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Journal Key:

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

8/9/07 (Thursday)

Cara used the potty this morning like a big girl. She ate a decent breakfast and helped choose her clothes and went to Susan's cheerfully. Then she had a bad day, no doubt partly because she is starting a cold. She was fine this morning, but now her nose is quite runny, and she sneezes.

We had a good evening. For the first time, Cara got to dip her bread in the oil we have out for ours. I didn't think she would like it, but then she got a piece of hot dog on her fork and dipped that, too. What mature taste! She'd have gone on if we hadn't taken it away after only three of four pieces.

After dinner, Cara and I got our shoes on and put Little George in his stroller and went to see Juliana. Cara showed Juliana her stickers, the Pooh and Piglet she got yesterday, which are still on her legs. When Juliana asked her what she did at Susan's, Cara said that she had made an ant. She used to always claim to have made a bee, so I guess the ant made a big impression! We went into the back yard to see where there's a nest of chipmunks in a bird house, and then Boo, the dog next door, started barking. Well, Juliana got some little bones for him, and Cara got to feed him! Juliana put the bone in her hand and helped her hold it up to the fence so he could take it. She fed him two, and he kept barking. Cara, of course, wanted to give him more, so he got another half of one. Cara was thrilled.

Steve was busy, so I gave Cara her bath. She was very, very happy in the tub, busily playing the games I know she and Steve do together. He's got her really well trained, I think, because she knows exactly what needs to happen. She's not so excited about the washing parts, but she can keep herself amused and happy.

While she was in the bath, I gave her some Tylenol. She sucks it right out of the dropper, waits for more to settle at the bottom, and goes for that, too. She took the dropper out of my hand. Later, she told me she needed more.

She wore her Fairy Ballerina Princess pajamas. They're purple, with a picture of what I take to be a fairy ballerina princess on them. Cara twirls around and around, saying "I fairy ballerina pincess!"

8/10/07 (Friday)

We had a great day today. Of course the girls were out. I believe one of the sets we bought was intended to be some sort of beauty salon for pets, so the princess sat a kitty on the stool, washed its hair, and "made it pretty." Then that kitty sat on the couch and another went through the same process. Both kitties sat on the little couch, and I asked Cara who was next. One of her girls was. "Kitties, you have get off couch!" said the girl. Well, the kitties did, but they were sad. They were very sad. "Oh!" Cara ran to get her doctor's kit. She determinedly worked the latches to open it and got out the stethoscope. She put it around her neck and touched each kitty with the end, making it "feel better."

It was pouring, so we wore our raincoats when we went out in the morning. The first place we headed for was the chiropractor, where Cara did have time to try two chairs in the waiting room before we went back. When we were alone in the room, she climbed onto the stool only to fall off immediately because she leaned against the wall and it rolled out from under her. She was upset and I was immobile, so the girls (the real girls in the office) picked her up and took her to "the lollipop room." I have been a patient for years and have not been invited to the lollipop room once. Cara picked a pink lollipop, and she also got two stickers, one on each hand. I listened to a long discussion of which animals she ought to take. She settled on a tiger and a bug.

We also stopped at Sears, where Cara was eager to ride up and down the escalators. When we got to them, though, she was scared to step on. I think they go faster there than at the mall. I carried her. I picked out a new purse with Cara's help, but she also examined a display of body lotion. "Mommy, what happen to this?" She was concerned because the little tubes were not lined up nicely, and several had fallen over. We stopped to tidy them up.

While we were in the library, it started to really pour again. We stayed for a while, trying to wait it out. Cara loves to do puzzles there, but she really is not interested anymore in the ones they have that are at her level. These mainly have to do with fire trucks. This led to us playing with puzzles too advanced for us and also to us repeatedly taking out and rejecting all of the puzzles available. I spent some good time sitting with Cara and reading. We found some good books and some bad, and we mainly took home the good ones. The book Cara picked out first, by some miracle, was How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which I tried with difficulty to convince her we had at home before I realized she'd never notice if I didn't get it anyway.

A little girl much smaller than Cara but who will be three in November joined us. While her mommy and her little brother picked out books, she listened to a couple of stories. She was curious about Cara and kept touching her, which made Cara uncomfortable. She liked Cara's necklaces, and I suggested that Cara share. I was very proud that Cara then took them off and handed one over. Then I suggested to the girl that she show her mommy, and Cara stood up and led the way. I was very proud of her.

