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Journal Key:

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

5/24/12 (Thursday)

Tonight as dinner was winding down, Owen wandered into the kitchen with our Lady and the Tramp book, which he has been excited about lately. I took him on my knee (even though he was shockingly filthy from his day's work at daycare) and read him the book. At the end, we see that Lady and Tramp have had a litter of puppies, most of which are all little Ladies, one of which is a "little Scamp that takes after his father." The Scamp, in this final illustration, is busily tugging at the pants of a human baby. Owen looked at the picture and said, "Just like me!" I disagreed, pointing out that there were no dogs around our house to pull at his diaper. Evelyn, however, seemed to get his point better than I did, and asked if he meant that he was just like the dog. Apparently, he did. I then imagined him at daycare, busily running around, trying to pull everyone's pants off--possibly with his teeth!

He was certainly busy doing something today, because his knees, the bottom of his shorts, his shoes, and even the inside of his diaper were filled with grit and dirt. It didn't seem to bother him.

Owen's last book of the evening ended up being read to him by Cara, who had wandered upstairs to try and get me to play a game with her. She chose an appropriately short book about baby bunnies. As soon as Cara started reading about the bunnies, Owen excitedly chimed in, "Just like me!"

5/25/12 (Friday)

Today Claire came up and she and Cara and I picked Owen up at noon to head out to Pennsylvania for a couple of days! We stopped for lunch first, and Owen demonstrated his penchant for repeating whatever he hears. I tested him.

Me: Owen, I'm a copycat.

Owen: I'm a copycat.

It's about a four-hour drive out to Uncle John and Aunt Theresa's house, and Owen only slept for one of those hours. We made one brief stop at a gas station, where Owen refused to let me put him down unless we were outside, and he really wanted to be outside. Unfortunately, the extent of the outdoor activities available was a scenic walk on the concrete around the perimeter of the shop. We did avail ourselves of that opportunity, while Claire and Cara bought some snacks.

As soon as we got off the highway at the end of our trip, we had to pass a horse-drawn buggy in the road. Cara saw it, but Owen didn't seem as excited as he ought to be. Claire has been to John and Theresa's before, so I followed her lead: instead of trying to follow the directions I'd printed to the house, we stopped outside of a shoe store and John and Theresa came to meet us and lead us back. We had to wait for a while, and we saw several more buggies and pointed them out to Owen. He acknowledged seeing them. On the third or fourth one, though, his face lit up: "I see a neigh-neigh!" Finally!

On the drive back to the house we saw a lot more neigh-neighs and a lot of cows in fields. The house really is out in the middle of the country, which is a perfect place for Owen to vacation. There's a big lawn for running around on, and inside there's room to run, too. The kids and I shared the guest room upstairs. It was pretty late when I got Owen down, and he went quietly.

Cara also went quietly. She and I shared the queen-sized bed. The last thing she said to me when I tucked her in was that she doesn't actually sleep more than half of the night; she's awake the rest of the time. The first thing she said to me in the morning was to claim that she had slept flat on her back, with her arms at her sides. Neither of those things was true. I had some difficulty getting into the bed, because she'd moved over to the middle. In the night, she'd occasionally fling an arm or leg over me. Owen woke up around three and I brought him into the bed, too, at first. He was quiet for about fifteen minutes, but then he began to fling himself around, like he does. He crawled right over Cara, who didn't stir. Later I realized how silly I had been not to just shove her out of the way when I'd gotten into bed. I'd been scared to even move her arm! Anyway, then I read him a book, reminded him that everyone else was asleep, and put him back to bed. Then I squeezed back into mine. We slept until almost six.

5/26/12 (Saturday)

We (most of us) took a walk in the morning to go and see some animals! Owen ran all the way down their driveway and then down to the main road, where we made a left and--right after he ran out of steam and had to start to be carried--found some cows. Owen had been talking about sheep all the way down, as he trotted along. "The baa-baa sheep are talking to me. They're calling me!" In reality, the baa-baa sheep in the nearer field were too far away for him to recognize them. The cows, though, were right up by the fence, under a big willow tree. There must have been eight or ten of them, big holsteins, lying on the ground and looking at us. He loved them. It was hard to get him to come back to the house.

