| Previous Week | Back Home | Next Week |

Journal Key:

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

2/26/09 (Thursday)

Today in the hour after I picked her up from Susan's and explained that we had to go return the videos we rented last week and before we got to settle at home and start dinner, Cara . . .

1. was really tired. She wanted to go home. I told her she could sit in the car while I quickly dropped the videos.

2. wanted to stay in the car.

3. wanted to come in and get a new movie.

4. got her movie.

5. was really tired. Her eyes were going down.

6. wanted to go home.

7. wanted to go someplace before we went home.

8. wanted to go to the zoo. Tonight.

9. wanted to go home and put on her pajamas.

10. wanted to go for a walk. She waited outside while I put things down and got my coat.

11. went over to Juliana's house.

12. investigated the whole house.

13. was really tired. She had to be picked up.

14. wanted to go for a walk.

15. went for a walk.

16. wanted to be carried. I told her we could go home instead.

17. wanted to keep walking.

18. was really tired.

19. wanted to go home and put on pajamas.

20. got home.

21. wanted to play jump rope.

2/27/09 (Friday)

Ron's been making fish tacos lately, at home. For dinner at On the Border on Wednesday, he had fish tacos.

Cara wore her black tutu to Susan's on Tuesday and Wednesday. This morning, we dissuaded her from wearing it.

This evening, we went over to have fish tacos. Cara wore her black tutu.

2/28/09 (Saturday)

When we got up this morning, Cara was already up and dressed. She had on pastel striped socks, bright pink flowered pants, her big black tutu, and, fortunately, her rhinestone-studded Hello Kitty shirt, which was white and could go with anything.

Since we were all up and dressed pretty quickly, we convinced Cara to come out to the diner with us for breakfast. At the diner, Evie and I got our grown-up menus and Cara got the obligatory kid's menu. As it turns out, the kid's menu does not have a breakfast section. Cara has no sense of custom and propriety when it comes to breakfast food and was entirely ready to order a hot dog. When we suggested she might prefer pancakes or eggs, she settled on a bowl of linguine with meatballs. It was a trifle odd but she enjoyed it and we all had a nice meal.

The rest of our day was spent on a trip to Grandmom and Grandpop's house. Before we left Cara got some lacy paper hearts and made belated extra Valentines for each of them. She is very good at writing letters these days and, provided we told her which letter came next, she had no problem writing out the names. Once we got there, Grandmom soon had to go to work and Grandpop and I went to work on doing some taxes. Evie and Cara had a fine time playing. They worked with a new Tinker Bell dress-up set, which had punch-out paper clothes that could be colored with markers. They also did some impressive Play-doh sculpting, creating (for one) a multi-colored princess with a crown and dress.

There was also an extended playdate out back with Rusty. Cara had a fantastic time running with him and throwing his toy. Every once in a while Rusty would wander off and start eating grass, as is his wont, but Cara would fiercely and firmly reprimand him until he started running around again. She also spent a lot of time verbally chastising him inside the house. But they had a great time playing outside and I think the dog was quite tired out afterwards.

When Grandmom got home we all went out for a late lunch. We all had a nice meal, and Cara finally got another hot dog into her--it had been hours since the last one. Either on the drive to the restaurant or on the drive back home afterwards, Cara noticed a lot of piles of mulch out the window of the car. "That's dirt," remarked Cara. Grandmom said that it was mulch. Cara repeated that it was dirt. "Dirt is very dirty," Cara said. "You shouldn't touch it, because it's dirty. You should use tools." We asked where she had gotten this concept, and she replied that she didn't know.

We did escape Grandmom and Grandpop's house without having to watch the Grinch movie again. But we did not escape without having to produce more paper dolls. Cara is absolutely obsessed with paper dolls. As a result Mommy taxed herself and produced an impressive string of kitty cats, who have come home with us. When we got home, Cara wanted a snack. What did she want for a snack? What else? A hot dog! "At least," I said to my wife, "she didn't have one for breakfast."

We're a little concerned about Puma. She came to the diner, but she decided to stay in the car, where, according to Cara, she slept. Later, she wasn't going to come with us to Grandmom and Grandpop's house. She did, but in the car she sat on her own side of the seat. She really got into the swing of things once we were there, though, and was in fact quite loud. She rode in the car to the restaurant, but again she did not come in. In a way it makes sense, since she does spend most of every weekday sleeping while Cara is at Susan's, but she may be coming down with something.

