Happy Sunday (Literally!)

Upstairs Bunny, Meet The Easter Bunny

A quick shopping trip to the mall today with Nana resulted in an unplanned visit with the Easter Bunny.  While Owen and I were waiting for Nana, we strolled by the Easter Bunny photo booth.  I was wondering how Owen would feel about The Bunny this year (as you can see to the left, he loved him last year!) 

When Mr. Bunny walked up to his throne and waved at the kids, Owen's eyes lit up almost like he recognized him.  He was already holding his beloved bunny, so I took the opportunity to make the connection with him.  "Look, Owen!  There's the Easter Bunny!  He's just like YOUR bunny!  Do you want to go say hello to The Bunny?"  Owen made it clear that yes, he did want to go say hello.

I was so happy that we got a picture of Owen with his Upstairs Bunny on The Easter Bunny's lap.  Although it doesn't look like he was quite as happy as last year, he could have stayed on that Bunny's lap all day long.  He was a little disappointed when we left. 

Bunnies are A-Ok with Bubba!

19 Months - Video

Here is Owen performing his letters and numbers for me in the bathtub.

I realized after I filmed this first run that I should have put me with the letters/numbers in the foreground, but of course when I moved in front he became much less interested in playing along. So you'll just have to imagine I'm holding little blocks up behind the camera with the letters on them.

Enjoy!



If the video doesn't play, you can see it here:  http://picasaweb.google.com/schlaura/Owen19Months#5453167733382175986

Expanding Our Culinary Horizons

Tonight was Owen's first Chinese dinner cooked by Nana.  On the menu: Foil Wrapped Chicken, Egg Rolls, Hot & Sour Soup, Mu Shu Pork, Mongolian Beef, and Fried Rice.  The guest list was Owen and me, Nancy and Joe, Kelly and Finn, Andrew and Eleanor, and of course, Nana.

We found out that Owen loves Chinese food!  Not surprising since so does everyone on both sides of his family...He ate 3 foil wrapped chicken; he ate all the pork and tofu out of my soup; he ate some of the pork out of the mu shu; and he ate a ton of the mongolian beef.  Still not a fan of rice, but oh well.  He also loves mango ice cream, but who doesn't - really? 

I brought my camera with grand intentions of getting lots of pictures, but at least one of Owen and Finn together.  As always, when I'm single parenting at a house where I don't want Owen breaking everything in sight - there is no time for pictures.  I managed to get a couple of Owen playing with his water table (note to self: bad idea to bring a water table without a change of clothes.)  And a couple of Finn being a cutie pie.  Imagine little Finn sitting nicely on the floor as he is in this picture with Owen hovering above him in his high chair screaming, "BABY!  BABY!  BABY!  BABY!" at him.  Poor kid! 

Leftovers tomorrow!

First Kiss?

Owen attempted his first non-family kiss today.  Katie and the boys came over to play with Owen and at one point, we looked over and saw this:

Mac standing by the coffee table zoning out watching Sesame Street and Owen standing next to him, but his face getting closer and closer and closer and closer and closer to Mac's face.  He was trying to kiss him and Mac was either oblivious or pretending that it wasn't happening.  I think Owen finally landed a kiss on Mac's cheek, but I think he was a little confused why Mac wasn't as reciprocal as Mom and Dad usually are!

I never pictured Owen's first kiss being with an older man, but maybe since it wasn't a lip lock, we won't really count it.  :)

Mountain Bunny

And for a rare post that is not an Owen update...

If you have ever been with Steve or me in the presence of a Korean, you may have heard them laugh at our last name. Apparently, “Santoki” is the name of a very famous children’s song in Korea – think popular like, “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” popular.

FYI: Santoki means “mountain rabbit” in Korean.

I found a YouTube video of the song with animation and an English translation. Enjoy!

Brainy Baby

Owen is so smart.  S-M-R-T, I mean S-M-A-R-T. 

Those of you who are Simpson's fans, that was for you...I feel like I need to update the last post since we have made major progress over the last week or so.

