Today’s first big event was heading up to Everett to go to the Imagine Children’s Museum with my friend Sarah and her kids. Then, Carly made dinner for everyone with the help of her friend Becky, and Chuck and Cherie were able to come for dinner – quite an end to our last full day in Seattle.
August woke up a little after 7. Carly went up to him, and they came down about 7:30. He played with Kayla first. We were kind of fake tickling her, and she was grabbing at August, and he climbed into my lap. We then read a couple of books from the box of books by her playpen. Eddy was panting, and August started panting like her, and petted her a bit more. August and Thatcher ate Cheerios and scones (that Andrea had baked) together at the island, then we got ready to head out.
We left a little after 9:30 and headed up to Edmonds. At Sarah’s house August took a minute of convincing before he came in (smelling flowers along the way). We met their new au pair (from Austria), and August got into full house exploring mode. And Lauren and Andrew had fun showing him around. They ended up in Lauren’s room playing with a couple balls. Lauren was rolling on her stomach on the big one, and August was trying to do it on the tiny hand-sized ball. He was also doing his jumping and throwing thing.
We left, and met back up at the museum. Our first time at this one, and we got in thanks to their free passes. August had a great time, and Carly followed him around. He refused to wear an apron at the water area, and at one point got upset when he wanted to use a toy that another kid had. They went outside and nursed (very odd that the museum doesn’t have a nursing room), then came back in and were fine until our free parking-induced 90 minute limit was up. I didn’t see much of them, as I was visiting with Sarah.
We made plans to meet up for a quick lunch at Brooklyn Bros Pizza, but August had only slept 9 hours, and was looking ready for a nap already. So we said goodbye and headed back to the house. He slept from 1:40 to 3ish. Carly went up when he woke up, and a couple minutes later I heard Kayla. I knew Andrea was upstairs but in a meeting, and Derek had taken Thatcher to the store to get some fish, so I went up and got her. She was excited to see me and we played for about 10 minutes before Derek got back.
Carly then continued to work on dinner: veggie wraps, corn, rice, and the fish that Derek contributed. I went outside with Thatcher and August and they played out in the hole. I just watched and turned the water on and off. That lasted a good 30+ minutes. It started to rain, and eventually August was ready to head in. They came in and ate rice cakes and drank milk. And had some peanuts – which August actually ate. Chuck and Cherie then arrived, and the two boys ran to greet them. Hyper play time with Oma and Opa then ensued. Cherie noted how the boys were mimicking each other. We ended up in the play area, which went well for awhile, but then August started throwing blocks and threw one or two over Chuck’s head (like the yo-yo over Thatcher’s last time). I took August down, but August wouldn’t agree to not throw them, finding it funny to say otherwise – as Derek said, it sounded like he’d been hanging out with a 4 year-old for a week. So he stayed downstairs with me for a few minutes, and had just changed his mind about the throwing and headed back upstairs when they came down.
More playing ensued, and August did a ‘patooie’ on the floor and actually spit – progress in that we are working on spitting out toothpaste and this is progress. He agreed to wipe it up, but then kept doing it. Led to more sitting on my lap while he wouldn’t agree to limit it to the sink and outside. Eventually he did, and he headed outside. Only I hadn’t specified where outside, so he started right in on the mat, porch, and Thatcher’s shoes. I was working on limiting it to the grass, but then Thatcher joined in, and eventually both of them were ignoring both me and Derek on it, so that was the end of that.
We ate our big dinner and had fun, although August didn’t eat much (although he had eaten a lot of fruit earlier and other stuff). It was raining pretty well outside, and water was actually streaming from the drainage pipes into their dirt play area; August stood on the porch and stared at it. Chuck and Cherie left, so we said goodbye, then I was upstairs with the boys playing blocks. I was helping them build separate towers that they could knock down, which worked for awhile until August wanted to build on Thatcher’s and I said no. He got sad I took him down to tell Carly about it. I think that almost worked, but they ended up nursing. They started to come back down the stairs and he heard something happening and asked “What’s going on?” They then ‘helped’ clean the kitchen by sweeping while Carly and I did dishes and cleaned counters.
They were both getting tired, and we were soon heading up to bed, but not before Carly and August first tickled Uncle DD. Andrea and I took the boys up to the play area and read books. The boys each insisted that their own parent read; Andrea and I sort of worked it out and they mostly tolerated it, but kept requesting. There was one book that had them acting like animals (Gallop!). August flew around like an eagle and swam like a turtle. We also read Dragons Love Tacos and The Pout-Pout Fish. After the Dragons book, it was clear they were both ready for bed. Carly took him in and he was asleep about 10.
Playing with Kayla:
Sarah’s house:
Children’s Museum:
Back at the house:
