Under the Weather

Owen has a virus. But, until today, he didn't really act very sick. He had a low grade fever that kept him home from Mother's Day Out on Thursday. Had a croup-y cough that led me to take him in to the doctor on Friday. But, really, he hasn't been that sick. Just a little under the weather.

Tonight, that changed for a little while. At dinner, he started acting really, really whiny. After deciding to let him down from the table, I decided to take his temp again. This time, it was 102.8. Poor kid.

I couldn't get him to take his medicine; so, Daddy Q took over. After the deed was done, Owen wanted to go night, night. It was 7PM. A little early for him these days; but, the poor kid has a fever. He wanted me to lay with him. So, I did.

For about 15 minutes, I sang to him, stroked his hair, and nuzzled his neck with kisses. He started to feel cooler, so I took the temp again...100.4. Better.

For about 10 more minutes, we both lay there, quiet. And then, Owen broke the silence....

Owen: "Uh-Oh, Mama."
Me: "What happened?"
Owen: "Oh! Mama. Need to tee-tee."
Me: "You need to tee-tee?"
Owen: "No."
Me: "What did you say, then?"
Owen: "Mama need to tee-tee."
Me: {confused} "Did you say that 'Mama needs to tee-tee'?"
Owen: {acting as though he hadn't put the idea into my head.... "Oooohhh, Mama. You need to tee-tee? You go. Go, go, go, go. Hurry, Mama. Tee-tee."
Me: {deciding to play along} "Okay, honey. Mama is going tee-tee. Bye."
{I leave him in bed and go to Liam's room where Gerard and Liam are.}

*******************

About 15 seconds later....in walks Owen...actin' like nothing has happened...ready to play.

I guess his fever didn't mess with his funny bone. Ha!

Owen has some dance moves that I absolutely LOVE. Either he created these on his own, or has learned them at school. Either way, the step ball change, ball change, ball change, along with the "arms up and down" thingy, is G.R.E.A.T. Although during the video shoot, a train stopped Owen in his tracks, and then some technical difficulties with Elmo occurred, you can get the idea.

Puddin' Pop is 7 Months Old

Liam is trying right now to help me type this post...he is so excited to tell you all that he is a 7 month old now! So far, 7 months brings many, many good things for all of us! Liam is scoottin' around grabbin' the toys HE wants, sleepin' through the night {again}, and jumpin' for joy when a spoonful of food is coming his way. He loves mama's cooking. So far, his favorite foods are the ones that I puree for him from our dinner...this week was pork with butternut squash risotto. Liam was a big fan! Not sure why the scale shows he hasn't gained much this month...he seems squishy-ier to me!!

Over the last month or so, I have taken to calling the little fella Puddin' Pop. It just came out of my mouth one day, like things like that do, and stuck. I think it fits Liam nicely. He is sweet as Puddin'; but, boy can that change in an instant....Pop!...he is madder 'n a hornet. So, Puddin' Pop it is...for the moment.

I ordered spring/summer clothes for the boys from a UK company that I found and love. Owen got a shirt with the Union Jack on it that is uber cool! Liam got some funny beach duds...see?

Doesn't he look super cute in his beach hat? It will be hard to wait until the end of May to pull this sucker out for real....maybe I need to work on planning a spring vacation for the family.

In my last post, I blogged about Liam and Owen playing together more and more. I love watching their shared moments and feel so blessed to be able to help nurture their relationship and witness them become friends. Whenever they are engaging in something together, I stop whatever I am doing and just let the moment be. Whether its getting them dressed from a bath, packing them up in the car for an appointment, or trying like the dickens to get one of them settled for a nap...I stop what I am doing and let the moment unfold.

After bathtime the other night, Owen came over to Liam and started singing a song to him. I LOVE the look on Liam's face as Owen is singing and talking to him. So sweet.

Liam wondering why the song ended. ;-)

Owen and Liam received Christmas presents from their friend, Grayson, the other day. So, we had a present opening session. As Owen was opening, he suddenly noticed that Liam was just watching. So, he scooted the gift near Liam, handed him a corner, and said "here you go, baby." My heart melted.

After they both opened Liam's gift, Liam just sat and waited to see what part of it Owen was going to let him play with ;-)

Right now, things between them are bliss. You see, Liam just sits and waits to see what Owen hands him to play with, or what Owen wants to sing, or what Owen wants to....you get the idea. But, very soon, Liam will be able to inject his own little ideas into the day. Uh-oh.

All You Need is Love

Owen and Liam are interacting more and more with eachother. Liam is a lot more expressive and Owen is a lot more affectionate. Owen enjoys showing Liam how to do things and asking him about what he can see. Liam responds with a smile.

Lucky for Liam, his big brother still likes watching the Baby Einstien movies. That makes me pretty lucky, too. They are both occupied for a good 20 minutes and I get to read magazines, clean the kitchen, or take some sort of mental break.

