This Blog was Not Indorsed by Pull Ups.

But all I can think of is their jingle "I'm a big boy now!"  You all know it.  Don't pretend you don't.  And don't hate me for getting it stuck in your head.  But it's true.  Owen is becoming such a big boy!
How, you ask?  Well let me just count the ways!

1) He chooses to walk instead of crawl at least 75% of the time.  If he wants a toy, or to get from one end of the room to another he will walk from piece to piece of furniture until he runs out.  Then he will push something (a toy, bike, etc) to continue on.  If there's nothing to push, he lets go and just goes for it!  He usually makes it to his destination before he falls - but the most steps I've actually counted is 10.  He's so big!

2) He asks for nap time.  I'm not joking.  Around 8:30-9:00 he will either a) start rubbing his eyes - so I ask, "You ready for ni-night? You want Puppy and paci?" and he will speed over to the gate at the end of the stairs and say "up sssss" (upstairs) or "ni ni" (night night) or "Pu Pu Pu-sssss" (Puppy and paci).  Then as soon as I get to the gate he carefully steps completely out of the way so I can take the gate down for him to climb up the stairs.  Then he gets his hands and knees on the step, looks back to make sure I'm there (because he knows he can't climb the stairs by himself) and then goes for it.  As soon as he gets to the top of the stairs I pick him up, go in his room, shut the door, turn on the fan, grab puppy and paci and snuggle him while we sway in front of his crib for a little bit, sing him a song or two, then lay him down, mostly awake still.  The other option is that he will b) just go to the stairs and say one (or all) of the three things I described above, wherein I go take the gate down and the rest of the stuff happens.  *sigh* such a big boy.

3) He knows what is off limits and tests it.  This has been happening for a few months now, but he's now learning to work the system.  When he gets in time out for something (which looks like this) he kicks and screams for a minute (literally) then I go over there and say, "Owen, you were in timeout for xyz.  Momma said 'No touch.' You need to listen and obey.  You're in timeout because you didn't listen and obey.  Next time please listen to momma and obey, understand?"  And then I used to model what he was supposed to say so I would say, "Say 'yes momma, sorry momma'."  But now - usually before I get the whole 'listen and obey' schpeel out he starts saying "Ssss.   Sss."  Which means yes.  Now that he's a big boy he's all "Yes mom!  Yes Mom!  I know what you're going to say, so I'll save you the trouble.  YESSSSSSS."

4) He loves to play chase! Such a boy!  Here's a video of us playing the other day.  And this was after three rounds, so he was already tuckering out a bit :)


5) He eats out of a bowl, instead of just putting food on his tray.  The other day he was getting bored with his food, but hadn't eaten very much so I offered him the bowl to pick out of himself.  I put it on his tray and he just looked at me like, "Really?"  Then he, ever-so-slowly, picked up his right and, his pointer finger slightly extended, and reached it toward the bowl, looking at me the whole time, like "Can I really do it, Momma, can I put my hand in there?"  So I reassured him, "It's okay honey, go ahead.  You can get your food out."  And he did.  And he put it in his mouth all slowly, hesitant to believe I would let him eat out of the bowl like a big boy.  And he did such a great job!  He was SO careful not to move the bowl - it was adorable to watch.  I could tell he was intentionally being very gentle as he reached in and got the food out so as to not move the bowl or knock it over.  Since then we've had a couple incidents where he tries to pick the bowl up and 'drink' out of it, but we just nicely remind him that the bowl stays on his tray and he listens really well.  He's also started stabbing at things with his fork!  He's rarely successful, and neither of us have tried to explicitly teach him how to - I think he's just mimicking what he sees us do.  It's so cute!

 

6) And last, but not least. He loves getting in the pots and pans cupboard!  I knew this day would come at some point and it has indeed, arrived!

 

Our little boy is growing up so fast! 

A Day

As we're counting down the days to Africa... (SIXTEEN! incaseyouwerewondering) I can't help but think and realize how much every. day. matters.  Each day we are one step closer to living out our dream as being a missionary family.  Each day brings me one day further into accomplishing the tasks that need to be done before our trip... each day is so important! 
So I stumbled upon something very similar to this on Pinterest today, and decided to make my own.  I couldn't help it - love the idea, love the concept and it's so true!

 

Now where should I hang it.... 

Before I forget...

Owen got his first scraped knee on Monday, May 7th.  He was standing up on some concrete and went to get down on his knees as he usually does to crawl away, but went down a little harder than normal and got a big scrape on his knee - blood and all.  Poor guy cried just for a couple minutes and then was all better.  He crawls around like it's nothin' now :) We even went to the park the other day and he was crawling everywhere - it was so cute to see him exploring the park and finding things to climb on - he's gonna love it when he can run around it!

