Cute bursts for today include...

Coming in and waking me up after having breakfast downstairs with Daddy and proceeding to pour on the sugar while sitting in bed with me for 15 minutes. First, telling me all about breakfast. Then, kissing me on the face and lips with big smacks. Pointing to my belly and talking about baby brudder, then more kisses. Laying down his head next to me on the pillow, then a big kiss. Getting the hand lotion off of my nightstand and putting some on my arms...and my toes (of all places!), then kisses. Major cuddlefest!

After learning that we were going to have lunch with Daddy, informing me step by step where we needed to go (starting with telling me to park the car) to get to Daddy. Running with a squeal toward Daddy when he was spotted. Insisting that lunch with Daddy includes 'soup and li'l cwackohs and BIG cwackohs!'

Continuing to push away mommy's hands and insisting on doing almost everything on his own. When successful, announcing, 'Di't by yourself!' When not successful, 'Mommy do it!'

Rubbing his tummy after eating a big supper while we sat together (Daddy worked late tonight), getting a sneaky grin on the corner of his mouth, fake sighing/groaning and saying 'baby owen's tummy.' Then,
Owen: 'Haht! Haht!'
Me: Did Dr. Lichter listen to the baby's heartbeat yesterday?
Owen: nnHHHnn (yes). Gwease on tummy (pointing to own tummy).
Me: Yep, he had to put grease on my tummy to hear it.
Owen: nnHHHnn. Gwease. Docah Lich-ah! Love baby. Come out!
Me: Baby brother is getting big. I want him to come out too, but he's not ready yet.
Owen: Baby brudder live house. Listen! Listen heartbeep.
Me: Heartbeat.
Owen: Heartbeep. Heartbeeps. nnHHHnn.

Outdoor activity of choice for the day: carefully hang a sets of earmuffs from each handle of tricycle. Put Red Sox cap on backward and attempt to pedal trike (not unsuccessfully!) while holding earmuff/handle assembly, which is not very stable. Reattempt this feat over and over, getting on and off of trike frequently to pick up earmuffs that have fallen to the pavement.

Raucous, giddy, uncontrollable, little boy laughter following learning to plant his open mouth on my cheek (while I'm attempting to wrestle him into pj's on the changing table after bathtime) and blow a funny sound. 'Owen zewbewt (zerbert)! Mommy face! Owen zewbewt!' Repeat ~15 times.

We had absolutely wonderful visits to both Swint and Spain grandparents this spring. I should record some memories while they're not too stale!

In March we did the cross-Texas tour. Owen and I flew to Austin while Reuel flew to San Antonio for a conference. Well, that was the plan anyway. About 20 minutes before his plane was supposed to board, Reuel began manifesting symptoms of the stomach bug Owen and I had enjoyed. So, he ended up in bed instead of flying, and left for SA the next day instead. Owen and I stayed several days with the Edwards and Owen had a fantastic time with the cousins. According to the amount of times he talked about his memories post-trip, he especially enjoyed getting pulled in the wagon and digging in the dirt with cousin Aidan. My favorite memory is popping outside to see how the kids were doing, and witnessing Owen flying down the steep driveway at umpteen miles an hour in the wagon (with one of the girls at the helm), holding on tight with a huge grin and saying WHEEE! while I peeked nervously through my fingers. It was terrific. I also recall lots of great chats with Erin and some fantastic fajitas the day we left. Mmm.

We spent a too-short day and night with the Matthews gang in Waco next. They took us on a boat ride! Owen loved the fast part where the wind blew in his hair...definite bit of daredevil in there. It was a lot of fun. Owen did have a hankering to pull Zayn's hair and got some ugly whoopings from Daddy. But overall it wasn't *too* bad and there was lots of fun had riding bikes in the banquet hall downstairs and checking out the up and coming parts of the loft....wow! I am constantly amazed by large families and how they manage all the chaos and Lorin and Chris seem to be pros at staying cool and calm.

Reuel's mom and dad picked us up in Waco and we had a nice evening ride to Paris (of course Owen didn't fall asleep til the last hour or so!). Where to begin. Owen is still talking about all the fine details of the visit to the ranch, now more than a month later. Fishing (worm! fishie! hold it. hook. sharp! ouchie! water. hold fishie? worms, dirt, fork), driving tractor and pickup (drive it. BIG!), feeding cows (moo. hay.) and visiting the garden (hose! daddo hose. mommo hose. dirt!) dominate many a toddler conversation. Not to mention cowboys, the playroom, painting and the birthday cowboy hat he got to shop for with mommo and daddo. We ate too much as usual, but enjoyed it thoroughly, and Owen must've put on more weight in that visit than he had in three months...liked mommo's cooking apparently, and ate like a horse. Laddie and Patty Paws get lots of memory time, too.















