Owen Bug

Long blog break!

2010-02-03T20:04:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone. I took a loooooooooooong blog break, eh? A year! Well, we've had quite a busy year, so you can hardly blame me. Here's a little bit of what we've been up to this year:

1. Moved out of our house. I was sad to say goodbye to my bedroom, my playset, my bathtub that I liked to color in... but someone else bought our house so we had to move out!

2. Moved into an apartment. Since we weren't ready to move to our new house yet, we had to move to an apartment for a few months. That meant I had a new bedroom! With no curtains! And guess what - I stopped taking naps because it never got dark in my room! Mommy loved that. The apartment had a pool and a fun playset nearby, and I got to ride my tricycle all around the neighborhood. And tons of geese lived in our backyard.

3. Went on a cruise to Alaska. We went on an exciting trip to Alaska with G-G, Sky King and Uncle Jim and Aunt Sara. We saw a lot of neat stuff and spent a long time on a big boat. Also spent a lot of time on airplanes flying to and from Alaska. Pro tip: don't book a redeye flight with a toddler prone to night terrors.

4. We moved to Florida. In August, we left all of our friends in NC and moved to Tallahassee, FL. We have a nice new house here and I have yet another new bedroom! This one is green.

5. I learned to use the potty. And I do it most of the time without accidents... though I still have my share of those. Ah well, practice makes perfect, eh?

6. I got a big bed. Since I'm a big boy now, I get to sleep in a big bed. It's so cool.

7. We went to Uncle Jim and Aunt Sara's wedding. I carried their wedding rings and wore a suit. I go to bed pretty early so I missed most of the partying though. Darn.

8. Somehow, some baby got into Mommy's tummy. Mommy's tummy is getting bigger and bigger! I like to point that out to her, in case she didn't notice herself. So I'm going to be a big brother. The new baby is a baby sister. I'm looking forward to helping Mommy and Daddy with the baby when she gets here... next month!

As you can see, it's been pretty busy. I'll try to update my blog a little bit more regularly, especially once my little sister is born.

I go pee in potty!

2009-02-28T16:00:00.002-05:00

Today I decided to be all interested in the potty. We have had the potty for about two months, but I really didn't care much for it, other than to put my piggy in it. I mean, Piggy needs to go potty too, and he does NOT wear diapers. Since I wasn't that interested, and we're trying to get people to buy our house right now, Mommy put the potty up in the closet. Well, I changed my mind. I wanted to sit on the potty today. I even let Mommy take my diaper off, which I hardly ever do.

I sat there for a while and read some books. Mommy gave up and went upstairs to finish vacuuming. After she left, I went pee in the potty! Wow, I was so impressed with myself. As I should be, right?

I draw snowman.

2009-01-17T13:16:00.000-05:00

I love to draw in the tub. Here's some of my most recent work.

Picasso in the tub from meandertail on Vimeo.

Happy 2nd Birthday!

2008-12-29T22:26:00.003-05:00

I know it is hard to believe, but today I turned two.

We had my birthday party yesterday. My G-G, Sky King and Mom-Mom were all in town for it (and Christmas, I guess) which was great. We had a lot of fun. Maybe I'll get around to posting some pics, but you know, Mommy has been busy and has not been able to help me with my blog as much lately. However you can always see pics in Mommy's Flickr photostream.

Gosh, it has been so long that Mommy can barely remember the html code to put links in the text of my post!!

Okay. I had a Thomas the Tank Engine-themed party. I love all of my Thomas books, but to be quite honest, I am terrified of watching the Thomas show on TV.
Here's my cake:

A few of my friends came to the party. We did a craft where we painted gingerbread bears.

Mommy and G-G made the bears and Mommy decorated them. It was fun but honestly, we didn't really know what to do with the paints.

My friends helped me open presents!

We ate cake:

And played in my playroom:

The party was lots of fun!

I can't believe I'm two now. Mommy and Daddy keep saying "You're such a big boy!" I don't know what they're so excited about. I mean, I run around, talk, know my colors, count... doesn't everyone?

A conversation with Owen

2008-12-14T13:21:00.002-05:00

Last night Mommy and Daddy took me out for dinner at Don Cecilios. Afterwards we walked around our neighborhood and looked at all the bright lights! It was lots of fun. Then we stood out in front of our house and chatted about our day.

red and orange and green and purple and blue from meandertail on Vimeo.

Open, Shut them

2008-11-29T13:33:00.002-05:00

I have learned all kinds of exciting songs at daycare. There's the FIRE TRUCK song, of course, which I sing constantly. Then there's some other songs that Mommy doesn't know as well. Like this one.

Open, shut them from meandertail on Vimeo.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T09:47:00.002-05:00

This year was a fun Halloween! First I went to school, and I got to wear my new costume. Can you tell what I was?

A hedgehog! Mommy loves hedgies.

At school we went trick-or-treating over at the EPA. We also had a party in our class.

Our school did a pumpkin decorating contest, which our class won! We did a 'recycling' theme, which is appropriate!

Then we went home and got ready to go trick-or-treating!

At the first house, I didn't really know what to make of things.

We went and picked up my friend Alex and went around the neighborhood together.

We got the hang of it eventually, and went to the houses with our candy bags saying "Twick-o-weeeee"

At one house, they had a little dog that I wanted to pet, so I just walked right on inside. Mommy thought that was pretty funny.
Then we went back to Alex's house, where Daddy and Alex's daddy had been handing out candy.

We got to eat some of our candy. Yum!

Hanging out with J.

2008-10-26T19:46:00.002-05:00

Yesterday Mommy and I went over to my friend J's house to play.

She has an impeccable sense of style.

She has a pretty neat-o kitchen in her playroom, so we did some cooking.

I sat in her swing.

She had a lot of books to read.

Since her Daddy is a doctor, she has a stethoscope.

When it was time for me to leave, J gave me a big hug.

Hi Jazzie - the video!

2008-10-22T05:49:00.001-05:00

Mommy also took a video of me petting my cat.

Hi Jazzie from meandertail on Vimeo.

Hi Jazzie!

2008-10-21T09:14:00.002-05:00

I love animals. I love to chase my doggie around and say "Doggie! Come here!". Sometimes I get frustrated that the doggie won't do what I ask him to do, and I have to ask Mommy or Daddy to help me. I say "I pet! I pet!" and then Mommy or Daddy get the doggie to sit down so I can pet him.

I really love to pet the cats, but they rarely sit still long enough for me to do it. Sometimes though, my cat Jasmine will sit still and let me pet her. You can click on these images to see the full size (they get cut off a little bit by my blog template).

la la la!

2008-10-11T19:40:00.001-05:00

Another thing I like to do lately is sing. Here I am singing Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

Twinkle twinkle from meandertail on Vimeo.

First ever haircut!

2008-10-07T19:37:00.002-05:00

I'm going to be two in a few months. Can you believe that I've never had a haircut? My hair grows slowly. And it is curly, so even the parts that are too long didn't seem too long because they curled up.

Well, we are having our school pictures soon and Mommy decided it was time to get my first haircut.

So we went to Peek-a-do, which is a place where they cut kids' hair. I got to sit in a chair that was shaped like an airplane.

That sounds cool I know, but actually the coolest part is that there was a TV on the counter in front of me. So while the lady cut my hair, I got to watch TV. And watch TV I did.

Once I got settled in the airplane chair (that took some coaxing), I was totally fixated on the TV. That lady could have been doing ANYTHING and I would not have even noticed.

Here I am afterwards. See, not too short.

They also had a mini toy store in Peek-A-Do, so while Mommy did boring stuff like pay for my haircut ($26! holy crap!) I got to play with a cool top.

Then we ran across the street to Nordstroms to buy me a new pair of shoes. I know, it sounds fancy to go shoe shopping at Nordstroms, but they cost the same as at the Stride Rite store and the people were nicer. They had a place where I could color (still my favorite hobby), so everyone was happy.

Up way past nap time...

2008-10-05T13:17:00.000-05:00

Napping is so last season

2008-09-30T07:46:00.002-05:00

I used to be a great napper, and now I'm turning into a crappy napper. It takes me a long time to fall asleep. I guess I am like my Mommy in that way. Here's some video from one of my naps this weekend.

ABCs from meandertail on Vimeo.

Obviously, I was practicing singing the ABCs. Its a little bit muffled because I also have my pacifier in my mouth. I have been learning to sing lots of songs and I practice them all the time. I'll try to get some more on video for you soon.

I color.

2008-09-24T19:16:00.002-05:00

Well, I have a new favorite thing to do right now. Color! I would color 24 hours a day if that were at all possible. Unfortunately, Mommy is mean and does not let me take my crayons into bed with me. Hm.

One place that you might think I wouldn't be able to color is in the bathtub. The Easter Bunny brought me some special crayons for the tub though, so I get to color there too! Here are a few examples of my work.

Mostly, I draw flowers, as you can quite clearly see.

I have also begun experimenting with other mediums. Here are some of my recent explorations with stickers.

The rest of my busy weekend

2008-09-10T18:56:00.003-05:00

Okay, I know you're all a little bit creeped out by my yearbook photos.

