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Journal Key:

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

1/17/08 (Thursday)

I finally got to the pharmacy today, and I made an impulse purchase: bath crayons. It's a good thing I did, too! Potty training, unfortunately, has been completely stalled this week. This evening, I decided to start trying again. I got Cara to sit on the potty, and nothing happened. I wanted to get her to try again, so I told her that if she peed on the potty this evening, she could have a prize. Well, we got back on unsuccessfully twice, and if I had not had those bath crayons, I would have had to refuse to give a prize to a little girl who was very deeply interested in getting one! As it was, though, she got something better, possibly, than any prize, I kept the moral high ground, and no one asked for a prize! Beautiful.

I didn't know what to expect. We dipped a crayon in water and Cara tried drawing. Lo and behold, a bold magenta line followed the crayon along the wall of the bath tub! It's a very nice set; there are about eight crayons. Two are pink, one dark and one light. To my surprise, Cara mainly stuck with the dark magenta one. Also surprisingly, I was ordered to use not green but purple, for the most part. Cara drew all around the tub. Eventually, she drew around it, across the bottom, up the other side as high on the tile as she could reach, and then along the wall all the way to the shower curtain.

That was actually a narrative of some sort. "I draw a reindeer," she said. Then she drew this huge line. "All the way into the woods." She sat down. "There's a wolf there!" She stood up to draw another line, parallel to the first. I think that that was the wolf's line, but then it became a picture of me and daddy lying on the couch. She did also draw a very passable boat, sort of a rectangle which, instead of a flat bottom, had a wavy bottom line.

A wet wash cloth was a good eraser, and Cara erased all of our drawings a couple of times so that she could start over. She used a variety of crayons, including of course the light pink one. She called it "ink." I'm not sure why. It was a little bit hard to get her to come out of the tub.

1/19/08 (Saturday)

I have to relate one thing from our Friday morning together. I was having breakfast with Cara. Through a strange set of circumstances she was sitting on the chair closest to the fridge and I was sitting in the middle chair, typically hers. (I was so used to this being the case that I had avoided it in favor of the chair farthest from the fridge; Cara would not have this and quickly moved me to the seat next to her.) While eating her bread pudding, Cara began groaning and looking up towards the ceiling. I calmly and politely asked her what the heck she was doing. "Stretching my neck like a llama!" This was a perfectly logical reply, since Diego asks us to do this very thing in the llama-themed episode in which he saves Christmas.

Cara had a very happy evening Friday with Grandmama and Grandpapa. She got to make cookies and she capped off her Saturday morning with a triumphant visit to the potty, which earned her a special prize--her very own Rescue Pack! Unlike Diego's version, which can transform into Anything He Needs, Cara's holds a collection of Diego-themed card games. But this was quite enough for her pure delight.

Not long after her happy arrival at home, we coaxed Cara out of her pajamas and into some new and nice clothes so that we could go visit her other set of grandparents! Having gotten off the potty-training wagon a bit, Evie was anxious to get us back on; but neither of us parents was quite brave enough to allow Cara to go the whole car ride in regular underwear, as she wanted. We did bring the potty seat with us and Cara did get on it multiple times, peeing on it successfully twice. Fortunately the frog and turle-related knick-knack's in Grandma's bathroom lured her in very nicely.

For this, Cara received her second potty prize of the day, one that Mommy purchased and has been anxious to hand out: a tiny, tiny Polly Pocket girl who can drive a tiny, tiny pink car! Cara, predictably, loved it. She was a real cutie all day, the only real unhappiness of the day coming when I was forced to tell her that she could not play with Play-doh again because we had to get ready to leave. While we were there, Cara did get to play with Play-doh, and paint with water, and play with Playmobil guys, and little dinosaurs, and (about when I thought it was time to go) the whole set of Matchbox cars. Her attention span for any one activity was very short, probably because she knew there were so many things to do and wanted to do them all. She also got my parents back on the computer and showed them her favorite internet games. And we got to see the Backyardigans Mighty Knights movie for the second time (Grandpa very thoughtfully recorded it for us), which made at least my wife very happy.

Cara's word for the day was "Eeek!" I'm not sure why, but she said this a lot--it seemed to be a sort of general cry of happiness or excitement. The other thing that she said a lot was "No, Rusty, no!!" Rusty and her have a very special relationship.

Before we reached home Cara awoke from her nap and was as usual a bit crabby. We departed a bit from the norm and hit Wendy's on the way home, and so she had french fries waiting for her when we took her inside. This seemed to help her post-nap crabbiness considerably, and she was soon very happily playing with her girls downstairs. We gave her a few minutes, and then Evie carefully and cleverly tricked her upstairs with the seemingly innocuous task of helping to hang more paper lanterns which Cara had helped create on the computer.

Somehow we got her into her pajamas with little complaint and Mommy was the lucky one who got to read stories. They began with some Little Critter tales; by the fourth one, Cara's interest in the foibles of the critter was waning. "Mommy," she wheedled, "can you read me the biggest book in the world?"

