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Journal Key:

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

6/14/07 (Thursday)

In spite of the cool weather, everyone was playing outside when I got to Susan's. Today I got to bring home the Father's Day present Cara made for Steve. It's in a little green gift bag, and Cara carried it all the way home. I tried to get it away from her, but she was adamant. Miraculously, the gift is intact. The bag is not ripped. The gifts are inside. The tissue paper has not been removed. The foam stickers on the outside of the bag have not been moved. That, in itself, is astonishing. Taking off the foam decals is usually the first thing Cara does. They're letters and they spell out "I love Dad." I told Cara what it said, and she repeated it for the whole ride. Now, of course, she doesn't remember, and, when I ask her what it says, says, "P! A! S!" She has a budding interest in letters, albeit a vague one.

At home, we went inside and put a sweater on Cara. I returned her bears to her, reminding her that she had to pick them up, and they joined in the game we'd started downstairs. I had gotten out Cara's My Little Ponies, and the "mommy" and "baby," who are exactly the same size, had been befriended by a large frog (Cara wouldn't give me a character, so I had to make do) who had invited them out boating on Noah's ark. The bears all jumped out of their cups right away, and they began knocking on the sweetshop door by the fistful and somehow maneuvering themselves through. Soon eight or nine were seated around the table, eating cookies.

We'd been home for about twenty minutes when I got a phone call: PJ and Casey would be joining us for a while! Cara and I agreed that PJ could not play with her ponies or her bears, so we put them away. Then Cara began to cry because her bears were away, so she got them back. We had mainly a very good time with our friends. Here are some highlights.

Casey crawled in among the bears, whom PJ had dumped out on the floor. Well, those are a choking hazard, so we went to clean them up. Everyone helped, but then PJ dumped his again. I put our cup on the table and went back for his, and he dumped ours. Meanwhile, I had told Cara I would do something for her when the bears were put away, so she was quite anxious. By the time I was done, she was distracted.

Casey crawled over and stood up, holding onto Cara's toy caddy. I reminded Cara that Casey needed something to play with. What could we give her to play with? Cara thought about it. She had an idea! She brought it over. "Here, Casey, you play Daddy's shoes."

I started getting out toys for Casey, but of course the first few were grabbed by Cara, who suddenly needed them very much. Eventually Casey got something. PJ and Cara got an old electronic "book" that plays music. PJ got it to play "Twinkle, Twinkle," and they both jumped up and down. Over and over and over again. They were dancing together!

For a while I bounced Cara on the ball while PJ was distracted. Then I bounced PJ on the ball while Cara was distracted. Cara got out her Weebles. Soon, all of them were riding around and around in the moat. All three kids ended up playing with those Weebles. Cara decided she wanted the bears' house, so we got it out. Then she wanted the right Weebles. We looked and looked for Baby Bear, finding him, of course, in the moat. We watched him going around a few times, we tried to grab him, and then suddenly PJ had him and had decided that this was the only Weeble he wanted, too. I ended up, after some negotiation, taking it from him. He lay down and started wailing, and then in thirty seconds he was back up and playing. He's a good kid.

Steve got home and jumped right into playtime. Cara and PJ were having a tea party when Em showed up with some things we'll be storing for them while their renovations are done. She also returned Elefun, which the kids were happy to play with right then! They were thrilled, but they still had to accompany us into the basement. We were hungry, though, so soon we were upstairs for a snack. I put Casey in the high chair with some cereal while I started dinner, and Cara and PJ watched George Curious Monkey and split three cheese sticks.

Dinner was late, but it was ready pretty soon after they left. Cara ate ravioli with tomato sauce with her fork like a big girl, and her shirt can testify to that. After she was done we snuggled on the couch while she ate some dried fruit. Thank goodness Steve's in charge of the bath; I was exhausted! I pitched in afterwards, though, and even gave Cara a horsie ride! For the first time, she got onto my back and rode all the way up the hall!

6/15/07 (Friday)

This week we tried something different. Emily had noticed a small fair in Lincroft and was eager to bring Cara there, so instead of going straight home we went to pick up GiGi. Of course, once Cara was out of the car, it was hard to tell her to get right back into the car, so we first had to visit GiGi's house and then we drove to Lincroft where the fair was just about to open up. Cara was excited by the lights and bright colors; she pointed at lots of rides. She was interested in a small roller coaster that looked like a Chinese Dragon; each time it rolled by she clutched me.

