He touched me!

As has been mentioned several times on this site, Owen's attitude toward his baby sister is best described as tolerant. He accepts her presence, but he does little to encourage it. Or even acknowledge it, really.

Now that Abby is on the cusp of mobility, Owen has become alarmed by her ability to touch things that he thinks she ought not to touch. The television and stereo, for example. Yesterday Abby scootched her way toward the stereo and began lazily poking its buttons. Owen, having learned long ago that stereo buttons are strictly verbøten, began sternly admonishing to "stop doing that." Abby looked up at him and smiled, which is what she does whenever she sees Owen. On those rare occasions when he actually addresses her, she positively beams. So in this case she continued poking the buttons while grinning at Owen.

Well. Such insolence was obviously too much for Owen to handle, so he moved over and tried to push her away from the stereo. Gently, I should add. He soon realized that it isn't easy to push a baby along a rug, but much more efficient to simply roll her like a ball. Three revolutions later, Abby was safely out of the reach of the stereo. And again, she was grinning like mad, absolutely elated to have been the focus of such attention from her brother.

So she rolled back over toward the stereo, and Owen promptly rolled her away again, which Abby found just as exciting the second time.

Later yesterday, Owen again found Abby was not obeying his commands, so he took a little balloon and started bopping her on the head with it. Sue cut him off as soon as she realized he was committing assault, but she of course found that Abby, rather than being upset, was having the time of her life.

This is a kid who is generally smiley, but it moves to a new level when Owen shows any interest at all. Ear-to-ear grins. Is it possible for a baby to sprain her face? We hope not.