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Journal Key:

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

 

4/24/08 (Thursday)

One of the things Cara and I talk about in the car on the way home is sometimes what the other kids were wearing. She brings it up occasionally. Yesterday, a couple of girls were wearing dresses. Last night, I got out a dress Cara could wear. It's blue with lots of fishies on it! She tried it on and we agreed that she would wear it today.

So this morning Cara did not eat a single bite of breakfast. I'm not sure why--we had a happy morning otherwise. Instead of eating breakfast, she got down off her chair and said, "Daddy, I'm gonna get my seeds wet."

"Huh?"

"Seeds wet!"

She went upstairs, saying it over and over, until I finally heard it correctly: "Sea dress!" She was very excited about wearing the dress. She also wanted to wear a pair of "sticky" socks. This is what we've gotten to calling the socks my mother bought for her with the non-slip stuff on the bottom. They are sticky, so she won't fall.

In the car on the way to Susan's, Cara spontaneously told Steve, "Claire's house is in Red Bank!" She also examined her fish. "This one is silly!" Lately, she's told him a few times that she likes his hair cut. She claims to also have had her hair cut.

It's worm week at Susan's. I'm not sure how thrilled Susan is about it. Yesterday's project was a cute leaf with a gummy worm on it. Today's was just a picture of worms. Cara told us that Susan told them about worms, but she didn't explain what Susan said.

Susan did say to let Cara try wearing underpants this weekend. If she makes it through that, she can wear them to Susan's house. Unfortunately, at least on Saturday, we have plans. I let Cara try them this evening. She did great!

Cara decided to play with games today. We talked about it on the way home. The first one we found was Candy Land. We actually played a real game! Cara was blue and I was green. We took turns pulling cards, and we moved to the right squares. There was a little bit of cheating on both of our parts, but no more than is acceptable at this phase, I think. Cara tends to take several cards instead of one, and I'm not sure by what logic she decides which one to use. I went through the deck and put the ice cream lady's card on top to get Cara to the end of the board, and it worked. Next, though, she pulled the gingerbread man and went back to the beginning. She's not experienced enough to be upset about that, but I at least was concerned about how much longer the game might become! Finally, after just a little more manipulation, her blue guy got to the end. She won! "Can this guy do that now?" she asked, pointing to my green guy. Sure. I pulled cards until he won, too.

Next we got out her big fire engine floor puzzle, and I was surprised at how much of it Cara could do. I did have to do a lot of coaching, but she managed about half of the pieces patiently, getting a lot of them on her own.

We've had a lot of wonderful conversations lately that follow this pattern:

Mommy: Do you want to try one?

Cara: No, I don't. (pause) Can I try one?

Or:

Mommy: Should we run?

Cara: No. (pause) Let's run!

It's been fun. We took a walk, and Cara asked to get out of the stroller out on Silver Lake. She held my hand and we ran and walked for most of the rest of the way home.

4/25/08 (Friday)

The kids all worked hard at Susan's house today! When I got there, I saw John, her husband, with a big pile of mulch in the driveway. Several children, including Cara, were hovering there with him. They had all been good helpers and used buckets to help move the mulch around. Cara reports that she used the green bucket.

We went to see the twins! Cara "rewy, rewy wikes" to go to their house. Today we played there for a little while and then went with them to their great grandma's house, where the whole family had dinner. We got McDonald's, and Cara had chicken nuggets while I had a Whopper or Big Mac or something like that. It was a hamburger with two hamburgers in it. On of the best moments of the meal was when Cara suddenly stuffed a whole nugget into her mouth, and all of the adults at the table (except me) gasped. I think she was almost done eating and was in a hurry or something, but I got her to stay in her seat until she had chewed and swallowed it. By then she was distracted and stayed to eat more.

We went to play outside in the back yard. It's a great back yard! There's a swing set, a little merry-go-round, a seesaw, a slide, and a sand box. There are wagons and a toy car that works better than ours does. Cara loved the merry-go-round. The first time she got off, though, she was dizzy and fell down and got a cut on her face; I had to take her in to wash the blood off. As I was washing it she was telling me she wanted to go back out, so I wasn't worried. The merry-go-round was a big, big hit. It did show how little upper body strength I had, though, because Linda and Shannon both had an easier time spinning it than I. We all had lots of chances.

Next, Cara went on the seesaw with Sarah or Lina (they were dressed alike today, which made it basically impossible for me to tell which was which) and fell off backwards and got smacked in the face by the rising end of it. She cried more for that one, but there was a lot less blood; it was just her gum.

