THE MOST ADORABLE LITTLE BILLETT JUST WENT TEE TEE IN THE POTTY FOR THE FIRST TIME!!!
Proud Mommy,
Carianne
Some Things I’ve Loved Wearing
8 months ago
Monday, September 26, 2011
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Pictures from cell phone
I finally found a pocket of time to retrieve several pictures from my phone that have been collected there for several months. My phone does not have the best camera, and I am often annoyed at the delay that exists between pressing the button to capture the picture and actually capturing the picture. Oh well.
Above each picture (or group of pictures), I have provided a date and/or caption because some are from as far back as June. Owen has changed so much since some of these were taken!!
(I have several pictures to post from my actual camera, too, but that will have to be another day. There are 45 here, so by the time I add dates and captions, I will most likely be out of blogging time for the day!)
June 15 - Owen's first marimba lesson from Uncle Kyle.
This was around the time we painted Uncle Kyle's band hall this summer.
June 23 - This was from one of our days over at Gramommy's house.
June 23 - The next four pictures were just a cute "series" I took while Owen was playing with some of his smaller toys.
June 28 - That's one way to do it!
July 1 - While Austin and I worked on lots of home improvement projects at his mom's house this summer, Owen really took a liking to Uncle Kyle's Lego Hogwarts castle. He would just stand there in front of it and say "neat."
July 6 - This series of pictures shows a typical meal at our house. Well, actually, this particular meal is at Billie Lu's house, but it gives you an idea of what we go through (or on some days, BATTLE)!!
Showing some interest.
Not as interested anymore, but still seated.
Distracted and most likely starting to squirm.
See you guys later. I am out of here.
Man, I am hungry. I think I will go see if my plate is still there.
Some meals are better than others which means, also, that some are worse. I guess it depends on his mood, what we are eating, how hungry (or not) he is, what else is going on at the time, etc. I have found lately that I can usually buy another 5-7 minutes of him staying seated if I hold him in my lap at the table.
July 7 - We had a little playdate with Emerson and her mommy, Samantha. We went to a local park, ate lunch, and played on the equipment. Austin was able to join us too, so that was fun.
Owen looking at the camera.
Emerson looking at the camera.
Oh, soooo close! I almost had them both.
Hey! Whatcha doing up there?
A hot slide calls for a towel to sit on!
Weeeeee!
July 9 - We ran to Barnes and Noble one night to pick up a Scrabble Dictionary as part of my parent's anniversary gift and as soon as Owen was free from our hold, he ran to this section of books. No lie. The one he is holding is Basic Math and Pre Algebra for Dummies. THAT'S MY BOY!! :)
July 10 - Just a cute picture of our smiling boy! The three below it are of Owen practicing his driving. He likes to say "prakiss driving" so sometimes we will let him sit in the driver's seat and play with the steering wheel as well as all the controls and buttons.
July 18 - He must have seen Austin or myself doing some measuring with the yard stick because he knew just what to do with it when he got ahold of it!
July 24 - He was learning about his new flash cards from Gramommy. One, two, free. Haha!
July 30 -We went to a birthday party for the daughter of the lady who watches Owen in the church toddler room. After the cake and cupcakes were served, and after Owen and I shared a cupcake, this is how I found him when I thought he had run along to play with some other kids. The little sneak had taken another cupcake from the table and went off to enjoy it in peace.
How can you be mad at such a cute face?
It's apparent that he is a frosting-loving boy...just like his mommy!
August 2 - Nothing makes this drum sound as good as a couple of plastic bowling pins!
August 2 - Just hanging out with Mommy.
August 4 - Owen hugging his new Clifford that Gramommy got him from Kohl's.
September 4 - All ready for church after staying our first night at Gramommy's house.
September 10 - Garage sale back on 101st Street.
September 16 - New bed at Grammy and Papa's house in Odessa.
September 25 - All ready for church.
More pictures coming soon!
Happy week to each of you!
Carianne
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
I wish...
We are often asked "If you had ____ wish(es), what would you wish for?"
Hmmm, what would I wish for?
