Sixteen Years with Owen

Owen - July 30th marked 16 years since you were first placed into our arms. You were the most adorable little boy I had ever laid my eyes on. I remember your curious look as I held you for the first time. You weren't afraid. But instead so very content in my arms. You had a snack as we watched two other families be united with their children. 

You fell asleep in my arms on the drive to our hotel where we would begin our new lives together as a family of three.

You were such a ham and quickly eased into this new life of ours. Our sweet adorable little boy. Oh how I wish I could turn back the clock. These years have flown by so quickly.

Just look at you now, all grown up! But just as handsome as ever.

For your Family Day celebration, you didn't want to do much. You had been sailing on the waters of White Bear Lake all day so you just wanted to chill out at home. 

For dinner, you picked one of your favorites - Orchid, a local Asian restaurant. You order the exact same thing every single time: orange chicken with the orange sauce on the side, plus a side of white rice.  You don't even use the orange sauce so it's basically just a large serving of chicken nuggets. It's your most requested restaurant for dinner, but they don't deliver and well, I'm not a huge fan, so often you get overridden on your request. But not today! Today was your day so Orchid take-out it was.

The following weekend, you requested a family dinner out at Tria, a local "fancy" restaurant. The rest of us dressed up for your celebration, but you thought that a Nike t-shirt and shorts was dressy enough for your attire. You are a growing boy who loves to eat and have developed quite a sophisticated palate, often ordering the most expensive thing on the menu. After looking over the options, you decided on one of their specials - a huge plate of crab legs with a side of mashed potatoes. Afterwards, you couldn't resist getting dessert and happily gobbled up a slice of blueberry cheesecake.

Owen - you have become quite the teenage boy and passionate about clothes, skin care products, and hair styles. Nike is your absolute favorite brand of clothing. I'd venture to say at least 99% of what you wear on a daily basis is Nike from the shirts to the shorts and even your socks! If it's not Nike, it just not for you. 

You now have an extensive skin care regime, with a long lineup of daily products you use - lotions, serums, washes. The latest craze of zit patches has led to a bit of an obsession, specifically the Hero brand Mighty Patch. Some days you have nearly a dozen patches covering your face. You absolutely must have a stock pile on hand in the event that you need one. Running out of them is simply not an option. 

You have been cutting your own hair for well over a year. With the long list of hair care products you just must have, you are at least saving us a fortune at the barbers. You have fully embraced the "wet mop" hairstyle sporting long wavy hair on the top with a short cut on the sides and back. It's a huge trend right now and somehow you've mastered the cut. 

You have a knack for irritating your siblings, although Aria and Sam seem to take the brunt of it. Mostly likely because they are the easiest targets. Getting a big reaction out of them makes your day. You find it hilarious to squish Sam's cheeks or smother Aria with hugs. Neither can run away from you, but Aria often gets her payback with a swift scratch at your face with her mighty left hand. 

You get a kick out of asking Sam yes/no questions - one after another. You will rattle off a dozen questions and then wait in anticipation to hear how he responds to each one. Then you smile and say, "Isn't he so cute!?!" Eventually Sam starts responding loudly, clearly irritated with your interrogation. Then you laugh even more. While you love getting your littlest siblings riled up, you can also be a sweet big brother, holding them, carrying them, and even letting them play with your computer or the Xbox controller.

You love to talk and talk and talk. It's pretty much nonstop, at least when you aren't listening to your AirPods. But it's rarely about events that happened during your day. Instead, you love to ask me random, shock-provoking questions to see how I respond. Then you smirk and giggle in your best Peter Griffin impersonation. You are quite the comedian, and you think that Peter Griffin from the show 'Family Guy' is hilarious. You are always attempting to show me your favorite 'Family Guy' clips despite my distaste. 

You are a huge cinema buff and love to chat about the latest movie you've seen or TV show you are looking forward to. You are a fan of the most obscure, strange, intriguing genre of entertainment. Your top favorite series of all time are "The OA" and "Utopia".  Unfortunately both were canceled after the second season. You still lament about what could have, should have, and would have happened had they continued on with their stories.

While you are nearly all grown up, you still love your special lion blanket and walk around the house daily with it draped over your shoulders. It doesn't matter what you are doing - curled up on the couch, eating, even cooking! You will have it wrapped around you. You got it when you were just 7 years old. Your tooth had fallen out when we were in Colombia adopting your sister Rose, which meant that El Raton would be paying you a visit to collect your tooth. With this unexpected event, "El Raton" (aka, Pa) had to make an emergency dash to Carulla, a grocery store and the only shop near our apartment. He came home with a blanket and pillow set as the selection was small. But you loved it. In fact I can't recall any other gifts that El Raton had brought over the years that you still have, other than your cherished blanket and pillow. You misplaced your precious blanket a month ago and boy, oh, boy, were you quite concerned that it was lost forever. You had looked everywhere for it to no avail. Seems like someone (cough, cough...one of your sisters most likely) thought it would be funny to stick it inside a rarely used cabinet in the kitchen. You couldn't find it. I couldn't find it. Finally after asking yet again if someone knew where it was, one of your sisters responded that it was in the cabinet! Thankfully you were too relieved to wonder who had hidden it from you.

Owen, you have grown up so quickly. It's hard to believe it's been 16 years since that day in Colombia when you made us parents. We are so blessed to have been able to watch you learn and grow. A very happy Family Day to you. We love you forever and for always.