Owen's most favourite pastime these days (unless it's his trains) is singing. He likes to sing and he likes to be sung too. He is regularly increasing his repertoire! We have:

Old Macdonald (Ee-yiiii-yo, Moo, moo, moo.)
Row, Row, Row Your Boat (woah, woah, woah... boat... melon, melon, melon... deem)
Twinkle, Twinkle (Kinko, kinko, how-a, uppa, kinko)
Theme song to Cat in the Hat (Go, go go! 'ventahh)
Frere Jacques (Shocka, shocka, tina, tina, din, dan, dong)
Thank-You song from church this Sunday (ank-you, ank-you)
Baa Baa Black Sheep (Baa, baa, baa, baa, baa, baa, baa, baa)
Tidy Up song from daycare (Tiiiee-up, diiee-up)

He also likes us to sing the Owenized version of "Good Morning" from Singin' in the Rain, and, if walking in the rain, either "Singin' in the Rain" itself or "Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head".

He will say "Mnahmnahmnah" so that John or I will sing "Doo-doo-da-doo-doo."

He can also recite large portions of many of his books (in a sort of very minimal paraphrase, of course) and the plot of Wallace and Gromit in "A Close Shave" (Dog! Sheep! Cha-chine! Truck! Bike! Ladder! Cha-chine! Bang Bang! Oh no! Dog! Sheep!)

In short, I have never met anyone half as adorable.

Oh my beautiful baby.... big boy

Owen continues to be a marvel. And obviously one who keeps us hopping. We're so busy being real parents that the blogbaby stays neglected.

Still, let me take a few minutes to tell you about what we're up to these days.

Owen's language skills continue to impress. I couldn’t even begin to tally them up - he learns new ones every day. He’s started to make two word sentances: “Do it” “Get it” “Have it” are favourites. He likes to say thank you and is working on please. He’s starting to identify who is doing things (“Daddy shower”) and show the faintest glimmerings of understanding the past and cause and effect. He can count reliably to two and often to three (and nine often comes next.) He is absolutely fascinated by names and often remembers what people are called after meeting them only briefly. He’ll ask to play with little friends days after we spend time with them.

He is thinking about colours and shapes. He definitely thinks about how things move (around, roll, run, etc.) He’s not that excited about the stroller - “Walk!” he cries, but still gets strapped in for longer walks (because he’s still pretty slow and definitely distractable). He loves to sing and he loves to dance. He loves to invite (order) people to play with him, dragging them over with a chubby fist wrapped around a big person’s finger. He lives to be outside (ouh-shiiiide!) and to play at the playground.

We encountered a robot in a video the other day, and that’s a frequent topic of conversation these days, except he calls them “blobots” which is adorable. He can also tell you about aliens, octopuses, starfish, butterflies, and submarines. No word is too much challenge.

He eats with a spoon and sometimes a fork (and fingers when it’s faster.) He knows what he wants to eat and when. He’s recently learned to say when he’s hungry (“huggy!”) which I think makes him feel pretty powerful, though he still tends to ask for “supper” instead.

He received a bonus teddy bear from his great aunt on Saturday (it magically arrived in the mailbox while we were out) and he is now very attached to it. It had to come down with us to breakfast today, though he did not ask to take it to daycare. If it turns out this tie-died Beanie Buddy becomes his ‘lovie’ we may be in trouble. What’s the resale on those things, anyway?

He’s starting to transition to the toddler room at daycare, and let me tell you, he’s more than ready. He’ll be making a switch to a new centre in November - it’s halfway between where I work and where John does and will make pickup and drop-off a little more equitable (also stroller-able and even bus-able).

I’m about to start a fall class tomorrow, so life with us will be back to the new routine of work and daycare and nights were Mummy doesn’t come home until after bedtime. It will take a few weeks, but we’ll adjust.

We’re starting to experiment with finally cutting out the last few nursings, but the problem with keeping it up until toddlerhood is that they suddenly have opinions about it. Still, I’m ready to have a body that’s mine again - more than two years is a long time to share.

