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Journal Key:

Green = Steve | George = navy | Janet = Purple | Evelyn = Black

7/13/06 (Thursday)

What a beautiful morning! It was raining, so we couldn't go out. Cara and I were in her room, and she wanted to sit in the glider. I got her up there, and she was restless. I sat with her, and she got out and got a book. I picked her up and snuggled her in next to me and we read. When we finished that book, she got out all by herself, went to her shelf, and got another book. We read that, all snuggled up. This repeated literally four times, and it was lovely. We even got all the way through Goodnight Moon, which rarely happens.

Later Julianna came over and gave Cara some little books, which are made of cloth-covered foam. They velcro shut and act as blocks. They feature Sesame Street characters and are about playing, going to bed, and waking up. I played catch with Cara using the Big Bird book. I tossed it into her lap from a couple of feet away, and then I suggested repeatedly that she throw it to me and she helpfully and precisely handed it back. Later Julianna gave us a See 'n Say (Speak 'n Spin?) that looks like a wise owl and teaches animals, colors, numbers, and careers. I took some trash out in the evening and Cara insisted on coming out, too, although she was barefoot. We walked almost to PJ's house, but then she turned around and found Julianna. I have to come up with something nice to give Julianna or to do for her, but it's hard to come up with anything!

Cara loves her Noah's Ark. She may be able to identify some of the animals, but it may also be coincidence. I played with the animals today, making sounds when they walked and having them all go into the boat and then Noah feed them and then all of them go to sleep. Cara thought it was very funny. I also had a good time. I know that some little kids know how to kiss, so later I showed Cara how I could kiss the elephants. She was interested, so I held one out to her. She bent forward and took its whole face in her mouth, of course. For symmetry, I let her do it to the other one as well. The giraffes are her favorite, and they have been with us on many of our journeys today.

Cara was good and let me cook dinner. She was able to communicate that she was very hungry and might die if I didn't give her some of the bread we had gone out to buy (On the way home in the car she was whining and offering me a giraffe, but I had no idea she was trying to barter!), so I ripped off a nice, tough end piece that took her a while to work on. I put on the Muppets, and Cara ate her bread, mainly in the living room but regularly trotting in to check on me and then leaving again. It was quite reassuring.

I hope Cara stays as cuddly as she has suddenly become! She kept sitting on me all day. It may be because I impressed her very much by balancing all eight stacking cups on my head, both upside down and right-side up. I could tell that she respected me more after that.

7/14/06 (Friday)

This morning, Cara awoke at her regular time and seemed in an excellent mood. She was happily running about and laughing at things--or even, seemingly, at nothing. We were in the game room playing with her Noah's Ark toy. Evie was in the other room and said "Can you bring me an elephant?" Cara picked up an elephant and walked it over. This also worked with the zebra and the giraffe! She's a very smart girl.

I had to go out in the morning and did not return until the early afternoon, at which time we packed Cara up and took her down to Middletown. There, Evie stepped out with her Mommy to go catch a flick, while George and Aunt Claire and I slipped out to a nearby pool. Cara was there, too. Her previous experiences with pools deeper than six inches had not been very positive. But things went well. Cara was a bit squeamish at first, but consented to be held by myself and George with her bottom half in the water (actually, with George, only her little feet dangled in the water, since Grandpapa is a very tall fellow). There were some nice toys there like a little duckie and a very squishy baseball-like object which she enjoyed playing with, and a few times I ran around with her in the pool and she liked it. Cara was also tucked into an innertube with her Aunt Claire, which worked rather well. If I tried to dunk her past halfway into the water, she did not particularly like it, but she'll learn--I think it was a very good experience, considering that lately she has not been enjoying her nightly bath! But more on that later.

