I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream

Owen is a little like his mom in the sweets department.  Likes them, but isn't ruled by them (although lately, I have found myself back in the sweet saddle.)  However, we have found his sweet kryptonite.  Ice cream!  Owen loves him some ice cream.  Nana came over for dinner a few weeks ago and as a treat, we decided to take Owen to Baskin Robbins for dessert. 

Nana said it was "her treat" so I didn't even take the diaper bag (foreshadowing) and we jumped in the car and headed out.  We got there and the place didn't have any high chairs.  Turns out, ice cream keeps Owen sitting in a big boy chair until the very last lick!

We got him one of the clown cones which is actually kind of gross, but it was frozen so hard, it was easier for Owen to eat.  He was definitely a dainty eater -- he never really went in for the kill.  We had to teach him how to lick the cone and even then, he took baby little licks.  He ate so slowly that eventually all the ice cream started melting...and dripping...and falling.  Right about this time was when I realized I didn't bring the diaper bag which means I didn't bring any wipes to clean up.  Have you ever been to a Baskin Robbins?  Do you know the teensy tiny little napkins they have there?  Like barbie doll size?  This is what I had to use to mop up all the drippy melty ice cream.  They didn't have a bathroom either, so lesson learned on this one.

Anyway, first ice cream cone -- first big boy chair -- great day!

Child Labor

What are the laws around child labor? We are trying to save money, so we are considering letting our lawn care guy go and replacing him with Owen. Today we held try-outs. He did fairly well considering this was his first try. I'd like to see his edging and pruning improve, but you get what you pay for, I suppose.

Instead of paying him in cash, we pay in water activites.  He seems pleased.

Hot, Hot, Hot

What do you do on a 95 degree day?  You go swimming at an actual pool!  Steve and Owen went swimming yesterday while I was stuck at work.  I miss all the fun!

So what do you do on a 93 degree day?  You go wading in your BRAND NEW INFLATABLE POOL!  Ahhhhh...cool ankles.

Happy Birthday, Nana!

Another year, another holiday where we get to see how much Owen has changed over the last 12 months.  Last year, I remember celebrating the 4th of July at Nana's house with the whole Collis family.  Owen wasn't walking yet, he was still taking 2 naps a day (and I ended up driving him around Gig Harbor for his 2nd nap since he was not good at sleeping in foreign beds.)  There were no fireworks and Owen enjoyed being the center of attention.

This year, we started the day by taking Nana out to a birthday breakfast at Wild Wheat in Kent.  This was Owen's first breakfast at a restaurant and we found out that he likes eggs and he loves fruit (we already knew these facts, but now I have a better idea of what to order at our next breakfast dining experience.)  My omelette was pretty good too and Nana said her Challa French Toast was excellent.  We chose this restaurant because A: it was one of the few places open on the 4th and B: there are train tracks that run right next to the building and I knew it would be a great distraction for Owen.  Unfortunately, no trains came while we were eating but we took a short stroll through the nearby park and right when we were calling it quits and walking back to the car, we got to watch 2 trains zoom by.  Starting off our day with yummy food and choo-choos was the right way to get things moving.

After breakfast, we headed down to Tacoma to Kelly and Tim Mulligan's house.  They were nice enough to invite us over for the big Tacoma air show which is directly in front of their house.  They have the most beautiful view of the Port of Tacoma and the planes flew by us at eye level for 2 hours.  I wasn't sure how long they would hold Owen's attention, but it turns out - they held his attention for 2 hours (he would have sat there all day if the show hadn't ended.)  He LOVED it.  Like all air shows, they started off with the smaller planes doing lots of acrobatics.  Owen learned how to say "upside down" and shocked me by recreating the plane's path with his hands.  It looks a little Tai Chi-ish, but he was very deliberate in using his hands to reenact the acrobatics. 

After the smaller planes, came the LOUD planes.  A couple fighter jets were included in the show and I have to confess, they were the reason I love air shows.  I love the fast and the loud so I was determined to make sure that Owen thought they were cool and not scary.  I didn't have anything to worry about...I think he was intrigued by how excited everyone else was about the planes, but when the loud engines roared across our heads he looked at me - I shouted YAY! - and he clapped.  This turned into every time the jet passed in front of us, he would clap and look at everyone else to make sure they were clapping.  He did make me laugh by needing to be sitting in the plastic green chair whenever the jet came close.  He would get down and someone would say, "Look!  It's coming!"  and Owen would say, "sit? sit? sit?" and he would run to the chair like it was game of musical chairs and he would be "out" if the plane came and he wasn't sitting. 

The end of the show closed with a C-17 doing slow flybys which Owen decided was tame enough for him to eat a little watermelon snack while he watched (there was definitely no time to eat during the jets!)  It is always a great time with the Boyd/Mulligan family, but the addition of the airplanes was a big time bonus for Owen.  We also were able to get the first picture of Owen and cutie-pie Finn together!  It's only taken 10 months, so hopefully we'll beat our record the next time. 

