room and says "dis?" Let me tell you, it's a hard question to answer. In all seriousness though, he is starting to develop some new words. I no longer think he will be as speech delayed as I was. So that's also nice.

Switching gears: Cameron loves him some music. It's kind of crazy how captivated he is by it. We go to a pool party in our neighborhood - he spends the entire day working his way from wherever we put him back to the stage where the local band is performing. Then he dances and signs for more. I took him to a sing along show at the library this week. Cameron stood with his hands in the air and danced almost the entire time. He slapped thunder sticks together like he was counting down to start a rock concert. At breaks, he clapped fervently and pleaded for more. It was crazy. While the crowd cleared out at the end of the show, the performers two kids (approximately aged 10 and 12) treated us all to a swanky jazz duet. I found this portion of the show extremely creepy. Just imagine child siblings dressed in formal wear singing love songs to each other, while machines shoot bubbles over the crowd, and the daughter mixes in some cartwheels. Somewhere that trucker guy from Little Miss Sunshine is standing up and cheering. But my son did not see the creepiness in this performance. He again made his way to the stage, raised his hands, and exalted the majesty that is child pageantry. I sometimes question the boy's taste. But then again, sometimes he has exquisite taste. For instance, he LOVES to see me perform the classics on guitar hero. In fact, right after his onslaught of questions this morning, he sprinted to the living room and dragged me the "guitar." And then I put on a show for him!! Whenever I finish a set and the digital crowd is going wild - Cameron will join in and run to the T.V. with a squeal of delight. It's a very symbiotic relationship we have right now. We're both in a really good place with me playing video games for hours. What can I say? Sometimes life has a way of working out.

I know this blog has already contained a lot of useless information, but I feel like I'm just getting started. We recently took a trip West. We visited Southern California for a while, then headed up to Seattle with some some friends for a long weekend. Cameron was sick(Strep throat) for the first few days of the trip - so that was pretty rough. But then his immune system prevailed and fun was had by all. I got to demonstrate extremely diminished skills in Rec League basketball game that featured 4/5 players from our high school starting line-up. My cousin's and I spent hours trying to accrue as many star coins as possible on super Mario brothers. Mindy and I put on a spades clinic for my parents. We got a night away from the little man - and were treated to an evening of gourmet meals, wine, and merriment with friends. My family conducted an intense So You Think You Can Dance Fantasy Draft (Go Sasha). And we took some family pictures (although Cam was still sick and was fairly inconsolable the majority of the time). Overall, So-Cal was great.

Seattle was also great. The friends we were "Summering in Seattle" with have a daughter about a month older than Cam. This young lady (June) was the friendliest person I have ever met. When she sees you she says "hi." You walk out of the room and come back, you're getting another "hi." It was awesome. Many of you don't know this but I was voted friendliest or "most likely to say hi" in high school. But hanging around June made me realize just how many opportunities to greet others I miss. Cam really picked up on it too. Boarding the plane to leave Seattle he said hi to pretty much every passenger he passed. I think that June really had a positive influence on him. The adults also had a great time cruising Seattle in a mini-van, drinking heavily after the kids were asleep (note: Red Hook sucks!), and learning a fair amount of paper airplane/Frisbee technique. Until Monte Carlo my friends!

Cam also got a little gangster up in Seattle. Let's just say that he got into his first rumble where he didn't just retreat and look at the other person like they were defecating on his blankie and he was helpless to stop it. Let me preface this story by acknowledging that Cam is a man of very diverse tastes. For instance, he really enjoys coughing noises, African American literature, the beats of Destiny's Child, sirens, burrowing himself, and tropical fish. So while we're visiting the children's museum in Seattle, naturally Cam is delighted to discover a fish aquarium. He sprints up to the aquarium and puts his hands on the glass. Well, the young man next to him was not enamored with the munchkins glee (or probably his existence in general). He reached over a pulled Cam's hands off the glass. Well, for the first time young Cam stood up for himself. He grabbed the brute's shirt, pulled it over his head, and proceeded to ground and pound him. Well, that might be a slight exaggeration. But he did stand his ground and pushed the kid off of him. I have never been so proud :) If you want another good story, ask me about the brawl between brothers that occurred later in the museum. Good times!

