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Journal Key:

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

6/12/08 (Thursday)

This morning was fairly typical of this week: Cara told me she wanted toast, then made a disappointed noise when she saw it and ended up not eating any breakfast. Susan reported some digestive issues yesterday, which would make for a good explanation; but the more likely truth is that she is just not into having breakfast in the mornings. I dressed her on the couch, and we made relatively good time getting to Susan's.

Evie had no doubt an exciting time in the afternoon. As she did last week, Ev took Cara to the gym with Shannon and the twins, and the kids played at the childcare part of the gym while the grown-ups worked out. Then they went and had Wendy's for dinner. I was worried about what Cara and I would do in the evening, but it was already past seven when Cara arrived home, and as soon as she got out of the car she noticed PJ and Casey outside. We went over to play with them for half an hour or so, and then it was bath time! The kids whiled away the time riding all of the tiny vehicles that could be pulled out of the Loefflers' garage--there were many. Cara was better on the tricycle than I expected.

It was still easy to get her back to the house, because she had arrived home with a brand new bottle of bubble bath, shaped like Barbie. The soap was, as we had all hoped, pink, which was revealed when Cara discovered how to unscrew Barbie's upper body. She had a nice bath, and is now chatting away happily in her bed.

6/13/08 (Friday)

Evie and I picked up Cara just a little early on Friday at Susan's, because we were driving her down to Grandmama's house for a sleepover and wanted a head start on the shore traffic. We got there a little later than we had hoped and Cara was getting out of the pool. She happened to walk over to the edge of Susan's wooden porch, and started crying and said her foot was hurting. It turned out she had gotten an impressive splinter! After tweezers failed, Susan got it out with a needle. Susan points out that Cara's screams are like no other sound, and she was letting them out like a champion for a little while. I was elected to get PJ and Avery over to show me the pool. While Cara was wailing, they showed me how they could hit the surface of the pool with plastic baseball bats. Finally the splinter came out and Cara immediately began laughing with relief, tears still running down her face. Evie told her she had done a great job and been very brave. Avery came over to ask what had happened, and Evie explained that Cara had gotten the splinter taken out of her foot. "And she didn't cry?!" Avery inquired. He did very nicely offer her a high five, but Cara was a bit too overwhelmed by events to take notice.

We did make it to Middletown eventually--Grandmama was the only one there, Grandpapa being unfortunately stuck at the office until later. They did all have a lovely evening together.

6/14/08 (Saturday)

The big event of Saturday was Cara's first baseball game (a Father's Day present devised by my brother for my father)! It wasn't until 5, but after gymnastics we got ourselves together and on our way down to Grandma and Grandpa's house. The first thing we did there was to have lunch, and then we went out back so that Cara could get into her little pool. Grandma produced a little spray bottle, which ended up being the main source of entertainment. A lot of time was spent running around spraying or being sprayed with it. There was also of course plenty of time spent playing in the house with toys. Then in the afternoon we were all off to the ball park!

Fortunately Campbell's Field in Camden is well prepared for younger visitors. The first thing we did, as it turned out, was get Cara an ice cream cone, because it was startlingly hot. She ate it standing up, which was perfect because it became very drippy. Then we found the beautiful carousel that was there, and Cara immediately took two trips on it. There was a beautiful view of the Ben Franklin Bridge and the Delaware River from the carousel. Cara rode the carousel at least two more times before the evening was over. She also kept asking for more ice cream, but only got one dose of that.

At our seats, we did spend a little time watching the game. I made some feeble attempts to explain baseball to her, but since I am not an expert myself and Cara is barely three years old, not a lot of progress was made. Fortunately there was a shark mascot who made appearances, various silly games played between innings, and a lot of snacks to be had. In search of a juice-type drink (the lone Icee machine in the concession area was broken), I resorted to a bottle of red Gatorade, which Cara liked very much but which was not a bottle shape well-suited to her drinking habits. She was wearing a white lacy top which soon became drenched with red droplets, making it look quite a bit as if she had committed a rather serious felony.

