Seven Years

Seven years ago we flew to Chicago and laid eyes on the cutest 8 month old boy. Since I've used those airport pictures over and over, I decided to pull out a few from his first week home instead.

His first bath. Yes, in the sink. He screamed bloody murder when we tried to put him in the bathtub, but he loved the sink.

One of my all-time favorite pictures. He did not sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time during the first few days so I would take the first shift and then Brian would take over at 3:00 a.m.

He always smiled with his tongue out.

Yes, he's leaning in for a kiss after being home just a couple of days. He's always been an affectionate kid and it started just a few days after he came home.

And a few things about Camden today:

Finally made it to 50 lbs soaking wet, fully dressed, with shoes. . . and couldn't be happier about it.

Loves, loves, loves all things Star Wars and can describe every single character in excruciating detail.

Seriously loves food. Every thing he eats is the best he's ever had. For example: when I asked what I could cook for him tonight, he could not make up his mind because he likes it all.

Well, everything except cinnamon. Seriously, who doesn't like cinnamon?

I think he might be a comic book artist when he grows up. He creates intricate drawings and has recently started adding bubble conversations to them. The first time we noticed it, there was a bubble coming out of an alien character that said, "I'm not afraid to use this thing." Brian and I had a good laugh over that one.

He leaves all those drawings on our pillows. He's learned that I clean the fridge off every Friday so he doesn't want to put it on the fridge because it will disappear. :) (Please tell me I am not the only parent that does not keep every single page their child ever colors or creates.)

He happened to see part of the news on Sunday afternoon and saw some of the war coverage on Libya. He immediately started drawing pictures then asked if we knew any soldiers that he could mail them to. He wrote sweet notes on them, and I'm going to mail them off this week.

His love language is most definitely quality time, although physical affection would probably come in second; he's a snuggler.

His room is a constant disaster, but on the top shelf of his bookshelf he keeps whatever is his current prized possession. Sometimes it's a paper from school, sometimes it's a Legos creation, etc.

He is fairly reserved, almost shy, when he talks to adults one on one, but put him on stage in front of alot of people and you'd never know he's nervous.

Has alot of fears: spiders, bugs, heights, new situations, etc. He also scares easily while watching movies although he's perfectly without fear when it comes to Darth Vader (who is much scarier than anything we've let him watch).

He's very cautious. It's entirely possible that's my fault, although I think it's more a personality trait than my babying him when he was younger.

He sleeps and sleeps hard. Still goes to bed at 7:30 (when there's no church or baseball) and I have to wake him at 6:45. Once he falls asleep, it's nearly impossible to wake him up. We've had some very funny moments trying, though.

He's a funny, quirky, smart, cute kid, and we're so happy to call him ours.