There are days I would say "to be a permanent size 10 without having to change my diet"...mmmm donuts, cookies, and ice cream ;)
There are other days I would say "to spend one more day with a loved one who has passed away."
I would even go as far as to admit that I would love the chance to wish for "lots and lots of money" or "for three more wishes" or "to go on a vacation"...
I suppose the request depends on the day, mood, frame of mind, and situation I am in at that moment.
If I was asked today, I would say "FREEZE TIME right where it is."
You see, Owen is 22 months old today. My mind can hardly wrap around that statement. He is just a mere 2 months away from being 2 years old and I honestly have no idea where the time has gone. It has simply escaped and I will never get these precious days back. Each day is more precious than the day before!
Although I may not remember every minute detail or the order in which all the details fell together to make one whole day or week...I have enjoyed all the days. All the weeks. All the months. All the playing. All the walks. All the laughing. All the struggles. All the responsibilities. All the frustrations. All the stories. All the "firsts." All the laundry. All the messes. All the moments. All the hugs and kisses. ...and I look forward to SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many more of these days!
We could not begin to fathom 22 months ago how simply amazing parenting would be. How fitting it was/is to our lives. So fulfilling. So incredible. So rewarding. So special. I may have a few pounds to shed, a few lessons to learn about patience, a little (ok, A LOT of) clutter to sort through, a lot of debt to pay off, a little prioritizing to do, some correspondence to catch up on, and so on...but I have a good life. God has truly blessed me.
I suppose I am a wee bit more emotional than normal right now. As I mentioned in the last post, we have moved from our darling home on 101st as a way to pay off debt, eliminate some monthly expenses, and start saving what we can. It's been a hard transition for me (emotionally), but we are loved by many, we are doing our best when it comes to being parents, making decisions, and getting things done, and we have shelter, food, a shower, and other basic necessities. The night we finished up the packing, moving, and cleaning was the hardest, but we made it. We said good-bye and are trying to focus only on the future. We have the memories that were made in that house and that is what matters.
I started to work full time a few weeks ago, so that has been a HUGE adjustment for our family. New bedtimes, new wake-up times, new meal planning/packing routines, new daytime and evening schedules. New everything. It's been tough, but again, we are making it. Survival is key these days. :) Austin's mom's house is a disaster...the piles of laundry, boxes and bags of things to put away, lack of space. What a challenge! It's slow, but with every item that is put away, we see bits of progress. I am hoping to make HUGE progress this weekend.
Austin's year is starting off well. He has the same scheduling issues he had last year (and the year before) but once those get worked out, he will be as happy as a clam! Owen's day care and Parent's Day Out are going VERY well. He is happy when I drop him off and happy when I pick him up, so the Lord has FOR SURE put him in great hands! Thank you, LORD!! When I tell him to say "bye bye" as we are leaving Miss Andrea's house, he says "bye bye friends" (in the sweetest, high-pitched voice!) It never fails to make me smile.
Being Owen's 22-month birthday, I wanted to recap a few things that I know I will forget if I don't document them. They are sure to get covered up in my mind as more days pass.
We taught Owen our first names about a month ago and from time to time, we quiz him on it. "Owen, what is Mommy's name?" "What is Daddy's name?" His remarkable memory has made this "lesson" easy! About 2-3 days after lots and lots of quizzing, we were all three in the car going somewhere. Austin and I had been talking but had just ended our conversation so we were just looking out the windshield in front of us. All of a sudden, from the backseat, we hear in a very polite and slightly grown-up voice "Hey, Austin. Hey, Carianne." We DIED laughing. It was so funny. So much so that I am laughing again now as I type! :) The happy tears started streaming down my face from laughing at our boy and as I wiped away tears, he said "Mommy crying." Oh, my life! My sweet, happy life!
Owen has started speaking in (mostly) complete sentences when it comes to things he is familiar with. Some examples are:
"Want some milk, please." (or juice, chocolate milk, crackers, etc) OR "More milk, please."
"Get back Shelby/Olive/Molly/Scottie." (when coming in the front or back door from outside)
"Owen _______ too." (As in "Mommy is going to read a book." to which Owen says "Owen read a book too." If we let the dogs out and say, "All dogs outside!" Owen says "Owen go outside too.")