Owen took SIX steps on Wednesday!  We were at a friend's house playing and I stood him up and said, "Show Mrs. Becky how you can walk like a big boy" - expecting maybe one step, possibly two - the most he's ever done for me.  And he walked almost all the way to her - six whole steps! 
Then yesterday he and I were playing in the living room and he was about 4 feet away from me.  I was trying to pick up some toys that he wasn't using and I looked up to see him walking at me - all on his own with a big ol' grin on his face.  He only made it about 4 steps, but it was SO cool to see him try walking without being prompted!

He cruises all over the place pushing things - his walker thingy, his rocket, his bouncy bike - even his Leap Frog table (which isn't meant to be pushed, it's just a table).  It's pretty cute.

He also has a huge fascination with the piano. We've got a roommate again who happens to be pretty musical and he found an upright piano for free, so we said he could put it in the dining room.  Owen loves plunking on the keys and playing.  I've been working on teaching him how to be 'gentle' with the keys and he's done great transitioning from banging on the keys to just playing them.  Our roomie as recently been tuning the piano so the front panel is off, exposing the hammers and strings - so Owen's latest thing is wanting to stand on my lap to see the inside while I plunk on some of the keys.  He says "Wassat, wassat?" (What's that) and I explain to him how the piano works -every. single. time.

That is his favorite phrase right now too - "Wassat"  He says it to everything.  All the time.  It's cute and I love that he's learning and exploring and curious about things!

Okay, I think that's all - just wanted to chronicle those things before I forgot :)

A Sneak Peek...

At our family/Owen's 1 year photo session :)

I'm Trying

I'm trying not to get used to this.  But it could be really easy to. 
It's finally happened.
We are on a schedule. 
Dare I 'say' it aloud?
For the past two weeks Owen has been going down around 7, waking up around 5, squaking a bit, reading his books in his crib, then falling back asleep until 6:30.
I bring him into bed with me and he nurses until around 7.
Then he sits up.  Bounces up and down on his knees and hands me puppy and paci with a big grin on his face.  His "good morning momma! I'm ready to get up!"  He then shows me the sign for 'more' meaning he's ready for breakfast.
We come downstairs and have breakfast together - his favorite is cinnamon raisin Ezekiel bread with a banana on the side. :)
After breakfast is play time. 
Around 8:30-8:45ish is nap time. He'll sleep for at least an hour before waking up for a couple minutes, then falling back asleep for another 1/2 hour.
After nap is snack time.  Sometimes we try playtime first, but he usually starts giving me the 'more' sign pretty quick.  Snack is usually left-over toast from breakfast, or a box of organic raisins.
After snack is either play time or errand time.
Lunch is around 11:30 or Noon and for Owen it's a protein (chicken, blackbeans, edamame or turkey) and a fruit (more banana, peaches, mango, blueberries, strawberries, an orange (the kid can eat an ENTIRE orange!)) and sometimes a veggie (broccoli, peas, green beans, etc).
After lunch is more play time :)  Usually independent play as I clean up the kitchen.
Around 12:45-1:00 is nap time again.  We rock for a little while (as we always do before nap) and I sing him a few made-up songs while he snuggles me with puppy and paci.  I lay him down awake and he usually sleeps for an hour or two, waking up once toward the end fussing a bit until he falls back asleep.
Around 2:30 I go up to get him from his nap, turn the light on in his room and he stands up in his crib (if he wasn't already) and gives me a HUGE smile and says "up, up, up".  I pick him up and he always (without fail) points to the light and says "wassat?" (what's that).  And I always say, "It's your light".  :)
Then it's time for more playtime.  He usually asks for another snack around 3:00 and he'll have some energy bites (oatmeal, flaxseed, honey, peanut butter mixed together and rolled up into tiny balls).
Then it's more playtime which usually ends up turning into independent play time as I get dinner ready starting around 4:30-5:00.
He eats around 5:00-5:30, usually while I'm finishing up our dinner.  Dinner is very similar to lunch, though if we have leftovers or if our dinner gets done in time I'll give him some of that too.
After dinner is Papa's time.  Since he usually doesn't get home til dinner time, Bill's turn to play with O is after dinner.  They play hardcore for about an hour or two before we start bedtime routine around 6:45.  I lay him down by 7 and he's out like a light until the morning.

So you see, I'm trying not to get used to this.  But really, I could.  But I know that in 34 days we'll be flying 1/2 way around the world and crossing over several timezones, forcing our bodies to opperate as if it is 8 hours later than what we really think it is.  And this schedule is going to go flying out the window faster than my cat after the bird on our porch. (Okay, so that's never happened, but he has run full-force into the sliding door after a bird before). 
So I'm trying not to get used to it, but I could.  And I'm hopeful that some form of normalcy/schedule will return once we get re-adjusted from Africa.  But until then.  I'm trying not to get used to this. :)