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Journal Key:

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

6/11/09 (Thursday)

Last night, Cara didn't even make it as far as the bathroom. She peed on the carpet of her bedroom. We had her change into silky pajama pants, dried up the wet patch on the floor, and we all went back to bed. I'm pretty sure Cara has no memory of it, since in the morning she asked me how she came to be wearing silky pajama pants when she remembered going to bed wearing shorts. We thought these accidents were a sign of impending sickness, but since she remains to all other appearances quite healthy, it may just be that she's been drinking too many fluids before bedtime.

I was a pushover as usual in the morning and let the child convince me to make pancakes for her. I am so happy that she dresses herself that I also let her choose her skimpy Disney Princesses tank top and a pink flannel-patterned skirt that she found deep in the bottom of one of her drawers. The skirt was actually okay, but the top turned out to be a bit too light for the weather. When I came home the child was already in her pajamas. Poor Mommy is still holding onto whatever illness it is that she has, so we had a lazy evening in our pajamas with Chinese food and movies.

Thanks partly to being stuck at PJ's house with whatever they had on TV, partly to our own persistence and perhaps partly to the child's increasing open-mindedness, she has decided that she likes Monsters, Inc. So now we have added it to our repertoire of television viewing. I can't recall the last time I was forced to inflict Crazy Quilt on myself.

6/12/09 (Friday)

For Family Fun Night, Cara and I had to stop and shop on the way home. We started at a dollar store, because I needed sunglasses. I told Cara she could spend her allowance there, if she found anything she thought was worth it. She's always been pretty good about picking things out and then deciding she didn't want them, so I figured it was safe enough. She put back a couple of things, and what she ended up with was two sets of glowy things to put on her ceiling. There are a lot of stars, and there are pink and blue planets and shooting stars and asteroids. We also hit the supermarket, where Cara carried the green beans until she traded them in for the mini-muffins.

Upon our arrival home, we came outside with a broom, a bucket, and Cara's little snow shovel. We worked together and, between the driveway and the sidewalk, we swept up literally two gallons of mulberries. Cara was actually a very useful helper.

When I was a child, I bought stars for my ceiling. People were too busy (it was dinnertime) to help put them up right that second, so I put them up myself. They are centered around where my furniture was. Cara wanted to put up her stars. Daddy was hungry. It was dinnertime. Fortunately, since I'm sick I haven't much appetite, so Cara and I went and put up her stars. I have decided that I can never again have such a thing in my own room, since I'd go crazy finding patterns. Cara seems quite happy, though.

When she picked them out, I pointed out to her that it's too bright in her room for her to see them glowing, since she has her night light on. She decided immediately that she didn't need it. We're going to give that a shot tonight.

6/14/09 (Sunday)

Cara got to sleep over in Middletown last night, and today we headed down for lunch and then brought her home. She and her grandmama had baked bread and made cookies together. Cara, apparently, is now able to put more muscle into kneading dough than she used to. We had a barbecue lunch and then ice cream cones outside. Cara got a cup-cone, as usual, and protested and insisted on getting a waffle cone. She was also upset by the ice cream, which was chocolate. This was mystifying to both me and Steve, since she gets chocolate at home. This chocolate, though, had chips in it. Cara really doesn't like solid chocolate. She'll eat m&ms, but she never chooses them herself; PJ and Casey do. The other week I got a bag of Hershey kisses, and Cara was excited. I gave her one. She unwrapped it, found out it was chocolate, and gave it back.

When we got home, in mid-afternoon, Cara was quite asleep in the back. Steve brought my book out, and I sat with her and finished it, and then I did a little weeding. We found out that a dvd I needed for school was at Barnes and Noble, so Steve and I got back into the car, fortunately bringing shoes for Cara with us, and headed down. We got the dvd, though I had to carry Cara through the store. She was awake, but she was needy. Steve carried her while we walked to Michael's, where she miraculously recovered the power to walk. She selected a kit that lets you (or your mother) use string and colored beads to make a variety of different types of girls. The kit was so high in Cara's esteem that I got to carry Puma while she carried it.

