3 wheelin'

Despite how much I hate to hear my voice on video, this was too cute...Owen got this retro-style tricycle for his 2nd birthday from Uncle Jeremy & Aunt Gwyn, and Uncle Tom & Uncle Ricky. For the longest time, he could only pedal backwards. But now he has gotten the hang of going forward, and he just flies around the patio and even has the coordination to ring his little bell too. He fell off the other day and scraped his knee and has been telling us ever since that his tricycle hurt his leg. A scraped knee can't keep this adrenaline junkie down...check out his big boy trike skills!

Chef Boy-are-you-cute

A special package arrived in the mail today from Aunt Mimi. It included 2 cd's for me and a Charleston Farmers' Market apron, which was supposed to be for Richie...but Owen had other ideas. Please note the big smear of mustard on his cheek and the wad of gum in his mouth. I'm learning the hard way that I can't leave my purse anywhere in climbing reach. Pretty soon I'll have to put it in the freezer for safe keeping!

Chillin'

Relaxing on the couch before bed...thanks for the shirt, Gran and Pop!

Nashville State of Mind

Tonight, we went to a barbeque at our friends Craig and Martina's house. We joked that it was a sad day for livestock...it was definitely the meatiest party I've ever been to. Craig and Martina moved to Nashville about a year ago from Miami, and a bunch of their Miami friends are in town this week following the screening of Nashville State of Mind at the Nashville Film Festival. This is a documentary about the Nashville music scene outside of country music, and a lot of our friends, including Jeremy and Richie, were interviewed. The official screening was last night, followed by an after-party at Mercy Lounge. Since it was such an exciting night, I managed to stay awake past my usual bedtime of 10-ish so that I could go to the after-party. It was a rare treat to socialize on a Sunday night!

Tonight's barbeque was fun for the whole family. Owen played in the yard with Craig's extensive ball and frisbee collection while Richie and I ate grilled fish kebabs and Doritos--I had forgotten how unhealthily delicious they are! The Miami guys are so sweet with Owen. Our friend Nic especially made a big impression on our little guy. They played for a couple of hours with a football and a piece of duct tape (who knew duct tape could be so fun!). It is always heart-warming and reassuring to make friends who fall in love your child...it is people like these who make Nashville our home. Owen only took a brief break from all the action to sit by the fire and drink his juice.

So, as another beautiful Nashville evening comes to a close, I am off to kiss my smokey little baby good-night. Sweet dreams from Music City!

Prince Charming

Our cute little Burger King baby

Rock my world

There was an earthquake last night in Indiana that shook our house this morning around 4:30! The tremors woke me up, but I thought maybe it was just a jet taking off at the airport, which is just across the river from our part of East Nashville. Come to find out, it was a real live earthquake! Here's a link to an article about it:

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080418/NEWS01/80418001&referrer=FRONTPAGECAROUSEL

Boys will be boys

This week, Owen got to play with TWO of his favorite friends, Dylan and Liam. Dylan's mommy had to go out of town for work for a few days, so Dylan and his daddy, Robert, came over for dinner and some play time, which included bubbles, balls, running, Word World, and cars. Dylan is 8 months younger than Owen...he has amazing curly hair and is the quickest thing on 2 feet. He and Owen are two of a kind--I think Nashville better watch out for these boys. They are going to be trouble together! Dylan couldn't get enough of the cars...

and Owen couldn't get enough of tackling Mr. Robert!

Poor Robert...he's such a good sport!

Our friend Liam came over on Saturday night. He's only 2 months younger than Owen. It's been fun to have another little boy so close in age. They may have known each other since birth, but these two boys are like night and day. Liam is very thoughtful and extremely intellegent--he's known the alphabet for months now! Owen, on the other hand, is super physical and usually roars the alphabet song like a lion or changes the words altogether. They had a blast watching Blues Clues, reading about Max the monkey, and getting crafty with Play Doh.

And here's a funny one of Owen trying on some big boy boxers...so much for folding the laundry!

Things that go bump in the night...

