Owen is picking up more and more words. It’s so fun to hear him say something and you realize he’s referring to something new! Since we’ve been on vacation, he’s said: ice cream, boat, done, bee, train, and door. And I am sure I’m forgetting some.
Before we left, he was saying (and recognizing) shoe, bird, car, and bike among others. And again I’m sure I’m forgetting some.
I knew I should have written them down AS he said them. 😮
Owen’s first experience with the ocean…he liked playing in the shallow water of the surf, but did NOT like the water rushing up to him (so look to see him running away from the surf).
Running away from the surf!
One of my favorite pictures of the day:
And then some fun at the community condo pool (where it was a bit chilly, so this is as much playing as we did):
http://www.yelp.com/biz/s…augustine-beach
Owen is very spoiled during this leg of our trip…just across the street from the condo we’re staying at is this awesome splash park (linked above, the Splash Park at the Pier in St. Augustine, Florida) that he LOVES! He played for almost an hour and a half without stopping—and only stopped because he was getting chilled and tired (it was almost nap time).
I was really looking forward to seeing Owen with our friend’s son, Bodi, who is about six weeks younger. I was pretty sure Owen would tower over him and outweigh him (he did, by about 5” an 5#), but beyond that I wasn’t sure what the differences might be. And boy, were they interesting.
While Owen knows his letters, Bodi doesn’t have the first clue. On the other hand, Bodi completely understands commands like “Go put your cup on the shelf” while Owen’s comprehension isn’t quite that advanced. Bodi knows a variety of sounds (animal noises, car noises) but Owen knows some numbers.
Bodi NEVER sits still, has to touch everything (and hand you everything you’ve set down), and has to be strapped in his high chair. Pretty much as long as Owen has toys around, he doesn’t touch things he’s not supposed to and you don’t need to worry about him diving out of his high chair (my friend was amazed when I left Owen just sitting in the booster seat to grab his food from the kitchen, or that I left my expensive camera on the desk within toddler reach)—and he often just sits quietly and sucks his thumb. Owen doesn’t make much noise but Bodi is a big jibber jabberer and shrieker/shouter (something else Owen didn’t like). Bodi’s sleep schedule is about 7p-7a with an hour nap, while Owen’s is about 8p-6:30a with a 2+ hour nap (though they did manage to sleep together in the same room pretty well).
You can tell Bodi has been around other kids (day care) because he doesn’t mind other kids in his space—while Owen kind of freaked out…a lot…whether Bodi was touching him, taking a toy, handing him his sippy cup that he previously set down, or just walking by him. They did have some cute moments together, but for the most part, Owen tried to keep his distance. He was perfectly content to play by himself, while Bodi wanted whatever Owen was playing with. Needless to say there was a LOT of whining (mostly on Owen’s part) and we are seriously considering putting him in daycare for a few hours a week just so he gets more social interaction (since we no longer meet with my mom’s group) so he’s not as much of a crybaby. That said, I still think he did pretty well, considering this weekend was the first real one-on-one time he’s spent with another toddler. (He’s spent time with his six-month older cousin, but only for maybe a half day.)
We also learned that Owen isn’t quite the beastly eater we thought he was—Bodi blew him out of the water, so-to-speak. We know Owen doesn’t eat a great variety of foods, but he can make up for it in quantity. But Bodi, besides eating most anything (from what little we saw, he ate green beans, stuffing, black refried beans, oatmeal with apples, bananas, apples, nacho chips and salsa, and pizza)…eats a TON of everything. For dinner, we had pizza—something Owen loves so I thought he’d eat a lot. Well, he ate a piece plus some crackers. Bodi? Three pieces…plus a handful of carrots and dip and Owen’s leftover crackers and pizza. EEK! It’s impressive to watch.
Here’s our cute little turkey…
He has started saying “Oh no! Oh noooo!” while holding his face like this. We don’t know where he got it, but it’s dang cute.
[Placeholder for post that I couldn’t retrieve about our road trip to Atlanta, so will have to rewrite.]
Tom really wanted to have Owen help him with breakfast…and Owen was interested…but he was also interested in watching Sesame Street at the same time!
Tom: Did you throw a contact in the toilet?
Me: Yes.
Tom: It’s weird. It’s looking at me.
Me: BWAHAHAHAHA
So I made mashed potatoes the other day and since I had a ton of spices in the water (onion, garlic, salt, pepper, chicken bouillon) I thought I’d better keep it for soup…because, well, it’s what my mom would do and she’d be proud of me (if I actually ended up using it for soup, that is). :meh:
So there it sat in the refrigerator. Taunting me. While I racked my brain trying to come up with something. Then I decided to check my soup cookbook—but I couldn’t find it. Then I decided to check Food Network—but I didn’t have most of the ingredients they required. Then I emailed my mom—but she was obviously away from her computer.
