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Journal Key:

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

3/31/11 (Thursday)

Owen had a really great session with Karen today. It started out somewhat inauspiciously, though I'd been anticipating it eagerly. He's been getting really close to crawling when he goes through his doorway, and I wanted to show her. Of course, instead of tipping himself forward, he was interested in scooting through. He did kind of tip a few times, and we manhandled him onto his hands and knees and sort of maneuvered him through the doorway while he complained loudly.

After that, though, there really wasn't too much we did that didn't make him happy. He scooted over and got out the bucket of airplane and helicopter toys that we keep by the door, and Karen set them up on the Elmo couch. He readily flung himself over the cushion onto hands and knees to get what he wanted. I told her about Monday's High Risk evaluation, and so she worked on his walking. She walked him across the room, holding just one of his hands! After that, she got out his push toy. His smile lit up the room while they went around and around, driving his car. He is so proud of himself. He knows he's doing big, exciting things.

We also moved up to the living room, where Karen removed a couch cushion and put some very enticing toys on the lower surface. Owen scooted over and grabbed on, and with a little bit of help and some adjustments, he was able to stand himself up. Once he was up, he confidently stood there, leaning against the couch but not holding on at all; he played with both hands. He'd even turn himself around a little! He pulled himself up on the couch a few times and on Steve a few times. Finally, at the very end, he actually pulled himself up on the couch entirely by himself, like a pro!

Tonight was bath night for Owen. Steve has been bathing him regularly; I felt very out of my element the other day when I did it. Steve really knows what he's doing. This evening, for some reason, Owen rediscovered how funny it is to splash wildly with both hands. He had himself in hysterics up there. I need to go wipe up the floor. Steve needs to wring out his shirt.

4/2/11 (Saturday)

Friday was Family Fun Night. Ev bought Tangled, Disney's recent movie about Rapunzel, and then got a pair of steamed lobsters. She and Cara ate lobster, Doritos, and watched the movie. (I did all of those things as well, except for the lobster part.) Cara, not one to take these things in moderation, has already seen her new copy of Tangled at least a half dozen times. For Saturday we went to Grandmama and Grandpapa's house to celebrate Evelyn's birthday. We brought Owen's push toy, among many other things, so he could show off how he can walk around with it. We also got an additional weight to put in it, so it doesn't get away from him. Owen was a very good little boy. He showed off his mobility and his great skill in babbling. Grandmama theorizes that he is saying "pa-pa" in reference to me. This is still up for debate. A lot of his babbling can be interpreted in many ways.

One thing that he's definitely doing that is pretty cool is trying to mimic a funny face I was making. I think it was Thursday night after his bath that I was taking a big, deep breath, puffing up my cheeks, and then blowing a bit of a raspberry as I let the air out. Owen clearly has been attempting to do this also. He can't puff up his cheeks very well, and his attempt at a raspberry ends up sounding like "Puh!" It's really very funny. Since he thinks my raspberry is funny also, we were cracking up at each other Thursday night.

On Saturday evening, Owen had a nice high-five session with Grandpapa. He also tried taking a bath at their house. It was his first time taking a bath away from home (unless you count way back when in the NICU), and at first it seemed like it wasn't going to happen, because he was unhappy about being in the tub. By process of elimination we eventually realized that what was bothering him was the spiky non-slip bath mat in the bottom of the tub. We took it out and he had a happy and very splashy bath.

4/3/11 (Sunday)

Today was a big day for tidying the house and cleaning things out. In the morning Steve and I sorted out our shelves of paint cans in the basement, and we put Owen on the carpeted side with some toys. He swiftly pushed those out of the way and scooted directly over to see what wonderful things we were playing with. He did find some sand shovels and helpfully started putting them onto the paint shelves before one of us scooped him up and removed him. We had to remove him several times, even when one of us was out in the other room. For some reason, he finds the Forbidden Laundry Room of Mystery truly fascinating.

