Feeding frenzy

Owen loves to feed himself these days. Not surprisingly, dinner is usually followed immediately by a bath. Especially when he eats macaroni and beef with tomato sauce.

Summer solstice

Here we are, kicking off the summer by watching the sun set on the longest day of the year.

Many thanks to Leigh, photographer extraordinaire!

A baby human

Learning to walk and talk are big events in the life of 1+ year old, and most developmental checklists seem to focus on those areas. But it seems to me that there's another way in which Owen has been making huge strides recently, and it's also one that reflects his status as a baby human: tool use. At first we thought he was just really into personal grooming - he loves to brush his teeth and his hair, for example. But he also really gets a kick out of using spoons and bowls. And like all babies, he loves keys, cellphones and remote controls. It's obvious with some of these items why they might be appealing in their own right - sometimes the TiVo remote makes a great noise! - but babies don't just like them, they are obsessed with them.

Owen has discovered a new favorite object to be obsessed with - nail clippers. I'm lucky if I can clip one nail before he wrests them from my grasp. At first I never let him have them, because I was worried he'd cut himself. I eventually gave in after a particularly vigorous struggle, to watch what he would do. He very carefully touched them to each of his toes, one at a time. We started saying "click" each time he moved to a new toe and he laughed and laughed, looking at us with a look that said, "that's right, that's what I'm trying to do!" and now he says "click" while he does it. "Clipping" his toenails is something that absorbs him for several minutes, attracting all of his focus and bringing him great joy.

Suddenly it is clear to me that these obsessions are about more than personal grooming, fun gadgets, or imitating Mommy and Daddy. They're about Owen establishing himself as baby human, tool user.

... but enough about us!

When we started the bloglet, I really didn't think it would last very long. I thought you'd get bored with it; I thought I'd run out of things to say. But it's been over a year, and here we all still are. We're thrilled that it's given us a way to keep so many of you up to date about our adventures with Owen. But we want to know more about you. Do you have a blog? Send us the link (or post it to the comments), and we'll add it to the new linklets section on the right. (Even if you think we already know the link, please drop us a line and let us know it's OK to post it.)



Update: Of course it doesn't have to be a blog - any website or flickr account you're willing to share will do!