We tried to let her ride some of the kiddie rides. Cara spent this interval in an agonizing tension between attraction and fear. She was very happy to enter and sit in the cute cars or whatever - in fact she nearly climbed over the fence to get to Donald Duck cars - but did not want to be strapped in, nor to remain on a ride without me. At length Emily donated our tickets to a nice family. Then, on the way out, we passed the carousel. We watched. We bought more tickets. Cara and I tried several horses until she found one she liked; she had to get off and examine his face and pet him. I put her back on. The music started. She was clearly frightened, but also excited. I stood next to her and held her firmly and she held firmly to the pole, grinning fiercely.

Having triumphed over fear, we drove GiGi home and went to our own house where Cara hoped to find her dear Grandpapa and I hoped to find some supper for us both as it was close to 7 pm.

We got home before Grandpapa. No matter - Cara was enchanted by a toy GiGi had left for her: an old fashioned baby buggy with a doll and a bunny under a blanket within. There is also a doll sized rocking chair. The doll had to sit in the chair. Cara squatted down to observe the rocking motion. She pushed the buggy all around the room. I lured her upstairs for food. She requested yogurt, which I gave her. She also sampled my homemade pizza, which she pronounced "good." She dunked it in her water - who am I to say this is not an acceptable way to eat pizza? All in all, she didn't really eat much, but she seemed happy.

Grandpapa arrived at last and we all went out to enjoy the last light of the day with a vigorous expedition to the park and the playground. We ran around and around on the basketball court. We practiced hopping and jumping. At the playground we went down side-by-side slides together; "together" became Cara's favorite word for a while. Even Grandpapa took some turns on the slides! Then Cara wanted her sandals off. Grandpapa was opposed to the idea, so she swiftly removed them herself and ran barefoot in the sand. She lay down on her back and asked me to draw her (draw around her with a stick). "Now you!" she commanded, so I lay down on my back. Unlike Cara, I place my hands beneath my head to keep sand out of my hair. Unlike me, Cara had a shampoo before bed!

Back home we played with the "girls" and watched our animals of the world video. As the DVD ended, I asked Cara who needed a bath. By trial and error we discovered that the girls needed a bath. They had to remove their shirts; so did Cara. Before she knew what was happening, Cara was naked - she always has a moment of delight when she sees herself in the full-length mirror, naked. The girls went into the bath and Cara tried to climb in after them; we helped.

I think Cara has little fear of water; while we played with the watering can she asked me to water her nose, which I did. She also asked to have the water poured into her open mouth! As always, she wanted the full variety of bath oils added to her water - a drop of this and a drop of that - and when she was done she wanted to become a kitty-cat in her special towel. She cuddles in my arms and looks at herself in the mirror - a rosy, cozy kitty cat. Grandpapa entered the room; "I kitty-cat!" she told him.

During the bedtime routine she became very busy and helpful. As we read the three books mommy had provided, Cara came up with a number of things that had to be done. She hurried upstairs with her brush so Papa could brush her hair again. She hurried upstairs again to fetch me "Winnie Pooh." She wanted to drink water from a baby bottle. Eventually the "girls" saved us; they were "tucked in" so Cara wanted to be tucked in too.

6/16/07 (Saturday)

She has slept the whole night through and as I write this - at about quarter to 7 - I can hear her gently talking to herself in the next room.

Cara woke up happily chatting and clutching her collection of pens. She had little interest in food this morning - she ate only a slice of buttered toast for breakfast - and a great deal of interest in everything else. She painted a little while we fixed the breakfast she didn't bother to eat. She looked at the paintings on the wall and correctly identified her Papa and Aunt "Taire." She wanted to swing the enameled fish in the front window, but thought better of it and asked me to do it instead. She wanted to go outside, but not to get dressed. She went upstairs and examined the interesting things on my dresser, patting the perfume bottles gently and carefully. She tried on necklaces. Eventually she got dressed quite agreeably and went off to find her mommy and daddy.

Cara happily climbed up the steps to meet us in the living room this morning, having been brought inside by her Grandpapa. She very inattentively watched some Disney channel programming, moving between the downstairs play room and the living room. At one point, down in the play room, she was very excited to hear the Mickey Mouse show starting, and ran upstairs; but within minutes she was back down again, playing with something or other. Many toys were gotten out and then discarded in favor of something else--the first thing she latched onto upon entering the house were the "springs" (mini-Slinkys) which she remembered were stored in our writing desk. She was not happy until all three had been found: one for Mommy, one for Daddy, and one for her. Mommy and Daddy had not had any breakfast yet, so we managed to have some and Cara managed to get some of our toast.