Anyways, Cara did some running around on the deck around the pool, and messed with some pool equipment, and didn't do any harm. Then we all got back to the house and Cara had some blueberries. Now, I had heard her grandparents speak many times of Cara's ravenous thirst for blueberries, but I had not until today seen it in action. She could not get those blueberries down fast enough. It was amazing. She also had some yogurt. She later tried some blackberries, which were not very successful and ended up strewn messily upon the deck. Then she got back into her normal clothes and we puttered about and then went out to the swings and the park. Cara enjoyed her swings, but did not seem too into running about--her only nap was during our short drive there, and she was no doubt tired. However we persevered and Cara found sticks and various items of refuse to carry about and threaten to throw onto the ground--sometimes she even threw them, too. There was a particular empty water bottle which she conceived a liking for. Eventually Claire and Cara and I had wandered far over to where the one visible trash can was (Claire led Cara over to the trash can, both of them with the clear intention of throwing away the piece of trash Cara was clutching, but at the lip of the can Cara would change her mind and want to keep the litter, just as Frodo at the Crack of Doom!), and Grandpapa was very far off on a bench. Cara started back for him, calling "Bah-bah! Bah-bah!" I had had suspicions before that this is her way of saying "Grandpapa." Of course, not too many minutes later she seemed to be crying "Bah-bah" at Claire, but I do think that George is most consistently "Bah-bah." Also in the afternoon Cara found a sunvisor on a table and started saying "hat, hat, hat," to herself. I had heard her say this word many times before, but not always in conjunction with objects I think of as hats. Also, it sounds kind of more like "ho-tch! ho-tch!" because Cara is still working on that hard "tee" sound, and she always says it in a fervent little whisper which is quite adorable. She may be using this same sound to say "hot," which is obviously a very similar word. Both of these words may have been taught her by her Bah-bah, who always warns her when food is hot and who is very keen on hat-wearing.

More language news: two times today Cara saw her reflection, pointed, and said "Bay-bee!" Once was her reflection in the glass door on the back porch, the other was in the reflection of Claire's sunglasses--which confused Claire for a moment.

When Cara's Mommy returned, there was some brief playtime and then her parents cruelly left her to the whims of her grandparents and went out on the town. We were driving back to the house and spotted Cara walking up the street with her Grandma. We had the joyful experience of slowly walking towards her and being reunited with much kicking of feet and gleeful noises. Cara's hair was mysteriously soaked. Cara's grandparents had thoughtfully turned on the sprinkler to water the lawn, and Cara had, of her own accord, walked into the spray, shrugging her shoulders and squinching up her face whenever the water hit her, and laughing crazily. We got to see a bit of this on our return. Cara clearly did not want to leave the house, and we spent several more minutes chasing her up and down the driveway and along the sidewalks while she was chasing her bumpy little purple ball. Finally Daddy put his foot down and strapped her into the car--then it was home, to bath, and to bed.

The bath: Cara's hair is not getting any shorter. Quite the opposite, in fact, so that hair-rinsing has become a big part of the end of the bath. Cara hates to have her hair rinsed. The water runs over her face and her eyes and she probably gets an uncomfortable association with the few times she has dunked herself underwater. I have tried to convince her to raise up her head, so the water runs back away from her eyes; but she will bend it over as soon as the water hits. I think that her Middeltown grandparents (Bah-bah and co., you know) have had more success at this. We did have some fun in the tub, as Cara was allowed to bring in her giraffe toys from the Ark, and enjoyed fitting them into the big fish faucet cover.

Here's Grandma Janet's report on the day, with her slightly different interpretations of Cara's sounds:

Today Cara made her first solo dash through the sprinkler. When the water hit she hunched up her little shoulders and scrunched up a grin; as soon as it had passed she laughed. Then she ran around to do it again, and again. At first she got a little damp; eventually her hair was plastered to her head. Each time the water hit her she hunched up her shoulders and laughed again, and we laughed with her.

