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Journal Key:

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

10/1/09 (Thursday)

Yesterday, I went to get Cara around quarter to five. She was distressed, because everyone was on their way inside to hear a story. She didn't want to miss the story. She stayed downstairs to listen while I went up and got her stuff. Today, I actually got there around four. Cara had had a rough night; she still kind of has a cough from her last cold, and I thought maybe she'd be having a rough day. I figured we'd go home early and make pumpkin squares and cuddle up. Everyone was still outside when I got there. Cara, however, was once again distressed because she knew that that story was coming later. We have agreed that tomorrow I should come get her after the story.

Making pumpkin squares was nice. Cara didn't actually help much, which I thought was fine since she's still coughing, but she was excited. She told me frequently how happy she was about it and that we'd have some after dinner. She was going to try them. She would like them! They would be so good! In the interest of keeping things simple, we just had hot dogs for dinner. We also had brussels sprouts and tater tots. Cara reminded me that she didn't like tater tots. She told me again. And again. And again. Then again.

The upshot: she had one and a half hot dogs. She still loves brussels sprouts. She refused to consider trying a tater tot. She would not touch a pumpkin square.

Cara, after dinner: "I want Sleeping Beauty on. I don't want Sleeping Beauty on." At least she's confident in her opinions.

10/2/09 (Friday)

Having disappointed Cara so sorely by picking her up before story time this week, I was pretty confident about being able to work late today. I stayed until almost five, and then I did feel that I should hurry a little, since it's later than I've ever gotten her before. When I pulled up, she was horribly disappointed. They were still outside. Miss Grace explained to Cara that, since everyone, including Cara, had been playing so happily, she hadn't wanted to cut their outside time short. Another teacher pointed out that there are lots of other stories read during the day. I promised that I'd read a story when we got home.

Today was the big Bear Parade at preschool. The signs all week had reminded us that everyone was invited to bring a bear on Friday. Cara had chosen her orange Florida bear, who enjoyed the Bear Parade and won a Most Cuddly award. I had been hoping for Brightest or Most Well-Traveled. Some of the other children had boxes with string and could pull their bears around, but several, like Cara, had to walk theirs. Cara noticed this difference but was still pretty happy with the whole thing.

We had some boxes around, though, so I suggested that we make our own bear parade. We lined them all up before we went out for Family Fun Night, and afterwards Cara and I tied them together with string to make a sort of train-like contraption. Some animals sat in it, and others were lined up as spectators. Cara pulled the parade along. After it had gone by a couple of times, it was time to unload it and make another parade. We started picking out other animals, but eventually Cara concluded that animals were not allowed and this was a people parade. There was one very overloaded animal box at the rear. Unfortunately, we have very few human toys that are soft and squishy and big enough for the parade. We have two. They liked to share a box. Fortunately, it was basically bedtime.

For his birthday, we got Steve little magnetic finger puppets of Generals Grant and Lee. They came out tonight, hoping, I believe, to be in the parade, believing they were people. Unfortunately, they did not qualify. Cara emphatically removed them whenever they attempted to insert themselves. Finally, she picked them up and told Steve, "I'm going to put these on your dresser or your nightstand. Which one do you want?" We said that either would be fine and that we'd bring up her dolls and Puma for her. We raced. She won by a mile. It was a nice segue into the bedtime routine.

For dinner tonight, we went to Bertucci's, which some of us refer to as "that dough place." They do, indeed, give kids dough here, just as they do in South Jersey. We'd discussed making a mermaid, but Cara took charge of her own dough and made Mickey Mouse with three circles. We worked on our circle-making technique. It's a very basic bread dough, and they baked it up for her. It came out looking more like a rabbit, because of the way the "ears" expanded, but Cara was very happy with Mickey and declared that he would be her dessert. When she got bored with her main course, she did eat him all up.

I asked her later what her favorite part of the day was, and she told me that it was going to dinner and having her dessert.

10/3/09 (Saturday)

This morning I got my act a lot more together than it's been in the past few months and made flower pancakes. It's fun to color the batter and see how it changes as it cooks up. After I'd made the pink-and-white, purple-and-white, purple-and-yellow, and darker-purple-and-yellow ones, I let Cara choose whether to make the yellow into green or orange. She chose orange, and it turned out beautifully. I made a couple of purple-and-orange flowers, and then Steve took over. He made many interesting shapes, including a spiral, a butterfly, and something that was either a medal or a bug with two legs.

Cara and I went down to Middletown today, and she brought her game in the car. Somehow yesterday she decided to get out her hand-held video game, the one we got her for all of our travel this summer. She used it in the car last night and again today, dressing her puppy up and taking it to the dog show and, well, doing lots of things that I don't know about. She's very independent; I think she's better with it now than she was a few months ago. Occasionally her puppy does something very funny that she wants to show us, but we cannot possibly see the screen unless she turns it all the way around and holds it up, so I confess that I've just been pretending to be able to see it.

