Two Years Old - The Party

Today was Owen’s birthday party. I guess it’s official now – Owen is two!

I took a lot of pictures during the party and it is too hard for me to pick a handful for the blog, so here is a link to the whole album:

Owen's Second

The party was great. A lot of Owen’s family and friends were there to celebrate with him. We had a face painter who was very eager to start painting faces, but only a couple kids were “into it.” I got my face painted to try and encourage the rest of the guests to follow! The food was yummy (of course it was, Nana made it all!) The kids all had a great time playing with Owen’s train set and new toys. Owen received some great gifts (even though Mom had to open them all because he was having too much fun playing with his friends and didn’t want to stop!) After everyone went home, we really felt fortunate to have such wonderful family and friends. Owen is a lucky boy!

I have to say, I’m very proud of how his choo-choo cake turned out. Owen recognized it immediately as a choo-choo cake and that was all I needed. It was pretty fun to do – I liked the fact that it had so many extra details like the cookie wheels and cookie tracks, ice cream cone funnel and cotton candy steam, pretzel car connectors, and even coconut grass! Not sure if I’m ever going to attempt a cake like this again, but now I can say I once made a cute choo-choo cake!

Just for history sake, here is a list of all the folks who helped Owen celebrate his big day!

• Nana
• Great Aunt Debi and Grace
• Joe and Nancy
• Kelly and Finn
• Katie, Eden, Hunter, Mac, Walter and Grady
• Kari
• Allison, Ryan, Elena and Preston
• Meika, Ross and Anika
• Rebecca and Azzie
• Tracy, Jim, Nic and Adeline

Not Yet Two

Today was Owen's birthday party and it was a major success (I think.) However, since I am still in denial that Owen has turned two - I decided to post the video I made a couple weeks ago to record some of Owen's PRE-TWO milestones.

Included, singing his ABC's...counting to twenty...my current favorite word Owen says, "strawberries" and lots of other quality Owen moments.

Enjoy!

Two Years Old - The Check-Up

Whew...What comes with being two? Hating the doctor, I guess!

Poor Owen had a traumatic day at the doctor. I think he's finally figured out that the doctor means shots. When we arrived, the receptionist gave me the usual clipboard of forms to fill out. I sat down and Owen grabbed the clipboard from me and ran it back up to the receptionist trying to give it back yelling, "Away! Away! Outside! Outside!" When I explained to him that we were staying, the tears started flowing.

Once they called us back into the doctor's office, Owen continued his pleas of “Outside? Outside?” We got him undressed and off to the scale and that pushed him over the edge.

Once the doctor came in, Owen was over it. The doctor asked about his vocabulary development. I tried to tell him that he was using 3 and 4 word sentences, that he knew his ABC’s, he could count to 20 and he knows most colors. He also knew most of his body parts including things like “forehead” and “elbow” vs the standard head, shoulders, knees and toes. The doctor was impressed but I’m not sure how much he believed since all he heard from Owen while we were there was, “AWAY!” “NO!” “AWAY!” “NO!”

The doctor was actually surprised at how upset Owen was. He is usually pretty happy at the doctor, but remembering shots combined with an increased stranger anxiety meant that Owen was not in his happy place. The fact that he got another shot and one flu mist spray means that the doctor may never be Owen’s happy place again.

The main information we got out of this visit was that Owen has been and continues to be tall. The doctor guessed he would be between 6’1” and 6’3” if he continues this growth rate. I came home and did an online growth estimator and it also predicted (with 90% accuracy) that Owen will be 6’2” at 18 years old!

Here are the final numbers:

• Head Circumference: 49.5cm (72nd percentile)
• Weight: 30lbs (79th percentile)
• Height: 37.25in (98th percentile)

Two Years Old - The Official Day

August 24, 2010 - Owen turns 2!

I can’t believe my little boy is two. I thought the first year went fast, but the last 12 months seem like a blip. I wanted to make sure that Owen had a great birthday – especially since he is at an age now where experiences like presents and cake are not only enjoyable but also exciting.

The night before Owen’s birthday, Steve arrived after working a LONG day. He had to wake up at 4am EST (1am PST) - work the day – commute home – join us for Owen’s evening routine (dinner, bath, play, books, etc.) and then after Owen was in bed, birthday chores. I wanted Owen to wake up and have all his news toys ready for him to play with – meaning: out of the box and put together. Steve was a trooper. As soon as Owen’s head hit the pillow (Owen doesn’t use a pillow, but go with it) Steve and I jumped into birthday action.

