Happy 3rd Birthday Will

Today Owen went to his first "friend" birthday party!  We went to the Children's Museum to celebrate Will's 3rd birthday.  We had a great time...

Watching the coins roll around...

Chasing a ball around on the stage

Eating cake with a spoon AND a fork becuase it was so good

Being silly with Will

Playing in the bubble pool with Daddy and Matilda

Trying to put bubbles all over his face....

Playing with the boats in the water

Driving a bus

Saying "Beep, beep!" and waving to all the cars from the skyway

DRUMS!

On  Wednesday,  Sully's dad brought some fun drums to Ronda's for the boys toplay with. Owen LOVED them!!! He threw a complete fit when we finally tore him away from them to go home.

He's drumming so fast, you can't even see his arms!

Finger Painting

Terry, Ronda's husband, sent these photos of the boys finger painting to me.  She threw down a tarp, put paint shirts on the boys and they went to town!

One...Two...Three Times a Potty

We haven't been stressing the potty too much yet at our house, but the boys have gone nuts over Ronda's potty.  It looks like a little toilet, "flushes" and sings when someone goes pee.  She showed them all how it sings (by pouring salt water into it, which has the same effect as pee) and then hasn't done it again since.  She was convinvced that once one of them made it sing, all of them would want to use it.  She lets them all take a turn sitting on it twice a day.  Nothing happened yesterday.
Last night, I let Owen sit on his potty at home while I got the bath ready and he peed!  Today, he wanted to see Ronda's potty when we got to her house and he peed right away.  Then this afternoon, he peed again.  Tonight, he sat on our potty at home at went again!  Three times in one day!!!  I still don't want to press it too much, but maybe he is more ready than I thought.  I guess we'll see how it goes.  I've heard horror stories about people who have pushed it too early and then regretted it!

The Next Santana?

Owen LOVES his Lala (guitar).  He always takes it up on the hearth of the fireplace like it is his stage and plays for us.  This was our performance last night before bed.

A Day Full of Music

Today was a really fun day.  We started off at Owen's music class.  This was week number two.  It's a really great class that we are taking with our friends Marty and Katie and their kids Jamin and MaKenna.  Last week, Owen was obsessed with the iPod that plays the background music for some of the songs and was very upset when instrument time was over.  Today he did a little better with the iPod, but he has a hard time transitioning from one fun thing to the next before he's ready!  We'll have to keep working on that.

Tonight, we went to see Elmo Makes Music at the Target Center.  The weather was really icky on our way there.  I was glad when we got there!  It was amazing seeing the show through Owen's eyes.  He was in HEAVEN! The show is about a new music teacher who moves to Sesame Street, but the moving van with her instruments hasn't arrived yet.  The characters on Sesame Street all help her find things that make music.  That was right up Owen's alley!  He kept yelling "Lala" when they played the guitar.  Telly Monster plays a triange in the show, and we just got one in the dollar bin at Target a week or so ago, so he recognized that too.   It was fun to see him clap at the end of songs without having us tell him to, dance to the songs, wave at Elmo and best yet,  recognize the letters on top of the stage.  It was a great night with my boys!

Visiting Elmo's World

Checking out Big Bird's nest before the show

Relaxing, loving the show and the music

We were in the 11th row and had a great view.  Some of the characters even walked down the isles by us!  Notice the B on top of the stage - that was what Owen recognized and kept yelling out.

This HUGE bunch of Elmo balloons conveniently showed up at the start of intermission...

Taking a walk during intermission to get all the wiggles out

I am a sucker...I bought one of the atrociously priced, crappy toys that they sell at shows like these.  And he loved it, so it was worth it.

Trying to show the usher his new light up Elmo with a star!

Mommy's favorite...Ernie!

A little clip from the show

Playing Hooky

Last Saturday, we got an email from one of the other daycare moms, saying that Sully woke up that morning with Croup.  I watched Owen like a hawk given his history with Croup.  Sure enough, on Monday morning, he woke up with it.  We kept him home for a few days, even though he seemed fine during the day.  It was the nights that were a struggle.  When he is sick, he wakes up every 30-45 minutes crying for us.  We aren't used to that because he's normally a really good sleeper.  You'll see his dark circles....they were shared by all of us this week!  Here are some fun things we did to keep our sick kiddo busy. 

