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Journal Key:

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

2/14/08 (Thursday)

We had a lovely Valentine's Day. I got up a little early and made breakfast for Steve and Cara; I made some regular pancake batter and some pink pancake batter, and I poured very carefully and made pink flowers! I was very proud of myself and Cara even remembered them this evening when I asked her. She and Daddy also opened up their cards; Cara liked the one she had picked out for Daddy, which involves two purple frogs sliding down a curly water slide. The card I picked for Cara had scratch-and-sniff flowers which don't really seem to need to be scratched.

Cara was full of anticipation about the party at Susan's. Avery, she said, would be "so happy!" and she may have predicted that PJ would give her a hug. When they got to Susan's house, the kids' mailboxes were already out on the table, ready for Valentines. Susan cleverly had them decorated with pictures of their owners, so that everyone knew whose was whose.

The kids all ate lots of goodies and had a great day. They were still playing outside when I arrived. "She's not clean," Susan told me. Well, how can it be a good party if people are clean afterwards? Susan gave us Cara's mailbox, a card Cara had made for me and Steve, and a special Valentine's present from her to Cara. It was a Diego coloring book with special pages for reusable stickers! Cara stuck some stickers on the way home!

The first thing we did here was to open up the mailbox. Everyone had given Cara a card, and many had lollipops on them! Cara opened a root beer one first. I told her Daddy loved root beer. She decided, after tasting it, that he could have it. There were two pink tootsie pops, and Cara found more success when she opened one of those. Then she opened the other one, too. After a few minutes, she decided I should have one. "I very like to share," she told me. Then she made me eat it. While I put some groceries away, Cara struggled to open more lollipops; they were all too secure for her! We stuck with one each. Soon we went and played with the girls and read a book, without getting anything too sticky!

Part of the dinner I made involved bacon. Cara has never appreciated bacon, although we have offered it to her, but today she wanted first to touch it raw, which I talked her out of, and then to eat it cooked. I gave her a little piece, and she was right back for more. She ate tiny pieces, but it definitely added up. She must have had a couple of strips. After I chopped it up, she took a big handful and stole it away to her plate. She was so involved with it that she didn't even get up when Daddy got home. "Mommy made chicken!" she told him when he came in. She was right, but it turned out that she actually meant the bacon.

I've been giving Cara baths lately, which I think is a fair division of labor. The daddy and the little girl are popular toys. Today the daddy got lots of bubbles on him and I made him pretend to be Santa. Of course, his sleigh was stuck in the snow immediately and the little girl came to help. She went looking for a reindeer to pull, but she found only frogs. Then she announced that she was very strong and pulled it out by herself; then Santa flew off and gave everyone presents.

I got a washcloth out for her, and that was more fun than most of her toys. She held it in front of her face and talked, and I couldn't figure out who was talking! Then we switched and she did the same for me. Next I pretended to be Cara, and she pretended to be Mommy. She also got me to close the shower curtain most of the way for her. She loves that. I peeked at her, and I made the sharks poke their heads in, one by one. "Come on in, shark! Where's the other shark?" When we started making noises about getting her out, she announced that she would stay in the tub forever.

It's tough lately to move her from one phase of the bedtime process to the next. She runs off, and she really doesn't feel like brushing her teeth. For a while we could get her to do things be evincing enthusiasm for them ourselves, but that's stopped working. Today, I had some success with suggesting that she would get no stories if she hadn't brushed her teeth.

She makes noises a lot about wanting me to read to her, but it's really Daddy who she wants, in the end.

2/15/08 (Friday)

We went out to the IHOP this evening. Cara selected her funny-face pancake and liked painting on it with yogurt, but she wasn't very interested in eating it. She decided to have a bite of my omelet. She liked it. She ate at least a third of my food, and then she mooched off of Steve, too. Next time, she can have her own eggs! Actually, it was a very unusual evening in that Cara sat with me at the table instead of with Daddy. She was very, very snuggly and cuddly, and I ended up sitting on the very edge of the bench because she kept moving towards me!

