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Journal Key:

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

10/16/08 (Thursday)

Steve went to the gym again, so Cara and I had a "girly night." To distract her while he left, I suggested that we play dress-up. We went to our closets; each of us got out a dress and we put them on over our clothes. Then we went downstairs and added tiaras. We decided to have a tea party with Puma. First we had to set the table, making sure each of us had a plate and a cup. While Cara got water in the cups, I went and opened a bag of gummy bears to surprise her. I put three on each of our plates. Cara helped Puma eat his by holding him up to them and making eating sounds, but after that, when I was more specific in what I suggested she do, she ate his. She asked him, first, whether he minded, and she answered herself.

Cara has been experimenting with nonsense words for a few weeks. Last night, she kept yelling "blah, blah, blah!" At our tea party, she spouted some nonsense and told me it was Spanish. I told her agua was Spanish for water. "Ashua is Spanish for gummy bear," she told me, "and anua is Spanish for plate." It went on and got somewhat more elaborate.

I wonder whether Puma speaks Spanish. I can't imagine why he wouldn't.

10/17/08 (Friday)

It was a late morning: Cara woke up while I was still getting dressed. The advantage was that she got dressed right away. She ate some scrambled eggs but not much toast, and insisted on taking Puma to Susan's. I was lenient, and it was okay because PJ and Casey brought their lions!

We seem to have really gotten Cara into computer and video games somehow. We have the Nick Jr. games on the internet, and she wanted me to play video games this morning. That was delayed until this evening. Tonight we went out to dinner at our local Mexican chain, and Cara had a big dinner. After a lot of chips to start with, she ate her whole quesadilla and, after the grown-ups were all done eating, pulled over her cup of beans and ate a bunch of those too! We were in the unusual position of having to wait for her to be done eating. This seemed to support recent theories of a growth spurt being in the offing.

Cara had claimed to be tired while we were driving to the restaurant--I think she said her head was heavy because she was tired. Mommy suggested that after she ate, she might not be so tired anymore. Cara strenuously objected. "I will be more tired!" It turned out Mommy was right: Cara was quite energized after her big meal. We were lazy and turned on the TV, but Cara got out her girls and the paper apples from her Johnny Appleseed project and the bugs from her bug discover kit and did a big setup involving all of those things, right on the living room rug. She found places to stick her girls into the stair railing, and made Puma slide down the railing. The girls had a tea party as well, and when it was finally time for her (late) bath, they came into the tub. Cara and I had fun with the girls: first we had them dancing incredibly fast to an up-tempo version of "Jingle Bells." Then we started discussing the kind of superpowers they have. I decided that Snow White was super strong, and one of them could sleep underwater.

Somehow we got onto the subject of drumming on tummies, so now Mommy is reading the old favorite If I Ran the Circus (AKA the Circus McGurkus), which features a creature specially made to drum on his tummy.

10/18/08 (Saturday)

Our nice Saturday began with a pancake breakfast (Cara being amenable to leftover pancakes just now) and a trip to gymnastics. The coolest thing about the class was that Cara got to swing from a long rope! I've seen other kids do it but I think this might have been the first time she did. She got to swing back and forth and then she just dropped off of it to the cushy floor. She also had what is becoming her ritual nose-wipe break, followed by a potty break.

I vacuumed the house afterwards, chasing Mommy and Cara to different floors of the house. They had a picnic with blackberries, and Cara made sure I got one. Soon enough it was lunchtime for Cara, and then an early nap.

The nap was to be a sort of "fake" one, because we had a date to go with Em and her kids down to Middletown in the early afternoon. It turned out that after a lot of messing around upstairs Cara actually fell asleep. But she did wake up and we got ourselves out the door. There was some added excitement in the form of an old dresser which we had to put in Em's pickup truck to take down to Claire's house. Cara and I took my car by ourselves, listening to Johnny Cash all the way. It was the only Cara-friendly CD I had, and fortunately she was excited to listen to it. We had a wonderful time, though she never seemed to quite believe that we were listening to Johnny Cash. Every time a new song came on, she asked "Who is this guy?" or "Can we listen to the other Johnny Cash?"

When we all arrived at Grandmama's house, I went off with George to deliver furniture, and the kids got down to work. They each painted a cute little pumpkin. PJ loves to paint pumpkins, and used every color he could in great quantity, with the result that he has a small, totally black pumpkin, with some slight shades of other colors peeking through. Cara's pumpkin was of course a collaborative effort (why paint your own when you can make other people do it?), and features a lady in a dress--presumably a princess.

