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Journal Key:

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

12/3/09 (Thursday)

Cara was playing with Adrian when I arrived to pick her up today. As far as I could tell, he was not a coconut. Steve was somewhat discomfited this morning when a little boy brought him a toy when he dropped Cara off. As he was hugging Cara goodbye, the little boy hugged him. Yesterday, when Cara and I got into the car, she announced that she had brought Puma to preshool and left her in her nap bag, but she wanted to bring her home--tomorrow. Today she left Puma there, and she had also brought her princess doll, whom she also left. I should make a chart to track all of these migrations.

12/4/09 (Friday)

The neighborhood is becoming more and more ready for the holidays; every time we drive home, we see more houses with lights outside. Tonight was the first time this year that we saw lights on the trees in the yard around the block, where the lights go off and on, "dancing" to Christmas carols. Before we came inside, we took a walk to see the lights. There are a lot of beautiful displays.

I am very happy because my third trimester will start next Tuesday. Besides getting bigger and bigger (I'm huge, according to me, and yet people at work keep saying things like, "oh, there you are; you're finally showing!"), what I've been experiencing the most seems to be astonishing stupidity. For instance:

1. A few mornings ago I also managed to somehow leave my house keys at home, and then, when I tried to call home to ask Steve to leave a key under the mat, I was pretty sure I'd forgotten the home phone number. I had to turn on my cell phone to check. Later in the day I went to the gym, where I had to tell them my home number to get in because my membership card was at home on my keychain. I was definitely still not feeling confident about that number, but I got it right.

2. Last night, Cara wanted to watch a movie. I could not turn on the cable box. I was looking at this weird light on it that would go on or off when I puched the button, and I couldn't figure out whether that meant it was off or on. Finally Steve took over and showed me this other light, next to the power button, that was on when the power was on.

3. This morning, I put things away and was reading the paper, and I looked over at the stove and saw that I had not turned on the kettle. I'd put water in and never turned on the burner. I went and turned it on, and then I noticed this mug with a tea bag steeping in hot water. I'm not sure which is worse, if I'd forgotten to turn it on, or that I forgot that I'd heated it up, poured it out, and turned it off.

4. Steve and I have traded cars for the week. I learned this morning that the rear window defrost in Steve's car really sucks, especially if you put the air on recirc instead of turning on the rear window defrost.

12/6/09 (Sunday)

Yesterday we did our chores in the morning. It was snowing outside! We were all very excited. We even got out some Christmas movies and watched them--Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Then Grandpapa arrived. Cara was looking out the window, so she saw him immediately. Grandpapa whisked her off for a sleepover in Middletown. In the morning, the grandparents took Cara on the ferry to New York City so that we could all meet at the Museum of Natural History.

I think it was an exciting trip for all of us. I for one cannot remember ever having been there (though for all I know I could be wrong), so it was all new to me. There was of course the excellent and recently refurbished dinosaur collection, but there were also displays about the evolution of humans, the mineral displays, various forest and farm scenes, and the mammals. Cara particularly wanted to see the African mammals, so she could see elephants (possibly because she's been getting back into Babar lately). Cara was slightly distracted by the fact that the early humans were naked. I was a bit surprised to find that she was actually quite excited by the collections of minerals. There were some very interesting rocks, crystals and gems. She also met a small toddler there who was being wheeled around in a stroller. When the little girl (whose name was Katerina) saw Cara, she said "I want to play with that girl!" and attempted to slither out the bottom of her stroller. After her mother extricated her, the two kids had a good time running around together for a while. Cara is still shy around most people, though, and became a tad alarmed when Katerina started chasing her all over. Katerina was very happy with her new-found friend, however, and it was hard to get ourselves away.

Going through the huge museum took a lot of walking. Cara made this a bit easier on herself by getting piggy-back rides from Grandmama (and a few carries from Daddy), but by the time we got to the museum gift store, I think we were all pretty pooped--especially the six-months-pregnant woman in our party. The child looked through all the multi-level store had to offer and settled on a coiled rubber snake. It felt like a past trip we'd had to the Philadelphia Zoo with Grandmom and Grandpop, where we were coaxing the child into possibly buying a "friend" for Puma. The child picked up--and put down--every stuffed animal in the place, and finally settled on a bag of tiny, slightly sticky snakes. I guess she likes snakes! Go figure.

