He’s just started doing this when we go to the park (and I close the garage door while he’s standing there).
Category Archives: Funnies
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.
Three videos and a picture!
This is probably how he uses his chair about half the time. Cute, but not really a good thing to do.
After his nap in his dark room, so I was using the phone light to record.
Of course I missed the best parts of him on the couch, but this is some of what he was doing.
And one of his sleeping positions…
How does that mirror taste?
See, I told you he was tasting everything!
Lip Music
More dinnertime fun!
Shrieking and eeking!
Laughing!
Daddy & Owen
More post-nap fun!
I saw on the monitor that he was up, so I gave him about 10 minutes to wake up. I went upstairs to get him and he didn’t want to get out! So I let him sit while I went to the bathroom. I came back and he still didn’t want to get out…and he was having fun. So I went downstairs to get the camera, came back up, and got this—a straight 10 minutes of fun!
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!!
Burpie Naptime Hysteria
We thought Owen was tired enough for his afternoon nap. We watched him on the monitor, and he kept rolling around and playing with his burpies—tossing them around in his crib and laughing and shrieking. Mom and I were having a ball watching and listening to him on the monitor.
After about 20 minutes, mom went up to check on him to see if he wanted to come out…and he didn’t. He wanted to keep playing! So then I was watching and listening to BOTH of them on the monitor—and also hearing them down the hallway—and I couldn’t stand it and had to go up myself and take the camera!
Please forgive the bad quality in the first video segment—the camera lens was a little dirty from SOMEONE (cough, Owen, cough) carrying it around and chewing on it. 
Burpie Heaven
Every week or so, we gather all Owen’s burp cloths (burpies, his security blankets) to wash them. When they come out of the dryer, it’s a burpie explosion…and consequent burpie heaven when Owen sees ALL OF THEM together. He rolls in them, grabs them, buries his face in them, whips them across the room, and will not let us actually keep any of them folded in a pile.
Frog Whistling
This is a new toy we got for Owen—it’s a spiral tower that balls (and a penguin!) roll down and a frog which whistles as it goes down the chute. It’s for 18+ months but he got the hang of most of it right away (he can’t quite get the hang of putting the balls on the spiral, but he’s great at stacking them on top of the tube!).
Anyway, he really LOVES the frog, nd he has discovered how to make it make noise by himself:
High Fives!
We’ve been teaching Owen how to “high five” and he loves it and does a pretty good job at it. Tom sent me these two videos (while I was at the dentist today) and it really showcases just how loud and crazy he can get!
Part 1
Part 2
SQUEAK!
When mommy says no.
This is what happened when Owen was chewing on the entertainment center drawers and I told him “NO!” It wasn’t really full-fledged crying or a tantrum, but he did have the crocodile tears and everything! Such a drama queen already!
Issues, issues, and more issues.
What kind of issues? Well, food issues, nap issues, playing, and then more food issues.
So today I asked some parents (on my online boards) what I can do with Owen and his eating. Meaning, we keep trying real food but he just isn’t loving it—but he should be getting off jarred food and eating more and more “real” food. So they gave me some ideas, which I had already mostly tried. But the big idea was
Babies/small children are MUCH better than adults at recognizing their own bodies’ signals for “hungry” or “need nourishment”. Some of the best advice I ever got about kids and eating was from my MiL. If a child gets hungry, s/he will eat. Period.
So anyway, just to share my response (so you know what we’re dealing with!):
We have tried frozen corn, peas, green beans, and carrots and he doesn’t really like them. Meaning he won’t eat them plain (heated) but he would eat a few of them when used in fried rice.
I have tried doing sweet potatoes a variety of ways—the consistency of jarred food (which he ate for awhile, but no longer likes), baked chunks, steamed chunks, a steamed mash, with cinnamon, etc., and he didn’t like any of them.
We’ve tried sliced cheese, chunk cheese, grated cheese, and melted cheese – none of which he’s thrilled with.
I tried cooking peas and beans (from dried) and those were a BIG no.
I have tried minced, chopped, and pieces of chicken (all a big no), roast beef and burgers (he likes it! he likes it!), and grilled pork (okay for a bit, but not terribly interested).
I have tried grinding/mashing various meals into a slurry and just chopping them up—no dice.
He does love pears and does okay with bananas—but doesn’t like watermelon, fresh strawberries, or apples (although he likes dried).
He does love yogurt, but he can’t live on yogurt, right?
So we ARE trying…it is just extremely frustrating because there’s really not much he likes so far.
All that said, I tried at lunch. (I really did.) I cut up half a banana, gave him about four rigatoni noodles with meat and sauce, and a tiny handful of puffs and dried fruit…with a sippy cup milk chaser. He ate about half the banana, half the noodles, and his pile of puffs/fruit. Which is about 1/4 of what he normally eats. I then tried to feed him the pieces and didn’t get much more down. And he was giving me his cranky “I’m hungry” cry. So I buckled and gave him a yogurt and that was it (still way less than he normally eats). About an hour later, he was giving me the hungry whine again, so I gave him a cracker—he didn’t want it. I tried puffs—no dice. I tried milk—nope. We cuddled on the couch and he got tired…so then he took some milk and…
On another note, it drives me insane how he is so tired and practically falling asleep on my lap so I put him in his crib and he cries and whines and screeches and cries and whines and screeches because he doesn’t want to be in there—but I leave him anyway, hoping he will just fall asleep…but this afternoon it’s been 30 minutes and it’s still going on. Ugh. I hate letting him win (LOL) but I can’t leave him in there forever.
They then agreed that he was being a stinker, and to just keep trying new foods. So, to continue the story…just to show you can never expect what will happen.
