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Journal Key:

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

7/27/06 (Thursday)

PJ had a baby sister today! In the evening Cara and I went over and got to play with PJ and his daddy and his grandparents, and we saw pictures of a very precious and perfect infant. PJ apparently was not sure what to think when he met her earlier. Cara will probably meet her next week.

Cara and I had a good morning; we played outside a little bit and went for a walk. While we were on the other side of the block, I saw Cara's Grandma Janet and Grandpa Jim drive up. I swiftly stuck Cara back into her wagon, from which she had been released to meet a friendly puppy, and we headed for home. Grandpa walked to meet us, and Cara was thrilled to see him. She had to be released from her wagon once more. On the sidewalk, she soon saw her grandma. She ran to her, squealing. We had a great time inside; Cara and her grandma played with her new toys, and Grandpa and I managed to get her playroom set up a little bit better. Grandpa, with some finagling, was able to fix Cara's second chair! Now her set is complete, and I didn't have to return anything. We also moved a very sharp-cornered piece of furniture out of the room, which now has more space for toys and for running around.

We all went out to the diner, where Cara got to stare at the busboy, wave at the waitress, and gaze out the window, possibly at a nice red truck. She shared our soup and our meals, showing varied degrees of enthusiasm. I tried giving her a little piece of chicken that had some very mild honey-mustard sauce on it, but she gave it right back to me. Cara also crayoned on her placemat with gusto, collected and dropped all of her crayons at least twice, and tried eating at least the yellow one, which was not as delicious as it looked.

We got some good pictures of Cara sitting on her furniture and playing today, while she was running around after lunch. We played at her new table, with her books and her foam toys, all of which had fun. We got out her big foam blocks, which we all had fun playing with and Cara had fun chewing on. Her grandma chased her to get them away, and Cara giggled and giggled while she ran. Cara ended up on the sofa, so she got to read her Thousand Words book with her grandparents. They showed her what lots of the things in the pictures were called, and she paid attention through the whole thing.

All too soon, company had to leave and Cara, in spite of her best stalling techniques, had to take a nap. After Cara's nap, we went out to buy some storage-related items for the playroom. We needed something with bins for toys, and we needed big bins to store some clothes we have that will fit Cara in perhaps three years. Cara was a little bit crabby after her nap, and she was a little bit crabby in the store, but she was tough and behaved herself. We got everything home and went to tell Julianna about the new baby. She came over to play with us for a few minutes, and then Daddy came home!

I was feeling sick and exhausted, so Daddy made dinner! I lay on the couch with the Muppets, and Cara mainly watched with me but did check on her daddy a few times. Her vigilance was rewarded; he gave her a cheese stick! Cara had a good dinner, giving herself a pasta mustache and almost but not quite getting spinach in her eye. She didn't get spinach in her hair, either, but there was some pasta.

Cara got to play on the bed before her bath, and she went to bed like a little angel. I have to predict, though, that just because I said that she will be up in the night.

7/28/06 (Friday)

Cara slept through until 8:30, and we had an appointment at the gym at 9:30! I sat by her while she slept for the last ten or fifteen minutes, and it was really cute to see her snuggling in her crib. I had only been able to eat a couple of bites of my bagel for breakfast, so Cara finished it for me. It was only a half. She found it a pleasant challenge.

At the gym, there was crying, screaming, and squirming--to get out of my arms when I picked her up at the end. I had cruelly separated her from her new best friends, a small plastic boy and a little rubber Mickey Mouse. She was really dedicated to getting them back and saving them from their horrible fate, whatever she thought that would be.

At home, I let Cara watch Boohbah and the Teletubbies while I assembled her storage unit. I had a good time, and she seemed to also. She tromped around and investigated all sorts of things. What I had to do was simple: there were two sides that would stand up and a dozen thick dowels between them. I screwed all the dowels into one side, then lay it on its back and put the other side on top. Cara was on the couch when I did this, and I was amused when she got up and moved over so that she could see the TV around me. Then she later moved back, so I guess I don't really know why she was moving. I think she likes it that she's kind of allowed to move around on the couch freely. In the course of the day, I got Cara's playroom set up just as I want it. It looks beautiful! I still may move some things around, and there were two bins that need to be replaced. However, things are much better. I actually cleared a lot of toys out of the rest of the house and the downstairs is now headquarters.

