Year: 2013
Owen is 4 years 9 months old today!
/hangs head in shame
I actually forgot again on the day—this time with Owen. 🙁 I thought I had fixed my screwed up calendar, but I had forgotten to add alarms… Hoo boy. So technically Owen is 4 years 9 months 2 days. 😐
Me, too! Me, too!
I asked Owen to go sit on the couch so I could take his monthly picture…and before I could get the camera turned on, Katie was climbing up next to him. 🙂
Gramma Jean asked Katie “Where is Owen?” and she was pointing to him. 🙂
Fun with the chiropractor’s toys
Owen had a so much fun with the toys at the chiropractor today that he didn’t want to leave. This is what he had set up—matching (colors) bad guys for each plane lying in wait of the tiger.
Pretty Flower
Grandpas are comfy.
I peeked out of the kitchen after dinner to see this.
Katie’s first spoon
She doesn’t often eat (like) yogurt or applesauce so we don’t have many options to try out spoons. But tonight we needed to keep her busy in her high chair so I brought out some yogurt, a bowl, and a spoon.
Her fingers were the first thing in the bowl. 🙂
Mama is it okay?
Owen: Mama, is it okay to go outside and play?
Me: Yes.
Owen: Cool. Is it okay to wear my Crocs?
Me: Yes.
Owen: Cool. Mama, is it okay to take Gramma Jean outside?
Me: Laughing. Well I think you need to ask her.
Grandpa: Just wait until we get her harness. 🙂
Playing guns with Gramma:
Gramma put a pair of Katie’s old socks on her hands—and she loved it!
Sibling love.
Masked Katie
Katie’s Flipper
She LOVED having Owen’s costume glove on her foot, which looked like a flipper. It stayed on for a good long time.
And in Owen’s Thor costume. She was moving fast and this was the best pic I got.
What Katie learned this morning.
Gramma taught her how to kiss the bear in the book. 🙂 The book was from Grauntie Marge when Owen was a baby.
Christmas will be fun this year.
Katie opening a present…
Playing ball with Owen
Gramma wanted to see just how good Owen really was at hitting the ball. She was impressed!
Owen could even hit the balls like this!
Waiting. Finally.
He started asking me about 6:30am if he could wait on the porch for Gramma Jean… I had them call from five minutes down the road so he could go out.
Why is Gramma Jean coming?
Owen: Why is Gramma Jean coming?
Me: Why is she? I told you. [I had a conversation with him today about how they were coming for a vacation.]
Owen: She’s coming to have fun with me!
🙂
I’m thrilled this is his dinner.
Cheese and turkey? Hallelujah.
Today he wanted a green bath.
Yes, I’ve created a monster. 🙂 I have warned him he won’t be having a colored bath every time…
Putting toys away by song
This is what they sing at school. 🙂
Baseball Day 8: The End of the Season
After raining all night, the field was pretty much underwater so the game was held indoors at the rec center gymnasium.
They wanted the kids to sign eight baseballs as gifts… Owen did one and was done. 🙂
We had a special guest in attendance today —Reggie Sanders of the World Series Champions Arizona Diamondbacks (2001). (Of course not being a sports person, I had absolutely zero idea who he was, but everyone seemed excited and I know it was a big deal.) He started the Reggie Sanders Foundation in 1992; his younger brother was diagnosed with autism.
He would help some of the really little kids bat and handed Owen his bat.
Getting his gold medal, autograph, and signed baseball:
Then enjoying pizza and cake!
There was also press there from the local paper. I know they took a picture of Katie and they asked for her name (and our information) so who knows if her picture will be included or not.
I was amazed at how fast the eight weeks went by. At the start, I wasn’t even sure I wanted to do it and eight weeks seemed like FOREVER…but before we knew it it was over. The best part, of course, is how much Owen enjoyed it!!