• Owen now knows all his numbers 0-9.  When asked, he points to each one in his number puzzle correctly (and we mix them up so he's not just memorizing the order!)  He can only say three of them though..."wuh" for one and "two" and he says "oh" for zero since I don't feel like confusing him yet on the difference between the letter "O" and the number "0."  I'm sure that kid at the zoo last summer would correct Owen if he heard him..."That's NOT a monkey, it's a GORILLA."  Little snot.
• He also knows that one finger up is "wuh" and two fingers up is "two."
• He knows most of the letters that end with "eee" -- B, C, D, E, P, T and of course he knows "O."  He also knows F but he makes the "f" sound instead of saying F, "ffffffff."  He is most firm on D, B, F and O.  We're working on G, but the block for G shows a pictures of a gorilla and when he sees it, he makes a gorilla noise instead.
• He has started saying "Mommy" and "Daddy."  When I sing the C is for Cookie song now, I have to sing M is for Mommy and he will repeat the 'Mommy' part, D is for Daddy (repeats the Daddy part), N is for Nana (repeats the Nana part) and B is for Bubba and he points to himself.  So freaking cute!!!
• He knows most of his body parts:  eyes, nose, mouth, teeth, tongue, ears, hair, head, face, belly button, hands, feet, fingers, toes and of course, "boobies" and "pee-pee."
• Animal noises are "woof" for Woof (dog), "uhh-uhh-uhh" for Ooh, Ooh, Ooh (gorilla/monkey), "oooh" for Moo (cow), "ah-ah-ah" for Baa-Baa (sheep), "ee-ah-ee-ah" for E-I-E-I-O (farmer), a raspberry noise with his lips for horse (which is also the same noise for "cold") and I think he might be trying to say quack quack, but I'm not sure yet.  He is squeezing his own cheeks with one hand and saying "wah-wah."  I can only guess this is duck, but I'm still not sure.  That is probably the most frustrating thing right now -- we are so eager to hear him use these words and start communicating verbally, but sometimes he is very specific in how he says something and we have NO IDEA what he's saying.  It kills me!
• New words:
• "Empty."  He says "dee-dee."  He's been using this for a while but it's really fascinating how lately he has expanded the meaning from empty food holders and cups to the back of his trucks and the bathtub after it is drained.
• "Stuck."  He rides his little push truck around and sometimes he gets himself stuck on something.  When he gets frustrated I always try to explain why he's frustrated, so I am often saying "are you stuck?"  All week he's been saying "ah-DUCK!" when he is stuck or when a toy gets stuck somewhere.  It's so cool!

And a big day today - he ate black beans and corn for lunch (along with his Chipotle carnitas.)  Eventually this kid WILL eat something besides pork, avocado and mangos!

Oops, I Crapped My Pants

When is letter/number recognition supposed to start?

There is a big, wooden 'O' above Owen's changing table.  He often points at it and makes a "give it to me" noise.  Tonight, he sat up - looked at it - and said "Ohhh."

"HOLY CRAP!" I said.  "Yay, Bubba!  That's an O!"

Fast forward 5 minutes where we were playing with his number puzzle on the floor.  He points at the zero and says, "Oh."  Then, he picks up the 2, and says "Twoooo."

I didn't say anything, I just crapped my pants. 

I tried other numbers, but right now he's firm on zero and two.  He can pick them out of a line up and even when I shuffle them.  Big day!!!

68-94-64

The title of this post is not the dimensions of a large woman (Baby Got WAYYY Back) or my old high school locker combination. Any guesses to what it might be? Ok, I’ll tell you…

Those are the growth percentiles Owen was measuring at his 18 month checkup on Friday. Owen is a big, big boy.

• Weight: 27 pounds, 5.5 ounces (68%)
• Height: 2 feet, 10 inches (94%)
• Head: 48.3 centimeters (64%)

The doctor said Owen is as tall as the average 27 month old! He was wearing a size 3T shirt, which I guess proves the charts must be correct. Steve and I are both hoping he passes the 6-foot mark when he is grown. The doctor said we can’t be sure until he is older, but he’s definitely trending tall!

Owen also had his final vaccine until he is 4 years old. The only shots he will get now is the flu shot once a year. To celebrate the final needle, Owen tough-guyed it hardcore. No tears, not even a whimper. Such a big boy!