The park also had a "Kids Fun Zone," which I took her to explore. I was, with some reluctance, willing to wait in line with her so that she could have a few minutes in the bouncy house they had. Then I sent her to the playground equipment, but I think there were too many other larger and faster children there for her to really get into it. Eventually I coaxed her back.

As the game got near the end, longer musical interludes were played over the loudspeakers. Cara had been bobbing her head along to every snatch of music that was put on, but when the songs got longer she just had to get out of her seat and dance in the aisles. It was wonderful. "YMCA" made her want to go all the way upstairs to dance--I'm still not sure why.

After the game the park also offered a "Kids run the bases" event, which we thought would be tons of fun (and which Cara had even requested to do, since earlier in the day she'd seen one hand-picked child do it during one of the breaks in the game). Unfortunately, though, as the eighth inning ended they announced the event was going to be cancelled due to the "inclement weather," which was soon to arrive. It had been a hot, sunny day, but it suddenly became overcast and there was a mass exodus from the park. As we exited into the parking lot, a fierce gust of wind picked up, and huge bolts of lightning could be seen out on the river. Evie, keen to avoid any fears on Cara's part, tried to make her see the fun and excitement in the situation.

We had a long, rainy ride home, but made it there very late with a very asleep girl in the back seat. She was unhappy to be transferred to her bed and needed some cuddling and some stories.

6/15/08 (Sunday)

Today was actually Father's Day (Happy Father's Day)! Evie woke Cara up and they came to the kitchen, Cara yelling "Happy Father's Day!" They also had a nice basket of goodies for me, and we had a lovely breakfast. Then, just to really get into my role, I went outside to dig up weeds. After that we had a light lunch. Our plans had been to go to the race track with Grandpapa and Aunt Claire, but as we were getting ready to leave the skies opened up and rain once again came pelting down. Even in the face of this, we decided to go ahead with our plan. After multiple assurances from George on the phone, telling us it was perfectly sunny at the track, we arrived. A bank of dark clouds was trailing right behind us, and five minutes after having gotten to our (very fortunately covered) seats, there was a massive downpour.

However, fortunately for us all, racing horses apparently don't care about such things, and the races went on. Cara I think enjoyed seeing the horses, as well as the tractors that came on after every race to smooth the mud down. (We also got to see a couple of crazy guys down near the track racing against each other in the rain, to the delight of the audience in the stands.) The rain didn't last long and soon the sun was shining again. As she had done at the baseball game the day before, Cara happily enjoyed a hot dog (thankfully a very dependable food at sporting events of all kinds). Before the last race, Cara got to go down and see the horses up close while they got ready for the race.

Then it was back to Grandmama and Grandpapa's house to help celebrate GiGi's birthday! Cara helped decorate the cake and had a wild time jumping and running and flipping around the living room, playing catch with Grandmama. She had on a lovely brown dress, and I regretted that I hadn't brought the camera along to get a picture of her in it. Eventually she did demand that I take her picture, while she was holding the wooden pole that Grandmama and Grandpapa use to hold their deck doors closed. I took a photo using my cell phone.

Cara was very napless. She had gotten some sleep in the car yesterday, but by this evening she had had nothing at all, and was tired enough that she pretty much sat still and watched TV for a while downstairs. It was very hard to convince her to come home, and in fact I had to carry her upstairs to get her shoes on. We got home earlier than last night, but her bed needed sheets on it, and then her diaper leaked for some reason (this almost never happens to us nowadays) and the sheets needed to be changed again, and now that Cara has finally been put down, it is 10 PM, and she's still chatting away. It's been a busy weekend.