That would be a tree...really about half of a tree...that came crashing on top of our house at approximately 1:40 a.m. today. Might I add that the window that is barely visible through the branches is our BEDROOM window! It was a horrifying sound, and, of course, it woke Owen up. We all piled into bed together after the storm passed...until 4 a.m. when another high wind came through. Richie and I double checked the attic to make sure the roof was still intact, which thankfully it is. Then we headed to the futon for a very uncomfortable couple of hours...not uncomfortable because we were on a futon--uncomfortable because Owen is hands-down the most squirmy bed fellow in the world. From 4 until 7, he rolled around, put his head by our feet, kicked us repeatedly, and then yanked the pillows out from under my head. We really are lucky that no one was injured and the house wasn't badly damaged--my back, on the other hand, might take some time to feel normal again.

New shoes = lots of running!

From the mouths of babes

It's amazing how quickly things change in the life of a two year old. Sometimes Owen wakes up with about 20 new words, games, and songs that weren't part of his repertoire the day before. Forget comparing him to the child he was a year ago...his development is noticeable daily now. He has been extremely talkative lately. This morning, for example, he stopped to pick a flower in the front yard on our way to the car. As soon as we walked into school, he got Miss Mica's attention and said, "I got a flower and look at my jacket." He proceeded to tell her that he wanted to take his jacket off so he could sit down to eat breakfast, then showed her the train on his shirt and pointed out that the train has a nose. She praised him for using his words and commented at the end of the day on how verbal he's becoming. He's quite the conversationalist! Here are a few of the funny things he's said lately:

• after blowing his nose, "Bye-bye, boogers!"
• O: "Mommy, you likah pizzpahs?" (Mommy, do you like pizzas?") Me: "Yes, Owen, I like pizzas a lot. Do you like pizzas?" O: "Yes, Mommy, I likah pizzpahs. I likah pizzpahs too, Mommy." Such a sweet little conversation. It was the first time he asked for my opinion on something. I know I'd better appreciate that while it lasts!
  
• after commenting on the moon earlier, we got out of the car and he pointed out an airplane ("arcain") and the "messent moon" (crescent moon). Some days, he sings entire songs saying only "arcain", usually to the melody of the ABCs.
  
• when he has a dirty diaper, he asks for a "bapper change"
• when pretending to be a frog, he hops around saying "robbert, robbert". Pretending to be an animal (usually a lion, dog, or frog) is really popular around our house right now. The animal of choice used to be cat, but we have discouraged that because it is so uncomfortable on our bony knees to crawl around on the wood floors meowing for any length of time. Dog is more bearable because he mainly just wants to walk around growling with something hanging out of his mouth...no crawling required.
  
• at the end of a long day, he will tell us that he is tired and just wants to rock with his blanket. "Daddy, I tired."
  
• he asks for a kiss ("piss") when he's feeling affectionate
• using descriptive words like dirty, nasty, gross, cool, and dark. My favorite is when I sing to him and he tells me it is scary or loud. I love that he expresses his opinion so freely--although when it comes to my singing being scary, he is obviously either joking or just wrong!
  

I know this only the beginning...soon he will be airing our dirty laundry for all to hear. I'm just appreciating these moments, these innocent little thoughts and questions. I can't wait to see what he'll wake up saying tomorrow...

Snip snip

Owen got a pretty hefty haircut this weekend, which I think turned out pretty adorable, if I do say so myself. I love combing his hair when it is wet...he looks like such a little man. Of course, it never stays in place and it grows straight out in all directions. But it's cute while it lasts! Here's his new do!

Old school mama and daddy

Like any parent, I'm so curious to what Owen will look like when he grows up. We've analyzed every little part of him over and over for the last two and a half years in an attempt to figure out which bits and pieces he got from each of us. I've had fun looking at old pictures of us to argue my case that Owen clearly looks more like me as a child--so far, I think I'm in the minority on that one. We don't have many scanned to our computer, but here are a few gems...

Jeremy and Richie, Easter c. 1983--does that hairstyle look familiar?

Best school picture of all time, 4th grade

Christmas 1979 (?), such a goofball

Not sure of the year on this one--I'd ask my parents but I'm afraid
this one might cause horrible flashbacks

Oh yeah, 4H camp...I'm guessing 4th grade. What a 'tude!