At what point in our lives do we forget how to just be happy? I consider myself a pretty content and blessed person. I laugh daily and enjoy the little things as much as possible. But I'd venture to say you would have to go back a long way to find a picture of me where I'm this happy. It's beautiful! And so it is a new goal of mine to do whatever I can to keep it within Campbell's ability to be this gleeful for the rest of her life.
You turned two this past Monday and already it's hard to remember details about the big weekend as it is a blur of visiting family and total chaos. Just as we did last year, we chose to celebrate your birthday at the Great American Brass Band Festival with a full weekend of fun activities. Your Ganny, Popper, GG, Aunt Kristin, Uncle Corbett and cousins Jack and Caden all came in to join those of us in Danville for the big weekend. We kicked the weekend off on Friday with concerts and fun downtown. You had great fun playing and dancing with Jack, Caden and Ben and Lexi.
Saturday started bright and early with the second annual wagon decorating contest. And, for the second year you were robbed. Which means your picture will probably be the centerpiece of next year's promotional pieces just like it was this year! Our theme this year was a Boston Pops Tea Party. You and Nathaniel dressed up like Indians and sat in our wagon decorated like a ship while your cousin Jack pulled you along dressed like a colonist. By far you had the biggest and loudest fan section (see below for just one small crowd of admirers) and our spys tell us that folks up and down the street kept saying our wagon was their favorite. And there was no doubt you were the cutest kids so I don't know what someone has to do around here to win a contest!
After an afternoon of hanging out with DotDot and Peepaw at the festival and then a nice nap, we got decked out in our UK duds and met-up witht the Johson/Fosters for the picnic. Our table theme this year was "A House Divided: UK v Duke" though we spent most of our time once again dancing and playing with Ben and Lexi over by the stage.
Sunday we celebrated your birthday - starting off first thing with the presentation of your present from Mommy and Daddy - a new kitchen! The morning was filled with banging and clanging as you, Jack and Cade whipped up many an imaginary culinary treat. After sneaking in a nap, it was off to your party. As with almost everything you do, you enjoyed your party to the fullest from eating cupcakes to running around and playing. After you opened each present you ran, with your classic, open-mouthed Campbell grin out into the field as if to show off your new toy. The big hits of the day were a Dora from Ben and Lexi, a Brobee from Quinny and Jay and a chef's hat from Annie. You were quite a sight dragging Brobee around while sporting the hat and your new Minnie shades.
In fact, you were so cute that it took no time for Popper to sell you to the news as a perfect story. And, indeed, we have watched the 8 seconds of fame that made it onto the evening news many, many, many times as you get great joy out of seeing "Campbell's Mommy on teeeeeveeeee".
While I may have managed to retain fewer mental pictures and wasn't as able to savor this year's birthday as much as last's - it was a huge success nonetheless. You had a blast which is the most important thing. I still can't believe you are two. In some ways it seems like yesterday that we found out we were pregnant and in some ways it seems like you have to be older than just two. Your doctor said just yesterday that he thought you could probably pass your preschool screening already - just more affirmation that you are a super gifted, amazingly sweet and funny little girl. With you, my darling, every day is a party!
All my love-
Mommy
For those of you, who, like me were asleep when President Obama delivered his much anticipated address in Egypt - go online and find a video of it or click here to read the text. Obama's speech was the first such public policy statement made on Middle Eastern soil since 9/11 and many had questioned leading up it if the plan was a good one and if Obama could deliver.
In my humble estimation this was one of Obama's finest speeches - ever! It ranks right up there with his 04 Convention speech and his nomination acceptance speech from last year. One of my arguments in favor of electing Obama last fall was his unique ability to lead at this precise time. His blend of experiences and heritages allows him to bridge gaps that have been hard to forde in the past. Today's speech illustrated that ability and also his appreciation for his unique position perfectly.
