http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTR6H6ekt9c
One of the funniest videos I’ve gotten in awhile—Tom and I laugh each time we watch it. From thunder and lightning to daddy to the red button to watching himself turn around to the faces he makes. Hilarious.
Wanting and waiting for Charlie to come into his room post-nap or post-sleep is the newest fun ritual…he gets SO giddy about it. of course, Charlie doesn’t realize she’s playing—she’s just waiting to get scritched or get a treat. But she’s actually quite tolerant of him, which is good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1sU8YwsDXA
He really loves this thing! (And you can hear one of his new favorite words—yep!)
Owen: Mama, out of the way.
Me: ???
Owen: Mama, out of the way.
Oops. I was sitting right in the middle of his roads rug.
He definitely has an imagination—making a train out of pool toys, complete with sound effects!
I was just cutting tags off Owen’s new clothes from Costco and he walks by and says “Snip snip.”
:!::?::!::?:
What? Where on earth did that come from?! I don’t think I’ve ever said it and I can’t recall it from any cartoon…
Still, it cracked us up.
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.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zipn1Pmmqlw
Watching the volcano.
Attempting to roast a marshmallow. He looks close, but he was actually about two feet too far away. We kept trying to move his chair closer, but he kept dragging it back. I guess all our warnings of “FIRE! HOT! DANGEROUS! STAY BACK!” worked a little too well. 🙂
Investigating the still-cold marshmallow.
Where the marshmallow actually spent most of its time…
Daddy to the rescue!
When it finally came time to eat it, he was more interested in watching himself eat it than actually eating it.
Since its debut in July 2008, the Sesame Street/USO Experience for Military Families has taken its message to more than 248,000 troops and military families and performed 433 shows on 131 military bases in 33 states and eleven countries.
We learned tonight that Owen really doesn’t do LOUD. (We know he doesn’t like sudden loud noises and in general he doesn’t like loud areas…but I was holding out hope.) So, yep, the Sesame Street thing was a fail. But let me start at the beginning…
We were in the third row on the end of the aisle. I was excited because it meant I could get good pics of the stage and Owen would be close enough to see. The mom next to me said “You know they come down the aisles right?” obviously warning me. I said no I didn’t know, but we’d see what happened (if Owen liked it or was freaked out). I loved the Sesame Street sign.
He loved seeing all the kids waiting in line and in the auditorium (“Look at all the kids!”).
He didn’t seem to mind the noise level of the auditorium (the first big challenge).
He loved that he got an Elmo spinny light toy (he LOVES those type of toys).
He let me take a picture (that turned out awesome).
He did awesome waiting the half hour—playing with the spinny toy and my phone (and the mom next to us even commented on how awesome his behavior was, compared to her 2yo monkey who wouldn’t stop climbing and moving).
But…he started saying DONE before the show even started. But it was a calm DONE, like a polite suggestion. I figured once he saw Elmo, maybe he would change his mind. Well, the first thing that happened was a guy came out to welcome everyone and give thanks to certain people…and Owen was okay with that…and I learned he apparently really likes clapping when everyone else is:
Then there was a video of the First Lady and Elmo, welcoming everyone and setting up the premise of the show. And he was okay with that. (This is one of the videos we saw.)
And then Elmo came out and it was LOUD and they started LOUD music and dancing.
And that’s when he became more emphatic with his HOME, DONE, and pointing. He would be excited momentarily when each new character came out, but it was still LOUD songs and he was not a fan. I kept trying to talk to him to hopefully calm him a little and get him through the music to where there would (hopefully) just be talking…but he alternated between putting his head in my lap (trying to hide) and pointing and saying HOME. I thought we might make it, but then he started whining and almost crying, so I knew we were done.
So about five minutes in (before the thing really got started—they were still in the warm up songs) I decided it was time to go and moved to get out of my seat—and he was off like a shot up the aisle, weaving through all the little kids in the aisle who were dancing, not even looking back for me. As soon as we got outside, he was completely fine, playing with his spinny toy and having a ball.
On the way to the car he started saying “Great job, mama, great job.” ❓ He’s been saying that lately and I assume he’s just parroting me saying it (I say it A LOT) but sometimes it’s appropriate for the situation. So I just thanked him, and eventually he said “Great job, mama, seeing Sesame Street.” So to him, he saw Sesame Street and he was just fine. 🙂
So in once sense I was disappointed (I kinda wanted to see the show—it wasn’t just for him!) but he was apparently happy AND we were out of there before it ended so we didn’t have to deal with the crazy traffic AND we got home in time for his bedtime AND at least we learned the lesson a cheap way (free tickets to something local), instead of traveling and spending $$$ on tickets for something in, say, Raleigh.
I’m guessing this is one of the areas we’ll be working on when we eventually start therapy. 🙂
This is what Owen reading a story to mom looks and sounds like… He certainly knows his colors!!
I got a really good deal on these cars that work on an iPad app, so Owen got them for Easter. And he is obsessed with playing with them! It took him a few days, but now he knows how to play the games, tip the tractors, “buy” stuff from the store, and move the pushpin on the map to get directions.
He LOVES tipping the tractors the most, which you can see in this video… And then something doesn’t go his way and you can hear “Oh, come on!” 🙂 I guess I must say that a lot since he’s obviously picked up on it!
