i just noticed that the last time i posted, it was around owen's 4th birthday.

so before anthony was born, there were the "bigs" (isaiah and ethan) and the "littles" (owen and xav).  i guess they still are the bigs and the littles because anthony is "the baby." well owen is quite capable at four years old and can surely hang with the bigs.  however, the bigs don't give owen much credit and treat him like a baby a lot of the time.  owen, being the clever boy that he is, figured out a way to establish his dominance with his big brothers.

enter, the Amy Trophy.

if you have ever played mario and sonic at the olympic games, you know that there is a pink girl hedgehog named amy.

owen makes himself the director.  he dishes out trophies.  the Sonic Trophy is awesome.  you want that one, and you can get it because you are wearing the color blue and that is the criteria owen deems necessary for earning the Sonic Trophy.  you can also get it if you are sitting next to owen.  or if you happen to be holding a fork.  as long as owen says you get the Sonic Trophy, you get it and you are cool.  he is the director.

if you are not in director owen's good graces, you may find yourself being awarded the Amy Trophy.  isaiah is drinking chocolate milk.  xavier is drinking chocolate milk.  ethan is drinking white milk.  owen says, "whoever is NOT drinking chocolate milk gets the Amy Trophy!" ethan, realizing that he is the only one not drinking chocolate milk, groans a terrible groan and is supremely upset that he has been awarded the Amy Trophy.  why? you ask.  well because "whoever gets the Amy Trophy gets turned into a girl!"

it is quite hilarious, and because owen is the self-appointed director he wouldn't allow anyone else be the director.  watching isaiah and ethan vie for *not* the Amy Trophy was great.  owen has since relaxed his ways and has allowed his older brothers to be the director.  but even that can be taken away if you don't use your director powers right.  :)

still my sweet owen.  my owen who really never gets in trouble.  my owen who loves his baby brother so much.  he gives kisses all the time and gentle hugs.  he blesses anthony all the time and every time my heart melts.  he tries to share his blanket with anthony but i won't let him because that blanket gets dragged all over the floor. 

let's talk about the blanket.  the green vellux blanket.  the queen-size one that started coming apart this summer.  it was getting pretty bad...to the point where you'd find tons of green fuzz wherever owen went with his blanket.  unacceptable, right?  i convinced him that we couldn't keep leaving green fuzz everywhere, so the blanket was going to have to go in the trash.  well, he cried and of course that broke my heart into a million pieces, so we compromised and *together* we cut out a nice piece from his blanket and pitched the rest.  it reminded me of the story, Owen (the one about the mouse and his blanket). 

owen is going to be doing preschool again this year, but i'm considering moving him to kindergarten at the semester.  he just needs to brush up on all his letter sounds and recognition.  he knows all the names of the letters, can count to 100, knows all the shapes and colors, etc.  i think he might be ready.  we'll see.  a year ago i didn't think i could get him to learn anything only because he just wasn't interested.  so much has changed in just one year!

happy happy birthday, my dear sweet sweet owie bear!

4 years old.

my 4-year-old who still cuddles with his green blanket and sucks his index finger. my 4-year-old who still tells me "thank you" for all the little things. my 4-year-old who is still my tiny baby boy and still as sweet as ever. my 4-year-old who kisses my shoulder and smiles up at me just to see me smile back. my 4-year-old who tells me that he knows the baby in my belly is a girl because it eats salad.

i have the following conversation with owen often:

owen do you know that i love you?
"uh-huh."
how much do i love you?
"five."
is that the most?
"uh-huh."
i love you more than that!

he buckles himself into his own car seat all the way in the third row of the car. there are three things to buckle and we get a count down. "three more!" "now, two more!" "all buckled!" sometimes it takes a while. it's always smart to let owen in the car first.

there is a huge improvement in his "school work" since he started preschool in september. he colors inside the lines and uses several colors on one page. his handwriting has improved and he can spell/write his own name very well. we are still working on our letter sounds, but he is leaps and bounds better than 3 months ago.

