race cars!

1.  front side 

2.  peek-a-boo!

3.  back side 

4.  embroidered name

that's owen's new thing.  day care lost his blanket last year (grumble....) so i'm making him a new one, one that'll be better for the big boy owen is becoming.  we went to the fabric store yesterday so owen could pick out his own blanket fabric.  the first one i showed him was race cars.  he loved it.  we wandered the stacks a little more and i found other patterns i thought owen might like.  every time i suggested something else, he said, "no!" and clung onto the bolt of race car fabric tighter.  race cars it is.  i found a nice red with a very subtle marbling for the back.  i also got thread and blanket binding.  i just need more binding....guess we're heading back to the store.  i got everything set up last night, including embroidering  owen's name on the red so it doesn't get lost.  i'm hoping to get the sewing done today or tomorrow.  i don't imagine it will take too long. i'll need to set up the pins for quilting (simple squares).  i'm actually quite excited about this blanket.  i'm no expert seamstress, but this is easy enough.  and it's going to be a very cool blanket.  

swimming lessons start tonight.  they run for 4 weeks.  i hope owen doesn't freak out when we get into the water tonight...i'll try to post an update tomorrow.

we're watching little einsteins on playhouse disney right now.  owen just sand part of the theme song.  he cracks me up.

Spring Break

it's almost over, but it's been great. last weekend my mom was here. we had a good time. i tried on bridesmaid dresses for my sister's wedding in september. when i told jeff that i am going to be my sister's matron of honor, he said, "aren't you a little young to be a matron?" i had to explain that matron vs. maid had nothing to do with age and everything to do with marital status. so cute!

monday was spent getting my Box ready to go out the door for national boards. (check out my other blog here to read about that process.) tuesday was spent relaxing, wednesday held two appointments for me, thursday was another appointment and the zoo with friends. it was a gorgeous day. perfect zoo-going weather. on our way out of the zoo, my friend rob called to tell me that his wife, one of my best friends, had their baby that afternoon. carlie was five days late, but she is beautiful. see pictures at this link. peter, carlie's big brother, is good buddies with owen. he'll probably be coming over on wednesday mornings for a couple of hours this summer while mommy and baby sister go to mommy group at the hospital. owen and i went to see carlie and katie yesterday after his one-year check-up for his ear tubes - left one is no longer functioning, right one still is, but is well on its way out. both are still in, though the left one is really tipped, which is completely normal. we go back in in october for one more follow-up. things are looking good in that arena at this point. owen made his mommy so proud yesterday. one of the receptionists gave him a sticker as i was filling out a card to remind me to call in 6 months. immediately, and without prompting, he said, "thanks!" as he took the sticker from her. yay!!!!! i have a polite little boy! he was so good about using his manners yesterday.

once we got back from the hospital and seeing katie, rob, peter and carlie, our family went to seattle for the day. owen did beautifully, as usual. he fell asleep in the car on the way home, so we took the lo-o-o-ong way home. turned a 25 minute drive into close to 90 minutes. he got a good nap so it was worth it.

today we are having breakfast with a friend of mine from college. i haven't seen her since i was first pregnant with jacob. that makes it close to four years ago. wow. we'll get out the door in a little over an hour. o's still sleeping, which is fine. he had noodles with pasta sauce last night for dinner. first time for plain noodles with sauce at home. :-) slowly but surely we are getting past those food issues. at least we have a standard fare we can get him at restaurants.

yesterday, owen sang through the entire "monkey dance" song - and he did it perfectly! he is also very good at singing his abc's. i tried to get the monkey dance on video, but he was done and distracted by the time i got the video camera plugged in. oh, and his new favorite word is "ok". yesterday afternoon it was, "monkey? ok!" and he'd sing. ("monkey dance" is from the wiggles. gotta love those guys!)

a-b-c-d

that's what we heard coming from his room at about 6:30 this morning. how fun for him to wake up singing. now he's singing and dancing along with "annie oo" on his leap frog fridge dj. he loves that thing! it's what he woke up with yesterday morning. he loves singing along with that song. he'll dance while he's singing. it's great fun to watch.

HP:HBP

gotta love the internet. i just learned when the next harry potter movie is coming out. november 21 of this year. fabulous!!!!! i find it very hard to believe, however, that voldemort will not be in this one as an adult. there are two younger versions listed in the cast, one is played by ralph fiennes' nephew, hero. i guess we know what jeffy and i will be doing that night, huh?

i am getting jeffy to the theater (not the movie theater, a proper theater) in april. we're going to go see cabaret. we got gift certs from my mother for christmas a couple of years ago and so now we're using them (they're good for three years). i'm getting jeffy to go by telling him that there will be scantily-women on the stage. my m-i-l and s-i-l have season tickets to this theater so we're going the same night that they are. the plan is to meet for dinner up there and then go see the show. we're in the balcony, they're on the floor, but that's o.k.

i have some really exciting news to share, but i'll have to wait until i get the ok to share it from the person it's about. i'm over the moon with excitement!!!!!!