So we went to the Museum, which was fun. We walked ALL AROUND for THREE HOURS. And I am a big boy now, so I walked the whole thing by myself. I went up the stairs into the train car.

I looked at the big pig.

In the butterfly house, there were some birds RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME.

OMG! Where did the birds go??

Later we went to Duke Gardens for a picnic with Gil and Sheri. Here I am playing in the rose garden area.

Then we sat on a blanket and ate our dinner.

I also opened a container of pesto and spilled it on my white shorts. Well, I am one.

Yearbook yourself!

2008-09-07T19:50:00.003-05:00

For an explanation of this post, please see Mommy's blog.

Owen in 1954...

in 1964...

in 1970...

in 1974...

in 1976...

In 1982...

in 1988...

in 1990... (the mullet years)

in 1992...(I think every boy I went to high school with had a sweater like this)

in 2000...

Busy weekend, part 1.

2008-09-03T19:26:00.002-05:00

Since it was Labor Day, we decided to do as much as we possibly could - to suck all the life out of summer!

We went to the Farmer's Market with our friend Anna, which was fun. I saw lots of dogs there.
We also went to my friend Carson's first birthday party! I was the oldest kid there. I felt like a real grownup. Here I am explaining Carson's new big kid toys to Carson and Tristan.

OMG the Wiggles!

2008-08-24T21:18:00.003-05:00

I am obsessed with The Wiggles. Don't you know who the Wiggles are?? If not, you have obviously been living under a rock (or do not have a young child anyway). They are a Australian band for preschoolers, and they have a show on the Disney Channel. I love them. I would watch the Wiggles show 24 hours a day if Mommy and Daddy would let me (they don't - boo!). I like to listen to their music in the car and dance in the back seat. I especially like to hear the same song over and over and OVER again, the whole way to school, for example (a half hour drive!).

Well, yesterday when I woke up from my nap, Mommy and Daddy quickly bundled me into the car and said we were going somewhere fun... to a Wiggles concert!!

When we first got there, we were walking in from the parking lot and there were a lot of noisy drunk people hanging around in tents. Then we saw a guy in the parking lot with a SHOTGUN. Mommy and Daddy were afraid we were at the wrong concert. But no, the other two events being held at the Greensboro Coliseum at the same time as the Wiggles concert were: a beer festival and a gun show. Two very good things to mix with toddlers, don't you think?

We finally got in and took our seats. We had GREAT seats - third row aisle! We were right there. There were stickers on everyone's chairs, so I played with those for a while.

Here is a picture of Mommy, Daddy and I waiting for the show to start.

Then, OMG! Some guys dressed in white came out and started dancing!!

It was pretty noisy and a lot of kids started wailing at this point. Not me though, I just sat in Daddy's lap and stared at the dancing guys.
Then OMG AGAIN!! The WIGGLES came out in the Big Red Car!

The Big Red Car apparently was having some engine trouble, because poor Anthony was pushing it.

The show was great! We saw so much cool stuff. Even Jeff tried to do the splits.

All of the Wiggles were there, right in front of us!

Some of our favorite dancers were there too!

They sang lots of our favorite songs, including Mommy's favorite:

Mostly I just sat in Mommy or Daddy's lap

But towards the end of the concert, I got brave and went up front to dance!

Here I am doing my favorite dance, Hot Potato

All in all, we had a GREAT time. I'm so glad we got to go!!

If you want to see our other pictures, you can go to Mommy's Flickr site:
Click here.

Where I came from

2008-08-10T12:34:00.004-05:00

When I am out with my Mommy, people always look at her like she must be the Nanny. She has dark hair, I have white hair. Where did that come from? Daddy has dark hair too. Hmm...

Here you go... I look like Uncle Jim and Uncle Ed!

Also, just like Daddy when he was little.

Water play, home style.

2008-07-27T19:24:00.002-05:00

We have water play every week at school, but today we had water play at our house! Mommy and Daddy bought me a big pool that we put on our deck. Then we all got in and played! Here I am with my favorite toy, cups!

The water was deep enough that almost my whole body was covered.

I also went fishing in the pool.

Here I am making my super surprised face at Daddy. I'm making this face about every five seconds, lately.

I still make smiling faces though.

Pool playdate

2008-07-22T19:06:00.003-05:00

Mommy and I took my friend A and his mommy to a pool playdate.

I got to run up and down the stairs with some cups.

I got in the pool.

I pet a cat that looked almost exactly like one of my cats.

I had a popsicle.

On the way back to the car, our Mommies wanted us to hold hands. I think they meant to hold hands with them, but A and I decided to hold hands with each other instead.

Two videos of me and my friend

2008-07-06T19:28:00.001-05:00

Here are two videos of me and my friend Ike (aka Sock).

Twinkle twinkle doobie moo from meandertail on Vimeo.

Bye Sock! from meandertail on Vimeo.

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-05T17:53:00.002-05:00

This year, Mommy, Daddy and I met up with some friends at a 4th of July parade in Durham. Actually, lets not overstate things. We actually left before the parade part started. But that didn't matter because look at what we got to see!

A FIRETRUCK! TWO FIRETRUCKS!

AND A DOG!

AND SOME FLAGS!

Getting my learners permit

2008-07-02T20:41:00.001-05:00

At school...

Hiding spot

2008-07-02T18:26:00.002-05:00

Mommy and Daddy childproofed the kitchen a while ago because they are absolutely no fun. I can't get to all of the cool stuff anymore! They did leave one cabinet open for me, and they used to put some of my stuff in there. Now I have a new favorite thing to put in there.

A few videos

2008-06-30T08:01:00.002-05:00

I am getting much better at eating with a spoon. Thats not to say that I still don't make a huge mess and eat the majority of my meal with my hands, but at least I can use the spoon if needed. Here I am eating a very balanced diet:

A balanced diet from meandertail on Vimeo.

When I'm not eating ketchup, I like to read. I have a lot of books to get through, and I say goodbye to each one when I am done with it (unfailingly polite).

Reading Books from meandertail on Vimeo.

One of my books has a lot of animal noises in it. Usually I know that the singing pigs say 'la la la' but I decided to mix it up a bit here.

Animal Noises from meandertail on Vimeo.

There is also a video of me on Amelia's blog. I really, really wanted to say hi to her. Scroll down about halfway to find it!

I'm 18 months old!

2008-06-29T06:21:00.003-05:00

Time flies, doesn't it? It seems like just yesterday that I was Studs, and now I'm 18 months old! I don't go to the doctor until next week so I can't tell you how big I am, but last week I had to stop by and pay the doctor a quick visit and she said that I weighed 24.5 pounds.

Its kind of hard to believe that in 6 months, I'm going to be TWO. That sounds so old!

Here are some pictures that my teacher Ms. Lauren took of me at school. They did this for a Father's Day project and Mommy and Daddy both seemed to really like it. I'm totally going to be a scientist when I grow up if it means that I'll get to wear safety glasses.

Ms. Lauren had her last day on Friday (sniffle!) which is sad, but I'll get to see baby Amelia on her blog!

Lost my Marbles

2008-06-22T07:57:00.005-05:00

Last weekend, Mommy and Daddy and I went to Marbles Kids Museum in Raleigh with my friends from school. We haven't been there before because its kinda far away, and the Museum of Life and Science is right around the corner. But Marbles was definitely way cooler.

First of all, there were these cool steps that we all played on. My friends and I ran back and forth and yelled a lot.

That would have been worth the price of admission on its own, but there was actually more stuff inside the museum. Like a big bus.

Only it wasn't really a bus, it was a slide!

The slide slid into a whole big area that was just full of stuff. It was complete toddler chaos. I mean, I hardly even saw my friend Ike while we were there, or any of my friends, really. There was so much to see! Like, a car that was Buggle-sized (and apparently had seats upholstered by Holly Aiken, who makes these cool bags that Mommy wants.

There was also a little area where you could do some gardening.

And then we found my favorite area, the grocery store.

The only reason I left the cash register at all is because Mommy and Daddy made me share with someone who was waiting. Next we went to an area that had lots of wooden blocks to stack - my favorite!

There were also some cool wooden trucks and cars with people in them.

We did finally tear ourselves away from the toddler chaos area and look at some of the rest of the museum. There was a big pirate ship, right in the middle of the museum!

Daddy tried to sell me to some pirates, but they didn't go for it, so he made me walk the plank.

Then we found this TOTALLY AWESOME huge Connect Four game. I don't know what the whole point of the big thing behind me was though. I connected four on the floor.

Then we went upstairs where there was an exhibit about school in Japan.

We had so much fun at Marbles that I totally didn't take a nap for the rest of the day. Wooooo!

Weekend fun

2008-06-19T19:04:00.003-05:00

The other weekend, Mommy, Daddy and I went over to my friend Carson's house. Carson had some cool blocks that I was stacking. I'm a big fan of stacking, by the way. HUGE. Stacking is one very exciting thing (whether it is blocks, books, whatever), and the other exciting thing is opening and closing things, putting things in and taking them out.