After the air show, it was time for Owen's nap so while he slept - Nana went to the store to buy groceries for dinner.  Yes, on Nana's birthday she shopped for her birthday dinner, bought her own birthday cake, cooked her own birthday dinner and did all the dishes.  I do feel a little guilty but I also know that my laziness due to new mommy-ness is temporary.  I would have happily ordered takeout!!!

The perfect end to the perfect day was that Steve made a surprise appearance home.  He was supposed to come home 2 days later, but was able to come home for just that evening to help us celebrate.  He was happy to get a 4th of July burger and to experience Owen's first fireworks.  Unfortunately, the fireworks were kind of a bust.  Owen could care less about them.  Maybe they weren't big enough????

Planes, Trains and Birthday Cake.  All in all, a busy but great day.  Happy Birthday, Nana!

Fathers Day Part Deux

This year, Steve's Father's Day gift was a gently used bike trailer. Unfortunately, the weather in Seattle has been unusually cold and wet, so we didn't get to try it until a week later. My two concerns were either Owen would hate being by himself and want out or he would hate the helmet. Turns out, he doesn't mind the helmet & really enjoyed his first ride! We've had limited success since, sometimes he's in the mood to ride and sometimes he's not. But I think the more he rides with Dad, the more he will start to love it!

Father's Day 2010

I realize it has been quite some time since I last posted anything to this blog. I have no good excuse, so to make myself feel better I made a movie of our Father's Day adventure at Remlinger Farms.  This was our annual visit (meaning: 2nd visit) and it was such a different experience this year versus last year.  Owen is a year older and is much more aware of his surroundings, interested in most of the activities: the rides, the animals and of course the TRAIN!

Ok, this was my major mistake of the day.  I filmed nearly everything except the train and it was probably the coolest part.  It's an actual mini-steam train and we sat in the very front row behind the engine.  Owen was a little nervous at the beginning, so he sat on my lap (hence the difficulty in video taping) but once he understood it wasn't going to hurt him, he got into it.  Each time the whistle sounded, Owen would mimic it.  There was a tunnel and after we came out, he wanted "mo."  Actually, he wanted "mo" of everything he rode on.  Last year, he could care less about the rides and really had no idea what was going on.  This year, he cared very much for the rides but didn't understand that you couldn't stay on each one all day.  The great part about the day was, it was gloomy and drizzling so the park was nearly empty.  Because nobody was in line for any of the rides, Owen got to ride them two or three times in a row without getting off.  Maybe next year he will understand that when you get off a ride, it is just a temporary situation until you get on the NEXT ride. 

So about the movie....It was hard to put a 4 hour day into 5 minutes, so the video is actually over 6 minutes long.  But, that is what the fast forward button was invented for, right?  Also, since it is so long - it is too large to post directly to the blog, but it will live on forever in the Google web albums.  It is also better quality if you click on the "View HQ video" link in the upper right corner above the video.  I don't know why I can't just link to the High Quality video, but whatever.  So.....Enjoy!

The Santoki Father's Day 2010 Movie

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!

A Bird In The Hand

Owen has recently discovered birds.  He calls them "Bah!"  He's also still doing this thing where he squeezes his own cheeks with one hand and says "Bah Bah" but I'm still not sure if that means "quack quack" like ducks or all birds?

Well, since it's officially spring and I have left all gardening up to my new best friend, Felipe, I decided that maybe we could go get a bird feeder and that could be this year's landscaping investment (read: little to no investment as per usual.) 

Bird feeders are hard to find!  I wanted to find one that came with a hook that would go into the ground vs hang from our roof.  I know very little about birds, but one thing I do know is...where there are birds...there is poop.  So no bird feeder hanging above our deck, or patio, or anywhere where I will have to clean bird droppings all summer.  Also, since this was for Owen, I wanted one to be at his height so he could actually see them.  So a shephard's hook into the grass in front of the living room side windows where Owen could watch to his heart's content (and bird poo will be safely away from public areas.) 

It took us two stores and one exchange to find what we were looking for (you can see O is pleased.)  Yesterday, as Owen and I were shopping for our supplies, I was having a hard time picking which one I wanted.  So, I asked Owen what he thought.  I held a few in front of him and asked, "Do you like this one?  Or this one?"  And Owen replied very thoughtfully, "I-eee?"  I said, "You're right - I think this one is nicer.  But do we need one that keeps away squirrels or do we not care?"  And Owen replied, "hee hee hee."  So we had about a 10 minute discussion about which feeder to buy at the store.  I was glad he was with me, he had some great advice! We did get a few sideways looks from some shoppers - but I'm sure they were just jealous that their 20 month old kids didn't provide them with such valuable advice.

