May 11
In which we're glad we're not library books...
Because we'd be WAY overdue.
It's been a long time since we've written and much has happened. Owen continues his fascination with make believe and, much to the chagrin of his parents, has become an avid gun enthusiast. Perhaps it is the void left by Charlton Heston? At any rate, I'm regularly shot or otherwise de-limbed by swords and the occasional chainsaw.
Owen tells us we should never hurt people and he never shoots anyone but me or his mother. A glimpse into the teenage years? Or maybe revenge for zipping him into the laundry bag.
On a break from the mayhem, we did manage to button him up into a dress shirt and tie for the Spring Celebration. The school continues to work marvels and actually managed to get all of the children up on stage and singing for an entire hour. And what they sang! We heard several international songs, Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder, several selections from The Music Man, and a number from Simon and Garfunkel.
Interestingly, when Owen plays good guys and bad guys now, the bad guys are always named Simon and Garfunkel.
Toward the end of April, Owen and his mom traveled to Kansas City for a visit with friends and family. He, of course, worships his grandparents and he picked back up with Holly as though he'd seen her just the day before. It's a little surprising how well he remembers Kansas City and his old stone house. He's settling in well here but he continues to miss home.
Dad ended up in Kansas City as well, albeit unexpectedly. Several clients are located there and he was fortuitously asked to visit them. Unfortunately the timing worked so that he didn't get to visit any family with Mom and Owen-- they left for Boston just as he finished work.
Mom brought friends in tow for the return eastward. Aunt Rene' came to Boston and she and Mom made the trek halfway to New York to pick up Aunt Mary Jo. They had a great weekend in Beantown while Dad visited grandma and friends in KC.
(Everyone else in KC reading this: When are YOU coming to visit? We didn't get a guest room in this house just to have it sit empty!)
Like everywhere it seems, the weather here has been crummy and we've been forced to entertain ourselves with indoor activities for longer than is reasonable for sunshine starved folk. At Owen's school, they continue to do arts and crafts and Owen extended his creativity to his hair. He's very pleased with himself. Dad is just happy to no longer be the homeliest member of the family.
Fortunately for our sense of style, this weekend the weather broke and we were able to enjoy a nice Mother's Day outdoors. Owen is a bike riding maniac and burned off a little energy in the driveway while Mom and Dad packed a picnic lunch.
We made the very short trek to Harvard's Arnold Arboretum which offers a nice little bit of wilderness in the city. As an unexpected surprise, it was a festival like atmosphere with musicians and dancers on the main thoroughfares and (fortunately for us) permissible picnics.
Owen loved hiking through the woods and put his parents through their paces by taking us as far from the beaten path as he could. Off one forest path we stumbled upon a hidden cache of empty beer bottles and had the epiphany that this would be where Owen would sneak off to in high school to misbehave. How sad for him that he's pre-busted.
We ran into some friends there as well-- Jei, Pei and their son, Aidan. A very nice family that we ran into repeatedly at the mall play area, they were out for a stroll the same as us. Owen taught 2-year old Aidan to walk backwards and skip. I think it was kind of cool to be the elder for once.
Upon returning home, Owen and I gave Mom the best Mother's Day gift of all. We fell asleep and let her go shopping by herself for an hour or so. Her favorite store, too-- the Grocery store!
We know what she likes. We can read her like a book.
P.S.: I just finished this entry about 30 minutes after Owen went to bed and turned to find him standing silently behind me. Parenting note-- It is awfully hard to get your children back to sleep if they hear you scream like a little girl.
