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Journal Key:

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

9/19/13 (Thursday)

You can tell it was a really good day when the kid comes home with dirt in his ears. And in his nose. And, well,I can say without exaggeration that there was about 2/3 of a tablespoon of it in his shoes. I've started to lay out the little bath mat and make him take his shoes off on it, because I can shake it out. The mulch just rains down.

Owen has started to sort of warble along with a few of the Vampire Weekend songs I tend to have on in the car. "Mommy," he said, "I can sing along to this song because I am a big boy now!" He has even less idea of what the words are than Cara does (she's mainly pretty good, actually). He very much wants to know the name of the singer, which I do not know. I've told him the name of the band, but that's not good enough. I wonder whether he expects the name of the singer to mean something to him. He asked, a week or so ago, "who sings this? Is it a boy and two girls?" Well, not on the cd, no, but in the car there are two girls and a boy singing.

I had a pile of clean laundry on the floor in Owen's room when I brought him back from the bath, and he absolutely revelled in it. It was mainly sheets, on top of all of his pillows and animals, and he added more blankets and dove around in it all. Getting him out was tricky.

9/21/13 (Saturday)

Saturday morning the kids were helping to sign various birthday cards. We have a lot of September birthdays in the family. Somehow or other, Owen started writing his name! This was a big surprise to me, since he has shown little or no interest in learning his letters before now. But he started writing letter-like objects in the cards, so Evelyn wrote out his name for him to copy, and he did a very interesting job of copying it out. He tended to write his W upside down, which made for a completely different word; and by the end his E had become incredibly tall and gained more legs than a caterpillar. But it was great to see him working on this.

Evelyn unfortunately has a bit of a cold, a leftover from her flu and pneumonia shots that she got at the doctor; so she decided it was for the best that she stay away from little Baby X. But the rest of us got in the car and drove down south to Uncle Jim and Aunt Sarah's house. Griffin was there to meet us when we got out of the car, and inside was everyone else, including my parents and the new baby. Owen and Cara had not seen the new baby before; Owen didn't particularly react, but Cara was interested, and got a couple of opportunities to hold the little guy.

The kids had a nice time together. Cara is always good for playing with Griff; they got out one of his board games and did that together. Owen had brought a couple of his Rescue Bot Transformers, and Griffin also has a ton of those. They had fun with each other's toys and no one got into any fights over it.

I was very glad, also, that Owen managed to stay dry during his stay, and went to the potty on several occasions. For lunch, we had some pizza and then some cake, as was proper. Napkins were passed around, but Owen claimed that he didn't need one: "I can lick my lips!" He also came out with a couple of unprompted stories, one having to do with his stuffed capybara toy and another having to do with some kind of monster.

It was a Grandparent tour of New Jersey, so in the afternoon we all climbed back into the car and headed on over to Middletown, where I left the children with their Grandmama and Grandpapa to have a nice sleepover.

In the evening, Owen apparently claimed that "C is for apple." Cara set him straight: A is for apple, C is for cat. Owen quickly mimicked her--at times that habit can be irritating, but in this case it was very helpful. Owen later demonstrated his ability to identify capital A, by finding it on the cover of one of his books.

It seems that at bedtime, Owen did something that he has sometimes done to us; namely, almost right after they put him down, he asked to get back up and go to the potty. The nice thing about it was that he very reasonably explained, "I don't want to wet myself."

9/22/13 (Sunday)

He also woke up early in the morning and, directed by Cara, went and woke Grandmama up so that she could take him to the bathroom so that he would stay dry. He believed that it was still night time, so they went to read a book and put him back to bed, but as it got lighter outside he realized the true state of affairs.

The kids had a lovely lazy morning, In the early afternoon, when they were outside drawing with chalk, Owen scraped his toe and was very distressed. It's almost as if he had the same boo-boo that was so hard to deal with two weeks ago. They went upstairs and he got snuggled and comforted and read to and, lying on Grandmama's arm, fell asleep! Eventually she managed to get out from under him. She managed to get some neosporin onto his toe, and he had a nice nap. When he woke up, we were there!