"Let's go in red car." (or "blue car" if we are taking Austin's car somewhere) He usually does this in the morning when we are about to leave.
"This is Owen's/Mommy's/Daddy's _________." He has a very good understanding of possession and uses his words well to let us know. He likes to go around the table at dinner and say "Mommy's plate. Daddy's plate. Mommy's fork. Daddy's fork. Mommy's chair. Daddy's chair. etc. He does this with MANY things on and off throughout the day. Of course he also says "Owen's ball/shoes/book/plate/etc." He has slowly started learning "my" but it comes out sometimes as "This is mys (mize) cup."
"This means no, no." (while shaking his head from side to side)
"This means yes." (while nodding his head up and down)
"Take a bath" and "Squeeze hug" are not complete sentences, but he does like these phrases.
(After pulling a sock off) he says "One sock on. One sock off." He really likes to learn opposites! Hot/cold. Light/dark. On/off. Big/little. Stop/go.
Once day I was holding him and he said ever-so-bluntly, "Give me a kiss." It was adorable!
"One, two, free (haha), four, five, six, eight, nine, ten." He seems to think 'seven' does not exist. When we say, "Which number did you forget?" He says, "seven." If we remind him not to forget 'seven' he will often get it right, but if we just say, "Let's count," he will usually not include it.
He likes to spot cars and other vehicles (mostly from the car windows while we are driving). He especially loves seeing tractors, trains, buses, vans, Jeeps, airplanes, and helicopters. He shows his knowledge of size by saying things like "Mommy bus/Daddy bus/Baby bus" etc. A lot of time, we will also review colors of things he sees. One morning when I was about to load him into the car, I told him to look at the sun waking up. He said "pink clouds." He was spot on! Those pink clouds were breath-taking!
Potty training is still hit and miss. I have always heard people say "He/She just isn't ready." or "He/She has no interest in potty training." and I always thought "How can that be? It seems like a fairly easy concept." In my mind, it would be as easy as sitting him on the potty, telling him what to do ("Go tee tee in the potty.") and wah-lah. Oh man. If only. IF ONLY!!!!!!! Here's how it goes in our house. (Now keep in mind, this is not happening all the time since we are not together all day, but it happens several times a week, usually before bathtime while the tub is filling.)
Me: "Owen, let's go potty."
Owen: "No, no" (sometimes running away from me)
Me: "Come on, Owen. Let's go sit on the potty before we take a bath." (picking him up to head to the potty chair)
After getting completely undressed, Owen sits on the potty (for a WHOLE 3.5 seconds) just in time to get up off the potty and lean over the bathtub, ready to dive right in! I sit him back on the potty one or two more times, sometimes even three times, and I talk to him and ask him questions about anything that comes to mind, but so far...tee tee has yet to hit the bottom of the potty chair bowl. :( We have talked about "Does tee tee go in the bath? Does tee tee go in the water?" Owen knows the correct answer is "No, no."
I think my next step will be to NOT have the tub filling while we try "tee tee-ing" which most likely means I will also have to move the potty chair away from the bathtub so he doesn't associate it with "Hey! I am about to take a bath"...and go from there. Inconsistency is also part of the problem. It's not the frontmost thing in my mind lately, so once I get my own head programmed a little better, I bet I can help get the process going for Owen. I am not far from setting an alarm to go off every hour so I can be reminded that this is part of the phase we are in. I have also read about having the child go naked for long periods of time to help get the idea in their head...but I am not too sure at the moment if we will go that route at any point. We shall see.
I have been holding on to things in my brain for several months (I think the last Owen-post was when he turned 18 months) so I am sure I have missed some important stuff. For that, I am sad. I hope it comes back to me at some point soon so I can edit and add to my list of memories in this post. With things in an upheaval at home and in our schedule, it's been hard to find time to post and even harder to remember the ol' camera! I MUST get back into the habit!
Time to wrap this one up. I realize I have yet to post some recent pictures...which I promised would get done soon! I still have not forgotten.
Hope each of you are enjoying your day.
:) Carianne
Hmmm, what would I wish for?
