Last week of June

Yes, June.  I didn't get to post some of Owen's last days as a solo kid because we had an unexpected interruption in early July!  


Some things he's into these days:  He's finally understanding jigsaw puzzles and doing them mostly on his own though he likes some guidance.  He's very into sticker books even after he's used all the stickers up (this requires some creativity from the adult to keep the book interesting instead of dead air).  Now we "kick a ball" in the basement, and he follows it up with "in the dark?"  He loves to turn light switches off and on (now that he can finally reach them!) and kicking the ball in the dark is somehow really fun for him, though generally discouraged by adults.  

Hide and seek is his latest venture, which is pretty hilarious since he understands neither hiding nor seeking.  :)  I'll have to video it one of these days, but he'll run off to hide and either stand in plain sight or hide and start counting with the seeker ("3, 4, 6, 7").  It seems he can't be both not seen and not heard!  One night we really worked on it with him and ended up with him with his hands over his eyes in plain sight still counting.  When he's the seeker, he looks around the room and says "where did he go? I don't see him!"  It takes some prodding and suggestions for where else he should look.  I love that he's getting to the age where we can play games with him though!


Most common phrases heard in our house:  

• "pregud" - pretty good, in response to "how was ___?" 
• "I'm not sure" - see below
• "umm.....okay, sure" - used for difficult decisions like "do you want PB&J for lunch?" with a long pause 
• "Where did Bo go?" - heard way too much with nary a glance first
• "I don't see it" - he never finds anything.  :)

Anyway, he was very into measuring things with Daddy's measuring tape.  One afternoon he measured everything in sight.  He's really picking things up quickly now, which is pretty fun.

He got in some quality play time with friends.  Eating lunch with Carson while Mommy went to a doctor's appointment.  These guys are best buddies!

Jacob, Carson, and Owen playing with Owen's cars in the wood chips at the park playground.  Who needs slides and swings when you have sticks and dirt and cars?

This playtime at Carson's house was only about 4 hours before Owen became a big brother!  Who knew?  They had so much fun in the pool and sweeping water around the patio.  Hopefully, I'll be able to take him back to the real pool before it gets cold again.

The summer isn't complete without a nearly weekly trip to the zoo.  He and Carson stopped to pose with a lion statue near the actual lions.

Petting goats at the zoo and pushing his own stroller.

This explorer's tent is at the zoo, too, and has tribal music that plays when triggered by a motion detector.  Owen wowed his (and my) friends with his dance moves once again.  Wish I'd recorded it!

Also at the zoo, we took a toddler's "P is for Penguin" class.  It was less than an hour long, covered different types of penguins and had a craft, but the best part was petting a baby penguin!  They are sooo soft; their feathers and down were like rabbit fur.

Lastly, a look at our fabulous crop of strawberries this year.  This basket was all collected in one evening!  (This is something like a 6"x10" basket, to give you an idea.)  And they were so much better than what we can get in the store.  This output went on for at least a couple of weeks.  We made strawberry jam, strawberry pie, froze a bunch, and ate a ton as is.