Cam and Fin lately

So we are now the proud owners of a three year old and a one year old.  I'm not sure how that happened.

As much as I hate that my kids are growing up so fast, I love watching their personalities develop and seeing their relationship with each other grow.  When I look at Camden and Finley, all I can think about is how blessed we are that God picked us to be their parents.  He knows our hearts so well and our kids are a complete reflection of that.

They have such a cute dynamic going between the two of them.  They are completely smitten with each other but also drive each other nuts.  Yesterday Camden fell asleep on the couch after school and had some of his beloved cars next to him along with his stuffed dog, "Ralphie."  We have tons of Matchbox cars and Finley isn't usually interested in them but yesterday she HAD to have the ones Cam had.  As soon as she realized he was asleep, she loaded his cars into her doll stroller, slipped Ralphie out of Cam's hands and into her stroller next to the cars, and drank his whole cup of milk.  Then she gave him a kiss on the cheek and took off.  Pretty typical.

Camden used to be successful with the bait-and-switch technique (Finley has a toy he wants so he gives her something in one hand while he takes the targeted toy out of her other hand), but she has become wise to his ways so his attempts are usually futile.  He's usually pretty good about just moving on and finding something to play with that's not in Finley's little death grip, but there are times when he's had enough and wrestles her to the ground takes it away.  There is usually a lot of melodramatic crying and a time-out involved but they go back to playing together pretty quickly.

They tend to always gravitate towards each other and really do love being together.  Cam went through a phase where we had to block off the stairs with a gate so he couldn't get to Finley's room when she was napping because he would go in and wake her up so they could play.  Even if they aren't playing together, they are usually right next to each other.  They also randomly hug each other on a regular basis and it's pretty darn cute.  I'm so glad they have each other and I hope they are always close.

I know better than to say that I am going to do something regularly on my blog,  but I am going to try do a little update on each of them every month or so.  Knowing my track record with my blog, they will probably be graduating from college the next time I do this, but here goes...

Camden

• He turned three at the beginning of March and seems more like a little boy than a toddler now.  I wish I could still call him a toddler.  Maybe I will until someone tells me it's weird.  Which is probably now.
• He is talking constantly.  In full sentences.  And has started asking lots and lots and lots of questions. 
• He loves music and is usually signing or pretending to play the drums.  His current favorite songs are "The Wheels on the Bus," the theme from Bubble Guppies, "Jesus Loves Me," and some random song he made up about grandpas and fire trucks.
• He still LOVES anything with wheels and can tell you the names of every type of vehicle on the road.  Did you know that a tractor trailer pulling multiple trailers is called a "road train"?  I did not until he told me (it really is called a road train--his kindle book about trucks says so).
• He is really into pretend play.  Sometimes I think he really thinks he's a train conductor:)
• When we are driving somewhere, he can tell where we are going based on what street we are on or what we are passing.  
• He has a great sense of humor and loves making people laugh.  
• He is super strong and can climb anything.  Too bad he has my fear of heights because usually once he gets up on something, he wants to get down immediately.  
• He loves to read and is starting to recognize words.  He can also spell his name.
• He is still really into drawing and coloring.  He is starting to draw pictures that actually look like what he's trying to draw.  He also loves to draw on his easel while he tells a story.  That makes my little nerdy teacher heart happy:)  
• I've had a few people ask me if we are going to try growth hormone with him, so here is my answer to that:  No, we aren't.  Even though it's been shown to be somewhat effective with kids that have his type of dwarfism, often times it can cause their disproportion to become even more obvious.  Hypo effects the long bones in his arms and legs, but doesn't have any effect on his torso.  Growth hormone may help the bones in his arms and legs grow, but it would also do the same for his torso, so he may end up a little taller but with the same proportions.  It works well for some kids with hypo, but Camden isn't an ideal candidate for it because he has such a long torso to begin with.  There is also a lot of uncertainty surrounding the side effects of growth hormone in kids with hypo (increased risk for developing diabetes, cancer, heart disease, etc.) and it's enough for us to opt out of trying it.  He is already at risk for those things because of family history and we can't justify putting him at an even higher risk to gain a few inches.  (Other hypo mamas...I don't want to come off sounding like we think growth hormone treatment is bad--it's just not right for Camden!)

Finley Blair

• We get asked often if we had always planned to call Finley by her first and middle names (which we do regularly).  No, but we love her name and it just kind of seems natural.  She also answers to Sissy, Poots Magoots (Poots for short--I know, she's going to love hearing about that when she gets older), Finny Bear, Finny, and Fin.  Hopefully she won't introduce herself as Poots in the future.
• She loves to cuddle with stuffed animals.  I've also caught her snuggling up to our fuzzy bath mat (seriously).
• She is talking a ton.  Right now she says mama, dada, Dede (Camden), cat, bird, tweet tweet, milk, dog, more, yay, that, hi, no, bouncy, dance, yes and bye.  She's also tells us little stories that we can't understand and then nods at us like we should agree with her.  
• She LOVES to dance.  
• When she's getting ready to do something she knows she should't do, she says "no" and shakes her head as she's doing it.  
• She is also a climber like Cam but unfortunately, she doesn't have my fear of heights and scares me to death on a regular basis.  We've tried to block off everything we think she can climb but she amazes us daily with her monkey skills.  
• She can eat all 3 of us under the table.  It's so funny watching someone so dainty eat as much as she does.  Her favorite foods right now are cheese, hard boiled eggs (ew), avocado, and yogurt.  She is also having a little love affair with sliced cucumbers.
• She is getting better about not flailing around when she gets her diaper changed, but its still a challenge.  Don't even ask me how I get her hair in pig tails.  Let's just say it's part of my fitness plan.
• Speaking of pig tails, it's pretty much our only hair style option at the moment because her hair is really long on top and not so long on the sides.  If her hair is down, it's in her eyes and if it's in a little pony tail on top, it sticks out on the sides a la Bozo the clown.  
• She loves toys that you can put things in (like this piggy bank) or toys that have pieces that fit together.  I think she's going to like puzzles like her mama. 
• She is WALKING finally!  She's been cruising since she could pull up at 7 months but didn't take her first steps until this week.  She is a really fast crawler, so walking just hasn't gotten her where she wants to go fast enough for her to commit.