21.

Day late. Dead camera battery.

Off to Texas!

June 2008, by Viv

See you next week!

Everyday Owen: The hop

Duck bite

How cool would Owen be if he was old enough to go to school and show off this battle scar? We went to Star Lake this afternoon, where the ducks & geese are numerous and jaded. They are fed so well and so often that they see little kids as good for only one thing. So when Owen was slow to hand over the baked goodies, one of them took a nip at him.

Have no fear family matriarchs, I googled "Are duck bites dangerous?" and nothing came up.

Want to hear my excuse this time?

Today was the first day this week I didn't have to clean up puke, and that's only because Scott cleaned it up for me instead. Coby has pancreatitis (originally diagnosed as terminal cancer on Monday by an obviously demented emergency veterinarian) so Owen and I spent Sunday through Wednesday going from emergency vet to regular vet to specialist vet back to regular vet. Bottom line on Coby: he pukes a lot and costs us a lot of money but he shouldn't be dying anytime soon.

After our last vet run on Wednesday, I decided to take Owen to McWane Center to make up for all the developmental time he'd been wasting in cat-kitsch-filled waiting rooms. It rained on Wednesday, which meant every summer camp within 3 counties decided to dump their kids (and their germs) off there. By Thursday morning, Owen was puking too.

Where does one shop for some of that sawdust stuff that elementary school janitors use?

Everyday Owen: Blue-eyed Madman

There's no place like home

Owen and I just got back from the shoe store. I'd only planned to stop in and get a quick check of his shoe size, but one foot measured at a 6 and the other at a 5.5, which meant the size 5 shoes he walked in wearing would need to be replaced. And wouldn't you know, these red beauties were on sale 80% off. A deal like that justifies making him walk around looking like Judy Garland.

And on a "my sweet baby is growing up" note, Owen shrugged off my offered hand and walked down the flight of 10 brick steps from the driveway to the house all by himself. A year ago at this time all he could manage was a pitiful G.I. Joe belly crawl.

Everyday Owen: Peanutbutter

San Diego: Last of the pics

The following is random commentary that has nothing to do with San Diego...

Like a lot of your techno gadgets I'm sure, my computer and phone have this sometimes nifty, sometimes annoying word recognition feature where they try to guess what I'm typing before I can finish typing it. I appreciate the time it saves me when I'm purchasing something online and can avoid manually typing all my personal info (no worries Honey - I usually almost hardly ever autosave our credit card info). But then I'll turn around and fall victim to the T9 feature on my cell phone. Say I'm running late and, without looking, I send Scott the message "Be home soon!" He gets a text from me saying "Be good room!", and now he's thinking I haven't come home yet because I'm off somewhere having a stroke.

This morning Owen had a very minor developmental breakthrough, something only Scott and I could possibly get excited about, and I decided to send Scott a quick e-mail to let him know. Right before I clicked "Send" I noticed that who I'm thinking of when I type S-C-O-T... and who the computer thinks I'm thinking of are very different people. I nearly informed our neighbor Scott Sutton- via his office e-mail, no less -that Owen went tee tee in the potty.

Speaking of 20

Here's Owen's 20-month mug shot, taken at dinner one night in San Diego. When they sensed a temper tantrum coming, the whole family pitched in to make the photo happen. It really could have gotten ugly with me screaming, pulling hair and throwing sweet potato fries all over our booth.

So what do you think? O looks a little like Peter Sarsgaard in this shot, right?

San Diego: Zoo

FYI-slash-TMI: In the shot where Speck and I are imitating the meerkat, that is NOT my underwear showing. It's just a maternity camisole I can't seem to stop wearing under my clothes some 20 months postpartum. Betcha didn't even notice and now you're gonna have to sit through the whole slideshow again just lookin' for it...

San Diego: Astros v. Padres

1. The gang in front of home plate

2. Fanatics Owen and his Aunt JoeJoe

3. Ball!!! (Thanks to Aunt Jenny who nearly got nailed by it)

4. Astros pitcher Felipe Paulino

5. Owen leaving Felipe hanging

6. On the way to our hotel/home to nap

...and by the way, the Astros won!!!

¡Feliz Cumpleaños Aunt Nen-nie!

This photo is a result of some Old Town San Diego gift shop fun. We love you Jenn! Have a wonderful birthday!

Back tomorrow with the rundown on our San Diego vacation.

Everyday Owen: Dirt moustache

Joe is Right

No, I didn't put Owen up there. Yes, I did go grab the camera first instead of just safely escorting him to the ground. His climbing skills have developed mad fast over the past week. I even caught him going from a chair to the top of our buffet to the window, which only has about a 2-inch ledge. And he's just about figured out how to slide chairs around to use as makeshift stools. How do you baby-proof against that? I can't exactly remove all the chairs from our house. (Hmmm... unless I redecorate with a Moroccan theme.)

