• Thumbnails of Owen's face, highlighting his development from baby to boy.
• Owen's current fixations (i.e., the latest favorite things)
• Anna Elizabeth Grosser was born 10-3-02 at 11:47 p.m. to Vivian and David. Congratulations to all...Anna has been long-awaited. Here are some recent pictures.

Week of April 2, 2003

I live in fear that I will forget something really important in my weekly updates. I know Owen's baby book has floundered, what with the amnesia that comes on parents about the details of their children's lives, and the lack of time. Will I know exactly when he got all his teeth, or when he did those important things like rolling over, or crawling, or walking etc?

Scott has a much better memory for when things happen. For me, it's all kind of a happy blur, though I've been trying to solidify the chronology in my mind. Scott and I tease that between the two of us, we have 2/3 of a brain which is better than what we were working with in those first few months. Sleep deprivation had us really impaired.

I think Owen rolled over around 3 months. He got his first tooth 12/26/01 (since he was teething on Christmas!), and this was the same time he was able to sit up unattended. We were also studying his pincer grip around then, thinking he was pretty good, but not able to pick up a raisin. Later that week he was picking up raisins without a problem. I know he started to crawl right after my Mom's birthday, around 3/23/02, just before he turned 9 months old. He walked at around 14 months, at the very end of August, beginning of September. Within a few weeks, he was running. His first word is a little harder to say, since he's been saying "Da!" for so many things, for so long. He had a few words before his 18 month appointment, but not many. His first word was probably "Mine" or "I want that," or even more likely, "kitty cat" - but I'm a little sketchy. Perhaps because speaking often come on gradually ("did he really say that or am I making sense of gibberish?") it's hard to say there is a defining moment of "aha!" It was a small help that I and all my siblings spoke very late. (How late? Who knows! Our parents were worse than we are!) I was a little worried at 18 months, but now at 21 months, he's picking up works every day. And I know his understanding goes far, far beyond anything he utters.

What Owen is doing this week:

Sleeping poorly: Okay, it's the week before Daylight savings. We're counting on being able to effortlessly switch him from 6:30 p.m.- 4:30 a.m., to 7:30 p.m. - 5:30. And yet this week, Owen's been a terrible sleeper. He's been up at 2:45, 3:15, 3:30. Argh! This is what happened LAST year, and consequently, we went from 4:30 to…..4:30. We have our fingers crossed that his bad sleep (and ravenous eating) means it's just a growth spurt.

Intervenes with cat fights: Owen can't stand watching the cats "playing" - it sounds like fighting and the aggressor cat is not altogether friendly when these bouts go on. Our oldest cat is a bit of a bully (and cowardly, the other cats fight back, but I think they know he's full of hot air). Whenever Owen hears the screeching, he runs over to the middle of the fight and breaks it up with his body. Our cats are good with him (and have no front claws), and our oldest cat is intimidated by Owen so this always works quickly. It's rather touching to see Owen intervening on the other cats behalf

Eating carbohydrates: He can't seem to get enough of the whole wheat rolls, the whole wheat pita, or even raisin bran in the morning. Is this part of a growth spurt? He's not usually standing by the bread area and pointing anxiously for us to hand him something.

Asking us to name things: Before he eats an item of food, he holds it out to us. At first we thought he was handing it to us, then we thought he was showing each item to us. But then he started being more explicit and asking "wastat?" as he held the food out and we realized we have to name what he's holding. We're so happy we finally know what he wants! Now he's off the hook, and we name things as he holds them out. "what's that" all the time

Block use: Owen's a bit more interesting in using his blocks. Of course, this is because he's realized he can use his blocks to interact with trains (things to drive around, crash into etc.). And though he was disappointed not to be able to drive his train through the paper towel roll (too small), he's been having fun putting the cylinder blocks inside and watching them drop out the bottom of the tube.

Using the bookshelves: these work as surfaces to run his trains along, plus you can use books as inclined surfaces, or as tunnels!

Awareness: Owen notices everything, it's scary. Perhaps it's the focus of the very young, perhaps he's gotten some of the observation abilities of my father (which skipped over me, alas). But he notices anything different in any room in the house. Like our youngest cat, he hones right in on the newness. We have to get better at hiding things, they just don't get lost in the clutter anymore. At one point, while we were driving, that our mattress was so lumpy that it felt like sleeping on a camel. From behind us, I hear a little "Th th th" - Owen was making the sound of a camel (spitting!). I guess we'll have to be more circumspect about what we say around him, he hears everything! I know he always did, but now it's feeling scary.