We had the perfect rainy-day lunch: we shared a can of soup. Of course Cara was then reenergized and not nap-ready, but I put her down anyway. When I went in to pack her bag, she was sound asleep. I packed and got everything into the car before I woke her, and then she stayed awake the whole way down. She was happy when I told her she was going to grandmama's house, but she said, "And you, too, Mommy!" That was a little bit of a tug at my heartstrings, but I know she always has a fabulous time!

The phrase of the day was "What happened?" This was Cara's comment on any consequence of her own actions: she got food on her hand - "What happened?" She spilled her water - "What happened?" She made all the blocks tumble down - "What happened?" (Is this a precocious practice of deniability? I don't think so - it is an effective way to call attention to small problems.)

Her multisyllabic word of the day was "disappear;" when George went downstairs Cara looked for him and explained, "He disappeared," before she resourcefully went to find him.

She arrived at our house a little sleepy, but pleased to be the recipient of a brand new potty seat, which she test-drove a couple of times during the evening. I think she actually peed a little once. She was willing to use it again this morning, but had already pooped in her diaper; I think she was a little distressed about that.

Her favorite Middletown toy at the moment is the magnetic Princess doll. We dressed her again and again. We arranged and rearranged all her outfits. Cara likes everything to match - we couldn't mix things up!

GiGi came over and joined us for macaroni and cheese, which Cara liked so much she had three helpings. GiGi held her so she could watch me stir all the ingredients together. Then, while we waited for it to bake, Cara had time to create one painting, with deep concentration as she used her brush to make tiny spots of color that GiGi identified as stars.

Now that we use a bar of soap in the bath, the tub has developed a ring! Cara thoroughly washed two of her girls, and I thoroughly washed Cara. "They naked," she said of her girls, although they obviously are wearing underwear. I pointed out that she was naked as well, and the girls could get their clothes on when she put on her pajamas. By the way, Cara was so pleased with the kitty-cat phase of the evening that we had to find Claire and show her as well.

At some point in the evening Cara got a little wistful and wanted to go home; we talked it over and then she went on with her evening routine. We had to get the girls dressed for bed; Cara asked for the red shoes, but I pointed out that everyone sleeps barefoot, naming each of us in turn, and Cara agreed to let the girls sleep barefoot as well. She was sweetly tucked in by 9 PM.

8/11/07 (Saturday)

This morning Cara was happy to help feed Schmutz and eager for some toast and butter, but no eggs. Mainly, though, she was eager to go home. To Mommy and Daddy, I suggested. "And Buster and Shelby!" she said happily. I allowed her to choose clothes from the assortment her Mommy had packed, but just as we were about to put on her pink pants she said, "no! no! no! no!" She wanted her namas, and that is how I sent her home, wearing her namas and sneakers.

Cara did indeed arrive in her namas, or "jamas," as the word seems to have evolved. Her Mommy and Daddy each tried to convince her to change into real clothes, with no success; in fact, she tried to convince us to change into our jamas! We politely declined. Cara was a little stuffed up today but already seems to be getting over her cold. We watched a tiny bit of Disney but soon moved on to playing with the girls, and not too long after that it was time to pack up and go off to South Jersey!

Cara slept in the car but awoke happy that she had arrived at her grandparents' house, and was thrilled to be greeted by her Grandma. The toys quickly came out and though Cara did not go and find the Potato Heads or request the Matchbox cars, we still saw our fair share of animals, people and critters. Not too long after we arrived we were joined by Uncle Jim, Aunt Sarah, and Floyd the dog! Cara had time to open up a bit more to them this time and made a few comments to Uncle Jim about her toys. She also made a few halfhearted attempts to share with him.

At one point during the day Cara crawled (she was crawling around the house for some reason) over to a family photograph from Christmas time. She found herself quickly, and was able to point out her Mommy and Daddy. When asked, she found her grandma and grandpa. She went on to identify Uncle Jim, Aunt Sarah, and then her Great Aunt Sally and my cousins Cheryl and Andrea! Smart girl.

