Hockey Player or Musician?

Owen's favorite toy right now is a wooden spoon. He pratically always has it in his hand and is either using it to push a ball or block, or to bang on things.  When we are in the living room the first thing he goes to is his spoon. It is pretty funny. Maybe he will be a hockey player or golfer like his Uncle Andrew and Grampy Russell?  We also thought maybe he would be left handed as he has been grabbing alot of things with this left hand, but I have been watching him with the wooden spoon lately and he always grabs it with his right hand and uses it that way, so I think chances are he is probably right handed.

Week 47 - Almost 11 months old and still no teeth!

Owen will be 11 months old on Saturday, but still has not one single tooth! You can definitely see the 2 bottom ones under the gums, but they haven't broken through yet. He is the last of all of his friends his age to get teeth. In fact most of the kids in his Storytime group who are 6 and 7 months etc. all have a few teeth, and Owen doesn't. But its about the only thing he is behind in. I wonder if he will get a tooth before Saturday!

Toothless smile - having fun driving the car at Baby Picasso

 Playing with the other little boys at Baby Picasso

 He loves to stick out his tongue! Here he is having fun at Burlington Beach

 Beach day!! Not the same as Siesta Key in Florida, but the best we can find in the GTA

 Painting Playdate with all our Oakville Mom and baby friends

Having fun painting pottery

 Eating some baby cookies with his pal Jack

 He loves those baby cookies but boy are they messy!

 Daddy giving Owen a few licks of his ice cream. I think he likes it!

 Playing with Sadie (4 years old) in our backyard on Saturday when we had a BBQ

 Hanging with is pal Jacob at the BBQ. Eventually these 2 can play together (Jacob is 3 months old)

 Having fun in his new pool in the 30 degree heat

Pedia Swim - Owen is getting better and better!

Owen has now completed 12 of the 20 Pedia Swim classes he is enrolled in at the Oakville Swim Academy. The instructor said he is doing very well and later this week she will be doing a "clothes test" in which Owen will be full clothed including shoes and will be put in to the pool to turn over and float.

Here are some videos of Owen's progression:


Floating

s

Owen loves his Grammy and Grampy

Kisses for Grammy Russell in New Brunswick


Kisses for Grampy

Pedia Swim

Owen is enrolled in this program at the Oakville Swim academy where they teach infants and toddlers to roll over in the water and float as a preventive measure in case they were to ever fall into a body of water. He takes this class everyday at noon for 10 minutes. It is one on one with the instructor who is certfied specially for this.  He has completed 8 classes so far and has 12 more.  We have him enrolled in this program since Nick's parents have a pool in their backyard.
Here is a video of him during his 6th lesson last Friday.

Week 46 - May Long Weekend

It's hard to beleive but there are only 6 weeks left of Owen's 1st year. Thinking back to last year on Victoria Day weekend I was very pregnant at this point and counting down to my last few weeks of work.  Now I am trying to cherish my last few weeks of mat leave and quality time with Owen. Here is a picture of me last year on Victoria day weekend at 34 weeks pregnant and here is a video I took that weekend of Owen moving in my belly:

This year for Victoria day we had a great weekend with lots of good new memories.  Owen, Daddy and I wet to the Drive In movies. We did this last summer when Owen was 6 weeks old, but this time it was much different as Owen got to play at the playground including going on the swings and in a bouncy castle for the first time.  He also loved the old school music they played before the movie and had lots of fun dancing and laughing along to it. He also enjoyed some of his baby crackers while we had some junk food.  He sat inbetween us for the first 20 minutes or so of the movie, but then fell asleep. It was a nice family night.

 Enjoying the Drive In with Daddy

On the swings. He loved watching all the other kids.

He loved this slide!

On Sunday of the long weekend Owen and I took a trip to the Butterfly conservatory with Jen.
Butterfly's remind us of Owen's dear friend in heaven, Jen's daughter Angel, so it was very nice and peaceful and beautiful to visit this place.  Despite how hot and humid it was inside the conservatory on a very hot day, we had a nice afternoon and saw lots of pretty butterflies, turtles, birds and fish. Owen liked the waterfall alot too. 

