Owen Grady wasn't the happiest kid growing up, but how could he be with a jerk for a father, who couldn't be bothered to find out about his existence? Samantha made sure Owen knew this, from the time he was old enough to ask her why he didn't have a daddy like the other kids did.
He'd cried when Samantha told him that his daddy hadn't wanted him, but his tears had abated when she insisted that she loved him enough to make up for his daddy not being there. Well, not totally abated. But they'd lessened a little, and probably not just because Samantha had been smothering his face in her bosom.
He was a handful growing up, but in a good way. He was whip smart and full of energy, always running from one adventure to the next. Owen got into little bits of trouble here and there, but mostly he was a good kid. There was only one major grievance that Samantha had with him. He was bound and determined to break the no dinosaur rule.
Her friends all thought she was crazy for implementing the no dinosaur rule, but it was for Owen's own good. She didn't want him taking up that particular interest of his father's.
So naturally Owen became obsessed with the dinosaurs, checking out books about them from the library and memorizing everything about them until Samantha told him the reason why she didn't want him learning about dinosaurs.
When his interest in them abruptly died and she didn't hear a thing about them for another ten or fifteen years, Samantha realized that she should have just told him about that from the start.