Hot Here Too

Quick roundup. Sorry, no pictures. But here's a map:

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This was my first proper journey cycling with the baby, going to the wading pool (paddling pool) at Green Lake Park on Saturday. He spent a couple of hours splashing around and stealing toys from all the other children and has a whale of a time.

One bizarre thing I discovered when I got to the park was the path circling the lake: for cyclists, it's one-way only! To begin with, I couldn't understand the signs, which basically say: "you can't go on the left and the right is for walkers only". After getting enough dirty looks (and not prepared to go almost three miles out of my way for such a short stretch), I tried to find another route. All I could find was a thin, gravel track next to a busy dual carriageway which was pretty scary all round.

The house hunting is going pretty well... or so Heather informs me. It looks like we've settled on a price for a place but I won't jinx things by going into detail. All I'll say is that the reason I overshot on the journey home from the lake was to ride by and take another look.

Last Sunday and again today, the boy and I went for swimming lessons nearby. He's pretty cool about being held in the water and likes to splash around and play with all the toys. Sometimes he gets panicked and clings to me like a baby monkey. The first thing he needs to learn is to blow bubbles in the water. At the moment, he just drinks it instead. Between this new-found love of the chlorine and his constant attempts to nab my beer, I'm starting to suspect that he's destined to be the father jack of the family.

Father's Day '09

Every Sunday morning, the child and I are left alone without adult supervision while Heather does her pottery thing. She's started bringing pieces home. I can't wait to put them all together to see what she's made.

But enough about Mummy. Here's the sort of thing us lads get up to while we've got the house to ourselves. Gross alert!

(Here are some more vids and pics.)

This year, Heather bought me a bicycle trailer! Now I can cart the boy around on weekends. (Better stop riding like Barry Sheene.)

Posting Under Duress

I have a new laptop now so I apparently have no excuse not to blog. The laptop is blue, tiny and super cute plus it has all its keys and a non smashed screen! We've been doing a lot lately and not writing about it so after a while it just becomes a blur. Memorial Day weekend was highly enjoyable with a trip to the zoo and the beach. Owain loves elephants and tries to imitate an elephant trumpeting noise that John makes. It basically sounds like he's blowing raspberries. Very cute! The beach was great, we got there nice and early before the crowds so we nabbed the perfect parking spot and put our towels down close to the hot dog stand. John and Owain went into the water and Owain enjoyed himself tremendously. John and I ended up with sunburns but Owie was fine, of course he wore sunblock and a hat. Funny how we don't give ourselves the same kind of attention. This weekend we had a fairly low key time, just a little shopping at University Village and John took Owain to the park and coffee shop while I was at my pottery class. Yes, that right pottery class, everybody's gettin' ashtrays for Christmas.

memorial weekend etc

Here are the pictures we've taken in the last month or so.

Why I Oughta

The child is getting to be a handful. He loves to play catch, which is to say I can reliably bounce a ball off his head. It's twice the size he is but he manages to throw it pretty well. Unfortunately, he doesn't know what he can and cannot throw ... and where.

Today, Heather phoned me in tears to tell on him. He'd chucked the TiVo remote control at her laptop and broken the screen. I had to sound concerned for the laptop but frankly, it's the remote I feel sorry for. Only yesterday it got its first bath.

Well, the computer's mine to do with as I will now. It's already missing seven keys and the webcam packed in years ago. However, I think it can still serve a useful life as a music player / video phone so I'm going to nurse it back to health. I've plugged it into the TV, downloaded the Ubuntu installation CD and put a copy of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines in its DVD player to cheer it up.

It's two years today since we were married!

It actually seems longer than that, but in a good way.

As a special treat, Heather's friends looked after Owain 'John Connor' McFarlane while we had diner at the local Indian Restaurant.

Words

Week before last Owain was sleeping really well, taking 3 hour naps and sleeping in until 7:45am (well, that happened once). It got me thinking that maybe some new development was on the horizon and sure enough this week he has said a few new words! Seems like the whole talking thing is taking a really long time. I thought as soon as he turned a year old the language would just flow. It is the case with some kids but Owie is more of a mover than a talker. His words to date are George, as in Curious, botbot (bottle), water, car, bubble, Dada. Notice no "mama" Hmmmm...

XY

Heather's scan on Friday revealed a healthy-looking baby boy, so no need for any new clothes. I'm trying to calm her fears about rearing two boisterous hooligans - mostly by lying about my own childhood growing up with my bro.

On Saturday morning, Heather had to go to hospital because of gallstones. These she probably got because of being pregnant. Fortunately they went away of their own accord but were extremely painful for a while.

By the evening, she was right as rain and we went out with some friens to see Carrie Fisher's show, Wishful Drinking. It was quite an education. For instance, did you know she was married to Paul Simon? And did you know that there is no underwear in space? (Actually I knew that already from watching Moonraker.)

Now that we know it's a boy, Jeff has already suggested that I bring back the baby name poll from last time around. But I'm worried about what might happen. We might end up with a second Owain. Worse still, he could end up being called Colbert McFarlane.

Take Your Owain To Work Day

Yesterday was Heather's favorite day of the year.

I get to look after the boy until three and she goes shopping. The baby had a fine old time. So many corridors to wander through!

This afternoon Heather gets an ultrasonic super-scan on the weenie-locator. Then we get to argue about names for four months. Hooray!