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Journal Key:

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

6/19/08 (Thursday)

This morning I spontaneously suggested to Cara that she could have "cheesy eggs" for breakfast. This was such an interesting prospect that we managed to get through the morning without any television: Cara had to come and watch me make the eggs cheesy. She still didn't really eat them at all--a few bites at most--but it was nice to have her engaged. We went off to Susan's.

According to Cara, Aliyah and Annika came for a visit to Susan's today, which is nice since she hasn't seen them in a while. I don't know how Susan felt about it. I came to pick Cara up today, having taken the day off (and since Evie was going to her school's graduation ceremonies), and Susan gave me Cara's project in an unfinished state, telling me that the kids had just been too crazy today for her to finish it. Given Susan's usual miraculous ability to get them all to complete the projects, that's really saying something! The part that was not finished was something only Susan could do, because it involved cutting holes in a paper bag. The bag was inverted and decorated to look like a workman's orange vest. When we got home, I cut holes in it and Cara put it on for about two seconds.

To while away our evening together, we did some playing with girls. I was folding laundry and the girls had a good time bouncing in a towel and hiding in some sheets. Then we went out for dinner, where Cara asked me multiple times what various "guys" were doing. She was very concerned when the nice man who'd taken our order left the store, and wanted to know where he was going. I suggested that he was probably done working and was going to go home. She spent a lot of the meal standing up in our booth and looking around at other people (and dancing). I decided not to tell her to sit down, and let her exercise her curiosity. We also went for a walk in the parking lot, because every Thursday night at the particular shopping center where we were, they have a lot of historic cars parked in rows, and I thought it might be nice to look at them. The upshot was that Cara found a piece of trash on the ground and insisted on carrying it around until we found a trash can to put it in.

Cara had claimed to be done eating in the restaurant, so that we could go for our walk, but as soon as I threw out her food she said she had wanted to eat more of it. This is often a problem with our meals: Cara will wander off and then be upset when she doesn't get to come back every fifteen minutes and snack. To palliate her, I said we could have popsicles when we got home. She said she also wanted to change into a dress--her sea dress. I don't know why she decided that this had to happen. But she insisted that she get into the dress first, and she did not want to go outside to eat the popsicle. So we ate them over bowls in the kitchen. There was little to no dripping since it was cool inside, and the sea dress stayed clean.

After that at Cara's suggestion we played some computer games, and then Mommy came home! She is now administering the bath.

6/20/08 (Friday)

Today was Evie's first day of summer vacation--yay! It also happened to be a vacation day for Susan, so Cara went to Em and Ron's house to play with PJ and Casey. I got to say hello to Cara in the morning, but then got into my car and went straight to work, arriving there early for the first time in weeks and weeks.

Em's report on the day: 1st thing in the morning, we played a "pick up sticks" game in the back yard. Really a great way to use the kids to do some lawn maintenance.... they just picked up all the sticks that had fallen down in a recent storm. The funniest moment of the game was when PJ crawled under the picnic table to get a stick and hit his head. Here was the exchange that followed:

Cara:"PJ, you just hit your head"

PJ: "I did NOT hit my head"

Cara: "Yes you did. I saw it"

PJ: "No!"

pause

PJ: "Mommy, I hit my head on the picnic table"

Cara: "PJ, I told you you hit your head"

PJ: "I did NOT hit my head"

Classic.

Went to Juliana to ask for an egg because I was one short to bake a cake. The kids asked Juliana very nicely and she was all too willing to get an egg for us. Casey then went and took a mini-nap because she was melting down and PJ, Cara and I proceeded to make a cake. PJ and Cara cracked the eggs and did a REALLY good job, hardly getting any shell into the egg. They got to beat the egg and pour it into the mixer.... then they got to dump other ingredients in the mixer. Then they got to lick various beaters and spoons.... it was all great fun and I'm sure they didn't eat *much* raw egg..... soon enough the cake was done and cooled. We made different colors of icing so each kid could pick. Casey (now awake) chose orange, Cara chose red. PJ chose blue, but after he saw Cara with red, he of course changed his mind. So they got a slice of cake with their choice color icing. I forgot the candles which is unfortunate since Cara's grandmama has them on her cake.

We had a picnic outside, and the kids just didn't know how to react to being about to pick hot dogs or pizza.... they didn't HAVE to eat the same thing. And then they went off for a nap.... it was a little strange for Cara because we had to embark on a rather extensive Puma search before naptime. Luckily, I found him on the computer desk. He must have been surfing the Internet.