Anyway. You can see that this was during the time when it was 80 zillion degrees in North Carolina, because I am sweating like crazy. And my hair is so fine, you can totally see it. Well, block stacking is quite hard work.

While we were at the party, we had a big thunderstorm. Carson's grandparents live a few miles away, and they called and told us that they were having big hail at their house. Daddy and our neighbor (who was also at the party) had both left their cars in the driveway, so they ran home in the pouring rain to put them in the garage. Meanwhile, we were still at Carson's house, standing outside watching the hail fall. It was neat, and it was pretty big - ping pong ball sized? I just kept saying "Wow! Wow! WOOOOOOW!" Daddy and our neighbor did not make it home in time, so they got hit with hail. I think we're lucky that they didn't get knocked out.

Another fun thing that happened during the storm was that the power went out. It was getting close to my bedtime anyway, so we headed home. I had to help everyone find their way back home.

I'm in the newspaper!

2008-06-16T11:58:00.003-05:00

Yesterday we went to Mommy's concert at the American Tobacco Campus. It was a free concert for Fathers' Day: Pops for Pops!
While we were waiting, I walked around with Daddy. There was a photographer for the newspaper (the Herald Sun) there who wanted to take our picture, so he followed us while we walked around, looked over the bridge, etc. He told us to check the paper today to see if we got in!

On our way to school this morning, we all stopped at the gas station to pick up a copy of the newspaper. And there I was, on page 3C!

Pretty neat, huh?

New pics

2008-06-04T19:17:00.006-05:00

It has been pointed out to me (by G-G) that I have not updated my blog in a little while. This is partly because I forgot and partly because Mommy got some new fun games for her Wii and she's still a little bit obsessed with them, thus not too much extra time for blogging.

Anyway, here are some pics from a couple of weeks ago when I had a big, exciting day. First we went to Pullen Park for a birthday party. It was one of my friends from school's party, he was 2. (TWO! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? Thats so old.) My friend Ike was in my class then too (he isn't anymore though, bummer) so we all went together in Daddy's car.

When we were there, I got to play with some baseball stuff, like a good little American boy.

Then Mommy took me on the Merry-go-round, which was pretty fun, although we both didn't fit so great on this horse (neigh)(I can't say "horse", but I can sure say "neigh"!).

After the party we drove home and took a nap. Then we had ANOTHER party to go to! This one was for my Aunt Sheri, who used to work with Mommy, except she's decided to go back to school AGAIN, and also took the summer off to go laze around in Brazil and teach molecular biology or something.

My friend Ike was at this party too. He got there before me, but I guess it was boring so he was pretty happy to see me.

Here's a picture of me and Mommy with Aunt Sheri.

Ike and I had fun going in and out of the screened-in porch.

Before we went home, we had some cake because it was also Aunt Sheri's birthday. Mommy's friend Gil hung out with me and helped me eat cake. Yum!

An old picture...

2008-05-22T19:50:00.000-05:00

...but a cute one!

Win an Ergo

2008-05-21T18:26:00.002-05:00

I kind of want an Ergo (a soft carrier), but I haven't spent the money on one. I have a hip carrier that is ALL RIGHT. And was cheap. But someone posted a link to this contest to win an Ergo, and you get a bonus entry if you put a link to the contest on your website!

Win a Free Ergo Baby Carrier from Along for the Ride

First ice cream

2008-05-19T18:57:00.001-05:00

A big hit!

Sentences

2008-05-19T08:59:00.002-05:00

I am learning to put words together in sentences. Here's what I've got now:

"Hi Dog"
"Bye Dog"
"Hi Cat"
"Bye Cat"
"more please"

Moooooooove like an emu moves.

2008-05-11T20:29:00.003-05:00

Owen movin' like an emu from meandertail on Vimeo.

I'm 16 months old!

2008-04-29T20:48:00.004-05:00

Sorry I haven't had much to say lately. I have been really, really busy. Here's what I've been doing now that I'm 16 months old:

1. Climbing. Climbing up a chair, down the chair. Up, down. Up, down. On the kitchen table. Mommy says "Noooooo!" and puts me down. Up, down. Kitchen table. "Owen, no table!" Down. You get the idea.

2. Saying "Uh oh!" For some reason I just figured this one out and it is really a universally appropriate phrase. No matter what is going on, it deserves an "Uh oh!"

3. Some other new words. Lets try to think about what I've got going on so far...
Mama
Da (daddy)
Duck
Mmmmmm (moo)
more (this one is also universal. When I want anything I can say more, whether or not I already had some to start with. This makes it fun for Mommy and Daddy to try to figure out what I actually want!)
elbow
cat
dog
Hi
bye bye
I'm sure there are some more but I just can't think of them right now. These are the ones I use more regularly, but today I also said "bee" when Mommy looked at my yellow and black bee drawing at school, and yesterday I said "waffle".

4. I also can point to my eyes, nose (actually I just stick my finger up my nose) ears, head, fingers, hair, and mouth.

5. And I've got the waving hello and goodbye thing all figured out.

6. And I've learned to throw a mean tantrum when I don't get my way. Or am getting my diaper changed. Or don't want to get into my carseat. Or my highchair (in fact tonight I went to bed without eating dinner because I would NOT GET IN MY HIGHCHAIR).

I got to practice these things this weekend with G-G and Sky King while Mommy and Daddy were off in Pittsburgh at Amee and Dan's wedding. They had a lot of fun it sounds like. I had fun with G-G and Sky King too - so much fun I just didn't have time to update my blog!

Mommy's birthday weekend: aka "Weekend of barf!"

2008-04-13T20:32:00.005-05:00

For Mommy's birthday, I had something special planned. Well yes, I got her "Super Paper Mario" for her Wii, but that isn't what I am talking about. What I am talking about is this:

Mommy came in to get me after I woke up on Saturday morning (I have been sleeping later, finally, so this was at about 7 or 7:30 am). I got dressed and we went downstairs so that I could have a big cup of milk, like I always do. Then I had a poopy diaper, so Mommy and I went upstairs to change it. Once I was laying down on the changing table, I had a great idea for what I should give Mommy for her birthday. And it was this: A big pile of barf! I just started barfing. I threw up all over myself (my new cute whale outfit), the changing table, Mommy, my wipes, hairbrushes and lotions, etc. Awesome.

Mommy finally got me cleaned up, which took a while. She let me spend the rest of the morning with no clothes on. So I decided to really do some man stuff. So I sat around and watched TV in my diaper.

Mommy tried to get me to color a card for Uncle Jim's birthday, but I could not be interested. Would a man color with crayons? Especially toddler ones? No.

Then I worked on my blog:

I guess a man would help clean up occasionally, so I did.

Then Mommy and Daddy took me to a baseball game. We went with Mommy and Daddy's friend Gil, but the only picture we took of him was of him wearing my bib, so we will spare him and not post the picture.

Here I am harvesting raisins from my fancy bib:

I climbed up and down the steps next to our box seats. Every parent coming up the stairs with a young child just nodded with understanding.

Daddy and I played together:

On Sunday it was time for Mommy's party. I played a lot with Mommy's friend Patrick:

Patrick really cracks me up!

Mommy plays with Photoshop

2008-04-07T19:52:00.002-05:00

Mommy likes taking pictures. She has some other friends in her Mommy group that also like to take pictures. Some of them are real, professional photographers (like Annie!), some of them are very good amateurs, and some of them are like Mommy, and just want to be good. One of the Mommy friends started a Flickr group where everyone can talk about their photos and ask for help and stuff. In the Flickr group, Mommy learned how to do some playing in Photoshop. Here is one of her favorites so far.

Here is the original picture:

and here is the picture after she did stuff to it in Photoshop:

So look for more fun pictures in the future!

Coloring

2008-04-06T12:22:00.003-05:00

I like to color. The Easter Bunny brought me some toddler crayons and stamps.

Easter at the park

2008-03-23T17:16:00.005-05:00

Today Mommy and I went to the park with my friend Julianna. I am a big boy now, so I walked up the steps all by myself...

Got on the slide all by myself...

And went down the slide all by myself!

And then I went back up to do it again.

Julianna and I played on the playground equipment together...

And sat on a bench together (with a plastic egg that I found on the floor).

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T15:51:00.002-05:00

Hope you all had a nice Easter!
This morning Mommy made pancakes for us. Yum! We played for a bit and went for a walk. I fell asleep on the walk and then I woke up in my crib 2 and a half hours later! When I went downstairs, Mommy told me that the Easter Bunny had been to visit!

He brought me a basket filled with toys and eggs.

Hm. What is in this egg?

Teddy Grahams!

Hair products are important

2008-03-18T18:58:00.003-05:00

I have noticed lately that I seem to have gotten my Mommy's unruly, humidity-sensitive hair. Mommy uses lots of hair products to keep hers under control, but she doesn't do anything about mine! So lately, I have started experimenting with hair products. I have started with the things I have for dinner. I also would like something for my skin, to keep my pores tiny and my skin blemish-free. I think this mix of ketchup and baked beans liquid might be just the thing...

