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Journal Key:

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

3/13/08 (Thursday)

I don't think of myself as having problems with punctuality, but having to get Cara up in the mornings has changed my perspective. We used to be the first people at Susan's--recently we have become chronically late and often arrive last. Today we reached new heights of lateness. It started off badly, with my going into Cara's room after seven. She was still fast asleep. As Susan can attest, it is very hard to wake the little girl up when she is not ready. You think you've got her, but then she just turns over and resumes snoring. I've found that unless her eyes open, the battle is not over.

Cara seemed perversely intent on delaying us after breakfast was over. She insisted that she needed to go on the potty, even though she was wearing a wet diaper, and wanted to stay on it indefinitely. When I finally got her into her room to get dressed, she kicked off the pants I had chosen for her and insisted on a pair of pink ones that were size 3T. I was sure they'd be falling off of her all day, but actually as it turns out she has others that are looser.

When I arrived home in the evening, I could see Cara peering at me from her bedroom window. Mommy had to leave for school conferences, and Cara missed her. In the morning this was already clear to me, because Cara set aside a piece of her toast for Mommy to have. When Evie left this evening, Cara was in tears: "I want Mommy to come back." It's always the moment of parting that's the worst, though; I popped in a Diego episode while I heated us up some dinner, and she was fine from then on.

Right when we finished dinner, we got a call from Ron, who was wondering whether we would like to go for a walk. I thought it would be a wonderful way to keep us from watching television all night! Ron's idea was to repeat our habits of last summer and go around the block pushing the kids in strollers. I have developed an antipathy towards putting Cara in the stroller, though, so we walked outside on our own feet. Our first lap looked like it would be our last: PJ fell over and hurt his knee, Cara got picked up and then PJ had to be carried, and everyone wanted to go inside. Then Em came outside with Casey: "We're going for a walk!" PJ: "Me too!" Em: "Cara, can you catch up with PJ?" From then on, the kids ran and ran around the circle. PJ took breaks to throw pine cones, and all three kids were very interested in a poor cat outside one of our neighbor's houses (fortunately it either got inside or found a good hiding place after our first attack), but mostly it was running and running.

We all got a good workout, and then it got dark, so Cara and I said goodbye to all the Loefflers and went back inside to finish the episode of Backyardigans we had paused. Now here is where my Daddying broke down a little. I got out some dark chocolate M&Ms, and to top it off, I made a bag of popcorn. Cara did not eat as many M&Ms as I poured out, and did not eat much of the popcorn at all, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I tried to get into the tub at a good time, but after Backyardigans and the popcorn were done, Cara wanted to color, so we did that for a few minutes.

Continuing in my chronic lateness, I was reading Cara her first book when Mommy got home at around 9:30. Mommy got to do the rest of the reading.

3/14/08 (Happy pi day!)

Cara got to go play with the twins today! When I picked her up and told her where we were going, she said, "They're my sisters! I want to give them a big hug!" We got into the car, got bucked in, and she said, "Maybe not hug them. Play with Littlest Pet Shop." At least it was her first instinct!

Well, we were all very happy to see each other. We were also happy to see all of the toys. Lina and Sarah led us both by the hand back into their bedroom: "You want to see our room? It's really pretty!" We all got to play with some cool toys, and we had a good dinner of pizza. Cara sped through her first piece and had one bite of her second, being distracted by cheese sticks. Shannon and I both got to finish our children's dinners. It was nice.

Cara's cup leaked a few drops of juice on her black pants, and she decided she needed new ones. Shannon found some brightly colored striped pink pants, which were a big hit. She also gave us two pairs of Hello Kitty pajamas that are light and long-sleeved, just what I've been looking for!

The last two times we've played together, Cara has demonstrated for Shannon her obsession with dolls' shoes. Today was no different. She finds shoes and wants dolls for them. She finds dolls with bare feet, she wants shoes. Shannon politely claims that shoeless dolls upset her, too. Today, Cara got about eight Baby Barbie dolls out. They're about a third the height of regular Barbies; they're little girls. Cara just wanted to carry them around. All of them. When Sarah took one, it was a big, big deal. Cara, however, had still got seven left, so we really had a hard time taking her side. I convinced her to trade with Sarah, who obligingly gave her the doll them, and then Cara wailed when I told her to give Sarah one back. Soon, fortunately, Sarah got distracted, and then Cara was distracted by this new, all-important doll having only one shoe. Off we went to find another.

In the living room, we got distracted by the My Little Pony playset, which has tiny ponies like the ones we have here. Soon, she was walking around with five of them clutched to her stomach, which kept making me think she had to use the potty! Shannon put on a cool DVD with songs to dance to, which Cara had a hard time doing because of all of her ponies! She was into it, though. It was tough to get her to come home.