What else did the doctor say?

• He can keep eating baby food vegetables (the only veggies Owen will eat) until he is two years old, but keep trying to get him to eat the big-kid kind.
• He can also keep his nightly bottle of milk until he is two, but to also try and get him drinking it out of a different kind of cup. Apparently Owen is only getting 1/3 the amount of milk he is supposed to be getting because he refuses to drink it out of anything but the bottle, and I refuse to give him more than one bottle a day. It’s cheesy yogurt time!!!
• We can start having him sit on the potty if he gets interested in watching us on the potty. So far, we haven’t progressed passed the pictures I posted a few days ago.
• We can give him a gummy vitamin if we think he’s not eating enough fruits and veggies. I’m torn on this one, I may buy some and just try it out.

Check off the 18th Month appointment – we’ll see them again at 24!

First Sleepover Makes Owen Jump UP!

This week, I spent my first night(s) away from Owen. It wasn't too bad - especially since Dad was in charge and I knew Owen was in good hands. But, it did make me laugh the first night as I was walking around the hotel room, I found myself tip-toeing around in the same way I do at home after Owen goes to bed.

I was able to spend some quality time with my niece, Audrey. She is SO cute and SO happy! What a seriously happy baby! She is all smiles and giggles. And Michael and Kelly were nice enough to cook me a yummy birthday dinner of Cheesy Chowder and Sprinkle Cake even though they were in the middle of a busy workweek. I was so happy to get to spend those two evenings with them!

Work was work. I’m glad I went and I made some new connections which is always good. Steve helped me pass the time by emailing me pictures of Owen during their adventures. Most of them just made me smile. However, I opened this video right before a lecture started and it actually made me tear up. I have to explain a couple things before you watch it: This is the theme song from the show, Imagination Movers on the Disney Channel. This is probably Owen’s second favorite show next to Sesame Street. And, Steve took this video on his phone which creates video files in a format that can’t be used anywhere but our Blackberries. I tried to find a program to convert the file to an mpeg format, but the stupid program puts a watermark on it unless I buy the full program. So, ignore the message that keeps popping up throughout the video.

Anyway, we always dance to this song with Owen – this was the first time I’ve seen him do all the “moves” on his own!  If the video doesn't work, you can see it here.  I know it's not really cry material, but imagine watching it when you are hundreds of miles away and really missing him!



And here Owen giving me a live performance of the same dance after I got home.  I'm not sure who taught him the "raise the roof" move, but the butt wiggle about halfway through is my favorite.  We used the real video camera for this, so the picture is much better.  Again, if it doesn't open, click here.

Beautiful Mommy

Recently, a woman I know told me a story about her 8 year old son that melted my heart.  He came home from school and asked her about a dance at school.  She said she asked him the week before if he wanted to go and he said, 'no' so she threw the information away.  A small disagreement followed with him denying he didn't want to go and she insisting that he had said no.  As she got more fed up with the argument she noticed that he was getting quieter and quieter and finally she asked him what he wanted.  He said, "Would you like to go to the dance with me tonight, as my date?"  She melted and of course, went to the dance with him.

Today Owen and I went to the park with Katie, Eden and the boys.  When we were done, I was loading Owen into the car when I heard two older boys walking behind us.  They must have been about 7 years old or so...One of them said to the other, "You like pretty girls."  The other's response was, "Nooooo!  The only pretty girl I like is my mom."  I looked at Owen and told him, "You better think I'm pretty when you are old enough to know what pretty is!"

I think my biggest fear is that Owen will grow up and want nothing to do with me.  He doesn't have to think I'm pretty, but hopefully he'll always enjoy my company!  But I am secretly hoping I get to be his date to an Elementary School dance.  :)

Took this photo tonight.  Maybe this will be his outfit for Prom:

Here Comes The Sun

Last Sunday, the weather was gorgeous. It’s been a long, wet and cloudy winter so a few days of sun and sixty degrees was too important not to let go to waste. Steve was at work and we had just done the zoo a few days earlier and I decided we needed a little Puget Sound action, so we hit the boardwalk down in Redondo. This time, I didn’t bring the stroller and figured I’d let Owen walk as much or as little as he wanted down the boardwalk. Since the boardwalk is fenced on both sides, Owen can only go up or back (easier for me to keep him where I want him to go!)

