Owen (20 month update)

Such a loving boy

Owen,
This month you have continued to grow up so much, I'm amazed by you every day. As of Monday, you are now 20 months old. You weigh 30 pounds and based on my best efforts with a tape measure (which you did not make easy -so I'm probably way off) you are about 34/35 inches tall. You are soo incredibly sweet and loving and you are such a caring boy. You've started to really understand the things you watch on TV/movies and the things that are happening around you and you are soo compassionate - if anyone is ever hurt or in trouble you are so upset and worried about them and desperate for whatever problem there is to be fixed - so you immediately start whining or yelling to make sure we know that someone is in trouble! You find garbage at the park and clean it up all on your own - I am amazed by that! You constantly want to be held and cuddled, kissed and "huggie"d! You will crawl up on the couch call out for a "banky" and pat the seat next to you over and over so that we will come "cuddy" with you! It makes this momma heart swell since not too long ago you thought it was really funny to refuse to kiss your mom even though you loved giving kisses to everyone else! You have also started kissing and hugging any and all babies that you see. You are starting to get that Noah in my tummy is a baby like them and you are just loving on us all. I am just soo proud to be your mommy! (although you've started to call me "mom" and I'm not too crazy about that! Give me at least a few years of "mommy" okay kiddo?)

Still a little more than slightly "binky obsessed"

You are talking more and more every day - not that everyone can understand you - especially with the binky you insist on keeping in your mouth nearly constantly (whenever we hide it or take it away you search the house moaning and crying out "binka...binka...go?....bin-KA!"). You probably say 5-10 new words every day and have 200-300 words in your regular vocabulary - although I stopped writing down all your words a little after you reached 100. You are putting more and more words together and using 2-3 word sentences at least 1/2 the time with lots of pronouns - although you do mix them up sometimes - like running through the park yelling "chase you" when you want me to chase you and you are still mixing up "thank you" and "your welcome" fairly often. I think what happens is that when you say something and we respond...then you think that we are correcting you - so we aren't quite sure what to do about that, but I know you'll figure it out soon enough - you are such a smartipants!

You are totally showing an amazing spiritual side and love for the Lord already too! You love "singing" and clapping along with your kids Bible songs - you remind me to pray before meals more often than I remind you, and you often want to be the one to say our prayers so I'll tell you what to say one word at a time and you are so proud to say our family prayers! You are also super insistent and make sure that I notice every time that you hear sirens and we follow that with a prayer for the the helpers and the people who need help! People have always said that they didn't believe that I became a Christian when I was two years old, but watching you - I wouldn't be surprised if you understand and are able to accept Jesus into your heart within the next year. It's more important that you do in fact understand and accept him than it is that you do it at any certain age, so I'll just keep working to make sure that I nurture what God is already doing in you and give you as many opportunities as I can to know Him more!

Potty Success

Milestones - you are starting to acknowledge when you need to go to the bathroom before you go and have asked to sit on the potty and actually successfully gone both pee and poop on the potty a few separate times - nothing consistent and we still have a LONG way to go before you could be considered even a little potty trained, but you are showing signs that you get it and want to be a part of it - but we aren't pushing too hard, since your doctor and lots of other mommies and daddies (including mine talking about me when I was little like you) have said that when Noah is born you probably won't be too interested in being potty-trained anymore - so we are letting you take the lead with this one and we will let you use the potty as much as you want, but not push you to be done with diapers yet. You are also getting your two-year molars and we can tell that you don't like it much - we've had a lot of cuddle days and wakeful nights, and orajel (finger medicine) and Tylenol/Advil and none of the four are even poking through the gums yet - so I think we are in for this taking a while - it's clear that the molars are the issue though as you hold your jaw/ears and say "ouch!"whenever we touch the area. You seem to really be chomping on your fingers trying to get them way back and the binky has been a big comfort for your mouth - so that (and the impending arrival of your brother and all the changes that will bring) is a big reason we haven't really been pushing you to get rid of the binky yet. You seem to suddenly "get" body parts and now point out and label eyes, nose, mouth, ears, head, hair, belly, and butt - when at your 18 month appt. you would really only name "eyes." It's crazy because when I think about your life it seems like you JUST turned 18 months and in the same amount of time you will be 22 months old and a new big brother (although when I think about it in terms of 11 more weeks of pregnancy it seems SOO much longer!) - I can't believe how fast you are growing up my little lovey boy!

You currently LOVE:
MICKEY - it's all about Mickey in here! Everywhere we go, you are on the lookout and pointing "mih-yee, mih-yee, mih-yee" the second you spot him on any type of product and you LOVE Mickey Mouse Clubhouse - we were thinking we wouldn't go to Disneyland this year with Noah coming, but maybe our summer trip will have to turn into a Fall trip, because you are in LOVE and I really want to capture that!
French Fries - I feel like a little bit of a bad mom for this one, but you kid are in love with "fench fies" and would eat them with "dip" (ketchup) for every meal if I let you - we even bargain bites of meat for bites of fries - I think you would eat anything if it meant you could have a french fry - although you did just discover "ceam" (ice cream) and you seem pretty fond of that too! Looks like you are following after mommy's less than stellar tastes - I/we need to work on that!
Gpa - this month your Grandma Deb came to visit and you were just crazy about her - although you insisted that her name was "gamPA" with the P emphasized! We kept saying "gamMa" and you would get mad and correct us - since she left 5 days ago at least once a day you've forgotten that she was was gone and have yelled out calling for "gamPa" - it will be funny to see if this is one of those kiddo things that you correct as you go, or if you really have named your grandma "grandpa"! I kinda hope it sticks, because it is super cute - especially because Grandma kept trying to choose her own name and pick some cool grandma name and you totally went the other direction and she loves it anyway, because you chose it! 
Daddy - you have also been all about Daddy. He just had a week off and we had the best time together as a family - indoor waterpark, mall playplace and carousel dates, and just lots of fun bonding time. This was the most uninterrupted time that you really got to spend with Daddy since you were born - we had a break about this long for Thanksgiving and New Years, but it was a lot more shared with our extended family and traveling and we all got sick during both of those breaks - so this was some super special time and you ate it up! You loved going to sleep and waking up soo many mornings in a row with your Daddy at home - it was a hard transition this week when he went back to work, and even harder on his first day back on call!

"ssage" for mama and Noah

Love you more than you could ever know, kid!

Love, Mommy