What to do, what to do? :??:
So I decided to wing it.
I fried some onion and garlic and spices in butter and bacon grease, because what soup doesn’t start out that way. Right?
Then I added the potato water and simmered with potato cubes until they were soft. I knew it needed to be thickened—and I thought corn might be good in it—so I tossed in a can of creamed corn. I had originally envisioned the soup with the potato chunks in it, but really didn’t care that much and knew it would be a good thickener…so I buzzed it with the immersion blender.
But it still wasn’t thick enough, so I added some [dried] chicken gravy mix. Better. Oooh, then I thought cream but we didn’t have that so I added some whole milk—but that counteracted my thickening agents. GRRR. So I added more gravy mix and then some sharp cheddar.
And it’s not too bad. It’s not great, but it’s definitely edible! I’d love ham or potato chunks in it, but we don’t have ham and I don’t want to cook more potatoes, so it will suffice this batch.
YAY ME!
Will you be one of the lucky ones to get a gorgeous Shutterfly card this year? 🙂 I love Shutterfly and spend WAY too much money there every year…so I’m only ordering the five free cards they offered!!
So far, I really like the laptop…except that the ‘chiclet’ keyboard is THE worst keyboard I’ve EVER used. :## I am normally a pretty quick and accurate typist (I think the last time I tested it was about 85wpm) and I would honestly say that I LOVE TYPING. However, with this absolutely craptastic keyboard, I find I am HATING typing. Yes, HATING. Plain and simple, the keyboard skips letters if you don’t hit the key JUST right (a full-on dead-center firm press). :down:
But, on the positive side…Costco’s deals came out this month and the laptop was offered for $100 cheaper! So I took in my receipt and got credited $100! If you add that to the $50 cash card and the $50 credit card credit I already got, that means I got $200 off this laptop! :up:
I can live with that.
I love that Owen now loves his burpie blanket…and he’s cute as the dickens when he’s carrying it around and playing or cuddling with it…but sometimes I actually regret giving it to him in the first place…because we now get a mini toddler meltdown if we don’t bring it downstairs after he wakes up (in the morning or from a nap). Even if there’s another one (the backup) waiting downstairs. 🙁 This morning we didn’t even make it to the top of the stairs before the crying was turning into sobs. I guess it could be worse, though…so I’ll try not to complain.
The ball moved to a new location this year—the Atheneum Suite Hotel in downtown Detroit. The rooms were pretty nice, but read the linked review for the whole rundown.
We had been looking forward to a crazy time like we had last year—since we knew more people AND it was an open bar again. However, the alcohol wasn’t really settling well with me (it was giving me a headache), so I was done drinking by about 8. Tom was having no problems, though, and I didn’t see him most of the night (after the ceremony and dinner). And for whatever reason, the music just wasn’t anything I wanted to dance to, so I pretty much sat at the table with a friend of mine (her guy was also working the room) and then after she went back to her room, I sat alone and Tweeted and Facebooked and played Scrabble. Big whoop, eh?
The event was officially over at 11 so I went to find Tom to tell him I was going back to the room…and let’s just say that the rest of the night didn’t go well (I was upset, he was not himself, we fought, I was wide awake, and he was passed out within 10 minutes of getting back to the room). Then the A/C kept me up all night (again, read the review) and I couldn’t wait for morning to get the hell out of there and back home.
So, I got to dress up…and we did get our official picture taken, but that was about all the fun I had, unfortunately. And aside from one cell phone photo, the official pics which we don’t have yet, and a really blurry pic someone took of us, this is the only pic we have:
And the blurry pic, which looks like it would have been awesome if it was in focus!
I drove to an appointment and the car was just fine. An hour later I am ready to go home and I notice the Brake light on. My first thought was “Did I unknowingly put the parking break on?” So I tested it and no that wasn’t it. Then I noticed the Engine light was on. And the ABS light.
😮
I know any of those usually mean STOP DRIVING IMMEDIATELY but I had to get home—we were on our way to the birthday ball as soon as I got home! So as I was driving I am thinking that we have to get the car in that day, so I called Tom to have him call…and while I was waiting to talk to him, I see that the speedometer wasn’t working, either! By this time, all I’m seeing is $$$ to get all this fixed—and before we leave on our major road trip for Thanksgiving!
Let me just say that it’s unbelievably disconcerting to be driving with no speedometer and have the Engine, ABS, and Brake lights on. Thankfully we were able to get the car in and crossed our fingers that repairs wouldn’t be so expensive that we’d be new car shopping instead.
