Mischief is brewing...

Owen has always been a bit of a handful (ahem), but one thing he hasn't been too bad about is getting into things or situations we tell him are 'no-no's'. He's generally really respectful of rules, probably because he loves order and routine so much. If we tell him it's not OK to throw the coasters on the floor, he might look at them with interest now and then, but then he'll look up at us, see our confirmed disapproval of his plan, and he'll back right off. If he has gotten into something especially tempting--like my eye shadow--in the past when I walk in and catch him he startles, knows he's guilty and puts it right down and doesn't touch it again for many weeks to come. This may be starting to change...he's starting to flagrantly touch more and more no-no's in front of my face lately, and is getting pretty slow to reverse his course when he's caught. Time-outs are not new to him, and they're not very threatening to him either...he sits in his spot and sings or talk to himself rather sassily, and when I walk in to retrieve him, he puts a knowingly cheesy grin on his face. Is this working? I have no idea, but for now we're going with consistency. I was recently remembering when my Dad would spank me and I would consciously think, 'This doesn't really hurt and I don't really need to cry, but if I cry and act sad then he stops sooner.' So, maybe Owen's level of emotional devastation over a moment of discipline is not really a great measure of its effectiveness. Just a thought...

This week we've had lots of turning on of the TV, lots of messing with the computer mouse, lots of getting into the flour drawer with a tablespoon measure and measuring flour onto the counter, lots of putting on of brown eye shadow, lots of dental floss unrolling, lots of toy throwing, and a fair bit of kicking and screaming about getting in the high chair, resulting in far-flung food. Not too bad really, but definitely a step up in defiance level from a couple of weeks ago. I caught him a couple of days ago smeared in my dark brown eye shadow...that stuff is hard to get off! Today I came out of the bathroom to find him sitting on top of the desk in the office...had shimmied up the chair and onto the desk. He is also learning to fish food out of the pantry cabinet and refrigerator without assistance. Really overall he's still quite a sweet kid, though, with the exception of transition times between activities...he's never been adaptable, and doesn't seem to be improving all that much, but we're used to that. I can hardly remember when I didn't think 10 steps ahead of every move I make to carefully construct a series of events and bribes which will at least partially stem the all-day tantrum which results if I move forward through my day like a normal person. Example: It's 8:30 and we need to leave the house at 9. Go to the bathroom now so I don't have to leave him in the living room later once he's gotten upset after finding out we're taking a car trip. Mention to Owen that we're going to leave before heading to the bathroom. Listen to Owen scream 'No! No way! No! No way!' while going to the bathroom. Think of a way to pose our trip as something fun that Owen would want to do without lying to him (rarely works). Get coat down off hook (tantrum inducing moment) while telling Owen it's time to take his vitamin (which he loves). Put on coat while dangling the idea of the vitamin in front of him and inching toward the bottle while zipping coat. Get vitamin and lure him out the front door before giving it to him. Swipe him up and quickly get him buckled in before chewing is done. It may not sound all that bad to an outsider, but from my perspective I just long to decide to go somewhere and go on auto-pilot until I realize voila, I'm there! Instead of mapping each tiny detail of the trip...but I'm not really complaining, I have company during my day, even if there is a little price to pay. I have also often tried the 'too bad you don't like it, kick and scream all you want, we're doing things my way on my schedule' approach, but that is even more painful...much more painful.

I think we had kind of a rough day today. Looking back over what I wrote confirms this...I sound disgruntled. Tomorrow he'll be the best and cutest 20 month old there ever was; that's how it goes!

Owen counted to five this week! He's been obsessed with the 'meet the numbers' video my mom got him for Christmas, and a couple of days ago when we were putting markers away in the box, he counted them off as he put them in, all the way to five. I was REALLY impressed. This feat has not since been duplicated :) He also really seems to be getting the association of numbers and addition. I gave him one piece of candy the other day and he said, 'Mo? Mo? Two!' That accomplishment earned him a second piece, indulgent mommy that I am.

Also associated with said movie, Owen looks at his Cracklin' Oat Bran every morning now and gets a big smile and says 'We-wo! (Zero!), Ffwooo (blowing sound), Pop!' In the video, the number zero blows bubbles with a bubble wand and they pop in the air. He also knows the letter 'O', so I'm not sure how he assigns zero to the cereal instead of O.

Owen LOOOVES mediterranean curry flavor near east brand cous cous. He is a fairly picky eater, so this was a big surprise. He ate about half the box in 2 days.

