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| Previous Week | Back Home | Next Week | Journal Key: Green = Steve | George = navy | Janet = Purple | Evelyn = Black 7/25/13 (Thursday) For some reason, though he only went through one pair of underpants yesterday and came home without any, Owen was quite willing to put some on under his diaper today. He cooperated in getting himself dressed. He went to school cheerfully. I explained to Miss Mona and Miss Vina that if Owen went on the potty today, he would get to go to Barnes and Noble. Around lunch time, I called to see what my evening plans were. Miss Melissa reported that Owen had not been willing to go on the potty, alas. She thought maybe he was holding it, though, because his underpants had still been dry when she checked him. Ok, I said, and explained that that meant I could stay home this evening and not have to take him to Barnes and Noble. This was enlightening for her, because he had been talking about going, and now she would be able to let him know he wasn't going to unless he performed! It was worth a shot. Cara and I had lots of news waiting for us when we got to YBR to get Owen. He had fallen and scraped his knee, though the wound was not serious enough to merit the huge band-aid he had on. He had also, only once, gone on the potty. Miss Minal and Miss Vina told us all of this while Owen and a little girl told us all about his knee. It was rather confusing. We went home to change clothes (it was cold today!) and get Owen to go on the potty again. He and I drew a target, and he actually hit it! This is progress. Getting dressed was a bit of a challenge. He needed pants. He asked me where they were. I told him to try the bottom drawer. He opened the middle one. I got him into the right drawer and pulled out a pair. "No!" he exclaimed, "those are big ones!" He put them back and pulled out another pair, which he agreed to wear without, apparently, realizing that they were also long pants. Later, Owen showed Steve: Daddy, look at my shorts! They're big ones! Steve: Those are pants, Buddy. Owen: No, they're not! They're shorts! Owen is getting better at putting on shorts. However, when he's gotten his legs in and pulled them up almost to his knees, he inevitably becomes alarmed because his legs are "stuck together!" He needs to be reminded that once he pulls them up his legs will be free. This was his first time putting on long pants (big shorts?). Once we'd gotten his legs stuck together and then pulled the pants above his knees, he stood up to start to pull them the rest of the way. They were still over his feet, though. I took pity on him and helped. Cara got him to put his sneakers on by betting that he couldn't. Sometimes this works, and sometimes it doesn't. It works better for Cara than for me, I think. At Barnes and Noble, we actually got to read a regular book before we had to go and find the superhero ones. After that one, though, he marched purposefully towards his favorite section. I asked whether we could read some other books. "No, I want superhero ones! . . . Actually, I want this first." He'd been distracted, just a few feet from his destination, by Lady and the Tramp. We have Lady and the Tramp at home. Poor Buddy. Actually, I had things pretty easy. After we agreed that he didn't really want to hear the entirety of Lady and the Tramp, Owen picked out a superhero mix-and-match book, which he read on his own. He doesn't mix; he just matches. He turns all three parts of each page, one at a time, and looks at the pictures. When he finished it, he put it away and took out another copy of it. There were four copies. He carefully "read" them all. He wanted something from a high shelf next, and I found a very similar book--several pages were in fact the same, but several were different. When he'd finished that, he was disappointed to learn that it was the only copy. After Steve got there and we had dinner, I nearly ended up driving home alone. However, Cara didn't want me to be lonely. Then, my car was on the way to Steve's car, and Cara was there, so Owen joined us. We got on the road before Steve did. I mentioned that we might possibly beat him. The kids eagerly kept an eye out. Owen, who really was just sitting in his car seat and couldn't see anything, was very informative. He said, "Mommy, we are ahead of him," at least (literally) five times. He also said "Mommy, he is behind us," at least twice. Back at home, Owen made a target and showed Steve that he could hit it. 7/26/13 (Friday) Because we suddenly realized that the weekend was going to be busy, Grandmama and Grandpapa picked the kids up this evening and took them south for some Jersey shore fun! Grandmama described it: We arrived at Asbury Park at 7 pm on Friday, just as the water park was closing, as it turns out. However, the beach is free in the evening, so we hiked across the sand. Pretty soon Owen was standing with his feet in the water, holding onto both of us and shrieking with excitement. He stayed like that until he began to shiver in the evening air and I convinced him to run on the sand to warm up. Meanwhile Cara, with her usual enthusiasm, had been dashing in and out of the surf. Both kids ran on the sand. Cara found jellyfish and threw them back into the ocean. Owen explored the big rocks at the beach end of a jetty. Eventually the sun was kissing the horizon and we dragged them up to the showers. On the boardwalk we bought French fries and appreciated the performance of a young man playing the guitar. 7/27/13 (Saturday)
Saturday morning I woke to a tiny whisper: "It's wake-up time." The kids had bacon and Scooby for breakfast - eggs were available, but under-appreciated. Then we all packed up and headed back to the water park. Cara was in her element there (her element being water) - leaping through fountains like a gazelle, turning cartwheels, and making friends with other kids. Owen insisted on being held at first, then found some safe places where the water was pretty quiet. By the end of the day he was stopping fountains by putting his little foot over them, running around, and getting thoroughly wet. Everyone had fun at Casey's party. When we got there, there were a lot of kids in the pool! Fortunately, Owen was hungry. He sat at the table and ate cantaloupe and potato chips, alternately, for a while. When he decided he wanted to go in the pool, I asked him which parent he wanted with him. It was Daddy! (Hooray!) Poor Steve had to be the only adult in the water. (I did take a turn later.) Outside of the pool, Owen spent his afternoon playing at the water table that Ron's sister had set up for her little girl. It had diving boards that you could put a toy on and then kind of flip it up into the air. He also ate what must have amounted to more than a pint of cherry tomatoes. It was an excellent afternoon. 