He was up right at 8. Came out and said “Hey dada. Where’s the pink wawa? Where’s the blue wawa? Want to put the keys back in.” Workers were supposedly coming around 9 to take another look at the hot water heater, so we hurried to get out of the house. August had some time to make big numbers out of the magnets (using all that we have, which gets up to the sextillions) and we put the keys in the piano. Had some cereal (I had just poured Cheerios, but he wanted some of the other kind in as well, as Carly had introduced him to cereal mixing) and brushed our teeth and left at 9:10, before anyone showed up.
As usual, a lot of signing and talking on the way to the subway. He started talking about 17 people: “I see the color of the 17 people…Blue, pink…And the shirt is purple.” In the station, there are these mosaics in the wall and glass circles that he now likes to pause and touch. He talks all about the textures and patterns in the glass circles and which ones are our favorites.
We were at the park a little before 10, so headed to the new playground to do sidewalk chalk. As we passed the Tayo busses, I expected him to say something about them. Instead, I noticed he was covering his eyes, hiding – something he hasn’t done recently. But when I asked him about it, he appeared shy/secretive. He would just say “No” to every question. This sort of turns into a game, where I try to finally get him to say “Yes” to something. Are you sad? No. Are you happy? No. Are you blue? No. Are you Zinnie? No. Are you a puppy dog? Etc.
Didn’t have a broom with us, so had to use my foot to sweep off the designated sidewalk chalk area. Spent a long time on that, with him drawing things and asking me what they were. If I said I was out of ideas, he would pretend to grab some and put them in my head. His favorite was the alien he drew that then didn’t understand humor, and exploded when August kept laughing. He found that hysterical, and it came up several times during the day.
He asked about lunch, and after a few more minutes, we went up by the rectangle pond and ate. We talked about quests again, and he said his quest was to play the piano today. He’s less interested in garbage cans nowadays, and today, when I asked if he wanted to throw our garbage in the garbage can he said “Dada can do it.” We went up and played with the piano for several minutes.
Then, we were heading to the children’s museum. He instantly wanted me to pick him up. At the mention of him walking, he got upset. Took awhile to get him calmed down enough to get down the stairs (I wasn’t going to carry him down while he was still upset), and we stopped by the fountain to get a tissue. He had calmed down and was quiet. I talked about how he’s been wanting me to carry him a lot recently, and that he’s walked long distances before. He was quiet, then suddenly climbed off the bench and started walking. I said “Thanks, Zinnie”. He said “No.” He then walked all the way to the children’s museum, walked right up to the counter and was handed his baby ticket on his own, took the membership card from me, and walked over to the entrance and handed them to the woman there and got his hand stamp. While he has handled those before, he’s almost always been in my arms for all of those. He then did all the walking in the children’s museum except for about 10 seconds when he basically jumped out of the car toy and into my arms when I mentioned going to the book room.
Anyway, once inside, he referred to the signs, and wanted to go up to space play. He walked up there, and looked around a bit, but it was overrun by school groups. He mentioned the food and hours area being up the ramp. He wanted to vacuum (although never got around to that), so we went up there. Stopped at the construction area, and played with the bricks just a bit. Then up to the food. He played with the food, getting us food, heating it up, then we sat at a table and pretended to eat it. We then went and played in the veterinarian area for the first time. We took care of a dog, who had an ear infection, and a pig with a broken leg. He seemed genuinely concerned when I had the pig make little noises when he touched the leg. He said something about the pig being a queen (I thought) after we were done with it and he was trying to find a spot for it. School kids had descended on this area, so he wanted to move on. Climbed into the car next to someone else that was ‘driving’. Sat there a couple minutes until I suggested the book room and he jumped into my arms.
Sadly, the bead toys (he had mentioned them a couple times) were now gone. But in there place were a set of kind of Tetris shaped puzzle pieces: you create shapes on a grid, then try to use the other pieces to fill the remaining space. Three dimensional thinking and all that, as you need to rotate the pieces. In fact, there were a couple of other puzzles like this: we also played with the wooden cactus-y thing, where you try to build it and keep it balanced so it doesn’t fall over. Then there was a set of simple blocks, about 12 of them, but each was a different color. There were then pictures that you tried to build.