We did go on the potty once, successfully, too, so it was a good trip. After we ate, Cara decided she wanted a lollipop and that the waiter would bring one. I'm not sure how that idea originated. We told her she could have one when she got home, provided that she had been very good. She happily told us that she would get one, because she was very good.

At home, she did get one, fortunately a smaller one than we had had yesterday. She sucked on it until it got very, very tiny and finally went away. We cuddled up with a little TV and then went and played. I got out the giant Valentine we bought for GiGi, and we all colored on it. We drew hearts, and Cara colored on them until they were unrecognizable. She also drew a giant heart, which is sort of really a heart. We tried to get her to write her name, and she did make an R. I traced her hands, and later she traced mine and Steve's. They look like catchers' mitts. Finally she bent and put her face on the card, asking us to trace that. Cara collected a group of markers, mainly reds and pinks, and decided they were hers and no one else could touch them. She was very emphatic and finally sat on them to keep them from harm. Then she decided, "I'm going to dance!" stood up, and tried to pull up her sleeves and her pant legs.

2/16/08 (Saturday)

In the morning, Mommy helped Cara get ready and then Cara and I drove off for gymnastics. We arrived pretty early and got to sit up on a high bleacher and watch the other kids come in. One particular little girl stripped off her pants to reveal a leotard and a pair of black tights underneath. "Daddy," Cara asked, "can I take off my pants?" I explained that she didn't have anything on under her pants.

Cara's group practiced mainly in a side wing of the gym and I didn't have a really good view of her, but I did eventually get to see her do an unassisted somersault! She can kind of do it now, though she often ends up turned sideways at the end.

This evening was to be a date night sleepover at Grandmama and Grandpapa's house, but as it turned out Cara just got a nice play session, a lengthy bath, and then got driven home by her mommy and daddy. Now she is tucked into her own bed.

2/17/08 (Sunday)

Today we and the Loefflers took Juliana out to lunch for her birthday! Cara had a lot of soup and a little of her macaroni and cheese, the leftovers of which will be a good meal for some other day. PJ and Cara sat next to each other and actually managed to play quite happily with each other's toys.

Her "nap" afterwards featured a lot of chatting, and probably no napping. We got her back up after the typical amount of time and did some playing. Then we did some coloring for a while, but Cara got tired of that, so I suggested going to play at PJ's house. She readily agreed, which was a good thing since that's what we had planned anyway. (She always seems to skip her nap on days when Em and Ron babysit her!)

Cara whiled away the evening at PJ's house; when we returned to pick her up, Em mentioned that she'd spent a lot of time holding a play phone and claiming to be talking to her mommy. She was napless and by 7:30 it was starting to show, so we tore ourselves away. Cara was excited, as Mommy had expected, by the fact that we'd brought an umbrella along (it was raining outside, albeit very lightly). She was anxious to see the umbrella opened up, but oddly seemed to want it to be red, and was convinced that when we got in the house she would be able to find a red umbrella somewhere. We remain perplexed.

2/18/08 (Monday)

It was a pleasant end to our three-day weekend. I made pancakes for breakfast, not managing to make any recognizable shapes or do anything else that was creative or remarkable, but everyone ate well. Cara and her daddy read the comics together, as they always do. Cara makes very insightful remarks sometimes. Other times, of course, she is less insightful.

Cara and I had a lovely tea party this morning. We were playing and she announced that she was vewy hungwy and sat at her little table. She still phrases things as orders, so she said, "Mommy, you have to cook somefing for me," pointing at her play kitchen. (Interestingly, we have a book called Kitty Princess which we've been reading at least five times a day and which is basically about not ordering people around. Clearly we need to read it more!) I cooked some bacon, eggs, and veggies, and I put bread in the oven to toast. Cara set the table, but as soon as the food was ready she ran off with the plates. After I got her to come back, we sat down to eat. She really wanted me to just get everything and serve her, but I got her to compromise and get utensils while I found tea cups. I ended up with one green spoon; Cara got several in a variety of colors. Later, she did bring me two more green ones.

