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Journal Key:

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

5/8/14 (Thursday)

You never know what's going to happen in the morning when it's time to get the kids out the door. Owen always has a different whim about what he wants to bring with him. Sometimes it's action figures, or books, or a stuffed animal or two. The other day we had to bring one of his favorite blankets, because he had come up with the notion of swapping out the blanket that was in his nap bag at school. We followed through on this and now his old nap bag blanket is at home.

Sometimes, though not all the time, Owen will ask for some kind of crunchy snack to bring with him, even if he's just finished breakfast. Sometimes he doesn't remember to ask for this until we're getting into the car and the front door is locked. Sometimes I'm able to get away without going back into the house for goldfish crackers.

The other day he told me very seriously that he had to bring some toys because it was Show and Tell. He always brings things to school, so I have to admit I didn't really believe him about there being a special day involved. I asked him, "Did you just make that up?" and he answered in the affirmative. I was very surprised to discover afterwards that there was actually a Show and Tell day that day.

This morning Owen just had to bring in a drawing for his teachers. Owen continues to draw, and he makes all kinds of interesting shapes with all kinds of colors. Unfortunately, the drawing that he wanted to bring in for Miss Angela and Miss Sarah was a big scribbly blob. It did not seem to measure up against his other works, though I didn't say so to him, of course. It was a rainy morning so I tucked it into my jacket so that Owen could proudly present it to Miss Angela. I don't know what she thought of it.

Tonight Owen was allowed to watch his Nook in the living room while we were getting dinner ready--mostly because we were trying to get Cara to finish some writing homework, and the Nook kept him out of the way. Afterwards, we dragged him into the kitchen and got him to eat some dinner. I gave him a quick bath and was then totally prepared to read him his bedtime stories as well. He very devilishly pulled out My First Muppet Dictionary, which he knows that I absolutely despise. (How do you read a dictionary to someone? Honestly.) I told him that there was just no way I was going to read that to him, so he very happily flipped through it himself--and, by his own logic, the book still counted as one of his three books.

I didn't have to read him the other two either, as it turns out, because Owen's last whim of the day was to declare that it was a Mommy night. So Mommy had to come upstairs and read to him.

5/10/14 (Saturday)

I had a lovely pre-Mother's Day. Cara and I were busy with dance for most of the morning, but we met Steve and Owen for lunch at Smashburger, which was an adventure I had been wanting to share. It is with mixed feelings that I report that Owen claimed to not like the very excellent milkshake I let him taste. After lunch the guys went home and we went back to dance. Owen likes it when we split up on those lines. He's very cheerful about saying goodbye to us.

Later in the afternoon we all went outside to clean out the cars. Steve did most of the work, though Cara helped vacuum. Owen and I drew with chalk. Well, he drew with chalk and tried to get me to join him, which is a tough job. We also spent time looking at ants and eventually went for a long walk with his bike. Owen did a lot more pedaling than he has before, though he also still likes scooting himself along with his feet.

This evening we're having a Mommy night. Owen played with some Avengers in the bath. He had two bad guys, too. He told me a lot about green Hulk and red Hulk. Apparently, when green Hulk turns into purple Hulk, he also has super speed. This is splashier than I would like. As the water drained, I asked Owen to clean up his guys. He couldn't, because the battle wasn't over. I asked how we would finish it. Owen lined up his bad guys. "First," he explained, "Hulk will smash them, then Batman will throw a batarang, then Captain America will talk to them and they'll smash themselves, and then Ironman will shoot them with laser beams and they will be dead." And, indeed, that was how things played out.

5/11/14 (Sunday) - Happy Mother's Day!

For Mother's Day, first Evelyn turned proper traditions on their heads and made breakfast for us. She made a lovely pile of crepes, of which I ate many. Owen was willing to try them, but for some reason did not eat his with anything on it, even though we strenuously suggested whipped cream. Instead, he was perfectly happy taking a folded-up, plain crepe and eating it.

In the afternoon we went to Aunt Claire's house! Aunt Claire spent a lot of time entertaining the children. We managed to keep either child from spending the whole time playing with Claire's "Nook" (actually a Surface tablet). Her back yard was blooming and full of various plants, and the kids (most likely Owen was to blame) decided there was at least one Batcave back there. They imagined scenarios in which bad guys like Joker and the Penguin needed to be caught.

Evelyn and Grandmama celebrated their day by driving away and shopping for swimsuits. This seemed to please them well enough. We had a lovely meal when they returned.

5/12/14 (Monday)

A mostly back-to-routine day, though the routine has changed a little. My class at the county college is over, so I am now working from home on Mondays. What this mainly meant was that I made scrambled eggs for Owen for his dinner, then drove off to pick up Cara from dance class.

In the bath Owen had a detailed battle with all his guys. His imagination is improving, which means I didn't have to provide much playing myself, and also that the battle didn't end until all the water had drained out of the tub. It is very amusing to listen to him invent stories for the guys...a lot of it involves their "power" or how "strong" they are.

5/13/14 (Tuesday)

Today Evelyn had a doctor's appointment (basically), and I took off work to drive her. We had to wrangle the kids and get them out the door earlier than usual, and we were both there to drop off Owen. He walked into YBR holding whatever it was he chose to bring (I think it was a couple of comic books this morning), and was immediately accosted by little Sophia, who came over to grab his face. The teachers were amused because when we left, Owen was the only boy there, and he was surrounded by many little girls. I hope he had a nice time.

In the evening, we left the decision of what to do about dinner so late that eventually there was nothing to do but go out. So we took the kids to On the Border. Owen had drawn several very impressive faces while at school, and had also started coloring some Scooby-Doo coloring book pictures, which he brought with him and continued working on in the restaurant. The food was quite a while coming, but both the kids did well--the tortilla chips and coloring helped.

Owen tried to tell me a little about his day--which probably would have been hard to fully understand even if we hadn't been in the middle of a crowded, noisy restaurant. Apparently a Miss Vicki visited, read them a book, and then took them outside and blew bubbles.

5/14/14 (Wednesday)

It was a great day at YBR. Everyone had so much fun that they got crazy. They got really, really crazy. I tried asking him what he did while he was crazy, but I didn't get a straight answer. He got hit with a crazy ray. The crazy was in his body. It got in through the crack in his tushie.

Steve worked late today, so I took the kids up the street for dinner. We got across the street and Cara ran ahead. Owen ran after her, calling for her to wait. I got her to come back and bring him along, and they were both inside before I was halfway there. On the way home, Cara likes to split up and race, some of us on one side of the street and some on the other. Today, the two kids went together while I meandered along on my own. The only hitch was that Cara wanted to carry Owen across the street. She settled for holding his hand. She's teaching him about looking both ways.

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