Today was Mommy's scheduled "Lady Day," so she eventually took herself off, and Daddy and Cara quickly got ready to go out to the park! We had a lovely time, though it was very sunny out and Daddy made two sun-related mistakes: he did not put any sunscreen on his little girl, and he chose to wear a black T-shirt. Cara did a lot of swinging on the baby swings, and was intrigued by the "grown-up" swings. At one point while she was on the kiddie swing she told me to go swing on the other kind; I did, but it upset her because I was so far away. Eventually, having seen someone else doing it, I put Cara in my lap and we did some swinging on the grown-up swing together. Cara thought this was quite exciting for about five seconds, then she had to get down.

There was also, of course, a lot of sliding and climbing up up up. Cara now goes down the slides and climbs the ladders with confidence, though very carefully and slowly (to the annoyance of anyone waiting to climb up behind her). There were many other children, but Cara didn't particularly interact with any of them. It was mainly a matter of waiting her turn or making sure she didn't bump into somebody trying to climb up a slide. We also went to see the animals (we were at Johnson Park), most of whom were out and being fed by over-zealous children. Cara expressed no interest in feeding them herself. I think I got her to say "emu."

It was hard to convince her that we needed to go have lunch, partly because she was having such a good time, and also because she was already snacking on goldfish crackers and puffs. But eventually we did get into the car (after letting the air conditioner run for a while!), and we did the bad-Daddy thing and went through the drive-thru at Wendy's. Cara did the opposite of what she has been doing lately and ate more of her chicken nuggets than her french fries. She did however do some play-acting with the french fries. "Where's my mommy?" said one little fry. "There's my Mommy!" "No, I Daddy!" Eventually she amassed a family, composed of the small fry and two much longer fries who were clearly the parents. Then she calmy ate the entire family.

Afterwards I got Cara upstairs, read her a couple of stories, and put her in her crib. Lately in the evenings Evie has had to stop outside Cara's room about an hour after we put her down and firmly say, "Cara, it's time to go to sleep now!" I think I may have to do that soon also, because Cara has been chatting very animatedly ever since I put her down about twenty minutes ago.

LATER THAT SAME DAY....

Cara woke up from her nap and had made a poopie! So I got to change my first diaper of that sort in quite a while. Then she was, as usual waking up from her nap, crabby. I asked her if she was thirsty, hungry, wanted to play, wanted to go outside--eventually I got to, "Do you want to watch Curious George?" It was the only thing she would say "yes" to, so back we went to George. We watched some episodes, and I got out a bowl of grapes and managed to get some fruit into her (though she nursed the grapes, placing them in her cheek and keeping them there like a squirrel). After a few episodes of George I managed to get her to go downstairs to play with some toys. We undressed her little girl dolls pretty quickly, which left them quite chilly in their painted-on underwear, but also made it much easier for them to slide down the dinosaur neck. I had a few of her toys ask each other if they wanted to be friends, which Cara quickly picked up on, and was having her kitty ask her doggy, "Do you want to be fwends?" repeatedly. The little Playmobil girls sat inside the mini-Slinkys and went "boingy, boingy." We dumped the counting bears out of their giant plastic egg "rocket," and then I decided to put them all into a corral formed by the Playmobil fencing we have. Cara helped me to stand them all up. Various other toys were employed, including her giant pink ball, on which she likes to be bounced. I amused myself by coloring green zebra-type stripes onto a coloring page drawing of a lamb, and adding a brown earring in one ear. Cara, a stickler for symmetry, forced me to draw another earring on the other ear.

I eventually realized that I was also to be in charge of dinner for us. Being utterly helpless when it comes to meal planning, I called out for Chinese. I called very early and I'm not sure either of us was particularly hungry when it came, but we sat down and I put a bowl of wonton soup in front of Cara, which she went at with a will. She ate determinedly until the point when the broth was so low that her inexperienced silverware skills could not scoop anymore out--then she requested that I feed her, which I did, until there was not a drop left in the bowl. She also had some crunchy noodles and the tiniest bit of lo mein.

After dinner we were soon back to Curious George. Cara supplemented this by taking the cushions off of the love seat again, and arranging her frogs and turtles on the living room rug, where they had to dance together: "Dance dance dance!"

