1-2-1-4...

He has been cracking me up lately as his personality really starts to blossom.  He's got several different kinds of laughs, depending on the situation, such as an almost adult-like polite conversation laugh, an easy-going "cool guy" laugh, and a high-pitched staccato hyena laugh, along with the usual suspects.  He knows just when to use them, talk with his hands, give you a serious look, make a funny face, etc.


Not sure where he picked up this "hi-ya" to go with his kicks, but it's pretty entertaining.

He's also learning to count.  I had no idea that he could count up to 10, if you help him get past "three".  I just thought he was stuck on "one, two, one, two."  I guess "three" is hard to say, although we've gotten "twee" out of him a few times.

Which brings me to some of my favorite phrases that I want to jot down before I forget this adorable mimicking period.  He really picks up a lot of words now, but the best ones have toddler phonics, especially if an R is involved.

• "eh-mo teewee?" - multi-daily request for me to turn on the TV so he can watch Elmo on Sesame Street.  We still try to minimize his TV time, because he turns into such a little couch potato!
• "jaff" - giraffe
• "poose" - octopus
• "potamus" - hippo
• "ostirch" - ostrich
• "bana" - banana
• "qui-qui" - kiwi
• "noonles" - noodles
• "ahlo" - yellow
• "geen" - green
• "wed" - red
• "purpo" - purple
• "bagoh"- bagel
• "circo" - circle
• "ceweal" - cereal
• "gugurch" - yogurt
• "anshtairs" - downstairs 
• "what doing dada/mama/cars?" - conversation starter

Snow Day

We finally had a good snow that stayed on the ground long enough for us to break out the snow pants, boots, and gloves.  That combination allowed Owen to stay outside for quite a while and never complain of being cold!  Yea!  We had a great time blazing new trails,

rolling down the hill,

making snow angels, 

building a "snow man" (Idaho snow is so dry it's hard to pack and move the upper tiers),

throwing snow balls, and having fun.

 But frozen sand is just not the same...

Teepee Fun

Owen's been having a great time with his buddies lately.  We have 2 new additions to our basement (a treadmill and a teepee) that, along with the train table and hobbit hole, have made it the place to be for the playgroup on cold days.  I wish I could bottle and sell the energy that 5 two-year old boys have when they are together!

On an unrelated note, I just wanted to document these cute overalls that he got from both grandparents.  Hook 'em!  (Only 6 months until football season...)

Plus One

Dear readers, we're on the hunt for a couple of new names.  In July, we'll be a party of 4!  As a result, the blog will probably need a new moniker to reflect that it won't all be about Owen anymore (much to his dismay!).  If you have suggestions, let me know, but it may have to wait until we decide on a baby name.  :)


Here's the bump at 18 weeks.  As my dear husband pointed out, black is slimming, so this bump must appear larger in real life! 

More Christmas pics

I just got some holiday pictures from my brother, who has a much fancier camera and much more patience behind the lens than I do.  Thought I'd share some of his handiwork here.  (And yes, Owen was still sporting the scab from his birthday party fall and got a new scratch on his nose the first day we were there.)

Also, Owen's been adding to his vocab and behaviors lately, so I wanted to document some of the highlights.

• "Bess you" - now accompanies most sneezes and coughs (even fake ones) in our house
• Always talks about the "soonds" he hears.  He'll stop what he's doing if the icemaker empties or a car drives by and ask me if I heard the sound (he says it with an exaggerated vowel and a surprised look on his face)
• Frequently asks to "run" or "chase" meaning laps and laps around the couch for you
• "Ball kick" - requests to kick the ball with him, usually when he's just finished dinner and Mom and Dad are trying to finish theirs in peace
• "mo-ning" - greeting that could be given at any time of the day
• knows lots of animal and object names and we're working on colors, which is proving a little difficult for him
• "Haw-horn" - Longhorn
• retrieved his own pajamas from his dresser when Daddy was putting his own PJs on to be "just like Daddy"
• recognizes his friends' cars, yells their name, and starts giggling
• is going through a phase (hopefully) where he likes the computers at the library more than story time

Winter is Finally Here!

Winter came, kind of.  We've had some good snowy days, but they are still followed by sunny days that melt everything away.  As a result, we have a weird mix of snow chunks, icy sidewalks, bare yellow grass, and puddles in the garage.  I did capture a few of the finer snowy scenes around the neighborhood before they dripped away.

And got a few more pictures on my ski trip to Grand Targhee yesterday!  Pink sunrise over the foothills.

Grand Teton looming in the fog on our approach.

Proof that I was there!  And yes, it was cold.  Probably in the single digits upon our arrival in the morning, warming to ~20 degrees in the afternoon.  But the sun came out, and there was no wind, so it was bearable.  :)

Gorgeous Tetons visible from some of the ski trails and the road back down the mountain.  I could stare at these mountains forever!  They are truly amazing.

Orange sunset glowing on the trees on the way home.

This is the season to be sick, but Owen and Jacob remained relatively unscathed this week so we got them together for a play date.  I think they had fun!  They even entertained us with some wrestling while we got lunch together.

(I think he says "I just sat" in this video.)

And lastly, a couple more random pics of Owen.

Big Boy

Now that we are back in the high desert, most of us are enjoying this mild winter we're having.  I'm sure there's plenty of winter left yet to come, but we still have no snow on the ground here and temperatures in the upper 30s, which is unusual.  Okay by me; I'll take a few winters to ease into a "real" winter.  :)  Plus, I need it to hold off until I can find a satisfactory pair of gloves that he'll wear!  New bath towel:

Anyway, Owen is really flourishing with his speech and play these days.  Here's a clip of the dancing we mentioned previously.  (He's checking out his reflection in the fridge.)

Some other pass-times:

• Back to asking us to kick the ball around with him a lot.  This go-around he has a lot more power behind his kicks.
• "Where'd it go?" with his hands thrown up questioningly
• "Thank you....welcome" all as one statement of gratitude
• Now has all but one of his baby teeth!
• Picks out which shoes he's going to wear (I don't give him the choice for clothes yet!)
• Has mastered his 3 toddler puzzles (guess we need to get him some more of those)
• Declares "Job!" as in 'good job' for himself when he does something he's proud of.  Have we been too encouraging?  
• Adores books, but is selective on which books to read before bed
• No longer cries when I drop him off in the nursery for MOPS; just walks away to the toys, but he's still happy to see me when I pick him up!  :)

New haircut:

And because I forgot to post his 2-year stats earlier, here they are:
Height - 35.5" - 85% (so he'll be just under 6' as an adult, if you believe the old wives' tale)
Weight - 27.9 lbs - 49% (this was just after a bout with the stomach flu, we just weighed him again, and he's nearing 30 lbs, which puts him ~75% more likely)
Head - 20" - 96% (this was actually off the charts, but the doc estimated for us.  Hope that head is full of brains!)


Of course, all those measurements come with a little * for human error.  When he was originally measured for height, the nurse came up with 34", which was shorter than he was measured for his 18-month checkup.  I noticed that he was laid out like a hypotenuse on the table and asked her to straighten him up.  After she did, she got 35.5", which is taller than we measured him on the wall at home.  Sigh.  Let's just not put too much bearing on these numbers, okay?  But if you assume user error on every kid ever measured, I guess you can still conclude that we have a pretty big boy, relatively speaking!  :)