Wordsmith

Cameron has an insane vocab. She has at least 8 to 12 words: mama, dada, TT, papa, nana, owl, alligator, me, sister (her mom can probably add others) that she uses appropriately and consistently.

The really amusing thing is, she points and wants you to tell her the name for everything, as if she's taking it all in and later will write a dictionary.

When Cam and Jake were about 6 months old, I was worried that Cam was going to get steam-rolled. She was very content, and happy, kind of passive; And there was Mac, all demanding and verbal and mobile; and there was Jake the boy, with two mommmies fawning, the only nephew of Cam and Mac's parents, etc. But lately, Cam has shown she can advocate for herself. She has found her voice literally and figuratively and usually uses it to get the attention she desires.

I don't hear her shouting or screaming for personal attention as much as to get you to tell her what things are...

Typical example: Last night we went to Cheshire to play, eat dinner, and have "cousin joint bath time." I had Cam and Jake in the tub together and Katy got her dried and dressed, while I got him dried and dressed. Then there was a brief period of chaos where Jake was fussing, Mackenzie was demanding her share of the attention, and Cam was just screeching. As sometimes happens, I was attending to the other two saying to Cam, "one minute honey," but her screeching, turning to shouting and yelling at fever pitch. Finally I turned to see her with her hand outstretched, showing me a red shoe, telling me, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH AAAAHHHGGGGGHHHHHH AAAAHHH, AAAAAGGGHGGH."

I replied in all caps: "A SHOE. YES, CAMERON, THAT'S A SHOE."

Immediately, she was silent. She gave a half shrug and tilt of the head as if to say, "That's all I wanted to know," and put the shoe back in the closet.

Most of Cam's noise in my experience is associated with her trying to get you to tell her the names of things. She seems to like words.