Holy S#*@!! My son's a genius!

****BRAGGING ALERT*****
Serious boasting about my childs extrordinary skills will follow!

Sooo....
Owen is my first child. I've never really been overly concerned with figuring out what milestones he's supposed to hit at what age. I'm not sure if it's because of the dwarfism or if it's something I would have been relaxed about anyway. However, it has been brought to my attention that Owen may be super-duper-mega-genius!!! His Physical Therapists, Day Care provider and well...grandma(she doesn't count though because she's way biased!), have all noted that he is advanced in some skill. You be the judge.

Owen will be 2 in one week. Here's a short list of his skills(no pun intended!):
1. He can identify almost all of the letters of the alphabet and can make the sound for them. He will randomly pick out letters on grocery bags, the back of people's jackets & advertisements and make the sound.
2. Owen can identify red, blue, green and yellow.
3. He will hold up the appropriate # of fingers for 1, 2 and 5.
4. He knows hot and cold. He will blow on hot food and give a "brrrr!" in the cold Michigan weather.
5. He has about 30 signs and uses them!
6. He knows how to work my digital camera. He likes to watch the video clips and knows how to switch to the mode that only shows videos. I don't even know how to do that.
7. Owen can follow two step commands like "Put that away and give mommy a kiss."
8. He wants to and knows how to take his clothes off. I say "wants to and knows how" because he can't actually take them all off because of physical limitations!
9. Owen can fully operate a DVD player. Can load it, press play and even scroll the menu to get to the selection he wants.
10. Had extrodinary problem solving skills. He will stack toys on top of each other to climb on to a sofa. If he wants to turn something he has in his hand around, Owen puts it in his mouth to hold it and then grabs it so that it's in the position he wants. Example: He'll grabbing a drumstick by the wrong end (an actual drumstick, not the ice cream cone!) and put it in his mouth to turn it around.
11. He can identify head, toes, eyes, ears, mouth, nose, tummy.
12. He can identify simple objects in pictures: animals, cars, sun, moon, etc.
13. He can do the motions for a ton of action songs like, The Wheels on the Bus, Hot Potato, 5 Little Monkeys.
14. His diapers alway smell like a fresh summer rain.....

Errr...OK, I'm heading into a little ridiculousness and #14 is DEFINITELY NOT TRUE!. Help! Mom! Am I forgetting anything? Grandma's have a knack for identifying brilliant behavior in their grandchildren.
He can do all the stuff that a 2 year old is supposed to do. The language is a little behind. He has nowhere near 200 words. Closer to 20 if that (not counting signs)! He can't jump yet but bends and pops up. He'll get some air one of these days.

OK, had enough bragging about Owen. Too bad! One more point to make. He is spectacularly cute!!!
I'm trying to figure out which picture to send into Regis and Kelly's Beautiful Baby Contest. Help a sister out. Which is the cutest? Or maybe none of them? Have I failed to capture Owen's true adorableness? Ahhhh! Help!

In the spririt of bragging shamelessly about your children - I want to know how brilliant your kids are. Blog about it or comment on what they can do!

Goofball (Part 2) - Try this one

Thanks to Mike for the advice! Let me know if this doesn't work!

Goofball.

THIS VIDEO SEEMS TO BE EXPERIENCING TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES. PLEASE STAND BY WHILE CAT GETS SOMEONE SMARTER THAN HER TO FIGURE IT OUT.
I will repost!

Owen has taken a keen interest in our camcorder. Specifically, he loves to see himself on camera! Lately, when I've been taking video of him, I've been turning the screen around so he can see himself "performing" and OMG, what a goofball! He may be destined for the big screen someday. Maybe he'll be the next Peter Dinklage or Warwick Davis!

Mama

What a difference 17 days makes!

No ER trips so far this week! It is only 1pm on Monday however, so I suppose my jubilence is a little premature. Owen does have a nice fresh bruise on his forehead from head-butting the floor (not really sure if it was on purpose or not) but he's OK. Our physical therepists asked us a while back if we would like a helmut for Owen now that he was beggining to walk. We laughed and told them it wouldn't be necessary...Suffice to say we are rethinking this offer! How many injuries before social services comes a knockin'?

