and go.

Watch him go....

Grandma watches on

and go...

Riding with Pops.

Sitting atop the bike with hat.

Opening presents.

Look what Santa brought.

Christmas in Oregon Re-Cap

Wow, there's a lot of ground to cover:

Christmas Morning...
It started Christmas morning with Owen running out in his train pajamas (thank you Auntie Annie) to the sight of the Christmas tree and presents underneath, around, spreading across the living room... you get the picture. The night before, as we talked to him about Santa Claus delivering presents, he seemed most concerned with "Where does Santa Claus live?"

The big present came from Pops & Grandma -- a shiny, new, yellow and blue bicycle that the boy took to immediately (more on that later). Owen spent about 20 minutes unwrapping the rest of his presents with great delight; he got everything from a new Nationals hat (thanks Mom!) to Plaza Sesemo DVDs, a set of animal puppets and a tiger shirt (thanks Auntie Leean!) to Curious George books, a dancing ipod robot (thanks to his cousins!) a train and an animal set. After about 20 minutes, with several presents left unopened, he wanted to do what he does best -- play.

The Bicycle
The big draw the rest of Christmas and the next day was the bicycle. Pops, Grandma, Auntie Leean, Mommy & Daddy took Owen out to the (always handy) nearby cul-de-sac to practice riding his bike. It is a two-wheeler with training wheels. At first, he was much better going down the slight incline than uphill (aren't we all?) Soon, he was feeling more comfortable even on the uphill! It was amazing watching the intense look of concentration and excitement on his face as he practiced coordinating steering and peddling at the same time. All of this while surrounded by grown-ups with their various cameras in hand. And of course, he had to wear his bike helmet because... SAFETY NEVER TAKES A HOLIDAY!

By that night, he was zipping in circles around the island in the kitchen, peddling and steering like a pro. By the next day, Owen was riding it like he was born to to do it. It was pretty amazing, and we all marvelled in his brilliance. (It's nice to be around like-minded folks).

Night Time is the Right Time....
Everyday with Owen brings a new development (or challange as the case may be). Sleeping in our room in the pack 'n' play, we found a new one. Our discovery started out slowly -- objects (the changing table) appearing in the pack 'n' play that weren't there when we put Owen to bed. Did we leave it close to the pack and play where he could reach out and bring it in? How did it get there?

We had our answer by Tuesday night. A very sweet little boy was not going to sleep; we could hear a lot of singing (Jingle Bells maybe) coming from the room. Upon going in, we discovered the truth: Owen sitting in the middle of the fluffy, white comforter on our bed, reading his book. When he saw us watching, he made his way back into his pack 'n' play, a mischievous smile shining across his face.

The next night it was a strange sound that drew Mommy and Daddy's attention. Owen was opening the door to his room, peaking quick looks until he saw Daddy and slam! -- the door shut tight. A few minutes later, peaking in, there was our sweet pea sitting cross legged on the floor reading Curious George.

Pops, Grandma and Auntie Leean were all pretty nuts for our boy. He had no shortage of attention or admirers, who reveled in every cute expression or antic. We watched him work them over so that by the end of the trip, he was commanding everyone in the house except for the dog, Buddy. (He still can't figure out why Buddy wouldn't do whatever he asked him to -- everyone else did!)

Ah, our willful, savvy boy.

It was the day before Christmas....

Owen along with Mommy & Daddy finally made it to Oregon. After long and trying day that started with us leaving for the airport at 6:30a EST and ended with us finally arriving in Eugene at 6:45p PST, our hero promptly fell asleep in the car. He was a great traveler though, helped mom and dad get through a long day, and I think we all managed to have some fun along the way. The Seattle airport (where we had a 6 hour layover including delays) was a highlight -- watching the planes take off, meeting Santa, observing RoRo the Clown, the 9 foot tall Orca stuffed animal (that got a goodbye hug), and the Flamingo statue that got a couple of friendly kisses.

The morning (Christmas Eve) was started with calls for Grandpa/Pops (who was still asleep at 6a), a quick breakfast of a fried egg sandwich with mommy, and some grocery shopping with daddy, grandpa and Auntie Leean.

The highlight of the afternoon was a walk (sprint) through the sand dunes with Grandpa, Buddy (the dog) Mommy & Daddy. The boy was racing up and down, climbing dunes, chasing Buddy, and generally showing his energizer bunny side. He was very pleased with the trip, and only was appeased when we promised to come back tomorrow.

The evening was capped by grandma reading "The night before Christmas," and questions about where Santa lives before he fell asleep with visions of chocolate cake in his head.

Owen Make it

Look at that focus.

Daddy & Owen in front of the tree

The end result -- notice the little tree on the right.

The Christmas Tree is up

Our tree (both the little one and the big one) are up and running. Owen will proudly tell you "I made it."

The funny thing is that he really did. After waking up from his nap, he totally took to decorating the tree. At first he was putting everything at eye level for him, but then he was up on the table putting things around the higher part of the tree. Finally he was telling daddy to put things "up there" near the top of the tree.

After all that he proclaimed, "Take a little break," and continued to sit on the table and play with his toy truck.

After that, he helped daddy make some chili, stirring and putting in the spices, before he washed his hands and eat some pizza and yogurt for dinner.

Katie -- Owen's Teacher

Allison -- Owen's Teacher.

First day of School.

Who needs a tree when you got a wagon.

The Trip back.

Helping Daddy with the Yellow wagon.

Owen picks the tree.

Parent-Teacher Conference at the DCJCC

Last week was our first parent-teacher conference at Owen's school. It was a good meeting, very reassuring, and also made me swell with pride as a parent.

Some comments from his teachers:

• Owen is very smart. With a good memory. The children were all given shapes that corresponded to where they sat at lunch. After a couple of weeks, the teachers decided to see if the children could remember their shapes and the colors. Owen was so excited he didn't even wait for Katie to get out the question before shouting out "Arrow, blue." Determined to challenge him, she followed up with "What direction does your arrow point to?" Without ever having been told, he answered her, "Left."
  
• When the class is acting up, the teachers said if the corral Owen and another boy Coltrane, the rest of the class doesn't know what to do and calms down.
• Conversely, if they want to get the kids interested in something new, if they can get Owen and Coltrane to try it, the rest of the class follows suit.
• For his age, Owen has an unusually strong sense of self and what he wants.
• He is very verbal and able to communicate what he wants despite his limited vocabulary.
• At first he was a little leery of the whole pre-school thing. It took him some time to learn to trust the teachers and understand his place in that social structure. Now, he feels very comfortable, its his class, his friends, his Katie and Allison.
• He's strong willed, and the teachers have learned compromise is often the best solution. They are teaching Owen about compromise.
• He is working on learning to respect boundaries.

It was a very positive conversation, and made me feel more comfortable that his teachers are very fond of Owen and are trying to nurture his independence and strong sense of self. I'm sure Nora will have her own comments and thoughts to add.

Christmas Tree Shopping

With his toy snake in hand, Owen,. mommy and daddy went out around the corner to the Garden District and picked a Christmas Tree. While the boy's excitement was muted after a morning of playing with his new Buzz Lightyear toy, my friend Sheldon, and the box that my mom shipped everything to us in, he still picked not only the big tree, but also a little tree more his size.

The highlight of the trip was taking our new tree home in a very yellow wagon. Owen helped daddy the whole way, and took a ride back with mommy.

Pictures to come shortly....