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!
So a bunch of friends really recommended the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Alphabet…so of course we got it. As soon as Owen noticed it, he took right to it—unfortunately, taking every letter off the door and putting it on the floor.
Now, while it was certainly cute to watch, he started taking the pieces around the house, and I could easily see him losing all the pieces and making me insane. Instead of one toy to play with, it was really 27 pieces! To lose! FUN!
So I decided for my own sanity, I would put the letters away until he was a bit older. The base still had a button to press which played the ABC song, and he liked that.
Fast forward to Grandpa Mike and Grandma Linda visiting. With Sassea and her water bowl. Which Owen LOVES to sneak into and play in.
Well, let’s just say the LeapFrog Alphabet is no more. Owen was playing with the base and in a flash, had taken it off the fridge, scurried into the dining room, and dunked it in the water bowl!
We immediately dried it out and placed it in a bowl of rice in a warm oven…and left it sit overnight…but no luck. Well, it did turn on and play one round of the ABC song but then it was dead.
I guess when we buy it again, he’ll have two sets of letters. 😐
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? 🙂
Placing them precisely, then starting to stack them. So cute!
Owen loves playing with his cars and trucks…ON the entertainment center and NEVER on the floor. I guess the wood surface is smoother and more fun than the carpeted floor. He can play like this for the longest time!
A bunch of our friends had said WONDERFUL things about an outdoor water table, so of course we had to get one. And of course, with as much as Owen now loves splashing in the water, we knew it would be a hit!
He was in it before I even had started putting it together:
Once it was outside, he instantly started splashing in it…and it was right next to his little pool, so he enjoyed splashing in both at the same time:
The first time he successfully climbed this by himself! (It was sometime in May but I am not sure when.) It was May 25, 2010.
We know he likes pizza, and we often give him bites of crust or crust and cheese. We’ve tried giving him larger pieces of things (like half a granola bar) and he doesn’t want it and just smashes it instead.
But today, after eating a handful of pieces, he was looking longingly at my crust…so instead of giving it to Maggie, I gave it to him. Watch as it quickly disappears!
P.S. He did end up eating the piece he spit out. 😀
In quick succession, we just learned that:
Tom and I saw a sign for a garage sale (“lots of baby things!”) on the way back from the grocery store, so we stopped. And they had…a slide that was just the perfect size for Owen! And I thought it would be a great addition to his little pool that we brought to Gramma Jean’s house.
And boy, did he love it! At first, Tom sat him on the slide and then held him as he slid down into the pool…but after a handful of times, he knew how to inch himself forward just enough to move himself down the slide—without Tom even holding on! He had an absolute BLAST with it…so we’ll definitely put it to good use at home, too!
And a sample of the crazy splashing that had us all wet—and in stitches!
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!
So Owen freaked us the hell out last night. We were in a hotel, had put him to bed around his normal time, and that was that. We also decided to go to bed early, so we were in the room with him, and he made his usual little noises while he was sleeping. Tom and I had a hell of time trying to sleep—but that’s our fault for going to bed early in a water park hotel with a hundred kids running up and down the halls screaming. Anyway, no idea what time it was (though it turned out to be about midnight) I hear Owen start whining and whimpering. It was fairly quiet, so I thought it might just be something normal that we don’t hear because we’re not in the same room. Then it got louder and more insistent. And it scared me, because he’s NEVER EVER done that. I gave it a minute and the nurturer in me had to go get him.
By this time, Tom has heard him and woken up and we’re both kinda freaking out because he’s now CRYING and it’s the worst little cry and it’s breaking our hearts. He sounded like he was having trouble breathing, so I was really freaking out, and a hundred things were going through my mind. (In the end, I think it was just from the heavy crying.) But I was envisioning us having to go to the hospital because he was having an allergic reaction or something…and we weren’t in our hometown, and I had no idea where the hospital was (or even if there was one). Luckily Tom got up and took him for a few minutes while I tried to calm down. He seemed to be calming down so I went to the bathroom and apparently when I shut the bathroom door (and cut the light to the room) Owen freaked out again. So we were thinking bad dream or just unusual circumstances (he hadn’t gotten his best naps that day)—we didn’t know but he was certainly not himself and totally freaked out.