His words did more than merely articulate a statement that we must live as a world community, that we have more in common than not - points which have recieved little mroe than lip service in recent years. Today's speech legitimized the very truth of these statements and beliefs, and illustrated an appreciation for the beauty in some of our differences and the greatness in our commonalities. And yet, Obama extended the proverbial olive branch while remaining resolute in his commitment to protect the safety of innocents - in American and across the globe.
The speech was sturring, eloquent - Obama at his best. It's simply a must read.
Mommy is very late with this month's letter . . . . It has been a crazy couple of weeks. I was actually gone to my spring meeting on your month birthday and then three days after I got back we left for vacation. I spent the those three intervening days trying to get ready for vacation while tracking down my missing suitcase . . . So, long story short I decided the night before leaving for Kiawah that I may as well wait until after vacation so I could write about it this month since next month we will cover your birthday festivities.
Last week we went to Kiawah with Dotdot and Peepaw. You have been anxiously awaiting this trip for weeks - routinely talking about riding bikes at the beach and riding boats (nobody knows where you got this idea) and swimming. Well, my dear, you did all of those things while we were gone and loved every minute of it! You started having fun as we pulled into the parking lot to shop and check-in where you exclaimed: "We here! We here!" You then started a Kiawah Island fan club at Freshfields market as you pushed a baby cart around with CocoDolly sitting in it.
The first couple of days we stayed on the island and usually started the day off with a bike ride. You loved riding bikes and attracted more fan club members as folks rode by talking about how cute you were in your little seat. Mommy enjoyed the running dialogue you provided as you looked for alligators and deer. Peepaw worked tirelessly to teach you that there weren't crocodiles on the island as that is what you wanted to call them. For a while we were hunting "crocigators" - a very large one of which we spotted the first night in the lagoon behind our condo.
The beach was a big hit. All of our fears that the messy sand and large amounts of water and waves would freak you out some were unfounded. You bounded right in the first trip down and jumped waves with Daddy. One wave even caught you and turned you completely over and you popped up a little dazed but then were soon ready to get right back in. I think your favorite beach activity was running back and forth between the water's edge and the chairs yelling "Run back up here" and "Run back to water" as you went. You also enjoyed throwing your doll, Sammy, into the water and digging in the sand.
Wednesday we decided to go into Charleston and take you on a horsey carriage ride and a boat ride. Like all great plans ours hit a snag when the carriage ride took 30 minutes longer than it was supposed to and we missed the boat. But we went back Thursday and did the boat ride. The thrill of being on a boat wore off quickly but you had fun climbing the stairs and running around in the empty downstairs room.
All in all it was a wonderful vacation and Mommy had a blast spending such a large chunk of time with you. You were so much fun! As always you amazed me with your ability to have fun doing anything from jumping waves to climbing stairs at the mall to grocery shopping. And the daily adventures gave you new material for the growing sentences and paragraphs that come spilling out of you now. Some of my favorite phrases of the trip included: "Where Dotdot and Peepaws a go?" "See any gators in there?" "Campbell ride bike in seat with helmet" and "No sleep in Mommy bed, its itty bitty."
In just a couple of weeks you will be two which is hard for me to fathom on many levels. On the one hand it seems like just yesterday when we brought you home from the hospital. On the other hand, you talk and act so much older than two that it is sometimes hard for me to remember that you are just two. Either way you are a joy and I look forward to many more vacation adventures with you in the coming years!
All my love -
Mommy
Stories about sick children and babies have always hit me hard. I remember reading a book when I was about 8 about a little girl, Jessica, who died of leukemia. It killed me. But ever since being blessed with the most beautiful and happy little girl the thought of something happening to her makes stories like Jessica's even more heartbreaking to me - I can't imagine anything more devastating and trying in this world than having a sick baby.
So I have started giving more to charities such as St. Jude (How could I not call in and pledge while driving home from work bawling while listening to their phonathon on the radio!?). This Saturday I will be walking with some friends in the local March for Babies to raise money for the March of Dimes. Any help folks out there would like to give to forward this effort would be greatly appreciated and will help some very special little souls. If you have $10 to spare - click those chubby little cheeks below - and thank you!