At home, we watched my dvd while I made some bead-girls. I made one in a purple dress who is referred to on the box as "girlfriend." I told Cara she's called "pretty girl." I also got to make the mermaid, which was kind of cool. Each took about an hour. Cara wants lots more. The kit only makes eight, so I'm a quarter of the way done! Cara was interested in the movie, which was a performance by the Reduced Shakespeare Company. She was amused when men dressed as women. Her final comment: "They're not really dead, they're just guys who make up funny stories!"

Cara wasn't willing to sleep in her room with the night light off the other night, but tonight she said she was brave, and I have left her in her bed with no lights on at all. We'll see how it goes! We'll definitely know if it is a problem, since as far as I know Cara is unable to operate the switch for the night light.

Something I found humorous today: Cara kept asking if we could go to a store where they had "good things for little girls." She probably felt she was being very clever and circumspect by not mentioning that the "little girl" she had in mind was herself.

6/15/09 (Monday)

Cara did sleep through the night without any lights on. I discovered that, because it's dark in there, my habit of occasionally spying through the crack in the door is now absolutely useless. Tonight, the night light is on again. It was darker outside when Steve turned off the big light.

I picked Cara up today and intended to go to the grocery store to pick up some food and also some cards. Cara asked once again, though, whether we could get a lunchbox. Well, we could. We headed out to Target, where we studied the lunchbox selection carefully. They're different from when I was little! They're all insulated fabric now, not plastic, and they don't have thermoses in them. We ended up with one that's a rectangular box that has a bottle strapped into a fabric pouch on the side; it was the only one with a bottle. Some had tupperware included. Cara selected the light pink one with colored polka dots and a monkey on it.

Of course, we also spent some time looking at toys. Surprisingly, Cara found lots that she wanted. When she told me she wanted to get them, I got to tell her to save up her allowance.

After dinner, Cara headed outside, having discovered that some neighbors had stopped by with their little boy, Steven. I went out to hang out, and the kids played. Cara brought out lots of toys. Steven ran around with her stroller, generally empty. Cara brought her stuff inside. Then she brought more stuff outside. It was thrilling. When they left, they suggested that when it gets nicer out we could come over to their house some time. This, naturally, is what Cara has her heart set on doing. Tomorrow.

6/16/09 (Tuesday)

Last night, when Cara got out of the bath, she could not select underwear. She looked and looked. She could not find the ones she wanted. Which did she want? The flower ones. Those are too small; they're gone. We have princess ones. No good. Strawberry Shortcake? No good. Tinkerbell? No good. In what I consider a brilliant stroke of parenting, I suggested that she wear them inside out, so that the princesses don't show. That worked.

At work today, Linda gave me two "letters" that the girls had written to Cara. They had made envelopes out of paper, and Lina had addressed hers to Cara at 13 Nancy o. Circle. It's perfect! Inside, Lina drew a picture of flowers. Sara wrote the letter I, drew a heart, and wrote the letter U. Cara could read it. Cara drew a picture for them, too. It was going to be all three of them, but Cara was the only one who fit. The impressive part was that she drew two hearts on the picture, which she claims represent the twins. I don't remember her ever drawing a heart before without prompting and an example.

6/17/09 (Wednesday)

Monsters, Inc. is basically the only thing Cara has asked to watch this week. She loves the slapstick aspects of it. Strangely, her favorite character is Randall, the bad guy. I think that this may be because he very briefly turns pink at the end when Boo is beating him with a bat.

As the months pass by and Cara loses her babyish qualities, it's been hard to see some of them go. I did love that reflex that infants have that makes them grab people's fingers. I've loved the way she doubles the -ed at the ends of verbs, like "splasheded" and "hitted" and "eated." Right now, my favorite thing is when I say something like, "I'm not hungry," and she says, "me neiwer!" I'll be a little sad when that one goes.

A lot of the kids at daycare have been home sick. In fact, today and yesterday, the only kids there were Cara and JoJo. Today, JoJo came over when I arrived to tell me that she was coming to my house to play. She and Cara had made some plans. However, as Susan pointed out, JoJo's mom would be very disappointed if she arrived and found no little girl. As Cara pointed out, we had only one car seat. Too bad! There was a lot of hugging before we left.

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