Cameron and Riley do not get along all the time, but most of the time they are a good match.
Riley pays attention to everything Cameron does, and Cameron generously shares her experience and knowledge.
Riley will try anything and Cameron is very proud when he is successful. Mommy and Daddy are very lucky.
Riley is also practicing his writing. He is not yet practicing letters instead he spend the days writing on whatever looks like it needs some color or artwork, like the large box in his classroom. It took hours to get all the marker off of him and it was the end of his shirt.
But some of his friends did not have this problem. Riley is a big helper in his classroom, and he helped his friends clean the markers from their hands. He especially likes to help Josie who is his special friend.
But he is not really much interested in the arts. He is also learning some math skills and taking on engineering challenges. He organizes all the tools (by size) and is especially enjoying building. With some help from the older children they built an obstacle course and had all the kids climbing through the caves.
But he would not be a typical 2010 toddler if he wasn't embracing technology. You can see that he enjoys taking pictures and anything electronic within his range will become a goal. I'll share some of his photos in future postings. Its hard to believe he will be two in a few months...
The Harvest Mouse class is filled with lots of learnings. Water play has gotten more sophisticated as the kids learned to measure and suspend tools from the ceiling. Cameron has to figure out how much water it will take to push items through the maze of pipes and tubes. 
But that is not the only measuring happening in Harvest Mouse. The measuring tapes are getting lots of use measuring everything from books, to furniture, to kids, and distance the to the ceiling. 
The most exciting is the practice of writing letters. Cameron is getting better and better at writing her letters. Her favorite letters are "C", "H", and of course "T" for Tim and Turtle.
Additionally her concentration has really improved and she is beginning to play games with her classmates. She still won't play with Mommy at home, but the her maturity is exciting to watch develop. 
We had a fun filled weekend with the Onufers. We kicked it off visiting the San Francisco zoo with Aunt Juliet, Uncle Greg, and Grandpa. Cameron really enjoyed seeing the peacocks and Riley liked the prairie dogs (mostly their tunnels) and turtles. 
There were lots of fun mirrors and the merry-go-round was beautiful. Cameron picked the perfect horse and asked Grandpa to ride with her. It was a really fun day and when it was over Cameron fell asleep on the sofa while we discussed dinner plans.
We also went exploring the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Riley always enjoys the aquarium, he has since he was an infant. The kids made pictures, watched the divers in the big tanks, and played in the children's play area.
It was a very special visit and Cameron especially loved showing Grandpa her classroom and sharing a story. She talked about her Grandpa for weeks and created pictures of her and Grandpa at school on a regular basis. Everyone in her class can tell stories about him. 
Mommy has been waiting to go skiing for more than 5 years!!! For our new years trip the entire family decided to go to Mammoth. Daddy drove with PJ, and Tim/Turtle, Mommy, Cameron and Riley took the new flights from San Jose into the Mammoth airport. It was a perfect flight and only took 45 minutes from takeoff to playing in the snow.
Riley was really excited to see snow for the first time. As soon as he got out of the airport he went straight to the snow. When we got to the condo it was time to really explore. PJ was thrilled and ran all over the place, climbed in the snow bank, tackled the snowman, and dug for pinecones. Cameron and Riley buried Tim, made snow balls, tasted the snow, and climbed the snow bank.
Then it was time to ski. It was Tim/Turtle's first time at Mammoth and the conditions were excellent. We explored both the north and south side of the mountain. Cameron wouldn't ski the first day, but the second day she agreed to try it. 
It was so fun to watch her ski down the bunny slope. Its a lot harder in toddler ski school because they have to pick up the skis and walk back to the top. She did meet a few friends who also didn't think it was fair to not have a chair lift. We had a great time and can't wait until we can ski again. Will we ever get back to the 20+ days of skiing pre 2005?
We tried to get Cameron's grown up bed before the new year, but alas its finally arrived. It took a long time to get it put together correctly, but Cameron was very good at supervising the work and was very opinionated about its construction.
When it was done, Cameron invited her friends to enjoy the upper deck and there were official tea parties hosted on the main floor. The slide is super fast and there are lots of rules to all castle games (to insure safety), but the new bed is definitely a success. If you want to know how she likes it, just ask her about her "castle bed" or come for a visit. Cameron, is so proud to show off her "grown up" bed. 
Christmas doesn't start as early as I remember. When you have a 3 and 1 year old, they don't realize that waking up early is a requirement on Christmas morning. As they slept in, I waited patiently for the fun to start. At about 10 am it did.
Of course the first thing Cameron spotted was Corinne from the Three Musketeers dress. She immediately put it on before exploring any of her other gifts. Once she was in it, she was ready to get to her other gifts.
Riley too enjoyed the opening of the presents. The sweet thing about a 1 year old, is every toy should be played with immediately. I thought it was going to take until New Years to get through all of his gifts. I never realized how impatient I actually was. In the end we got through all of them and he was thrilled with the great toys he received from Santa, family, and Mommy & Daddy.
Once the presents were done, we had to get dinner ready. Riley and Uncle Greg were put in charge of the mashed potatoes. These were the best potatoes we've ever had. I'm pretty sure there were a couple of pounds of butter. 
