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Journal Key:

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

10/11/12 (Thursday)

Owen decided, when I picked him up, that he wanted to watch The Wizard of Oz tonight. "That'll make a nice change," I told him.

In the car, he saw a pile of books in the front seat. I'd been at a class today, learning how to use our new grammar unit, and the unit came with several picture books. One, Rent Party Jazz,was treacly and cliche and sappy and dreadful. We had decided that we'd use it, but we'd have to use it sarcastically. Owen wanted a book, so I handed it to him. It turns out that we hadn't read it closely enough. It's a great book. It has He-Man and Teela in it. The characters from The Wizard of Oz also appear.

He carried it in with him when we went to pick up Cara. She was sitting on some mats by the door, and he climbed up and sat next to her, ready to read. Fortunately, he was willing to climb back down.

On the way to the car, he told her we were going to watch The Wizard of Oz. "That's a nice change," she said.

We did watch it, too. Owen loved it. He remembered the horse--he told me about it before we got to that part. He liked the Scarecrow, who he thought was a clown. Then, somehow, the Tin Man became the clown. The Lion, the Scarecrow, and the Clown were friends, and they melted the witch.

Then it was time to go and pee on the potty! Steve wasn't enthusiastic about reading the superhero book again. I offered him Rent Party Jazz, but he declined.

10/12/12 (Friday)

As I write this it is Sunday night, so I'm going to have to wrack my brains to remember what happened on Friday. It was Family Fun Night, which we ended up spending with Wendy's and some TV. I think that's about all I can come up with.

10/13/12 (Saturday)

On Saturday, we spent the morning decorating for Halloween and carving pumpkins! Owen was not involved much in the carving, which was for the best. Evelyn distracted him with various things upstairs while Cara and I worked on the pumpkins. Cara chose a design called "Kitty Bat" which she worked on pretty diligently, and did quite a good job carving (I just went over her carving afterwards to get the chunks out).

When Owen woke up for his nap, it wasn't long before Grandpapa whisked them away for a sleepover! Here are some details:

Having brought a fabulous selection of DVDs, the kids opted to stay here and eat in front of the TV rather than go out for supper. Cara also found time to decorate our windows with window-clings (What a good idea! Thank you, Evie, for suggesting them), and Owen sat still for several stories.

For reasons that remain inscrutable to me, Owen spent much of the bath wearing a wet washcloth on his head. He went to bed nicely, but woke up at 4:17.

10/14/12 (Sunday)

Eventually, I made coffee and pancakes (and biscuits for the late sleeper, Cara, who really does have a cold) and night became morning.

In the morning, Owen and George were playing with action figures.
George: Mr. Incredible's legs don't do much.
Me: Well, he is a middle-aged super-hero.
Owen: I am a middle-aged super-hero too! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

I hear tell that Owen basically fell asleep sitting up while watching Scooby-Doo, and had a bit of a nap. When he woke up, something completely different was on the TV!

In the early afternoon, Evelyn and I drove down to see them. It was such a lovely day that the kids had gone off to the park with Grandmama, and Grandpapa was just about to join them. We came along also, and got to watch the kids climbing around on the playground equipment. When we returned home, I got to mess around with the wrestler action figures and read some Beatrix Potter to the buddy. Sometimes he likes to "read" one book while I read another. Today, he turned his open book to face mine and claimed that the books were "reading to each other."

Grandmama very nicely cooked dinner for us all. Owen ate a bun. (Fortunately he'd snacked earlier in the day.) The rest of us did better. After dinner we left the grandparents to their own devices (they must be so bored now!) and now we are all back home, another weekend finished.

10/15/12 (Monday)

It was raining when I picked up the kids, which makes things very exciting when one has to buckle someone into a car seat. I had brought hoodies for both of them, but I left them in the car when I went into YBR. Owen and I got a little damp on our walk, but it really started to pour as we drove to Lindeneau. I definitely needed to get Owen's jacket onto him, but I really didn't want to stand in the rain while I did it. I parked in front of the school, reached back and unbuckled him, and gradually convinced him, after some monkey business, to climb down to where I could reach him.

We got somewhat more drenched before we got home, but it set the scene for a cozy evening. It was too wet for Juliana to come over, and Steve had worked late (plus, of course, the usual rainy day traffic), so it was just the three of us. Owen had been telling us he wanted to watch Spider Man or The Wizard of Oz, which both made Cara groan. She put on A Night at the Opera, and Owen snuggled up on the couch with his Big Book, the superhero one.

"Harpo is funny," Owen told me several times. He liked the part where they're all crammed in to Groucho's cabin and Harpo is asleep. "Someone put a pillow on his head! That's why Harpo is funny," he explained. Later, "Harpo is doing a power-punch!" I wasn't exactly clear on that part, but it sounds fairly likely.

Steve got home in time to eat a little bit and read to Owen. It sounds like he's getting to read some books that he can actually read. Right now Owen has a lot of favorite books that we can't read to him anymore because he just flips through them. It's hard to convince him, though, to read other books.

10/16/12 (Tuesday)

Today at YBR, in an apparent effort to reinforce stereotypes, the teachers asked Audrey what she was making for dinner tonight for her husband Owen. What would she make? They're having pizza and peanut butter. Pressed for more, she decided they could also have a potato.

Perhaps she was working with a P theme. Owen has been bringing home cut out and decorated letters. Today was letter D. I asked him, on the way to the car, what letter it was. It was B. And B was for Batman.

Poor Owen had a tough evening. First, I wouldn't let him put the tv on. Then, when he'd wandered away from dinner, Steve wouldn't let him have a sippy of milk in the living room. In between those disasters, he had a very nice time. Juliana was over, and she made a toast and introduced the idea of clinking glasses. Owen liked that a lot. He clinked everyone and then wanted to start right over again. He may have done more clinking than drinking.

10/17/12 (Wednesday)

Today was picture day at YBR! I dressed Owen in the morning without realizing this, and afterwards Evelyn only had to change his pants. He claims that he was good and smiled for the camera.

Tonight was playdate night on Nancy Circle! Owen followed the other kids around. I arrived late (naturally), and he barely said hello to me at first, because the kids had had their meal first and were now roaming free. Later, though, he was very pitiful and convinced me to go downstairs and play with him. We found some dinosaurs. I suggested that the dinosaurs all be in a book club together, and that they read a book...about...dinosaurs. At this point my imagination failed me and we went back to slamming the dinosaurs against each other.

At storytime he actually wanted to read Snow White, which was a wonderful change from the three or four books we've been reading over and over again. Afterwards, of course, we reverted to the little comic book that we've been reading over and over again. Then I convinced him to pick a different book, one that we hadn't read before. And what did he choose? The Muppet Dictionary, the most impossible-to-read book that he has.

I leafed through and read random entries from random pages. We hit one entry in which Baby Animal is learning to talk. He says, "Go Bye-Bye!" I tried to say this in an approximation of Animal's voice. I'm not sure I've ever read that particular word bubble before. Owen thought it was hilarious. He kept laughing about it after we'd turned the page. "Daddy," he would begin, and then crack up again. "Daddy--" then we'd have to turn back to try to find it again. As I put him into his crib tonight, he was still talking about it. "That's why he's so funny!"

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