The Puppeteer

Owen and I have spent many happy afternoons lately taking turns telling stories with his puppet theatre. He is always very particular about where the audience should sit and when the show should start and then once he gets going his "plays" are, well, kind of free-form. But its really funny because he uses character voices and sound effects really well.

Now, you may think he gets that from me since I'm the one with the theatre background but I have to let you in on a little secret: Owen gets this ability from his Dad. This is no surprise to Paul's family I'm sure but Paul is extremely adept at creating highly amusing characters... voice, motivation, physicality, the works! and he'll improvise for a really long time much to Owen's delight! Not bad for a software engineer! Anyway, it's quite fun to watch them both.

and in other news....

Details to come about the big announcement, I promise!

But I wanted everyone to know this: in the past month or so, quietly and without fanfare ( until now) Owen has

1. gone completely diaper free naptime and nighttime without any midnight pees!!!!!!!

2. finally learned to sleep all night in his own bed!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, he is 3 so it's about bloody time. But, a few months ago (yes, right after Paul and I realized another baby Getz was on the way) we decided we had to do something about his joining us in the the big bed at all hours of the night. We talked to him about the importance of sleeping in his own bed and then just kept returning him to his own bed when he would come into our room. After a week or so of 2 a.m. discussions he stopped complaining about it and now even though he still comes into our room occasionally, he goes back to his own bed no problem and knows he can't join us until the sun is shining..... Can I just say that after all the stress of his first few years of awful sleep habits, it is SO MUCH EASIER to sleep train a young boy who can understand reason and consequence.

Now we have 6 more months of sleep before the new one arrives ( Estimated Date of Arrival: February 13th, 2007). Then we start all over again.......

An Announcement from the King

Artist in Training

Owen's Solar System. Please note: the yellow sun's rays (upper left) shining through the far reaches of the galaxy; blue earth with a small black moon (bottom right) with a string holding the moon in place so that "it doesn't drop away from the earth"; also, note the yellow blobs on earth which represent our house and our backyard in San Diego; Saturn and its rings ( he made two Saturns); and the Asteroid belt represented by the long brown line going between the planets....


Percy the Cat.

Owen's New Best Friend

This is Owen's friend Fireman Freddy. Freddy is a really incredible puppet who LOVES to play hide and seek (although he's not very good at it).

Paul was the first one to be the puppeteer ... and then I tried him on and Owen literally yanked him off my hand and ran him back to Paul. My own son is my harshest critic! What is the world coming to!

Here's a picture of Owen's "Dzia Dzia wink" . He's been making this strange face lately and finally we asked him what he was doing and he told us! This is Owen's impression of my Dad's pirate-like wink. It's pretty good I think! -- What do you think, Dzia Dzia? :)


Also, Owen (or actually Paul) got a cool new toy the other day: an air pump rocket. We went to the park and were amazed at how high this thing went!

We've been enjoying the sunsets lately -- although the afternoons are hot, it cools off so beautifully in the evening:

It's hot...

We are having a heat spell. It's pretty unbearable in the afternoons (which is when I would normally post something) so I've been avoiding sitting at the computer all week. Which means, there have been no updates on the blog.... I'm sorry! I promise to get in gear and let you know what we've been doing. But we've mostly been trying to keep cool.

Owen's new giraffe pool was great until we let it sit for a few days and it became the most prolific mosquito breeding ground you have ever seen. Hundreds and hundreds of larvae swimming around waiting to hatch. Yuck. So last night we drained it and rinsed it out. Just in time for today, our hottest day of the year!!!!!!

So, we went to the drugstore and got an emergency heat relief mechanism (a $1.50 sprinkler):

Yes, that is Owen running through the sprinkler in his Thomas the Tank Engine underwear!

Here's another great way to beat the heat:

Chocolate Ice Cream!

Anyway, there's a lot of exciting stuff going on around here, but it's just too hot to sit here anymore... I promise to tell you more soon!

Lisel

Owen's Newest Favorite Things

1. The solar system. I mean really, he is OBSESSED and can name all the planets in order and will go on and on about Saturn's rings and the asteroid belt and the gas giants...

2. His new basketball net (thanks Aunt Kirstie and soon to be Uncle Joe)

3. Answering all questions with the same question. For example:

Me: Why did you say that?
Him: Why DID I say that?
or:
Me: What do you mean?
Him: What DO I mean?

4. Saying "or anything" when I ask him something like "Do you have to go to the bathroom or anything?" or "Do you want some water or anything?"

5. His new backyard giraffe pool.