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Journal Key:

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

4/5/07 (Thursday)

Susan had an Easter party today! She had an egg hunt inside with plastic eggs; she says she used to put things inside them, but the kids never really care. They just like finding them. I hear that there were several repeat egg hunts during the day.

Cara got a lovely goody bag with almost no candy in it. Her favorite things are two parachuting bunnies. We launch them from the top of the stairs, and Cara retrieves them. I raced the two for a little while, but she didn't really appreciate it. Another fun new thing is the three small rubber eggs with sort of rubber fuzz on them. Cara likes picking them up and counting them; when she gets distracted, she dramatically drops them all. It takes concentration.

We got carpeting in the basement today, so I wanted to move things back down there. Cara helped by messing with lots of things. She found a screwdriver and fixed things for me. Steve asked her what she had; our nearest approximation of what she said is "juice-diver."

4/6/07 (Friday)

We were in the basement this morning, and Cara found her old bottles. I asked her what they were and who used them. She knew they were bottles, and she knew that bottles were for babies. She held one in each hand. Looking to her left, she said, "Casey's bottle." To the right, "Emma's bottle." (Those are the two babies at Susan's with Cara.)

Cara was down in the basement a couple of times and managed to find her not-at-all-hidden birthday present bag from us. We were forced to give her one present a day early, a Playmobil set with some zoo animals, a male tourist (he has a camera painted on his chest) and his daughter. Cara enjoyed playing with them thoroughly. One absolutely adorable thing she did with them while I was there: she sang "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" to two different people while swinging them gently in her hand, then laid each one down and made snoring noises. Such a cutie!

With Evie and Steve being at home, I had to drive up to Edison to wisk Cara away. She was in her crib napping when I arrived and suddenly there she was, at the top of the steps, her mother behind her holding her traveling bag! I carried her to the car after a tear-less farewell, and we were off.

At home Grandmama Janet greeted Cara while she was still in the car and then Cara was in the house, exploring all the wonderful familiar things that she's come to love. This trip was special, however, because this is the trip that Grandmama Janet unleashed Cara's watercolor talents.

We three sat for what must have been hours, painting! Cara painted until most of the colors ran out and then wanted to do it again and again. When we finished, we went downstairs and Cara wanted to draw. So she drew for a while. But soon, at about 7 P.M., it was apparent that Cara was tired.

We put on our Blues Birthday tape. Cara sat still through most of it but I had tears in my eyes because it was so beautiful, so perfect for little kids. There was music, the Birthday Candle Dance, which we might recreate for Cara's third birthday party, and general fun and happiness.

When that was over, it was time for Cara's bath which her Grandmama administered with aplomb. Cara was in bed at 9 P.M., kind of early.

At 2:15 A.M. she was up and crying. I went downstairs and held her until she calmed down, forty five minutes later.. We sat on a couch and I remember thinking, "Gee, Cara is so big, her feet reach down to my knees."

A few notes from Janet: When Cara arrived she wanted to go outside. Even though it was fairly brisk out, we ran around happily in the back yard. Cara is very intrigued by our shed, ever since she saw me take a rake from in there. This time we opened the doors and found a wheelbarrow! So Cara had wheelbarrow rides over the bumpy grass. We also discovered again that we can have a great time just running in circles!

The painting came as a natural outgrowth of her interest in everything around her. (Warning - she can now open the door to my art/junk room.) She found some of my paintbrushes and wanted to use them. Cara's joy in painting is unbound. Making a long stroke she actually said, "Wheeee." She is brutal with brushes. Claire showed her how to "swish, swish, swish" her brush in the water. "Fish, fish, fish," said Cara, jabbing her brush against the bottom of the glass. She tries different kinds of strokes, often mashing the brush on the paper. And she wants to share; even Grandpapa was persuaded to paint a little.

We also drew. Puma participated. I held a pen between his paws and scribbled round and round. "Ball," Cara pronounced the result. "Bouncy."

4/7/07 (Saturday) CARA'S SECOND BIRTHDAY!!

In the car driving north, Cara got to hear Chubby Checker's "Let's Do the Twist" and then as we were getting onto Woodbridge Avenue, "Let's Twist Again." She talked to her puma throughout but her little feet were dancing in the air.