Just last week we returned from a week in NC with my parents and Aunt Debbie (sans Reuel, sadly). Also a great time! Cats, cats, cats!...a big highlight of visiting nunu and grandpa. Frequently we discuss the cats now...Holly? Max? Leo? Yes, Owen those are nunu's cats. Run away! Yes, they run away when you chase them. Eat turkey! Yep, they love turkey. Scwatch arm! Holly scratched your arm when you climbed up to see her, but it wasn't a bad scratch.

Other highlights in Owen's memory were collecting and throwing sticks in the backyard, eating ice cream (and lots of it), playing with kids from church, reading nunu's books (particularly the one called 'tails') and grilling out with grandpa. As for myself, I lounged around WAY too much and deslugifying myself after the trip has not been easy :} But it was a great vacation. Oh! I nearly forgot the zoo. We took a lovely trip to the zoo in Asheboro and enjoyed the animals there. Owen was CRAZY feisty about car trips there for some reason (he's back to normal here; no fussing for up to an hour of driving!) and Aunt Debbie, desperate for sources of entertainment, or perhaps just to punish the rascal, stuck her dirty, walk-around-a-zoo-all-day-in-sandals feet in his face and *I* said YUCK Debbie!! Owen picked up on that one quickly and has been parroting 'Yugh Debbie, yugh Debbie!' over and over since then. He thinks it is hilarious. Sometimes he says 'miss nunu. miss grandpa. miss debbie.' ...not necessarily in any particular order ;)

Photos courtesy Grandpa:

Transcript of owen crib-jabber tonight following OB appt. this morning...

baby brudder
come out mommy's tummy
live house
play toys
play wif him
love him
owen's tummy? no.
mommy's tummy? yess!
come out!
come out!
out brudder, come out!
bye bye baby brudder

Sheesh, I just read my last entry and I made it sound like Owen has some big developmental issue. I am adding this comment to clarify yesterday's report...my impression is that it's *not* a huge thing we are dealing with, just some growth to be done. I suppose lots of kids need growth in some area or other. I just wish mine didn't have to do with violence! At least I don't have to worry about him getting bullied (?). Today at the park there was a very rough 2 year old (maybe he has the same growth needs as Owen!) who did not want Owen near him and he pushed him down hard when Owen got close to him. (I am inwardly cheering when this kind of thing happens because I think it's good for Owen to get a taste of his own medicine!) Owen looked sort of shocked. Then, he got up off his bottom and pushed him back nearly as hard! The mommies soon pulled the scrappers off of each other.

We had the unfortunate combination of being stuck at home with a car in the shop all day, beautiful weather for going outside, and the lawn service came and sprayed the yard so we couldn't go play in the grass! Try explaining that to your toddler. It was a challenge.

Owen is so cute. He is so playful and affectionate right now. Does he have to grow up and get awkward someday? His appetite has suddenly skyrocketed and he has food on his mind all the time. All day he is nagging me for snacks, or reminding me that it's lunch or dinner or breakfast time (not necessarily in the right order). And he eats everything I give him pretty much. I just noticed today how tall and skinny he looks; must be a growth spurt. That and he's been eating like a horse but has hardly filled a diaper in days. Maybe he has a tapeworm?

Some pictures from recently...

Not quite behind us...

...just when I was beginning to be confident (still amazed, but starting to be convinced) that Owen had magically become a different kid, we had some of the old behavior this morning at the library. Ugh. Coincidentally we also went to an early intervention appt. this afternoon because of this very thing (inability to play in a group without becoming excessively aggressive). I was going to be humiliated to show up and say that it had magically changed and have them think I was a crazy first-time mom, but then he started up again :{

The appt. was fascinating to watch...all the 'tests' (play situations) they were doing that I could only guess at the purpose of. They have strict guidelines of who they can admit, and it doesn't sound like Owen is going to qualify. But on the other hand they think that my observations/feelings are correct that there is some delayed development/issues in his social/emotional world. So I'm confused about that. They basically said he is way far crazy off the charts in visual skills for his age (they couldn't stop commenting on this!), great verbally, normal but not great at problem-solving in situations new to him, and atrocious at any sort of self-soothing and mood management skills. Low frustration tolerance, enough to affect life negatively and make things more tough than normal. Big news to me!!! NOT. Then they said that there's help to be had with these kind of things and they work with kids with these issues all the time. So I left mildly frustrated at having come for some help and leaving knowing what I know but not qualifying for help...but I think they're going to talk more with me and at least point me to some resources to educate myself more about how to help him moderate his emotions more. One of the ladies there really 'got' our situation. She pegged him right away as someone who was wonderful, sweet and fantastic to be around when the world was on his terms, but nightmarish as soon as he felt any bit out of control (as in, not in charge). And pointed out how other little people are way out of his control and are threatening for him to be around. Yup.

