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Journal Key:

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

2/15/07 (Thursday)

The word torrent continues. At breakfast, Cara looked down at her eggs and then at me. "Cut, papa," she cried. This raises another topic: she's putting words together. "I'm reaching," she says. Most amusingly, she bangs her tiny mother-toy onto the hard surface of the table upstairs and says "No, Cara, No!" Later, "man with yellow hat." She's even learning to cry wolf: early in her nap, I hear her call "I stuck!", "I stuck, papa!" Thinking that there is a real emergency, I dash upstairs and see her sitting on top of the blankets (not under the blankets) and looking hopeful.

My personal theory on the "I stuck" issue is that she may feel that that is, indeed the situation: she cannot get out of the crib on her own. However, she may have just been trying to make a break for it. She knows the score.

Cara and I spent a nice afternoon together. She told me twice that she was tired, which I appreciated very much. I like tired children. We snuggled in the papasan and read books. Cara got out an old manipulative book about going to the park, and she is now able to make everything work by herself reliably. This isn't really surprising, but it's a big change since the last time she read that with me!

We went out to the grocery store. Cara got to choose a friend to come with her; she brought her monkey puppet. It's a lovely, plush monkey. I'm relieved that it didn't get dropped in the snow and salt. When I put her into the car, and then again when we pulled back into the driveway, Cara repeatedly and emphatically said something that sounded like "pedals!" I am mystified.

It's cold out! In the parking lot, I pulled a blanket out of the car to put into the shopping cart before Cara sat down. Of course, she kicked it off to the side and ignored it. She and her monkey were excited, though, about riding in the shopping cart, so I had no worries. I guess it's been a while, so it was novel again. The first item we picked out was a new bottle of gummie vitamins for Cara. She was delighted and held the bottle almost all the time we were in the store. At the end I picked out two new sippie cups, and they took precedence.

I pushed the cart back to the car and put the groceries in. I pulled out the stroller and put Cara in that with her blanket and her monkey. I rushed through the cold, cold twilight back through the lot and along the sidewalk down to Baja Fresh to pick up dinner. Luckily, Cara hasn't been in her stroller for a long time, so that was a little bit novel, too. As I hurried along, my hands freezing in their gloves, Cara turned her face up to me to say, "Hi, Mommy," and then to point out, somewhat mysteriously, "I running."

While we waited for our food, Cara got to get out and run around a bit. She was very happy to be able to climb up on chairs. When I finally had bags of food in my hands, Cara discovered her stroller. She is very good at pushing it now, and she can get it out of any corner she gets it into. I waited for her to get stuck, so I could put the bags in, pack Cara up, and leave, and she just didn't stop. Finally I had to be strict.

Cara got soup and a quesadilla for dinner, and then she had some apple juice from a new sippie cup. She and Daddy got to play downstairs for a little while, and then we headed for bed. As a reward for sort of letting us brush her teeth (she brushes, but she doesn't brush), I gave her a laundry-basket ride. After a couple of trips, she started trying to stick her feet out. She ended up lying down on her back with her feet in the air, laughing while she zipped up and down the hall.

2/16/07 (Friday)

Cara and I had a wonderful day today! There was no school, so we got to spend some Mommy-daughter time. We snuggled in the morning and had some eggs for breakfast, and Cara was not particularly cheerful. She was needy and somewhat delicate. I put her in the car and we set out for the mall.

It's cold out! Cara was not happy to be outside between the house and car or car and mall. Inside, though, she perked right up! We used a different entrance to the mall, and we happened to come in right near one of those Reatrix pads. Cara was the only kid in sight, and she was eager to get down and play. We stomped on monkeys and chased fishies and caused car crashes and set off fireworks. We went through the entire cycle, and then we headed off, both under our own power. I didn't pick Cara up at all, the whole way to Tinytown, even though we took a detour up an escalator and had to go around to another one to get back down!

