Scary Monkey, Gymboree, etc.

So, Owen's babbling is still non-specific, meaning he says mama and dada, but not as a name for us. He is, however, communicating w/ "Scary Monkey". Scary Monkey is a stuffed monkey I bought him at the beach that is wearing a cheesy "I love Holden Beach" t-shirt. It wasn't until we got him home that we realized that SM makes a horrible screeching sound when you squeeze his belly. No doubt it's supposed to sound like a monkey call, but it more closely resembles a cat being run over by a lawnmower or something equally disturbing. Kyle started it--let's get that straight from the beginning. Squeezing SM's belly to get a reaction out of Owen. First, shock. Eventually, kicking and smiling and squealing--sounding just like SM! Now, when we are in Owen's room, he reaches up to SM and squeals until we squeeze his belly (SM's, not Owen's).

All fun and games until last night when we were trying to wind Owen down for bed (a challenge in itself because it was the first night w/ no nursing! Yea!), but he kept squealing and looking for SM. Kyle couldn't stop laughing. Perhaps we can distract Owen w/ a bedtime story? Yes, unless it's Kyle's "dramatic reading" of the book "I love You Through and Through"...almost as scary as SM himself. So, our first evening w/ no nursing and Kyle's full involvement in the "bedtime routine" was very interesting...

Anyways, Owen finally went to sleep. SM may be finding his way back to the beach soon...

In other news, Owen has his first "gym membership"! We joined the Gymboree here. It's great. It's basically a 45 minute "class" once a week where he gets to crawl through tunnels and up big foam ramps and stairs, play under a giant parachute, play with bubbles, etc. All w/ this crazy teacher lady singing and banging a tambourine (it's like being in a musical you don't know the words to...but I bet we learn). It was hard to take pictures and participate too, but here he his braving the tunnel. In similar news, he is quite speedy making it up our stairs (w/ supervision). And if they were a little wider I think he could almost come down them...time will tell.

Here he is doing a little exploring outside. If I could just teach him to use a trowel. Next spring...
And "helping" me w/ the dishes. Dirty utensils are no match for him.
I think that's about it. Oh, he's got 2 more teeth. The other one on top has poked through and there is one on the bottom. We're busying ourselves this week preparing for his BIRTHDAY PARTY on Saturday. My mom is coming and it is supposed to be a beautiful day, so I'm excited. Until then...