Well, maybe it's all gobbledygook and I'm just too indulgent, but it felt nice to be validated by a group of people saying there's more to it than just being spoiled, and his behavior patterns follow some known ones. He had a blast with the evaluation team and charmed the pants off of them (by the end of the 2hrs he was planting hugs and kisses on all of them spontaneously), so it was a fun afternoon if nothing else.

Transcription of a few minutes of crib conversation during naptime 1/7/09

Spider
Crawling
Uh huh
Water
Skin
Uh huh
Ouchie
Uh huh
Hook
Uh huh
Uh huh
Backyard
Uh huh
Big ella
Big aili
Cowboy
Uh huh
Crawling
Crawling
Uh huh
Dirt
Dirt
Hair
Pull Off
Uh huh
Got it
Got it
Put there
Put there
Got it
On there
On there
Hair
Uh huh
Uh huh
I see it
I see it
Uh huh
Outside
Uh huh
Ice cream
Paper
Eat up
Paper
Uh huh
I know
I see it
I see it
Mower
Mower
Mower
Drive it
Dirt
[growling noise]
let’s see
airport
airport
airplane
no poops
no poops
no poops
big poop
uh huh!
Clean up
Clean up
Robe
Mommy robe
Blue robe
Have it Mommy
A, big A
Little a
H
X
H
Big X
Papi papi papi
Pay it mommy
Pay mommy
Like it
Money
Money
Money
Mine
[squeal]
Uh huh
Happy face
Happy face
Happy face
[laughing]
happy face
saw that
[laughing]
happy face
saw that
papa papi papi papi papa papi papi
Lachlan Lachlan diaper
Baby diaper
Baby Lachlan diaper
Baby diapers

Possible that pigs are flying in Billerica...

Owen's hair-pulling obsession/vendetta/fetish/mission (pick one) may have disappeared as rapidly as it appeared, despite 6+ months of unceasing struggle with unsuccessful interventions. As of yesterday (4/2/09) he seems to have magically changed into a different child in group settings. I feel like I won the lottery (that is not an exaggeration...this has been a bad, exhausting problem) but I am trying not to let my hopes soar too high just yet. Cautious optimism...

Owen has been very aware of body functions for a while now, we've had the potty, but every attempt to tempt him to try it out, or even just to sit on it has resulted in 'No! No way! Nope! No way! Diaper! Diaper! On! Diaper!' so far. If I try to sit him on it when it's clear he's about to go (visualize trying to place rabid cat in full bathtub), he then decides to hold things in for at least another 24 hours. So mommy stopped thinking about pushing the matter. This week, however, a package from amazon.com containing a new (non-pinching) potty chair and a potty propaganda video arrived. I also bought him some Bob the Builder underpants (hideous!). The potty video was magic. It was so heavy-handed I thought Owen might be offended that I would underestimate his intelligence that much, but no, he fell for it hook line and sinker. The best part is the song called Diapers are for Babies, or something to that effect. It outlines how if you are still wearing diapers you are just a little, helpless baby. Babies need their mommies to do everything for them. They are slobbering flesh blobs (translation). Don't you want to be a big kid like these cool 3rd graders running around the playground? They are entirely independent and don't need their parents much at all. You can have all of this and more if you just sit on that potty and wear underpants.

No kidding, as the song played Owen stripped his clothes off and picked up the Bob the Builders. MAGIC!! He even sat on the potty NAKED (we've never achieved that, only 2 brief episodes with jeans on) in exchange for a steady flow of altoid mints (he loves them). I have no expectation of rapid potty progress (and honestly I'm not sure I want to have to run him to the bathroom at a moment's notice...what's so wrong with diapers?), but I like that we're making emotional progress toward the goal and all I had to do was pop in a DVD! So much easier than past attempts. This further confirms my suspicion that home-schooling would be a disaster for Owen and I. I think he responds to external side-door peer pressure much better than to mom-dispensed directives. But that's probably a larger logic leap than the evidence bears.


(walking in his Bob the Builder's like he's just dismounted a horse after a long day's ride...not sure about how these feel! kind of fancy free compared to a diaper!)

So much daily development, so little energy to write it all down. He's a TALKER! Wow. There is not a silent moment during our day. He is obsessed with the alphabet. He's starting to sing songs with me. He's a cuddler (love that). He's starting to catch onto the baby-in-mommy's-tummy thing and he give me some sidelong glances about it from time to time. He loves ice cream.

Additional pictures; recent haircut and most recently selected favorite outdoors outfit (didn't catch the whole thing on film, but it is daddy's respiratory filter mask, winter mittens and red laser goggles).