I had to snuggle Owen and carry him around for a little bit. Aunt Claire arrived while he was still very clingy. He perked his head up. "Aunt Claire," he said, "it's my daddy's birthday!"

We went to sit outside while Grandmama husked corn, and Owen wanted a snack. We asked Claire to bring some crackers in a bowl. It's funny how we tend to take some things for granted. I just assumed that she would get the same amount I would; instead, she filled the bowl. Owen didn't eat much, when we sat down for dinner.

When Steve came outside, Owen told him that it was his birthday. He may have told Cara, as well. That's why I was surprised, later, when he asked whether it was Daddy's birthday. It was very exciting when it was time to blow out candles. Owen was sitting too far away to do any good, but he blew and blew. They were the kind of candles that relight, so there was plenty of blowing to do. Eventually Owen moved closer and got his face right over one of the candles; I was not a fan of that, either. He needs to find a happy medium.

We got home in time to play for a while before bed and for Owen to have something to eat. I gave him a very splashy bath, and then his daddy read him some new library books.

9/23/13 (Monday)

Today was the first of what will become our normal Mondays: Steve brought Cara to dance and then went off to class, I picked up Owen and he and I had dinner, and then we picked up Cara and I got Owen ready for bed while she ate and finished her homework. It didn't go too badly!

Owen had a fun day at school today. I told him that I had, too. "Did you play outside with your friends?" he asked. Well, no. I explained that I'm a teacher and that the kids got to pick out books today. That sounded like fun to Owen. He claims that he and his friends got to pick out books today, too.

As has become our habit, we had scrambled eggs for dinner. Owen also had a watermelon flavored yogurt drink, some yogurt in a bowl, and a strawberry flavored yogurt drink. And a cheese stick. And some goldfish crackers. And some of the pepper I cut up for the kids to share in the car.

At dance, Owen held my hand as we walked in. When we got near the drawer of books, he pulled until I sat down. He picked out the top book, a little pink book called My Pretty Ballerina. It featured a very blonde child of about five who dances en pointe and teaches a shy new friend all about ballet before their class starts. Cara came out and decided to get changed. Then she had to wait, because Owen had insisted that I start the book again and refused to leave before we reached the thrilling conclusion. The thrilling conclusion is that My Pretty Ballerina loves ballet and her new friend.

Now everyone has been fed and gotten tucked in and Cara is reading and Owen is, well, going to sleep. I can get some grading done before Steve gets home! Good night.

9/24/13 (Tuesday)

Owen told me today that he had had a peach for his snack. I'd seen Steve cutting up a plum. I asked whether it had, perhaps, been a plum.

Owen: No, it was a peach!

Me: Was it purple?

Owen: Yes.

Me: Maybe it was a plum.

Owen: No, it was a peach!

Me: Was it fuzzy?

Owen: No.

Me: So, it was a purple, not-fuzzy peach?

Owen: Yes.

I never knew they grew that kind.

The bad-mommy side of me was delighted that we hit traffic and didn't have time to reread My Pretty Ballerina when we picked Cara up today.

The kids were thrilled when Steve got home this evening! They missed him yesterday.

9/25/13 (Wednesday)

This is B Week at YBR. Owen brought home a big paper B with butterflies on it. We've been talking about all of the many things that begin with B. Well, Cara and I've been talking. He's been agreeing. I tried testing him: I asked whether kangaroo begins with B. Yes, it does! Definitely.

Playdate was at the Loefflers' this week, which was nice. Before dinner (before begins with B!), Owen asked for and received a drink of milk. When we were putting things on the table, Em looked around and asked where his cup had gone. We were mystified. It couldn't be downstairs, could it? It could. It was neatly placed on a side table. Owen confirmed that he had brought it downstairs himself. There's nothing like going over to the neighbors' house to walk around with potentially stinky liquids in uncovered containers!

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