No Bite

This week Camden set a record for himself with receiving incident reports at school. He received three, two of which were on the same day. And of course, it is for biting his friends!!! Honestly, he could have received more, but since his bites did not leave marks, he did not receive a report. Aside from his teachers telling him not to bite his friends, when he does decide to attack, he is instructed to tell his friends he is sorry and then he has to sit by the friend he bit and help hold ice on their ouwee. Morning and night, we would have talks about not biting his friends and I would say 'No Bite Nina, No Bite Zachary' and go through all the kids names in his class. At home, he doesn't bite anymore but when he was biting, we would always redirect him by saying 'Kisses, Kisses'. So I told Ms. Caroline that if she saw him about to bite, say 'Kisses' to him. Luckily, on his note home today, it said 'Camden gave out a lot of kisses today.' Maybe we are getting somewhere!

Sports Week

Every week at Camden's school they have a theme. One week it was shapes and colors, last week it was safari and this week was the theme we have been waiting for . . . . . you guessed it SPORTS!!!! Camden was in hog heaven. They had inflatable balls, blow up fingers and all arts and crafts dealt with sports. On Thursday he was to wear his favorite sports attire. Well, sad to say he had outgrown every Alabama shirt he owned. So of course, as every wife of a Alabama Alumni would do, I ordered Camden a new Alabama shirt to wear. But what was even better was I went shopping at Kohl's on Sunday and ran across a University of Texas shirt exactly like his Alabama shirt that just happened to be on sale. And since I am a competitive person and can't be outdone, I had to purchase that shirt as well. So on Wednesday, Camden sported his University of Texas shirt, and on Thursday the University of Alabama shirt. I took pictures of his outfits before heading out the door, and asked him to say the appropriate team slogan while posing for the picture.

You are not able to see it in this picture, but Camden crosses his middle finger over his pointer finger in attempt to make the 'Hook 'Em Horns' sign. Unfortunately, he still says 'Do Doo' for Hook 'Em Horns - but we are still working on that!

Roll Tide!
(He can say that as clear as a bell)

Remembering 9/11

Today marked the tenth anniversary of the events of 9/11. Even with my horrible memory, I remember that day like it were yesterday. At that time, I was working as an RN in the emergency room in Orange, Texas. It was my day off and I got out of bed and plopped myself on the couch to watch TV. I had only been watching TV for about 10 minutes or so before a plane hit the first of the Twin Towers. Watching what I thought was a freak accident was short lived as the second plane hit the second of the Towers. It was then that everyone knew the plane crashes were no accident. I called my mom on the phone as I watched the television in awe. We watched TV together over the phone and discussed in disbelief what was going on. That day would change our world as we knew it forever. It is amazing how that day has made me question my safety doing things in my everyday life. I know when we went to football games at the University of Alabama sometimes I would think to myself that if anyone wanted to rid of over 100,00 people they could bomb the stadium on any given Saturday during football season. Also, when I would go to Nascar races, the same thing would go through my head. Crazy, I know, but it is one of the few things that 9/11 did to me. This morning as they televised the remembrance they had in New York, at the Pentagon and in Pittsburgh, I cried. What a great tragedy that day was and still is for so may Americans. Many children are growing up without a parent (which I could not even imagine) and many parents are going through life without their children - once again something I could not imagine. So many people made selfless acts that day to save someone they had never met at the expense of their own life. It makes me wonder - would I do the same? I would like to think that I would, but unless I was put in that situation I guess I will never know. I pray for any and everyone that 9/11 has and continues to affect. As I am remembering the events of 9/11, may I also remark that today is the one year anniversary of Shelbe Lin's death. I still miss her dearly and think of her so very often. I still believe that one day she and I will be reunited - and I look forward to that day!

Shelbe at 6 weeks old

Shelbe - Age 5 Shelbe - Age 16

His Favorite Toys

I have been waiting for awhile now for Camden to get attached to some toy or stuffed animal that he wants to drag around. Both my nephews had their favorite stuffed animals that went everywhere with them. For Mason, it was Lion and for Braden it was puppy - now known as Buster. Well, this past weekend Camden started hauling around a few toys with him everywhere. I am not sure if these two particular toys are the one, but for this particular weekend they have been. What are they might you ask? Well the first is a water stick that you throw to the bottom of the pool and then swim after and the other is a rubber bracelet. Now we have five of these water sticks, and he will carry one around or all five around. He refers to them all as 'boo' and he is not picky on which one or what color. The cute thing about his bracelet, is the fact that he loves to wear it up near his shoulder - I guess it doesn't get in his way there!

