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Journal Key:

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

11/12/09 (Thursday)

Picking Cara up today was exciting. Posted on the door there was a picture that had been cut out from the local newspaper today; it showed some of the kids at the parade, and Cara was visible, if blurry, in the back. You can see it online at mycentraljersey.com, in the local photo gallery, if you click on Veteran's Day Parade. Cara is the one in pink.

As we were about to head downstairs, Cara suddenly blurted, "We forgot Puma!" I was astonished that Puma was there. She was, though. Actually, when we pulled out Cara's bin we found the cat rag and the little kitten that Cara usually sleeps with, along with her bride doll. They all wanted to come home. Who was going to stay? Puma. Puma was not visible, but when I stuck my hand into Cara's nap bag I could feel her head in the sheet.

Getting Cara into bed was, of course, also an adventure. Who was going to sleep with her? Mommy! I protested that there wasn't enough room. Her next choice? "I miss Puma!" I suggested her bride and her princess. That was acceptable. I went and found the bride. The princess? AWOL. Apparently, in a fit of . . . something, we brought her with us to PJ's house last night. Em reports that right now she's downstairs having a tea party. Cara will sleep with her bride and with Lucy the sparkly tiger.

For no particular reason, Cara decided she wanted me to read to her tonight, when I had washed her in the bath and brushed her teeth already and she had clearly said before that Daddy would read to her. We talked her down. He read to her. As they settled in, Cara said, "Daddy, I forgot that I love you. And I love Aunt Claire so much, and even Mommy."

11/14/09 (Saturday)

Cara had a great sleep over last night, and then when Grandmama brought her home she and I went out on an adventure. Today there was a flu shot clinic for the H1N1 vaccine up at our local Edison hospital.

The clinic ran from 10 until 4. We got there around nine thirty, and there was already a fairly long line. We got into it, and it swiftly got longer and longer. We were prepared to wait: I had brought snacks and two new coloring books. We were not prepared to wait outside in the cold wind on the wet sidewalk. By quarter of, they started taking people in. The line moved pretty fast, but it was quite long.

We got inside in a few minutes and were assigned numbers 194 and 195, and then the line moved down a hall. I read Cara one of the coloring books, which happened to be the coloring book version of Barbie and the Three Musketeers. It was a rousing tale. I filled out forms while we moved along, and then we turned them in. There was a large waiting area and a man calling out numbers. It was a little bit loud, because the shot was available only to children five and under (and pregnant women). Little children are not fond of shots. (Pregnant women don't mind.) We settled down to wait, because he was only on 158. We found chairs and I got Cara a snack; we picked out a coloring book to start. Within five minutes, he called our numbers and we had to pack everything up.

I went first and got my shot, and then I held Cara on my lap. She was drinking some water at the time, and the nurse and I were talking about what kind of treat we might get afterwards. Maybe a donut. Cara barely reacted to the shot at all. The nurse said she was the bravest kid all day. I asked her whether she wanted to go and have a treat or go home, and she picked going home. We were back here by eleven.

Grandmama and Daddy were painting the dining room, and Cara spent a lot of her day on her coloring book. She pulled out the perforated pages, colored in the girls, and decorated things. Her favorite page was probably the one that had a plain ball gown on it; you could draw yourself in. Cara did so, complete with earrings and a necklace. She decorated the dress, as well. She drew two interestingly-placed dark circles on the bodice, which turned out to form eyes. A diamond below them was a mouth. Suddenly, it was an octopus face, an octopus dress. I really couldn't say why. It did sort of look like a cephalopod face.

11/15/09 (Sunday)

Today we spent at least three more hours painting (we're done) and we did other chores, and Cara ended up on her own a lot. When I asked her what her favorite part of today was, I really wasn't sure what she would come up with. "Playing flight! . . . And baby doctor!"

