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Journal Key:

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

10/15/09 (Thursday)

Miraculously, Cara did not reprimand me for picking her up around five. It was raining. I proposed that we go out on ad adventure: shopping for new rain boots! Tomorrow is the big pumpkin-picking trip, and, though apparently the farm has some indoor facilities, boots sound like a good idea to me. We tried two stores, neither of which had any that fit. Later we went out to dinner (I'm sort of in taking-things-easy mode), meeting Daddy at the mall. We tried two stores there, too, and found nothing. It's a long time since we've been to the mall. Cara loved just skipping and running around, getting well ahead of us. It's fun for her just to be there.

In my mailbox at school today I found a set of paper dolls with a note from a friend who has no young children. Would Cara like this? Would she? It's pink! What I liked about it was that she was able to punch everything out by herself. We brought the dolls out with us in a plastic bag to play with at the restaurant. Cara's favorite outfit? The ballerina one.

10/18/09 (Sunday)

Here's a swift summary:

Friday evening was one of our typical evenings at home: we played more "golf" by rolling balls down the stairs over a ramp of squash blocks and into a basket. Cara dictated various victory signs, ultimately settling on two arms raised overhead on successful trials. "Oh, man!" she exclaimed when her ball missed the basket. By Sunday morning I realized she has learned that expression from a Dora the Explorer character, Swiper, who says it whenever his evil intentions are thwarted.

Saturday was a busy day. Grandpapa gave Cara her bath while i ran an errand. Then Cara and I headed into Red Bank on a secret mission. We warmed up with some yummy hot chocolate at Zebu, completed our errand, and met grandpapa for pizzas at the Front Street Trattoria. From there we went to the Monmouth Museum, where Cara gleefully climbed everything that could possibly be climbed. At some point I was astonished to learn that she can use the word "nocturnal" correctly. We rested briefly at home before heading out to "The Haunted Hallways," an annual Halloween event at High School North. Cara and I ran the "Happy Trail" twice. On our first round, she was shy and cautious. Then, fortified by apple juice and some pretzels, she returned for a triumphant reprise of the entire experience. On the way home she announced she wanted to do it again! Next year.

We made a stop at the video store where she selected a Dora DVD (Dora rescues the mermaids) and a My Little Ponies DVD. By evening the child was exhausted and perhaps a trifle over-stimulated; she watched her videos and did all in her power to delay bedtime.

Sunday morning we spent peacefully: a bath, pancakes and eggs for breakfast, more golf, some stories, some videos. Cara tried dipping her pancakes into the syrup; she discovered that eggs are quite good that way as well.

Another exciting thing that happened to Cara on Friday was that she had her first class trip! The kids of Yellow Brick Road all got on a bus and went pumpkin picking. Cara reported who she sat next to, and that while she herself did not have the window seat, she could still see outside. It was raining, so the windows got fogged up and they could draw in them. She came back with one little pumpkin and seemed to have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Today, Sunday, Evie and I finally returned after a two-night trip to New York City and met our little girl at the train station. Along with Grandmama and Grandpapa, we all went out to lunch before splitting up and returning to our homes. Cara spent some time on errands with her Mommy in the afternoon, but she also got to watch me play video games, and she got to watch Tinker Bell, and she got to have a popsicle after dinner. While I was playing the video game which I had been instructed to play, I was surprised when Cara disappeared and reappeared a minute later lugging her container of baby dolls. She spent most of her play time today playing with them. They needed to be doctored, or they needed to sleep, or they needed to wake up. Currently they are all lined up by size next to one another on the couch, with a pillow under their heads and a blanket over their bodies.

