A kid after my own heart

You can't imagine how happy it makes me to see the smile on Owen's face when he gets his hands on a book. Whether it's one of his board books or one of my hardcovers with the crinkly library cover, he really does love to touch the pages and look at the covers. (He's probably thinking, "How can I get this in my mouth?" but I like to think he has other reasons.) I hope he won't grow up and think it's dorky to love reading, and I'll do what I can to encourage him.

He's discovered his shelf of books next to his play area in the living room and delights in taking all the books off the shelf. Every once in a while, he'll stop to look at one of them. One of his favorites is a book about the Little People's class trip to the nature center, fire station, dinosaur museum, science museum and aquarium. It's got lots to look at and tons of flaps to lift on every page and he loves peeking behind those.

I got out all the lift-the-flap books now that he knows what to do with them. (That alone amazes me -- it wasn't too long ago that he didn't have the concept of object permanence, and now he knows to look at what's hidden behind a piece of cardboard.) I even got him an Easter card with a flap, and as I was buying it, I thought, "Owen will really like this." And thinking about it later, I decided it was pretty cool to know him well enough to know that's something he'll like.

In other Owen news, he's now the proud owner of two teeth in the middle of his bottom gums. He's also gotten quite adept at picking up food and putting it in his mouth. For a while, he was using a two-handed technique, using his left hand to bring the piece of cereal or meat close to his mouth and using his right index finger to work it into his mouth, and half of it would end up in his lap. But now he can pretty much do it in all one motion. Dinner takes a lot longer when he's feeding himself!