Campbell is a very friendly and loving little girl. The other night we went out to dinner with friends and she made Adam nervous with the level of love she was showering on her friend Ben. She has been known to play greeter at stores and has tried to comfort crying babies at Kroger. Last night we were at the park and the following conversation illustrates just how friendly my sweet girl is - and that she doesn't discriminate.
Me: "Campbell, it's time to go home and eat."
Campbell: "Little girl bye?"
Me: "Yes, tell the little girl bye and then we've got to go."
Campbell: "Bye bye girl"
Me: "Look Campbell, they caught fish in the pond."
Campbell: "Night night fish. Mac-n-cheese get home? Cook it."
Me: "Yes we'll make you mac-n-cheese when we get home."
Campbell: (Scrunching up her nose in her yucky face) "Mommy - duck poopoo."
Me: "Yes sweetie, duck poopoo" (A small sigh and internal shout out to Dotdot for teaching her all about duck poopoo.)
Campbell: (Waving enthusiastically) "Bye bye poopoo. See ya later!"
It's been a while since I've posted on political goings-on. My guy won, I've been pretty contented for the last couple of months. But Governor Rick Perry's threat that Texas may one day secede from the Union is a comment I have to take a swing at.
Secession? Seriously? Seriously? It's an absurd notion - though I have to admit my first thought was in line with Lincoln Mitchell, who wrote an excellent piece on HuffPo - Couldn't Texas have left before 2000 and saved us all a lot of misery?
But, since they didn't leave and take our ill-fated former President with them before he could muck up the entire country, we are left with what is nothing more than an absurdity. (One need look no further than Chuck Norris's aspirations of being the first President of Texas to see just how idiotic the idea is.) Texas isn't going to secede from the Union. I didn't need to major in history to know we've been around this block before. States have tried this stunt and it didn't end well for them or for the rest of the nation. And, as Mitchell pointed out, the issues at stake during the Civil War were far more incendiary and grave than those at stake today.
I get it, the political right doesn't like taxes. But nobody with any sense would honestly suggest seceding from the Union over a couple of precentage points of a tax increase for the wealthiest 1% of Americans! And in the end that increased federal money is being proposed to cover better funding our schools, improving our nation's infrastructure and exploring ways to insure that Americans don't die of mundane diseases needlessly or that children don't go to school hungry. Really, Governor Perry? You want to leave America behind because President Obama wants your kids to be able to read and to discover the technologies of the future and to learn to do all that while they are healthy and nurished? Seriously? Seriously?
Conservatives have every right to oppose President Obama's policies. It's one of the beautiful freedoms we all enjoy but stop throwing out idiotic threats of secession. It's insulting and all it does is prove how much control the fringe has gained in right wing politics.
One final observation - not only are the issues at stake not Civil War II worthy, but the idea that in today's world a United State of Texas could survive is ludicrous. Texas may be our second largest state but its still the size of a European nation. And, oh yeah, Europe's nations figured out several years ago that to compete globally they needed to band together, hence the EU. Left to compete on its own, Texas would become another second or third world country like its southern neighbors.
So, W, don't start revving that campaign machinery up just yet. You'll never be President of any country again. (And for that the world is very thankful.)
As I sit here writing you are back in your crib stubbornly refusing to go to sleep. You woke up at the crack of dawn this morning. We had a busy morning with a bath and story time and lunch with Dotdot and Peepaw. You looked at me as we finished eating and announced "Campbell sleepy" and then tried to lay down in the floor of the restaurant to take a nap. You didn't even make it the 2 miles back to our house before falling asleep. Then you woke up as I tried to move you to bed. So I rocked you and you fell asleep again almost instantly you were so tired. But you woke up once again as I tried to put you down. So now you are refusing to go to sleep again. Every few minutes I hear a round of increasingly loud "Mommy cooooome iiiiiiiiuuuuuunnnnn" calls. Now you are telling me "Campbell ready Mommy" - This stubbornness - you get it from your Daddy's side of the family! Mommy doesn't know the first thing about being stubborn.(No, Adam I still won't eat your fish sticks or try mac-n-cheese with ketchup!)
This has been another busy month in your little world. You got your first haircut - and were absolutely perfect! You picked a Barbie jeep to sit in and seemed to love the whole deal - though the giant slide was the biggest hit! We went to Boone Tavern to celebrate Mommy's birthday and the days of enjoying a meal that lasts more than 20 minutes in a restaurant without a game room are apparently officially over for the foreseeable future. In the past week or two we have started trying to revive your interest in going big girl potty. You are talking about it more but getting you to actually sit on the potty is still a little challenging. Apparently you and your buddy Sammy were planning a sleep over at Gretchen's yesterday. You are totally obsessed with going to the park and swinging and doing anything outside. A few weeks ago I told you we were going to the beach and we'd ride bikes and swim so almost everyday you announce "Campbell ride bikes beach. Get seat Mommy's bike for Campbell. Show Daddy."
In addition to Boone Tavern we took you to Keeneland for Breakfast with the Works last Saturday. All week you kept asking if it was time to go to see the horsies. Friday night you were so excited to go see the horsies in the morning that Ithought you would never go to sleep. I can only imagine what Christmas Eve will be like this year! We had to get up very early Saturday and I came in and woke you up and at first you looked at me like I was awful then I told you it was time to go see the horsies and you sat bolt upright and squealed "Go see horsies! Campbell ride it!" You loved watching the horses working out and you really had fun riding the Equicizer horse. Your equine tendency carried over into Easter morning as you spent a good chunk of brunch at the Melton's riding Shana's old rocking horse.
Easter was a great treat for you, too. You loved getting your bunny basket of treats. Then we went to the Melton's for breakfast and an egg hunt. You had a ton of fun playing with Avy and her baby doll - and, of course, riding the horse. Then we went outside for the egg hunt. You were a pro! All the hide and seek playing must have helped out as you spotted eggs like a hawk. The big fun happened after the hunt when you and Avy played out in the front yard. You guys played Ring-Around-the-Rosies and then Avy taught you to pose for pictures like a superstar in your shades.
Each month of your life is more and more fun. My dear girl, you are so smart and so funny! We are in for quit a ride! Hardly a minute goes by that you don't do something to make us laugh or smile. Right now you are laying on the couch next to me having refused to go to sleep. And even now, as I should be frustrated as can be with you, I can't help but chuckle as you dance with the potty song on your Elmo movie. Of course, knowing that I'm going to a play with Dotdot and Daddy will be stuck with the worst of the evening's napless crankiness allows me to focus on the cute part of your refusal to sleep!
So, let this little naptime story remind you that even when I'm not happy with your behavior, I will always love you!
All of my heart -
Mommy
I think I alluded a few months ago to the fact that we have begun the early stages of potty training at The Smurf. Campbell was showing great interest in sitting on the big girl potty but now not so much. Which doesn't bother me since she's not even two. But, in order to keep it on her radar we do ask every day or so when we see the tell-tale glassy eyed expression if she wants to sit on her big girl potty. We are always met with an adamant "NO" and shaking of the entire upper body.
So, you can imagine my surprise Sunday with the beginning of the following conversation:
Campbell: Glassy-eyed expression
Me: "Campbell do you need to go poo-poo?"
Campbell: "Uhuh . . . Go big girl potty? "
Me: (Hiding my growing excitement) "Do you want to sit on your big girl potty?"
Campbell: "NO! Dollly sit potty!"
Me: "Oh, is Dolly going to sit on the potty with you?"
Campbell: "No, Dolly sit no Campbell"
She scampers off to the bathroom with Dolly in tow. I follow thinking Dolly going potty is an okay first step and to make sure Dolly doesn't end up in the adult potty that has water in it. I help her sit Dolly on the big girl potty and Campbell claps and is very excited about Dolly going potty and plops down next to her to talk to her while she goes potty. I return to the other room, Campbell soon follows. Dolly is apparently not done going potty. About 5 minutes elapsed while I made Campbell a waffle and Adam started taking a shower. Then Campbell went to check on Daddy.
