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Journal Key:

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

9/27/12 (Thursday)

Owen stomped in a puddle today as we were walking through the parking lot after YBR. I wasn't pleased because he splashed my foot a little; he was very upset because he got dirty water all up his leg! I am delighted that he has found a good reason not to splash in puddles. If only he remembers! He walked very gingerly for a while, and when we got to the car I had to take his shoes off and wipe down his leg.

I read to Owen tonight, and he picked out, for some reason, our Backyardigans book. It's about Princess CleoTasha of Ancient Egypt, who learns to say please and thank you. Owen scribbled in it a little when he was littler, and he pointed it out to me with great distress whenever we got to one of those pages: "I colored that!!" I asked him a few times, on opportune pages, whether he says please and thank you. He shook his head emphatically every time.

9/28/12 (Friday)

Owen and I drove down to pick Cara up from dance class today. He was very happy to go in and read a book. Fortunately, he picked out two books and wanted me to read on while he read the other. I always find that relaxing. Cara came out, went and changed into street clothes, and came back, and he still wanted to read. Eventually we had to pretend to be going without him.

We picked up fast food, and the kids ate Owen's dinner in the car on the way home. The great disadvantage of this is that we all wanted to eat at home, but he didn't. I ended up carrying my hamburger with me when I took him outside with the little pink stroller. We strolled Merman, Trapjaw, and Batman over to Juliana's house, where I was able to sit and eat. Having knocked on the door himself and gotten Juliana to come outside in her nightgown to see him, Owen soon decided it was time to go home. "Can we go, Mommy?" I couldn't get much more out of him. It's a good thing Juliana's so understanding! We did get him to come back to give her a hug.

9/29/12 (Saturday)

Owen (and Shelby) let us sleep until 7:30!!

Then she started crying.

Grandmama, Grandpapa, and Claire came up for Fish Fest! After dinner, Grandmama and I took the kids down to the park. Owen brought his stroller, and I brought his stroller. Before we were off Nancy Circle, Grandmama and Cara had gone running ahead. Owen had started running after them, but he soon decided that this was not the smartest option available to him. I popped him into his stroller, handed him the ninja and light-up Easter-egg-thing he'd been giving a ride to, folded up the little stroller and put it in the back, and we were off.

We offered him the choice of going on the big swings, but he decided he wanted to go on the usual little swings. And, no, he didn't want me to push him or be near him. I always push him a little anway. Maybe I should try just letting him sit there. He told Grandmama to go away, too.

Over at the playground, Owen brought a stick he'd found up the stairs and did go down the slide in Grandmama's lap once. The most fun was when he climbed (with difficulty) inside the big red climbing structure. He wanted Grandmama to get into the other side of it, but I was all that was available. We decided that we were driving a rocket ship. He liked poking some bolts with his stick; they were buttons. We did a lot of flying, and he did a lot of sitting in the wet dirt. Cara and Grandmama came over and climbed up above our heads.

When Cara had to use the bathroom, it was time to go back. Cara and Grandmama got a head start across the grass while Owen and I climbed out of our spaceship and, well, I headed for the stroller while he started running after them. They had gotten distracted: Cara was climbing on top of a big block of concrete. We caught up, and Owen got onto the other block. When Cara and I started for home, he wouldn't come. We left him and Grandmama heading back to the park.

I walked Cara home and headed back out to meet them. Owen had gone up the climbing wall and was happily playing with his ninja and egg in his stroller.

9/30/12 (Sunday)

Owen and I played on the bed this morning--I'm much better at roughhousing than at playing with guys. Against my better judgement, I let him have a bowl of grapes. (I made crepes. Cara asked for more crepes. Owen misheard.) When we'd run off to the next activity, I found the empty bowl on the dresser. Where was the stem? Owen claimed he'd put it in the garbage. Neither Cara nor I had seen him do it, and we didn't see it in the bathroon trash, and we knew he hadn't been downstairs. I'm waiting to see whether it turns up somewhere.

We went out for dinner and some books this evening. At Barnes and Noble, Steve and I were actually looking for a superhero book to buy to replace the little comic book that we've been forced to "read" to Owen over and over again. It's not particularly appropriate for him. We looked at a LOT of superhero books. When, finally, Owen decided to go play trains, we walked by a whole section of superhero books and Steve stopped and picked out a nice compilation volume that should provide hours of actual readable entertainment.

10/1/12 (Monday)

Owen ran to greet me as usual when I got to YBR. "Mommy!" he cried. "Where's my jacket??" Well, I don't know. We went inside; as we climbed the stairs Owen carefully explained that we should get his lunchbox and then the jacket. Accordingly, I went right to the fridge. Owen ran off into the playroom and, well, I have no idea what he was doing while I got his lunchbox and jacket.

He carried his jacket. "Mommy, I love my jacket," he told me. He was sort of snuggling it. "It's like my lion!"

We walked around the block on main street to get to the car. There was a woman a little way behind us with a very tiny dog. "Mommy, the dog will not eat me," Owen explained. Then he often had to check where it was. He was sad when we eventually turned a different way.

I got to carry his jacket, in the end, because Owen found a really interesting stick to carry instead. When we got to the car he decided the stick was dirty and he didn't want it. I was delighted to be allowed to dispose of it. In the yard at home, actually, he found a different and apparently much better stick. I remember him bringing it into the house. I wonder where it ever went.

10/3/12 (Wednesday)

Yesterday was, apparently, pretty boring.

Today, Owen got out of his crib in the morning and, as he has done every morning this week, had me sit with him in the glider to read a story from his big superhero book. Today I read one and then put him on the couch with the book to read it himself. He was happy for a few minutes, but then he realized something: "I can't read!!!!"

Cara would not read to him, because she was reading a Goddess Girls book. Steve had to come out and oblige.

This evening there was an awe-inspiring traffic event going on, and I got to Lindeneau to get Cara at 5:40. We were back in the car at 5:42 and made it to YBR, using some sneaky back roads, by 5:57. I'd warned them that I'd be late, and Owen was the last kid there. He was perfectly happy. He got up and came over for a hug, and when he walked away to get his lunch box I cracked up: the seat of his khaki pants was literally brown with dirt! Miss Vina was ahgast and said she'd have changed his pants if she'd known, but I prefer it this way--why waste clean pants?

Getting home wasn't bad, but it was late. I let Cara and Owen go down the street by themselves to PJ's house, while I brought the stuff in. I had to stop by Juliana's house, and when I got to Em's Owen was standing at the door, eating peppers, looking up at the birds. Apparently, though, he had been deeply unhappy because I wasn't there. Em told me so, and later Owen told me, too. He had new socks on! PJ had given him some very nice hand-me-down socks. This is a very good thing, because I suspect that Owen's socks, besides being either boring or ugly, are somewhat too small. These, though, have doggies on them.

Don't worry, we brought the big superhero book with us. Before dinner, I sat and let Owen page through it. After dinner, he made Juliana look at it with him. He found a necklace under my seat and I sent him upstairs to return it to Casey. He was triumphant when he had accomplished this errand, but after playing with the railing a little he came back to eat some more and look at his book.

Miraculously, after his bath, he found several other books in his room which are suddenly interesting again. I got to read some books with no heroes at all!

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