Cara arrived at home just after 9:15.

Our little birthday girl arrived at the house a little after nine. Unfortunately we were still running around trying to get ready for her party, and within two minutes of her being in her play room she had touched at least a dozen things she was not supposed to touch yet. She was unceremoniously carried off to "play trains" at PJ's house. (I am told the destruction in the Loeffler's family room was massive--not a square inch of floor was visible under all the dumped and thrown-around toys.)

At around 12:30 she was brought back to the house by her Mommy--she unfortunately decided that she wanted to play with her sand table on the way in, and was very unhappy at being denied it. But when she entered the house she found her South Jersey grandparents there to greet her, and finally got a good look at all her Curious George party decorations and balloons. There were little party hats, which Cara commanded each member of the family to wear in turn, and kept handing out to people.

Cara had a lovely day after that. She snacked on fruit and other foods, was handed about to all of her grandparents and carried almost everywhere she went, opened many wonderful presents, and enjoyed her monkey cupcake very much. Of course, she did all this without the benefit of having had any nap whatsoever! I didn't even consider the missing nap until a few moments before the party started.

After the cupcakes the party started to break up and soon it was just Cara and her grandparents and parents. We were cozy playing with toys and watching Curious George on the TV (he was playing non-stop all day, that good little monkey). Eventually even the grandparents had to leave. Before they had even gotten into their cars, Cara said "Go outside?" and we soon found ourselves playing with her sand table in the chilly wind. Cara didn't seem to notice the cold and was laughing happily, running her little cars around the track and shoveling sand over them. We convinced her to come back in with the promise of hot chocolate, which she very ironically seemed to interpret as meaning ice cream, since she specifically requested ice cream when she got back inside. She didn't get hot chocolate or ice cream, but didn't seem to mind the lack.

Being the pretty crazy people that we were, we did not laze around for the rest of the evening (or clean up after the party very much), but instead invited PJ, Casey and Em back over for Easter egg coloring! I was not involved in this process, since Casey and I spent most of it out in the living room staring at each other. But I understand that PJ used a lot of green dye on his eggs. His hands were washed multiple times but remained noticeably green--later we were sitting at the kitchen table and I was remarking to PJ about his hands. He turned to me, gesturing with his hand very seriously, and explained: "I gheen! I gheen!" It was very, very funny. Maybe you had to be there...

By around 7:20 Cara had gone through the whole day with no nap whatsoever and was definitely showing it. She was very delicate and much more likely to turn on the waterworks if PJ so much as ran past her. The Loefflers took off and Cara came upstairs for her bath. She helpfully dumped every one of her bath toys into the tub, and had some fun playing, but reached total meltdown at the end of the bath. I handed her her toothbrush as she lay weeping in her Mommy's arms in the glider. I took it away after she had dutifully worked it around in her mouth a little, wished her a happy birthday and left them to some books. Mommy reports that partway through the second book Cara was already snoring. Very unusually, she did not even stir when she was shifted into her crib--a long, but overall very good, day.

Mommy's Notes: Cara spent three hours at PJ's house before the party--Em and Ron even gave her lunch! Em explained to Cara that there would be a party, with balloons, and decorations, and cupcakes, and presents. Who was going to get presents? "Daddy get presents," Cara said confidently.

I bought a Curious George game for the party; it was pin-the-sprinkles-on-the-ice-cream. We didn't blindfold the kids. I never actually got all four of them in the same place at the same time; I just caught whoever was nearby. I gave the little player a sticker, and he or she put the sticker on the poster. At first they all went right onto the ice cream, pretty much where they were supposed to. Cara put one sticker on and ran off. So did Lina. Sarah and PJ, however, came right back to me for more stickers. Fortunately, there were twenty! They got creative with their sticker placement, and they got big rounds of applause. Some are on George. Sarah put one at the bottom of the cone, possibly to catch drips. Cara and Lina both wandered back in occasionally to put another on. We had Cara put one on a butterfly. When we ran out of stickers, PJ threw out the paper for me.

Cara really was tired. I didn't think she would make it through the party when I went to pick her up and found her exhausted. However, she really bounced back, literally. Late in the afternoon, she and I were walking up the stairs together. On each stair, she had to stop to give a little bounce.