We (well HE) rode on Ol' Joe...

We colored and played Play-doh in our jammies...

And made a foam monkey for Ronda

Get Well Soon Aunt Sue!

My Aunt Sue is battling lung cancer right now.  A few weeks back she had part of her lung removed and now she started radiation.  We've been saying lots of extra prayers for her and we hope you will keep her in your prayers too!

Funny Pictures

Here are a few fun shots I captured this week.  Owen is growing up so quickly.  I really notice it when I am folding his laundry and his jammies seem soooooo long!  He's definitely not my baby anymore. :(

Love this one!  He is mismatched, wearing rubber rain boots and a stethoscope, brushing his teeth.  What a silly monkey!

Paging Dr. Owen!  We walked into the playroom the other night and Teddy's backside was hanging off the couch.  Owen must've thought he needed a shot because he picked up the syringe from his doctor's kit and...poor Teddy!

Liam and Owen jammin' out at Ronda's.  I love their silly faces!

547 Blessings

I often joke that I'd be a really rich lady if I had a nickel or even a penny for each time that Owen says Mama throughout the day.  Some days it almost is enough to get on my last nerve, and then I think about how blessed I am to have a child, and to have a child that is healthy and able to talk to me.  Each of those "Mama...Mama...Mama!" moments are blessings.
Just for fun though, I thought it would be interesting to try to count each time he said it today.  I'm sure I missed a few when I was busy making dinner or while Paul was putting him to bed, but today he said Mama 547 times from 7:30 this morning to 7:30 tonight!  See what I mean...I'd be one rich lady!!!

First Time Going on the Potty!

Over the last few days, we've had Owen sit on his potty chair while we get his bath ready. We know he's not ready to potty train yet, but a little practice ahead of time can't hurt. Tonight he peed in his potty chair for the first time! We made a big deal about it, but he seemed more curious about what was in the pot than he was about Paul and me cheering and clapping.

22 Month Old Owen

Paul and I both agree that of all the fun ages Owen has been, 22 months is the best yet!  He understands so much now and he can verbalize so much more.  His silly side really comes out...as does his mad side!  He has perfected the stink eye, but will now go point to the "mad" face on the feelings poster at Ronda's when he is upset about something.  He signs "more" and says please when he wants something, but we haven't quite gotten "Thank you" down pat yet.

Owen runs, and doesn't walk anymore.  He loves to play with his remote control bus that Ronda gave him for Christmas, his kitchen, his lala, and he is really into reading books.  He loves to ride his zebra up and down the hallways and he likes to play hide and seek and chase. 

His favorite words are Gabba, keys, cars, bus, oh no!, uh-oh, crackers, cookies, juice, Mama, Dada, lala, Mmmm!, Nummy!, gong (clock), stars, shoes, hot, bubbles, balls and peas (please).  He is very interested in letters and always picks out the N's, M's, B's and sometimes the S's and L's. 
He is very affectionate,and loves to hug his stuffed animals and us,  but has started to get stingy with his kisses.  If you ask for a kiss, he'll stop playing just long enough to give you his cheek so you can kiss him.  The funny thing is that if he hears the word fish, he makes fish lips and comes over to give me a kiss! 

We haven't started potty training yet, but he does tell us when he's wet or "ickkkk!" several times a week, so I imagine we aren't too far off from using the potty chair.  He still loves to take baths, but he really doesn't like leaning back to get his hair washed anymore.  Guess it's time to get back into swimming lessons!  Speaking of lessons, we start music class on Saturday.  He loves music so much, I can't wait to see how he likes class! 

That is Owen at 22 months in a nutshell.  He's so much fun.  I don't know if it is truly possible to love him even more now than I did when he was born, but my heart swells each time I see that little boy!!!  He is by far the best thing I've ever accomplished in my life.

Jam Session with Papa

Owen brought his "lala" (guitar) to Nana and Papa's house on Saturday so he could play it with Papa.  He had a great time!