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Journal Key:

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

2/19/09 (Thursday)

Today I picked up Cara and told her we were going out with Bev. Cara bounced up and down with joy: "She'll see what I'm wearing!" It was khaki pants and a striped sweater. It's a nice sweater. We went to the cold place. (I'm having a really hard time not calling it that when I'm talking to Cara.) Last time we went out with Bev, we went to a diner and all got waffles. I remembered that and part of me wanted one. I carefully kept it to myself, so no one else would get ideas. I was not the only one thinking that, however. Cara announced that that was what she was having. The mention of corn dogs soon changed her mind. Puma came too and had a great time; she ate some imaginary meat and was quite happy. After dinner Cara and I went over to Barnes and Noble and read some books. Cara wanted Bev to come, too, but it was a little late.

At home, Cara had a pink bath in which she drew and drew with her pink bath crayons. There were many, many princesses and girls and a lot of hand-holding going on. Things were very, very pink.

2/20/09 (Friday)

When I get to Susan's, Cara, of course, is excited to see me. So is PJ. He wants the hands to talk, and he wants to play with me and hang on me, which is pretty OK with me. To Cara, though, this is upsetting. Today he pulled off one of my gloves, and she started to get very mad. I got her to stop that. Then Aliyah came and took the glove from PJ, and he got mad. Then I took it from her, and she did not get mad. That was nice.

Cara and I had a talk about how I'm her Mommy and she doesn't need to get mad about PJ playing with me because I'm still hers. So the plan is that I can give her a special kiss when I get there and then she'll know I'm specially her mommy and she won't, I hope, have to be mad. We'll see. I figure it's worth a shot.

After we left Susan's, Cara and I drove into Highland Park and went to the video rental place. Cara chose two movies: Holly Hobbie and My Little Ponies. The Holly Hobbie one has the same music and characters we've seen in the web games, and we got to see the origin story for the special club Holly has with her two best friends. Thrilling. The My Little Pony one is the same story as a book we have. It's truly terrible. The most horrifying part of the day was when the girl told us the movies were due back next Friday. I'd imagined that they'd go back tomorrow or Sunday. We'll see how long we can stand it.

2/21/09 (Saturday)

Our main event for the day was a trip to GiGi's house, where we met Grandmama and Grandpapa and Aunt Claire and Teresa and John as well. Mommy brought some interesting toys for Cara to play with. She did very well putting together her fire engine puzzle, and spent a lot of time hiding empty plastic easter eggs around the living room. Grandmama had to do a lot of chasing: we're sure she'll sleep well tonight.

For dinner we had kielbasa. We were unsure how Cara would react to this, so Mommy hit on the perfect description: they were big hot dogs! Cara ate quite a bit of that in addition to crackers beforehand and lots of other things. Before we left the house she was already talking about having a snack.

The snack did not materialize, but she and I did end up playing with her foam blocks after we got home. I was a little impressed at her follow-through there, since she had said she wanted to play with her blocks before we got in the car, and by the time we got home she still hadn't changed her mind. She very determinedly used up all of the foam blocks on a castle for Cinderella. Unfortunately Cinderella did not approve and the house was smashed. But I was impressed with her building skills and patience.

Tomorrow is PJ's birthday party!

2/22/09 (Sunday)

PJ's party was great! He and Casey came over first to spend the morning with us. PJ arrived first and settled in with Steve to spend the three hours we had playing video games. They took two bathroom breaks; otherwise, they were very focused. Casey came a little later, with her mom and her grandma. I had mentioned yesterday to Cara that PJ's grandma was in town. "She's nice," said Cara, "she gave me my Belle cup!" We had a talk in which Cara asserted that she was going to thank her for this, but of course this was forgotten by this morning.

The flow of wealth, however, continued. Having gotten PJ and Casey cute little snack containers with O-shaped freezer rings a few weeks ago, she got one for Cara for today. Having brought Easter things for Casey and PJ, she also made a bag for Cara. It's a cute bag shaped like a bunny face, and it had several treats inside it. One was a little pocket packet of tissues with flowers on the outside. This has been gleefully opened and emptied and the contents have been enthusiastically piled inside a box of tissues we have downstairs. Cara also got a very cute little snowglobe with an egg-shaped globe and a bunny inside of it--it went perfectly with her New York snowglobe that we got her on a recent vacation. Cara was very happy tonight to be able to put both of the snowglobes next to each other on her dresser. The best thing was a toy egg, from which, when it is placed in water and left for a couple of days, a toy will emerge. Of course we had to put it in water. At least five times, in the course of just a few hours, Cara insisted that Casey and I both stop whatever it was we were doing so that we could come and all sit in chairs and look at the egg. It was thrilling.

While the guys were playing games, we ladies managed to amuse ourselves. We had a few Easter egg hunts. I let the girls hide the eggs: the first time, they put them all together under the desk in the living room. We read some books. We played Weebles and dollhouse, and we colored.

We have for a long time had a little object that looks a little like a nutshell, which opens up to reveal a little lady bug-thing with wobbly legs. Last time she was over, Casey decided this was a scary spider. I ended up hiding it in the basement. Today, I asked Cara to put something in the recycling. "OK," she said, "I'm going down to the basement!" Casey was very alarmed. "There's a pider down there!" she told me.

