Tom sent this as a reward for Owen being a good boy and future pooping in the potty. Which he sometimes does after you MAKE him…or when he knows there’s a big new toy on the line.
He did pretty good following the instructions (with a little of my help) and he only got sidetracked a few times. His attention would start wandering and he wasn’t really paying attention and I told him he was losing his train of thought. He asked what that meant. I told him his brain was moving along like a train, but then when he stopped paying attention it was like the train was off the tracks. So then he would drag his finger across his forehead saying “This is where the train goes.” 🙂
Gramma sent back the Fairy minifigure that Owen forgot up there and he was so happy that he put her—with the other winged creature (Bumblebee Girl) that he recently earned—together right next to his bed. You know it was important because they each had to be put on a black base (which he never uses).
It was going on a good 5-10 minutes before I came in and started recording. But once he sees the camera…it just takes off exponentially because he’s telling ME a story instead of having a conversation with his Legos.
Every month or so we gather all the Legos, put all the correct pieces together, and see what’s missing. (I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before.)
Well, this month it was a net loss. We found four pieces that had been missing, about six of the same pieces were still missing, but then there were about eight new missing pieces. Ugh.
We took Owen over to Traverse City to one of the museums because they were having a Lego Carnival! When we asked him what he saw, he said “LEGO HEADS!”
A carnival sounds quite a but more exciting than it really was—basically just a few rooms of big pre-constructed Lego buildings and then a play area—but he enjoyed it. The hardest part for him was not being able to touch the minifigs that were with the buildings…especially the one that had fallen over. 🙂
But then there was the big Lego tunnel with daddy…
And then he got to the big Lego building area…and his running commentary was about like this: “Awesome. Awesome. This is amazing. Lets get going. Holy mackerel. Wow!”
Yes, I realize that the last picture should be the first picture, but I didn’t feel like redoing the whole collage.
And his final product!!
Then it was off to build cars! We got the base ready for him and then he did the rest. Daddy also built one!
Then it was time to send them down the slide to see if they survived (both did!).
Then he just wanted to play with his cars.
Then it was back to the Lego building tables to rearrange his car pieces.
Then we told him it was almost time to go and asked how many more minutes he wanted to stay. We never know what we’re going to get when we ask him open-ended questions (How many M&Ms do you want? is a typical one) so we all had a big laugh when he said “Five hours.” I don’t think he knows time that well yet but who knows. So we said 15 minutes and set a timer and when it went off, he just asked to run his cars down the ramp one more time so we did:
Then it was off to lunch at North Peak Brewery. Owen decided he wanted to eat outside and us three adults all looked at each other like “Ugh—it’s too warm” but we did it anyway…and it ended up to be REALLY nice as it was mostly overcast and there was a nice breeze! Owen passed the time putting together a new Lego set that Grandma Marsha had bought him for being such a good boy! (I helped him but he did most of it!)
On the way home, we were thinking about stopping for ice cream but thought we could go either way…so we let Owen be the deciding factor.
Tom: Owen, would you like a treat?
Owen: No thanks.
Me: Don’t you want to know what it is?
Owen: Okay.
Me: Ice cream.
Owen: No thanks. Legos were my treat. [Remember, Grandma Marsha bought him the Legos earlier as a treat.]
This isn’t normal for a 4yo, right? To give up ice cream?! He constantly surprises us. 🙂
Owen has a Lego sticker book that includes, among other things, Harry Potter characters. No matter what I tell him—or how many times I tell him—he still says Death Eaters eat bad food. 🙂
It was five missing pieces about a month ago…and now it’s up to 20+ and we’ve looked EVERYWHERE. I’m trying not to be upset since he is only four, but we’re usually quite vigilant about not losing pieces because Katie could get them. So it’s driving me mad that we are missing so many.
Here’s Owen matching them up to their photos:
And here’s what the half-assembled remaining bunch looks like—all missing heads, torsos, legs, accessories, or a combo of all of the above. Ugh.
Of course, the flip side is that Owen couldn’t care less…he loves mixing and matching pieces SO much. In fact, the other minifigs that we did fix this morning? Within 30 seconds of giving him the okay to play with them, they look like this:
Owen has been bugging me to go in the pool ever since the first day’s brief splashing, but I haven’t been able to let him since the salt levels were too high. Today I finally over-filled the pool by about 2″ hoping it would be enough…and it was! I warned him it was going to be cold but he didn’t care…until he got in.
“EEK! IT’S COLD!”
Happy, happy boy!
Then I had him empty some of the water. It’s easier (and more fun) for him to do it!
Then he wanted balls. And water guns. And his AquaZooka. And then…
Owen: Mama, I want the fish.
Me: What fish?
Owen: The floaty fish!
Me: We don’t have a floaty fish.
Owen: Yes! In the shed!
I go to the shed and look around. I don’t see a fish.
Me: Owen, I don’t see a fish. Where is it?
Owen: Behind the wagon.
And damn if it wasn’t there, buried UNDERNEATH a hose. He must have seen it last weekend when Tom had everything out.