Tinytown was not at all crowded, so early; there were only about six other kids there. Cara took off right away; I had to grab her at the bottom of a slide, as she was crawling into a tunnel, to take her shoes off. She mainly ran around on her own, just needing to know where I was. She's almost ready to have a mom who sits on the bench and gabs the whole time! She said "Hi" to some of the other kids, and she watched them a lot. One little boy was playing with something, and I heard Cara starting, "No, no, PJ! No, no, kid!" After a while she headed out the door and we went and climbed briefly on the rides. I hauled her back in and she assented when I asked whether she was done. I put her shoes back on and we took off.

I carried her across the mall, until we got to the fountain. In the court by the fountain, there were several birds on the ground, and Cara was happy to chase them! When one flew away, she spotted another. Eventually they were gone, and we went to look at the carousel and play at the Playmobil store. The castle is still set up, and Cara still enjoys it. Her technique today was to select one female figure to carry around and do things with. I helped her put some hats on her lady, and the lady also got to ride in a carriage. Unfortunately, skirted female figures cannot ride horses. After we had played for a while, Cara spotted the carousel again and we took off at a run.

That strange carousel was not running when we got there, which seemed to be a great disappointment. Cara was hungry, so we went to get a snack. I had been talking about cookies all morning, so that's what we got. Cara ate one and drank some water and went to run and dance in the broad, open space by our bench.

Our last stop in the mall was the toy store. Cara took out lots of things and put some of them away. Several times she stood by the easel and gathered as much chalk as she could into her left hand and then put it all down. She pushed each of the available strollers with enthusiasm. I bought a couple of puzzles, one for Cara and one for PJ.

At home, I popped Cara into her chair and got her some pasta. And more pasta. And more. And she finished the container. Finally I put her into her crib, exhausted. Well, maybe. Half an hour later I got her back out. Oh, well. I packed us up and we headed out for Middletown. On the way, Cara fell asleep.

I sat in the parking lot at the Monmouth Museum and let Cara sleep until Grandpapa got there. Then the three of us headed for fun. They have a huge room set up for kids six and under. It's sea-themed; there were several little boys running around in the hats and vests of pirates. There was a pirate ship and a waterfall and a slide that ran through a big whale. There were tunnels and places to climb and boats and puppets and nets. There was a galley in the pirate ship.

Despite just having woken up, Cara was ready to explore. She stayed with us at first, and then slowly she got more independent. We took her up the stairs to the deck of the ship and through a tunnel and across a bouncy bridge (later, one pirate lay on the bridge while another jumped up and down beside him) and over to the slide. It was a nice wavy, bouncy slide. Soon, Cara would climb the nearby stairs, go down the slide, and run around again! I stood and the top and Grandpapa supervised at the bottom. The other kids were running all over the place, but Cara was very focused. She was still friendly. As she was climbing the stairs, a pirate was going down. She lifted a hand from a stair. "Hi, kid," she said, waving. "Hi," said the pirate, climbing carefully around her. Cara did not monopolize the slide; she waited patiently while others took their turns. She did consider climbing up the slide a couple of times, but not much came of that. At one point, she stopped downstairs and said hi to me. Then she said "Hi, whale!" to the slide. Then she gave the whale an air kiss.

Cara had gone exploring and was in the galley again when Grandmama got there. She spied her through the window and came right out. Soon, Grandmama was carrying that little girl, who mysteriously had forgotten how to walk, around. I'm sure she showed her everything in that wonderful place. I went home for date night.

Soon after Evelyn left, Cara recovered her power of walking, and we ran around the museum until the place closed. Near the springy bridge Ev mentioned there is a plexiglass window in the floor, through which a sea-floor can be viewed; this became a favorite spot as we pointed out to each other the things we could see - turtle, sea shells, fish.

Back at the house, Cara found the bag of cookies she had brought with her. "Cookies," she told us, and then peered deeply into the bag. What followed was perhaps the sweetest moment of the visit; she gave one cookie to me and one to George before taking one for herself.

We could tell our little girl was tired because she kept interrupting her play to lie down on the floor. At supper she had very little appetite. She spurned her soup completely, and her meal consisted of a small piece of cheese (remind me not to make a little girl laugh when she has cheese in her mouth), half a slice of bread and a lot of blueberries.

