| Previous Week | Back Home | Next Week | Journal Key: Green = Steve | George = navy | Janet = Purple | Evelyn = Black 4/26/07 (Thursday) Cara and I hung around at Susan's for a long time; we stayed until Em picked up PJ and Casey. I got some good visiting time with both of them. Casey really wants to walk, now that she's figured out crawling. She walked across the living room, when I held her hands. PJ and I snuggled in a chair while he stuck plastic bushes in his mouth. He may think they're pretend ice cream. Cara joined us and was happy to share. Unfortunately, there is a sit-n-spin at Susan's. Cara knows how to use PJ's because she's used one before, not because she's a genius. When cleanup time came, Cara did almost nothing. Susan said it was because M-O-M was there. She said it's usually better. That's heartening. Susan reports that Cara was able to put her own shoes on the other day. She could not this time, but we think maybe it was different shoes. We ended up playing outside. The kids had the slides lined up so that you could go down one and land right at the base of the next ladder. Neither child wanted to leave; Em and I had to head for our cars. PJ followed Em. "Mommy, where going? Come back! Wait for me!" Cara ran after me. She held my hand tightly as we walked down the sidewalk. (Side note: An adventure for PJ. He loves the garbage truck. Seeing it is an adventure he looks forward to every Tuesday and Friday. He waits for it all morning if he doesn't see it when he wakes up. Imagine his joy when, today, a large truck, admittedly not a garbage truck, tried to turn around on Susan's street and got stuck! The truck was there for an hour, trying to get back out!) We came inside when we got home. We started to play guys, but I wanted to bring a card over to Juliana. I gave it to Cara and she took off running. She dutifully delivered it, after a search of Juliana's property. We got to have a nice chat, and Cara got to run around. Actually, she ran all the way back to our front door and then, seeing that I was not following her, retraced her steps. In Juliana's yard, she pointed out decorations and ran on the grass. It was six o'clock by the time we got back to the house! The words of the day: "so fast!" On the way home, "Mommy, you driving so fast!" (I was not. It was a 25 mph zone.) In the yard, "I running so fast!" When I got home Cara was as usual happy to see me (does that sound egotistical?). We were sitting in her play room and I told her (as I am wont to do more often of late) that I loved her. She reciprocated the sentiment immediately and put her arms around me: "Daddy, gimme hug." I also convince her to kiss me on the cheek, actually on the cheek instead of an air kiss. It was nice. She requested and got to watch some Curious George while Mommy made some dinner--I made the very risky decision to bring out a jar of salsa and leave it sitting open on the coffee table. Cara cannot resist other people's food and quickly came over to sample some chips and dip them in the salsa. I kept warning her that it was spicy and not to dip too much, and she kept coming back to dip, and somehow it didn't seem to bother her at all. After dinner there was one more episode of Curious George before we began coaxing her upstairs to her bath (bubbly tonight). She often requests that I wash her feet, this being the part of her body she is least annoyed at my washing, but lately she wants me to wash her back. She really has suddenly gotten much better about allowing water to be poured on her head--not sure what caused it, but I'm happy it's happened. Cara decided in the middle of one of our books (which I was planning to be our last one) that she needed water: her classic delaying tactic. So Mommy brought up her little pink sippy cup. We finished our book and I told her it was time to go to bed, and convinced her that she was done with the cup. "I want my blue water!" she cried, evidently hoping she could string it along all night with every one of her sippy cups. 4/27/07 (Friday) Notes on PJ: A couple of weeks ago, PJ and Casey were in the tub ,and Casey pooped. Everyone was removed swiftly. "What's that?" PJ asked, astonished. He had never seen poop out of a diaper before. He was very excited and found the word funny for days. Today, I got this e-mail from Em: Bathtime. PJ said "mommy! I poop!" and he crouched down and started to push..... I said "no PJ! We don't poop in the tub! We poop on the potty!!" So I got him out of the tub and tried to sit him on the potty and he was hysterical, saying "poop tub! poop tub! I poop tub!" So then I explained we poop on the potty or in a diaper.... and he said "Casey poop tub!" and how could I explain that? By