Glorious day

What a GORGEOUS day.  The weather could not possibly have been better.  We had a wonderful outdoor playdate with most of the Robinsons today, and Owen and Nathan seemed to have fun actually playing *together*, not just side by side.  Kicking the ball back and forth was especially smile-inducing, and a little trampoline bouncing at the neighbors wasn't bad either.  Definite success!

I want to record a little stage that Owen is going through...the question stage.  I think he is mimicking the way adults always ask kids questions.  Isn't it strange that I don't usually say, 'Look Owen, there's a red balloon over there.'  Instead I say, 'Hey Owen, what's that? What color is it? Isn't that neat?'  I suppose I do it in order to get him involved in the conversation and talking to me.  Anyway, now Owen asks these sort of questions CONSTANTLY.  Some of the time he's really asking a question, and quite often he's making an observation in question form.  My whole day is spent listening to...
Mommy, is that bulldozer yellow?
Is that kid very sad?
Is that a big, tall building?
Are we in the grocery store?
Is mommy making supper?
Is that my favorite book?

Oh my, it really is cute, but I have to admit I do tire of the constant stream.  Sometimes I break and start saying, 'You tell me, Owen...*is* the bulldozer yellow??'  But I know he is in a precious stage of sorting out all of this information about the world that he takes in daily.  The other manifestation of his intense power of observation is that I can virtually no longer read him a book.  Just today I realized why reading books to him for the last 2 weeks has been an entirely painful experience for me...I cannot read more than 2 words in a row before he is asking a question about something he sees on the page.  That sounds harmless enough but have you ever tried to read a book to someone only to be interrupted every 3rd word??  It becomes frustrating.  I was not really conscious of it as it was happening, but I've been snapping at him and getting frustrated and losing my temper when we read books because of it!  Today I was finally paying enough attention to realize what was going on and I just stopped reading and we paged through books talking about the pictures and answering questions about the scenes and it was SO much more pleasant.  At some point we'll start reading again and practicing the ability to listen, too, but for now it's fun again to look at books together. 

I do not get enough sleep.  I would be a much better mother if I slept more.  So I'm going to head off to bed now!  But not before mentioning that Asher has been up for hours every night the last couple nights.  Misery!!  If I don't nurse him (and we don't think it a good idea to add night feedings for a 7-mo. old when we are already trying to phase his one feeding out completely) and Reuel doesn't pick him up (which only causes him to fully wake up and stare Reuel in the face rather than go back to sleep), patting him or trying to comfort him in the crib is 100% ineffective...just makes him madder.  So, all we can do is let him find his way back to sleep...amid crying.  It is heartbreaking.  I know in my head that a few nights of this, and he will stop waking up again, but in the middle of it you start to doubt...I really, really hope tonight is the last because I've been dangerously close to picking him up and nursing him extra.  It's so easy in the short term, but we know from Owen (when I did that sort of thing) that he will just keep waking up for it :P  He's headed to the Dr. tomorrow because he's had some never-ending drainage and chest congestion following a cold a looong time ago and maybe some of this night behavior is from a lingering problem.  Just want to rule that out.

Off to bed.