Life with Owen: July 2009

Sunday Tradition

You know we are first time parents because we get excited to take Owen to new parks. Lately it has been a Sunday afternoon tradition for us to take Owen to a different park to play. Daddy is especially interested in finding new parks to visit. This week it was Robins Park in Arlington.

Owen likes checking it all out, and especially likes watching what older children are up to.

Lately Owen wants to be a big boy by walking up and down the stairs on his own. This really only works when there is something low for him to hold onto.

A cool feature at this park was the super long slides built into the hill. Daddy was so patient as he let Owen walk up all those stairs.

It was a super hot day, with not a lot of shade for relief. Daddy was eager to get a popsicle for Owen from the Ice Cream Man. I would like to say that this was his first popsicle, but I caught him eating one at daycare a while back.

Where's Owen?

"Where's Owen?" is a popular game in our house. Hiding under blankets or pillows is super fun for Owen. My favorite has to be when he hides behind our bedroom curtains. But today Owen found great fun in hiding behind a french door.

"Where are you, Owen?" is always followed by his giggles.

"We can see you, silly!"

It's still hilarious to Owen.

All is fun until Owen gets his hand pinched because a piece of furniture is so close to the door. Aren't I a wonderful mother for standing by and catching it all on film instead of trying to prevent it?

Weight Gain!!!

We had a quick visit to the Doctor's office today. Owen was thoroughly amused with a tongue depressor while we waited. It's so funny the way he can be entertained by the strangest things. Anyways, we were just there for a weight check and Owen came in at 22.4 lbs. which is over a pound more than he was six weeks ago. It does strike me as funny with the things that you worry about once you become a mother...because I was all concerned that Owen had pooped twice before we went for the weigh in. Turns out he's doing just fine.

Owen and Mommy

I guess Daddy doesn't pick up the camera very often, but it's nice to get a decent shot of me with my adorable, little man.

Great Brook Farm

We had a playdate with Danila and his parents at Great Brook Farm, and had a great time. We were able to feed some of the animals, so the boys got an up close and personal look. The goats and sheep were really eager the second they heard the food being dispensed from the machine. No shyness what so ever. It was also cool to learn that animal sounds are even different in Russian. For example, we think a rooster says cock-a-doodle-doo, but in Russian it's kukareku. How weird is that?

We brought lunch and had a great time hanging out and watching the boys interact.

Pool Party Playgroup

Today we had playgroup at David's house...who we must become best friends with because they have a nice play structure and A POOL! All joking aside, we had a great time visiting with all our playgroup friends.

Trevor is an older brother to one of the kids, and he was quite fond of Owen and kept wanting to go down the slide with him. Owen didn't complain! Trevor wasn't interested in taking his sister down the slide, who is only 3 weeks younger than Owen! It must be a boy thing?!?!

The pool was wonderful, but I had a hard time getting Owen to relax in it. The water was a bit chilly, so I think that was the reason for his apprehensiveness. We still had a good time hanging out with everyone.

First Red Sox Game

We took Owen to his first Red Sox game and it went really well. I say that, because in all honesty, it was unexpected. We've come to the realization that Owen does not like to be in loud situations. We first tried putting ear plugs in Owen's ears, but it wasn't long before he figured out how to pull them out. The loud speaker and cheers were a bit startling to him at first, but I think he got used to it as the game progressed. A huge plus was that we had seats on the aisle. Owen was really keen to sitting on the stairs. He had a good view of the field and venders from there. He was really good about poping up and scooting into the row when the traffic on the stairs got busy. It was really quite cute. Much to Daddy's disappointment, Owen was not into ballpark food. He gave pizza a try, but the cotton candy was totally weird and unappealing to him. He did, however, love the 'Green Monster' cookie that Daddy bought for him. While I didn't pay much attention to the game, it was fun to take Owen for his first Fenway Park experience.

16 Months

Owen has turned into a very curious 16 month old. He is exploring everything and freely trots around the house like he is king. He has been surprising us with new words and things that he understands. He is like a sponge absorbing everything in. The sheer joy that you get to share with your child is like nothing I've ever known. He just amazes me. Owen has made our life so much brighter.

