Two years old!

No, I haven't forgotten about you, blog friends. I have actually been excited to post the details of Owen's 2nd birthday party for weeks now, but decided I would leave all the details quiet until after the event took place. And then, in all the excitement of the party (and yucky stuff leading up to it), I neglected to take a single photo of the festivities. Well, that's not entirely true. I took about six pictures, but none are very good, and, since I know that my budding photographer sister took about a million, I've opted to just wait until I get some of those from her before I make that post.

Instead, I will grant you a little update on my now 2-year-old cutie, which is pretty overdue in itself.

Owen had his 2-year check-up with the doctor yesterday and, although he downright screamed (I mean, as loud as he could, face bright red, big fat tears coming down his cheeks, SCREAMED!) while standing on the scale and against the height chart, the nurse managed to log him at 33 1/2 inches (perfectly average at the 50th percentile) and 30 pounds (which, apparently puts him in the 95th percentile for his age). I was kinda surprised at that since he usually comes in somewhere between 60th-80th percentile for weight. I asked the doctor if he was concerned about it and he wasn't, saying that he just looked "solid" to him, not fat. I agree. But still, it was a little concerning...

Here are some other random tidbits about Owen as of this moment, in no particular order:

• Although he's kinda stopped doing it now, a while back we taught Owen how to spell his name. It usually came out as, "O, double, E, Nnnnn!" He's so over it now, though, he never wants to do it anymore.
• He can count to 10 (and beyond, sorta). Every once in a while, he will just start doing it all on his own, though if we coach him, he will happily repeat the numbers on command, too. I've definitely also heard a twelve and "shirteen," but everything after that is just some variation of "shirteen."
• One thing that I am especially proud of is that he pretty consistently says, "bless you" after someone sneezes. I have always (like, since he was an infant!) said, "God bless you!" whenever he sneezes because that is one thing I clearly remember my mom doing for us and I've always thought it was nice. It's not anything that Ryan or his family do, but for some reason, it's important to me that Owen learn to do this. Anyway, I couldn't be prouder every time he says it. Love him!
• Despite my fears that it would never happen, Owen now eats pretty well with a spoon (or "foon" as he calls it). Don't get me wrong...he still makes huge messes at the table. Like, consistently large messes! But he's finally getting successful at transporting food from a bowl to his mouth with a spoon. Forks (which comes out sounding like the the naughty f-word when he says it!) are another matter entirely.
• One positive result of the nasty little puke bug that hit our sweetie-pie hard last week (more on that in the forthcoming birthday post) is that he's now finally capable of telling us when something hurts (and what)! Last Thursday, he said to me, "tubby huwts" as he pointed to his tummy, followed moments later by lots and lots of puke. I'll stop there for now in my description of that evening. But since then, he tells me frequently that his tummy hurts. Sometimes I think it actually may, like when he gets a side cramp if he's running around after eating. But other times, I think he just realized how much loving attention he received when he first started saying it and now just does it to get an "awww, poor baby," out of me. (Smile!)

And now, a few more words and phrases that Owen says these days. (Note: This is not is a complete list, as he really says just about everything now, but these are just some of the cute ones I heard today and happened to jot down.)

• "I sowwy" (I'm sorry)
• "Tiebout" (time-out)
• "I welcome" (you're welcome)
• "soupy" (excuse me)
• "heaby" (heavy)
• "appah" (open)
• "oopies" (oopsie!)
• "Where Daddy go?" (duh.)
• "Ah pushy butty" (I push the button)
• "Garagie door" (garage door)

Like I said, this list is certainly not everything he says. He talks a mile a minute all.day.long. These are just a few cute ones I've heard in the last few hours.

And since I hate to publish a post without any pictures, here are a few from our last play date with Matthew (and Mary and little Owen) last week. Ah, sweet summer time!