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Journal Key:

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

11/18/10 (Thursday)

Today I had taken the day off, so we finally had a chance to get Owen to the doctor. He's had a cough for a few weeks now, and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. We didn't think it was that bad but we figured it was better to be sure with the bean.

Of course Owen charmed everyone in the reception area. Then we went back in the waiting room and waited--a very long time. Fortunately Owen had toys to play with, and crinkly paper to reach for, and a bottle to drink. He hadn't napped all morning to when I gave him a bottle he finally fell asleep. A few minutes later the doctor came in.

The upshot of it all was that he now has three prescriptions: the nebulizer again, some antibiotics in case of an infection, and some eye drops (since he's been smearing stuff all over his face, his eyes are now irritated). So, lots of work for us parents! But hopefully some day in the future, Owen will be better, and his parents will no longer have snot smears on the shoulders of all their shirts.

After Owen's appointment, I dropped him off at YBR (they shook their heads when they heard about all his medicines!) and enjoyed a few hours of my day off. Then I picked up both kids and we got dinner, and Mommy got home.

Owen has had all of his treatments for the evening and is in his bed. Cara is in bed now, too.

11/19/10 (Friday)

Owen seems to be taking his nebulizer pretty well. This morning I put on Jedi, took him in my lap, and turned it on. He sat and watched the movie, and gradually I realized that it was getting difficult to hold the mask up. He was leaning forward, resting his face on it. This evening, he did not rest on the mask. Instead, he talked throughout the procedure. At YBR, where he is one of three babies using nebulizers, Miss Sandi says that he fell asleep during his treatment. When she turned it off, he woke up.

In mobility news, he managed to scoot several feet on his tush this evening. It was our first date night since he stopped being a little baby, really. He was delighted with himself. Still, though, he'd really prefer to stand and walk or to stand and chew on my thumbs. At his play-toy-standing-thing, he's really cruising. It's awesome.

11/20/10 (Saturday)

Cara had a sleepover last night and her Grandpapa drove her back to dance class in the morning. It appeared when I left the house to meet her there that Owen was going to have his normal morning nap, but it was not to be. He woke a few minutes after I left and was up and around when we returned. He had impressed his parents in the morning by scooting several feet along the hardwood floor on his bottom! I think it was more than last night. Once again, he was most pleased.

Owen did not fall asleep until we came back from lunch. We left sleeping babies to sleep in the car seat, and the rest of us raked leaves. Cara was determined that leaves should be raked today, because she wanted to jump in a pile. She fulfilled her wish very soon, but stayed around for a good long time being a very enthusiastic helper. We had no rakes her size, but she gamely went to with her tiny snow shovel. Her excitement for the whole thing was really inspiring. She sang songs about helping, and told me to watch my step as Evelyn and I carried a tarp full of leaves down our back stairs. (I had told her to watch her step a few minutes earlier.)

As soon as we were done, I carried Owen inside and he woke up. He was fairly miserable for a while after that. Eventually he calmed down in the play room with Cara, who made him laugh harder and longer than I've heard him laugh for a while. (As far as I can remember, all she did was lean towards him and say a word. I can't remember what the word even was.) We had been trying all day to get him to eat solid food--or at least Ev had--but he has been rejecting a lot of the chunky, stage three foods we've been trying. Ev finally hit on one that he loved tonight, after we'd all had dinner and he had had his last nebulizer treatment of the day. It was pears and cereal, I think, and he cried piteously every time he finished a dish and Evelyn had to leave to get more. Eventually she just brought out the jar, and he polished off the whole thing.

Tonight he got a special grown-up tub bath, not just in his little plastic baby bath sitting in the tub. These "grown-up" baths are still two-parent jobs: Evelyn held him and I did the washing. He really loves to have a bath. He loved playing with the bath toys he could grab, and did some very optimistic leaning towards the ones he couldn't grab. He actually seems to think it's funny to have water poured over his head, which I think is pretty amazing.

Ev and Cara had some playtime in the afternoon and were teaching math to all of Cara's dolls. Up until that time, Cara's play school seemed to consist entirely of various meal and snack times. I was enlisted early on to provide food for seven school children, who had varying dietary needs. My wife later one-upped me by tying an apron on and serving them yet another meal, which I believe was followed by a snack.

We all seem to be in varying stages of sickness--except maybe me--but we had a pleasant day today all the same.

11/21/10 (Sunday)

I think we set a record: I got up at 7:20 to see whether Owen was breathing, Owen got up at 7:40, Steve got up at 7:50, and Cara got up closer to nine. It was very nice. Then Steve made pancakes. One was an alien, and one looked very much like a macaroon. Those were the most popular.

Cara's school is still in session. The dolls have been learning some math with the counting bears, and then Cara announced to them that they were going to learn about ballet because she was a ballerina. They were rapt.

In the afternoon she and I went out for some girl time. We started the holiday shopping! In Ten Thousand Villages, Cara excitedly showed me many things that were just a foot or two in front of me and always seemed to be about ten feet away with something else that I had to see right away whenever I stopped to see something. We found some very good gifts, though. At Target Cara picked out a toy for Owen. She'd been very concerned when I hadn't put him onto the list of people we had to shop for.

