Random Anecdote

Friday night the boys went to yet another Nats game, leaving Nora and I to fend for ourselves. Nora decided to take her grocery cart outside and then asked me where her grocery store should be. I suggested "Ann's" as our neighbor 2 doors down has a more open space in front of her house. We walked over to Ann's house and upon arriving, Nora proceeded to bend over and stare intently at the ground. Every so often, she would stand up and ask me where her grocery store was, to which I responded, with a note of confusion, "It's Ann's house." Finally, after several minutes had passed, Nora stood triumphantly, pointed to an ant and shouted, "Oh, there's my grocery store!"

2008 - The Year in Phrases

We were originally going to do, "The Year in Language," for our annual retrospective and list all the words that Owen now says. But that would require more typing that we're willing to do -- Owen's vocabulary was over 200 words before his birthday and has been increasing exponentially since -- and wouldn't make for the most fascinating of blog posts anyway. So instead, we've decided to share some of our favorite (and most used) phrases uttered in 2008:

1. Don't touch my haircut.
2. I too big for Daddy to carry.
3. Mommy, go cook something.
4. Thank you for cooking, Mommy.
5. It's very delicious.
6. It's fine.
7. I'm putting stars on the window.
8. Daddy doesn't go to church.
9. I hurt my butt.
10. Don't eat me.
11. I'm conducting.
12. That's forbidden, Mommy.
13. It's party time!
14. Move back.
15. I need my privacy.
16. I did a great job singing.
17. I like to move it, move it.
18. The camel waited for me.
19. Watch out for doggy poop.
20. Watch out for zebra poop.
21. I'm doing stuff.
22. I want to watch the muppet dvd.
23. I'm a sleepy lion.
24. I'm a waking up lion!
25. I have lots of gas.
26. Silly, Daddy.
27. Don't be silly, Mommy, the Hinkel-Horn-Honker is for waking up.
28. We're just hanging out here.
29. Wahhhhh....you better get a tissue.
30. I don't want to be crying.
31. Don't get the boogers out.
32. I cough a lot, Mommy.
33. I don't know.
34. Don't do me now.
35. I need to build a tall tall tower.
36. I need to knock down a tall tall tower.
37. It's dark in here everybody!
38. We're inside the Capitol everybody!
39. I better get my pasta out of my pocket.
40. You did a great job everybody.
41. I look pretty...I look beautiful.
42. See you later alligator.
43. After awhile crocodile.
44. You better wait right there daddy.
45. I'll be right back.
46. I want my blue bee bee bee and my orange bee bee bee.
47. Excuse me, you're on my parking lot.
    

Food for Thought

We were discussing the dietary habits of various species the other day (as we are wont to do) and Owen made the following observations:

1. "Horses eat grass and hay."
2. "Doggies eat goldfish and sticks*."
3. "Owen eats watermelon."
4. "Daddy eats food."
5. "Mommy eats candy."

Yeah, he might be a little too perceptive.

* This is actually true. A dog absconded with Owen's goldfish crackers at the park on the way home one night and then later that same week, Garcon ripped a stick out of Owen's hand, hence doggies eat goldfish and sticks. He's probably scarred for life but on the upside, it's looking less likely that we'll have to get him a puppy.

The Owen EP

Owen is really into singing these days. It's pretty adorable, take a look.



Track Listing:
1. ABC song
2. Mary had a Little Lamb
3. This Old Man
4. Ba Ba Black Sheep

Grandpa Hand More Outside

Elaine's parents are in town for a visit and we all went over to Mom Mom's house for dinner last night. Owen of course loves having his grandparents around since he's a bit of a ham and his grandparents are all easily impressed. His favorite part of the evening was probably when he thought he was finished with dinner (grilled lamb which Owen thought was delicious), and tried to squirm out of the high chair. Grandma Z asked him to put his arms back in, and he dutifully slipped his arms back in the straps. This somehow elicited a round of applause from all of Owen's grandparents, which he just ate up. Not one to leave well enough alone, Owen repeated the trick until diminishing marginal returns set in and the ever weakening rounds of applause was no longer worth the effort.

My favorite part of the evening was watching Owen interact with all his grandparents: Grandma and Grandpa Z, Mom Mom and Grandpa Don. He was giving out kisses left and right, and he set an unofficial personal record with a four word sentence. One of his games was to take everyone on a lap out the back door onto the porch, down the stairs onto the patio, around the porch to the side of the house, up the stairs, in the side door, around to the back door, and back inside again. He called this game going, "outside," and after playing it once and not noticing any diminishing marginal utility of this game, he would announce his desire to play again by saying, "more outside." After he wore out one playmate he would search out his next victim (grandparents are always an easy mark, especially when you say their name in an adorably cute voice) and ask to hold their hand so he could lead them on an adventure, "Grandpa hand more outside?" How can you say no to that?

The Joke

Owen has made up another sign. Last time he made up a sign for banana, which was clearly useful for communicating his desire for one of his favorite foods. This time around his new sign appears to be some sort of joke. With his right index finger he points at his left palm and bursts into fits of laughter. When we make the sign he cracks up as if he can't believe we said something so silly.

We're still not sure where the banana sign came from, but we do have some wild theories about the origins of "the joke." Owen's sign for "more" is putting his two fists together, but alternate signs for "more" involve putting your fist against your palm or the tips of your fingers against your palm. Maybe, when Owen uses his "joke" sign, he thinks he's signing for "more" with a funny accent.

