Camillie Bean

Let's do a catch-up of my little bean. She's 3 years old, so she's testing all the limits and pushing all the boundaries. Plus, she's a big sass. But despite this not-so-fun phase, I still have a really soft spot in my heart for Camille. I don't know why, but it's a little different than my love for Brooke and Jack. From the moment Camille was born, I felt this immediate connection with her. And up until about a year ago, she was kind of a mamma's girl. She's pretty solidly Daddy's girl, now. But ... phases, and all of that. I'm sure she'll come back around to me eventually, and then round back out to Dad again. Such is life.

But I digress. Camille is still a little petite thing. But she's talking a lot and certainly has opinions about things. She and Brooke are almost constant playmates, and they really love each other and hanging out together. Camille loves to build things with our big blocks, either the wooden ones or the connecting ones. She likes to read with Mamma, but isn't quite as into books as Brooke always was. She loves making messes right now, particularly with foodstuffs. Honey. Peanut butter. Flour. Cheese. Crackers. Tortillas. Tortilla chips. RAISINS. Really, anything she can get at, she'll get out and eat/leave it laying around the house everywhere. Today, for example, she got down the containers of flour and brown sugar. I came downstairs to find the house dusted with flour, and there was a fun little mixture on the floor of brown sugar and flour. Also, there was about 2 inches of flour in the top of the brown sugar container (*face palm*).

Camille loves to be in the kitchen with me, especially when Brooke is in there with me (like I said, they follow each other around). But she doesn't necessarily like to help with cooking and baking. Mainly, she likes to play in the sink with the water and dirty dishes. She likes pouring water into different containers and using up ALL the dish soap to "clean" things up. She's in a real messy stage of life (I wonder if this is a hint of things to come): making messes with food, water, herself. She's the messiest eater I've ever experienced. And she doesn't have any interest in doing her chores or helping to clean up the messes that she makes. Unless, of course, I'm helping her and prompting and prodding her every step of the way.

She and Brooke have really loved playing outside in the last few months, since it's started cooling down. They love to go "exploring" around the house and in the bushes behind our house. They also both love to ride their bikes. Camille has been using the little yellow strider that used to be Brooke's. And she's getting pretty fast on that thing, kinda like how Brooke did.

I love how Camille calls me "Mommy"; not "Mom", or "Momma". Mommy. I love how she calls Elephants "braloos" ... not as much anymore, at this point. But that's all she'd call them. It killed me. I love how she's such a snuggler, but only on her terms. She's like a cat. She totally does her own thing all the time, but she still needs attention now and then, so she'll come when she needs attention and snuggle and play. I love how she's spunky and sassy. She doesn't seem to care what anyone thinks. So, if I ask her to do something, and she doesn't want to do it, she usually won't. Whereas, Brooke is like a dog, always in your face, wanting attention, wanting to please and doing most things that I ask.

I love how Camille loves her little friend, Jonesy. He's a little boy in nursery with her, and he's about 4 months older than her, and she just LOVES him! She's always talking about hanging out with Jonesy, playing with Jonesy, what Jonesy is up to... It's seriously adorable. She also has this thing with her cousin Brixton. She sort of obsesses over him too.

Camille has also been obsessing over all things the Lion King. We listen to that (and Moana) nonstop at our house, it seems. Ever since we got the Amazon Echo, the girls have been bossing Alexa around and telling her to play music, mostly these two. But they, and especially Camille, loves to play Lion King, too.

Now that Camille's talking so much better, she talks a whole lot! She and Brooke always seem to be competing for listening ears, although since Brooke is older and more articulate, she tends to overpower Camille. I've been trying to be better about shushing Brooke when Camille is trying to talk.

I love my little petite princess! I love being with her, and observing how cute she is, and I have a hard time not kissing her sweet little dimples right off of her face.