He slept until 8:10. After nursing, Carly came out, and he kept looking at Wheels on the Bus and singing by himself for several minutes. He then sat with Carly and sent Vivian and other people messages on Skype. Carly would ask what he wanted to say, and he would come up with his nonsense words, them wave and say bye at the end. Carly took a shower, and we wandered around the house. At one point we watched the worker on the roof of the garage from the second floor windows. Chuck and Cherie had left early in the morning to take Cassie and Vivian and Colin to the airport. They then had some lunch and did some shopping before coming home. August was excited to have them back, and was interrupting Cherie on the computer by playing with her mouse. They then did the beanbag song together a couple times, using stuffed animals as the beanbags. He’s also pretended to eat things or people a couple times, saying “Chomp!” as he does so. Think he did it to Cherie or Carly at one point, with some food, and then later at the park when we saw a birthday cake drawn in sidewalk chalk.
We were leaving to go to Shaefer Park when Steve and Claremay came by for a minute to drop off eggs and visited from the car for a minute. We then drove to the park. August took a long, long time to get out of the car. The car is easily his favorite toy now, pretending to drive, opening and closing the doors and vents and windows, and turning nobs for the air system and stereo. Went down and we waded and played in the river. Lovely weather for it. He was throwing rocks, sort of underhand, which was fine until he almost nailed himself on the head with a big rock. After which I was trying to teach him to throw overhand, with limited success. He would do it while I held his hand, but on his own he would start with his arm up, then sort of jerk it down, then throw up like he was doing before. But, he was starting to get it down by the end. After awhile he started to say “now you can go to the car.” after he played for a minute or two. Wouldn’t insist on it, and would then play for another minute or two and say it again.
Before we left, we took a walk across the bridge and through the forest. We did this last year with Chuck and Cherie and it had rained on us pretty hard by the end. Today warm and sunny. I remembered taking a photo of August looking over Carly’s shoulder last year. This year, he did a fair amount of the walking and wanted to find blackberries. We did, and he had fun pretending to be pricked by the thorns and going “Ouchie, Ouchie, Ouchie!” Or things like that. We kept walking and he kept talking about finding more berries and pokey things. He also liked finding the snow berries, and squishing them between his fingers, but they weren’t as exciting.
We saw the sidewalk chalk while we waited for Carly from the bathroom, then played in the car a bit more before heading on our way. Drove down to the credit union in Chehalis to deposit some cash, then stopped by Safeway and got sushi for lunch and a few other things we needed and for dinner. August was acting tired, but he had slept 11 hours, and when we got home he started playing and never seemed close to going down for a nap when Carly nursed him. He played with Carly and Cherie for quite awhile, around the house and then upstairs too, then came down and Carly got out the artichoke she was cooking. I sat with him and taught him how to eat artichoke and dip it in mayonnaise (which Carly likes much more than me, so I’m not really allowed to eat it). He then sat with me on the couch and did art in Paper on the iPad – both the first time using the new Apple Pencil for him and the first time he’s really done art on the iPad since we were on the plane on the way here. Funny how things change when suddenly there are no other kids around. To underscore that point, when he was done with that, he was talking to himself and said “What else to do? You can read a book.” Also, as he drew he changed the colors and layered them and talked about it: “I wonder if the pink changes color…I wonder if the yellow shows up?”
Evening was a bit of a handful as he was in a no-nap state. But she still had a lot of fun. Carly skyped with Cassie and he gave Vivian and Colin a big greeting. After that he was a handful, and finally I got him in the backpack to go for a little walk. At first though I took him out to the porch to put him in and he covered his eyes. I asked if he wanted his hat and he said “Yeah!” Should have thought about his sunglasses. We told him he couldn’t fall asleep. And we first walked left on the main road (after walking down the hill and around the turnaround, at his request) until it turned the corner and there was no shade. We walked back the other way, singing “Yellow Submarine” together and learning the words. We then sang “Driftin” and he sang along a bit, then I got a message from Cherie saying they were starting dinner soon. He engaged in a conversation about heading back, but then as soon as I did he started putting his head down. So I started running and singing, and he was laughing even as he kept his eyes closed and had his head tilted back. Made it home and got him out and got him awake again, and in fact he got pretty hyper.
We ate dinner outside, and he ate some asparagus and greens, but absolutely loved the beets, which he ate more and more of, using a fork. Their neighbors from across the street (Kelly and Court, I think) came and visited, and August ended up playing with Court, kind of hitting his hand instead of giving him five. They had a dog, Guinness, that is really nice. August was petting her, but then chased after her when she walked away. I had to get him and teach him to be slow and gentle, and eventually he was able to pet her again. Carly left a burner on and the house was filling with smoke, so she and Cherie got out fans. August liked them, of course, and liked pushing the buttons until we ended that.
I gave August a bath while Carly cleaned the kitchen. We used the lavender soap to wash him, and he did a good job of cleaning his own neck. We went down and did a little more playing, and he managed to stay awake until about 9:30.
Morning:
Holding Carly’s hair:
Park:
On our walk:
Falling asleep but laughing:
Dinner. Meeting a neighbor:
And the dog: