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Journal Key:

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

1/2/14 (Thursday)

Mommy took both children to their respective schools this morning. I'm told it was a good dropoff. In the afternoon, due to an impending snowstorm, Cara's after-school care was canceled, so Evelyn picked her up and then went to get Owen. In an unfortunate combination of circumstances, Owen decided just as Mommy was coming into YBR to get him that it was time to sit on the potty and poop. But they did get home eventually.

At home, there was a package waiting for the kids from my cousin Cheryl: a lovely pair of personalized bath towels! Owen decided that his--which had Spider-Man on it--was a blanket and was very very excited. He told me all about it in a long, shouted, and mostly incoherent speech as soon as I walked through the door.

For dinner we decided, at my suggestion, to just heat up some things. Owen was coaxed into cleaning his plate by some encouragements from his parents and a lot of "I bet you can't"s from his sister. Then we picked a movie after a long, painful process of compromise that ended, mostly for the best, with The Wizard of Oz. Then the kids had popcorn. Then, somehow or other, between the two of them, they devoured an entire sack of clementines. We had second thoughts about this when Owen became completely insane after his bath.

There is already plenty of snow on the ground outside, and we're looking at a snow day tomorrow for Cara. Owen we'll most likely keep at home, Ev has no school, and I will be working from home. Snow day all around, then!

1/3/14 (Friday)

We probably got about five inches of very powdery snow. Steve surprised me by actually working on his work-from-home day, so the kids and I were mainly on our own. Around ten thirty we got suited up and went outside. It was cold! The high for the day, apparently, was 21 degrees. I was trying to clean off the cars while the kids played. Cara's friend Camilla came over to sled with her mom, and the girls had a good time. Owen, like me, quickly got cold. His response was to ask me to snuggle him. He wanted me to sit down with him in the snow and cuddle for warmth. I felt that there were better ways to deal with the situation, and everyone over thirty and below five went inside. The girls soon followed.

Camilla stayed to play for a few hours, and Owen's nap didn't take flight. He and I hung around with the girls a lot. When I left him alone, either he would follow me or, eventually, the girls would ask me to please distract him, because he was annoying. It was a little sad, because he was so excited about playing with them and being one of the gang. "Come on, guys," he cried, "let's go play in my room!" They very charitably came up and stuck with him for a few minutes.

I'm excited about having updated Owen's star chart. To get four books at bedtime, he now has to get himself dressed (in the morning and in pajamas), eat a good dinner, have his teeth brushed,and clean his room! The room cleaning is because, with the glider gone, we've put a big basket in and stuck all of his blankets and stuffed animals into it. Naturally, he likes to pull everything out. I think he is capable of also putting it all back in. Tonight, I used the toothbrush timer and he did it in under two minutes.

1/4/14 (Saturday)

Today Owen did a pretty good job at most of the things on his star chart, apart from eating a good dinner. He snacks a lot, plus he was excited because Aunt Claire came over. Aunt Claire had to help him play games on his Nook, and watch him do things on his Nook, and if she stepped away for more than a couple of seconds, she was yelled at to come back. She was invited to take him to the potty; I think she came along, though Mommy was there to actually supervise. She was also invited to watch Owen take off his clothes and get into his pajamas. In the event, she didn't have to come up to his room, since he happily stripped at the top of the stairs, where most everyone could see.

What with the long holidays and the snow day on Friday, we are still quite far from being back on a regular routine. Things will most likely kick in, hard, come next week. For now, it was another kind of a day where Owen didn't get out of his pajamas until after his afternoon nap.

1/5/14 (Sunday)

Today we finally did something we've been promising to do for a few weeks: we went and saw Frozen! It was Owen's first movie. We were very self-indulgent and got plenty of junk food to eat, so there would be plenty for him to do. What did he do? He sat and watched the movie! We all enjoyed it.

Now, I'm not saying I'm 100% thrilled to be heading back to work tomorrow, but, wow, these kids really need to get back to routine! Like, for serious.