She was referring to Richard Scarry's big compendium book--I don't even remember its actual name, since we usually all call it "The Big Book." Cara is a skillful delayer and manipulator. After one tale from The Big Book, Mommy moved on to the closing book, about the Christmas mice; at which point Cara asked for the Circus McGurkus, because she knows it is one of Mommy's favorites. However, Mommy knows her little girl's tricks.

1/20/08 (Sunday)

When Cara woke from her nap today, she could hear voices downstairs: two people were here, I explained, Aunt Claire and Heather. Cara was eager to go downstairs, but she was also shy. She stayed huddled on my shoulder and was not friendly, and then she huddled in Daddy's lap, and then she asked me to get out of her chair so she could sit down. We had been eating dessert, so there were brownies that Heather had brought and there were petit fours, one of which was pink. We gave Cara the pink one, and she soon started eating it. She figured out fast that we were all watching her every move, and she quickly decided to become adorable.

She managed to get two and a half petit fours (she got tired halfway through her third) and a brownie, which she abandoned and returned to eat an hour later. She showed everyone the cake inside them. She got down off of her chair only to get her step-stool to climb back on. Once she was good and sugared up, it was time to show Heather her toys. She showed her several girls, and then somehow the word "Earth" came up in conversation. This reminded Cara of her geography pop-up book, which she found and sat down to show Heather.

She also got out a hand puppet, the use of which she demonstrated to Heather. When, later, Heather put it on and made it talk, Cara shrieked and ran to the next room, only to return again and repeat the performance. Eventually she brought some food for the the pig to eat, and then everyone was happy.

When Heather left, Cara got to play with Aunt Claire for a long time. They both got to wear hats from the dress-up box. They also got to wear halves of Cara's big plastic egg on their heads. They played girls. They drew on the coloring castle. They played blocks. Cara actually sat down with the blocks and built a complex structure, all on her own. I mentioned to Claire that we had gotten bath crayons, and we all had to troupe upstairs to try them out. They do, we learned, work dry.

When Claire eventually had to leave, Cara managed to still have fun with only (sigh) her parents. Poor child. We played girls, and then Cara and I went to the basement to get Driggles the Dragon, a Weeble. We also found Cara's toy Santa, who joined us. It turns out that his sleigh was stuck, and the other toys had to help him pull it out. About seven of the girls came over to help, and they managed to get it free. I know now, if I ever have car trouble, whom I should call.

1/21/08 (Monday)

Today was Martin Luther King Day, and it marked the rare occasion when Ev and I both had off from work but Susan's was open. Evie left before I went in to get Cara, to do errands so that the situation at home was more like a week morning and less like a weekend. We both figured Cara might get the wrong idea if we were both there. So I got her up and she had some pancakes and more time than usual to play with her girls before I got her off and into the car.

Cara had a fine day at Susan's, but unfortunately the odd parental health problems continue. Evie came down with the fever I had a few days ago, which by the afternoon had worsened beyond mine and back into the realm of throwing up. (When will it end?!) We had planned on all having a fun evening out at Chuck E. Cheese's, but the upshot was that I went and picked Cara up and took her there without Mommy (with Christmas money from grandparents--thanks!).

Mommy got some rest, and Cara got to play. She hasn't been back to Chuck E's since the birthday party months ago, but she remembered it and was eager to get back to the platforms and tunnels. If anything, climbing in them was even harder than last time. Her first ascent took approximately fifteen minutes, and after she finally got down (by using the slide), I suggested we do some kiddie rides instead. We did, and enjoyed ourselves. I ordered food, which magically appeared at our table while we were busy playing (it also, to Cara's consternation, magically disappeared after we left the table). The only table I could get was from the absolute opposite corner from the play area. This was not as bad as it sounds, since it also put us right at the musical stage, and there were birthday parties going on. So we got to see the guy in the Chuck E. suit for a bit, and we got to watch the mechanical animals do their songs, and we got to watch some videos as well. Cara really enjoyed this and ate a surprising amount of pizza while watching it. She also liked watching the other kids running around. Occasionally she would slide out of the booth to do some twirling of her own; once she came over and whispered in my ear, "Daddy, can you dance?" I declined as politely as possible.

After the meal, Cara was anxious to tackle the platform ascent again. I was impressed that she managed to do it four or five more times. Each time it was difficult, but never as difficult as the first time. She would get stuck and yell "Daddy!" and I would try to give advice, which was usually that she move into a corner (from which it's easier to grab an edge of the platform and pull oneself up). I never broke down and got in there with her, which is good, because otherwise they would have had to call the fire department.

I think this time Cara was slightly more interested in the kiddie games available--the rides we also did a lot of, but there was one game (impossible to describe, but it involved blown air, lots of bee-striped balls, a honey pot, and a catching net) we played multiple times, and we ended the evening with a delightful round of air hockey. There is one ride that she also did last time, where the child sits in a little car next to a ceramic Chuck E and looks into a real camera, which is supposed to take a picture. Last time we couldn't make the picture work, but this time I noticed a "car key" which I turned during the ride and which I theorize clicked the shutter. Anyway, we ended up with a black-and-white photo, similar to a freeze frame from a convenience store security camera, of Cara with her arm on Chuck E.'s shoulder. If only I had clicked the camera a few seconds later and gotten her hugging him full-out.