Okay, I'm running out of steam. I'm aware that this was probably a very meandering, self-indulgent posting. And I don't care. It's your fault for reading it!

The Real Vamps of Leander

Forget fictional vampires like Edward Cullen, I know where the real vampires lurk in our neighborhood: our local daycares. Yes, it's true, Cameron suffered his first biting attack from another child at daycare yesterday, although when the director called, she affectionately referred to it as a "love bite." Apparently, Cameron's teacher was busy preparing lunch when the other child bit him on the forearm, so the teacher's not sure if the attack was provoked or not. I was: A) doubtful that Cameron provoked the attack, B) relieved to hear the little vamp's bite didn't break the skin, and C) surprised at how small the teeth mark was on Cam's arm. Anyways, he cried for a minute and then wanted to eat lunch, so I guess he wasn't traumatized!

I also deduced it must be policy not to reveal the identity, or even the gender, of the biter. Both when the director called and in the formal incident report they gave me, all that was mentioned was "the other child." The director assured me that "the other child's" parents would be notified that he/she bit another child and that they would monitor behavior to see if there is a repeat pattern between "the other child" and Cameron. Little vamp.

I know I'm biased, but I think Cameron is such a sweet little boy, and it makes me a little sad to think he's going to start learning bad behavior like biting. I just hope I don't get a phone call soon, saying that Cameron is the biting offender.

Last night, it only felt apropros to read "The Tooth Book" by Dr. Seuss for Cameron's bedtime story. Mike, his ever-witty self, spontaneously added a final verse to the book, "And when you're not tough enough to make a fist, a mean kid will bite you on the wrist." Another teachable moment by Dr. Graves.

Daycare Update

This week marks Cameron's third week in part-time daycare. He's still adjusting, but I think he's slowly getting used to it. When I pick him up in the afternoon, he seems pretty happy, although he also seems very relieved to see me. Mike, on the other hand, may be the one who's having the most difficult adjustment. He tells me every day he hates dropping him off, because he can't stand Cameron's screaming when he leaves. He hates being the bad cop, while I get to be the good cop. What can I say? I guess I'm the Phil Dunphy in this relationship. :)

Last week, Cameron's teacher gave us an update, which I thought I'd share with you:

"Cameron is getting much more comfortable exploring the classroom (without his blanket!) and interacting with the other children on his own. We had a messy lunch today, but he loved the sloppy joes. :) He enjoyed reading books, playing with the animals with some of the other boys, and is very interested in all of the toys on the manipulatives shelf. Just a few pictures to show how he's doing - I know drop-off can be tough, but we're making lots of progress and seeing more smiles every day. He's a really sweet boy, and we're so glad to have him. :)"

Funny side note: this was Mike's initial response to reading the report, "This picture makes it look like we're sending our child to a nudist daycare."

He Survived

Cameron started daycare today. Things haven't been boding well for this day - when we've taken him to the child care at church or gym recently, the workers have had to come find us because he's crying. In fact, it was seeming like 45 minutes is about his threshhold of tolerance for strangers, so 5-6 hours at daycare seemed daunting. Needless to say, we were a little wary about what today would be like. It was a little tenuous, but he survived.

Mike dropped him off around 11:00 AM this morning. When he left, he said Cameron started screaming immediately. This made Mike feel very sad. On the contrary, I get the fun job of picking him up, so I arrived at the daycare around 4:15 PM. As soon as I opened his classroom door, I heard him crying. And it was that hoarse crying, so I knew he'd cried and cried and cried today. The teacher said he had just started crying right before I arrived because he saw other parents pick up their kids. She said he cried off and on the entire day. When he wasn't crying, he explored a little and also tried to steal other kids' animal crackers at snack time. (Our kid is THAT kid!) The teacher gave me a daily report, and on the section that said, "Today, I seemed to be...(fill in the blank)", she wrote, "Happy!" Does this look like the face of a happy child to you?!?


When we got home, things went from bad to worse for the poor kiddo: not only did he fall off our bed and land awkwardly on his neck, but he also dove face first into one of his plastic cars. All in all, a rough day! Now he gets one day to recuperate tomorrow before heading back to daycare on Wednesday...