Friday, March 28, 2008

A Pot to Piss In

Yesterday Owen peed in the potty at daycare for the first time. He's taken an interest in toilets the past few weeks and has been very vocal in his wish to try them out. So yesterday, while changing his diaper, Ms. Tameka placed Owen on the stool and presto, he started peeing like a champ.

Now, we're really proud of Owen and all, but we're woefully unprepared to start potty training. Still, at 3814 diapers so far, it's nice to know that an end (however distant) is in sight.

Monday, March 24, 2008

Easter

A little backstory: In the days leading up to Easter I developed a sinus infection. Not wanting to contribute to the world's demise via a super-virus, I opted not to take a course of antibiotics but instead to take Mucinex-D. For those unfamilar with the semi-over the counter drug, one of its main ingredients is also used to make crystal meth and so, even in low doses, it acts as a stimulent (while simultaniously clearing out one's sinuses). This is only relevant because I wasn't sleeping well the week of Easter and so after waking up early to find Owen's Easter basket and some not so subtly hidden eggs, I went back to sleep. In doing so, we ended up being 10 minutes late for Easter mass, which was a disaster.

See, we always went to the Easter Vigil mass growing up. But as that mass started at 8 pm at St. Peters and generally lasts 3 hours, we decided to go to the 9 am mass Sunday morning in order to be at Mom-mom's before Owen's nap. Since there was an Easter Egg hunt after the 11 am mass, I figured it wouldn't be very well attended and so getting there a little late wouldn't be a big deal.

I was wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong.

We ended up standing in the back with about 20 other families. Owen proceeded to weave through the crowd, the offering table, and an usher's leg. I made the executive call after the homily that we should leave, go home, pack up the car, and set up for Mom-moms so that we could have Owen's second Easter egg hunt of the day before his nap. Only Owen fell asleep en route for 20 minutes, which meant that while he was well refreshed once we got to Mom-moms, it took over an hour to get him down for a 40 minute nap later that afternoon.

I should note that from Owen's perspective, Easter was great! He had two Easter baskets and Easter Egg hunts. He heard some really beautiful music at church while socializing with complete strangers. He got to ride his tricycle (or rather be pushed on said tricycle) at Mom-moms and met Jeff & Chrysta's dog, Luna. He got to talk to his cousins Olivia and Sam and his Uncle Steve (he mostly listened). There were bubbles! He got an incredibly real-looking dog puppet from Mom-mom. Bunnies (aka hop-hop) abounded.

For my part, I just want a nap and some new nasal passages.

(click here to see all the pictures)

Sunday, March 16, 2008

I Couldn't Agree More

The other day I was taking Owen upstairs to change his diaper while Elaine was making dinner. Owen observed her standing in front of the toaster oven while roasting a red pepper and called out to her,

"Hot Mommy. Hot Mommy."

Monday, March 10, 2008

Lions and Zebras and Sculptures, Oh My!



We continued our cultural outings this past weekend by taking Owen to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. He's been on big zebra and lion kicks lately, so needless to say he found the Africa exhibit in the hall of mammals pretty thrilling. The dinosaurs weren't quite as exciting for him, but I imagine that will change before too long. After the museum, we ran around the sculpture garden and watched the ice skaters enjoy the last day of the skating rink. Just in case you're afraid Owen is getting too much culture these past few weekends, check out this picture.

(click here to see all the pictures)

Sunday, March 02, 2008

National Portrait Gallery


We took Owen on a family outing to the National Portrait Gallery today, and he absolutely loved it. When I was a kid, my favorite parts of the Smithsonian were always the Air & Space museum and the Natural History museum, but for Owen, it's all about the portraits! Of course once you see the new courtyard with its amazing glass canopy, and look at those irresistible water features from a toddlers perspective, it's hard to argue with him. Inside, Owen showed his Presidential Libraries pedigree, running all around the American Presidents exhibit. And Mommy was happy to see her hipster son taking in the Stephen Colbert portrait outside of the restrooms. But really, Owen's favorite portrait wasn't even of a person, it was a birdie.

(click here to see all the pictures)