- Marsh and Michael have a cat named Jack. I mean, already Owen's having fun. Owen does not have any cats in his life (my mom's cat Wilbe will only socialize - and by socialize, I mean be in the same room with or be seen by - my mom), so this was a real treat. He took great delight in following Jack around and trying to get close enough to pet him. He was very gentle, so Jack would allow this when it suited him.
- Jack has his own cat door, which Owen referred to as "Jack's own window." Owen was fascinated with this, and played with that window - seeing how it opened and closed, sticking his arm all the way through and then pulling it back in - throughout the weekend.
- On two separate occasions, Jack brought in an offering (or a threat, perhaps, depending on your interpretation) of a live chipmunk. This would result in a group effort to contain and capture the chipmunk so that he could continue to live outside, "live" and "outside" being key.
- Marsh is a teacher who has taught at various ages (plus, she's just good like that), so she is very tuned in to what Owen might like and she has lots of fun toys and games tucked away from former teaching gigs. She broke out this set of magnetic toys - balls and sticks and horseshoes - that was a real hit:
- We got to shower (a victory in and of itself) and get dressed up AT THE SAME TIME. A major happening with a toddler and an infant:
- Right when we were all clean and purdy and ready to go to the wedding (our friends Natalie, Nathan, and Robert Erle were downstairs waiting for us), I went in to wake Owen up from his nap so he could say hello to everyone before we left. In fact, Owen had not been napping. Instead, he had gotten out all of the markers that were in Dee Dee's desk drawer, in addition to a bottle of Elmer's glue. When I walked in, he was holding the bottle of Elmer's glue (cap off) upside down, and a giant clump of glue was getting ready to pour out. I dove to catch it (like the old Dupont commercial - remember that one?) and was successful, but then saw that I was too late. The bed was covered in two dozen markers, and he had drawn all over the sheets (he chose not to use the washable markers for this, but rather the one or two permanent markers that he found). Glue had been applied to several surfaces and was all over his hands (we've been practicing lathering very well when washing our hands, so my guess - by the look of his hands, which were CAKED in glue - is that he was lathering with the glue) and hair and clothes. Bill came in right behind me; we were both stunned. In my blouse and skirt and 4-inch heels (I'm telling you: this was an OCCASION!), I began cleaning up markers and glue before Bill put a stop to this saying he didn't want me to mess up my nice clothes (even though he was also in nice clothes). He told me to go downstairs and be with our friends, and that he would clean everything up. LOVE THAT MAN. In his seersucker suit, he gave Owen a bath, stripped the bed, collected all the loose plastic hair (Dee Dee had given her Barbies a haircut way back when, and the clippings were in with the markers), and put Dee Dee's room back together. Who's ready to go to a wedding??
- On Sunday morning, Michael fixed chocolate chip and blueberry pancakes (some blueberry, some chocolate chip - not a combo, just to clarify), and he prepared a special smiley-face pancake for Owen with chocolate chips for the eyes and mouth. Owen had some chocolate icing on his birthday cake last year and has had a few bites of my chocolate gelato, but otherwise has not been exposed to much chocolate (so much so that he does not know the word, "chocolate." I know. Can you believe it? I've been holding out on him big time.). So the chocolate chip pancakes pretty much blew his mind. His response: "I would like more brown, please."
Many thanks, Marsh and Michael, for putting up with us. We'll give it plenty of time before our next visit. :) Love you, and e-bugs forever.
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