We went to the Mus. of Science this morning and had a great time. We visited the tamarin monkeys first and there was a quiet classroom of ~5th graders observing the monkeys' behavior sitting in the stands. Then we walked in. Owen paid no mind to social rules that would lead one to also be quiet when walking into a room of quiet people. Instead, he started jumping up and down saying 'Bih! (Big!) Tees (Trees!) Ooh Ooh Ah Ah (monkeys!) run! run! Ala! (Water!) Hay! Ooh Ooh Ah Ah! The 5th graders were giggling quite a bit.

Well, my napless one is tiring of his crib sentence for today so I'm going to go release him. I thought sure the Museum would tire him out, but nope. I want to take a nap so badly but I can't manage to do it when he stays awake, my brain won't let me. Alas.

Toddler Compulsions

The most recent obsession/compulsion is his mama+baby bear stuffed animal, more specifically taking the baby bear out of mama bear's arms. This is nothing significant except that as soon as he removes the baby he gets very upset about it and wants everything put back the way it should be...and can't figure out how to do it himself. So there is much wailing until mommy fixes it, and within about 30 seconds baby is loosed again. Yes, I know I shouldn't keep fixing it for him, and I'm not really complaining. I just think it's interesting that he can't seem to stop doing it despite how much it upsets him.

Owen was a star swimmer today...he really figured out how to kick those legs and splash his arms. One might think this would lead to a good nap, but right now he is in the crib throwing himself into belly flops on the mattress over and over and over. And trying to get baby bear back into mama bear's arms. I guess he just gave up because both bears just went over the crib rail to Owen saying, 'See ya!' Now he has a blanket over himself and is walking around like a little ghost. At least he's having fun in there :)

Owen is trying out a bunch of new words lately, and using more words in general, and we've gotten to the point where he is really trying to communicate something and I quite often have no idea what he's saying. He's really getting the concept of delayed gratification, which is FANTASTIC! He begs for bubble bath at 10am and I can say, 'tonight' and he gets it and is completely content to put the bottle down and move on. He even gets 'tomorrow' for the most part, and the idea that he doesn't have to secure every fun thing his mind can think of immediately to still have a happy life. Of course this doesn't mean we don't still have plenty of meltdowns, but it definitely helps. The cutest new word he's using started when I was changing a nasty diaper one day and said, 'This diaper is stinky...pee-euw!' Now, imagine Owen running around the house having made his voice high just like I did when I said pee-euw but squealing 'Pee-poo! Pee-poo!' instead. It's hard to describe, but anyone hearing it would be forced to laugh, no matter how prudish.

Daddy is still not a substitute for mommy in all settings, but Owen loves Reuel in a very special way. Whenever Reuel's around and Owen hears him coming--down the stairs, or in the front door--his eyes light up and he excitedly whispers, 'Da-Daaah!' Then shouts it when Reuel is within eyesight. Reuel and Owen came up from the basement yesterday after having played with tools for a good long while (something mommy won't do nearly as well!) and Owen had black hands and looked like a little grease monkey...it was cute.

We are having lots of fun with the webcam. Owen particularly loves talking to nu-nu (grandma) because she has the peculiar talent of being an adult who can transport herself into a toddler's world and relate as a toddler would with no self-consciousness about it. Lately they enjoy putting scotch tape on their noses at the same time and sticking post-its all over their face together. The cats also have great appeal, as well as nu-nu's donald duck impression. This all makes for great toddler entertainment, and I am probably guilty of webcamming my mom way too often to make my own job easier.

Owen has really figured out how to flirt with people when we're at a store. He sits in the cart and peeks around me at the person behind us in line and makes cheeseball grins at them, and when they smile back he closes his eyes, or ducks behind me to hide. Then he peeks an eye open to see if they're still watching and flashes his teeth at them again. This gets him a lot of attention and praise...just what he needs :P

Signing off,
Amy

Oh. My. Gosh.

I just put Owen down for a nap and he waved and said night-night and blew me a kiss as I left the room. Considering that I haven't left the room without the accompaniment of his banshee screech, outstretched arms, and wrinkled, red face in at least six months, this was truly a surprise.