After all this excitement, we also had to wander about outside to track down a taxi, and then endured an incredibly crowded train ride home. We were forced to ride in the hallway of the train car, and Cara eventually curled up with her head on top of Puma. Then, a few minutes away from our stop, Cara decided she just had to try the train's lavatory, which was just opposite her resting place. She didn't quite finish drying her hands before we had to exit the train.

Even after all that, we still needed dinner! So we stopped at the diner. We managed to convince the child not to eat another hot dog, which was a great victory. Then it was time for home.

Mommy just successfully found Cara's Hello Kitty doll, which was hiding behind a door in the game room, under a blanket, inside a basket. I couldn't find it at all. Maybe Mommy's brain is still working well after all.

12/7/09 (Monday)

Cara woke up early this morning, when I was eating breakfast. She was mildly distressed when it became clear that this was a preschool day. When I arrived to pick her up, she was very happy. She bounced all the way to the stairs to go up and get her things.

In the car on the way home, a plaintive voice came from the back seat: "Mommy, Miss Grace is reading a story to the lollipops, and I'm not there!" Cara was deeply saddened by this. I apologized for having picked her up and reminded her that she would get to do some pretty cool things, too.

12/8/09 (Tuesday)

At dinner:

Cara: (gasps) Mommy! Look! (points at dark kitchen window with gel holiday decoration)

Me: ?

Cara: Hanukkah!

Me: Oh.

Cara: But we're past that.

Me: We're past Hanukkah?

Cara: We did H last week. . . . but maybe we'll do the ABCs again!

And I'm sure that, when they do, Cara will remember to mention that Hanukkah begins with H. This week is the letter I. I keep trying to think of I words that they don't have on the lists they've made at preschool, but somehow all of the ones I can think of are too sophisticated and abstract. It's clearly a very important letter.

Yesterday, I asked Cara to find a place to put away the plastic snake she got at the museum on Sunday. She decided to put it with her girls; maybe they could ride on it. (It's a coiled snake who would be, I think, well over a foot long if he could straighten out.) Today, when we got home, she settled in to play with her girls and snake. She was very busy on her own, but I stopped in. I asked whether the girls were riding the snake. No, they were not. Because they had no dollars. I asked whether they were going to get some. Yes, by walking in the rain. But first they had to change their clothes, apparently into more practical attire. Cinderella could not wear her glass slippers, for instance.

I think that this is all somehow an echo of the Pet Pals video game she plays on her Leapster, in which she has to earn "doggie dollars" in order to buy things for her puppy. It's fun to ride in the car on long trips when she's playing; we get to hear her laments when she has no doggie dollars and then her triumph when she earns more.

I was also reminded of that special time long ago when Cara's girls were all working girls.

Cara's been really enthusiastic about showers lately, but tonight she decided she wanted a bath. She has just found out that her set of bath crayons finally ran out. She is crestfallen. I am delighted.

12/9/09 (Wednesday)

Last night Cara asked me to make a Bismarck for breakfast. It's really pretty simple, so I agreed. I usually leave around seven, so as Steve was coming downstairs I was putting it in the oven. I went up to where Cara was sound asleep and sat down on the bed. I told her that I'd just put her breakfast in the oven, and she stirred, eyes still closed. I waited. I told her I'd go and set the table. She rolled over. She got up, grabbed Deesta, and stumbled out of the room. I made her bed and turned off her night light, and when I got downstairs she was sitting at the table, all tousled and frowsy, waiting. We did convince her that she had time to use the bathroom.

It was pouring out. Pouring. Cara and Steve nearly drowned on the way to preschool (well, if they had to breathe through their ankles, they'd have drowned). Deesta, though, was fine. She was fine because Cara asked Steve to find her giant rubber duck and borrow his yellow rain hat. Deesta wore it to preschool.

I was startled when I picked Cara up and I noticed that she had on her "backup" pants. I asked her why. Her other pants were wet, she said. Why were they wet? They were wet from the rain! I had been afraid there'd been an accident.

One thing I've been doing lately when I pick Cara up is to very responsibly ignore the elaborate paper mache bowl project that's been going on. I feel that it's my duty. Today, though, Cara helpfully explained that she'd made a bowl for me. Later, at home, she announced that she'd made a bowl for me and painted it green, and they are going to put a pine cone in it, and it will smell good. It's quite true; I also politely ignored some pinecones that seemed to be coated in cinnamon.

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