Glasses: one side effect of his observation is that we find him staring at the reflection of the TV in Scott's glasses. He thinks this is the coolest thing, little miniature TV's in Dad's lenses.

Gymastics: Owen has discovered somersaults. Diane tells us that this is young to be able to do them, I guess he's anxious to imitate the older kids. It's easier (and softer) to do them on the couch, and often he'll let himself get stuck ½ way through, and be upside and giggling.

New words he's saying this week: "car" "bus" "cookie" - who knows what he understands, he asks "what's that" about everything!

Week of March 26, 2003

Owen continues to charm us. Perhaps this is the honey that makes the tests of will we endure more palatable. Much of Owen's testing comes when he succumbs to fatigue and frustration. It's not easy being almost-two, when what you want to do and what you can do are at opposite ends of the pole. It's particularly hard to keep it together when you're tired, or hungry. Owen doesn't have the years of practice that the rest of us do in suppressing our grumpy, fatigued, snipey selves. He is what he feels. And that's wonderful and awful, in steady rotation. We get earnest kisses and sun-bright smiles, and we also get his whiney, tearful, disassembling self. There's really no good way to hear someone say "No!" and toddlers get thwarted an awful lot. We try to head off what we can, but things involving his safety aren't negotiable. Part of his job is to figure out what's negotiable and what's not, and what happens when he pushes us. Our job as parents is to ride the waves without squashing him too much.

Owen has been practicing on stairs quite a bit. Not just getting up or down, but getting up or down on two legs, more like adults do. This is tough when you're just learning how to do it, and your legs are short. He's had enough challenge that he's letting us help him ("Hel! Hel!"). His stubborn nature defers to practicality, which is wonderful. In this case, holding our hands is acceptable for a brief while, long enough for us to help him up or down the stairs. Up and down, up and down. I'm amazed at (and jealous of) Owen's focus and attention span. He's really trying to figure out how it works, and how to get better at it. Of course, there is the distraction that it's sort of fun to swing up and down stairs, while holding our hands, but there's room for play too.

My favorite moments are when Owen is nestled into me in the early morning, or when he's picked out a book he can't wait to read. Or, well, anytime he's laughing or smiling. Both Scott and I tend to play with him on the floor, which involves a lot of climbing (often over our head onto and off of the couch). We're realized our noses and various body parts are very resilient to the accidental whack of a foot, and it's worth it to us to be able to play with him so freely. Owen is ticklish which is a quick shortcut for a laugh, but he also has a nifty sense of humor.

I love it when Owen nestles into me and rubs his head against my head, pressing a cheek to mine or forehead. Our cat Noah will do this also, and while I attributed it to their affectionate natures, I begin to wonder if I partly encouraged this by rubbing their heads with mine when they were babies. Did I brainwash them when they were wee, and luck out that they were malleable? Each head rub melts my heart, just as I am enthralled each time Owen will duck down to me to make his eyes meet directly with mine. This contact make me feel like he is part of my soul, and I love him so much it aches to know that someday he'll be living his own life, completely separate and even hiding his True Nature from us, his gawky, out-of-it, impossibly uncool parents. I know it's our job to help into the world, and away from us, and it hurts a bit already to think of losing him when I love him more than I knew I could love anything or anyone. (Sorry Scott, but I know this is true for you too.)

• April '03 (Month 22): 30, 23, 16, 9, 2
• March '03 (Month 21): 26, 19, 12, 5
• February '03 (Month 20): 26, 19, 12, 5
• January '03 (Month 19): 29, 22, 15, 8, 1
• December '02 (Month 18): 25, 18, 11, 4
• November '02(Month 17): 27, 20, 13, 6
• October '02 (Month 16): 30, 23, 16, 9, 2
• Pictures from 2nd 12 months: 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13
• Pictures from his 1st 12 months: 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

	Email Amity
	Amity's bookmarks
	Owen's booklist
	Owen's Trains
	Owen's Amazon wish list
	Owen's Clothing size: I'd say Owen is currently a 2T for most things (though he still is in some Gap 18-24 month overalls). He's long-torsoed and short legged -- pants are a size behind)
	At 18 month Appt: 26 lbs 15 oz and 32.75 inches (~65% for both)