What we're not videoing

I expect that, at some point down the road, I'll regret not taking more video of Owen. I'm sure I'll want to see or hear how he used to say "ggggggg" or the army crawl he used to get around for two months. (Or was it only one? Or four? With more video, we could check and know for sure.) But the thing is, what I really want to video are the moments like these from last night:

1. Owen's always helped with the laundry. At first, when he could only sit in the bouncy chair, he'd direct the sorting, identifying clothes that should be washed in cold or on gentle, should be hung to dry, etc. As soon as he could pull up, he discovered the joy of banging on the front of the washer and dryer, great drums that they are. Now, he's taken to pulling the clothes out of the dryer. So last night, I stuck the basket next to him, and he merrily pulled things out of the dryer and dropped them right into the basket. (Given his fascination for the dishwasher, I ought to be able to get him to do the dishes by 15 months.)

2. We were sitting by the front door, sorting the mail, and Owen got the rubber, choking nub off the end of the doorstop. He was enjoying it, but I'm a little leery about the choking, so I took the nub and held it in my hand. First, I would hide it under a finger, and he would pry that finger away to find the nub. Next, I held it in my closed fist, and he would open my fist to find the nub. Then, I would pass the nub from one closed fist to the other and present him with two closed fists. He would open the fist that originally held the nub and stare in wonder at my empty palm. Then he would turn the empty hand over and around, convinced that the nub must somehow still be there, adhered to the back of the hand or something.

Those are the things I'd love to have a video of, but I don't know how to do that without videoing every moment of his life, which would seem to interfere with making such moments (not least because of his hamming it up for the camera). So I write these little notes and hope that I remember to read them down the road, and that they're half as wonderful then as they feel right now.

Oh, and speaking of wonder, Owen's wonderful sleeping of the last week (regularly until 6:30 or 7:00) seems to have gone bye-bye. Yesterday morning he was up at 5:30; today, after staying up late (making those moments I'm so keen to remember), he was squawking and standing at 5:00.

No is no

Owen knows "no". Three times in the last 24 hours, he was messing with something he oughtn't (once the cord on a lamp, twice the broiler door). All three times, I said "no", firmly, but not particularly dramatically. All three times, he looked at me, stopped what he was doing, and started doing something acceptable without leaving the location of the forbidden fruit. As if he though, "Oh yes, that's right, I'm not supposed to pull on the lamp cord. I'll just remove these books from the shelf instead. That will be fine."

I was and am amazed, and am enjoying it while it lasts. (The Vegas line is currently another 36 hours.)

First Blood

Owen took a tumble yesterday evening, breaking his fall with his upper lip on the edge of the coffee table. His two front upper teeth, only in for a couple of weeks now, nicely incised the inside of that lip. Blood and crying ensued. Actually, there was a good bit less crying than I had expected. He kept sucking on his upper lip, presumably trying to figure out why it was getting so puffy and now had a metallic taste. He also gave one of his "Bbbbbbb"s while the blood was still flowing, which made for a nice spray.

I should note that he didn't completely break his fall with his lip. His head bounced a bit, then he tried breaking his fall with his forehead. This, also, failed to completely break the fall - though it has given him a nice bindi - so he gave up and just went the rest of the way to the floor.

We're so proud that he is active and mobile enough to start hurting himself.

Naturally, the horse having left the barn, a pad now covers the edge of the coffee table.

Q: How do you know your new and improved interface is only the former?

A: When you have to add a search function to find commands in the menu.

Dennis O'Reilly reports that Microsoft has added a search function to help you find commands in the "ribbon" that replaced the trusty menu bar in Office 2007. Sad.

Although, this could be its own innovation. Apparently you can just type Win+Y, then the name of the command, then click from the search results to access the command. But imagine, what if the process were shortened, so that you just typed a combination of keys to directly access the command? Like Ctrl+S to save a file, or Ctrl+P to print... what possibilities! The mind boggles...

Alphabet Pal - Social Conservative

Owen got a Leapfrog Baby Alphabet Pal when he was very little from one of my work buddies. It's an inchworm with light up ears that talks. When you press any of it's 26 feet, it says a letter of the alphabet and can be set to say the letters phonetically. Now that he's actually old enough to play with it he enjoys biting the ears, looking at the battery case, and occasionaly hitting the alphabet feet.

Alphabet Pal is also fun for mom and dad. We can press the individual feet to make the Alphabet Pal say phonetically H.I. H.O.N.E.Y. H.O.W A.R.E Y.O.U? It took about 10 seconds before we tried making it say F.U._.K , D.A._.N and other choice sayings (it's ok, Owen wasn't listening). However, Alphabet Pal is too crafty and clearly we're not the only people who've tried this. Once it figures out that your intention is inappropriate, it giggles and says 'That Tickles!' I guess we'll have to amuse ourselves in some other way.

Owen Bear, Owen Bear, What Do You Read?

Owen's current favorite book is Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? He will preferentially pick it from a stack of books, and he turns the pages himself. Admittedly, he turns the pages with little regard to the words being read. Indeed, his pace generally requires one to read quite quickly, leaving little time for funny purple cat or blue horse voices. (Aside: The blue horse sounds like Nixon. Weird.) And once he turns the last page, he flips the whole book over, and it's time to go again. We generally go through about three or four times, though on the last pass, O will skip a few pages.