Anniversary Date

Omer and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on May 31. On Friday we had Erica and her boyfriend Craig over to babysit so we could go out. Owen was very excited to see Erica and warmed up to Craig pretty quickly. We have found that Owen is definitely a little show-off to people in his house. He thrives off all the laughs and claps, and has 100 times more energy when people are here. Omer and I just laugh at this Owen, completely different then the normal child we live with.

He did his laps, his touchdown and hike, cars, bouncing around and just general smiles. Owen gave me a kiss good-bye but usually he watches me while I leave but not tonight he just kept reading his book with Craig. Glad to see he was so comfortable with them. Erica gave Owen his bath and put him to bed while Omer I went to dinner and putt-putt.  The night went great and Omer and I had a wonderful anniversary date (putt-putt was so much fun!). And Owen gave us a wonderful present in the morning and woke at 7:45.

Taking a Break from Running Around to Play Puzzle with Erica

Putting a Sticker on Erica

He Gave a Book to Craig to Read

National Zoo

Omer took the day off so we could make a trip up to the National Zoo. We had beautiful weather and traffic-free ride. Owen woke VERY early this morning, so we were out the door even earlier, saw some morning commuters, and luckily Owen grabbed a morning nap so he’d have some energy for the zoo trip.

This was Owen’s first trip to a big zoo, we have gone to Reston Zoo before, and Owen was quite excited (as were Omer and me). We talked about the animals we would see and after we said bye to an animal it was constant talking about the next one. Good way not to spend 20 minutes at the hippo cage. Owen gets very mesmerized by the animals and I think would spend all day looking and talking about the same animal. He really enjoyed making the sounds of the animals to them. My favorite to hear was the “oooo” (in deep voice) to the gorillas.

It was nice to get there earlier and get to watch the animals awaken and come out of their houses. We got to see the hippo out of the water and splash into his water – that was a BIG hit. We also got to see the orangutans climb up and swing on the O-line; very cool. I would have to say for Owen his favorite were the hippo, elephant, monkeys and tiger. He also enjoyed all the tractors that were around for the staff and one exhibit was having a lot of construction done and we got to watch the digger in action.

We were able to cover most of the zoo grounds only skipping some of the smaller exhibits. However, I must say I was a little disappointed that the giraffe and rhinocerous are no longer there and the monkey and seal exhibits are much, much smaller than they used to be.

In the car ride home I asked him what he saw at the zoo and he responded with hippo, tiger, elephant, monkey, turtle, and rhinoceros (which we didn’t see). After each animal I would say “yes and what else?”, after I stopped asking he looked at me said “what else?”. I giggled and named some more of the animals.

He asked to read Polar Bear, Polar Bear by Eric Carle, which has many of the animals we saw today. We read it twice and then it was his book he took to bed. I put him in his crib, he propped the book on his pillow, sat down and started to read “polar bear what do you see?…..”. It was so cute and made me think he really had a good time.

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Corrections

As a parent of a toddler, I try to keep my corrections and discipline calm and polite. Owen responds to this style much better than abrupt yelling or hard punishment. He is really not that difficult and really doesn’t try to do too many bad things throughout the day (hope this continues but I am not naive), so this makes it a little easier.

But what I find very humorous is that he tends to correct himself before I do. These corrections usually come with him looking at me and telling me what not to do. It is very cute.

This morning he did this which made me think about all the other ones he does. This morning we were downstairs and the dehumidifier is running. As he should, he was curious what it was. I told him and then said but “we don’t touch”. So throughout the morning he’d go over, hover his hand on it, look at me and say “no touch” and then walk away and he’d say “thank you”.

The other corrections he commonly says are:
1) “Yucky” – when he puts something he shouldn’t in his mouth
2) “No Pick Flowers” – you can figure out why I have instilled this in him
3) “Down Please” – imagine one leg raised acting like he is about to climb something he shouldn’t
4) “Don’t Throw” -trying to work on what is appropriate to throw and not
5) “Sit Down” – likes to stand on chair at his table sometimes
6) “This Way” – which path to go on
7) “Hot” – so he doesn’t touch grill or oven

I am proud he is also very polite and will say “thank you” when given something or “please” when he wants something. (Obviously I have to prompt this sometimes.) But the cute thing is when he wants me to hold or take something, he will give it to me and then say “thank you”. Makes me giggle every time.

Owen’s Art Gallery

We have been taking a Wee Play class for the past 3 months, and Owen loves it. The other afternoon I went to drop off the dry cleaning which is on the same street as Wee Play but you can’t see the building, and Owen asked “Wee Play?”. After explaining to him that we weren’t going to class that it wasn’t on that day he pitched a fit. He was sitting in his car seat screaming “Wee Play, Wee Play!!!”. I got him to finally stop with going to the nursery to pick up more flowers. I was shocked he knew we were close to Wee Play and very happy we had signed up for this session.

One thing I really love about class is that there is a craft every time. I am not good about setting up crafts for Owen to do at home, so this is really his only opportunity. At first he didn’t last long at all but now he loves the craft time (well most the time, it has to be a fun one for him). With all these beautiful pieces of art, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to throw them away so one day looking at the blank wall in his playroom, I thought what a perfect place to display his artwork. It’s great because he gets to help decorate his room and he still likes to discuss them here and there.

Owen’s Art Gallery (click on the picture to view larger)

Top left to right: sunflower, watercolor, ducks, starry night, collage, rainbow, ice cream
Bottom left to right: ABC’s, kite, clover, flower branch, flower, squirrel

Family Farm Fun

Yes, we got to carve some family fun out this weekend, only because of the long holiday weekend though. Omer had never been to Frying Pan Farm, so with once again another gorgeous day we headed over for some family fun at the farm. Owen loves this place; it is a working farm where people come and visit and pet the animals.

