Columbus Day. October 13, 2014

Well today either Mom or me had to be off as your daycare was closed for the day and you had to stay home.  I stayed with you. After a meltdown night on Sunday where we had to put you to sleep without a bath because you were over tired from not having a nap and quite frankly , were being a bear to deal with you woke up in a great mood. It was a rainy fall day , not very cold though. We didn't do much with the day, more of a catch up day for me with laundry to do so we just hung out the house all day. You were an absolute joy to be with, funny, helpful, ( cleaned the basement up) and cracking jokes all day. The time really did fly by and before we knew it Mom was home from work. Played for a little bit and due to no nap again, you consented to an early shower and bedtime which you did without complaint. Just a great day with just me and you. Loved it.

August 10, 2014

Well its been a bit since my initial post, finding time at the end of the day to summarize is sometimes tough as I often fall asleep with you for the night after a shower / bath . Most parents lament the fact that they ever let their children start sleeping with them. In our house its a little different. Our first night here in this house is when we first put you in your bug boy bed which you took to instantly. Never missed your crib at all. Over time we started reading goodnight stories and after the stories were over  you would ask either me or Mom if we could lay with you until you fell asleep, something that continues to this day. I don't regret that one bit even though its a bit of an inconvenience sometimes. You're only going to be a little boy once and soon enough you'll be kicking us out of your room. Watching you sleep and sleeping next to you just fills me with joy and love, I feel it bonds me with you . You are one hell of a restless sleeper though, all over the bed. I can manage to still get some decent sleep and will sleep through till the morning . Mom has more trouble with it and often ends up sleeping in our bed after a couple hours. Anyway today was pretty uneventful, just a lazy Sunday . You go back to preschool for the year tomorrow as Moms summer break is over. Its bittersweet watching the summer of your 4th year essentially come to an end. We did have fun , a nice vacation to Hilton Head , several fun excursions thanks to Mom. You're growing up so very fast. You have such a gentle nature and are very good hearted, exampled today by your asking the boy at the park if he would like a turn on your motorized tractor as we were walking Daisy. Such a sweet , sweet boy. I love you more each day and can only envision your future years. Ill do my best to fill them with as much love and guidance as I can. We are blessed to have you in our lives. Sweet dreams little guy.

Hi,
      Im creating this as a daily journal to chronicle my son Cameron's  growth from now ( 4.5 years ) to adulthood. I should've done this from the day my wife and I were blessed with his arrival but better late than never. I'll just fill it with the day to day banality of raising a child which Im sure will be of interest to only myself and my wife but maybe one day I can give it to him and we can share the memories of what I hope is a happy childhood for him. I got married relatively late in life at age 37 and didn't have him until age 43. My 48th birthday is coming next month so looking at the long view of things its more than likely I won't be around until he reaches my age unfortunately but Im going to try and cram as much as I can in the time Im allotted with him. I didn't have the best childhood myself . Im the youngest of 4 , my own father died in 1974 at the young age of 44 when I was 8 years old ( a big fuck you to cancer) . We were poor by any standard, lived on welfare, food stamps. I never really got to know my Dad . I don't know how that has affected me if it has at all but I certainly don't want my son to go through his life not knowing me so hopefully my thoughts on his day to day life as a child will one day give him some insight into me should I met an earlier than intended fate.  So here we go. Today is Wednesday July 23, 2014. I am off work today so its always fun when I get the chance to be here during the mornings when Cam first wakes up. I like seeing him start his day which usually has him heading straight into our bedroom to lay in bed with my wife Kelly and "watch some shows" (his words for cartoons.) Today he did just that and then he came downstairs where i was to hang out with me a bit. We played Doc McStuffins Operation then I got him dressed to take him out for a bike ride. Just a couple weeks ago he started riding his big boy bike, a 2 wheeler with training wheels that he likes to ride around the block everyday. He's improved a lot in a short time, he was half a block ahead of me most of the time. Thankfully he's always been a pretty good listener and he adheres to the ground rules pretty well, approaching driveways and corners very slowly looking for cars . We finished that up and went back inside. Kelly is off for the summer from her teaching job and earlier in the week she had decided to take a trip to see Nana in downstate Normal , Illinois. So the rest of the morning was spent getting packed in preparation for the 2 hour ride. Her and Cam left around 2pm so Im missing them both right now. They will return on Saturday so Im playing bachelor for the rest of the week and caretaker for our dog, Daisy until they come back. So thats it for now, more to report in a couple days. Goodnight Cam, Daddy loves and misses you. XXXOOO