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Journal Key:

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

1/27/11 (Thursday)

Today was a lovely staying-home day for all of us. The calls came between five and six-thirty: Edison was closed, North Brunswick was closed, and YBR was closed! YBR was the last straw; I stopped shoveling and went back inside, and then I got to go back to bed for fifteen minutes. Steve was going to go to work, but we couldn't get the car up the slope of the driveway and the street hadn't been plowed anyway.

Cara got to go out sledding twice; once was with Daddy and later she went with PJ. The snow is very deep and dense. The kids on their sleds slide right on top of it without sinking in.The biggest problem for them is getting from the shoveled walk onto the top of the snow to start sledding. It's probably about a foot and a half deep, between what just fell and what was already there, and then there are the piles of shoveled snow near all of the walks. . At PJ's house, Ron had the kids stand their sleds up and hang onto the handles, and he would tip them up and over the edge. They'd fly down to the giant dip made by the sidewalk, where he'd actually un-shoveled some to make a ramp for them. A few times they tried walking back up the hill through the snow, but their boots would get stuck. The footsteps, though, made their path very bumpy and exciting.

Owen was a good eater today. I tried something new on him; it was a vanilla-banana yogurt. He really, really liked it. At dinner, there wasn't really any table food that would be good for him, so I gave him cheerios. Usually, halfway through the meal, one of us has to take him out of his high chair and hold him. Today, I took him out after dinner, when Cara was already in the bath and Steve was almost done cleaning the kitchen. He must have them at YBR, because as soon as he saw them he was excited. I gave him second the third helpings, and there really wasn't an unreasonable amount on the floor or in his chair. He also had a jar of food, when I could peel his attention away from his cereal, and he was very funny: he talked through it. He was happy and chatty and he wanted the food, but he kept talking with his mouth full and sometimes that made things exciting.

There's a part in Farmer Boy where Almanzo talks about carrots, about how there's an inner part and an outer part, with different characters. I never do, but I bought regular, unpeeled, uncut carrots to show Cara. She was as thrilled as one could be, I suppose. As soon as I'd peeled one, she took it to eat. It was a very large carrot, sort of like a big icicle. I was somewhat surprised that she ate most of it. In the meantime, I made biscuits from scratch and steamed brussels sprouts and the rest of the carrots (separately), and, because I also made hot dogs, that was the best dinner ever.

1/29/11 (Saturday)

Yesterday I took the day off so I could drive Owen to an appointment with his audiologist for a follow-up. The last test he'd had had not been conclusive because he had been upset during part of it. This time he was a happy baby and let the woman say things into his ears, plug things into his ears, show him stuffed animals that randomly started moving, and so forth. For the last test she very cleverly gave Owen her lanyard and ID card to play with. He was engrossed and turned the card over and over while something was being tested in his ear.

He passed all of the tests that were given to him! Until his ear tubes finally fall out, he will continue to periodically visit the doctor. But these audiologist visits are probably over. He was very good in the car and babbled quite a bit, and was happy to go back to YBR for the afternoon.

Cara had a typical, happy sleepover and met me this morning at dance class. After a very meager lunch, Cara was chomping at the bit to go and play in the snow, and she wanted Owen to come too. So we suited him up and he stared at the snow for a while and I took him down the hill on a couple of sled trips. I'm still not sure what he thinks of them--he doesn't seem to understand what's happening to him, but he's willing to smile politely afterwards. Then he went back in and Cara and I stayed out for a very long time. We made not a snowman but a snow-reindeer, because Cara found some antler-shaped twigs to stick in its head. Cara is very interested in snowball fights now, so we had an elaborate snowball fight. I dug a sort of square-shaped pit for her out of the great mound of snow in front of the house--this was her fort. Then I built a sort of defensive wall for myself by the front walk. Cara proceeded to make many, many little snowballs. She threw maybe five at me. Eventually we thought to set up the sled as a shield in front of her fort, so I was able to pelt her shield with snowballs. I felt confident afterwards that we had thoroughly played in the snow.