Cara was very happy to see her daddy, but she was also happy to play with her own pony toys, which were an adequate substitute for Lina and Sarah's. She managed to stretch out the bedtime process and even ran downstairs again, which we really need to nip in the bud. She is being read to sleep now by Daddy, and she is still holding two little ponies.

3/15/08 (Saturday--beware! The Ides of March!!)

This morning we once again managed to convince Cara that she wanted to go to gymnastics. After her initial "No!" it only took a few reminders of what she would do there to get her upstairs and changed into her gym clothes. It turned out that Cara's group, which is usually five kids, was reduced to only her and PJ! This meant that they got a lot of time to do lots of different things, including--for the first time--the uneven bars! The uneven bars of course required major assistance from the teacher, but it still looked quite fun. They also got to crawl across a pit of foam blocks, which took PJ about five seconds and Cara about five minutes. I chose pants that were much too big for her, and I could see that the teachers were amused by being able to see so much of her diaper. Eventually one of them had the good idea of turning her waistband over to keep the pants up.

There were a lot of "Why?"s today, particularly when I was repeatedly explaining to Cara why, after we got back from gymnastics, we had to help Mommy take her car to the repair shop (AKA "Car Doctor"). It wasn't too long after that that Grandma and Grandpa arrived! Cara had to run around showing them all of her toys one after the other. They also got to see her big girl bed. We went out to lunch and Cara ate quite a bit. She had some of the nachos I foolishly ordered as an appetizer, a good deal of her grilled cheese sandwich, and a little soup.

One thing she didn't have was a nap. After Grandma and Grandpa left, Evie decided to take a trip down into our gorge out back and do some tidying (bits of litter collect down there somehow). The idea at first was that Cara would go right down with her, but the hill is very very steep. Cara and I stayed at the top for a while and threw sticks down the gorge (carefully not hitting Mommy), but the little girl wanted to see her Mommy, since her cries of "Mommy, don't get hurt!" were not having much effect. We walked down the street to our vacant lot, where the slope is not so steep, and managed to make it down to the bottom of the gorge!

Mommy and Cara looked at our little stream and threw some tiny sticks in it. Then we did some nature hiking to get back behind the house, and Mommy and Cara managed the climb up without injury. It was a nice little adventure! Afterwards, at Cara's suggestion, we went back inside and she had some hot cocoa.

Tonight Em and Ron offered babysitting services, so we took Cara over. The weather was still beautiful and the sun was still out. Before we went to get Cara again, Evie developed a plan: we would get out the stroller, get the kids, and walk out to the park. It turned out that the Loefflers had had a similar idea, and we found them all walking around the circle just like Thursday night. It was starting to get dark so we nixed the park idea, but the kids had a nice time running around and around.

Our neighborhood unfortunately has a few stretches of road where people like to drive their cars much too fast. Ron had chastised a few drivers earlier in the day with a hearty yell of "Slow down!" PJ cleverly picked this up and as we were going around the circle would stop near the street to scream "Slow down!!" at passing drivers. I suggested he also be taught to say something like, "Get off my lawn, you darn kids!"

Cara got a lot of exercise today, and no nap, so really she should be exhausted. She is in her bath with Mommy right now and doesn't seem particularly tired. But she will probably sleep well in her big girl bed tonight.

3/16/08 (Sunday)

Well, it's Saint Patrick's Day tomorrow, so we made green pancakes today. I made shamrocks, which went fairly well. Cara wanted "girl pancakes," so I painstakingly poured some people from the regular batter. She did not consider them girls, though, so I made green triangles with heads and feet and dots for arms, and those definitely were girls. Sort of like rest room door pictures. We asked Cara to get herself a plate, but she got a bowl. It's hard to put a pancake into a bowl, but we managed it.

We opened an Easter card Cara got in the mail yesterday from her great-grandparents in New Mexico; it was a Barbie card! The picture was a pretty garden, and it came with a page of stickers to put on it. The first thing Cara did was to take the big Barbie sticker and put her on her shirt. Soon she took her off and put her on the card and then put the bunnies and eggs and birdies on, too. It was possibly our most fun card ever!

Cara has one Polly Pocket girl who can wear a special shirt that comes in two parts and sticks to her through magnetism. We found out last night that the girl can also stick to other things, such as the bath tub. Today, we stuck her to our silverware. It's been thrilling.

I took the little girl with me to do groceries this afternoon, and I brought a snack trap. Actually, there were two of them. It kept her perfectly happy. I'm not sure how I feel about having to do that, but it sure works!We got special kiddie hand soap because I had noticed that the twins had some, and I figured it would help get her into the habit of washing after she goes on the potty. I think it's working. I also got a set of easy-to-use barrettes to keep the poor kid's hair out of her face. Steve practiced putting them on her, and it was very cute.

Cara still likes to play with her sharks in her bathtub. She flies them through the air and they sing, "I'm a little airplane now, now!" This has been happening, on and off, for a few weeks, I believe. They do have fins sticking out to the sides.