I was really proud of both kids. They settled right in and weren't shy at all. They made themselves at home. Cara was mature and friendly and smart and wonderful. Owen was often comprehensible and generally funny and adorable. I got to eat his grilled cheese at lunch; he ate two bananas instead. He also had some watermelon. He ate a lot of watermelon this weekend. There was great pineapple, too, and he liked that.

In an incident comparable to his identification of Cara's rain gear as a banana, he carefully put the tips of his index fingers together and the tips of his thumbs together. "I made a pineapple," he told us. I was actually sort of impressed with his shape identification.

After lunch, we got into two cars and drove to a lake about an hour away. We'd picked a far away one so that Owen would have a nap. He and I stayed in the car, snoozing, while the others went ahead. I've always thought that lakes were inferior to "real" beaches, but I've changed my mind! I carried Owen down through trees and grass to where John and Theresa were with the chairs. Owen was affirmative when I asked whether he wanted to go down to the water, but he objected strenuously when I wanted to remove his shoes. Eventually I logiced him into it.

I carried him down to where Claire was sitting on the grass right by the four feet of sand that led to the water. (This was a man-made lake with a town at the bottom of it!) Cara was in the water, of course, swimming and frolicking and playing. She loves to be in the water! Owen was very interested in what she was doing, but he refused to let go of me or to go near it. I stood up and stepped into the water. He was willing for me to stand in the lake; in fact, he was upset when I tried to step out. Once I sort of dipped his feet a tiny bit. Mostly, I stood in the water while he looked around.

We had to get out when a storm started. Back at the house, it was nice to be inside while it poured. Cara had a warm bath, and we all enjoyed a lazy evening. John and Theresa have Puss in Boots on dvd, and Owen is pretty sure he's Pickles the Fire Cat.

5/27/12 (Sunday)

I had two major triumphs overnight. One was that when I put Cara down I put an extra pillow on my side of the bed and kept her confined to her own side. Well, except for her legs. And except for how she'd fling herself around for the rest of the night. Owen got up at twenty to five. My second major triumph was that I got him to go back to sleep. In fact, we slept until past seven! When Cara woke up, she was astonished. She couldn't see why I was on her side of the bed and she was on mine. When I'd gotten up with Owen, I hadn't put back my defense pillow. She'd migrated.

We had a wonderful lazy morning, including a big late breakfast of bacon and eggs and bagels and watermelon and pineapple. Poor Owen managed to fall off of his chair onto his head with his feet flying up into the air; he ended up on his back with his head towards the chair and his feet heading away from it. I picked him right up; when he described the incident later, he said, "you rescued me." We played and sat around and watched tv.

When we were all dressed, everyone but Uncle John went out for a walk. We went over through Theresa's friend Jackie's garden to a field with horses. Theresa had brought a bowl of apples and carrots for the horses, and two of them came over. Cara fed one a carrot! I was amazed. I petted one, while Owen, whom I was holding, made sure it couldn't touch him. Cara moved on to feeding them apples. "Hold your hand flat, like a table," I told her.

Owen talks a good game. He's always willing to say yes when we ask him whether he's going to pet an animal or feed it, and he never actually does it. I fed one an apple for him. "Hold your hand flat, like a table," Cara helpfully told me.

Jackie and her sister came out and showed us around the garden. They let the kids eat some peas right out of the pod, showing them how to pick them and open the pods. They picked strawberries for Owen, and Theresa picked some asparagus for our lunch! Owen wanted to go back to see the neigh-neighs. We walked down, and he got brave. He wanted to feed one. There was half an apple on the ground, and he actually held it up and called the horses! Of course, he was standing too far away. Still, he now believes that he fed the horse.

Both kids loved eating the peas. Owen had some trouble getting rid of the pods afterwards. It would seem easy to just toss them into the underbrush, but he liked to start them up higher. He went to a small tree and dropped the pieces of pod over its branches. Then he had to pick them up again, because there was no underbrush under that tree. The next tree worked better. For another pod, he went over to a wooden railing in the garden and reached up to drop the pod over it. A third pod got jammed, piece by piece, into a plant from which I plucked the pieces after he'd turned around so that I could toss them underneath.