3/1/09 (Sunday)

Today was finally the day of a big event we've been talking about every day since it was planned: Cara and I went to the mall with Em and Casey! Steve put an old car seat into my car, and off the four of us went! The girls loved riding in the car together. There was a lot of squealing and squeaking, and they spent a lot of time discussing whose mommy was whose. We were very glad they straightened that out, lest we should take each other's children home by accident and only figure it out when the clothes didn't fit.

Em brought a side-by-side double stroller, because she's not ready to grant Casey complete freedom. It's awfully convenient, also, for carrying bags and coats. Cara, of course, loved riding and had no problem with sitting the whole time. Casey insisted on walking for part of the trip. She refused to hold our hands, so Cara got out and the two of them walked ahead, holding hands. It seemed to take a lot of concentration, like walking and chewing gum at the same time.

We went to Tiny Town for the first time in a long, long time. (We've been avoiding it because it's next to the $3 per rider carousel.) Cara hasn't really been there with a friend, except for a couple of times when she was too little to really appreciate it. They spent some time running around together and a lot of time separated and calling and looking for each other. It was a good trip! Cara really, really enjoys bossing Casey around. ("Good," says Em, "Casey needs direction.") She likes to tell her where to go and what to do. When she got out of the stroller, actually, Cara helpfully reiterated to Casey all the things we said about how bad it would be to run and to get lost.

After a couple of fruitless but interesting stops to look for Easter dresses, the purported goal of the trip, we went to Friendly's. When we were shown to our booth, Casey climbed in and Cara climbed right in after her. I like to think that having a "kids' side" is just a step away from having a "kids' table." That might still take a couple of years. They drew together and really mostly amused themselves. So did we, except for the drawing part. The meal was good; Cara, in her most motherly way, tried to get Casey to eat some mozzarella sticks. I, in perhaps not my most motherly way, was awfully glad that she failed and there were more for the rest of us.

After ice cream with gummy bears, we headed for the Playmobil Store. The difficult part was getting Casey to come inside; she was very taken with the giant Playmobil figures who stand by the door. It was a little crowded, but we played for a while before starting off for home. Em was impressed by the variety of items available, and she would have bought a garbage truck, probably, if she had found one. Personally, I'm convinced that they make garbage trucks. I didn't mount a thorough search today, though.

Coincidentally, both Em and I had things to pick up at the grocery store. We stopped at Wegmans. So that Casey would not insist on getting out of the cart and walking, we had to introduce Cara to the idea that she could ride in the basket of the cart. We told her it's only at this store. I can never return.

It was a fabulous girls' day out. The only thing we didn't do was pick up nail polish to use on the little ones; neither Em nor I would actually put it on our own hands. Maybe one day soon we'll have a beauty parlor play date.

3/2/09 (Monday)

Today was a snow day, and Cara and I stayed home. We had a great day. We went outside early with Daddy to shovel and play and get our cars uncovered; we hung around all morning, had a great lunch, took a fake nap, and played outside with Em, PJ, and Casey before coming home to make pizza from scratch. Juliana came over for dinner, too. I would like to express the highlights from the day in list form.

Fun Food Facts:

1. In the morning, Cara went inside before I did. When I had finished the shoveling and come in, Cara announced triumphantly that she had made a surprise for me. It was a chocolate heart candy. She had unwrapped it for me. She had hidden it playfully on the floor under the desk, near the heating vent. Thank you, honey!

2. The second time we came inside, Juliana brought Cara in and I followed a few minutes later. Cara hospitably gave Juliana a chocolate heart candy. She unwrapped it for her, Juliana reports. I asked whether she put it on the floor. No, she just dropped the wrapper on the floor.

3. For lunch, Cara had pasta. It was too hot to eat when it came out of the microwave. Cara's response was to blow on it, very hard, right after she had shaken on some parmesan. She did this repeatedly and with gusto.

4. My response to the too-hot pasta was to get out some grapes to tide Cara over while it cooled. She put them in the pasta, which was the leftover linguini with tomato sauce and meatball from her diner breakfast. She ate it all up, with, as I said, whatever parmesan hadn't been blown off.

5. We made pizza together. When it was almost ready, I peeked into the oven and said it needed another two minutes and then I'd take it out. "I know what we need: a timer!" cried Cara. She ran directly upstairs to the bathroom and brought down her toothbrush timer.

6. When we sat down for dinner, and the pizza was on the table, Cara announced that she was "just" going to have three pieces. She did not. She had five. Of course, she didn't finish any: she gave Steve and me the crusts.

Playtime:

1. Over at PJ's house in the morning, I lay on the floor and gave the kids rides on my legs. When there was another rider waiting, we counted the bounces. With Cara, I wanted to see how high she could count. With some help, we got to fifteen. I asked her what came next. "Casey's turn!"