After supper she enthusiastically got out her zoo. This time we engaged in a lot of make-believe play in which the zoo keeper had to feed all of the animals. He carries a bucket of water and a basket of bananas, grapes and leafy stuff. Each animal in turn had to come drink and eat from these two containers. After all the animals had been fed, Cara noticed her empty wagon and climbed in unassisted, eager for some swift, exciting rides around the family room. She climbed out and gave the sock monkey some rides. They got in together and had some more rides. By then it was time for Blues Clues, a vintage set starring Steve. Cara is not the only one who was tired; I had a good nap during Blues Clues. I'm not sure whether George did the same. While we were awake, though, we helpfully called out the responses on cue.

Cara loves to get naked for the bath. She helpfully removed both her pants and her diaper, and once again was completely delighted with her naked reflection in the full-length mirror. I think she was annoyed that we did not permit a naked tour of the entire house, but she quickly directed her attention to Minnie and Mickey, who had a wonderful time sliding down the side of the tub. Whee!

After the bath comes a very regular routine. She was eager for her regular bedtime book - the big book of Stories, Games and Rhymes. I let her keep the toothbrush while we read, and she kept sort of chewing on it; I figure what she lacks in technique she makes up in duration. Halfway through the book she indicated she was done. We fetched Mickey, Minnie and Donald from the bathroom. I kissed each one good night and laid them in a corner of the crib. Then I kissed all the other crib toys good night and finished by kissing Cara and laying her down beside them. Once again, an easy bedtime.

2/17/07 (Saturday)

However, she was awake and bawling shortly after 6 in the morning. She was comforted as soon as I appeared. She was very thirsty, but had little appetite for breakfast - she spurned her eggs and toast, rejected blueberries and showed little enthusiasm for cereal, but "CHEESE!" was her only food interest. She had two and a half slices.

She enjoyed "waking" her crib toys and feeding Schmutz. She wanted the goldfish to have their breakfast and we read a great deal of Winnie the Pooh together, during which time she was adorably cuddly. However, she seemed a little crabby at times throughout the morning and really squalled when it was time to go.

Maybe she'll take a good long nap today to make up for yesterday!

Cara was carried in by George and gave me a big grin and said "Daddy!" with unadulterated joy. I hope she never stops doing that. We had some good times running around and giggling in the toy room with the stroller, then, so that I could finish my cup of coffee, I took her up and we watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Even this early in the day Cara started to seem tired. Mommy came home (from the gym) and we hung around for a while until Mamma and Pappa showed up! As usual Pappa was hard at work on a household problem in no time, but it was up in Cara's room and she came to visit him often.

Mommy left for a Lady Day out in the wide world, and pretty soon it was time to put Cara down for her nap, which she clearly needed. However, she was having none of it. She wailed for a few minutes and I gave up and took her out. Her grandparents sat with her and watched some Curious George episodes while I went out and got grown-up lunch--Cara sat down at the table again and ate a surprisingly large amount of my cheese fries (she liked the cheez whiz stuff they put on top). But she was clearly utterly exhausted. Finally I made a second attempt and carried her upstairs, as she exclaimed in a tiny, pitiful voice: "I tired!"

The second try took and Cara had about a two-hour nap. She awoke unhappy and soon we were back in front of the TV. Her Mommy came home, which helped. It was pizza for dinner, and afterwards Mommy and Daddy had some nice play time with their little girl in the play room.

We have a new game that we play, with and without the toy stroller, but mostly with. Cara gets all the way into the game room, backed up against the side door, and I (or Mommy) stand at the far side of the dining/play room. "I far away!" calls Cara. Then we race at each other from opposite ends of the house. In one variation (which was Cara's preferred way of doing it with Mommy), Cara goes under the legs of her opponent. It is great, great fun.

