I like this spur of the moment one better than our official one this year…

I like this spur of the moment one better than our official one this year…

Well, maybe not so much cooking as watching him separate eggs. Once Owen actually started “helping” (i.e. got his fingers into it), only one ended up down the front of the dishwasher and on the floor. :>>



Grauntie Marge got him some “magic” capsules that melt, leaving you with foam animals (<a href="like these). He loved them (as he did last year, too) and kept saying MAGIC! MORE MAGIC!


As soon as he saw the mini candy canes on Gramma’s tree, he had to have one! He picked blue…



Cute, but not nearly as cute as last year… 🙂

On our way to Michigan for Christmas, we made sure the hotel we stopped at had a pool… Tom said it was FREEZING but Owen still had a blast!



My how we’ve changed…



We had “Christmas” this morning (since Owen won’t know the difference) so Santa could give him the train table…and he LOVED it! (We were sure he would, but you just never know.)

He is also really into opening presents now, and thinks every wrapped present is his. Soooo cute!

Also, Owen is now in 5T pants. Some 4Ts still fit, but they’re a little tight in the butt and thigh area.
Lastly, we got a decent family photo in the first session of 20 pics! (And of course, Owen looks the best!)

And with his stocking!

Owen has watched his video about 12 times and keeps asking for “More Santa!”


One of Owen’s favorite ornaments is the Stargate SG-1 that talks and lights up when you press a button. And it’s loud. Over and over and over.

And he also still loves the Star Trek Borg Cube…so he’ll get both of them going at the same time (yeah, I mistakenly put them within arm’s reach of one another).

Linda and I put up the tree (no lights or decorations) while Owen was outside playing with Papa, so that when he came inside, he got excited and exclaimed “CHRISTMAS TREE!”

Then throughout the rest of the day, he’d walk by Charlie (who was laying in her customary spot in the corner chair in direct view of the tree), stop, look at her, hold out his arms, then swing them around to point to the tree saying “Charlie! Look! Christmas tree!” Adorable!

Owen, upon seeing the turkey: “That’s a big chicken!”
🙂
Owen’s babysitter (and one of our neighbors) Hannah turned 14 today, so while she was babysitting him (while we were at the birthday ball), she took him to her house for birthday cake and ice cream. He LOVED it, and they enjoyed watching him love it…and Hannah’s mom sent us this picture!
P.S. Grandpa Mike, you notice which hand he’s holding the spoon with?
We were sitting at the table eating dinner when the costumed kids started up and down the street…and Owen was the first to see them as he announced “WITCH! WITCH!” I asked if he wanted to go get treats and he said yes so I said we had to go put his costume on. He ran off saying “Shoes! Shoes!” So we got the costume on, he sat still for me to draw his nose and whiskers on, and then was super excited to see that I had a Lightning McQueen bag for him!
We went outside and there was a HUGE group of kids walking by (“KIDS!”) and he just watched them intently while saying “Costume party! Costume party!” (I’m not entirely sure where he picked up the idea of a costume party, but I’m sure it had to be one of his shows that I don’t pay close attention to.) He was more interested in watching the kids than anything else, so we hung out in the yard and driveway for a good 10 minutes before he was ready to head down the street. (Unfortunately, Tom is away for work, so it was just me and Owen.)
After we hit the first house (our friends and next door neighbors), he was READY. TO. GO! He had his McQueen bag in one hand and a toy jet in the other (which he held the entire night).
After we hit the few houses on our street, I thought we might be done (because to hit any other houses, it would be a bit of a walk for him) so I asked him if he wanted to go home or if he wanted more treats. Without hesitation, he immediately said “More treats!” So off we went!
He did awesome holding his bag the entire time and not dropping it (or any candy!) and he did REALLY well saying trick or treat—at the beginning I had to take him right to the door and tell him when to say it (and to say thank you), but by the end of the night, he pretty much knew he had to go up to the door or the people (most were sitting on the porch) and then say thank you.
Of course, at some houses, people let the kids pick their own treats from the bowl and he didn’t get it at first—the first house that offered, he just stood there like Why aren’t you putting anything in my bag? but then he slowly took one…and then another…and another. It was so cute—and the guy was laughing. After, at other houses, he gently picked one out.
I learned that he does not like motion-activated fog machines at all, but he loves pumpkins and ghosts (which we already knew) and pointed them ALL out to me. Of course, just about everyone commented how cute he was. 🙂 As we were on our way home, we ran into our neighbors who commented how cute he was and that their daughter had been a dalmation, too. I said “Yes, I know—we got this costume from you [at your garage sale]!” He got a laugh out of that. Then he noticed the gray clouds and said “Storm! Storm!” (Again, I have NO idea where he picked up the idea of dark clouds predicting a storm!) But I agreed that a storm might be coming…and as it turned out, it started raining about 20 minutes after we got home!
He had the best time playing with his candy—treats! treats!—it all got dumped out on my bed and then he was pushing it around and saying CRASH!

