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Journal Key:

Green = Steve | George = navy | Janet = Purple | Evelyn = Black

3/3/11 (Thursday)

Owen was dancing with a teacher when I picked him up today. He and I came home early for physical therapy. He was kind of fussy, actually, through a lot of it. It was funny to find that, when he was upset, taking a walk was a lot more comforting to him than getting snuggled by Mommy. Steve came home early because he has jury duty on Thursdays for the next eighteen weeks, so he got to meet the therapist and try one of the exercises. From now on, we'll change Owen's diaper on the floor or a bed, and then we'll roll him over onto his tummy, pick up his hips, and tip him over into a sitting position! He's already kind of understanding how to do parts of this, though it's a little complicated.

The other thing we worked on was getting him to play and tolerate staying in a hands-and-knees position for longer. We're going to have to really focus on doing that. He's pretty good at getting out of it; really we should be encouraging him to wait a bit on that! Our third goal is to get him to sit on his knees, but we really don't have a good plan or good techniques. It's our third priority. Apparently at YBR they had a good foam wedge that got him to a reasonable height at a play table, and he ate some Cheerios while sitting on his knees. At home, no such progress!

The therapist said that yesterday at YBR she worked with Owen and three teachers: Miss Sandi, Miss Carol, and one other. She's been to places where she wasn't really confident that they'd work at the things she showed them, but she can tell that YBR is a good place.

One year ago today, Owen came home. To celebrate, the four of us went out to the Olive Garden--though it was a different one from where Cara, Steve, and I ate before we picked Owen up! The meal was long but very pleasant. Owen ate two jars of food and also enjoyed the bread sticks. At first, Steve pointed out, he seemed to think he was in a shopping cart; he sat there with his hands on the table, and he would open his mouth and hope I'd stick the bread in. Eventually, he picked it up himself and went to work. He also played with toys and did some people-watching, and I let him walk when I took him for a diaper change. Cara went first, then Owen, who maintains a death-grip on my fingers, and I had to sort of balance the diaper bag on my back while I stooped over to reach him. It was somewhat ludicrous, but he was very pleased with himself and made friends with several other diners. He told them, "ba ba BA!"

We got home at twenty to eight, and Owen was asleep. He slept while Steve got him out of his car seat and into the house; he slept while we got his coat off. We put his arms into his sack, and Steve put him in his crib. I zipped him, and he was down.

3/5/11 (Saturday)

Yesterday was a sleepover night for Cara. We also learned that Cara won the Reading Challenge for her grade level! The prize was a packet of wildflower seeds, a big book of compiled My Little Pony stories (not exactly the appropriate gift from the parental point of view), and a "block party" at a local skating rink (to consist of not fewer than four and not more than eight persons--rental of skates not free). Cara was very excited about the seeds and probably excited about the book, and I'm not sure what any of us think about the block party. But it was very cool that she won.

This morning after a nice dance class, Cara and I got home and Cara's other set of grandparents were there! It was a nice visit. Owen was a good boy and got to try out the iPad. Grandpop has some nice apps for little kids, and Owen enjoyed banging on the touch screen. Depending on what part of the screen he touched, various animal noises, musical instruments, and vehicle sounds were produced.

After the grandparents left, we decided to go to the park, since the weather was actually reasonable today. PJ and Casey and Em heard about the plan and so we all took a nice walk over there. Owen actually had some good food, and tried out the kiddie swing for a bit, while the other kids ran around.

I missed until now pointing out the big milestone event that happened today, which was that we re-installed our baby gates. Owen has been scooting on over to the top of the stairs too often, and doesn't think he needs to stop. The interesting side effect is that he seems to find the gate at the top of the stairs a very funny place to be. When he is upstairs looking down at people in the living room, it is all very funny.

3/6/11 (Sunday)

Having the baby gates up is reassuring because we know Owen can't scoot off down the stairs, and they also cut way down on the number of times that we have to walk him down the stairs! For a treat, though, I did let him slide down several times today. He's also investigated the gates by scooting up to them and holding on. His legs stick out underneath, but he can turn himself around and get them out. I'm hoping that's something Owen doesn't spend a lot of time doing.

Another thing I hope he doesn't spend a lot of time doing is playing with the cat door heading down to the basement. I'd mainly be amused if he were throwing things through it, but he just plays with it with his hand, and he keeps getting his poor little fingers stuck. If he's got to keep playing with it, I really hope he figures out how to avoid that. I also hope he learns not to pull on Cara's toy high chair. He's pulled it down on himself at least twice. Today, Cara put a sign on it. It's a piece of paper on which she's written "no Owen." It's been rather a while, I think, since he has pulled it down, so maybe he did learn.

We all learned something today: Owen can take the lid off of the gerbil cage. Now the gerbils live on a shelf.

This morning I wanted to get Owen out of our hair during breakfast, so I brought him downstairs to the playroom, hoping to leave him with Cara. Unfortunately, she was working on a floor puzzle. Instead of leaving them there together to coexist in harmony, I stayed to help with the puzzle by pulling Owen away from it every thirty seconds or so and trying to find something that he would find more interesting. At the end, we let him help a little with the destroying of it. He went scooting through the wreckage, picking up the pieces and tossing them aside, while Cara scrambled to gather them up and get them away from him. She'd shove them into a pile out of his reach, and he'd scoot right at it, full steam ahead. She ended up in the next room, eventually.

3/7/11 (Monday)

Before I made dinner, Cara and Owen helped me to tie up the recycling. I had a lot of cardboard and newspaper to work on. Unfortunately, Owen was very ready to help. He gleefully pulled newspaper off of the pile, strewing it all around and coming back for more. Fortunately, Cara was there to help. She was a good gatherer. Next, we went to work on the cardboard. Owen found several pieces that he liked very much. It was a very good thing, I reflected, that I had a helper like Cara.

Cara: Mommy, do you know what this piece of cardboard looks like? A sled! A sled for my dolls!

It's a fairly large piece of cardboard. All of the pieces Owen played with ended up outside in the bundle. The sled is in the playroom.

3/8/11 (Tuesday)

Miss Gracie at YBR wishes that her fiancee would look at her the way Owen does. He has this very soulful look and he sort of does this thing with his eyebrows . . .

3/9/11 (Wednesday)

Owen has really been loving playdates. He particularly loves playing with PJ. Tonight all four men ended up on the floor playing with PJ's soccer ball. Owen would catch it when they rolled it to him, and sometimes he would roll it back. Other times, he just pushed it away behind him. He spent a lot of time spinning around, with PJ scooting around him in circles almost as fast as he could spin.

Owen demonstrated his scooting abilities, too, and he showed off the way he deliberately turns around when I offer to pick him up, positioning himself instead to grab my fingers and walk. He played with the crate of big legos, but, fortunately, he likes to put things in and so he didn't make much of a mess.

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