When we got home, Steve and Owen were watching Episode III. They put it back on for Owen's nebulizer after dinner, and Cara was very curious, of course. I turned it off when Steve took Owen to bed, because it's really too violent for her. However, her appetite had been whetted. I had to put on Episode I. She got to meet Jar-Jar before she went to bed.

11/22/10 (Monday)

Owen, Cara, and I spent the afternoon at the pediatrician. He had to go back to get his lungs checked, and I figured it made sense to bring her along, just to get her cough checked out, too. I made the appointment for 4:15, and then I realized that that meant I had to pick her up from school by 3:30, because if she took the bus we'd be late. I had to email the school and call DT to tell them not to expect her back. (They said they'd send all of her stuff with her, but in the end Em picked up her coat and Puma when she got PJ and Casey!) After I got her, I called YBR to tell them to get Owen ready to launch. They changed his outfit. They like him to look nice for the doctor.

Owen mostly had a very wonderful time, the only exception being when the doctor wanted to look down his throat. He loved sitting up on the table and crinkling the paper, and he thought it was pretty wonderful that Cara was there as well. She also had a wonderful time. We'd stopped to pick up snacks, so she was enjoying animal crackers. The doctor examined Owen first. He's doing much better! We get to continue using the nebulizer three times a day, though, apparently just for good measure, until he goes back again when he's done with his antibiotics. I'd been sure it would be decreased. Oh well, we'll just have to keep hauling it to and from YBR.

Cara was next. She's fine! Her lungs are clear. Everything looks good, except that her throat is a little bit red. She has no complaints about her throat. The big adventure, though, was that she got her ears cleaned out by the nurse, because there was wax built up in them. She really enjoyed it. When I asked her this evening what her favorite part of the day was, I suspected that she'd pick that. I was right.

Twice tonight I had that funny parenting experience where you leave the baby in one place and come back to find him in another. First, though, a dream came true. I was able to work on dinner while listening to my two kids playing in their playroom. They weren't playing together or anything, but I could hear them both having fun. When I went down, Owen was several feet from where I'd left him, having scooted on his butt in sort of a U shape. It's a tough carpet, too. A little bit later, I left him in the living room, standing at his playground thing. When I looked again, he had cruised all the way to the other end of it and was in mild distress.

Owen napped well today, but he was really tired tonight. Steve worked late, and by the time he got home Owen was done. He had his nebulizer and a bath, and then I put him down. It's nice, but surprising, when he falls asleep in my arms.

11/23/10 (Tuesday)

This morning, Miss Sandi asked Owen whether he was going to give her a smile. She was taken aback when he emphatically shook his head no. Steve had to explain about the face-rubbing.

Kindergarten conferences were tonight! PJ and Casey came over while Em and Ron went, and then Em came over to read to Cara while Steve and I took our turn. (Conveniently, Owen was down.) We were very excited about getting to talk to Cara's teachers. Of course, they said wonderful things about her. She's very observant and perhaps she should be a detective, for instance!

She does well with math and is good at following directions. She pays a lot of attention to detail. She knows all of her letters and the sounds of all of the consonants. She has all of the tools for reading, but she's not quite sounding things out yet. They're going to start reading groups next week, so she'll be with a few other kids who are in the same boat and they'll get the instruction they need to push them . . . upstream?

Cara is well-liked and is opening up in class, starting to play without PJ more and more. She gets a little shy sometimes when the teachers call on her. They feel like she hasn't quite opened up to them all the way yet, though she does love them and writes love notes to them on her homework. They're working with her and encouraging her to try things that are just outside of her comfort zone. They took her and showed off one of her pictures to the school art teacher! They are very impressed with her art. I am very pleased with her teachers.

While we were out, Em read Cara three books, and then she turned off the lights. When we got home, both of our kids were asleep.

11/24/10 (Wednesday)

The day before a big holiday is always exciting. Cara and PJ made hats at DT: hers is a big white . . . shape, and his is an Indian headdress. They wore them to kindergarten for their half of a half day. There was a Thanksgiving feast at DT. I can see the temptation, certainly, to do that, but, honestly, the kids will all have real Thanksgiving tomorrow! When I arrived, a little before three, they were having popsicles. I hustled Cara out, though, because I had two tickets to see Tangled at 3:15!

Going to the movies is an exciting experience. We had to get treats. There has been much discussion lately of popcorn, mainly Cara telling us she doesn't want it. She told me again on the way there. She looked at the giant decorations above the refreshment stand and decided what she wanted: a hot dog. Distressingly, they had one for her. While the young man was getting my drink, she decided she wanted popcorn. Popcorn, too. Offered a choice, she opted to stick with her hot dog. I'd have liked popcorn, but with my cold it's probably better not to share anything. I was ready to spoil and would have gotten her candy, but she didn't want any.

Sitting next to her to watch the movie was great. She bounced in her seat. She talked, too, periodically. Mostly she explained things ("That's Rapunzel's tower!" "He got it!"), but there were a few times when she asked questions and I got to explain. It was really a great movie. It was funny, and it was never too scary, and it was sad. After she finished her hot dog I put my arm over into her seat and she snuggled up to it and we just enjoyed.

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