She is making great advances in speech. When I warned her some food was hot, she repeated "hot hot," and was cautious about picking it up. Looking at a picture book, I asked her to find the cow; she pointed at it and said "moo moo." Picking up a favorite sun visor she repeated, "hat hat hat hat," and George is definitvely "pa-pa" (for grandpapa).

After her runs through the sprinkler, she spotted some nice dogs out walking with their people, and chased them a considerable distance down the sidewalk. The dogs were very nice and let her touch them. When we were approaching the corner, I said, "Where's pa-pa?" She turned right around and started heading back to find him. As we started out a car drove past - her car, with her mommy and daddy inside. She looked at the car; as soon as I told her mommy and daddy were in there, walking was too slow. She reached both arms up urgently to be carried right away!

7/15/06 (Saturday)

This morning Daddy had to mow the lawn, so Cara and I went for a walk in her wagon. I was picking up some sticks for her (yes, I'm well-trained) when Ron and PJ came out of their yard and invited us over. The toddlers had a great time running around together in the terrible heat. Both were restrained by their parents from climbing into the small pool with shoes on, but both had fun splashing. PJ had helped me push my wagon onto his grass to park it, and so he was also interested in his own wagon inside the fence. He and Cara spent a little while messing with it together. They made some noise, and we wonder whether they communicate. The kids took turns sitting in one of PJ's tiny toy cars, which they treated as a ride-in but which really is a ride-on without a seat, and they had a good time turning the wheel, pushing the buttons, and getting out without falling down.

All too soon, PJ had to go get his hair cut. Cara and I headed for home, but she saw Gene across the street and had to go see him. We learned from Gene and Julianna, who also turned up, how to patch and seal our driveway. Cara and I set out for the Home Depot to purchase supplies. It took an awfully long time to find everything we needed, all of which appeared to be quite obscure to all of the employees to whom we spoke. Cara was permitted to play with my car keys and my cell phone to keep her happy, though I had brought both giraffes. Finally I cornered an employee and told him that the baby was cranky, I was cranky, it had been an awfully long trip, and we needed a trowel! I pointed to the picture on the package. That worked. In line at the checkout, Cara generously offered my car keys to several other shoppers. They, however, had their own. Getting into the car, I had a giraffe scare. There was one in my pocketbook, and one in the bag of weed killer, it turned out. It took a few minutes, though. We got home and Cara had a nap while Mommy, Daddy, and their awfully nice neighbors worked in the hot, hot sun. I felt a little bit like Tom Sawyer.

When Cara woke up, we went to a friend's apartment for dinner. He is an artist and a musician, and he is a single man, and he therefore has a very cluttered apartment. Most flat surfaces were covered with things, and we found ourselves giving the place a quick babyproofing. Despite our best efforts, we could do nothing about the drum set, the bongo, the marimba, the easels, the computer, the amps, and a huge number of other things. Somehow, though, we got through the afternoon without major incident. Cara noticed the "ball" right off. It was actually a beanbag chair. At first she put her giraffes into it, but finally we showed her that she could sit in it, too. From then on, climbing on the ball was a favorite activity. She did surprisingly well.

We had brought our highchair and Cara and I split our meal of turkey meatloaf, brown rice, and mixed vegetables. We put away three slices of meatloaf, and I don't think I had a huge majority of it. Cara liked the rice, too, and I gave her some veggies on her tray. She ate some, but we couldn't tell what she liked or didn't. Afterwards there was a veggie tray, which Cara enjoyed immensely. She could reach it. She carried around at least twenty carrots this afternoon. She nibbled on some and put some in interesting places, like inside a case of soda. At one point she managed to dip a carrot. Later she dipped one and put it into her mouth. We're not sure whether she likes ranch.

Cara got to play some drums and pull on some wires and carry a bucket around. She got to push a giant clog and put things into it. She got to stand in it. She got to turn a lot of dials. She found a foam toy car and drove it around. She was taken outside for a little while. We got through the afternoon without Cara either getting hurt or hurting anything around her. We left a mess and with a messy child, but everything went much better than it could have.