If you want to always have a good hair day, it is important to use the right product.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T19:56:00.004-05:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I hope you had a nice one.

Here I am playing with my new favorite toy, a bunch of linking rings. I take them wherever I go and put them places, or give them to Mommy and then ask her to give them back (by pointing and going 'Uhhh!'). Sometimes Mommy links them all together which is TOTALLY not what you are supposed to do with them.

Can you also see the nice bruise on my cheek? I did that on Saturday when I fell and banged my face against the edge of the window seat. The bruise is in a perfect straight line!

More pics

2008-03-06T22:24:00.003-05:00

Here are a few more pics from the last couple of weeks.

Mommy used to be a great musician, and then she just stopped playing for a while. Oh, ten years or so. She started up again this year and plays in the Durham band. Usually she doesn't take her instrument out at home (at least not when I'm up!), but she got some new oboe reeds in and she wanted to give them a quick try before her rehearsal. She let me play with her oboe for a little bit when she was finished.

Here I am just hanging out playing with leaves. I can rip things up really small, so I do. Why not? I mean, I've got that fantastic pincer grasp, I may as well use it.

Daddy was outside on a ladder, filling the bird feeder. Wow! I could see him too! Crazy!

Owen's freelance blog entry

2008-03-03T22:05:00.002-05:00

Daddy helped me write this to Mommy while she was in Philadelphia for Pop-Pop's funeral:

Daddy and I miss you loads and can't wait to see you tomorrow.

Last night we played and watched a Wiggles. It was fun! Rather than
sitting in my chair I sat on daddies back like he was a horse for the
whole episode. Daddy would lift up and down and I would giggle! I
also spilt some of my milk on his head, but he may not of noticed.

This morning I wanted to make sure daddy was on the ball so I woke
him up at 5:30am. He finally came to get me at 5:45am. good job to, I
had no pacifiers left, nor any cuddly toys!
I was quite confused when he brought me into the bedroom, as I ran
over to the bathroom door and couldn't find you!
I was very hungry - daddy gave me a whole banana and waffle. I ate it
all, including the few bits down my side we found afterwards.
Daddy made some bread and I helped him with the bills by taking the
receipts he didn't want anymore. I emptied the trash can, refilled it
then emptied and refilled once more. I then helped daddy with the
laundry. I could seen he was putting together darks and whites, so I
fetched several towels from the drawer in the kitchen.
We went out to Home Depot and got some special plastic covering for
under my chair. I like it and crawl around on it. We then went to
Target and got me some milk. Daddy also got me a bright orange
football. I discovered a new game, if I throw it, daddy scurries off
to fetch it. It was fun watching daddy running around. We then went
to the home depot near our house as Target did not have the drawer
latches daddy wanted.
When we got home, we danced to some wiggle songs on the computer
before daddy got me lunch. I ate the lot! Daddy got all excited about
some strange blackbirds outside. He ran off to get the camera and
came back with the broken one. Then he ran off again, came back with
the right one, but it had no memory card. He eventually found a card
in the desk and snapped a few pictures as best he could through the
glass and screen.
I took a decent nap for a few hours, but felt really grumpy
afterwards. I just wanted to be held, and had to make that point to
daddy several times before he hugged me for 30 minutes. Apparently he
had been busy child proofing some of the drawers. I helped my
climbing onto daddy when he was drilling or using the screw driver. I
also helped by putting daddies pencil down the heating vent. We
looked for it, but it must have slid quite far down. Daddy was
reaching in until he hit a big cobweb around the corner of the vent
and decided to stop looking!
We then went for a long walk. Daddy pulled me in my wagon, while
stinky pulled daddy. We met Regan outside his house, and he called
Stacey and Carson to come out. Carson is having his 6month jabs on
Monday!?! He and his mommy had real flu last week. His poor mommy
had fever of 102 at her job interview. We played some more at home
and then we got to see you on Skype - that was fun!
Daddy gave me peas, sweet corn, baked beans, some corn-dogs and a few
french fries - and of course, ketchup! I ate it all. In fact, I
couldn't get it in quick enough so I used both hands. Once again
daddy got excited because sitting on the bird feeder was a Peregrin
Falcon. It was very pretty, but the camera couldn't focus on it with
the kitchen light reflecting off the door glass. Personally I think
it might have been the other entry in the book we were looking at.
Can't recall the name, but it looks just like a PF, but is smaller.
It ws probably less than a foot high.
We played some more, and then settled for the evening Wiggles. This
time I sat on daddies tummy - there's more of it so it is more comfy
than his back.
After that it was bath time - I love baths!
Well, we read some books and daddy put me to bed. I was asleep before
he could get downstairs and turn on the monitor.
No worries though, that just means I'll be up at 5am instead!

Miss and love you,

Owen (and Daddy!)

What, you want some pictures?

2008-02-27T22:07:00.004-05:00

Okay. I can do that.

I love playing at the park now. These pictures are from a few weeks ago. I played ball with my friend Ike.

Daddy pushed me on the baby swing.

Mommy and I went down the slide. Now I can go down the slide by myself (grinning maniacally all the way), but this was one of my first times so Mommy helped me.

I also got to climb on all of the playground stuff and crawl through the tunnels. And I made Mommy crawl after me. Awesome.

Correction: Ear infections are hard

2008-02-27T21:47:00.002-05:00

Today, Mommy had a bad day at work. Her paper got rejected (again) (and yes, this is the one from GRAD SCHOOL which she finished almost three years ago), her experiment did not work, and then she got a phone call from daycare at 3:30. My teacher told her what was going on: I took a nap. I slept for 45 minutes and then woke up screaming. I did not stop screaming at all. Between the time that my teacher called me and Mommy came to pick me up, I did fall asleep in my teacher's lap (I was so cute). I screamed all the way home. Mommy tried to hug me and jiggle me and cuddle me when we got home, but I was having NONE OF IT. Still screaming. So Mommy called the doctor. The doctor told us to come in. The doctor's office was closed by this time, and the nurse was actually waiting for us at the front door to let us in, because they had already locked up. The doctor checked me out (oh yes, still screaming) and it turns out that I have a bilateral ear infection. That is what some people like to call a 'double ear infection'. It just means that both of my ears are infected. The doctor said that this would cause me problems sleeping (duh. I knew that!) because the pressure would build up more when I was laying down.

Now I am taking more pink amoxicillin and hope that this will get better soon. I have been miserable since Friday (when I had a fever) and Mommy is mean and did not take me to the doctor until now. So it serves her right that I have been waking up almost every night at three in the morning.

Teething is hard

2008-02-24T12:03:00.003-05:00

I have a lot of teeth now. I have all four front teeth on top and bottom, and all four of my first set of molars. The molars were fun. I just finished with them. I didn't get any break though, because now my canine teeth are coming through. Those are the worst! I have been so miserable. I can't sleep either, and I have woken up at night each of the last two nights, and I can't go back to sleep. This morning I woke up at 3:45 and Mommy ended up sleeping on the floor next to my crib so that I would go back to sleep, which I didn't do until about 5:30. Then when I woke up at 7:15, she made Daddy get up so she could sleep longer. The night before Daddy had to sleep with me. Oh, and I also had a fever that night of 102.

I'm not much better during the day. Teeth hurt day and night! I can't eat anything because it hurts. I think I have eaten about five bites of food since Friday night, which was when things really started to go downhill.

Hopefully this passes soon!!

Goodbye Pop-Pop

2008-02-23T20:01:00.002-05:00

The most tech-savvy, internet surfing, Skype-ing, emailing Great-Grandfather in the history of Great-Grandfathers died last night.

We'll miss you Pop-Pop.

More pictures from Florida

2008-02-17T13:05:00.005-05:00

While I was in Florida, Mommy and Daddy brought some of my toys with us, but other toys were things I found at G-G and Sky King's house. These were some of my favorite toys:

I would stack them up on these little wooden steps (they were like a Buggle-sized table). Sometimes I would have to crawl inside, to get a better handle on things.

I also walked around outside of the house a lot. Here we are, walking down G-G and Sky King's street.

I had fun outside!

Next I helped G-G out with the computer.

Finally, it was time for our Super Bowl Party! We had to watch the Pats play.... who were they playing again?
Here's me with Uncle Bobby:

and here I am with G-G's cousin Eileen:

This is what a bunch of disappointed Pats fans looks like, when the Pats ruin their perfect record at the last minute:

The next day, Mommy and I flew back home. G-G and Mom-Mom drove us to the airport. Mom-Mom sat in the back seat with me:

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2008-02-14T08:09:00.000-05:00

Hope you all have a nice Valentine's day. As you can see on my shirt,
Mommy is my Valentine.

More new skillz

2008-02-13T08:11:00.002-05:00

Playing catch with the dog

Untitled from meandertail on Vimeo.

Saying 'cat' (okay, this is not too new, but you haven't seen it yet!)

Untitled from meandertail on Vimeo.

Going DOWN the stairs (this is just me going down one stair, but I can do them all in a similar fashion)

Untitled from meandertail on Vimeo.