He didn’t do as much sorting as I thought he would (he just picked out the suckers) and it was only a matter of minutes before he wanted to eat one. So we shared a bite-sized Kit Kat and then he ate a tiny Nestle Crunch bar.
So overall it was a very fun night…and I can’t wait until next year! Hopefully Tom will be here to experience it with us!
We had a Halloween party to go to at our friend’s house, and decided to take Owen with us for a little bit! He wasn’t thrilled about putting his costume on…until we told him we couldn’t go on a car ride (his favorite!) until he had it on. Then he was very interested in putting it on! When I was drawing on his nose and whiskers with a makeup brush, he kept saying “Tickles! Tickles!” 🙂



And then at the party…


I figured Owen was old enough this year to go pick out his own pumpkin, so off we went.

This was about as close as he got to any of them.

And this is where he wanted to stand.

So it was a complete bust. Again. I can’t wait until he enjoys these type of things…because it bums me out when I plan cool things and he could care less.
Well, aside from his very first salon haircut when he had no idea what was going on so he couldn’t be freaked out…
He was getting quite scraggly and ragamuffin (see his recent “birthday month” photo) so we knew it was time. We postpone as long as we can because we know he hates it and throws a tantrum and it’s just. not. fun.
We tried a new place (again) and surprise surprise surprise—aside from an initial 20-second tantrum where he did NOT want to sit on my lap (so Tom and I switched) he was fine. Don’t get me wrong—he wasn’t exactly happy about any of it—but he sat pretty still and tilted his head as requested. She was even able to cut cleanly around his ears with scissors! And cut his bangs twice (I requested them a little shorter, and since he was pretty much cooperating, we went for it)! Then he was super excited to pick a toy from the drawer…because there was a car in there! Oh, happy boy.
This is him at our next stop—the farmers market.
Dear Texas Roadhouse:
We were looking forward to dining with you tonight because 1) it was Tuesday which means free kids meal, 2) we had a free appetizer coupon for my birthday, and 3) we lucked out in getting there before 6 to take advantage of your early dinner specials. Unfortunately, however, we couldn’t take advantage of all three of those at the same time, which I find very disappointing.
At first we were told we couldn’t use both the free app coupon and the free kids meal—I guess because it falls under the coupon policy of “not good with any other deal” but I think that’s crazy—your in-store all-the-time deal of kids eat free shouldn’t be counted as a deal or special. But, fine, whatever.
Then we got our bill and noticed that only one of our before-6-special-price meals rang up correctly. Come to find out, we were told NEITHER should have rung up with the special price…due to the free app coupon being used. Wait, what? Again, ridiculous in my opinion. We did talk to a manager who took the bill back and after 10 minutes finagled it with two separate $1 line item credits to make my dinner the correct price and she did give us a coupon for a free appetizer for the trouble… but honestly, I’m not sure I’ll even bother using it. We always eat with our son on Tuesdays and we usually take advantage of the early dinner meal deal, so heaven forbid I try to use a free app coupon again and face the same insanity.
We love your restaurant and go at least twice a month (partially because we love the food but partially because of the great deals you offer), and I find it hard to believe that you have such strict rules on using coupons with in-house offers. I can see not allowing two free app coupons on the same ticket (or even at the same table), but not allowing ANY other specials because you used a coupon? I’d like you to reconsider your process of handling this issue. I felt ridiculous complaining about a small amount of money, but it was more the principle of the thing.
Sincerely,
A Regular Customer for Many Years,
I wonder if I will hear anything back from them…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otFdgzxs804
Tom decided to take his birthday dinner to teach Owen the fist bump. And Owen loved it. 🙂
And smiling with dad:
Owen’s version of Happy Birthday!
Before our date night—Chinese (of course!) and the last Harry Potter movie!

