Saturday morning-
I got Owen out of bed so Reuel could have a sleep-in, and we went to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. Owen excitedly narrated everything he observed while we shared a sausage egg and cheese croissant--cars pulling in and out, pointing out men with beards or big boots (beards are really fascinating right now), etc. At one point I said, 'Owen, I see a brown car that just pulled up. Can you see it?' and Owen replied as if it were the most normal thing in the world for a 2 year old to say, 'Gray, actually.'

Little man now has taken to tagging the ends of many statements with his name. For instance-
When checking out something new, he often says, 'What's this, Owen?'
After falling down, 'Take a tumble, Owen!'
Upon leaving church today, 'Go park now, Owen?'

Speaking of church, Owen adjusted to the 2-3yr nursery almost seamlessly. That was a shocker. Last week (his first week in the new room) I stayed with him, since we arrived really late (the city was completely blocked off to traffic for some big event). He was awful. He didn't share, he had no idea what it meant to sit still for a story or song (the previous nursery is just free playing), and he was the tyrant we often worry over. This week, I begged them to page me if he was too much trouble to keep up with, and of course he was a perfect gentleman, sat down right away for the story, and made me look like a worry wart. I think he just does better when I'm not around now...fine with me!

I don't think I've ever recorded that eating enjoyable foods is almost always accompanied by loud humming. Today Owen got the mother of all treats...Cheetos...in the car on the way home for a nap. There was a distinctive drone accompanying the crunching for the 5 mile trip home it took him to finish them.

Household tasks are becoming increasingly difficult. Owen will NOT submit to taking turns doing things like vacuuming, drilling, hammering or sweeping. I have to full-out arm wrestle him for control of any tool. It sounds cute, but it can be frustrating. OWEN DO IT!!!! Whine, whine, whine! Sometimes I really do need to do something! It's interesting, because if there is a reason why he can't do something involving danger, he is very respectful of the rules. He knows there are 'mommy and daddy jobs' and won't fight over those. But when it's something he knows he's been allowed to do before, he does not go down without a fight. Today I actually was able to vacuum upstairs because he was willing to vacuum with the dustbuster while I used the big one. For a while.

In the crib reciting/singing the words to Twinkle, Twinkle, with hand motions, and without many mistakes! I didn't know he could do that.

Today: rainy day, but not a bad one. Owen was quite self-entertaining for a change. I did not have to bribe him to go to the grocery store, and he had a good time there! Of course, part of the good time was picking up miscellaneous items at his eye level and putting them in the basket. I kept the ones that could be useful and returned the jarred gravy, precooked bacon, generic fruit loops, and sad-looking watermelon.

Owen helped me make soup tonight. He got things out of the fridge for me, pushed chopped veggies off the cutting board into the pot, poured the stock into the pot, stirred, and poured in the noodles. All by himself! If there is a theme running through our day-to-day life right now it is...OWEN DO IT!!! Yikes, we spend a lot of time getting upset when Owen realizes in hindsight that something has just been done that he would have liked to do without help. I don't mind stepping back and letting him try to do things when he asks for the chance, but it does get exasperating when he doesn't think to want to do it until after it's done, and then expects me to rewind life, and do things like put the shoes and socks back on so he can take them off, or let him go all the way back down to the beginning of the stairs and start over because I got impatient and lifted him up the last one. Sometimes I put my foot down, sometimes I don't. The inconsistency probably doesn't help ;)

He such a cutie sweetheart little love bug. We had a fun day and I got so many kisses, and so did baby brother. Owen and I have a favorite name for the baby but Reuel doesn't like it, and doesn't seem like he will be swayed. I don't suppose it's a very nice thing for me to teach Owen that name, but I like it so much it's hard not to use it now and then ;) Reuel had better hurry up and help think of one we both like, or my choice might just stick.