this time I'd gotten Ron in the bathroom with me, I'd hurried up and washed PJ so Ron could get his diaper on......................... for when he finally decided to go this morning, after I'd gotten him dressed and was ready to walk out the door. Cara feeds herself perfectly well, of course, but lately she has been experimenting. In the middle of a meal, she decides, apparently, that she is too tired or too weak or too babyish to feed herself. "Mommy, you feed me!" or "Daddy, you feed me!" she will exclaim, handing over her fork. The first time she tried this, I really didn't think she would let us feed her. She will. She's very happy. It's probably comforting to her to know that we will. This morning, Steve made Cara eggs. She ate some. Then she invited Daddy to feed her. He sat down and picked up her fork. "I want this piece!" Cara quickly instructed him, pointing. I picked Cara up from Susan's around 3:30 and drove her down to Middletown to be reunited with her Grandmama and Grandpapa. She was happy to be there, of course. I had to head out and said good-bye several times, but she ignored me! I wouldn't have minded a little wave or something. I guess we were all holding our breaths a little to see whether Cara would be upset when she realized that her mommy had left her here. In fact, she was perfectly fine and remained cheerful throughout the good-byes and after. One of my chief concerns was the care of the infinitesimal "guys." To ensure that none would be lost, I provided a beautiful blue tin whose lid is hinged and clasped. The guys spent much of their time safely inside the tin, which Cara carried everywhere. Before the day ended she had figured out how to work the clasp - clever child. Safe in this container, the guys could even spend the night with her. She is carrying them home in their new box, which will continue to prove useful, I hope. Evelyn brought a wonderful book of rhymes, which we read from cover to coverÊat bedtime. When that was done, knowing she was tired, I firmly and gently laid her down to sleep with all her toys, even though she gazed up at me wide-eyed. I tiptoed out of the room and not another peep was heard until 7 in the morning. On this sleepover Friday, I came home laden with groceries to see Evelyn smiling and happy for me. After five long years in a kind of desert, I'm going back to work for Ma Bell. When I came in the door, I saw a little girl behind Evelyn and I thought, 'could that be Cara?' Just by process of elimination I knew it was. From reading the journal, I know that Cara is in good hands at Susan's. I'll miss seeing the learning that Cara is experiencing. Being with her everyday, I would watch with amazement as she progressed in some aspect of life. On Friday, at some point, Grandmama evinced disappointment over some forgotten thing and Cara came over, patted her on theÊback and said 'that's all right, grandmama.' I almost fell out of my chair and I would have rolled on the floor laughing but for decorum's sake. Later, perhaps with coaxing, Cara came over and said to me: 'I miss you, grandpapa.' This made me feel very good. After being away from Cara for a week, I see that she's bigger. She's less of aÊtoddler anymore. She walks almost normally. Her mommy and daddy are letting her hair grow and it's beautiful. In all, she remains a very charming little girl. Here are a few good moments among many: *exploring through Grandmama's art room, Cara found a photo with lots of squares drawn on it. I immediately took Cara downstairs and we pointed to the painting of grandpapa, Cara's mama, Cara's aunt, and Cara's great grandpapa, who is the husband of Gigi, who had just left. *Among other wonders today, I found my favorite hat. That meant Cara got to wear my previously favorite hat so we paraded around the house in our hats. We just couldn't get grandmama to wear one. *a bit of watercolor artwork this evening but lots of Play-doh. Grandmama charmed Cara by turning out a white elephant, then a blue elephant, then playing in general. *Cara was tired from having a minimal nap so by the time we got to the Blue's Clues part of the evening, Cara alternated between taking her last drawing sessions and trying to find the most comfortable spot to lie down. She tried the sofa, that was no good. She tried grandpapa, which had worked on many occasions but not this one. She tried her grandmama, and that was just right. 