Owen in Music Class

Owen and Family have just joined a 15-week music class for 1-4 year old children. We learned about the Miss Mary's class from our friend Heidi. Her daughter, Genny is also in this same Friday morning class...so we have an added social bonus of seeing them every week, along with the music experience.

Owen is probably the 2nd to youngest child in the class. It is quite a broad range of ages...1-4, and I would say the majority in our class are 2-3 years old. Owen wandered around the room today during our first official class. He even went and tried the door, and discovered it was locked. (There were toys out in the hallway that he was interested in playing with.) Owen walked along the walls of the room, surveying his environment, "like Steve McQueen trying to plan an escape" as Chris described it. He did laugh and participate a bit too; it wasn't all just a McGyver episode.

As soon as Owen sees a gathering of children, be it at the park, at music class etc., he has no time or interest in his parents. His first impulse, probably from playing at the Childcare room at the YMCA, is to jump into playing with other kids around him. He observes what they are doing, and then wants to join them. It is a good impulse, a social impulse...but generally speaking, older kids perceive his joining-in as Owen taking away their toys. They always go into possessive mode; MINE, NO! This exact scenario happened just before music class, with those public toys I mentioned out in the hallway. Owen sat down to join with a little boy playing with a puzzle. The boy's mom was sitting right next to her son, just fyi. As soon as Owen picked up a piece of this puzzle (he didn't take it out of this other child's hands or anything) the little boy got nervous that his toy was being taken away, and his mother responded by taking the puzzle piece from Owen and offering him a completely different toy. I was kind of perplexed how to deal with the situation, because I didn't really think that Owen needed to be corrected for wanting to play with another child...how could that be bad? The other child was not encouraged to share, even though he was certainly old enough to understand the concept.

Sigh. I told Chris afterward that I have had enough social anxiety trying to fit in with groups of people for years, and now suddenly as a parent, I am faced with the most confusing and stressful social situation of all; managing my child in public, and with other children and parents. Hello, difficult! I suppose I worry too much about what seems right according to the people I am around...but to some degree, isn't it important for a parent to be aware of how my child's behavior is bothering/not bothering them? Haven't we all heard the complaints about parents who passively let their children run amuck and get into everything, without any concern about maintaining the appropriate decorum for the environment they are in? I don't want to be that parent. But, I also don't really want to discipline my child just because someone else has a problem with Owen that I don't see or consider an issue. It is tricky, that is for certain.

Any thoughts or insights are welcomed.

An Owen Sighting at the YMCA

Chris, Owen, and I did our typical routine of going to the YMCA this morning. Everyone who enters the building has to pause at the front desk to have their membership tags scanned. As we were walking away from the front desk, making our way to drop Owen off at Childcare, we heard the voice of a little girl entering the building say, "Hi Owen! Hi Owen! Mama it's him, It's Owen!" We turned around after hearing Owen's name, only to see that the girl was about Owen's same size, if not slightly older, and her surprised mother was looking at us, saying, "Is his name Owen by any chance?" Yes, we affirmed with equal amazement...and she is? "Audrey. This is Audrey." So there you have it...Owen's first girlfriend. We wouldn't have known if it weren't for this chance encounter.

You know what they say, "What happens at Childcare, stays at Childcare."

Just returned from visiting Grandmom and Granddad Hamill in Iowa

Don't try this at home kids, Owen is a trained professional.

Only the clean-up afterward is difficult.

Hello!
We are back from our week long journey to Cedar Rapids, Iowa and beyond. We had a great time visiting Granddad Bob and Grandmom Lee, and their sidekicks, Coco and Pierre! Owen had the opportunity to sample the public parks of Cedar Rapids, and gave resounding approval for their numerous slides. You heard it hear first, folks...Owen is a dare-devil!





We also went to "Old MacDonald's Farm" in Beaver Park, near my parent's house. They have goats, prairie dogs, cows, ponies, ducks, and Owen's hands-down favorite: chickens!

He followed that same chicken all around...


Just as we were introducing the cows to Owen, this brown one let out a loud MOO, and Owen ran behind Dad for safety!


On Saturday we took a day trip to Decorah, Iowa to visit my college friends, Xiao and Du. They are on faculty at Luther College. We went to a lovely tea house for lunch, then strolled along the town walks, looking in cute shops. Owen and I were the lucky ones; I bought a skirt, and Granddad Bob bought Owen some awesome new puzzles at a local toy store. Du gave Chris and I a tour of the Fine Arts facilities at the school, and everyone else played at the park just down the street from Xiao and Du's home. This was the first time Chris met Xiao and Du.

It was a hot day, but a good time was had by all. Everyone was completely pooped on the drive back to Hamill's house.

The next day, Chris, Owen and I went to visit my childhood friend, Shannon Miller. She is Shannon Duval now, and we had not seen one another since long long before husbands and children. We got to meet her two sons, Miller and Kiefer, who were just adorable, as well as her husband, Delane. I had such a good time reconnecting with her. We got some great pictures of her family too.

Shannon and Kiefer

Delane, Miller, Shannon and Kiefer

Here are various pictures of us over the last week.

Owen has a new teapot. He plays with it a lot.

Owen's first open-air train ride at the Labor Day Freedom Festival; very exciting!