I think we have distinctly moved past babyhood, perhaps almost past toddlerhood, and into little boyhood. Owen is really changing fast these days. He is getting oh so very smart, and mischievous along with it. He is starting to speak in more complete sentences, even though the pronoun usage and order of the words is sometimes creative...phrases like, 'Help it Daddy shoes on Owen! [Daddy help me put my shoes on!]' and 'Pick you up! [Pick me up!]' and Bug bite you! [A bug bit me!]. He recites all sorts of parental phrases to himself, particularly if he's in his crib alone and needs to comfort himself when something disagreeable has happened (the time before he falls asleep is full of all sorts of traumas like needing a tissue, wanting a new diaper, wanting a stuffed animal that's been chucked out of the crib, asking for a band-aid, scratching mosquito bites, etc.). After fussing for a while and not getting the desired arrival of Mommy (Daddy for some reason is still not as satisfying at these times), he'll finally lay down and say things like, 'I know, I know. Oh buddy, oh buddy. Bug bit you! Okay. I know. Quiet. Go sleep, uh-huh, I know.' I feel cruel not answering the bug bite call, but I have tried to help him out and I end up staying in his room forever and it doesn't help, and eventually he just has to decide/figure out to stop scratching. I really wish I could figure out how he's getting them...he seems to get them overnight, but I haven't found a mosquito in his room, and his windows are shut. Most frustrating.

One of the new behaviors that seems really grown-up and has totally surprised me--somehow I never saw this type of thing coming, since it is so different from my temperament (overall)--is dawdling. I can be lazy and procrastinate with the best of them, but when it's time to do something, it's time to do it. Once I get started on something, I don't get very distracted and I generally finish it up. In his 2 year old way, Owen is quite opposite! Within the last month or so, we've moved on to Owen's obedience and promptness in participating with the task at hand being very proportional to whether he feels like listening or giving me any attention at all. When he was catching onto talking and communicating and I would say, 'Owen, can you find your shoes?' it was oh so exciting to go and track them down and bring them to me. Now, the same request does not register as being heard, despite repetitions, incentives, rational pleas, even mild threats. He couldn't be bothered. And this continues all day about everything. Unless he finds it exciting or new or fun, in which case there is no stopping him, he is a super-speed train headed for the destination. But going up the stairs, walking from the car to the store, getting dressed, etc. etc. are met with so much resistance (well, it's more a complete lack of attention than outright resistance) that I want to gouge out my eyes. I really do not want to indulge him and let him get away with ignoring me right now. On the other hand, the timing is really bad because I am so very uncomfortably pregnant (if there's a next time I will weigh no more than 125 pounds when the pregnancy begins. Any more than that, and it's way too painful too early!) and I simply *cannot* chase him down when he ignores me and make him follow through as consistently as I would like to. So I do way too much of the empty pleading that teaches him he can continue to ignore me without consequences. I am exhausted by this! Is it a boy thing? Or just a toddler thing? I have a feeling it's going to be a long-term thing :P

Owen is so excited about baby brudder. I wonder if he really has any idea what's going on, or if he just does a good job pretending that he does. He is always kissing my tummy, telling baby brudder to Come Out!, talking about where he's going to sit and what he's going to do and what he will eat. I don't suppose it can hurt for him to have lots of positive feelings about his arrival beforehand, even if the reality isn't as fun as his visions. It is very cute.

Owen has really turned a corner with food, in general. He's so much less picky now, and will try a lot more new things. He gets so excited about mealtimes, snacktimes, special treats (which aren't as infrequent as they should be) and picnics! He will eat almost anything if it's served on the picnic blanket in the front yard. Last night he surprised me by gobbling down a whole taco. Other recent new hits are fried rice and spinach soup at Reuel's cafeteria.

Reuel and Owen have been bonding on the weekends over mowing the lawn together, learning how to cast and reel in with Owen's fishing pole, digging in the yard, playing with the hose, etc. etc. Going outside with Daddy is pretty much little boy heaven. Unfortunately, the Daddy-love does not always transfer to the normal routines of life. Owen is still so mommy-centric, wanting me around all the time, fussing when Daddy gets him out of bed instead of me, when I attempt to not be around during bathtime, when I want to take a shower, or do anything else without him. We are definitely not equivalent grown-ups in his eyes. So I am attempting to keep some daddy-activities special, and when he wants to dig in the yard or use the tools, etc. I tell Owen that those are fun things to do with daddy, not with mommy. Not sure if that's a good idea or not, but it seems smart to at least let daddy be the fun guy, if he's not the favorite for kissing boo-boos and calming tantrums.

There are so many little things that happen that I tell myself to remember to write down. Then I blank when I sit down to write and it's all general, relatively boring stuff. Ack. I should just jot down a quick note now and then rather than trying to remember them and put them together in one post. Well, here's one I just remembered. We have some friends in town, Debbie and Justin. Owen doesn't know them all that well, but Mr. Justin recently ate dinner with us and Owen was quite standoffish around him, and a little nervous. By the end of the meal, he had warmed up a bit. Now if he sees Mr. Justin in a picture (we've been reviewing pix from his birthday party recently), he'll say, 'Misser Jussin!' and then sort of hide behind my shoulder and smile. This morning when we were looking at birthday pictures, he saw one of the empty cake plate, covered with crumbs but no cake. Out of the blue he says, 'All gone cake! Misser Jussin ate it up!' Where do these thoughts come from? It was funny because it was so random.