An interesting incident from the evening: Evie turned on our remote control Pluto dog and had him shaking his head. "No! No!" cried Cara, and knocked him over! Evie explained that this was not nice and that now Cara could not play with Pluto. Eventually Cara was made to apologize to Pluto and play continued. Cara can sometimes get very disciplinarian with her toys, but other times when they fall over or get dropped she will pick them up and say "Kay?" (Are you okay?) Often lately she has one toy approach another and they say "Hi" to one another, sometimes followed by a friendly kiss.

We gave our little girl some tylenol tonight, and I read to her and put her down; but she has been wailing in her crib for a while and now Mommy is back up with her reading more books. She had a slightly runny nose today. Fortunately Mommy got a bunch of new books out of the library today, so we have interesting new reading--good for the parents at least. Hopefully our night will not be too painful.

2/18/07 (Sunday)

We had a lovely night and a nice, big Sunday breakfast. Cara spurned the eggs and bacon and ate three or four pancakes. "Cakes!" she called. Finding ourselves without plans for the day, we headed down to Point Pleasant to see "big fishies!" We had asked Cara whether she wanted to go see the big fishies, and she was very excited. She gabbed about it in the back seat of the car.

We decided to take the stroller with us, since it's a good place to leave coats. I really didn't expect Cara to get into it without a fight, but she wanted to ride in it! I attribute this to two things: she hasn't been in it for the past few months, really since the summer, except one time, and that time we went nice and fast. I think it was fun. She rode in her stroller several times today.

We saw monkeys and froggies and fishies ("Wow!"), and we got our hands stamped with penguins, and we climbed stairs and ran around. We let Cara lead us, and we went all over. One thing she liked was a piece of old equipment that was out. It was some sort of wheel that one would crank, except that it was rendered uncrankable by some rope. This did not deter Cara from working as hard as she could to turn that wheel. She pulled and pulled on the handle. We talked about big fishies and little fishies, and Cara spent some time talking to some little fish about their being little. We got to see the seals eat lunch and have their teeth brushed. Seals always let people brush their teeth.

After lunch, which was mainly pizza, we went to the candy store. There were shelves of stuffed animals, and Cara found a friend. We rarely hear her say his full name: "Curious George!" It was a nice little George in a yellow shirt. She carried him around for a long time, and we were nervous about not buying him. Would a tantrum ensue? Steve explained that she had to put him back on his shelf. George went back where he belonged, Cara got into her stroller, and we went back to the fishies. No problem.

After the aquarium, we had to exit through the gift shop. Cara explored her options. She ignored the stuffed animals. She investigated many rubber sea creatures. She checked out a box of poker chips. She looked at a plastic fishing set. Finally, she found something she definitely liked and definitely shouldn't have. It was a little pink shark made of a soft, rubbery material. It was almost like a gummie! It was Cara's dream toy. Yes, it went into her mouth a little bit. No, we did not purchase it. Yes, we got out of there without buying anything.

Cara stayed awake the whole way home, which encouraged us to put her down for a nap. I went and also put myself down for a nap, and the cats put themselves down, but it was not to be. The screaming went on and on, and I went and got her out. She's training us! We're not really scared, because we know Susan and Grandpapa will not put up with this nonsense, so it'll all get fixed.

While we were playing downstairs, we noticed that Cara was starting to have a bowel movement. I took her upstairs to the potty, pulled down her pants, and took off her diaper. She didn't really want to sit on it. Was it the location? I took the potty into the bathroom, letting Cara shuffle around with her pants around her ankles. I sat her on her little potty and I sat on the big potty. She wasn't really happy. I let her shuffle around while I detached the seat and put the little potty seat on the big potty for the first time. I sat Cara on that. She wasn't really happy. I got her pants off and played This Little Piggy with her toes through her socks. She had two toys with her: a foam soccer ball that belongs to the cats and a wooden zebra from her safari puzzle. The zebra liked to bounce on the ball. We both bounced him. She was having a good time. "Why am I sitting her playing Piggies and bouncing zebras?" I wondered. I peeked under Cara into the potty. CARA HAD MADE A POOPIE IN THE POTTY!!!!!!! I introduced her to the official use of toilet paper. We made a big fuss. She got to stand on her step stool and wash her hands. I took her downstairs and gave her Jell-O as a treat. What a big girl!