Campbell: "Daddy shower. Dolly big girl potty."
Adam: "Is Dolly going potty?"
Campbell: "Uhuh. Eat waffle, too."
This is the result of Campbell and Dolly's first potty training lesson.
I think Coco - of the usually inseparable DollyCoco tandem act - is now living in fear of when her first lesson will start.
Shew kiddo! It has been a rough couple of weeks around our house. First Mommy had a cold that kept me (and Daddy) up coughing at night for a week. Then you picked up a stomach virus of some sort at daycare and we struggled to keep anything in you for a week. But, knock on wood we are all healthy again.
Luckily you recovered by this weekend and were able to have fun on your "birthday" weekend. First you had a big play date with Ben and Lexi. Once I convinced you that their dog wasn't going to eat you, the three of you had a ball playing with dolls and riding cars and playing in the Rose Petal Cottage. In fact, you may have had a little too much fun as the meltdown that ensued when we had to leave and as we tried to put you to bed was the worst you've ever thrown. Well, the worst until you woke up that night at midnight. You scared Mommy terribly. You awoke screaming and crying and you wouldn't let me touch you and you wouldn't look at me. This went on for about 20 minutes before I finally called for your sleeping father because I didn't want to break down in front of you and distress you further. Just after I left the room, before I could have a complete breakdown of my own, you finally snapped out of it and called for me. It was still a while before we got you back to sleep but at least you would let me comfort you at that point.
Daddy talked to your Aunt Kristin the next morning and she suggested it might have been a night terror. Apparently your cousin Jackson had a couple similar episodes. I've also since learned that your Popper has weird sleep issues and has tackled your Daddy in his sleep before. So, apparently the Johnson side of the family has bizarre sleep genes and I am now worried you may have inherited them. You've since slept through the night soundly so I am crossing my fingers that this was an isolated incident. If not, and you start attacking people in your sleep like your Popper, then I guess maybe we will have to look into restraining you at night. Or, more likely, I will start making your Daddy deal with Crazy Nighttime Campbell since it is his gene pool from which this behavior tick will have descended. I will also remind you later in life to yell at him, not me, when you continually scare away boyfriends after accosting them in their sleep.
Aside from the medical maladies and sleep disorders, the month has been pretty typical. You continue to learn by leaps and bounds. Your newest favorite trick to practice is jumping. You haven't mastered getting both feet of the ground every time but are close. Your favorite phrase is still "Campbell do it" and you have discovered a new friend - Mickey Mouse. We took you to Disney on Ice this past Sunday and right on cue that morning you asked out of the blue to watch Mickey Mouse - I didn't even know you knew who he was so I was excited to share the day's plans with you. Your first icecapade was a hit and when we got home I unearthed the stuffed Mickey and Minnie that were mine as a child. Since both have joined your bedtime menagerie and Mickey has been swinging on the front porch and rocked to sleep at bedtime.
The recent nighttime fit has reminded me just how lucky I am to have such a beautiful and good natured little girl. You truly are fun-loving and lovable 99% of the time. You are almost always smiling - and I can say that even as the tantrums of the terrible twos start to rear their ugly heads. You just don't come by fits naturally and for that I could not be more grateful. I'm not sure how much of the nurturing, self-sacrificial part of mothering comes naturally to me so I am truly blessed to have a child that makes being a loving mother so very easy.
I love you with all my heart -
Mommy
Mom sent this picture to me this morning and it brought such a huge smile to my face I had to share it. Obviously this is a picture of Dad - better known these days as Peepaw - feeding Campbell when she was a wee little baby. Mom is right, it is such a great picture because they both look so contented and happy together.
When I found out I was pregnant and the whole way through my pregnancy, one of the things I most looked forward to was seeing my Daddy holding my little girl. He was such a phenomenal Daddy and I knew he would be a wonderful Grandpa. This picture captures exactly what I pictured and looked forward to all those months.