4/28/07 (Saturday) On Wednesday, Cara's Uncle Ron had a great idea: we would take the kids to Ag Field Day at Rutgers! It turned out that it was today. As soon as Cara got home, it was time to go! Her daddy went out to meet her as she ran along the sidewalk, and PJ came running from the other direction: "Dara! Dara!" Cara had a choice to make. She thought about it, and then she went to her daddy. We had a great time at Field Day. Cara and PJ got to see horsies, piggies, and cows. They saw baby pigs and cows. They also saw a very large cow statue. All of these things were both attractive and frightening. Both kids almost sort of petted the piggies. We saw a lot of dogs, but we didn't pet any of them. I think that they would have been at least as exciting as the farm animals. We did a lot of walking. Juliana was in charge of pushing Casey's stroller, mostly with Casey in it. I did get to carry Casey for a while, which I accomplished by holding her facing forward and bouncing up and down with sound effects. She had fun, and I know she would not have put up with me holding her in a non-exciting way. She was ready for action. I also carried Cara a lot. So did Steve. We got her to run, too. PJ liked walking on the white line beside the road, so we got Cara to walk on it, too. She ran. We ran and ran. I got to run with both kids, which was fun. People on the road had to move aside as we barreled through, because we really only knew one direction: forward! Steve and I swung Cara, and then Ron and PJ joined in. I got to be in the middle and swing both kids. Cara giggles maniacally and pulls on your hands for more. PJ walks and says, "more please." He sounds awfully well-trained. The best attraction, for us, was the balloon animal man. We waited in line and watched as he made swords, hats, flowers, and dogs. Cara stared. Casey watched, too, but PJ was distracted. He was finding sticks. He gave one to Cara, who was leaning pitifully on my shoulder. Then he almost whacked us both on the head. Finally we got to the front of the line. Having asked Cara some questions, I decided she wanted a dog. I tried to get her to say it, but she was shy. Then we had to pick a color. At a loss, I chose purple. We got a little purple dog. Then it was PJ's turn. He got a yellow motorcycle! That was an exciting one to see made. Casey got a red flower. "I want flower!" said Cara, who wasn't shy anymore. She got to borrow Casey's when no one was using it. PJ, having been brought to understand that he had a motorcycle, tried to ride it. It went as well as could be expected. Cara made her puppy say "woof!" or something like that. She borrowed Casey's flower and was very happy having two balloons. Casey got her hands onto it soon, and then she got her mouth onto it. Part popped, but it wasn't in her mouth. Part of the motorcycle popped. Cara's dog's rear half came apart, but I fixed it (I'm multitalented). We started our long walk back to the car. It didn't go quickly, because PJ did not want to be carried. I ran part of the way with them, but then Cara wanted to ride. PJ was tired but resolute. It was a long walk. We went to On the Border. The kids got virgin strawberry margaritas and we think they both got brain freeze. Cara got her own little cup of refried beans, which she enjoyed. Steve sat between the preschoolers, which he managed to enjoy. At one point he had Cara on his lap, hugging him, while he waggled his fingers through the back of his chair at PJ, who was on the floor behind him, running his toy train along the back of Steve's chair and laughing hysterically. Tonight was our turn to go out! After Cara's nap I took her over to PJ's house and we left her there while Steve and I went out on the town. We got back a little bit after seven, just as everyone was coming outside to blow bubbles. The excursion resulted in the emptying of a bottle of bubble solution onto the landscaping. Few bubbles were blown, and Cara dipped the mouthpieces of all the pipes into the soap. She also got very loud when she could not have all of the utensils. The kids engaged in some fairly independent play, laughing as they chased each other in circles. They also rolled down the lawn with Steve's supervision. They ran around a lot. Cara looked at me through some landscaping. "I lost!" she said. After I became justifiably agitated in my concern, she was able to find her way back. "Daddy, you lost!" she told Steve, walking away again. Somehow, he made it home. For the last few baths we've had, our Playmobil fisherman has been joining Cara. As we have mentioned in previous entries, the fisherman has a curious habit of looking for his Mommy. I had suggested to Evelyn the idea of bringing the Playmobil grandmama figure up so that there could be a family reunion. Evie enacted this idea tonight. Almost the first thing the fisherman's mommy did was to lie down on the edge of the tub. Cara moved very carefully and made a shush sign to us: clearly the woman was asleep. Cara took hold of her fisherman figure, who