He worked very hard on learning to jump and spent several weeks in hard concentration. He would bend his knees, then stand up straight and lift first his right then his left foot one after another, as fast as possible. Then he used a new approach: he crouched down and straightened up quickly, going up onto his tiptoes and holding it there. If only he had jets in his toes, he would have blasted right into the air. Finally, just a few weeks ago, he lifted both feet off the ground at the same time. He's still not a pro but he's getting there.
Owen has also been working hard on talking. His list of words is too long to name them all, but it includes: ball, dog, kitty, treat (for the kitties), bird, duck, bok-bok (that's a chicken, for the uninitiated), song, sit, jump, step, stomp, hand, help, swim, water, good, up, down (although he gets these confused), outside, inside, walk, bump, hot, cold, hat, coat, shoe, sock, run, swing, slide, park, home, car, bus, truck, bottle, weasel ("Soooul"), pacifier ("Pass"), rat (yes, rat), Elmo, Cookie monster, baby, cracker, cookie, cheerio, orange, banana, apple, blueberry, strawberry, egg, cheese (and he can also get the cheese out of the fridge if you let him), pasta, butter (which he requests on many kinds of food and then says MMMMMM, butter!), peas, yogurt, fork, spoon, nap, book, star, moon, flower, butterfly, ... that's just what I can think of off the top of my head.
He's got Mama, Dada, Gramps ("Namp") and Granma ("Nama") down perfectly. Everyone is greeted with "Hi!" And dismissed with "bye bye." He gives real kisses and real, wonderful hugs. He can give high-fives, low-fives, blown kisses, and fist-bumps. When you guess what he's after correctly, he squinches up his face with delight and says "okay."
He can name some colors, a little inconsistently. He has orange down pat and I heard him say purple the other day. Blue is hit or miss.
He can make the sounds for pigs, cows, chickens, ducks, sheep, bears, lions, rats ("eee-eee"), microwave ovens ("beep beep"), trucks, and waves. When he doesn't know the sound and you ask him, his default answer is "ROAAAAR!". As in: "Owen, what sound does a giraffe make?" "ROAAAAR!"
He's starting to combine words into 2-word phrases, like "drum song" or "orange truck."
He is really into singing along to songs and requests specific ones. Favorites include Snuggle Puppy, Old McDonald Had a Farm, the Elmo song, Happy if you Know It, Wheels on the Bus, and a couple of tracks from a disc with singing in Chinese. One features a drum and another has a flute (two more words for the list).
When you least expect it, he will lift the edge of your shirt and tickle you, saying EEEE-EEEE-EEEE. Sometimes he lifts up his own shirt and tickles himself.
He's a lot of fun, and more fun every day.
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