| Previous Week | Back Home | Next Week |

Journal Key:

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

 

4/15/10 (Thursday)

Owen and I had a pretty great day. He spent at least an hour and a half this morning being awake and cheerful, just hanging out. He's really starting to follow things with his eyes, so playing with him is far more rewarding! He doesn't need to be played with all the time, though. He's willing to spend time looking at things. I'm not sure how he decides what's interesting enough to look at, but sometimes apparently the arm of the couch is fascinating.

His grandmom and grandpop came up today, and I was overjoyed because it gave me an opportunity to clean the house! It also gave me a lot of much-needed help. Owen was happy because he likes to cuddle.

He hasn't started to reach for things yet, but Owen's hands seem to be less opposed to his wishes than they were a couple of weeks ago. Now, when we're trying to put a bottle into his mouth, rather than swatting it away, his hand often manages to cover both mouth and nipple. This seems to be an attempt to assist in the docking, but it is sadly counterproductive, as is the fact that Owen does not believe that he needs to open his mouth in order for things to get in.

Cara was a lucky little girl. Her grandmama picked her up from preschool, took her to a diner, and took her to ballet. This ballet school seems very laid back about the recital. Grandmama asked about it and was told that a newsletter would be forthcoming. They don't seem to have started a routine in class. In a way, that's a very good thing. Cara says that she likes it that they do lots of different things all the time. I think she really does. Last year, they practiced their routine for months! At swimming class, it's the same thing every week. The variety at ballet is probably a lot of fun. She hasn't yet complained that she was bored!

4/17/10 (Saturday)

A few memorable moments:

On the drive home, Cara was singing along to Buddy Holly.

We stopped off at Tatum Park, despite the cold, to explore the playground there. Guess what they have by the restrooms - vending machines! Before we left, we had purchased her heart's desire at the moment - a bag of mini Chips Ahoy cookies, which she virtuously saved for after dinner.

An era has ended - Cara did NOT want hot dogs for supper. She is actually tired of hot dogs. We had pizza.

Grandpapa did more artwork during this visit than he has done otherwise in, perhaps, the entire time I have known him.

For the bath we deployed bubble bath, colored water pellets in the tea set, and soap bubbles. It was pretty spectacular.

The child's delaying tactics at bedtime appear to be founded on a genuine terror of the the lonely dark, which was solved last night when, in addition to strategic lighting, we put on a music CD in her room.

This morning's activities included a large collaborative picture employing crayons, colored pencils and water color paints.

I understand also that Grandpapa's copying device was also used to make many copies of little people to cut out. We have a bag of them upstairs in Cara's room.

Owen, Evelyn and I had a nice long morning to ourselves. Owen was a tad antsy, but it turned out that what he really wanted to do was sit in his bouncer in the bathroom while I took a shower. The white noise of the shower and the bathroom fan put him right to sleep.

Mommy instituted some play time this morning when Owen was awake and alert. She asked Cara to go get some toys and she came down with a variety of objects from Owen's room, which we then shook at him. I have taken to shaking our little jingly hippo and then having it come down and kiss him. There are times, I think, when Owen has found this vaguely amusing. Today when Cara was flopping around Owen's big stuffed caterpillar, he definitely smiled in response.

In the afternoon Ev took Owen and Cara out to the mall. Cara had a little bit of birthday money to spend. Originally Cara's plan was to buy shoes for her stuffed cat, Deesta, at Build-a-Bear. This idea was discarded in favor of some Zhu Zhu Pets accessories. (Cara has now learned the word "accessories." She also knows "surrounded.") She came home with a Zhu Zhu Pets car, garage, and play room. The play room connects to the garage via a tunnel, so the little mechanical hamster can zoom right down the hall, hop into his car, and bowl out of the garage and into the world at large. The car is a pretty ingenious little device that the hamster powers with his own little wheels (sort of like Fred Flintstone). Em came by in the late afternoon and was overjoyed that the toy was in our house and not in hers. I suppose if we kept turning the pet on, his bright and perky chirping would quickly become annoying; and there is the potential for the myriad accessories to fill up our house. But for now I find it harmless and fun.