I went into the kitchen to make his birthday cake – a choo-choo cake – which was a practice run for his party on Saturday. I wanted to see if I was even capable of making this thing resemble a train and thought I could make the train engine for his real birthday and if it worked, I’d make the engine again plus 3 or 4 cars for his birthday party. The engine was by far the hardest part of the cake, so if that turned out ok – I was confident I could do the rest.

While I was cake making – Steve went into the toy room and started putting together all of Owen’s gifts. This was no easy task because one of his gifts was a train table that required assembly of the table with two drawers as well as a very involved track system. We were able to get it all finished by 11pm and we headed off to bed – Steve put in a 22 hour day when all was said and done.

The morning of his birthday, Owen got to walk down the stairs straight into his train set. I love watching that little boy’s eyes light up when he sees something he likes. It’s probably a good thing that Steve and I aren’t millionaires or he would be seriously spoiled. We played with that for a long time until Nana arrived and we opened even more gifts. Owen got so much great stuff this year. He got a Radio Flyer My First Scooter and Big Flyer (big wheel), a garbage truck, a LeapFrog Laptop, a fire truck and a Play-Doh set from Mom and Dad. Nana gave him a play tent, a helicopter, a roller bag/backpack in the shape of an airplane and an activity table with chairs. Uncle Michael, Aunt Kelly and Cousin Audrey gave him a choo-choo video all about real trains.

Owen was in heaven. He loved (and continues to love) all his gifts. It was hard to pull him away, but we piled in the car and headed up to Remlinger Farms to celebrate Owen's big day.

This was our 3rd trip there (Nana's 1st) so Owen pretty much knows the drill, but we were still able to incorporate a couple new experiences into the day. We did the old standby’s – the mini steam train which is probably Owen’s favorite thing at the park.

The pedal cars (sitting on Dad’s lap) are always fun. Playing in the old fire engine and school bus never gets old – Nana even snuck a kiss in through the window of the fire truck!

Driving the antique cars is probably Owen’s 2nd favorite part, however the park was busier this day than it usually is when we go so we weren’t able to ride them over and over (Owen was sad about that.)

For a change of pace, Owen rode the spring horses for the first time – he seemed to like them! Dad rode the pumpkin ride with him (think Dumbo ride at Disneyland, but pumpkins.) Mom rode the barrel ride (think teacups, but barrels) and this ride was probably Owen’s least favorite (Mom’s too.) Barf-o-rama. Thankfully, Owen only wanted to ride that one once!

As you can see, Owen had a great day. A little sun and a lot of fun makes Bubba a tired boy. He took his “nap” in the car on the way home. When we arrived he was energized enough to blow out his candles on his choo-choo cake (and eat a good sized piece too.)

Happy Birthday, Owen! We love you!!!!

Snoqualmie Choo Choo Days

Sometimes having a dad as a pilot means that mom has to step in and cultivate a boy's interest even if it means she might be the odd man (or woman) out.

This weekend was Snoqualmie Railroad Days and Steve was working.  So Owen and I drove up to check out some major choo-choo action. 

Snoqualmie is a cute little mountain town east of Seattle.  There is an old train that runs from Snoqualmie to North Bend.  Owen (as we know) is in a major choo-choo phase.  My thought was that at this event, there would be lots of trains for Owen to look at.  Turns out, there is only one train and that train was taking trips back and forth to North Bend all day.  So if you wanted to see the choo-choo, you really need to be riding it.

Owen and I bought tickets and waited for the next ride.  While we waited, we got to experience another first for Owen - a parade!  He thought it was pretty interesting (especially the little cheerleaders) until a fire truck came by with a bunch of pirates riding it setting off a cannon every 2 minutes that was EXTREMELY LOUD.  Owen was not a fan and I had a hard time explaining what the heck pirates had to do with fire trucks. 

After the parade, it was our turn for the train ride.  I was a little concerned that Owen would get bored 2 minutes after we departed (it's a 45 minute ride) but he loved every second of it.  He was stoked he got to sit in his own chair.  He was glued to the window on the lookout for "ding dings" (railroad crossing signals which are his favorite part about trains.)  When there was a lull in the action, he met a little girl who was sitting in front of him and they had fun playing peek-a-boo over the seat.

After the train ride, we headed home.  Owen made it to Issaquah before he crashed (about 5 minutes away.)  Even though I was the only "single" mom there - I'm so glad we went.  He loved it and he continues to talk about it even weeks later.  "Ride choo-choo with Mama?" 



Look, Ma! No High Chair!

Owen got a new booster seat today.  I think he likes it!