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!!!!