Dancing!

Dancing baby! from meandertail on Vimeo.

What I did on my winter vacation

2008-02-11T21:28:00.001-05:00

Well, okay. So like I said, I have been a very busy baby...er... I mean, TODDLER. Last week Mommy and Daddy and I went to Florida to visit everyone. We have been planning on going to Florida for a while, but never got around to actually planning our trip. But Pop-pop has been sick, so we wanted to go visit him. So we planned a last minute trip to Saraota!

Mommy and I flew while Daddy drove down with our stinky dog. Here I am at the airport, waiting for our flight to board.

I did many, many, many (many, many) laps of the waiting area, to make sure that everyone knew which gate they were supposed to be at. You'll notice that I am wearing cute shoes with complicated laces. Mommy does not recommend that you do this when you next travel with your baby or toddler, because they made me take my shoes off when we went through security. Not expected, obviously.

When we got there, G-G and Mom-mom picked us up in Tampa and we went straight to the VA hospital to visit Pop-pop. We had to wait a long time to see him, because he was busy doing hospital-type stuff. So I got to walk around the hospital floor many, many, many (many, many, many!) times to check on everyone. Everyone was very nice and talked to me and let me sit on their laps, etc. Pop-pop was very tired and slept while we were there, but it was nice to see him anyway.

Daddy and the stinky dog arrived that night. The next day, Mommy, Daddy, G-G and I went to the Mote Marine Laboratories. No, Mommy and Daddy didn't have to go to work while we were on our vacation, it is a different kind of lab. More like an aquarium. There were lots and lots of fish to see, but I was very busy doing other things like, climbing up and down on this bench.

I did take a few moments to look at some of the fish, but mostly I just walked around and around (and around and around and around) (I wonder if you're noticing a theme here, which is that all I want to do now is walk).

I also took the time to make sure that all of the orange cones (aka Joes, if you remember Joe the cone) were okay.

We also went swimming in G-G and Sky King's pool.

I had fun mostly, but on the first day of swimming, my eyes got all red and itchy and horrible. We were all surprised that I would have trouble with the pool because it has not been a problem before. As it turns out, the lady had come by that day to put more chlorine in the pool, and that was hurting my eyes. The next day I was fine!

We also went to the beach. This was my first time at the beach, ever! At first, I just walked and walked and walked (and walked, and walked).

Then I fell down. And I was presented with something strange, called sand.

Sand is awesome. I buried my leg in it.

Then we went (some of us more happily than others, me being among the group who did NOT want to leave the wonderful sand!) out for pizza. We went to a place called 'Shaner's', which is owned by a guy who went to Horlick High School in Racine, WI, which is where Mommy went to high school. Weird!

I have some more pictures to show you, but I will post them tomorrow.

Looks like it is just a problem with Safari.

2008-02-10T21:15:00.000-05:00

Oh well. I love Safari, but it doesn't seem to want to let me upload photos through blogger. I'll post tomorrow, but here's a picture to tide you over.

I love hummus!

Still having problems.

2008-02-10T20:28:00.000-05:00

I am trying to figure out why I am having trouble posting pictures directly through blogger. Anyone have this problem with Leopard? So unfortunately, you're going to have to wait a bit longer until I can figure out what the problem is.

Too tired

2008-02-09T22:08:00.000-05:00

Mommy and Daddy did finally get their new iMac which makes blogging much easier, but I haven't had time to do the big blog update that you all deserve. I've been so busy, so I'm too tired! I'll do it tomorrow, I promise.

Pictures in the works.

2008-01-28T19:46:00.001-05:00

I have lots of pictures to show you, but Mommy and Daddy have a terrible computer that doesn't like it when the photo program and the internet program are open at the same time. So it takes like, an hour to do a post. Which never is going to happen.

Fortunately Mommy and Daddy ordered a brand new computer, which is on its way to our house! After that, posting will be much easier. Just so you have something to look forward to!

First snow

2008-01-19T17:01:00.000-05:00

Well, it finally happened! We got snow in North Carolina! They were talking about it ALL MORNING, but still there was no snow. There wasn't even any rain! And then all of a sudden this afternoon it started snowing. Mommy and Daddy took me outside so that I could see what snow looks like.

Hopefully it will keep snowing or raining or something, because we have hardly any water left in Durham. I want to be able to have a glass of water in February!

I'm a no pants man.

2008-01-08T19:46:00.001-05:00

On Saturday, Mommy and Daddy took me out for a fun outing. We went out for breakfast first. I had some pancakes.

Then we went to the museum. I played with lots of stuff while I was there. We are members, so we get to go into the museum an hour before anyone else. Thats fun, because then I can actually get to the stuff and I don't have to fight off any big boys and girls. Mommy showed me a big chalkboard that you could paint with water and make designs.

Then she let me play with the paintbrushes while she sat and took pictures of me. Daddy went off somewhere while we did this.

She took a LOT of pictures of me. Mostly of my head, or the top of me. Then Daddy came back and said "How did you get all wet, Owen??" Mommy looked at the last picture she had taken of me and noticed that my pants were SOAKING.

While I was playing with the brushes, dipping them in the water and taking them out, I was getting my pants all wet too, but Mommy was too busy playing amateur photographer to care (none of the pictures turned out that great anyway because the light was pretty poor). Ordinarily this would just have been annoying, but it was REALLY COLD in NC last week, so I didn't want to go outside with wet pants on! And Mommy was not prepared with spare pants in my diaper bag. I hardly ever have blowouts anymore so she has gotten complacent. So Daddy took my pants and took them to a bathroom to dry them off.

Of course while Daddy was gone and I was walking around with no pants on, Mommy's friend Kristin showed up with her family. I have not seen Kristin or her family since March, when they came over for my St. Patrick's Day party, and I was embarrassed that the first time I saw them I was out in public, pantsless. I mean, its okay to be pantsless at your own house, but at the museum? Yikes. Mommy is so irresponsible.

The Bug is 1.

2007-12-29T21:10:00.002-05:00

Today is a big day, its my BIRTHDAY! I am ONE! Can you believe that??

It started out like any other day. Mommy came in and got me out of my bed. We got dressed and went downstairs. Then Daddy made us all a special breakfast of biscuits, fake (or real for the actual meat-eaters staying with us) bacon, and fake sausage. Here is what I think of special breakfast:

Then I went out shopping with Mommy and Daddy, Uncle Jim and Aunt Sara.

I opened up all of my cards. Thanks everyone!

When I woke up from my nap, everything was different in my house! There were balloons and streamers everywhere, and everything had duckies on it.

It was time for my party!! My friends Isaac and Carson and their Mommies and Daddies came, and so did our friends Gil and Patrick. And, of course, G-G, Sky King, Uncle Jim and Aunt Sara - and Mommy and Daddy!

Daddy gave me a sip of his beer because I am almost old enough.

I found some of my presents in a pile. I always wanted a fire safe!

Pretty soon it was time for me to eat my birthday cake. We had two cakes, one was just for me, and one was for everyone else.

Mommy put some candles in my cake and everyone sang Happy Birthday.

Nan, Grandad and cousins Zoe and Lauren were there too, watching me on Skype!

Hm... what is this?

OMG! MY HANDS ARE BLUE!!! WAAAAAAAAHHH!!

GET IT OFF, MOMMY!!!

Wow. I don't know about cake. That was terrifying. I think I've had enough. Its time to do something else.

Lets play Guitar Hero! Thats what Uncle Jim and Aunt Sara got Mommy for Christmas. I think that would be better than eating the terrifying cake.

Everyone played Guitar Hero, except me, because the guitar is taller than me. Oh well. Mommy decorated her guitar with stickers and she put 'OC' on it, just for me. That is almost as good as being able to play myself.

After a little while, I was hungry and Mommy got some dinner together for me. She gave me some pita bread and indian chickpea dip. Yum! She also gave me a piece of my cake, but this time she took the blue frosting off first. Still, I'd rather have the chickpea dip. But I did try a few bites of frosting.

Then I opened my presents from my party. I got some cool books (I love books!) and toys and clothes. Yay! I also got an "iPod" of my very own from my friend Julianna. I love it! It plays classical music and lights up when I press the buttons.

I posed for some pictures with Mommy and Daddy and with Uncle Jim and Aunt Sara.

It hasn't been than long, but look how much I have changed! Next stop, TWO!

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-27T21:55:00.000-05:00

Well, I just finished my FIRST CHRISTMAS. I know I would have had a first Christmas last year if I had just gotten with the program and come out sooner, but oh well. Too bad for Mommy. I think I enjoyed my first Christmas more this way, because I actually know what is going on. My G-G and Sky King came out on the 22nd, because Daddy's birthday was on the 23rd and they wanted to be here in time for that. Mommy and her family usually open their presents on Christmas Eve, so they gave me some presents that day too, one of which was this wagon!

We went for a walk around the neighborhood in it.

The next day was actual Christmas. I sat near the Christmas tree, hoping that presents would appear. And they did!

My next present was my OWN SPECIAL CHAIR. I sat in my chair while I was opening presents.

