Week
of July 28, 2004
“More help means more dirt. More dirt means more fun. My name is Alfie!”
“Bertie is in the Scrub and Shine”(Do you want to go do the park?)
“No(Do you want to go for a stroller ride?)
“No”(Where do you want to go?)
“Home!”“Don’t worry Daddy, it will dry out.”
“Are you okay, Mummy?” (I’d just hurt myself)
“Are you okay, Mummy? I’m sorry.” (Owen whacked me in the eye, not on purpose)
Notes for revision:
Croup. Grammy and Grampy. Maggie. Hangong at home. Catalog. TV. Home. Scrub and Shine. Noah. Monsters, Inc.
Owen the homebody.
We spent much of the weekend at home. When offered any kind of choice, Owen would instantly opt for staying at home, where he can play with his trains endlessly, cuddle, read books, or watch Thomas.
This is in stark contrast to our life up to now, which has seemed like a never ending journey from playground to stroller ride to visit to anywhere, to park to store to car ride. Instead of home being a respite between journeys, the occasional outing seems like a break to an otherwise low key ay at home. It’s changed our pattern before work, when we used to get an eager Owen out for his chance to run around as we gratefully drank our coffee or tea. Now instead, Owen often requests scrambled eggs at home, and we have a more leisurely start to the day. I find I miss my connection to the outdoors, and my chance to sip coffee in the coolest part of the day while watching Owen get out some of his energy. Scott misses his Chai.
We do push him to go out a few mornings a week, for our sanity. We thought he’d be craving to go out more as a consequence, but instead, he seems to have settled even more contentedly into staying home. I can’t blame him for wanting a chance to play with his stuff, and the balance to his homebody nature is the steady expansion of his verbal abilities.
I find myself asking questions of him, rhetorically, in the way that I’ve done since he was a baby. Making conversation, and holding up both ends. These days, he’ll often pipe up with an answer.
“What are your plans for the day, Owen?”
“Go to Di’s house!”
“What did you do today, Owen?”
“I played with Vijay, and Maya. I saw spider. I had hot dogs!”
- Making nests out of pillows
- Growling when he sees birds, chipmunks and squirrels
- Playing endlessly with his trains
- Gazing at his wish list, and at his Thomas catalog
- Re-enacting stories.
- Thanking us spontaneously for many different things, at different times.
- Getting my nose sucked on
- Hogula, Dread pig of night
- Cuddling up on the couch
- Taking up as much of the couch as possible
- Telling Vijay “No, that’s my Mummy”
- Running toward us when we pick him up, calling for us, smiling and holding out his arms
- Having a picnic at the fountain, on the days when we have pancake and French toast at Nancy Jane’s
- Having favorite shirts (Thomas, The Teddy Bear Rally, his lizard shirt)
- Stumbling over trains stretched out across our apartment
- Watching Owen make Jet Engines out of different cars and such, being so creative
- Knowing all his current favorite trains and having to constantly pack them up, keep track of them, and unpack them
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