Some of you will be horrified to hear how Cara spent her evening. Just understand, we were tired. In the evening, Steve felt like watching Star Wars. I was in the kitchen, and I heard him saying, "Okay, you sit there and I'll sit here." I came out into the living room with a plate of pizza, cut into bite-sized strips. They were sitting on opposite ends of the couch. I sat in the middle. Cara happily lounged, grabbed pizza from my plate, and watched the movie. I can see her doing basically the same thing at any point in her life. It only lasted about twenty minutes, but it was funny.

7/16/06 (Sunday)

The child decided to get up good and early this morning, so we all had our little breakfast together--Cara's especially little, since her appetite (except for puffs) seemed a bit small today. Daddy had finally faced the fact that he needed to get his hair cut, so he went out and did that this morning, and then Mommy and Daddy divided the job of vacuuming the house--which also really needed to be done (the vacuuming, not the dividing). I had the joy of picking up everything off the living room rug and then picking up everything off the floor of Cara's room--and the hallway, and the office (the office was a disaster area, exactly as if someone had begun reading all of their nice retirement planning information, decided they had not saved wisely, went into a towering rage and scattered their materials all over the room to get out their frustration; and pardon me for the inappropriate use of pronouns). It probably took about fifteen minutes--not counting the vacuuming. But then the vacuuming was done and we packed up Cara for South Jersey.

The little girl had the usual good times with her grandparents. She did not have as much opportunity to feed Rusty, to his chagrin, since she did not eat much--but she did manage to smear the blueberry juice from a blueberry pancake onto various surfaces. She played with her South Jersey toys, and a lot of reading of a nice big Sesame Street lift-the-flap book was done. It's a very nice book, with lots of little flaps that help teach you numbers, shapes and letters. Cara also got to go out back and go in her little pool, check out some bubbles, and go through the sprinkler a little. Sometimes people ran her through the sprinkler, but sometimes she did go over and sort of let it hit her. She displayed her "hat" word for Grandpa, while we were playing with a Mr. Potato Head. She also said her "hot" word during our meal, which as mentioned before is identical to "hat."

At the end of our long ride home, we looked in the back seat and found one of Cara's beloved giraffes had been stuffed into the snack trap cup. It was lovely. Back in her own home, Cara found a little foam ball which she really shouldn't play with, because it's a cat toy. As usual, what she shouldn't play with is usually what she finds to play with. Anyway, as I do in these situations, I explained to her that it was a toy for kitties. Conveniently, one kitty in the form of Shelby was lying nearby. I pointed this out to Cara and asked her to give the ball to the kitty. She kindly strode up to Shelby with the ball held out. Shelby did not take this in the spirit of generosity in which it was meant, and glided off. Not long after, I explained that the ball needed to be thrown so that the kitties could play with it right--"throw the ball for the kitty!"--and she did. There was some playing with larger balls that are meant for Cara, which she mainly wanted to kick instead of roll back and forth. She is trying to say "kick" now, with limited success--context helps in understanding these things.

We had a bit of a disappointing lapse in language today, as Cara seems to have somehow convinced herself that elephants are in fact zebras. But there are a lot of animals for her to look at, so it must get confusing. We'll work on it. We also hope to try to teach Cara some very, very basic baby sign language--just the signs for "more" and "enough." They should be useful, as long as she doesn't think they have anything to do with elephants.

7/17/06 (Monday)

Cara enjoyed some graham crackers today for breakfast, and she continued to refuse to let me give her yogurt. This has been going on for a while, but I hope it stops; we have a lot of yogurt. A few months ago, a friend gave me a lot of baby food. One jar was for toddlers, and it contained "meat sticks." Steve and I were horrified. They looked like little, pale hot dogs. For some reason, I got them out today for breakfast. I microwaved just one, because I didn't know whether they would be a hit. Well, after that one, I couldn't warm them fast enough. It was very upsetting if one was too hot to eat right away. She put away half the jar, and she would have kept going if I had. They're not really that gross, after all. I have come to think of them as mild sausages.

