We took Owen to the beach (Lake Michigan, that is) on Sunday. I had high hopes of precious 'baby's first beach trip' moments - playing in the sand, delighting in the water. Oh how naive I was...It was a bit breezy, which made for delightful temperatures, but also steady lapping of the waves on shore. Owen became a little bit upset as we sat him down on our blanket and started to play with various plastic toys. He got even more upset when I scooped him up and brought him down the water's edge. We fed him lunch, thinking that maybe he was just hungry? Nope, still mad. Nate took him for a walk to calm him down, but to no avail. So we took off after about 25 minutes of general displeasure. Oh well. At least the pictures look like we're having fun!
After months of first learning how to pick up food (but then seemingly forgetting that it was in his hand) and then picking it up and attempting to put it in his mouth (but missing entirely), Owen is finally starting to feed himself. The other day, he stuffed so many Rice Chex in that he couldn't even move his mouth to chew (don't worry, mommy extricated them). 
Owen is 10 months old today, and mighty proud of his standing abilities these days. He and I spent the last few days on our own, while Nate made a quick trip back to Corvallis (OR) to work on some research he's still involved in from his post-doc at OSU. Nate returned this afternoon, in time to watch the second half of the Uruguay-German 3rd place World Cup match (we were rooting for Uruguay). Owen even has his own commemorative Jabulani official match ball. Here he is, working on his throw-in skills.
Our dear friend Zoe (a native of Montreal, Quebec; we know her from our time in coastal NC) is a professor at the University of Northern British Columbia, in Prince George. This week, she make a slight detour on her way to a wedding in Pittsburgh to visit us in Green Bay and meet our "new addition"! Zoe entertained Owen aplenty, and Owen entertained Zoe, too. While she was here, we wined and dined on WI brats, award-winning WI cheese, and other tasty accompaniments. Zoe even picked up some Packers gear while she was in town...
Lately, Owen has been practicing hand-clapping, push-ups, a Tarzan-like beating of his chest, and arms out wide. He's also begun to make baby-talk sounding noises, with such consonant sounds as "ga", "ba", "da" and "ra", sometimes in a combined slurry. He mostly does this while closely examining one of his toys or the couch or whatever other objects are in his nearby view. He's also more vocal during his diaper changes - a time that has become more exciting these days, as his arms can now easily reach down to the 'danger zone'. Nate and I are having to learn new techniques to attempt to hold back his arms while dealing with the necessary 'danger zone' clean-up efforts.
