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Category Archives: Owen

New Bike Helmet

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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.

The latest new words!

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Change
Pie
Acorn
Push
Giraffe => Actually just raff right now.
Waterfall
Look
Castle => He called a church a castle as we were driving by. 🙂
Horse
Ernie
Working
Unicorn => Actually just corn right now.
Spooky
Ham
Table
Soap
Button
Clock
Space
Pet

And he tries REALLY hard to say Sphinx (thanks to a Little Einsteins episode).

So, we’re right around 200 words, if you count the letters of the alphabet. :up:

My morning shocker!

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So Tom left for a work trip this morning. He planned to leave at 7:30, which meant he’d be here to get Owen up. In cases where the timing works like this, I get to “sleep in” and then he always wakes me up before he leaves…so when I woke up at 7:30 I assumed he was still home/just getting ready to leave.

So as I walk by Owen’s room I see he’s not there, which fits what should be. The bottom stair gate is closed, which also fits. But as I get to the living room, I see Owen…but no Tom…and the TV isn’t on. I quick checked the garage and yep, Tom was gone.

❗ 88| ❓ 88| ❓ 88| ❗

Yeah, Owen got up on his own, forced his way out of his room (his room was too hot last night so we opened his door and propped a heavy container of change against the screen door thinking he wouldn’t be able to get out OR my mom-hearing would hear it if he was able to move it), made it downstairs, and was sitting on the couch saying “Watch! Watch!”

I had no idea how long he’d been up, so I called Tom who said he left at 6:15 and Owen wasn’t up then… But still, Owen could have been wandering/waiting for an hour!!! But from what I can tell, he didn’t get into anything bad and probably just played and waited for the TV to turn on! (I’m really surprised, too, that he didn’t come down to our room!)

So, that was my shocker. Good morning, indeed!

Owen vs. The Meatloaf

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Tonight we had meatloaf and Owen REFUSED to try it. I was 95% sure he’d like it (I mean, he likes other beef and has eaten [and enjoyed] meatballs in the past), so we did what we never do and forced a piece in his mouth, with him wiggling and screeching the whole way.

Then watched as, hmmmmmm, he realized it wasn’t disgusting. And that he might actually like it. Then watched as he shoveled in a HUGE piece almost as fast as his little fingers could move.

The little shit.

I really don’t want to force food on him, but maybe we have to? At least things we’re fairly sure he’ll like?

He didn’t touch the asparagus but I didn’t press our luck. 🙂

The words are coming faster!

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Since I posted a week ago, here are more new words:

baby
broken
boo (as in peek-a-boo—he only says the boo part) 🙂
rain
beach
tuba
drum
guitar
horn
track
ramp
bus

And some words (turtle) and letters (W) are MUCH clearer than they used to be. And we’re getting a lot of “____ gone” sentences. And I swear he read “at” during Super Why today. 🙂

Someone likes the slide again!

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We have been going to the community center preschool once a week for the past 10 weeks, and Owen has NOT ONCE wanted to go on the slide—even with my coaxing AND watching other kids—until, of course, the last five minutes of the last session today…at which point he apparently decided he loved it and went down about eight times before I had to stop him (class was over).

So when we came home and after his nap, we went out to play (since it was like 68 degrees) and I hauled out his slide from last summer…and…HE LOVED IT! And was old enough to climb up and slide down on his own (though I had to help him a few times until he got the hang of climbing up). He slides down then says “again!” over and over.

Splashing! Playing!

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Today was the first nice day of the year—55 and sunny—so Owen and I went outside to play! The first time we went out, Owen was excited to see THREE trucks come by—the garbage truck, the mail truck, and the FedEx truck! When the FedEx truck went by, he said “X! F!” 🙂 He also enjoyed splashing in the puddles.

After lunch, when it was about time for Tom to come home, we went out again. This time there was much more splashing!

He did not want to go inside—he apparently now remembers how fun it is to be outside—so we went out to the porch while the grill heated up for dinner. He wanted to play with Maggie’s toy…but she wanted the toy more, so she knocked him down trying to get it. He had a fit until I went downstairs and brought up this toy from last summer. You should have seen his face when he saw it—so happy!

First bowl of ice cream

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Owen has certainly had ice cream before, but today we went to Oberweis Dairy with Papa and Grannie Smith and ordered him his very own bowl (instead of just feeding him bites of ours or letting him lick our cones).