Owen was a champ! He RAN the entire length of the boardwalk which is ½ mile! Then he ran about ¾ of the way back until he decided he wanted to be carried the rest of the way. I knew he was tired because THAT had never happened before! But, since Owen likes to run a little forward and then a little backward, if you count all the backtracking he did – he definitely ran a full mile himself. We stopped at the playground for another 30 or so minutes before we had enough and called it a day. Owen had a great time…This walk is under the flight path, so we get to watch airplanes – the road next to the boardwalk is big for cruisers so every 5 or so minutes there would be a motorcycle which is another favorite – and between those things, we got to pet the majority of the dogs (aka: “woofs”) who passed by. The walkers on the route thought Owen was adorable (of course.) The only negative thing I can say is Owen favored the traffic side of the boardwalk where only a guardrail separates him from the cars and that made me extremely nervous, but all-in-all, a great day!

Some pics are below – these were taken on my cell phone so the quality isn’t great but you get the idea! The first is of Owen running down the boardwalk and the second is him looking down at the beach and really wishing I would let him down there.

Bath Time Fun

It's hard to keep a blog and a Facebook account. I don't want to repeat myself in either one, but since I'm using this blog as a pseudo baby book - I guess I have to duplicate the really good stuff. I took these photos of Bubba in the bath tub the other day and they turned out better than I expected.  They are some of my favorite pictures of him to date...

On The Verge

All my friends have said that their children experienced a major language explosion at 18 months. I think Owen is right on the verge of his own…

Lately he’s been trying to say more sounds “Mooo” for cow and “Baa-ah-ah” for sheep. But he’s also signing and speaking more instead of whining when he wants something. It seems like he understands that talking will get him further than whining and he’s trying harder to tell us what he’s thinking. Another thing I’ve noticed is he is getting very good at understanding what we are saying. Simple instructions like, “Go get bunny” result in him running for bunny even if it’s in the other room. Today I said, “Let’s get in the car!” and he ran for the garage door. And finally, he’s starting to expand the meaning of words he knows to related things even if the word is wrong. Example, he says “daa” for “down” but now he’s using “daa” for “up” as well.

Steve took an adorable video of Owen playing outside in our backyard with Charlie the other day. It’s too long to post, although Owen’s favorite thing to do right now is to watch the video on the camcorder (he sits in your lap while you hold the camcorder) and when it’s over, he signs “more” over and over again. The video is 5 minutes long so it can kill quite a bit of time! Anyway, Owen is playing with Charlie and he’s trying to say “CHARLIE!” but it comes out like “Daaaa-SHEEEE!” So cute. And the other day Nana played catch with Owen and counted to three before he through the ball. Now, every time he throws the ball, he counts to three. It sounds like, “doo, doo, DEEYOOUUUU!” We took a video to remember this time because I think it’s only a short while before he perfects more and more of these words that only we understand. Part of me can’t wait until he’s talking more and part of me doesn’t want to let go of the “Owenese” that I’m becoming so fluent in.

Here he is, counting to "three."

Happy Half Birthday, Owen!

Owen officially turned a year and a half on the 24th of February.  To celebrate, we got out the big boy potty to let him get comfortable with it before we start potty training.  Our doctor told us that in Europe, they start potty training at 12 months...he recommended thinking about it at 18 months.  My maternal instinct says Owen isn't even close to being ready yet...Take a look at the pictures and decide for yourself!

Mr. Bear seems to get the concept a little better than Owen...

To be continued....

Friendly Skies

More pictures from the airplane park.

Owen's Words - 17 Months

From 17 Month Words

He's mugging for the camera, but you get the idea.  The day after I took this video, he started saying "Hi" on command.  It's on the list for the next video!

What's That Smell?

Not to keep whining about my cold, but...