Who knows why kids do what they do…
His current stats:
Height: 37.5″ (greater than the 97th percentile) — was 35″ at 18mo
Weight: 35# (greater than the 97th percentile) — was 32# 7oz at 18mo
If you may recall, at his 18mo appointment, the doc was concerned about his [lack of] speech development and wrote us a prescription for an evaluation. At the time, we really weren’t that worried and just decided to wait it out. Well, he has been getting a lot better, but he’s still behind—so we wanted to go ahead with the evaluation, except I had misplaced the prescription. So I asked her to write a new one. However, after some discussion, she agreed we could actually wait until his 24mo appointment. She was impressed that he knew most of his letters, has probably 10-15 words, understands simple commands (she loved the bedtime ritual one, where he will go to his bedroom when you tell him it’s bedtime), and follows some directions.
He was a trouper with his shot and only cried for maybe 30 seconds (if that).
Last night was better—he woke up crying (more like loud whimpering) at 8:45 and since he didn’t sound too bad, we let him cry, hoping he’d go back to sleep. Which he did after about three minutes.
As we were going to bed about 9:45, he did it again. This time it was a loooooong seven minutes before he soothed himself and went back to sleep.
This morning Tom asked if I heard him crying at 2am (I didn’t—I was apparently dead to the world) and Tom said it only lasted a few minutes before he was back asleep.
So it looks like maybe we’re on the upswing?
(Oh, friends suggested it was his second set of molars…which it might very well be, though it’s nearly impossible to check since he won’t open his mouth on command and if you stick a finger in you get chomped.)
He’s just started doing this when we go to the park (and I close the garage door while he’s standing there).
He went to bed about 8 and I was looking forward to getting to bed early. Except he started crying about 8:45. 🙁
We did the Sesame Street thing again, then put him down about 9:30. Come 10:15 he was at it again, and we eventually ended up back downstairs, where we stayed until 2am. Thankfully he stayed quiet the rest of the night.
I really hope this ends quickly, because if it continues…I don’t see us going on our planned two-week vacation. 🙁
Owen just woke up mid-nap crying like crazy. I went up to get him and he proceeded to vomit all over. I don’t think he’s sick, so maybe the violent crying provoked it? Or maybe he didn’t feel good and that was why he was crying. The fun thing with toddlers is you’ll never know. 🙁
We put him down for the night and it was like any other night behavior-wise, so we hoped for the best. We hoped he was extra tired since he hadn’t really napped at all. He finally fell asleep around 7:30.
He woke up crying again…but no vomit. /phew
He was inconsolable for a good 10-15 minutes—not wanting to be held by either of us, not wanting to rock, not wanting any of his toys, etc. He did let us take his temp (which was a little high (100-101) but nothing to worry about. He finally took a few teething tablets (which he LOVES and usually cures anything!), but he was still upset and definitely not ready to go back to bed. So we all watched an episode of Sesame Street in our bed, gave him some Tylenol (against his will).
When Sesame Street was almost over, we asked if he wanted to go to bed and he grabbed his blankie and got off the bed! He laid there quietly for awhile and finally fell asleep about 11. I had stayed up to watch, having been assigned kid duty from 10-3 (Tom had 3-8).
He was up crying madly at 11:30—inconsolable for a good 15 minutes. I finally got him quieted down in the rocker after about a half hour, put him back in the crib…and he immediately started up again, completely inconsolable (again). So after more rocking and attempts at consoling…we ended up downstairs on the recliner at 12:30 where we both slept on and off.
I desperately had to pee, so decided it was time to try going upstairs. I carried him to his crib and kept my fingers crossed. Tom tolled over and I gave him the quick update (he hadn’t even known I was gone). Of course I was wide awake and didn’t fall asleep until probably 4:30-5:00.
I heard Tom get up, rolled over, and went back to sleep until 8. Turns out Owen slept until about 7 and was quiet until about 7:30 when Tom got him up. So, apparently Tom got the easy hours, though he says he didn’t sleep much anyway.
I hope it was a one-night thing, because that was not fun. This is about the same thing that happened back in May when we were staying at a hotel in Frankenmuth and he woke up crying in a daze (but no vomit)—and later, at my mom’s house, when he got sick at bedtime then refused to sleep in his pack-and-play and I had to sit with him in a rocking chair all night.
Isn’t parenting fun? 😮
All bundled up and on our way!
At the park:
If you listen closely you’ll hear him counting. I think he starts from 7 and goes to 10. Also if you listen really closely you’ll hear him fart—which is why I laugh.
Grandpa Mike and Grannie Lin bought Owen this stuffed bear for his first birthday. He didn’t really think much of it at the time, so we just set it on the fireplace ledge next to another bear of his. And it just sat there. Until last night, when he went and sat on it, then dragged it out and set it on the couch where he kept laying on it and playing with it.
This is why I keep the camera close at hand. 🙂