When he got down to the bottom of the cup he was having a hard time, so Tom took over feeding him.

Then the manager came over to check on us, and gave Owen a balloon and some stickers!

Big bed/sleeping updates.

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Owen stayed in bed all night as far as we can tell! If he did get out, he did it without drama and got back in…so we’re pretty sure he just slept soundly all night as he normally does. That said, it doesn’t mean me or Tom slept well all night. I tossed and turned, waiting to hear a THUNK and crying as he fell out of bed. Or him pounding on the wall at 2am or something. But he didn’t. Such a good boy!

Thursday nap time went fairly well—it only took him about 10 minutes to settle down and fall asleep, though at the beginning it was more worrisome because he did NOT appear tired at all and was bouncing around and climbing on the dresser. But then just like that, he was laying down, sucking his thumb, and out.

Thursday bedtime apparently went really well, too—though I wasn’t home so Tom was in charge. Linda and I got home from shopping at 8:42 and Tom was already downstairs! He said he put Owen down and he rolled around a bit but made no attempts to be active or get out of bed.

This morning (Friday) I woke up at 7:05 and Owen still appeared to be sleeping. By the time I got out of the bathroom, he was up and starting to get out of his bed. Which would have been fine, except I was up so I went and got him.

Today’s nap time took a little longer than yesterday—he was more rambunctious (jumping on the bed, rolling around, climbing on the dresser) and I had to put him back about six times. The whole thing seemed like more of a game to him this time—like when he started toward the edge of the bed and I moved to intercept him, he’d laugh and fall back down to the bed. As I moved out of the room, he’d lean over the edge of the bed to peer at me sitting in the hallway. It was so dang cute, it was all I could do to not break up laughing. Then I shut the door most of the way, figuring he’d forget I was out here and quit paying attention to me…but dang if I couldn’t still see him peeking through the tiny slit in the doorway. Then the little stinker leaned over and SHUT THE DOOR on me. |-| I ended up watching on the monitor…

…and had to go back in twice to put him back on the bed (he was up wandering around the room) and then he finally crashed.

So he’s still doing pretty good, but I wonder how Tom manages to get the easy times? 😉

Owen’s first night in a big boy bed!

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6:30pm

We start tearing apart his room—taking his crib apart, taking out furniture, bringing the double bed in, moving the video monitor. He’s watching it all and is having fun pretend sleeping in the sideways crib, saying “BED!” when he sees the bed coming in, and playing with toys that have been lost under the crib.

8:35pm

Tom takes him up to put him to bed. We watch him put him back into the bed twice before he leaves and shuts the door.

8:37pm

Owen is CRYING, up out of bed, and turning the light on. I beeline upstairs and go in, wordlessly put him back in the bed, and sit on the floor at the end of the bed. He keeps trying to get out, crying and turning on the light. I keep putting him back and sitting at the end of the bed on the floor.

8:45pm

Owen is cuddling on his bear with his B and things seem to be calming down, but every time I slide a bit closer to the door, his head pops up to see what’s going on. I get up to turn out the hall light (since the door was open) and he climbs out again. I put him back.

8:50pm

I am sitting in the middle of the doorway, half in his room and half in the hall. He seems to be okay. I start pulling the door shut a few inches at a time. Again, he looks at me and stirs every time…but stays quiet.

8:56pm

I’m 100% in the hallway and the door is almost closed. Of course the only place in the entire hallway that squeaks is right outside his door.

9:05pm

I shut the door super quietly and listened. Nothing.

9:08pm

I text Tom (who is downstairs and can see the monitor) to see if he’s still in bed. Yes, he is.

9:10pm

I head downstairs and Owen seems perfectly fine.

Thank you, Supernanny. :up:

Our life has changed.

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7:15am

I wake up, roll over, and turn on the monitor to see what Owen’s status is. He’s awake, but just laying there like he normally does. So I decided to take a quick shower since I had a morning appointment.

7:25am

I took my normal five minute shower, got dressed, and went to get him. I thought I heard clunking noises coming from his room that didn’t sound like his normal knocking on the wall, momentarily thought that maybe Tom came home for something he forgot, but then figured I was either hearing things or it was coming from outside.

