Our Little Bat-child

In my reflections on Father’s Day, I thought it’d be appropriate to find a way for my boys to have a little “common ground” time.

Meet Justin’s Dad:

This is the Halloween costume I made for Matt while we were dating.

Tonight after his bath, I suited Justin up in his new Batman pajamas (complete with cape). 

Here’s the portrait:

“Look at all my MUS-KULLS!!!”

Then he went about his regular business… just happening to be in his Bat-suit:

Then he proceded with the plotting necessary of a dark anti-hero:

Geek in the making…

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Justin’s First Few Unassisted Steps!

Short, but complete with the sounds he frequently makes while toddling around.  Now, just 2-3 days later, we’ve installed “Buckles-the-Monkey” as a new fixture to all our outings.   The added exercise of walking all the time has helped Justin sleep much better once he’s asleep.  Now, if we can just get the other three of those nasty first molars through to make the rest of the evening easier (he’ll get through that 5lb steak so much faster once those puppies are in!!)

Dee-doe-ee-aa!

Yes, that’s right.  Dee-doe-ee-aa.

One of Justin’s very first friends was this pretty little girl, whose name is Magnolia:

Justin likes Magnolia, even though she plays with his toys and is, in many ways, Justin’s polar opposite.  Where Justin is a rambunctious, loud, determined and frequently awkward bull-in-a-china-shop, Magnolia is gracious in her movements, gentle, and in about all ways sweet.

Around Pascha, Justin tried to say Magnolia’s name – “Dee-doe-ee-aa!”.   He said it every time he’s seen her since, but now the name/word has come to mean “friend” or anyone under the age of 5.  We hear “Dee-doe-ee-aa!” at least 8 times in every shopping trip,  14 times at church, and no less than 4 times on any given walk around Bellingham. 

My son is funny.  His first 4 syllable word is the beautiful but very difficult to say name of one of his friends.  I like it.

Taking a Walking Justin Shopping…

Enjoy…

Only in Bellingham…

I love this town.  So many reasons why.  Lately I’ve been reminded again as the precious sunny days return with more frequency:

1.  We have streets called “Blueberry Lane”, “Jimi Hendrix Blvd”, and “Roma Rd”.  Also there’s the area known as Sudden Valley, which is neither sudden or a valley (it’s a heavily treed hilly area known for trapping its residents in the slightest bit of snow).

2.  A local newspaper (the Indy) has a weekly column by the “Bellinghamster”, and a picture of a fluffy hamster is shown in the corner.

3.  Then there’s this guy:

Maybe I don’t get out much, but this is the BEST advertising “sign-holder” I’ve ever seen on a street corner – not your average dejected looking teenager on his cell phone looking bored in his sandwich-board.  This one is for Speak-EZ’s Memphis-style ribs.  He has two signs that I’ve seen him alternate between:  one says, “All you can eat RIBS!”, another says (and I’m not kidding), “Eat me!  I’m tasty!”  Genius.

Woohoo!!! Go Justin!

Tonight I was walking Justin around the house, him holding on to one of my fingers, when his grip got just loose enough that I pulled my finger out and he kept on going!!  He took three steps toward his daddy before plopping his bum down on the floor.

Woohoo!  Keep up the good work, my little monkey child!

Zoology according to Justin Owen

This is how Justin sees the animal kingdom:

There are three kingdoms: Momma/Dadda, birds, and most importantly the “Kitty!” Kingdom.

Here’s the breakdown of the bird Kingdom (and what each “says”):

"Bock! Bock!"

"Cack! Cack! Cack!"

When in doubt, all other birds are ducks. 

On to the “Kitty” Kingdom:

"Meooh! Meooh!"

"uff! uff!""muhh!"

 

"uh - ah! ah! ah!"

Justin, after very proudly announcing the sounds each of these animals makes, he even more proudly reaffirms that they are, indeed, “Kitties!”

Pascha 2009!!!

Hello everyone!  Sorry for the delay in posting… between the colds, the incredible number of Church services (Holy Week), working 40+ hours, AND wrestling with what the doctors may or may not want to do with my gall bladder, I haven’t had a lot of free time. 

Since it’s been so long, I’m thinking I’ll tell a couple of Pascha highlights and give a little Justin update (since his 13 month birthday was during Holy Week).

We had a really good Pascha, despite all three of us being sick (that nasty head cold that’s been going around).  We got to go to all of the Holy Week services – even though we couldn’t stay all the way through most of them thanks to a sick, fussy Justin).  We did very much enjoy the time at Church we got, and the time with friends:

 

Justin was VERY excited to be at Church so early in the morning for Pascha.  We walked in to the dark Sanctuary and Justin was waving and laughing at everyone.  The service felt long though, and Justin got tired but there was too much going on for him to sleep (he wasn’t too sure about the confetti - a little scary but a little exciting I think; but he liked the shouting and cheering!). 

Pascha breakfast was the best though.  My favorite moment was him sitting on Matt’s lap with an empty plate in front of him and a fork in his hand.  Then our friend Brooksana put a little wind-up chick on the plate and let it go.  Justin spent the next few moments chasing the chick with his fork and shouting, “Bock! Bock!”.  So awesome!   He also (as evidenced by the red on the cheeks) LOVES strawberries!

 The picnic was cool too – Justin did the egg hunt thing with a lot of help from momma.

Yup.  A good time was had by all, but all napped soundly that afternoon. 

In general, Justin is doing awesome.  He’s a big boy who’s not walking on his own yet.  He could.  He just doesn’t.  He “requires” that he have your fingers to hang on to while he walks, but doesn’t use them for balance or support (other than the emotional kind).  He’s starting to stand alone more, and is figuring out how to climb up on the couch and similar items.  He’s really good at crawling up the stairs of our apartment complex, but still needs coaching to crawl backwards down the stairs safely.  His primary occupation is still language. 

Every day he has new words and even a few 2-word-phrases and animal noises.  My current favorites are:

“Nuss” = nurse (has replaced “na-na”)

“Geye Joe” = GI Joe.  Yes, like the toys.  He points to them in the store and excitedly says this.

“Bock! Bock!” = this is what all hens and roosters say

“Juice” = sippy cup, whether or not it has water or juice in it.

“Moe” = more.  And almost always used in combination with his first sign.  (I’ve been attempting to use as much sign language as possible with Justin, but until now he hasn’t really used it.  In this case he uses the correct sign, but only uses it when he also says the word)

In other news, Justin pretty much only nurses at night now (when I put him down to bed and if he wakes in the night).  It’s kinda nice – it’s all about cuddling with momma now and not quite so much about getting him fed.  Speaking of sleep, he’s mostly sleeping through the night now.  FINALLY!  He goes down around 9-9:30 and doesn’t wake up until around 4am (when I take him from his crib and bring him to bed with us and nurse) and he promptly falls back asleep until after I leave for work.   Still not optimal, but SO much better than it was.

Look Familiar?

I recently stumbled on a picture of Matt from his first birthday and couldn’t help but notice a resemblance:

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