...and babies make 4: December 2012

Owen is getting more vocal these days which is lots of fun. I'm pretty sure he said Mommy today! He likes to say "dad" a lot although I don't think he knows what it means. I hear lots of ba, da, ga, ma and I think I heard lalala yesterday. He had a pair of pants on the other day with a bear on them and Pat would point at it and say "bear" and Owen would either say "ba" or just point at it and look at Pat. He's also learned how to remove the battery covers on the remote controls.
Owen likes to "dance" when he hears music. He just sits on the floor bouncing and waves his arms up and down. Super cute.
He's learned to scoot backwards on the hardwood floors. The other day he went from the middle of the living room to the kitchen but complained the entire time. We've been helping him practice standing which he loves. He's gotten pretty good at pulling himself up if I'm holding his arms. I can tell when he's done most of the work because he gets this really proud look on his face.
We're feeding him more table food but he's not quite sure what to think of it. He acts like he wants what we're eating but then looks disappointed when I give him some. He mostly just likes to mush it in his hands or flick it on the floor so it's usually just one meal a day and the rest are pureed foods.
3 nights this week he has slept for 12 hours straight. I'm kind of torn about it though. He had been waking up between 5-6:30, nursing, then sleeping until 8 so in the last week or two I decided to stay up after that first waking and have some quiet time to read or get some housework done. It was working out quite nicely. The disadvantage to him sleeping through the night is that he then wakes up at 7 and the rest of our day just feels off because he wants to nap at 9 and 1 instead of 10 and 2 and is a wreck by 5. This morning he woke up at 6:45 but I put him back in his bed after nursing him even though he acted like he was ready to be up for the day and he stayed there until 8:15. I might give that a try this week and see what happens. Just when you think you have it figured out! I should know by now that I'll never figure it out.
All 4 top teeth are now visible! I'm still having a hard time picturing him with a tooth-filled smile though.
Owen get some new toys that he's having fun playing with. One is a giraffe that when you push on its head it makes little balls pop and spin; another giraffe that has 3 holes to put balls in which he's figured out in the last couple of days; and a pat-a-cake puppet book with Curious George.
We still like to go to the library on Fridays and Owen is learning to share toys. I'm also learning how to deal with kids that crawl up to him and rip toys out of his hands. Owen's favorite time at Book Babies is when they pass out bells and he gets to shake them/chew on them. His least favorite time is when those bells have to be put away. The last 2 weeks he's freaked out when I had to take them away. He just cried and cried and cried. This last time the little boy next to us didn't like having his bells taken away either so he and Owen cried together. I chatted with his mom a while after the program was over and he is a couple of weeks older than Owen. They also live somewhat nearby and her husband is in a Ph.D program as well so I think we're going to get together sometime for a playdate.
I'm excited for Owen's first Christmas! I got all of the Christmas decorations out when we got home after Thanksgiving and Owen likes the lights. I'm thankful that he's not mobile yet and I don't have to worry about him getting into the tree. I put everything out a little earlier than usual this year since there's a possibility that I'll have to take it down early if Owen starts crawling or walking.
We're going to be gone for about 3 1/2 weeks for Christmas so I'm hoping that Owen (and Pat & I!) do okay being away from home and normalcy for that long. I'm really excited to see family though and see Owen play with his cousins!