I sing songs to Owen each night when I put him to bed.  One of our favorites to sing together is one that goes like this:

I love you Owen, oh yes I do;

I love you Owen, and I’ll be true.

When you’re not with me, I’m blue;

Oh, Owen I love you!

(Anyone know the tune?  It’s very catchy.  I learned it in college, for some strange reason.  I have memories of running down the halls in the dorm and singing that song to various people before bed?  Weird.)

Anyway, Owen LOVES it, and after I sing it once, he says, “Blue!  Blue!”  So I sing it again.  And again.  And again.  He sings with me, and it is honestly so cute to hear him singing with me that I sing it as many times as he requests it.  I even took my phone in there one night and recorded us singing in pitch black.  Now I can hear his sweet toddler singing voice forever.  Lots of times he will shout out different names he wants to use in place of Owen.  We sing for his friend Aaiden at daycare, for Mommy, Daddy, Papa, LaLa, etc.

Two nights ago I started singing that song, and he goes, “Sssss, Mommy!  Sssss!”  (He says ssssss instead of shhhhh and he holds his finger up to his nose instead of his mouth.)  At first I thought he didn’t like the sound of me singing, so I tried another song and he was cool with it.  We sang a few others and then I went back to Blue.  “Nooo, Mommy!  Sssss!”  I still don’t know why he didn’t want to hear it (maybe he was afraid it meant he had to go in his crib and go night-night?), but I was amazed that he was able to communicate with me and tell me what he wanted (or didn’t want, in this case).

Other things I want to remember from this stage (less than a month until he’s TWO!):

Favorite food is dattuwauce (applesauce).  He also loves guacamole, plain vanilla yogurt, crackers, nilk (milk), water, fish tacos (he makes the cutest face and blows on the fish because he knows it is hot), and salsa.  It is hard for me to get him to eat anything besides these items, which is pretty frustrating.  I don’t want him to be picky like me!  What kid doesn’t like macaroni and cheese?  Ugh!

He goes on the potty at daycare an average of 3 times each day.  We aren’t really pushing potty training at home.  If he acts interested in the potty, I will certainly take him, but he doesn’t really tell me when he needs to go.  I know he’ll eventually get there and I’m not going to rush him!

He still can’t say Olive’s name – he calls her Arsh.  I will say Ol- ive in two distinct syllables, and he says Ah- arsh.  It doesn’t really matter what he calls her – he obviously is in love with her.  He loves to kiss her and hug her.  She is a pretty good sport.

Just this month he has started forming sentences.  “I go potty, Mommy!”  “What are you doing?”  Pretty cute stuff.

I’d say for about 4-6 months now he has known all of his letters.  I don’t know what they are doing with him at daycare, but it is certainly working!  We are using Jake’s old refrigerator magnets and he loves to hand letters to me and specify which letter it is.

We switched daycares several months ago, and BOY, we couldn’t be happier.  The first daycare was really, really great when Owen was an infant.  Once he started walking, we didn’t feel like the teachers were as attentive or caring. 

The new place?  Can’t say enough good things about it.  They have webcams in the room and on the playground, so I can log in throughout the day and check on him.  (My mother-in-law LOVES this feature.  She watches quite a bit and it’s her way of being able to see Owen every day without driving 2 hours one-way!)  They have circle time every day, and it’s been amazing what all Owen is learning!  Right now they are focusing on word associations, so if I ask Owen what color the sun is, he will answer yellow.  The grass is green.  The sky is blue.  Elephants are gray.  A is for apple.  Apples are red.  B is for ball.  And so on!!

I would have never known he could learn this stuff at such an early age.  They sing lots of songs, so of course I love doing that at home with him, too.  I will start singing Old McDonald and he waits for the EIEIO part and loves joining in with me.  It is so cute.

I love picking him up in the afternoons because he comes running at full speed toward me with his arms out.  Best. thing. ever.

Owen started twirling this week!  It is so hilarious to watch.  He doesn’t spin fast or anything, but he loves to run around in circles and get all dizzy.  I was talking to a co-worker today about how interesting it is that children inherently know how to dance when they hear music.  I love that children have no inhibitions.

Owen is also talking non-stop these days.  When I go get him out of his crib every morning, the second he hears me open the door, he says, “hiiiii-eee.”  It is the cutest thing, and is the highlight of my morning (if not my day).  Other words are uh-oh, bye, Ol (that’s what he calls Olive), ball, bath, no, shoes, socks, tickle, banana, horse, book, teeth (loves to brush his teeth), nose.  Those are the words he identifies himself, but he will try to repeat anything we say.  One of my favorite words to hear him say his purple – it is beyond cute.

He was still tracking at 90th percentile for height and 75th percentile for weight as his 15-month checkup.  I can’t believe he is growing up so fast.

Owen took his first steps on Saturday!  J was playing with him back in his room and told me to come watch.  He took two or three steps to get the rattle J was dangling in front of his face but out of his reach.  It was so cute.  We clapped and yelled yay and it made him very happy.  He’s not walking, by any means, but he is very steady just standing in place and I think it won’t be much longer until he takes more than a few steps at a time.  I’m in no hurry!  I want him to stay a baby as long as he can.