11 months and counting

With less than a month until we celebrate Cameron's first birthday, my thoughts have been dominated by reflections of this past year along with all we are anticipating in the year to come.  We've already witnessed a million little miracles as Cameron has grown and changed before our eyes.  As much as I cherish all his awesome achievements this year--from his first smiles, to responding to my voice, to rolling over and sitting up and bravely trying new foods--I'm so looking forward to all the ways he'll surprise, amaze, and fill us with joy in his second year of life!  I'll just leave it that for now.  I'm sure I'll have more to say in the 12 month post :)

This month Cameron has been Mr. Mobile Wannabe.  (No, not mobile phone, as in his favorite toy of mommy and daddy's that he's playing with in the picture above)  He is all about walking around holding our hands and exploring any place he can get to, with our help.  He especially enjoys "walking" to the laundry room to check out the washer and dryer.  He also likes holding onto dresser drawers that have been opened or standing at the windowsill to look out.  Who knew furniture and appliances could be so exciting, huh?  He hasn't showed an interest in crawling so I'm thinking he's going to skip that phase or possibly have a short crawling phase that quickly turns into taking off walking everywhere--we shall see!  It's still a little unreal to me that in a few months or less he could be tearing up the house, climbing and getting into things that I haven't had to give any thought to the past 11 months!  I'm trying not to rush the time until he learns how to walk on his own because I know once he starts he won't want to stop, but at the same time, I don't want Cameron to continue to show frustration when he can't get where he wants to.  For now, it's just a lot of mommy and daddy bending our backs to give him as much practice as possible! 

A few other fun things worth mentioning:

•  For the first time ever Cam responded to our asking "How big is Cameron??" by appropriately raising his hands above his head.  It was such a cute surprise and he was happy to repeat this new trick the whole week my mom visited.  

• He is all about waving "bye-bye" when we're going somewhere.  He's a little more shy about waving to strangers still which is probably a good thing, right?

• He seems to love cats whenever they appear in a book and he gets a big smile and makes a giddy noise when we get to that page.  I have no idea why he has a particular interest in them (maybe he thinks Chewy is a cat??) but whatever the reason, it's pretty funny to watch him light up with excitement!  

Last but not least, here are some of the pics I got at our recent trip to the park to show you what a big boy Cameron is getting to be...wearing shoes and everything!  

"Look, ma!  No hands!  I'm SOOO BIG"

I know I said he doesn't wave to strangers, 

but apparently he thought he made a friend at the park :)

Visit with Nana

My mom had the opportunity to visit last Thursday through this Tuesday and we had a great time doing simple mother-daughter things like shopping together (for her birthday!), swimming with Cameron, and just hanging out!

Here's a brief recap of her visit in pictures, beginning with some before and after pictures of Cameron's first haircut!

The little rascal BEFORE...

Cheese!

Oops...how'd this get here?

Whoa!  I seriously didn't have this much hair until I was three years old...

My little rugrat :)

...and AFTER! Ta-da! A clean-cut little man

Goofy

The comb was clearly used more for distraction than it was for hair trimming

Playtime on the floor next to"Cameron's cabinet" (which contains every child's dream of tupperware, pots and pans, and other miscellaneous kid-friendly kitchen "toys")

People watching is just as fun as swimming!

Yay!  Mommy gets to be in a picture for once!

"Hey Nana, think I could borrow your sunglasses?"

Thanks, Mama, for helping me clean out 125 of my clothes, shoes, and bags.  Less = more.  

Except if we're talking about funnel cakes at the fair.  

 After birthday dinner at P.F. Changs

Birthday breakfast at Bruegger's the day Nana left

We loved having you, Mom, and are SO looking forward to our vacay NEXT month!  I know Cameron is too :)  

Belated 9 & 10 months

Outdoor bath/playtime

hehe :)

Excited about being ten months...?

Sweetness

Growing up before my eyes!

Another month gone by!

Here's what our ten month old has been up to since I last wrote:

He begs (aka whines and fights to get out of our arms) in order to stand and hold onto whatever he can

 Cooling off at the pool

Enjoying the view from the window in his room

Out on the back porch

(One of my favorite pictures this month :))

Giving himself an avocado facial

Out on a morning walk sporting Christmas colors

Waiting for daddy to get home

Getting acquainted with the vacuum so that I can get some cleaning done without him getting all upset. It kinda worked...they'll have to have another play date soon I think ;)

Swinging at the neighbor's house

Cautiously experimenting with a borrowed toy 

Outgrowing some sweet 12 mth pajamas that he's barely worn!

More standing...

Shewwweeee it's been hot lately!

Getting ready for bath time--still a favorite of his!

Looking like a big boy!

Visiting with the precious kiddos I used to nanny

An attempt at getting him to show some teeth...he has SEVEN (4 on top, 3 on bottom) now and has been working on cutting his first molar for about two weeks...c'mon already!  Check out that drool...

Dinner date with a little lady friend :)

Getting excited about the fan turned on high

Thinking about sharing some of his cracker with Chewy (which he did!)

And, there's more...but the end of nap time is bound to come soon, so the "official" 9 & 10 month pictures will have to be another post!