Pee-Pee Teepee

I received a box of Peepee Teepee's when Owen was born.  I have to say, I never really used them because it was just faster to quickly change the diaper! We haven't had a pee 'incident' since he was a baby. However, last night during his midnight diaper change (I have to change him at midnight or he leaks through is diaper by morning) the aforementioned teepee would have come in handy.

Picture this: Owen on the changing table and still asleep – pajamas unzipped – diaper off. I turn to throw away the dirty diaper and hear the sound of water hitting something hard. I look back and there is a stream of pee shooting straight into his face and he is still half asleep but trying to block the stream with his hands.

What do you do when that happens in the middle of the night? I undressed him, wiped him off as best I could with baby wipes (hair, neck, face, hands, stomach, etc.,) put on new pajamas and put him back in bed! Gross. Tonight, we try the teepees.

Sesame Street LIVE!

It’s taken me a few days to get this post up. Somehow, I haven’t found time (or prioritized time) for extending blogging. But this was a big deal and I knew I couldn’t let it go undocumented!

To celebrate Cinco De Mayo (just kidding – the date was a coincidence) Owen attended his first big concert “event” at the Tacoma Dome. 1-2-3 Imagine! With Elmo & Friends – A Sesame Street LIVE production.

You might remember Owen’s first mini-concert back in December – it didn’t go so well. I was hoping that Elmo might hold his attention better than Lisa and Linda.

Owen invited Mom, Dad and Nana to be his special guests at the concert. Luckily, Mom was on the ball and ordered the pre-sale tickets so we had some pretty darn good seats for the show. We got there about 15 minutes before the concert started which was plenty of time to shop for souvenirs.

Owen picked out an Elmo light-up spinny thing that Nana would have NEVER bought for her kids back in the day (the phrase “R.O.” – abbreviation for ‘rip-off’ - came flooding back into my head when I saw the $15 price tag) but she gladly bought one for her grandson as well as the original cast recording CD. I think 90% of the kids in the audience had the Elmo spinner, so apparently it wasn’t as overpriced as I thought. This turned out to be a great distracter during the down times in our seats.

Once the show started, Owen was at attention. Mom and Nana were total dorks and started crying when Big Bird came out on stage and Owen was looking at him like he couldn’t believe his eyes. Whatever, we cry at the Disneyland Parades too, so how is this any different? I don’t think Owen completely understood what was going on, but he really liked seeing these huge real life Sesame Street characters! He definitely enjoyed hearing songs he recognized more than the newer ones. We made it through the first 45 minutes without too many problems – a little squirmy, but not bad.

During the 15 minute intermission, the “moment” happened. There was a little boy sitting behind us. He was probably about 4 years old and came dressed in a full-blown Elmo costume. We got up to stretch our legs and Owen spotted him and made a bee-line over to him. He was busy playing with his Elmo spinner while Owen slowly got closer and closer and *closer* to him (an attempt at a hug.) I think the little boy thought Owen was going for his toy, because the closer Owen got to it, the more his back turned towards Owen. Finally, the boy’s mom said, “Braden, HUG that little boy!” So, with a slight roll of the eyes, he put down his toy and gave Owen a huge hug. It was ADORABLE. When he let go, Owen went back in for another hug. I think he hugged this poor little boy about 5 times, but each time the boy put down his toy and gave Owen a sincere hug. This was worth the price of the tickets!

We made it through about 20 minutes of the 2nd half when Owen decided he wasn’t too interested in the show anymore. This was ok, because it was an awful long time for a 1 year old to sit still and pay attention. We left (along with quite a few other parents of little ones) and finished off our morning with lunch at a Mexican restaurant (because it was Cinco De Mayo!) All in all, a great first “real” concert!

A Blizzard In May

Guess who tried his first Blizzard today?  Also, guess who learned how to say the word, "more" along with signing it?  Coincidence?  I think not.