The big event of the evening was taking Julianna out to dinner for her 70th birthday, which will be Tuesday. We drove her, and she and Cara had a good time in the back seat. We met PJ, Casey, and Ron and Em at the restaurant. We went for Mexican. Casey was an angel; no one heard from her during the meal. Julianna got to sit between the two toddlers, who took turns being high-maintenance. Cara was difficult before food came, but then she basically sat and ate. PJ was pretty good until food came, and then he got fussy. Both kids played with the magna-doodle we brought, and they both liked the little plastic dinosaur. PJ wanted Em's margarita, so she ordered him a virgin one. I got Cara one, as well. They came, in plastic cups with straws, before the meal. Cara sucked and sucked on hers; she loved it, but she must have gotten brain freeze! Cara happily ate her quesadilla and some rice and all the refried beans she could mooch from us. When she was done, she fussed until I took her into my lap. She was good then, because she took a fork and was eating my rice! We don't usually get dessert when we're out with Cara, because she has generally gotten to the end of her sitting capacity by the time we're done eating. Tonight, though, the kids' meals came with ice cream and Em said PJ would eat his. We got the ice cream, vanilla with chocolate syrup. Cara got back into her high chair. She took her spoon. She solemnly worked on that ice cream for at least five more minutes, neatly eating it with her spoon and only a little help from her hand. I was astounded. The best part of the meal was how PJ ate his ice cream. He had Cara's little plastic T-rex. Her carefully dipped it into the ice cream headfirst and then stuck its head into his mouth to suck it off. Unfortunately, this would have been more successful if he had been able to get the arms into his mouth, too. They held more. PJ concentrated very hard on this. I wish I had brought a camera.

Cara has a custom when she is in the bath. It's been happening for quite a while now, and I wonder if it has something to do with her Friday night baths. What she does is, she grips the faucet of the tub, looks up into it, and says "No mouse in there."

2/19/07 (Monday)

The morning started off with "cakes," which I think Cara is now beginning to call by their full name, pancakes. They were heated up pancakes from yesterday's feast, but they were still good. We managed to avoid the television somehow and did a lot of playing downstairs. The big favorite is running around with the stroller--the current occupant is usually the Daddy figure from her Playmobil set, a tiny little plastic man who can't even remain vertically oriented in the stroller seat. Cara still sometimes resorts to having the adult run while she relaxes in a chair, but more often it is running by both parties.

We all got showered and dressed pretty quickly and drove off to the mall, where we immediately found Em in the parking lot, struggling to open her giant stroller. We entered with her (I ran a little ahead with Cara, who wailed the whole time she was out in the biting cold, poor thing!) but soon separated, she heading off bravely to Kidz Kutz (or whatever silly way they spell their name). We hung around the mall entrance, Cara a bit unhappy I think at having lost PJ and Casey so soon--she seemed to be pointing in the direction in which they'd gone. But soon enough we linked up with Shannon, Sarah and Lina (The Twins)! Then it was off to Tinytown. The twins had never been there before but they absolutely loved it--the best indicator of this was that they had to be carried away literally kicking and screaming from Tinytown. Cara had a good time running around and sliding, but was soon making a break for freedom and the coin-operated rides. I took her on a tour of the little rides, which she enjoyed as long as they weren't moving, and I tried to take her back to Tinytown, but she was antsy and wanted to leave.

We all reunited with PJ and Casey and Em--PJ now sporting a handsome spiky haircut. PJ was shy and I don't think he ever got into the swing of things at Tinytown, because soon after his arrival I decided Cara had really had enough and needed to go someplace else. Em and co. took off for other destinations; the twins and Cara and the rest of us strolled deeper into the mall. We all watched the train go around a little, then headed for the carousel and the Playmobil store, where fun was had by all. Each child had a toy purchased for her so that she would sit still while we were waiting for our lunch at Friendly's. Cara got a nice little jockey and a horse--the horse came with a bucket and a little root of some kind to put in the bucket so the horse can eat it. She also got a well-dressed lady with a parasol. These were both technically 4+ toys, but had fewer small parts than the comparable 3+ Easter-themed toys (which featured somewhat creepy bunny-people). Cara enjoyed them.

