Category Archives: Grandparents
His new thing.
He loooooooves this bucket now. I keep all his balls in it, and he’ll come down from his nap, toss out every single ball, then hop in and just sit there, or watch TV from there. Thanks, Grandma Marsha!
He also likes getting pulled around the floor in it…and then Tom picked him up and carried him around, then gave him a bumpy ride!
Owen’s new (old) friend!
Grandpa Mike and Grannie Lin bought Owen this stuffed bear for his first birthday. He didn’t really think much of it at the time, so we just set it on the fireplace ledge next to another bear of his. And it just sat there. Until last night, when he went and sat on it, then dragged it out and set it on the couch where he kept laying on it and playing with it.
This is why I keep the camera close at hand. 🙂
Random summer videos
Here are just a few videos from this summer that I never got around to posting…
Road trip!
We took a road trip to Frankenmuth to meet up with Grandpa Mike and Grannie Lin—and Great Grandma Pat and Mary Kay (who were down to Traverse City from the U.P.)! Unfortunately, Owen only got about a 40 minute nap on the way there, so we knew the afternoon might get a little sketchy… But he did pretty well at the park with us before lunch and I even got a few great pictures!
I caught him jumping! Look how high he is! I never even realized he was jumping when I was taking the picture!
Lunch at the Bavarian Inn didn’t go quite as smoothly as we had hoped, because Owen just got really tired of sitting in the high chair and HATED the accordion player who stopped in our room—but had plenty of fun walking around and hanging out with grandpa while we ate. Then it was back to the park for some playing, where Owen lasted about an hour until he needed to nap.
Spinning and spinning and spinning and falling!
Every once in awhile, Owen gets to spinning. And spinning. And then, eventually, stumbling around and falling. It’s completely adorable. It took me a minute to start recording, so this actually starts with him falling, but then you will get to see more spinning. You can hear us all DYING with laughter in the background.
Haircut!
It seems like we JUST got his hair cut, so I looked back on my calendar…and it was just over a month ago. Before that, we were making it THREE MONTHS between cuts. Hoo boy. I just can’t stand to have him look like a ragamuffin. 🙂
He did about the same this time…not loving it, and standing while she cut it. The dum dum sucker helped again, but unfortunately it could not help at all during the razor bit at the end. I am still amazed at how my fairly well-behaved toddler can turn into a crying snotty mess in a matter of seconds once that razor comes near him.
At one point where he was starting to get really upset, Grandpa Mike even handed over HIS sucker…but it didn’t help.
Crayons!
So we gave Owen these crayons the other day and he just LOVED them. He didn’t actually color with them—but had A TOTAL BLAST just stacking them and unstacking them and stacking them…over and over and over. He kept himself busy for at least 20 minutes while Tom and I ate dinner!
So we got them out again this morning while Gramma Jean was sewing something for me and I was eating breakfast. Then Gramma Jean started this new game…and then he actually started coloring! (The video is a bit long, but I just didn’t feel like editing it today.)
First Crayon Drawing
We were up in Grayling for the weekend to visit with Filipek’s, and I was sitting doing something with Izzy when she suggested she get a piece of paper for Owen to write on. Well, he was using a pencil, and kept poking through the paper, so I suggested a crayon instead. She ran to her bookbag and brought back a turquoise crayon. I held the paper and let him go to town…
(Gramma says it’s a nice picture of snow-capped mountains behind a lake!) Then Izzy wanted to write on the back. 🙂
A little while later, while we were all still eating dinner and Owen was left to his own devices (having already finished eating), we suddenly heard Marcus saying “NO, OWEN!” Yeah, he had just drawn his first crayon WALL art. |-|
Thank heavens for Magic erasers!
Owen and the Sprinkler
This was Owen’s first experience with a lawn sprinkler. He wasn’t too sure about it, but as you can see, he keeps going back to it. 🙂
Three firsts today!
1) We took him to the Grayling fish hatchery with Gramma Jean and Grandpa David. He was still a bit too young—maybe next year will be better!
2) Tom took him wading in the AuSable River—we were impressed that he didn’t mind the chilly water…although the current intrigued him.
3) Grauntie Marge brought over a watercolor paint book!
Chair ride!
We found a new activity that Owen loves!
Owen is 17 months old today!
On the back porch at Grandpa Mike and Grandma Linda’s house in Traverse City.
And our group photo from the family picnic…
First minor injury—poor toe!