Well, I'm back. As usual, he pooped about 10 minutes after I put him down and was trying to pull off his pants, and that was headed nowhere good. I put him back down after changing him and the no-crying separation was not to be had the 2nd time around :) Chances are there will be no nap today. Yesterday he was just exhausted (but he hasn't been napping AT ALL lately) and I actually did it...I gave him benadryl. I feel quite terrible about it imagining that he would end up in the ER with some reaction and I would have to explain that I gave him benadryl for an off-label use, but he slept for an hour and a half and we didn't go to the ER, so now I don't feel that terrible. He was so much happier yesterday afternoon! But I won't do it again anytime soon or it will get too tempting :}

Two days ago I heard him caterwauling in the crib and could tell via monitor that he didn't appear to be in danger, but I couldn't quite tell what was going on. When I went in at the end of the nap he was holding his overalls in his hands and looked up at me with giant guilty saucer eyes. He thought he was in big trouble for having taken his overalls off! I lightened his fear by laughing and asking him how he managed to do that and then he started giggling. He showed me how he was trying to get them back on by putting his feet through the ends of the legholes. He was quite proud of himself.

Well, the reason I started a post was to record the cutest new Owen-behavior ever. He is totally getting his way around here with this little development because I just can't say no when he plays his card. I'll tell him that it's time to stop whatever activity he's engaged in and start the transition process (which is never easy with him). He looks up at me and says in a very matter of fact way (like his mommy would say it, with serious eyes), "Ah mo!" while holding his pointed index finger high in the air. Translation: "One more [minute]!" Then he'll sometimes repeat himself and look at his finger, make sure it's straight and say again "Ah mo." How can I decline? He gets his one more minute. Then of course, he wants 'Ah mo' about 5 more times, so I do eventually have to shut him down, but he tends to take the transition much better if I've let him have 'Ah mo' once or twice. Perhaps only his parents appreciate the utter cuteness...

Another fad of the week is shaving with Daddy in the morning. I rigged him up a fake razor by clipping a flat barrette to the end of the long old-fashioned bathroom door key. Owen gets a little shaving cream on his face and gets to drag it off with the 'razor'. He loves it. And demands it every day.

So many fun things are happening in his little head right now that it's tempting to write them all down, but even I might be bored to read all of them after a while, so this is probably enough for now :)


Anything resembling a life form gets to try on Owen's Christmas earmuffs


Mommy has to help with the taller creatures in the house (at Owen's direction)






When Daddy's home, everyone has to wear earmuffs together!

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!

New pictures posted...see link on right of page.

We had a great Christmas trip! We went to my parents' new house in North Carolina and as expected my mom went crazy on Owen's behalf...and he really enjoyed himself. The slogan for the week was, 'Everything's better at Grandma's house!' We brought his caterpillar toothbrush with us...there was a Pokemon battery-powered spinning toothbrush waiting! We brought a $9.99 Mr. Potato head with us for a toy on the plane ride...there was a 2 foot tall giant Mr. Potato Head with 4 other smaller Mr. Potato Heads inside of it at Grandma's house! You get the idea. Not that I'm complaining; I had a week's vacation from Owen-tending thanks to my mom and sister, and I mercilessly used my family members while I watched TV or took naps. It was the biggest break I've had since he was born and it was FABULOUS. Giant thanks to my great family.

Not in a big writing mood right now, so just some scattered tidbits...

Grandma='Nu-Nu' (with lips pursed very intentionally)

Today Owen said all done ('Ah-no') after lunch and when I got him out of the high chair he spontaneously said 'eh-oh' (thank you)...wow!

Loves jumping off the edge of the pool into my arms at swimming lessons

Favorite Christmas present: kid-sized noise-muffs and safety goggles in a toolbag from grandma and grandpa. Anytime something 'lauwwww' (loud) is about to happen Owen runs for his earmuffs and then insists that Daddy put on Daddy's pair (the root of the long-time fascination with earmuffs). Apparently mommy's ears aren't all that important to protect :)

Loves to pretend with stuffed animals. Today hammy (stuffed hamster) picked up all the blocks and put them in the shape sorter. Mr. Bear loves to read books, but seems to be quite nearsighted.

Owen has learned to climb up on the furniture. He stands up on it and says 'TAH!' (tall). Please, please, please don't figure out how to climb out of the crib.

Will not tolerate a dirty diaper...gets me, says 'dipoo!' and runs to the diapers. Once I retrieve one he runs to the living room, lays down on his back and throws his legs in the air! No tolerance for sitting on the potty, however.

Stays put where we sit him for time-outs...who would have guessed?!

Has started saying his own name...took me a while to figure it out, but he often points to himself or to one of his things and says 'oh-oh' for Owen.

Exceedingly particular about how things are supposed to be...picks up trash, wants to wipe up spills, knows where things go and when things are out of order he can get really quite edgy about it. Not from my DNA!

1 week miraculous reprieve from nap strike...now it's back on. Worst statistic: 5 naps in 18 days in the month of December. Uh.