It's All In The Blood

You know you are a Campbell when...

And the Blogging Continues...

This one will be short and sweet. While going through iPhoto I noticed that my son and I have a similar picture past time....

Not the Child but the Helmet

Thanks to my nifty rule about the one giving birth getting to name the child we have a Derek. I find it slightly amusing that Jason used to joke (at least I hope it was a joke) that if we had a boy he would name him Helmut. Fast forward two and a half years and our son is obsessed with helmets. It started on a trip to Target when my husband put a T-ball helmet on Derek's head. He stumbled around looking like a bobble-head the whole time (it was pretty heavy) and loved every minute of it. He has been talking about helmets ever since and this past Sunday he stood at the door to the garage telling me "Mom..go...bue hemut." He went so far as to take me by the hand, lead me to the door and tell me to get in the car. I figured why not? What a great way to celebrate the last day of Spring Break. I do not think I have ever turned down an excuse to go to Target.

So off we went. We looked at every helmet/hat they had. Baseball souvenir helmets, T-ball, Bicycle, Fireman, Construction and everything in between in every color. We narrowed it down to three bike helmets (Dora, Batman and Spider man) a Rangers helmet and a Black gladiator/knight helm. Further elimination brought us to the pink and purple Dora helmet and the black and silver helm. I told him to try on both head accoutrements, then he had me model them so he could assess the "cool" factor I suppose. He made his choice and wore it the rest of the day as evidenced by the pictures below. You will notice that he is displaying the many ways a hat of this magnitude of coolness can be worn.

Jabberwocky

Some parents might get tired of hearing their children babbling non-stop but not this momma. Hearing Derek's little voice is music to my ears; even when I've heard "white truck/blue truck" for three solid days.

Derek's vocabulary is over 60 words now and while he is still considered as being behind for his age he is adding new words every week. He was putting two words together but last month he started in with three words which is a huge step and his therapist is really impressed with his progress.

The beautiful weather inspired the hubby and I to do some much needed almost spring cleaning in the study. Derek "helped" and entertained us all day. At one point I was up on the ladder dusting when Derek told me he wanted milk. I turned and asked Jason if he could go get it. Derek tapped my foot and said "No, mom do it." Jason and I just sat there shocked for a second. It was the first structured sentence we have heard. Usually he would just start crying and run for me. Now that he is able to communicate what he wants the tantrums and head banging have all but stopped. We still have a run of the mill two year old fit every now and again but nothing like what we were experiencing.

Other exciting firsts; Derek ate his first hamburger today. It was not a plain kids burger either. He passed on the chicken nuggets I got for him and he ate almost half of my mushroom swiss burger with sauteed onions. His food preferences never cease to amaze me. I hope he will stay this adventurous.

Cute Derek-isms:
When he asks for milk he has started to be very specific. It's either "white milk" or choc-choc milk"
His version of No: "Mo!" It can be short, long, screamed or cried but it is hard not to laugh when he says it.
Blue/white truck come? (asking when they are coming back) and Blue/white truck home? (have they gone home) and of course, the hourly favorite: drive blue/white truck (this statement is accompanied with the driving sign)

So valued readers, I have given you two new posts to enjoy. Now that we are getting our home projects completed I am hoping to have more time to blog. Please do not give up on me. :-)

Snow Day - Take 2

You might notice that the jacket he is wearing in these pictures is the same from last year's pictures. The difference? A happy baby man. Once he was convinced to put on his hat and mittens (I barely got the mittens on him), white fluffy snow fun ensued. I actually had him out on one of the "lesser" snow days. The sun was shining and Derek really enjoyed running around and kicking the snow. I tried to get him interested in snow balls and a snow man but better luck next year. It was hard to get a good picture of him because he barely stopped moving. When he would stop, I would get about two seconds of "Cheeseeeee" then off he went again. The first picture is evidence of this fact. You can see my tracks all over the place from having to chase him down. ha ha Good times.

Volkswagen Commercial: The Force

Family Pictures - 2010

My extremely talented friend, Dawn Michelle was kind enough to take family pictures of us this past year. Something that I don't think has happened for more than two decades. She captured some exceptional pictures of David and Catherine. Catherine's hair is amazing.

Sorry Mom, I know you did not want me to post pictures of you....