Woo Woo Woo

It's official, Owen's new favorite diversion is looking out the window, pointing at things, banging on glass and enthusiastically repeating, "woo woo woo!" At first I thought that woo-cubed was the noise a fire truck makes but I've come to learn that it's a universal "term" that can be used for practically anything that moves. Here is Owen passing time by talking to airplanes at the airport in Providence; 

Enjoying the scenery outside Grandma's house;

And watching gorillas at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago.

These are rare glimpses of a kid who never stops moving. Let me repeat that. He never stops moving. This is Owen in a more natural state, cute and blurry.

The good, the bad and the incredibly cute

The Good. The weather is finally warming up making it much easier to get out and about and little Owen is a chatterbox. He babbles mostly in baby talk but also throws in a new word here or there. Recent additions to his verbal repertoire are Mama (finally) and baseball. This makes both Steve and I very happy.

The Bad. The kid is a picky eater. Owen doesn't like vegetables and he's totally given up being fed. He is 14 months old after all, geesh. And just to spice things up he's inconsistent in his likes and dislikes. One day he'll tolerate carrots, the next day he hates carrots. A boy cannot live on meatballs alone so I've resorted to straight up trickery. There's zucchini in that muffin...Gotcha!

The Cute. Oh, I mean the incredibly cute. Owen has started giving us hugs and kisses. To be honest, his kisses are slobbery and a little gross but the hugs are pretty amazing.

He's also taken to standing at the door to say goodbye to whoever is leaving the house and just marvel at the passers-by. I can't blame him, the world is a pretty interesting place. 

EastOver

Easter has never been my favorite holiday. The story is morose and is anyone else just really freaked out by the Easter bunny? I've only been to one Passover seder and I had fun but from what I gather, most families don't sing "silly seder songs." Anyway, what Steve and I both like about these holidays is being with family.

A benefit of being a mixed-faith family, living away from family, is that we can create our own holiday traditions. Take EastOver (an Easter, Passover hybrid) for example. I colored eggs mostly because I wanted to see if using cabbage as dye works. It does! I was also curious to see if Owen would eat a hard boiled egg. No such luck.

In addition to his EastOver basket, Owen got a rare treat. An up close and personal visit from Sydney, who was interested in eating the faux grass. Owen laughed as he threw grass on her. He then pushed her out of the way as he got down to business.

The EastOver Mommy (remember what I said about the Easter bunny) brought Owen a set of toddler crayons. After we hid the M&M's from our chocolate crazed lad, Daddy gave Owen a quick tutorial on how to color. 

It could have been the sugar but here is Owen's first drawing. A picture of Syd, his muse. An artistic prodigy, I tell you.

Our celebration ended with a traditional EastOver dinner of matzo ball soup, chicken salad, Vermont cheddar bread (anyone who's visited us is familiar) and macaroons. Yummy!

Bi-molar

 

"Adam and Eve had many advantages, but the principle one was that they escaped teething." 

- Mark Twain 

Owen has been a grump lately. A big grump. We came up with plenty of theories to explain this sudden and extreme case of the grumps. I have to admit I was worried that it was just part of his personality. What happened to my sweet and smiley baby? It all made sense one morning, mid-scream, on the changing table. A HUGE pearly white molar. How could I have missed this?

We were out of the woods for a few days and then it was straight back to the grumps. It turns out that Owen is bi-molar. The current tooth count is seven, only 13 more to go. Boy oh boy, teething has been an adventure.

It hasn't been all bad, though. We've been going on long walks, taking trips to the park and "cruising" around the ottoman. Here are a few pictures of happy Owen. Then again, what kid doesn't delight in a trip to Home Depot?

An Easter gift from Grandma B has also been a big hit with the little one. The wheels, the wheels, the whee, the whee, the wheels on the bus go round and round. I wouldn't be surprised if this toy gets lost someday.

Bow Wow Wow

Here is Owen and his best buddy. Johnny, as you're probably aware, has secured his place as the black sheep of the Linker family. The dog has a quirky personality but in his defense, he has to endure constant torment from both Owen and Sydney (the cat). We're teaching Owen to "pat" Johnny and "be nice" but Owen prefers to pull his tail use his body as leverage to stand. Sydney, on the other hand, hides behind the ottoman or under the table to pounce on Johnny. Lately Johnny has taken to barking for an escort to walk past the cat. I am not kidding. 

Regardless, we talk about dogs a lot. Usually we're talking to our dog, "Come on Johnny," or "Johnny, NO" or "Bye bye Johnny," but we also discuss dogs in a literally context. In fact, Owen's favorite book, Moo, Baa, La La La points out that dogs can say "Ruff, Ruff, Ruff" and "Bow Wow Wow." For the record, Johnny says "Bow Wow Wow." Check it out!  

We made it!

Owen turned one on February 9th. It was a wonderful and exhausting year and while I've only been a Mom for a short time one thing is abundantly clear, I am not in control. Especially of the weather. A blizzard may have thrown a wrench in our party plans but spirits were still high. Looking on the bright side of the situation, Owen was able to go sledding for the first time.

As you can see, he had a blast. Just kidding. Misery is probably a more accurate description. This brings me to another thing I've learned during the past year; I can't expect Owen to be as excited about or enjoy something as much I'd like him to. I sound very wise, don't I? Please remind me of this in the future if (or more likely when) Owen is not interested in taking piano lessons with me. But I digress....the party! 

Grandma B's flight from Chicago was cancelled and the locals were stuck at home. Our skeleton party crew included Aunt Amy, Grandpa Stan (who arrived on the last train from New York City) and Bubbe, intermittently via FaceTime. Here are some pictures of the fiesta. The homemade hats are courtesy of Aunt Amy. Those Linkers are so crafty!

 A toast to the Birthday boy! 

One-year old's still tolerate kisses from Mom - Phew!

In case you were wondering, Owen enjoyed being sung to and was a big fan of birthday cake. In fact, having a blizzard worked out in his favor. In addition to getting cake on his actual birthday, Grandma B made him cupcakes when she came to visit last weekend. 

Here's the birthday boy showing off his loot;  a new sweater, hat, blocks and a soccer ball.  Doesn't he look like a budding young fisherman?

Next stop, lobster trawler...

XOXO

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love, Owen

I swear, this kid could melt a heart of steel. Speaking of which, the balmy weather we've been having has helped to melt a lot of the snow that fell during last week's blizzard. Grandma arrives tonight for birthday, take two. I'll post pictures soon.