one day he came up from the basement after having played games on the computer saying sadly, "mom, i really need to learn my letter sounds." he was so sad he couldn't play a game because it required him to know his letters. being the sucker that i am for my sweet sweet little boy, i promptly went out and purchased a leap frog phonics video to aid him in his quest to learn his letter sounds. there have also been worksheets upon worksheets on letters and recognizing letter sounds. he is so proud of his worksheets. owen, i am going to get you some special stickers to put on your worksheets because you have really worked hard and did a great job. so of course owen takes the entire book of stickers and decorates the *entire page* with reward stickers. and of course they need to go on the refrigerator. :)

he is having an indiana jones birthday party. tito ryan celebrated a little early with him and showed up dressed up as indiana jones. owen also put on his indiana jones outfit (complete with hat and satchel along with the sound-effect whip given to him by tito ryan). i think he had a blast. we played the indiana jones theme song and watched the video that came with his new whip.

i love when owen dresses up. when he puts on a costume, he is all in. indiana jones. knight. power ranger. sonic. bob the builder. fireman. optimus prime. so serious. so stinkin' cute!

i love this kid so much! happy birthday, owen! i love you with all my heart!!!!

i do more laundry for owen than anyone else in this house. this kid changes his clothes more than i even notice. there was one point this summer where i was caught up with the laundry for a month, which meant i was doing a couple loads every day. it would be pretty even: two pairs of pants each for ethan, isaiah and xavier. but then owen has five pairs? what? and what's up with the seven pairs of underwear? every time i change owen's clothes, his first question is "are we changing underwear?" no, owen. we are just changing into our pajamas. you don't have to change your underwear every time you take off your pants. aiyiyi.

he is very particular about the clothes he wears. he prefers shirts with stripes because they make him (look) "speed". since the weather has been a little bit colder, he likes to wear his "turtle mack" (turtleneck), but only the red one. not the blue one or the black one or the gray one with sports balls on it. just the red one. he wore the red one and some really light colored khakis to his first day of preschool. eric didn't see the outfit i had carefully chosen and laid out for owen's first ever day of school, so on went the khakis and red "turtle mack". owen started to cry when i suggested that he change out of it and into his real first day of school outfit, so i didn't push it. ("but this is my favorite and i never get to wear this," he said.)

owen's preschool teacher is miss virginia, and he has been doing great. his preschool is just once a week at our church, but it's nice that he gets into a classroom-type setting and takes direction from a teacher. izzy is in his class, so i'm sure that helps.

owen still likes his fuzzy velour blanket. he'll disappear for a little while sometimes, and when i go looking for him he is always on his bed, cuddling with his blanket. "i'm resting, mom," he says. he has put himself down for a nap many times, thanks to that blanket. it's starting to fall apart at the edges. it's a big blanket, so i'm hoping i won't need to come up with an alternative before it falls to pieces.

i can't believe my little owie is going to be four soon.

oh oh oh owieeee!

he is three.

he is fully potty-trained.

i never thought the latter would happen by the prior statement. i also never thought that reward charts worked, but they did and now my 3-year old poops in the toilet. you can count me as a reward chart advocate. they really work!

i did the whole, for every five stickers you earn, you get a small prize. if you fill up the entire chart you get a GRAND prize! a tip: if you are going to award small prizes, stick with the original plan of dollar store gifts. do NOT take owen to target by yourself an expect to come out of there without buying him a $9 yoshi doll for pooping in the toilet 5 times (and have to 5 more of those *smaller* prizes left to purchase as well as the grand prize). that boy can seriously get me to buy anything.

let me back up and talk about owen being three. he's such a tiny little boy, and i can't believe that he is already three years old. at his three year checkup, he weighed in at 27 pounds (6th percentile).

he had a handy manny birthday party, which went well. i mean, it was just us (we babysat sam and izzy that night, so they joined the festivities), but four brothers make a party, right? i made a pinata to look like stretch, the tape measure, and set up the buffet as mr. lopart's candy store with lots of candy that we are still trying to finish. he wore a shirt that said "awesome" because we used to joke about naming him awesome while i was pregnant when we couldn't think of any good boy names. i actually bought the shirt when i was pregnant with owen, and was finally able to put it on him for his third birthday.

owen might be the most grateful little boy on the planet.