Katie’s Learning
She really only has a small handful of words so far (I thought there were a few more but maybe it’s just wishful thinking):
Maggie
Daddy
Mama
Charlie
Belly
Edited to add:
Hi
Bye
Peek
Meow
And she tries Owen. 🙂 She definitely knows who he is, though!
But she knows what door to go to when you say potty (when I tell Owen), she knows where to go if you say you need to change her diaper (the changing table in the play room), and she heads to the stairs when you tell her it’s naptime or bedtime.
She also knows how to put toys and books away, she knows the remote should go in the drawer (but she hates giving it up once she’s snatched it away), and of course she’s really good at signing “more.”
Noodle Fun
Then Owen wanted me to take a picture of him since I was taking one of Katie. 🙂
Charlie’s getting more relaxed.
She stayed there about 30 seconds!
Owen wanted to go for a walk…
So off we went. He put on his new fast shoes so he could run…but then didn’t do too much running because he said his legs hurt. I asked where and he pointed to his shins. I’m wondering if he’s having growing pains…? I think I was a bit older, but I remember my legs hurting and my parents telling me my bones were growing… So I told him his bones are probably growing. Of course he asked why and I told him that’s how he gets taller. Ohhhhh! I told him not everyone can feel their bones grow so he’s special…just like mama. 🙂
Then he wanted to push Katie. Needless to say we had to wait until we were back on our less-travelled street because he cannot manage anything resembling a straight line. Of course he’s hamming it up doing circles in the video, but it’s not too far off. Then he even had to stop to put oil on the wheels (using his sunglasses that he found in the stroller pocket). Unfortunately I didn’t get that in the video.
Katie Belly
Knock me over with a feather.
Owen ate five pieces of turkey lunch meat with his lunch. Before today he’d only eat ham. And before that (just two weeks ago with Grannie and Papa) he wouldn’t even consider tasting any of it. I LOVE THIS CHANGE!!
First I had him try a bite. And he said it wasn’t bad…it tasted like turkey. Well, yes. 🙂 But then he said it was like ham. Whatever it takes, buddy…whatever it takes. Then he asked for another piece. And another. While he was still eating the other stuff I’d given him (apples and cheese and crackers). Then he asked for another. AND ANOTHER.
PJ & Movie Day
Since the doctors office was less than helpful or even remotely sympathetic, they didn’t get Owen’s physical form to the school, so Owen had to stay home today. I never told him that he wasn’t going to school—I just didn’t get up early and told him today we were staying in our PJs and watching a movie. He never even asked about school. (Today would have been Spirit Day: Pajama Day.) So we all watched The Lorax.
Then when Katie went down for her nap, we went out to play frisbee. After a little coaching he wasn’t half bad.
Owen also found this super cool colorful leaf:
Then he came in and now we’re watching Shrek. 🙂
Happy Halloween!
Owen was so excited about trick-or-treating that he started asking about 3:30. 🙂 I told him it would be after dinner, so that put him off until about 4 before he started asking if it was dinnertime yet. Since the kids have a somewhat early bedtime, I figured we’d start on the early end (“official” time was listed as 5-9). So I got dinner going at 4:30 and we started getting dressed at about 5.
Of course there were wardrobe malfunctions—unfortunately, the wonderful idea I had about permanently adhering the red criss-cross leg straps to the costume wasn’t so great in practice. It helped, but we should have done a trial run because the ties still hung weird and slid down because the legs were too long. I fixed some of it by hiking it up and holding it with the belt…and it still wasn’t really great but it was good enough for a four year old. 🙂 But, I was exasperated because I thought it would be a quick two minutes to get his costume on…and it turned into a 15-minute debacle that included me running upstairs to madly search for my fabric tape with Katie screeching the whole time because she was tired of being in her high chair. And I was sweating, which never makes me happy.
So then I needed to get pictures of him so I left Katie screeching in the high chair while we went outside.
“Give me a ninja pose!”
