Dawn Diary 2 (CD#7)

Original Publication Date: 1998

Ghostwriter? Yes, Jeanne Betancourt.

Synopsis:

Dawn and Sunny are still not speaking to each other after their fight that was covered in Sunny's second diary. Sunny still comes over a lot to spend time with Carol, time which Dawn thinks would be better spent with Sunny's own mother. Dawn doesn't understand that it's easier for Sunny to see life at its beginning--the nearly-due baby--than at its end. Of course, it can't be easy for Dawn to see her dad so excited about a new baby, and with all the care Carol needs, part of her must feel like he's more excited about this baby than he was about her. But Dawn's making it much harder than it has to be, by letting her resentment of Carol spill onto the baby and refusing to get excited about the idea of a brother or sister. She even gets in a funk that her dad is with Carol when she's in labor rather than sitting in the waiting room with her and Jeff.

On June 17, Carol goes into labor, and Elizabeth Grace is born. Seeing the baby helps Dawn connect. Which is good because I was getting pissed that she was always going "HALF-sibling" especially considering she doesn't qualify Mary Anne as her step-sister too often. Anyway, Carol and Gracie are fine. Sunny comes over to drop off some flowers for Carol, but no fences are mended between her and Dawn. Dawn heads back to Stoneybrook unsure whether she'll be friends with Sunny again or not.



Established or continued in this book:

The Girls (and Ducky):

Dawn's known Maggie longer than she's known Sunny.

Maggie thinks she's overweight, despite Dawn noting that she's very slender. Dawn and Amalia even talk about it a bit, concerned for their friend.


Their Families:

Holy crap, Carol's OB ordered bedrest so strict she can't even get up to use the bathroom. I've heard of bedrest where the woman can only get up to bathe once every ten days. I would go out of mind with boredom. I was on "modified rest" for about two and a half weeks with my first pregnacy (mild preeclampsia), meaning I was supposed to take it easy, not go to work, and not move around too much, but I could still get up to fix myself food and take short walks and go to church, and I was bored enough with that. But Carol...she should almost be hospitalized for the remainder of the pregnancy if it's that bad.

Sunny's mom's cancer has metastized to her bones. That's not good.

Maggie's mom asks the maid for ANOTHER pitcher of gin and tonic. Just for her.

Sunny's mom wanted more kids. She had a miscarriage after Sunny was born, and never got pregnant again.

Jeff gets his little sister an NBA poster which causes Carol to laugh (and say she loves it), and Dawn and her dad to exchange looks. Guess I was wrong to put up those MLB, MLS, NFL, and college football pictures in my daughter's room. (The only reason there are no NBA pictures is that Seattle doesn't have an NBA team)


PSA Time:

Shut up, Dawn. Just do so completely shut up. The baby will be "only" your half-sibling, and won't have a chance to get to know you? My mom is thirteen years older than her half-sister, and they are as close a full sisters. Because my mom is not horrible like you. Family doesn't have be constrained to biological relations. Between my parents, I have aunts and uncles are their full siblings, half-siblings, step-siblings, adopted siblings, and even an ex-sister-in-law (divorced from an uncle), but each as much my aunt or uncle as the other. Dawn's attitude pisses me off majorly.


Misc:

This book takes place in June. One entry is labeled June 7, and Dawn muses that the baby is due any day now. Back in  Dawn's first diary, Carol was said to be three weeks pregnant at a date which would have put the due date about June 26, but with a rough pregnancy it's not crazy to assume the baby will come early or be induced, or even born via scheduled c-section. However...why would Dawn be leaving for Stoneybrook so close to the due date? Seems odd to schedule a flight when she could miss a fairly significant event.


The numbers:

Starting 8th grade: 9

Halloweens in 8th grade: 6 (plus one in seventh)

Thanksgivings in 8th grade: 3

Winter holidays in 8th grade (that BSC members celebrate, not just reference): Christmas-3, Hanukkah-1, Kwanzaa-2

Valentine's Days in 8th grade: 3

Summers after 8th grade: 10

BSC Fights: 11

SMS Staff and Faculty: 67

Students (other than the BSC): 209: 119 8th graders (not including Amelia Freeman, who is deceased), 26 7th graders, 47 6th graders, 15 unspecified. Baby-sitters' Winter Vacation tells us that SMS has about 380 students.

Clients: 37 families

Types of candy in Claudia’s room: 130

Crushes:
Stacey-12
Claudia-10
Dawn-5
Jessi-3
Mallory-2
Mary Anne-2
Kristy-1
Abby-0