Owen is just picking up steam like you wouldn't believe. We've affectionately begun to call him "The Druken Sailor", as you will see below. Hopefully he won't start cursing like one too, like his buddy Preston. LOL!!

**Note: 10 points to anyone who can figure out what I've been doing with my week of unemployment by listening to the background noise. Hint: Do the names Mr. Jay and Nigel Barker ring anybells? Hahaha!! More on this subject on a later post.

Uhhh....Hey Cat, don't you have a son?

Oh yeah! Hmmm...maybe I should write about what it going on with him sometime huh? OK, so I've been a little all over the place lately, but I have an excuse. I put in notice to my job on Wednesday! It's a good thing. It was an amicable parting of the ways. I have some options so I'll keep everyone updated. I've been seriously contemplating Hawaii. I think Hula girl would be just the fit for me. BUT WAIT!!! This is still not about Owen! Ok - I will try to set my extreme narssicism aside for a moment and focus on the real news...

I have very exciting new about Owen, but I'm going to make you watch this video to see it! (It's worth it!). I realized how much cute video I have taken of Owen in the past 2 weeks so I put together a litte montage of clips that will show Owen's new tricks. It will take about 3 1/2 minutes so make sure you clear your schedule so that you can devote all your attention to my son!



Can you believe it? Isn't he just the absolute cutest? What a personality on this kid! Notice that when he is chasing after the cat he is saying "At! At!" for cat. This is sort of his first official word (besides Dada). And seeing as Cat is my name, I have deduced that "At! At!" is pretty close to saying mama. See how that works? Shoot! I'm making it about me again!

Movin'

And so it begins. Owen is officially on the move. Gone are the days when we could lay him in the middle of the floor and walk away. Gone are the days when our house seemed clean enough for a baby! Now that Owen is crawling around, everything on the floor is now on his clothes and let me tell you, I am horrified by the poor performance of our vaccuum cleaner (yeah...uuhh...it's the vaccuum cleaners fault). On that note, babies make surprisingly efficient mops. Anyways, Owen is crawling, crawling, crawling! He's still army crawling for now. Although, I have my doubts that he will ever get up on his hands and knees due to the simple physics of the whole thing. His legs seem almost too short to bend under. I'm becoming increasingly aware of certain looks that I'm getting when I tell people that Owen is crawling. "How old is he?" they ask. When I tell them he's almost a year, the "He's not walking yet?" look appears. I'm sure many other mothers whose child is not hyper-advanced has experienced this look (dare I say we have all given this look at one point as well?). I'm not too worried about it. It's just an observation. Occasionally, when I have the energy, I will let people know that Owen is a dwarf. Most of the time however, I will smile polietly and pretend to marvel at the fact that this person's 3year old speaks fluent Spanish. But I digress... He is babbling and moving and generally in a great mood all of the time. His year birthday is coming up and like most mothers facing this milestone, I can't believe it's been a year! I've been spending more time on the Parents of Little People Group site. I've meet some great people. One of those people is Sarah Laurin who lives in the Dexter/Ann Arbor area. Her daughter Kaela was born with Metatrophic Dysplasia, one of the most rare forms of dwarfism. She also has a blog that she has allowed me to share. The Laurins. She is just gorgeous! Owen has dibs! Just kidding (but not really). Up to no good Too early for braces? Goofball. Just like mom. Bad hair day.

Update on developement.

As of last week Owen was 26.5 inches, 17 lbs with a head circumference of 20 inches. On the normal charts he is below the 5th for height and weight and in the 95th for head size. On the achonchondroplasia charts Owen is in about the 50th to 75 percentiles for height, weight and head size.
Our physical therepists told us that Owen has hit all the goals he was supposed to reach by 1 year. He is 2 months ahead of schedule!! He is sitting up, standing supported, army crawling, and doing other amazing miscellaneaous baby tricks.
We are so proud of him and as usual he continues to surpass everyone's expectations!
As for other developements, Owen now has 6 teeth! He's actually been a pretty good teether with no major tantrums. He's really taking it like a man.
Owen loves food! He's off the strained food for the most part and eating stews and pastas, biter biscuits, nutrigrain bars, french fries & other assorted finger foods. He has yet to meet a food he doesn't like.
He's heavy into the imitating and can do things with his face that would give Jim Carrey a run for his money. He is so expressive. You can just see his mind working through his face (especially when he has gas).
He's been very verbal lately but still doesn't have any clear and true words.
As for appointments, he has a yearly check up at U of M but that's about it. Once he starts walking we will need to start seeing an orthepedist but other than that, the only thing we need to deal with at U of M are the bills.