Signing off...

Great 2nd birthday!
Great surprise visit with Mommo and Daddo!
Owen enjoyed his spotlight weekend, was a sweet birthday boy, and hopefully everyone else had a good time too. The weather turned just nice enough for an outdoor party on Saturday, with rainy gray on the surrounding days. We had a BBQ with toys, space to run and Moose the bunny for a petting zoo. At Owen's request, Hats! Balloons! and Candles! were required for the festivities. Mommo and Daddo were invaluable in pulling off the event! Owen has been and will continue to talk about it for a good long while.

Lots of new pictures are up, including birthday pix at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/amyswint/09_05_16_O_Birthday#

5/13/09. First catapulting of self out of crib onto floor. Reason: Daddy left child in crib instead of getting him out in the morning because he was being a complete and total BRAT. Result: Beside himself with anger, child determined to get out while screaming and mommy in next room heard, thud, WAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

I'm very curious to see what happens now. Owen is the kind of kid who is fairly smart about being self-preserving and not hurting himself. He generally obeys quickly and consistently when he's told he might get hurt or something's dangerous. He's been talking about the event all day (Owen fall out. crib.) and I've told him that it's dangerous to get out and to not do it anymore. He hardly even stood up at naptime, I think he's a little nervous to be in there :} But with a few more months of smarts he might put 2 and 2 together and try again. I bought a used toddler bed; it's in the garage. But he is so not ready to handle that level of independence yet...it would result in a lot of lost sleep right now. Best for all of us to push the crib as long as possible...

Today Owen basically arm-wrestled me for control of the vacuum cleaner attachment hose. I was cleaning *under* the couch (gasp!) and getting all the prehistoric ginormo-sized dust bunnies in the corners of the living room, and this was way too much fun for Owen to sit back and observe. Once I ceded control of the hose, Owen kept himself busy pseudo-cleaning for a good 20 minutes. Too bad he only actually vacuumed about 5% of the places that I was hoping to get, and every time I said, "Mommy's turn!" he could only share the privilege with me for about 30 seconds before he wanted his job back. At which point he would look at me with very serious eyes, point at the sofa and say, "Mommy sit couch!" All of this while wearing his noise earmuffs, mind you. Insanely cute!

I find myself wondering why the world is ordered so that I am 7 months pregnant, my son wants to vacuum for me, orders me to sit on the couch, and this doesn't really work out for both of us. Why will it be that as soon as he is old enough to actually do the chore properly he will lose interest and there will be no warring over the attachment hose? Alas. Well, my theory is that I am (to a reasonable point) never going to try too hard to step in and do jobs 'right' when Owen is enjoying doing them and testing out his independence. Maybe we all stop liking to do things because it stops being fun and we get too burdened about doing it often enough, well enough, right enough. So for now Owen gets lots of praise and freedom to clean any time he feels like it! This means that the dirt piles I sweep up with the big yellow broom get quickly redispersed by Owen and the small gray 'Owen's bwoom!' And that when Owen wants to dump the full dustpan in the garbage, half of it ends up back on the floor. But that's the best he can do right now, and he really is doing his best! I'll help him learn to do it better as he's able, but I love that he's enjoying his work.

Speaking of work, there's some footage of Owen doing some of his favorite tasks around the house and yard in a quickie montage we made for our moms for M's day: http://www.vimeo.com/4578363.

Humbling moments:

Realizing that your toddler is pulling your chain and getting you to come into his room after bedtime for various reasons (fussing about having moved monitor camera and wanting it back where it should be, fussing about having pulled curtain off of wall and wanting it hung back up, etc.), the mother decides to ignore crying/fussing the next time when said toddler moves monitor camera again. After fussing has escalated and stayed loud for way too long (but mother can't see that anything is wrong because camera has been moved), mother goes in to child to find arm stuck in crib rail and extremely distraught. Even though she had the best intentions, she feels guilty. As far as I can tell, motherhood is one giant judgment call where you can never really be sure you're doing the right thing. Oh, and I love my video monitor. The judgment calls would be even harder without it.