Double Christmas

A trip to Nana and Papa's for early Christmas, then back to our house for actual Christmas with my mom meant Double Christmas celebrations for our family.

The cousins draw names and Andrew got Owen's name this year. With some suggestions from us, he chose to get him a garbage truck, complete with dumpster. He loved it and wanted to take it everywhere with him in the house for the rest of the time we were there. I had to hide it at nap and night so he didn't try to bring it into bed with him!

We headed back to our house on Sunday to meet up with my Mom for Christmas Eve. Todd's family's tradition was to open a present of new jammies on Christmas Eve - I love that and we decided to start that with Owen this year. He went off to bed without too much trouble since I don't think he really understood when we told him Santa was coming to visit in the night.

The next morning when he came downstairs and saw his BBQ set, he was so excited!

This Seat is Taken

We were sitting in the overflow section at church today and used our mini-hymnbooks since there were no big ones available - Owen was fascinated by them. They were just his size of course, and he spent about 20 minutes moving them from the chair beside me to the chair in front of us, then sitting up on the chair beside them, back down, hugging them to his chest to carry them back to the chair by me. The best part was when he would sit on his chair and 'read/sing from them' then look at us to see if we were watching!

Two Fun Things

Two fun things today - Owen playing hide and seek with me, I'm hiding in the curtain (where he saw me hide 5 seconds before) and he starts walking around saying, 'hmmm, hmmmm, hmmm', like when I am pretending to find him and I say, 'hmmm, where's Owen?'.

Usually around 7:10, when he starts getting tired and right before tubby, he starts looking for monkey. Over the past 6 weeks, 'monk' and 'pass' (pacifier) have turned into 'monkey' and 'passy'.  So tonight, he trying to find monkey and he is walking around the house calling for him - 'mun-key, mun-key', as we go from room to room trying to track him down. Through the living room, all the way upstairs, in his room, our room, back down and into the pantry where we found him. Sooo cute!

Serious Business

When Owen is watching a video on the iPad, he always folds his hands on the table or across his tummy, like he is prepping for a very important meeting! Cracks me up! He is totally into building towers and knocking them down right now, as well as drawing. He will take a sticky note pad, sneak a pen, and hold them tight against his chest, like treasure as he walks into the pantry to use his 'desk' (stacked packs of water bottles) for some drawing time. He is also such a pro with the iPad, loves to watch videos of garbage trucks or buses, and is just cruising along on so many words! Current favorite phrases, 'want to hide', 'where'd it go', 'want to go see'.  He thinks that playing chase around the kitchen table, with stops to hide, is one of the best games ever!

Keepin' Up

Owen has had so many new phrases recently - some of my favorites, 'where'd it go', 'there it is', 'see ya'.  He is totally in love with garbage trucks and buses and loves to watch videos of them! Garbage day is a pretty big deal around here right now because of that! Especially since there are three trucks on the same day - green bins, recycling, and garbage - little boy heaven! I have had Fridays off with Owen since the middle of October and it has been so fun to have more time together. He is my little adventure buddy out on errands and loves to help me with chores around the house too. We have tried storytime at the library a few times, but he doesn't want to sit; there are so many things to explore in the room! I let him walk around, but we get the 'stink-eye' from other parents, so I decided we will explore on our own. He loves to read books at home and I can do themes and flannel boards with him at home. I have found some fun craft sites and we have been baking together too. He loves to be up in his FunPod so he is right at the counter with me, stirring and chatting away. I feel lucky to be able to have extra time with him!

Taste testing

Art project time!

Halloween

Our little pirate wasn't so sure about the candy exchange, but he loved being outside after dark! It was a beautiful mild night and since he wore his costume over his clothes, he didn't need to wear a coat. We tagged along with our neighbors for a few houses, then I came back in to hand out candy. Owen wanted to stay outside and he and Todd walked the whole block with Joshua and his family. Todd's mom had brought him a Halloween bag to take trick or treating and a fun pumpkin flashlight. Since his favorite thing to do is knock on people's doors, he had the approach down in no time, but when they tried to put candy in his bag, he would back away, saying 'no, no, no'. He finally started letting them put the candy in his hand and then he would bring it back to Todd. His favorite of all the treats was Butterfinger, which happened to be from our 'handing out' stash, he tried to steal them all from the bowl.

