walking and "talking"

I am doing a terrible job of updating lately. It definitely hasn't been for a lack of thing to write about. I guess it's just what happens when you have a very active toddler.

Owen is walking more and more although his balance still needs some work. He's choosing to walk more on his own and we don't really have to prod him much. One day he impressed me by squatting down when he started to lose his balance then standing right back up as soon as he had steadied himself.

His curiosity has not waned at all so he spends a lot of time opening drawers and cupboard doors, pointing and "uhh!"ing so that I will tell him what something is. His curiosity still gets him into trouble when he wants to look in the garbage can after mommy has said no several times, or just needs to be reminded what those buttons on the dvd player do, and sometimes it's just "I wonder if mom and dad REALLY mean no?"

Owen and I survived 4.5 days without daddy 2 weeks ago. It was not easy and further confirmed that I could not make it as a single parent. Being the sole disciplinarian was the hardest part I think. Pat and I tried to FaceTime once while Owen was up and it did not go well. Owen got very upset about only seeing daddy (as well as not being able to touch the iPad). We didn't try again! Pat's leaving for a few days in July so we might have to figure out a trip somewhere or have an auntie come stay with us ;) I wish I could say I had a good attitude while Pat was gone and tried to make the most of that time but I really was just in survival mode. Maybe next time. We had one morning where Owen would not go down for his nap and just cried every time I left the room so I sat in the rocker with him and he fell asleep in my lap for a while then I managed to put him back in his bed while he stayed asleep. I can't remember the last time I've laid him down asleep. It was fun to have some snuggle time as well as my usual time while he naps.

We turned our basement into Owen's playroom a couple of weeks ago and Pat is moving his "office" to our bedroom. It's nice to have a place for Owen that doesn't have anything in it that he can't touch. Our only issue is that he likes to climb the stairs so I'm going to have to look harder for a gate. The hard part of rearranging is finding a place for all of the stuff that was in the basement that can no longer go there. We've been working on getting rid of as much stuff as possible but it's tough!

We mad a quick trip to KC last weekend to celebrate Grandpa Downes' birthday. Pat and I got to go to a few garage sales on Saturday while Owen stayed with Grandma. We had a great time down there! We're leaving on Friday to go see my family so another few hours in the car for Owen. My sister is having a bridal shower on Saturday so we're looking forward to another weekend with more grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins this time!

Yesterday Owen was super cute while I was holding him. I had him on my hip and was looking in his dresser for some clothes and my hair was kind of in my face since I was looking down. He all of the sudden leaned forward to look at my face, smiled, then straightened back up. (Hopefully that description explains it well enough.) He did it over and over which was so fun.

We still haven't figured out if Owen has said any real words yet. He's been trying more lately it seems and Pat is pretty sure that he said "hawkeye" the other day. He loves to point out Hawkeye and Jayhawk logos. Pat has been teaching him to see "rock chalk" whenever he sees a jayhawk so I'm sure that will happen soon enough.

He is still obsessed with buttons and continues to point and grunt until you let him touch all of them.

Owen went through a growth spurt in the last 6 weeks or so. I had just started putting him in 12 month clothes 2-3 months ago and I'm already pulling out 18 month stuff. He's gotten so tall!

We think Owen had a nightmare the other night because he woke up about 2 hours after going to bed crying a scared cry that escalated really quickly. Pat ran up there to check on him because it was not a cry that we usually hear. He was fine after sitting with daddy for a bit though. I think hearing him cry from being afraid is worse than hearing him cry in pain.

This kid is picking up sign language so fast that it is amazing. It blows me away considering he didn't start signing until right around his birthday. Here are the words he knows although I'll probably forget some:

more
eat
milk
water
drink
all done
thank you
please
banana
apple
chicken
sleep (this one he just started tonight)
car
airplane
cat
dog
bird
duck
bear
leaf
play (this is a maybe)
fan
hot (kind of)
light
star
baby
shoes
toothbrush
ball

And these are some that Owen made up:
music - bops his arm up and down. He does this when he wants me to play music and it's also how he dances.
I want to watch Signing Time - stands in front of the tv and taps his pointers together.

I'm loving being able to communicate with him even when there are times I cannot figure out what he's trying to sign. I figure it would be the same if he was saying words though.

Owen started blowing kisses to people which nobody doesn't like! :)

This post got pretty wordy. Sorry about that. I'll try to find some photos soon!