A Grand Day In ('N Out)

So much for blogging on a more frequent basis. The Christmas holidays are drawing to a close, and I am nowhere near done grading my final exams. But I don't want to write about that any more than I want to think about it...

Owen hosted a play date this morning for his friends J.J. and Patrick (ages 4 and 2.5, respectively). Patrick goes to day care with Owen, and J.J. graduated from their day care last spring. Owen more or less worships J.J. as an idol, so this was a Very Big Deal. He was in fact so overwhelmed at their presence IN! OUR! HOUSE! that he wouldn't leave my lap for the first half hour, while they played with all his toys. After that he chilled out a little and we made oatmeal cookies (I had measured everything out in bowls, with the dry ingredients already mixed, before they arrived, so it was just pour and stir). Three kids making and eating cookies together with no fights and no tears = successful play date.

But that's not all... after the big boys went home and Owen napped for a few hours, Eric came home and the three of us went out and played tourist all afternoon: streetcar to Pier 39, sea lions, carousel ride, hot mini-donuts; walk along Fisherman's Wharf, an hour at the Musee Mecanique (large collection of vintage-to-antique games and mechanical amusements, including everything from 100-year-old player pianos to stereogram viewers with pictures of the 1906 earthquake to fortune-teller machines to 1980s Atari arcade games); dinner at In 'N Out (deeply satisfying and marred only by Owen tripping over his feet as we were about to leave, and bloodying his lip on the tile floor - ouch); back to the Ferry Plaza on the streetcar, watch the ice skaters at the temporary rink at Embarcadero Center, home on the T line and finally a bowl of ice cream for the young'un before his bath. Quite a day.

Some random moments and observations from the last few weeks... Just in time for Christmas, Owen learned the word "mine." It sounds more like "mahh" but the suspicious look and torso twisting away while clutching a toy is fairly unmistakable.... We started him on Wallace and Gromit the other day, he thought "A Grand Day Out" was absolutely hilarious.... He still won't touch the talking Elmo doll he got for Christmas.... it's quite clear that he's still calling Eric "Mama" mainly to get a rise out of him. We've caught him whispering "dada" softly a few times now.... his favorite game of the moment is "group hug".... He's starting to sing more - does the "e-i-e-i-o" when I sing Old MacDonald...it took until December 27 to get all the Christmas presents open, he conked out on the 25th with 8 left to go....scratch that, he still has one coming in the mail (a replacement keyboard for the one Santa brought, which turned out not to work) so I guess we still haven't opened all the presents, technically.... and we are so very ready for him to get over his cough and sleep through the freakin' night again...

Happy New Year, everyone.

Comments

Erin (moviemuse) said…
Sounds like two successful play dates to me, one with friends and one with family (sorry about the lip!). L also got tired of opening gifts his first "real" Christmas, something we've tried to be aware of with the number of gifts he has received since then (frequently wrapping 2-3 together to try and avoid a repeat). I am sadly familiar with night coughing children. I assume you are trying a humidifier and keeping his room cool. Those are about the only things that work for L. Hope he gets over it soon!
December 31, 2009 at 2:18 PM
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