This evening we began our next reading adventure. I went to the library yesterday and got out a handful of the very, very many sequels L. Frank Baum wrote to The Wizard of Oz. None of us has ever read any of these books before, so we did not know what to expect. I found myself pretty amazed by The Land of Oz, which is much more amusing and clever than I thought it would be, and has more than enough adventure to keep Cara very excited and engaged. At one point, she scoffed when an army of girls armed only with knitting needles broke through the gates of the Emerald City. She said to Evelyn and I that there was no way they could take over the city. "They do not have any queen clothes!"

1/30/11 (Sunday)

I asked Miss Sandy on Friday whether Owen has cheerios there. She said that it was funny that I asked, because earlier he had been at the table with the big kids when they had some, and another teacher had asked her whether he could. She hadn't thought so, so he'd had one of the rusks we'd sent in instead. I wonder whether, when I gave him cheerios at home the other day, he recognized them as a thing the big kids got and felt that he was moving up in the world! Anyway, he's made a big jump in his ability to finger-feed himself little things. He's chowing down on cheerios, puffs, and these little baby-style cheese doodles.

Cara, Owen and I went out this afternoon and hung out at Barnes and Noble, where Owen made me walk him around a lot. He would slide himself off my lap into a standing position, and we'd have to take a tour of the cafe or the children's department, talking to anyone we saw. "Ba ba BA!" After that, we went to Michael's to get supplies for Cara's various projects. She needed popsicle sticks, felt, and a big poster board for her kindergarten Project. She also needed Valentine things to decorate a box and to make cards with, because this year she's making cards for all of her friends. I'm daunted.

Now, with dinner done and Owen down, she's actually made a lot of progress. Steve cut the poster board and I made lines of glue on it so that she could make a really tall bunk bed out of popsicle sticks. She figured out who would go where, and I wrote out "X loves Y" sentences for her. She's drawn pillows. She's made a bed for Toto off to the side. She's made Toto a blanket and drawn him and glued his blanket on. She's drawn Rapunzel with hair going all the way down. By dint of a lot of cajoling, I have actually gotten her to write all fourteen sentences above the bunks--she insisted that, no, she wouldn't mind doing all that work tomorrow, when she also had homework, but she got through it anyway! Princess Leia loves to fight. Dorothy loves Aunt Em. Aunt Claire loves cats. I love that that part is done. What are the chances that she'll notice that she wrote the "Grandmom and Grandpop" sentence with the pictures of Grandmama and Grandpapa, and vice versa? Not high. All we have left is some more drawing and the blankets! Except for writing "Cara's Bunk Bed" down the side. Would it be morally wrong for me to make paper letters for her to glue on?????

1/31/11 (Monday)

Today Cara wrote "Cara's Bunk Bed" down the side of her project all by herself, to my complete surprise, copying it from the paper where I'd been writing the sentences for her bunks. She also finished drawing people, adding at least four new bunks off to the side, and she started making felt blankets and gluing them on. They flap down over the words. I help her put the glue on, because I can squeeze the bottle better.

Owen went to the pediatrician for his twelve-month well visit. He had a very good time. He weighs 21 pounds, 14 ounces, and he's 29 and a half inches tall. It was funny to put him on the baby scale; it looks tiny now, and he sat up on it. He looked like he was sledding. Owen demonstrated for the doctor how much he likes to talk and to move around, and he showed her how well he's mastered the pincer grasp by delicately picking up and eating some cheerios I'd brought.

We talked about his Early Intervention screening results, and I mentioned that the physical therapist had suggested that we talk to the pediatrician about how his feet turn out when he stands and walks. When the doctor put him down on the floor and let him go, she agreed that he should see an orthopedist. The EI therapist had thought of a hip issue, but the doctor disagrees. She looked to see whether his legs are symmetrical. Laying him down on both his front and his back, she compared where the creased in his legs were. They lined up. She thinks that indicates that his hips are fine, but maybe he has a problem in his feet or ankles.

Overall, everything was good. We're going to work on getting him to rely more on solid food and less on his bottle, and he's moving to milk from formula. I asked whether his early lactose intolerance might be a problem, but she says, as I suspected, that most of them grow out of it. To be cautious, we should try him on just a couple of ounces of whole milk. If he doesn't have a bad reaction, we can gradually increase that. I think I've bought my last formula.

