Thanksgiving!

We had a great time in Phoenix for Thanksgiving! (Yes I'm late in posting, but shhh let's not focus on that.) Here are some pictures with the Yilmaz side of the family:

Mmm dinner:
Ethan and Owen figuring out how to play together:
Still figuring it out...
Hm, equilibrium possibly reached? (There was never any crying, by the way...)
Hm, wait how again do we play together?
Negotiation over a cookie...
Playing with Gammy B:


With Uncle Marc:
With Grandma Carol:

Thanks for hosting us Corey, Vongmaly, Ethan, and baby girl on the way!!

Visit to LA!

We went to LA last weekend and had a blast! We visited lots of family.

Owen with his great grandparents:


Look at the great toy they gave him! Thank you so much!


Then we went to see the Reiss side of the family. Here Owen is cuddling with great grandma Irene:



He loved the bear she gave him!


Quality time with dad:


With Auntie Fayla and Uncle Stephen:


Owen thinks Uncle Stephen is funny.


Showing off his cool new shoes...


Learning from Auntie Annette:


Lots of cuddling:




Saying goodbye to Auntie Annette and Great Grandma Irene:


On the plane to go home! He doesn't look too excited, huh. Must have just caught him in an off moment, because he did great on the plane. We are on another plane tomorrow to Phoenix for Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Grandma (and Ethan)'s birthday

We had a great day on cousin Ethan and grandma Patrice's birthday. First David, Robert, Patrice, Owen and I went to the Little Gym in Mountain View, and Owen had an absolute blast playing with daddy. He clearly seemed to enjoy it rather than just kind of going along with it, so I'm sold on these gym type classes for development - see him smiling in all these pictures below.




When it came time to do exercises with the noodles, he was more interested in eating them than in holding them between his feet, as he was theoretically supposed to do:


Here he is with his friend Jackson from baby sign language class! Jackson's mom told us about this class, and we think we'll go back together often.

Here he is crawling/scooting around during free time:

He decided in the end not to go through this tunnel. He was too interested in the carpet alongside the tunnel, believe it or not.

He checked out the bars...

And the teacher helped him try them:

Dad helped Owen get through the obstacle course:

Then we went to brunch at an awesome cafe in Los Altos called Rick's Cafe. Owen had a great time, as evidenced by what happened below his highchair:


Ooops - this are baby puffs, pieces of pancake, and a rogue spoon that didn't make it:


But we left a big tip and cleaned up most of it, and most importantly, someone enjoyed it very much!


Happy birthday grandma Patrice and cousin Ethan!

Owen's haircut

Owen had a serious haircut, finally, last week. I've trimmed it twice before, and it grows back immediately, so this time I decided to really cut it.

Here he is in his barber chair. You can see there is an edible prop to distract him.



It went really well! His hair is a lot shorter, as you can see in later posts, and rather than the hack jobs previously, his sideburns actually look normal :)

Owen's 1st Halloween

Owen was a pumpkin for Halloween. First we went shopping that day and took pictures in the hay with the other pumpkins:



Then we met our friends Mark, Marni, and their daughter Johanna, who was a princess that day, for serious trick or treating on the peninsula's most serious trick or treating place, Eucalyptus Street in San Carlos. We had a great time, and Owen wasn't scared! Look at how seriously these houses take Halloween. Apparently if you move onto this street, you need to agree to take Halloween seriously and decorate. Christmas too, and we'll go back to see those lights too!










Happy Halloween!

Owen moving and imitating

Owen is *almost* crawling. He does all the things he's supposed to do at this age, which is moving around, rolling over both ways, sitting up with no problem, moving objects hand to hand, pincer grasp (can grab a small piece of food between thumb and forefinger and put in his mouth), and... he's definitely scooting around and almost crawling. Sometimes he'll get up on all fours and rock back and forth, like he's about to crawl. But mostly he scoots around on his tummy. Here's a video:

Owen is also really becoming a person. It's quite different now. He knows if he's in his saucer and not getting attention. He makes a moaning/grimacing sound for attention. He gets shy and buries his head around strangers. And, he waves! He waves and means it. He can also imitate. Today we were out shopping, and I was trying to give him little pieces of brioche (yes he's very fancy). He loved it, but if a few minutes passed by, he'd get suspect and turn away if I tried to give him more. But if I showed him I was about to put it in my mouth and open wide, he'd do so too. And, here he is imitating Grandma Patrice a few weeks ago, putting his hands way up high:

Also he's been trying lots of new foods recently, the latest one of which was pizza. Needless to say, he loved it!

Pumpkin's visit with Cousin Ethan

Owen was a pumpkin today. Actually, he's a pumpkin every day, since I have called him "pumpkin" every day of his life betwen five and ten times, so he probably thinks that's his name. Luckily Delfina calls him Owen so he has some chance of learning his name. Anyway, for Halloween his costume choice was obvious!

We planned to go to a Halloween get together this afternoon but Owen's tricky nap schedule pre-empted that... this didn't prevent me from dressing him in his pumpkin outfit for cousin Ethan, uncle Corey, and aunt Vongmaly's visit:






Owen was very sweet with them; even though he was afraid of strangers yesterday (normal for 9 month olds), he warmed right up to Corey, Vongmaly, and Ethan.

He played with Ethan and was pretty gentle given he can't fully understand it yet :)...

Owen and Ethan had some bonding time eating cookies on the floor:

We didn't really take a picture with them side by side since we'll all be together at Thanksgiving in a month and figured we'd take lots of pictures then, but here they are together on the floor....


In other great news, Owen discovered yogurt today. He LOVES it. He ate a whole container at lunch and another at dinner. I think this will be a regular staple! He also had Trader Joe's cookies on the floor with Ethan today and loved those. His favorite regular foods now are: whole wheat bread (he's an addict), yogurt (similar level of love), cheese, and avocado. He's learning about different textures, and the gag reflex he used to have with different textures has mostly gone away. Now he'll try most things and knows things may not be mushy.

Oh and perhaps the most exciting news of all, I definitely see Owen's left bottom center tooth coming out! We will have a tooth soon...