I have let Owen walk around with a poopy diaper for who knows how long on multiple occasions over the past week.  When O has a load in his drawers, you can smell it from across the street.  It's so bad, that I no longer throw his poopy diapers in the Diaper Dekor because nothing can contain the stink.  All poopy diapers go in a trash bag in the garage.  But lately, I have completely lost my sense of smell (and taste, but smell is what is important here.)  Our house could smell like a garbage dump and I would have no idea.

Today, I took O out on some errands and stopped to gas up my car.  The pump fell out of the gas tank and spilled gas all over the ground.  I carefully picked up the pump and put it back and then smelled my hands, assuming they would reek of gas.  Nope, smelled fine.  I got in the car and thought it would reek of gas from standing in the gas puddle and possibly splashing onto my pants.  Nope, smelled fine.  I went about my merry way and even got a snack that I shared with Owen.

Not until later did I realize, if I can't smell Owen's atomic poopy diapers - why would I think I could smell gas fumes?  Is it possible to give your child brain damage from driving him around with gas soaked  clothing?  What about sharing a cookie and touching it with gas covered hands?  Crap, no wonder he was so mellow tonight.

The Best Things In Life Are Free

I think the whole Santoki family has been in a funk for about 2 weeks now.  And not the funkadelic kind of funk...more like sick, tired and cabin-fevered.  Owen had a yucky cold for about a week and the day he got over it, he passed it to us (not the kind of sharing we like to encourage.)  I think this is the first cold we've inherited from Owen (I could be wrong, but I think so.)

Anyway, we've been stuck at home because of sickness as well as rain.  I used to love the rain, but that was when I could curl up on the couch and watch movies all day/night.  Now, with a toddler who needs to roam and romp, the rain can get very frustrating.  So when the clouds broke the other day - even though I wasn't feeling well - I thought, "Let's just go for a walk.  I can wear my pajamas and you can look at airplanes."  As I looked at the clock, I realized it was close to quittin' time at the elementary school up the street.  So we hurried up the road to try and spot a bus or two (or as Owen calls them, 'Bees'.)

Sure enough, there were two 'short-busses' already parked in front of the school.  Owen was so excited to get such a close look at some bees.  His favorite part were the tires.  And then, the big bees arrived one after another.  Owen was in BEE HEAVEN.  He ran up and down the loading area looking at each one, then got to watch all the little kids as they lined up for each bee and were guided in by some of the older children.  Actually, there was kind of a sad moment when Owen took a liking to one of these guides.  She was a lovely 5th grader wearing a bright yellow reflective vest.  Owen looked at her like she was an angel.  She looked at Owen like he was in the way.  He kept saying "Hiiiieeeee!" and she ignored him.  Poor Owen.  Aside from that little downer, the rest was awesome and free entertainment.  Gotta love it.

Today, we spent another full day indoors and as usual I was scrambling to find something entertaining and out of the box for him to do.  I remembered that we had a Mr. Potato Head in the garage that our neighbors had given to us long ago and I had put it in a holding area until I was sure he wouldn't eat the pieces.  I brought Sir P.Head inside and Owen loved it.  I don't think he "gets" it, but he loved putting the pieces in and was actually pretty good at it!  He was very anti-feet, however, and very pro-ears.  But then...he found...the glasses!  He wanted MPH to wear them, he wanted to wear them, he wanted Mama to wear them, but in the end, he really wanted Ernie to wear them.  I took a 5 minute video of him putting the glasses on Ernie, taking them off, putting them on, taking them off.  So cute and again, free!

Sickie McSickerton

It sucks when your kid gets sick.  It sucks for them double because they can't take anything!  It has been 48 hours of mucus at our house.  Today, I actually found Owen wiping his own nose after he sneezed with a tissue he found on the floor.  Poor Bubba.  So since we were housebound for the 2nd day in a row, I decided to take a photo diary of our day.  Here it is.  You'll notice it involves a lot of cushions - for climbing and for resting.  Pacifier and "upstairs bunny" are not optional on sick days.  Since he doesn't have a comfort food yet, Mom allows unlimited Elmo...hence the far-off gaze in most of the pics.  But how else do you get a toddler to rest???