Anybody need a lift?

The Many Faces of Owen

Minus, of course, the crazy (very difficult to capture on camera) and crying (very unflattering) faces, here are the many faces of Owen.

Innocent

Mischievous

Playful

Calculating

Content

Serious

Hard to Categorize

Questioning (as in "where are my pants?")

We also made a quick trip to the great city of Rexburg to check out a free spray park (Owen was terrified of the periodic whooshing sound that the giant dumping bucket made and thus, not keen on the spray park as a whole) and an 85-year old carousel, which he was just a little more receptive to experience.

Maybe next year...

19 month quirks

WARNING: This post is quite wordy. Proceed at your own risk!

Just wanted to jot down some of the memorable things that Owen is doing these days before I forget them. Yes, this age has its issues (like running in the opposite direction when I try to reign him in at the park or feigning ignorance when he puts his feet on the dinner table for the umpteenth time), but I think it's outweighed by moments of pure cuteness. Maybe I'm a little biased...

Imitation:

• He sometimes grunts when he has to squat to pick something up (is that what we sound like?), and rolls his 'R's.
• He's still not crazy about meat or veg, but he's been known to take bites of mom/dad's sandwiches and polish off the broccoli from their plate! Seriously! Probably wouldn't happen if it was on his own plate. If we give him something unexpectedly tasty, he raises his eyebrows and cocks his head to the side as if to say, "well, well, well... what else have you been hiding from me?"
• Imitating me relaxing at the pool.
  

Sleep:

• He is really good about going down for his nap and sometimes giggles when he knows that's where we're headed. In fact, he's even told me that he's ready to lay down once or twice! (He puts his hand to the side of his head - the sign for sleep.)
• We are lucky in that he's pretty consistent with a 2-hour nap in the afternoon and about 11 hours at night. Yea for sleep!

Cleanliness:

• He picks up random crumbs from the floor and trash from the playground and brings it to me. Guess that's better than not bringing it to me...?
• He's pretty helpful when we ask him to "clean up" and sing the "clean up" song while we pick up toys.
• He also loves to get into our bathroom drawers while I'm getting ready in the morning. He'll take various items out, slobber on them, arrange them just so on the side of the tub, and then usually toss them back in the drawer. Oh, and he turns on the tub faucet and leaves it running while he rummages. At least he tries to put things back where he found them - one of his mom's favorite life rules!
• He does not like the feeling of food on his face, so he wipes it with his hand, but he doesn't like that either, so he then wipes his hand on his shirt. This leads to much laundry; almost as much as when he was a baby! When do they use napkins? :)
• Though, I have to say that he is still not bothered by wearing a dirty diaper or splashing in a murky puddle.

Communication:

• It's getting better now that he signs for "milk", "all done", "drink", and "more", and new words include "guck" - truck, "choos" - shoes, "tees" - cheese, "ah" plus a tap to the head - hat, and "book".
• He will also bestow a grand pointing gesture towards things he likes, and you feel like you've been blessed by the king.

Entertainment:

• His favorites are still playing with his cars and kicking the ball around with his dad.
• He does a high-pitched voice for some of his animals when he's playing with them. I guess that's what they sound like in his head!
• He's been scribbling more and eating the crayons less.
• And we've been introducing/working on simple puzzles with him. He knows where the pieces go, but can't quite get the orientation yet.
• Here's a "Ball in the Box" montage for you. It's about 2 minutes long, so if you need to skip ahead, highlights are at 0:47, 1:31, and 1:51. I think he made a lot more goals, but we just didn't have the camera rolling... He's even created his own hand sign for this game, which you can see at 1:06. :)

The Great Outdoors

More time outside for us lately. First, we checked out a local "beach", which was really just a small lake with sandy shores. It was perfect for kids though, and once he overcame his timidity, Owen really enjoyed splashing around and dripping mud all over himself. Please note that the pink accessories belonged to friends and were not Owen's. :)

And as promised, here are some pics of our field test of the baby backpack. We let him walk around a bit at first, but eventually loaded him up, since it was mostly uphill. We walked around for about 3 hours with no complaints, so I'd say it was a success! Although it will be even more so after we get some trail maps for next time...

Don't know if you can see it, but he's got his snack container along for the ride. Talk about hiking in style! And about 15 minutes after this picture, he actually fell asleep in there. We ended up on an ATV trail, so the periodic whining engine noises kept him awake after that. Note to self: get some trail maps so we can avoid ATV trails in the future!

Americana

Hurray to the USA and 4-day weekends! Idaho Falls is supposed to have some of the best fireworks in the country, but we'll have to see those maybe next year, since they start at 10 pm (way after O's bedtime). But we did go to the city's parade in the morning. Lots of bands, trucks/cars/floats, horses, dancers, and bikers. Owen really seemed to get a kick out of it.

One of our cats seems to have surrendered to Owen or is in desperate need of attention. At least she lets him pet her until he gets too excited/loud/lays on her. (The other one hides out in the basement until the kid's bedtime.) It makes him very happy, so I'm glad Ollie is accommodating. Note the look of fear in her eyes below though. :)

Since we are in outdoorsmen country now, we decided to spring for a hiking backpack that would allow us to venture into the mountains without having to stop every 2 feet. The preliminary round-the-block test went well, but stay tuned for a real field trial!

I attempted (and failed) to get a memorable 4th of July portrait of Owen. Oh well. Here are some of the attempts, both clothed and in the bath! I'm sure he'll love me for that when he's older. Ha ha!

Lastly, one of my favorite things in the backyard is the strawberry patch. I didn't have to do a thing to them. They just came back on their own and have been very productive and tasty since July started. Unfortunately, I'm not the only one to have noticed. I have to chase off a pair of robins every day. Who will win? So far, based on the empty stems I'm finding, it seems to be a draw. Here's a pic of one day's haul from the patch. They later became All-American strawberry shortcake! Yum!