While Cara was eating her lunch, the roofers came! About twenty men descended on our yard, first eating their lunches and then spreading tarps, erecting ladders, and of course moving toys out of the way. When she was done, I brought Cara downstairs to see. I let her get into the bay window. She pressed her nose to the glass. She was fascinated. All the men ignored her. She waved. She was ignored. She turned around and I thought she wanted to get down. Instead, she messed with the keyboard, got it to play her some music, stood back up, went to the window, and danced, still waving. The men ignored her, but I thought it was pretty funny.

About halfway through the roofing process, Grandpapa came to rescue Cara; he took her to the pool and for an overnight with her grandmama!

7/29/06 (Saturday)

Cara and her Baba met me at Aunt Theresa's big inground pool at about 2:30 Friday afternoon. Cara was a little groggy coming out of the car, but revived quickly when she saw a cheerful liittle yellow monster I had picked up at the sidewalk sale. It took a little time to coax her into the water; she was very busy with another new toy, a little rubber duckie that can blow bubbles if you dip its beak into some soap solution.

Eventually she did get into the water, vigorously. For the first time, she sat properly in her float and played. After the first time, she asked to be put into it twice more; George even attached the top portion, which provides some protection from the sun. This clearly made the experience much more appealing, as it had the aspect of getting inside a tunnel. What with bubbles, floats and water itself, we had a great time at the pool, but after an hour Grandpapa wisely declared that we had done enough, so we got dried up and drove home.

In the nick of time, too. No sooner were we safely inside than a stupendous thunder storm broke over us, turning out the lights for just a moment. Great-grandma Emily stopped by and we played with our indoor things for a while. Cara now says "fishies" as a two-syllable word. She shows interest in all the paintings on the wall, and Grandpapa spent some time trying to point out that each one represents someone she knows. She also likes putting things into her plastic handbag and then taking them out again.

We were all hungry, so we had an early supper. Cara didn't eat much, perhaps because of the cheese stick and the blueberries I had given her earlier. After supper, Great-grandma went home and we went outside to enjoy the cooler air after the storm.

Cara immediately spotted poor Schmutz snoozing on the back porch and approached him in her usual subtle fashion. The little guy retreated to the lawn, where he briefly allowed her to get her arms around him; nobody got hurt, so you could call it a pretty good encounter.

Cara then followed Grandpapa up the path into the park. Remembering how she had enjoyed running around the basketball court during the fireworks for the 4th of July, I took her there again. Every cliche about kids stomping through puddles is absolutely true. There were a few shallow puddles on the court, and Cara did not just walk through them - she marched, she splashed. She squatted down to dabble her hands. Finally she got real comfortable and just sat right down in the water. We howled with laughter - but then we had to stop, not to hurt her feelings. Aside from puddles, the court is simply a great place to run around. We chased each other, we ran in circles, we laughed. We lifted her high up to try to reach the net on the hoops, but it was too high. She pressed her little face into the space between the poles supporting the hoops, just as her own mother used to do long ago. I pressed my face in from the other side and we rubbed noses - hilarious! We both walked around to the opposite sides and did it again - it was still hilarious! George wanted to go on for a stroll around the baseball fields, but the basketball court was too much fun to leave.

We ran around until we were sure that little girl must be totally tuckered out. We were on our way home for a bath when we encountered all sorts of excitement at the sidewalk and the street. Someone was walking a dog. Kids on bikes were approaching. Cara was clearly interested, but so tired, she simply sat in my arms and looked on.