But, it has come to my attention recently, that movies, trains, and Liam aren't the only loves in Owen's life.

At dinner the other night....

Owen: "dinner with Emma, momma?"

Me: "you want to go and have dinner with Emma again? like we did last night?"

Owen: smiling ever so sweetly..."mmmm, hummmm."

Me: "is Emma your girlfriend?"

Owen: "naaaaahhhh....Dora." then, with a really shy smile and in a whispered voice "and emma?"

Owen was kissing me good morning yesterday and at one point, stuck his tounge out to touch mine....

Me: "Oh no, Owen. Boys don't kiss their mommas like that. You only kiss your girlfriends like that when you are much, much older."

Owen: "Oh...just Dora?"

Watch out Dora, someone has a crush!

Inch Worm

This little guy
is working on a new trick.

Slow going right now...

but, pretty soon he will be able to keep up with big brother!

So fun!

Oh Owen.

Last Night at Bathtime:

Owen: Look, Mama. Owen's tee-tee.
Me: No, sweetie. That's just the bathwater dripping from your body onto the floor.
Owen: No, Mama. Owen's tee-tee. Owen tee-teed in the bath.
{Sigh}

Today During a Time Out:

Me: Owen, we don't throw our toys into the sink from the couch...time out, buddy, until you can calm down.
Owen: Cries and calls for me. Then stops. Then really gets revved up again...."Mama, Owen HURTing."
Now...I can see Owen through the french doors into the room he is in. He hasn't moved. So, either he is making it up to get me to come or his feelings are hurt. Either way...he still has a minute of time out to go.
Owen: Starts to get quiet and then in a you-better-hurry-cause-I-gotta-go-now tone of voice...."Mama, tee-tee. Tee-tee, Mama."

Yup...that boy is just trying to get me to come and let him out...he just tee-teed 5 minutes ago.

Hurting....tee-tee.

Boy is he clever.

Today.

Owen got to bounce around with is friends, Cutter and Parker, today! Owen had fun with them; but, he really, really wanted "Mama Slide?", "Mama Jump?", and "Baby Iam Come Ere.".
Baby Liam got to hang out with his cutie-pie girl friend, Gracie. She is a doll...isn't she? Kristie was asked if they were twins...uh, no.

I think Owen's favorite part was sliding with Mama. Kristie got a shot of the three of us coming down the slides. Yay! Liam looks a little freaked...maybe that's why he took a 3.5 hour nap today!

Owen wore his big boy underwear at the bounce house. I was a nervous wreck; but, he didn't want to wear the pull up and I didn't want his confidence to suffer. He did it, though! He told me he needed to potty once while we were there AND he went. Good job! But, the funniest potty training moment of the morning follows....

Owen using the port-a-potty that I set up in the back of the car. He sat here and waved bye to his friends.

Is that not the funniest darn thing ever?

This afternoon, Owen wanted to play choo choos on our balcony. We very, very seldom go out there. Liam is wondering what the heck we are up to.

He had fun with his outdoor track he build. But........he didn't want to bring the choo-choos back inside....see?

Just cause I think they are cute....a couple more potty training photos...

I only thought it was bad when Owen refused pants. Tonight? He didn't want clothes AT ALL.

I do believe that my Naked Cowboy is cuter than the one in Time Square. Agree?

Little Drummer Boy and the Potty King

Today was Liam's second day at Gymboree. The class was centered on sounds and the teacher pulled out this big drum for "center of the mat"time. Oh man, Liam loved it! After a few minutes, she invited us to push our babies toward the drum. Liam put his hands up there and tap, tap, tapped. What a happy boy!
He had tons of fun under the "sound bridge", too.

But the best part....the bubbles!

Oh so happy with the bubbles! Seeing this big grin made my day so much better than it was already!

Know what else made me happy? Picking Owen up from MDO and learning that he went potty on the toilet and kept his big boy pants dry ALL DAY! I am so proud of him!!!

Owen has been doing this really fun dance where he does a step-ball-change move and does his arms up and down. Tried to get it on video; but, as always, we won't perform when he knows I want him to. I got about 5 seconds of it in the middle of some shout outs to the family! Enjoy the Potty King in action!

Who wears the pants around here?

Since Owen is potty training, we aren't going many places this weekend. It seems we spent a lot of today moving from room to room with various toys, movies, books, etc. Today, we ended up in Liam's room for a bit. So, I took the opportunity to take a few photos of him in his room. See?

Liam laughing at Owen who is jumping up and down....
Sweet boy on his crib blanket.

Baby hands and feet.

Somebody is getting some teeth on the bottom!!

Watching and learning (soon to be "Monkey See Monkey Do"--just as soon as he can "do" a little bit more of the things his big brother can).