I got Cara to leave with the fortuitous concept that we were going to go and see Mommy--and get a brownie. Cara was charmed with the place's "kid check" security measure, which had each of us stamped on the hand with the same number that would only show up under the special lighting at the exit. She was very happy to show her number to the attendant there. So we went home and saw Mommy. Cara, very hyper, only ate a part of her promised brownie and then had to play computer games with me. Then it was time for a bubble bath, and so forth. There was not any major crabbiness due to overstimulation, for which I am very thankful. I just hope she doesn't expect that kind of excitement every evening.

1/22/07 (Tuesday)

Cara would love to have that much excitement every evening. She had a great, cheery day at Susan's; she made a great project, painting a penguin black and white without Susan having to touch a brush. Susan reported that Cara's pants were falling down a lot, and they continued, in fact, to do so all evening.

I'm still very slow from being sick all day, so I managed to sit on the couch downstairs while Cara played. She was very independent for much of the time, but she did come up with several attention-getting techniques. She asked me to read the Circus McGurkus five or six times, but she never got through more than two pages. She was nice to me, too. She decided I needed a blanket, so she headed upstairs to get one. Of course, it was dark up there, so I had to go turn on the lights for her.

Everyone was happy when Daddy got home. He got himself and Cara fed, and then they played together with Cara's girls. The girls helped out Santa, though I believe at one point they made him cry. Then they all ate some pizza. Cara is much, much better now at getting the girls dressed and undressed. They spend a lot of time undressed, saying things to each other like, "Hi, girl. I'm naked." They are all called girl, except, often, for the princesses, who are called princess. I find it very amusing.

1/23/08 (Wednesday)

Had a very nice morning with Cara this morning. We went down to have breakfast and I made her some old leftover bread pudding. Very discerningly, she decided she didn't like it, so I dumped it down the drain and, at her request, made her toast (from white bread). This she enjoyed just fine and then we happily marched upstairs to get dressed. In her room Cara found her little girl in the tiny car, and was playing with it on the changing table. She said, "Daddy, I want to go on the potty so that I can get another girl in a car!" (Paraphrased there, but I think that's pretty much what she meant.) So we got on the potty and she did manage to squeeze out a few drops. I gave her two stickers and told her I was very proud of her. I suggested that if she went to the potty at Susan's and at home tonight, she might get another prize.

In the car on the way to Susan's Cara decided she wanted to put her mittens on. In the rush to get her out the door I had just put on her scarf and hat. I told her to look in her pockets. She successfully put both mittens on! I was impressed. The only problem she had was locating the second one, which she simply could not find no matter how many times I said, "Look in your other pocket!" I had to reach back and get it out for her, but she put it on.

Everyone was still outside playing when I got to Susan's, which was great. It five o'clock, and it was still light out! In the car on the way home, Cara told me a long story that had to do with (M)Annika losing her clock. It went on and on. Finally I called Susan from the car to ask whether Annika had lost anything today. "Yes, she did. She lost [name of cartoon character that I cannot remember], the grandfather clock from Beauty and the Beast!" Go figure. I will never doubt again, though I do think that some of the details of Cara's story may have been fictitious.

At home we hung around and played, and Cara did in fact go on the potty. She got two stickers, which brings her up to nine currently; I think that the morning is a great time to get a prize, so I'm hoping that that goes well. I'm very happy if, as Steve relates, Cara wants another girl in a car. We have another one. The other day Cara told me she needed a sister for the tiny girl to ride in the car with her, and I do not think we can find such a tiny girl without a tiny car.

It was playdate night, and everyone was in attendance. Cara was standoffish when Ron came in, and when Em came in she greeted her with enthusiasm. She soon changed her mind about Ron, though, and all was well. The kids did great and settled most of their arguments themselves, which I think is the ideal situation. PJ's grandparents sent Cara a present! It was wrapped and everything; it turned out to be a princess cup! It's a nice plastic cup with Belle from Beauty and the Beast on it. Casey and PJ have ones with other princesses, so no one will be jealous or fight. They all used their cups at dinner.

Cara has become a slipper fiend. She loves to get us our slippers. I just got new ones, which is very fortunate because my old ones were very annoying and hard to keep on, which I think defeats the purpose of wearing slippers. Tonight was Cara's first encounter with my new slippers, and she was difficult to convince. She wanted me to wear the red ones. When I walked away, though, she came running after me with my new slippers.

I settled in to read to her. Daddy said good night. Cara said good night to him and then, while he was heading back downstairs, wondered aloud whether he had his slippers on.

I finished reading to Cara. She told me she liked my slippers. I thanked her. She told me again. She asked me to let her touch them. I guessed that was okay, so I did. I gave her a good twenty seconds. Then I got her to come into my arms so that I could put her in bed. She was not happy. "Mommy, could you let me touch you swippers aga-a-ain?!" (Stop worrying, grandparents. As soon as she was in bed, she was fine and happy!)

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