Owen, raise one hand ...

... for every Iowa football loss your dad and grandpa saw this season.

Despite the terrible play on the football field, Owen and I had a wonderful weekend in Iowa City. We enjoyed the unseasonably warm autumn weather to hit the playgrounds and explore the neighborhood. We even got to have some fun opening and closing the screen door for the puppies on his Grandpy and Grammie's back porch on Saturday afternoon without a coat.

The other highlight of the weekend was some good times at the play area in the Coral Ridge Mall. Owen loves it there with its squishy equipment and floor. He plays himself to exhaustion and is always ready for a good nap on the drive home.

This weekend his best moment was in support of another little boy there whose dad was too cool for school when it came to playground time with his son, or just spending any time with his son, for that matter. Left to "tough it out" when his dad didn't want to bother, the little boy who was no bigger than Owen laid on the floor and cried. Owen happened to be running past at that moment, laid down with him and said "Hi. What's your name? I'm Owen," as he had been doing with every adult in the play area. The little boy stopped sniffling and got up. Owen smiled, jumped to his feet, then proceeded to work the room a little more. He met a nice mom who was impressed with all his language skills, and a nice fellow from my parents' hometown, Oswego, studying for his masters in economics, who had brought his homework with him out to a table in the mall.

Meanwhile, back in Normal what was supposed to be a relaxing weekend for Owen's mommy turned into a fight to the finish with a nasty cough, cold, and sore throat that persists to this day. Without being able to turn to antibiotics for help, Amy has been doing her best to whip this bug with tea, rest, Tylenol, and lozenges. It hasn't been easy. Fortunately, Thanksgiving week meant there was room at Owen's daycare for him to put in a whole day today ... and probably tomorrow as well. Wednesday we'll head up to Oswego for a Thanksgiving break.

Here are some additional pictures from the weekend, including two misguidedly optimistic football fans, as well as a shot of the excellent castle we built with his blocks tonight. He was very proud. Turrets, a gate, towers, and everything ...