Owen was taking that whole "freedom" thing literally by squirming out of everyone's grasp!



One last snuggle before we leave.



Kissing Granddad through the window

We returned yesterday afternoon, and this morning, Chris flew to Atlanta for a PDG load-in. I think he must be exhausted, because I'm rather tired myself. Owen is somewhere between Central Time and Eastern Time, and so he had a difficult time getting to sleep last night. Then this morning, Chris got up early in preparation for his early flight, and discovered that Owen's bedroom light had come on sometime in the night! (We were having problems with the pull switch not working...) and at 5:45am, poor Owen let out such a wail of unhappiness! Fortunately, with our trip to the airport, he was going to have to get up very soon anyway, and he ended up dozing in the car on the way to and from taking Chris.

In other news, Grammy Retta is having her gallbladder removed today. Don't worry; a surgeon is doing it! I haven't heard an update yet, but am assuming that no news is good news, unless I hear otherwise.

Updates from the Boones

Greetings, Loyal "Boones and Squirrels" readers!

We have been busy in the last month, and I have been really bad about keeping up on the Blog! My most important news of the last month, is that I am going to be teaching at Cincinnati Music Academy, starting in September. Their website is http://www.cincinnatimusicacademy.com
My bio is listed under the piano teachers. I will be teaching on Sunday afternoons, Mondays and Wednesdays to start. It will take a little while to build up my studio, but I am really excited about teaching once again. The great part is, the academy is 3 miles from our house (an Owen-free zone!) and all of the teachers set their own rates and policies.

Chris and I also just registered for a babysitting service, to resolve the question of childcare when both Chris and I have work lined-up. This week, I am tuning everyday at the Cincinnati Christian University. Chris has had a lot of work for PDG lately, and may even have some travel for them in the next few weeks. So...we needed to find a service that would work. We are having our first sitters come on Thursday and Friday, and they will be here at the house, while Chris is working downstairs. (An ideal situation for trying out a new sitter!) We are also trading some childcare with a family friend; she has a 10 1/2 month old son named Matthew. He isn't that small, but to me, he seems like a little wisp of a baby compared to Owen!

We spent the weekend in Pittsburgh, visiting Grammy Crystal and Grammy Retta, and getting together with other family and friends. Chris and Retta installed a new counter top in their kitchen, while Mom, Owen and I went to visit our Aunt Billie. Owen is usually so good...but he had a wild hair that afternoon, and was into EVERYTHING in Aunt Billie's small apartment. All of her silk flower arrangements and small decorations/candles were at Owen's mercy. I tried to managed him, but it was impossible to redirect him to toys that he could play with, when he was so interested in all the things he couldn't have! I'm sure Chris worked hardest of the two of us...but I was exhausted by the end of the day!

Grammy Retta and Owen

Grammy Retta, Grammy Crystal and Owen


This coming weekend, my friend, Jeremy is coming to Ohio! He is flying in to Cincinnati on Saturday evening, staying over with us, and then heading to Columbus to visit his family for a few days. I am excited to see him! He is moving to Geneva in September, and may be gone a year or more studying. :( How will the United States do without him?? In addition to preparing for a year abroad, Jeremy managed to find time to get engaged this month! I could not be happier for him, and his partner-to-be, Michael. FINALLY, I will have an excuse to travel to Colorado next summer to celebrate with them both.

Here's a picture of Jeremy and Michael from when they visited NYC in the Spring.

Next week: Chris, Owen and I are going to Cedar Rapids to visit Granddad Bob and Grandmom Lee. Owen hasn't been to C.R. since he was 6 months old...when he was just learning to crawl. Now he is running, climbing and oh the Hamills just don't know what they are in for...
I am anxious to see what Cedar Rapids looks like since the flood, and I hope to meet up with some old friends too. We are already planning a day trip to see my college friends, Xiao and Du, and their son, Adrian. Chris has not had the opportunity to meet them since he and I have been together!

This is a picture of the flowers that Dad, Lee and I planted when they came to visit us in May. Look how lovely these inpatients are in the swans! Good thing I took this picture; the deer ate nearly all of the flowers the day after I took this. :(


Chris and I spent our 5th anniversary visiting Ault Park; it was where we took our wedding pictures on our wedding day. This particular Saturday was far more temperate than our Saturday wedding was...it was a 1000 degrees 5 years ago! We arrived in the morning, just in time to see the end of...a wedding! We hung around a little, while we were looking at the flowers, and wished the new wedded couple well. We told them it had been a lucky place for us.


Owen saw his first frog while we were there too!

Owen made friends with this man who was practicing his guitar

Owen also made friends with this little girl...

and just when you thought he was going to love her and leave her...

He brings her his water bottle to refresh herself on a warm day!

Recent pictures of Owen

A little story about a boy and his comfy chair...










Chris and Owen try out Owen's new Travel Tent


Owen at the Park

Dancing Boo

Last weekend, we went to a Ceilidh. Owen watched his parents do square dances and rounds, and ever since then, he has been bit by the dancing bug. It took me a few days to figure out what he was doing...but it does seem to be dancing! (I'm not sure what Chris is doing...)

I've been meaning to add this for a while...

Jan painted this as a gift for Tim on Father's Day. Some of you may remember the original photo that was posted during their first visit to Jersey City to see Owen as a newborn. I love the painting too!