When we got home on Sunday we went to a BBQ at our neighbors who live across the street from us. Here is a pic of Owen having fun with his neighborhood friends Julia and Ella in their backyard. Julia is 6 and Ella is 3 - Owen is only 10 months old. He really isn't that much smaller than either of them, actually Ella and Owen wear the same size diapers!

Ella and Julia have a bouncy castle in their backyard. Owen LOVED it! We are thinking of getting one for him for his 1st birthday.

They also have a hot tub which he also loved and ended up in it shortly after this picture was taken.

Week 45- 10.5 Months Old!

Owen is getting bigger and bigger everyday.  He is definitely one of the tallest and biggest of his friends his age.  He towers over most of the girls. We haven't gotten him weighed officially but at 9 months he was 23 lbs. On our home scale he weighs in at 24.5 lbs (most of his little girl friends are around 16-20 lbs, so there is a big differance) He is also getting cuter and cuter every day with more and more personality. 

His milestones this week were climbing the stairs all by himself. He motors right up them and doesn't need help at all (well we are right behind him in case he falls backwards).  You can tell he is very proud of himself.  He still has no teeth and is the only of his friends with no teeth at this point. But that doesn't stop him from eating lots of solids. His favorite right now is watermelon. He LOVES it, but is very messy!

Enjoying some watermelon and goat cheese

Owen is enrolled in a weekly class at the Burlington Parent Child centre right now called Baby Picasso. They do arts and crafts each week and he has lots of fun. Here is a pic of him last week doing some body painting.

 Playing on the toys at Baby Picasso

We took a trip to the Toronto Zoo last week with a bunch of Owen's friends- Kaitlyn, Annabelle, and Alistair. We saw Elephants, Giraffes, Zebras, Polar bears, penguins, worthogs and the list goes on. We were only there for a couple of hours so only saw a fraction of the animals there. We will need to go back again soon.

 Visiting the elephants at the Toronto zoo

 Fun at the park

Finally Finished his first bottle of Shampoo and Body Wash

It took over 10 months, but Owen finally finished his first bottle of baby shampoo and body wash. It's hard to believe these have lasted his whole life so far ( almost 10 months). We bath him every day but only wash his hair every second day. The fact that it has lasted this long feels like a milestone, lol. In a way I am kind of sad to throw away the empty bottles.

Happy Mother's Day!

Week 44 - 10 months, 1 week old

 Playing with the train table at the Oakville Library

 having fun with his buddy Kaitlyn in the play house

 Owen seems to love playing with toy kitchens. Maybe he will take after his Dad and become a good cook!

 Owen and Kaitlyn (6 days apart)

 Good morning- bed head!

 Practicing walking with Dad

Chilling outside on the front porch in his pack and play, enjoying a cracker. Don't you love his chubby legs! lol

Almost Walking


Owen likes the kitchen!



Owen likes his Elmo song

Week 43 - 10 Months Old!

Owen is now 10 months old! Only 2 months left of mat leave...can't believe it!  It's been such an amazing last 10 months with Owen, so incredibly wonderful. He brings so much happiness to Nick and I and makes our hearts melt on a daily basis.

Right now he is becoming very close to walking. If we stand him up and ask him to walk from one of us to the other, he will. He is yet to get up and walk somewhere on his own- he still gets places by crawling. But I am proud to announce that he is no longer doing the wounded soldier like crawl. He now is doing a full on crawl on his hands and his knees and boy is he fast!

This week we have also been giving him his own spoon and he has been using it to feed himself. We have to put the food on the spoon, but then we hand it to him and he puts it in his mouth. You can tell he is proud of himself.  He is also getting good at sharing. Nick will say "Can I have that" and he will smile and give it to Nick.

 

Owen having fun with some pals in a ballroom for the first time

Visit with his new friend Rishann born in early March and his big brother Rohan (2.5 years old)

Rishann

Owen finally meets his buddy Jacob born in late February.