10/19/09 (Monday)

While Cara hasn't asked a lot of questions about the new baby, she's definitely thinking about it. We talk, sometimes, about things it will do, where it will sleep, and so on. We went to look for paint colors for the dining room, and Cara picked out colors for the baby's room. Cara would like to paint the crib. She is very concerned about setting up the crib. Where will it go? I find it interesting that she seems much more interested lately in playing with baby dolls. She spent time with them at Casey's house last Wednesday, and then yesterday, of course, we had to take very good care of several of Cara's own. I got to change the diapers. I also got to administer hard, crunchy princess-shaped vitamins. Cara kept them lined up and put them to bed and got them up. Also, yesterday I noticed her chewing on a ribbon attached to the hat of one of her favorite dolls. She had quite a bit of it in her mouth. Today, when we left preschool, Cara put on one mitten and explained that the other one had "a yucky thumb." She'd been chewing on it. "I forgot I wasn't a baby!"

We've gotten a couple of cool pictures in a row. Cara drew a great one on Friday; it's the hay ride they went on at the pumpkin farm. There's a smiling man driving a tractor, which pulls a trailer full of hay. They're passing behind an apple tree. Cara explains that there were two trailers, and I have suggested that perhaps the other one is behind the tree. That is acceptable. Today, Cara drew herself in a pink dress. She's holding her dance bag, which is a little blue raccoon, complete with ears, arms, legs, and a tail. There are tears on her face; she's sad that she's going to dance, because she'll miss her house. Just to check, I asked her whether, when she goes to her house, she misses preschool. A mournful yes. Miss Jane suggests that thirty years from now this will be wonderful for Cara to tell her therapist.

On Mondays, because ballet ends at seven, dinner is quite late. While he was driving her home, Steve reminded Cara that we would not have time for a bath tonight. She was very disappointed. He pointed out to her that most nights, when we say that it's bath time, she's upset. She sees the illogicality of this and has decided that the next time we tell her it's bath time, she'll be happy.

10/20/09 (Tuesday)

Just as I was noticing that I hadn't really gotten a lot of family portraits lately, Cara drew one. It's two well-realized girls, one large and one small. The big one in the red dress is Cara; she's holding the hand of the little one in the blue dress, her sister. Cara explains, "Look, I've grown this big, and my sister's grown this big." Her sister has brown curly hair, but she also has a braid sticking out from the top of her head, looking a little like the handle on a pumpkin. Cara right now seems to have decided pretty solidly that she wants a sister. "Because I just love girl clothes!" We'll go find out on Monday.

Today Cara built a street. She's got her Weeble houses out, and Cinderella lives next door to the three bears. Cinderella is "a big mom. She's a mom without a pop!" She has lots of clothes in her house in which she can play dress-up, and she also has a ball to play with. We've now got all of the house-like toys we have set up in a row in the playroom, and each has a vehicle assigned to it. In exchange for getting to leave the street set up, Cara cleaned up the spectators from the parade route, who had been patiently waiting in the dining room for a parade that never came.

Eventually, Daddy announced that it was bath time. "Oh, no!" said Cara. Daddy reminded her about their conversation of last night. It had some effect. I admit that I stooped to bribery to really get her to head upstairs and jump into the tub. Now I'd better actually go and get her dress-up bin out of the basement and put it where her racetrack used to be, so that when she wakes up in the morning it will be there as I had promised!

10/21/09 (Wednesday)

Mommy did manage to bring up the dress-up bin in the morning, after Cara had woken up early to see her off. It was a good thing that Cara got to see her, since Mommy had to stay late at work tonight and I came to pick Cara up from preschool. One of the teachers was telling me how good an artist Cara is. Cara took me upstairs to her "mailbox," which held her drawings of the day. On one side was the typical drawing of girls (now Cara has two sisters), but on the other was a perfectly recognizable brown bat, just in time for Halloween. Cara told me she drew it from her head, without a picture to look off of. She described an argument she'd had with a boy about what color the bat should be--he said they were usually black, but Cara pointed out that the bats she draws can be whatever color she wants.

Mommy mentioned to me that tonight at Chili's there was a special charity offer going on where 10% of our bill could go to some kind of school organization. It was all the excuse we needed to go and get a corn dog for dinner.

Afterwards, to make it a fully complete Daddy-Daughter Night, I let Cara have some of the gummy creatures Evie and I purchased on our recent trip to New York. Now she is asking me for another one, of course. And she got two cartoons. We'll see if I'm as nice tomorrow night, when Mommy has another late night at work.

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