4/8/07 (Sunday)

On this freezing cold Easter Sunday, with occasional snow flurries, we went outside to have an egg hunt! PJ had a bag and Cara had a basket, and we all had coats. We convinced Cara it was not time to play in the sand. The Easter bunny had left a dozen colored eggs on the lawn! We showed them the first few, and then the kids started walking around, looking on their own. When they had found them all, we stole the eggs and hid them again! A couple of times, they both saw an egg at the same time! Fortunately, there were no bonked heads and no fights. I enjoyed it when PJ found an egg and missed putting it into his bag, then found it again when it rolled down the hill. When we'd hidden and found about three dozen eggs, we went and played in the sand. To our great joy, a telephone repairman arrived and went up in his cherry-picker. Everyone watched. We asked the kids whether they'd go up, too. PJ found the idea disturbing. Cara was willing. It was cold, so we went inside. I picked up what we'd left in the yard and followed. "You missed an egg!" called the helpful Verizon employee. Always have a man in a cherry-picker to supervise your egg hunts.

Inside, after PJ and Ron left for their Easter celebration, I took the basket of seven eggs upstairs. I hid them in the three rooms, and Cara came up and found them. Steve videotaped this, of course, on the only day when our bed was not made because I was going to change the sheets! I explained this for the camera. We hid and found the eggs at least three times. I hid them in shoes, in our bed, in her crib, in her dinosaur, on a chair, and on a book shelf. It was great.

The eggs were finished, as playthings. Several were cracked and ready to chip. I peeled them, and Cara came to watch. I cut one in half and gave her the white. To my surprise, she ate it right up! She wanted another. Another. Another. I made her wait. I deviled the eggs and made her try that. She ate at least another whole egg. Somehow, Cara had never had boiled egg before! Now she has a new food.

After lunch, Juliana came over with an Easter surprise for Cara! The Easter bunny had left some things for her at Juliana's house. He left her some bubble bath, some little stuffed animals, and some plastic eggs. Inside them, we found marshmallow chicks! (Chicks in eggs, get it? It took me a few minutes. I was wondering, why not rabbits?) Cara ate several of these, while trying hard to share them with us. We looked into each egg several times. Two still have chicks in them, but I'm sure we'll have to open them all to find out which.

After Cara's nap, we went to Aunt Theresa's house for our Easter dinner. Grandmama had made Cara an Easter basket with toys and an adorable chocolate bunny in it! Unfortunately, I had passed on what Susan said about the kids not caring about opening the eggs, so Cara opened them all to find nothing. She did get some really great-looking sand tools, which I'm sure we'll take outside tomorrow. In addition, she got a little toy duck in an egg with a zipper from Great Grandma (GiGi!); its cheeks light up and it quacks Happy Easter. Cara ate lots of crackers and played with lots of things. She got to run around with Grandmama. For dinner, she ate some ham and some keilbasa, which I told her was hot dog. She tore through Grandma Emily's finger noodles, despite telling me she did not like them before she tried them. She fed me the first one. Once she ate one, she was unstoppable. She sat between me and Steve, and she petted our shoulders occasionally. She also liked waving to people and saying hello to them. She was not interested in eating dessert. I took her away to play. We found a monkey who played music and danced when you pressed his foot. Cara loved him. She danced. She hugged him. Eventually she laid him down to sleep and found a blanket to put on him, even though I had just started him and he was trying to dance. Reminiscent of Cara's bedtimes? Perhaps . . .

4/9/07 (Monday)

When I bought the little conical hats for Cara's party, I did not think that the children would actually wear them. Cara, however, was still excited about them today! We were both wearing them downstairs when hers got knocked off her head backwards but was held to her neck by the elastic. She turned around in a circle looking for it. I thought it was a shame that she wouldn't do it again, but she did! She turned around and around. I let her go four times before I offered help. On the way over to me, she turned again a couple of times, just to make sure!