Cara has been able to climb onto the downstairs coffee table for a while, but it is only recently that she has been able to get from there onto the couch. She kind of goes headfirst over and arm and then maneuvers. She had me read her a couple of books, sitting there, and she got up by herself. Down was another story, though she's quite confident. One of the books was the baby sign language book, which Cara finds fascinating. I'm really not sure how to read it to her, as it's not intended to be read.

Soon we set out for the gym, where I had an appointment. We had to take our sign language book with us. Arriving in the parking lot, we had to bring the book into the gym with us. Now, for the past couple of weeks, Cara has not been too happy at the Kids Klub. Today, I brought her in and she wanted to get down. I put her down and away she toddled, perfectly happy. When I came back she was standing in the middle of the room, glancing at the TV and then walking off toward some toys. I'd left her about 40 minutes, too, which is longer than usual. She was happy to see me when I finally got her attention.

We did groceries with our book in the cart and came home. It's a terrible heat wave, and at eleven in the morning it was already too hot for Cara to be running around. She ran over to Julianna's, and then she waited in the house while Julianna helped me bring the groceries in. Cara and I had lunch and then it was time for her nap. In vitamin news, by the way, I bought gummy vitamins. I gave Cara one, and it disappeared. This is no proof that they will continue to do so. I tried one, though, and it was good. I was ready to keep snacking on them. I had a terrible time putting her down for her nap; she kept bringing me books to read to her in the glider, and how could anyone say no? After literally six books she picked out a nice, soft one, with which I popped her into the crib.

At the A&P, of all places, I found the perfect wading pool. I spent much of Cara's nap blowing it up, because all I have done so far is think that I really ought to get an air pump of some sort. I picked a good place in the back yard and filled the pool. After Cara woke up, we had another lunch. She hadn't eaten much the first time. We had some watermelon, and I made a grilled cheese sandwich. It was the first one I'd made in years, and I'm pleased to report that it turned out good and was a hit with the child, who ate considerably more than her fair half.

Finally I wrassled Cara into her bathing suit and we headed out. She wasn't sure about the pool at first, but soon enough she was enthusiastic. I had placed some chairs around it, and Cara discovered that she could get in and out on her own, holding onto them. She also practiced getting onto the chairs, standing, and dancing. Parts of this were discouraged. Also, although Cara can get down from the glider backwards, she doesn't apply this technique to any other chairs. I brought out a couple of shallow plastic dishes and Cara enthusiastically tried to drink from them. I put her large outdoor ball into the pool, and that was a lot of fun. I wished I had a swimsuit on, too!

After a while Cara really wanted a walk around the block. She is clearly crazy, because it was at least 97 degrees out. A devoted mother, I put my shoes and her on, stuck a hat on her head, and set out to carry her around the block. Fortunately, we met Em and PJ and got invited to the pool. It took a little while for us all to get ready, but finally we were out there. We tried dangling the kids' feet in the water, with varying degrees of success. I hopped in the shallow end and took Cara into my arms. She wasn't sure how she felt. I spun her around, her toes hitting the water. That was great. I flew her like an airplane, in and out. That was great. Later I tried jumping in while holding her, and, as 90% of you would tell me, that was not a great idea. I lost my balance a little and ducked her to the chin, and she wasn't crazy about it. She had a wonderful time with PJ, though, running around the pool. Each tried to drink from the other's cup, which was very funny. I wish we had a picture of PJ, tilting Cara's straw cup up and getting nothing out, beside Cara, holding his sippy cup upright and drinking away at nothing!

