I am way behind on this post as Cameron is now almost 8.5, but oh well then I get to capture more of what he's like right now and what we don't want to forget. Back in September we hosted a really fun birthday party for Cameron and actually it was the first birthday party we've ever hosted at our house! It was ok though because we didn't have to try and manage 12 kids in our house. The party came to us in the form of a Video Game Truck! A couple friends have hosted parties with this and we thought "genius!" We didn't really have to do anything to entertain the kids--the truck did all that for us!
Basically a huge truck parked outside our house for 2 hours. Inside were tons of screens and any video game console a kid could want. Plus lots of comfy seating. The kids had tons of fun playing videos games and running around outside. They love the game truck because there are no limits--they basically can play all the games even the ones parents don't love like Fortnite. :) After the game truck left we had pizza and doughnuts in our garage and the kids ran around and played basketball until their parents came to pick them up. It was a really fun party and Cam had all his closest friends there which made it so special for him.
- Cameron is still our snuggler and deep feeler. He connects through touch and is very affectionate. He also has really big emotions and feelings which are sometimes hard for him to manage. But he is getting better at managing his emotions and using coping mechanisms to help calm himself down or just remove himself from the situation so he can take a breath. We're constantly working with him on that and he's getting much better at it with age. We hope he never stops being cuddly and affectionate!
- He has found more of his voice this year. We've had some good conversations and discussions with both boys over the last couple of months about social dynamics and relationships with friends or people at school. And Cameron has opened up a lot about things he's experiencing. He feels supported and validated by his family which has helped him to vocalize and ask for help with situations he's not sure how to navigate. He has a person in his class this year who is very challenging for everyone and is a bully. He and I had a joint conference with Ms. Barry his teacher back in December and he was able to communicate with her more openly about how that's impacted him and what his needs are. He was kind of afraid to communicate with her before that so that was an important milestone. And he comes to us often with updates on how the bully situation is going and asks for our help when needed. He and I have great connection talks at night before bed which is my favorite. He said to me the other day that he notices he's more talkative. I asked him why he thinks that is and he said it's because of Nathan--that he feels validation and confidence from his brother.
- Cameron and Nathan still definitely have their fights and disagreements, but they are such good buddies and really have such a special connection and bond with each other. They can just get on this unique wavelength with each other when they play and it's really fun to watch
- Both Cameron and Nathan are into making up fun games in the living room usually involving some kind of ball whether it's dodge ball, wall ball, throwing the football around, or some kind of imagination game. They can entertain themselves for hours (thank goodness!) and it's cool to see what they come up with. I have to exercise a lot of patience though because it often messes with the house decor! ;)
- Cameron got a hoverboard for Christmas 2022. He took to it very quickly and he is often riding it around the house as he and Nate are playing or even while he's doing his chores!
- Cameron's go to hobbie is still art. He uses drawing as a coping mechanism when he's upset. He loves to do Art for Kids Hub on YouTube in his free time. And many mornings I'll come in to wake him up and he's sitting up in his bed drawing something.
- His favorite sports right now are football, soccer, baseball, and basketball. This year he played soccer in the fall, he's skiing right now this winter and he'll be playing Little League this spring. He's still so naturally coordinated and good at sports it's really fun to watch him play all of them.
- Toys and activities Cameron is into right now: Legos, drawing, Nintendo Switch (Mario, Pokemon, Minecraft), Xbox (Fortnite, Rocket League, Madden football, Fifa soccer), puzzles, card games, playing catch with the football every second of the day, and occasionally he'll still pull out his action figures of dragons or super heroes.
- Cam still continues to impress us with his great fashion sense. For his birthday he got his first suit. He actually wore it to school the first or second week...with his Nike high tops! He loves to dress up and look nice and loves putting creative outfits together. He's a boy after my own heart!
- Because Cameron is so little, he often struggles with being cold. So one of his favorite things in the whole world is a hot tub! Too bad we don't have one at the house. But every trip we go on he requests a hotel with a hot tub. It is his happy place. :)
- Cameron's good friends right now are Devin, Keegan, Willa, Bella, Leiff, Alberto, Jackson, and Vander.
- Cameron has really improved in his reading the past year particularly in fluency and expanding his vocabulary. He likes to read graphic novels and picture books.
- Similar to Nate, Cameron loves making playlists of recent popular songs on his Spotify account. He blasts his music in the morning as he's getting ready or he belts it out when wearing his headphones.