To this day I get great joy from seeing both of my parents get to interact with Campbell almost everyday. They are such important people to her and it is so wonderful to share her with them and to be able to do so so freely since we are close by. Yesterday I was home with Campbell while she was fighting a stomach bug (nothing makes you feel more like a mother than cleaning puke out of your car) and Dotdot brought her a new Hello Kitty coloring book. I treasure every moment like that because we are so lucky to be able to share such mundane but beautiful times together.
For several weeks now Adam has half seriously and half jokingly wondered whether Campbell has a mild case of OCD - at least when it comes to cleanliness. I've shared before how a glass of spilled milk is literally something over which she cries. . . One of her favorite playtime activities is to get out one wipe (sometimes her skillful negotiation will result in a second) that she uses to clean anything and everything in sight from her babies to the floor or the table or the couch or her hands . . . . Coloring is another favorite past time but that too leads to negotiations over how many wipes can be used to clean the specks of ink off her fingers.
I am beginning to think Adam may be onto something with the OCD thing. I have my own OCD compulsions - the Trivial Pursuit pieces must be put in the pies according to the color scheme on the board, books must be arranged neatly according to size on the shelf, board games must be put back into the box with all the pieces color sorted and in their respective bins, bags or compartments. So I guess Campbell having inherited some of those OCD tendencies isn't totally crazy. Though her obsession with cleaning she definitely didn't get from either of her parents. That particular OCD gene must skip a generation and could easily have come from either or both of her grandmothers.
Last night Campbell and I ate dinner with my parents. During dinner Dotdot spilled her tea - twice (If it weren't biologically impossible I would wonder if she were pregnant!) and twice Campbell erupted into tears until she was fully convinced that the mess had been cleaned and things were "all better." After dinner Campbell helped Peepaw put the dishes in the dishwasher and then she spotted the bubbles as he started washing the pots by hand. Bubbles are one of her favorite things and Peepaw thrilled her by putting a handful of bubbles on her palms. Campbell then made a mess of smearing handful after handful of suds on her face and hands and the counter and just about anything she could reach.
Of course, once the sink no longer provided a supply of suds Little Miss Clean Freak had to wash the counter and dishwasher and floors where her discarded suds lay. Yes, she was cleaning up soap from cleaning the dishes. Okay, there is little doubt, my child is OCD.
I was raised to be thankful for all that I have to give to those less fortunate. Since becoming a Mommy instilling that same moral code into Campbell's make-up has been a priority of mine. As such I have made a point to get her charitable gifts at Christmas and make donations to St. Jude as a way of being thankful for her health. These are all efforts that go unnoticed thus far but that create a pattern - a lifestyle to which I can point back to when teaching her later. In that vein I am undertaking two new charitable projects . . .
The first is one that I have long wanted to do, several of my friends have done but that I have failed on in multiple attempts in the past - that being to grow my hair out for Locks of Love. My hair grows unbelievably slow! And not being the most patient person on earth I have given up about halfway to that seemingly unattainable 10 inches before. So, I'm thinking if I announce my goal here then I can't back out again.
The second undertaking is my participation in the upcoming March for Babies. The March for Babies is an annual fundraiser for the March of Dimes. Like my now annual donation to St. Jude, my desire to help out the March of Dimes is a direct result of how overwhelmingly lucky I feel to have a perfectly beautiful and healthy little girl. Unfortunately not everyone is so lucky and it seems to me only fair that I do all I can to help those who are not as fortunate. (And I have to admit that the superstitious side of me is also calmed somewhat by the hope that this helps even the scales and buys me some more good fortune when it comes to Campbell's safety and well-being.)
The Danville March for Babies is May 9. Shana and I have started a team, if you are in the area and would like to join our team let me know. If you can't come walk but want to help me raise money in honor of Campbell's health and our good fortune you can donate to my walk fund by clicking the link below. If you want to find a walk in your area and raise money on your own you can do so by visiting Marchforbabies.org.
