Hello, I love you

This was a monumental weekend for Bub. For the first time, our little guy reached out to the world and said hello. More specifically, he waved to Aunt Katie.

And why wouldn't he??  Aunt Katie and Uncle Daniel (or as we lovingly call him, Uncle Smores) recently moved to California from New Jersey, and have been staying with us while they get settled. From the first time they met, Aunt Katie and Owen have had a special bond. The two light up when they see each other. Whenever Aunt Katie walks into the room, Owen begins frantically flailing his arms and legs with anticipatory giggles. I'm pretty sure they have a secret pact involving bedtime. Aunt Katie suddenly turns into the tickle monster most nights right around wind-down time, effectively pushing off bedtime by a good 20-30 minutes.

And when Mommy and Aunt Katie get together around dinner time, WATCH OUT. Mama was outside watering the flowers when this mess began. Who knew yogurt and applesauce could be so much fun?

In all seriousness, though, the wave was a big deal for us. We are now even further away from the little ball of mush we brought home from the hospital, and one step closer to having a boy on our hands. While we relish in his achievements and growth, it's hard to watch it all happen so fast! Owen is beginning to mimic! He is communicating! Don't get me wrong, he has been making his desires known for some time now with a whole range of vocalizations that we refer to as his velociraptor noises, but this is the first time he SAID something. He was saying "Hi guys! I'm here. I'm picking up what you're putting down. Even though you haven't been actively teaching me to wave, I've noticed that you do it, and so I'm going to do it too." It's exciting!! It's a whole new world for us. One of Owen's favorite things lately is watching us throw our arms in the air as we say "Arms up! Arms up!". We all do it now, just to get him to give us one of his cheesy grins. One day soon, he's going to do it right back to us.

A new day has dawned in the Hopping-Winn household.