I got lots of neat presents, like these books. I love books, especially ones I can touch, or that have flaps or something.

I also got my OWN SPECIAL KITCHEN. It goes in Mommy and Daddy's kitchen, so I can cook and wash dishes with them.

I got a bag of vegetables from the Farmers' Market ('Owen's Farmers' Market' it says!) that I can put in my oven or sink or whatever.

I also got a fun rocket toy from my Aunt Melissa and Uncle Matt. I am slightly too short for it right now so although I can sit on it, I can't push myself around. So instead I push the toy around the kitchen.

I got a little bit overwhelmed by all of my presents so I got a little bit grumpypants.

Then I took a nap and it was all good.

We had dinner later that night. I had Yorkshire pudding, Quorn cutlet, roasted vegetables and salad. Yum! I liked the Quorn the best. Yay, fake meat! G-G and Sky King had real meat, but Mommy and Daddy had Quorn too. You can see Mommy and Sky King wearing their hats from their Christmas crackers. G-G and Daddy's had broken before they even put them on, which was a bummer because that meant that the annual "Big Head Contest" could not take place. I think a rematch will occur tomorrow after Uncle Jim and Aunt Sara arrive...

Here is a video of me sitting in my special chair and reading a book.

Untitled from meandertail on Vimeo.

I have a video of me pushing around my rocket too, but that is going to have to wait until tomorrow because Mommy is helping me post this, and she is tired and wants to go to bed, and it is not even uploaded yet.

I had a nice Christmas, and I loved all of my presents. Hope you did too!

And I'll be 1 on SATURDAY!! OMG!!

Yeah I know....

2007-12-22T19:40:00.000-05:00

I haven't been updating my blog lately! I have been soooo busy. I mean, I had to get my Christmas cards out, my shopping done, it was crazy. All of that and I go to school every day, AND I go to bed at 7pm. There are only so many hours in the day, people.

By now you've probably gotten a Christmas card from me with a cute picture on it. Well, Mommy took lots of pictures of me that day, and they weren't all that good. Thijs and Riley have posted some funny Christmas card bloopers, so here are mine.

First word?

2007-12-11T20:02:00.000-05:00

Well, I may or may not be saying my first word. It may or may not be 'hi'.

Mommy is really overanalyzing this whole thing. First she thought I had a word for 'cat'. It was not "cat", but it was some high pitched squealy sound. I do not, in fact, have a word for 'cat'. I just like cats! I get happy and excited when they are around, thus the squealing. But every time the cats would come by, I could see Mommy's ears perk up. I could almost see her thinking "Is that the same high pitched squealy sound he did last time?? I don't know! Maybe! Aaaaaargh!'

I'm just messing with her.

But this 'hi' thing, thats a little bit different. I started saying "hi" to her when she would come into the room. Yesterday when she came in to pick me up at school I said "hiiiiiiii". Mommy asked my teacher whether she thought I said 'hi', and my teacher agreed. She also agreed with Mommy that I had said it a few other times in the correct context. Mommy is hesitant to label this as my FIRST WORD (like I said, Mommy totally overanalyzes), but its TENTATIVELY my first word.

Alternative uses for train tracks

2007-12-04T20:19:00.001-05:00

I don't know if you've ever ridden on Amtrak, but it kinda sucks. At least this is what Mommy tells me. She rode the train from Boston to Oberlin, Ohio when she was doing her auditions for college and it had several major, major problems:

a) arrival time in Oberlin was like, 3 AM. Who wants to pick you up at 3 AM?
b) it was full of crazy people
c) it was full of possibly drunk crazy people who were fighting with each other
d) some of those people were also preaching
e) since you're a captive audience, you have to pay an arm and a leg for food, which sucked.
f) it took longer than it would have to drive

Anyway. Mommy is always surprised that Amtrak still exists, given that they have no one to compete with them and thus force them to improve. I have been coming up with some plans for what we can do with all the old train tracks if Amtrak ever goes bust.

Mommy and Daddy always put the train track together for me, but I am eager to get started on my plans - perhaps too eager! - so I begin by removing all of the cars on the track.

Then I start dismantling the track.

I find it helps if I shake the track pieces vigorously before I try to dispose of them.

I'll give you five bucks if you can guess where I'm going to put this...

Duh! Everything in the mouth!
Finally, I have to find alternative uses for some of the other parts of the train system. Like, for example, the little ramps that allow the train to drive from the floor to the track. The best thing I've come up with so far is this:

I like to call this 'Pacifier/Duckie Face'.

I'm 11 months old!

2007-12-03T19:51:00.001-05:00

11 months! Practically a year!

Here are some of the things I can do:

walk
use things as they were intended to be used (i.e. brush my hair with a hairbrush)
wave (sort of)

Still working on talking, but no real talking action yet. I am a real boy in this respect. Walk first, then talk!

Dinner conversation

2007-12-03T19:50:00.000-05:00

Dinner, yum! Chomp, chomp, chomp. How was your day, Mommy? How about you, Daddy? Do you want to know what I did today?

Untitled from meandertail on Vimeo.

The much anticipated walking video

2007-12-03T19:30:00.000-05:00

Walking: The sequel from meandertail on Vimeo.

En fuego!

2007-11-26T19:16:00.000-05:00

Walking is progressing crazily! I toddle along quite a bit now - I can make it several feet before I fall. And I do it more often than I used to. I'm getting to be a real kid instead of a baby!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2007-11-22T14:20:00.000-05:00

Steps on film!

2007-11-18T19:50:00.000-05:00

Today I walked three steps towards Mommy when she had her video camera on. Obviously I waited to do this until it was dark and thus the light and video quality was crappy. I'm not going to make it tooooooo easy!

Also in this video I am doing another thing I have been doing lately, which is trying to chew on the thing in the middle of my toy table that spins around. Yeah, I don't know either.

3 steps from meandertail on Vimeo.

Oh and also? If you notice, I am wearing my 'Baby's first Thanksgiving' outfit. You might be thinking, 'Huh? It is not Thanksgiving yet, is it?' No! It isn't. But today Mommy and I went to a Thanksgiving PARTY at her friend Gil's house. It was fun.

Nothing is open on Veterans Day...

2007-11-13T21:07:00.000-05:00

...including my school! So I got to stay home with Mommy and Sky King (he was flying through on his way to Florida). We wanted to go to the museum, but it was not open. We wanted to go to a park, but it rained! Instead, my friend Ike came over, because he didn't have school either!
He played with my train.

We did some reminiscing about the Exersaucer (I don't play in this much anymore because - why sit still when I could move around??). Look how much taller he is than me. He is only 9 months older than me which, in the grand scheme of things is not that much, right? But in baby time?? That is HUGE!

We went in the Buggletrail.

And we played with my ball table thingie.

It was fun. Later that day I went for a walk with Daddy, Mommy and Sky King and the two doggies. I talked to everyone while we were walking.

Walking... coming soon!

2007-11-12T11:58:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, Mommy and I went over to my friend Juliana's house to play. Mommy wanted me to show Julianna's Mommy how I could stand up all by myself. So Mommy put me down on the floor so I could show her. Sometimes Mommy thinks I am a performing pony or something, just here to show off all of my tricks. Geez.

Anyhow, I thought I'd mix it up a little bit, so I took two steps towards her. The Mommies both almost had a heart attack, I think. I don't know what the big deal is - I've been walking with my walking toy for a while now. Didn't she think I'd figure out how to do it without it?? Here are a few videos of that that I have been meaning to put up.

This one was the first time I really went crazy with the walking toy, about 3 weeks ago. Up until then, Mommy or Daddy had been slowing it down for me because they thought it was too fast for me. I guess I showed them!

Big trip around the house from meandertail on Vimeo.

As you could see in the first video, I am able to steer if I want to, or get unstuck when I run into things. However, my ability to do this is severly compromised when I am tired. This video was taken a couple of days later, but right before my bedtime.

More walking from meandertail on Vimeo.

Mommy has been trying to get me to take a few steps again but I'm not going to cooperate. I am my own boss!

I've got this pillow and I know how to use it

2007-11-10T12:26:00.000-05:00

Mommy and Daddy have a couch that has little pillows on it. Clearly they do not grasp the concept of pillows, because pillows are for sleeping on! I had to show them what to do.

Pillows are for sleeping on from meandertail on Vimeo.

Untitled from meandertail on Vimeo.

Buggle = Gerbil

2007-11-03T18:55:00.000-05:00

Mommy and Daddy bought me a new toy a few weeks ago. Its a Playhut. Mommy says it looks like a Habitrail gerbil cage. It is a little house with two tunnels that go off of it. I love to crawl in it!

Ooh! Here I am looking into one of the tunnels.

Got in!

Hey, wait! Someone else likes my Habitrail!

I'm going to get her.

Oops! I think she got me instead! Ow!

(She actually really got me in the face with her back claw and Mommy happened to get a picture at the exact moment of impact!)

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T19:13:00.000-05:00

Well, today was my first Halloween! Daddy got me all dressed in my first Halloween costume. Did you guess what I was going to be?

Moo?