"thank you for letting me have a handy manny birthday party, mama, thank you."
"thank you for letting me have this yoshi doll, mama, thank you."
"thank you for taking me to target, mama, thank you."
"thank you for letting me listen to 'i know', mama, thank you."
"thank you for...[pauses to think, his eyes fall on his sippy cup]...letting me have chocolate milk, mama, thank you."
"thank you for cleaning my sleep pants and letting me wear them. thank you."

let's talk a about the sleep pants now. it starts with a millenium three sweatshirt that i bought for eric a gazillion years ago. it's actually pretty awesome and is fully lined in vellux - just like owen's favorite green blanket. that millenium three sweatshirt has been dubbed "daddy's sleep shirt" by owen. sometimes when owie is tired, he'll ask daddy to put on his sleep shirt and he will proceed to cuddle with daddy and the vellux lining of eric's hoodie. now, eric also has velour pants, which feel similar to the sleep shirt...those are "daddy's sleep pants." i recently pulled out a pair of velour pants in owen's size. you wouldn't believe the excitement owie expressed when he saw these pants and put them on. "i have my own sleep pants! guuuyyyys [hands on hips while swirling hips in a circular motion] look at what i have! my own sleep pants!" so funny....

chitter chatter. that's all owen does all day long. his words are very deliberate.

"mama. ethan. say. no. to me."
"mama. i climb. on. your. back."
"buzz lightyear...beyond!"
"mama. this. my. chocolate. milk?"
"mama. can. you. get. my. tree frog?"

we started letting him offer an intention when we do nighttime prayers. every night it's: "ahhh, da pohr." unless ethan says it first and then owen always says, "no, i say pohr!" he likes to blow out the candle when nighttime prayers are all done. and then we high five him for a job well done.

he tells us stories now, too. it takes a while for the sentences to come, but it's so cute when he gets stuck and can't think of the next word he wants to use. he just repeats the last word he said over and over until the next work pops into his brain.

he is starting to be more independent. he likes to try to put on his own (velcro) shoes and he also likes to buckle himself in to whatever seat has a buckle: his booster seat, car seat, shopping cart...you name it. "no, i buckle!"

we just came back from chicago, so that's his new word. owen, where does tito porta live? "ahh...tito. porta. live. 'cago." i made him say "chicago" over and over because it was so cute.

owen has the tiniest voice. i love to hear him talk because it's such a sweet little voice. i cave a lot when he asks me for things just because it's just so darn cute when he speaks. and he's so polite! he says his please and thank you all the time. even when you clean his nose and he fusses and cries he will almost always say, "thank you, mama" through his tears once i'm done.

he thinks that orange juice is apple juice. he always asks for apple juice and then gets upset when you give him apple juice. owen, show me what you want. he pulls me across the kitchen. "that one," he says pointing to the carton of oj in the fridge. that's the other thing...the pulls you by the hand all the time and says, "come on! follow me." okay, owen. as long as you speak in that tiny little voice i will go.

he's still so little. his pants are too big on the waist, and if his diaper gets too full both pants and diaper fall to the ankles. i haven't had the energy to really potty train him. he did pee in the toilet today, so maybe the morning toilet visit can be the first thing to focus on. with him being our third boy, i have to say that the switch from cars pull-ups to toy story pull-ups is a refreshing change.

owen LOVES seek and find books. he has a gazillion. disney. diego. superfriends. little einsteins. bible. i think they are the only things in the house that he knows are his, so he clutches them in his little arms and doesn't really like to share with his brothers. in fact, i've found him sitting on the books just so he won't have to share. he does eventually share...but they ask him nicely if they can look at his books with him.