Cara had a typical day with the Loefflers, because when I got home I found her wearing PJ's shirt. Situation normal. For the evening, we all of us went to the Carnival!! A local catholic school (I think) was having a carnival. There were lots of rides and games. The interesting thing about the rides was that for the great majority of them, adults were not allowed on! Cara would have to ride by herself (she was comfortably above the height restriction of 36" on most of the rides). I think the first ride she went on was the flying elephants. I think this was also the first ride she ever went on as a little baby, though I could be wrong. She had a blast, and discovered (as many others did) that the elephants have horns that you can honk. Repeatedly.

There was also a carousel (of course), a car ride (she got in the back seat of the car, I suppose out of habit), and the most exciting ride of all, a dragon roller coaster! Cara spotted this almost as soon as we went in and wanted to get on. I was a little anxious about this--she was actually below the height rule for it by an inch or so. But some other taller kids got on, and in she went. I was very afraid that she was going to be scared when the ride took off (it just went in a ring, but it went pretty fast and there were ups and downs), but my fears were groundless: she loved every second of it. It was great to watch. I was proud of her, and impressed.

Mom's note: She was below the height rule to ride alone, not to ride at all. She was tall enough to go on. We had to wait for some taller kids to come along, too, that's all. I'm not exactly sure why that made a difference. The attendant, actually, was a really cool older man who gave the kids a little speech before the ride in which he asked them how old they thought the dragon was. One child suggested a thousand and sixty-six, which, the man pointed out, was actually when France invaded England. Several kids were putting their arms in the air as they went around, but Cara hung on the whole time, with a big grin on her face. As she came to the crests of the hills and sped down, the grin got bigger. I was very proud, because I think I remember freaking out on one of these.

She also got to play a game and win a balloon. The game must have been based on an actual game with actual rules, but since it had been converted to an "everybody wins" game, it was hard to tell what the original idea might have been. What ended up happening was that the kid would go up to a little pool in which a lot of rubber duckies were swimming around. You picked one out and turned it over--there was a number on the bottom. What this signified I don't know, because at this point the attendant said: "You won!" and you got to pick out a giant balloon. Cara ended up with a kind of big magic wand that had Dora on it. I had a premonition that I would spend the rest of our time at the carnival carrying it around. I was right.

So we had lots of fun, but soon ran out of tickets. PJ and Casey had fun too, but had somewhat more conservative taste in rides. PJ, for instance, wanted to ride the train, which for some reason held no interest for Cara. Anyways, we all took off and met up again at Wendy's, where we took over three tables and had a fine time. Tonight it was again Evie's turn to give the bath, but I have been enlisted for bedtime reading, so off I go! We are considering hitting the carnival again tomorrow...

Em also reports, by the way, that Cara can now climb off the bar stools in their kitchen, which PJ had been doing for about a year. I'm not sure whether Casey can.

6/21/08 (Saturday)

What an exciting day! We all went to gymnastics, even Ron, because it was the last day for the regular year. Cara will take some summer classes on Mondays, but this is it for Saturdays. Warm-ups were extended today, with the big circle of kids dancing to song after song. They did the hokie-pokie, the chicken dance, and lots more. Our kids, while clearly the youngest because they had the least clue what was going on, could not be beat for enthusiasm! They danced hard. They often danced so hard that they bounced right into the middle of the circle and had to be retrieved. They also got to go on the trampoline and one or two other things before the big ceremony.

I realized as it began that this was the first of many boring graduation-type things Cara (and we) will be attending. All the kids sat in their groups while one by one each child was called up to stand on a mat and be given a medal by his or her group's teacher. They're nice medals, on red, white, and blue ribbons; they're heavy and they have the kids' names and levels on the back on stickers. Cara and PJ got "junior" ones. Both of them were unhappy afterwards because they got no stamps today.

We drove home; "It's Gene!" Cara cried, or, rather, squealed, and then she wouldn't talk to him when we went to show him her medal. We got to show Juliana, too. Then we went to the mall. We figured we'd take Cara out to celebrate, plus it would tucker her out for her nap. At first it seemed like she didn't need to be tuckered out. She was needy and wanted to be carried. We had lunch at Friendly's, of course, though, and then she perked right up. We found out that when you get gummy bears on your sundae, you get the tiny ones! That was cool, because I had thought of taking Cara for tiny gummy bears, as I did after her first gymnastics class. After lunch Cara was very ready to run and run in the mall. We went to Playmobil and had fun, and then we dragged her home. She admitted to fatigue.

I put her down. She actually went to sleep, even though I put her down at one! When we went in to wake her up, Puma was in her arms and a little paper cat was on her chest. She was very asleep. Puma had been rejected before the nap and was on the floor when I had left the room. Cara explained that she had found the paper cat behind the glider.