We got out a ring toss game, which Cara liked very much. None of the kids can really toss the rings on, but they can drop them on. Cara also put lots of rings around her arm and swung her arm to make them spin around. It was impressive, and she claimed I'd taught her to do that.

Cara got to try the big-girl style swings. She almost pumped her legs a little, but not really. She did hang on well. What she was good at, though, was hanging on the rings. She could dangle by her arms and even swing herself a little. She loved it.

When she decided it was time to go back inside, Cara cleaned up the toys. In we went. We had a snack in which Cara chose watermelon and then decided not to eat it and gave it to me. She also drank some water and it must have gone down the wrong pipe, because she coughed and spewed it all over the table and her own clothes, continuing her bad-luck evening. She gradually recovered.

Cara went on the potty three times. I think she particularly liked washing her hands and she liked the towel. Every time, she did pee. She also had a wet pull-up every time. Still, it's good that she's going. Today at Susan's, she pooped on the potty!

Inside, we played with lots and lots of toys, including a little mini-golf course of foam tiles snapped together. Cara just wanted to hold five or six balls until someone demonstrated how to hit the ball with a club and have it go through little obstacles. We played outside some more, too, as it started to get dark. Cara was, thank goodness, excited about going to go see Daddy, or I'd never have gotten her out of there. She came home and told him all about her evening; I'm sure she wants to go back soon.

4/26/08 (Saturday)

We had an action-packed day planned for today. In the morning, Cara awoke and we got her all ready--without her eating any breakfast, for some reason--and off to gymnastics! When she returned, Aunt Claire was there! We had been hoping to go straight to AG Field Day at Rutgers (our second annual visit), but unfortunately I decided my car needed to go to the shop, so first we all drove up there.

At Rutgers, we finally parked and began the long walk over the campus to where the fun things were. The Loefflers had backed out this year, and the weather was chilly and windy, and when we finally arrived at some big inflatable play areas, Cara didn't have much confidence. She tried to go through a big inflatable caterpillar, but backed out again, claiming it was too windy inside. We did eventually find a nice one that she managed to climb through and which ended in a slide, which she loved. There was also just a big bouncy inflatable thing that she went in a few times. The most impressive piece of equipment was a giant inflatable fire truck with a very high ladder-like slope on one side, and a very long, tall slide next to it. Cara was excited to do it, but her climbing as always was very slow and hesitant. Eventually the staff person operating the ride, a very nice young guy, climbed all the way up with her. She came down, and he climbed all the way up with her again. After that, she had confidence and went back to the slide again and again, climbing without assistance. This was the kind of stuff that we felt was far too tough for Cara last year.

We hit a lot of other good booths. There was the ever-popular face-painting: Cara got a nice kitty face, with sparkles, which she liked very much. She got to eat a hot dog (bun and all!). There were also some guys making balloon shapes, although not at all with the level of expertise of the clown we met last year--one of them attempted to make a flower for her, apparently with no idea how to do it. It was very exciting watching the creation process. When presented with the finished object, Cara was too shy to show proper appreciation, but she did like it.

Finally, we beaded a necklace for Cara. We spelled her name out with letter beads (the letters were hard to fish out of the container, and I tried to get by using a different color for the last "A," but Cara didn't let me), and put some animal-shaped beads on as well.

Those were the main activities--Cara was also very taken with a fountain she saw in the middle of a lake, which she called a "waterfall." We had to walk down to see it. She was also inordinately excited by some very large fans set into the wall of a greenhouse we passed. We saw some horses in passing, and she wanted to ride one, but we don't think they were doing that. Having walked far in to get to the child-friendly activities, we didn't spend any time at the livestock/farm animal sections this year. But as I said we saw horses, and we saw some goats, and lots of dogs; and on the way back, we had funnel cake. All in all, a very full morning.

So full, in fact, that we had to do without our nap. It wasn't long into the afternoon before we decided we would have to also do without seeing Mr. Ray. We had heard about another Mr. Ray show in our area this evening, but Cara had been fully stimulated and was tired and delicate. Claire and Evie decided to make cookies, and Cara helped with that. Naturally she had some batter and some of the finished cookies.

Then it was out to dinner! It was crowded, and Cara was tired, but she did good, and ate a pretty good dinner. She got me to take her for a walk around the restaurant. It seemed like she was getting a lot of attention, and someone spontaneously said, "She's so cute!" I know she's cute, but I was a little surprised at the degree of response until someone else told her, "You're a little kittie!" I had somehow forgotten entirely about her face being painted. She also spent some time having a good look at the family sitting behind us, who nicely waved goodbye to the little kittie as she left.