After the pumpkin painting, the kids and ladies were off to the park. They stayed out there for quite a long time, so they must have had a blast. When they came back to Grandmama's house, Casie and Aunt Claire were there too! GiGi was there also, so it was a nice big crowd.

We had a nice dinner with mac and cheese, watched a lot of Curious George, got out all the toys and scattered them all over. Cara's bath toy featuring magnetic fish and a fishing pole was discovered, so Evie filled the tub and all of the kids had a turn fishing (except perhaps Cara, to whom the toy was not novel). Casey very determinedly caught every one of the fish (there are over a dozen, I believe). PJ and Casey both liked Cara's soft square multicolored pads which can velcro together. Several small boxes were assembled for the kids to hide inside. Casey in particular had a lot of fun playing peekaboo by popping out of the cube. She seemed to have the most energy of all the kids and was still going strong when PJ and Cara were zoned out on the couch.

PJ found Cara's Matchbox cars (given to her by Aunt Claire) and was predictably thrilled. At the end of the evening, he was allowed to pick one to take home with him. Everyone thought he chose very well: a very sporty light blue race car. PJ, with a stellar sense of fair play and generosity, gave Grandmama one of his own toy cars in return!

10/19/08 (Sunday)

Cara had a tough night; she was up around midnight and then again in a couple of hours. The second time was kind of nice; I just went in and hugged her, and she settled back down. I don't think she really woke up. In the morning she was a little congested and a little warm, but she really was cheerful and had a basically normal day.

Grandmom and Grandpop came! It's been a while, so we were all very happy to see each other again. Books that you've had read to you a hundred times by Mommy and Daddy sound totally different when Grandma and Grandpa read them. We had a nice typical day, going to our normal place for lunch, where Cara went to the potty multiple times. Afterward we all sat down and did some intense Play-doh work. Almost every color in our considerable spectrum was gotten out, and a great range of animals were molded. We all found our own ways of expressing ourselves creatively. I made eight frogs. Grandpop made bears and horses in different colors as per Cara's orders.

After Grandmom and Grandpop left, Mommy and Cara played computer games. Cara was scheduled to go to a birthday party today, but because of her uncertain health we played safe and cancelled. Instead, Mommy eventually went out grocery shopping, and Cara and I played computer games.

Cara was really, really into computer games today. With a very small intermission of a couple of minutes, we spent the entire time before Mommy returned playing computer games. We sampled some of the less common games and found some good ones and some duds, but after every one Cara was ready for another one.

When Mommy returned, it turned out she had purchased an additional piece of furniture for our bedroom. It was a storage ottoman, and provided lots of fun for Cara. First of all, she liked the little footstools that came out of the inside of the ottoman. Then she found that she could get inside of the empty ottoman. Then she discovered the box that it all came in. She spent a few minutes popping in and out of that. Then Mommy had the good suggestion that we color on the box. She was rewarded for her good idea by having to draw several princesses and a castle on one of the flaps.

Whatever Cara may have, she no doubt caught it from daycare. I for one will have no qualms sending her there tomorrow if we possibly can!

10/20/08 (Monday)

Cara woke up in the early morning, I believe because she had to use the potty. Though she is perfectly willing to get up and use the potty in the evening before she falls asleep, getting herself up in the night is still a problem: she makes noise and we have to go with her. Evie has actually told her, with the idea of weaning her away from this, that Cara can get up and go potty in the night and then come and tell us. I will be interested to see if this ever happens.

We had an okay morning, she was not too sick, and presumably she had an okay time at Susan's.

The weather is starting to really get cold. I realize that I have to get back into my habit of starting the car before we go and get into it to go to Susan's, so that it's warmed up for us. I have also been looking for sweaters that I can put on Cara, but it turns out that we don't have any. To fill this need, Evie and Cara went out in the afternoon to shop for clothes for her. Cara was very excited at the prospect. Unfortunately she was also very excited about all the toys that happened to be at the store, and wanted most of them. However they found a pink sweatsuit which was so totally awesome that, once Cara saw it, toy purchases were no longer necessary.

This evening before dinner Cara had me add to the collection of princesses on our cardboard box. I drew a particularly large and regal-looking one who became their mommy, and so there was also a "father" next to her. In honor of our dinner, macaroni and cheese, I named their kingdom "Macaronia." I wrote down the names of all the princesses and the kingdom, lest we forget and make up different names.

Cara was very happy with her meal. She is always very nice about thanking Mommy for making dinner, and was amenable to the idea of calling up Grandmama to thank her for giving us the leftover macaroni we had tonight. (We forgot, though; but thank you Grandmama!) Our Parents magazine was open on the kitchen table and I read an article in it. Cara became interested and we had to flip through the whole thing, finding all of the toys Cara wanted.

