As of tonight, Cameron had not nursed since Sunday morning. It started last Friday, when he was getting to bed late and he wanted to read a book, and I told him he could choose between nursing and reading a book. He chose the book. Afterwards, of course, he wanted to nurse, too, but I reminded him of his choice, and he brushed his teeth and went to bed without incident. Every night since then, he has chosen the book, asked to nurse afterwards, and accepted my refusal.

Meanwhile, Saturday and Sunday morning he crawled into our bed and nursed -- not very usual anymore. I suppose it was as much for the coziness as anything, since the weather has gotten cooler. Monday and Wednesday I had to get up in the morning to go to work, Tuesday it was for the funeral, and today it was for the dentist, so he hasn't had a chance to nurse in the morning since Sunday.

Which has resulted in four and a half days of no milk leaving the mams. I was all set to make the "I think this might be it" post as soon as Cameron went to bed, but tonight he persisted, and I gave in. Bad inconsistent Mommy. I doubt he got much.

So, the process goes on.

Cameron has entered the tattling stage. Except, he has no one to tattle on. So he tattles on himself. He does something he is not supposed to, then announces, "Mommy, I picking my nose." Or, "Mommy, I standing on the couch." Or, "Mommy, I eating my cereal with my fingers." Etc. Usually I respond by asking, "Are you supposed to be doing that?" "No," he answers and (more often than not) stops the behavior -- for the next ten seconds, at least.

Yesterday, at 5:03pm, just about half an hour before I was to finish things up and go home to scarf down dinner and lead a sectional for my singing group, the fire alarm went off.

I managed to grab my music as I exited the building, but I didn't get to work on it much, because the head of the department came to tell me that T. is going to get a class next term! Yay! He said that, with the federal stimulus money coming in, he may actually get a second class, but for now he could only guarantee at least one.

This is super good news, not only because of the extra money coming in, but because the contract rules say that after six years of "consecutive" employment (i.e. at least one class each academic year), in the seventh year -- provided there is work available for him -- they have to offer him a three-year contract, and he moves up a rung on the layoff ladder. This is his sixth year.

T. was shocked and elated when I gave him the news.

And in tangentially related news, today I finally got over to the ( Montessori school. )

Anyhow, so I am rather hopeful about all that. And now, I'd better get to writing my quizzes and earning my 91% around here.

Tonight Cameron asked to "nurse with Daddy" to go to bed. This is the first time he has asked for this at night, as opposed to naptime which has been a Daddy thing for a couple weeks now.

Of course, today was a day care day, so it may be that he is just requesting Daddy because he didn't get his naptime at home. Or, it could mean The End. So, just in case it is the latter, I wanted to note it here.

Cameron can now count by 5's up to 100. (He says, "I'm gonna count from 5's.")

He also knows the Monkey book by heart and can recite the whole thing start to finish. We've caught several decent takes of it on video; one of these days I'll pick the best one and post it, but that could be a while.

That's all for now.

I've heard that around Cameron's age kids start asking, "Why? Why? Why?" all the time, not because they really understand what it means but because they have discovered that it's a great way to get grownups to respond to them.

Cameron's started to do that in his own way, not by asking "Why?" but by asking, "What does [thing I've just mentioned] start with?" Sample conversation:

Me: "We're going to Meeting and WinCo today."
Him: "What does WinCo 'tart with?"
Me: "W."
Him: (pretending to guess how to spell it) "W-E..." (E is his favorite letter these days. Who knows why.)
Me: "W-I..."
Him: "W-I-E..."
Me: "No, W-I-N-C-O."
Him: "What does that 'pell?"
Me: "WinCo."
Him: "Oh. WinCo 'tarts with W."
Me: "That's right."
Him: "W-E..."

And at this point I start to get a little tired of the conversation. So to change the subject, I say, "If you want to go to WinCo you'd better get your shoes on."

Him: "What does shoes 'tart with?"

Sigh. I love my child, but another year of this could get old. :-P

Friday night the on-campus housing at Fresno State had a Halloween Thing with door-to-door trick-or-treating at the dorm and some other activities. This proved to be just Cameron's speed. He loved running up and down the hallways, and he was able to say, "Twicka tweet" on cue, hold out his bag, and say "Hank you" (with some reminders). Now, of course, he is obsessed with candy and every hour says, "I want candy!" Sigh. I guess it had to start sometime.