Next she asked/told me to get water. I got some in the coffee carafe from her kitchen, so Cara got to practice pouring. It went pretty well, really. She experimented with drinking by sticking out her tongue while tilting her cup, and we got to change her pants. I was very glad. I got her to put jeans on. When we got back downstairs, she spilled a little on the floor and got a sock wet; we had to go replace it. She wanted a red sock. I encouraged this, because her shirt was also red. It turned out that we had, really, only one red sock. Cara can now put on her own socks reliably, so soon she had on one green and one red.

Cara was gleeful when her grandparents arrived to visit. She danced, bounced, and finally repeatedly flung herself, face-first, onto the couch. She then refused to give hugs. She did show them her things, like her coloring castle and her new markers. We got out her watercolors, and Grandmom painted a beautiful landscape. Cara mostly pained black. Grandpop painted a car; Cara gave it a big black stripe. I painted fish on the page Cara and I shared. I asked Cara what they were. "Baddoons!" She painted the strings on the baddoons as they floated away into the air.

After a good lunch and a brief shopping trip, Grandmom and I went to sort out Cara's wardrobe and see what we had. We were able to pack away a lot of things, but we needed Cara to try on some dresses to see whether they could possibly still fit. She was delighted. She stripped completely and ran around; in each dress she ran down to our room to look in the mirror. She still fits in a lot of dresses she got when she was younger; we weren't putting her in dresses so much then, but now we think she's more ready. Also, she wants to wear them! This spring, she'll be in dress heaven.

Because of this wardrobe shakedown, Cara spent much of the afternoon wearing a knee-length skirt. She was very happy.

The napless girl was definitely tired, so we had a quiet afternoon after company left. Dinner wasn't fancy. We even watched some TV. We did find a craft project in a Highlights magazine that looked doable. Cara and I made a caterpillar with a face, curly antennae, fringe for hair (I added that part because Cara can cut fringe), and a paper chain body. When he was done, Cara crawled around on the floor, pulling him. She pulled him downstairs and adventure followed: Cara sat on her little armchair, with Daddy George and Baby George on either side of her. The caterpillar lay across them like a seat belt. "Now I'll go home," she said, and she drove her car. Vroom!

2/19/08 (Tuesday)

What with having a napless Monday, you'd have thought Cara would have slept hard last night, and not woken up two hours earlier than usual. Nevertheless, Cara woke up two hours earlier than usual, at around 5, and then we were all up. She required hot chocolate and goldfish crackers, and did not really eat the pancakes that I eventually made her. She was very stubborn after Mommy left, ignoring all of my requests that she get dressed and get ready to go, or saying "No!" outright. I cleaned up her toys and explained why I was unhappy with her. I tried to give her the silent treatment in the car on the way to Susan's, but I don't think the silent treatment really works on her yet!

PJ, Casey, and Cara are usually the only kids there when I get to Susan's in the afternoon. Today they were all watching Clifford on TV, and I sat on the floor with them. Cara just leaned over onto me and snuggled up, so we hung around for a while and chatted with Susan. Casey, who is teething and exhausted (according to Susan), and PJ, who seems to be getting sick (according to Susan), were pretty active, but Cara, who was fine (according to Susan) stayed put. Em arrived in due course, and we got our three crabby, unhappy children to the cars. Cara did not want to get up off of Susan's living room floor. PJ decided he did not want to leave her house; he refused shoes and tried to barricade himself behind the kitchen table. Em and I agreed that it was a good night for takeout, TV, and cuddling.

I had mentioned to Susan that we were looking for a big-girl bed. On the way home, Cara and I talked about it further. She wanted to go to the bed store. I explained that one night we would go out to the bed store, and then, a few days later, men would bring the bed to our house. We pulled up to our house. I got out of the car. Cara started to wail. I opened her door and unbuckled her. The wailing escalated. It took me that long to figure out that she had expected to get out at the bed store! I told her we would go when Daddy got home, which, fortunately, by virtue of our lateness, would be soon.