when i tuck him in at night, he gives me a hug. then he pushes my nose and i say, honk! and he pushes my nose again and says, "beep beep!" to imply that my nose is broken (noses go "honk" when you push them, in case you didn't already know that ;). he "fixes" my nose and then gives my nose a "fix-it kiss" and it's all better. my nose honks as it should when pushed.

chatty chatty owen.

he is stringing together sentences a lot now. he was the last one in the tub a few weeks ago and he goes, "what. 'bout. me!?" he was in time out for hitting ethan in the face: owen, why were you in time out? [in his tiny little voice] "hit. ethan. face." yes, owen, you don't hit ethan in the face. inside i was melting because it's just so cute when owen speaks.

my favorite is before nighttime prayers. owen, what was your favorite part of the day? "my. fav'ite. paht. day. wuzzzz. puzzles." or "bull. ride. daddy." generally it's the last thing he did that day.

it makes me so happy when owen eats his meals. and drinks his milk. he'll have a streak of a few days where he eats great every meal...but then he'll decide he's eaten enough for the week and will refuse almost everything i put in front of him. he loves broccoli. it's a really bad day when he won't even eat broccoli. i'm just thankful that he grew from his 18 month check up to his 2 year check up. let's keep it up, buddy!

2 year check up today. i really really really hoped that he gained weight since his last appointment. according to our home scale, he didn't really gain so much. we went through so much in the last year because he fell off the charts in weight...but he stepped on the scale at the doctor's office and...

23 pounds! R-E-L-I-E-F! i was so thankful that he stayed on the chart. i don't care if the 3rd percentile is the last curve on that chart, he is ON the chart in weight! phew.

he continued his efforts to remain on the chart by eating an entire paczki on his own and eating well at dinner.

go, owen, go!

happy birthday, owen! i hope you had a good nemo birthday!

owen will be 2 in a couple days. he's getting to be such a big boy (but he's still a baby!).

before i put the big boys to bed, i sneak a couple kisses to owen right before daddy reads to him. i take the red fuzzy blanket that he loves and tuck it around him. he immediately hugs me, already knowing that part is coming after i say, snug as a bug in a rug!...almost as if to rush me out so that daddy can read to him. i say, i love you, owen. he replies with, "door!" (as in shut the bedroom door) or "book!" *sigh* eric urges owen to say, "i love you, mama" and that phrase in that little voice from my sweet owen is music to my ears. i will never get tired of hearing it.

owen will be 2 in 2 weeks. he's too little to be 2! he says "get up!" and "come on!" he says "dinosaur?" and pretends to shoot them away. he points at his justice league shirt and says "batman!" or "plash!" (flash). he will always tell you if there is a picture, toy, poster, or anything else with batman on it. or spiderman. or superman. or megaman. or sonic. he loves them all. he makes silly faces and continues to tilt his head when photographed. because he's speaking more clearly, it's much easier for owen to play with his kuyas. however, because he can't always articulate his needs or wants, he often hits his brothers. mostly ethan with whatever action figure happens to be in owen's little hand. poor ethan.

eric puts the little boys down to sleep every night, and my favorite is when owen asks for a book then nuzzles on eric's shoulder so that daddy can read to him. owen LOVES his daddy.

i've been able to spend more one on one time with owen, and for that i am grateful. the other day, owen was just staring out our back window into the park showing me all the squirrels. so the entire morning, we sat on our couch looking for squirrels in the park.

he continues to cuddle with all soft toys. i caught him cuddling with xavier's turtle teether today. at least he's not picky!

we're on our way to having a 3rd potty trained baby....owen peed and pooped in the toilet today!

december 2009

owen is creeping into his terrible twos. he definitely knows how to use the word "no." he hits. he likes to get his way. he refuses to eat at meal time. but then he comes us to you and starts giving you kisses and all is forgiven. and who can resist that face and that smile? he is still my sweet sweet owen, even if he can be so naughty!

