This past weekend, we hosted the Van Horn family at our house. Kevin and Kathy are both friends of Nate's from his undergraduate days at Grand Valley State University (MI). They have two fun - and energetic! - kids, Shea (7) and Nolan (nearly 4). The kids were eager to bestow lots of love and affection on little Owen. And we learned some important lessons about being parents:- Kids have endless energy. We spent a lot of time outside, playing on the swing set, and tossing/kicking the soccer ball, football, and frisbee they brought with them. Shea found a harmonica buried in the sandbox, which she would then play to 'soothe' Owen. Surprisingly, he actually really seemed to like it! Our basement became the play room, where Nolan was free to crash his toy cars and dinosaurs together as much as he pleased. And still, they were running circles around us by the end of the day.
- Kids ask a lot of questions. Nolan was a steady stream of them: why doesn't Owen eat food? how did Owen get out of your belly? why won't Owen hold my hand? why is Owen only 2 months old? why do you have to hold Owen so much?
- Kids don't mind getting dirty. Grass stains, crumbs, spilled milk, dirt. They just continue going about their business no matter how much stuff they have caked to their faces! We were constantly reminding them "lets wash our hands before we play with the baby!"
Through all the new noises and commotion, Owen seemed to do pretty well. He's been sleeping like a dream lately - going more than 7 hours straight at night. We'll see how long this trend continues....
