Owen's Favourite Books (right now!)

1. Clang, Clang - known to most as Mortimer, by Robert Munsch

2. Gruffalo by Julia Donaldson

3. Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Bad Day (or for short Bad Day), Judith Viorst

4. Alligator Pie, Alligator Pie if I don't get some I think I'm gonna die... Dennis Lee

5. Duck in the Truck - Jez Alborough

6. How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight - Jane Yolen

7. Bad Dog Marley by John Grogan

8. Click Clack Moo, Cows that Type - Doreen Cronin

9. Ugly Fish Kara Lareau

10. Colourful Mouse Golden Books

Language

I find myself answering back to my son in his own language. Twice this evening I caught myself.

Brushing Teeth:

As usual Owen says "Me Do It" and I say "No, me do it. Then you do it."

Book Reading:

He helps me read, filling in the word she knows. Polkadot becomes Cokeadot. And, what do I do? I say "right, Cokeadot."

Nice.

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Squishing Up My Baby Bumblebee

Uncle Jeff

My brother came to visit today. "Uncle" lives in London, England - so he and Owen don't see each other that regularly. The first time Jeff (the Uncle) met Owen was before he had moved overseas, and around the time Owen was a couple weeks old. Jeff wasn't keen on holding Owen. You can see in the picture to the left, he is looking over Kim's shoulder (Aunt). I believe that day we managed to get Jeff to hold Owen for less than a minute while he was sitting on the floor. As I recall it took quite some time before Jeff became comfortable to hold Owen. Owen must have seemed breakable.

We had to work Jeff in slowly into the role of "Uncle". Say to Jeff, "here you hold him". Or, sit Owen down beside him on the sofa. Later on of course Owen would do it himself. Sit himself down beside Jeff and hand him a book. Somewhere there is a picture of that. Jeff still stares at Owen - with this look of "Holy crap, what is that?" or "Why is that kid jumping up and down like that?" - but he is much more comfortable with him around. This picture taken in June, shows Jeff throwing Owen around in the back yard.

Today, Owen insisted on going with me to pick up Uncle at the Go Station. At the house Owen ran around like a mad man from one side of the house to the other, running to jump on Jeff - taking Uncle Jeff by the hand to the window to see a rainbow. "Come Uncle, rainbow". All in all Owen was being a bit of a show-off. "play with me, play with me!" A kid throwing himself at you is a bit harder to fend off than a possibly breakable 2 week old. But I think Uncle Jeff is enjoying the role. It is too bad that England is so far away.

Facial Expressions: By Owen

As seen this summer!

Growing Up

Did you wake up one day and realize your baby was no longer a baby? Did they one day somehow seem older by some sort of divine misfortune?

Somewhere along the way Owen stopped being a baby. I don't recognize the exact moment. But rather it seems a series of moments that all equal the sad fact - Owen is now an independent 2 year old.

Obviously there is no fine line between "baby" and toddler or pre-schooler, but once your little one moves from being a baby it seems strangely evident - at least to you. All of a sudden, the words "me do it" break your heart every day. They walk up the stairs on their own - not crawl. They insist on pouring their own apple juice, getting the water out of the fridge dispenser with no help from you. They have figured out how and when to pout, the perfect funny face to make you laugh. Maybe, like Owen they have learned to fake cry - but aren't old enough yet to keep it going for long enough to trick you yet.

They have developed their own personality, compassion and humour. You can see their future in this new found individuality.

Sir Poopy Pants

Sir Poopy Pants is one step closer to becoming diaper-less! Yesterday, he peed in the morning on the toilet, and then he pooped on the toilet after his nap. We clapped and hugged anyone within reach. By George, he's got it! Apparently we aren't alone, at a neighborhood BBQ some other parents asked if we had done the "Potty Dance". We hadn't so next time we will add that into the routine.

Now in case you think we are amazing parents, I should admit bribery was at play. We bought a Thomas the Train kit at Costco, which included 250 reward stickers! So for every pee in the toilet he gets one sticker, and for every poop he gets two. Yesterday, he got three stickers...the first day we implemented this new training mechanism.

He sticks his stickers right on his little potty and seems very proud of it. I figure by the time he is done his potty will look like a Nascar with all the badges.