Em and PJ came over for pizza and the two kids ate most of a container of apple wagon wheels. We ate downstairs and everyone under twenty made a mess. They had a good time, though. PJ got to chase Buster, and he got her tail a couple of times and finally tripped over her. Luckily, she didn't' hurt him at all. She walked away with a minimum of tomato sauce on her and only her dignity hurt. The reason that PJ can catch her and Cara can't is simple: he doesn't yell while he's after her. Some day Cara will learn, and then those poor kitties will have to watch themselves!

7/18/06 (Tuesday)

We went to the mall with PJ today! The first thing we did was to hit the playground. We took their shoes off and let them run. PJ hadn't been there before, so he had to explore. The first thing Cara did, though, was run out of the playground and away, laughing maniacally! She did this at least five times. She headed for stores a couple of times and for the kiddie rides a couple of times. She tried to climb into a ride shaped like a safari jeep. In the playground, Cara joined PJ on a big castle/slide. This was PJ's favorite; he could climb the stairs and go down either the slide or the stairs, but Cara could only climb the stairs unassisted; she needed help for anything else, and was not interested in going down the slide. They both climbed into an ambulance and we put them into a big car, which was cute. We put them in the boat and, with one mind, they both instantly tried to climb out. Neither was successful.

The next thing we did was to go on the little train. First we watched it go around and around, and both kids stared. We climbed in and Cara sat nicely beside me, playing with the rope across our laps. When the ride started, all I could see of her was the top of her head, turned to watch the scenery go by. There were three fire engines, three schools, a few school buses, a gas station, a train station, and a police station. There were numerous large bunnies and many fake flowers. There were large, light-up palm trees. Cara seemed to enjoy the ride.

Walking off through the mall, we decided to put the kids down. PJ walked straight ahead for about fifty yards, at a pretty good pace, while Cara meandered after him, chuckling and trying to wander into stores. We think it's because he's a boy and has no interest in shopping. PJ may have been heading for either the fountain or the carousel, which was visible across the water. The other exciting thing in that direction was the escalator. Cara went down some small stairs toward the fountain, which was blocked off only by some velvet ropes. She could have knelt down and touched the water or even walked right into it, but for some reason those ropes were deterrent enough. PJ never made it down the stairs; he watched, but then he went and stared at the escalator. Soon we took the kids up and then down those magical stairs, which, I explained to Cara, are swallowed by a monster at the bottom.

We got lucky then and found a Friendly's. They had a nice table and two high chairs for us. Em got out plastic, adhesive placemats for the kids, which I may have to purchase. I gave them some puffs, and the meal began. We got a cute picture of both kids pointing at the ceiling for no reason. I gave Cara her pug dog toy, which she hugged and then shared with PJ. She took it back. He took it back. And so on. Eventually it wound up in PJ's chair but behind him, and Cara tried to get it but failed and gave up. Cara had a grilled cheese sandwich, of which she ate part. PJ had chicken fingers, and he got a kiddie drink with a straw that changed color. This was great fun (okay, only the adults appreciated the straw) through most of the meal, until Cara took it and dropped it on the floor. The cutest part was when Cara was drinking from her cup. She drank some, then turned to PJ and held it out to him. He opened his mouth and drank. She gave him several turns at it. Unfortunately, the camera wasn't working. At the end of the meal, the kids both got balloons. They were ecstatic! PJ used his like a punching bag, but Cara wasn't quite up to speed on holding her ribbon. I tied it to her snack trap, which was a big hit.

We went and looked at the carousel, which everyone really enjoyed, and then we headed home. In the car, Cara enjoyed reading her sign language book again. Cara took a three-hour nap, and I had to wake her up at the end! We spent the afternoon playing, inside and out. Cara loves her balloon; she hugs it and smushes her face into it, having no idea that it might burst loudly at any moment. At one point, while she was with her daddy, she loved her balloon so hard that she fell over backwards with it and lay there, crying, with the entire weight of a balloon on top of her. Shelby has eaten the ribbon. We played outside. I sing "The Wheels on the Car" when Cara gets into her car out back, and she says "beep beep beep" when I get to the horn verse. She also honks her horn. It's her favorite part. Twice today, Cara has gone up the stairs from the dining room and shut the gate on me.