A cow!

A cow that uses a walking toy!

A cow that rides on his Daddy's shoulders!

We went to some of our friends houses to 'trick-or-treat' (really we were just showing off my costume). Here we are at Carson's house.

It was fun, but I got tired and had to go to bed! So I missed all of the trick-or-treaters. Bummer. Next year I hope I can stay up past 7!

Moooooo!

2007-10-31T09:01:00.001-05:00

Can you guess what I'm going to be for Halloween?? I'll post some pictures later tonight!

Boo!

Uh-oh. I've been tagged!

2007-10-28T20:37:00.000-05:00

I got tagged by Jamie, who is one of the Mommies. I have to post 8 random things about myself. I did this when I was a little bit younger, but now I have new random things to tell you.

1. It took me a long time to like real food, but now I'm a big fan.
2. My favorite foods are all dairy products, which makes sense because my Mommy is from Wisconsin! I like yogurt and cheese, But, strangely enough, I do not like cottage cheese. Its a texture thing.
3. I just started wearing shoes. I've been barefoot for 10 months, pretty much! Mommy hates being barefoot so this is sort of funny. Also funny is that when I got my school pictures taken the other day, Mommy had her shoes off because we had just been to my room in the infant wing, which is a shoes off place. The photographer said something to Mommy that we were both barefoot country bumpkins (something to that effect) which Mommy thought was hilarious because her skin crawls every time she has to walk around barefoot!!
4. I hate getting my diaper changed. Hate it hate it hate it.
5. I think I'm going to be a pianist when I get bigger. Right now I can reach the keys if I stand on my tippy-toes. I can't play any songs yet, but I'll work on that.
6. I only take one nap every day. This is okay when I get a good nap, but not okay when my doggie wakes me up after 45 minutes (like he did today!). Then its meltdown central!!
7. I am almost 10 months old!
8. I'm still a total flirt.

Now I have to tag some people. Gosh, I don't even know 8 people. So I tag all of my baby friends (yes all of you over there in the links section!), and my Mommy.

Stand in the place where you were

2007-10-24T07:10:00.000-05:00

This morning Mommy and I were in the den writing some checks and stamping some envelopes. Mommy had the drawer that holds the stamps and envelopes open and I was helping her organize it. But then she closed it! And since it wasn't there for me to hold on to anymore, I just stood there all by myself. I stood for about 10 seconds without holding on to anything! Mommy was practically having a seizure, she was so excited. I don't know what her problem is! When she went out to tell Daddy, he told her that I had also done that last night while she was off getting her hair cut. I'll tell you what, walking time is NOT FAR AWAY! I hope everyone is ready for this! (and yet? I kinda doubt it!)

Stairs

2007-10-19T19:09:00.000-05:00

Well, now I can climb ALL of the stairs. Can and do - every chance I get! Mommy and Daddy finally had to put up those baby gates. Bummer!

Up the stairs from meandertail on Vimeo.

Cheesy Farm Part II

2007-10-16T18:39:00.000-05:00

Toothy!

Daddy and Mommy and I picking out our pumpkins:

Mommy carried me around on her back:

So did Daddy. We also went through a corn maze. The sign said "TALL CORN MAZE" but the corn was
a) not tall
b) pretty dead looking
c) not very maze-y

Then we looked at some farm animals, like the traditional farm animal the Vietnamese Pot-bellied pig:

Other cheesy aspects of this 'farm' included a fake cow that you could fake milk. Don't ask. I am just a baby, my hands aren't big enough to fake milk anything!

Cheesy Farm Part I

2007-10-15T19:12:00.000-05:00

This weekend we had some fall fun and went to a pumpkin farm. You probably thought we went to a dairy farm, given the title of this post. No, it wasn't. Ike's Daddy summed it up well: "This is the cheesiest 'farm' ever. Words fail me." And he was right. It was!

When we got there, it was time for me to have a bottle.

Then we went on a hayride. Mommy kept trying to get me to look at her for a picture, but I didn't want to! There was a big tractor pulling us, and that was way cooler.

Then we picked out a pumpkin.

I have more pictures to show you, but Blogger is being a pain right now. So I'll continue again tomorrow!

Out to eat

2007-10-13T19:11:00.000-05:00

Tonight, Mommy and Daddy took me out to dinner! We went to a Mexican restaurant. The waitress was smiling at me and tickling me, so I totally flirted with her. It was a BIG HIT.

For dinner, I had a quesadilla.

Chomp!

I'm all messy! And look at my teeth! I have six now!

Luckily they gave me some food. Usually I just have to eat the plate.

I also expertly drank water out of my sippy cup. I am getting pretty good at it!

Obviously, I would rather have had Daddy's drink.

When Daddy leaned over to pick up all of the food I had dropped on the floor, I helped him by taking off his glasses. I didn't want him to get any food on them or anything.

Mommy and I had fun too! I was banging on the table. Woo!

We had a lot of fun! I like going out to dinner.

Slave labor

2007-10-11T07:36:00.000-05:00

I'm not even one year old and already I'm being made to work. At school, they make me do the dishes, like, every day. When I get there in the morning its straight over to the sink.

I'm pretty sure there are some child labor laws that prohibit this.

Another thing to carry around the house

2007-10-06T09:16:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago, Mommy and I made a stop on our way home from work. One of the Mommies was selling some of her baby stuff and Mommy thought there was one thing I might like now that I stand up all the time.

It was this table!

It has four colored balls that you put on top and when you press one of the buttons, the thing in the middle spins around and hits the balls. Of course, it also plays loud, loud music, which is de rigueur for baby toys.

As you can see, Daddy likes my new toy too.

Daddy likes baby toys from meandertail on Vimeo.

An unexpected bonus to the table is that I have something new to crawl around the house with. It used to be that I would crawl around carrying the rings from my ring stacker.

Then it was the shapes from my shape sorter.

Now I take the balls with me wherever I go!

(That is if I can find them... you see, someone else also likes my new toy!)

Staying friends with the neighbors

2007-10-04T21:35:00.001-05:00

I think its important to establish a good relationship with one's neighbors. Daddy is kind of shy and Mommy is kind of obnoxious, so I guess this responsibility falls to me.

Talking with the neighbors from meandertail on Vimeo.

I am 9 months old!

2007-09-30T08:27:00.001-05:00

Well, I'm 9 months old now! I have been Owen for pretty much the same amount of time that I was Studs. It has been more fun being Owen though.

Generosity

2007-09-28T18:44:00.000-05:00

I'm a very thoughtful baby. When I am eating broccoli and parsnips, I don't want to hog them all. I want the dog to have some too!

One for me, the rest for the dog from meandertail on Vimeo.

Mommy?

2007-09-26T21:03:00.000-05:00

OMG. Mommy took me to school on Monday morning. She plopped me down on the mat, found a cool toy for me to play with and then went off to do her job. But a totally weird thing happened next. Daddy came to pick me up! I figured Mommy would be waiting for me at home but, SHE WASN'T! Then in the morning, she wasn't there either. OR the next night! Today was Wednesday and, surprise! Mommy picked me up at school. What happened to her??

She said she had to go to some retreat for work. It was at the beach. It was her first time being away from me for so long.

Actually, lets be honest. I barely noticed. Daddy did a good job. He fed me (I threw broccoli at him), he gave me a bottle (I spit up on him), he gave me a bath, he read me a book and put me to bed. He followed all of the Buggle routines. Excellent. We played and went for a walk. It was fun!

But now Mommy is back and I am so excited!!!

Dog wash

2007-09-23T09:19:00.001-05:00

Last weekend we did another fun thing. We got the dog to take a bath! I don't think it was fun for him, but it was for me. It was a charity dog wash that was at our vets office. It support their Stray Fund, so they can take care of stray cats and dogs that people bring in, and then they adopt them out to people. Thats where Mommy and Daddy got my favorite cat, Jasmine!
We all got into the car. I sat in my new carseat, which had just been installed that morning!

Daddy and I watched some people put Milo into a big bath and start washing him.

Then they dried him off.

When we got home, Daddy brushed him a lot to get all the old hair out. He is still hairy, but he is not as smelly as he used to be! Yay!

Outside at the museum. Plus: Mommy's idea of hell

2007-09-22T12:47:00.000-05:00

We had a busy day today. In the morning, I woke Mommy and Daddy up early (6 am!) to get started on the day. When the stores opened, we went to the grocery store because they were tripling coupons! Woo! Then we got back in the car and drove to the NC Museum of Life and Science again. We met my friend Ike and his mommy and daddy.

Today it was only in the upper 80s, not the upper 90s like last time I went to the museum, so we did the outside stuff that I didn't get a chance to see before. They had a bunch of stuff you could bang, like drums and stuff. Ike can walk around all by himself, so he could bang on the drums.

Here's Daddy and Ike's daddy trying to figure out what this thing is.

You're suppossed to put your ear up to the pipes and you can hear stuff!

Daddy or Mommy pushed me in my stroller sometimes, and other times they carried me. Here's a picture of Daddy carrying me on his shoulders, which is my favorite way to travel!

