Corn Update: Week 5

Hey. A corn update today ... and a report from Owen's three year check-up with Dr. Rosa.

First the corn. It may be another two feet taller than last week. Same with the grass and thistle surrounding it. I carried Owen to his spot and back out so that his legs wouldn't be scratched.

It's the kind of thing a father does after the news of a very healthy three year checkup. Dr. Rosa says Owen looks great! He's 39.5 inches tall and 39.5 lbs. (85th and 90th percentile, respectively). She said a child coming in at the 90th percentile would normally raise some red flags about being overweight, but not Owen. Healthy, lean, full of good energy ... and very smart.

We couldn't agree more.

Asleep on the job ...

Corn Update: Week 4

Owen brought his fire trucks with him to the corn today. Huge growth in a week with tremendous heat, humidity, and precipitation. The ears of corn are now very large and easy to see.

The only problem for us is the tremendous amount of thistle on the ground at our photo location. It's hard on bare legs and feet in sandals.

Perhaps next week Owen will bring Eeyore to clear our path.

I Belong at the Zoo

We had a wonderful weekend in Chicago. We drove up on Thursday night for a gluten free ice cream social at the Whole Foods. While the food was tasty, it was a long wait ... difficult for a little boy. But we had fun nonetheless.

On Friday we got on the train early and headed to the Brookfield Zoo.

A train ride anywhere is a highlight. Owen loved everything, from arriving at the station, to boarding the train, to getting a seat on the second level, where he could see everything -- all the cars, trains, and houses we passed on our way.

In turn, Mom, Dad, Grandpa, and Nana enjoyed watching him. It was a great way to start the day.


We arrived in just in time for the zoo to open. Following a restroom visit, a necessity when you're wearing big boy pants! we hit the path and started seeing the animals.

GO OWEN!

We started in the pachyderm area. There was a wonderful pygmy hippo cooling himself in the mud. Owen could see it very well from my shoulders.


Inside was the elephant, who was having a snack and getting a shower.


Over the next two hours we visited many animals. We probably had the best time at the Australian area, where we saw kangaroos, a wombat (Mom and Dad's favorite), and some great bats.

Other highlights were a baby camel, the giraffes, and a lion.

... and the carousel.

Owen waited patiently for his turn on the ride. Our last activity of the day, we were all bushed and were pleased to sit and relax after lunch, before walking to the train and going home.



The animals on the carousel are beautiful. Owen had a lot of time to watch before he got on and pick out the creature he would ride. He was talking about the zebra a lot, and his favorite on our local carousel is a bunny, so it was a surprise when O boarded his praying mantis. Not the fuzziest or most lovey of the world's creatures, but a fun five minute ride nonetheless.


A quick trip to the gift shop and the potty, and then we were off ... with one quick pit stop. Maya had been eyeing the lions at the gates as we entered, so we gave her a chance to sit on one and took her picture.

She has excellent head and neck control for a four month old, don't you think?


The train ride back was just as fun. Owen looked out the windows, fondly remembering the pee he took into the bushes on the train station platform (their fault for not providing a place for a boy wearing big boy pants to go in a civilized fashion), and I zonked out holding baby Maya, no doubt tired from being her spotter.

Maya Papaya

One more thing ...

The Fire Truck Song.



Owen composed this. It's a lovely little tune. And if you're wondering why he's moving his legs, it's because he made up the song while he was on his tricycle.

Tumbling and Talking

Nana and Grandpa left tonight following three days here. We'll see them tomorrow night for a gluten free ice cream social at the Whole Foods in Wheaton, Ill, then take the train with them to the Brookfield Zoo over the weekend.

Pictures to follow.

It was a busy start to the week in Normal. In addition to the swimming report from yesterday, Nana and Grandpa joined Amy and Maya for Owen's tumbling class Tuesday morning. Owen learned backward somersaults ...

While Maya and Nana watched ...

Today the crew went to the Children's Discovery Museum. Owen played with his trains ...

... and made two successful trips to the bathroom, keeping the big boy pants dry for another afternoon.