When I got home tonight I did not meet a bouncy little girl as usual. Mommy and Cara were curled up on the couch and Cara was looking very tired. However Mommy explained that we had to go shopping for a big girl bed. A Panera nearby was our chosen place for dinner, which Cara was willing to have first before the bed. We started talking up Panera and the soup that Cara was going to have. "Daddy," she proclaimed, "I am not going to have soup." So we went to Wendy's for chicken nuggets. Cara had a fine time there. She did not like it when I ate two French fries at once, and admonished me to eat them one at a time. She gave me one fry, possibly to encourage better habits. She made pee-pee in her diaper but then decided she had to go visit the potty anyway--she really is becoming experienced in public bathrooms of all kinds.

Finally we were off to the bed store. At first Cara was shy and claimed she did not want to get on any beds, even though there was a whole store full of them and only one unthreatening salesman. Eventually she very much warmed to the idea. We took off her coat and shoes and she started pulling herself up onto beds and rolling and bouncing. She tried many different varieties, a few of which were quite far out of her price range. At one point she asked, "Does the man sell blankets?" because she wanted to cuddle up on a bed.

We did eventually pick a twin set, which we were not able to get delivered until this Saturday. When we got home, Evie cleverly put together some rings of construction paper (in the same fashion as the caterpillar project from last night) with the remaining days of the week written on them. We can take one link off of the chain every morning, and when there are none left she is going to get her bed! This way we may be able to reinforce the idea of time passing.

Before getting home, we did make one other stop to get a railing to put on the side of the bed. Cara had pretty much reached her limit at that point. At home she decided to become very upset because we opened a door that she wanted closed. Hopefully this was due to tiredness. The bath was skipped and now she is in her crib--only a few more crib sleeps left! (We hope.)

2/20/08 (Wednesday)

We really, really, really have to reduce Cara's fluid intake at night, because she wakes up when she pees in her diaper in bed! This morning at three she was very distressed to find that we were not ready to play after Steve changed her. When I put her back down she cried for a few minutes and then went back to sleep. She sleeps latest of all of us, of course, and Steve had a hard time waking her up. I had a hard time waking up, too. Funny.

Cara reached a milestone at Susan's house today: she pooped on the potty! Susan was excited, and I made a fuss over her for it, so she offered to take me upstairs to see it. Susan explained that she hadn't kept it. Fortunately, that was okay.

Alas, on the way home I let Cara find out that tomorrow we will go see the twins. Predictably, she was ready to go right then. She was less than pleased when we reached our house. She would not help me by carrying her mittens into the house. She announced that she did not want to play. She dropped her coat on the floor and left it. She even threw some toys; I saw her kicking a girl, too. She did eventually bring me her coat, but she was not necessarily ready to have fun. She was out of sorts. I think it's more than just the excitement of tomorrow; I think it's also a little bit of cabin fever. We've been playing in our playroom for a long time!

I got to work getting ready for playdate. I explained to Cara why I had pulled the kitchen table into the middle of the room. She ran off to the living room, and soon I heard her narrating her own actions: "It's stuck!" I went to help her, and it turned out that she was bringing the chair from the computer into the kitchen! With a little help at strategic points, she managed it. What a good helper!

We were watching out the window when Daddy pulled up. "I like Daddy; he's nice and quiet," she told me. "You are very bad, Mommy, because I don't like you!" Then she put her arms up for me to lift her off the chair.

Em and Ron and PJ and Casey all came over! We were very happy. Cara showed Em the link she'd torn off of her paper chain this morning, but she was unable to explain either what it was or even what we had bought last night. PJ brought the dollhouse kitties to the table. All of the kids asked for pieces of banana; one or two kids ate theirs. Probably one. PJ and Cara stayed at the table for longer than they usually do.

Some sort of wild imagination-fest got started downstairs while Em and I were cleaning up from dinner. The kids explained that there was a forest, with scary monsters. Downstairs, I was told the the baby bird had gotten stuck in the sticky goo. Cara and I pulled it out. The rest of the evening mostly had to do with sticky goo and pulling things and people out of it. I really don't understand how all that goo got into the house.

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