Owen decided he needed to pile everything in the living room on me. Where does he come up with these ideas?
Category Archives: Playing
Last day in the pool!
The pool water is pretty dirty—and draining as we sit here—but he was desperate to go in. And since it’s 75 today we figured he might as well get in one last hurrah!
Then he had to get in the tiger. HAD TO! He wanted help but I always have him try things by himself first…and he did it!
After I stopped recording, of course he got cuter—bouncing around saying Howdy pardners!
Boys and their games
Owen is really quite good at XBOX Indiana Jones Lego…he even figures stuff out by himself! But he loves playing with daddy the most!
Oh, the imagination!
Mom! Mom! Look! It’s Team Umizoomi!
Yes, those are foam crayons he’s holding (that go to one of his puzzles). But Team Umizoomi (one of his favorite cartoons) has main characters that are—yes, you guessed it—pink, blue, and green.
His imagination continually amazes me.
He’s peeking at you!
Mama? Mama! Look! He’s peeking at you!
Let’s go build!
Lately Owen has enjoyed playing with his building blocks and wants you to come build with him.
He built this dragon…
After his nap, it was back to building…and I attempted a totem pole—and it was obviously good enough because he guessed it! Then I just recorded him playing (yes, it’s a little long, but it’s mostly for the grandparents). 🙂
Then I built Owen a robot and he looked at it and said “He’s wearing a diaper!”
Owen sings…
The alphabet song…
And attempting Old MacDonald—I guess we need to work on it. 🙂
Privileges lost
Owen just lost all privileges of playing out of my sight.
He was upstairs and I assumed he was playing nicely. Ha.
Well, at first I heard some loud noises, but it sounded like his golf balls rolling around in the tub so I figured he was just playing in the tub which was fine. Then it got quiet and I got a little worried…but Katie was sleeping on me so I let him be and kept my fingers crossed.
Then he came down the stairs and I see he had taken off his pants and underwear—which worried me because that’s what he’s been doing when he has to poop. So I put Katie down (which wakes her up, of course) and go over to him…and notice poop hanging from his butt.
Ugh.
So I make him stand there until I can go grab a wipe to take care of that so it doesn’t end up in the carpet. Then we head up to the bathroom and OH MY.
Where to start? I couldn’t take it all in at once.
- There was a pair of underwear in the toilet.
- His underwear and pants were in a pile next to the toilet.
- The tub was full of toys.
- The hand towel was in the sink.
- The mirror had water drops splashed on it.
- The shelf above the sink was covered in water and toothpaste.
- The countertop was covered in water and toothpaste.
- There was poop smeared on the counter.
- The toilet seat was covered in poop smears.
- His shirt was drenched.
- There was toothpaste on the countertop.
- I lifted the towel from the sink to discover two toothbrushes—completely covered in a combination of toothpaste and liquid soap.
- I noticed his kiddie flossers in the sink and on the counter—which meant he got up into the second shelf of the medicine cabinet (where I put things to keep them out of his reach).
UGH.
Needless to say he got a time out…and he lost TV privileges for the day.
Overall I know it could have been worse, but I was still livid. This is the kind of stuff I just do NOT have the patience for…and what I worried about long before having kids. And I have to say that if Owen was acting like this earlier (at a younger age, like the Terrible Twos that we missed) I would have seriously debated having a second.
Owen playing games
Owen is a riot when he’s playing his Xbox Lego Indiana Jones game. Tom showed him some basics, but otherwise he learns how to do stuff on his own (trial and error, but still impressive). But what’s funny is listening to him while he plays—if he can’t figure something out, it’s a constant stream of “Dad? Dad? Dad? Dad? I need your help.”
Today we’ve also heard:
I did it! I got the spider!
Watch out, bad guys!
Hey, stop!
Uh oh.
Wow! Did you see that?
Remember? Mom? Remember?
I found coins! Cool!
It’s a gold coin and a blue coin. Amazing!
Look! Orange guys. Go and get them!
Mom, dad…something is happening.
Most of the time Tom and I just look at each other and crack up.
Dresser climbing, anyone?
While I was outside running the garage sale and Tom was busy inside with Katie…Owen tried climbing up on his dresser and knocked it over!! Thankfully he wasn’t hurt (there’s not much room for it to fall since its super close to the bed) but still. OMGWTFBBQ!!?!? He’s NEVER tried anything like that—ever—so it was a BIG surprise. Ugh. And of course it had a partially-filled humidifier on it…so everything was drenched. 😐
We missed the terrible twos but apparently are getting the terrible threes instead.