Grandma knows best!

I know! I know! I haven't posted in almost 2 weeks! I want to formally apologize to all those who read my blog religiously, so here it goes.... Mom, I'm sorry I haven't posted! Just kidding! But really, Tonya, Renay & Candi, I know one of you would call me out pretty soon if I didn't update (perhaps even publicly...hmmm, say maybe on their own blog...sound familiar Renay?! :) ). Ok - on to the updating! Owen's teeth are in with a vengance! His bottom 2 are almost completely in and his upper left lateral inscisor has broken through. His two front teeth will be in any day now. I know this because he is drooling like a St. Bernard! And for the very big news...Owen has also officially crawled! On Friday (Nov 9th), Owen got up on his knees and flopped from side to side in order to reach and object. That's crawling right?! Well, whatever it was, it resembled crawling and I'm the one who writes in the baby book so I get to decide. The judges official ruling? Crawling! Beyond the new developmental milestones, Owen is getting spoiled like crazy. Public offender #1 - Grandma! Grandma spoiling is not a new thing when it comes to Owen. What is new however, is his awareness of the fun toys he is acquiring. His obvious enjoyment of the gifts has opened up a whole new can of worms for my mother. This is no longer arbitrary gift giving. This is spending with a purpose! The mission: To make Owen as deliriously happy as possible! Below is video of my sons enjoyment of the most recent purchase. As you will see - mission accomplished! I love you Grandma!!

Owen: Our Happy Halloweener!

Haha! I said Hallow "weener"! Hahahahah! (I know, I'm so immature. Can you believe someone up there gave me a kid?!). Another eventful week for Owen! I'm going to start with the bad and end on the high notes. Owen was back in the ER last Thursday night. He woke up at about midnight and sounded horrible. He had developed this strange cough that sounded like a barking dog. My extra sensory mother powers kicked in and I somehow knew that it was croup. I had never heard a croup cough before but knew that if I had, this is what it would sound like. Or maybe it's because when he coughed, it sounded like he was barking "CROUP! CROUP! CROUP!". He was having some serious difficulty breathing so we took him right in. That was scary. What scared us even more is that when we arrived at Triage, they admitted him right away. Everything turned out OK. They gave him a nebulizer treatment and a steroid shot and sent him on his way. Only problem now is that Owen is having angry tantrums and has developed a nasty case of back acne. Ha ha. Just kidding. No, the little guy is fine but did in fact have "the croup". Apparently it's going around. I find it funny in that Owen has a condition that may cause him medical problems for years to come, but he has somehow wound up in the Emergency Room twice for issues completely unrelated to achondroplasia! Weird. On to the funner stuff! Owen is progressing by leaps and bounds. He is eating some finger foods now and is developing quite a pincher grasp. He loves Gerber Graduates Sweet Potato Puffs! He seems to understand the function of a spoon and when given liberties, for the most part uses it correctly on his own. He is sitting up on his own for the most part and is constantly rasing his stomach up and down, up and down. The physical therapists say it's the first step to crawling. We say it looks like he's humping the floor. Owen is adding vowels and consentants to his babbling repertoire. "Booboobooboo" is the latest and just in time for Halloween! Still no mama :( It's OK. Dan has been comforting me by saying that Owen just doesn't love me. He's very close to waving bye-bye. He is constantly flapping his arms and grabbing his socks. He is becoming a little boy right before our very eyes. This week was full of fun stuff for Owen. He got to visit Grandma and Grandpa Wright twice this week!! He sure did miss them! The most exciting thing of all was HALLOWEEN! Owen's silly spider costume was a smash hit! Even he didn't seem to mind it. He sayed in his costume without complaining for almost 2 1/5 hours. Isn't he the silliest spider around?

Where does the time go?

Ok - I'll just come right out and say it....My mother was right! She told me how fast the time would fly when it came to raising Owen. In the beginning weeks of Owen's life when I was struggling with breast feeding and not getting any sleep, I tended to disagree with her. Time couldn't have been moving slower. Now, I look at the recent picture of Owen and am flabbergasted! When the hell did this kid grow up? Scary.