We got in the car and met Grandmama, Grandpapa, Aunt Claire, GiGi, Uncle John, and Aunt Theresa at Memphis Pig-Out, a great restaurant in Atlantic Highlands. It's full of funny pig toys and pictures and memorabilia. We had a good dinner and then went for a walk down by the water to see the boats. Cara ran and ran and ran. I was amazed, actually, by how much running she did! We also walked out on the dock and saw lots of jellyfish, which was cool. By then, the sun was going down on the longest day of the year. It was time to go home.

Cara wanted to go to Grandmama's house. She wanted to go to the park. She wanted to go on rides. We put her in the car. "I'm ready to go to bed," she told us. (The other great thing she said in the car today: "Monkeys don't eat a lot of bananas. They have to share with their friends.") She stayed awake all the way home. We got her ready for bed, though she did some considerable stalling. Steve read to her from her new Highlights magazine. He was ready to get another book to read, but she told him again, "I'm ready to go to bed."

6/22/08 (Sunday)

This morning Mommy made pancakes (in multi-colored flower shapes), which was very nice, and we watched Disney in between eating them. Then I mowed the lawn. Cara was wearing underpants and we were giving another attempt at potty training. After the first conspicuous failure, Cara got a new pair of shorts and went back to wearing a pull-up. However, I am pretty sure that in the morning she realized she was peeing and was able to stop herself and finish on the potty. Anyway, she had enough successes that she earned a prize: a new fairy lady. The lady immediately got to meet all of her fairy friends. ("Butterfly fairies, butterfly fairies," sang Cara.) I went out to the supermarket and got some lunch for us. Cara was excited to get a Kid Cuisine meal, including pudding onto which she could put sprinkles.

Then it was time for Cara's nap. I read her her Highlights magazine again (by far her favorite issue ever, it being the only one that we've ever read all the way through; and multiple times, at that!), and another lengthy book, before leaving her. Evie and I listened to her chatter on for about an hour in her bed, and then suddenly some very unhappy cries began: "Mommy! Mommy!" Cara wailed urgently. We decided this was not something responsible parents could ignore. It turned out that one of her fairy ladies (she had gone to bed with a pair) had fallen down the side of her bed against the wall. We rescued her. "I had a very good nap!" Cara said brightly--despite the fact that she had clearly not slept a wink--and climbed out of bed. Getting her back in bed was not a fight worth fighting, we decided, so we moved up our planned late afternoon trip to Grandmama and Grandpapa's house.

We arrived a little while later, with a swimsuit for Cara, her giant Dora balloon from the carnival, her fairies, and a squishy blue cushion that she happened to notice and latch onto on our way out the door. Cara got to go in her little turtle pool (which really is starting to get little for her) and play with her Backyardigans sprinkler toy. There was a lot of splashing and lots of bubbles were made. Some rain came by, but not until after Cara had had some nice play time, and it passed in time for Grandpapa to go out and grill up some dinner for us all. Cara, not surprisingly, got a little tired as the evening went on. She sat and watched TV for quite a while (some of us were very thrilled when The Mighty Knights happened to come on, and Cara went upstairs and managed to bring everyone down to watch it), and became very contrary and whiny when the issue of bath time and departure came up. Grandmama eased our passage to the car by offering a piggyback ride (something Cara used to be very squeamish about, but in the past few weeks has learned to appreciate).

We rather predictably hit some traffic on the way home, Cara fell asleep in the car, and we decided to skip the bath. Tomorrow is Monday (an Avery day at Susan's, as we helpfully reminded Cara tonight!), and our summer routine will begin in earnest.

6/23/08 (Monday)

When I got home today, I got the usual screech from Cara. But it was an interesting evening, because before we really got down to eating dinner, some men came over to look at our bathroom! (We were getting an estimate for having some work done to it.) Cara stayed near us but was quiet and shy while the two nice gentlemen discussed changing her tub. Eventually she came close to Mommy and stood on her foot until Mommy picked her up to end the pain.

After dinner we convinced Cara to come outside, where the Loefflers were out. "PJ is home!" Cara said, with great happiness and surprise. Then they proceeded to do a lot of bickering on PJ's front lawn. We noticed them standing about five yards from each other, yelling about something. Upset, Cara ran to us. "PJ tried to hit me!" (At one point, with Cara sitting being upset at something or other, Ron instructed Casey to give Cara a hug, and she did--it was very cute, and I think it helped.) But they got ice cream cones out of it (scooped by Em!). PJ fell and dropped his ice cream cone, and was incredibly tragic about his loss. He was given another (empty) cone, which he bit into with great ferocity. Then he purposely dropped half of it, stomped on it with his foot, and trundled happily off on his tricycle.