Well, so much for Owen’s 2-year handprint…
Owen peed on the potty chair tonight! Totally unexpected! We went to change him into his night diaper and he was dry. So my mom (Gramma Jean!) said “Let’s put him on the potty.”
And we did.
And encouraged him.
And waited.
And after a few minutes we pulled him off since it seemed like nothing was happening…but there was a full potty!! Oh my god—we screamed and clapped and practically threw a party!! He seemed happy, but I’m not sure if he really even knows what he did (other than from us making a fuss over it) because he was watching TV while he was on the chair and he seemed way more concerned with that than with what he was/wasn’t doing on the potty.
Oh, I know it could just be a fluke and nothing else might happen for a long time…but I have to be prepared either way.
What a way to celebrate his 27-month birthday. 🙂
We wanted to get all four little ones together for a photo…my mom and I were both snapping away at the same time. I put all mine (I think it was 129 or so!) into a slideshow because it’s funny to watch the whole thing in one shot. I think there are maybe two decent ones overall where everyone is looking at the camera!
We were headed to Bay City for our Easter lunch, with the plan that Owen would nap on the way there. He was falling asleep on the couch before we left, but was wide awake once we got him in the car. After about 45 minutes, this is what happened… I alternate between thinking “poor kid” and “oh my gosh that’s too cute.”
Since we will be out of town with family on Easter Sunday, we decided to have our (very first!) egg hunt this weekend when Grandma Marsha and Uncle Rob were here. Of course it was really cold, so the outside hunt turned into the living room hunt. These videos are waaaay long, but it’s mostly for all of the grandparents. 🙂
Easter Egg Hunt in the Living Room (9m04s)
He ended up liking the plastic eggs more than the hunt OR the goodies in the eggs.
Giving Owen His First Bike (6m42s)
He loved looking at and playing with the bike the best…but wasn’t too terribly sure about actually getting on and using it.
We decided we wanted to get Owen a balance bike, but since he was still a little young (and the weather isn’t really outside weather on his birthday), we waited…and lucked into an online sale…so it became an Easter present! Tom put it together last weekend, and then we waited for the helmet to arrive. The first one we ordered didn’t fit (although though the measurements were correct, his head is extra round at the temples so it just didn’t work), so we had to reorder a YOUTH helmet, which came today.
We were worried he might not like it at all—as generally speaking he doesn’t like hats and tries to pull them off—but as soon as he saw it, he grabbed it and tried to put it on his head. 🙂

Then was a little impatient when Tom took it to try and adjust it to better fit him.

Then he was trying to snap the pieces together.

Just hanging out, watching Little Einsteins.

Sitting ever-so-patiently while Tom fiddled with the sizing. No squawking. No wiggling. Nothing. Hopefully it goes that well when it comes time to really wear it.

And hopefully he actually LIKES the bike, as so far we’ve not had too good a record with sit-on-type toys.
Grannie Lin had two free day passes so we bought two extra tickets and we all spent a few hours at the park watching Owen have a complete blast! We didn’t take too many pictures (we didn’t want to carry any cameras around) but we did take a handful right before we left.