After being sprayed with sunblock, dunked in a pool and allowed to sit in puddles, Cara definitely needed a bath. She methodically put all the toys into the bath; a couple of duckies were out of her reach on the far side of the tub, and she let me know that she needed those duckies to complete her mission. At first she stood, so her lower parts were thorougly scrubbed, and then she sat, so eventually she was clean from top to toe. And then she still had time just to play.

It's been a while since we've had an overnight. It used to be easy to get this little girl to bed after her bath. She came out of the bath warm and cozy; once she was dressed in pajamas she had a bottle and a cuddle, and went straight to bed. Not any more. Ê

Now the bath seems to refresh her; she had found her second wind and was ready for fun again. Also, the old bottle is a thing of the past. I read her some stories. The cat came in to be fed. We read some more stories. Finally I figured I could wait a long time if I expected her to show signs of drowsiness. She had had an active day and her only nap had been in the car. It was nearly nine o'clock. I lovingly laid her down to sleep, and she howled in protest. I hardened my heart and left her there; within five minutes all was quiet.

Until about 1 in the morning. I think that's when it was. I came downstairs to a miserable little critter, all snuffly withÊher cold. She didn't want her sippy cup, she didn't want a blueberry. Then I gave her a hot dog bun - an odd choice. All I can say is that they were right at hand, and I know she likes them. That did the trick. She happily ate her hot dog bun. George put on My Neighbor Totoro and we sat down to watch it together, Cara resting very comfy on my lap with her head against my shoulder.

Instead of getting sleepy, though, she turned into Scheherazade; she became much too charming and entertaining to ever be put back to bed. She got up and danced to the music. She crossed the room to find and bring me a book. She pointed to each image on a page, saying "Dat!" (or something like that) as she touched each one. She smiled, she laughed, she worked me like an expert salesman. I think I was up for two hours before, once again, I was cruel enough to ensure that both of us would get some sleep.

After all that, she slept until about 8:30 in the morning. George had already gone out for a run when she woke up, and her very own mommy arrived just as we were getting her new dry diaper fastened on. Then everybody had some breakfast and we three girls went to the sidewalk sale in Red Bank, where Cara displayed excellent ability to navigate: when we forcefully removed her from a store where she had been playing with some toys, she was able to retrace our steps and find that exact same store again, and those exact same toys! As a reward for her perseverance, she now has a Snoopy pez dispenser. (Fascinating - it opens up.) She also acquired a gigantic rubber duckie and a plush squid, and got to taste a Smoothie. She liked it.

Well! Cara had herself quite a Friday. We probably should have mentioned to poor Grandma Janet that Cara has been staying up past nine for a little while now, but I would have thought with all that action that she would have gone to sleep through the night. Maybe it was too long since her last sleepover.

I didn't see my little girl until pretty late in the morning. We played around a bit, and I was shown all of Cara's new treats from the sidewalk sale--but pretty soon it was time for lunch and then time for Cara's nap. While the kid was asleep her parents slaved outside in the heat, patching up the driveway and doing various other chores. Then Cara's South Jersey grandparents arrived, and eventually it was decided that it was time to wake up the child. I don't really remember when we put her down--or, for that matter, when we woke her up--but I think it was a long nap. Cara had a good time showing her new toys to her grandparents--she especially liked to hand the cute little yellow hat from her giant duckie toy to everyone, so they could try it on. It was discovered that the hat was really too small for everyone but the duckie.

Cara's grandma did some good playing with her. Cara has a nice set of little plastic dishes and silverware and fake plastic food, and her Grandma showed her how to play with it. Cara seems to have gotten the hang of pretend eating. She does it with her Noah's Ark animals as well (this I think is something Evie and I showed her), because they have a basket of vegetables to eat and she can make the animals go over and munch on it. Also today Cara was carrying around a plate with a chicken leg on it and trying to give it to everyone.

Grandma also convinced Cara to drink water out of the little plastic cups that come with the set. Cara successfully drank water out of a normal cup all by herself! Of course, later in the day when I poured some of the water I was drinking into one of the cups, Cara cheerfully bounced off with it, spilling all of it on the carpet, and then she tried to drink out of the empty cup. So spilling is an issue--but she definitely knows how to drink.