o's latest funny thing is closing doors or leaving the room and saying, "bye mommy! love you!" he did that quite a bit on saturday when was on the couch. the front door was open (screen closed and locked) and he'd act like he was walking out the door, closing it behind him and everything! he even tries it when i'm trying to get us out the door in the morning. it's a great little game, except when we're running late like we were this morning.

he's also starting to sing along with songs on his fridge dj (leap frog). it's great fun to listen to. he'll get bits here and there. he's having a blast. i've discovered that he'll fixate on one particular song for a little bit and then move on to another. pretty typical for kids his age, actually. this afternoon, he echoed the ABC song and matched nearly every pitch. he's got a good ear for such a little guy. of course, being a musician, i notice these things. ;-)

this morning was really funny. owen managed to take care of all of the little pottying bits (short of taking off his diaper and turning on the faucet to rince out the potty bucket) all by himself. that included getting his pull-up on and almost pulled up. he also asked me for fishes this a.m. while i was getting my lunch and breakfast ready. i told him no, but he found a bowl, got out the goldfish, and helped himself to a couple of handfulls. then he put the box (big, milk carton type) back in the cabinet and sat down in the middle of the kitchen floor to enjoy his work. what an amazing kid. blows my mind!

a barking seal

guess what that means? croup. we went in yesterday after his cough changed from normal to seal-y. he's been home from school two days. i stayed home yesterday, jeffy stayed home today. owen is back to his normal self today, which is good. that means that both of us can go to work tomorrow. he has almost coughed himself hoarse, poor kid. it's been a rough couple of days, between the fever, 105 on sunday afternoon, 103 at 2:30 a.m. on monday - both times we gave him motrin and it responded very nicely, and him coughing, it's been hard on mom too. his breathing is still a bit labored, but it's ok. i'll be glad when we're through this.

i had a meeting after school tonight. i've been home maybe 30 minutes. not too long after i got in, owen took my hands, looked at me and said, "atee atee" and then dropped to his knees. he was asking to play ring around the rosie, which we did multiple times. must be somethign he's learned at daycare.

when we were at the pediatrician's office yesterday, she was asking me questions about how owen was doing. he started readign off the letters on the label on the examining table. she stopped and looked at me in surprise. she asked me if he was trying to read the letters. i told her he was reading the letters and that he knows most of his alphabet. then i told her that he can consistently get his shoes on the right feet. she was amazed. as we were walking out, we saw his old pediatrician. she was there with her two children doing some "official business". it was so nice to see her! we miss her, but we love the new doctor, too. she was also very amazed at his skills and agreed with me that we are in for a wild ride with this kid. when kids as smart as owen get bored, they get in trouble...

more stuff on friday

choir practice was fun. before i went, we went to borders and i got a couple of new cd's. one came out on tuesday (brian setzer orchestra) and the other came out a week and a half ago (songs of america - produced by janet reno.) owen and i had lots of fun dancing to the brian setzer orchestra cd tonight when i got home from choir practice.

as we were heading out the door, we noticed the family who lives down the street out with their little boy who is 15 months old so we went over to chat. while we were there, owen started navigating their stairs - WITHOUT holding on to anything! he was so steady doing it. i was totally amazed, almost to tears. he was so proud of himself, probably playing off of my reaction to him doing that. he's growing up so fast!

another new word for him lately is "row". he says it as he climbs up into my lap, takes a finger from each hand into his hands and waits for me to start singing "row row row your boat." then tonight he also said, "clap". i initially didn't understand what he was saying so i asked him to say it again and help me understand what he was saying so he started clapping, then he did "la la la la la". i immediately knew he was requesting "rock-a-bye your bear." language acquisition is awe inspiring.

pictures!

Here are some pictures, just as I promised.

The first couple are of our little man reading, a favorite pasttime for him. He's not wearing any pants to make trying the potty easier for me. Too bad he didn't get that bit...

Can you tell he's not the least bit camera-shy?

Again, he's reading. I sing the words to this book to the tune of Twinkle Twinkle. Before I took these pictures, I could hear him singing away as he was reading. I even heard a few words I didn't know he knew ("see" is one that comes to mind).

I just love the look on his face in this one.




A boy and his bed. It's a beautiful thing. Too bad he doesn't realize that right now and go take a nap. He's been playing for at least the last hour, despite my poking my head in there several times and telling him to go to sleep. I've even physicall put him in his bed at least three times this afternoon. On another note, aren't the sheets and comforter cute?!




A wider view of his bed. It has been moved over to your right by about a foot so as to make it a little harder for him to work the lightswitch. He can still manage to reach it, however. The safety rails have a latch at each end so they can swing down quite easily and automatically catch and lock when they are raised. It makes changing diapers on the bed much easier. Yesterday morning, I found him laying cross-wise in his bed, head to your right, feet toward the left, between the rails

bunny kisses

i wonder how many times i've said that owen cracks me up in this blog. well, he does. constantly. yesterday there were two things. one was while we were reading one of his current favorite bedtime stories and i asked him to give (me) bunny kisses - which are rubbing noses - he leaned down and gave the bunny in the picture a kiss. quite silly. he's big into kissing people and things right now. his teddy bear, his doggie backpack, the sesame street dvd, mommy, the kitty, etc. the other thing he did that made me laugh yesterday happened just before bedtime. he was making a bee-line for me (i was sitting in the chair in the living room) and saw his sippy cup on the coffee table. he stopped, looked at the cup, signed a quick "please" and then took a drink. i just had to laugh - hard.