At the grocery store, Cara saw princess toothpaste. It's for older kids, and it requires spitting. Using that as a motivator, we started teaching her to spit. She sat on the side of the sink and brushed her teeth. I put some water in a little cup, and she drank some. She drank some again. Finally, she dribbled some out. Then she tried again. And again, with more force. We explained how this was connected to toothbrushing, and she popped her toothbrush back in. She did seem to get in rather more brushing than usual, and it wasn't too hard to wipe down the counter and the sink afterwards.

3/17/08 (Monday)

I ended up picking Cara up early today, and Steve worked late, so Cara and I spent over an hour at the park. She spent plenty of time on the swings, of course. I pushed her and ran under the swing, and we had some goldfish crackers from the goodie bag from Avery's party, so I let the swing slow down and popped them into her mouth one at a time. She told me spontaneously that I was the best mommy in the world. We also ran around and around and went down the slides and climbed all over. Once, Cara stayed at the bottom of the slide to "catch" me. We had a disagreement stemming from Cara's need to direct everyone; she wanted me to go down the straight slide while she went down the curvy one. I really prefer the curvy one, so I told her so. She refused to share. I stopped playing with her, and she got so mad she had to run over to the one set of stairs on the playground and sit on the bottom stair, as she does at home. Soon she got over it and ordered me to go down the curvy slide with her. It was hard to get her to come home.

Poor Cara really wants to contribute to conversation, I think, but she has little of import to say. This evening, Steve complimented the meal I'd made. "Mm-mm! This is good pasta!" Cara echoed at least five times during dinner. I hope she gets some new lines soon!

Cara and Steve went out to pick up milk, and they came home with milk and a bag of animal crackers. I find this very endearing and think it's exactly what should happen when you go out to the store with your daddy. Earlier Cara and I had shared some tiny Oreos from Avery, and I had shown her how to dunk them in milk. She had to do the same with her animal crackers. I was making banana bread, and Cara helped me mix. She tried the batter and liked it, so I let her scrape the bowl. She used the tiniest measuring spoon and fed me some, too, then made me drink some milk.

After a nice bath and some more gleeful spitting, Cara got into bed a bouncy but surely tired girl.

3/18/08 (Tuesday)

It was egg-coloring night! The kids were excited, so we cleaned up quickly after we finished dinner (Cara's been really good lately about eating the grown-up food I cook, by the way. Tonight she ate chicken.) and covered the table with newspaper. The kids all rolled up their sleeves and we set to work. I had boiled 15 eggs, and we colored them all, some more than once.

PJ turned his hand green again. I got him to say "I'm green," but it wasn't quite the same; it lacked the aura of concern.

I had bought the kids clamps to hold the eggs with, and they worked! Both PJ and Cara were able to use them to pick up their eggs and get them out of the dye. I think they mostly both used their hands to put them in, though. Finally we took away the dye cups and got out the little cotton swabs filled with dye that I had gotten. We dried the eggs a little and gleefully painted on them. Many have dots, which are the easiest thing to do. Em made a lovely one with a zigzag line and a pattern of spots. She also painted each kid's name on one. Cara was a careful dotter and also a director; she had me paint circles on the ends of several (it was all I could think of). Casey happily scribbled, as did PJ. We made some very colorful eggs; they are probably better than last year's!

3/19/08 (Wednesday)

Cara and I did some errands on the way home. In the car, she became distressed and told me about two boo-boos on her leg. She had her pant leg up to show me, but I couldn't really see them right then. I promised to kiss them better when we got home. She wanted two big bandages. I hoped to talk her down and promised to see whether they needed Band-Aids.

When we got home we took a few minutes to settle in and get our coats off. We were upstairs on my bed when the topic of her boo-boos came up again; I had thought she had forgotten! She pulled her pant leg up and carefully showed me two tiny brown circles on her leg. Now, we've discussed other people's freckles, but Cara has never admitted to having any. I hadn't noticed them, either. Now we know.

I am pretty sure that Steve must think that I am more popular with Cara than he is, because I hear that she asks for me in the mornings and I know that she often wants me to do things with her at night. What he doesn't hear is our daily conversations about where he is. She tells me every day when I pick her up that she wants Daddy. She needs Daddy. After that, we often have discussions about where he is and what he's doing; he's on his way home to see her, of course. When we pull up to the house and he's not here, she almost always cries, "Where is he?" However, she also has started telling me she needs me, so I think her ideal situation is to have both of us together at all times.

Fun fact: This year, I remembered to get Cara an Easter dress. I think it's the first holiday outfit I've bought on my own in a timely fashion. I was talking with my mom on the phone, and she was describing what she'd gotten Cara for Easter, which included a gorgeous dress. It was pink and poufy. I got suspicious. We compared and discovered that we bought Cara the same dress.

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