At dinner, Cara ate an entire ear of corn, half at a time. She's clearly making progress. We went outside, and Cara went to visit Em and Ron. She had a wonderful time running around and being chased by her parents, who hoped to get her good and tired out before bed.

One really fun thing to do is to let Car play on our bed. She crawls around and then collapses and laughs. When she sits up or stands, I yell, "tackle!!" and knock her down. She loves it. After a long day and some hard play, Cara is tucked away.

7/19/06 (Wednesday)

I forgot that yesterday I got out some little plastic cups and a bottle of water for Cara to try. We did this in the dining room. I poured a little bit of water into a cup and gave it to her. She drank and then poured out the rest, crushing the cup, turning it sideways, and running around with it. We repeated this several times. She certainly knows how to drink. It's not spilling that's the issue.

After so much excitement for so many days, it feels weird to have had just a normal day. Cara got up a little bit early and had breakfast. The highlight was when she picked up a piece of egg that was hot and blew on it. I feel that all of my modeling has paid off. We took a walk, we went to the gym, we did an errand. I had to make some phone calls, so I turned on the TV. It was quarter to eleven, so Boohbah would be on in a few minutes, and I thought there would be no harm. However, Barney was on! I can now say with experience to back me up that it really is a strange, disturbing show which I do not intend to ever deliberately or accidentally watch. The featured song, though, was Cara's favorite, "The Wheels on the Bus." We were willing to enjoy that part. Cara made it through my phone calls, and that's what counts.

We played outside. Cara goes into her house and I stand outside the closed shutters and ask, "Where's Cara?" She opens the window, and I reach inside with both hands and go "booga, booga, booga" on her face. I'm sure everyone understands the basic premise. Cara, though, started to not open her window but to snake just her arm out, apparently trying to reciprocate. She also worked hard to climb onto our outdoor chairs; I wonder why she isn't trying so hard indoors! I have a funny lounge chair that's like a sling or a hammock, and Cara had fun sitting in it. I was being eaten alive by mosquitos, oddly enough, so we went in.

It was almost time for Cara's nap, so we went upstairs. Of course, we wound up roughhousing on the bed. This was not productive. I took her downstairs for a snack and gave her some kiwi fruit, which I had to finish, and some Cheerios. She helped me out by reaching into the container and pulling out more than I would have given her. Snacked out, I brought her back upstairs. She got down and ran to the big bed, ready to play. No such luck; I put her in the crib and, after a few angry minutes, she went to sleep.

After her nap Cara ate some pizza and melon and played with Aunt Claire, who seems to be up every Wednesday lately. It's nice. The three of us played all over the house, and then we went out to a toy store and the A&P. The exciting part was the toy store. Cara found plenty of pairs of things to carry around. There were a few things I am thinking of buying, if I can get Steve to come and look at them with me and find an excuse. One is a funny doll on a spring who bobs up and down when you hang him. I think he'd be awfully funny, though impracticable, in a car, but Claire suggests hanging him over the changing table. The other thing is a little sprinkling shower for the bath. I'm wondering whether it would make rinsing better or worse. The thing I bought was a thing I'd been looking for and carefully trying to select. With Claire's help, I got Cara a beach set. There's a bucket with a mermaid on it and a little lip for pouring. There's a sifter, and there's a little Jell-O mold type of thing for sand. There's a shovel and a rake, and there's also a watering can. It's all cute.

We played outside some more and then had dinner. It's Wednesday, so we went to PJ's house. PJ was still recovering from yesterday, when he expended as much energy as Cara at the mall, visited his daddy at work, and then chose not to nap at all. He was a little bit tired. The kids ran around, often in the same general area, and we played with their blocks.

Cara has had a runny nose all day, so I may be spending tomorrow with Tylenol and the Muppets.

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