Bowling

owen bowled for the first time today. he had a fun time. he figured it out pretty quickly. i have a couple of pictures and a video, which will be uploaded this weekend. the bumper was his friend. i'd be lying if i said i didn't use the bumpers to my advantage. we used our kids bowl free coupons for the first time today. loved it! best thing i decided to do in a while!

Zoo trip and other bits of excitement

yesterday we met some friends at the zoo. we totally timed it right both for the weather and the crowds. mckinley and kian are students of mine at school and their mom kim and i have become friends over the years. we took the opportunity to say good-bye to beethoven the beluga whale before he moves to texas to have companionship and become part of a breeding program. he's leaving early next month. they're putting california sea lions in that enclosure...joy...after we left the zoo, we took the kids to cold stone. it was a very fun day

this morning, we were sittintg on the couch reading the paper when a very bold squirrel decided to take a tour. max's hunting instincts kicked in, but luckily the squirrel managed to escape through the back door fully intact. the squirrel went through the living room, into the dining room, and into our bedroom. finally, he escaped to the kitchen (as i was on the phone with my mom asking how to get a squirrel out of the house). i herded him onto the back porch where i closed us in and opened the back door. he escaped to the back yard. i bet he's telling his buddies, "dudes, whatever you do, *don't* go in there. there's a monster!"

We're in trouble!

but it's the good kind. owen counted to 100 with minimal help the other night. all i had to do was give him the terms for the 10s starting with 70. he did the rest. i sat there in amazement watching and listening to him. he can also recognize numbers well into the 50s or 60s.

last week i did two things i've been counting down to: paid my last full-month's tuition to daycare and paid off o's last month of preschool for next year. now the waiting game begins to find out what class he'll be in in the fall. i hope i don't have to wait until fall to find out! i'm also really curious if he's going to be in class with his buddy brendan. time will tell.

i got to daycare this evening to pick him up and he runs to me, stopping at the end of the counter to grab the presents he made for me and said, "mommy! i have presents for you, mommy! here you go!" he was totally unprompted and it was so sweet. i was a little teary-eyed. what a marvelous child.

i think he's going through a growth spurt right now. he's getting up what seems to be every-other night and whining and ending up in bed with us. at least his rotation made it so that i got a full night's sleep on tuesday, which was good seeing as i had a 7:00 a.m. meeting on wednesday and it was imperative that i get up with my alarm on wednesday.

as for food, he's getting so good at trying new things. this week it was stroganoff for dinner one night. he's also eaten (and loved) shrimp scampi as well as pineapple chicken from the local vietnamese restaurant (including the rice). we need to get him some of those kids chopsticks that are attached at the top since he was trying to use mine.