Our meal was pretty good--Cara was very good for most of it and only got cranky towards the very end. The twins had disagreements because they did not want to share their Playmobil playset (a nice little forest scene with badgers and squirrels and something which we like to think is a chinchilla, but is probably a mouse), but strangely they were very nice about handing over some animals when Cara came over to their booth to visit. Afterwards the children ran outside while payment was being made and the twins' stroller recovered from the corral. They all found a nice courtyard with a little waterfall and the typical mall pool filled with tossed coins. The twins and Cara had a wonderful time running around the edge and leaning over to look in the water, and saying "Ooooh! Water!" Both Cara and the twins made optimistic attempts to count all the coins, and we had a job tearing the twins away when it was time to leave. Shannon yelled "Bye Lina, bye Sarah!" to try to make them come; to which Cara responded by yelling "Hiii! Hi people!" to the mall populace in general.

After this it was off to the Disney Store, which was mobbed. Cara found a gigantic stuffed Eeyore, whom she hugged in the most adorable expression of utter bliss; and then walked away from, with no qualms. The twins each got a stuffed animal. We didn't get Cara anything, but fortunately she is still at an age where she didn't notice the discrepancy. She stopped to hug a full-size Bambi lawn ornament on the way out.

Down on the lower level the twins had a blast jumping around on the foot-sensitive pad near the entrance; Cara had done the whole thing earlier in the day, with almost no interference, but now there were lots of other kids and she was quite tired, so she did not really join in. Instead, we chased each other around a pillar (which really is just as much fun, if not more) until the twins had their coats on and had been strapped (kicking and screaming) back into their stroller.

Then it was back in the car and back home, where Cara's wardrobe had to be completely changed (and I had to figure out once again how to get the pad cover off of the car seat) due to a badly-timed bowel movement. Then she got put into her crib, where she bawled for a good half an hour, but we stuck it out this time; and now at 4:40 she is in the middle of what will hopefully be a good nap.

Cara had a good nap; I woke her around five fifteen because I didn't want her to sleep too long, so late in the day. Of course she had a hard time waking up and we spent a few minutes snuggling in the glider while she slept on me.

We headed down to play and see Daddy. I got out Cara's new Playmobil figures, and there's a problem! We worked hard to convince her that her little people need to be in a sitting position to ride their horses, but that's only true of the Playmobil for toddlers! The new horsie and rider work differently. The horse is skinny enough that the person stands up and pops right on, one leg on each side! Well, Cara keeps trying to sit her little girl down before putting her onto the horse, and it just doesn't work!

When Cara seemed in need of comfort, I offered her some Jell-O. It got an enthusiastic reception. We shared, and when we got near the end Cara saw Daddy and offered him some. He said he wanted it, but then he went upstairs. We had to wait. This was difficult. There was only a little left. We waited, but it was tough.

Em lets PJ sit on the counter at her house, and when I mentioned to Julianna how Cara tried to stop me from cooking, she described letting her toddlers sit up there, too. It keeps them happy and occupied, apparently. Well, I decided to try it. I had to move the coffee maker and some other stuff, but I cleared her a seat. I got out a big bowl. I heated up water, and Cara poured the powder into the bowl. We poured in hot water, and Cara got to help stir. She also blew on the water, having heard that it was hot. Cara helped Mommy make Jell-O! She did a good job. I don't know whether I could do that frequently.

Fortunately, it was soon time to go to PJ's house. The kids played with a fire truck and PJ's ride-on toy, and they shared Cara's sippy cup. During dinner, neither wanted to eat. They ran around. "Daddy?" said Cara, "Daddy?" She held out a toy to BJ, the dog. I still can't distinguish between her saying "Daddy" and her saying "doggie." She seemed to like BJ this evening. He soon got an air kiss. He was not happy about having toddlers around; he was growling impotently the whole time. Cara prefers dogs who don't like her. Downstairs, Cara, PJ, and Steve read a book. PJ opened the flaps, and Cara said what was there!