Somewhere in the afternoon we watched Cinderella, which Cara said several times she didn't want to see. When we told her she could go and play downstairs if she didn't want to see it, she usually changed her mind. Eventually she coaxed most of us downstairs, and then went back upstairs and quietly watched a good portion of the movie by herself.

Tonight she did an impressive job working on her fire truck puzzle, and then got a colored bath. She specifically requested that Claire gave her a bath, and I think that's what has just happened. At the risk of jinxing it, she should sleep well tonight.

4/27/08 (Sunday)

When we got Cara out of the bath last night, she got onto the potty and asked us to read her "the car story." I'm not sure what the car story is! Claire and I started telling her a story in which a pink girl got into her pink car and drove to the pink store, where she bought some pink flowers and a pink vase to put them in. Then she drove to her pink house where she gave the flowers to her pink mommy, who really loved them. It was very much a group story, because Claire and I told it together, but Cara helped, too, filling in some blanks. Next, a yellow girl went through similar events, and then a blue boy. When we got to the purple girl, we changed some things. She picked flowers and then bought two vases. The next girl, whatever color she was, drove to the pink girl's house to ask her to a party. The pink girl said no, according to Cara. The next girl said yes, and then the pink girl did, too. They all had a fun time.

When Cara got up this morning, she asked for Claire. She had asked Claire last night to come back today. Alas, it was not to be. Today Steve went out on his own, and Cara and I stayed home. Cara wore underpants! We hung around the house and played and tidied up a very little, and she went on the potty. Cara kept the underpants dry for almost five hours, until I put a pull-up on her for her nap! She didn't particularly want to take a nap, but she'd been kind of tired all morning, spending more time than usual cuddled up and wanting stories.

Grandmama and Grandpapa came over! They were there when Cara woke up. Surprisingly, given her choices, she climbed into my arms for a cuddle. She woke up slowly. We put underpants back on and went downstairs to play. Cara played her second game of Candyland. Grandpapa thinks it may have been his first. There was less deliberate cheating, and, after considerable excitement and many twists and turns, I won.

We washed out Cara's tie-dye shirt from yesterday. I rinsed and rinsed it in the sink, and then we cut the rubber bands. Cara instructed me to not cut my fingers. It's very colorful, with white, blotchy sort-of lines across it. Cara wanted to wear it right away, but when we let her touch it she agreed that it should go in the drier.

Cara and Grandmama and I played hide-and-seek. We took turns: one of us would hide, and the other two would seek. For me, the moment of most suspense was when my mom and I first came up the stairs looking for Cara. For the first time in her life (as far as I know) she didn't come popping out of her hiding place! She waited for us to find her. She sat in the floor of my closet, behind the doors. I even stood there and pretended to look among the clothes, and she didn't jump up! Before, she's always leapt out of hiding at the first possible moment. Either we modeled the game particularly well today, or she's maturing. She hid twice, both times in the same place. Mom and I both hid about three times, with wild success. Actually, it made Cara a little nervous when she couldn't find us. It's interesting how her perceptions are different from ours. Poor kid!

My surprising popularity continued through the evening. The potty training success, alas, did not. I didn't push her to get on right after dinner, and then I got distracted and forgot. I'm pleased, though, that I really can recognize her "I wet myself" cry from across the house. I've never been able to recognize any others. She had two accidents, which really isn't that bad a record. I was requested as her bath-giver, despite Daddy having gotten home, and she asked me to read to her, too. Daddy ended up doing it, which was just as well. When we said goodnight, she was in the story chair with Daddy, clutching her tie-dye shirt and reading Richard Scarry.

4/28/08 (Monday)

Cara did get to wear her new tie-dye shirt today, and she told Susan all about making it. She had a great day and made a beautiful little "book" about Spring. It has a page for flowers, a page for bubbles, and a page for worms. Susan says that the worm stickers are supposed to be scratch-and-sniff; they are purported to smell like dirt. Only Avery tried them. His report: unfavorable.

This evening Cara was a great help in making dinner. Say what you will about things like prepackaged crescent rolls, they're great for three-year-olds. Pretty much all I had to do was preheat the oven and open the package. Cara unrolled the dough and separated it into triangles. She remembered that last time I'd had her put cheese on, so I had to get her some this time. She shared it out nicely among the pieces of dough, and then she rolled them up. They didn't look the same as if I'd made them, but they worked out fine! Cara put them onto the baking sheet and everything.

Her next job was to wash the frying pan Daddy had used to make eggs for breakfast. She did that without help, too! I went downstairs for a second, and when I came back she'd gotten out a dish towel to dry her neck. I really cannot imagine what happened while I was gone. Unfortunately, she burned her finger a little trying to hang up the towel on the oven door handle--we learned a lesson there! She got to wear a band aid. I thought it might irritate her, since it's so huge in comparison to her finger, but I think she is very conscious and solicitous of it.

