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Journal Key:

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

12/2/10 (Thursday)

Poor Owen has been somewhat emotionally delicate lately. This evening, the opening to Monsters, Inc., made him start screaming. That was his most reasonable episode. This morning, he was set off when Steve laughed out loud at a comic. At Discovery Time, he looked at another dad, looked back at Steve, and started to cry. It's like having a teenage girl or something!

Cara played in her playroom on her own tonight, and she did several things that she felt were amazing. She would them ask one of us to come down and see. While we were on the stairs, we had to close our eyes. "Follow the sound of my voice!" she told us. Fortunately, we knew where we were going. Each of us had to come in this fashion to see her Barbies lined up between two boxes (to stand them up) with Tinkerbell in front. Tink was wearing roller skates and was apparently able to pull the whole conga line.

We've discovered that Cara's staple "rock star" snatch of song, which I, at least, was prepared to believe she'd invented, is actually a Justin Bieber song. I've never heard it, but he must spend a lot of time singing, "baby, baby, oh!" (What a genius!) Tonight, she was singing "who let the dog out?" I'm so proud!

12/4/10 (Saturday)

Poor Owen had two naps today, but they were both very short and were followed by periods of being very, very unhappy. We think he needs to sleep more but somehow just can't do it. We need to ask YBR what his naps are like there; maybe they can give us some tips!

Aunt Claire came up and we all went out to lunch. Owen sat nicely in his booster seat and mauled a cardboard coaster. He really destroyed that thing. He also destroyed some strawberries in his little mesh feeder. He enjoyed eating them and also waving them around. He did not enjoy being cleaned up. He went home and had a good afternoon with Steve, followed by a short nap and half an hour of unhappiness.

We ladies went shopping. Cara had brought her allowance along; her savings amounted to six dollars! She elected to buy herself a new Polly Pocket. It was very convenient, because having a new girl made her a lot more amenable to shopping for things for other people.

Weird: We've never taken Cara to see Santa. Last year, she talked a lot about how the Santas we saw were just guys in costumes. This year, she just told us she wants to see Santa at the mall and tell him what she wants for Christmas. She also says I should tell him what I want. You know, last year she was also a lot more pragmatic about getting shots! Poor kid.

It's a nice evening. While we lit the menorah, Cara went around the house turning off all of the lights except the Christmas ones. Now The Nutcracker is on, and Cara is making Steve dance ballet. Owen is staring at him.

12/5/10 (Sunday)

Today was Hanukkah! Well, Hanukkah lasts eight days, but this was the day we'd settled on to have the family dinner. Cara started running down periodically to check for visitors a good hour and change before any were likely to arrive. Claire and Casie arrived first and were greeted at the door by a bouncing girl. Everyone helped out bringing, making, cooking, preparing, or at least consuming food, and hopefully a good time was had by all. Owen continues to dislike napping for us this weekend, and had only two very short naps throughout the day. They were both in his crib, however, which is a step in the right direction (we have to get him out of the habit of sleeping in his bouncer, which he probably outgrew a month or so ago).

He was asleep when guests arrived and was, shall we say, horrified to find that new people were there when he woke up. He was not post-nap-hysterical like yesterday, but he was very delicate and got scared a few times. By the time we sat down to dinner he had opened up and was babbling and bouncing. He even managed to mangle a few real grown-up crackers at the dinner table (in a manner very similar to the way he mauled his coaster at lunch yesterday). Owen, by the way, is definitely very close to popping out his first tooth--it is not visible, but it's very easy to feel on his lower gum, especially if for some reason he starts gnawing on your finger.

Cara was thrilled to be able to give out some of the gifts she had purchased for people at the Kindergarten holiday store. Grandmama received a 3-D wooden butterfly puzzle that can be painted. (She and Cara assembled it this evening, but Grandmama is going to wait to paint it until Cara comes over--just in case Cara would like to help paint it!) Casie received a Christmas tree pin. I got a pen with NY Jets logos printed on it. I doubt Cara understood the significance of the patterning, but it so happens that I lost the only good pen I had at work, so I'm happy to have it. And it was so cute and touching to see her giving out gifts.

