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.

Civilization: 1 km

This is what one amusing sign said in Ottawa. It was ironically placed near the Parliament building but of course it was just a a sign for the Museum of Civilization.

Anton and I met in Ottawa and we remember it fondly. We thought with a week off it would be a good place to take Owen. We broke the journey into two parts, first day travelling as far far as Anton's parents house for a short visit, and the second day on to Ottawa. On the first leg of the journey we stopped in Belleville to have lunch. We sipped a Happy Hour Daiquiri, and Owen tested the lemons from our water glasses:

We thought that by splitting the journey we would hear less whining from the backseat. Sadly, that wasn't the case. Half-way from Anton's parent's house Owen began his never ending tirade of "Get out Mommy!", "Too tight, Daddy", " Open the door" , "Get out, Get out!". So in Perth, we gave in and stopped for lunch where we got Owen his first Kid's Meal - complete with markers which he used to decorate napkins and the table at Harveys. On the way out of town his ex-ray eyes saw a Ice Cream shop and he began singing "Ice cream, Ice cream yum-yum-yum." We were not fooled by his cuteness. Later in the trip he reenacted this trick with " I love Bagels, yum yum yum".

In Ottawa, we went straight to the Museum of Nature, which for those of you who have never been, is an amazing looking building. Basically it looks like a huge castle. So much so, that after Owen has dirtied his diaper, he announces to us that he had "pooped in a castle". Owen was in his element counting caribou, pointing out baby Bison, roaring at Dinosaurs and flapping his wings in the bird area.


The following day we kept the museum theme ( obviously, I am going for the "Best Mom" award) and headed to the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau which has an amazing Children's Museum. So great, that we were there all day. Owen who loves to entertain took up the opportunity to dance on stage:


At the museum he banged on drums, drove a boat, an airplane, coloured a beautiful picture, drove a motorcycle and a car, operated a cash register, and served a dish of ice cream to another child in the Kid's Cafe. All in days work for Owen! After the museum we went for coffee with two old friends, and this is what they saw of Owen:

kids say the darndest things

I have a horrible memory. My husband tells me that all the time. And it isn't that I have selective memory as some women do - I simply do not have enough room for all the stuff going on in my brain - so some things have to go! Sadly, it often seems to be the little things in life. Stuff that people say...

Owen says and does cute things all the time. Sure every mom says that. But mine really does. LOL. Whenever I hear another mom tell a story of what her kid does or says that is funny - I say you need to write that down. Will you remember that quirky thing they did 10 years from now? A girl I work with for example has a three year old who is currently obsessed with his "pee-pee". She told me today that if she helps him put on his "knickers" - as she pulls them up - he will say "no mommy, it has to point down not up!" Apparently, most of the time he prefers to go commando- and since he usually dresses himself in the morning she has had to warn the daycare that he likes to hang free.

That is the type of story you need to write down for posterity.

So here are a few cuties from Owen. I have likely managed to forget many of the others. But I have a blackberry now and I intend to use it when Owen does something cute when I am away from a computer...

Thomas the Tank Engine

A few weekends ago a friend and I took the kids to the Halton Railway Museum. Owen loves choo-choo trains. He used to obsess over Thomas, but now he seems more interested in real ones and toy ones than the ones on television. For those of you who have not had to endure hours of Thomas & Friends this might not be funny to you - but for those intimately acquainted with James, Percy, Duck and Thomas...


To the unacquainted this looks like a giant garage for Trains.
For Owen - this is "Tidmouth Shed! Tidmouth Shed, Thomas Sleeping!"
In the TV show, Thomas and his fellow train friends, go back to the engine shed - called Tidmouth - to close their train eyes.





This man who was kind enough to loan Owen his hat, is actually named Kevin (I zoomed in on his name tag to find this out). But to Owen his name "Mommy, sih Topham Hat ovuh der"...

Sir Topham Hatt is the Chairman on the Railway in the TV series Thomas & Friends. Shockingly in the much older books he is called the "Fat Controller"




Potty Humour

Finally one more story. As we are trying to get Owen potty trained (so far only 3 successful "pees") - we seem to spend a lot of time talking about "peeing" "pooping", the parts required, the potty, the toilet....We even have a lovely British book called "Who's In the Loo?" which describes a Rhino in the loo who had a "Hot Curry" and Penguins taking a "Piddle."

The other night before bedtime, Owen was doing his usual running around, jumping on beds and all out sleepy time nutty-ness when he tooted. I made the mistake of saying "what was that?" and he said "I faaarted". I laughed - second mistake - since after I laughed he of course repeated the fact that he farted two more times. My husband will likely kill me for writing this, but the story doesn't get saved for posterity without it... Apparently when Anton tooted a few days ago, Owen said "Daddy pooping", and Anton corrected him and said that he farted not pooped. Likely he also explained that pooping gets done in the toilet. So now when Owen farts he makes sure you know it. If only, he would let us know when he had to "pee" or "poop".

A Few of Owen's Favourite Things

The park by our house. He actually believe that it is his swing, and his slide.







Any animals, but he loves Elephants. He has seen them twice this year at the Toronto Zoo and African Lion Safari. He also likes to sing "Elephant, Elephant" and run around the living room swinging his arm.





Owen loves going out on the town! He likes watching all the people, and dogs at the Market. He also loves the fact that Mommy always buys him fruit. "berries peas... "





Playing with kids his age, especially if the toy is big enough for all of them.






Reading. Owen will drag three or four books to you and say "read it". Current favs: Duck in the Truck , Bad Dog Marley, Who's in the Loo, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible No Good Very Bad Day (known as "Bad Day) and The Gruffalo.




He has one more favourite - and that is anything that has wheels, can fly or goes "choo-choo". But since we just when to the Railway Museum - I will save that for a post all on its own.