Week of October 1, 2003

"Song, song!"
"I want town/Rao's/goldfish/cold water"

I have to do something about Owen's hair. It's getting long and shaggy and the result of my last/only/bad haircut now looks even worse than before, as though time is amplifying each flaw and bad cut. Scott's cousin Heather pointed out that he needs a haircut with the bluntness of the young. For a while now I've been wondering how to wrestle him into place and keep him still long enough to do a better job. Do I try to keep him pinned in his highchair? Ugh.

This morning I was trying to take a picture of Owen in his dragon shirt. It wasn't easy, he sees the camera and runs the other way. Scott had a good chortle watching us. And orange isn't his best color, but the dragon shirt is cute and it's getting small. I wanted a photo. I can't adjust to the fact that something that once seemed impossibly large for my baby is now getting too small. The sleeves are ¾ length, and we're on borrowed time with tummy coverage. Maybe we'll eek it through the month anyway, October is a month for Orange.

We've been watching a lot of "Piglet's Big Movie" lately. Okay, we swore we'd limit TV. Uh, we try. But sometimes it's just so much fun to snuggle up together and watch something wonderful. Owen loves the Carly Simon music, and Piglet and Pooh, of course, and we have a wonderful time with it. Most things we watch are just background noise, but Owen really seems to be absorbed by the songs. I catch him singing to them, and when his favorite song (the theme) comes on, he chants "song, song!" - so cute.

It's been getting colder, and the mornings have required jackets. Owen's learned how to skillfully unzip his jacket and as soon as he gets out of the stroller on our morning outing, off comes the coat. Oh well, payback. I was like that too. He's been wearing warmer PJs and looks darn cute. They're a little more "boylike" than I would choose, but still cute. They're not quite out of the '50's, but it's still maroon plaid on the bottom! One expects a compass light fixture and a model rocket to go with them.

He's a little more cooperative about dressing, and positively thrilled at the prospect of his bath each night. Last week was all about suds for the engines, but this week it's been peppered with evenings of pouring water. On my head. On Scott's head. And finally, thankfully, into the tub or into another cup. I suspect he's big enough to manage in the tub on his own, but he seems to like having company - I guess we're someone to play with and it makes sense. You'd think he'd be craving more space! We're still having a pretty bad time with the teeth-brushing. We've tried various strategies without luck. What do you do with a kid who clamps his mouth shut, and cries? We've been working on exposing him from an early age, but he fights so hard! Often, I consider our brushing barely successful. We're persevering but it's not fun.

Some words of late: One morning (when we weren't going to Rao's!) he offered up "I want town and Rao's" - ack! At the end of the day, it's often "I want goldfish and cold water" - he's a boy who knows what he wants. And in between the phrases, we hear a lot of banter about Thomas. Sometimes we understand it, a lot of times we don't.

 

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