Cara went out with us all to a restaurant and was rather noisy. This is our local barbecue place and it is heavily decorated with outdoorsy types of props--Cara was particularly taken this time (she's been there before) by a giant wooden bear statue standing at the entrance. She pointed to it and laughed and got shown it several times as various people walked her about the restaurant. She also did a very good job on the macaroni and cheese we ordered her, and ate her first Oreo cookie. Grandma pointed out that, though many of the other foods had ended up on the floor in full or in part, not a crumb of the Oreo escaped from Cara's grip.

The grandparents had to leave after this lovely meal, and Cara was taken home and walked around outside a bit. She tried to slurp some collected rainwater off the top of a container of driveway patch sitting outside, so I decided to give her some water from her bottle. Cara enjoys running up everyone else's driveway when we walk around the neighborhood. She laughs as she does it because she knows we will chase and catch her--what a great game! Hmmm....

In the evening it became time for Cara's bath, and afterwards she had her usual after-bath chat with Gene. She tried desperately to climb out the window, yelling at him as he stood waving in his driveway. Evie wonders, if Cara knew how to speak, what would it be that she would so desperately want to tell Gene?!

After this Cara stalled for time by making me read book after book to her--sometimes the same book many many times in a row. I'm not sure she even liked the book I showed her four times from cover to cover. Finally it was time for her bottle, and now she's (I think) asleep.

7/30/06 (Sunday)

Cara slept late today, until around 9. We wandered about until it was decided that I really did have to mow the lawn. So Cara went off with her Mommy to do the groceries, and I mowed the lawn. They came back and I took a shower. Cara had something to eat (she had also had a bit of breakfast, but it was very light, and she was probably hungry at the supermarket, which explains why she was a bit crabby there), then went in for her nap.

While she was sleeping, tons of people showed up. There was her Uncle Jim, her Aunt Claire, and her honorary aunt Heather. When Cara woke up and came downstairs she had lots of people to stare at, and she gave them her lowered brows look. She discovered this look, a kind of "What the heck are you talking about?" expression, yesterday, and has been employing it rather heavily ever since. But she was as cute as usual. We had lunch and then played with the little girl a bit. It was too hot to go outside and mess around, so we improvised an indoor game of bocce! Cara did some unintentional participating by playing with the balls (they are supposed to lie in their positions once you've rolled them), but was corraled by various people most of the time and we all managed to have some fun.

Then we went out and had water ice, Cara included. She ran towards the spoons with her mouth open, and had some of my milkshake type thing through a straw. Cara wanted to run up and down the ramps that surround the water ice place. Back home, Cara spent some time out back with her car and her house, but we decided it was time for her bath. In she went. She particularly likes (I imagine) a pink hippo bath toy that she has, which fills with water and then can spout it out of a bunch of little whisker type holes at the sides of its face. It was a toy I had when I was little.

It was an early bath for Cara--she seemed rather tired in the afternoon, more than we would have expected--so afterwards she had something more to eat and then we watched some TV (not too much!). Cara raided our tupperware drawer and came out with two half-sphere cannisters that are supposed to be used for storing tomatoes or onions. She discovered they are excellent percussion instruments. She carried them about with her for a while, even up to her room when it was finally bottle time.

7/31/06 (Monday)

I had a very tiring day today, and I hope Cara did, too. I'm not sure that she did. She was up for about an hour last night, so I got up at my regular time and she slept until almost nine. Cara then finished my bagel and enjoyed her vitamin and I whisked her away to the gym. While we were checking in, another little boy about Cara's age walked in. She noticed him right away and started pointing and talking to him. It made it somewhat easier to leave her there, because she was distracted. When I came back for her she was quite happy, wandering around the place. She had her little Mickey Mouse toy again, and she was headed for the big slide. She stood happily at the bottom of the slide, oblivious as the bigger children played around her. She may have intended to go up the slide, which is one of those big tube ones.