6/16/08 (Monday)

To recap: No nap Saturday, up past ten o'clock. No nap Sunday, up until ten o'clock. Appropriately, today I had to drop my car off at the repair shop midday, so at 1:30, in the middle of her nap, I picked Cara up. We drove to the car doctor (which I'm sure is where Cara thinks I also go when I have appointments), where I got Cara's stroller out of the trunk and we abandoned the car. It was a hot walk home. It's not really a pleasant walk, either. Every few minutes, Cara would ask why we were going this way. She also often wanted to stop and pick flowers growing by the road. She did admit fatigue a couple of times.

The best part of the afternoon was playing outside. We scooped all the sand onto one side of the sand table and filled the other side with water; Cara held the hose. Cinderella went swimming and boating. I had to pot a few plants and plant some others in the ground, so Cara was on her own. She made a really world-class mess. I think she was taking handfuls of mud from the sand side and throwing them into the water, with gusto. Everything ended up muddy, including Cara. I'm glad she was barefoot! She really enjoyed the water, and she's getting very possessive about the hose. She helped a lot when I needed to water things.

We went inside and changed, and in a little while Em called to invite us to the pool! of course, we went. It was Cara's first time really in the water this summer. She loved "swimming" with me holding her up. I'm working on getting her to kick with her feet under the water! She wanted to swim by herself, so I put her on the steps and let her come to me. It was really a glorified jump, and she only did it once or twice. It was cool, though! Unfortunately, it really was pretty cool, so we couldn't stay in long. Soon Cara's teeth were chattering and it was time to come home and have dinner.

Now, possibly running a little early, Cara is in the bath. It's her first since Friday. Cinderella is there. It sounds like fun. Cara's really tired, though, having melted down a few times tonight over very little things. I'm hoping we can get her down a little early, but we're not awfully good at that!

6/17/08 (Tuesday)

Cara was definitely over-tired last night. She went to sleep, but she cried in her sleep intermittently until a little after twelve, when Steve couldn't take it and woke her up. He read to her and got her some water, and then we turned on the fan and had to just abandon her; she was screaming, but there was nothing else to do. She went to sleep pretty soon, and she slept peacefully. Steve and I gradually got to sleep, too.

She had a fine day at Susan's; her nap was definitely a good one! This evening we hung out very quietly and tried to be very mellow. Cara got a new girl this morning for using the potty, and this evening she stripped and then announced, "I want to meet those other girls I saw!" She got to. She even got to join Cara in the bath tonight. Last night, by the way, in the bath, Cara spontaneously declared, "It's raining men!"

Puma's had a really good weekend. He went with us to the track and chanted, "Go, horsies, go!" He sat up in his own seat. At home, he loves to jump and says, "That's me!" whenever his name is mentioned. I had to wake Cara up this morning after her rough night, and the way I finally goaded her to consciousness was by waking Puma. I picked him up and talked to him, and in a flash her eyes opened and her arms were held out for him. I love Puma, too, even when he does silly things.

6/18/08 (Wednesday)

At Susan's house, it's building week. Cara's project yesterday was a cute dump truck picture, where the bed of the truck was attached and movable. Other projects have also had to do with construction, and it is very appropriate that the kids were playing with blocks when I got there. "I can balance that on my head!" Cara told me, "Come on!" She brought me back to the playroom, where she, Avery, and Casey all tried to balance blocks on their heads. It was clear that a lot of effort was going into it.

We stopped at the library on the way home to return some books and also to play. Cara loves the computer, so we spent some time messing with the games on it. I find it very difficult to find the things I want to, so we ended up with some new programs today. Some were good, and some were not that good. We had fun, though. Cara was hungry, so we headed home to have a snack. Cara got some Cheerios and brought them over to PJ's house to share.

After a big dinner, everyone went outside to play. It had stormed again, so Cara went splashing in a puddle. After her first foray, it occurred to someone to roll up her pants. Sure enough, as soon as we got home, she stripped off her wet jeans in the playroom and headed upstairs in search of new ones. It was easy to transition to bathtime!

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