| Previous Week | Back Home | Next Week |

Journal Key:

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

 

4/3/08 (Thursday)

I told Cara it's my birthday tomorrow. She told me I'd had my birthday already! I explained about the difference between a party and an actual birthday, and I think she believed me. She told me her birthday is also in April, and I tried to explain about the days being numbered and how closely our birthdays fall. I'm pretty sure it all went right over her head, particularly because I'm not really sure she has the concept of "tomorrow" really solidly understood, let alone the day after!

Cara, of course, is very musical. A few days ago, when PJ and Casey were being baby-sat, she was dancing around singing a long song she had made up, the only line of which I can recall was "you don't get hurt!" I think it was something about falling down. This evening, thinking back to the things I say to encourage and explain tooth-brushing, she sang something with the same tune about her teeth not falling out.

I had brushed Cara's teeth already and had followed her to brush her hair while Steve took out his contact lenses and brushed his teeth. Cara had spent the last five minutes walking around with Goodnight, Baby Monster, a new favorite library book. She'd been trying to get us to read to her. As I was brushing her hair, after she finished her tooth song, she opened the book. "I'm going to read it myself, because no one will read it to me!" Just then, I finished with her hair and Steve walked in, ready to read! Oh, joy of joys!

4/4/08 (Friday) (Happy Birthday, me!)

It's my birthday! Poor Steve wrapped my gifts after I left and then tried to have Cara eat breakfast with them on the table. I hear it was not pretty.

I picked Cara up early because the twins were coming over! We had a great afternoon and evening playing. Linda had found out it was my birthday and sent a party in a bag--I hadn't wanted Shannon to know, so she wouldn't feel she had to do anything, but her mom got around me! She sent an ice cream cake, candles, paper plates, and balloons. The first thing we did was to go up to Cara's room. I think the girls like to see it, and Cara likes to show it off. I opened the bag, and we blew up all our balloons. Shannon found out she can blow up two at once, holding one in each hand and blowing alternately, but she cannot tie off two at once.

Sarah and Lina, by the way, like to talk to me on the phone now. They both had to get on before they came over, to tell me they wanted to come. Sarah told me Lina was her sister. Perhaps it was the other way around, actually. Oh dear! I put Cara on the phone with Lina. She said hi, and I suggested she ask Lina to come over. She did. Then the conversation degenerated. Cara wandered away and looked out the front window to the street. "Are they here yet?" she asked. Not quite.

After Steve got home, we decided to go out to dinner. I asked Cara to pack toys. I gave her a big bag, and she systematically emptied her entire dollhouse into it. I can't say she took everything but the kitchen sink, because she took that, too. She took a piece of the roof. We didn't wind up playing with it.

We went to Friendly's, where we got a table and a little booth across the aisle. I sat at the table with the three girls, all of whom were very good. Lina colors very well; they both do more than Cara, who still prefers a supervisory position. We had some mozzarella sticks, and Cara and Steve were the only ones who used the marinara sauce--I'm still astonished that Cara does that! We noticed something on the menu we hadn't paid attention to before. To drink, the girls all had pink milk! They seemed happy, but none of them finished it. At the end all of the girls had a trip to the bathroom, which of course was fun.

We came back here to have ice cream cake! The girls took turns putting candles in; we used the whole package. We lit the candles. Everyone sang. I think all three kids helped me blow them out, because it was extremely easy. Everyone got a piece of cake. It was half chocolate and half vanilla, with those chocolate crunchies in between. "I like chocolate!" Cara said. Thirty seconds later: "I like white! I don't like chocolate!" When Cara decided she'd had enough and went to play, her two cohorts joined her. We had another good session of playtime, in which Sarah and Lina got some water out and Cara demonstrated for Shannon how her Barbie is a teacher, complete with the shower scene.

After company left, we wound down slowly. Cara and I watched my e-cards and played a Diego game. We cleaned up. Cara asked me for a ride in a laundry basket. I got her to try to give me one. Steve really gave me one. Very late and, I'm sure, very tired, Cara is finally in bed. I had a lovely birthday.

One extra note: apparently while upstairs in Cara's room Lina and Sarah began running straight into the wall over and over. They explained that they were trying to get inside the picture. They like Cara's mural very much.

4/6/08 (Sunday)

Yesterday, Cara enjoyed gymnastics and playtime. She skipped her nap and we brought her down to Middletown to sleep over while we got ready for her party. We stayed up too late!