Water sticks and a bracelet

Asleep with 'boo'

Ratatoullie

As a third grade math and science teacher, it was recommended by Shane's school that he get a class pet so that his students could appreciate an ecosystem. He did research for awhile trying to figure out the best pet for his students as well as one that was low maintenance. He originally thought a bearded dragon would be nice, but after researching them and realizing that juveniles had to be fed three times a day, they were thrown out of the running. Next he did research on snakes. He went to a reptile store and spent time talking with the manager about them. After his visit, he decided that the pet for his classroom was an albino king snake. It seemed like a great choice since it only had to be fed once a week and it defecated only once a week. Well, after consulting with the school administration, they decided that was not a good choice. So back to the drawing board he went. After a bit more research, Shane decided on a rat. That is right, you read it correctly, a rat!!!! Let me just tell you I was not thrilled about this choice, not that I was thrilled about a snake either, but the thought of a rat was just very unappealing. Yes, it would be a class pet, however, school is not year round and it has to have food continuously as well as water, so it would be staying at our home for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break and the summer. So after a bit more research and visiting several pet stores, we became owners (notice I did not put the word proud in front of that) of not one, but two rats - apparently they do better in pairs. The pet store only had females, so we ended up with two female rats. We picked the 'prettiest' of the bunch and ended up with a grey and white one and a tan and white one. Of course we bought them several toys, treats, and all the other necessities rats could possibly need. They will be living in a 'Luxury Rat Home' (according to the box). Of course, I guess anything above living in a gutter or sewer would be luxury in a rat's world.

The Luxury Rat Home

Shane took his rats to school today and after his students writing their votes for names on pieces of paper, we now have names for the rats. The grey and white one is Lizzy (reminds me of a lizard) and the other is Mocha.

Lizzy

Mocha

Lizzy is very outgoing and loves to be held and played with. Mocha is a bit shy and unsure. Rats apparently make great pets and are trainable. They are able to be litter trained and can be trained to do tricks. Shane's students are very excited and thrilled about the rats - which I am glad of that. I guess in November I will see if I want to befriend them or not. For now, I just can't seem to get past their tales. Perhaps if they were tailless, I wouldn't be so hesitant.

Shapes and Colors

This week at Camden's school they have been focusing on shapes and colors. All summer long we worked on colors as well as shapes with Camden. He has several books that he loves that talk about shapes and colors. Unfortunately, when it comes to colors EVERYTHING is blue. According to Camden, all of the University of Alabama paraphernalia in our house is blue, the dog is blue, and all of our clothes are blue. You name it, it is all blue in Camden's eyes! You are probably thinking to yourself, maybe he can't say the other colors, but no that is not the case, he can say them all. Now sometimes I can ask him to show me the a specific colored item and he will pick up the correct one, but he you just can't point at an item and ask him what color it is and him get it right unless it is blue!

Today, as I was looking up something on the computer, I heard Camden saying 'heart, heart'. Since my back was to him, I wasn't sure what exactly he was trying to say, but when I turned around, sure enough what I was hearing was exactly correct - heart!!! He was holding a candle that had a heart on top of it and he acknowledged that it was a heart!!! The other shape that he recently started identifying was the oval. An odd one I thought, but still yet he knows what it is. He has been able to point out stars for quiet some time now and does so on a regular basis on our way home from school when he sees a sign with stars on it.

I find it so exciting how much he is learning. I tell him all the time how smart he is. Granted, he may be right on track for his age, but still yet, I like to think he is smart! At any rate, it is fun to watch him grow and learn.

Tooth #16 and #17

Since I haven't taken a tooth count until today two new teeth crept in on me. Tooth #16 is his upper right molar and from the way it feels, it probably broke through a week or so ago.


And after much anticipation (from me of course) Tooth #17 finally made its debut. It is located on the bottom right and I have been waiting its arrival for quiet sometime! I think for the time being all we have left to come in is one more on the right upper side.