A few firsts today: spitting out Oregon grapes himself, playing on his own with another kid in another room (Vivian), an injury that needed a bandaid, and pooping on the toilet.
Awake just after 7. His first words when he woke up were “Where is Kayla?” In the morning he played with Oma’s yogurt without really eating any, then she left to go pick up Cassie and her kids at the airport. August got sad, because he wanted to go with her. Back in the house, he got upset that we wouldn’t let him play with the grate, then nursed. He walked around, sliding his feet on the pot holder things. At some point I asked him what he was thinking and he said “I was thinking bout more rectangle crackers.” I was giving him his vitamins and he said “Where should I put them?”
The three of us then went downtown. We took the stroller. We went to Santa Lucia and got coffees and a scone. Sat outside for a bit and then went walking. Up to and around the college, seeing the new building they are building. August spotted Oregon grapes, and we did a little of the ‘patooie’ game, then he spotted red berries, which turned out to be hollies. We studied those, crushing them in our fingers to find the seeds.
We then went to Safeway, after which he didn’t want to get in the car seat. He explored the car for about 8 minutes, insisting “Zinnie can do it” but he wouldn’t get it, so then we had to force him in. We got back to the house, and just as we were going in Cherie arrived with Cassie, Vivian, and Colin. They did greetings, and August tried to do a forehead hug with Colin. Played in the driveway for a few minutes, then Cherie and I took Vivian and August down to the blackberry bushes at the edge of the property and picked blackberries. The two of them then ended up going downstairs, and Cherie and I were working on taking the toys upstairs. August was jumping on the couch, and slipped off the cushion and his foot went down in the couch and cut his toe. Pretty traumatic for him, as he has never had a cut like that before. Finally got one on his foot and the trauma helped him nurse right to sleep. Kind of a short nap though, as he slept from 1:20 to 2:18. A long nurse, then we got a bandage on his foot, as it had started bleeding again.
He ate some spaghetti, then he and Vivi played in the house. She was giving him dancing lessons, showing him how to spin and leap, and kept trying to play tag (which he really doesn’t like) and hide and seek (which he doesn’t understand). By the end of the day he was sort of understanding the latter.
Chuck and Cherie had gone to pick up the motor home, which had been getting some small repairs. Cherie and I helped him park it in their new driveway, then everyone got in and explored it. August really liked the light switches and the vent/skylight.
At 5:30 we went over to Claremay and Steve’s. Carly had been working in the afternoon to make two quiches, which we took. August and I took a few minutes to get in the house, as we were doing patooie with the Oregon grapes out front. At first he was putting the berries in my mouth and I was spitting them out, then he started doing it on his own – the first time he’s spit them out. And when he heard someone hammering down/across the street he started clapping in rhythm to it. We went in and had dinner. Vivian fell through her chair and started crying, which made Colin cry, which made August very concerned about both of them. After dinner, he and Vivian first played in the toy room by themselves for several minutes. That was pretty amazing. Then they played on the deck, spinning and jumping and dancing. He had picked some of the pedals from the flowers you can supposedly eat (pansies), but he wouldn’t actually eat them. I was asking Vivian and August where their energy comes from, and August answered “From the flowers.”
We went home, and Vivian and Colin headed to bed. I gave August a bath, and before it I had him standing up on the counter to smell the soaps, and to take his clothes off. I thought he was pooping, or about to, and asked if he wanted to poop on the toilet. He said no, and at first insisted on pulling his shorts back up, but then he changed his mind and wanted to poop on the toilet. So I set him there and it worked, as he pooped on the toilet. For the first time. Bath went well, and he was washing himself with all sorts of soaps, until he decided to wipe his eye. Then he just kept trying to rub his hurting eye with the hands covered in soap. He didn’t get much in though, and I got him out of there. He went down to Carly, and they did some reading. She thought he was gong to sleep, but they ended up doing a good amount of reading (I guess they read that Skippyjohn Jones book a lot) before he was asleep a little after 9.
Standing on the coasters:
Walk to the college:
Greeting them:
Claremay and Steve’s:
