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Journal Key:

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

 

6/17/10 (Thursday)

Cara took Rosetta and Tinkerbell with her to school, but she decided that she only wanted Tink. Steve wanted to confirm that it was okay, then, that Rosetta was going to go with him in his car. Yes, Rosetta could go to work with him! So, yes, Rosetta spent the day on his desk. Fortunately, Rosetta is one of the more modest dolls, who, even undressed, is pretty well clothed.

Tonight was ballet, but I was not willing to return to Pizza Hut. Fortunately, a landmark I'd used to get to the ballet school was a McDonald's. I'm not a fan of McDonald's, but it sounded a lot better than the alternative! I went in to get Cara and explained to her the plan for the evening, and then I mentioned to the teachers at both schools that Ron will be picking up the kids tomorrow, since Steve and I will both be working late. We went and got into the car.

Cara: Is Ron going to take me to ballet?

Me: No, ballet's tonight.

Cara: Is Ron going to pick me up?

Me: No, that's tomorrow.

Cara: Oh. I thought Ron was going to pick me up.

Me: No, I just did.

Cara: Are we going to Pizza Hut?

Later:

Cara: Mommy, do you think you know where you're going?

Yeah, I was pretty sure I did. It's a straight road. Amazingly, we got to McDonald's. There weren't any cars in the lot, so I was scared it would turn out like last week did, but it was fine. It was actually a recently renovated McDonald's, so it had exciting modern furniture. Cara selected a high table and climbed up to a seat.

Me: Why don't you move over here, so we can have Owen between us?

Cara: Ok. . . . I can't get down!

I got her down. She reascended. We started eating.

Cara: Mommy, how did you get onto your seat?

Me: Well, I'm bigger, so I just sat down.

Cara: Oh. I climbed.

(Actually, there was one funny part at Pizza Hut last week, when we were ordering: "They have soda for kids?!" She really feels that it's a grown-up drink that she will never, ever like.)

When we got home, Steve and I were both busy. Cara wanted to watch Return of the Jedi. She had the dvds sitting out.

Cara: Which one is it?

Steve: It's number six. That's a VI. It has a VI on it.

Cara: I found it!

Steve: (looking) No, that's not it.

Cara: It has a IV.

Steve then helped her out and explained the principals behind Roman numerals. She'll be way ahead in kindergarten.

Since we had to get both kids to bed plus confirm plans for tomorrow plus get a car seat base into Ron's truck plus pack things for Juliana plus write notes for various people, it was a busy evening.

6/18/10 (Friday)

A crazy Friday: it was Ev's school graduation, so she had to stay late. I couldn't leave early from work. In a feat of logistical maneuvering, Ron picked up our kids (Cara apparently fits in Casey's car seat), dropped both with Juliana, and Cara eventually went over to hang out with PJ and Casey, where she was given chicken nuggets. I got home, got Owen, got Cara, found Mommy, and we all got home and eventually went to bed.

6/20/10 (Sunday)

Happy Father's Day!

We spent Saturday recovering from Friday. Today, Cara and Owen gave Steve cards. Cara had drawn a picture on hers; it was Dad in his pajamas and Cara in her pajamas, about to hug each other. It was hard to tell that it was a very accurate picture, because Cara had changed her pajamas after she drew it and was wearing something completely different. In fact, she changed directly after having drawn the picture the night before.

She and Steve went out in the morning and saw Toy Story 3. They had tickets for the 3D version, but they ended up seeing the IMAX 3D one. There was one scary part, but they made it through.

Owen and I stayed home. Owen was a terrible, terrible baby. He did have happy times today, but there weren't many! Also, for the past three nights, he has not been his usual self at bedtime. Generally, he decides at some point after seven that it's time for him to go to sleep and he insists forcefully but politely that we give him a bottle, or part of one, and put him down. For three nights, now, he's not been sleepy. He's been angry. We've discovered that we have to hold him and walk or dance around for a while and he'll go to sleep. It's different! His tummy has been upset, it seems, for a few days. That's probably what's going on. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

I think I was mean. He's also been a happy baby. He's very excited about trying to get both of his hands into his mouth at once, which isn't going too well for him, but he's undaunted. He's also very good at rolling from his back to his side. He may only know how to roll to the right, but I'm not 100% sure about that. He loves his jumper. He stares at the toys, and he loves being able to move himself around. There's a lot of laughter.

Aunt Claire came! After lunch, the three of us ladies went out to Barnes and Noble. Somehow, this became a buying-something-for-Cara trip. I refused the $22 ages-7-and-up fashion design kit. I was not happy about the $6 paper doll set. It didn't look like something she could do herself. We tried to distract her with many other items, to no avail. We took her to Michael's to walk around, promising to return if she didn't see something better. We saw a lot of things. There were a lot of things she liked. There were a lot of things she'd have asked for, if she hadn't already made up her mind that that one paper doll book was what she wanted. She would not be swayed. She saw fabulous stuff and told us right off that she didn't want it. She asked us to take her back. Eventually, we did.

Fortunately, the paper doll book is far more workable for her than we had supposed. She has divided up the clothes, though, based on what color underwear the girls are wearing. The blue girl and the pink girl have plenty of options, and the ones wearing green and yellow are going to have lots of room left in their closets.