From there we headed to Middletown, where I dropped Cara with her grandparents while Claire and I went to spend some time with our own grandma, making pierogi. I'm sure that Cara and my folks spent plenty of time running around, but eventually they decided to go out and ended up on an odyssey around New Jersey (poor Grandpapa!) during which Cara had an hour-long nap in the car and ended up ten minutes away, at the pool. There Cara had a wonderful time and helpfully pointed out the ducks on her float.

Cara and I got home around 4:30, and we sort of hung around for a while and then I made dinner. I made a chicken teriyaki thing with broccoli, noodles, carrots, and scallions in it. Cara of course enjoyed the noodles, but to my surprise she also ate the chicken! She ate some carrots, too, but she doesn't seem to eat green things.

The highlight of our day was the evening. I took Cara over to visit the bear on PJ's lawn announcing his sister's birth, because she's been pointing at it and talking about it (apparently) all day. We went to play in our own driveway; I played in my garden and Cara played with the straps on her wagon. I glanced out and saw Julianna, and I asked Cara whether she wanted to go see her. Cara instantly perked up, lost interest in her straps, and started off, calling.

Julianna was watering her lawn, and she moved the sprinkler to the back yard so that she and Cara could sit on the porch and watch the pretty water. They sat together on the step for a few minutes and it was very picturesque, but then Cara discovered that she had her feet dangling off the edge just inches above the forbidden back yard! Now, it's not really forbidden, but we don't often let her run back there because there are rocks to fall on and various things she oughtn't to touch, for various reasons, as you will see. Fully clothed, fully shod, Cara traipsed off into the water. She flapped her arms when it hit her, but she was more interested in exploring her new territory than in the mysterious rain that was falling. She visited a nice, spiky doormat a few times. There were also several very interesting plants. One was a delicate little Christmas cactus that Cara could have easily destroyed. Beside it was a regular little cactus, for which Cara kept reaching out. Behind them was a potted plant that had a lifelike fake cardinal in it. The bird was fascinating. She very nearly had him out of the pot! Julianna and I restrained Cara, but we had to get wet to do so, so we were perhaps a little bit less strict than we would have otherwise been. We mainly stood on the porch and encouraged her to come back.

At one point I put Cara on the grass, and she went to the sprinkler. She loved sticking her hands in it, getting in the way of the water. By this time, her hair was dripping. Her shirt was as soaked as it could be. There were some dry patches in the front of her shorts, but the rest of the denim was sopping. Her shoes, alas, are also soaked. I cannot imagine being comfortable in wet sandals, but she didn't seem to notice. Cara got off and onto the porch several times, and she had an absolute ball. For me, the best part may have been bringing her home. I did bow to the inevitable and get my shirt soaked by carrying her, but when we got into the house I put her down and sent her to find her daddy. She did. My favorite part of the day was hearing him cry, "What happened to you?" when she came smiling into the kitchen to give him a big hug.

8/1/06 (Tuesday)

What a busy day! In the morning Cara's friends, the twins, came over. It was their first time in the house since Cara's birthday, and then there was a whole party going on. The twins always astonish me. Today they hopped up on chairs and started playing the keyboard, which fascinated them. I was interested to see how Cara reacted to them being in her house and playing with her toys. All of the girls shared nicely and had a good time, fortunately. The girls do run rings around Cara, though. They didn't even stop to eat; each of them had two or three bites of lunch while on the run. They were playing on the stairs, running up and down them. When we released her from her high chair Cara joined them on the downstairs stairs, which are shorter. She can't get down on her own yet, so it wasn't really her best game.

I was astonished by Cara later in the day. After the twins left I put her down for a nap. In the afternoon, we were on the couch. She rolled over and flipped her legs off to get down, just like she does when we sit in the glider! She did that a few more times, and later she got off the bed the same way. Cara also experimented with going down the stairs by using both hands on the railing; she got down two stairs all by herself! The twins are definitely setting her an example she wants to live up to!

