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Journal Key:

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

7/30/09 (Thursday)

I picked Cara up early to take her to see the twins! The girls are all really little girls now, and they really play together. There were lovely interludes in which they all went off into another room and we have no idea what happened. A favorite toy was a pair of plastic microphones that really do amplify the voice; there was a lot of standing on the bed and singing. The girls kind of all took turns. Later Shannon took the curtain from their window and propped it to make a "backstage" area that they could come out of to sing or to put on fashion shows.

Towards the end, when they were all tired, the girls started making clubs. Lina wanted a club with Cara but without Sarah, who of course was upset, so we asked Cara whether she wanted Sarah in the club. She did, but Lina wouldn't let her. So they made a club without Lina, who was upset. It went back and forth several times. Finally Shannon suggested a club for everyone wearing yellow. Guess what! All the girls had yellow on. Cara is invited to come back tomorrow for the next meeting.

8/1/09 (Saturday)

Cara slept over in Middletown last night, and Steve and I drove down this morning. Last night Cara got to watch the musical numbers in Singin' In the Rain. She was very concerned because Gene Kelly was dancing in the street, and that's dangerous. She likes the parts with girls in them.

We went to Holmdell Park with Grandmama, and we saw three piglets! We saw some other animals, too, but it turned out that the thing Cara really wanted to do was to tour the house again, and it was closed. It reminded her of her dollhouse, she said. We were surprised that she remembered.

On the way back in the car, Puma tried on Cara's sunglasses.

Puma: Meow! These are too big! I need smaller ones!

Cara: (laughing) But, Puma, you do have a baseball cap. (the plastic helmet we got last week with ices in it)

Puma: Meow! Yes, I do! I do have a baseball cap! Meow! I'm so glad I have a baseball cap! (improvised noises of great joy, accompanied by jumping)

Grandmama made pizza, and Cara helped. She had a fine time playing with flour, getting up to her elbows in it, scooping it out, spreading it around on the counter, and scooping it back into the canister. She had flour on her face, on her clothes, and some on the floor. The pizza turned out great! So did the floor.

The best way, we've discovered, to pry Cara out of Grandmama's house is to use Aunt Claire as sort of a lever. So we went over to her house afterwards. We went for a walk and had ice cream, and Cara chose a raspberry sorbet. It was pink. To our astonishment, she actually ate it! Our big accomplishment for the evening was getting a birthday card for Casie's birthday, which is tomorrow. Cara looked at a lot of cards, and we ended up with an oversized one that has a big hologram of a fairy on the front. Casie loves fairies. And pink.

8/2/09 (Sunday)

We did something this morning that I think is pretty funny on a couple of different levels. Well, I didn't do it. Cara brought three bath toys into the shower. Two of them were mermaids. The third was a boat for the mermaids to sail around on.

Grandmom and Grandpop came! Cara and Puma were both speechless with joy but perfectly capable of jumping for joy. It was a big day for coloring and drawing and making other people color and draw. We did our States puzzle and showed Cara where she's been on vacation and where she'll be going later this week. She was less than impressed. Her favorite thing today is a picture that she and Grandmom colored in a tiny Disney Princesses coloring book; it's Ariel among her six mermaid sisters. She's carrying it around with her, occasionally showing it to us. She's even keeping it on her dresser, which is interesting. Generally she changes her mind about these things after bed and leaves them at the top of the stairs for us to bring down. We'll see.

Cara does seem to be getting a slight cold. She's definitely sneezing and has a runny nose. This has led to some lessons in nose-blowing, which are still basically failures, as she noisily pantomimes blowing her nose and really blows out through her mouth.

8/3/09 (Monday)

Yes, Cara is a little sick. But not so sick that she had to stay out of preschool today, and thank goodness, since it was Splish Splash day. Evie had a late afternoon appointment so we went out to our local diner for dinner. I managed to pointedly suggest spaghetti and meatballs as we were entering the diner, so the idea of a hot dog never even came up! I was quite proud of myself, until Cara got sauce all over her face and started wiping it with her hand. I pointedly reminded her that she had a napkin and knew how to use it.

Cara remains in love with her mini Disney princesses coloring book. She brought it with her to the diner. We have been doing a LOT of coloring lately. Yesterday she mercilessly commanded me to draw a virtual army of ballerinas and dancers. I am incredibly proud of her artistic inclinations but I'd prefer that it didn't involve my having to draw so many girls. Since as a boy I mostly drew giant monsters destroying cities, I suppose it's good to have practice doodling something different.

Tonight I had to mow the lawn, so Cara stayed with her Mommy. They read a lot of books, from what I can tell. This morning Cara asked if she was going to go on vacation today, so she is clearly ready for our next trip to New Mexico! She will have to make it through a couple more days of preschool first, though.

8/4/09 (Tuesday)

Claire and I picked Cara up from preschool today and the three of us went out on the town! As we walked down the main street, Cara was generally five yards ahead of us, dancing along. At one point, when we were all together, she exclaimed, "I'm too hot!" and took off sprinting. She stopped in the small shadow of a small tree.

We got ice cream cones. Cara knew what kind she wanted: red! Somewhat surprisingly, there was red. This time it was cotton candy, rather than raspberry. We got cones, which added considerably to the tension, at least for me. I found myself holding out my hand, apparently believing that it would help somehow if I caught the ice cream when it plummeted from her cone. Soon she was distracted, though, and we got to go to the potty, and then she never really got back into eating the ice cream. She was done. She'd licked off less than a quarter of her scoop of pink, and she'd crunched off a part of the cone. That was enough.

Cara was a little tired when we got home. She actually chose to watch Cinderella, which she hasn't been willing to see in at least six months. At dinner, she ate three bowls of pasta. After that, miraculously, she suddenly had an awful lot of energy and bounced around, squeaking.

8/5/09 (Wednesday)

It's a long time since we've seen PJ and Casey, so they came over this evening for a happy reunion before we go away again. There was much delight. There was jumping, rolling, squabbling, and glee. I really don't know what they all did.

I got new library books today; the one Cara had requested was not there. She wanted Herb the Vegetarian Dragon. Again. I do not believe that Herb the Vegetarian Dragon is that popular. I think someone must have lost it. It's been "out" the past three times I've looked for it. "Boy, people really like that book!" says Cara. Since she likes it so consistently, I think it's time to break down and buy it.

I made banana bread. Cara helped. "I think I want to try some banana bread," she said, when I was greasing the pans. I was pleased. She usually doesn't eat it. I told her it's kind of like cake. Then I turned around and saw that she was trying it already, off of the spoon she'd used to mix it. The batter is good, too, apparently.

Tomorrow we're heading out bright and early to visit New Mexico!

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