Cara herself got some very pretty fairy ornaments from Grandmama that I know she will cherish. She also got a little stuffed rhinoceros from Claire and Casie. By the end of the evening Cara had decided to name the rhino Marshmallow, and he was going to bed with her and Puma, so I know that he was a winner.

Owen was tough to get to sleep tonight, even with so little napping in his day. The strangeness of the evening no doubt had him excited. Even after he had finished his bottle and quieted down in the glider, he spent many minutes staring up at me--wondering what amazing thing will happen to him next.

12/6/10 (Monday)

Marshmallow went to DT today with Cara and had a very good time. Her full name is Marshmallow Sugar Cookie. She loves Cara very much and goes darting over to her for hugs. Marshmallow was the best part of the day. I was amused because Cara woke up this morning and wandered into the bathroom, where I was showering. Even in her early-morning haze, she brought both Marshmallow and Puma.

At Target, we bought Owen some new snack foods. He likes them all, but most of them are too small for him. He hasn't mastered the art of picking up small things and then getting them into his mouth. Today he tried the apple wagon wheels, which are big enough for him to hold onto and gnaw. He demolished two, leaving a few very impressively sticky blobs.

12/7/10 (Tuesday)

Once again, Marshmallow was the best part of the day.

Me: You know, Cara, I wish I could ask Owen how his day was.

Cara: I think it was good.

Me: Yeah?

Cara: Yeah, wiping his nose on people, and crying, I think he liked it.

Like most children, Cara goes through phases in her eating. On the way home, she told me she was hungry. She wanted a sandwich. She wanted a ham sandwich. We don't have ham. We went on buying it for weeks after she stopped eating it, and poor Steve had to use it. I explained this and offered a piece of bread. She wanted two pieces, with something between them. I compromised by making a one-piece folded sandwich with a piece of cheese in it. Cara put the cheese in and folded the bread, and then (while I made dinner and fed Owen and she did her homework) she decided to warm it up just a little. She put it in the microwave, which is one of the new frontiers she's conquering, asked me how long, typed in the numbers, and pressed start. I don't think I'd have eaten it, but she was very happy with her melty cheese sandwich.

Owen is also exploring new frontiers. At YBR, he seems to have made a friend. He and Zachey had a couple of conversations last week (and there's that great picture of them), but today they were standing up and talking to each other and jumping, copying each other, which cracked them up. At dinner tonight, he explored Steve's plate and grabbed some broccoli. We let him mess with it, and he seemed enthusiastic. I do think some parts got in. Some.

It's also a time of new frontiers in the realm of cleaning up after Owen. Babies are always messy, but he's being messy in new ways. He eats things that cause astonishing sticky messes. He scatters a lot more crumbs on the floor. In the playroom, he's happy to sit for fifteen minutes, taking Playmobil toys out of a big bin. You can move a lot of toys in fifteen minutes! Also, this morning he reminded me about baby-proofing. I set him up, standing at his office, and he immediately reached out and grabbed a bowl of goldfish crackers Cara had left on the table. Luckily, there weren't many left. I was able to pick them up without disturbing him. He didn't mind at all that the thing he'd grabbed ended up on the floor; apparently it was the grabbing and not the getting that was his object.

One thing I love is Owen's happy noise. He laughs, and I know that Steve and Cara and his friends at YBR and I all make him happy, but his Happy Noise is special. It's sort of a chortle/squeak. Usually, when I hear it, I know a cat's in the room. He makes it at them whenever he sees them. This evening, he made it at the water as I ran his bath.

12/8/10 (Wednesday)

No journal tonight! We went and all got pictures taken, and we're too busy playing with them.

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