He calmed down again so Tom put him back in the crib and he instantly started crying again. It was horrible and we felt totally clueless. We got him out again and tried a bottle, thinking back that he hadn’t eaten much dinner. He drank that plus ate a yogurt, so he was certainly hungry. But hungry enough to wake him up and make him cry like that?
Needless to say I didn’t sleep much the rest of the night. We left the bathroom light on with the door open, and I was listening to his every move and every sound, checking the monitor every 10 seconds when he was [finally] quiet to make sure he was still breathing. And on top of that I was too hot, then too cold, too hot, too cold, ad nauseum. And Tom did fall asleep and was snoring. So I might have gotten two hours of piecemeal sleep from 9p-6a.
I posted on Facebook, and a friend said it might be night terrors. 88| I hadn’t thought of that, and Googling said it might be something similar (confusional arousal; night terrors are technically in older toddlers and are much, much worse).
Episodes of confusional arousals in children may seem bizarre and frightening to parents. The child can have a confused look on his or her face and “stare right through” you. Children may become more agitated when you try to comfort them. Most episodes last from five to fifteen minutes. But they may last as long as thirty to forty minutes in some youth.
This definitely sounds like what happened—and could have been brought on by a handful of things including unfamiliar situation, stress, and inadequate rest (which was definitely the case that day).
After talking to some other parent friends about what happened, they said it was most likely just a little nightmare, compounded by waking up hungry and in an unfamiliar place, then getting scared again when the (bathroom) light went out and not wanting to go back to the unfamiliar crib.
UPDATE: He slept fine the next night, so we’re hoping it was a one-time thing.
We were at the hotel so he got a real tub bath—his first! (At home he still gets bathed in the baby/toddler tub on the kitchen island and other than that, it’s been the sink!) Needless to say he LOVED it—of course, since he’s now used to splashing in the pool! Throw in a ball or two and he could stay in the forever!
P.S. And look at all those teefers!!
This is what happens when I put Owen’s shoes on when he’s in his high chair. Every time.
I really don’t like it when people leave balls in their yards—it makes it VERY difficult to take Owen on a walk since he makes a beeline for any ball he sees…and is now old enough to remember where it is (so distracting him and turning him around doesn’t last long). We can be all the way back to our house and he turns around and toddles toward the ball he saw in a yard across the street four houses down! Or one he spotted on someone’s porch, even! Stinker!
Today was Owen’s first real swimming lesson! (I may or may not have mentioned that our new babysitter is also a swim instructor! BONUS!) Unfortunately, we got off to a bit of a rocky start, because of a few minor things—it was our first visit there so maybe it was just that they didn’t recognize us, but no less than three different life guards asked why we were there. Um, to swim? :crazy:
Anyway, I should have just said we were there for the “open swim” but instead I said we were there for a private swim lesson. Sounds logical, right? Because we technically were. Except that apparently it’s against the rules to have private swim lessons there if the instructor isn’t employed by the community center. Even if both of us are community center members in good standing. 🙄 On top of that, we had brought a ball because we knew Owen would LOVE it, and that wasn’t allowed, either. Ugh.
Anyway, they were actually (I think) considering asking us (or her) to leave. So she went in to the office to talk to the manager and came out saying that she told them that we were close family friends and we were going on vacation and wanted our son to be comfortable in the water, so since he was comfortable with her, she was helping out (which was mostly the truth!). Apparently they acquiesced but told her she couldn’t INSTRUCT him. 🙄 What-ever. So she played with him and then kinda half told me what to do with him and overall it all went really well.
I was a little worried at first because we sat on the steps of one of the pools and Owen did NOT want to be there at all. He refused to let go of me and was almost crying. So we got out and he wanted to walk, so we walked around the outside edge of the pool area and he seemed to be enjoying himself. By the time we got back to the beginning, he was ready to go in the pool and was splashing around a bit. And loving it!
Then Christie (babysitter/swim instructor) arrived and she tried to get him to splash and to walk deeper in the water. Then we moved on to dunking him briefly and holding him on his stomach in the water. He didn’t mind any of it—even getting dunked! We ended with more splashing in the shallow water!
Christie told us more than once that he was a joy to teach because he was soooo easy going! She said that most kids she taught were tired and whiny after 20 minutes—and overall, we spent a good hour in the water! By the end, he was getting cold and whiny but he did such a great job! YAY OWEN!