She has been playing with her babies a lot more lately, and today she had several of them out again. For some reason, Deesta was also a baby. They played in the living room as well as the playroom, and Cara traveled heavy; she had a toy rolling suitcase, a backpack, and a stroller along with at least one Moses basket for her babies. There were, at least for a while, a total of four babies involved. Somewhere along the way, they all flew somewhere. I personally cannot imagine taking four babies on an airplane alone, and I think airlines should have rules against it. I haven't seen any such rules, though. For some people, apparently, taking four babies on an airplane would be fun.

I hope that the babies were not ill on the plane. This may have been a separate incident. I was not aware of their distress, but, fortunately, "I got to be a mom . . . AND a doctor!" Both of which are wonderful things to be.

When it's my turn to brush Cara's teeth, I have to spend part of the time singing to her. It's a great strain. I've been scraping the bottom of the barrel for songs. She's been a huge, huge fan of "Bingo" all weekend, but I'd like some variety. In the bath, I introduced the Hokey Pokey. Soon Cara was humming along. I asked her where she'd done the Hokey Pokey. At preschool? "No! At home, in the bath!"

I did sing it again when I brushed her teeth. From my point of view, it was a wild success. The timer ran out before I ran out of body parts. Cara, though, was crestfallen at having heard only one song.

I used to carry Cara into her room after her bath, but now I'm not carrying her anymore. Poor Steve is highly in demand and has to come and pick her up (she goes running around in her towel looking for him) and swing her dramatically onto the bed. It turns out, though, that he now has to do this twice. Once he has to do "a-one, a-two, a-three," and bring her in for a big landing, but then he has to pick her up again and spin around a few times and swing her in again. I can only hope that this does not become more elaborate in the future.

11/16/09 (Monday)

Ahh, the many adventures of Puma. Last night I asked Cara whom she wanted me to stick in her nap bag this week. Puma. I was a little bit sad. Puma, the indispensable, relegated to nap bag duty, left at preschool for days, not missed. Instead, Puma went to preschool just for today. Cara was adamant about Puma coming home in the evening when I picked her up. Puma had, reportedly, a great day at preschool. Cara carried her to the car. Tonight was ballet night, and Puma went to ballet, too. There was some discussion of how Cara would hold Puma while she danced, and then Cara decided that Puma could sit by her dance bag. She did get to jump on Cara's tummy when Cara "was a crab!"

The real challenge here is that someone else has to get to preschool tomorrow, because no one's there now!

This morning Cara buckled herself into Steve's car. This evening she opened the door of my car herself, got in, and closed it again. She's been sleeping with her big-girl night light. She hasn't really been remembering to make her bed, but she does turn her night light off in the morning.

11/17/09 (Tuesday)

I had to decorate cupcakes this afternoon for a baby shower at school; I got them done before I got Cara, but I left three unfrosted for her to do. The icing was pink, and I had, among other things, white writing icing. For the first cupcake, Cara asked me to draw her. I made a triangle for a dress and then stuck on limbs and a head. We used colored sugar to roughly fill in a few things, and it was done. The other two were less exciting; I made a flower on one, and Cara stuck jelly beans around it. On the third, I made a heart. I kind of wished I'd worked with Cara before I did the rest, because the stick figure girl was kind of cute!

After dinner Cara ate the flower one, carefully pulling off all of the jelly beans she'd carefully stuck on.

11/18/09 (Wednesday)

Puma seems to be quite popular lately. She's been to preschool a couple of times. She went to ballet. Yesterday, while I was pulling out old clothes I'd stored under Cara's bed, I found Puma's "bed," an old cardboard clementine box. Puma slept in it with a pillow and a blanket, and it was placed neatly in a snug corner of Cara's room. Steve just had to come downstairs to get Puma for Cara, and I believe that Cara proceeded to read Puma a bedtime story.

Cara cannot read. Steve brought home some pages from his daily Dilbert calendar and left them on the kitchen table, and Cara and I took a look at them this afternoon. We got two each, promising to trade when we were done. I was done a lot faster than Cara.

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