She continued to help generally with mixing things and setting the table. We also, just for fun, made stuffing, which Cara persisted in referring to as pudding. She ate a great dinner, though it was a little heavy on the rolls. I think she gets really excited about having made them. She told me the carrots were really good, and I told her the rolls were really good. She helpfully served them when we ran out. I'm not a huge huge fan of them, but I might start keeping a can around for when I want to keep her busy!

It was a thrilling pajama night. Cara opened her drawer wide and found, at the back, her old pink footie pajamas with the cat tail. She put them on and admired herself for a while: she looked in the mirror, she showed both of us, and she even turned around and around to see the tail. Suddenly, she decided not to wear them. She took them off and went looking for her blue footie ones, which must be in the wash. Instead, she found blue shorts that came with another pajama set. She put those on but refused to consider the shirt that went with them, opting instead for her elephant shirt. She also pranced around in these pajamas, showing off and also having great difficulty adjusting her shorts. She was terribly pleased with herself for wearing them.

4/29/08 (Tuesday)

Cara really wanted to show Susan her Band-Aid, so she did that as soon as she got there this morning. "Me too!" said PJ, going over his fingers as though hoping a boo-boo would sprout up. Aliyah was there also, and began recounting very earnestly to me some time when she ended up with a big scrape along her arm. I told Susan it was just like that scene in Jaws where all the guys on the boat are showing off their scars.

Cara and I went to the library after I picked her up today. We returned our books and spent a few minutes playing on the computer, and then we picked out some books. Cara chose two, and I found three or four, all from the same shelf. We read them all, one after the other. When we were done, Cara wanted to go home to go on the potty. We found a potty at the library, but afterwards Cara was still not interested in taking any books home. I wasn't enthusiastic about any of our finds, either, and it was late, so we hit the road.

Steve got home while we were making dinner, and he and Cara went outside to pull weeds in the lawn. They filled up a bucket and dumped it out back, and I heard a lot of giggling. I have a feeling they stopped to play on the way back.

Dinner was nice. Cara ate plenty, in spite of having eaten an entire banana earlier. She recounted this to Steve, reassuringly patting his shoulder. She explained that she ate a banana: "I pulled the thing down and went umph!" Then she had put the peel in the sink. Next, she told him, we fed it to the monster. I've been describing the garbage disposal for years as a hungry little monster, and I've been passing this on to Cara. Of course, as soon as I said it, it occurred to me that it might make her nervous. I added on a little more description. "Just a silly monster, Daddy!" Cara laughed.

I had brought home a water bottle to refill for work, and Cara very much wanted to drink out of it. She asked nicely, and I let her. This led to some coughing, some modeling, and a lesson on how to drink. The technique Cara seems to have started with was putting the whole mouth of the bottle into her own mouth. Not so good. We showed her and let her try again, which meant we were sitting there calling instructions: "Upper lip in! Lower lip out! No, lower lip out! Now, upper lip in!" Then we got her a straw.

4/30/08 (Wednesday)

In the car today, Cara told me that Annika (Monica) and Aliyah were twins. I had to try to explain what makes some people twins and others brothers and sisters. I do not think that I was successful.

Cara was a great help in getting ready for dinner. We're really out of the habit of her playing by herself (and whining) while I cook, now she stays in the kitchen. She did get me to cut up a cucumber before I did anything else, and she stood on her chair at the sink and ate cucumber and watched while I made chicken. Eventually I got her to divide what was left into three bowls, so that she could share with PJ and Casey. The division was slightly uneven. She set the table for the three of them with everyone's assigned colors. Juliana came over in time to see Cara husking corn and talking about corn silk, which she was very excited about finding. I'm not sure that she ate any cooked corn, but she was certainly interested in trying it raw.

When PJ arrived, the first thing he had to do was to apologize to Cara and give her a hug. Em also apologized; it turns out that, at daycare, PJ has punched Cara twice this week. Today, she retaliated. We're all kind of impressed. They both used actual fists, apparently, and connected. Theirs is a rocky relationship. I'm surprised that Cara hadn't told me about it, since she reports other incidents of aggression. I'll have to ask Susan tomorrow.

We ate without major incident, and then we played. When it was time to go, Cara and Casey were over near Cara's dollhouse. She had Casey stand up and gave her a hug. Then she took her by the hand and led her over to PJ. "Here's your sister," she told him, and left. It did take them a little longer to get themselves together, and PJ was not in fact in charge of Casey getting her coat on, but it was a sweet gesture.

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