Some fun now

The doctor says it's a double ear infection and "while it's not pneumonia yet," it isn't good either. Owen's really been put through the ringer, but you'd never know it from his mostly terrific attitude and energy. Now that he's on his medicine, he's running hard and sometimes even jittery with energy (a side-effect of the albuterol which we will never again make the mistake of giving him 20 minutes before bed).

Amy and I have been taking care of him at home, which is timely since his day care provider is on her summer vacation through Wednesday. He was eager to go to the Discovery Museum yesterday (see photo above left). Today, the pool awaits. I have to admit, I'm enjoying flexing my hours so that I can play a little hooky with him in the afternoon.

FYI, I am going to be a guest co-host on WBNQ's morning drive on Thursday morning from 6:30-8:30 AM, CDT. If you want to tune in to a fun two hours, which will include a psychic from 7:30-8:00, you can listen online here.

If Top 40's not your thing, try this.

Three friends, one Y chromosome

It was an exciting weekend with old and dear friends ... and their kids!

We finally managed to get together with Jake and Jeff, the two members of our wedding party who are now also new dads, and their families on Friday afternoon. We'd been talking about converging on Iowa City since Christmas, but weather, sick kids, and scheduling always threw a wrench into the plans. A week ago, I was talking to Jake and he mentioned he was thinking about driving into Iowa City from his West St. Paul home to see the UI's summer opera, where we became friends performing together in '97. It turned out Amy and I were already planning a trip to Iowa City that same weekend to celebrate Grampy Ives' birthday. A plan hatched quite quickly for Jake's wife Laura and their 2.5 year old daughter Annabelle to come along and spend a weekend with us at Amy's parents' house.

With that in place, our plan to see all three kids together almost fell through because Jeff and his family had made weekend plans to, among other things, celebrate his mom's 60th birthday with her in Ft. Dodge.

Fortunately, Jake and family arrived with an hour to spare before Jeff had to go to a dentist appointment on Friday afternoon. It was great to see Owen, Annabelle, and Olivia together and enjoy the community of friends who bonded long ago when our lives were much different.

The rest of the weekend was also a hoot. We took Owen and Annabelle to the playground downtown, reached our target heart rates on iced Coconana Lattes at the Java House, and bought our new Harry Potter books. We also had a great time at the newly renovated pool in Coralville, sliding down the water slides, most notably the "Toilet Bowl," a large basin you slide into at a great rate of speed, going around and around until you drop out a hole in the bottom. It was way fun, but incredibly painful as my bony elbows, spine, and heels were thunked into a bruised pulp by the seams of the slide.

We also had fun playing with the kids in the back yard. We picked raspberries, the kids played with the sprinklers, and then chased and chased each other until they were exhausted. Owen and Annabelle played very well together. There was hugging and giggling, a lot of asking where the other one was ... and even a co-ed bath, although you'll have to wait for their high school graduation boards to see those photos.

Voldemort?

Owen was up for an hour in the middle of the night last night. It was exhausting, but kind of interesting in the long run.

When he finally stopped crying he worked very hard at communicating what was wrong. His requests/statements included, not necessarily in this order, "milk," "juice," "gas," "poopy," and "bad dream." And while we're not sure exactly what it was (perhaps it was a combination of the above, or maybe just some latent fear about what we will learn regarding Harry Potter's fate when book seven comes out this weekend), it was nice that he was trying.

The real getcha for this kid, though, is that he is always ready to read more books. We put him on the potty for a little while at 12:30 this morning, which is one of his favorite places since it always includes reading "The Little Engine That Could," an Arthur adventure, or some other favorite. It's only a matter of time until he is hiding under his covers with a flashlight trying to read one more chapter after lights-out.

Yesterday was a good day for him, though. It was rainy, so his mom took him to the Pro Putt, a local "fun center" with slides, a room full of balls, trampolines, etc. He had a great time. Last night, the fun continued watching dad mow the lawn. After dinner, I quick headed outside to knock down the grass before our weekend trip to Iowa City. Amy brought Owen out to watch and he had a great time cheering "Go Daddy!" and chasing me up and down the hill with his mom. I don't think I've ever had so much fun cutting the grass and I felt like a real star.

And the praise just continued this morning as Owen thought it was awesome to see his daddy on the front page of the paper.

Mission Accomplished

Grandpa and Nana Aalberts came for a visit this weekend. We had a great time with visits to the park on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. We went to "Open Cockpit Day" at the Prairie Aviation Museum, which was great until Owen emerged from the plane and preemptively announced the end of all combat operations...

