Family Friday: 21 Months Old

For Cameron's 21 month photos, we went to the Wahiawa Botanical Garden... twice, which is why you'll see Cam wearing different shoes in these photos.  The first time (the pink shoes) we went with a sweet friend and we had a great time exploring but I didn't get any photos that I could use for her monthly number photo (notice all the scowls with the pink shoes below).  She and I went back the very next day (the white shoes - she insisted) and got the photo above within the first 5 minutes.

The Wahiawa Botanical Garden is in the town of Wahiawa, near the center of Oahu.  It is free admission and open daily from 9am - 4pm. The garden is 26 acres but only a small part of that is stroller and wheelchair friendly.  The rest of the garden has steep ramps, stairs, and uneven surfaces that would be more fun to explore with older children than a toddler.  The flat main area of the garden is gorgeous with wide paved pathways.  There is a large variety of plants and trees with plenty of shade, making it an enjoyable place to visit.

At 21 months old, Cameron is wearing size 4 diapers and mostly size 2T clothing.  She just barely fits into her size 5 shoes, starting to fit into size 6 now.

CC's sleeping schedule is still consistent. She is in bed by 7:30 and sleeps for 12+ hours.  She also takes one 2 hour nap a day in the afternoon.  We always put her to bed with some dolls of her choice, a couple of board books, and a couple of pacifiers.  She reads the books before falling asleep and when she wakes up, she happily plays with her dolls and reads until we go in to get her.  She has been crying less at bedtime lately, and has even told me when it was nap time a few times now!

When CC is tired, she throws tantrums.  She hits things, throws things, gets clingy, cries, and does things purposefully to get my attention.  The tantrums don't really bother me and don't last long because I know they are simply her way of telling me that she needs sleep or at least quiet time to rest.  She is always a different child after a nap.

Cameron eats four times a day (three meals and one scheduled snack) with no snacking in-between. Because of this, she eats really well at meal times.  She drinks a lot of water throughout the day but still won't drink milk or juice.  She does enjoy drinking thick liquids like fruit smoothies and Naked Juice.

Cameron has mastered drinking out of a real cup in the past week.  We have been using Avent Natural Drinking Cups for months now which drink like a cup but are non-spill.  At first it was easiest for her to drink out of a very full cup which allowed her to tilt her head down instead of tilting the cup up.  It took her a few days to figure out how much to tilt the cup up to avoid spilling the water or pouring it up her nose.  Now, she can easily drink regardless of how much liquid is in the cup.  We have the Munchkin Multi Cups which are the perfect size for her little hands and mouth.

Cameron talks constantly and is very expressive with her tone of voice.  She mostly speaks in her own language but at least once a day, a perfect English sentence comes out!  For example, today she was eating dinner and she looked at me and said "Mama, where's daddy?" perfectly clear and understandable!  The other day we were walking and came to a parked car that was sticking out onto the sidewalk.  Dulce and I walked around but Cam stopped, looked at the car, patted it, and said "'scuse me" before walking around it!  It seriously blows my mind when she does this - it's like a translator switch was flipped in her brain and makes her speak another language.

Cameron understands so much and she is understanding in two languages! My Spanish is limited but I've been consistent with it since she was born and it's paying off.  For example, I can ask either "Where is the dog?" or "Donde esta el perro?" and she will answer either one without missing a beat.  Her first official Spanish word is agua (water).  She asks for agua to drink and points out agua whenever she sees it.

Cameron also sings all the time.  She sometimes makes up random melodies but usually sings her favorite song - the Barney "I love you, you love me" song.  Many times when I'm sitting on the ground, she'll come up behind me, wrap her arms around me, and sway me side to side while she sings the Barney song to me - it's seriously the sweetest. thing. ever!

Just to clarify... the Barney song as sung by Cameron goes something like this:
na, na, na
na, na, ne
uh, uh, uh
na, na, na

I need to get it on video one of these days :)

Cameron loves her dolls!  She has a favorite baby doll (Hasbro Baby Alive Luv N Snuggle) and a favorite stuffed animal (Barney).  She pretends to feed them and give them drinks, she pretends they cry (she makes a fake cry sound) so she can pick them up and comfort them, and she puts them in her shopping cart and pushes them around.  It's so cute to watch and makes me extra aware of how I treat her because she's using that as an example as how to treat her baby dolls!

Cameron's hair is growing and getting lighter!  Thankfully it is really easy to care for.  Once it is wet, it drys naturally into curls.  I wash it every second or third bath (unless it is needed sooner) and comb it with a fine-toothed comb to get every knot out.  In between washes, I spritz it with water and use a wide-tooth comb.  We recently got some detangle spray to use as needed which works pretty well.

I really, truly love being Cameron's mom and I really feel successful at it now.  I am a much better mother now than I was when she was little.  I do not miss those tiny baby days at all, nor do I wish that time would slow down now.  I am so excited for each day that CC grows, changes, and learns new things.  I love watching her develop into the person she's going to be, and I feel blessed that I can travel alongside her on that journey.

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"Treat a child as though he already is the person he's capable of becoming."

~ Haim Ginott