Speaking of potty training, Owen is doing really, really well. He hasn't had many accidents and has even come and told me when he has to go tee-tee or "yucky" a few times AND we made it to the potty. The only downside we've had so far to this experience, is that little man is really enjoying not wearing any pants. He wanted to play outside for a while this afternoon. Its only about 55 degrees out...pretty chilly. I couldn't get him to put his pants on before we went out back. So, I let him go outside thinking he would realize himself it was chilly and then ask for them. After a bit, he let me put on his hat and coat....but, refused the pants. I figured he was warm enough with the hat on, so I let it go and just decided he wouldn't stay out long. Is this not too funny? Oh, and the shoes....we could only find one of each Croc--good thing it was a right and left foot from each set.

Liam is getting a big thrill out of being able to stand and play. He squeals and laughs and just gets so excited when he plays on this thing. Reminds me of another baby Gerard and I have raised/are raising.

In other news...we had a bird fly in the house this morning at 4:30 AM. I am TERRIFIED of birds. I was going back to bed after getting Liam's his early-morning bottle and noticed that we hadn't brought our dry cleaning in from the front porch. I opened the door to bring in the clothes and a BIRD flew in. I was out of my mind scared ... I screamed and Gerard came running. The darn thing flew around a bit and then landed on the ceiling fan. I googled "How to get a wild bird out of your house" and then Gerard and I went to work turning off every light and shutting every door and then opening the back door and putting the porch light on based on the advice I found. The bird ended up on the stairs for a while....happy as a lark, or sparrow, or whatevertheheckkindofbirdit was....so, Gerard threw some of Owen's toys at it to get it to budge. Took a few to get it moving again and then it went back to the fan. Augh. I turned the fan on low and then the sucker went into the playroom where Gerard was waiting on him...Gerard kindly showed him to the door and the bird followed the light! Phew. Took about 45 minutes to get him out; but, we did. I shudder every time I think about it! It was truly awful.

Sounds Good to Me!

Today, I had to go to the dentist to get a filling. Owen was at school; but, Liam was with me. So, he came. Who would have thought that Liam would have so much fun! With a furrowed brow, he watched every move the dentist made. Dr. Toney thinks he's going to grow up to be a dentist ... that subliminally, this visit made an impression on him. Sounds good to me!
Today, Liam started holding his own bottle. It was out of neccessity that it came to this. I needed to tend to Owen at the same time Liam needed tending. So, I handed Liam the bottle, wrapped his little hands around it, and suggested that he hang on. A few minutes later, when I returned, he was still going strong. After the last ounce dissappeared, he pulled the bottle back from his mouth and gave me the biggest grin. So, he can hang onto this himself and have a bottle in the car now--boy, that will make some of our trips around town a lot happier?!?!? Sounds good to me!

After Owen came home from school today, he was really interested in playing with Liam. I love it when he is in those moods. He can be so sweet to him.

I had gotten Owen some bubble bath at Target...I left it on the stairs as a reminder to take it to the boy's bathroom on my next trip. Owen spied it and thought....bubble bath? Sounds good to me ;-) So, at 3:30 in the afternoon, little man had his first, real bubble bath. When Liam woke from his nap, Owen asked me to let him join him in the tub. What fun!

This morning, I took a photo of Owen on his last official day in diapers. I planned to start potty training him tomorrow. But, after Owen's hour-long bubble bath this afternoon, he told me he needed to potty. So, I took him to the potty and thought .... start now? Sounds good to me ;-)

Like I did for transitioning to a big boy bed, I created my own little potty training system after talking to other moms, reading books, and reading articles about it. So, I explained to Owen his Potty Training Reward Chart and we set out on this new adventure together.

He earned his first Potty Prize in short order. Here he is picking it out....

...and proudly showing his brother.

He seems so proud of himself and didn't want to wear a diaper to bed tonight. Luckily I had bought Pull ups to use at nap time--so, I pulled one out and sold it as "night, night pants.". It worked.

Wish us luck!

Growing Places!

Guess who has grown big enough to go someplace new?? I have been waiting for the six-month mark to start Liam in Gymboree--today was his first day! He seemed to get a big kick out of seeing a room full of babies his own size.
He really enjoyed looking at the other babies, reaching out for them, trying to take balls from them, and laughing out loud/squealing at them -- especially when the other baby laughed/squealed back.

He also really, really loved the songs. He wasn't a big fan of the parachute though.

After Gymboree, we picked Owen up from school and came home for an afternoon snack. Owen had oranges and Nilla wafers. Liam got his first yogurt bites and Gerber Puffs. He isn't too sure what to make of the texture. But, he went back for more over and over this afternoon. This evening, he acted like the yogurt bites were the most disgusting things I could ever have given him.

I bet he grows on them.