We also had a great time going to the pool with the whole gang on Saturday afternoon. Owen made countless trips down the water slide, pushed his mom, auntie Pam and grandpa into the water, then was an absolute delight as he made his first safe leaps from the side of the pool into his dad's arms. He is very aware of all of the things going on around him and is willing to try anything he sees other people doing. He duplicated my step from the end of a park slide (which I had to do because my legs were too long to make it to the end), and would jump off the pool's diving board if we would just give him the chance.

New favorites this week are lollipops, more dancing, the call of the squirrel, saying "Way up on top of the mountain" (?), and GF Chicken Siciliano. Yummy!

Through the ringer

The temps were soaring and the humidity was thick this weekend, so when Owen got sick at the supermarket on Sunday morning we were sure it was because he'd gotten over heated.

Then his daycare provider called to tell us that she was going to be out on Monday with the flu. Then yesterday, both Amy and I were sidelined with some serious flu symptoms. I made it to work in the morning, only to find myself napping on a floor in an unused room in my office to get my head clear enough to drive home. Pam was able to leave her internship and watch Owen while we tried to recover, but we still ended up at the hospital last night because Amy couldn't keep anything down and was getting really dehydrated. They gave her some anti-nausea medicine and a bag of fluid. It was all too reminiscent of our Boston Marathon experience in 2006. Thankfully I didn't have to run anywhere this morning.

We all seem to be doing much better today. And we're so thankful Pam was around to take care of Owen while we convalesced. She picked him up from school and brought him to music class. He seemed to have a fine day.

Owen is a hoot, as always. He's been enjoying a new selection of Dr. Seuss books from the library, laughing almost uncontrollably at Horton sitting on the egg and the plight of all the poor turtles comprising Yertle's soaring throne. He's also working on his first product endorsement with the most compelling delivery of the Spaghetti-O's slogan I believe I've ever heard ...



Another highlight for me was a sentence he said this morning. He was eating breakfast and heard a bird chirping through the fireplace from the top of the chimney. He got up, walked to the chimney and said, "Cheep, cheep. Good morning bird, says Owen."

Nice.

E-I-E-I-O

No doubt embracing his agrarian lineage, Owen celebrated farm life yesterday both in song and in the glory of the harvest.

Amy planted some tomatoes in the back yard which were finally ripe enough to pick. Owen thought this was particularly awesome, almost as much fun as helping his mom pick leaves from the herbs she's grown. Of course, the only reason the herbs are better is that he can easily stuff his mouth full of leaves of basil, mint, etc., which I have to tell you has made some diaper changes a near four-star aromatic experience.

Also fun is his rendition of "Old MacDonald." We start by singing the song for him and letting him fill in the animal "on the farm" (usually a donkey). After a while, though, he is happily singing all of the lyrics, easing up to an upper register and, yesterday, segueing into an improvised "I love my daddy" that still has me on Cloud 9.

It's been a strange week with the Wednesday holiday. Truthfully, Independence Day felt like a weekend in and of itself. We had a good time going to the zoo in the morning. Owen is a huge fan of the sea lions and the giant fan keeping things cool in the area where the bears and large monkeys live. We went to the pool in the afternoon. Owen has a terrific new "trolling" swim move where he gets down on his haunches in the kids' pool, no doubt enjoying the buoyancy of his swim trunks as he strokes his fingers through the water. He has also mastered the water slide, although the 15 seconds of cool he gets for every 45 seconds of running back to the top means overheating is bound to happen.

Fortunately, Mom has popsicles at home!

"Apple sauce, get up here NOW! Please!"

It's all about immediacy. "Now!" has become Owen's mantra, whether it be requesting something from the fridge ("Popsicle NOW!"), controlling the radio dial ("Different music NOW!"), or expressing his abject displeasure with a "No, not, now, none!" -- a triple-negative of such alliterative grace you can't help but be impressed.

Amy and I have been working on adding in pleases and thank yous, which has led to some hilarious statements including the title of today's blog.

Summer has been lots of fun. We enjoyed many fun trips to the park over the weekend, and a great time at the pool on Sunday. Hopefully the weather will cooperate for an Independence Day pool outing tomorrow.

The biggest problem is that Owen continues to overheat quickly when we're at the playground. He runs so hard and his cheeks get so flushed ... it takes a bit to cool him back down, but that usually gives way to incredibly cute moments of satisfied fatigue like this.

Happy 4th!