Happy Halloween!

so owen likes to cuddle with anything that's soft and fuzzy. there are a gazillion stuffed animals in our house and he finds them and picks them up, especially when he's tired. he hugs stuffed animal in left arm and sucks on his right index finger. every time, guaranteed.

i originally planned on having him dress up as a monkey (isaiah's first halloween costume) for halloween, but ended up scoring a scooby doo costume for $5 at a mom to mom sale. i brought the costume home and owen proceeded to cuddle with the costume and nap with it. he was pretty upset when i put the costume on him because he couldn't understand why i would make him wear his stuffed animal. silly boy. eric jokingly suggested that we just dress him up in a green t-shirt and brown pants and let him carry around the scooby costume. it all worked out and he was the cutest scooby doo ever!

owen, picture! smile!

i'm a big brother... can you believe it? i love holding my baby xavier and giving him kisses. when i want to hold him, i hold out my hands in front of of me with my palms up and open and close them until mommy lets me hold baby xavier. i say, "bay-BEE!" all the time.

i still love to cuddle with soft blankets and got a lot bigger since baby xavier was born. i talk a LOT more and especially get a lot of use out of the word "NO." i also like to smile for the camera!

owen is slowly but surely building up his vocabulary. it isn't understood by most people, but he's making strides in communicating verbally. right now his favorite thing to say is, "ma MAAA!" it's good and bad. he knows me...but then he wants something. from me. all the time. i don't really mind. :)

other things he communicates:
"bah!!" (with a wave) = bye bye
"doo...doo..DOOO!" = cockadoodledoo, sometimes he responds to this when asked what his name is.
"roarrrrr" = the sound of almost all animals

he puckers up his lips when he wants to give you a kiss. this is my favorite.

he is happiest when he has a ball in his hand. happiness is doubled when the other hand has a bat or a stick that could resemble a bat.

when isaiah or ethan imitate the trailer to night at the museum 2 (boy, boy, firepower!), owen resonds with: "bah bah bo!" and shoots his arm in the air just like his brothers.

in the summer, eric likes to set up our little slide to go into the little ladybug pool with the water table next to it. he gives ethan and isaiah each a hose and they go to town. owen likes to play at the water table and splash around, but he's not about getting wet or sprayed with the hose. just a little bit of splashing here and there...nothing too crazy.

and then today. it's tuesday, so happy meals are $1.99 at the mcdonalds by our house. as we eat our happy meals (even mama and daddy get happy meals!) on the back patio, owen wanders over to the slide. he's so proud of himself for climbing up to the top. he positions himself in a seated position at the top of the slide as if he's going to go down it. no way he's going down it, eric says. he doesn't like to get wet. it rained yesterday, so the pool at the bottom of the slide is full of water.

um, owen definitely went down the slide and proceeded to play and splash in the ladybug pool with all his clothes on.

awesome.

this absolutely gave the older boys license to proceed to also get into the ladybug pool with all their clothes on. isaiah is even whirling his wet sock over his head, splashing everyone. "my sock got wet so i took it off," he said, very matter-of-fact. well of course when your socks get wet you take them off and whip them around your head. i kind of wish i took some pictures or a video.

the best part is when owen runs over wanting to be picked up...you're all dry and he's all wet. mmmm...nothing like cold wet baby to cuddle up to!

owen just had his 15 month check up. he's still a little little man, but at least he is growing. he's in the 11th percentile in length and is still trying to get on the charts in weight. it's kind of amazing that he's so little because he eats ALL the time.

he doesn't talk yet. he has a few choice words, but nothing really new. he definitely knows what he wants (or doesn't want) and can convey that to you. lately, he has just been very clingy. always wanting to be picked up and carried around. it breaks my heart when i put him down and he just throws a fit because all he wanted was for me to hold him. rarely do i resist the urge to pick him up and hug him tight instead of letting him cry it out to teach him that crying is not how you get your way. and how can you resist? he's just so sweet when he pats your back as he buries his head into your shoulder.

i can't believe he's going to be a big brother...

arrghh!

i took a few steps today all on my own! i don't think i realized that i was walking because i was more concerned with drinking my milk and getting to my daddy...

happy birthday to you!
happy birthday to you!
happy birthday, sweet owen!
happy birthday to you!

