Blankenship Family!: Owen is 16 Months!

Cheesin for the camera!

Size: Owen is wearing all size 18 month clothes now. We had his 15 month appointment a few weeks ago and he weighs 25 pounds and is 32 inches tall. He is 50th percentile for height and 75th percentile for weight. We switched pediatricians so that both boys are going to Haymarket Pediatrics, which is much closer to us than Owen's old pediatrician in Centreville. I absolutely LOVE our new pediatrician! He made the whole doctor visit like play time for Owen, playing with him and letting him ride his knees like a horse. Not once did Owen sit on the doctor's table, the whole exam was done on the doctor's lap. The doctor said Owen is doing magnificent and that he is even advanced in speech and language.

Special Trips/Visits: We took Owen to a pumpkin patch last weekend. I wanted to get pictures of him running around through all the pumpkins and picking out one for us to carve. He had SO much fun, probably too much. Every time we tried to leave he would start crying (it was a little embarrassing, hah). To appease him, I got him a tiny pumpkin for him to hold as we were leaving. We let him play with it in his car seat on the way home, and when we got home and went to get him out of the car he handed us the pumpkin and it had teeth marks all over it! He was trying to eat it like an apple the whole ride home!!

Checking out the donkeys at the pumpkin patch!

He had so much fun just running around!

I'm always the one taking the pictures, I never get to be IN the pictures! So, I took a break from being behind the camera and had Jimmy take this one of me with my little man. :)

We went to my parents house for dinner a couple weeks ago and Owen got to go visit all the animals, feed the goats, and sit in the tractor!

Checking out the chickens!

Pops is showing him how to drive the tractor.

Owen's buddy Cole had his first birthday party this past weekend. They had a petting zoo and pony rides at his farm themed party! It was adorable and SO much fun for the kids!

Owen and Cole checking out the baby chicks.

Owen's first pony ride!

Kid is fearless!

Firsts: Owen continues to say more words each day. I've been keeping a list and I have over 20 words on the list right now. He is also learning his body parts and can point to them when you ask where they are. He also knows a lot of animal sounds and will make the sound if you ask him what a particular animal says. He understands just about everything we say to him and will do most things we ask him. He knows what a lot of objects are, but can't say the word just yet. We will read a book together and I'll ask him where a certain object is and he will point to its picture in the book. He is learning to clean up his toys and will put his toys back when you ask. Right now he thinks it is a game and will run around with his toys telling us "Back! Back!" and then go put the toy back in it's place. I'm using what he already knows to teach him new things, building on his prior knowledge (do I sound like a teacher, or what?!?).

Owen has tons of teeth! He has upper and lower molars now. The last time I counted he had 12 teeth. Only 8 more to go!

Check out all my new teeth!

Likes: Owen loves to read still. He is finally starting to sit long enough to listen to me read him a book. Reading to children is SO important (the one thing early readers have in common is that they were read to at an early age, and reading helps kids learn in ALL subjects!). I make it a point to sit and read to him every day. He has started to bring me book after book and plop down in my lap for some story time.

He brought this book to Pops for a little story time.

Owen loves Dylan, he calls for him each morning when he wakes up. He will try and put Dylan's passy in when he is crying, he will help me burp Dyaln. It's adorable! He loves to lay with Dylan on the play mat when Dylan is doing tummy time. He will run over and give him hugs and kisses!

Nose!

Snuggles.

Owen's favorite foods are crackers, fruit, and cheese. He will bang on the pantry door and ask for crackers each afternoon when it is snack time!

Owen really likes interacting with other people. He is such a social little guy! Everywhere I take him he is waving to people and trying to talk to them! I'm going to get calls from his teachers saying he talks too much in class! Haha! He is such a little ham and is always doing little things to make us laugh! I was telling Jimmy the other night, he makes me laugh at least once an hour each day!

Dislikes: Owen does not like vegetables! I've been giving them to him each time I eat them, but he just picks it up, makes a funny face, and then puts it to the side on his high chair tray. The other night was the first time I got him to eat green beans in months! I guess he finally realized they aren't so bad after all!

Brotherly Love

Here are some cute pictures of the boys together!