She likes to look at photographs, and sometimes I will point out Cara to herself in pictures. Tonight she was looking at a little pamphlet that came with her swim vest and saw a photo of a little blonde girl in a swimsuit on the cover. The girl was holding up a toy shark. "It's me, Cara!" she said happily. "I holding shark!"

At bath time, I put my foot down and turned off the George. Cara is really hooked; some of the DVDs have some in-between footage before the recording switches over to the next episode, which show a picture of Clifford and say "Clifford the Big Red Dog is up next!" Cara was very annoyed by these announcements and said, "No, I want George!" Turning off the DVD produced some tears, but I coaxed the little girl upstairs by telling her that her froggies wanted to go in the tub. Then Cara got upset when she wanted to get into the tub and I told her it wasn't full yet. Finally both froggies and little girl were in the tub. Then Mommy came home! It was a joyous reunion, but Cara did not want Mommy out of her sight, and we had a rushed bath so that Mommy could take her girl out and wrap her up in a towel. Now they are cuddling together with the night time reading.

I had a nice time with my little girl today. We both particularly enjoyed our dinner, as Cara liked her soup so much and I was so happy that she liked it. We were giving each other high fives, and there was one moment where she reached over and kind of tried to hug me. Then she said something like, "I so happy now." Or it might have been "You so happy." Either one was good.

6/17/07 (Sunday)

When I got out of the shower this morning, I heard Cara talking to herself in her crib. She was delighted to see us when we went in to get her; Steve got the perfect Father's Day morning greeting: she jumped up and down in her crib. We got dressed and went out for breakfast. Unfortunately, Cara has very rarely gone out for breakfast and associates the diner with dinners. She excitedly demanded soup! It's very nice that many diners serve breakfast 24 hours a day. They do not serve dinner 24 hours a day. Cara did eat her eggs and some of her pancakes, but they did not fulfill her heart's desire.

Cara got restless when she was done eating, so I took her for a walk. We sat on some chairs near the door, and the hostess asked me whether Cara could have a sweet. Cara got a red, white, and green lollipop. It was called a Tiger Pop. Because I read the label, this was what Cara called it. She must have seen illustrations of children licking lollipops, because she held her tongue out and put the pop against it. I don't think I have ever seen her enjoy a candy so much or attack one with such determination. She clutched that stick in her hand for over half an hour, holding it so high on the stick that only the candy stuck out of her fist. She didn't need a toy in the car on the way home. I couldn't let her into the house; she was very sticky and had the potential to spread the infection. We played outside. Eventually I ended up taking her and her tiger pop for a walk. It got in my hair. It got on my shirt. After a long, long time, Cara was ready to give it up. I hid it in the trash, we washed our hands, and Cara was again ready to be let loose.

The "girls" came with us to breakfast. Cara is working hard on dressing them. I believe she got Ruby's pants on, with one leg in each leg, perfectly, except for their being upside down. This lead to Steve explaining, "This is clearly her butt . . . "

Earlier in the morning, I got out the present Cara made for her daddy at Susan's. She drew on teh card and went to give them both to him. Daddy got a nice keychain with a picture of Cara in it, and he also got a bookmark she colored. Fortunately, Susan had warned me that the thing we wouldn't be able to identify was a bookmark. On the bag, the stickers spell out, "I love Dad." I reminded Cara, and when she was snuggled back up with him, she said, "love my daddy."

Another goal Cara is close to achieving is dressing herself. She is working on putting on her own pajamas. She has the same starting-at-the-wrong-end-of-the-leg problem. This evening, however, I laid her pants out so that she would start at the top. She did it, except that she got both legs into one leg. We're getting closer. She tries to put her shirts on, too, but not the way we put them on her. She wants to put her arms in first and then pop the shirt over her head, and the method seems fairly effective. I think that soon she'll be competent.

It was very hot today, but it cooled down in the evening. After dinner, we put Cara into the stroller and headed for the park! We spent a little more than an hour out, so it's a reasonable evening activity. She had a wonderful time. We parked by the swings and let her loose, and she went running over toward the slides with that cute little-kid run and her shorts sagging down so her diaper showed! She was the only kid there for a little while, but then people showed up. We're pretty sure that Cara waved and said, "Hi, I little girl," to the first boy to arrive.

