Week of October 16, 2002


Owen has been fascinated with Thomas the Tank Engine. Our vow to keep him from the evils of TV has failed somewhat. His delight is leading us to put in a tape of Thomas in the TV some mornings, so that he can laugh and giggle and dance. We're groggy at 5 a.m., and he's already eaten and roamed around. He points to the VCR control and mimics pressing play. The videos make him so happy, and we're weak. He'll wander away quite often during the stories, wanting to watch us use the bathroom or have us read him a book, but he hears the music between the stories and he runs to the TV. If we're really lucky, he does his little dance -- he'll sort of crouch repeatedly, bending his knees a little while laughing. Sometimes he'll throw his arms up, or clap, or spin in a circle in place. His excitement propels him to move and shake and wiggle, and we can't get enough of watching him.

It's comforting that the hold TV has is fleeting. If he's sick or really sleepy the stories will hold his attention, but otherwise he's off and about most of the time. He's fixated on the Thomas board books we have, and for that matter, the VHS covers give him a lot of joy (they're all going to have teeth marks soon). There's a little diecast engine at daycare that he clutches, and that's a favorite too. As a side effect of his morning fixation, he's starting to figure out how to work the VCR remote. It's disconcerting to see him so focused, experimenting with play and stop, backward and forward. Most of it remains mysterious, but he's mastered "Play."

He's easing off of clutching his piggy. He still seems to like having something in his hand, but it can be other things besides piggy, and he seems to survive if his hand is empty. In the mornings it's gotten quite cool, but the importance of clutching his piece of bagel overcomes the cold. We struggle to cover his hands with a blanket but each one is like a jack in the box, one goes under and the other comes out. Our walks have gotten a little briefer with the colder mornings. We're more likely to appear in town at 6:45 or so, and have a walk after our breakfast. I think Owen is the happiest when he's able to run around outside of Rao's, and practice sitting and crawling up the cement stairs near Panda. Fortunately with the advent of cold weather, there are fewer people for us to disturb with Owen's outdoor frolics. It's hard, I wrestle with my fear of disturbing others, but I want Owen to be free to make noise and be a little kid. The park is a wonderful place for that, I'm just sorry that he's gotten to be a good age for it in time for winter to set in. We'll be going there on as many sunny afternoons as we can, I think.

Wonderful things

 

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