The past two weeks haven't been so great for the poor guy. He's been fighting a virus and has been pretty miserable. This virus acutally landed us in the ER on Monday. Owen was lethargic, had no appetite, a fever, diahrrea and vomiting. I was afraid of dehydration so my mom and I took him in (Dan was at work). He was dehydrated and diagnosed with the flu. We were able to avoid an IV though because as it turned out, Owen LOVED the Pedialyte they gave him. He kicked back an entire bottle in the ER. What a wacko! It wasn't even the flavored kind! Owen's almost back to normal now, thank God! I couldn't take any more of that kids crap. When I say that, I mean it completely literally. The diarrea was well...I won't go into detail!

Today is Owen's 8 month birthday and he weighs in at almost 17 lbs and measures 25 1/2 inches. His head size is 18 1/4 inches. I'm not really sure what percentiles that puts him in, but I have pretty much stopped worrying about where Owen falls on the normal charts.

Owens physical therapy is going really well and the strides he has been making are astounding! Even Dan and I have managed to keep the screwy schedule straight (knock on wood). Owen is now sitting up for 2 to 3 minute intervals all by himself.



Owen is also bearing weight on his legs. He is able to stand supported by the couch for about a minute a time before his legs get wobbly! He really loves standing for some reason. He's not so much into the sitting thing, but standing seems to be the cat's pajama's.

Another exciting development is the emergence of...drumroll please...TEETH! Finally! I think the teeth are my 2nd favorite milestone next to smiling. As you can see in the pictures, they are just so frickin' cute! i actually think he's been trying to show them off too. He tends to stick out his bottom lip a lot more now.

Speaking of teeth, let's talk for a bit about the food. Owen loves him some food. For the most part, there is nothing he won't eat. He even likes the really odd tasting foods like pickles, lemons & prunes. We've recently started him on toasted bagels. Let me clarify...Dan has started him on the bagels. As of yet, I have been unable to remain calm when Owen is around finger foods. I am terrified he will choke. It's pathetic. Even with those dissolvable little crackers, I'm ready to give him the Heimlich maneuver everytime he lets out a little cough. What a lunatic!

That being said, we have however, found Owen's one true weekness. Orea cookies. I think the pictures explain themselves.

Adorable? Yes Smart parenting choice for nutritional value? Not so much. Notice the "Oreo Goatee".

That's not the only excitement Owen has been having. Last weekend we went to the cider mill with Grandma and Grandpa Merciez. Despite the 85 degree wheather and Owen's crankiness due to illness, it was a great time!

OC's PT is A OK!

Uuuummmm...yeah, I'm not even sure what I just wrote!

Owen Christopher started physical therapy last week and it seem to be working already (of course this is from a strictly objective point of view!). What may not work however, is the weekly PT schedule that Owen is on. Get this...

Every Thursday at 8:30 am, Owen has his hour long PT "class". This is outside of the home and it allows him to socialize with other kids his age. One morning a week seems easy enough to remember right?! Well - we're not done yet...

Every 2nd and 4th Wednesday of the month, we have a 2:45 appointment with Carol to do an in home PT session. Ok, that will definitely have to be written on the calander. Bet even now, we are still not done.

Every 1st and 3rd Tuesday, Deb comes to our home at 8:00 am to do another in home session. YIKES!! OK, that really complicates things! Actually come to think of it....is that even right? Maybe Deb is on Wednesdays and maybe the Tuesday appointment is at 2:45. Are Wednesday's the 2nd and 4th or 1st and 3rd? Maybe Tuesdays are the are the 1st, 2nd and 7th weeks of the month! Wait!!! There's not a 7th week in a month! Aaaaarrrrrggggg!!!!!

Anyways - you get the point.

Oh well. We'll roll with it and try to address the inevitable schedule screw ups as they come. Anyways, on to Owen's first day of class! It will be easier to show you a pictorial of the day.

Owen arrives for some playtime! Basically the 1st 1/2 hour or so is supervised fun activities!

This is Gwynda (or Gwinda) one of Owen's physical therapists. Owen LOVES her!

Owen loves to stare at the other babies. You can tell how happy he is to be around other kids his age. (well, I can tell!)