Then we went into the butterfly house. They had lots of butterflies flying around and a lot of neat flowers and plants. Here's Daddy showing me one.

There were a bunch of butterflies getting ready to hatch!

When we got out of the butterfly house, it was time to ride the train!! It was fun. It went pretty fast and was all jiggly which I like.

I was pretty tired by this point (Mommy is trying to stick to the 1 nap schedule the daycare has me on during the week, but sometimes its a little touch-and-go as we get closer to noon!) so I was totally grumpypantsing while we were waiting to get going. Mommy was trying to keep me entertained by giving me a toy, but I threw it over the side of the train. We had to wait until the train ride was over to get it back. After that we went home. I told you I was tired! I took a nap in my new car seat (Daddy's car version) and then continued the nap in my crib at home.

Okay, now to Mommy's hell. Mommy had heard from Ike's dad that there was a room that had bugs in it. Mommy HAAAAAAATES bugs. Hates hates hates them. Ike's daddy warned Mommy not to go into this room, but she decided to give it a try. There were a ton of huge, enormous, hideous bugs in little glass cages. Here's Ike looking at a cage of bugs (actually, this one might have frogs in it, come to think of it, but it was in the bug room).

There was an area (not even a cage or anything, just an open area!) that had HUGE SPIDERS that were BUILDING HUGE WEBS and they were RIGHT OUT IN THE OPEN where they could just crawl onto you if they wanted to!! Mommy practically hyperventilated and died.

One of the hideous cages of bugs was filled with Madagascar hissing cockroaches.

Yes, Mommy took that picture too, but she assures me that she was just about ready to run out of the room. You won't believe this, but in 4th grade Mommy says her class pet was a cockroach just like this that they had gotten from the Johnson Wax testing facility. His name was Raid and Mommy and G-G babysat him over Christmas break or something. And he ate dog food and Grape Nuts.

Different uses for the same thing

2007-09-18T20:44:00.000-05:00

I got this push toy that is supposed to help me learn to walk, but it goes a little bit too fast for me right now (it has no brakes! what is up with that?). So I use it for other things. Like, this:

Pushy from meandertail on Vimeo.

Or like this:

Everything is funnier the millionth time around from meandertail on Vimeo.

Fun weekend!

2007-09-17T08:40:00.000-05:00

This weekend was a fun weekend! On Saturday morning, Mommy and I met our friend Anna and went to the Farmers' Market. We bought lots of vegetables and then went back to Anna's house and she made us breakfast! Yum! While Mommy and Anna talked, I played with Anna's pets. She has a dog named Ostrich and a cat named uh.... I forget! Azreal! I don't know how to spell that though.

Anyway, I love cats and her cat loved me too. He kept rolling around near me and sniffing my face. It was great!
Then on Saturday night we went to my friend Julianna's house for dinner. She has a neat playroom with lots of new and exciting toys!

Then I went to the grocery store with Mommy and Daddy. I helped them get some bread.

Daddy got me a balloon and tied it to the shopping cart, so I was entertained the whole time!

In the afternoon we went to Jax's house for a playdate. He has lots of cats, so I got to see MORE cats! Mommy took some pictures at the playdate too, but they're all on her big camera still. There were some other babies there from the Mommies group. I brought my favorite toy, the irritating musical toolbench!

Then I went for a walk with Mommy and Daddy. The sun was bright in my face for part of our walk so Daddy pulled me backwards and Mommy ran behind me and made me laugh.

Chatting

2007-09-08T12:03:00.000-05:00

My family lives in North Carolina, but its only me, Mommy, Daddy and the cats and dog here. Everybody else lives somewhere else. New Hampshire, England, Pennsylvania, Florida, Illinois, Texas... and that is just my relatives! I have lots of friends who live in other places too. We use our computer to keep in touch with people. I write on my blog, and Mommy writes on hers too. But sometimes we want to talk to people, so we do video chats on Skype.

We have used Skype to talk to my great grandparents, Mom-mom and Pop-pop, who live in Florida. Here's a picture of Daddy and G-G talking to them. They were walking around the house giving them a tour.

Last weekend we talked to Nan and Grandad and my Aunt Sharon, Uncle Kevin and my cousins Zoe, Lauren and Jack. They live in England.

We have also talked to my Aunt Denise and Uncle Mike and my cousins Madelyn and Molly, who live in Philadelphia. If you want to talk to us sometime, email Mommy and she'll tell you how!

Keeping up to date on the latest research

2007-09-05T19:46:00.000-05:00

I have a pretty demanding schedule as a baby. This weekend was a holiday weekend, but did I get to do anything fun? No, I did not. I had to read some papers to make sure that I am up on the most recent scientific literature.
Lets see here...

Hm. I'm sure they mentioned a similar phenomenon in this other paper. Now where was that....

Well, I'm not sure that I'm totally convinced by this gel shift analysis.

I think this other group had a slightly better experimental design.

What do you think Daddy?

Yeah, I agree. I think this really does change the whole paradigm.

Boy. This paper is booooring! Snore!

I'm 10 times more grumpy than you.

2007-09-03T18:03:00.000-05:00

At least. Maybe 15 times more grumpy. See, I have a cold. I have had it for the last, oh, 10 or 11 days. At first I was fine, just messy. My nose was running constantly, so I had booger face all of the time. I had a cough too, a nice chunky sounding one. But I didn't feel too bad.

This weekend though, GRUMPY. Now I don't just have a cold, but I have a fever too. For the last three nights, my fever has been between 102 and 103. UGH. I know I'm not happy, but I don't know what I want.

I want Mommy to hold me. No, I want her to put me down. No, I want her to HOOOOOOLD MEEEEEE! PUT ME DOWN!! WAAAAAAH! I want Daddy!! DAAAAAADDY! Wait! WAIT!! Mommy! Want Mommy!!! No Mommy, put me down!!

I want a drink! No, not that drink! No drink!! Get away from me with your boobs and your bottles and your sippy cups! I don't want any of it! No wait! That boob!! No, not that one, THAT ONE. NOOOOO! NO BOOB!

I'm tired. Tired! Yaaaaaawn!! *rubs eyes* Mommy! I'm tired! I'm so tired I can barely hold my own head up! Put me in my crib! Put me DOWN AND PUT ME IN MY CRIB!! Nooooooo!!! Don't leave me! I want my pacifier. Where is my pacifier?? *throws pacifier out of the side of the crib* My pacifier! How can you put me in this crib with no pacifiers?? I'm tired! Wait! I don't want to go to sleep! Nooooo!!

Its exhausting being so indecisive!

And tomorrow I can't go to school because I have a fever. And I know Mommy is all "I have to give my talk tomorrow!" blah blah blah. I don't care. I want her to hooooooold meeeeee! Nooo!!! PUT ME DOWN!! MOMMY!!

I'm 8 months old!

2007-09-01T18:41:00.000-05:00

Hey everybody! I'm 8 months old!

I'm so happy, I could just clap!
(which I did for the first time today, at least the first time that Mommy has noticed)

Clap your hands say yeah! from meandertail and Vimeo.

My first eye doctors appointment

2007-08-29T19:03:00.000-05:00

Today we went to the eye doctors. For me! I know, you probably thought it was for Mommy because a) she has a wierd eye problem called strabismus and b) babies don't go to the eye doctor! I mean, do they? Well, GUESS WHAT. They do.

See, there are lots of eye problems that can affect how well you see. Some of them, if you get them treated when you're a baby, can be fixed so that you see fine when you're a big kid or a grown up. Like Mommy's strabismus, for example. That is a problem where her eyes don't line up right. Her brain didn't know what to do with that so it decided that it would just ignore one eye. So Mommy has no depth perception, which means I probably can't count on her playing tennis with me. Oh well! When Mommy was little they didn't treat strabismus as early as they do now. She did not have surgery until she was 3.5 years old, but now they do it on babies even less than a year old some times!

Anyhow, a group of optometrists (and apparently Jimmy Carter!) called InfantSEE have decided to give free vision tests to babies to help find these sorts of problems. Pretty cool! Mommy wanted to make sure I didn't have the same problem that she had so she made an appointment for me.

This is the chair I sat in. Well, Mommy sat in the chair and held me.

The doctor put some glass things in front of my eyes and flashed a little light around for me to look at. Then he leaned the chair (and me and Mommy) back and put some drops in my eyes. Ack! It was like pinkeye all over again!

I had to wait a while for the drops to do their job, so Mommy read me a book about glaucoma.

And then she let me play with it.
Then the doctor came back in and turned off the lights. He put another glass thing in front of my eye and then shone another light into my eye! Ow! My eyes were sensitive to the light! I don't know what was in those drops, but I didn't like it!

When we finished, he said that my eyes looked great! Perfectly aligned. Phew!

OMG MORE TEETH!

2007-08-27T19:09:00.000-05:00

I'm getting more teeth! Mommy looked into my mouth yesterday to check on the progress of my most recent teeth (the top two in front, both have come through the gums now) and she found a surprise! The two next to those are just about to break through! I could have told her that! Do you think I can't feel them??