How You Growin' Owen?

On the road again ... over the weekend we traveled to western Maryland to attend a fund raising dinner for The Maryland Salem Children's Trust (http://www.mdsalem.com/) , the school where my brother-in-law is the Education Director. Bob's company was one of the corporate sponsors and we were happy to attend as the school does an amazing job giving hope and guidance and opportunity to children who otherwise wouldn't have it. And of course we always love visiting Owen's Nanny (where there is usually something yummy to eat like cherry pie!), and seeing Aunt Maria, Uncle Todd and cousin Hannah!

I realised recently that many of my friends have blogs or websites chronicling their adoption journey and lives now that they are home; and they all do a really good job of updating on their kids' developmental milestones. So, I'm going to attempt to give you a quick glimpse that we'll call "How You Growin' Owen?"

• Although not yet walking by himself (that's our cautious kid), Owen is very steady on his feet when standing, stands by himself, stoops and recovers, walks when you hold his hand (can do it when you only hold one hand too), has taken a few steps on his own, pushes his truck all over, cruises laps around the coffee table and crawls very fast. Any day now!
• His fine motor skills are excellent - meaning he will find and pick up every minuscule piece of lint/hair/etc from the floor and hand it to me with a proud look on his face. Or try to eat it (with a devilish look on his face!).
• Owen is a big help around the house too - sorting laundry, making sure the cats have enough water, checking under the throw rugs for missing items, quality checking the opening/closing mechanism of the cabinets ... you get the idea.
• He has always been really good at sitting and playing with his toys - he's a "thinker" and likes to study something and figure out how it works. He now stacks his beloved cups, takes rings on and off the post, takes blocks, balls, etc. out of his toy chest/storage box and puts them back in, will attempt to throw a ball to Bob or I, bangs objects together, throws toys down the cat door (no, that's not my favorite). He also likes to play cousin Hannah's favorite game: when you clap, he'll pause and then clap too, and then wait for you to do it again.
• "Catfish" is still a good eater and he definitely has a sweet tooth. He eats "real" fruit and veggies and sometimes chicken and fish but doesn't like beef at the moment. He will pick up any food and feed himself and I've recently started giving him a spoon - he'll put the food on the spoon but it's still too tricky to get the whole contraption to his mouth.
• He babbles a lot - sometimes very loudly! - and has really started to try to mimic us. If I say "thank you" he'll repeat something that also has two words. He can say "cat" (what a surprise), "Sadie" (one of the cats) "duck", "daddy", and something that sounds like "what's that".
• While no match for his cousin Samantha, Owen will now bounce up and down when one of his toys plays music and seems to like it when I sing to him.
• He likes to look at his books, particularly the ones with pictures of animals and pages with textures, and he'll point at things in a book. We alternate the same three books at nap/bed time, and no matter where we are, if I start to recite one of these books he'll settle in and listen.
• After a short break when he apparently decided it was too much work, Owen once again waves bye to Bob in the morning and to anyone in the grocery store who thinks he's cute. He also gives us high fives and we are working on bumping fists which he thinks is hysterical.
• Owen loves to be spun around and tossed up in the air - this always made him laugh at the baby house too - and the "walk away then turn around fast" game never fails to get huge giggles from him. He still likes patty-cake and peek-a-boo (he now "hides" by covering his eyes with his forearm).
• It seems like everyday more and more of his sense of humor and personality emerges - he'll do things that he knows make me laugh or make up a new way to clap or play with a toy. My favorite thing he does is slowly lean his forehead or cheek into your face when you say "Owen, can I have a kiss?"

I know I've missed about a hundred things, but the most important thing is that Owen is a healthy, happy toddler (yikes!). But can someone please explain to me why, when Owen is in the 75% for height, most 12 month pants are still too long on him??