Greenbluff

We had a visit from Jeff, Meredith, Maddie, and Lydia last weekend. We went to Greenbluff for some fun fall activities. Todd and Owen had already been up there a few weeks before with preschool group and checked out the fun activities. It was crazy town on a Saturday! We checked out two different places, Walter's and Siemers. There was a super fun dried pea 'sandbox' at Walter's where Owen had tons of fun playing with the loaders. The peas were crazy slippery though, and hard to walk in. At Siemers, we rode the train around and Owen was so sad when we had to stop. The wind was bitter cold so instead of eating lunch outside, we grabbed take out and headed back home.

The dried peas sandbox, tons of fun, but so slippery to walk on!

Watching tractors in the orchard

Posing with Dad, Uncle Jeff, and the cousins

Highlight of the day for Owen, riding the train! He did not want to get off when it stopped!

Changing Times

In the past two weeks, Owen has had such a huge jump on his vocabulary. He is consistently using two syllables, and is trying to copy so many words that we say to him. He says the longest strings of babble, definitely sounds like a totally different language, but it is very clear when he asks a question or puts an exclamation point at the end of whatever he is saying! He is now saying door, gas, more, 'muh' for monkey, fish, phone, grass, and open. He blows kisses at us when he says goodbye and to Grandma and Nana on Facetime. He can climb on our kitchen chairs by himself, is totally into stacking (especially the food storage cans) and has started singing with me when I sing to him at night. Last night he laid on his tummy in the tub as he played with toys for the first time. He has leaned down before to blow bubbles in the water, but never laid on his tummy in the water. I love how he is so fascinated with the little things. Todd said it can take 20 minutes to walk the 1/4 block from our house to the mailbox because Owen has so many stops he needs to make. Just checking out sprinklers, pulling weeds, watching cars drive by, whatever. It's a good way to be reminded of how much we rush through life and how much we miss out on because of it.

A Visit in the Clubhouse

Mom came to visit for a few days and while she was here, we had a BBQ with Joneel's family. Owen was so excited to play with Willow and wanted her to play chase and of course check out his clubhouse.

Chatting away

"Mom, I want my spot back"

Uhstuck

Owen's favorite phrase for the past few weeks has been uhhh...stuck! The 'uhhh' I'm sure comes from us and our attempts to pretend that things were stuck and too hard to open when he wanted us to open pill bottles, hairspray, etc! He quickly picked up on it and uses it when he is stuck, needs something to move that is too heavy, or needs help with a toy. It is pretty hilarious.

Well Rested

This morning when I brought Owen downstairs, he waved to everything he could see as we walked to the kitchen, saying 'hi, hi, hi'; must have had a great night's sleep!

Taaah!

Owen has added more new words - open, on, off, outside, pop (when he wants bubbles), says 'bap bap boop' when he dials numbers on his phone outside, but the most hilarious one started the other night when I called for Todd while I was getting Owen ready for bed. Owen immediately started saying 'taaah! taaah! taaah!' I don't think he actually knows that it is his dad's name, but still pretty funny!

The Creek

We went to visit Mom last weekend and Owen had his first chance to play in the creek. The current is fast on the far side, but near the front bank, it is slower and more shallow. He wasn't sure what he thought about it, especially when he found out how cold it was! I held his hand out to the sand/rock bar and then let him throw rocks to his heart's content! He had a big weekend and was so tired on the drive home that he slept all the way from the Wardner bridge to Silverwood!

We also took him down to Driftwood Bay, the lake was so high, it was covering the grass! He didn't want to get in, but loved to climb the stairs up to the each level of the campground. He and mom and had tons of fun playing and we helped set up her computer before we left so she can Facetime, Skype, and email everyone from home.

Heading to the water

A rock throwing expert!

Read, set, splash!

Checking out Roo, the cat, from the safety of Grandma's lap

Checkin' In

Keeping tabs on Ryder and Ramsey

Owen originally wouldn't walk out in the grass, but now he marches around the yard and patio, playing with his ball, water table, swimming pool; or he may go out to pick 'flowers' aka weeds, water my strawberries, or the funniest part - checking on the neighbors!