Then I noticed the sky looked like this:
So I kept an eye on the weather, but the clouds just moved right over us. Katie was enjoying watching her brother.
Then, strangely enough, AFTER the clouds passed, THEN it started to sprinkle, so I got Owen out of the pool:
And he decided to give Katie some love:
And then post-pool Lego play—of course in the kitchen where things easily get bumped or knocked off. But, to his credit, he said “But it’s out of reach [for Katie]!” which is exactly what I told him he had to do.
Unfortunately, when I went out later to fix the skimmer (that Owen had knocked apart), the pump started beeping at me that the salt was too high again. I have NO idea how that could happen, so I get to try again tomorrow…
So Owen and I were playing with ninjas and Legos. Owen turned the headdress around (of the Aztec Warrior) so the face was hidden and says “Whoa! Who turned out the lights?!”
Just another saying we have NO idea where it came from.
7:00—The first 4oz of “special water” took 30 minutes to drink with lots of nudging.
7:15—I showed Owen what his end-of-day treat would be if he was really good—he was EXCITED!
8:00—4oz in 20 minutes. Not bad.
9:00—And the tantrums start. He refuses to drink and wants to eat. Thankfully Katie came to the rescue and made him laugh by pulling everything off the shelf.
So once his mind was on to something else, he ended up drinking the juice pretty quickly.
10:00—“Mommy, why are you putting sugar in my juice?” But wow. He drank the juice in 10 minutes with no prompting!
10:00–11:00—Begging for a snack about every five minutes. “Please? Very very very very please?!” 🙁
11:00—4oz of juice gone in under 10 minutes. It looks like juice is the way to go. More requests for marshmallows. Yeah, who knows.
Noon—The juice disappeared instantly. “Mama I’m hungry! I’m very very hungry. I want something to eat!” 🙁
12:15—The first epic hunger meltdown. 🙁
12:30—Yet another typical poop (nothing explosive or messy yet!) but he went to the bathroom on his own…so he earned a Lego!
1:00—I think he inhaled the juice…but then had another epic hunger meltdown. I feel so horrible telling him he can’t eat. 🙁
2:00—More juice, more requests for snacks.
3:00—Nothing was really happening poop-wise which was kinda scary—I mean, NINE FULL DOSES of Miralax and he wasn’t pooping?! Plus he was STARVING and I wasn’t sure what to do next because the prescribed daily regimen was complete. So I called his doctor (the specialist we saw yesterday) and talked to an available doctor who told me to finish the Miralax dosing, start giving him half doses of the chocolate ex-lax (which will actually make him poop, as opposed to the Miralax just softening things up), feed him a light snack and dinner, and to call in the morning if he still wasn’t pooping.
And then he snacked on his favorite cheese crackers, pear slices, and juice. 🙂
3:30—He started pooping a little…but still nothing of the magnitude I expected.
4:00–4:45—The last special juice mix for the day. A few trips to the potty but still nothing much.
If this home remedy stuff doesn’t work, he may have to be hospitalized. 🙁
5:45—His first real success (two pieces about the size of limes)! Normally I’d be thinking we were done but there HAS to be lots more in there.
Owen has been earning Lego minifigs for pooping in the potty (instead of hiding and pooping) and tonight he actually got out of his bath to poop in the potty! This is him being excited right before he got his new Lego guy.
Owen got a few Lego minifigures from the Easter Bunny…and he LOVES playing with them and rearranging parts like hair and accessories…and then apparently stacking them. 🙂
Owen was putting away his Lego pieces by tossing them from about two feet away. With each one he got in the basket, he’d say “Yeah baby!” So it goes like this:
The piece makes it in.
Yeah baby! The piece makes it in.
Yeah baby! The piece makes it in.
Yeah baby! The piece makes it in.
Yeah baby! The piece DOESN’T make it in.
Noooo baby!
Yes, this was the first thing he actually stuck up his nose and couldn’t get out. I had to get the tweezers and threaten to take all his Legos away if he did it again.
>>> FACEBOOK COMMENTS
Karen—And that item looks pissed!
Sheryl—Look at Owen’s face – did he get yelled at?
Katherine—It happens
Jennifer—Sheryl, not yelled at, but definitely told to SIT STILL AND DON’T TOUCH IT while I ran to get the tweezers…and to not do it again.
Andrew—*laughs* Poor Owen.
Jean—Remember when one of your “Brownie” friends stuck a Nerd up her nose in the car on the way to Cedar Point? OMG.
Kristin—My brother in law didn’t stick things up his nose. He stuck red hots up his SISTER’S nose.
Tammy—Poor Owen looks like he belongs in one of the Bad Dog pictures.
Jennifer—He was actually just watching Sesame Street. He wasn’t upset.
Jeremy—Whatever that is that was up his nose doesn’t look happy about it.
Nancy—Awww! That photo is just great! I stuck a crayon in my belly button and my mom took me to the hospital because I wouldn’t tell her what happened, I was crying, and it was red. Kids, man.
