Facing Fears

We rode our bikes to the playground today after dinner and Owen did much better climbing up the ladders and walking around on top of the playground equipment. I believe he is starting to get over his fear of heights.

Along with "choo choos", Owen likes buses (well most any form of transportation really) and gets very excited every time one passes. In fact, since we live right near the bus garage we see them almost every day which makes Owen happy. While we were at the playground Owen was admiring the buses parked across the street and I got a huge lump in my throat just thinking about the fact that one day he will get on a bus for his first day of school. Then I remembered that he will walk to elementary school, but still.... I will be a wreck either way.

One last thing....
After work I was playing with Owen in the basement and I noticed he was experimenting with his saliva. I let it go until he started to lay his head on my lap and drool spit all over me (more than once). I could just see "spitting" being our next hurdle so I talked to him about how it is not nice and I told him he would get a time out if he spits on anyone. Then he said "Dada" and I knew right away what was probably going on in his head. Recently we have been doing a lot of yard work and Owen has been "helping" us. I noticed when we are outside that Mike spits now and then like guys do and I am sure Owen picked up on it. Lately he has been mimicking Mike and trying to be just like him...spitting and all.

Pine cones

Tonight we went over to my parent's house to play outside and get some dinner while Mike was at a Barnstormers game with his kids from the after school program. Owen enjoys exploring and running all around my parent's yard. It's a nice change from our neighborhood yard.

A week ago I was pushing Owen on his bike through the alley and we decided to stop and collect some pine cones and put them in the bucket in the back of his bike. He enjoys carrying things in his bucket. Yesterday we took a walk through the alley again and gathered more pine cones. It is really cute to watch him get so excited over pine cones. Well, tonight, while we were at my parents, Owen spotted a ton of beautiful pine cones and was beside himself. These pine cones were much better than the smashed, soggy ones from the alley! In fact, I kept some so we could use them to make ornaments at Christmas time. It was adorable watching him get so excited over the fact that he found more pine cones at my parent's house. Then, he would hide them in the dirt in my dad's wheelbarrow and crack himself up.
Oh, to be two again and enjoy life's simple pleasures!

A few tidbits...

I just realized I have not been keeping up with my blog like I had been.... that could be a good thing. I would like to eventually turn my blogs into a book and I even found a place on the Internet that will do that for you. When I first began blogging I thought I would only blog about the most important events, but then it seemed that everyday something happened that was worth writing about, even the little things.





Mike kicked butt this weekend at his race (http://www.hikerun.com/6601.html). The race was 16 miles and he ran it in 3 hours 7 minutes. He finished 26th out of 652 people! He was tuckered out the next day so he and Owen took a nap together Sunday afternoon.


Today I came downstairs to check on Owen and this is what I saw....

Owen was sitting in a little canvas box that usually holds his toys. He cracks me up!

Good Luck!

Good luck in your race tomorrow Daddy! We'll be thinking of you. Run fast!

A Big Heart

Yesterday I had Owen's "parent/teacher conference" at his daycare. Linda evaluates the children in various areas such as physical, social emotional, communication, etc. What made us most pleased is the comment Linda made about Owen's social emotional strengths. She said he shows signs of empathy and caring for his friends. He often comforts a friend who is hurt or frightened.

We hope Owen continues to have a big heart and care for others as he grows older. What a wonderful quality to have!

Egg Hunts

Last night Mike and I went out to Niko's for some drinks with friends. Maddie and Drew came along with us and Paige met us there. Katie, Joel, and Sara G. were also there and it was so nice to see them! Thankfully, Mike's mom (Nana J), was able to come over to stay with Owen while we went out for a bit. They had a great time playing together!

Today was a busy day. Owen got up and searched for his Easter basket. We had an egg hunt this morning for Ella and Owen since the hunt on Saturday got rained out. It was very cute watching them go around and pick up eggs. I put one M&M or fruit snack in each egg (thanks for the idea Jill). I thought Owen would just love the M&Ms, but he had no interest in eating them. I was surprised. Mike said Owen did not want to support M&M Mars since his PaPa works for Hershey! Ella, on the other hand, gobbled the treats right up.