I drew my own share of pictures for the little girl today, but she also took a little dry-erase board and did some of her own drawings. Later in the evening when both of us parents were occupied with cleaning up after dinner and trying to put Owen down, Cara was left at the computer desk and apparently managed to play some games on her own. She is probably capable of doing a lot more on the computer, but always prefers us to do it for her. This was a good step.

Owen got crabby at around 7:30, which is when the other Nancy Circle kids always used to get crabby, and how we knew it was time to start heading for bed. We stuck Owen in a sack and I gave him a bottle. While he was taking the bottle he looked perfectly sleepy, but when it was finished he lay in my lap, wide-eyed and curious. Eventually I gave up and took him back downstairs. He sat in his bouncer with an incredibly astonished look on his face while Ev and I cleaned up after dinner. He's in his crib now. We're glad he didn't get to sleep on the first try, since it would have meant he'd wake up to be fed earlier in the night!

4/18/10 (Sunday)

Today Owen, Cara and I drove down to Middletown and he stayed with his grandparents while Cara and I went to a Teddy Bear Tea Party. Grandpapa was holding Owen when I left and holding him when I got back, which, although there was evidence that he was put down at some point in the middle, I take to mean that Owen had a very happy time.

Cara and I also had a good time. I admit to some bad parenting, though. In the morning, I asked her whether she wanted to wear a dress, rather than telling her it would be a dressy event, which I think would have worked. She wore jeans, and all of the other girls were in dresses. She was happy, though. Afterwards, there was an ad tucked under the windshield wiper. It's for a Royal Tea Party at a hotel near the airport for $39 per person. Like a fool, I told Cara what it was for and handed it to her to see. It's now magneted to our fridge and she thinks we're going. She plans on wearing the Easter dress she didn't wear today. If I hadn't managed to very successfully cut Owen's nails this morning when Steve was giving him a bottle, I'd have to call myself an utter failure as a parent.

The tea party was sort of like being at a wedding, except that eighty percent of the guests were little girls. First we had a lesson in manners, which many children may have found boring. They were polite about it, at least! Mainly, I learned that you put your napkin in your lap with the fold toward the table, not away. Then the children all went to another room for dancing, part of which Cara sat out of. For food, there were some beautiful tiny sandwiches at every table when we got back. We had tea to drink from our dainty China cups, which we had, I admit, learned how to pick up during our manners tutorial. Cara drank water from hers very happily. Cupcakes came next; there was one pink one on our tray, and Cara was very happy to get it. We didn't win the raffle, but every child got a present on the way out the door. Cara's bag had a toy monkey in it; it's red and has a flower on its tummy that I think she believes is cherries. She's delighted.

One of the main attractions listed for the tea party was a parade lead by a famous bear. We all speculated about what bear it might be. Cara noticed early on that there was a girl (a big girl) with bear feet. Soon, she had on an entire Winnie the Pooh costume. To my astonishment, Cara let me take her picture with her. She spent much of the afternoon wondering where Winnie the Pooh was and looking for her. I was charmed. Winnie the Pooh helped model polite conversation. The topic: favorite color. "Honey yellow."

At home, I realized something. We were in Cara's playroom, and she readily agreed to put away the buildings she'd gotten out to make a road because she wanted to paint with glitter glue at her table. The table is generally useless because of clutter, but I recently cleaned up and maybe with our new system it'll stay better. Cara tidied everything up and then got out her supplies. It was really strange to see what an odd mix of me and Claire she is, in a way. She's definitely got my obsession with organization, and she's artistic like her aunt. (And her daddy, I know.) It just felt weird to suddenly see her that way.

She took a large piece of paper and a set of glitter glue tubes she got for her birthday. She squeezed out probably about half of each tube onto the paper and then spread it all around with a paintbrush. It's a big glittery mush. Then she cleaned up and got ready for the next project.

4/19/10 (Monday)

Owen and I went out to do errands today. Momentously, we returned the rented breast pump. It's been like a third child. A very inconvenient, demanding third child, but a useful one. I'm not done pumping yet, but I have Em's pump to get me through the next few days in order to avoid getting charged for another full month's rental. We also went to the library. It takes two bags these days: one for books for Cara and one for YA books for me. I guess I may be reading less, though, if I'm not pumping! Oh well.

