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Journal Key:

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

3/10/11 (Thursday)

Evelyn forgot to mention yesterday that Owen was showing her things in one of his books! He has a book with sliding doors in it, and there are animals behind them. When Ev asked him to show her the animal, he would put his hand over the open door.

Mornings are much easier when Owen is happy. This morning, fortunately, he was a happy boy. He was in the mood to sit and play with his toys, and had a lot of fun doing that while I got things ready. He got over to the drawers next to the fridge in the kitchen, which we cleverly filled with Owen-related objects. He opened up the drawers and started very busily pulling things out. This kept him nicely occupied for quite a while.

This evening Ev had conferences at school, so I had the kids. I asked Cara what she wanted for dinner, making it clear that it was her choice. I figured she would want to go out for Chili's or something like that. But all she really wanted was a hot dog, so we stayed at home and I heated her up a leftover one. Owen, meanwhile, was an excellent child again. I gave him some food and decided to give him a bath. I took off his pants early and then carried him into the bathroom. He was very joyfully dancing by the edge of the tub, cruising and laughing and stamping his feet up and down. I couldn't figure out what he was so happy about, but maybe it was that he got the chance to pee standing up, without a diaper, all over the little towel we keep in front of the tub. That must have been rather novel for him.

Cara nicely did her homework, probably because I let her eat dinner in front of the TV while watching a movie. She nicely did some coloring while I gave Owen a bath. Then I got Owen all ready for bed and realized it was too early, so I took him down and fed him some more. Then when I finally did put Owen down, Cara spent the time hanging out in the shower. I helped her wash her hair once he was down, and she rinsed it. She had already washed herself and her face--so grown up.

Owen, by the way, thought Cara especially hilarious this evening. The main reason was that she had made a little paper cone bird beak in school, with a ribbon on it to keep it around her face. She showed us how it worked and Owen thought it was very, very funny. Then Cara demonstrated how it could also be used as a unicorn horn. Very, very funny. Then the unicorn could have ears, too, if Cara used her hands. Hilarious! It got so that all she had to do was make some kind of noise in his hearing, and he would crack up.

The child has been very patient and quiet while I wrote this, but now I think we'll finish our Pippi Longstocking book.

3/12/11 (Saturday)

Yesterday was Family Fun Night! We all met at the Woodbridge Mall, where we hadn't been in a long while, and took Owen over to Tinytown, USA. This is a foam-covered wonderland where little children can run around and slide and generally enjoy themselves. Cara, who is most likely an inch or so beyond the cut-off height listed at the entrance, had a ball and wanted to go back immediately after we left. Owen may not have enjoyed himself quite that much, but he did have a fun time. He scooted and was walked around the place, and got to try quite a few slides (with heavy parental supervision). He definitely loved the slides, some of which he went down in Cara's lap (though she complained he was too heavy). There were also some very small steps for tiny kids: these were the first steps Owen had any chance of being able to climb, and he did give it a shot. On one attempt he was able to get a knee up and move along from there.

We also showed Owen about throwing coins into fountains, but I'm not sure he really got the idea. He did end up sending a couple of pennies into the water, but it was unintentional. He certainly thought the fountains were interesting.

This morning Evelyn took both kids to Cara's dance class. Owen was particularly interested in what all the little girls were doing today, and he kept trying to get into the dance floor. After dance class it was time for lunch, and time for Owen to go down for his nap. He was very happy and talkative after getting his bottle, and not very happy about being put into his crib. He quieted down after a little while, and we thought he was asleep, but then he started crying again. Cara started going up the stairs. "Where are you going?" we asked. "I'm going to see Owen!" Before either of us parents could adequately explain why we really didn't want her to do this, she was in his room talking to him, and he was laughing at her. That was the end of Owen's nap.

In the afternoon we went to Middletown to celebrate Grandpapa's birthday! Owen finally got some sleep in the car on the way there. Once inside, however, he was ready to get moving again. Many people walked Owen around the house this evening, but his favorite might have been GiGi. She walked him around and played with him and encouraged his babbling, and when he was in his high chair at the dinner table, he kept leaning over so that he could catch a glimpse of her down the other end of the table. Owen did get crabby, so Ev and George took him out for a long walk in the stroller, during which he emphatically did not fall asleep. But he did have a nice time, and was in a good mood again on his return.

Even in the car on the way home Owen still did not want to fall asleep, and complained bitterly for quite a while before finally surrendering. He was transferred into his crib when we got home.

Cara is happy because she finally got back the gigantic stuffed dog from Grandmama's house. And tomorrow we will round out our weekend with some exciting visitors.

3/13/11 (Sunday)

Today Aunt Linda and Sean visited, along with Grandmom and Grandpop! We had a nice time. Cara of course remembers Sean from her New Mexico vacation; the kids were a bit shy at first but we got them playing games together and soon they were having a good time. We got out our old board game called Fireball Island. Cara probably doesn't even remember that she used to play with it years ago--we put it away because of the small pieces and because she liked it too much. But today seemed like a good time to get it out again from its hiding place on top of one of the basement cabinets. Sean is a bit more mature when it comes to handling the little upsets that happen when you play a game. But Fireball Island can be fun just to mess around with, what with the little red "fireball" marbles and the stone idol, the rickety bridges, and the little explorer guys who can get hit with fireballs. The kids also got out our marble run toy and played with that a while. And we had a nice video game session, on the computer and the Wii, during which Sean displayed remarkable patience with a frisbee golf game.

Owen also had a good time, trying to get himself involved with what the bigger kids were doing, displaying his scooting and babbling abilities to full extent, and having a nice long nap (courtesy of Grandpop, who is an expert at these things).

In the afternoon and evening Ev did some baking and we had a "picnic" in the living room while watching Scooby Doo. Owen got to try his first chocolate chip cookie. He had a few little pieces, which he seemed to like, but he was not interested in having any more pieces. In fact, he seemed to prefer gnawing on a foam car from one of his little puzzles. It was a good first try, anyway.

3/14/11 (Monday)

Daylight savings time made life difficult for Cara this morning, but it made things very easy for us, except for the parts where Cara was literally kicking and screaming in bed. Owen slept until seven! In the end, everyone got off to work and school in good time.

This evening I left the kids downstairs while I put away groceries, and when I came down Owen had scooted across the dining room and into the playroom, where he was looking at his books. Cara was busy playing on the other side of the room, behind a wall she had built of large toys. She felt that that would keep Owen out, and she needed to because she was playing with her marble run and wisely wanted to keep him away from the marbles. Remarkably, when, before bed, I asked her to clean up the wall so that people could conceivably walk to the bathroom, she made the entire thing disappear.

3/15/11 (Tuesday)

I took Owen to the orthopedist today. It was kind of a frustrating experience; after we left I sort of gradually realized that the doctor had only spent about five minutes with us and really hadn't talked to me at all. He saw me walking with Owen, had me pick him up, manipulated his fingers and his legs, and felt how he stood. While Owen was crying he'd shown me an exercise to do with him five times a day. Then he'd told me he'd be fine and that he would let our regular pediatrician follow up.

Owen's feet are turned out, but he says it comes from the hips. The pediatrician had thought not, but maybe it does. Maybe it will turn out that Owen's feet correct themselves. The physical therapist told me to make sure that the orthopedist knew that Owen was already walking a lot, but somehow it all went by without my being able to express that. I'm feeling kind of discouraged. If Owen's feet get better, I'll be fine. If they don't, and we have to see another orthopedist, I'll be kind of mad at this guy.

I did manage to ask him about shoes; he said to get some, because Owen really wanted to walk. Get high top-style sneakers, because he has very flat feet. We got out of there so fast that we had plenty of time in the afternoon, so Owen and I went to the mall. At Stride Rite, he measured a size four extra-wide. I picked out some nice brown shoes, and the girl shoved them onto Owen's feet. He stood there and screamed. Then he screamed. He was ok when I held him, but standing was upsetting. He kind of moved his feet a little, but he really didn't seem able to walk. I know he'll get used to them, but I feel like all I got out of the afternoon was a pair of shoes that make him scream. When we got home I stood him up in the driveway, hoping he'd be excited about standing up outside. Nope: screaming!

Well, the other thing is this exercise. I'll double-check with the physical therapist, but my impression was that we had to turn his legs straight and count to five a few times. We're supposed to do it whenever we change his diaper. Having tried it this evening, I like the exercise. It's another thing to ask YBR to include, though.

That wasn't the only important part of the day, though. It's Puma's birthday!!! Owen and I picked Cara up when she got off the bus, and we came home to get ready. Puma is all dressed up in a pink dress with sequins and over that a blue T-shirt that says "Happy Birthday." A pink tiara completes the look. She and her mother, who for the first time is here for this special day, got to eat a plastic dinner while we had our celebratory hot dogs. Now that Puma is turning five, Cara says that she can be the queen of her toys. Or maybe the queen of beauty. I'm not sure.

Sight Word night had become a real chore, because we have far too many sight word cards to be manageable. I'm not sure why we'd never thought of using the computer. Today I typed up a few paragraphs for Cara to read. I'm sure that later we'll be able to make a better story, but for now it's at least an improvement. She did really well, and she wanted a present for Puma, so I gave her a present I've been saving. I bought a couple of low-level I-can-read books, and tonight Cara read a Cinderella book to Puma.

Now that Cara's out of the shower, we're going to decorate birthday brownies, though Puma doesn't actually get one because she's a toy. Cara's very strict about that.

3/16/11 (Wednesday)

This morning Cara was very unhappy about having to wake up. We've decided to make bedtime earlier. Cara said this evening that she likes to be asleep.

Tonight was playdate night! I am to report that PJ ate the dinner that Ev made for him. Yay! Owen was very quiet in the playroom with the other kids for a long time. Apparently he spent his time pulling books off of the bookshelves and paging through them. Ron amused the other children by doing "magic" tricks with some little plastic counting animals and cups. I can tell that our birthday magician will go over well.

We did manage to get Cara to bed early, and now I'm tired too, so it's a short journal tonight. Good night!

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