Joe - You got me this time, but don't expect me to be so accommodating once we've officially suckered you into our family. ;)

Everyday Owen: 1st Guster show

Day 7.  My word is gold.

We had a great time at City Stages last night, and it turns out Owen is quite the Guster fan (Exibit A: The video below).  And look, I'm in the pictures!  All because Aunt Jenny graciously took on the sacrificial role of photographer.  Thanks Jenn; we loved having you here to visit! 

Happy Father's Day

... to all the great men in Owen's life.

And I can't resist sending special love to my dad... our family poet, scribe, flower giver and head coach.  Three. Two. Four.

I'm gonna have to keep it short because Owen is off to bond with his own dad at his first music festival!  Go Guster!!!

'raffes

That's what Owen calls them.  I was giddy when we got lucky a few weeks ago and happened to be at the zoo when they were letting people feed the giraffes (for $2 of course).  They gave us these pellets that looked like wine corks, and all we had to do was hold them out long-ways between our fingers and Juno walked up and ate them.  According to her keeper, she was in a bad mood that day (something about her biting people), but Owen and I thought she was perfectly sweet.

I did get in trouble for deviating from the feeding ritual by petting Juno on the nose.  Her keeper acted just like the guy with the red stapler from Office Space.  "Um, don't pet... she doesn't... you can't... they... they don't like being touched."  

As soon as he looked away though, Juno gave me an exasperated smile of approval.  I'm pretty sure I'm a giraffe whisperer.

Everyday Owen: 1st sucker

Well, I actually only caught the aftermath of the first sucker.  It was a dum-dum, for all you detail fanatics.  Root beer to be exact.  Oooh, DD is jealous!

And did I mention that the outside thermostat is set on Hades Hot around here?  I'm talking sunglasses-sliding-down-the-sweat-on-your-nose hot.

O-cabulary

bap-beeeek............... n. tube of waxy stuff that moisturizes lips 

*Owen does not discriminate; he loves all types - even frosty pink.

awok awok awok..... n. that of the sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic variety

beeeeeg.................... adj. often used to refer to awoks that are of impressive size 

 *For an accurate Owen impression, use your most gutteral voice.

zhou-zhou................ n. those things used for flying transportation 

*May also be used to identify any loud noise coming from the sky (helicopters, thunder, fireworks).

chih-choo................. n. what Owen needs after a productive sneeze or a good cry

*For maximum effect, tilt head back slightly and place index finger at opening of the offending nostril.

ha ha ha................... adj. indicates Owen has detected an elevated temperature OR that he is just teasing you:

Me:  "Do you really think the ice cream is hot, Owen?"

Owen (laughing):  "Nooooooooo!"

Other words he tries to say: llama, ointment (?), giraffe, light, duck, towel, hello, ring, potato, pasta, socks, shoes, remote

What we're working on: "I'm sorry (for bashing you in the head with my sippy cup)"

                                     "I love you." 

Everyday Owen: 1st Skinned Knee

It happened at the park when he stepped off the sidewalk accidentally.  He'd just met a really cute 11-month-old named Rebecca, so I don't think walking had his undivided attention.

And can you tell from his hair how H-O-T it is here?

Missing

So Owen is missing his arms, and you've been missing him.  I did the working mom thing for the past two weeks, and I'm pleased to say life will be simpler starting this week.  Oh, and I just finished the last of the Twilight series so that should open up some free time too.

To make it up to you, I'll post for the next 7 days straight.  I may have to resort to writing about the cats just to have fresh material, but (barring any major power outages or computer viruses) we'll be here.  In the words of my sixth grade teacher Mrs. Walsingham, I'll take "fifty lashes with a wet noodle" if it turns out I'm lying.

Check-up

Courtesy of our photog Aunt Sarah!

Because I am an organized and responsible mother, Owen went for his 18-month check-up yesterday - the day after he turned 19 months old.

I am pleased to report that despite being told at one year that he would probably always be of average height, he has now joined the vertically gifted at the 95th percentile.  Sign him up for basketball!  The only potential drawback is that if he reaches 36 inches before we go to San Diego next month, the Padres will make us pay for him to get into the game.

Owen also weighs 23 lbs 10 oz and his arms and legs all seemed to bend appropriately when Dr. Stacey tried them out.  He does have a heart murmur (Davenport family tradition) that will score him an audience with a cardiologist soon, but there are really no major concerns there.  

19.

Everyday Owen: Nevermind