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Journal Key:

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

3/14/13 (Thursday)

On Monday I was feeling rotten and thought that the thing that might best cheer me up would be to hang out with Owen for a little while. So today I put that plan into action. Mind you, I took some considerable time for myself first. But in the afternoon I picked up the little guy. The kids were all supposed to be dancing. Some of them were trying; Owen was rotating slowly in a circle. As is usual, several other kids yelled at him, "Owen! Your daddy is here!"

We went to Barnes and Noble. Almost all of our time there was spent reading super hero books. At one point, I honestly tried to get him to go look at the toy section, but he wouldn't have it. He knows what he likes. We enjoyed several DC Super Friends books, but then he suddenly decided he was tired of those and we moved to another part of the store that also had super hero books, and read some of those instead.

The last thing we did was indulge in a "snack," which ended up being a brownie. At the cafe, Owen was concerned that the food in the glass case was locked away: "We can't reach it!" he cried. I tried to reassure him that there was indeed a way in. Finally, he witnessed an employee removing something from the other side. It was a revelation. "Can we go around?" he asked, but I advised against it. We managed to get our brownie anyway. We both had a lovely afternoon.

3/17/13 (Sunday) - Happy St. Patrick's Day

Well, it's been overall a not-too-bad weekend, but Saturday morning started with Cara running to the bathroom to throw up. Apparently someone at school had something and now it has visited Nancy Circle (PJ has it as well). Cara had a rotten morning, and Evelyn took Owen out to Barnes and Noble pretty early to get some books for her and keep the kids separated for a while. Our plan had been to all go down and visit my parents, but given the state of things, I just took Owen instead. Owen was a good boy and got to play with his grandparents. He followed his random whims. He got the cars out, then wanted to bring them downstairs; once downstairs, he wanted to play with "space men" (the old Star Wars figures). Grandmom and Grandpop showed him a cool game where they could pour marbles down the ramp of the Hot Wheels playset. He also got to color.

By the time we got home, Cara was starting to feel better and was eating a little. Owen got a bath with his mother. He asked for his bath crayons, and when Evelyn gave him one, he would say politely, "Thank you ma'am." Today at some point we asked him to do something and he said "Yes, master!"

It was a mostly lazy Sunday, at least for me and the kids. We lazed about long enough for Owen to go down for his nap, and then Evelyn was out doing errands in the afternoon. Cara snacked lightly and had soup, and by the evening was putting on a "show." At first we tried having Owen be the only audience for the show, but there were problems. From upstairs, we could hear Cara saying, "Don't interrupt!" "I'm not interrupting!" Owen interrupted. "The show is not going well," Cara commented to us. I came down to try to model being a good audience member. We clapped while Monster High dolls did tricks. Then we were bullied into buying "souvenirs." It was a good show.

3/18/13 (Monday)

When I arrived at YBR, the teachers asked Owen to tell me what they'd done today. "Tell Mommy what scared you," they said.

Owen told me that he had read a book. They tried to redirect him. He told me in great and laborious detail about the beds that Goldilocks had slept in. Eventually, Miss Minal told me that there had been a clown at school, for a little girl's birthday. At first, Owen had objected. The teachers had let him sit in a little chair by them. He'd slowly moved his chair closer and closer and closer, until he ended up on the carpet with everyone else.

On the way to the car, I asked Owen directly who had come to YBR today. "A fireman!" I asked about the clown. "A fireman! A clown! A leprechaun!"

When Steve got home, I tried to get Owen to tell him about the clown. I asked him to tell Daddy. "Kkkkkkkkk-kkk-kkkkkkkk," said Owen. That was all we could get out of him. Of course, he was watching Scooby-Doo at the moment.

Having two kids is lovely. Owen wanted very much to go up to his bed after dinner, and Cara and I took him. He wanted her to read to him, and then ended up playing on the bed and having a wonderful time--and no one fell off and died! Cara and I got him to go to the bath, though he really wanted to go on playing with her, and he wanted her to snuggle him. She played with him while he was in the bath, and her shirt, not mine, got soaked.

3/19/13 (Tuesday)

Miss Nancy reports that a Munchkin was crying today, and Owen went up to her and gave her a big hug. "Come here," he said. After the hug, he told her, "go to Miss Laura." They did some exploring with textures today, touching uncooked oatmeal. Owen will not participate if things look messy or wet, but he touched this. He told us at dinner (Me: "Owen, tell Daddy about the oatmeal." Owen: "Daddy, oatmeal.") that they touched it and then Miss Nancy did something to it and then she ate it. I applaud her dedication, but I question her judgment if she really ate post-Munchkin oatmeal!

Owen, Cara, and I went for a walk around the block after we got home. We dropped off homework for PJ and Casey, who had both been home sick, and then we headed down the sidewalk. The kids ran ahead--Cara ran more ahead. Eventually Owen came back to me to be carried; he was actually a little bit out of breath from trying to keep up with her. She had run far ahead of us, around the bend and back towards the house. He could not understand where she had gone; he was very worried. She came back to us. He felt better. He was very surprised when he saw that we'd come back to the house! Amazing, how walking around the block'll do that!

We're delighted to see signs of spring. That is, we're delighted until Owen decides to slide down the front yard and comes in with muddy pants. However, he was willing, to my surprise, to spend the evening pantless.

3/20/13 (Wednesday)

Today was crazy hair day at YBR. Owen's hair has been very crazy, lately. He needs a cut. It's waving and curling wildly on the top of his head. He refused to let anyone make it crazier. When he and Steve got to school, a little girl told Owen that she liked his crazy hair. When I arrived, I noticed that his hair looked somewhat less crazy than usual.

On the way home from school, Owen told me that a clown came to YBR. A couple of days ago, he tried to tell Steve that, when he had had a dog, the dog had gotten sprayed by a skunk. "I told you that," Steve told Owen.

When Cara was a little girl, she used to scream and cry and throw tantrums, and we'd pick her up and leave her in her room to calm down. Eventually, she was trained and would just run up to her room on her own to throw fits. When Owen seems to be starting, I often ask him whether he needs to go to his room to cry. This evening was a somewhat marvelous evening: Owen was, as usual, not sitting nicely for dinner. We were trying to get him to sit. He started to get upset and announced, "I need to go to my room to cry!" He did. As he was heading up the stairs, I yelled after him that he should come down when he was ready to be nice. Within a minute, he yelled, "I am nice!" from the top of the stairs. Then he came right down (and got a hug from Mommy) and sat nicely and finished his dinner.

After dinner, the kids (because Cara is insatiable) had some goldfish crackers. Owen decided that he and I should go up to his room and have goldfish and water and read a book on his bed. "You get the goldfish and my water!" he told me from the top of the stairs. For the first time, I was able to communicate to him with just a look that he had to rephrase that: "Can you please get the goldfish and my water?" I've been trying and trying the look, and I've always had to be more explicit!

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