He slept until 8:30 or so. We got ready to go pretty quickly, as we were heading to Seasons Cafe (owned by Andrea’s sister) at Swansons Nursery south of Carkeek Park for breakfast. But we had some time where we were playing in the play room. Thatcher was swing around the yo-yo, then August had his turn with it and was kind of throwing it a foot or two in front of himself and jumping at the same time. That was fine until he found it funny to throw it over Thatcher’s head, who was sitting with me, making an airplane out of some block things. The second time, I just barely started to say I was taking it away and August knew he had done wrong and started screeching.
But eventually we got going to the cafe and got there a little after 10 and looked at plants a bit on our way in. I placed our order while Carly walked around with August. He was really wanting to throw the rocks on the ground, and was getting frustrated and difficult to handle, so Carly took him to the car for a minute while I waited for food. When food arrived, I walked to get them, and they were already on their way. While I had waited, I found a book about planting a garden that had zinnias in it, so showed that to August. Carly had an English muffin sandwich with preserves on it, and I got scrambled eggs and the “squishy” croissant that August had been interested in. We ate, then looked at the koi, which Thatcher and August watched quite a bit, then started wandering around and looking at plants and other things. August wanted Carly to have him hop, and he was really into names of the plants. There was a little play house, and August insisted on taking his shoes off before going in. There was a little girl playing there as well, and August said hi a couple times. August saw a wooden fences made of squares and said “What in the squares? I don’t know. Want to check (it) out? You see it? I see it.”
We were going up to meet my friends Meghan and Shaun at their home in Lynnwood at noon, so headed to the car. August had been having a lot of fun, but then asked where we were going, and didn’t like the answer and refused to get in the car seat. So Carly nursed him for a few minutes, then we bribed him with a graham cracker and we were on our way, getting up to Lynnwood just a couple minutes late. Had a great visit with Meghan and Shaun and their daughter Maddie, who I’ve known since she was one or two and is now headed off to college. Carly and August stayed in the car for a bit, then came in and got to meet and pet one of their cats. Then their son, Gavin, played with them and gave them a tour. They went outside and played soccer and frisbee, and Gavin was teaching August how to catch, and he showed them his room and different toys in the house. Stayed until a bit after 2, then headed back to the house for a nap. He slept from 2:35 to close to 4. Woke up, and had a tofu dog for a late lunch.
We were talking about what we were going to do in the afternoon, and August said “Walk around see what we find spinny things”. We then had a series of unsuccessful errands: got to Jiffy Lube before they closed at 5, but they said it was too late for an oil change. Then to Ross to look for a sweatshirt for me, but no luck. Finally, we went to Salvation Army to look for some clothes for August, but they had closed at 5. And August got upset leaving Ross, so we had to hang out in the car for awhile.
We headed to Capitol Hill and parked close to Molly Moon’s. We walked into Cal Anderson park. While Carly went to the bathroom, August spotted a white spot on the ground and looked at it and said “Smells like pee. Smells like chips.” They had a table outside the bathrooms that had soap on it, and August wanted to get some and smell it. Did that, then we went up to the playground. He went on the swings for several minutes. Carly was quiet for a few minutes and August said “Mama say anything.” He also had a couple of good swinging chants, and was flapping his arms. Finally, he pointed off in the distance and said “That’s a cool mountain.” It was the mountain-shaped fountain. So we went and looked at the pool and stream, etc. He was looking at the algae in the pool and talk about it: “Mama says no throw the rocks. Mama says only dumping. Mama liked dumping. Nah, not in the algae.”
We then put him in the backpack and had a nice walk up Broadway, then walked by Carly’s old apartment, then up to Safeway where we got veggie burgers and stuff for dinner. Along the way we looked up several flowers and plants, and I taught him about stop signs and street signs. When we said that mama’s old apartment was on 13th Street, he wanted it to be on 14th.
We got in the car and headed home. As we got close, he asked “What they doing?” Carly asked who he meant, or if he meant people in general. He said people, and so Carly listed several things people could be doing in their houses. She mentioned one being sad, and August said “What sad about?” Carly would say one thing, then August would ask for more and more and more. So that is a new game, listing things people could be sad about. He kept saying “More sad about”. Also, as we got to the house we were listening to something (probably Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s The Heist) and there was a song where they were swearing near the end of it and August started to sing along. He’s starting to pay attention to my music in general and ask for the name of songs when they come on.
Back in the house he wanted to go right back outside, despite the fact it was a bit chilly. So I played with him out the front door while Carly made the burgers. At one point he held up his hands, referring to the fireworks we had just heard, and asked “what is those?” Inside, we were talking about the house and I made the mistake of asking if he wanted a big house. He said yes, and repeated “Want a big house? Yes.” But he also said “Want a house made of blue soap.” (There was blue dish soap on the counter.) Finally, we were sitting on the couch together, him and me, and he made up a name where he said “mamas name is…” and finished with a bunch of nonsense syllables. At first he was coming up with names on his own, then I was doing it and he would keep insisting “more names!” We ended up doing everyone he knows, and all of his stuffed animals and cartoon characters.
We then had a bunch of fun as I gave him a bath. Also sort of his first deep conversation. We were listening to a Mountain Goats song, “Heel Turn 2”, where he repeats the line “I don’t want to die in here” several times. August started asking “What does die look like?” I tried several explanations, but he wasn’t buying them, even grabbing my face like he does to look in my eyes and ask it several times. Then we spent time smelling the bath soaps, and he said they smelled like colors, like “blue and pink” and “purple and green”. Also, while I had him sitting on the toilet we were talking about potty training, and how he could wear underwear like Thatcher, and August remembered the Monster Party book (with the line “Monster picks out underwear.”) and remembered several things from that story, especially the balloons. Finally, I got him out and he was looking in the drawers. Opened one and it was empty and August said “There’s nothing in it.”
Carly took him in our room and he was looking through the books and for some reason decided he definitely didn’t want to read a Bob Book, taking each one and shoving it under the bed. He chose a pigeon book instead and was asleep about 10:15.
One more note: I don’t think I mentioned it, but yesterday or the day before he started to say ‘I….’, which he hasn’t really done until now.
Nursery:
Taking off his shoes to go in the playhouse:
Meeting Meghan’s cat:
Back at the house:
Errands:
Cal Anderson Park:
Home yet again: