how we get by

ok, i love this picture. because it's owen looking at me, in his diaper, sitting on the dog, in the one square foot bathroom eating toilet paper. and it's a little too nittygritty i'm sure to be out there in a public space. but the thing is, this is us in the morning. it's 6:30 or earlier, owen had been sleeping with me since midnight after waking a few times (more molars i'm guessing) and had been chatting to the dog and cat since at least 5 am. and i'm in the bathroom having a morning pee and of course the door is open because owen is toddling around rearranging yes, my basket of tampons and pads under the sink (which he then hands off to the dog who loyally gives them to the cat who then eats them) and the dog is wondering when he gets his walk and then both of them get impatient and decide the party's in the bathroom. sierra gives a big sigh and lays at my feet so that i can't possibly forget that he needs a walk then owen throws the door wide open, hands me the phone (which is how this picture was taken in the first place) says "bring bring" then procedes to have a conversation with me using the discarded toilet paper roll stopping only to eat bits of toilet paper.

and this huddling around each other seems to be how we get through the day. sierra knows it's futile to expect me to be on michael's schedule so he just makes sure he's always close by, shadowing me and owen as we move about the house. and owen seems to have learned this huddle technique. he looks everywhere for dada: peeking in the office "dada?" calling up the stairs "dada?" looking out the window "dada?" but he does not seem daunted that he isn't in these familiar places. he just looks harder, squatting down to look under the desk or runs up the stairs faster. and amazingly enough he does find him--everywhere: he points to my laptop "dada!" (where his picture is on my desktop, his message on my gtalk, his words on this blog) on the phone he sings "dadadada" (and dances when his picture shows up under caller id) and sitting in "dadacar" owen seems to envision the roads travelled. and he holds my hand while doing all this. so we all stay close, keeping dada even closer ;)