was standing solicitously near his mother: "I jump on her!" he decided, and proceeded enthusiastically to do just that. Later when we were reading our stories for the night, the fisherman and his mommy were still with us. We had reached what I decided was the last book, Bedtime for Frances. Cara knows that Frances is a badger and that she has to go to sleep. This time around, I believe she was alarmed or at least attentive to the fact that the Daddy badger does not wear any clothes: "Daddy naked!" she remarked, although she may have been noticing the fact that I was wearing shorts and my legs were uncovered. We got to the page in the book where Frances is first getting into bed and suddenly one of Cara's Playmobil figures turned towards the book. "Hi Frances!" it said. "You go sleep!" 4/29/07 (Sunday) We all woke up pleasant and cheerful around seven o'clock and went downstairs to play with Cara's people. Her guys have been retired. They have returned to the basement and the game has been covered up. The blue man lost an arm, and I want the set to last. In a few years we'll get it out again. She's been fine without them, which is good. She asked for them a couple of times, but the Playmobil people have been very popular all day and seem to have filled the void nicely. We played with them and their animals and the three bears for a while. We had a nice in-our-pajamas-for-a-long-time morning. After I got out of the shower, Cara decided she wanted to play bubbles. Because we had to go outside for that, I was able to convince her that she had to get dressed. We went right upstairs and Daddy ended up dressing Cara, which he does every day now. Then, out we went. Cara had her bubble pipes clutched in her hands, and she headed out, at a jog, for PJ's house. This was good, because she actually had his bubble pipes from last night. However, Em pulled out of the driveway and let us know that they were all out. Cara continued on her trajectory, but after we hung out in PJ's driveway for a little bit we jogged back home. We headed out back, and Cara spotted a deer on the slope. We watched for a bit, and then we got down to work. I showed Cara how to work a bubble pipe, once I'd poured a little solution out into the bottle cap. She held it, mouthpiece out, through the fence and called to the deer, "blow!" Soon, distracted, Cara disappeared into her little house. I was watching the deer and wasn't paying attention. I eventually wondered why Cara wasn't calling for me to play with her. That's great, I thought, she's getting more independent. Wait a minute, I thought, what is she doing? I looked in the window and found that not only was the little table wet from the rain a few days ago, the bucket was on the table, filled to the brim. Cara was delicately floating a little plastic dish in it. Not much damage had been done. She thanked me when I dumped the water out, which shows that she's clearly confused about her priorities. Grandma Janet and Grandpa Jim came up! Cara and I were reading in her room when they arrived, and Cara ran off to see them. Steve and I went out on an errand, and Cara had fun with her grandparents. When we got back they were reading, and her table was set with the most complete meal of play food I've ever seen. I think all the food groups were represented. While we waited for lunch to heat up, we put in the DVD slide show Grandpa made of Cara's second year. Cara snuggled up and just sat and stared. She ended up moving among us, but she was a wonderful audience. She was clearly tired. During lunch she waved at us in turn, just to make sure we were paying attention. Even though it was late, Cara got to play with Grandpa and hear a story after lunch. I played Play-doh with her after her nap. Upon request, I made a guy out of the green. Then I made a guy out of the brown. Then I made a little purple girl. Then I made a blue ball and my guy, the brown one, kicked it around. Cara's guys sort of joined in. Then she smushed the ball into the green guy's heart. Then he had a hole in him. He was okay. We went out to Friendly's for dinner, because we had a coupon. Cara got apple juice in a cup with a bendy straw, which went pretty well. She has a hard time with stopping, once she starts drinking. Some dribbling occurred. We got mozzarella sticks and all shared and all finished our shares. (Cara got two, which, if we're distributing by body weight, is an unfairly large portion.) For a meal, we got Cara chicken soup. It seemed for a while that we had made a huge mistake. She ate the crackers out of it. She ate our fries, some of which she dipped in the soup. Eventually, she started eating it. She spoons broth and spills a good deal down her front, while