2. We did a lot of sledding this afternoon. We had our really awesome sled and a cute little old one, too. Sometimes I took one kid and Em took the other (Casey had gone inside) and we raced. A few times, PJ and Cara went together. PJ and I used the new sled a lot. Sometimes he sat with me, but occasionally he just grabbed my leg and hung off, acting sort of like an anchor and getting dragged down the hill that is his front yard. The whole time we spent out there was just really cool.

3. Their neighbor David came over for a while and got to sled a little, too. Everyone calls me Diane, and we're not sure whether he knows that's not my name.

4. Once, when PJ and I were starting off, Cara came over. She said she would help us go. I thought she was going to push, but instead she stood nearby and said, "Ready, set, go!" We went. She came down to the bottom and gave us gold medals. PJ gave Cara a gold medal for helping us go. She then gave out several more gold medals of varying colors for a few minutes, and then she ran out and just didn't have any more all day. (I got a green one. Cara herself got pink. She offered PJ orange, but he didn't want it. He wanted red or black. She offered David one, and fortunately he took the orange one.)

Being a Big Girl:

1. We've (well, I've) been letting Cara glue things on her own. Nothing horrible has happened.

2. I left Cara alone with a computer game for a few minutes. It was mini-golf. She clicked correctly to get us to the next hole, and then she shot the ball herself eight times. She didn't get into the hole or anything, but I still think it's pretty cool.

3. Cara uses her scissors a lot. She colors her paper dolls and then cuts them apart from their companions. This, of course, makes me wonder why we're working so hard to cut them out so that they're connected.

4. A small heartbreak: We made and printed a paper lantern. Cara cut out the handle, and then, when I was busy in the kitchen, she kept herself busy in the living room. Suddenly, she was crying. The lantern part has a dotted line along its middle, and Cara did a great job cutting along it. That's the line for folding, though, so she had cut her lantern in half. We could still print it again, so it was okay, but I felt really bad because her try for independence had backfired so badly!

The Answer to Your Question:

1. Only for about three minutes after her fake nap and for an indeterminate time during said nap did Cara wear her tutu today. Otherwise, she was dressed fairly normally for a pink-obsessed person in pink pants and a pink shirt.

3/3/09 (Tuesday)

This morning we were not particularly early getting out of the house, but we still managed to arrive at Susan's quickly enough that no one else was there and Susan had to unlock the door. Tomorrow we get to go in from the normal back door, which we have not been allowed to use while Susan's kitchen is being redone. Exciting!

When Mommy picked Cara up in the afternoon they went right to the library and chose a bunch of books entirely at random. Bedtime reading should be an adventure.

For dinner we had some vegetable lasagna, which Cara was uninterested in, even after it was expressed to her that she might get a treat if she ate it all up. She said she was done and walked off. Much later, when she was back to asking for a treat again, I reminded her of the eating-all-her-dinner proposition. Then she suddenly wanted her dinner. But, alas! It was gone, down the drain. Leftover lasagna had to be heated up for her. We hope she learns a valuable lesson of some sort from this, perhaps about how that lasagna is good stuff, or maybe about how you should eat your dinner when it's dinner time and not wander off and expect it to be there later.

Juliana made another cameo this evening, with more goodies. She knit some cute little red slippers for Cara, which the little girl got excited about right after Juliana left. She also brought a game: Don't Break the Ice! This is a particularly excellent game for us, because I like it and Cara is already familiar with it, having played it at Grandmom and Grandpop's house. Of course her method of playing is to do the opposite of what the game title suggests, but she has fun doing it.

3/4/09 (Wednesday)

Remember how, when she slept in the car and then we got home and she had to wake up, Cara used to become absolutely hysterical and be incoherent for a long, long time? Well, when I got to Susan's house today to take Cara to ballet, she was still asleep.

I've figured out the whole timing thing by now. I get to Susan's at about 3:35, giving me time to dress her up and do her hair and get to dance class with about five minutes to spare. Today, after the screaming and the tears and the kicking and the unresponsiveness and having to carry her, once she was coherent, to the car, we got there fifteen minutes late. In the car, Cara said, "I want to go home." OK, I told her, we'll just go to dance class for a little while. In we went. She got into her shoes. I handed her her dance bag and sent her with her teary little face into the classroom.

Forty-five minutes later, she came out perfectly happy with a root beer lollipop and a heart-shaped sticker.

| Previous Week | Back Home | Next Week |