It was about 110 degrees out, so we stayed in the house all day. In the afternoon I put on Finding Nemo, and Cara enjoyed looking at the fish. She watched some of it, and then she wandered away. We had a nice snack: Cara has decided to eat grapes, all of a sudden! She couldn't get enough of them; she kept motioning "more" by grabbing at the air with her hands. We read her First Thousand Words book a few times. Cara likes the toad and the owl. She can identify both and she may be trying to say owl. We played on the bed, and when Cara laughed I could see two molars coming in on the top of her mouth.

We had an impromptu playdate tonight and got to meet Casey! Casey may be larger than Cara was, but she's still very very tiny! Cara was glad to provide much-needed moral support to PJ in his stressful role as big brother. He got a new ride-on toy, which Cara got onto. He got behind her and pushed her forward about three feet. I'm sure she had no idea what was happening. She then propelled herself back the same three feet, with PJ backing up behind her and neatly keeping from being run over. He pushed her again. Then they lost interest. While Casey was sleeping, we all had some pizza. Cara and PJ enjoyed white pizza, a couple of cookies, and some grapes. They then spent the rest of the evening running around, playing the piano, standing in the car seat, messing with fridge magnets, and sometimes hugging and sometimes not hugging people who asked for hugs.

8/2/06 (Wednesday)

At the gym, the Kids Klub is off to the left. It is cut off by a door which opens into a small area blocked off by a counter, through which there is another door that the kids can't open. Today we had to wait there for a minute while another mother signed her two children in. Cara was talking to the little boy, so I put her down. When the inner door opened, Cara walked right in, all by herself! She had a great time, as usual; when I came back for her the attendant was removing her from the big-girl slide, intending to show her the little slide. I explained that Cara really has no ideas about slides, except perhaps for going up them.

We've been having such a good time with the First Thousand Words that I decided to get out a similar sort of book. It's similar, actually, only in that it's also large and has a lot going on in its pictures. It's one my sister and I had when we were little, Oh, What a Busy Day! Cara liked looking at the color illustrations in her new book, which was full of little children doing all sorts of things. On every page, there were things to point out. Finally, though, we hit a page that mesmerized her. It was a jungle scene, with a crocodile, a lion, a cheetah, a gorilla, a giraffe, a zebra, and a bear. There were about twenty children playing with and on the animals. Cara stared, she pointed, she squealed! When I turned the page, she turned right back. We don't think she's seen pictures of children playing with animals like that before, and she clearly likes the concept!

Grandpa Jim and Grandma Janet came! Grandpa and I worked in the basement while Cara played with her grandma. They had a tea party, among their other activities. Cara also lay on the floor to look at us under the baby gate, which was cute. Cara ate an impressive amount of cheese at lunch. We let her try provolone, which she swiftly rejected. She asked us very nicely to give her another vitamin, but nobody did. Then Cara played until she was ready to drop. I put her down around 2:30, lay down myself, and woke up when she did, around 5:15!

We had pierogies for dinner, and we took pictures of Cara with her first pierogie. I don't think we've had them since Christmas, and she wasn't really eating, then! She loved them; she kept gesturing for more to whomever she thought would listen. I didn't try her on onions.

We went to PJ's house for playdate, and we got to play in his big-boy room upstairs! He has a farm set like Cara's Noah's Ark, and both kids had fun running around with farm animals. The farm is better than the ark, because it makes noises. Actually, come to think of it, maybe the ark is better than the farm, because it doesn't make noises.

Cara was wearing a cute little shirt today that has a ruffly top and ruffly spaghetti straps. Somehow, PJ thought that this was very grabbable. He would grab her when she was trying to walk around, he pulled on her, and he even got one of her straps off, somehow. She noticed, when he pulled, and she didn't like it. They did some squabbling while we played back downstairs, but they also had fun. Steve spent some time chasing them around the pool table, which they found hysterical. PJ kisses Casey, and Cara is somewhat curious. I'm not ready for them to get close, though.

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