1 Toddler + 1 high fiber bran muffin = ?

Don't be fooled by the small size of the Trader Joe's Whole Grain Apple Cranberry Bran Muffins. Each small muffin contains 13 g of fiber, which is ~50% of the recommended daily intake. For an adult.

The answer to the equation above = superfund site diaper

I should have learned from other's mistakes, as my brother once fed his toddler-age daughter a bran muffin and chili on the same day. The results were equally impressive.

What does Owen like to Watch on the Internets?

YouTube rocks. Owen's favorite things to watch are videos of wood chippers and other constuction equipment in action. Yes, wood chippers. No, not from the movie Fargo.

The neighbors near the park we visit had a wood chipper in their yard for a few weeks, so we spent time watching them grind up brush and trees over their fence. Not sure if they thought it was weird, or if they even noticed that a toddler was scrutinizing their progress.

So now O asks about the wood chipper frequently and we watch videos on YouTube of them. A particular favorite is the DutchDragon. As it turns out, lots of European equipment companies run YouTube videos of their products, complete with technopop background music.



Another favorite is the MuffinMonster video on YouTube - it's the grinder that Waste treatment plants use to grind up things that shouldn't be flushed down the toilet (think shoes, sofas, and 2 x 4s).



Just awesome. Particularly with the corny music.

Chatting with Yoda

Owen has been talking more and more lately, which I guess is to be expected. He saves all the talking for home, and still prefers to stare blankly or glare at people at church. At the park, he'll get within inches of another child and then stare at them. Eventually he'll say 'hi', or something off the wall, like 'peekaboo', but often he just stares.

He'll now string together 3 and 4 words in a sentence. He's got his own style of grammar, which sounds a little like Yoda. The subject (often himself) is usually at the end of the sentence, so much of his speech sounds like he's giving commands. 'Pet the cat Owen'. 'Pick it up Mommy.' 'Down the stairs Owen'. 'Put it down Owen'. The last one is reserved for times when he is intentionally playing with something forbidden and knows he's getting ready to be told to put it down. He'll peer at us to see if we're watching, say 'Put it down Owen', and then set the off-limits item down. Then he'll try touching it with one finger, or on the side of the object, to see if this is allowed.

He's also good at repeating, so we had a couple of rounds of 'Happy Fathers Day', which was somewhat understandable. He wished Travis, my Dad, me, Furry Lewis, and his sippy cup of milk a happy father's day. We do have to be careful though as he repeats anything we say. Today at the park, he learned the word 'stupid' when he was listening to some of the older children. Hopefully he'll forget this one.

Maternity Clothes

Why do most maternity clothes come with a deep v-neck or plunging neckline of some sort? I can't possibly be the only pregnant woman out there with a job that doesn't want to show off mommychest to the world. Fortunately, this time around, the current shirt styles for women are loose and blousy, so I've been able to get by with some non-maternity shirt. For the rest, I put tank tops underneath. But still, it's getting warmer and adding an extra layer is less than desirable. Oh well. I'm 33 weeks on Thursday, so not too much longer for the maternity clothes anyway!

The morning lie-down/stand-up routine

Between the time Owen wakes up and when we come into his room to get him, he's exploring (read, "tumping things over"). But when we enter, more often than not, he'll grab his blanket and lie back down on his mattress, saying, "More naptime," or, "Owen go back to sleep." The first time he did this at way-too-early in the morning, I was fooled and thought, "Sweet," not realizing that "Owen sleeping" would last about ten seconds. He'll do the same sort of thing when we come back into his room to change from PJs to regular clothes, the only difference being that he'll grab a paci to go with the blanket.

I think that he does this to get extra paci time - he only has it for sleeping - or because it's funny to trick Dad. I'm thinking it's more the latter. I started teasing him about being on to his little scheme, and at this point, he can't keep from laughing at his own cleverness even as he is declaring his sleeping.