Owen: 18 months

Whew-eeee, its been a while since our last post.

This one is dedicated to our little man and all of his 18-month "isms".

Enjoy!

Lately Owen has quite the dialogue with his "Tedi" (Teddy Bear). One morning he was sitting on our bed, had a book in his lap, with Tedi by his side. As I looked up I saw Owen reading to Tedi. He pointed to the pictures in his book and then leaned over to look directly into Tedi's eyes and shook his head yes. It is a riot to see what this kid tells Tedi. I also ham it up and talk to Tedi like he's Owen's best friend. Sometimes to get Owen to change his diaper- without having a complete meltdown- I'll change Tedi's diaper first and then change Owen. We eat with Tedi, let him try our meals, and read stories daily with this floppy, brown, cozy Teddy Bear.

Owen's love for Tedi also extends to all Teddy Bears, including our honey bottle, which is shaped just like a little bear. This morning while enjoying his Corn Chex cereal, Owen saw the honey bear in the cupboard and immediately wanted to play with the bear. I handed him the bottle, he instantly gave it a hug and I later observed Owen explaining to the honey bear how "Dada work" and "More?" (Owen putting the honey bear on top of the Chex Box and playing). The honey bottle also came in handy with Owen's diaper change today. :)

The past few weeks Owen's ability and desire to play by himself has increased 10-fold! Whoooo-who, perfect timing as we're 3 weeks away from his baby sister making her way into the world. He loves to play with cars and will play at least for 30 minutes with the Hot Wheels Car Garage Grandma and Grandpa Haldey gave him for Christmas. He constantly has a Hot Wheels car in hand.

In addition to cars, Bob the Builder is now a staple in Owen's vocabulary and intersts. He has a playschool dump truck which came with a "little people" construction worker who he now calls Bob. However I'm pretty sure the playschool person is a mexican woman. Ha! But we call it Bob nonetheless.

Trantrums have entered Owen's "isms." Oh man he melts down as soon as we end playing outside. I can gaurantee a trantrum that is as if the world is going to end. If I don't let him play with the stearing wheel in the car, push buttons, crawl from the front seat to the back, its an instant meltdown. Blah! He flops onto the floor, cries, and gets over it in about 3 minutes, but still. No fun.

Today while trying to change his diaper, and having a meltdown,  he yelled out in the most pathetic voice amongst tears...."Dada work." He's definitly recognizing that Dada isn't there to rescue him from a poopy diaper change!

Owen 18 months and 9 weeks.

Owen 18 months and 10 weeks.

(Thankfully since this picture Owen's drool has significantly ceased!)

We sure love this little guy. Here are a few more things he's learning and doing.

Loves Bambi-laughs everytime he sees Thumper pound his feet

Knows the following songs and actions:

Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, If You're Happy, Head Shoulders Knees & Toes, Row Row Row Your Boat, Where is Thumbkin, Popcorn Popping, Ring around the Rosies, I'm a Little Tea Pot, Oh Mr. Sun,

Eats like a champ-some favorite foods are cheese, pretzles, raisins, apples, juice, chicken nuggest

Slides down the bathtub wall

Still loves dirt

Helps mom with vacuming, cleaning, laundry, cooking

Wants to make a turtle each time we get the playdough out

Would watch Charlotte's Web non stop if we let him--he makes the most fantastic pig sound in the back of his throat.

Eats with a spoon and fork-still a little messy though

Gives the best hugs and

Is the happiest kid ever!