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Journal Key:

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

So it seems we've been getting a bit lax with the whole journal-keeping! On Thursday the kids had the thrill of being babysat by Casey, because Evelyn and I and Aunt Claire went out to see a show with Jim and Sarah and a friend from college. They were (mostly) asleep when we got home. On Friday, for Family Fun Night we just grabbed some Wendy's. Today, we drove down to see Aunt Claire. I find it very charming that Owen pronounces "Aunt" like "Ahnt." We all went to the Barnes and Noble and I read Owen a lot of books. I tried to get him to enjoy Frog and Toad are Friends, but it may be a little too word-heavy for him at the moment. We ended up reading several superhero themed books, which he enjoyed on principle. I don't think he really understood what was going on in the stories, but they had people that he knew, like Batman and Iron Man, in them.

This evening Evelyn and I got a date because the Loefflers watched the kids. It was an exciting babysitting adventure for poor Em. We neglected to provide a diaper bag of any kind for Owen, and he chose this evening to have a very impressive BM which required a bath and a change into some of PJ's old clothes. The most exciting part for Owen was that, since Em had nothing else, he got to wear one of Casie's old pull-ups. When he realized he was wearing a pull-up, he was apparently very excited! We had not been seriously considering going through a pull-up phase, but we will probably do that now.

I may be imagining things but Owen seemed extra crazy this evening after he came home. There was a lot of throwing around of objects, wild running, smashing of things, etc. I had to wrestle him into his pajamas and chase him with his toothbrush. After all the restraining and carrying and manhandling I had to do to get him ready for bed, I had become the "bad guy" parent, so Mommy got to read him his stories.

8/19/12 (Sunday)

Owen came upstairs upset this morning. He was holding a screwdriver that he'd found and complaining bitterly about how "Cara said 'No' to me!" The reason for this was unclear until Cara came along and explained that he had been trying to open the bathroom door while she was in there.

This morning we did some yard work. For a lot of it, the whole family was outside. Owen vaguely helped with pulling some weeds, and asked a lot of people what they were doing, and asked a lot of us where others of us were. He got a hold of some yard tools and smacked them into things, thankfully not doing any permanent damage to anything or anyone. I was on the side of the house, pulling up weeds at one point, and Owen came over to ask me what I was doing. I told him, explaining that the weeds were "evil; evil!" Owen cogitated on that. He wandered over to Mommy to explain to her what I was doing. He came back to watch me. Then, "EVIL! EEEEVIILLLL!!" he said: growling expressively.

We had lunch and then got ourselves into the car and off to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Owen fell asleep quickly in the car but woke up just as we arrived, a bit bleary-eyed but ready to go. He wanted the Hot Wheels cars out as soon as we got inside. We also played with Fisher Price people and some other rubbery critters downstairs, and did some coloring. The kids played with Play-Doh a bit, and Evelyn and I were very happy that we didn't have to be involved in that part. We parents also very happily stayed inside and laid around while the kids had a brief outing in the back yard.

We all went to a restaurant for dinner, where Owen ended up sitting next to me. He was very entertaining. He did his two greatest hits, "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider" and "Scooby-Dooby-Doo." He bobbed his head from side to side, then made me do the same thing, and thought it was very funny when I did it. He managed to overcome his certainty that his pasta was too hot and eat a few pieces.

Back at the house, we put on a movie and Owen sat still and actually watched almost all of it. He had a nice bath and got to play with Grandma's cool bath toys (some scuba diving people and their little plastic life raft). I think we were all pretty sure that he was going to fall asleep in the car on the way home--it was after seven before we even got in the car.

But, in fact, he did no such thing. Not too far from home, on a barely-lit stretch of Route 1 between traffic lights, we encountered a goose who was very stupidly trying to cross the street. Fortunately we avoided hitting him with the car. However this event seemed to give Owen endless fodder for conversation. "Why did the goose do that?" seemed to be the main question. None of our answers satisfied him (even what I believe was my best one: "To get to the other side!"). Then it devolved into strange goose-related nonsense. Apparently, it was the goose's birthday. Or it was Rusty's birthday. Or it was Owen's birthday. Or perhaps the goose and Owen were having a birthday, and the goose was going to wear a party hat and eat cake, and wouldn't that be silly? It may have even been He-Man's birthday at one point, which may have been what prompted him to start singing the He-Man theme song.