her left hand picks up noodles or chicken and crams them into her mouth. It's not pretty, but it's fairly effective. For a treat, we got dessert. I had been talking to Cara about ice cream, and we ordered her her first cone-head sundae. It came, a scoop of vanilla with three M&Ms for facial features, a clown hat made of an ice cream cone dipped in hot fudge, and whipped cream on either side. Cara spooned up a little whipped cream. "That's his hair," said Daddy. Cara, shocked, quickly shut her mouth and put it back. She's not eating anybody's hair! I guess I'd better watch the anthropomorphic food. She played with her ice cream, mainly. I fed her an M&M. They melt in your mouth, not in your hand, unless you take them back out of your mouth. Then they melt anyway. Then anything you touch, including your face, turns whatever color your M&M was. That's fun! I was surprised that Cara didn't go for the ice cream, but there have been other times when she ignored desserts. I don't think she has my sweet tooth. On the other hand, I do think she prefers chocolate ice cream, which I didn't want to get her because it might have had more caffeine (am I crazy?). Perhaps she's just picky. Cara's shirt was covered with soup. I took it off her in the restaurant and we put her sweatshirt on her. The pants, we couldn't help. On the way to the car I gave her a little caveman I'd brought. She started asking for something, which we eventually figured out was the little girl. She got her, too. Then I gave her the whole bag, and she rode in the back with the baby dinosaurs and all. I had not brought the mommies, which leant tension to Cara's favorite narrative, the baby looking for Mommy. "Dara!" cried PJ when we pulled up. "Ron!" cried Cara. We had a good run around with PJ, mainly on Juliana's lawn. Cara had a tough time at first; she was upset because PJ was riding her bike, which she never rides. She got herself very worked up and was put inside to calm down. She managed to share thereafter, but with a lot of encouragement and coaching. The kids like to run around Juliana's house. They have to go over her porch, which PJ can do without pausing to get up or down. Cara still has to use her hands to steady herself, which slows her down considerably. This upsets her. We had fun, too. I had both kids lying on the grass, and I tickled one and then the other, back and forth. While I tickled her, Cara asked me, "Mommy tickle Casey, too?" So I did. See, she does share! 4/30/07 (Monday) For no particular reason, Cara was up today before six. When I was dressed, she and we went downstairs and had breakfast. I made her toast, which she enjoyed, and then she watched some TV. I wanted to get to work early, but instead of hurrying out the door I took some time to cuddle with my little girl. It was a nice beginning to the day. Cara slept with her little fisherman and the grandmama, possibly his mother, last night. She also took them with her to Susan's. When I arrived they were retrieved from the bin of toys into which they'd been put away, and Cara was reunited with them on the lawn. It was a beautiful day. Cara and PJ squabbled over the little people for a while. They almost all took a ride in the wagon together, with the grandmama and fisherman jammed into the drainage holes in the floor, but Cara grabbed them and climbed out. She was not ready to share. At home, we played downstairs. One advantage to Cara going to Susan's every day is that her toys are much more novel. She hardly ever sees them! Today she got out her hobby horse and, for the first time, began to ride it! She put one leg on either side and walked, holding onto the head, saying, "doo-doo-doot, doot!" She would periodically put it down and say, "Mommy, you turn!" When I made a move to pick up the horse, it was suddenly Cara's turn again. I went to make dinner, and Cara played nicely by herself. I snuck down to see her and she was reading a book. She likes one book about shapes that she has. She looks at it a lot. I snuck back away. When she eventually came up to find me, Cara had made a poopie! We headed upstairs to change her diaper, and from the window I saw Daddy getting home. Cara has not yet forgotten her "guys" and requested them this evening, even going so far as to say "They're in the basement!" and trying to go down there. Mommy has cleverly draped a table cloth over the Fireball Island box, so it is not visible. We managed to have fun with her other toys, and in fact our trip to the basement gave me a chance to show Cara how we give the kitties more food and water. Then it was time for little girls to have food. Cara very much enjoyed sprinkling shredded cheddar onto her Mexican food, and even though