Owen Is Three!

A lot has been happening in our neck of the woods, in a quotidian kind of way, and I keep neglecting to write about it.  Last Saturday, for example, Owen turned 3, which doesn’t quite seem possible.  He looks long-ish and lean-ish to me, and is definitely no longer a baby.  He’ll tell you he is 3 if you catch him feeling cooperative, but he didn’t really understand the birthday concept.  All the week before and the day of, he kept wishing everyone he saw a magnanimous, “Happy Birthday!” like one would say “Merry Christmas”, as if it were a shared holiday.  I had let him peek at a few wrapped gifts in my closet, and he asked Susan many times that week if she wanted to peek at her birthday gifts.  He certainly wasn’t inclined to share in the unwrapping of the gifts when the day came, but he still spent his birthday wishing everyone else a good one.

We had a small party with Sean’s parents and sister as guests, and Owen very much enjoyed their visit, as well as his Thomas birthday cake and many gifts.  And now he is 3, although he also finds it funny to say he is 5-6-7-8.

A week or so before Owen’s birthday, he enjoyed a visit from his Aunt Meredith and cousin Lily, who were in town while my niece Avery was at a college tennis clinic of sorts.  Owen did a lot of showing off with feats of physical prowess (jumping with two feet, running around the dining room table, throwing toys, offering Meredith lemonade, building towers of toys, etc.), and very much liked running after “Cousin Willy” as she got exercise at our nearby track (and shouting, “Cousin Willy! Cousin Willy!” to her retreating back).  In fact when we went back to the track after Meredith and Lily had left, he thought every blonde runner was Cousin Willy, and looked at me suspiciously when I assured him they were not one and the same.

And finally, yesterday Owen had his 3 year-old check-up, which I did not attend, and for which I felt guilty all day.  But I’m told that he did well, and that when the doctor walked in to his examination room, Owen first asked her what her name was, and then when told it was Dr. Mary, replied, “Well hello, Dr. Mary!  I’m Owen and this is Nanny.”  He’s a companionable little fellow, albeit one who still has reverse supermodel proportions of girth and height.