And Maya and Nana enjoyed a nice long talk:

Corn update: Week 3

Owen's day care has been closed last week for vacations and an emergency gall bladder operation for his teacher Kim. Schedules are a bit off, but his Grandpa and Nana have come to help, which has coincidentally been lots of fun. Grandpa, Owen and I stopped by the corn field tonight on our way home from the pool today.

Hence the swimsuit.

As you can see, the corn has grown considerably. It's now as tall as me, a little over six feet. Impressive. And the humidity is supposed to arrive tomorrow, so who knows how much more it'll grow before next week. I expect I'll soon be quoting my favorite "Oklahoma" lyric.

And speaking of corn, here's a charming little video of Owen eating an ear the other night.

Meal time can be so much fun.

Corn update: Week 2

Hey. Our weekly check on the corn shows it's grown a bit more than a foot since our first visit last week.

Indeed, summer's here. With the humidity and rain, you can almost hear those stalks stretching.

Wet and Wild in Iowa City

Owen was back at his favorite fountain this weekend. Last fall I posted the following video of Owen running through the ped mall fountain in Iowa City.



This video has been viewed almost 3,000 times since October. Its popularity, I reckon, is a good indicator of the kind of search topics people are regularly feeding into YouTube. Then again, it may merely represent the supreme humor Owen's grandfather finds in watching our little guy getting soaked head to toe again and again.

If my second notion is correct, this is Grandpa's lucky day. We had great weather this weekend and spent a lot of time downtown. Here's a new fountain video ...

Below you'll also find a snapshot we took of Owen partaking in his (at least for one day) favorite activity in the fountain. I guarantee, if this had been on video it would eclipse last year's "Super wet in the fountain" in popularity with ease.

You know there's a whole "Tap water enema" subculture out there that would make this their holy grail.

There were other water sports this weekend, including cannonballs into the backyard pool.

Followed by some aqua yoga ...

And there were many other highlights as well. We got to see our dear friends Jeff and Melissa and their daughter Olivia. We ran into the lovely Marie at the Farmer's Market. We haven't seen Marie, who sang at our wedding, since Owen was Maya's age. We also saw Ann, one of my oldest friends from high school, and her husband Jim (who, ironically, I think I've actually known longer than Ann) out with their boys at the Bonerama (here playing with OK GO on Letterman) concert at the Jazz Festival.

We also got to look at the flood damage, which was pretty sobering at times. Seeing Hancher, the arts campus and the English building, then driving into Coralville where the water line left by the flood waters ran inches from the top of doorways added a sense of verisimilitude to the many photos we've seen over the past couple of months.

On a lighter, and final note for today: Above is Maya at 3.5 months, below is Owen when he was 5 months old. Seeing the resemblance is fun, especially as we see the little boy Owen has become in the past three years. It's sometimes easy to forget that Maya is also on that path and will be laughing and running with her big brother through the fountain this time next year.

I'm sure it will be immensely popular on YouTube.

And he's already taller than Keri Strug ... (Corn Update: Week 1)

Amy brought the camera to Owen's tumbling class yesterday and caught these two awesome videos.



Here he is on the balance beam. Sure footed ... plus an excellent dismount at the end.



But the tumbling run is my favorite. Look at his technique; just like they taught him. Plant the feet (with a little added jump ... bonus points for difficulty), hands set, head down, then flip. Excellent! And I like how he not only does a little pointing and lecturing at the end, but completes a few extra flips of his own even after the teacher has moved on.

There was room on the tumbling mat. I can't blame him.

I'm also starting a new feature in the blogs today.
Owen and I have been looking at the corn field en route to his day care, and on Monday we took this photo, the first of what will become a weekly record of how quickly the corn (and Owen) is growing.

"Knee high by the 4th of July," and then some.

Such a proud moment for pop culture

Quick story.

OK, so I'm driving Owen to day care today. We're listening to the radio. This song is on:



Owen's really quiet in the back seat, not answering any of the questions I'm asking him as we drive. Then the song finishes and Owen asks, "Daddy, what's that band called?"

I didn't understand him at first, thinking he was asking "What's this thing called?" But he was persistent, saying "No, no" at my attempts to answer his question.

"What's that band called?"

"Oh. That was a band called The Who. Did you like it?"

"Yeah," he said. "The Who. That was good."