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Journal Key:

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

5/29/14 (Thursday)

Lately there have been many "Mommy nights" in our house. This is when it is Mommy's turn to give Owen a bath and read to him. Owen generally declares whose night it is, and a lot of the time we let it happen. Tonight however was necessarily a Daddy night, because Mommy was off with Cara, whose dance recital dress rehearsal was tonight. I'd like to say we did lots of exciting things, but it was all pretty typical: Scooby-Doo, naturally, was involved. Owen did some coloring, and we played some games on the Nook. Dinner was dinosaur chicken nuggets and yogurt--the yogurt he ate in the kitchen. In the bath, we continued a days-long battle that has been going on between our big bug guy and Spider-Man and the Hulk. That bug guy took a pounding, but he has laser-beam eyes, so he got in some licks too.

Owen happily picked out his books and when they were read he put himself into bed.

6/2/14 (Monday)

There may have been a lot of Mommy Nights lately, but Owen has just finished a weekend of Daddy days and nights! I was busy getting Cara ready for her dance recitals, and then yesterday I was gone all day watching the recitals. Owen is very attached to Daddy right now.

This morning, I heard Owen's door open. He saw me and immediately slammed it shut. Five minutes later, bored, he opened it again. When he saw me, he retreated indignantly. He was willing to say goodbye, but that was about it.

Picking him up from YBR was nice; it always is. We had a nice walk, and I explained the adventure we will have tomorrow. I will pick him up early; he and I will get Cara and drop her off at dance, and then we will go to Barnes and Noble. What else? he asked. Well, then we'll get Cara and go home and have dinner. Then I got a squeal of delight.

Owen announced, as bedtime approached, that it would be a Mommy night. Then Daddy came out of the kitchen, and it turned out that it would not be a Mommy night, after all. Daddy is just so wonderful. Poor Daddy. It was a rough Daddy night.

While Steve gave Owen a bath, I sewed the waistbands of his shorts. I had bought them a little big, figuring we'd get two years out of them. Safety pins haven't been doing the job; yesterday, Owen literally jumped right out of his shorts.

Tomorrow is going to be a bigger adventure than I'd thought: I'll be taking the kids out to a middle school production of Oklahoma after dance class, and Steve will be working late. It will definitely break the Daddy night trend!

6/3/14 (Tuesday)

I'd forgotten how lovely Owen is in the morning after he melts down at night. He came squeaking downstairs and hid on the couch, popping his head up and giggling. Then he came into the kitchen and announced that he wanted to go to the bathroom and then get dressed; that's exactly what I want him to do in the morning, so I was definitely on board. He did insist on wearing pants, which was not a great choice on this 90 degree day, but he happily got dressed and then came down for breakfast.

The afternoon was our Big Adventure. Owen and I walked across Highland Park, stopping at Rite Aid to pick up sunscreen for Cara's class trip tomorrow. We picked Cara up. We dropped her off. We went to Barnes and Noble. The heat was starting to break, and the wind was picking up; it was stormy, but I don't think it ever actually rained.

I don't know whether it's a sign of maturity or just random chance, but Owen is now willing to pick out and read cute books from the central display that Barnes and Noble puts out instead of heading straight for the superhero section. It's much nicer. We read three or four really cute books before we had to go and read a Super Friends Easy Reader and then a Scooby Doo. When we were done with those, we had to go play. We played Legos. Owen built a very intricate pattern out of orange Legos. He insisted that it was not a pattern.

Earlier than we needed to leave, he was done. We meandered to the car and took our time driving to Wendy's, where we went in instead of using the drive through. I got Owen the kid's meal, which I haven't done for a long time, because I thought it might be nice to have a new piece-of-junk toy on an evening out like this. We took our time driving back to dance to get Cara.

It was sort of almost but not really raining. However, just to be safe, we took the picnic blanket out of my trunk and laid it out on the patio at North Brunswick High School, under the big overhang. Picnics are exciting. Owen had eaten most of his dinner in the car, so he could concentrate on his Frosty. It took serious concentration.

Our timing worked out really nicely; when we were done and cleaned up, it was time to go to the show. Poor Owen: he's not big enough or proportioned right or something, so he couldn't sit in the seats and make them stay down. He sat on my lap. He also sat on the floor. He played with his kid's meal toy, which involved a little cardboard Wonder Woman and Superman. Eventually, he stuck them both down my shirt. They are still there. He wanted to also stick the program down my shirt, but lines must be drawn somewhere. Cara and I loved the show. Owen objected to my singing him the songs in the bathroom. It was tough, but Owen made it through. He liked applauding.

6/4/14 (Wednesday)

It was a lovely playdate. PJ and Owen went and played outside. The girls made a mess of Cara's room. The grownups cooked. Steve did have to retrieve a ball from behind the back shed, which I cannot quite understand, since the boys were playing out front. The kids all washed their hands and ate together in the living room, which is a really excellent setup for grown-up conversation. Um, also for kids to be independent. Yes. And responsible.

Afterwards, I did manage to give Owen a bath and read him one book. He was very much invested in having yet another Daddy Night. Really, Daddy Nights are very relaxing for me! I'm summoning up all of my virtue in trying to rescue Steve. It was nice to give the bath, though. I got Owen washed, and then I splashed my face. Owen wanted to help. He claimed that I'd gotten soap in my hair. He tried splashing, but he felt that filling up the big cup was called for. I bent my head over and closed my eyes. He raised the cup up into my face. Then he tried again, standing up, and dumping the whole thing over my head. It was refreshing.

The highlight of the day, though, was the picture that Owen colored in Latin class. Given a picture of a chariot and a horse, he actually drew himself driving the chariot. He has legs that are appropriately proportioned, a torso, arms reaching to the reins, and a head with hair and eyes! He was concerned because that was it for the face, but at home he gave himself a blue mouth.

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