Joey

Owen, like all of our boys, has many nicknames. James is fond of calling him Joseph, which then morphs to Joey, Egypt, and Arimathea (for obvious reasons). I keep reminding James that we did not name our child Joseph...

Owen's best meal of the day is breakfast. He does not require any coaxing for this meal. In fact, he eats almost as much or more than me (tough to do, as I am also a breakfast-lover) every day. He and Thomas also specialize in "Elevensies"--(a snack right after breakfast) although at our house it is much earlier than eleven o' clock. Other meals of the day are a little tougher to swallow for the O. This is probably because he is a bit of a picky eater (we're always working on that--offer the food a thousand times and he might bite at some point, right?). He can become motivated though, and when he does, he always calls out in his bright, loud, Owen voice: "Mom! I gotta good idea! How bout you don't look at my plate while I eat!" This means, he will eat it before I come in to check up on him. I always assure him that this is a Great idea!

When the twins are away at school, Oeey rules the roost. For Thomas he is the king of our family. Owen and Thomas do silly things together--play in the curtains while laughing insanely, go up and down the stairs, while laughing insanely, run circles around our house while l. i., etc. If they are in silly mode, there is no hope for me to settle them down until they get it out of their system. Owen is the ringleader, for sure. Sometimes their play turns into fights. Thomas has learned that he can freak Owen out by running after him and chomping his teeth. Owen will squeal and laugh/cry and basically go crazy. Owen will sometimes take action against the T and is not always willing to own up to the fact. This happened the other day while driving to Lethbridge. The two boys sit very close together and sometimes grab each other while we are driving. This particular morning, Owen did something to Thomas that made him scream. I pulled over and could not get an honest answer out of Owen. He told me "Thomas hurt himself," and "well, you didn't see it!" I promised him some soap in his mouth for telling me a lie, but told him not to worry too much about it. :-) He proceeded to think and worry about it for the next few hours. "Mom, are you going to put the runny soap in my mouth?" "I'm going to bring my water bottle with me and wash my mouth out right away." "I don't like getting soap in my mouth." When we finally did get to the soap, he was very brave, and decided to tell me the truth. He did have his water bottle in hand.

O-boh has a very fast metabolism. He spends two good sessions a day in the bathroom, usually, and sometimes more (if he eats all his meals.) He enjoys these times very much. I always know he is there if I hear singing, loud talking to himself, and otherwise very cheerful noises resounding from the bathroom. I recently purchased some conditioner that is in a bottle which looks a lot like lotion. I came in to the bathroom in response to his ringing "I need a wi-ipe!" and he informed me that he had been putting on "lotion." It was all over his arms and smelled very fruity.

Owen still naps sometimes but he always has a quiet time in his bedroom, listening to a tape. I have a couple of Wee Sing tapes which he likes the best. When I say to him "Owen, it's time for a book and quiet time" he replies "after Weed Sing, can I get up?" This gives him great comfort and he always is very compliant. On the days that he does nap, he has a hard time getting to bed at night. He is usually pretty good at staying up in bed, but will come down occasionally and say "I'm sick." This means he wants to lay on the couch downstairs, or he will get a bucket out of the cupboard to show he means business...

Owen is full of life, zip, and total energy. He is so much fun. I wish I could put him into words more accurately, but he is a delight and a joy and we love him!