Friday, June 29, 2012

The Joys of a 2-year old

I was just thinking about how wonderful my son is as I was putting him to bed tonight, so I thought I'd take a moment to mention some of the reasons I love him and why he makes me smile each day.

Last week, Owen woke up in the morning, crying (which is unusual for him), and said, "Hurts. Ear." I figured he might have an ear infection, but I thought I would see how he was for the day. He was kind of up and down, and seemed to have a slight fever on and off, but nothing major. I decided to wait to see how he was the next day. He woke up crying again, but didn't really mention his ear. As a stupid mother, I just kept riding it out. I read up on ear infections (since he hadn't had one before, to my knowledge) and found that often they go away on their own. Also, I wasn't positive he had an ear infection. I thought he could be getting his 2-year molars, or maybe just becoming a cranky, toddler. By Friday, I was about to go out of my mind. He had been such a nightmare all week. I decided to take him in before the weekend. I love that the first question the nurse asked me was, "So how long has he been having these meltdowns?" Yeah...that just proves what he was like all week since she had only seen him for all of 2 minutes. And sure enough, after a quick examination, I was told he had an ear infection. Bad Mom. :( This explains the emotional roller coasters, barely eating anything at all during the day, and random fevers. I got him antibiotics and within a day and a half, he was SO much happier. It was such a drastic difference. I had almost forgotten that Owen is such a sweet, wonderful, fun little boy to be around. Thank goodness he is and that was all just because he was feeling miserable. Again...bad Mom.

Here was my sick little guy:



Anyway, Miles has been gone this week, and since Owen has been feeling better, we've spent a lot of time doing fun activities and getting out of the house (since last week all he wanted to do was lay down and watch TV). So far we've gone to the park, Seven Peaks, Thanksgiving Point Farm, and visited with friends. We also have plans to go to Liberty Park in SLC and the splash pad in Spanish Fork. I guess while the cat is away, the mice will play! And the poor cat, oops I mean Miles...he's working 80 hours this week. :(

Back to my original reason for writing. Owen is SO FUN! He makes me laugh all the time. He is always playing silly games. When he knows that I'm coming to get him and put his shoes on, he immediately runs away and will giggle as he kicks and squirms in my arms. Once he's on my lap, he's still. But he just loves playing hard to get. He also likes to hide behind our new laundry "room" curtains and play peek-a-boo. He can now reach the top drawer where his pacifiers are kept, and likes to sneak one out and then slyly come out of his room to show me he has it. When I say, "What do you have?!" He giggles and runs away. He likes to pretend to sleep and will do fake snores. He also likes to cover me up and have me pretend to sleep while he turns out the light, says, "Night, night! Sleep tight!" and shuts the door.

This was he and Daddy pretending to sleep. He got a little distracted with Daddy's snores:


He also will see something really small, like a little bug in a book, or a small piece of food on his tray and say, "Tiny, tiny!" in this high voice while he scrunches up his nose and eyes. I can't even explain all the cute, silly things he does. And I'm sure they wouldn't be as adorable to anyone but his mother, but I just love his little personality. He is a total goofball and he knows it.

And yet at the same time, he is such a sweet little boy. He always says, "Here, Mommy!" when handing me something, or "Thank you, Mommy!" when I give him something. (Side note: Normally, Owen often will call Miles, "Mommy" or "Mama-Dada." However, since he's been gone, I constantly hear "Help you, Dada!") Sometimes, he even runs up to me to give me hugs out of nowhere and says, "Hold you, Mommy!" Although I do think this is sometimes out of manipulation since he'll start making this funny noise he does and pointing for me to carry him to the "treat cupboard." Little stinker! But I sure love his hugs and snuggles.

We also got some extra hugs and snuggles in with my bed rest. This was the view for much of the time when he was being entertained by TV since I couldn't get up to play with him.


Lately, he's also been frustrating, but it's just a phase as he is learning about independence. He is so contradictory - one second it's, "I try!" and if he struggles too long, it turns to, "Help you!" Usually if I am patient with him and let him climb into the car and car seat by himself, let him climb into his high chair, let him put his own clothes on, etc... he is a much happier little boy than if I rush him and just do it myself. Sometimes the extra few seconds it takes to wait are worth the avoided tantrum. (Unless we really are in a hurry and there's no other choice.)

This was an "I try" of getting dressed. He was actually very successful. I was quite proud of him.

And here's an "I try" to get the fruit leather out...quickly followed by him grabbing my arm and licking it.


And then there's the moments of "I try do it!" that are wonderful. Like when I asked if he wanted to say his prayer and he didn't respond so I started. Then he said, "I try do it!" So he said something like this... (anywhere there are ... it means mumbles I didn't quite understand). "Heavenly Father, thankful this day...eat...cheese...Daddy, and chair...itsy spider (we'd just sung about the itsy bitsy spider), and fan...Amen!" It was so dang cute. I loved hearing what his little mind thinks of and I love that he included Daddy in his prayer while he's away from us.


I am just really loving this age. It definitely has it's ups and downs, but it is seriously so much fun. He is so creative and I love seeing his mind expand all the time. One simple example of this was when he took some golf balls and put them in medicine cups and said, "Ice cream!" and started licking the golf ball. SO CUTE. I love how children's minds work.


I love being a mom. I love experiencing each stage with Owen, and I am looking forward to starting again with a little girl. I know they will each have their own personalities and special attributes. I love that Owen is SUCH a boy. I did not teach him to love tractors and planes and riding lawn mowers. I didn't teach him that it's fun to climb and jump and body slam people. I didn't teach him to love bugs and dirt. He is 100% boy and I love it.




And since I'm doing this post, I may as well include a few more things from the past couple of months. Here he is climbing into his bed. Lucky for me, he doesn't attempt to climb out!

Bath time is always enjoyable...

He has also started showing interest in trying out his potty since his Grammy and Grandpa V. brought it from CA. So far he hasn't actually gone in the potty, but just likes to sit on it.

He loves going with me to Costco and trying out the samples. I often can get him to eat more there than I can at home. I guess those small samples are just the right size.

And the boxes we end up with from there are always great for playing:

He loves to watch the garbage truck come and will run to the window when he hears it. When it leaves, he jumps up and down, waves and says, "Bye bye garbage truck! See you next morning!"

He's still very much into stacking and lining things up:

He loves to "help" Mommy cook too:

He has started doing these "scary hands/claws" when he roars. I think it's adorable!


He also cracks me up when we go for a long car ride and I bring his blanket with us (in hopes that he might sleep for part of it). He has started putting it over his head. Sometimes he'll leave it there for quite a while. I do think he's usually pretty tired when he does this, but it always makes me laugh.

And here are some excessive sleeping pictures that I love to take.

I sure do love this sweet boy. I feel so lucky and blessed to have him!

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