Fall Weather and New Tricks

Last week we had some nice fall weather in Texas which hasn't happened a lot so far this year. I took advantage of the cooler temperatures and had an impromptu photo shoot with Owen in the front yard. As you can see, I am not a very good photographer but it was fun to pretend like I was. I am pretty sure the two lawn service men taking their break across the street thought I was a crazy person. My goal for next year is to learn how to use my nice fancy camera so that I can take better pictures. I also probably need to learn how to use a good editing program too.

 

 

 

 

In the last week or so, Owen has learned 2 new tricks that are particularly amazing to me.

1. He is now able to stand up in the middle of the room without holding on to anything. For some reason, this milestone was almost more exciting to me than his first steps. I am not sure why but it just seems like a difficult thing to do and he was really pleased with himself when he was able to finally do it with ease.

2. I am in the process of transitioning Owen from bottles to cups and have not had the best luck. Over the course of the last week we have made great strides with the sippy cup but I am still holding the cup for him rather than Owen being able to drink it by himself. He knows how the sippy cup works and every now and then he will successfully drink from it, but most often he just shakes the cup instead of drinking from it. The other day I decided to see if I could get him to drink from a regular cup using a straw, on the first try he was able to do it!! This was another trick that was amazing to me. I don't know how he was able to figure it out on the first try but it was pretty neat to see. Now he loves using a straw to wash down his gourmet meals.

"Ones" Upon a Time

 

Before today, I did not have a valid library card. For as much as I read I don't have a good explanation for not having one. I have been meaning to go get a card for some time now but just haven't gotten around to it. Over Thanksgiving we will be taking a long-ish car ride and Myers and I decided it might be fun to get a book on CD for the trip. I like to talk in the car on long trips and Myers does not. He once said to me (after 7 hours of driving, which is about the midway point on the trip from Clemson to Dallas)"Karen, driving is for driving, not for talking." We figure that a book on CD is a good compromise between constant conversation and complete silence.

Anyway, I had vowed to go to the library this week to get a card and choose a book to listen to on the drive. On Monday we had a Preschool Playtime with some kids from church. One of the moms mentioned that she had just been to a story time at the library. I thought that sounded pretty fun so I went to the website this morning to check the schedule. Turns out they have a "Ones Upon a Time" story time for 1 year olds. According to the website, the class has a limit and you are encouraged to arrive early to get your ticket. Since Owen is only a month shy of 1 year I figured it would be no big deal if we attended even though he is not technically old enough.

When we got to the library there were tons of little kids waddling around. They have a pretty large section for kids that has toys and books (obviously) and little tiny tables. Owen was really interested in looking at everything and everyone. I was immediately aware that he was the only non-walker in the room and was sure that they were going to eject us before the story time even started. He crawled around and stared at a few different kids and eventually settled in front of a big wooden puzzle thing.

The class (I guess you call it a class) basically consisted of singing 10 or so songs with hand motions and then listening to the lady read a gigantic book. It was exactly like what I have seen in movies and on tv. A bunch of moms waving their kid's arms around in the air and singing nursery rhymes while making various animal noises. There were puppets too. As dumb as that sounds, it was actually pretty fun. I didn't feel like an idiot singing hickory-dickory-dock because everyone else in the room was doing it too, plus Owen was smiling and laughing the entire time.

If you live in or around Coppell and have a 1 year old (or almost 1 year old) I highly recommend Ones Upon a Time at the Coppell Library....as long as you don't tell anyone that Owen is too young.

A Bit of This, A Bit of That

I haven't posted in awhile. I was waiting for something exciting to happen in my life so that I would have something exciting to write about. I realized that I might be waiting for a long time so I might as well just write whatever. So, here is a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Enjoy.

1. At my high school reunion I had a handful of people tell me that they had found my blog through other blogs. I was pleased to hear that I wasn't just writing to no one on here. I was even more pleased when a couple of the people said that they actually enjoyed what I had written and/or thought it was funny. So, to all of you who are reading this, thanks! I am glad that you are taking the time to see what I have to blabber on about. Please consider leaving me a comment, I love comments. :)

2. I LOVE Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday. I have been looking forward to Thanksgiving since about July. This year my sister Sarah and (double) brother-in-law Reese are hosting the Lever and Ellington families at their house. I can't wait! I have been asked to make the most important (and most difficult) dish...green bean casserole. I have to go shopping this weekend for the best and most fresh cans of green beans and cream of mushroom soup.

3. Owen took his first steps last week! He walked from Myers to me and it was great! We have walking practice every night. He prefers to walk if he is holding a remote or toy in one of his hands but has doubled his previous record of 6 steps in a row to 12. Crawling is still his main mode of transportation but I bet by Christmas he will be challenging other babies to sprinting races down the streets.

4. Owen's birthday is just over a month away. I have made no plans for it yet. My co-worker Kelly says I better get on that soon. She is probably right.

5. Owen has really started liking his bath time. He has very fancy bath toys that most people probably couldn't afford but I will have nothing but the best for my baby. His bath toys include: a wash cloth, a tupperware container and two floaty fisher price men that are left over from when I was a baby. So, for a grand total of about 2 dollars worth of stuff, Owen has lots of fun playing in the tub. He mostly just splashes around by slapping the water with the wash cloth. It is pretty funny.

6. This past weekend I went to a baby shower for my good pal Jamie. There were about 45 pregnant ladies at the shower. One of them was going to the hospital that same day to have a baby. It was great to see a bunch of people that I have known for 20+ years, but don't get to see very often. I am hoping that even though Owen will be older than their babies, Jamie and Amanda and Liz will still invite us to their play dates!

7. Sorry for jumping all over the place...and for the sarcasm. Happy Thanksgiving.