Surprise picture!
We had our friends and their kids over for dinner, and after dinner the two younger kids (Owen and Caroline) were off playing in the other room. Caroline came in to show me the picture she took of Owen—and it was REALLY cute! He was obviously happy to be in his Thor costume! The good thing I noticed was that it took about five other shots to get this one good one!
Someone likes to jump!
I swear Owen was older than this when he finally fit in it—I’ll have to go back and find when it was. I do remember having to put a phone book under his feet for awhile, though… Meanwhile, Katie has been in it about a week or so already (and her feet DO touch the floor, even if it doesn’t quite look like it in this picture).
** I finally went back and looked at Owen’s pictures, and the first one I have of him in the jumper is May 17. 2006—so he was 3½ months old! And there’s the box we needed to use! The other picture is him a day later, but looking cuter!
From utter frustration to melting heart in five minutes…
Look what happened when I left him alone for 10 minutes today…
SERIOUSLY?! UGH.
I told him I wasn’t happy because he made a mess—and that he shouldn’t take Katie’s clothes out of her drawers, but reasoning with a toddler is pointless at best. I also told him he had to help me pick it all up, so he handed me a few pieces and then he was done. 😐 I didn’t even have the energy to finish dealing with it right then…but he’ll definitely be helping me pick it all up later.
Of course, he followed it up with something super cute…but I was still fuming a bit over the mess.
And THEN he does something super sweet…Katie was crying so he grabbed the bottle and started to feed her.
Ahhh, life with a toddler. From utter frustration to melting heart in five minutes…
The pain begins.
So this morning, as usual, I found Owen in his bathroom drinking water and spitting—so I put away his cup. I also put away his toothpaste and his animal flossing strips (because he thinks they’re toys and I really don’t want him losing them around the house—which would happen in about 14 seconds). I told him that we only got out the toothpaste, cup, and flossers when it was time to brush his teeth.
Fast forward 20 minutes or so when I hear the bathroom sink on full blast AGAIN. I go in there and he is…BRUSHING HIS TEETH! That little shit. I couldn’t yell at him because he was doing something good—on his own and something I had just mentioned—but it was still frustrating because I had told him not to play in there.
So, what was the first thing I did? Tell him not to move (because I had to run and get the camera, of course!). 😆
Then I noticed all the toothpaste. In the sink and on his toothbrush and on his face and—WAIT. Where did he get toothpaste—I had put it away!? Did he climb up and get it out of the medicine cabinet??? No…I checked and that one was still there. So he obviously found another one somewhere (from our recent trip to the dentist, I’m guessing—but I don’t even know where it was!) AND managed to twist off the screw top (which, ironically, he can NEVER do when we ASK him to do it), and fill the sink with strips of toothpaste (which you can’t see in the picture). I also wondered what the bowl was doing there…and I didn’t have to wait long to find out: he was using it to drink from since I had taken his cup away.
I flossed his teeth, sent him on his way, and cleaned up the sink. AND PUT EVERYTHING AWAY AGAIN. Yes, it was a bit of a mess…but yes, I know it could have been A LOT worse.
So the pain is starting. He’s turning into a mischievous little boy with a mind of his own. Part of me loves it because it means he’s growing up, getting smarter, and thinking about things. But on the other hand, it’s a shit ton more work keeping an eye on him because you never know what he’s going to get into.
A spitting fool
We taught Owen to spit so he can use regular (toddler) toothpaste…so of course all he wants to do now is stand at the sink, drink water, and spit. If we can’t find him or haven’t seen him in awhile, chances are he’s in one of the bathrooms…with the door shut so we don’t see him (he’s smart, too).
I know it doesn’t sound too bad, but he gets soaked in the process—along with the sink and the floor (usually). And he sometimes does it outside the bathroom as well…
BOYS!
The end of a long day
We spent the day with Grandma Marsha in Kalkaska and had a nice picnic get-together with Tom’s friends and family. Owen got to play with a lot of kids his age (though, honestly, he didn’t really play WITH them) and he missed his nap. When we finally got back to Grayling, he crawled up onto the couch with his B…
Earlier, between rain showers, daddy and Owen attempted bubbles (this also averted a meltdown, of which I can’t even remember the problem).