He seemed to settle on its being his birthday tomorrow, and agreed with his mother that he should have a cake. Evelyn said that if he still remembers this tomorrow, she may actually make him a cake. I reserve my opinion on this issue. Anyway, he was completely out of his mind, and still wide awake, by the time we arrived home.

8/20/12 (Monday)

Cara and I thought it was a beautiful day out, so we took Owen to the park after we picked him up. Both kids were happy to be out running around. In fact, running around is literally what Owen does for fun at a park. He loves to run up the ramps at Donaldson Park, telling me to go one way while he goes another, running all the way to the top and climbing up to the highest platform. He sat down, there, and scooted over to the top of one of the slides. He wouldn't slide, though. I offered to go with him or to use the slide next to him, but he decided I should slide while he climbed back down. OK.

We went over to the kiddie section and he climbed some stairs and even, following Cara, went through a arching tunnel. He was pretty pleased with himself about that. He refused to try the little slide. While Cara went on the zipline and the horizontal ladder, Owen found a big, low chain net with arm rails. He held the rail and carefully travelled the length of the net, stepping from the center of one square to the center of the next, avoiding all of the chains.

It was time to go home and make dinner, but we weren't ready to leave. I let the kids both have one last whatever. Owen ran on the ramps. Cara went on the zipline. Another last whatever. Off he went, to the top. Soon I started to wonder what he was doing. I went walking over to find him halfway down a big slide! He was thrilled with himself. I showed him the stairs and he went on all of the slides except for the enclosed spiral one, which he may not have noticed. Around and around and around. I think we'd better get him to a park again soon, so he doesn't regress!

8/21/12 (Tuesday)

We've been potty training Owen for several weeks now, and we've been getting pretty good at sitting on the potty. Sometimes. Tonight was a good one: he and I spend about twenty minutes up there, reading a book, playing with water, being silly. Then I gave up and gave him a sticker and put him in the tub. As soon as he got in, he asked, "Can I make pee-pee in here?"

I don't know whether he did. While the water was running out, though, he was crawling around, clearly working on something. When I saw that he was pooping, I grabbed him by the arms and swung him onto the potty! He pooped on there, but he was not happy about what had happened; he sat there, soaking wet, pointing back at the tub and wailing.

Steve and Cara came up, and Cara and I got him a nice prize. He got a full package of little guys, since this was a special occasion. They are two Star Wars guys I do not recognize. He perked up. Steve got him off of the potty, and we called all of Owen's grandmas so that he could tell them "I pooped on the potty!" They were appropriately excited, and he smiled from ear to ear.

His little guys were fairly disruptive while I read to him, but their capering across the book made it easy to skip pages--it was late. I was willing to bow to the inevitable and let them sleep with him, but he's so trained that he handed them to me to put on the dresser. He's up there singing to himself in bed, a big boy.

8/22/12 (Wednesday)

Picking Owen up, as usual, was fun.

Miss Minal: So, today the relationship between Owen and Audrey went in a new direction. She bit him!

Owen came running over.

Miss Minal: Owen, what did Audrey do to you?

Owen: Audey said no to me!!

Audrey came running up.

Me: Audrey, what did you do to Owen?

Audrey: I said no to him!!

We went into the kitchen to get Owen's lunch box. Audrey tried to come with us, and Miss Minal tried to talk her back down the steps.

Owen: NO, Audey, you don't come in!

Audrey: Owen said no to me!!

Then she came in anyway and got her lunch box, which she took with her back to the playground. On the way to the car, just to see what would happen, I asked Owen whether Audrey bit him.

Owen: Mommy, Audey's mouth--Audey's mouth-- Mommy, Audey's mouth--Mommy! Mommy! Mommy, Audey beet - -

Me: Audrey beat you?

Owen: No, Audey beet--

Me: Ohh, she bit you!

She bit him on the hand and was quickly removed. Clearly it was traumatic for both children.

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