I'm Crawling!

Here I Come!

Monday marked Owen's first crawl. Prior to this week, he's been spinning like a top or steam-rolling himself to get around, but Monday everything changed. He finally figured out crawling! At this point Owen's speed is more snail-like than cheetah, but I predict by the end of the weekend he'll be motorin' around.

I didn't think Owen would be a crawler - I wasn't one, and his friends at daycare have been crawling for months and months. Owen just didn't seem interested. But I was wrong. He was just taking his time.

The Vomitorium (i.e. our house)

We have finally banished the sickness that kept Owen and Dave indisposed the past week - hooray! Poor Owen was a mess, projectile vomiting all over the place. Turns out he had a nasty stomach bug that was going around daycare, but the other kids just had it for 24 hours. Owen got it for a week.

We learned a couple of lessons that are worth sharing:

1. The best baby shower gifts are old towels for cleaning up baby vomit. No, seriously.

2. When baby is vomiting, only dress him in navy blue or black or brown. Anything other than this and you are silly.

3. After the baby throws up all over the daycare teacher, she deserves a little present. Yes, vomiting babies come with the job, but it's still gross.

4. It helps to have another adult around if you personally cannot handle the vomit. Then when the baby vomits all over you, you can yell, "Sarahhhhhhh!" and I will run in and scoop the vomiting baby from your arms and shuttle him to the bathtub. Hypothetically speaking, of course.

A New Year and a New House!

Owen Paints a Picture

Happy New Year! We have been busy, busy, busy, and our lack of posting only reflects our crazy life, not our relationship with you readers. We bought a house! We moved 6 blocks from our apartment to a new house up the hill. Dave's parents were kind enough to help us with our move, and now we are slowly, painstakingly unpacking boxes and boxes and boxes of law books. Ugh. One thing missing? The cord that sends our digital camera's pictures to the computer, so rather than a picture of our house and Owen, you get a picture of Owen painting.

A week after closing on our home, we flew to Oregon for the holidays with my parents, and returned after the New Year to a house full of boxes. (We thought they might magically unpack themselves, but alas...no luck). The cats are adjusting to all the new space (and TWO fun staircases to run up and down ad nauseum) and Owen is a bit confused by his new room and jet lag, but last night he finally returned to a normal sleep schedule. Whew.

I start my last semester of law school next Monday, then Dave begins student teaching after MLK Day. Owen is at day care full-time, and seems to be doing ok so far. So that's our lengthy update and an explanation of our lack of blog posting. Hope everyone is enjoying a healthy, safe New Year. Hooray for 2009!

Milestones

Owen Plays his Xylophone while Floppy the Penguin Looks On

Owen has become a lot more mobile since Thanksgiving. He's rolling all over the place, spinning like a top, balancing next to furniture, reaching for Mom and Dad, trying to crawl, pushing up from a sitting to a standing position from my lap... and some teeth have decided to come in. So far he has two that have pushed through his gums, and I've had the shocking experience of being nipped by them while nursing. Wow that hurts.

Child development experts say that walking and talking usually go together. For Owen, it's mobility and mimicry. The other day I said, "Hi, Arlo" in a singsong voice, and Owen looked at the cat and said, "Aye Oh" in the same singsong voice. I almost fell over. Being a parent is just so awesome.

Kind of Like the Zoo

Are we REALLY going to the zoo?

We decided to take Owen to the zoo last weekend. We set aside a whole afternoon... and then it poured cold rain from the sky. No good. What to do on a rainy Sunday when you promised the zoo?

You go to the pet store, of course. The SPCA was present with crates of kittens, the parakeets were awake and flapping all over the place, the guinea pig drank some water from his bottle, and a woman pulled her brand-new puppy around by his leash because he refused to walk any farther. Two hound dogs got into a howling match at the counter, and a squawking parrot chewed on toys. Four turtles munched on lettuce. It was kind of like the zoo. Owen didn't know any different.

Homemade Toys are the Best

Further proof that homemade toys are the best. Since I created this toy last week, Owen has reached for it time and time again over other toys, and it still makes him laugh.

I made the following out of an aluminum tea canister, dried beans, and duct tape. I think one thing Owen especially likes about this toy is that the canister is shiny and a bit reflective, and it is cool to the tongue. And that you can bang it with your hand like a drum. And tilt it like a rain stick.

Happy Halloween!

Yesterday morning I dropped Owen off at daycare and passed the center's director wearing a mouse costume. Then I walked into Owen's class and saw every single person dressed in costume. Every person except Owen. Babies had become chickens, devils, penguins, firemen... and both of Owen's teachers were also dressed up. Somehow we hadn't gotten the memo that everyone dresses for Halloween at daycare, and poor Owen looked like such an outcast. Later in the morning, they had a class picture taken of everyone (minus Owen) in costume - Owen wore some deely-bobbers shaped like pumpkins that they had on hand. Ergh. Owen is definitely going to nominate Dave and I for bad-parent-of-the-year awards.

Halloween kind of snuck up on us this year. We didn't even carve pumpkins. Luckily we had a giant bag of Tootsie Rolls ready for trick-or-treaters. And Owen dressed up as a pile of leaves, which he didn't mind at all.