In the next 1/2 hour, the kids sit in chairs and have music time! The physical therapists (there are 2) play music (obviously), play games, and blow bubbles.

Much to Owen's delight, they played his favorite game - patty cake!!!

Has it really been 6 months?

Today it really hit me. Today was the day when I looked at my boy and went "Holy (explitive deleted), your getting so big!" I spent some time watching videos of newborn Owen. I of course became completely weepy and sentimental. This ride we've been on for the past 6 months has been the best thing that has ever happened to us. My perspective on life has changed. I feel that I have more character.

Here's a fun visual chart of Owen's progress

ONE MONTH The beginning of the Budduah belly TWO MONTHS Here Owen demonstrates his puppy dog eyes which will someday be accompanied by "But Ma, that tree came out of nowhere!" THREE MONTHS I see a pretty big difference in Owen between two months and three months FOUR MONTHS Yes, Owen's hair is significantly shorter due to Daddy's barber shop skills. Can you believe I let my husband near my son's head with scissors? I must really trust him! FIVE MONTHS Seriously, could this kid get any cuter?

Cousins and Tigers and Solids - Oh My!

What a week Owen has had! His first Independence Day was celebrated at Comerica Park. It was however, his 2nd Tigers game. This kid has a more active social life than I do! Tigers beat Cleveland - YAY! Owen was actually really good! He sat in our seats with us (awesome seats, by the way, right behind the bull pen) for 4 entire innings! I don't think even the players can watch the games for that long. My sister Anne and Drew headed back to Florida :(. Everytime she leaves I never feel as if I've had enough time. I cannot believe the irony of our situation. After so many rough sibling years, we are finally at the EXACT same points in our lives only now she lives in Florida! I'm so proud of her though. She moved strictly for her career and ended up creating an entire life for herself. When she moved down there, she knew one person and she now has a complete support system including a fiancee, the best friends anyone could ask for and wonderful soon to be in-laws. I'm glad she's happy, but I'd still rather Anne was here with me.

Now for the really big news - I probably should have dedicated and entire post to this, but I couldn't wait to reveal the big news. Owen has started solids!

Yesterday, we served up a little yummy rice ceral to our big boy! He was so stinkin' cute. Dan and I can tell he's been ready for a little while now. He's doesn't seem to be satisfied with just his bottles anymore. He chews on the nipples when he eats (uh, just to clarify, I mean bottle nipples, not mine!). He can hold his head up pretty well. He just seems ready. The first feeding was nothing spectacular - Owen kept letting the cereal spill out of his mouth. Today however, he really made some improvments. When we would bring the spoon up - he would actually open his mouth! Is that a really genius thing to do? I think it is. He's really advanced isn't he?

Anyway, below is his first foray into the world of solids (although I'm not quite sure why they are called solids - I've had thicker milkshakes than the rice cereal crap).

Oh and in case you are wondering - yes, that bib does say "Hoops" which is a sports bar. Does that make us bad parents?

Angel or Devil?

Well, it's official. My little son officially no longer bears the mark of original sin. Ok, ok, that's not entirely true. Owen was baptised in the hospital so he's pretty much been clean as a whistle in the eternal soul department since his birth. What we celebrated on Sunday was just the ceremony for his baptism. Basically it was our chance to get up in front of our congregation and say "look how cute our baby is and aren't we good parents by getting him baptised." It was a great idea in theory - not so great in practice. Owen was having none of it.

Owen Christopher, normally our good natured little boy, was so awful on Sunday my husband actually wondered out loud if he was the anti-Christ. "Maybe the holy water hurt him because he is the devil" he said.

Of course, we say this all in jest and we love Owen very much but LORD ALMIGHTY! Owen was a handful. He was absolutely no better at the party thrown in his honor either. He cried so much for so long that he was actually hoarse the next day!

Actually, come to think of it, almost the entire after party was a total bust. We threw a welcome home Anne and Drew / Happy Engagement Anne / Happy Baptism Owen party after the mass on Sunday. Anne was sick with the superflu and was in bed almost the entire time. Owen was up in my parents nursery screaming his lungs out. Drew was the only one who pulled through in this whole scenario.

My poor mother! I think she was about to have a nervous breakdown. She's a total rock star though and I'm devoting an upcoming post entirely to my parents!