Marching Ahead: Owen’s 20 Months Old!

Twenty months! Wow, Owen is getting old. Only four more monthly updates of Little O…lucky for you, Richard and I perfectly timed the arrival of our second child so that you won’t have any months without a baby to look at.

Owen was his usual frisky self this past month. He likes to talk. A lot. And move his arms like an orator. While shopping, he shouts an accusatory “Hey!” from the cart at people passing by, usually while pointing. Most people laugh; some look alarmed.

Earlier this month, I read that a typical toddler Owen’s age knows and speaks anywhere from 10 to 50 words. Richard doubted that Owen knew 20 words. Worried that our child was slow, I immediately calculated the number of words that Owen has said and knows the meaning of. We were surprised to find that he knows at least 50 (maybe more, but I stopped counting at that point, satisfied with Owen’s toddler intelligence). From this I have concluded that 1) Richard and I are terrible at estimating and 2) Owen knows more than we think and we really need to stop accidentally swearing in front of him.

A couple weeks ago, Owen had to go to his very first sick appointment at the doctor’s and was prescribed his first antibiotic (our little guy had an eye infection and an ear infection). Yep, his long streak of exceptional health ended. But we’re lucky to have avoided a sick doctor’s visit for so many months…I credit the powers of my breast milk.

His bout of illness caused some setbacks with our big endeavor this month – weaning Owen off his pacifier. Other than when he was sick, we’ve been trying to limit his binky use to naps and nighttime. He’s mostly okay without it, although he sure does get excited when he sees one in his crib. And suddenly during the day, he’ll look sadly at me and ask “Where ginky go? Ginky go?” When he’s sleepy, his demands for his “ginky” become more and more desperate and he asks for it over and over. During car rides, he yells “Ginky goooo?!?” from the back seat. Sometimes I feel bad. After all, he’s not quite old enough to understand when we tell him that “ginkies” are for little babies and for sleepy time; he just doesn’t understand why he can’t have it. Ahh, yet another challenge in the journey of parenthood.

And the list of reasons for Walter to hate Owen continue to grow. During the past few weeks, Owen has gotten jealous of Walter. When Walter jumps on my lap or snuggles up to me to be petted and kissed, Owen is immediately there, yelling at our pup. He shoves at him and says “NO! Go, go!” Poor Waltie.

So raising a toddler continues to have its ups and downs. The “ups” include:
1. He tells you when he’s peeing or pooping. (During this monthly photo shoot, he loudly announced “I peed!” Charming, right?)
2. He’s cute.
3. He can now articulate when he wants something.
4. He’s cuddly (for very brief moments).
5. His palate is expanding.
6. He finally (i.e. sometimes) calls Richard “Dadda” and not “Mommy.”
7. Sometimes he sleeps in until 9. (But I awake at 7 and wonder why he’s still sleeping for two hours.)
8. Did I mention he’s cute?

The “downs” include:
1. He poops his pants and tries to touch it while getting changed.
2. He can now articulate when he wants something.
3. He throws food, usually the food that I’ve spent hours making.
4. He hits other children (and me).
5. He catches colds and promptly passes the germs to me and Richard (and it’s so much fun having a cold while pregnant).
6. Sometimes he wakes up ridiculously early and throws every item out of his crib. Fabulous. Because the first thing I want to do at 6am is pick up a bunch of crap.

Finally, it’s time to share his monthly photos. His favorite thing this month was the Caillou theme song, which he randomly starts to sing and demands to listen to on YouTube over and over again. Here he is with a couple Caillou figurines to represent his Caillou obsession:

Owen’s adventures continued this month, checking more off his list. He visited the aquarium and he met the Cat in the Hat at a Dr. Seuss Day breakfast.

Owen hated the Cat in the Hat.

At the aquarium, Owen tried his best to catch a stingray, covering his Daddy in smelly fish water.

Owen saw penguins at the aquarium too.

Besides the stingrays, the sharks were Owen’s favorite.