Then, we headed over to Bob and Kim's for lunch. Owen got some really cute things from the Easter Bunny and enjoyed an egg hunt there too. We all came back and took a nap before going over to my parents for dinner.

It is going to be tough going back to work Tuesday. Thankfully, we have less than 40 days of school left.

Happy Easter

We are enjoying our time off for Easter break. On Friday, Owen and I went to visit some friends. He enjoyed playing with Cohen and Olivia! Aunt Paige and cousin Ella are visiting so we have been spending lots of time with them. Ella is adorable! I am still trying to convince Paige they need to move here, but I don't think it's going to happen. They got Owen this really neat Thomas tent for his birthday. He loves it and so does our cat, Cheech!

Stinker!

Today, after work, I picked up Owen from Linda's and then we stopped by to pick up my parents. The four of us went into TSC to check out all the baby chicks. Owen enjoyed them, but did not want to hold them, which is fine. He enjoyed climbing on the feed bags and tractors as much as he enjoyed the baby chicks. We may have to take another trip in there one rainy day.

Once Mike got home we went to TJ Rockwells for dinner. Going out to eat is a special treat because the three of us don't do it very often. The food was delicious and I ate way too much! The apple skillet dessert is my favorite!

I saw a side of Owen tonight that I have not seen before. I always knew that he enjoyed smiling at people when we went out to eat and we would joke and say "he is such a ham". Some people with kids try to sit away from other people in a restaurant, but we have always preferred to sit around a lot of people because Owen is so entertained just watching and smiling at them. If someone is not paying attention to him, he will just stare and smile until they notice him. But tonight he took it to a new level! When our waitress came to the table he gave her a smile and a look I have never seen him give before. I wish I had a video. She was telling him how cute and handsome he was and he gave her his very best smile (not the forced "cheese" smile either), folded his hands, batted his eyelashes, and scrunched up his shoulders. She kept calling other waitresses over to see what he was doing, meanwhile, he kept the same pose. She thought he was so precious. He is usually precious, but right before she came to our table he had taken off his shoe and sock, dropped his crayons on the floor, and was already fussing a bit and we had just arrived. Then, he said "hello" to everyone seated around us and when he saw people with coats on, whether they were arriving or leaving the restaurant, he would say, "bye" and wave. He is such a stinker!

Healthy Boy

This afternoon I took Owen to Dr. Schaffer for his 2 year check up. He now stands on the big boy scale to get weighed and he looked so stinkin cute I wish I had taken a picture. Owen really likes Dr. Shaffer. Things did not work out well with our first pediatrician and we are so happy with Dr. Shaffer. He makes every child feel special and he really takes the time to interact with kids before he does anything. I just hope he does not retire anytime soon!

Owen is becoming more "average". At 1 year he was in the 25th percentile in weight and the 90th in height. Now, at two years, he is in the 40th percentile in weight and the 60th in height. He weighs 27.5 pounds and is 34.75 inches tall. He had to get one shot and was very brave. He didn't even cry, however he talked about his "boo boo" all night so it was definitely on his mind. We are putting off the chicken pox shot and hoping he gets them before he begins kindergarten.

Birthday Finale

Tonight we ended our week long birthday celebration with a party at Paramount Sports Complex. Six of Owen's friends were able to come to his party (Tyler, Madelyn, Samantha, Levi, Olivia, and Hannah). We had such a nice time with the kids and parents. I have some really cute pictures, but I just don't feel comfortable posting pictures of other kids without parent permission (I guess that's the teacher in me). Even though this website is not accessible from the world wide web, I am only going to post a couple pictures of Owen.

We started out with an obstacle course. Then, the kids jumped off a platform into a foam pit. After that, they got to slide down mats into a pit and jump on trampolines. Next, they were able to jump in a big blow up thing which Owen did not want to do. Finally, we had dinner (mac-n-cheese, hotdogs, carrot sticks, and fruit- thanks to my mom and dad for helping!).
We had a great party leader. He is a junior in college and is majoring in phys ed and was wonderful with two and three year olds! I was very pleased with how smoothly everything went!

I finally figured out why I have spots on my pictures- my camera lens is dirty. I have to clean it!