Pat-A-Cake with Papa

FINALLY! We've obtained a video device (with sound this time) that can capture all the precious moments of The Dude's childhood.... poor kid.

For your appetizer*, we offer this -
Owen's favorite little diddy that he and Papa sing.




*Soup course, Main course and the all important Dessert course soon to follow!

New 'Do

After much "hemming and hawing", we decided that The Dude needed a new 'do. The long curly locks were gorgeous, but it was starting to go a little haywire. Plus, the top part kept getting in his eyes and he wasn't too fond of fishing hairs out of his eyelashes.

Nonna gave us courage, and she actually made the first cuts. Mama tried to distract (and fight back her tears), and Papa documented.



Want the before and after?

Here you go.....

BEFORE:



AFTER:






Our little baby now looks like a little boy!
What a difference a little snip-snip can make...

Book Lover

We find Owen like this fairly often. The house gets really quiet, and when we peek in on him in his room he is usually surrounded by books that he's pulled off the shelves. He'll flip through them one by one, making a huge pile around himself.
We try to not disturb him.

Mother's Love

Tomorrow, on Mother's Day, Owen will be 19 months old. Mama (or Mommy, or just plain Mom - depending on how he's feeling) can't think of a better way to commemorate the day.

The sun will be shining, and no doubt The Dude will be smiling....
That's just the way he is.

Here are some recent photos of our growing boy.
Just makes your heart melt, don't it?

Three Words

The Dude has started putting three word sentences together.... it just started last week.

Here are some that we've heard so far:

"Check...it out"

"Pick you up" (he means "me")

"Lay down Penny"

"There it is"

His vocabulary has really started to expand rapidly. We know have to be extra careful in the words that we use - our little Mockingbird doesn't miss a thing.

We are approaching the 19th month mark - "Holy Moly!" as Owen would say. Be on the lookout for photos and an update soon.

Potty Talk

Owen has developed an interest in "The Potty". Probably a result of watching Cousin Nora work on her potty training and the fact that we all talk about it. A few weeks ago, Owen marched into the bathroom at Nora's house, sat on the potty, got up, removed the little bowl, dumped it into the big toilet, flushed... and insisted to wash his hands.

All righty then! Someone has figured it out.

We also have a book about potty training that he is very fond of...

So, we decided to get him his VERY OWN potty. After making a very big deal about a "secret, special surprise" we unveiled the molded plastic throne.



He was so excited... he knew instantly what it was. We helped him pull it out of the box, showed him how to open the lid and he climbed on it. Papa then taught him how to do the "victory dance" (climbing on top and pumping his fists, shouting "Hooray!"). The next hour was filled with much laughter, as you can imagine.

It will probably be a while before he will actual learn how to use it. But we are glad that we seized the opportunity to introduce it when we did. It's hard to deny his enthusiasm, that's for sure!

Rain Baby

Ah, The Pacific Northwest in Spring.... one day it's 72 degrees, the next it's dark and stormy and hailing like crazy. We've been having some crazy storms rolling through bringing all kinds of water down on our heads.

The other day brought one of those storms, and "You Know Who" stood at the sliding glass door to the deck and pleaded to go out.

"Ok..." we said, and put on his bug boots and off he went.


(Yes, that is our gutter overflowing... it was raining THAT hard.)





Soaked. Happy as can be. A true Oregonian!