Oh Owen.

This kid is quite a comedian. Over the last few weeks, I have snapped photos of him doing some pretty silly things. But, these photos haven't really fit into any blog posts, yet. So, today, in honor of his 2 year and 3 month birthday on Sunday (the blog post of which will be overtaken by Easter pictures), I will post a few. You know, just to give you an idea of the antics he performs.

For the longest, Owen has LOVED balloons. At least once or twice a week, he will find the stash and bring a few for me to blow up for him. He bats them around the house and makes quite a game out of them. Now, Liam gets in on the fun, too. They both get to giggling, while running/crawling over the hit the balloons where they fall. Lately, Owen has tried blowing them up himself.

Me: "Owen, do you want me to blow up a balloon for you?"
Owen: "No, mama. My help."

"My help" is a phrase I hear A LOT! It means "I don't need YOUR help...'cause, I have my own help." As in, he will do it himself. But, his way of saying that, "my help", is really cute, I think.

The grocery-store-bag-carry-outer-lady who never remembers us, yet talks to us EVERY week and, EVERY week asks me how old my boys are, taught Owen how to make a sound like an elephant. Boy, was that a hit with him. She instructed him to puff out his cheeks and blow as hard as he can through tight lips. And, she did this for him over and over. She even asked me to try so that I could continue to work with him. Uh...thanks, but no thanks. Its cute when he does it...but, you won't get me doing the elephant in public. No siree. Here's Owen doing his best at it....

Can you just hear that through the blogosphere? Go on...try it. Then, you can know first hand what the little dude is doing. It is really quite a good elephant sound.

Owen is obsessed with stamps. Pictures speak a thousand words...so, I will just let this one do the talkin'.

The other day, Owen had our address stamped, quite nicely, across his forehead. Augh.

As a side effect of being potty trained, Owen has quit wanting to wear his pants at home. He still wants them taken off whenever he goes potty. Then, he rarely has the patience for us to put them back on him. Its a battle just to get the underwear back on, so we usually leave it at that. If you come by our house in the evening to play a game of catch, look out for this pant-less guy on the back porch (he didn't want me to take this picture ;-).

Often, Owen says something and I think..."oh, I need to write that down so that I NEVER forget it." But, I don't. So, then I do, in fact, forget. His conversation skills are amazing. The boy is very observant and perceptive and talks all of the time. I will try better to write some of it down and share it. I do have one memory to jot down so that it can make it into the book I will do for these boys one day (you know...when they are in school and I have time).

The other night, Owen and Liam were playing outside. Owen asked me for some juice. I obliged and headed indoors. Owen was coming with me, when I turned to him and asked him to, instead, watch his brother in the sandbox and keep him from crawling out of it. Owen turned and walked to Liam. I looked out of the open window and saw that he had climbed in with Liam and was sitting between Liam and the side of the box. Owen was talking with him, asking him "what doin', baby?". Then, he picked up a shovel and started "helping" Liam with what he thought Liam was doing. I watched for a minute and then got the juice. I returned outside, and Owen stood up, dusted the sand off of him, and said to me "Baby's okay, mama. Thanks for the juice." Moments like that melt my heart. He is so big. So loving. And, generally (knock on wood) works so hard to make me happy. I love this kid.

Happy 2.25 years, Owen!