Owen is One Year Old Today

Owen Michael is one *oh-my-gosh-this-went-so-fast* year old today! The hat he is wearing in this installment of the scale photo says "Fun to be 1". So, cute! Not sure Owen agrees that it is, in fact, fun to be one yet. He seems pretty worn out from all of the events from the weekend, and really wants to eat another whole cake (he gets excited every time we pass the leftovers), and all of his company left...bye, bye G.A. Julie, Grammie, and Paw Paw Mc. He cried when Paw Paw Mc left--poor Owen.


Waking up One. This was Owen's first official photograph as a one year old. He slept in this morning so we missed his official birth time, but...the extra sleep was oh, so nice. As Grammie said, maybe sleeping past 6:45 is something new he will do as a one year old. Fingers crossed....tightly.

Playing out in the front yard with my one-year-old-sippy-cup-of-whole-milk!! Bye, bye bottle during the day! ...unless, of course, he gets fussy, can't get to sleep for a nap, or mom just feels like holding him with a bottle like we did when he was a *baby* (i.e. yesterday). sniff, sniff.

It is truly amazing to me how much change happens in just one year. In 365 days, Owen went from a squishy, squirmy newborn to a walking, talking toddler with oodles of personality. I honestly cannot believe how much babies change in their first year. I am so thankful that I have kept this blog, because it enables me to go back and remember the moments I very likely would otherwise have forgotten because it went by so darn fast!

This month, Owen has started working up his speed from a walk to a....faster walk. He isn't exactly running, but he sure is trying to move faster! He has also decided that he does, in fact, need to hold mama's hand to get down the front steps. That independent-ness of his takes a short break for getting down rigid steps -- I guess he finally decided that is better than falling.

He has begun to enjoy books a lot more. His current favorites are the ones that include different textures on each page to touch (thanks Richard and Niki for "That's Not my Train"....he loves it).

He has started really loving being outdoors...he spent an hour and a half at the park last Tuesday just wandering around looking at the leaves, grass, ducks, trees, kids, birds, and dogs. Today, he sat by the door and cried until I bundled him up and took him out.

Owen's vocab consists of about 7 definate, identifiable words: mama, dada, bye-bye, hey (he's informal like that), ball, ball-oon, and uh-oh. He talks a whole lot, but most of the time I am not sure what he is saying ;-) The funniest thing he started doing this week, is that he can pick up on when the end of my phone conversations is near and he starts saying bye-bye just before I hang up the phone. Also, whenever anyone heads toward the door -- bye-bye. Tonight, I was putting my "go-green" grocery bags away. He started saying bye-bye, and I wasn't sure why, then figured out, he knows I am going to the store with those bags. He is one smart little dude, if I do say so myself...and, I do. ;-)

It has definitely been a fun-filled year. I truly enjoy being Owen's mama. He has much energy, many smiles, lots of kisses, and makes every day more and more special.

Happy First Birthday, Punkadoo!!