Little Man in Motion

Owen is definitely a boy on the move. One of his new favorite games is chase, where Cara or I will crawl after him. He crawls as fast as he can to get away, and then will stop, look back, smile really big, and then take off when he sees that we're still crawling after him. He also enjoys hitting his toys around the house and chasing after them. It's usually the basketball or football, but he'll pretty much hit anything and go after it. I've tried in the past to get him to sit still long enough to look at the pages of a book, but he usually wouldn't make it too long. Now that he can freely move away from me, he gives me even less time to look at one with him. So, I tried to get him interested in a book by laying out 5 or 6 of them around his room, and I removed all the other toys that might distract him. He sat down, glanced at the books on the floor, and then crawled out of his room, into the bathroom, and grabbed a bottle of soap and pushed it across the floor, into his room, and then sat down and played with it. When he got tired of that, he went back for the shampoo. It was pretty funny to see how uninterested he was in sitting still and looking at a book. Ok, here are a few pictures of other funny things about Owen.

He's always on the move. He loves the camera now, and will come after it when he sees us taking his picture. It's getting harder to get non-blurry shots of him.

We thought he might enjoy a little car he could scoot around in, so we got him this radio flyer. You can see that he wasn't too thrilled about it.

But, he warmed up some, and does enjoy riding it for a few minutes every now and then.

Back from Charlotte

Cara had a conference this weekend in Charlotte, so we tried to make it into a pseudo-vacation. Though the car ride up was a bit tough on Owen, he was able to rebound by Friday afternoon and was feeling great by Saturday. We didn't do a whole lot of stuff, mostly just stuff around the hotel. We did some swimming and went to a mall. On the last day we were there, we went to a museum, and Owen seemed to enjoy some of it. Mostly, I think he just liked being out of the hotel room. Once again, he started cutting a tooth while we were away from home, so that made it a little tougher on everyone. He now has 4 teeth and they are really cute. Ok, here are a few pictures from the weekend.


Owen and me playing in the hotel room while Cara learns about shoulders...awesome!



More hotel playing. Plus, Owen giving a gig'em.

He was fighting against going for a nap because we were having so much fun...and also, he hates naps.

Mommy and Owen playing peek-a-boo in the curtains.

Peek-a-boo

We were caught off-guard by this bear lurking in the building; luckily, he was behind a glass case...and dead.

Mommy and Owen out in the rain forest exhibit. Owen's had just about enough of the museum.

Dinosaurs are fun!

Kisses for mommy.

A Visit From Uncle Nick

We are very glad that Nick used several of his very few days off in between school sessions to visit with Owen. We all had lots of fun. We kept it fairly low-key, mostly staying around the house, but we ventured downtown a couple of times for food and to just walk around during some of the nice weather we were having. As you will see, Owen is dealing with stranger anxiety. Luckily, he warmed up to Nick and they had fun playing together on the living room floor. Here's a few pics from Nick's time here.

Owen and Nick meet for the first time since December.
Vigilant regard for Nick's presence.

Mommy and Owen go outside to help calm down.

Calmed and collected, we'll give Nick another try.

Nick's attempts to soothe are futile.

A brownie sundae will make everything better.

His body sluggish from having his belly filled, he hasn't the energy to fight Nick.

Warming up...

Yeah, Nick's fun!

Stranger anxiety toward Nick is now busted...

The Vacuum Safari

Owen is interested in everything. With most things, once he spots it, he goes after it with full strength and really examines it. But, there are a few things that he remains more cautiously curious about. Such is the case for the vacuum cleaner. Every time it comes out, he keeps a safe distance while he studies it. Here's the story in pictures of one of Owen's latest adventures: The Vacuum Safari.

Owen spots his subject.
Reluctantly, he tracks it into the dark cave.

Thoughtfully, he knows he must be quiet so as not to alert the wild vacuum to his presence.

Oh no! He's been spotted!

Confronted face-to-face with the vacuum, Owen remembers his survival training and remains perfectly still and calm.

Tune in next time for more great adventures with Owen.

Got Some Toofusses

Things have seemed really busy around here lately. Owen continues to grow and is so much fun. He is into everything he can get into. He is so interested in everything, and even the simplest of things intrigue and entertain him. We went to the upstate for moonlighting this weekend, and Owen had fun exploring the hotel room. We had to carefully choose which few toys would make the trip, and we hit the jackpot with bringing his little rubber ball. He fully entertained himself by hitting it with his hand and then chasing it around the room. That seems to be one of his favorite games these days. But, sadly, the trip up north wasn't all fun and games. Friday night we all three spent a long night awake as Owen was cutting his third tooth. He was uncomfortable, and, combined with being in a new place and new bed, that made for a long night. He's a trooper, though, and he did pretty well for the rest of the weekend. It's been a tough past couple of weeks for him, though. He's been dealing with the pain of his 3rd tooth, and he just finished bringing in his 2nd tooth last week. And the week prior to that, he really was feeling bad as he had picked up a virus and was running fevers over 105. That had everyone not feeling too good, but after a couple of days of around-the-clock tylenol and motrin, the fevers broke and he was able to spend the rest of the week just recovering. In fact, he's back at it today as he just started treatment this evening for croup. Anyway, it's been busy. I don't know if we have any new pictures to add, but I'll put up a more recent one that maybe you haven't seen.