A good lunch was had by all--Cara's was mainly soup. She enjoyed several juice boxes throughout the day, with very little spillage on herself. She also ended up eating two fudgicles due to a dog-related incident, with considerably more spillage, necessitating (finally) a change in wardrobe: no more jamas! Later in the day she actually managed to weasel a cupcake out of us, also (by "us" I mean myself and my mother--Evie shares no blame).

Cara continues in her tyrannical control over playtime; whenever anyone playing with her tried to independently move a toy, they received a quick "No, no, no!!" from her. For now this is amusing. Fortunately a lot of her play involves various animals meeting each other and becoming friends; if there is ever any destructive behavior, it is quickly covered up with an apology: "Sorry," one horsie will say to another. We had several trips outside, which was nice for the dogs, and Cara enjoyed it; but after fifteen minutes or so she would point firmly at the door and say "We go back inside!" We managed to get in some very entertaining rounds of "Ring-Around-the-Rosy." At its height these would include Mommy, Daddy, Grandma and Cara all holding hands in a big ring and then falling over. The ideal conclusion for Cara was with all of us on our backs wiggling our feet in the air.

As we began the drive home, Cara offered a few "This way!"s and "That way!"s from the back seat, but soon quieted and was fast asleep when we got home. PJ was outside and Ron took him over to meet us just as Cara was waking up and getting out of the car. This unfortunately did not improve Cara's typically irritable disposition at this time; to cap it all, she wet herself and her diaper leaked so thoroughly that my arm holding her was actually dripping. We got inside the house and tried to start on the usual bedtime routine, but Cara entered into an Ultimate Hysterical Mode that was beyond anything in recent memory. We tried leaving her alone in her room to calm down--which didn't work in this situation, but it's not something we've tried a lot and maybe I need to give it more of a chance.

The ultimate solution, as usual, was George. It took at least a couple of minutes after the opening credits of the first episode for Cara to admit that she wanted a cheese stick and start jumping around. She downed what I believe was a grand total of four whole cheese sticks in quick order, and was still asking for more, but I convinced her to eat some cantaloupe instead. She was a perfectly happy normal little girl again and was having a ball. We watched one or two more episodes than we probably should have, but it was Cara who suggested that she get her "jamas" on.

She was hoping to avoid that little bath tub step in between, but we colored the bath water purple and she managed to have a good time anyway. The famous Fairy Ballerina Princess pajamas, having been stained heavily with fudgicle drips, were unavailable, but Cara was willing to settle on the kitty cat ones, and I had the joy of reading her some lovely new library books. I particularly got into If I Ran the Circus, a fantastic and classic Dr. Seuss which we had already tried out a few times earlier in the day. Cara has also developed the habit of "reading" books to herself, and will try to remember what happens and say it aloud. This morning Evie caught her trying this--Cara got to the last page of the book and said, "The end!"

8/12/07 (Sunday)

Today was a day full of good and interesting things happening. In the morning poor Daddy had to mow the lawn, so we all went to play outside. This, of course, was after the tense moments in which Cara willingly changed from her jamas to her playclothes, to our great relief! We opened up the sand table, which we haven't played with much for a while. Cara wanted to make a sand castle, so I poured a small bucket of water into the sand and made it moldable. That was fun. I sculpted a turtle, which Cara did recognize before she crushed him and then asked, "What happened?" I built a little nest and two cars got to sit in it, and then Cara and I added more walls to sort of form a house for the cars. They drove around and around before it, too, was crushed. I smoothed out the sand and we drew in it. I drew a little stick-figure Cara, whom Cara bent over and talked to. It was something about having two eyes. I added a daddy and a mommy, and then, on request, a little Buster and Shelby. When they had been smushed, Cara asked me to draw Pooh and Tigger. I did my best, and then she asked me to add Eeyore. I squeezed him in. Steve came to look, and he guessed that it was a bear, a bunny, and a squirrel. That was pretty close.

Cara and I went out to get a surprise for Daddy: Wendy's! On our way home we accidentally stopped at a garage sale where I purchased a ball pit! It's like an inflatable pool with a big dog head that forms a tunnel in and out, and it came with a big bag of balls. We got it home partially deflated and hauled it in but then we had to go have lunch. Cara finished suspiciously quickly. Aunt Claire was there, too, so when Cara left the table and went downstairs to play with her new dog, we occasionally heard her calling, "Taire! Taire!" Eventually Claire took pity on her; she went downstairs and held the dog's nose up so Cara could crawl through the tunnel again and again and again.