Updates

Don't bother me, I'm working

• new words: bye bye, up, shoes, shirt, bus, ta da, all done
• loves to color
• when he finds something he is excited about, he says, 'ooooo hooo', (sounds like woo hoo)
• plays peek-a-boo by covering his own eyes now
• spinning around and around, well more like just turning around while giggling hysterically - it makes me dizzy just watching!
• talking on the phone - he will take our phones and lean his head over, so he's holding the phone between his head and his shoulder - and chats away
• first full day of Nursery at church and he did awesome!
• walking on tip toes
• lining up toys, especially on the windowsills; I find stashes of hot wheels cars sitting on the sills behind most of the curtains at every window he can reach
• galloping
• super chatty during books, laughing, talking, clapping, and starting to name stuff he recognizes, or pointing to what I ask
• pretend play with Fisher Price stuff - pretending to walk the people in and out of the house, slide off the roof, sit in the chairs inside, etc. I realize that maybe this is a nerdy exciting milestone for the speech therapist in me, but I love it!

Creating a masterpiece

First official creation

The Big Trip

A door just my size

We went to Montana, east of Glacier, to visit with Ariene and Johan over 4th of July. We packed lots of fun toys and of course the iPad for Cat and the Hat in the car. Owen is not a huge fan of road trips, but we tried to time it so that he would fall asleep about 3 hours in, right after a stop for lunch and some time to run around. We thought by the time he woke up, we could do another outside play and be good to go. But.... no such luck. Road construction and back roads (mapquest let me down on the 'fastest route') meant a lot of sit and wait, which made Owen think it must be time to get out. When we reached Flathead Lake, we found a small town with a boat launch and since the beach/playground had a big sign that said tribal members only, our only choice was to use the boat launch area. It was cold and windy near the lake, but Owen thought the waves lapping at the shore were pretty funny. Back in the car he only slept an hour and our next attempt at finding a spot turned out to be somewhat disastrous with a small town's version of Chuck E. Cheese having only a super dark corner aka Creepsville for little kids. I switched to the back and we played every game we have for him on the iPad to make it through to Cut Bank. Poor little guy. Cut Bank is only about 1 1/2 hours south of Lethbridge, and with the wind and big banks cut out along the way into town, I felt like I was in Alberta. It was so beautiful there, I forgot how big the sky looks when you can see over the fields for miles. Barbara and Klaus, Johan's parents, totally spoiled us while we were there. I didn't have to make a meal and Owen had so many fun people to play with! Johan and Todd treated us to a fireworks display at the house on the 4th; the lighting of the fireworks struck some terror in my heart, but they were beautiful; and on the 5th, Ariene and I drove to Great Falls for a girls shopping day. It was a two hour drive so we had lots of time to talk, fun shopping, and the best part, a throwback to BYU/Provo times by eating at Cafe Rio! Yum-o!

On the drive home, we took the freeway, which was supposedly the long way, but soooo much easier on Owen. We found a cute town just off the freeway to stop for lunch and Owen played at the school playground for over an hour. Even with the hour stop, we made it home faster than the other way. It was so good to visit with them and Owen was the road trip champ on the way home. A little Cat in the Hat and Smart Food popcorn (kernels removed by Mama first) and he was pretty content!

Outside Fun

We spend most of our days outside now, filled with lots of adventures (and sunscreen!). In the backyard, we have a fun water table and swimming pool that he thinks it is the best thing every to scoop water from one into the other! Owen also loves to push his trucks down the driveway and then head out along the street. He will sometimes go all the way around the block, pushing away, a man on a mission! He also loves to go for rides in the stroller, bike trailer, and wagon. And, of course, visiting with anyone who comes along!

Even better than a Radio Flyer!

Are we ready to go yet?

Heading back into the garage after a drive around the block

Pool time

The Clubhouse

We have been looking for a fun outside house for Owen and found this one on Craigslist, in perfect condition! It had been used as a 'clubhouse' for stuffed animals and had never been outside (although we have officially christened it for outside, it has plenty of sand and rocks inside for all sorts of fun!). Todd set it up while Owen was napping and when he woke up and saw outside, he was so excited! He cracks us up - always closing the door behind him, even if he is going to come right back out in just a few seconds, ringing the doorbell, talking on the phone, or just relaxing on the benches inside. He loves to open the shutters and occasionally tries to lean over the side far enough to fall in, hands first of course!