Owen has taken to loving sheets of instructions. It started two weekends ago when Tom was building the shed, and now he finds instructions everywhere (his toys, our electronics, etc.) and carries them around saying “Instructions! Instructions!”
Someone was playing in the kitchen and came running out saying “Wipe off! Wipe off!” This is what I saw:
Then I went into the kitchen and saw he had pulled the tomatoes off the counter and they were all over the floor. It took me a day or so before I finally noticed and (cleaned) all the tomato seeds from floor to ceiling…
Owen likes to walk down to the golf course and sometimes play on the “big hill” right off the putting green and first tee. There are often golfers there, so I’m teaching him to say “Good shot!” and clap when golfers tee off. They love it. Once in awhile, they even toss him a ball!
We headed out for a walk so Owen says “Goodbye Holly. Goodbye Acer. Goodbye Finn. Goodbye Grem. See you soon. Going for a walk!”
Owen had found our formula mixer (which is out since Tom uses it to mix his coffee) and then grabbed one of Tom’s coffee pods from the drawer and was putting the two together saying “Making cupcakes!” I’m not exactly sure where he got the idea of cupcakes, though somewhat recently I know he was watching something on Food Network with Tom about snacks… So I got the idea to actually make cupcakes.
I got it all set up and the hardest part was getting Owen to kneel on the chair at the counter—he wanted to sit (too low) or stand (too high and wobbly on our bar-height chairs) but we eventually got it worked out. First he helped me dump the measuring cup of water, oil, and eggs into the bowl (though I had to keep a hand on it so it didn’t all end up on the floor). The whole time (from now until the end) he just kept saying “Making cupcakes. Making cupcakes! Making cupcakes!”
Then he used the mixer, which he actually did pretty well with:
Then it was off to fill the cups. He helped me put all the liners in the pan, and then after I did the first tray of 12, he got to do this tray:
Still working on it:
The mess wasn’t too bad (none got on him, the chair, or the floor) so that was a bonus! And he had a blast!
Gram was teaching him Twinkle Twinkle when she was here. Sometimes he does better than others, but of course I don’t catch those…but he’s still cute when he only gets part of it!
Of course I missed the first part of this scene…the first two times papa and gram were tickling him and when they stopped he’d say “Again!” And since they were both tickling him, he was saying “Two tickles! Two tickles!”
This is about what I get to see/hear every morning… I love it!
He’s a little excited… so it takes a minute to get it out successfully!
We have never watched Bubble Guppies. Ever. Well, except for the little 2-3 minute blurbs that might appear at the end of other shows.
So tonight, I was scrolling through My Shows on the TiVo Premiere (which has thumbnails on the top of the screen showing suggested shows) and Owen looks up and suddenly screeches “BUBBLE GUPPIES!!” Clear as day. And yep, there was the thumbnail.
I have NO idea how he knew that was the name. I mean, I’m sure they’ve said it (so he’s heard it)…but to make that connection without ever having seriously watched it?!
It’s just amazing what his brain picks up.
Owen just correctly used “You’re welcome” for the first time! He is using his toy hammer to bang on certain spots on the kitchen floor so I said “Thank you for fixing the floor!” and he responded with “You’re welcome!” like he’s been doing it his whole life. 🙂
After dinner just now…
Owen: Daddy, c’mon.
Tom: Where?
Owen: Upstairs.
Tom: Why upstairs?
Owen: Daddy, c’mon, we have work to do!
You gotta love a toddler’s brain!
And then shortly after this, he picked up just the hose nozzle (aka microphone) and said directly into it “Thank you. Thank you very much.” 🙂
So it was really nice out and we were out playing when Owen told me he wanted to go for a walk…so off we went towards the golf course (carrying two motorcycles the whole way!). Once there, he wasn’t content to play on the green like we normally do, but rather he wanted to walk down the golf cart trail, which was fine with me. Then we happened upon these numbers (which we’d never seen before since we never walked that far).
Me: /on a lark/ Owen, what’s that number?
Owen: One hundred.
Me: /floored/
After we finished that walk, he discovered the mud puddles from the overnight rain. He had a blast jumping in them…
And then it was “mama splash…mama puddle” and how can you refuse that cute little voice?
Then he started splashing with his hands…
And he ended up looking like this…
Owen just said his first honest-to-goodness full-on sentence with no prompting from me!
He always says things like “milk please” or “piggies please” (Olivia)—and I always tell him he needs to say “Mama, can I watch piggies, please?” etc. He tries but mangles everything together, so over the past few days I’ve started slowing it down and having him repeat every word after me, which he does just fine (then mangles it when he tries it all at once). I also tell him he needs to ask/say please on his own without me prompting him each time.
So we were just downstairs after breakfast and he kept saying “mama upstairs, mama upstairs” and I was ignoring him, waiting for him to either ask please or offer his version of a full sentence…when he stopped, looked very thoughtful, then slowly and clearly said “Mama…can…I…watch…piggies?”
Yay!! 🙂
Owen just said “I’m coming to get you!” then proceeded to “sneak” across the room to come tickle me. We’ve been doing that to him for years.
I found a cracker that Owen doesn’t like—Chicken in a Biscuit. Of course he was really interested in what I was eating, so I handed him two and after getting it near his mouth and licking it, he shoved it back in the box before I could stop him. Then he tried the second one :??: :crazy: 😀 and handed it back saying “No thank you, mama.”
I :heart: listening to Owen play: “Oh no! There’s a robot in the shower!”