"more?"  "peese?"  "more?"  "peese?"  "more?"  "peese?"  "more?"  "peese?"  "more?"  "peese?"  "more?"  "peese?"

First Pair Of Favorite Shoes

Owen got some new water shoes the other day.  Apparently, these are now our FAVORITE shoes.  A couple nights ago, Owen found them after his bath and wanted to put them on over his pajamas.  Then, he never wanted to take them off.  He wanted to wear them during story time.  And yes, he wanted to wear them to bed.  I tried to take them off and he cried and pleaded with me to let him wear them.  It was the saddest, most desperate cry I have heard yet.  It's hard to convey in writing, but it sounded something like, "MAMA, SHOES? PEESE? SHOES? MAMA! MAMA! SHOOOOES! PEEEEEEESE! MAAAAAMA! SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOSE!"  All with big tears and puppy dog eyes. 

Yes, he slept with the shoes on that night (until midnight when I went in and took them off.)

No Room At The Inn

This is the current state of Owen's bed.  It's gettting a little ridiculous, but he loves them all.

Here is the official inventory:

• Elmo
• Ernie
• Bert
• Oscar
• Grover
• Cookie
• Woof Woof 1
• Woof Woof 2
• La-La Lion
• Owen the Pig
• Owen the Hippo
• Mzee the Turtle
• Teddy Bear
• Easter Bunny
• Upstairs Bunny
• Blankie
• Pound Puppy

Nine Fish

Oh, tonight was another one of those perfect nights where I wish I could replay it over and over.  It started out routine enough...Owen spent the day at Tracy's today and will be there again tomorrow.  Monday nights are fairly hectic when Steve is gone.  We get home at dinnertime and then it's run - run - run until bedtime.  Hurry and eat, hurry and clean up, hurry and take out the trash because it's garbage day tomorrow, hurry up and pack for Tracy's tomorrow, hurry up and go to bed, etc.

After dinner and before bed, we had enough time to sit down for 10 minutes and play.  He was saying his numbers (one, two, five) and I started saying the rest when I realized, he could probably say "nine" if he really wanted to.  I said, "Owen, can you say NINE?"  He looked at me and said, "Nigh?"  I screamed and hugged him saying, "YAYYYY!  GOOD JOB!  NINE!"  He laughed and said, "Nigh!" and then cheered for himself and hugged me. 

Then we were reading a book about fish and I showed Owen how to sign the word "fish" with his hands.  We've tried this for months, but he's never picked it up.  Something about tonight though, he copied the sign right away.  I screamed again and hugged him and he loved it.

The rest of the night, we said "nine" then screamed and hugged...followed by signing "fish" with more screaming and hugging...nine - scream - hug...fish - scream - hug...repeat, repeat.  I was so proud of him but the best part was, he was really proud of himself. 

Duck, Duck, GOOSE!

Another first for Bubba...Ducks!  Since we are currently in a bird phase, it was sort of fate that during our picnic in the park a pair of ducks decided to join our party.  The best part was, they were obviously used to getting fed by humans because they let Owen chase them all over the park for a full 20 minutes without flying away.  They actually would have stayed longer, but Owen got tired.  There are not many things cuter than watching a toddler chase ducks. 

For any Marine Biologists who might be reading this, yes, we did feed them little bits of our tortillas - and that is probably against the wildlife rules - but we figured they needed some kind of reward for entertaining Owen.  He had a hard time feeding them, because he would throw the piece 2 inches from his feet in mid-sprint.  The ducks couldn't be tempted enough to backtrack into the line of fire.  But once he got tired enough, he did manage to throw one piece far enough for the little girl duck to get it.  First time feeding a duck - 20 months.

Steve managed to take a cell video of the chase.  Again, these video file converters online are causing me major damage.  This time, instead of a watermark, it's twice the speed.  But, it actually made me laugh this way, so I'm posting it.  Plus, you get to see the whole thing in half the time instead of me editing it!