Washington

Owen, Richard, and I headed up to Washington last weekend to visit Kristi Gee and her sons. Owen did great on the trip- he slept on the way up there, and mostly read to himself on the 5 hour drive home. And, for one of the first times, he slept at night away from home- for 3 of the 4 nights.

Owen had a great time playing with Jackson and Henry, and particularly enjoyed their toys. It was great to see them all and to see Eastern Washington. Richland has a lot of beautiful community parks, and Owen is a big fan of "slides and swings!". On Sunday we took the boys to see "Thomas, Live!". Owen isn't quite clear on who Thomas the Tank Engine is, but he likes trains a lot. He had mixed feelings on the live stage show- he was happy when the trains were on the stage, but upset when the actors kept singing. Richard had to bring him outside and then back inside several times. He may still be too young to appreciate theater.

Owen now likes to say OK and not OK- his version is "K" and "no-K". Sample conversation:

Owen (with urgency): "Bubba! Bubba! Bubba! Bubba!"

Mom: "Would you like Bubba?"

Owen (calmly, with a smile): "K."

Alternate conversation:

Mom (or more likely, Dad): "Would you like to eat this nice vegetable?"

Owen (with urgency): "No-K!"

We found a new toy at Kristi's house that Owen loved. In her play room, she has an inflatable pool filled with plastic play balls. Owen spent the weekend in Washington hanging out in that pool with Henry. So I found a pool and play balls at K-mart and set it up for Owen on Saturday. He is so happy with it- we had a hard time convincing him to leave it to do anything else.

We had a very nice Mother's Day today. Owen and Richard surprised me with a hanging fuchsia, and they both had a card. Richard made us a great breakfast and dinner. We went to get gelato and to the park. It was a fun day for all of us.

Owen is beginning to enjoy using crayons- he also enjoys instructing Richard and I to draw various things- usually Bubba, bunnies, and dogs. Even with those, he's taxing our artistic abilities. We tried to play with Play-Doh, but I don't think he understands that yet. He's doing a great job using a spoon- he likes to eat Cheerios and milk in the morning all by himself- and he doesn't make a mess.

2 new things

Owen did 2 new things yesterday.

When we were walking down the stairs, he counted them, up to 5. Then he skipped to 8- his favorite number.

At dinner yesterday, Owen shared a joke with us. It must be something he learned at daycare. He kept pulling spit from his mouth and trying to hand it to us. He thought this was completely hilarious. We are missing the joke, but it's hard to not laugh when he cracks up. Perhaps a 4 year old could explain the humor.