7/28/13 (Sunday) Today we drove down south for a barbecue at Uncle Jim and Aunt Sarah's house! They had nicely invited down not only us but Grandmom, Grandpop, Sally, Ron, Andrea, Lily, and Cheryl. We had a lovely time. The kids had a great time hanging out with each other. We continue to work on Owen's potty training, and I really think he is progressing. He has peed on the potty many times now: pretty much every time we take him. We were hoping for a dry pull-up all day today, but unfortunately that was not to be. Still, he is progressing. We found Griffin's potty-time books in Jim and Sarah's downstairs bathroom, so we had to take them all out and read them. On the second occasion, Lily and Griffin and Cara were all attracted to the reading, and we had quite a crowd around us. Lily just had a "super hero camp" last week, so she knew all about super heroes. Owen's Great Aunt Sally tried to make some small talk with him. She asked him what his sister's name was, and he answered correctly. She asked him how old he was, and he got that right (though he didn't manage to hold up the correct number of fingers). Then she asked him how old his sister was--a much trickier question. Owen thought about it. "Ummmmm...ten," he decided. Not too far off! The kids played with Griffin's toys, but as it often seems to, eventually the whole thing devolved into a screaming race around the house. My favorite part was when Griffin and Owen both enthusiastically grabbed hold of Griffin's inflatable punching-bag wrestler guy, and started banging away. In the late afternoon the skies opened up and we drove home in a heavy rain. Owen is usually hard to hear when he tries to tell us things in the car, but with the rain coming down, it was nearly impossible. Even Cara, sitting next to him, was stumped. Evelyn tried to help reduce the ambient noise by closing the sliding door of the car's sunroof. Then we could finally hear Owen very clearly, but all he would tell us was that he wanted the sunroof door opened back up. It's been a long tiring weekend, esepcially for little buddies! But we've made big strides on the potty, and I am hoping for more progress in the coming week. 7/29/13 (Monday) Claire and I were talking, idly, about fishing as we drove the kids home today. Cara was reading, I think, but Owen was paying attention. ". . . but we don't have a big bowl with fish," he objected. Claire and I agreed and explained that on Saturday we will be going to a place with a lake, which, Claire said, is like a very big bowl with fish. " . . . but that's very far away," said Owen. Really, it was surprisingly lucid. Lately, Owen has been telling us that "Audrey was not at my school today," or "Audrey is not going to be at my school today." I asked, and it turns out that Audrey has moved away. We are very sad. Owen has taken to locking his door as he gets out of the car. He's pretty sure it will help save the battery. I eagerly awaited the potty report. In the morning, Owen did well. In the afternoon, though, after nap, it all fell apart. He woke up unhappy, wanting more sleep. It's our fault: two hours was not enough, after a weekend like that! Poor little guy. Maybe tomorrow will go better. 7/30/13 (Tuesday) I've been having a crazy couple of weeks, between work and all of the other things going on, and today was no disappointment: I rushed around all afternoon and managed to get Cara to her swimming class, which turned out to have been cancelled. To assuage our disappointment, I decided a stop at Dunkin Donuts was in order. ("Are we just getting things to eat after dinner?" Cara eventually asked. I hadn't thought that part through at all. "Yes!" I said.) Owen had pointed at Dunkin' Donuts yesterday and asked to go there. He knows he wants to go there. When asked (actually, not when asked. Any time he feels like it.), he describes it as a coffee place or a coffee and bagel place. He was calling it a coffee and bagel place as we walked in the door, after we'd already discussed what we'd be getting. It was also New Library Book Day AND taco night. Even so, it was a good thing we'd gotten a treat. We were all pretty tired. While I was making dinner, Owen hit Cara and she began to really cry. I told him he had to apologize and make her feel better and left him to figure that out. Eventually, they were both okay again. It was definitely a night for Munchkins. 7/31/13 (Wednesday) Poor Owen had an absolute and complete meltdown this morning. I carried him into YBR kicking, screaming, and hitting me. This was because, among other things, I had velcroed his shoe when he wouldn't do it, I had taken his arm out of the seat belt strap when he wouldn't do it, and I had taken him out of the car when he refused to climb out. We're definitely having control issues. This afternoon, he was very snuggly. I've managed to send Owen lots of mixed messages about potty training. Sometimes, he gets an M&M. Sometimes, he uses a colorful target. Sometimes, he gets reminded that if he stays dry all day he gets a new guy. Today, I gave him a little chart and some stickers. If he gets all ten boxes filled in, he gets a guy. I explained this a couple of times. A few minutes later, I asked him what he gets when he gets all ten stickers. "An M&M!" he told me. Owen and I took Cara to dance today. I brought along five library books that I looked forward to reading to him. We got there, though, and he saw the crayons. He insisted on coloring for at least fifteen minutes, and I was reduced to reading two of the books to myself. They were pretty good. Finally, he did let me put the coloring stuff away and sat in my lap so we could read. It was nice. On the way home, the kids were excited because it's Wednesday and the Loefflers were coming. "I can't wait for PJ to see me make pee-pee!" said Owen. Fortunately, this idea never was brought up. After dinner, the girls went upstairs and PJ and Owen played Where's My Water on the Nook. PJ was instructive and Owen was attentive. We adults sat in the kitchen, and Owen periodically popped up over the top of the couch to announce: "My Nook is working!" Yes, it is, because you're not the one working it. Poor Buddy. | Previous Week | Back Home | Next Week | |