Owen's 16 month milestones:

We have been working on words lately. After being thrilled that he can say bubbles, I've been trying to get him to say other things. He says no a lot, but I don't think he really knows what it means. I ask, Do you want to go bye-bye? No - then he'll happily get on his shoes and stand at the door. He is saying Mommy and Dada with a lot more conviction, so that is definitely cool. He has also started saying mine, which I can only guess that he learned at daycare. He'll grab his sippy cup from me and say mine. Daddy will be talking on the phone and he'll point to it and say mine.

Likes to read a book on his own. He wants to hold the book and turn the pages all by himself.

Walking and running so well on his own. I'm still in shock on how quickly he can escape me.

He loves to be chased around the house, so it's all like a game to him. My favorite is when he escapes while in the middle of a diaper change. Trying to get a bottomless toddler to come back is impossible.

He's getting so good at helping me out with little things. I've taught him how to close the dishwasher or hand things to me. It just tickles me to death when he does so well at following a command.

Owen has been really into basketball. He can reach up and put the ball through his hoop with ease now. He loves to pick up and throw the full size basketball outside. He has also really improved at throwing a ball to a person. He's got pretty good aim.

Owen loves to give hugs. He'll come and give me one if I hold out my arms wide. He even runs over to Daddy when he gets home and gives him a big bear hug. He has also started to pat me on the back sometimes when we hug. It is just the cutest thing. I think he picked this up from me as I like to pat his back to sooth him when he gets upset.

He is continuing to eat well with a spoon and fork. He seems to really enjoy using them on his own. He's not great at spearing things with the fork yet, but he keeps getting better scooping with a spoon. He won't let me do much these days during mealtimes. He HAS to hold the yogurt cup on his own.

Owen has started pointing to things. Sometimes it's hard to know what he is pointing at, and there are instances when I think he is saying that...but I could just be interrupting his words as that. I feel like he is on the verge of really starting to communicate.

I also wanted to comment on how great a sleeper Owen has been. He sleeps so well every night, that we can pretty much count on him sleeping from 7pm to 7am every night. He rarely wakes up in the middle of the night and is always good about going to bed. He naps once a day at daycare, and I usually get him to do two naps for me on the weekends. I can't believe how lucky we are in the sleep department.

Friday Fun

As always, I love my Fridays with Owen. We are finally getting some beautiful weather here, so Owen and I spent lots of time outside. He used to hate walking in the grass, but that is a different story now. He's everywhere...checking everything out. He even chased a robin through our neighbor's yard before it flew away.

Entertaining Mommy!

I am lucky that Owen still enjoys sitting in his little pod chair on the kitchen counter. Everyone seems amazed that he doesn't try to get out of the pod, but in all honesty, I think he just knows there's no place to go. He probably realizes that if he wants to chill with mommy in the kitchen, then he has to sit there. This is so great when I need to do something in the kitchen. Today I was emptying the dishwasher and was thoroughly entertained by Owen's antics with a plastic colander. He figured out that it fit on his head perfectly. What a funny guy!

Serious Stacker

Owen has been into playing with his stacker lately. He gets very serious and concentrates hard as he's putting the rings on.

Bubbles

Owen loves it when I blow bubbles during his bath time. He shocked me to death when he kept saying 'bubble' this evening during his bath. I had to have Daddy come and hear it and confirm it. A two syllable word! Wow.

Happy 4th of July

We had a great weekend of relaxing, playing and lots of chasing Owen around.

Owen has been into sitting lately. He kept going to the stairs and just sit there and look at a book. Or he'd want to sit on my lap on the floor. So we figured it was time to get him his own chair. We splurged on this nice chair from Pottery Barn. Owen still needs to grow into it a bit...but he looks so cute climbing into it.

So Daddy really wanted to take Owen to the local fair that they always have here in Lexington on the 4th. The second we walked through the entrance Owen got really upset. All the rides and loud noise was just too much for him. He wasn't even interested in the merry-go-round.