my big boy

Camden is growing up so fast. There are times when I'll jokingly (sort of) say to him, "Are you 100 years old or something?!?!" to which he responds, "noooo, I'm 5!" He has really made the transition from little boy to "kid".

A few things Camden is up to:

• He now showers 100% of the time... no more baths.
• Without giving TMI, he no longer needs my assistance after he has a bowel movement. :)
• He brushes his teeth by himself.
• If he's watching a show, he'll pause it before he goes to the bathroom, and press play again when he comes back.
• He knows how to read several words.
• He's been doing this for a long time now, but he dresses himself, and can put on his jacket and shoes (most of the time) by himself. The shoes are a little trickier since about 6 months ago we switched from velcro to laces. We'll work on tying shoes pretty soon.
• His book choices at the library lately have been from the adult science section (mainly about animals), not the little kid section.
• He's been doing this for about a year now, but he gets in and out of the car himself, including buckling. This was great when Anderson came along! :)
• He loves to take pictures of things with my camera.
• He can say the entire pledge of allegiance.
• He can count way past 100.
• He gets excited when we talk about Kindergarten.
• He claims he has 4 girlfriends. (Lord have mercy!)
• He can easily down 3 or 4 pieces of pizza.
• His favorite foods are oranges, apples, strawberries, blueberries, waffles, pancakes, pizza, macaroni and cheese, shrimp, and anything sweet.
• He sleeps from about 8:30pm (goes down between 7:30 and 8, but takes a while to fall asleep - like his daddy) to 7 or 7:30am. He also has an hour and a half of quiet time every day.
• He's really into art projects right now. Give him paper, a glue stick, scissors, and markers... and he's one happy boy. :)

Camden is at a really fun age... and at times, a difficult age. We are currently working on arguing and attitudes. We expect first-time obedience, and are trying to help him remember to say "yes ma'am" or "yes sir" instead of "but I'm not finished yet... or, but I don't want to do that...". It's a work in progress! As far as attitudes go... he has begun to stomp his feet a little louder when walking up to his room for time-out, or shutting his door a little harder than normal. You get the drift. We all did these things as kids... and it's now time for David and I to teach him that it's not ok. The discipling is constant, and can get very exhausting. Age 4 and now 5 have definitely been his hardest ages yet.

Despite the hard times, Camden is a complete goof-ball and he can make us laugh until our sides hurt. He has an extremely giving heart and is very laid-back with his friends. He's very empathetic and is the best big brother I could have ever imagined. We sure love this boy!