Then the sun was going down, so we went off to Juliana's house. (Evie points out that if we stick to "the sun is going down" as meaning bed time, by the winter we'll have Cara down at 5 o'clock!) Juliana's house is always fun, because Juliana actually waters her lawn, so there were lots of nice puddles in the driveway for Cara to splash in. Then she went in and had her bath--the first in a while, as it turns out--and now Mommy is once again the lucky story reader (with new library books).

I got to read Cara her Highlights magazine for the first time. The first thing I read was a multi-panelled story of a little dog seeing stars and a lightning bug. After I read each panel, Cara intoned, almost chanting, "We're going to the airport!" This continued for the whole page. I was mystified. Eventually, about halfway through the magazine, we reached the one spread of pages that had a picture of an airport on it. How many planes did we see? How many trucks? That was it. I know that this must be Steve's fault in some way.

6/24/08 (Tuesday)

As I did yesterday, I got Cara to Susan's at about a quarter to nine. We play a little and take the morning kind of slow. I like to think that we're just finding our routine, but I'm a little bit afraid that this is our routine! I know from last summer, though, that Cara will get used to me dropping her off. This year, though, she's logical enough to assume that Daddy will be picking her up, since I'm doing the drop-off!

Lately, Johnny Cash has been popping up on Steve's I-Pod. He's getting into it, so on Sunday he went to the extreme of getting out the actual CD and bringing in with us in the car. Cara "weawy wiked that 'Wing of Fire' song!" In fact, she liked it so much that she requested it again on the way home several times. This morning, she did not like what was on the radio in my car. All she wanted was "Ring of Fire." I brought it with me when I went to pick her up, and we put it on repeat and listened to it the whole way home. (I did let the CD go to another song, but Cara didn't like it.) Now, I have to add that I think the reason we own the CD in the first place is because I wanted to be able to listen to "Ring of Fire" whenever I wanted.

We are once again mounting a campaign to convince Cara to ask for things instead of telling us to get them for her, and we've extended it to explaining that one should say "no, thank you," when given something one does not want. The method of rejection that is currently being employed is the exclamation of "No, I don't want that!" accompanied by pushing the hated object away. After his experiences giving the bath, Daddy adds that one should not splash or flail, and also that, if one must spit, one should aim away from other people. I do think she can understand things like that, so I see hope.

Cara has an appointment with a dentist in a couple of weeks! She's thrilled and wants to go now. I shamelessly used this to motivate her to brush her teeth tonight, so they would be pretty for the dentist. She brushed them herself, better than she ever has before! It's amazing what the prospect of an audience will do.

6/25/08 (Wednesday)

Well, it was an accident, but I succeeded in making breakfast for Cara today and having her eat it. In the course of our morning, I referred to her as "cookie." I do this frequently, but today apparently it struck her as a reference to actual cookies. She ran to me, grabbed my leg, and, in a stage whisper, said, "Mommy, you put firecrackers on cookies!" It took me a moment to figure out that she was talking about the cupcakes we'd seen on display at the mall last Saturday, which had fireworks on them for July 4th. I toasted up some mini-waffles, and then we got out the writing icing and made "firecrackers" on them. Cara ate them all up. I'm not sure how to feel.

In the car on the way to Susan's, Johnny Cash fell into a ring of fire. It was burning. The flames got higher. It burns, burns, burns, that ring of fire. "Mommy, that's just like that playground!" A couple of days ago we caught an episode of Higglytown Heroes in which a playground is struck by lightning and is, indeed, on fire. The biggest difference, I pointed out to Cara, is that this fire is symbolic.

We stopped at the supermarket briefly and Cara noticed something she wanted: Gatorade. "Punch juice!" she cried. Fortunately, the one she'd noticed was indeed fruit punch, so we bought a medium-sized bottle. Cara carried it through the store and out to the car. She was thrilled at the prospect of sharing it with PJ and Casey.

I believe that when they came in she did yell something at them about punch juice. PJ tried some eventually and liked it, and Cara certainly drank a cup. However, this evening was possibly the Worst Playdate Ever, including magnificent tantrums, falls, spills, fights, a lot of yelling, some judiciously applied television, some forehead-feeling, and a lot of parental forbearance. The dinner was good, though! Also we learned that the strap from my yoga mat makes a perfect leash for Puma. Also Cara learned the word leash. Good night. We're tired.

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