When we left, Cara got down in the bitter cold and ran to the kitty house excitedly. I did mention that it's also Cara's house. We played and gradually got her ready for bed. After her bath, I remembered that she must be hungry. Downstairs, Cara had a cheese stick, some dried apples, and her leftover quesadilla from yesterday. There was not a piece that hadn't been bitten, but they were all okay. The third one was larger than the others. "Big piece!" Cara exclaimed. For some reason, she thought that this was very important or very funny, so she told us both several times. With enthusiasm. Soon it was small again, after Steve discussed it with her, but then it became "Big piece!" again.

Now, Cara is in bed. She has her Thomas the Tank Engine character, a small metal train, with her. We are not sure how this could possibly be a good thing, but we'll see what happens.

2/20/07 (Tuesday)

Cara had a wonderful day at Susan's and of course napped just fine. They learned about teeth today, and Cara brought home a big paper tooth that she brushed thoroughly with paint and glitter.

I had done groceries before I picked Cara up, and when we got to the house a comedy of errors ensued. I got the bags out of the car and got Cara out of her car seat. I asked her to help me, which she likes to do. There were two big bags of groceries, my pocketbook, a big box of diapers, and a box of trash bags. I asked Cara to carry the box of trash bags to the house. Off she went, and I came behind her with everything else. It took me two trips, but fortunately she entertained herself by stepping on and kicking what's left of the snow. I opened the storm door and discovered that the front door was locked. I went and got the keys out and opened the door. I got the groceries inside, and I called Cara. While I was reasoning with her, Buster got out. Cara and I went to get her in. I took this opportunity to show Cara Buster's footprints in the snow (there's always time for a science lesson). I caught Buster. Cara went to the little tree in the front yard. She stood carefully behind it, clearly hiding from Mommy. Starting to be amusedly frustrated, I decided to dump the cat inside and go to catch Cara. Of course, while I dropped Buster inside, Shelby ran out, quickly identified by Cara. Shelby, shy, stays behind our bushes by the door. Cara ran over to her and went right back between the bushes. I went to the other side and encouraged Cara to use herding techniques. "Flush out," she repeated, trying to step on the kitty's tail. Cara worked to no avail; I had to go step on the kitty myself, which sent her out into the open, and then I caught her and convinced Cara to come in.

It was time to put away groceries and make dinner. I bought pizza dough! Cara got to stand on a chair and help me make pizza. She got to touch the dough while I rolled it out, and she watched while I put on tomato sauce. I put the cheese into a bowl and Cara got to top the pizza off! She also put some pepperoni on it, but then she decided to eat that herself. I'm not sure how much of it she put away, but I made sure some stayed on the pizza. We put the pizza into the oven and then Cara helped me make some vegetables. She likes helping, and I'm glad she's okay with standing on a chair. I like it much better than sitting on the counter!

Cara liked making dinner, but eating it was not as enthralling. She must have had too much pepperoni! Halfway through, she began requesting her paints. Eventually Daddy started doing art with her. For dessert, Steve opened up our Valentine's heart box of candy. He had a piece, and I had a piece. "Cakes!" said Cara. She grabbed a big, dark, square one. Before she really started working on it, she grabbed another. One for each hand? No. She handed the extra to me. I thought I was a lucky woman, but before I finished my first piece and started my new one, she had taken it back. Was she giving it to Daddy? No, she was putting it neatly back in the box. Cara got very chocolatey, and she really didn't enjoy it much. She had gotten a big caramel, which was too tough for her. She chewed it up, melted the chocolate, and gave up and handed the mess to Daddy.

Cara found her puma and brought him upstairs. For a while, she was rolling on the bed, kissing him. After her bath, she found the straw hat we have upstairs. I'm pleased to announce that it's become a farmer hat. We all, naturally including the puma, had to take turns wearing it and presumably being farmers.