I am starting to think about Halloween, and our December trip to Winnipeg for a wedding and some grandparental time, and Christmas presents, for heaven’s sake (I think we’re going to need a bigger house). In that vein I’ve updated the wish list in the sidebar and will probably continue to pop things on there as he shows an interest. (In case you’re on the VERY small list of people who should be getting things for him.)

Vocabulary

Owen is a chatterbox - this is indisputable.
I have been periodically charting his words, as you know, but since the last time I updated, his vocabulary has completely exploded. We are talking some 90 words, plus a bunch of sounds he uses to identify animals, trains, fans, etc.
The words below are all ones he says without prompting. I'm not sure I even have them all! He doesn't pronounce perfectly, and it's entirely possible no one but me understands what they are, but WOW man, Wow.

Verbs nurse poke cuddle touch bite	Adjectives better dirty wet dry more	Prepositions that up down	Food milk yogurt cracker bread banana apple strawberry asparagus water snack noodle tomato	Body Parts nose eye mouth teeth bum knee toes belly bellybutton	Vehicles car truck bus bike boat
Animals cat dog mouse hippo crocodile aligator bird bug rooster animals duck bear whale	Toys block playground ball sandbox bubble bath guitar	Other Mess Mop done box bag chair spoon bowl plate door window cup bottle shoes sock top	Phrases bye-bye hi! let's go here you go night-night all done ta thank you oh-oh no yeah	People Mama Dada/Daddy Baby Granddad (Danda) Mamgu (Mummum or sometimes gee) Grandpa (Danba)

Remiss

What can I say? Life gets in the way. I guess I'm not cut out for Mommy-Blogging, what with work and school and mommying itself.

Owen continues to grow and thrive. Since last I wrote he's had tubes placed in his ears, taken off to see his Granddad, Great Granddad, and a raft of Great Aunts and Great Uncles, not to mention cousins galore, over in the UK.

He likes to play outside in the sun, riding our 'biiii(ke)', playing in the "bah-boh" (sandbox) and abusing Mummy's plants. He runs and dances and plays air guitar. He'll try any word you throw at him, including submarine and helicopter. He likes to point out trees, steps, doors, grass, dogs, cats, buses, and especially bikes and motorbikes, which are both 'biiiiii!', except that motorbikes are followed up with 'a-ruuummmrrruuumrrrum.'

Owen is generally an easygoing, happy, friendly chatterbox. Though there are days, like last weekend, where four molars on the move plus a rotten headcold make it a lot harder to get through the day. He saves all his angst for when he's home alone with Mummy and Daddy so that's something.

I'm finally done my course for this summer - the longest six weeks I've lived in a long time! - and so we'll have so much more time for having fun together.

I'll leave you for now with Owen's recent school picture. If you'd like more photographic Owen from recent months, come visit us at Flickr!

In lieu of a real post - Owen's words at April 20, 2010

Hi!
Ball
Mama
Dada
Look (doo!)
Done / All Done
Down (also means up)
More (mo-mo, with sign)
Nurse (nuh?)
oh-oh
Dat? (what's that?)
Banana (usually nana, but he got the ba in there last night)
ta (thank-you but mostly a sound for giving things to us or asking for them back)
toes (does)
Shoes (doos)
book
No (no-no?, with head shake. Often said while doing something he shouldn't)
Bottle (ba-ba, ba-ble)
Cup (baba, ba, bup)
door
dog
bowl (basket, bucket, etc.)
box/block (baah)
baby
go (doh)
apple (bap-boo)
woof (uff)
food/eat (nam-nam)
spoon (boo)
stuck (duh!)
touch (duh - reaching)
flower (loh-loh)

Onomatopoeia:
meow
wuff
elephant sound
tweet tweet
brrrrrmmmmm
wooohhhhh (vaccum cleaner, big truck)
pock-pock-pock (fish sound)
ahm! (give me a bite!)