We celebrated Cameron’s birthday on Eli’s birthday with dinner at Pizza Express and gifts at home.  Cameron had asked for new football cleats (they call them football “boots” over here) and we threw in some new socks that match his school football kit. (He plays occasionally on Saturdays for the school team.  And a “kit” is another name for uniform or jersey.) Baca and Grandpa Hall sent Cam some books and Baca and Grandpa Bird sent him a March Madness t-shirt.  

On Cameron’s actual birthday we were driving to the Netherlands and ate our dinner in the car.  I didn’t take a single picture of him until he was in bed and asleep and I snapped one with my phone for Instagram.  Feeling pretty guilty about that… 

A bit about Cameron. 
 
Cam has an amazing memory. He can lock away sports facts and trivia like it’s nobody’s business, but he can also recall events from his life and memories from his earliest years.  This makes me grateful and hopeful that he’ll be able to retain a lot of his experiences abroad. 

I have to be careful with Cameron because I can easily exploit his desire to please others in my discipline.  Shame-based parenting is really effective, it always gets me exactly what I want from him, but I worry about the cost.  I might crush his budding self-esteem in the process, if I’m not careful. 

He loves sports.  He has completely embraced football here, he “supports” Chelsea Football Club, but can also tell you all the other teams in the premiere league.  He has also still kept up with American college football and basketball, being just as excited about March Madness this year as any other year.  In fact, he won the Hall Family bracket challenge and took second place in the Bird Family bracket challenge.  (Losing to Jess, who seemed to benefit from the same beginners luck I had the first time I did a bracket and knew nothing about any of the teams.)  At any given moment you can find Cameron playing imaginary sports, (football, American football, or basketball) and announcing them as he goes along, complete with sound effects for the crowd/fans.  

Cameron is really bright and does really well in school.  He doesn’t love to read, but does it willingly when he gets his hands on a book he likes.  He is like Richard in that he can do all kinds of math computations in his head and loves it when Richard tries to stump him with “mental maths.” (Another British term.) 

We are lucky to have Cameron as our first, he has so many trademark firstborn traits, he is responsible and ambitious, albeit a little bossy. But he really is an easy kid, with a sincere heart and genuine desire to do the right thing.