In the bath Cara played all by herself for a while with no toys (I was sitting nearby but not contributing anything). I eventually gave her the pair of mermaids, and one of them started singing a song about "Driving through the mermaid city." The mermaid also sneezed, and Cara said "Bless you!"

10/21/08 (Tuesday)

Cara got a goodie bag yesterday from the birthday party we didn't make it to on Sunday. There were tattoos in the bag. Cara had me put two of them on her shins, and then she sat on the floor with her pants up around her knees for quite a while. Steve got home, and they played while I made dinner. I recall seeing her walking about, holding her pants up. When I called them to come eat, I heard Steve explaining that we had all seen the tattoos already, it was okay if they were covered up. They are, fortunately, still intact, and Cara didn't object to wearing pants all day.

Another thing in the bag was a Snow White Pez dispenser. I loaded it up and we had some Pez. This afternoon, Cara had me put in the second package. I put in some and disappeared the rest, hoping to avoid a sugar high. Cara decided we should bring them over to PJ's house, where we were going for an early playdate. "Because Ron and Em and PJ and Casey will be very hungry! And we should have them after dinner!" Well, then we took one out and Cara held it in her hand to bring personally to PJ. We gave it to him, and Cara took one, and then (uh-oh!) there were none left! Casey needed one. Fortunately, Em had some carrots, which she cut into tiny pieces and put in and took out and distributed. It went beautifully. The kids then spent the rest of the evening snacking on carrots (regular carrots, not ones they thought were Pez).

Brushing Cara's teeth is torture. She delays and delays and delays. This evening, I motivated her by letting her squeeze her own toothpaste. That helped. Then, I turned on the big timer, setting it at five minutes. Her toothbrush timer lasts two minutes, but we don't let it run when she's not being brushed. I told her we would race the timers, and if the big one finished before the little one, she would get no sticker. She managed to beat it, but it was very close. We were much quicker than usual, and it took almost five minutes to get in two minutes of brushing! Then, of course, after flossing, Cara threw a fit instead of rinsing and spitting, which is usually her best part. She lost her sticker anyway. Argh!

10/22/08 (Wednesday)

In the car this morning Cara told me that when she sees Halloween decorations, she says, "Halloween decorations!" We have been noticing them lately. We had enough time in the morning that I was willing to let Cara play one computer game before we got in the car.

In the afternoon I came home a little early so that Mommy could get to her parent conferences at school. I gave Cara a choice for dinner and she chose Baja Fresh, but we ended up playing one or two computer games before driving over there. Cara and I have been to Baja Fresh quite a few times, whether it was just the two of us or a larger group. We always sit in the same corner booth. Cara picked it out for us and we had a nice time eating our food. Cara got to see a woman put more ice into the soda machines, and we had our typical trip to the potty.

At home, to make it a particularly decadent night with Daddy, we got out some very old gingerbread cookies. I'm not sure she's ever eaten them before but she had a couple while we watched Curious George. Cara went down to the game closet and got out some interlocking foam lizards ("Let's do the Wizard Puzzle, Daddy!") that we played with. I was given a stuffed polar bear to hold while she had Puma. Puma got into a fight with our little Batman figure. Puma won.

My intention was to get Cara to watch a different show than George--I was hoping I could show her a Pixar movie such as Toy Story. But she was totally uninterested in new, unknown things. I thought our night would just be sitting around watching TV, but she got out our Hullaballoo game and we had to jump around on the pads for a while. Then I cajoled her into cleaning them up, among one or two other things, and it was bath time.

I really thought that we would get our teeth brushing sticker tonight, but it was not to be: she balked again at rinsing time, for reasons I cannot understand. I think sometimes Cara waits for us to make good on punishment threats. Anyway she got two stickers, and while I was just reading the second book (Circus McGurkus), Mommy came in! She got to finish reading.

Mommy had two contributions. Right near our closest supermarket is an Outback restaurant, and next to it is an auto parts store. Apparently whenever Mommy and Cara drive by this area, Cara says she wants to have dinner--at the auto parts store.

Also just now up in Cara's bedroom, as Evie was leaving the little girl in bed for the night, the following exchange occurred:

Cara: I 'm not going to get a book tonight, Mommy.

Mommy: That's a good idea: I usually don't have books in bed.

Cara: Why?

Mommy: Because I can't read while I'm sleeping.

Cara: I just love to read to my animals!

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