Big kids

Like most toddlers, Owen is fascinated with big kids. Kids any age older than him - even Carlo who is about 3 months older than Owen - are fascinating. The thing about most kids, though, is that they don't stop to let Owen check them out, play with them how he wants. They run around and play on their own terms, as kids do. The triplets came over with Jenn on Thursday and Owen was in heaven. After about two hours of running around after them, he was so exhausted he actually grabbed Keith's hand and walked into the bedroom. He slept like a log.

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Owen and I have a Saturday-morning routine while Keith bikes: we get up, walk to Cinnamon Productions and have breakfast, then walk around the neighborhood for about 2 hours and enjoy being outside. Owen's favorite thing to do is to play with these copper statues of kids right around the restaurant. There are four different statues: one is of a father reading to two kids while sitting on a bench. The other is of two girls, one sitting on a fence holding a bouquet, the other sitting on the ground handing the other girl a flower. The third is of three boys chasing a wheel, and the fourth is of three copper statues playing hide-and-seek around some planters near another restaurant. In all cases, the kids in the statues are between 6-10 years old.

The great part is that the are life-sized, so Owen can pretend to play with them. He loves hugging them, touching their faces, high-fiving them, and sitting on the laps of the ones that are seated. Invariably he spends about 30-45 minutes every Saturday playing with the sculptures. It's adorable to watch because I know that he loves having that time with the big kids where they are suspended in motion, playing and having fun, but where Owen sees them stopped in time and can check out their faces, their hands, pretend to join in. I'm curious to know when he starts ignoring these statues and starts watching girls instead.