In the car on the way to mom-to-mom nursery last week I talked to Owen about not pulling other kids' hair and sharing toys, and we prayed that it would a good session for everyone (I say 'we' prayed because Owen always says 'A-me!' when we finish praying out loud so it's clear he's been participating ;). When I picked him up he had had a fantastic day and was not even the least bit clingy...just playing with the other kids. I asked if there had been any hair-pulls and the worker laughed and told me that he would occasionally go up to another kid and put his hand up to their head and then start to pat their hair and carefully pull his hand away. That's my boy!! So proud of him for learning and listening.

Owen now interactively reads both Mr. Brown Can Moo and Moo, Baa, La La La with me. He says all of the 'sound' words when I pause and wait for him. VERY cute.

Owen loves to cook with me and will not allow me to do anything in the kitchen without pulling his stool over and watching/helping. Favorite activities include playing in the flour drawer and getting covered with flour, taking as many straws out of the box of straws as possible, and taking all of the flatware out of the drawer and putting it on the countertop. He also pours ingredients into bowls when prompted and he runs the mixer, both 'looow' (slow) and 'fas!' (fast), though not always at the speed the cook might find most useful.

When asked the question, "Owen are you one year old (holding up one finger)?" Owen gets a mischievous grin on his face and shouts, "Dooo!" (two). When he pretends to count, he points at numbers and says, "Doo, Doo, Doo, Doo!" When asked what color things are, everything is "Gee" (green). And often when he sees writing he says, "ABCs!" He will pick out the letter 'O' and often recognizes it (Daddy has worked on that one).

Owen is more set than ever on routines. And on doing things himself! Today he would not wear the parent-designated shirt, but picked his own. He would also not be content with being dressed, but had to spend 15 minutes trying to get the shirt on by putting his hands in through the end of the sleeves (logical but dead-end effort :). We had some time to spare, which helped avoid a tantrum.

Owen loves this one particular rather long book called, "Love You Forever." We don't get it. Not that it's not a wonderful book, but he has no patience for longer stories in general, yet he will sit riveted and focused through every word of this book. It is the story of a mother and her son and their love for each other through all the seasons of life...so I like to think that he understands the theme and he's just such a loving little boy that it is compelling to him. Hmm.

Climbing, climbing, climbing! Fell face first into the tub the other day when he lost his balance while teetering on his belly over the edge...he was not happy about that...

We had fun trying to teach Owen the chicken dance today...totally random. Owen watched Reuel and I with the most awesome look of 'you guys are crazy but that is hilarious'. He caught on to the making-a-beak-with-your-hands part by the end. Ha!

Tantrums, tantrums, tantrums! Very strong willed fella.

Gets so excited when it's nap time because we have a new routine of saying 'night-night' to everything we see. 'Night-night chair, night-night toys, night-night clock, etc.' He is totally into saying night-night and as soon as I say 'naptime' he starts in. Unfortunately these positive feelings toward naptime do not induce sleep. He is more sleepless than ever and sleeping much worse at night too and waking up earlier. It is stressful and not good for him. I hope it ends but there is not a ton of hope...wish we knew what would work for him.

must go to bed. esp. if it's another 5:20am morning. Alas the 7am wakeup call of a couple months past is long gone!