Alternatively, Owen has a new best friend at day care named Leo. We know they're best friends because Owen spends an inordinate amount of time during his evenings and weekends shouting "LEO!", and whenever they see each other at day care they both start giddily jumping up and down. Recently, Leo moved to the next classroom, which is separated from Owen's classroom by a small potty training bathroom with see through half doors. When Owen is feeling lonely, he'll climb up the door and hang over into the bathroom shouting, "LEO!" Leo in turn will start shouting, "OWEN!" and climb up the door on his side. I wouldn't put it past the two of them to have come up with their own little inside joke, pointing their fingers at their palms, with some hilarious hidden meaning that none of us outsiders could ever know.

2007 - The Year in Language

Now that the seven days of Christmas are finally over (or eight if you count the trip home where we met up with Joe, Cat and Gigi again in the St. Louis airport; and Owen thankfully did not get sick, but did scream for a good portion of the flight from St. Louis to DC) it's time for a year end blog post. Last year we had the year in sleep, this year's first post brings us the year in language.

Back in April Owen started in strong with B as his first consonant. By October Owen was using several real words, including uh-oh, da da, ma, ball, book, and doggie. November brought us cracker (or ca ca if you must). December has had almost daily additions.

Owen has also been making good use of his baby signs. In October he had down signs for eat, milk, and bath. Since then he's added signs for more, sleep and interestingly a sign of his own invention for banana. (It took us a while to figure out what Owen meant when he rubbed his left forearm with his right hand as it didn't match up with any of the signs in our book, and no one else at daycare was using the sign. By the time he started saying nana every time he made the sign it was abundantly clear what Owen had been trying to tell us.)

Somewhere, Elaine heard that toddlers were supposed to have 100 words by 18 months. This of course worried Elaine at the time, but in the past month Owen's language skills have really taken off. We tried to make a list of all of Owen's words for this post, and we came up with 31 words that Owen has either mastered (Elaine's requirement) or used (Allen's requirement). He's surprising us with new words everyday, so in another month or two he may just make Elaine's goal.

all right
apple
baa
baby
ball
banana
bath time
book
bye
car
cheese
cracker
daddy
diaper
doggie
done
hi
light
mama
moo
more
neigh
ooh
outside
pop pop
row
tree
uh-oh
up
water
woof

Caca

Owen started saying "caca" a few weeks ago. Despite its Spanish meaning, we were pretty sure that Owen was asking for a "cracker" whenever he used it, and responded by giving him something in the complex carbohydrate family and congratulating him. However, Owen's use of the word quickly morphed into whatever food he was in the mood for, including pears, bananas, tortellini and other non-cracker like substances. Yesterday, he used "caca" to refer to the brass knocker on our front door and the chain on the the storm door. Allen is convinced that when Owen uses "caca" he really does mean something and that we as parents are simply failing to understand him. I think Owen is just babbling and that Allen is full of caca. Any thoughts, gentle readers?

Austin

Since Texas won the college poll, we decided to take Owen down to Austin over Columbus day weekend. We had a great time taking Owen around to all our old haunts (the Econ department, Changos, Club de Ville, etc...), and visiting friends and family. We stayed with my Aunt Janis & Uncle Truman, and Pop Pop was there too. Owen had a great time chasing their dog Brandy, and I'd be convinced he had the word 'doggy' down pat if he didn't call so many other things something that sounds suspiciously similar. When he wasn't chasing the dog, Owen was playing the piano or playing catch with his great grandfather.

On Sunday we had to amend our plans for a bbq over at Channing & Kelly's when their son Calder came down with pink eye. Instead, Kelly and Calder dropped Channing off at Trudy's to meet us and Ned & Amanda for lunch. Hopefully next time we're in Texas Calder will be up for a play date. That afternoon we took Owen on a tour of campus, and a visit to the LBJ library. Thankfully there weren't too many people at the Library just before closing time on Sunday afternoon, because Owen had a great time running around, watching the animatronic LBJ, and listening to the echo of his own laughter. I'm not sure if all the archivists in the family should be proud or horrified ;-)


(click here to see all the pictures)

Leaps & Bounds

Over the last month or so Owen has been constantly surprising us with his newfound communication skills. He has a few words now, most notably "uh-oh," "da da," "ma," "ball," and "book" (which sounds remarkably similar to ball). He's also started using some baby signs, which are much more useful for actual communication. When he's hungry, he signs eat, he makes the milk sign when he wants to nurse, and he'll rub up and down on his chest when we take him upstairs for his bath. The best part of all these signs is that they really make it evident that he's trying to communicate -- when he's talking, we have to work a bit harder to figure out what he's trying to say.

In other developmental fronts, Owen is figuring out how everything works. When he plays with keys, he tries to put them up to the door knob; when he plays with the watering can, he tries to water the plants; and he tries to put his shoes and socks on his feet. It's a fun time watching him develop into a full fledged toddler (and a little sad now that he's not our little baby any more).

B B B BumBle Bee

One of the axioms of early childhood development that we've heard over and over again as new parents is that babies tend to focus on one area of development at a time. In other words, early walkers tend to be late talkers. For the last few months, Owen has borne out this conventional wisdom as he's been focused on movement, while his vocalizations have remained somewhat random. We've been trying to pique his interest in talking for a while now by working with him on his consonants, particularly his D's and M's. The goal, of course, being that if he hears "D D D Daddy" and "M M M Mommy" enough times, he might break out a "da da" or "ma ma" and melt our hearts. For the most part, he's responded to all of these sounds with only mild interest. That is until we went to St. Louis. Cate joined in on our consonant fun, skipping past "D D D Daddy" and "M M M Mommy," and going straight for the jugular with "B B B BumBle Bee." Owen must of loved it, because for the past week he's been all about the "B". It's quite adorable to listen to him experimenting with the sound, but at the same time it's a little bit sad that his first pseudo word isn't "ma ma" or "da da," instead he can't stop saying "Buba".