His second adventure of the day was going out to do errands with Daddy. They had to go to the grocery store, where two exciting things happened. When Steve went ahead of the cart, to put things onto the checkout belt, Owen sat in the basket, looking at the man behind them in line, who didn't even have a cart to separate them. Usually, people will play with a baby in those circumstances. This man, though, apparently tried to pretend that Owen wasn't there while Owen had a spirited conversation with him. Also at the grocery store, Steve bought Owen a toy. It's a Hot Wheels car track with a robot who attacks. It came with one car, and Steve got another one, too. The track is for ages four and up.

For my birthday (which I have to say has been one of the best ever), Grandmom and Grandpop came all the way up here and stayed with the kids while Steve and I went out. Everyone had a good time. Grandmom took Owen upstairs to change him, and Cara went along to help. She explained that Owen had to be laid on the floor, and after he got his diaper she made him roll over and sit up. Earlier, actually, he'd actually managed to do the whole thing himself for the first time, without us lifting his hips for him. I know I've said it before, but he's really making progress! He was very proud of himself when we got home and he got to go around and around the dining room with his push toy, with one of us turning it whenever he rammed into something.

4/4/11 (Monday)

This year Cara made me two giant cards for my birthday! The second one was created at DT today and features an accurate drawing of the dinner I'd told her we were having tonight, plus a multi-tiered pink cake with purple candles. There are five very happy-looking stick figures; one is Cara holding Owen (who seems to be an infant), one is me with pink hair, two are women Cara can't identify, and the last is Steve.

It was so wonderfully warm out today that we were in the front yard when Steve got home. I put Owen on a blanket, but after he messed with it for a while he scooted off of it. Cara was working on jumping rope, and I was cleaning out the landscaping.

After a nice dinner Owen went to bed, and then the three of us finished up my cake and read some more of The Patchwork Girl of Oz, which is much better than a few of the other sequels we've tried! It was a lovely birthday.

4/5/11 (Tuesday)

Owen showed us today that he can easily pull himself ot standing on the couch when we take the seat cushion off; he happily cruised and banged things together. He's also quite good at drinking from a sippy cup, although he does experiment with sometimes holding it in ways that we might not think would be optimal. He spent most of dinner playing with the set of magnetic gears on the fridge, eating no more than one jar and some Cheerios. His nose is kind of runny, too; we'll see how he does.

Cara divided the playroom yesterday. She built a wall of big toys that enclosed about 80% of the floor space, leaving a walkway to the bathroom and some room by the door. The inside was for her, and the outside was for Owen. He was perfectly content. Tonight he was fussy when we wanted him to sit in his high chair, but he was happy playing weebles while Cara played dolls. He did eventually break through the wall, but she was reading and didn't notice.

Cara brought home a birthday card she made herself today. It says "to Cara" and "from Cara" and it has pictures of Cinderella and Rapunzel on it. Tonight was sight words night, and Cara and I read from her My Little Pony anthology, the one she won for the Reading Challenge. I was kind of astonished: she can just about read it by herself! She's pretty pleased, too.

4/6/11 (Wednesday)

"One more day," said Cara as she got out of bed this morning. Tomorrow she will be six.

We have been a bit worried about Owen's health and he was up in the night last night, which hasn't happened for a long while. Mostly that may have been from a lack of food. However apparently he had a four-jar day at YBR today.

Tonight we went to PJ and Casey's for dinner! PJ in his excitement to get me to play Metroid accidentally called me Samus. However I disappointed his expectations and we eventually gave up and played Mario instead. Meanwhile Owen had a jar of food, most of a chicken nugget, and quite a few lo mein noodles. It was impressive. Since I was downstairs playing Mario for part of Owen's dinner, I was still worried about him having eaten enough as we were putting him in his pajamas. Evelyn decided we would try him on some food just to be sure, and he had almost another jar of bananas and a bunch of Cheerios. Temporarily his nickname is "the bottomless pit." Hopefully he won't wake in the night.

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