When there were three other kids there Cara ran over to the swings. She couldn't enjoy them, because she kept trying to look behind her. "Everybody playing!" She had to join them. The boys were all older than she but she jumped right in, running around and around, climbing up the steps and sliding down. We had brought a ball to play with, and we hoped Cara would share. She wouldn't. She really just isn't ready, at this age, I guess. In the middle of being anxious about her ball, though, she ran off to the swings again. This time, the other kids soon followed. Everyone got to swing, and I got to have a long conversation with a nine-year-old.

When Cara was done on the swings we let her slide a little more, and then we had to tear her away. She was actually almost squirming in my arms to get away and keep playing, but it was bedtime! As soon as we got her into the stroller, she was fine again. She had a nice bath, got to go upside-down a lot, read some stories, and is now in bed.

6/18/07 (Monday)

I was delighted when I arrived at Susan's to find Cara running around, soaking wet, clad in only a swimmie diaper. She, naturally, tried to sit on my lap. We had a lovely time getting her dressed outside, and Susan brought out today's project, a froggie. It's a paper lunch bag painted green, with a frog's face and springy arms and legs. Cara drew on the mouth herself; it's a very mouth-like line. She held the froggie all the way home, bouncing it and sometimes kissing it. I heard two interesting stories from the day. Susan reports that Cara and PJ had a fight, each saying, "My daddy!" to the other. They would eventually forget about it, and then PJ would start again. I am relieved that PJ was the agitator, because I am sure that Cara had a stronger, louder emotional reaction. Susan couldn't really explain much, because she didn't want to set them off again. I'm fairly certain I heard the phrase escape PJ's lips again this evening. I do wonder what the whole thing was about. However, the only two people who could possibly understand are not in any position to enlighten us.

Here's the other story: Susan was getting the kids ready to go in the pool. PJ was lying down, waiting for his swimmie diaper. While Susan was getting it, Cara walked by. She looked down at PJ in all his glory and said, "OH . . . MY . . . DEAR! Look at PJ's body!" She stared for a second or two and then went about her business. She's seen lots of diaper changes, I'm sure, but I guess she never noticed.

At home Cara was a good girl and let Mommy make dinner. Cara ate two pieces of bread, a lot of refried beans, and half of quesadilla. After dinner, she ate a banana. I was impressed. We went outside to play and had fun on the slide and in the sand. After a few minutes, Cara, trying, no doubt, to be subtle, suddenly noticed, "There's Ron's house!" We went to see Juliana, and soon PJ and his family joined us. The kids ran off to play on our blacktop, and when Ron and I caught up they were sharing nicely. They still fight sometimes, and Cara runs to us and clings, but they're also more able to play together. I think PJ was playing at scaring Cara, and she was exaggeratedly shrieking. He also peeked out from under the slide at her, which she told her daddy was funny.

Neither kid wanted to head for the bath. Cara had some water in the kitchen and then fought me all the way up the stairs. I put her down on the bed and twenty seconds later she kissed me! We had more fun than we ought, as usual. I lay on my back in her room, and she wanted to slide down my legs. She stepped up onto my stomach, and then Steve "slid" her. She came and kissed me again, but I was laughing too hard to appreciate it!

6/19/07 (Tuesday)

Once again, the children were in their swimmies when I arrived. Susan says that they had a really fabulous time today, throwing themselves into the water, dumping water on themselves, running all over! There were no interesting fights, apparently. I noticed, though, that Cara was sunburned. Her belly was okay, but her arms and legs were very red. We think it happened in the morning, because I could see that it got her feet where the sandals don't cover them. Susan puts on sunscreen in the afternoons before they go in the pool, so we will start putting it on in the mornings, too. Also, from running around in her wet swimmie, Cara's thighs were red and chafed.

She hurt. I asked her where, and she showed me her arms and legs. "Hurt this way," she said, pointing. We went home and put on Winnie the Pooh, which we hadn't seen in a long time. I undressed her and laid her on a towel, and I got out some aloe. I put it on my bug bite, so Cara asked for some "green," too. Well, I slathered her with it. It felt nice, apparently. Next I had to get out the "white," the Balmex for her thighs. She doesn't really like that, but she took it. She couldn't even walk right! I put a baggy dress on her and we snuggled for a while.

After about half an hour, Cara perked up. She still walked a little funny, but she was busy and active again. We got out the bears, the monkeys, the frogs, and the farm animals. She got out her Playmobil stuff. She enacted a conversation between "little pink girl" and "little blue girl." ("Hi, I little blue girl. I little pink girl. I sitting in chair. I sit in chair, too!") I got to be the animals, and Cara helped out by rescuing them whenever they got stuck in high places. The sunburn really cleared up, fortunately. The only problem left is those legs.