We had a great day and were very thankful to have such a great day with our family and the people we love. 
Cameron started watching Barbie movies. The Three Musketeers was quite a hit and we've been hearing about Corinne for months, but while traveling she saw Barbie Nutcracker. Cameron became enchanted with Clara so it seemed perfect to plan an outing so see the Nutcracker ballet this season. San Jose Ballet does a children's matinee and we decided to coordinate a fieldtrip with her class before the holidays. When we arrived the Nutcracker, Clara, and the Rat king were out greeting guests. There was no way that any of the children would go greet the characters, they were much bigger in person...
Once inside though, the Nutcracker figurines were not scary at all. It was very exciting to see the theater and the stage. When it started Cameron watched intensely. She was not found of the fireworks but she enjoyed the rats and the dancing. She especially liked when Clara danced with the Nutcracker. When it was over I let her pick out a commemorative xmas decoration for the tree. We had a really good time and can't wait to go again next year.
This week one of Cameron's classmates turned 4. For her b-day her parents decided the class would make cupcakes and have a party. Each child got a chef's hat and together they all made home-made cupcakes.
They followed a recipe and did all the measuring and mixing. They worked in teams and everyone got to measure in the different ingredients and then pour the batter into their own cupcake mold. They let them bake and after lunch and rest period the fun really began.
The class came back together to have a decorating party. There were lots of different decorations including candy, and different colored frostings. After decorating your own cupcake each child received a box to bring it home in. The leftovers were ate on the spot, of course after singing Happy Birthday. It was a unique party and Cameron was really excited to tell us about it at the end of the day.
Today, Daddy needed a day off. So Mommy planned to take Cameron and Riley to the Palo Alto Jr Children's museum and zoo. Lucky for Mommy and the kids, Tim came along too. The museum was good fun. We played Plinko for a long time and Riley really liked to explore the experiments. In the above picture he was controlling the water flow which was creating electricity. More fun that than was the maze where the tennis balls were carried and pushed through tubes, up ramps, etc.
We went out to the zoo and some of the exhibits were under construction. We spent a long time staring at the raccoon who can't see well (maybe that's why he didn't realize it was day time and he should be asleep). We wanted to see the bobcats but they were hiding. As Tim was telling Cameron and Riley we wouldn't be able to see the cats today one of the workers walked by and said "Sure you can, I'll be right back." He went into the cage and the cats came out to greet him. He brought them to the window and Cameron and Riley squeeled with delight. I'm positive this would only have happened with Tim and his special powers with us. ;-)
Cameron had a great time too. She liked everything but the goose, but thats okay, she bites (the goose that is). It was a nice simple afternoon and Daddy enjoyed his break even though all he did was work. Boo Work!
We typically enjoy Thanksgiving in New Orleans every other year. This was our year. We flew in for a long weekend with the family and what a time to visit. The city was in a party mood and the kids got to spend lots of time with their cousins. Of course its New Orleans so we enjoyed sitting out in the yard in the new swing.
It didn't take too long for the kids to warm up to their cousins. We enjoyed several outings including a visit to the Aquarium of the Americas. Riley loves aquariums and this was a great one. All the kids got to feed the rays although Riley and Cameron were really into the ray taking the fish so they mostly just dropped the sardines in the water.
The Saints are having a great year so of course there was lots of football to talk about, learn about, watch, listen to, play,..... did I mention talk about, learn about, hear about, etc etc etc. Cameron did enjoy playing the game with her cousin. She was better than I expected. He older cousin Sean who just turned 21 was there and he made sure the kids knew what to do and played fair.
Did we mention we watched a lot of football too? Aunt Heather made Cameron a Saints dress and she wore it all over town. There were lots of comments and cheers for her dress, she loved it.
We also made it out to the French Quarter for a day. We started at Cafe Du Monde where we met up with our Aunt Yvette, Uncle Troy, and cousin Sean as they were headed out of town. We walked around Jackson square enjoying the shops and St Louis cathedral. We saw the Archibishop and then we enjoyed lunch at Muriels (the best lunch I've had in a long time). We then took a French Quarter tour in one of the horse drawn buggies. Although I've lived there my entire life (prior to CA) this was the first time I'd taken a formal tour. It was cool.
Harvest Mouse is Cameron's new class. The teachers have been introducing games. They started playing lots of different games including sports. Cameron is a pretty good soccer player, even in her dress. They learned about rules, taking turns, following directions, and the various different equipment for games (pieces, dice, spinners, etc). Once they learned the concept of games, the kids started creating their own games. Cameron's game has a princess...... oh and a castle.
Game design has not taken the place of the more traditional activities in the class. Cameron still makes sure the babies are well cared for and they continue to decorate the new room with their art work. The class did start an unusual garden. They are growing mushrooms. Another students family shared with the class the tradition of growing their own mushrooms. The entire classroom planted several boxes and over the next few weeks will water and monitor the mushrooms. The plan at the end is to have a mushroom celebrations where we will harvest them and serve them at a party. Its going to be great!