new vocabulary:
blue-blue (blueberries)
there
right there
purple
singing ABCs (he tries, it's not even close to intelligible)
hissing like a snake when asked what a snake says

we're going to the zoo today with our friends katie and peter. we went to playgroup together on tuesday and while we were walking (it was in katie's neighborhood), the two boys were totally goofing with eachother. singing songs and just doing silly things. katie and i had loads of fun watching and listening to them. i'm glad the boys get along so well. today at the zoo should be a lot of fun as well. i'm really glad for the membership. so far, it's enabled us to go to the zoo twice in as many weeks.

oh, owen is getting better at trying new foods. now, this doesn't mean he eats the new food, but it at least makes it in his mouth. yesterday he finished up my scrambled eggs and last night i gave him a bite of the ravioli we were eating. he tried the ravioli but spit it right back out. that's just fine. at least he's willing to taste it!

three (or is it four) new words!

Holy cow! What a vocabulary explosion we've had tonight.

1. hot potato (is that one or two since he was singing the song?)
2. bunny
3. moon

The last two were during story time tonight.

Casa Bonita was a hit! Too bad he didn't eat much for dinner. They don't have quesadillas, he tried a bite of cheese enchilada but didn't want any more after that. Once again, thought, it took putting it on a fork for him to eat it. He did like the sopapillas (so-pah-PEE-uhs) and had two of those. He also liked the divers and did really well going through Black Bart's cave (it's really dark and there are great places for kids to hide and try to scare unsuspecting people.)

Before dinner tonight, we stopped by a long-time family friend's house so they could meet Owen. We might be joining them for dinner on Thursday at the pool were we belonged when I was little. That would be a blast! I haven't been there in the longest time, since I was 18, I think. It will be fun to take Owen there to see him play.

I think we're going to see the Titanic exhibit at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science on Thursday. Apparently, you get a ticket of someone who was on the Titanic and go through the exhibit as that person. At the end, you get to find out if you lived or died. We've already determined that if we get a ticket from steerage, we're pretty much goners. I'll keep you posted.

Wow, I'm posting a bunch today. Is this the third one? Anyway, there is a lot going on in Owen's life and that's the purpose of this blog - keeping people updated on what he is doing.

i sing, you sing...

owen sings! we had a sing-along in the car this morning. i started with abc's, then owen requested twinkle twinkle (up-up-up-up), then after twinkle, he requested old macdonald (e-i-e-i-ooooooo) he even will sing along sometimes, or at least sing his part.

another thing he has started doing in the last couple of days is sticking by me when we're out walking around. he's done that several times recently. it's a nice change from him running away from us all the time.

right now he is carrying around one of daddy's shoes...that's a size 13 if you're interested.

another change in owen's routine is sleeping with a teddy and blanket now. he started the teddy on monday night and added the blanket two nights ago. it was pretty cute! i should have taken a picture of him right after i laid him down last night. one arm wrapped around teddy, and the blanket clutched in the other arm. very cute. he made it through last night. too bad i can't say the same for two nights ago. i was up with him for two hours. that wasn't fun.

i'm in my final countdown at school. i have five more teaching days left: two more fridays, one more each of monday, tuesday, and thursday. wednesday of next week is field day so that doesn't count for me. next friday is my last teaching day of the year. we go through the 19th with kids and then just teachers for an inservice day (making up from all of hte weather we had in december and january) on the 20th. the only bad thing is that i have my least favorite class on thursdays and fridays. that makes three more sessions with them instead of one or two like the rest of my classes. today i showed my upper el classes (that's 4th and 5th graders) a program video from when they were in 1st and 2nd grade. it was a hoot!

next week i also have my program, which was originally supposed to be today. it's now on tuesday. my littles (PreK-Ks) and choir. my favorite concert of the year. just fun songs.

dissed!

i went to pick up at daycare today and got totally dissed by him! they were coming outside to go play as i got there. i picked him up, (lifted him off the ground) and he wanted nothing to do with me! he wanted to go play. so i let him (i still needed to sign him out and talk with the director about plans for the summer) and went to get him after i did that. he was more willing to go with me at that point, but still wasn't 100% for it.

last night we were singing "twinkle, twinkle" and he started singing along. his words were "up-up-up-up!" he also opens and closes his hands while mommy sings. then, at the end of the song, he claps once or twice as if to say, "yay!" he'll sing along with the abc's a little bit too. :-) very cool for the music teacher mom!

i taught a violin lesson once we got home today (my student came home with us - she's a student at my school so it was convenient for all.) and mr. owen did a wonderful job of keeping himself occupied while i was teaching. he got fussy about five minutes before the lesson ended. he's growing up! yay! it's so fun to watch.

i'm going out of town this weekend and leaving my boys here. i fly out on saturday morning and come back on monday afternoon. i'm so excited to be going, not to be leaving my boys so much (though the break will me nice), but really excited about where and why i'm going.