Festival Baby

Listening to the Music

Taking a Nap with Mom

Dave and I made our annual pilgrimage to the Falcon Ridge Folk Festival this past Saturday with Owen in tow. We weren't sure how Owen would do for 12 hours in the sun & rain, or amid the thousands of festival-goers crowded around us. Owen was a trooper - he took his regular naps, tickled his feet in the grass, waited out a downpour under our purple umbrella, obliged our constant reapplication of sunscreen, and listened to the Nields and Dar Williams with rapt attention. He's a festival baby!

We're never really sure how he'll do in new situations, but he continues to surprise us with how content he is. And beside trucking in four different bags of stuff plus a diaper bag and a cooler, our experience this year wasn't that different from our experience last year, and just as fun! Yay, Owen! Welcome to the world of music festivals, baby!

Friends, Friends, Friends

Yesterday Owen had two play dates: one with Myah (one month older) and one with Silas (two months older). And for the first time, Owen actually responded to them! In the past, he's either slept through the encounter or looked over their heads at the light fixtures.

During his play date with Myah, they laughed and played patty-cake (with help from Myah's mom, Dina) and pretty much got a kick out of each other. When Dave arrived to pick Owen up, Owen cried, just like when you were a kid and Mom said it was time to go home, and you'd reply, "But I just got here!" That's pretty much how Owen felt about leaving.

Then, when Silas and dad Jason came over for dinner later that night, the two kids went wild when they spotted each other! Owen, who was straddling my leg, started jumping up and down, laughing and smiling at Silas. Silas, who at 5 1/2 months is tall and lean and sturdy, reached out for Owen and planted a big old kiss on his forehead/nose/eye. Then they bumped heads, as I imagine they will do many times in the future. It was amazing to watch them interact! Then we put them down on the carpet to play, and Owen kept a keen eye on Silas, documenting his every move. Hopefully he'll learn a thing or two, like rolling over and scooting around on his belly.

We've just enrolled Owen in part-time day care for the Fall, and we've been wondering how he'll respond to a room full of babies. Based on my impression from the interactions yesterday, the answer is: fine. As I've been told many times before, it's harder on the parents than the kids. (A perfect example of this happened two hours ago, when I sat Owen up and loosely supported him by pulling him forward with his arms. Then with a powerful jerk, he fell back and hit his head on the carpeted floor. It startled him more than anything and he started crying, so I started crying, and Owen stopped crying, but I kept crying because I felt so bad. Sigh...)

"Sleep Like a Baby" vs. "Cat Nap"

The term, "sleep like a baby" doesn't make much sense to us. We use it to mean we slept really, really well. Conked out. Zzzz. But every baby we know sleeps through loud things like car alarms and construction vehicles, while starting awake when someone walks past his or her room. Shouldn't we use the term to mean we slept through an earthquake but woke up when someone sneezed?

We've encountered a very curious phenomenon in our house. Owen cat naps and our cats sleep like babies. Owen takes short 30 minutes naps throughout the day, and Purna sleeps under the bed for 5, 6, 7 hours at a time. Hmm.

Sock Fight

I discovered while folding laundry that Owen loves having sock fights. Unfortunately they're a bit one-sided right now, but I imagine our future holds many, many sock fights. It's the only way to make laundry fun.

We have encountered a problem, though, and you can see it in the video; Owen has discovered that the camera is something to look at and study. Uh-oh. I don't know if I'll be able to continue recording videos and photos without him posing/staring/stopping what he was doing to watch me.

100 Days in Office

Owen Enjoys a Laugh at His Critics' Expense

Owen celebrates his 100th day in office today - you may know that the 100 day mark is a political milestone in the US, and politicians have agendas and goals and demands on them to make the first 100 days in office meaningful. You have to silence the critics, show that you are instituting the goals of the people, impress your colleagues and staff with your genuinely good ideas and leadership skills, and bring lots of different movers and shakers together to get it done.

Well. Owen has definitely used his first 100 days to their utmost potential. He's brought lots of people together in celebration, allowed a few non-parents to explore the possibility of becoming parents in the near future, convinced some family members that aging ain't so bad if it means you get a grandchild, and instructed a handful of people how to properly hold a baby.

He's also taught his parents: baby poop is not beholden to the laws of physics, your heart really can melt from a smile, and sometimes all we need in life is someone to hold our hand while we ride in the car.

A Snoozer

Whenever we meet up for play dates with Owen's friend, Myah, he is asleep. He has slept through almost every play date in three months, including the time Myah cried and fussed from a fever. Owen fell asleep to Myah wailing. The last time we saw Myah, her mother leaned over to pat Owen's head and remarked, "Nice to see you sleeping again, Owen." Because of course, there he was, passed out on my chest.

He has quite the reputation. I felt a little defense, like responding, "He doesn't sleep ALL the time." However, he has slept through a baby-naming ceremony, and dinner parties, and sports bars, and a Tom Petty concert...

And today, he slept through our trip to the pool. Ok, actually, he was awake at the beginning of the outing. It was after he'd been in the pool for 20 minutes that he fell fast asleep, mouth open, in my arms, half-submerged in chlorinated pool water. Owen had no problem sleeping through 50 summer camp kids splashing and screaming and doing cannonballs into the pool. This story makes it sound like Owen sleeps all the time, but let me be clear: he doesn't sleep all the time. Just during the important parts.

Dave and I had a next-door neighbor/friend in Colorado who claimed she had never seen a movie all the way through. Yeah, right, we thought, until we watched every movie for a year at her house because we didn't have a TV. She hardly got through the credits, and it didn't matter what kind of movie it was: action, comedy, silent, art... she slept through them all. I wonder if Owen will be the same kind of person, except sleeping through swim lessons?

A Ghost in the House?

We were in the living room, enjoying the day, when Dave heard heavy breathing. In and out, in and out. Then it stopped. And started again. It was deep, almost a growl. What the??? Dave noticed that the baby monitor receiver was in the room, and had been left on accidentally. The breathing was coming from the baby monitor. But Owen was in the room with us! And generally the receiver doesn't pick up Owen's breathing anyway. We had a ghost in the house, and our ghost was breathing HEAVY.

Dave went to investigate in Owen's room, searching for the ghost. And there was Purna the Cat, sleeping next to the monitor, breathing into it.

Taste Tests

Owen Cools Off By Tasting Some Watermelon

We're introducing flavors to Owen in preparation for one of our favorite activities: eating! Owen still has a ways to go before he eats solid food (no teeth, can't hold his head up, can't sit up, etc) but we see no harm in letting him taste fruits. So far Owen's taste-tested cherries, watermelon, strawberries, and cantaloupe. When Dave gave him the watermelon today, Owen stopped licking it to smile at Dave. Tasty!