Then I had to go get Katie ready. I hadn’t done it earlier since it was WARM out and her chicken costume would also be warm. Luckily she sat pretty still for a few pictures.
Then we were off.
Owen: I can’t believe I’m going trick-or-treating! It’s my big day!
And of course, the excitement quickly turned into shyness as we hit the first house. He didn’t want to go up the driveway (I had to cajole him and go up with him), he didn’t want to say trick or treat, and he didn’t say thank you. After three houses of that, I told him if he didn’t start being brave, we were going home. So the next house he tromped off saying “I’m going to be brave!” 🙂 Then it was all good!
This is how Katie was traveling in style:
The only bad thing was (as I learned later) we were out too early. Yes, the official hours were 5-9 but there were so few houses participating I almost wondered if Halloween had been cancelled and I just didn’t know it. I was remembering last year when the streets were packed with raucous kids and I thought we were out at about the same time…but I was off by about half an hour because things started picking up around 6 and were quite busy when we were headed home at 6:30.
Katie was a big hit—almost everyone commented on her costume and she was happily saying “bye bye” to everyone and waving.
We made it home about 6:35 and went right upstairs. I didn’t want to have any lights on downstairs lest anyone think we were home and ring the doorbell (we didn’t have a pumpkin or any lights on, but that didn’t stop people last year). I let Owen and Katie share a bag of mini cheese balls and a mini Nestle crunch bar, which they both really enjoyed!
Then it was Katie’s bedtime—and she didn’t even squawk and was out in under 10 minutes. Yay!
I let Owen ramble on about how much fun he had while eating a few more treats, and he got to bed a mere 10 minutes late.
So overall, it was a good day. 🙂
Owen’s Halloween Party
I walked into controlled bedlam. Or maybe it just felt that way to me, since I am unaccustomed to being in a room full of little kids. 🙂 It was actually quite calm—just noisy. I regret not taking a video so you could fully understand. 🙂
Katie loves coming in (which she rarely gets to do because I leave her in the car while I run him in or pick him up). She gets into everything. I tried to keep her corralled with cheese and crackers today but it only lasted so long.
Then daddy called so he could see the party.
It didn’t last too long, though, since we couldn’t hear each other due to all the ambient noise. But what was funny is that the teacher saw me holding my phone up and was like “Oh, what do you have there?” I’m guessing she thought I was showing Owen something or taking a video. When I told her it was Owen’s daddy on Skype she was really surprised! And excited! So she got to meet Tom briefly today. (Again, it was loud so it wasn’t much more than “Hi! Nice to meet you!”)
Our Little Chicken 2.0
She wasn’t really too cooperative…none of the pictures with the pumpkin turned out (so I couldn’t get a match to Owen’s pic, below).
And Owen as the chicken at eight months (one of my all-time favorite pictures):
The Physical Saga
So when Owen switched from daycare to pre-k, no one told me he needed a new physical form filled out so I was a bit surprised when it popped up on the check-in monitor saying it’s overdue. I got the form from admin right then, went home, and used the doctor’s office web portal (as they suggest) to request an appointment.
Well, life is busy and I didn’t realize that they hadn’t gotten back to me in four days, so I called to schedule the physical—and of course they couldn’t get me in for another week, but whatever. So I show up yesterday and am told he’s already had his age 4 physical (that’s what the four-year well-visit is) and it’s good for a year…so if I go to the appointment today I will be charged since our insurance only allows one physical per year. They let me cancel so that part was fine, but I was still annoyed because had I known/realized that the well-visit check was the same exact thing as the required physical, I could have just dropped the form off TWO WEEKS PRIOR when I first got the warning message. So they tell me it will be two business days and I don’t give it another thought.
So this morning I drop Owen off at school and he’s super excited because it’s Halloween and he’s dressed as Thor and there’s a parade walk through the school scheduled and a party in the afternoon and it’s all just very exciting for a four-year-old. As I’m driving home, I get a phone call from the school asking if I had Owen’s physical, because if they don’t have it TODAY, he can’t be at school and I’ll have to come pick him up.
