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Category Archives: Playing

Avengers assemble!

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Owen really likes the Avengers. It started with Iron Man and has grown into the whole crew, thanks to a kid’s movie on Netflix (Next Avengers: Heroes of Tomorrow).

So when we were thinking about potential Halloween costumes, someone mentioned they had Avenger costumes at Costco…so on our recent trip, we got one. We wanted Captain America or Iron Man, but of course they didn’t have either one of those. So we got Thor…which he’s completely enamored with because he LOVES the hammer.

The hammer was played with as soon as we got home, and the costume sat there for a day before he had to wear it (which was fine because we also wanted him to try it on—it’s a size 7-8 but they run small so we wanted to make sure it fit). Luckily he loves it and wants to wear it all the time, but we limit the time so it will hopefully last until Halloween!

This is him saying “Avengers assemble!” (from the movie) and making the arm motion!

Owen likes taking pictures!

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Left to his own devices, you never know what Owen will get into. He recently found my little point-and-shoot camera, figured out how to turn it on, and was snapping pictures like crazy. Here’s the best of the assortment.

And I finally got him his own camera app on my phone so that I don’t get hundreds of pictures in my own photo album. Here’s the best of that bunch.

Owen’s first trike!

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He never really liked ride-on toys. We tried a balance bike—he didn’t like (get) that at all. He showed no interest in a regular bike. So when I saw this trike for a steal, we thought we’d try it. It just might work…

Aside from pushing the bike around the house, this is his entire first experience (outside) with his new trike. I think we have a ways to go yet. 🙂

Kids!

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Our good friends Tom and Karen (that live on the other side of our neighborhood) have moved back into town, and they have three kids (ages 6, almost 5, and 8mo) so we’ve been seeing them more lately—which is great for Owen! We had dinner over there this past weekend, and Owen and Nate (the 6yo) got along fabulously…Owen showed up with his knight helmet and sword and Nate was already running around with his own sword! Owen also sat and talked to the 8mo which was adorable! They’ve also been to our house to swim a few times, but that’s a little overwhelming for Owen who is used to having his pool to himself (but we keep doing it so he’ll get used to it)!

Today, I left Owen there while I had a doctor’s appointment, and Karen texted me this pic of our “Little Toms”:

And then this pic of Owen driving one of their power wheels cars…which, if you recall, he won’t even barely sit (let alone drive) his own police car! So needless to say I was surprised…and of course, apparently other kids’ toys are more fun than your own!

Road trip–Family, Cousins, and Water Country

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We took a somewhat last-minute trip to Williamsburg, VA, to see family—and we also decided to go to Water Country USA since we were able to get free tickets for being military.

Saturday night we met with Stef & Al (my third cousins, I think—I’m bad at figuring out those type of family relations) and their kids for dinner and then swimming back at our hotel pool. It was nice visiting with them—I can’t even remember the last time we saw them!

Sunday it was off to Water Country to meet up with Lisa & Timmy and their kids for a day of fun in the water! They were visiting Williamsburg for a week’s vacation so we were more than happy to come up and see them!

I didn’t take my phone and didn’t have a waterproof camera, so we didn’t get a ton of pictures…but we did get a few. Owen took a little bit to get comfortable playing in the water, but once he did, he had a blast! It was enjoyable for me as well since I didn’t have to worry about running around to all the rides…sometimes being eight months pregnant has its advantages!

Also, major thanks to Timmy for splurging on a cabana…that really IS the way to go for a whole day at the park!

Taking a break for ice cream!

COUSINS! Of course, Owen is the beast of the group…he’s almost 3.5 while the others (from left to right) are almost 6, almost 8, and almost 4. 😮

Pool tiger!

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He didn’t love this tiger when we first got it…he’s really too big for it (in our shallow pool) for him to actually sit with his legs through it (they touch bottom) so it just floated around the pool for a week or so. We did sit him in it like an inner tube and that was okay for a few minutes…but today he WANTED to play with it. And it was SOOOO cute—he just kinda put his head down on it and moved/floated around the pool for quite some time.

Classroom observation and speech evaluation

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Owen had his classroom observation and speech evaluation today. Long story short, neither the teacher nor the speech therapist saw any glaring issues—and both said he seems to be above average intelligence for his age and they see no academic issues at all. They said most of what we’re seeing will probably resolve itself once he starts hanging out with kids his age.

In more detail…the classroom observation went well according to the teacher. She said he didn’t really play with the other kids, but he watched—and towards the end of the time (an hour) he started to get closer to them. She said he talked to the teacher and no one had any problems understanding him. He listened when things were explained and understood how to use the toys he was being shown (a kid’s laptop-type toy). She said from her perspective, he was just fine academically—and possibly even a little advanced (seeing as how he just turned three). So, that’s good news. As a sidenote, she said she did cut the session short by just a bit because he was getting anxious about wanting to see me—which really surprised me, but also made me feel good!—he apparently kept asking about me but kept playing…but finally said he wanted to see me and was pretty set on it. Awwww. 🙂

The speech therapist first said he is such a sweet little boy. And big for his age. And that she had to keep reminding herself he was just three because he seemed smarter than that. (YAY!) 🙂 She said some of his speech issues were age-related—for example, certain letter combinations don’t fully appear until age 6 or 7. And she said that he was very conversational—she knew he had a cat named Charlie who he played with and he watched TV in mama’s room. She was impressed with his vocabulary (he was talking about propellers and alligators) and his hearing (saying he heard helicopters outside, noticing sounds in the hallway and asking what they were) and said that when he parrots back things you say, he’s not just making the sounds—he seems to really be thinking about it and understanding it. She said in all honesty—though she hadn’t tallied his actual test results yet—she has no worries about his speech at all.

The results meeting in two weeks to discuss if he needs any special education is pretty much just a formality to say no. Which is a good thing.

Phew.

Now I just need to find him a preschool (though they said the drop-in daycare would be fine for now, too).

Wilmington Children’s Museum

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http://www.playwilmington.org

We had been wanting to take Owen to the children’s museum, so Tom took today off and we headed over early. Once we actually found it (the address in Yelp was wrong, plus it’s in a quiet residential neighborhood with bad signage) it was pretty good.

Owen got to plant some basil with daddy:

He liked the circus mirrors:

And this mirror—“Look at all the Owens!”

Playing grocery store (he likes the buttons):

Here he got to be on TV with daddy via a green screen:

We had fun, but it’s not somewhere we’ll be rushing back to.