Because Linwood was closed today, we had an extra day off. Lina and Sarah came to play with us. Cara is much better able to play with them now. We had fun with balloons; Cara, holding one in each hand, dashed back and forth from the kitchen to the living room, shrieking with laughter as they chased her. The twins can both play very imaginatively with their toys now. Either of them can take a few characters and have them hold whole conversations. Cara is moving toward this. She likes the mommy and baby bears. The mommy says, "Baby bear, where ahhh you?" Then one of us usually finds the baby and gives an answer. Cara gave Shannon the daddy bear at least five times.

After company left, I heard Cara talking downstairs. She lay on her back on the floor, holding her colorful Easter bucket from my mom above her. "I have chick," she said. She turned it slightly. "And nother." Turn. "And nother." Turn. "And nother." Turn "And nother." And so on.

PJ came over with his mom and his sister. Everyone played nicely. "Oh, poor Ron!" said Cara. "Poor Ron!" We asked what was wrong. "Poor Ron! He turn blue!" We were surprised. "Daddy turn blue, too." A few moments later we heard her lamenting PJ's fate; he had turned green. What about Em? "She turn purple!" We asked about Mommy. "You turn brown!" We asked about Cara and Casey, but we got no clear answer. The wheels were definitely turning, though.

My Uncle John and Aunt Theresa are really good at buying cards (among other talents). For Cara's birthday, she got a 3-D card that folds to make a room in which there is a set of hanging shelves. Three cats are climbing these shelves and dangling and swinging precariously. Cara loves it. She climbed up to the bay window today, to where Buster was sitting. She took her card and set it up for Buster to see. "Here, Buster. Kitties!" She made them swing for her. Buster was not as appreciative as she ought to have been.

4/10/07 (Tuesday)

These days, when Cara wakes up, her first utterance is often, "I have puma." Sometimes, for a change, "I have badger." Today, at 6:40, she told us, "I making poopie." After a series of clarifying questions, we got her onto her potty. Both of us were pretty sure nothing would come of it. Nothing came of it, but she did brush her teeth while she was there.

It was Cara's daycare birthday party today. I sent brownies, which I cut out in the shapes of hearts. I also sent goodie bags for the kids whom she doesn't see except at Susan's. I hear that it was a good party. Driving home, I asked Cara about her day. I asked whether she had fun with PJ. "Yes. I daw with cayons." After a few more questions, I asked her what she ate. "I eat bownies. Myself!" She remembered! It's the first time I've been confident that she actually was talking specifically about the day and not just dredging up some general memories.

When we got home, we played sand. For 45 minutes. I got her inside, then she got back out for half an hour when Daddy got home. After dinner, I went out with her again for half an hour. It's not even 50 degrees out!

Actually, it's interesting to play with the Matchbox trucks we have out there. We repeatedly acted out a narrative involving one or another truck falling down into the part of the table which will eventually contain water and another truck helping it out. Here is a sample:

Yellow van: Help me, help me! I fall down!

Blue van: I pull up! Uuunnnhhhh! (moves back from edge, yellow van emerges onto roadway)

Yellow van: Thank you! (kissing noise)

We ran through this, with many variations, again and again. The automobiles sometimes chase each other and shriek, but they also have loving relationships with each other and with Cara. "You otay, car? Yes, I otay." Then, the van kisses Cara.

One thing Juliana gave Cara for Easter was some bubble bath. It's a wonderful motivator and has been very helpful in getting Cara into her bedtime routine. Even that, though, is no match for the sand table.

4/11/07 (Wednesday)

Back with Cara after the Spring Break hiatus. Cara is definitely two years old now. She spent entire minutes downstairs, away from Steve and from me. Then it came clear that she wanted to go outside to play with the sandbox. But first the dull routine: breakfast, say good-bye to Daddy, watch TV, get dressed, and then finally go outside and play.

The sandbox is a great focus and yes I did see the cars tumble in the pit and then rescue each other and then kiss.

This morning our big thrill was going to Johnson Park where some major road resurfacing was going on. Cara went on the slides, the swings, she ran around some and was carried plenty. Then we watched for what seemed like a half and hour, Cara fascinated, by the asphalt spreader, the giant dump truck (which we saw actually dump), the road flattener. Just like in Richard Scarry. There was even the road engineer, a guy with a cigar, who appeared to be in charge.