We were sitting around the living room. "The beautiful sound you hear is me humming," Cara explained. Yes.

6/21/10 (Monday)

A little before four in the morning, a little voice woke me up. It was Cara, calling me to let me know she didn't want to sleep anymore. I told her I'd be up in about two hours and sent her to the potty. While she was in there, I peeked at Owen. He was wide awake, lying there being happy. I started a bottle, tucked Cara back in, changed him, and gave him a very happy, friendly six ounces. Honestly, for having two children awake in the night, it was astonishingly pleasant all around. By four thirty, we were all asleep again.

I'd been wondering how mornings were going to work with me at home. I got up with Owen at six thirty, and then we basically followed the same pattern we'd been following during the last month of school. I asked Cara, though, whether she'd like me to take her to preschool. No, she wanted Daddy. I tried it again in a few minutes. No. I was giving Owen a bottle when Steve was ready to go. Come on, little girl, he said. Cara was still playing with her paper dolls. Can Mommy take me? Yes. She got an extra five or ten minutes out of the deal, and then she was very agreeable when it was time to go.

Owen's tummy seems to be better. I called daycare around lunchtime, and they said he wasn't angry. He was sleepy. He hadn't pooped yet. When Cara and I arrived to pick him up, he was in one of his backup outfits. He hadn't made a mess of himself, though! One of his bottles had leaked all over him. He'd had six ounces in the last half hour, but he came home and wanted more. I made him small bottles, and he took three of them before bed!

We're still watching a lot of Star Wars. A lot. I knew it had been a lot, but then it was further demonstrated to me when, at the end of Jedi, Cara explained, "Luke's going to cut off Dark Vader's hand." Then he did. I've tried to get her to say "Darth," but it's like correcting the pronunciation of a brick wall. Well, she tried. "Dark Th-Vader?" So, yes, Luke cuts off Dark Vader's hand. He does it with his light saver. In the final, climactic scenes, when the Emperor is hurting Luke with blue lightning, Cara was rapt, saying, "Do it, Dark Vader. Do it. Save Luke. Do it, Dark Vader. When are you going to do it?"

6/22/10 (Tuesday)

Cara brought a small baby doll, specially undressed for the purpose, to school with her today. When she didn't feel like carrying it, she tossed it into Owen's car seat with him. In the car on the way to school, she sang lullabies. When we arrived, Owen was asleep.

Poor Steve had to work late. The three of us managed to have a nice evening and a good dinner, though. I was giving Owen a bottle when Cara was being very silly nearby. "Silly, silly, silly!" I told her, as I used to say to Owen. I looked down. He'd had to stop drinking because of his enormous grin. Later, I was busy getting dinner ready when he wanted more. Cara was willing to be helpful and try giving him his bottle. She was very excited when he took it and clearly she was feeling her importance when she got to ask me to quickly get a tissue for her because he might dribble.

She saw him getting his hands near the bottle when I was feeding him.

Cara: He wants to hold his bottle, but he doesn't know how!

Me: He'll learn.

Cara: (thinks about it) Yes, to feed another baby.

6/23/10 (Wednesday)

Owen's got a slight cold, and it seems to have gotten into his left eye. The lid's been red, and it's been runny. I figured it was smarter to keep him home from daycare, so he and I spent the day together. It was nice, because he's really perfectly cheerful and fine, aside from the sneezing.

I had to bring him along on a lunch date I'd planned with Claire and my dad. I texted Claire to tell her that the "lesser of my two weevils" would be coming with me. She and I are both charmed by this joke, but it's very difficult to explain it to anyone outside the very small group of people who have read the Aubrey-Maturin books. I mean, those people don't even know we're in the navy! Owen did fine at lunch. Claire got his nose several times. He sat and looked around for a while and had a bottle, and then he got fussy just as the food arrived. He rejected his bottle. He rejected his popper. He was mad! I figured the only thing left to try was to change him, so I headed off for the bathroom. I looked down as I got there and saw that he was sound asleep. It was the start of a three-hour nap.

I took him to the doctor in the afternoon. As usual, he had a great time on the examining table. My favorite part was when the doctor asked whether he'd been in good spirits in spite of his cold and looked down to see Owen grinning up at him. We left with a prescription for eye drops. I stopped at the pharmacy near YBR to fill it, and I parked the stroller in the seating area. I was ready to play with Owen or to give him the tail end of a bottle, but he wasn't interested in either. He was staring. They had a ceiling fan.

Playdate was down the street today. Owen stayed inside with Ron and then with Em, and I ended up in the pool with the three kids. We played train. Two kids would hold onto noodles and I would drag them while the third (mainly Casey) either held onto me or got scooped up in my arms, and I would walk around the shallow end. When a kid fell off (every fifteen seconds or so), he or she would yell, "You lost a car!" Once in a while I'd need a rest and pull into the station at the steps.

Eventually, for some reason, we decided we were no longer a train but now a boat. Casey fell off.

Casey: You lost a boat part!

PJ: Overboard!

Casey: Boat part overboard!

Cara: (thinking of her Flower Princesses book) Pea pod boat overboard!

It went on. Gradually it started to get weird and we were seeing sea monsters and ghosts and things. Then Em called us for dinner and we drew in to port.

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