I am also grateful that when Bill and I both head off to work on Mondays and Wednesdays, Owen is in the care of his very special babysitter, Alex. Alex is in Charleston earning her Masters in Psychology at the Citadel. She is smart, silly, and safe, and I couldn't ask for anything more.
Alex first started taking care of Owen on February 1, 2010. During the first few months, we had a ritual where Alex would carry Owen to the garage to watch me pull away and he would be consoled/distracted by getting to push the button to close the garage door. Now when I leave, he takes a break from playing or reading with Alex to call out, "Bye Bye Mama!"
Alex leaves a note every day that tells about what she and Owen did, noteworthy things he said, books he liked, things he learned, funny things that happened, etc. I save all of these, of course.
When Owen was just learning to talk, he called her "GiGi" (pronounced "JiJi"). Now he calls her Alex (pronounced "Ay-eg"), but still sometimes says GiGi, as in "GiGi's wa-wa," when pointing to her morning Diet Coke. There has inevitably been confusion between this Alex and Owen's Uncle Alex, which is now resolved. I might think Owen is talking about Alex, and then he shakes his head to clarify and says, "UNCLE Ay-eg."
Owen talks about Alex all the time. When Bruno barks, he thinks she has arrived. ("Ay-eg's boo ca!" translation: "Alex's blue car!") When I ask him to guess who's coming over or what's going to happen, he says, "Boo?" followed by "Ay-eg?"
Here are a few pictures of the two of them from July (Alex was horrified that I was inspired to take photos on one of the few days that she was in sweats and no makeup, but she obliged...and she is lovely either way):
Lucky Owen. Lucky us.
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