Now he's down and Cara's had her bath, and I have to go quickly so that we can read!

2/1/11 (Tuesday)

I had a meeting today with Abby, our Early Intervention Services Coordinator. She came to the house to look at our 2009 tax return, in order to determine what our co-pay will be for Owen's therapy. We scheduled the next meeting for Monday, when the therapists and Abby will all come to the house so that we can talk about our goals for Owen and how they can help him reach them. After that, it should just be a couple of weeks until the whole thing starts.

Poor Owen had two shots yesterday, one on each shoulder. One of them is all red, poor thing! He's also been running a low-grade fever all day. He did fine at YBR, though he was a bit clingy. Miss Sandi was impressed with him: she said he stood up for a long time, so long that she'd gone over to discuss his options with him. He was not interested in sitting.

Tonight was sight-word homework. Cara had a couple of worksheets to do, one of which said something motivating on it like, "I'm ready to read!" Cara sadly said that she wasn't. On the next worksheet, she had to copy sentences about a robot. Cara could read some of the words, including his name, Max, which was not a sight word and which no one had told her. We did point out to her how much like reading that seemed. Every week I like to try to make sentences with all of the sight word cards that we have, which is a lot. This week, Steve made the sentences. They were somewhat more surreal than mine tend to be. I'll be interested to see, next week, whom she would rather work with.

Cara likes to hide behind the bathroom door and pop out at us. Actually, she likes to hide behind the bathroom door so that we have to look for her. It's been going on for quite a while and, frankly, she's lucky to have a little brother, because he's the only one who thinks it's funny. He cracked up three times this evening, when she popped out at him.

This evening the kids had a bath together, which they both really enjoy. They have splash-fights. It's really splashier than I would like it to be, but they just have such a good time that it's hard to stop them.

We finished The Land of Oz. When it was revealed that the Princess Ozma had been disguised as a boy all her life, Cara immediately pointed to a picture of our hero, Tip. Sure enough, within a few pages he'd been disenchanted and resumed his true form. He was skeptical when it was first proposed, but he seems to have decided it was ok. We started the next book, but Steve and I are unhappy because it's been abridged for young readers. We have to look for a complete copy tomorrow, because otherwise we'll finish it!

While Steve read, Cara and I decorated her Valentine box for kindergarten. It's covered with gold paper, and the hole is heart-shaped. I taped feathers inside the hole, which I think feels and looks cool, while Cara made some pretty patterns with stickers.

2/2/11 (Wednesday)

A couple of hours ago I suddenly realized that soon, probably in a few months, Cara will be able to read what we write here. That's a frightening thought. I think I've found the answer to the question of when the journaling stops. It's going to become a pure Owen-journal!

Today school was cancelled because of an ice storm. Our driveway was ice, the sidewalk was ice, the cars were in ice, the trees were in ice. We stayed in. Steve worked from home, so the kids and I hung out. I think we did an ok job of not bothering him. We played games and generally hung out. Hide-and-seek was fun. After a few repetitions Owen really started to get what was going on; he was delighted when Cara "found" us.

Cara worked on her flight a lot today. She had to pack. She packed several bags for her dolls. The dolls had a checker board Cara made with markers on the back of an insert from some photos. They're allowed to play on the flight, because it's Cara's flight. They are also allowed to sleep, because they had to get up very early to get to the flight, but the air port isn't far away. It's Cara's flight.

I was in the kitchen when she brought up some pink and green scraps of felt, which she was going to make into a person. She used tape, and soon she had a person to show me. I was somewhat confused as to why the person seemed to be dressed only on her legs, like thigh-high leg warmers. Then I figured out that it was a girl wearing a pink dress, pink shoes, and a pink hat (or pink hair). The green was her skin.

We've tried milk on Owen, who seems to like it fine. He also likes playing and talking and walking around. His adventure for the day was getting hugged goodbye by PJ and Casey and then getting a hug from Cara. They lifted him off the ground. I'm not sure how hard they squeezed. "Owen loves hugs," said Cara.

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