Today, we went back to the store and made the exchange (I needed a taller hook) and came home and I set it up (well, kind of set it up.  Steve will be finishing the job when he gets home tonight.)  Our neighbors have a similar feeder about 30 feet away, so it may take awhile to lure the little birdies from their usual buffet.  But I'm hoping once they get a taste of what we're offering, they will set up camp at least long enough for Owen to see one before he scares them away.  But how could this view scare anyone away?  Ok, yes...they both look like they want to eat whatever lands there.

After Owen went down for his nap, our first diner arrived.  It's been a slow but steady patronage ever since. 

Here Birdie, Birdie, Birdie!

Oops, and as I write this a bird just flew from the feeder straight into the window.  Hopefully this isn't a sign that the feeder is too close to the house.  Or that the food I put in there makes birds into drunk birds?  Stay tuned...I know you're fascinated.

Every Girl's Crazy 'Bout A Sharp Dressed Man

Look who got a new haircut!

Owen always looks about 5 years older whenever he gets a haircut. I think it's because he was born with so much hair, I am used to that shaggy bang look. When I see more than an inch of forehead, he looks so different to me! He thinks he looks pretty handsome though...I have to agree!

My Little Helper?

Owen is starting to want to help more with chores.  He is the cutest with the vacuum.  He will mimic me exactly with the back and forth motion going all over the floors in the house with either his toy vacuum or the portable vacuum we keep for minor cleanups downstairs. 

The other day, I decided to clean the windows.  My little helper here, started to mimic my "wash on, wash off" method...on every window...right after I finished...with his bare hands.  It didn't exactly help the cleaning process, but he had fun.

It's Always Fun At The Zoo

What do you do on a 70 degree day in Springtime Seattle?  We had our choice of The Puyallup Spring Fair (pros: friends were going, lots of big farm animals, mom could get a scone.  cons: you have to be 2 years old to go on any rides, all Owen really wants to do is run and he wouldn't care about much else there) -- The Zoo (pros: tons of running room, free thanks to Nana.  cons: we always go there, possibly very crowded on a day like today.) -- Kelsey Creek Farm (pros: animals and running room.  cons: never been there and it might be a better weekday activity.) 

We ended up at the Zoo.  It's always low stress and Owen loves it.  This time, he was a running fool.  We spent the majority of the time running around the grass play areas.  There were some steep hills that Owen climbed up and down over and over with no problem (my heart was in my throat.)  The only time he fell was when he was running full speed on concrete - his balance on hills seems to be pretty good!

A new, notable moment was trying to show Owen some of the animals.  He usually has no interest in the animals unless they are right in his face.  This time, we saw some frogs and a sting ray in the kids play area in little aquariums and he pointed at a few that I hadn't even shown him yet, so I knew he was seeing them.  We saw some elephants and he pointed and counted them, but wasn't too interested.  Then we saw two monkeys who were hanging out right near where we could stand.  One was literally hanging from the netting and the other was sitting on the ground reaching through the fence to grab the tall grass just outside.  Owen looked at them and said, "ooh, ooh, ooh."  (monkey sound.)  YES!  Finally we saw and recognized an animal besides a dog and a bird!

But then we went back to running in the grass...

We did meet a sweet little girl who was playing with a hula hoop and Owen wanted it.  Instead of the normal "mine!" "mine!" that I'm used to hearing from kids that age, she said, "we can play together!" and she showed Owen how to play Ring-Around-The-Rosie with the hula hoop.  So sweet.  Steve made a point of thanking her for being so nice to Owen.

Moons Over My Hammy

A laugh for the day...Testing this whole Vimeo thing.  Not sure if it will work?

Full Moon from Laura Santoki on Vimeo.

Against The Tide

Ok, so here's something that is probably not blog worthy, but it's still something I think about...I used the last drop of the faux Dreft baby laundry detergent I have in the house (smells exactly the same as Dreft.)  The label says to use the baby detergent for kids 0-18 months, but I keep buying it because I'm not ready to let go of that smell. 

Before Owen was born, I washed all his clothes in Dreft to get them all soft and baby smelling before he arrived.  Then, I washed my own clothes with it so when I was holding him all day and night, he would still only touch baby detergent laundered clothes (but secretly, it was to keep that smell closer to me.)  Sometimes I still wash my own clothes with it - using the excuse that I'm throwing in a few of my shirts with his load.  So, I have been smelling this smell and associating it with Owen for nearly two years now.

But, it's silly to keep buying baby laundry detergent when he's not a baby anymore.  And, his smell doesn't smell anything like Dreft.  He usually smells like Burt's Bees Baby Shampoo and baby sweat.  I almost associate how his Upstairs Bunny smells with him more than Dreft.  And Upstairs Bunny kind of stinks!  It smells like his morning milk breath times 1000. 

But, it's time to retire the baby detergent.  Maybe I can keep one small bottle on hand to wash his blankets and sheets so his room will still smell like Dreft?  Maybe not. 

Bite Size Pieces

We failed at food safety today...