2/21/07 (Wednesday)

The word of the day today is "ice-meme," the meaning of remains elusive. Cara has me search the refrigerator (and freezer) but I can't turn up anything that she believes is ice-meme. [Probably ice cream! -SG]

Our potty adventure: "Cara, do you want to go potty?" "Otay" I put the little potty seat into place, prepare Cara and then sit her down. She plays with my glasses, my pen, my telephone but nothing comes. "Are you finished?" "Yes." I took her off the seat, hitched up her pants. Maybe next time...

This morning we went to the Woodbridge Mall, shopping for crayons (the good kind). First Cara did a lot of running around in what is a familiar, fun place. We went to the PlayMobil store and Cara played nice and, when it was time to go, put the little men she'd been torturing back into their places. Then we were off to KB toys. We asked the man for crayons and he pointed us to a display at the front of the store and then said "the good ones in the back, over there." Since that's what we were shopping for, that's where we went. Cara found a doll to play with and a couple of other things that I had her put back without a fuss.

It must have been sixty degrees out so I let Cara ride in the car without her coat. Back at home she had her yogurt and as I carried her upstairs, she spied Buster and Shelby asleep on the bed. ("Buster! Shelby!") I took the chance to say "they're napping." For the first time in months I put Cara's pajama bottoms on her for the nap. She complained for about five seconds and I haven't heard a peep for an hour.

Cara had just woken up when I got home, a little after three. She didn't eat the cheese stick I gave her, so, snackless, we headed for the mall. We had a mission: it's exactly two months since Cara's first haircut, and she needed another!

This time, Cara got to sit in a yellow racecar. I got my choice of videos and elected to view the Sesame Street Numbers video. Several parts seemed very familiar. I may have to purchase it. Being more alert this time, Cara was slightly more difficult to cut. She looked around at things, but she also looked where we told her to, mainly. The place would be smart to let the parents pay while their children are securely strapped in, but of course they don't. Fortunately, Cara had seen an airplane beside her car, so she spent the time while I dealt with the bill trying to climb in. The attempt consisted of standing beside it, holding her arms up, and looking around for help while whining plaintively. Surprisingly, it failed.

Soon it was off into the mall for us! I put Cara down and let her run. We went all over. We rode down the escalator. Then up. Then down. Then up. We looked at the carousel from above. We went down to see it. We ran and ran. Eventually we found the Reatrix pad. Cara did some playing on it, though there were a few older kids there, but really she thought that it was fun to run across the wide open area to the wall, say hi to me, and then "zoom!" over to Mommy. Soon enough, she toddled off, back toward the main body of the mall, and just kept going. I had to hustle to keep up. She soon saw the carousel from afar, which really motivated her. "Ponies, yeah, yeah, yeah!" she would exclaim, and break out running. I got her to run all the way down the mall by pointing them out to her.

Before we had left the house, I asked Cara who wanted to come with her. Her Playmobil baby did. While she was getting her hair cut, I handed her the baby. This is a little figure of a girl, not much taller than Cara's fist. She held on to that baby through her haircut and then through the mall. I offered to carry it, but Cara didn't want me to. She wouldn't let go. Finally, we got back around to the Playmobil store. When Cara spotted it, she ran, flinging down her baby behind her! We played for a good long time, with the baby resting safely in my pocket. We finally walked out of the mall. I carried her, and we said "Hi, Mommy," and "Hi, Cara," to each other over and over again and snuggled.

It was playdate at PJ's house tonight. Cara brought a canister of puffs, the new peach flavor. They were a hit. The children fought over them with gusto before dinner. We had a great dinner. There was soup and grilled cheese. For the kids, there were hot dogs, oranges, and peas. Cara could hardly decide what to eat first! We had some downstairs playtime, too, which was nice. The problem was that Cara was cranky and PJ was possessive. He did not want to share! In a piece of role reversal, actually, PJ ended up in the kitchen crying because Cara had taken his toy away from him.

I guess tomorrow I'd better go buy some ice-meme.

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