Owen's a mensch

owenIMAG1096, a photo by marymactavish on Flickr.

To quote my friend Katie's grandmother: ‎"Nine months in, nine months out, then he's a mensch!"

Though technically, Owen was inside for nine months and eight days, Katie calls this Owen's "menschday," and I'll go for that.

Poor little pumpkin currently has his first real bug, a mild cold, with slight sniffles, and he's teething hard so he's not sleeping that well, and is quicker to fuss.

He's a bit behind on the teething, but we're okay with that. He's still on the verge of walking, and we just childproofed every cabinet within his reach, just in time for him to reach all the drawers, so that's next. We have a medication lock box on our Christmas wishlist, and if it doesn't show up, we'll simply order it ourselves, as that will be just in time to put high shelves in the bathroom and put the medication up.

Owen is still such a joy. At his nine-month well-baby exam, he passed with flying colors. He's in great shape, all around. I am so lucky that we have such an easy baby as my rheumatoid arthritis is still flaring like crazy. Though we aren't purely attachment parents by any stretch, we do a fair bit of that sort of thing, but I just can't handle it with my wrists, knees, and feet the way they've been. I'm not sure Owen would be excited about mostly baby-wearing, but even if he were, I can't handle it. We have a fabulous stroller that he loves, though, I can actually take both Owen and DJ on a walk at the same time with it.

Adventure-boy adores our local playground. Yesterday, he discovered the big circular slide. Though he can't use it himself, I put him up about as high as my shoulders, then hold his sweater to help keep him upright and let him go at whatever speed that allows, usually pretty fast. Yesterday, we did that a million or so times before I got too tired, he certainly wasn't tired of it himself.

And he loves other babies! We have friends on our block, a family that includes a baby eight weeks older than Owen, and they like each other, as do DJ and their family dog, so that means visits, and trips to the playground together.

One of my favorite things is Owen's relationship with DJ. They're total buddies. One of these days, perhaps I'll be in time with video to catch Owen as, when he hears DJ's claws coming down the hallway tiktiktik from the bedroom, rushes from where he is to meet her part way, then he sits down and she kisses him and he laughs.

Owen is happiest when the whole family is together, when we get on the bed and play or rest with him (each adult in the family has his own bedroom, but Casey's bed is set up near a window, so Owen can look out, and we can sort of fence the space with our three bodies for him to romp around in.) Any time he's with just one of us and another of us comes in, he's happier, and if all three adults and DJ are with him, sometimes it seems he'll implode with joy.

He's asleep now, and I have an ear open, waiting for him to awaken. Some days he sleeps for two hours, some days for 20 minutes. It's my first coffee break of the day, and sometimes my only real down time until evening, so I covet it. I write rushed blog posts, I take quick showers, I rest. Today I should be making fruitcake, which I should also have done every day for the past four weeks. If I don't get it done today, I'll do it tonight after Casey and Audrey are home from work, but I was hoping for earlier. I also need to make everything that can be made ahead for Christmas morning brunch at our house, to grab a couple more gifts off Amazon (I love shopping small businesses, but Owen's sick of shopping and I have sore knees and feet, so stores just hurt right now), and I need to fold the laundry desperately. But what I'm doing is lying here writing and drinking coffee. DJ's in a sunbeam near my feet. And this is as it should be. It's fine.