Owen got his first minor injury tonight.
Tom said (I wasn’t there so I didn’t witness it) a piece of 4×4 wood fell on his toe. :'( There was some crying and bleeding as we tried to deal with it—but really not too bad overall. He wouldn’t let us get near him with any type of ice pack but Tom did manage to get a band-aid on him. Then he sat with grandpa and watched Sesame Street and things were okay (until we had to put a new band-aid on).
I’m okay (LOL) and he’s pretty okay, except for when we need to touch the foot. And he’ll likely lose the nail since it’s completely black and blue.
Poor kid.
Water park!
We all went to the local water park today and had a good time watching Owen having fun in all the pools. He even went down a water slide by himself!
And here he is actually going down!
And then he was enthralled with the sign by the water slide—I just love this pic because it looks like he’s reading it intensely!
Everyone in the pool!
Owen was out playing in his pool after we got home from our Costco trip…and I was hot from hauling everything in and putting it away, so I stepped in the pool with him…then invited Grandpa as well.
And then I got out and let Owen and Grandpa continue having fun…
Owen and the Oreo
Someone had a taste of their first Oreo today, thanks to Grandpa Mike and a free sample table at Costco! Gee, he liked it…can you imagine? 🙂
Family Picnic
We all drove up to spend the long holiday weekend in Grayling, and my mom offered to host a picnic for everyone on Saturday! We had a great time watching Owen play in his pool (and later splash around nekkid!) and enjoyed the company and the good food!
Splash Village
We spent Saturday night in Frankenmuth at Splash Village for a belated Smith Christmas/Reunion (we’ve had enough with driving in the snow and thought this would be a nice change!) so we got to take Owen to the pool again! (This is what we were training for at the community center pool!)
Due to sleep and nap schedules, Owen didn’t make it to the pool until the morning we were leaving, and Grandma Linda and Grandpa Mike volunteered to take him in. Of course, Tom and I sat on the sidelines and watched and took a few pictures (not as good as my usual pics since I had our old camera).
With Grandma Linda in the lazy river:
He really, REALLY amazed and impressed us…as soon as he saw the pool, he walked right into it and just kept going…deeper and deeper! He did hold hands with the grandparents, but he just…kept…going! He hadn’t even done that with us at the pool! They would play with him then walk him back to the shallow entry…and Owen would turn right around and walk back out! Over and over and over. It was soooo cute!
He did a great job overall, and we can’t wait to take him back to our local pool to see if he does the same thing there. We also bought him a bigger pool for the back yard—so hopefully he’ll like that, too!
You just never know…
I love that you just never know what will make Owen laugh…. Tonight, it was watching (and listening to) Gramma Jean while she was sewing on her sewing machine. He absolutely LOVED it! This is just a short clip, but he probably laughed for a good 30 minutes!!
Ooooh, sparkly moving fun!
Thank you Grandma Marsha! I love it!
He’s walking better!
Since the weather has been awesome the past few days, I’ve been taking Owen out for walks—both in the stroller and just with him walking. At first, he needed to hold BOTH of my hands—but now he’s down to one hand (or should I say finger!). Here he is practicing a day or so ago with Grandpa Mike:
And today, he took some major steps on his own (with some help at first). He’s all bundled up because the temps dropped from the high 60s to the mid 40s.
Shrieking with grandpa
SQUEAK!
Fun! Book! Noises!
The duck is his favorite—it’s the smallest animal, so the greatest chance of hitting the noise button! Thanks, Grandma Marsha!
SQUISH!
Gramma Jean’s Beef Barley Soup
Gramma Jean brought soup for the lunch before Owen’s party…and of course I gave some to Owen so he could try a new food…and he loved everything in it! The beef, the barley, the carrots, the mushrooms, the celery—YAY! So he ate the leftovers for the next few meals and today we finished it! YAY, OWEN!
1st Birthday Party!
What a day! We had a houseful of family to celebrate Owen’s first birthday…
He wasn’t too sure about the cake but quickly got into it (while still holding his balloons). And I was expecting him to get VERY messy, but it wasn’t bad at all. YAY OWEN! GOOD BOY!
And things continued to go pretty well through the bath…
And the meltdown happened when we tried to get a group photo…
But all in all it was a great day…and here’s just a little 9-minute snippet of the festivities:
First birthday balloons!
Owen apparently LOVES balloons. You can see him here with Grandma Linda and his first birthday balloons! We all got a kick out of his reactions!