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| Previous Week | Back Home | Next Week | Journal Key: Green = Steve | George = navy | Janet = Purple | Evelyn = Black 5/1/14 (Thursday) I am very pleased to report that Owen, who has spent days preparing for Steve's birthday and drawing pictures to present to him as gifts, brought me two separate pictures today: they are Mother's Day gifts. It's a good thing I like abstract art. I asked him to tell me about one of the pictures. "I can't do that!" he yelled, running off to do whatever it is he does. Cara stayed home sick today. I reminded Owen of this when I picked him up. He was worried. "Will my sister be sick forever?" he asked. No, she won't. In fact, she's better now. In the bath, Owen "made soup" by scooping up water in the big cup, calling it soup, and pretending to drink it while pouring it out near his mouth. I was reminded of how hard it had been to convince him not to just drink the stuff when he was a little guy. Me: When you were a very little boy-- I wonder how he got them out. I never got to tell him my when-you-were-little story. 5/2/14 (Friday) Owen and I had an adventure: we walked to the Japanese restaurant to pick up takeout, and then we drove to Atillios to pick up more takeout for other people. It was not much farther than our usual walk through Highland Park, but it was on the other side of the street and therefore completely unfamiliar. Owen was pretty sure we were never going to get back to the car. Later, at home, Steve offered to let Owen wear his tie. "But then I would be a big fat man!" cried Owen, running off. 5/3/14 (Saturday) Today was Free Comic Book Day. Up until this point in my life, I really haven't cared about this day, though I used to collect comic books. But as it happens, Miss Sandi, the manager of Yellow Brick Road, has a son who manages the comic book store right around the corner in Highland Park, and she nudged me to go, so I took Owen. I made sure we were both wearing super hero T-shirts--Owen had his Captain America shirt, I my Batman. We also happened to pass a young man with a very nice Spider-Man shirt on, just before we got to the store. Owen was interested in many of the comic books they had on display: a Powerpuff Girls compilation caught his eye, as well as a Transformers series. Many of the comic books were not aimed at his age range, sadly; fortunately, among the free comic books there were several titles that qualified as "all ages." We were lucky enough to be helped by a young man who chose not to tell us of the "only take three" rule, so I ended up putting at least four free comics each into Owen's bag and mine. Then we purposefully picked out a couple of non-free books, so we didn't appear to be total freeloaders. It so happened that Miss Sandi's son was working the register. We had been told to mention that Owen was from Yellow Brick Road, and it so happened that I chose to mention this to the man at the register, even though I didn't actually know for sure that he was Miss Sandi's son. The result was that Owen became the proud owner of a gigantic red Power Ring, like Green Lantern wears. Seriously, it's gigantic--it's even loose on my finger--but Owen didn't mind at all. On the way back to our car, he was already creating various red things with his red Power Ring. We also fortunately happened to pass a young man on his way to the store, as we were leaving, who had a Captain America costume complete with shield. Afterwards, as it was such a nice day--and since Mommy and Cara were both busy doing other things--I drove Owen to Johnson Park. He was quite engrossed in all his comic books, and kept trying to show me things in them from the back seat, which I explained to him I really couldn't look at while I was driving. I even had to carry a comic with us when we got to the park. Owen did spend some time on the playground equipment, and we also went to look at the animals there. After we had seen the animals we wandered over to a park bench and I read him his Teen Titans comic book. Then we bought a soft pretzel which he quickly lost interest in. After that it was time to head home for lunch. Today was a very exciting day, not only because it was Free Comic Book Day, but because Cara had been invited to a sleepover! It was at her friend Camilla's father's house. She went off to do that at around two, and meanwhile Owen was taken away for his own personal sleepover at Grandmama and Grandpapa's house. We all of us had a lovely time in our own separate ways. Owen, I am told, looked at all his comic books while Grandmama was driving him to the Monmouth Museum. 5/5/14 (Monday) I do not think I'm going to get one of the things I want for Mother's Day. I've been claiming that Owen was going to learn to buckle himself into his car seat. He has not been an eager student. I asked him today whether he was going to start to learn. "No," he said, "I can't do it, because I'm just a little boy." I do think I'll get my car cleaned for Mother's Day. We'll clean Steve's out, too. "Mommy," said Owen, "I know what we can do for your car and for Daddy's car. We can get some queen stuff, and we can make them into queens!" . . . you know, like all those other queen cars you see all the time. I asked him, what queen stuff? "Crowns . . . and things." He's remembered, somehow, our trip to Great Wolf lodge. He wants to go again. He's been repeatedly bringing it up and discussing the things he wants to do. He wants to go with Griffin and his family. We can go together and split up. We can ride in each other's cars. Owen really liked "the hotel." 5/6/14 (Tuesday) Yesterday, when Miss Sandi said "See you tomorrow" to Owen, his reply was, "No, you won't. I'm going to wake up very early, and then it will be a staying-home day." I did try to explain to him the fallacies in his logic. This morning, however, he did not wake up early, and it was not a staying-home day. It's possible that his belief in the powers of early rising is intact. I don't know, because he was still asleep when I left. Owen and I had to drive down to Milltown to pick up Cara. "Mommy," said Owen, "when will we run out of days?" I had to ask some follow-up questions. I could only conclude that he was asking about armageddon. After dinner, Owen was, as usual, coloring. "Mommy, I am drawing eyes," he said. "With lots of eyelashes! [evil growls] Bigger and bigger eyelashes! [more growling]" I looked. They were, indeed, possibly the most evil eyelashes I have ever seen. 5/7/14 (Wednesday) Owen passed an intelligence test today. He and PJ wanted to put on the TV while we were getting dinner plated. I wasn't sure I really felt like letting them; we'd kept the kids off of electronics all evening. In a moment Owen came back into the kitchen to say, "Could we put on Superhero Squad? It's your favorite. We want you to get to watch it!" I let him get away with it. Later, once I'd gotten him into the bath, Steve came into the bathroom. "I want both of you to wash me!" Owen announcced. I was very impressed that it occurred to him to manipulate us like that. | Previous Week | Back Home | Next Week | |