Checking out the view

Resting with a drink after some serious playtime

Fun Pod

Playing in water at the kitchen sink

Hide and seek with Dad

Owen always wants to be up at the kitchen counter, seeing what we are doing, coloring, helping stir, etc. I used to be able to put him in the Moby Wrap and he would be good to go, but not anymore. We found this great Fun Pod, with an adjustable floor to keep him at the right level, and he loves it! Now he can be up in all the action :)

Sharing and All Things New

We have always grabbed Owen's pacifier before he tossed it to the ground, and held it between our teeth by the ring on the back. This only happens when he throws it to then reach for his sippy cup. Now, when he wants to switch, he takes it out and puts it front first into our mouth to hold onto :)

In the past week, Owen has mastered eyes, and head to add to ears, tummy, mouth. He says 'ice' when the ice maker is churning, and 'hot' if I take something out of the stove. He rubs his hands together to tell us he wants to wash his hands and/or play in the water and likes to push the dining room chairs around the kitchen. He loves giving high fives too. He has learned how to hop and will do this cute hop/run combo now! All fun things, but one new scary thing - he thinks he can go down the stairs forwards, not holding onto the side, basically just leaping off into space. I think it's time for a gate at the top of the stairs!

Playing outside, pouring water in and out, and of course, taking the occasional drink too!

More please, Mom!

More Words

About 2 weeks ago, Owen started saying, 'nah' and shaking his head, but now it has turned into a full on, clear 'no'. He also says, 'hi', 'yah' for yes (and sometimes puts those two together and sounds like a little karate guy hi-yah!), and 'hat'. Yesterday we went to Target and he was tearing up and done the aisles when suddenly he stopped at a display, grabbed a straw hat and stuck it on his head, said 'hat, hat', then threw the hat down and took off again!

Sleep is Overrated

Owen was off today, didn't take a nap. By the time I got home from work, he was pretty wound up, poor little guy. We spent about an hour in his room, with him pushing his laundry basket around the room, running into things, backing it up, going a different direction, running into something else. It kind of reminded me of my attempts to play Pac-Man!

Little Monkey

Owen has expanded his climbing repetoire past the simple 'up and down the stairs' routine. First stop? The fireplace, then the lawnchairs, his leapfrog toy, tonka truck, on and off his push toy. He is a little too short to manage the couches, but I'm just waiting for him to figure out that he can push his leapfrog over and climb onto that, then onto the couches. YIKES!

Exploring the Park

Todd took Owen to the park twice this week to explore and he was mostly interested in playing in the bark and wanting to climb up on the benches. Today when we went, we tried out the swings and the slide. He wasn't sure about the swing, but he thought the slide was awesome!

More and More

Recent happenings:

• terrible sleep habits - he goes through this cycle about every 6 weeks. In the past ten days, he has had 3 2:30 a.m. hysterical wake times and for one of those, he didn't go back to sleep until 7:30 in the morning. Since I was the one up with him that whole time, I had a less than stellar day at work! Almost every other night he has woke up at least once and is in our bed with us by 11:30 or so for the rest of the night. I know it is related to having a hard time going to sleep by himself; we  are trying to get him back into a routine, but there is a lot of music videos and rocking in the chair going on right now!
• new words - car, up, go
• holding our hand and pulling us by the hand to places if he feels we don't understand what he wants (which most of the time we do, but it is simply that he can't have it at that moment, like going outside or looking over the neighbors fence at the dogs!)
• lots of scrapes, bumps, and bruises from exploring outside
• putting rocks in the rain pipes outside, a great hiding place

First time out playing in the rain, we need more rain gear!

Even better than rocks in the drainpipe - water coming out!

Joyful Noise

Permanently ingrained in a little boy's DNA - the ability to make car noises....

The best seat in the house...

Laughter is the Best Medicine

Owen loves to talk to anyone we meet on our walks, or in the store, cars passing by, etc, but especially any dogs we meet. Yesterday, we were outside and he was talking to the dog across the street and nodding his head vigorously as the dog barked. Then, when the dog would stop, he would throw his hands out to the side, lean forward, and just start chatting away, with little laughs peppering the conversation. They must have gone back and forth like that for about 5 minutes straight.