When Cara got up from her nap, her grandmama and grandpapa had come, too. They all went downstairs and put the balls into the doggie. Grandmama held the bag and shook while Cara scooped the balls out. At first it seemed as if Cara was not going to be that thrilled with the dog: she got in the bunch of balls but was soon out of it and playing with her girls in the other room. But after a few minutes she was back in the dog. Play continued like this for some time: Cara would come over to see Grandpapa and Daddy diligently dressing her girls, then a few minutes later would cry "I go to my dog!" and leap into the ball pit. She would sometimes crawl out through the dog's nose, but her favorite thing to do was say "One, two, three, jump!" and jump into the pit. She also enjoyed pretending to be asleep while laying in the balls.

After dinner, everyone but Grandpapa took a walk to the park. Grandmama pushed Cara on the swings, thrilling her by pushing her high and running under! There was a crowd of kids over on the "castle," so when Cara finally ran over, she called, "Big kids, I coming!" There was one little boy among the big kids; he was probably younger than Cara; I think he was the little boy who had so much trouble going down the slide on his tummy because he had no shirt on a while ago. When Cara started up the stairs, he said, "No, no," and he came over to tell her to go away and even push her! She ran away and was upset, of course. A girl who didn't even know him was looking after him and pulled him away, but a couple of times he seemed to show more aggression and naturally Cara was distressed. Once, they started to argue back and forth, though, which was interesting. He mainly ran around with the bigger kids, and another mother went and told his mother what he was doing, so she came and made him apologize.

There was a shy girl there with a ball, and she wanted to play with Cara. For a while, they did play together. One would roll the ball from the top of the slide to the other, who stood at the bottom, then she would climb up and the first girl would slide down. It kind of worked, and Cara could actually catch the ball, when she leaned over on the slide and it rolled directly into her arms! They took turns and were nice to each other, and then Cara got distracted by the spiral slide, and then they just ran around for a few minutes before we had to go home. It was the nicest sharing and playing with someone that Cara's done at the park, I think.

Back at home, we went to see Juliana. Cara wanted to feed Boo, but it turned out that he wasn't there. He must have been having his dinner, or possibly getting ready for bed. Juliana came back home with us to see the ball pit and have cookies. I got out some cherry cordials, and Cara heard them mentioned. "I need cherry, too!" she told us. Fortunately, she soon announced that she wanted a blue one, and it turned out that she was looking at the marzipan. I got her her blue "cherry," and, surprisingly, she ate the whole thing. I thought about having a red one, but Cara decided I wanted yellow.

After a bit, Cara had to leave the table. She ran downstairs and we heard some mild distress. I went to investigate. We're keeping the ball pit in the game room so that we can shut out the cats, who would puncture it fatally, and it turns out that the door also keeps out little girls. I helped her. Everyone went home, and it was time for Cara to be very amused and busy to avoid going to bed. She tried to climb on the dog's nose. She found books to read. I suggested we take a book up to read in the story chair, but Cara said, "I read it in dog's mouf!" So she did. She sat in the mouth of the tunnel and read her book.

8/13/07 (Monday)

When we pick Cara up, she likes to point us in the direction she wishes us to walk. It is possible that this morning she pointed me towards the bathroom! Anyway, she did use the potty like a big girl. Then I was a bad mommy and, when she started to sound like she wanted her pajamas back on, told her that no one in pajamas was allowed to play in the ball pit. She got dressed. Steve gave her breakfast, and we had a great TV-free morning.

Cara and I both got bitten up by bugs yesterday terribly, so we've spent some time today putting "white" (cortisone cream) on ourselves. I also trimmed all of her fingernails down as far as I could this morning, hoping to cut down the scratching a little bit. It's mainly our legs; I look like I have the chicken pox, and poor Cara does scratch, so her little legs are all swollen and red! She likes putting cream on. I dot it on, and she rubs. This evening I put it on my legs first, and she rubbed it in for me. I bet someday she'll get poison ivy like me, too!

I know it's off-schedule, but Cara went to Susan's today and had a good time playing. On the way home she read Busy Timmy in the back seat. She even made up a song about him. We stopped at the Farmer's Market and Cara helped me pick out and buy some produce. She even got a special apple and a special peach all for herself.