There are days I would say "to be a permanent size 10 without having to change my diet"...mmmm donuts, cookies, and ice cream ;)
There are other days I would say "to spend one more day with a loved one who has passed away."
I would even go as far as to admit that I would love the chance to wish for "lots and lots of money" or "for three more wishes" or "to go on a vacation"...
I suppose the request depends on the day, mood, frame of mind, and situation I am in at that moment.
If I was asked today, I would say "FREEZE TIME right where it is."
You see, Owen is 22 months old today. My mind can hardly wrap around that statement. He is just a mere 2 months away from being 2 years old and I honestly have no idea where the time has gone. It has simply escaped and I will never get these precious days back. Each day is more precious than the day before!
Although I may not remember every minute detail or the order in which all the details fell together to make one whole day or week...I have enjoyed all the days. All the weeks. All the months. All the playing. All the walks. All the laughing. All the struggles. All the responsibilities. All the frustrations. All the stories. All the "firsts." All the laundry. All the messes. All the moments. All the hugs and kisses. ...and I look forward to SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many more of these days!
We could not begin to fathom 22 months ago how simply amazing parenting would be. How fitting it was/is to our lives. So fulfilling. So incredible. So rewarding. So special. I may have a few pounds to shed, a few lessons to learn about patience, a little (ok, A LOT of) clutter to sort through, a lot of debt to pay off, a little prioritizing to do, some correspondence to catch up on, and so on...but I have a good life. God has truly blessed me.
I suppose I am a wee bit more emotional than normal right now. As I mentioned in the last post, we have moved from our darling home on 101st as a way to pay off debt, eliminate some monthly expenses, and start saving what we can. It's been a hard transition for me (emotionally), but we are loved by many, we are doing our best when it comes to being parents, making decisions, and getting things done, and we have shelter, food, a shower, and other basic necessities. The night we finished up the packing, moving, and cleaning was the hardest, but we made it. We said good-bye and are trying to focus only on the future. We have the memories that were made in that house and that is what matters.
I started to work full time a few weeks ago, so that has been a HUGE adjustment for our family. New bedtimes, new wake-up times, new meal planning/packing routines, new daytime and evening schedules. New everything. It's been tough, but again, we are making it. Survival is key these days. :) Austin's mom's house is a disaster...the piles of laundry, boxes and bags of things to put away, lack of space. What a challenge! It's slow, but with every item that is put away, we see bits of progress. I am hoping to make HUGE progress this weekend.
Austin's year is starting off well. He has the same scheduling issues he had last year (and the year before) but once those get worked out, he will be as happy as a clam! Owen's day care and Parent's Day Out are going VERY well. He is happy when I drop him off and happy when I pick him up, so the Lord has FOR SURE put him in great hands! Thank you, LORD!! When I tell him to say "bye bye" as we are leaving Miss Andrea's house, he says "bye bye friends" (in the sweetest, high-pitched voice!) It never fails to make me smile.
Being Owen's 22-month birthday, I wanted to recap a few things that I know I will forget if I don't document them. They are sure to get covered up in my mind as more days pass.
We taught Owen our first names about a month ago and from time to time, we quiz him on it. "Owen, what is Mommy's name?" "What is Daddy's name?" His remarkable memory has made this "lesson" easy! About 2-3 days after lots and lots of quizzing, we were all three in the car going somewhere. Austin and I had been talking but had just ended our conversation so we were just looking out the windshield in front of us. All of a sudden, from the backseat, we hear in a very polite and slightly grown-up voice "Hey, Austin. Hey, Carianne." We DIED laughing. It was so funny. So much so that I am laughing again now as I type! :) The happy tears started streaming down my face from laughing at our boy and as I wiped away tears, he said "Mommy crying." Oh, my life! My sweet, happy life!
Owen has started speaking in (mostly) complete sentences when it comes to things he is familiar with. Some examples are:
"Want some milk, please." (or juice, chocolate milk, crackers, etc) OR "More milk, please."
"Get back Shelby/Olive/Molly/Scottie." (when coming in the front or back door from outside)
"Owen _______ too." (As in "Mommy is going to read a book." to which Owen says "Owen read a book too." If we let the dogs out and say, "All dogs outside!" Owen says "Owen go outside too.")