Yesterday, Saturday, there was a free swim party at the swim center. Only rub: it was during nap time. But, I thought, he's been starting to resist naps lately; why not give it a shot? So, for the first time ever, we purposely, on purpose, in a pre-meditated way, planned a day that did not include a nap.

It went great. He didn't seem cranky or wiped out at all. He had a blast. I managed to get him into bed at 7:30pm (a good hour and a half ahead of usual), and he slept quite well, AFAICT.

I, too, hit the hay early; I was out by 10:30 or so. Add that to the extra hour from the time change, and I was feeling quite refreshed by 7:00 (new time) this morning. Cameron had been up for an hour already since we didn't bother changing his clock yet. We got to Meeting and Kathie, who usually watches the kids, didn't show up. Cameron was a perfect angel, just standing quietly in the next room where I could see him for nearly the full hour. I wonder, I thought, whether he might still be a bit tired from yesterday?

Sure enough, after Meeting we went to WinCo as usual, and then HE FELL ASLEEP ON THE WAY HOME. Which he has not done in at least a year. And even more unusual, HE IS STILL ASLEEP as I write this. He did not stir when we got home, so I just took a page out of the baby Cameron days and brought my laptop out to the garage, where I noted with satisfaction that the wireless works. Cool!

So I guess he's not quite ready to give up naps for good yet. Thank goodness.

I fear Cameron might be about to give up his naps. Oh noooooes!! We're still trying to put him to bed at 1 or 1:30 or so, and he dutifully stays in his room till 3:30, but I hear an awful lot of thumping and bumping in there till at least 2:00, and then again starting at 2:45. Right now it is 2:25 and he just now quieted down. And this is after a Very Big Day yesterday.

( Very Big Day )

Did he sleep in today? Not a chance! He was up before we were, ready for a huge breakfast of french toast, a trip to the elevators, a huge picnic lunch, and an energetic game of "run to me" that got us all the way back to the car. Home, and then the aforementioned hour of wakefulness before finally resting his eyelids.

On the upside, it will make scheduling things easier, not having to work around siesta time. I hope I can keep up.

One of Cameron's favorite things to do with T. is to "look at the numbers on Mommy's computer" while I'm away at work. T. opens up a text window and sets the font to Really Big, and C. types away. Numbers (his latest is counting by twos, either evens or odds), words, etc. He knows where the backspace and return keys are and what they do.

And he knows how to use the mouse. It took him a very long time to notice the pointer on the screen; he would be sitting on my lap, and I'd point to something with the mouse, and ask, "What's that?" and he didn't seem to realize that I was pointing at anything specific. Now he has not only figured that out but can move the mouse to a specific area on the screen and click. Ha!

His favorite web site is, of course, this one. He knows how to set the timer for whatever time he wants and start and stop the countdown. Scary.

This morning I said to Cameron, "Today is Saturday! Mommy doesn't have to go to work today!" Whereupon he gave me a huge hug, just wanted to be in my arms for some minutes. Awwww... Getting a spontaneous hug from Cameron is just the best thing ever. Several times today, actually, he has asked for hugs and kisses and for me to pick him up. Poor guy; I've been gone a lot the last few weeks.

On the other hand, at nap time he told me, "I wanna nurse with Daddy for my nap." They apparently have a naptime routine when I'm at work involving some cow's milk warmed up in a baby bottle, and I guess he got used to it. Last Saturday he asked for it as well and I got that mixed-up feeling that I get when I think about weaning, but then that night, and the next morning, and Sunday nap time, and Sunday night, he wanted to nurse. So who knows.

He is still insists he wants to nurse (with me) at bedtime, but I'm starting to feel like that part of our relationship is close to an end. There certainly isn't much milk left, and at times he seems just to be playing and fidgeting and almost waiting for me to cut him off. When I suggest, "Why don't you nurse one more time [i.e. for another few seconds] and then be all done," he almost immediately ceases, as if relieved.

So, on the one hand, I am getting anxious for him to decide he doesn't need it anymore, since it does not seem to be terribly rewarding for either of us anymore. But on the other, when I think of weaning and then the possibility that I may never have another child, the feeling of emptiness is overwhelming. On the third hand, if I *am* going to have another baby, it would be nice to completely own my body for a little while in the meantime. So, a little conflicted! I am trying hard not to put pressure on Cameron either way. Some nights I ask if he'd just like to brush his teeth and hug (he always says, "No, I wanna nurse first"); others I just lie down and offer the breast without a word. I guess I'll just have to continue to be patient -- it could be two days or two years before our last time; who knows.