Back home, Cara had yogurt, water, and an unemotional trip up to her crib. At exactly twelve noon I closed the door to her room and heard her settle in for sleep. At 3:30 we'll meet Cara's mommy at Dr. Diemer's office for her two year checkup.

I met Cara and Grandpapa in the Linwood parking lot and got to talk up the trip to the doctor on the way. Cara was cheerfully willing to see the doctor today. She was cheerful about getting to climb on a chair in the waiting room. She was wonderful. We walked back to the third room, Cara following me on her own. She was a little bit shy when the nurse spoke to her, but she brought her blocks to see and shared with her the cars she had brought. I stripped Cara to her diaper, and she happily wandered the examining room, playing. She happened to wander onto the scale. She weighs in at 27 pounds. She stood nicely for us, so we got her height like a big girl, too! She's 35 inches tall, two foot eleven!

Waiting for the doctor was a little bit tough. I had brought paper, so we drew. Cara told me about the animals on the wallpaper. We played with the blocks provided. What Cara really wanted, though, was the toy up on the windowsill. I told her we had to wait for the doctor. We would ask the doctor whether we could play with it. We did get to, when he came in. It was a very cool toy: two weasels held hands and could spin around. One was fixed to the ground, and the other flew free. Cara made them dance and kiss and fly. I was proud of her: she addressed the doctor as "doctor," and she told him about what the weasels were doing!

Cara is in the 90th percentile for height and the 70th for weight. When she grows up, she will probably by between 5'7" and 5'8" tall! The doctor examined Cara with his stethoscope and told her about her heart. He checked her eyes and let her play with his flashlight. She very responsibly gave it back to him. She preferred weasels. Cara was very good throughout the examination; she even let him look in her ears without protest. When he was done, he gave her a sticker! We put it on her shirt.

We had to wait again for a nurse to give Cara her shot. This was the last immunization she will get until she is five! I told her she would get a shot and that it would hurt for just a moment and then be okay again. The nurse came in; I held Cara, and then it was all over. Cara barely whimpered. She was fine, and she got another sticker for her shirt!

I had some errands to do, so we did not go straight home. We went to Barnes and Noble to play trains. (I needed a couple of books for my classroom.) There was another two-year-old girl there! She and Cara had some sharing issues, unsurprisingly. Mainly, they played in parallel. They paid attention to each other, though. The other girl seemed to be singing a song. "I sing song, too!" chirped Cara. She sang "Twinkle, Twinkle," which is what the other girl's tune reminded me of, too.

Next we went to the pharmacy. I got Cara a treat because I was dragging her around so much and because she had told me she was hungry. I picked out a bag of peanut butter sandwich crackers. Cara clutched it tightly and could barely be made to give it to the cashier. She ate one little cracker sandwich on the way out. I gave her another, and she played with it all the way home. "Mommy, I so tired!" Cara told me. Did she want to go to bed? "Yes, Mommy, I go bed." I suggested that perhaps she would like dinner first. She agreed. She snored while I unbuckled her seat belt in the driveway. Then she ran off to play sand.

It was time to go to PJ's house. Playing trains with PJ could not tear her from the sand. Seeing PJ could not tear her from the sand. Eating at PJ's house, though, started her off running. She ran all the way down the block and then held my hand as we crossed the street.

At play date, Cara was clearly tired, hungry, and cranky. She spent a lot of time being held. She ate some animal crackers and some watermelon. After a good dinner, it was time to bring her home. First, though, we went upstairs to see PJ's new big-boy bed. It's a fire truck! The two kids stood on it, side by side, holding on to the top of the cab and jumping gleefully. We couldn't get the camera in time. Well, it is sure to happen again!

Years ago, before Cara came along, Steve and I went to some sort of carnival and he won two plush, smiling flowers with wires in their stems. I wound them around a pole lamp, intending to put them into our future child's room. Cara finally noticed them this evening. After her bath she climbed onto the glider to reach them. Fortunately, she was content with letting me get them down. She smelled them. She carried them. She waved them. Daddy wound them around her legs and she tried wearing them. She let me have one, but Daddy got upset so I let her give it to him, instead. Later, he put it down on our bed. "No, no, Daddy, no put on bed!" She picked it up for him. He put it on the bed again, and she took it and left. I thought that was quite fair of her; he had had his warning.

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