Cara went back to the house with Claire, and Owen and Theresa and I went to see the cows again. This time, the cows were calling Owen. They were talking to him. When we got down to them, I put him down. He was wonderfully happy peeking through the willow at the cows, who stared mildly back at him as he danced with excitement.

After lunch we packed up the car and headed out. It was late; we got on the road around three thirty! Owen fell asleep fast! I drove all the way through without stopping, and poor Cara sat in the back and must have been pretty bored while Owen slept for three hours! She had a lot more fun after he woke up. I don't know what was happening back there, but it must have been good.

We were all happy to get home and see Daddy, but we'd had a perfect weekend!

5/28/12 (Monday)

We spent a great Memorial Day down in South Jersey at Grandmom's house! Jim and Sarah were there, too, with Griffin, and the kids had their best time together ever. Griffin was asleep when we arrived, but when he woke up Cara started in with the physical comedy routine that she's honed on Owen; Griff was fascinated and giggled on the couch while she bounced around.

After lunch, one of the kids got a cardboard tube. Then another got a longer one, which clever Grandmom cut in half so that each grandchild was equipped. At first we played with them by putting things through them, which is always fun. Soon, though, the three kids were literally running around screaming, waving their tubes. They would run through the living room, kitchen, and dining room, and then they'd all head down the hall to the back bedroom, where they'd pause for a bit, still screaming. We don't know what was happening while they were back there. We're thinking Lord of the Flies.

Then, one by one, they'd emerge, generally Owen first, then Griffin, then Cara. Screaming. Running. Waving tubes. And screaming.

The astonishing part, for me, is that Owen didn't sleep on the way home.

5/29/12 (Tuesday)

Today was sunny and in the 90s, so I brought along drinks and some tomatoes for the kids when I picked them up for ballet. I told them as we were leaving YBR that there was a treat in the car; I do think that that sped things up a little on the Owen front. Both drinks and most of the tomatoes were gone by the time we got to dance. Owen finished the tomatoes within three minutes of our arrival and insisted on bringing the tupperware back to the car. We put it in, and he started asking for his treat! That was your treat! He'd even done better than Cara: he had juice, and she had water.

It's the second-to-last ballet session, so, since Owen didn't seem inclined to settle down with books and it was so ridiculously hot, he and I went to Target to sit in the cafe and have a celebration. While I was paying for a juice box and a little bag of potato chips, Owen picked out a table and got onto a chair. At my suggestion, he sat on the chair. It was one of those moments where I suddenly realize he's growing up. I opened the chips, gave him a napkin, and he'd get himself some chips on his napkin and eat them, without my input or interference or anything terrible happening.

Every once in a while, he'd get a chip with a little bit of brown on the edge: "Look, I got chocolate!" He was very happy about those.

I read up last night on potty training. I do think we should get moving. What I got out of Dr. Spock is that the first step is recreational potty-sitting. So, tonight, before Owen's bath, I put his potty seat onto its little base and we sat on our pottys together. Owen was delighted. Eventually he was completely stripped and took his towel (which is a full-sized beach towel) and jammed it onto the potty. He sat on top of it. He thought it was wonderful that we were sitting on our pottys. "I love you, Mommy," he told me.

I'm sort of vacillating between having his seat on the real toilet or on its little base. Maybe I'll consider that a good policy because he could learn to use either. That sounds like good rationalization.

5/30/12 (Wednesday)

It's been a tough couple of days dropping Owen off at YBR in the morning. He is still not adjusted back to the schedule of my deserting him! I'm sure he had a fine time once I left though, since he came home with a muddy backside.

It was playdate night! Owen did a good job eating his dinner, then wandered upstairs with the other kids, where they did something mysterious that was probably fun. He got a new piece of furniture in his room tonight! As part of our beginning campaign of potty-training, we got rid of his changing table and replaced it with a bookshelf. He seemed happy to have something else to pull his books off of.

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