We then went and read some books up in the loft area. He chose Opposites, I Touch…, Numbers, I taste…, and Shapes. All Luk books. The Taste one was probably his favorite. Although we read a couple of them twice.
Then back down for the last puzzle: a set of plastic squares. They are clear, with colored shapes on them. You then try to build pictures with them, but you have to rotate and stack them (and choose the right pieces) to make the pictures. Like the first set, they start with easy ones and get harder. Kind of like stacking tangram puzzles.
Waking up at 8 this morning, didn’t really expect a nap, but he was getting hungry again, and maybe a bit tired. We went outside and had some crackers and Larabar as we went for a walk. We came across the old playground, only to find that they are tearing it down. Rather sad, as we had used it so much in the past. Hadn’t gotten around to it much so far this year, but would have now that the weather is cooler. This is where we really started writing in the sand, and where he sat on the drum while I played it. He specifically pointed out the blue thing – the drum – lying there on the ground as we watched. Got walking again, and stopped to get water and refill his water bottle. “Frere Jacques” was playing on the speakers and he asked what it was called. I told him, and he joked “It’s called “You’re drinking water”.” Had one or two others. As we walked, he started pointing and saying “How you doing bushes? How you doing trees? How you doing womans?” Probably had about 10 of them. Eventually calmed down and we walked our usual path a couple times, but then he wasn’t going to sleep. So we discussed some options, and he wanted more sidewalk chalk.
I wanted to take a closer look at the destroyed playground, so we first went down there. The structure by the walking path is spared, at least for now, which is nice. We sat and ate a second lunch, then went and did some climbing on the structure. He went up the angled wall a couple times, and used my hand to help him step up on the little vertical wall. He hung on the wall for a few seconds on his own before getting down. He then walked around on the walking path, and balanced on a couple of the round wooden ones a bit.
Then went and did sidewalk chalk by the faucets. I thought that was a good idea, because then we could wash it off. Did a little sidewalk chalk, then tried to pour water on it. Apparently, this doesn’t work. Just made it easier to see. I would have left after a couple minutes, but pouring water out of the spray bottle became a huge game for him. Also, he wanted to wash all the sidewalk chalk. So I was scraping it with a stick, and he was pouring water on it over and over. For a good 20 minutes, and probably closer to 30. He was soaked by the end. We had gotten the chalk off, but the ground now looked funny because the
parts we had scrubbed were now cleaner than everything else.
Headed home. He hadn’t used the iPad at all yet today, but on the way home he asked about GarageBand. I had brought his headphones, and he enjoyed wearing them on the subway as he played GarageBand. We got home at 5:30. Made a smoothie, and he took his in and laid on his stomach on the carpet and drink it. Carly was home at 6. They nursed and read a couple more books she had brought home: The Giving Tree and part of a Curious George book. He then played with stickers, and the door magnets, making Carly read the numbers this time. And of course we did more piano keys. And actually played some Wheels on the Bus.
When we had come up the elevator, a guy had gotten off at the second floor. August told me the doctor was on the second floor. I was surprised, as he hasn’t been there since, I think, March. Carly told me she’s probably mentioned it though. Also in the evening, I brought up the hiding thing, and he said “Remember that”. I asked what he was hiding from, and he said “Tayo busses…they were open.”
Carly gave him a bath, then he went in on the bed with me and read one of the new books – the one about the boy in the forest imagining an animal parade (from 1944). Carly came in and he was asleep about 8:30. Did remarkably well for not having a nap – didn’t seem like he hadn’t taken one. Perhaps transitioning away from naps…
Offering mama a piano key:
Big numbers:
Headed to Children’s Grand Park:
Chalk:
Lunch:
On his long walk:
Food:
Puzzle:
Reading area:
Another puzzle:
Destroyed playground with drum:
Walking path:
Sidewalk chalk and water:
Spray bottle:
Headphones on the subway:
