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!