Honestly, we’ve known this for awhile, but within the past week or so, Owen has learned how to climb up on the ottoman and couch by himself. Without a step to help him. Hoo boy.
This means we really have to move the animals’ water bowl because he sees it over the edge of the couch and constantly wants to get down there. I pulled him back (and yelled NO) a few times this morning, because it looked like he was going to topple over (he stands up right at the edge and peers over, and it’s right by the brick fireplace) and the first time he listened and came back to me. Unfortunately, he tuned me out the second time and I had to manually reach out and drag him back—which he DID. NOT. LIKE. and started whining.
So he was playing on the floor and before I know it, he’s up on the couch (which surprised me, because although I know he CAN get up, it usually takes him some time and I can see him, but I completely missed it this time). So I looked away and by the time I looked back five seconds later he was up and over the edge/end of the couch and splashing in the water bowl. 88| The little shit! So apparently his ability to climb off the couch backwards and climb down stairs backwards has transferred to the ability to drop over the edge of the couch! While I am glad he can do it safely, it adds another dangerous dimension to his abilities, since he has NO fear while doing any of these things.
Then he tried to use ME to climb over the BACK of the couch. Oy.
And yes, I know it’s only to get worse from here. |-|
He found the mud puddles at the park…and I let him have at it. He seemed to really like the taste of mud!
Then after I got him cleaned up (as best I could with a baby wipe) he saw the big kids with the volleyball again—so headed directly over there. As he approached them (they were sitting off the court at a picnic table) I told them he saw the ball and had to come over—so one girl tossed him the ball so we played catch for a few minutes and he just had a ball. I knew that we’d never be able to leave because he just wants that ball so badly, so I picked him up, carried him back to the stroller, and we headed home…where he got his hands and feet washed in the sink!
Tom came home early today and we took Owen to the park. And boy, did he surprise us at the park!
Normally he doesn’t walk much on the grass because it’s uneven walking and he’s still a little unsteady. And normally he stops at the edge of the “big kids” play area because the sandy area is surrounded by a cement border that he just can’t quite get up and over by himself.
Except that today he mastered both! Tom was just following along behind him, expecting him to stop at the cement…but up and over he went with no problems, and traipsed around the play area kicking up sand! Then he spent quite a bit of time wandering around the grassy park, stopping to pick up a stick every now and again!
Then the fun came… Some high school kids were playing volleyball and, well, you know how much Owen LOVES balls—so he took off across the park to get to the ball. Did he let the hill stop him? No way! So he went up a little hill, then down the little hill, then probably 30-40 yards to the volleyball pit. Over and over and over (we kept carrying him back, because he would not turn around to leave on his own). It was soooo cute! We eventually had to leave the park because he refused to do anything else but try and get to the volleyball. (It’s hard to tell in this photo, but he’s at the base of the hill and that tan line running across the middle of the picture is a foot trail at the top of the hill.)
The other big thing for the day was…his first [local] babysitter! Tom and I had dinner plans and since we didn’t have any grandparents here…we had to use our first babysitter! We had scoped her out beforehand (i.e. emailed and met in person—we found her on a babysitter forum) so we were completely comfortable. I wasn’t nervous or sad or anything, but it just felt strange leaving him. He did just fine, and she loved him, telling us he was the easiest and happiest baby she’s ever had! YAY OWEN!
Well, licking his first frosting spatula!
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!
Tom and I were getting dinner ready when we heard…SPLASHING! We forget that he likes the toilet now, so I rushed in there. He was having so much fun just splashing away and his shirt was soaked up to his elbows! Of course, I ran to get the camera. 😀
Since I had to completely undress him to get the wet clothes off, I figured it was the perfect time to let him try his hand with a spoon (it had been awhile, and he hadn’t been interested at all the last time). It was a riot! And he didn’t do too badly… but then had the most fun (I think) without the spoon!
Owen got his first “road rash” tonight–we were out walking on the sidewalk and playing with a ball and he got tangled up in my feet and fell and scraped his cheek on the sidewalk. It wasn’t bad at all but he was really crying. Poor kid. We came in, washed it off, put cream on it, sat on the couch for a few minutes, then he was ready to go back out for more playing.
Right after it happened:
Later during his first spoon/yogurt experience (more on that in a later post):
