Week of September 25, 2002

We celebrated Scott's birthday with lunch at Bertucci's. It's a child-friendly restaurant that's also bearable for adults - a combination that has brought them most of our post-Owen restaurant business. We worry our days of dragging Owen out for a meal are numbered, but when we play our cards right, it's smooth going. Tuesday was wonderful. Scott's present was a day off with Owen and I, and it was a rare day with nothing scheduled but having fun. No chores, no errands, no tasks of any kind.

Well, Scott did remember ½ through the day that his driver's license expired that day so he had to slip out the DMV, but it didn't take too long and he was smiling when he got back.

Owen's been so happy walking that there's more pleasure than frustration in his face. Walks in his stroller in the morning are calmer, he seems much more content. He ended up with a cold earlier in the weekend, but while it was fierce in its spread (everyone at Amity's work place got it), Owen got off relatively lightly. Scott too. Hard to say if it was the cold, or the pent-up need to walk which had Owen getting up at 3:15 for so many nights, er…mornings. It was a hard debate, let him cry it out until we got up at 4:30 or 5 anyway (and lay there for 2 hours), or bring him to bed, cuddle and then start the day early.

Owen is so much more cognizant of the world. I think we're going to be saying this all the time, but he's grown so dramatically in the last few weeks. In fact, it almost seems like over the course of the weekend, he left babyhood behind. He's so externally focused, and so interactive, that it's hard to believe there was ever a time that he wasn't this engaging. He's thrilled to be discovering the world and while he likes to know we're their if he needs us, most of the time he's off on one big adventure.

At his Dr. appointment, he's still firmly in the 25th percentile. He grew an inch and a half in the last three months, and it must have been recent because it's only now that we're having to phase out many of his 12 months clothes. He's also almost 2 pounds heavier than his last appointment, which is good for our arm muscles (though not so much good for our backs, I think). Our doctor also confirmed Owen's 9th tooth, in the bottom front, and mentioned that his other three molars are all very close to breaking through (another reason for his early waking?). We've been too timid about checking his teeth, but we know we're going to have to start being in there every day, scrubbing and poking. We're still not sure the best way to work around Owen's pursed lips and tears, but we'll figure it out.

Some of his accomplishments this week:

• He's gotten proficient at turning his sippy cup the right way, so the valve is at the bottom, at the lowest part of the water.
• He's figured out which button is the stop/eject button the portable tape/CD player, and loves to push it so he can push the tape part closed after it ejects.
• He's noticing the TV more (not a good thing). If a dog comes on the television, he exclaims and points excitedly. Who know there were so many commercials with dogs on the weather channel?
• He's made the connection of the video tape with Thomas on the cover, and playing Thomas on the TV. Although we've swore we'll severely limit the TV viewing, we were lax on a rainy day when he was feeling very unwell. In the blink of an eye, a little addict was born. Just as it takes a while for him to stop asking for a balloon at Stop and Shop after each birthday purchase, it looks like it will take some time for him to give up on having tapes played on command. We've hidden them, and hope that the memory fades out. It's been slow going.
• It's low when he runs over with the remote control, and tries to push it in our hands. Or worse, takes it himself and starts to point it toward the TV and push (in the right direction too, wish I could be more proud!). Somehow the weather channel just isn't doing it for him.
• "Da" seems to be his word for everything interesting. When pandas suddenly intrigued him, we were tipped off when he started to call them "da!" Scott also thinks he is pointing to things in a tone that is asking him to name them, but I haven't witnessed this first hand yet.
• He points to objects all the time now, picking out even very small things in his picture books. When we here him say "Da!" outside, we know there's a bird or dog we just didn't manage to spy ourselves.
• He can see a ball in his books, and run over and find his own ball that matches the picture (thank you Jon and Sally and Alice and Hannah for that wonderful gift!). In fact, I think he loves those books especially because they have the balls that match his own. Well, that and the books with cats and dogs.
• He loves his balls and his books more than almost anything, save dogs and cats.
• One advantage to walking is that now he can carry his balloon in his hand while carrying something else in his other hand. No more is he trapped doing a crab crawl with something tucked in his arm, or while he's holding something in his mouth. Walking with the balloon, he looks very grown up.
  

 

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