Baby no more...

Owen is a baby no more... He is officially acting like a toddler or mini-adult!

• Uses a fork. It has made mealtime SO MUCH cleaner and easier. Well that and his Walmart bib. It's like this, but with snaps and cheaper and bigger.
• No more bottles! Owen is a sippy man. And he has a "big boy" night-time routine as we brush his teeth (now he is up to 7 teeth with more on the way!) and do not give him milk right before bed.
• Toddles. Walking was a slower process than I remember crawling to be, but now we can say that Owen is officially walking because it is his mode of choice. He can walk from one room to another now. He is not running yet - thank goodness. He just has a cute little toddle walk.
• Takes water breaks. Owen loves to play at the playground nearby! We walk him there in his Push Around Buggy and he points and squeals in excitement as the park comes into view. He plays, climbs, slides, crawls and when he is thirsty he toddles over to his car, opens the trunk (where his sippy cup is stored), pulls out his sippy cup, takes a few sips, puts it back in the trunk, closes the trunk, and then toddles back to continue playing. SO CUTE!
• Goes up and down stairs. The up part is easy. Owen now has the down part figured out. He whips his little butt around to safety crawl backwards down the steps.
• Climbs. He loves his Little Tikes Cube Climber Mommy got super cheap at a rummage sale. We play "Where is Pink Pig?" with it. Mommy hides a stuffed pig toy somewhere on it (above, below, under the slide, etc.) and Owen goes and finds it and gives it to Mommy.
• Has created his own language. Owen really only says Mom, Dada and maybe the occasional Grandma. But he can hold whole conversations with us using his own distinct language. It is like someone taught him a new language - that mommy and daddy doesn't know! Though Mommy swears today that she heard Owen say "with the envelope" over the baby monitor this morning.
• Follows commands. So Owen can't really talk to us yet, but he understands what we are saying. We can call him into a different room, we can tell him to bring over different items, close/open things and take things to Mommy or Daddy.

It's crazy to think that almost a year ago Owen was this little baby just learning to open his eyes and cry. We often refer to that stage as the "blob" stage because that was what Owen was like: a little, cute blob for us to carry around and feed. Now that Owen is "all grown-up" Mommy finally thinks that having another baby wouldn't be so bad. Daddy, however, will need a little more coaxing as the late-night newborn memories are still too fresh in his mind!