Last Day of School!

School ended on Monday for Mommy and Owen. They are both looking forward to a summer of potty training, transitioning to the big boy bed (already underway) and eating without a bib. Mommy is going from 100 students to 1 and has her work cut out for her. Good luck.

Recent Enrichment Activity: Bridal Shower

With several bachelor parties under his belt, it was time for Owen to branch out and discover the bridal shower. The shower for Uncle Bryan and (soon-to-be) Aunt Gena was the perfect opportunity. Owen arrived casually late, just in time for the gift opening and cake distribution. Even though a keg was not involved in the festivities, Owen seemed to enjoy himself and was a big hit with the ladies.

Owen's enthusiasm for the gift opening waned with each fruit bowl, mixer, and sauce pan. Where's the Elmo video? Bob the Builder? Not even a flip-up book?

Uncle Bryan and Aunt Gena were much more excited than Owen. They celebrated with cake and sparklers (a natural combination).

Always the media-hog, Owen posed for a picture with Mommy and Great Grandma.

Owen tried on his suit for the wedding. Could a cover of GQ be in the future?

22 Month Update

The little man is already 22 months old.

Officially "almost 2".



Owen now:

• Speaks in sentences (I need Daddy, I need Mommy, I go poddy, moo go poddy, I need Blue Bear)
• Sings the birthday song while swaying back and forth ... "Happy Birthday Mommy. Happy Birthday Daddy. Happy Birthday Elmo. Happy Birthday Me" ... each one three times.
• Doesn't say Owen, only Me.
  
• Plays by himself more


• Says "Birdie" every time he sees a bird outside or in a book.


• Wears his big hat outside all of the time


• Can kick soccer goals and even dribbles.


• Can use a spade shovel. He can even put his foot on the blade and push down.


• Loves to play with his train set


• Enjoys going to rummage sales with Daddy and holding on the the coupon book at the grocery store.


• Always seems to have room for strawberries


• Consistently takes a 2 hour nap in the afternoon.


• Loves working outside with Mommy and Daddy.


• Knows that rabbits go "hop-hop"


• Points the car, Jeep or house and says "Me!"


• Gets a lot of enjoyment out of hearing car horns. Especially when he presses the "Panic" button on our keys.


• Tries to help wipe himself during diaper change. It really doesn't help at all.


• Makes us read 5-10 books each night.


• Still hasn't realized he can climb out of his crib.


• Is really excited about swim lessons in a few weeks.


• Gets into The Young & The Restless with Mommy.


• Can use the railing to climb up and go down stairs.


• Looks at books by himself


• Enjoys putting his socks on his hands


• Starting to like tooth brush time again.


• Becoming very proficient in puzzle completion

"Finally I can go back to using my hands to eat!"

Owen has decided to take on surfing as a hobby.

You want me to what?!? Go to bed?? Now that's funny!

Did somebody call for a screwdriver?


Is this thing regulation height? I know I'm as tall as the elephant foot!

The blade on Owen's lawnmower is a little dull, so Daddy has to follow behind and clean up.

Point for Owen

Memorial Day weekend got off to a tough start this year. Instead of going into work on Saturday morning to catch up, Daddy decided to stay home and watch Elmo's World with Owen. Owen was so excited that he accidentally poked Daddy in the eye. After three hours of "waiting it out" the pain didn't go away. Since Urgent Care doesn't handle eye cases on the weekend it was off to the Emergency Room. Mommy and Owen were nice enough to drop Daddy off on their way to shop at TJ Maxx. While at the ER, Daddy was told he has "disgustingly good eye sight" when he passed the eye exam with flying colors ... with his good eye. The doctor was impressed with the scrape Owen gave Daddy - "looks like he really got you" was the medical terminology used. After putting all kinds of drops in Daddy's eye and dilating it, he was sent off with drops and eye creams to use for the next ten days. Luckily Mommy and Owen were finished shopping just in time to pick Daddy up. Daddy made sure to wear his ER identification bracelet all day to get sympathy around the house.

Daddy was placed on injured reserve for an entire day.

In order to reduce the number of eye injuries in the household we tried to make Owen wear socks on his hands ...

... we don't want Daddy looking like this when he's older.

On a side note --- Owen has started talking in sentences.

The most common phrases are:

"I need Daddy/Mommy/Blue Bear/Elmo/"

"I'll get Daddy".

Happy Mother's Day

Mommy was looking forward to a wonderful relaxing Mother's Day. Here is a re-cap of the day...

• Owen woke everyone up early
  
• Owen bit Mommy, enough to leave a bruise on her arm, and laughed


• Owen head-butted Mommy in the nose and laughed


• The pancakes Daddy made from scratch for Mommy were missing a key ingredient so Mommy had to settle on twice baked Eggo waffles.


• The orange juice Daddy made for Mommy was spilt all over the kitchen floor and rug by Owen.


• Owen took Mommy to the zoo and it rained. It stopped raining when we left.
  

But on a positive note, Mommy got to sleep an extra 45 min. in the morning. She saw Brandon and Jamine at the zoo and got a nice nap in the afternoon.

Owen insisted this was the only way he could see the animals - from Uncle Brandon's shoulders.

Uncle Brandon and Owen trying out for the "Happy Feet" movie sequel. Owen felt that Uncle Brandon needed to brush up on his tap dancing skills.


Mommy was glad this little black goat did not give Owen any time to contemplate whether he should try to eat the cereal-like goat food.

Let me at those turkeys - I have been working on my "gobble"!

I don't know if I like giraffes... His head is as big as me and he looks like he ate too many blueberries with his black tongue.

Aunt Jamine - Where did the animals go?

The classic NEW Zoo shot - this time with Mommy May 2009.

The classic NEW Zoo shot - with Daddy in June 2008.

21 Month Update

At 21 months Owen:

• Climbs everything. He especially loves to climb the ladder when Daddy is working outside. He even tries to bring the ladder out of the garage (only minor scratch when it fell on the Jeep)
• Loves being outside more than anything else
• Can crawl around the car or Jeep for hours if we left him. It's no longer a surprise when the wipers suddenly start when we turn the key.
• Loves to eat cookies - thanks Grandma
• Will eat anything with ketchup. Or just ketchup.
• Knows how to weigh himself (27.6 pounds last night)
• Now has two security items (Blue bear and a blanket)
• Can push himself on the slide.
• Still takes an afternoon nap.
• Has his own rake for outside.
• Loves Elmo and said Mr. Nuno a few days ago.
• Makes us read 5-7 books before he goes to sleep.
• Enjoys playing with the train set at school.
• No longer hits or kicks after a crash course in the "Hands are not for hitting" book course.
• Is already learning to not like Mondays.
• Can spend hours looking out the window and watching the birds, rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks.
• He seems to enjoy them so much that Daddy decided to buy a bird feeder. Now we have lots of squirrels and a few more birds.
• Has made several calls by himself on the cell phone, luckily only to Mommy or Daddy. If anyone gets a call and only hears "Hello" and "Goodbye" it's probably Owen.
• Helps Daddy every Sunday to water the plants. Owen points out which plant gets watered next and claps each time. He must have read somewhere than clapping encourages the plants to grow.

Visit to the Park

We made a special visit to Pamperin Park a few weeks ago to enjoy the weather.

"This is great! look how high I can go."

"Look at me! Only one hand - what could go wrong?"

"Oh no!!!"

" I started on my back, how did I get on my belly?"