Somehow, Cara decided to have toast for dinner. She was happy eating untoasted, unfrozen cinnamon bread, but she also had some watermelon. She ate her leftover quesadilla, but when it was gone she would consider nothing but bread. We could have planned that out better. She picked at things, but then she stood up and said, "Good-bye, Mommy. I done. I going now. See you later." She climbed out of her chair, but she was intercepted by Daddy who for some reason made her wash the watermelon juice off of her hands.

On our walk, PJ ate a piece of the bread we had brought for Cara and Cara ate one of the cheese sticks brought along for PJ. PJ may be developing a name for me, so Em tested him. "Is this Steve?" Later, Cara waved at her daddy, "Hi, Steve!" The kids got to play outside for a few minutes before we came in for bathtime, which put us about an hour behind schedule.

Poor Cara's legs were as bad as ever. Steve gave her an oatmeal bath and I slathered her with ointment before bed. She and Daddy took out her frogs and turtles, and Cara lined them up, then adjusted them by color! Then the turtles came over to say hello to the frogs. It went on and on. At the end, they were all dancing and Cara was twirling, too, with her hands in the air, saying something about "ballerina." Now the amphibians are back in their tube and they are all in bed.

6/20/07 (Wednesday)

An extra special treat awaited Cara this morning: her Mommy was there (and not just because she forgot to set her alarm)! Mommy helped get Cara ready and Cara and I got into the car in good time, and had a chance to see the port-a-potty truck pull up outside of Ron's house (they're having construction done). Cara was perfectly cheerful when she got into Susan's house, and even said "Hi, Susan" (she's usually kind of shy), but was suddenly crying as I walked out the door.

This did not leave me with high hopes for Cara's day, but when I went to pick her up in the afternoon I was told she was happy and good. She explained excitedly to all the other children there that I was her Daddy, which surprised Avery, who was at least a year younger the last time he saw me. He asked where I had been, and I told him I was at work--perhaps he thought I was at the local bar all day.

As her project today, Cara had made some cattails, which she dismantled and mostly put back together while in the back seat of the car. (The cattails went with the frog she made earlier this week--Evie theorizes that it is "Marsh Week.") Cara commanded me to drive home several times, which is what I was doing anyway, so that was good. Not long after we got home, she gave me the greatest gift she had to give: a poopie. Before the poopie, Cara had had a few pieces of a banana and we had done a little playing with Weebles (the family of Weeble bears went to their house, accompanied by an almost non-stop monologue from Cara), but when we came back downstairs with a new diaper it was time for George.

I probably should have taken her outside, but George is always good. While we were watching him, Cara requested "chips" for some reason. I don't know where she got the idea, as I don't recall having eaten potato chips with her in a very long time--but I got them out and we had some. I took them away after a while so that we didn't spoil our dinner, and got out some grapes instead, which Cara happily plucked off of their stems and ate. When she decided she had had enough, she gave me the remainder.

I kept asking her if she was hungry and wanted her dinner, and suggested specific foods, but she kept saying no to everything. Eventually I got out some lo mein noodles and some spaghetti and began doling some out into two different bowls, thinking I would eat whichever she didn't want. She wandered into the kitchen and began eating cold spaghetti out of the dish, so I knew which one I was eating! She enjoyed her pasta very much and got sauce all over her hands.

I can't remember if we watched more George after dinner or not, but eventually Cara ended up downstairs with her counting bears. She looked out the bay window and saw Ron, and decided we needed to go see him. Then she found the new water slipper things that Evie bought for her, and wanted them. So I changed her shoes and we walked down the street. All the Loefflers were outside, so we went "rolling down the sandhills" (for the uninitiated, this is a hit song from the Wiggles) on the front lawn. Cara didn't so much go down as sideways, but she had fun anyway. We also did some jumping and Ron did some flipping (not particularly wise, since he has a bad back). When it was time I convinced Cara to come home.

She did not want to take her bath, and was just getting ready to weep loudly flat out on the floor in protest when her Mommy got home! Cara was very happy, but she still had to take her bath. Then her Mommy snuggled with her and put her to bed.

One thing I noted from the day was that Cara was big on cleaning up. She cleaned up her Weebles and her frogs and her bears without any prompting, while saying "Clean up! Clean up!"

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