WAIT. WHAT? YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.
Yes, today is the absolute very last day he can be there without the physical form on file. I wonder how I didn’t know this. To be honest, I know I didn’t look too closely at the “due by” date, but there was NO warning that he wouldn’t be able to attend without it. And today of all days?!?!
I WAS LIVID.
So, I asked why they didn’t tell us ahead of time that he needed a physical and she said they did. I would have bet my life they didn’t, though, because I know I went through EVERYTHING in the welcome packet and there was no “new physical form” in there. The first time I heard it mentioned was when the notice popped up on the check-in monitor and I [started to make] the appointment that day—but of course that didn’t go quite as planned so I did waste some time. She said if they could fax it today he can stay, otherwise he’ll have to go home.
So when I get home, I call the doctor’s office and explained what was going on…and nope, nothing they can do, they are super busy and mine was the last one turned in. I practically beg, saying I’m going to have to take my son away from his Halloween party at school, yada yada yada. Nope, sorry. She didn’t even sound apologetic, which was annoying. At least fake it. She said she’d put a note on it and would call me if anything changed, but I can guarantee that won’t be happening. It’s really annoying because all it is is transcribing a few notes from his file to the piece of paper and checking a few boxes. Sure, there might be a pile of them, but each one can’t take more than 5-10 minutes. And you’d think they’d have a heart…but no.
I was so pissed. And I knew it would kill Owen—if they don’t get it there today he can’t go to school tomorrow on PJ day, which he’s been looking forward to all week. I admit I cried for a minute. 🙁 Then my anger took over and I went on a hunt for the welcome folder (which I’ve been meaning to do anyway since I need to put Owen’s birth certificate back in the safe) and looked through EVERYTHING again. No mention of any physical in any of the welcome materials and, of course, no form. Had there been a form, I would have definitely seen it when I first went through it.
So I decided that I would go in and pick him up at 10:30 when I knew the parade would be over. We’d then have to skip the party at the end of the day because that’s part of school, too. So I first went to talk to the admin, just to clarify HOW I was supposed to have known about the physical. She started by saying she will let him stay for today and the party (which made me happy—though it would have been nice if she said that earlier to save me a trip into town) and was then surprised when I told her I went through the welcome packet but there was no form in there (I told her “That’s why I asked for the form the other day—because it was the first time I’d heard of it.”). She basically blew that off saying “Hmmm, well there should have been a form but maybe I missed it.” That’s it? I thought I deserved a bit more of an apology than that, since none of this would have happened if the form would have been in the folder. (Yes, mistakes happen, but there’s a difference between realizing it on Day 1-14 as opposed to Day 31 when you’ve been called on it.)
ANYWAY, I also suggested it would be nice if the popup warning actually said “YOUR CHILD CAN’T ATTEND WITHOUT THIS PHYSICAL” and she said one of the three warnings did say that. Wait. Three? I only got one. Yeah, turns out the first notice was the Friday he missed school for being sick (when Grannie and Papa were here) and the second one must have been a day they picked him up and couldn’t get the fingerprint scanner to work so the office staff checked him out. So, basically a perfect storm of events from Day 1.
She really is a nice lady, and I didn’t want her to think I was a crazy person (plus I have to deal with her for the rest of the school year!), so I apologized for being so confused and told her I’m really not this disorganized…but apparently a bunch of little things went wrong from the beginning that just made it all weird. She seemed to think I wasn’t a lunatic (or at least she was good at faking it!) so I think we’re good.
Of course, if the doctor’s office can’t promise to get it to the school by like 10am tomorrow, he can’t go to PJ day. I don’t hold out hope…so today I get to make a big deal about staying home with mommy for a PJ and movie day just in case. And then hope they have it ready at 8am Monday, otherwise he gets a day at home with Gramma Jean (which wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world)…