7:27am

I open his door—and immediately notice the light is on. Huh? What? Oh, I figured my dad was probably in there with him, having heard him when I was in the shower. But upon fully opening the door, there was no dad. Heck, there was no Owen! 88| I think my heart actually skipped a beat: OWEN WAS NOT IN THE CRIB!!! I turned and there he was, playing with the closet doors (the strange clunking I had heard)!

Oh.

My.

God.

This meant he could get out of his crib. NOT. GOOD.

He seemed no worse for the wear—so he obviously didn’t hurt himself in any way during his escape. But I was clueless how he’d managed it. Did he get out onto the dresser (which is right next to the crib) then drop onto the floor? Or did he just jump over? And more importantly, was this a freak occurrence or might it happen again (now that he knows he can do it)? What surprised me is that his B (blanket) was still in the crib. I thought if ANYTHING would send him over the edge (no pun intended) it would be when he tosses his B over the side and can’t get it. But the B was safe inside the crib.

Hoo boy.

Of course, just yesterday I was talking with my stepmom (Grammy Lin) about how he loved his crib and never even tried to get out and we’d leave him in there until he was four if we could. 😮 So, I jinxed it. Dammit.

So we took the Pillow Pet out of the crib, thinking maybe he used that as leverage to get out. There is a bumper in there, but it’s covered with the breathable mesh bumper, so I don’t think he can get a good foothold on that.

11:31am

So we decided to just see what happened when we put him down for his nap. It went as expected, just like always, with us putting him in, him wiggling around to try and find his sweet spot, and then…

11:38am

I watched Owen climb out of his crib. Of course I couldn’t see the whole thing because the camera just focuses on his crib—but I could see him throw his leg up over the side (not stepping on anything or using the bumper) and by the time I ran upstairs, he was out. It was near where the dresser is, but I’m not sure if he slid onto the dresser and then down or just straight over the side. Again, he wasn’t hurt, so he didn’t bang into the dresser or anything. He was NOT happy to be put back in the crib, either.

11:41am

I rush to our room to turn the monitor on to watch him again—and it’s pure static, which means somehow the camera came unplugged or the plug (power) got pulled. So I couldn’t see him and had to rely on listening to see if he escaped again. And I was paranoid. I waited a good 10 minutes and didn’t hear another thunk or hear him playing with the closet or crying…so I assume he’s napping.

So, I guess we rearrange the room tonight and start a new chapter. I’m so not ready for this.

I had it planned that we’d transition him when we moved—using the Double bed that we have—figuring we’ll have fewer visitors and won’t need the bed for guests. So now…we have to adjust that. Ugh. We don’t really want to use a toddler bed (because then he’d just have another transition moving to a Twin or bigger) and why buy a Twin since we do already have the Double?? So we’ll probably just use that (even though it will take up most of his room) and Uncle Rob will have to use the air mattress in the guest room. 🙂

Amazon selling!

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Sale #1

About three weeks ago I bought a ceramic flat iron when Amazon was offering it for a great deal. I didn’t really need it—nor did I need to spend the $50 on it—but I did, thinking I could likely resell it (or worst case, actually use it when mine dies since it’s a better one). I listed it on Amazon for $149.99 (it supposedly retails for $249)—and it sold within a few hours!! After Amazon fees and the original cost, I made $80. I knew I should have bought a handful of them! :up:

Sale #2

I had a baby/toddler toy that is kinda big that I wanted to get rid of. Owen still liked it and played with it, but we’re trying to downsize (and he has enough other toys). Checking Amazon, they are apparently no longer available (though a newer, different model is) but there were two sellers: one for $100 and one for $300 (88|) so I figured What the hell? and listed mine at $99.99, fully expecting it to just sit there. I also listed it on Craigslist for much less since I wouldn’t have to worry about shipping—because Amazon doesn’t give you a fair price for shipping costs. But, I figured, even with the fees and S/H, I’d still make a fair amount.

So imagine my surprise when it sells…a day later! 88| YAY! But then I had to pack and ship this huge 14x18x18 thing! It has its own box but needed a shipping box, which of course we didn’t have, so I had to cobble together two boxes (which ended up to be 18x18x24) and use about a roll of tape. Fortunately, shipping only ended up to be like $5 more (instead of the $15 more I was thinking) and the tape was free (leftover from our military move)…so long story short, I paid $30 for it at Target a year ago and will have made, after fees and charges, $50! :up:

Who says I’m not working and making money? :b