And Grandma with Katie…
Front seat rider!
We only had to travel about two miles down back roads so we were going to let Owen sit in the front seat. He has never even sat in the front seat alone (even just parked in the driveway). He was GIDDY with excitement, which you can sort of see here.
And here, he’s pointing to everything on the center console saying “Check! Check! Check!” 🙂
We never did end up driving with him in the front seat… But the scary part? Look at how perfectly he fits? The seatbelt is in the correct spot!!!
Game Day at Grandma’s!
We spent the day at Grandma Marsha’s place, and it just happened to be MSU game day! We all had our jerserys—and the boys played football and hot potato! I love Owen’s guffaw.
I caught Owen catching the football!
And I got to take a little nap with Maggie…
Feeding the fish!
Tom and Grandma Marsha took Owen to the fish hatchery—and he seemed to enjoy it a little more than he did last year.
Playing on Gramma Jean
Be careful when you lay on the floor with a little boy around…
Under the table
I’m not sure why he likes playing under things like this…but he often does it at home, too. And he ALWAYS hides under the bed when playing hide-and-seek.
Captain America!
So when we were passing through Troy on the way to Grayling, we stopped at Costco for some formula (we hadn’t brought enough). Along the path to the formula, I saw the same Halloween costumes like we had in North Carolina, except they had a bigger selection…so I grabbed a Captain America for Owen. We didn’t show it to him right away, but saved it as a “poop reward” in case we needed the leverage.
Well, we brought it to the U.P. with us and he saw it. My dad saw it, too, and REALLY wanted Owen to wear it. Except…I had already deemed it a poop reward and things in that area were NOT. GOING. WELL. so it was seeming fairly unlikely that he was going to earn the costume while we were there (we have cleaned more than our fair share of poopy underwear in the few days we’ve been here). And Tom and I DO NOT go back on our word with Owen, so he HAD to poop in the potty to get it. I think my dad was more heartbroken than Owen was. 🙂
Well, long story short, he had a tiny poop that made it in the toilet (though, honestly, I think it might have been stuck between his cheeks and it just FELL into the toilet) but I really wanted to get Owen excited about pooping—and let my dad see Owen in the costume—so I counted it! Owen was GIDDY with excitement about the costume, and of course he had to put it on and parade around in it for everyone (he loves an audience).
And then with papa’s swim goggles (which came home with us—thanks, papa!)
Welcome to the real North!
I love this sight:
We were surprised at the amount of tree color in the U.P. considering it was only September 16.
After what seemed like a short 7½ hours (after two long nine-hour days, 7½ felt short), we made it up to the Upper Peninsula to see my dad’s new house…MAN, that’s a drive. (Here is our total one-way trip from North Carolina.)
See that tiny point? That’s where we were—Eagle Harbor. We joke it’s Alaska.
The view from the back deck—I have to admit it’s nice:
And Owen having a blast playing with cars out there:
And Papa meeting and feeding Katie for the first time…
Big jumps with daddy
One of the only good things about staying in a hotel with the kids on our road trip…watching Owen have a complete blast in the pool!
Santa’s coming!
He found the tiny Santa hat (from when he was a lot smaller) and was having a ball. We had also been watching a Christmas-themed Backyardigans, which I think is where he got the bit about the sleigh. Of course, I could never get him to wear the hat when it actually fit him…
Owen’s drive-in theater
My favorite part of today…
Owen was in the pool and I was holding Katie because Tom wasn’t home. He kept saying “Mama come in? Mama get your suit?” and of course I couldn’t. Tom got home and Owen kept asking, so I just hopped in—clothes and all—and he was soooo excited! And we had soooo much fun.
He says “I’m Tony!”
Tony? Huh?
“Owen, who’s Tony?”
“IRON MAN!” (For those who don’t know, Tony Stark is Iron Man.)
So I was the Hulk and chased him around the pool. And he reenacted parts of his favorite Avengers movie.
It. Was. Awesome.
NO KISSES!
He definitely didn’t want kisses and was letting us know…but he was also half laughing. That growl you hear in his voice? That’s what his “tantrums” are like (I know, not bad—I’m not complaining).
Post-rain water fun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tJrSvn9n7Mc
He was having a blast in the puddles after it rained. You can hear him babbling, but probably won’t be able to make much of it out because a) the water drainage is louder than I thought and b) he’s hard to understand anyway (I was standing right there and could barely understand).