When Cara got here this morning, she found grandmom and grandpop and the twins already here and the house full of streamers and decorations. (The balloons came a little late.) She went upstairs with Grandmama to change into her Easter dress, because Shannon and I figured the kids might as well wear them again before growing out of them. Cara, and then PJ and Casey, got a little shy because of all the people being here, but they got over it soon.

All I can do is present some highlights: Casey found the chocolate fruit dip we'd cleverly placed in her reach, and she found potato chips. She found that they went well together. She tried it a few times. Later in the party, I saw her dipping her finger in. I thought she'd decided to eliminate the middleman, but it turned out that her chip had fallen in and she was trying to fish it out.

PJ and Lina played peek-a-boo with me and my mom by hiding on the two sides of Cara's closet and shutting the doors on themselves. It went on so long, even my mother got tired of it! Shannon had to bribe Lina with a promise of soda to get her out.

I had gotten blowers and little tiara-style hats for the kids; they're a garden theme, so the tiaras were kind of like lady bugs with antennae. It worked out. Lina, with a green dress, wore a green one. For Cara, I'd also gotten a regular birthday hat with fringe and "Birthday Girl" on it. I was very pleased that she actually wore it for a lot of the time!

Cara opened presents before lunch. It got a little tense. Lots of people wanted her presents, and she really didn't want them to have any. I got Cara to take out the My Little Pony activity set Steve and I had gotten her, and I managed to get Sarah, Lina, and PJ to "help" me open it. I spent most of the present-opening time, therefore, wrestling with packaging and missed some things.

She got a set of wooden fruit with a wooden knife to "cut" it; it's velcroed together. She got a fire truck floor puzzle. She got a big squishy, hairy, gel-like, hard-to-describe ball that's very popular with all the kids (grown-ups, too!), and she got a lot of good clothes. She got a set of Polly Pocket-sized Cinderella figures, including a prince and a horse and carriage. She got medium-sized Barbies with wings. One is a prince, whose wings are much more manly than butterfly wings. Much. She also got a playground for the Playmobil kids, which was a big hit. She got a lot of other things that aren't hopping into my mind.

I think opening presents first was smart. Then the new stuff was out and could be played with. I managed to be upstairs playing peek-a-boo while the kids had lunch, but my guests set them all up at the kitchen table and fed them well. My part was buying and cooking the food, that's all. After a little more playtime, when the kitchen was clean (No, I did not just wait for company to do that part, too.), I set up the cupcakes. I didn't do anything fancy this year. They were different sizes, and they all had white icing and colored sugar on top. I set out the ones I'd done, and then the kids got to decorate some themselves. I think they enjoyed it.

Cara put pink sugar on a big one, and I put candles in it. I think the pictures we got of her while we sang might be the best of the day. She looked very solemn, but she was kicking her feet with joy through much of it. She blew out two candles in one go and then got the next one, too.

In the end, it was a giant, extra-special playdate. I wish I'd gotten a picture of Cara, Sarah, and Lina, all in their dresses, on the floor playing with the dollhouse playground together. The kids just drifted through the house, playing with everything. Casey and Sarah spent some time in the ball pit together. Cara was very happy to have all of her grandparents there. After everyone went home, the mess was no worse than a playdate, except for the food!

Steve and I were really exhausted, so poor Cara had a hard time getting us to play with her satisfactorily for the rest of the day. We were very disappointed when, in both of our attempts to get her to watch TV, she went and turned it off! We just wanted to take a little nap! No such luck. Cara was astonishingly overstimulated. She just kept going and going and going, and she had a very hard time accepting that it was time to get ready for bed. There were tears. Many delaying tactics were employed. The little girl who opened all those presents today was in tears because she wanted a prize and had only three stickers for going on the potty! It's tough being tired.

4/7/08 (Monday) (Happy Birthday, Cara!)

Cara slept well after her big day yesterday. It's a long time since she's had such a tough evening! Besides being sensitive and delicate, though, she was also extra snuggly. I don't think Cara understands that it's really her birthday today, and, really, how could she? She was excited about taking cupcakes to daycare, along with the goodie bags for the kids who hadn't been at the party.

The kids ate up all of the tiny cupcakes I sent; Cara spent part of the ride home telling me what colors she had eaten. I sent an assortment, so I hope there were no fights. Susan gave Cara a giant Dora book that is meant to teach writing. There's an electronic keyboard and a screen that, when a letter is pressed, demonstrates the strokes it takes to write it. There's a doodle pad for you to practice on. Susan thinks Cara will get into this. I hope she will! (The twins, who are about six months ahead of Cara, wrote their names on her birthday card semi-legibly. Of course, for almost as long as I've known them, they've been into learning the letters. Cara shows no such tendencies. I am NOT pushing her, I just think it's interesting.) At home, Cara is not very interested in writing. At daycare, she puts in a good effort.

