Times, they are a changing....

Well, O is going to be a big brother come November 26th or thereabouts.  As I was getting ready to right this I laughed at the title as I realized O has just started sleeping through the night and I am going to be back to square 1 with no. 2.  Maybe not laughed as much as cringed.  We have moved into a house and life is much nicer with a back yard and room to run.  I also started a part time job which allows me some much needed adult time and money.  As much as I love being with O this past year, I have desperately missed my professional identity.  Owen is talking up a storm and can pretty much tell me what he needs/wants which is usually a good thing.  He is now in a big boy bed and has started to show interest in the potty.  He is pretty good with his please and thankyous most of the time.  He loves to go to the beach and build sandcastles (and then promptly destroy them)  He will be doing preschool this coming fall which is exciting.

'My name is Owie'

Well, O and I have had some major adventures in the last week.  Friday was reptile day at his nature school.  For those of you who know me well, you know how difficult it was for me to pretend not to be terrified of the pet snake for the sake of my child.  And I am not a particular good actor. But I did it!  Phew, hopefully won't pass that irrational phobia onto my child.  Then he and I headed out to attend a wedding in Boise and catch up with my brother and dad.  9 hours later....  ugh.  Despite the lengthy drive, we had a great time in Boise and got to hang out at some of my favorite places and take Owen to the zoo.  He was a big fan but didn't understand why we had to keep moving on to the next exhibit. He was completely content to hang out with the prairie dogs.  (yes that's right, I said prairie dog) After an exhausting weekend, we made the trek back home and O was super excited to go for a walk with his daddy.  On this walk, Owen was bending down 'talking' to the ducks when Mike and I realized he was actually introducing himself... He would point to himself and say 'I Owie!'  It was too perfect and prompted the title for this post.  My wise sister after hearing this story told me I had better write it down before I forget it, so here I am.  Thanks sister.

Seriously cool stuff...

Wow, Owen or 'Owie' as he refers to himself... is doing some crazy cool things!  Vocabulary has totally taken off!  Now he speaks in fragmented sentences and I can usually understand what he is telling me which is a huge step in our relationship!  :)  Yesterday morning I watched as he strategically picked out raisins from his cereal counting as he went.  Super cool.  Yesterday marked his first semi-structured 'school' as he started the Nymphs in Nature program at the Avery House.  Ocean was the theme for the day and he had no trouble digging in and becoming filthy.  He has become pretty empathetic too and is able to identify when someone is sad and appears to be concerned.  (He gets that from me!) Finally something at least!  His best little buddy is Aiden and Owie gets super psyched when I tell him he is going to see his buddy.  He turned 2 on Monday and unfortunately was sick.  Again.  Poor kid.  I think he is on the mend.  Had his 2 year check up and is 80 percentile for height, 50th for weight (phew, hope he stays that way...)  Had a great visit from his Auntie Heather from Iowa.  He had an awesome time playing with her and was very sad to see her go. Here's some fun picks of our adventures~ 

Look at those wheels turning....

Pretty sure I am not supposed to be sitting here but if I look cute enough...

Learning the art of pizza making

Hiking with Auntie H

3 sweetest words

Parenting is full of seriously intense emotions, at least parenting a toddler.  Seems that I vacillate from vein-bulging, hair pulling, blood pressure sky-rocketing frustration to melt-my heart, never-want-to-forget this-moment, joy.  Owen has taken to throwing some pretty fun temper tantrums, in public.  Mostly when I want him to walk nicely with me instead of sprinting into people (or traffic.) When I do try to hold his hand, he just goes limp.  Lovely.  Then I am left with the dilemma of what to do next.  Drag him out by his limp arm?  Or try to pick him up and carry his limp body-throwing himself backward- out of the store?  Ugh. 

Thankfully I have finally gotten over worrying about what others think of me.  I just smile pleasantly and say 'come on honey, it is time to go home,' usually.  Sometimes I can't say anything because it would not be appropriate.  'Come on you little shit, knock it off'  would likely not be a good option.  You can bet this is my internal dialogue though...  And about those heavenly moments that make all of these moments tolerable.  Owen has started saying 'night night mama'  and it is the sweetest sound in the world.  He is able to tell me what he wants now which is super cool.  He seems to love babies now and tries to snuggle them.  Actually, he tries to snuggle most people and dogs.  He puts his blankies on hazel and says 'puppy night night.' Super sweet.  Hard to believe the little man will be two next month.  Looking forward to seeing how his little personality (or big in some situations)  continues to evolve.  

Owen's budding vocabulary

This week has been a big one for new words and serious advances in Owen's ability to communicate.  'Waffle,' 'tractor,' 'eyeball' are among the new ones.  So cool!  'Ball' is still by far the favorite.

Cool Owen things...

Yesterday I caught him putting his thermometer in his belly.... hmm.... not quite right but general vicinity!  Then today I caught him putting Mike's socket into his ear.  Well, I guess it looks like the doctor's...  Poor kid has been to the doc a lot in his little life!  And got to wear his new rain gear today.  Had a heck of a time trying to walk in his boots!  Too funny.

 Beautiful morning nature walk!

And he's out!

Long month of August

August has been an eventful month for our little family.  It started off with a GREAT trip to Idaho for my sister's 40th birthday in which we surprised her with a big party.  Owen then went on his first camping trip to Kallispell Island in Priest Lake.  He LOVED it but I was a bit stressed trying to keep him out of the lake for which he had no fear, out of the fire for which he had no fear and away from the sharp sticks, again for which he had no fear.  The highlight was that he fell asleep in his backpack while we hiked around the island, a first for him.  After the party and camping, we packed up and headed back to Corvallis. O was a trooper on the trip, about 8 hours in the car.

 We got in some great play dates and swim time when we got back.

Unfortunately, little man ended up contracting the Hand, Foot, Mouth virus, which was AWFUL.  His mouth was full of painful blisters and he had a high fever.  And he was contagious for about 5 days.  Mike headed out for a conference (lucky man) while I had to stay sequestered at home with my sick, cranky little man.  (who HATES to be stuck inside).  And then, I got news that my grandmother had passed away.  Ugh.

  I was unable to travel for a few days because of Owen's illness but was able to get back to Iowa the day before the visitation.  My dad was a huge help and drove to Boise, flew to Portland to meet us and accompany us to Iowa.  He is a saint.  My brother and sister were also able to be there which was wonderful.  It was very sad.  When we got to grandma's house, O went directly to her chair and looked at it questioningly.  He then went to the cookie jar and said 'more.'  Grandma ALWAYS had cookies for him.

  At the visitation he waved at her and again seemed to wonder why she wasn't responding.  So sweet.  We have so many great memories of our time with Grandma and am so thankful that we were able to live there and Owen got to be part of her life.  I had so many people at the funeral tell me how much she talked about him and how he was the highlight of her life.  We made the best of the situation and got to see many of our lovely friends.  We had a long flight back but made it home safely.  We were so glad to be here and see Mike and Hazel.  Unfortunately, Owen came down with the flu and then so did I!  Funny thing about stress....We are recovering and hoping for a somewhat less eventful September!
Cool things that Owen is doing now:
Shaking his head no
Grabbing our fingers to lead us where he wants us to go
Pointing to objects in books like balls, cars or beep beeps
Waving and smiling at strangers
Giving hugs and loves
Waving night night to Hazel
Playing in the dirt with his trucks
Knows Bampa, Ceecee and Nany!