As I type...observing Owen via video monitor after just being put down for the night. He is lying down and has just discovered his ability to make very juicy zerbert noises with his mouth. He is cracking himself up and laughing between zerberts. So what if he only took a 30 minute nap today...if it leaves him this kind of giddy by the end of the day it was worth it ;)

I turned on his rotating sea creature lamp during our bedtime routine today (it's an awesome japanese paper lantern my old boss gave me as a gift and I had forgotten all about it now that Owen is old enough to really enjoy it!) and Owen was mesmerized. He watched it for several minutes while opening and closing his mouth (what he does when we say, 'What does a fish say?').

New/rare words I noticed today:
'ay' = rake
'am-ah' = camera
'ahss' = rice
'dah' = dog
'baa-paa' = backpack
'ee-oh' = orange
'googoo' = cookie
'eye-me' = ice cream
'meh-bay' = band aid
'ah-pay' = airplane

Today we returned to the boys and girls club for mother/baby swim classes after a 5 month hiatus. I wasn't sure what Owen would think of swimming after such a long break. Well, he retreated back to a demeanor that he displayed often in infancy...wide-eyed, deadly serious, just looking around without the slightest expression. The only thing that broke the trance was the part of the class where the babies jump off the side into our arms...he squealed in delight about that, but then right back to the trance. He was also whole-body shivering; I felt terrible. But he couldn't warm up because he wasn't kicking or splashing, just holding onto me. I was sure that he wasn't having that great a time, but lo and behold, when the class was over and we got out of the pool he threw an absolutely ear-piercing tantrum about as fierce as any I've seen from him (and that is no small number). He did not want to get out of that pool, and was trying to wrench himself out of my arms and throw himself back in it while we walked to the locker room. So, I'm guessing he liked it and will probably be back to his animated self next week :) He did fine with swimming underwater. We dump water on his head in the bath (and he does it to himself) so he's stayed used to being submerged (that is a major hurdle for a lot of the kids).

Yesterday we hurriedly raked some parts of the yard before it was completely dark (happens about 4:30p at the moment!). Owen got strapped onto Reuel in the backpack while I mowed and Reuel used the leafblower. Owen was in heaven between watching mommy drive the mower and being within a couple feet of a running power tool. He got down a couple times and headed for the mower across the yard and shimmied up onto the seat and put the headphones on and pretended to drive and shift gears. It is so much easier to take care of the child when we're outdoors. We should have been nomads, or we could at least move south so the winter's not quiiiiite so long.

Cheers!