Somehow or other, upstairs, we got into pretending that there were monsters and scaring them away by saying Boo. Cara really liked it, but Casey didn't seem at all sure. I reminded Cara, who was turning off the lights, how we asked PJ to stop doing that at his house because she didn't like it. Three minutes later, Casey and Cara were running around together shouting Boo.

On Wednesday nights, it's usually hard to get the kids to put on shoes to go back to their respective houses. When you're heading to a birthday party, though, things are a little different. We were out the door in just a couple of minutes.

The party really was a very good one. Casey manifested extreme symptoms of fatigue as soon as we got home, and I think she did take a little nap, but then she perked up. No one threw a tantrum or misbehaved; everyone got along. Cara jumped up and down with glee when Juliana arrived. PJ had a really, really good time opening his presents. (We didn't get him anything fun; we got clothes, most of which he can't wear until the summer.) It was great to see people whom we don't get to see often; we'll see most of them again in July, at Casey's party.

We were all tired when we got home. Cara ended up going to her room to cry at least three times this evening, probably just because of being exhausted. Once, it was because Daddy said that Buster probably wouldn't get into the box Cara had gotten out. That would hurt anyone's feelings. Overall, though, we relaxed and our evening was a pleasant ending to a good day.

2/23/09 (Monday)

In the early evening Cara and I were playing with her girls. They were all getting dressed for ballet class. I randomly stuck one into Cinderella's carriage. "You can't do that!" Cara immediately objected, holding up the girl that she was dressing. "This girl is going to a wedding!" Clearly she needed the carriage for her wedding. "I thought they were going to ballet class," I objected. "She's getting married at ballet class," Cara retorted. "To this girl."

Another memorable remark from our play time: "If you're going to go on a party boat, you have to take your clothes off." Also, as we just learned this evening, Puma is Cara's valentine.

Cara's egg which she received yesterday is getting bigger cracks. She didn't really notice this herself but when I made a remark which caused her to look at the egg, she was very happy and kept saying how happy she was that the egg was hatching. She and I are having an argument over whether a chick or an alligator will come out of the egg.

Susan said the kids were fantastic today. They all got to play with PJ's new Hot Wheels playset, and I also hear that they got to dance around on bubble wrap, making it pop. Fun!

2/24/09 (Tuesday)

It's PJ's birthday!

Yesterday Cara got a present in the mail from Great-Grandma Anne in Florida. It's a very elaborate stretchy black tutu with three layers of skirt trimmed with pink ruffles! Cara tried it on last night and then took it back off. This morning, she woke up early. She wasn't thrilled about the idea of going to Susan's, so I reminded her what a special day it was. "It's PJ's birthday! I have to wear my new skirt!" she cried, and she had to get dressed right then. She wore it over sweat pants.

I made sure Steve got her to Susan's before Em dropped her kids, so that Em could see this fancy get-up. (Incidentally, this made Em crazy because she generally uses whether Steve has left yet to gauge whether she's running late.) Cara ran over to show her. I figured it would come off pretty soon, but it was still on when I arrived to take Cara home. Susan says it came off for the tricycle-riding portion of the day.

It stayed on through dinner, through going to PJ's house for cake, and only came off for the bath.

In a side note, Cara's egg hatched today. A chick came out, not an alligator.

2/25/09 (Wednesday)

This morning Steve cut out paper girls. He told Cara there wasn't time to cut out paper boys. She was very angry and went to her room. Steve got to eat his breakfast in peace. When Cara did come down, she turned out to have fully dressed herself. She was wearing pink sweat pants, her pink-and-orange-and-brown striped shirt, and the black tutu from yesterday. They were ready so early, they got to Susan's before Em!

When she started dance class, Cara clearly wanted to make friends with the other girls. She wasn't up for talking to them yet, but she did wave. Today, when we got there, a little girl waved at her, first. Yay! This week, I really had things down. I got to Susan's early to get Cara dressed and do her hair. She was very ready. It was a really good class. Also, I have memorized a good portion of the princess song and can now sing it with Cara. That way, she can learn it. "Enter princess, wear your beautiful gown . . ." OK, so I've already forgotten parts. There's also something about twirling around.

At home, Cara stayed in her dance clothes for a while. Juliana came over, and Cara insisted on changing her clothes herself, alone in her room. She kept on her tights, added her big tutu, and put on a pink shirt (my suggestion). Then she found her shiny patent-leather shoes from Christmas and threw them on. We were going out for Juliana's birthday.

We met the rest of the Nancy Circle crowd at the restaurant. Everyone had a good time. Between them, Cara and PJ went to the bathroom five times. In fact, Em, PJ, and I were back there when the waiters sang to Juliana! I've asked Cara a couple of times lately, and that's what she wants to do on her birthday.

The funniest part was the way home. Juliana had a glass of wine a few days ago, and she was telling us about it. Cara worked hard to get Juliana's attention. "Why," she asked, "is wine bad for your body?" I thought that probably I ought to jump in here to come up with a good answer, but I really couldn't think of one, so Steve and I both just let Juliana plow ahead with that one. Her explanation was something along the lines of adults like special drinks sometimes, just like kids like special drinks, like chocolate milk. At that point, she didn't need to go any further because Cara was totally distracted by asking to have chocolate milk when she got home.

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