1/6/14 (Monday)

When I got to YBR to pick Owen up, his lunch box was out on a table. He was at another table, cleaning up some plastic letters he had been playing with. He was excited to see me and to tell me that he had not finished his whole lunch. He had some things left. He had to open the lunch box to show me. He had strawberries! He had hot dog! He had pasta! He piled the containers in my hands. He could eat them in the car!

We put them back into the lunch box, which I put on his lap in the car seat. I got into the car. "Mommy," said Owen, "I need a snack!" I explained that that was why I'd put the lunch box in his lap. It took quite a bit of explaining. Then I had to get him to open the lunch box. While I drove, we went through a complex series of steps in which Owen got to eat strawberries and hot dog. He opened and closed the lunch box. He managed to put the lid on the strawberry container (I'd opened it for him). We made it home with no disasters.

At home, his lunch leftovers were what he wanted for dinner. We let him have them, and he picked at them. He ate an apple. I mentioned that I was going to heat up some Italian sausage for Cara's dinner when she got home from dance. "Sausage!" cried Owen, "I love that! I want sausage! Is it something to eat?" Well, yes, it is something he has refused to consider eating every time we've made it. When Cara ate her dinner, Owen and I sat next to her and he ate half of her sausage.

We also spent some time hanging out in the living room. Owen enjoys our throw blankets. Eventually he got me to lie down on the floor, for "a snuggle." This involved him settling down near me and then getting up to get a piece of apple to eat, settling back and getting up, and so on. A few times, he sort of dove over me. I'm not clear on how. After that, he stepped on me a few times. Then, he began to dive and land on my stomach. "This is what I do to Daddy," he told me. He enjoyed it very much. I was going to get up, but he wanted to do it again: "Mommy, wait! I have to tummy-num you!!"

I realized this evening that Owen is like Roger Rabbit: he can only do things when they're funny. He can only undress, for instance, after we've told him we think he can't. He can then only do it (lately) while standing at the top of the stairs, dancing. It's a little disturbing, but he gets the job done.

1/7/14 (Tuesday)

Today I managed to get the kids in the car before 8, all bundled up against the very, very cold morning. I would have preferred to have Owen stay in the car while I quickly ran Cara in, but he always objects strenuously to this, so in we all went. Then out Owen and I came, and I had to strap him back into the car.

Owen has taken to playing Angry Birds--or rather, making his parents play Angry Birds--on the Nook. So I thought he would get a real kick out of some Angry Birds fruit snacks I found at the grocery store. As it happened, though, there had been a birthday party at YBR and he had a goodie bag full of candy. So I decided not to mention the fruit snacks. He was using a magnet drawing toy when I came to get him, and claimed that he was drawing candy, so it was already very much on his mind.

We had to go and get Cara from dance school. This is usually something that Evelyn does, especially on Tuesdays, so it was a bit of a new experience for me to have Owen there. He had several action figures with him, but chose to ignore them in favor of the kid books they have in a drawer in the front room. I had to read him a couple of dreadful books, until he found a Barney book which was one of those "look-and-find" picture books. That was nice, since it meant I could just prompt him to look for things for a while.

He did eventually resort to his action figures, which he banged into one another. The room was crowded with parents and little girls at that point, and there happened to be one grown woman standing next to us, whom Owen determined to entertain with his loud toy-bashing. I don't know how well it worked.

Tonight was spaghetti and meatballs night. It was a tough night to try to teach Owen about eating completely independently, since I have to admit that even I am not very good at twirling spaghetti on my fork. But we all got through it somehow.

1/8/14 (Wednesday)

Playdate was over at the Loefflers' tonight, and the kids had a really good time together. As soon as dinner was over, they headed off to play hide-and-seek, which Owen had been urging them to do. The three older kids took turns counting. They played post-modern hide-and-seek. I think Casey started it, and Cara, thinking it was funny, persisted. While the counter counted and everyone else hid, she would pose dramatically right in front of the counter, to be found as soon as his or her eyes opened.

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