a huge orange pile soon developed on her plate, she kept calling for "More!" We had to put the bowl of cheese away from her. She often seems to enjoy asking for more, whether she really needs it or not--another attention-getting tactic, I would guess. After dinner we ended up going outside, and since it wasn't too late we played sand. It was a lovely evening and many people were out and about. Nearby (but not visible) we heard the noisy cough of a motorcycle engine. Cara gasped. "Lions coming!" she cried, and ran into my arms! She was afraid every time the motorcycle revved up. I had to hold her a lot and try to convince her that there are no lions living around here. Finally the motorcycle drove away and things returned to normal. I remarked that Ron was outside messing with one of his cars, so Cara had to walk over and meet him. In no time we found ourselves inside the Loeffler home once again. Cara managed to enjoy PJ's Sit and Spin without any tearful conflicts, but she was upset when Casey happened to crawl up to it. Cara has a strange fear of Casey--she doesn't seem to understand that Casey is just a little infant, and instead feels threatened by Casey's natural habit of reaching out to grab whatever is near her. Meanwhile, PJ experimented with crawling down the stairs head first. When it was well past Cara's bath time, we managed to get ourselves in the house (though Cara and I first had to chase after a neighborhood cat that likes to prowl around our yard: "Chase after it!" Cara requested, so we did). Tonight, Mommy took over the bath! I was not there, but it seemed to go well. Mommy sings songs to Cara after the bath, and they are developing quite a repertoire. Tonight Cara requested a "Blue's Clues" song. We weren't sure what she was referring to, so we asked her to sing it. "Blue's Clues sooong," Cara sang. I was unable to keep from laughing. One last thing that I thought was neat happened before the bath. Cara was warbling to herself, and I was able to make out what song it was. I heard her say, "sleeping Brother John"; we haven't sung that one in a long time! 5/1/07 (Tuesday) It's great going to pick up Cara at Susan's every day. She, PJ, and Casey are always outside playing on the lush, green grass. Well, Casey isn't really playing yet. PJ and Cara are always up to something. Today, they were stepping on ants. They showed me where they were working, but I didn't see any ants. For an art project, Cara made a baby. It's a cutout of a baby, on which Cara has colored and glued some ribbon for hair. The baby is inside a folded doily "blanket." By the time we get to the car the baby no longer has hair. We went to BJ's to pick up diapers. Cara got to ride in a wonderful shopping cart; the front was the regular basket, but the back, where I pushed, was a red car. Cara had a seat on the car, facing front, looking out over the basket. She had a steering wheel and drove us through the store. "Turn, turn, turn!" She even got compliments on her driving. When she got bored, I fortuitously found her old key ring, a baby toy, in my purse. We drove with the keys. Finally I put everything in the car and we went to park the cart. I got Cara out. "Mommy, I drive! I drive car!" She wanted to drive Mommy's car. She was very upset when I said she couldn't, so I told her that she could drive my car when she was as tall as it was. Apparently this was a satisfactory stipulation. When we got home, PJ and Casey had just gotten home, too! We had the usual running-toward-each-other scene. This one ended with PJ hugging me and Cara hugging Em. We went back to their driveway to play with chalk, but then I had to come back to get the chalk. Cara came with me and carried it for me. Here's one I forgot to tell Em: PJ is drawing with chalk, starting his lines at a suspicious white spot on the driveway. I said, "No, let's not draw on the bird poop!" He looked at me and said something inquiring. I could tell that wheels were turning in his head. He knows about birds. He certainly knows about poop. I said something vague and general and our discussion, mercifully, ended there. We did wash their hands before dinner. We stayed for dinner, so we went to play in the back yard. The kids can both climb onto and off of the bouncy horse, which is a great favorite. PJ loves to ride in the blue toddler swing, and Cara rides in the little car-shaped orange swing, which looks much too small for her. She's happy, though. They follow each other around and have a good time. For a while they ran around and around, taking turns going down the slide. I said "PJ's turn," or "Cara's turn," alternating. They started parroting me. After dinner we took their shoes off so that they could jump