"Let's go in red car." (or "blue car" if we are taking Austin's car somewhere) He usually does this in the morning when we are about to leave.
"This is Owen's/Mommy's/Daddy's _________." He has a very good understanding of possession and uses his words well to let us know. He likes to go around the table at dinner and say "Mommy's plate. Daddy's plate. Mommy's fork. Daddy's fork. Mommy's chair. Daddy's chair. etc. He does this with MANY things on and off throughout the day. Of course he also says "Owen's ball/shoes/book/plate/etc." He has slowly started learning "my" but it comes out sometimes as "This is mys (mize) cup."
"This means no, no." (while shaking his head from side to side)
"This means yes." (while nodding his head up and down)
"Take a bath" and "Squeeze hug" are not complete sentences, but he does like these phrases.
(After pulling a sock off) he says "One sock on. One sock off." He really likes to learn opposites! Hot/cold. Light/dark. On/off. Big/little. Stop/go.
Once day I was holding him and he said ever-so-bluntly, "Give me a kiss." It was adorable!
"One, two, free (haha), four, five, six, eight, nine, ten." He seems to think 'seven' does not exist. When we say, "Which number did you forget?" He says, "seven." If we remind him not to forget 'seven' he will often get it right, but if we just say, "Let's count," he will usually not include it.
He likes to spot cars and other vehicles (mostly from the car windows while we are driving). He especially loves seeing tractors, trains, buses, vans, Jeeps, airplanes, and helicopters. He shows his knowledge of size by saying things like "Mommy bus/Daddy bus/Baby bus" etc. A lot of time, we will also review colors of things he sees. One morning when I was about to load him into the car, I told him to look at the sun waking up. He said "pink clouds." He was spot on! Those pink clouds were breath-taking!
Potty training is still hit and miss. I have always heard people say "He/She just isn't ready." or "He/She has no interest in potty training." and I always thought "How can that be? It seems like a fairly easy concept." In my mind, it would be as easy as sitting him on the potty, telling him what to do ("Go tee tee in the potty.") and wah-lah. Oh man. If only. IF ONLY!!!!!!! Here's how it goes in our house. (Now keep in mind, this is not happening all the time since we are not together all day, but it happens several times a week, usually before bathtime while the tub is filling.)
Me: "Owen, let's go potty."
Owen: "No, no" (sometimes running away from me)
Me: "Come on, Owen. Let's go sit on the potty before we take a bath." (picking him up to head to the potty chair)
After getting completely undressed, Owen sits on the potty (for a WHOLE 3.5 seconds) just in time to get up off the potty and lean over the bathtub, ready to dive right in! I sit him back on the potty one or two more times, sometimes even three times, and I talk to him and ask him questions about anything that comes to mind, but so far...tee tee has yet to hit the bottom of the potty chair bowl. :( We have talked about "Does tee tee go in the bath? Does tee tee go in the water?" Owen knows the correct answer is "No, no."
I think my next step will be to NOT have the tub filling while we try "tee tee-ing" which most likely means I will also have to move the potty chair away from the bathtub so he doesn't associate it with "Hey! I am about to take a bath"...and go from there. Inconsistency is also part of the problem. It's not the frontmost thing in my mind lately, so once I get my own head programmed a little better, I bet I can help get the process going for Owen. I am not far from setting an alarm to go off every hour so I can be reminded that this is part of the phase we are in. I have also read about having the child go naked for long periods of time to help get the idea in their head...but I am not too sure at the moment if we will go that route at any point. We shall see.
I have been holding on to things in my brain for several months (I think the last Owen-post was when he turned 18 months) so I am sure I have missed some important stuff. For that, I am sad. I hope it comes back to me at some point soon so I can edit and add to my list of memories in this post. With things in an upheaval at home and in our schedule, it's been hard to find time to post and even harder to remember the ol' camera! I MUST get back into the habit!
Time to wrap this one up. I realize I have yet to post some recent pictures...which I promised would get done soon! I still have not forgotten.
Hope each of you are enjoying your day.
:) Carianne
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