Crimson Tide

Owen had his first big wound, well maybe not big, but bloody? Absolutely. We had a crazy morning and around noon we put Owen down for nap, as usual. He popped right back up and stood at the edge of the crib, but he does that sometimes, so we kissed him and went downstairs. Todd headed outside to the garage to do some work and I turned on the monitor to listen for Owen settling in to sleep. He was crying a 'hurt' cry, which seemed weird since we were just up there, but I went back up and opened the door to find blood smeared all over his face, hands, crib toppers, and dripping down the side of the crib. I grabbed him and headed to the bathroom to rinse his mouth and figure out where the blood was coming from. He had split open his upper frenulum, the piece of skin attaching his lip to his gum, by smashing his mouth into his crib topper (which is a soft puffy fabric protecting the top of his crib rail so he doesn't chew on it). It took FOREVER to stop bleeding, made worse by the fact that I gave him his pacifier to calm him down and then the sucking made the tissue swell even more. Poor kiddo. It kept reopening all day long, every time he ate or cried and didn't stop until he went to sleep that night. Of course all the websites suggested popsicles and firm pressure with a cold washcloth, but he wasn't having any of that. Definitely not a fun day.

First Cape

Before bed tonight, Owen was helping me put his clothes into the hamper. He put them in, took them out, arranged them on the floor, back in, back out... while I got some other things ready for the night. He took his long sleeve shirt out and lifted it up and over his head - at first I thought he was trying to put it on, but then I realized that he was trying to wrap it around his shoulders. He kept trying and when he got it, he laughed and tore across the room and back, where it fell off. He must have put it back on 4 or 5 times, then would run across the room - is being a superhero inherent in boys or has he been watching Superman with Todd when I'm at work?

Growing and Growing

More to add to my ever growing list of favorite things...

• Owen stomping around the house
• The little forward kick he does when he starts running, like he's trying to give himself some extra momentum
• More stomping in the form of dancing
• His discovery of outside, walking on sidewalks, playing in the yard

First time with sidewalk chalk

One of his favorite things to do

• His ever growing understanding - points when I talk about his shirt or socks, if I say hair, he starts to pretend to brush his own, running to the door if we mention the word 'outside' or 'adventure', pointing at things and naming them or looking to us to tell him what it is
• His new love of keys - hides them everywhere
• Lining up his stuffed animals (currently includes a random group of a dog, lamb, dragon, as well as the formally named Pooh bear, Chaucer bear, Scamp, and Monkey)
• Growling around the house while running and throwing his hands up in the air
• How he likes to sit in the corner of things - in the corner by the door, in the corner of cupboards, in the corner of his crib
• Likes to help sweep the floor and use the push broom in the garage
• His 'reading' time - he loves to read books with us, but he has started taking magazines or papers, going to the stove/warming drawer and then sitting down to read; or going to the corner by the door and reading

In the corner by the door, catching up on some gospel doctrine

Don't bother me, I'm reading

• He helps Todd do the laundry, pushes the basket to the laundry room and helps take the clothes out
• Loves to be outside helping Todd do things, like put on the new license plate

Keeping it steady

• New favorite word is 'clock', he will point to each one he sees in houses, books, wherever, sounds more like 'gock' when he says it!
• Naming body parts - will point to tummy, eyes, ears, nose, but recently has started saying 'eyes', and 'sus' for ears

Dancing a Jig

When Owen dances, he either stomps in one place, or runs like a crazy man, tilting his head from side to side and lifting his feet up really high. It is pretty hilarious! As a side note, when he throws a fit, he also does the 'jig' move. And now, he has started throwing his arms back and kind of crouching down when he is excited and runs around like that - it almost looks like he is trying to be an airplane!

Organizing

It is so much fun to watch Owen discover new things. Today, he was having a gloomy day and at 7:30 (that's a.m., he's an early riser!), we switched from downstairs to upstairs for a distraction. We spent an hour in his room, just taking clothes out the drawers, moving them to the other dresser and back again. Then he took out the blankets and was rearranging them on the nursing stool. I love just sitting back and watching him 'at work' as he busied himself spreading the blanket out, then pushing it aside, then picking the next one and doing it again. So cute.

Funny

When we put Owen down for his afternoon nap today, he spent about 30 minutes just talking to himself and doing his little laugh, kind of a two set 'heh/hah'. He must have been saying some pretty funny stuff, he was crackin' up!

Toques

If I say it enough, can I teach Owen to say 'toque' instead of 'hat'? We have to have some Canadian words in his vocabulary! At the very least, he has plenty of toques to wear...