Owen quickly started to run to the barn areas. He was excited to see all the animals and would say their name and its sound when we saw them. But I think the highlights were the tractor driving, the cows and chickens, and some good ole chase. He got to pet one of the goats and I was proud to say he was very gently, patted him like he does to the dogs. He also got to feed two cows.

We might make this a more common trip, very empty on the weekends, and always fun to see farm animals.

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Showoff for Jenni

Omer and I had a wedding to go to this evening, so my sister Jenni came up to watch Owen. From the report, Owen did pretty good for her and they did a lot of playing and throwing and new games. Always nice to hear. We were a little nervous because we hadn’t had anyone put Owen to bed since October (I know, long time, but never had the need), but all went well and Owen slept pretty good. He did wake an hour early this morning, which I believe was because he knew I would be home then. It was discussed several times by me and Jenni (later on) that mommy would be back after bed and in the morning. He asked about me a couple times and that was when Jenni would tell him. Oh well just a little more time to snuggle in bed together in the morning (but I should be napping right now instead of blogging).

This morning, Owen was a completely different child. We think he was showing off for Jenni. Our normal morning consists of a quiet breakfast and then some Owen playing with his cars usually by himself and enjoying his toys after a long break through the night. Well not this morning. He did probably 15 laps around the middle floor with a huge grin on his face, yelling the whole time “Go, Go, Go!” or “Owen Going!”. Then he gave Jenni his little elephant (party favor from James) and then the big elephant. Then he got his ABC puzzle and one by one piled the letters in her lap while telling her the letter. Jenni left to go get dressed and once she came back he got very exited, did a couple more laps and then started to pile his cars on her lap. (He likes to do this.)

When it was time for her to leave, I told him to give her a kiss goodbye and he ran over and smacked a nice wet one on her. Good to see he loves his aunt Jenni.

Doing Laps (could he be a track star)

Letter Pile on Jenni

Car Pile on Jenni

James’ Birthday Party

This afternoon we headed over to Owen’s buddy James’ 2nd birthday party. We had the most perfect weather for a fun filled outside party. Owen was pretty indifferent to all the people there and stuck near the back and played with trucks in grass, in sandbox and in house. He was excited to see James and Brice and play with them; familiar faces are always nice. The drive there I told Owen it was James’ birthday and got him to say “Happy Birthday James” but of course while we were there he wouldn’t tell James to his face.

James (middle) and Owen

Cars on Sandbox

Cars on House

James and his Curious George

Trucks in Grass

Digger on Sandbox (Was he Making George Play too?)

Brice and Owen

Owen Clapping (not sure at what)

James is 2!!!!

Obsess Much?

Owen definitely loves to play with vehicles of any kind. It verged on obsession this morning. We were playing with a couple of his cars and then he asked me to grab a specific vehicle, I grabbed it, gave it to him, he’d get excited and then ask for the next one until every single vehicle was surrounding him. Glad that he can actually give me the name and color of the ones he wanted. Once he was surrounded he divided them in categories I couldn’t figure out, but he was a boy on a mission. Then he took a couple and started driving them in lines and playing.

The Beginning of Our Game – Owen Calling Out for a Vehicle

Very Proud of His New Addition

Dividing the Vehicles

Surrounded By All the Vehicles

Playing With the Car Transporter

What to Do Now?

Great Sticker Book

I bought a huge sticker book for Owen, it has 600 stickers (My Giant Sticker Activity Book by Priddy Books)! He loves to play with them, this morning we played stickers for about 45 minutes straight. We put them on an old coloring book (our crayons don’t color correctly on it). Owen likes to tell me which sticker to give him, and then he piles them on the page. I am working on having him spread the stickers out instead of all on top of each other. He did pretty good today. After the sheet is empty, he peels them off the page and talks about them and re-sticks them. He also likes to stick them on the table; luckily they come off very easily. The book has pretty much any kind of sticker you could imagine, but of course wants the truck pages.

Sticker Play

“Girl”

Table Stickers

**Notice the insane large drool spot. Those pesky 2 year old molars are still working their way through; this is a long process. This is Owen’s third shirt of the day at noon.

A New Bond

In the past months Owen and the pups have developed a new bond that makes me smile and I just had to share. They have always loved each other and when he was crawling Chester and him would really play, but then it just stopped. They like to be around each other but never really play. Well the play is still a very loose term for what they do together, but what makes me smile is how much you can tell they love each other.

Here a handful of examples that I can remember.
1) Chloe and Chester come with me to get Owen in the morning and after nap. The other morning they did not, and Owen smiled at me and then quickly asked “Chloe? Chester?” He peered around me to look through the door. Gladly they came.
2) One night we heard Owen saying “Chloe” over and over again. We weren’t sure why he was and then I wondered if she had gone in his room to see him. Well she had. I went and the door was wide open.
3) Chloe has also gone in to his room to see him in the morning before we have.
4) Owen loves to feed the pups the food he doesn’t want. Of course the pups love this as well. It’s hard for us not to laugh at it, but he tosses the food their way and then giggles.
5) Owen will show Chloe or Chester a toy (his or theirs) and tell them to kiss it. Chloe usually abides.

This morning, we were all outside and I was coming back out of the house and saw Owen petting Chloe. I quickly got the camera so I could share the cuteness. It made me tear up a little to see my baby girl and Owen, so happy she is still with us and is strong.

Owen Petting Chloe

Chloe Looks Like She is Waiting for Owen’s Next Trick

Giving Her a Stick

Feeding Her a Piece of Grass

Alll Three Babies Laying the Grass

Chloe Stealing a Kiss

Giving Chester the Stick Now