When the kids and I went out the other day, we found a big container of color tablets for the bath. Last night, Cara tried out putting in red, yellow, and blue together. You get a black bath. Today, she had another black bath. It's very odd.

Cara gets an A-plus for today! She was cooperative about her bath being a quick one. She helped set the table for dinner. After dinner, she got out an art project she'd been given for her birthday and did it at the kitchen table. Afterwards, she washed her brush. Steve had Owen upstairs, so I found myself in charge of Cara's bedtime routine for the first time in a long time. She wanted to go play with her toys, but I told her it was pajama time. In a few minutes, when I went upstairs to look for her, there she was, getting herself into pajamas! She brushed her teeth on her own, while I went and got her library books. The allure of new books, I'm sure, helped get her through these things more quickly. She said good night to Daddy and Owen, and I got to read to her for the first time in days and days. I think that the last time I tried it, I fell asleep. Having new books helps to avoid that, too!

I got out The Elephant's Child and How the Whale got his Throat. Neither got picked tonight, but I told Cara that those are both stories I read when I was little. She's shocked.

4/20/10 (Tuesday)

Happy birthday, Grandmom!

Swimming class went well, of course. Cara was able to swim across the pool all by herself, mostly. She actually swims quite well, except for the fact that she doesn't really move forwards very much. She just swam and swam and once in a while the teacher sort of gave her a push.

The locker room part is always exciting. It's sort of like juggling. Today after class Cara decided that she had to go potty and wanted to get dressed in the potty. She headed back, and I brought her clothes, and then I wanted to go back to get Owen. I held the door shut until she could come and latch it behind me. Then I walked away, as she explained to me that she had closed it. Owen was sleeping. When I got back with him, there was a naked child traipsing around, washing its hands. Oh. That was my naked child.

At dinner, Steve and I talked about Owen's surgery, which he will have in early May. I will drive down to Philadelphia with him, and Steve will take a half day in order to be here when Cara needs to be picked up. He explained to her that it'll be just the two of them. "Yay!" says Cara. Then, "I'll miss you, Mommy." It's okay, though. Cara knew what to do. She got a piece of paper and a pen and drew herself, a heart, and me. We were sad. She added a sad Owen and a sad Dad, all crying because we miss each other. Inside the heart, she drew our house, with noise coming out. It's the noise of her crying. We all have shoes on, except for Owen, who has socks. We all have five fingers on each hand. As Steve points out, we could practically rake leaves with them. On the other side of the paper, Cara drew a happy version of the same picture, for when we're all together again. There's no noise and no drips from our eyes.

Steve is reading to Cara tonight. I'm a little jealous.

4/21/10 (Wednesday)

It's X week at Yellow Brick Road. When they generated their list of X-words, the kids came up with words like "explore" and "extra." I think that makes a lot of sense; Miss Jane points out that all of the words that begin with X sound like they begin with Z. Cara related an exciting X activity today. Actually, first she said it was because it was still W week, but it's definitely an X. Miss Kathy took an x-ray of her hand. Just for X week. She had to hold it very still. She did it on the computer. The computer at preschool.

I have seen the computer at preschool. I think it's older than Cara. I really wouldn't have thought it could take x-rays. I must be mistaken.

Today Emily and Cara pinky-swore. Cara has no idea what they were promising each other, but she remembers the pinky part.

I had a really lovely day with Owen, and he had an adventure, but he doesn't know about it. He was basically awake for most of the morning, and then he was sleepier in the afternoon. He sat outside and snoozed in his bouncer while I did some weeding, and then we went for a walk. It started to look rainy, but we went to the Farmers Market anyway. A little sprinkle was no problem, but when we came out it was pouring and there was even thunder! Fortunately, I had the nice stroller with me, so Owen had two canopies over his head. I spread a receiving blanket over them, and that got soaked. I got soaked. Owen was fine, until he woke up when we were almost home, having realized that it had been over two hours since he'd eaten. He really seems to be eating an awful lot. When he has his checkup in a couple of weeks, I'd better see some catch-up growth happening!

| Previous Week | Back Home | Next Week |