my baby is one! one whole year has passed since he surprised us by coming into the world a week early.

oh, owen! one year old and you're *almost* walking. you took a couple steps today, but that doesn't quite count. you have two teeth on the bottom and one tooth on the top...a bit of a snaggletooth, but that second top tooth is coming in so soon you'll be our four-toothed baby. you drink out of your own sippy cup and try to drink out of the juice boxes that your kuyas leave behind. you loooove to eat big people food. when you eat ice cream you scrunch up your face because the cold surprises you.

you love love love to cuddle. with daddy, with mama, with your blue bear and your bunny. nani looooves that you love your blue bear and your bunny. you blow kisses and give real ones. you say "mmmm-wah!" when you plant a kiss on our cheeks. you say "ba" instead of "ball" and i swear you say "isaiah", though you don't always use it correctly. if we don't block off the stairs, you will inevitably find your way to the tub upstairs. you can't get into it, but you do like to stand outside of it. you have, however, found yourself stuck head-side-down in the toy box when trying to reach for a toy at the bottom. hahaha...it was cute to see your little legs sticking out of the toy box! you like to play with the remote controls and you are just so pleased with yourself when you turn the receiver to fm radio.

owen, we just love you so much. you bring us so much joy and make us very happy. you are growing up far too fast, but we hope that you will always know how much you are loved!! happy birthday, baby!

my little baby owen is quickly outgrowing his babyhood. he spent 10 minutes tonight just planting kisses on my cheek. i love him so much! i cannot say enough how sweet he is. when you hold him he likes to pat your back or shoulder like he's giving you a hug.

he has finally picked his tummy off the ground and is officially crawling. he sometimes gets lazy and reverts to the army creep, but not that often. he loves to stand up whenever he can and mastered climbing the stairs in just a couple days. one day i find him stuck on the second step, the next day eric's calling me saying that he found owen at the top of the stairs. it's baby gate time once again!

owen does things that his older brothers never really did.

• he falls asleep without needing eric or me next to him. eric and i still lay down with him out of habit, i think, but owen doesn't *really* need it.
• he doesn't really cry. even when he's hungry, he'll cry for a few seconds and then he stops. isaiah and ethan would wake up crying for their bottles. not so much with owen...although he will shake from head to toe once he sees the bottle is ready for his consumption.
• he looooves the red blanket on our bed as well as the blue bear from nani. isaiah and ethan don't really have blankies or stuffed animals that comfort them.
• he doesn't dive head first off the couch to get off of it. in fact, he dropped the remote control off the couch earlier tonight, and instead of diving head first, he righted himself to leave the couch on his feet. smart and safe baby!

one of my favorite things is when owen is cracking up because he thinks his brothers are funny. it will be a whole new world for him when he gets to face forward in his car seat just like his kuyas.

owen is in the other room pat patting with daddy and interjecting with "ba ba ba" and "da da da" and "ahhh!" when he is excited he extends his arms at a 45 degree angle and waves them inward in fast circles. he is feeding himself little puffs that you put on his tray. i would say 1 out of 5 actually make it to his mouth. some get close and just get stuck on his cheek. oh, owen!

he can't crawl yet....still creeping around and dragging himself by his arms. he will be 9 months old in 6 days. still so tiny yet so big!

he has just creeped his way from the family room couch to the office door. i peek out the door to see his droopy eyes. sleeeeepppyyy. he gives me the kind of smile that wrinkles his nose and shows his dimples and all is right in the world.

a couple weeks ago owen looks at me and says "clap clap" and then starts clapping! he hasn't done it for me again since, but i still count those as his first words.

owen has mastered the army crawl and now uses it as his primary mode of transportation...chasing down ethan to get whatever toy ethan happens to be holding. he'll chase ethan to the ends of the earth to get what's in big brother's hands. ethan was already walking along the furniture by the time he was 8 months old...i'm not all that concerned about when owen starts walking (or crawling for that matter) because i just want to be able to hold him tight without him wiggling away.

8 months have gone by so fast. where did my tiny baby go?