10/4/09 (Sunday)

Cara's "girls," who have often lain neglected for weeks on end, are on the ascendant once again. They've been out a lot of late, and they've been quite busy. They enjoy going to the beach. Since we had to play beach today, Cara explained to me how it works. Four of them go. Three wear sparkly dresses, and one wears a little swimming skirt, the ballet tutu we have. The one with the skirt is the little girl; the others are her mother, aunt, and grandmother. They sit and watch while she plays in the water and sometimes "baskes" in the sun. She sometimes goes surfing.

Today, Cara liked her magnet girls the best. We were supposed to play only with magnet girls. There was a ball for magnet girls only. Then the magnet girls went to the beach. Unfortunately, we only have two magnet girls. There is great interest in attaining more. Interestingly, we discovered only today that, because they have magnets in their chests and backs to hold on their magnetic shirts, the magnet girls will in fact stick together. Fascinating.

The bear barber shop has evolved. The dining room now has the parade route set up on the floor, so the shop has moved onto the couch. I'm delighted. It's now a brush-and-lipstick shop, though, for the three soft girl dolls we're able to muster. Each gets her yarn hair, which is in a braid, swiped at with a hairbrush, and then lipstick is applied by the same instrument that used to be a shaver. Some of the girls get new shoes. Very pretty.

Cara and I went out to Barnes and Noble today and read some books before we made our way to Panera for lunch. Cara had soup. I'm going to have to time her. It takes at least half an hour. "You're very quick!" she told me when I finished. Ten minutes later, she was done. She was very upset that we had to go home instead of going back to read more, but we had to bring lunch for Grandpop and Daddy, who were working in the basement.

We found lots of ways to amuse ourselves while they were working. We played Play Doh, for one thing. Cara's a lot more independent than she was last time we had that out! We made five different-colored bears, then Cara turned them all into seals by herself. Next we rolled them out and used a dolphin-shaped cookie cutter on them all. After that, Cara finally broke through my subtle and ultimately pointless defenses and discovered the joy of making multicolored objects. So things are getting mixed up. Play Doh doesn't live forever anyway. We made a blue-and-pink-and-green bear, among other things, and Cara described him as having "the whole world on him."

10/5/09 (Monday)

Cara used some of her allowance money to buy a snack after ballet. She was in the back room for a long time. Finally she came out with a big package of eight or ten large sour gumballs. When I explained what they were, she claimed that she did like gum; I gave her one of the ones on the end and put the rest in her dance bag. I'm very pleased to have reminded her not to eat any of the goldfish crackers that she had in the car while she had gum in her mouth! She has had gum before, but it's quite possible that she doesn't remember it. She reported to me in some surprise when we were almost home that the gum was still in her mouth.

Actually, pretty soon after we got home she went upstairs and changed clothes, and then we ate dinner. It's just occurred to me that no one supervised the ejection of the gum. I wonder what happened to it.

There was much delaying and dilly-dallying on the way to bed this evening. Getting pajamas on took three times as long as it ought. Any possible distraction was brought out. And ploy for conversation was tried. Cara went to the bathroom and washed her hands. "Mommy, I like warm water now! I'm changing all of my likes and not-likes. Now I like crocodiles, and monsters, and . . . "

10/6/09 (Tuesday)

It was an exciting day at preschool. Three firefighters came to visit; they showed a video, demonstrated how to put on their gear, and let the kids come out to see their truck--"We couldn't touch anything," says Cara. The kids got plastic hats and badges along with little coloring books. One really cool part: one of the three firefighters was a woman!

It was also a little girl's birthday today. She's a munchkin, not a lollipop, and most people just bring in a treat for their birthdays, but everybody got a present today. It was a cute little whiteboard; Cara's is shaped like a flower. She's been drawing on it with some of the nice whiteboard markers we have. First she made a picture of herself and that little girl, but then she started over, drawing a butterfly in each of the flower's petals. She drew all of their antennae and bodies and went around and around putting identical wings on. When, at dinner, I mentioned the birthday, Cara explained that the little girl "had a firefighter birthday!"

We had spaghetti and meatballs. Cara had one helping, then two, and told us about how much she wanted more. "When you two are done eating, will you stay here with me, because I'm really hungry!" Somehow, though, we all ran out of steam at about the same time.

10/7/09 (Wednesday)

Steve very helpfully emailed me a list of all of the things Cara had at preschool that ought to come home: two jackets, a pair of barrettes, and her princess. One of the jackets was there because we left it there yesterday. The barrettes were something of which Cara had actually reminded Steve; she'd worn them yesterday, taken them off outside, and left them on a table. I asked her whether they were metal or plastic. I regret to have lost a pair of the metal barrettes that Cara and I now share. I think Cara brought her princess there on Monday. No one told me, so I never got it out of the nap bag. Cara was sorry to have left her there. She missed her. On Tuesday, I forgot to get her. Today I had been reminded, but Cara was a step ahead of me. Instead of in her nap bag, into which she cannot herself reach, the princess was in her mailbox, ready to come home.

I mentioned privately to Miss Jane my hope that having forgotten the princess so many times will teach us a lesson about not bringing things to school.

Cara (on the way home): Mommy, tomorrow I want to bring my princess and my bride!

Me: Are you sure? Won't you be sad if we forget them?

Cara: We won't forget. I'll remind you.

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