The Justice Family

Campell is fourteen months old!! She has been since Friday, but Mommy is a little behind on this post. I always start these updates about Campbell with then intention of being brief, and then by the time I've written out all her new tricks, I am halfway through writing my first novel! I'll attempt once more to be brief, but you know me well enough by now to know that won't happen...

Chatty Chatterson...that's Campbell! She is talking up a storm. I wonder where she gets it from?? :) Only Travis and I really speak her language. She has words that she definitely uses in the right context and says them the same everytime. But it will take a while for the general public to understand these words. The current list includes Mama, Daddy (those two are spot on, said perfectly every time!), Baby, snack, turkey, chicken, cracker, juice, toast, bye bye, paci, moo, Nanny, Lexi, kit kat (for Harley), Elmo (pronounced Elbow), belly button, all done. She understands so much more than she says! I can tell her to go upstairs, and she runs to the foot of the stairs and waits at the gate. I can tell her to go look out the window and she runs to the front hall and pulls back the blinds to look for Daddy. She definitely knows what a diaper change is because now she runs like the wind in the opposite direction! In addition to speaking, she signs 'more' and 'please' like it's her job. The please one is new, and so adorable. You're supposed to rub your palm on your chest in a circle. Half the time, Campbell's 'please' is a very frantic belly rub. She is so polite, signing please ALL the time. Not quite sure she totally gets the concept, but she is catching on that in order to get us to do something for her, she needs to sign it first. Sometimes she uses more and please interchangeably, but I guess they are sort of similar concepts, one is just more demanding than the other.

Notice I just said she runs. Yes, she runs. Her fast walk has become a nicely paced jog. It still often ends in a crash and maybe a new bruise, but nothing slows her down! In the mornings, Campbell is stuck to her Daddy like white on rice. While he's getting ready for work, she won't leave his side. He is usually juggling Campbell while he tries to shave, brush his teeth, put on his tie. She knows that he's leaving I guess, and she won't even come to me. I have to pry her out of his arms so he can leave for work and she sadly waves to him as he goes down the sidewalk each morning. It is pretty cute, though.

Campbell is still a dancing fool, starting to bounce everytime she hears some music. Her favorite toys this month are probably her Baby and her ball. She carries her baby doll all over the place, puts her in the stroller, puts her in the chair and sits on top of her, and asks us to 'please' put her hat on Baby quite often. The ball is new and she LOVES playing ball with Daddy. Books are still of course a favorite and she's becoming a little more interested in slightly longer stories. We're still not ready for paragraphs yet, but she can sit still through a sentence or two per page and is completely engrossed in the story. Her other favorite pastime is playing with Lexi's dog bowls which I'm not a fan of. Luckily Lexi eats all her food at one sitting, so there is only some occasional water to splash in. We weren't so fortunate at a playgroup one Friday when we caught Campbell and her friend at the dog's bowls, with handfuls and cheekfuls of dog food. HAHAHA Oops. Bad Mommy. In addition to dog food...Campbell enjoys singing songs and playing games like pattycake and other little rhymes. This is starting to sound like a singles ad...long walks on the beach, candlelit dinners, I should move on.

This month Campbell has been super busy with playgroups, storytimes, going to church on Thursdays and Sundays, and spending a LOT of rainy and snowy days trapped inside with me. Cabin fever has been in full effect around here for both of us! We did get to go to a nature museum with our playgroup, something I thought would be totally over her head. Not at all! Don't get me wrong, she wasn't studying the exhibits or anything, but had an absolute blast running around. The nature museum was totally geared towards little ones and she had tons of things to touch, water to splash in (the biggest hit of all), and things to climb on. Travis and I took her to the community arts center before Valentine's Day to make Valentines for the family. She was most interested in the water bucket used for clean up, but we managed to get some handprints made and glued them on hearts to send out.

And last but far from least, she got a new baby cousin this month who she'll get to meet next week when she and I go to Virginia to meet Baby Leif! It's been a fun, full month and she is still growing up at the speed of light.

Below are some favorites of the past couple of weeks, showing Campbell and all her favorite things. Somehow I caught her in a few posed pictures, a rarity these days! These first two are of her playing with her Valentine's card from her grandparents that makes jungle noises. She thought it was hysterical!!