Owen's Monkey Business

We had a lovely day today. I woke up around 6 am and had a few minutes for some quiet time before O. woke up happily at 6:20. The first thing we do every morning is say "Buenos Dias" to the pajaritos (birdies) hanging above O's crib. I sewed the birds last winter after I couldn't find a mobile I liked for his nursery. There are seven birds, originally named Peace, Love, Harmony, Satya (truth),two other names that escape me at the moment, and Robyn and Joy. The last two birds (at the top of the mobile) are named for both grandmothers. Each bird has a heart bead sewn inside with a blessing and one of the birds has a secret message too. I am thinking about renaming the birds for all the great-grandmothers. The new names are: Josephine, Rose, Margaret, Pauline, Hazel (a great great aunt), Teresa (Joe is that spelled right?), Robyn and Joy. I gently sway the bottom branch so the birds swing gently as I sign "bird" and we smile and laugh. After greeting the...

It's true what they say- ten months is a barrel of laughs! Owen has been having so much fun this month. *He enjoys going up (and down) the stairs. *He stands and pushes things around the room like the laundry basket and his highchair. *He got two top teeth, bringing the total to four. *He loves to brush his teeth, and knows to get his toothbrush out of his monkey cup when I set him on the side of the sink. (I sing, "brusha brusha brusha, new Ipana toothpaste" to him while he brushes" Nothing like a jingle to get you moving!) *He loves to eat cut up blueberries and salmon! *He spent this month practicing eating finger foods on his own. It took him a while to pick up cheerios etc. and put them in his mouth on his own. He would feed us, or if they were on the floor lean over and pick them up with his mouth! so cute! *He will use a spoon to feed himself if the food is on it. He has experimented with putting the spoon in the food container to "reload". *He stil...

Sun. April 11, Grandma Joy and I took Owen to the barnyard for a sing, sign and play field trip. For his last sign language class, we met at a local farm called The Gentle Barn. It's basically a farm animal rescue place where they care for abused or neglected farm animals. On Sundays, you can donate $5.00 (goes toward food for the animals) and spend some time in the barnyard with chickens, goats, pigs, and even a peacock and an emu! The weather that day was chilly, gray and cloudy, but we braved the elements so mom could get attacked by the stroller-loving emu. Owen touched a wooly sheep.

Saturday, April 10 was Owen's first trip to the zoo. We met our friends Beth, Darin, and Will there. Beth is a teacher friend I met while working at the charter school in South LA. Somehow we've managed to stay in touch even though she moved South to Orange County a few months after I met her and I moved north not much later. We try to meet up every few months and last fall found out we were due only a couple weeks apart! Now we look forward to meetups as the boys grow. My college friend Gretchen recently relocated to Burbank from San Antonio and met us at the zoo with her 1 1 /2 year old Jack! Owen noticed some of the animals. If I had to guess, I'd say his favorite was the brown bear.

where we were during the earthquake! We took a "mini-break" to the Palm Springs area on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday. It was Derek's first time visiting the area, and we had a great time. Owen slept most of the trip out, which was a little over 2 hours. We checked in to the Hilton Garden Inn in Rancho Mirage around noon, got settled in, and headed out for lunch. After driving into downtown Palm Springs, which was hopping due to the Dinah Shore Golf Tournament, we turned back around and ended up at The Paseo in Palm Desert. We decided to eat at Tommy Bahama's, and had a lovely meal. Near the end it got really windy. Then Derek commented, "Isn't it weird the way the floor shakes with the wind?" Then we waited. And the shaking didn't stop. After 10 or 15 seconds everyone was looking at each other saying "Is it an earthquake?" Then people started getting up from their tables and heading inside. I was holding O. and we waited in the door...