on the bed, which they ran off to do. Soon PJ came back to us and Cara stood at the top of the stairs, calling, "PJ, come back bed!" Eventually Cara came down, too, and started talking about going outside. I got out her shoes, because it was time to go home, anyway. She sat on the bottom of the steps, and PJ knelt in front of her. He took her shoe and tried to fit it on her foot! He tried it all sorts of ways, including upside-down, but it didn't seem to work. Cara, politely, said, "Thank you, PJ." 5/2/07 (Wednesday) When I got to Susan's today, she brought out what Cara had been clutching in her hands when she arrived in the morning: two very stale marshmallow bunnies, coated with yellow sugar. I figured that Steve must have had an interesting time. Actually, he reported that Cara was very good. She ran downstairs on her own and played in her playroom for a long time on her own. I think she had her toothbrush with her. Having thrown out our bunnies, we drove down to Lina and Sarah's house. We were all happy to see each other. At first, Cara mainly played on her own, though occasionally a twin would participate. Cara was invited but was not interested in playing with them. She played with a tiny set of toys, a set of little animals with accessories. She had Shannon and me put the glasses on the cat over and over again, deeply concerned when the cat was without its pink eyewear. Shannon got out a tunnel to crawl through, the end of which we stuck into a tent. The twins ran around and around, and I got to "get" them. Cara played with tiny pets. I think she went through once. We went for a walk to Linwood to watch a softball game. The twins walked, and I got to carry Cara. She said she was tired. She may have been. Once we got there, she was ready to run around. The three kids chased each other around and around us on the cool grass, gradually venturing farther and farther away. When Cara isn't distracted, they can really play together. The twins have a set of tiny plastic bears, which are intended for counting. Cara, of course, grabbed several and held them. When it was time to go, she still had them. Finally, I let her keep them and left her key ring as a swap. I felt that that was better than just letting them give us the bears. Cara is very happy with her three bears. She has been playing with them all evening. We took them away when PJ was here, though, to prevent arguments. I told her that they were sleeping. PJ came on his own for playdate, because Casey had a temperature. The four of us had a very polite dinner. PJ may have said that his leg hurt. Cara said that hers did. I said that mine did. Steve suddenly remembered that his did, too. (Later, after her bath, Cara decided that her leg hurt again.) PJ was making growling sounds while he ate, and I asked him whether he was a dinosaur. Cara admitted that she was, and we tried eating like dinosaurs. Dinosaurs growl while they eat. Soon enough, the children ran away to play. I joined them soon and gave them some cheese sticks and some puffs, which PJ took custody of. He ate plenty and didn't spill a single one. He did share with Cara when she asked him for some. Em, Ron, and Casey came, and for some reason we got out Play-doh. The two kids got snapped into their seats in the kitchen, with their trays in front of them, and we got to make balls and snakes and little men and bracelets and a ring (thanks to Em). The kids got to order us around and make small messes. PJ was upset when we opened up some of the containers to find mish-mosh colors, not the colors of the lids. He also was caught eating his Play-doh. He had fun, though! We had fun, too. We got to discuss the relative merits of silly putty, Play-doh, and homemade Play-doh, which just never had the same scent. After company left, we had to clean up downstairs. I got Cara to help with the blocks. She put most of them away, with a lot of encouragement and coaxing. I told her she could have a bubble bath if she cleaned them up, and that helped motivate her. I'm hoping that if I put a lot of effort into this for a while, she'll gradually need less supervision. The three bears, of course, went into the bath with Cara. They had fun floating inside and then being poured out of the empty shampoo bottle we rinse Cara's head with. They also spent some time looking and calling for their mommy. The yellow one, particularly, is anxious to see her. Steve offered some candidates, but none were bears and so none of them were the bears' mommy. After the bath, I proposed a large teddy bear as a possible grandpapa. Cara hugged him and hugged him, delighted. "I got my papa!" I don't know how the little bears felt. | Previous Week | Back Home | Next Week | |