We ordered Thai for dinner, which was too spicy for him, even as Mild. But we did share tiny pieces—my chicken, egg, and carrot (from Basil Fried Rice) which he did eat (chicken, yay! except it took a few tries) and chicken and potato from Tom’s Massaman Curry. So we’re excited. He’s also eating some Graduates apple pieces (which he never ate before!) and puffs. And drinking milk. But even though he was eating, he wasn’t really eating that much.
But I wasn’t going to give him any jarred foods…but I was going to give him a yogurt. But before I did that we had some fun (which, of course, completely made up for him being a stinker earlier today at nap time):
And then, after playing, without warning, he barfed his entire dinner. So, was it from the raucous laughing? Or too many new things for dinner? Or something else entirely?
Sigh.
But wasn’t he cute in that video? 
Owen and the Toybox
Owen was so cute today, leaning over into his toybox reaching for something, with his feet dangling off the ground…so I reached for the Flip…and the next thing I hear is crying so I quick look around to see him IN the toybox with his legs in the air.
Is it wrong that my first thought was “DAMMIT! I MISSED GETTING IT ON CAMERA!” 
:>
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!
Pumpkin Helmet v.1
I think we might have started the helmet thing—look what video I found today, from about two weeks ago.
Owen’s New Helmet!
Owen just LOVES the pumpkin basket that Grandma Marsha bought him!
Face-Plant Olympics
These were all taken the same night, over maybe 30 minutes.
Face plant! His helmet must give him just enough room to breathe. So cute, but still hard to watch.
Face plant–now with thumb sucking!
Half face plant with his butt in the air! This is starting to sound like an Olympic event!
Parent Teacher Conference Should Be Hilarious
http://emailsfromcrazypeo…d-be-hilarious/
I am just nutball enough to be this mom. Eventually. (Found on a great site called Emails From Crazy People.)
Dear Mrs. X:
In just over a week, you will be my son’s Grade 1 teacher. He is ever so excited to be under your tutelage. Why, since the last day of kindergarten, entering your class was all he could talk about. He gleefully thrust a piece of paper into my hand on that June afternoon, and said, “Here’s a list of the stuff I need for school next September!”
And I have to admit, I, too, was excited. I’m a school supplies geek from way back. And so, in early August, I set out to buy the items you’d listed.
It was on my fourth store that the realization began to sink in.
You’re a crafty bitch, aren’t you?
This list was a thinly disguised test. Could I find the items, exactly as you’d prescribed? Because if not, my son would be That Kid, the one with the Problem Mother, Who Can’t Follow Directions.
For example, the glue sticks you requested. In the 40 gram size. Three of the little buggers. (What kind of massive, sticky project you’ve got planned for the first day of school that would require the students to bring all this glue, I cannot imagine.) But the 40 gram size doesn’t come in a convenient 3-pack. The /30 /gram size does. But clearly, those would be wildly inappropriate. So I got the individually priced 40’s, as per your instructions.
Another bit of fun was your request for 2 packs of 8 Crayola crayons (basic colors). The 24 packs, with their 24 /different /colors, sat there, on sale. I could have purchased /three/ of the 24 packs for the price I had to pay for the 8 packs. (Clearly, you’ll not be teaching the youngsters any sort of economics lessons this year.) Even the cashier looked at me, as if to say, “Pardon me, ma’am, but are you slow?” as I purchased these non-bargain crayons. But that’s what the list said. And I was committed to following the list.
But the last item, well, now, you saved your malice up for that one, didn’t you? “8 mm ruled notebooks”, you asked for. Simple enough. Except the standard size is /seven /millimetres. One. Millimetre. Difference. Do you realize, Mrs. X., exactly how infinitesimal the difference between 7 mm ruling and 8 mm ruling is? Pretty small, I assure you. The thickness of a fingernail, approximately. But that millimetre, that small bit of nothingness, made me drive to four different stores, over the course of three sweaty August hours. And when I finally, finally found the last remaining 8 mm notebooks, I took no pleasure in my victory. I merely shifted my focus. To you, Mrs. X.
You wanna dance, lady? Let’s dance.
Because I am just batshit crazy enough to play your games. And, in turn, come up with some of my own.
On show and share day, my son will be bringing the video of his birth. It will be labelled, “Ben’s First Puppy.” Enjoy.
He will be given a list of words, and daily, he will ask you what they mean. Words such as, “pedophile”, “anti-semite”, and “skank”. Good luck with those.
At some point, you will attempt to teach him mathematics. And I’m quite sure that, like most of your ilk, you will require my son to “show his work”. And he will.
Through interpretive dance.
Because that is who you’ve chosen to tangle with, toots. A stay at home mom who is not entirely balanced, and has altogether too much time on her hands. But is, most certainly, A Mother Who Can Follow Directions.
Sincerely,
Ginny
Fun with dad!
Tom did this enough that now Owen knows what’s coming when he hears the loud inhale. Just adorable!
Owen LOVES his Doodlebug!
Oh. My. Gawd.
This was SOOOO funny (as you will be able to tell from my laughter while filming). He loves that one specific foot and always grabs it first. This was the first time he did THIS, however…
William Tell Momisms
Anita Renfroe sums up all the things that a mother says to her children in a three-minute song called “Momisms” set to the William Tell Overture.
It’s times like these…
…that start to make up for all the sleepless nights.
Caption time!
Grandma Jean had to caption this photo as soon as she saw it:
“Mom says no cake.”
:>>
To Those Born 1930 – 1979
From an email that is circling around these days which I thought was pretty good and worth a reprint here:
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the1930’s 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s!!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking. As infants and children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren’t overweight because…
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Play stations, Nintendos, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVDs, no surround-sound or CD’s, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms…WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever! The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
If YOU are one of them . . . CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good and while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it?! :>>
