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Journal Key:

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

6/16/11 (Thursday)

Owen went over to the couch this morning and picked up Marshmallow the Hanukkah Rhinoceros. "That's a rhinoceros," I said. "Pfffffft," said Owen. No matter what I said, I could not convince him that it was not ("pffffffffft!") an elephant.

Since Owen is walking so well, Karen wants to start working with him on how to stand up on his own. The first thing she did was to get him to put his hands on her knee (she was sitting on the floor) and stand his back half up. When she took his hand and lifted, he stood all the way. I think he's really ready to do this; I've seen him thinking about it. He's also pretty ready to start standing up from a sitting-on-someone's-leg-or-a-step-stool position. He just needs a bit of a nudge. What he tries to do instead is to lean back and stiffen his body so that he can sort of lever himself up or force us to push him upright.

Karen brought in a really fun toy that's sort of a building station with blocks that fit together; she hoped we could get him to stand up on it and then hold the toys higher up so that he would reach for them and get his front half up. Alas, he was so fascinated by playing that he was against even starting to stand! Karen and I put lots of the blocks on our heads, which he found very amusing, but he didn't feel any impulse to stand up and knock them off. He just sat there and reached up to put his hand on his head in case we didn't know where those blocks were.

It felt like a really short session, and he didn't do much, but I feel like he can do it and I know how to help him. He also said "hippo" and made a lot of noises for farm animals. They aren't really clear yet or anything, but he's definitely working on them.

6/17/11 (Friday)

Today was Cara's last day at Discovery Time. It was also Evelyn's last day of school and her graduation. So I got the kids in the afternoon. Owen was so excited to see me. He just started bopping and kicking and grinning in his little bucket seat when he saw me. We said goodbye to everyone and Owen and Zachy got to give each other some high fives, which they very much enjoyed (in fact, Zach was very upset when we had to go).

We spent our evening watching Phineas and Ferb and snacking on various things for dinner. Owen had the rare experience of sticking his foot into a tupperware container with cucumber slices in it. It's too bad he won't remember that when he's older. At one point he did a very good job standing up from sitting, just by using my leg to push up from.

Now Mommy is home, Owen's in bed, and we're going to have some kind of video game pajama party. TGIF...

6/19/11 (Sunday)

For Father's Day, we went down to Middletown. When Grandmama mentioned that she had a wading pool for the back yard, Cara disappeared upstairs and the next time we saw her she was a swim-suited blur racing out of the house. We brought Owen out, too, to let him check things out. We stripped him down to his diaper and let him loose. He spent a lot of time sitting by the pool, pounding on the inflated wall and reaching in to splash or to grab toys. Grandmama got out a sprinkler, which Cara ran through with abandon and Owen scooted under. He bailed water out of the pool with a big tupperware container. We put him in, and he splashed and then crawled (with difficulty) out. He laughed whenever Cara splashed him. He eventually discovered the toy fishing poles, which he preferred to use as clubs. He was thoroughly soaked and thoroughly happy. We hated to have to catch him and bring him inside to get dressed.

6/20/11 (Monday)

Owen made me very happy this morning. I was cutting up strawberries to put into yogurt for his lunch, and he started emphatically asking and gesturing in their direction. I gave him a piece, and he ate it! He ended up eating quite a bit. I I was delighted; for weeks we've been spooning them into his with his yogurt, and he's never eaten them by themselves before!

He's taken to saying "mama," but it's not to me. He says it to his food. We think it's because of his mum-mums. Yesterday, Grandmama noticed that he was saying "hop, hop, hop" for bunnies.

At dinner, Owen didn't eat an awful lot. I was very confused, because he was very definitely gesturing and begging when Steve was serving spaghetti, but a few seconds after I gave him a strand, he was back at it. I'd already cut some up and given it to him, anyway! He cried and pleaded more, and then Steve gave him the big metal server. That was what he'd wanted! He got to wave it around and bang it on the table.

This afternoon I got a call from Sandi because Owen had developed a rash on his legs. It certainly isn't bothering him at all. We're guessing that it's a reaction to all of the scooting he did in the grass yesterday. We tried giving him an oatmeal bath this evening. After I'd put the powder into the water, I realized how difficult it was going to be to get him to soak in it. His baths lately have consisted of him eagerly trying to get in and then almost immediately eagerly trying to get out. We got out the bath bubble-maker toy that we haven't used since maybe February, and that was interesting and novel enough to get him to actually sit in the water for a quarter of an hour! I don't know whether the bath will help, but I figure it can't hurt.

6/21/11 (Tuesday)

Steve figured out this evening what Owen is upset about a lot of the time when he's upset at meals: he wants to drink out of our glasses. He would also like to stick his hands into the glasses and he would also like to grab them and (presumably) wave them around. We're pretty willing to let him drink out of them. I'm considering keeping an extra glass at the table, though, to keep ours from getting all babied up.

Owen's rash is fading, though some parts are still evident. I got to give him his oatmeal bath. He was quite happy with the bubble toy and a quart container, which he liked to pick up and spill. He was clearly thinking about trying to drink out of it; I'm glad that wasn't his first priority!

After his bath Owen stood up and walked over to his changing table. He pulled his tylenol out of a basket and handed it to me. Partly just to see what he would do, I opened it and offered him some. He opened his mouth and took it. I do wonder what that was about; what in the world could he think it is? I'm going to have to find a new place to keep it!

Cara and I went to Grounds for Sculpture today! It was fabulous. We're definitely going to have to bring the guys there soon.

6/22/11 (Wednesday)

Because Owen will not have therapy tomorrow (it's Karen's vacation), I'm trying to be as proactive as I can in making sure that he continues to make progress. When he's sitting on my lap, I have gotten him to stand up several times by giving him one finger. He barely needs it. He just needs to figure out that he can do it. I have not had him walk around holding a stuffed animal with both hands. We're supposed to do that to get him used to walking without holding his arms over his head--the stuffed animal is the object of choice because it's soft enough to fall on! He's really not that interested in big stuffed animals, except for when he can fall face-first into them.

Owen loves to fall face-first into soft things. He likes to flop around on our bed, landing flat on his belly and screaming with joy into the blankets. He face-plants on pillows and toys. He also face-plants into us a lot, into our arms or our laps, and I think that's his version of a hug. I read him a book in which I had to pretend to cry. He looked up at me anxiously and then threw himself face-first into my lap, eventually ending up sitting in my lap to snuggle while I finished reading.

Steve has taught Owen to say "sssssss" for snakes. We're very proud. Cara and I cleaned out the toy drawers in her room the other day and found the little tray that attaches to the Playmobil 123 helicopter for rescuing people. We'd been vaguely missing it. We brought it back downstairs. Owen found it this morning and held it up to his head, well behind his ear. "Ell-o, ell-o!" he said.

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