I heated up some broccoli-stuffed chicken breasts for dinner, and I tossed in two hot dogs for Cara. I didn't get them onto the table at first, and she noticed the chicken. She asked for some, and she ended up eating two thirds of mine! Now I have two leftover hot dogs, which is not a bad thing.

We went outside for a few minutes and chatted with Juliana. Cara decided she wanted to go inside, so Steve brought her. As he was carrying her down the driveway, she patted his shoulder. "I proud of you, Daddy. I proud of you."

8/14/07 (Tuesday)

Cara was surprised and perplexed to find, when she awoke, that her bed was wet. I'm not sure that she has any idea how it could have happened. She was confident that she was ready to pee on the potty, but of course nothing happened.

A few days ago, I tidied Cara's pajama drawer. This may have been a mistake. She noticed that she has a set of little blue pajamas with ducks on them, and that's what she decided to wear today. I did put a set of overalls over them, which may have helped. She was very happy and, when it was time to get ready for bed, didn't even wait to hear her choices, she wanted to be a duckie. So she is.

At daycare, Cara made a big paper flip-flop. Susan let the kids play with her daughter's collection of flip-flops, which apparently is extensive. I asked Cara who wears flip-flops. She does, and so does PJ. Does Daddy? No. Does Mommy? No.

After dinner, Daddy took Cara to the pet store with him. They saw birds and mice and ferrets. A little boy bought some mice, and Cara wanted to, as well, but not so much that it was difficult not to.

8/15/07 (Wednesday)

This was our only special mommy-daughter day this week, and I think it was a pretty good one. Cara used the potty and had a good breakfast and had fun playing. I belatedly realized that I had let her go in the ball pit in her pajamas, but it's really okay. When the time came, she got dressed in real clothes without too much protest.

I forgot to mention that yesterday Juliana came over with a few new toys, including a new tiny pink baby doll even smaller than the bunny baby. Of course nothing else she brought is of any consequence whatsoever, and the baby is the new high man on the totem pole. A few consequences: "This YOU baby, Mommy!" The baby in the bunny suit is now "mine." I get to play with it. The "daddy baby" is also getting some attention, though that is not necessarily new. In fact, a few days ago she had it out and managed to undress it herself! (It IS the "daddy baby" but it is also a little girl. Cara gives it bottles and refers to it as "she" and everything.) I thought, when Steve came downstairs last night, that he was done reading to Cara and had put her down. This was not exactly the case. He had put her down and been sent to find her baby, whom she was still holding when I went in to get her in the morning.

Cara put on real clothes to go for a ride in her stroller. We went to the park, where Cara got to swing for a long time. Her baby got to swing with her, which she claims it enjoys. It had to sit in my pocket while we went on the slides. We ran around and picked flowers and then carried them for a while, dropped them, and dismembered them only so that we could fit them through the mesh grid of the platform. Cara got to go on the swings again, and when I finally stopped and took her out, she said, "I am sad, Mommy." Then I put her in her stroller with puffs and water, and she said, "I am happy, Mommy." We went next to the Farmer's Market again to get some fruit for tomorrow, and then I had a long walk home.

Cara surprised me by singing the first few lines of "Hush, Little Baby." I would not have expected her to know so much of it! She couldn't get through any of the "if that"s, so she just kept singing nonsense.

After naptime, we went to Barnes and Noble to play trains. Frog, of Frog and Toad, is climbing a ladder. Toad stands nearby. Cara believes that he is Frog's mother. It is great for her to get to play with that train set. Today, her goal seemed to be to make very long trains. She got up to about seven cars, but that really can't hold together. "Mommy, can YOU fix it?" We had a good time.

After that we went to Michael's to get some safety scissors. Cara wanted pink ones, but when we found them and they were yellow, she still wanted them very much. We bought some other art supplies, like pipe cleaners and pompoms. Cara carried the bag almost all the way back to the car! She was a big help.

Susan is closed tomorrow and Friday, so I am baby-sitting PJ and Casey. I was a little bit apprehensive, but then Em decided it was a party. She's bought stuff, and I've bought stuff. I'm excited about it. It's a party! She brought over two playpens today for naptime, and Cara is very distressed about it. She wants to know where hers is. Okay, I'm a little bit apprehensive! Juliana is coming over, though, and I have lots of activities and, if I'm desperate, some new DVDs. We'll see how it goes.

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