When I arrived to pick her up, Cara had pink swim goggles on her head. Goggles have been a favorite toy at Susan's house for an awfully long time, probably since last summer. She just got some new ones, to prevent fights. The kids were delighted.

Cara really wanted a cupcake. Even after I said that I might be able to find one at home, she kept telling me. Eventually I explained that she didn't need to keep saying it. She changed her phrasing and continued. When we got home, she got distracted. We ended up waiting until after dinner, which was nice, and then having some mini-cupcakes. Steve got out the colored sugar.

Cara has been playing catch with us, using her new ball from her birthday. It's very catchable for her, which is great. The best arrangement may have been what we tried this evening, me standing in the playroom and her standing at the top of the stairs. I'm just awed when I see her actually catch the ball! She is excited when she catches it, too, but, for her, catching and "getting" are synonymous. The ball can bounce off of her face (it's nice and squishy) and fall to the floor; she'll be as proud of herself when she picks it up as she's have been if she'd caught it.

4/8/08 (Tuesday)

It's a beautiful day, though the breeze is quite cold. We went to the park after daycare; I pushed Cara in the swing for at least twenty minutes, and then we went on the slides. We didn't fight this time over who got to use which slide. We both used whichever we wanted. I found it a nice change! Cara did want me to try going down backwards or on my tummy, but I'm not up for it. I'm going to have to work on coming up with a good reason for that. Cara likes to go on her tummy, but I'm not sure whether she goes backwards.

We came home after Cara wanted to play with the "telephone" tube, where you can whisper into one end and someone across the playground will hear you at the other. She made me pick her up to talk into it. "Daddy?" she said, then "oh, he's not here."

She was a good kitchen helper today. She put the taco shells on the cookie sheet, and she helped spoon out the refried beans, her favorite. After dinner, she helped me mash bananas and measure out ingredients for banana bread. Stirring is still difficult for her, but she tries. She loves breaking eggs, but this time I made sure that, after she cracked it, I was the one who got to open it.

Cara's toys have been very mean to mine today. Her fairy told my fairy she wasn't her friend. The fairy lady and the big-skirt lady from the dollhouse rejected the pajama lady. While Cara was in the bath, her mermaid became friends with the girl Cara's been bringing in and told my mermaid she wasn't her friend anymore. My toys are very hurt and upset.

4/9/08 (Wednesday)

This morning I got Cara to come downstairs by telling her there was a card for her in the kitchen. That got her out of bed. It was a birthday card we hadn't gotten around to showing her, from her Great Aunt Sally and Great Uncle Ron, which she liked very much. It's a big bus full of zoo animals, and everything kind of sticks off the card, and there is a sign attached with little strings that says Happy Birthday. One of her birthday toys, a male fairy (well, how else can you say that?), was lying nearby, so I picked him up and had him admire the card. For the rest of our breakfast, Cara kept making me pick the fairy back up so that I could have him look at the card.

I picked out Cara's shirt this morning, a nice pink one with dark decorative designs on it. I went to her closet to get a pair of pants. I was considering a brown pair, or her pink corduroys, but Cara asked for a pair of brightly striped sweatpants in various colors. Just to complete this lovely ensemble, she also chose a pair of purple socks with multi-colored stripes and flowers on them. It was quite a look.

For all I know, she had a lovely day at Susan's, and tonight was playdate night at PJ's house! Cara was feeling a bit clingy, but she still managed to play very happily and independently with PJ and Casey up in the secret room. Em and Ron got Cara a nice Disney princess scooter for her birthday, and tonight we decided to put it together. Cara was so excited about the idea that we skipped her bath and let her stay downstairs while Mommy and I wrangled it together. It was made a little difficult by the tiny directions sheet without many helpful pictures, and by the fact that Cara always seemed to be holding the piece that I needed next. But we got it together and Cara finally got to "scoot" around the downstairs room. She was very excited and happy. There is a basket where she immediately placed multiple toys, and flashy lights at the bottom. Hopefully tomorrow she will have a chance to ride it outside.

After all this scooting, though, Cara still wanted to delay bedtime with her bath, which she has really been enjoying lately. Unfortunately it was just too late, and we had a lot of trouble convincing her that she was not going to get a bath (I know that to some of you this may seem a little weird--fighting with your child over not taking a bath?!). She was bribed with an extra princess doll (she now has four of them with her) and Mommy read lots of stories. Daddy finally contributed a journal entry.

| Previous Week | Back Home | Next Week |