Week of July 3, 2002
Owen is getting more physical mastery over his surroundings. He's a pro at getting up and down the first two stairs, and getting on to and off the futon couch. He approaches the edge of the couch and peers over the arm more often now. I think he realizes it makes us twitch, but I'm trying to keep it low key so I don't add to the naughtiness appeal. He loves frolicking, and often giggles with the joy of crawling quickly or getting onto the couch.
I enjoy watching his physical dexterity. Seeing him pull a ball toward him that's perched on a pile, I can see how much observation he's done. He knows to push down and toward him, to get the ball rolling where he wants it to go. Once he has a ball, he's manages to push it with excellent control. He seems to have more and more of a sense of physics. He rights things when they tip over, and hands things to me when he's done with them (I think he likes it when I say Thank You). He's gotten better at his sorting box, and even figured out how to insert the large plastic key into the large plastic lock. He can wiggle a cube into a square hole now, whereas before when it got stuck, he'd quickly become frustrated. Now he'll often take a shortcut when putting things in the box by opening up the side door and stuffing the shapes in that way.
He loves the cat, and Tat continues to be his main word. Da is for birds and dogs and Mummy and Daddy, but "Tat!" is very clearly for cats. He'll try to forcefully pet Noah ("Gentle, be gentle! Noah doesn't like it when you try to pet his face and whack his nose"). Noah could flee much more than he does, but bravely sticks around through a lot of abuse. It's touching actually, to see Noah's good nature in action. I just wish he were younger than 10 so they could have more years together. We love it when Owen kisses Noah and gets a mouthful of hair. Owen's so happy with the proximity, he generally doesn't mind. I think Noah is happy just to be in the thick of things. I dread to think what it will be like when Owen discovers he can feed his dinner to the cat.
Another favorite thing these days is a pop-up book, "Wheels On the Bus" - it has a wheel on the cover that starts music long enough for two verses. Oh, how we've come to hate that book! Owen is very adept at pushing the button, and knows the song well enough that he can get it playing without a break. Scott and I take turns singing, grasping poorly at lyrics and trying to be perky. I can see repetition will take it's toll. I know babies and toddlers love repetition. But somehow it's lost its charm for me. I've started making up insane lyrics just so I can keep up my enthusiasm.
Owen is pointing and verbalizing much more now. He clearly seems to be trying to communicate, and says things that seem like words or phrases. We have absolutely no idea what he's saying, and it must frustrate him. Unless he's not really saying anything. It's fine when he's just making an observation, but sometimes he really seems to want a response. Oh for one of those baby translators like Homer Simpson's brother invented! This isn't quite as bad as my fear of having a child run up delighted, asking me "guess what I drew!" but it's close. I mean, aren't I supposed to know Owen better than anyone? But I'm so baffled by what he's saying. (We can guess the big things - water, more food, hand me the straw to chew on, etc., but there's a lot of other stuff going on in that head of his and we're obviously missing the boat much of the time.)
We took him to the parade on the 4th. Lots of fire engines, not much for floats or bands. It was very loud with the sirens and bells going, and Owen looked about the way I felt. He was very relieved when we wheeled out of there. One fun thing is Owen's delight at watching his umbrella stroller fold up. We hold him so he has a good few of it compacting, and he grins as it shrinks and gets popped into the trunk. If only we all enjoyed such simple pleasures.
It was a wonderful weekend, just because we got to spend lots of time together. It's always easiest when we hang out as a threesome, hanging out and doing things on Owen's schedule. All that free time has spoiled us, and we're not looking forward to returning to work and being away from one another.
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