DeWitts in Kaz: August 2008

We've had the potty out since Christmas time when Cameron first seemed interested. Over the past 8 months, he's used it once in a while, or used it to stall when it's time to go to bed, or sat on it fully clothed and then flushed the big potty. Well, last Friday (the 15th) he made up his mind that he's a big kid. He woke up with a dry diaper, decided to use the potty and then said he wanted to wear "una-weer". We dug up a pair and then packed several changes of clothes for Grammy's house. He's had a few accidents, as you might expect, but overall, it has gone very well and he hasn't looked back. We went out to eat Saturday night with Uncle Kip, Emily and Kenny. As soon as they arrived, he wanted to make sure that they knew he was wearing big boy underwear. So, he said to Kenny, "Kenny, I wearing una-weer." Then dropped his pants right there in the restaurant and said, "See". Kenny wasn't as impressed as Cam had hoped, but it's hard for 7 year olds to appreciate this milestone.

More conversations:

C: No help, mommy. I a big kid. I do it myself.

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M: Cameron, pretty soon you'll be moving to the Sunflower room at school.
C: Yeah, when I a sunflower, you no pick me up.
M: I'm not going to pick you up anymore?
C: No, I stay there.
M: How will you get home if I don't come get you?
C: I walk.

This year's gotcha day was celebrated at Pike Lake State Park. Buffy did some searching for a place with a lake that was affordable and found it down in southern Ohio. So on July 30, we packed up enough stuff, including provisions and dogs and headed south. It was about a 4 hour drive, but everyone did pretty well and we didn't even hear an "Are we there yet?" out of the back seat. As you might expect, there isn't too much going on down there and there was no cell phone coverage, but we enjoyed getting away for a couple of days. The pine trees smelled great and there was a really pretty butterfly garden (with many bees as well) that we enjoyed passing on our way to and from our cabin. The cabin was Buffy's kind of camping: 2 bedrooms, A/C, cable TV, DVD, screened in porch with swing, deck, kitchen, bathroom and running water. Unfortunately the toiletries were left at home, so Brent made a trip to the local grocery store, if you can call 30 minutes away "local" and got what we needed. Whilst Buffy was making dinner and Cam was playing, we came to realize that the Air Force does maneuvers down that way. Buffy was convinced that they were going to break the sound barrier at one point and nearly hit the deck. This of course, scared the bejeebers out of Cameron who then insisted on having Buffy carry him throughout the rest of the meal prep - no easy feat with a 31 lb. weight on your hip! The highlight of the day for Cameron was the campfire and roasting marshmallows and making s'mores. He had a great time helping Brent find kindling to get the fire going.

The next day, Gotcha Day, we got up and drove over to the Serpentine mound with the dogs and we all walked around it. Buffy remembers learning about it back in her Ohio history class (7th grade), but neither of us realized that it isn't any taller than 3 feet from the ground. Cameron had fun running around (while staying off the mound, walking on it is a no-no) and the dogs enjoyed the walk and new scents.

We headed back to camp, had lunch and went to the lake at Pike Lake. There was only one other family there so we had the place to ourselves. The only real problems were bees and goose poop, but in spite of that Cameron liked digging in the sand, creating buildings and then knocking them over (King Kong Cameron from last summer still lives!). Later on, we had dinner and then walked down to the park gift shop for ice cream. Overall, a good day was had by everyone.