Week of December 25, 2002
Ah, the sensory overload that comes with Christmas!We figured that Owen would be overwhelmed, so we staggered our visits with friends and family, and Owen's social experiences (and loot) have been nicely distributed. We thought this year that he'd be mostly interested in the paper and ribbon, but it's actually been the Christmas lights he loves best. Thank goodness we got a tiny little fake tree for him to enjoy, and strung lights up the banister. For the most part, though, he's been pretty oblivious to the Season.
For quite a while he didn't seem all that interested in the packages that appeared for him. We'd try to encourage him to help us unwrap, but he was indifferent. Not even ripping the paper seemed to capture him. Then after 4 or 5 presents came through the pipeline, he began to put it together. Presents have things inside them that he might care about.
Once he put that together, he's been a different beast all together. He's still pretty content with one item, but I can see the faintest outline of how children become obsessed with material objects. It's such a high, getting something new and wonderful that it takes more and more stuff to give them the same fix each holiday. I'm also seeing how quickly the anticipation of a long-awaited holiday can become overwhelming, until the actual event must be, by necessity, disappointing. What can live up to your dreams?
Or am I just talking for myself, speaking as someone who counted down to my birthday months in advance far too early in life, and ended up in a pool of tears by the time the day actually arrived. Hopefully Owen won't have that aspect of my nature.
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Who thought of plastic plates and bowls with pictures at the bottom, for kids? I guess it's supposed to encourage them to eat to see the pictures, but Owen immediately opted to just move things off his plate to get to the pictures. I guess it would seem like a good idea, but don't most kids figure out it's faster to move things out of the way?
At dinner, I tried to feed him a green bean (which he usually likes) by putting it in my lips for him to pluck out. He used to love this game. Now he's thinking "oh, THAT'S what I can do with the stuff I don't want" and next thing I know, he's trying to push it into my mouth. And then he's trying to feed me more things he doesn't want.
Owen got more trains for Christmas, and he's been incredibly absorbed in them, delighted. He's played with them for hours and hours. The focus and stamina he has is amazing (clearly that's not from me). We couldn't have asked for more excitement, the trains are a hit. I do feel some guilt that we got him addicted to Thomas, and to trains in general, but I guess he could just as easily been indifferent to them. But they give him more joy than almost anything else, so we're content to watch him be happy.
My Mom gave him a little Brio zoo train, and one of the animals that came with it is a camel. Owen took a look at it on Christmas morning and started to make little spitting noises "Ttuh, Ttuh." We used to make this noise when we got to the camel when reading him "Zoo" but it's been a month or two since we've read it. We were impressed with his memory, and it's incredibly cute watching a toddler make spitting noises. This is the first animal noise he's made. No woofs. No meows. And I don't think there's anything special about camels, perhaps it's just a great noise to make!
In the morning, when we're indulging in a Thomas Video, Owen always runs over to grab his Harold when he sees him on the screen. It's a daunting to realize he knows most of the character names, and eagerly picks them out of his Thomas books. What else is in that brain of his?
In addition to endlessly lining up his trains at home, he also lines up the diecast trains at daycare. And he's just started lining up the blocks he received at Christmas as well! And his food at dinner. I wonder how long this enchantment with trains will last….
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