Artist

"A bumble bee and a flower"

Owen Araiza, age 3 1/2

On the left is the bumble bee. Next to it is the flower. He's getting pretty good.

We're so proud of our Owen.

The long and the short of it

I think you can tell which is which.

Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam

Let it be known that on Sunday, March 4, 2012, Owen Edward Araiza went to his Sunbeams class all by himself for the first time. He cried a little bit, but his teacher said after awhile he looked at her and said, "I was sad because Mommy left me but now I'm not sad anymore. I am happy now."

And then he was fine!

 Let it also be known that on Sunday, March 11, 2012, Owen went to Primary AND Sunbeams all by himself. That would be a total of 2 consecutive hours away from Mommy and Daddy. There were a few tears, but he was very brave.

We sure are proud of our big boy who, in his own words, "doesn't even cry!" anymore when he goes to Primary by himself. He loves his teachers, Sister Snedecor and Sister Harrison and the other kids in his class. He really looks forward to going to Primary every Sunday.

Mommy is especially enjoying her newfound freedom to go to Relief Society and Sunday school but feels a little sad that her mama's boy is growing up.

Rice & Beans

I've been channeling my inner pre-school teacher and doing some fun activities with Owen. He loves anything he can do with his hands and especially likes science experiments. We have made peanut butter playdough, baking soda & vinegar volcanoes, cornstarch & water slime, and most recently, I put a bunch of dry rice and beans on a cookie sheet, put in a few toys, and let him go to town.

"Let's Make a Porch!"

I've been feeling a little guilty that I haven't been stimulating Owen enough at home. We recently got a dvd player that streams Netflix and in the excitement of having hundreds of shows at our fingertips, we've been watching WAY too much tv.  

I thought it would be fun to make a fort under our kitchen table. Owen was very excited about it and all of his stuffed animals joined us in the fort. 

Owen kept mispronouncing fort and kept calling it a porch!  It was so cute!  I'm sure there will be many more "porches" in our future!

Halloween Costumes

Owen says to me at 8:30 a.m. after just barely waking up:

"MOMMY!! I know what Lexie should be for Halloween!!! A little tiny hot dog!!"

Then he burst into laughter.

"That be silly, huh Mommy?"

At various times during the past week he has told me what Lexie should be for Halloween.

So far on the list we have

1.)cheesecake

2.) Pluto

3.)Batman

4.)little tiny hotdog

He has also come up with some brilliant ideas for himself.

While at my parent's house, he started looking intently at their fireplace.  Then he said, "Mommy, That guy climb on the roof? And come down the.....[chimney] and bring toys inside? His sleigh stay on the roof?"

Me: "Yes. Santa Claus does that."

Owen: "I want to wear a costume like Santa Claus and be Santa Claus for Halloween!!"

Owen's list of Halloween costumes include:

1.) Santa Claus

2.) Batman

3.) Darth Vader

4.) Hot Dog

5.) The Hulk

6.) Doctor

and my favorite,

6.) Daddy

We'll see if any of these costumes make the cut when Halloween rolls around.

Lacking...

I feel like most of my blog posts lately are about Lexie.
I haven't been trying to neglect Owen, but I like to put pictures with my posts.
Lately, when I try to take Owen's picture, this is what happens.

Thus the lack of blog posts about Owen.

However, he has been saying some very cute things lately. Here are a few of our conversations we've had in the past week.

#1: While driving in the car, he looked out of the window.
Owen: Hey Mommy, are those clouds?
Mom: Yup.
Owen: Hey Mommy, what do clouds feel like? Are they.... [searching for the right word].... fluffy?
Mom: Yes, I think so.
Owen: Oh! That's really cool. Hey, it looks like the ocean! Hey Mommy, how you get to clouds? I want to go there! I want to climb a tall, tall ladder and touch them!

#2: While driving in the car, we could see the Pyramid at CalState LB.
Owen: Hey Mommy, what's that thing over there?
Mom: That's a pyramid. That's where I went to school.
Owen: Oooooh... cool. And daddy went there?
Mom: No, Daddy goes to a different school.
Owen: Mommy, what daddy going to be? A doctor?
Mom: No, he's going to be a nurse. A nurse is someone who helps a doctor.
Owen: Oh yeah. I want to be a nurse, too. I want to give medicine to people and to help people. You went to school to be nurse, Mommy?
Mom: No, I went to school to be a teacher. I used to teach preschool and help kids.
Owen: Oooooh!  I want to do that!! I want to help kids! I want to be teacher! Mommy, you help me be teacher?
Mom: Yeah, I can help you.
Owen: Okay, thanks! That be really cool.


#3:
Owen: Hey Mommy, what's that thing inside your head?
Mom: Your brain.
Owen: Oooooh yeah! Your brain! Hey Mommy, what your brain look like?
Mom: It's pink and gray.
Owen: Oh yeah. That's really cool!

"I never done/seen that anyfore."

"You know, you can just do what anything you want."

"I did/seen that one last year when I was a baby."

1st Day of Primary

Owen is 3 years old and so on Sunday he got to start his first day of Primary at church. Before Lexie was born he was doing much better with his separation anxiety. However, since she's been born he's digressed a little. I'd been talking with him a lot about Primary and how he gets to go to his own class with the big kids.

Come Sunday morning when it was time to get ready for church, he started crying and saying that he didn't like church. When I didn't say that we could stay home, he immediately started trying other tactics.

 Bear in mind that all of these things were said in between sobs, which lasted from the time he woke up through the entire first hour and a half of church.

"I don't want to go to "Puh-why-murry" (Primary)! It's scary!"
"I don't like church!"
"Primary is mean!"
And then, my favorite... (He's one smart cookie!)
"I can't go to church because my ear hurts! My ear is hurting!"

I was able to calm him enough to go into Primary as it started. Luckily Lexie wasn't hungry, so I stayed with Owen during Singing Time.

About fifteen minutes into it, Owen turned to me and said, "Hey, I'm not scared anymore! I'm happy! I thought it was scary, but it's not!"

And just like that (snap your fingers) he was a happy little boy! He LOVED every minute of it. As long as I was there with him, he was completely relaxed and himself. When we went to his Sunbeams class, he sat in his own chair, talked to the other kids and his teachers.

When it was time to tell the class what his name was, he pretended to burp. (He watched the movie Elf recently and likes to imitate Buddy the Elf's ever-lasting burp).  I was really surprised at how much of a ham he was during his class. Usually he's really shy, but he acted very silly and was unintentionally disruptive at times....But I'm glad that he was comfortable enough to be himself.

Now we have to work on Mommy not going to Primary with him. Baby steps...

Love.

Yesterday our little family of four was lounging around together watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Out of the blue, Owen looks at me and says, "Mommy, I just love you!"

I sure do have a lot to be grateful for this year.

Happy

Owen has recently begun drawing happy faces. They make me happy. :)