He really slept in today. My book group meeting started at 8:30, and he woke up sometime between then and 9. He slept over 13 hours last night. Right after he woke up he asked to go pee on the toilet.
He and a carly Skyped with her parents and then Glecy. Between, he came into the room I was in and got his water pen books out and played with those. He asked where the (dry erase) eraser was and tried to erase the ‘libros espanol’ sign, which had fallen of the basket. Carly made him oatmeal for breakfast and he ate all of that. Sometime after my meeting was over, he was singing rhythms and said “I want to count the notes of you walking.” So I stomped a beat and he sang a song. We started laundry, and August got upset when we wouldn’t let him push the buttons on the washing machine. Carly was getting ready to go outside for a walk. He really liked the idea, but was getting impatient she was taking so long, at one point calling from the doorway “Mama! Hurry up!” We all headed out at 11, with him on the bike.
All went fine at first, with Carly pushing. We went across the bridge over the stream, then down the other side. After a couple blocks worth though he started to take his feet off, drag them, etc. Then he was hanging off the side of the bike. Spent several minutes with him half on the ground and half on the bike, pretending to be a worm. Pretty funny, actually. So took awhile, with some starting and stopping, and carrying him, to get to Toys R Us. As we got close I was carrying him. And I asked if he wanted his hat. He politely said “No, thank you.” He was talking away and telling his own Puffin Rock stories. I caught “Careful! Don’t let the hedgehog eat the seaweed.” Which I’m pretty sure isn’t from an episode, and I asked and he said no and agreed that he’d made it up.
At Toys R Us he was back on the bike and Carly pushed him towards the back, looking for gloves. She forgot the play area is back there, and he got upset when she said we weren’t going in today. But he cheered up inside Toys R Us when there was a woman demoing this sand/play dough stuff. He played with that for 10 minutes or so while Carly checked out umbrella strollers. We played with him a bit too. We then headed home.
Some more stopping and playing on the ground along the way. At one point he wanted me to pick him up. I only pick him up if he says either “Please” or “I got my dada!” (Although he never actually says the latter, saying “I got my Zinnie” instead, leading to our debate about who says which line). Anyway, this time he didn’t want please, but said other things instead, like “Pick me up, pine needles.”
As we got closer to home I needed to set him down a couple times, which he didn’t like. He saw the gas station and asked what it was about. We walked back and watched a guy fill his car and then the car drive off. He noticed water on the ground and asked why it was there, and we figured out it was because there was a car wash. We got walking and he wanted to go back again once and got upset. Carly carried him, and we distracted him with the art museum, and going in to use the toilet there.
We got to the art museum, and Carly took him into the bathroom. Sadly, the new kid play area there has been delayed by a few weeks. We then went downstairs to the children’s art area, which is actually a children’s art area now, with interactive stuff. He tried climbing on the climbing structure thing, I pushed him and Carly around in a cart thing, he made a rectangle out of some balls on a light table, and then he and Carly climbed the stairs to the top of the hill area.
From there we headed home. I made a salmon sandwich and shared it with August, then cut him some strawberries. I had a headache, so went and lay down for awhile. He was watching Puffin Rock, and got excited when they said it was ‘August’. They then did play dough, and Carly was waiting for him to do some clean up when I came out. I suggested he do it robot style, so I helped a bit and he really got into clearing up. They nursed, and cuddled on the couch. We got the new markers out and did some writing and then watercolor painting. They nursed and read the Animal Tales book, after which he and I played on the piano.
He went and did some hiding in the parlor, and some looking out the window. It was now 5 and I asked if he wanted to go outside again at all, and he said he wanted to stay in. Carly went down to Megan’s apartment to do a Skype interview with a school in Kuwait. August and I read a bunch of new books while she was gone, including Creepy Carrots and Hug Machine (both a couple times) and Gaston. He jumped up and said “I have something for you. We can share it.” “What?” I asked “I don’t know.” He went and looked in the fridge, but didn’t decide on anything. We then did some painting, and while putting his paint brush in the water and watching the colors swirl around he said “It’s like oil.” I don’t know where this came from, and I asked Carly later, and she didn’t know. Actually, it may be from the children’s museum, and the new turning table thing in the water area – I may have said that looked like oil. But we only did that few a few seconds, once. Anyway, we painted and he wanted slurred notes. So we painted those and practiced them. He was hungry, and ate a couple slices of banana bread. Then he wanted a treat again, to share. This time, I made some hot chocolate. We were finishing it up when Carly got home. I told him “Don’t tell mama we are having hot chocolate!” So of course he went and yelled “We’re having hot chocolate!”
They nursed and we did more painting. He was then climbing around on the couch, playing with his pants, which we had taken off for a bath. I said the “I want to get in the water!” line for Sophie, and August said “What’s that, Sophie?” which is what Carly usually says. I got him in the bath, but he wanted Carly to wash him, so we traded. He had wanted a quick bath before getting in, but started playing with the squirt cars once in.
After his bath he wanted to use Sketches on my iPad. He showed his artwork to Carly, and was then showing her how to do things. He wanted her to “Write Althauser Niman”. They then were coloring in the coloring book part of the app.
Carly got his toothbrush and he did a good job of brushing on his own. He said he was brushing “like a big kid” Carly asked “Can mama brush your teeth?” He replied “Maybe not today. It’s difficult. What you say it’s difficult about? I’m doing it by myself today. What you sucking yesterday about?”
Back in the coloring book, they were trying to figure out what animal was hanging from a tree. He said “Maybe that’s a squirrel? A mouse? A kinkajou!” Carly didn’t know what a kinkajou looked like, so I pulled up photos. She said we should have one as a pet. I suggested a nocturnal animal wouldn’t be the best pet. She asked about what cats were, and I looked it up: crepuscular, active during dawn and dusk, so that was our word of the day.
He went to bed around 9:30. As I said good night to leave, he said “I love you dada and night night.”
Oops. These are Sunday’s photos. See Sunday’s post for Saturday’s photos.
Cozy:
Cinnamon texture:
Some art:
Chrysanthemum Park. Standing on the bike:
Hanging:
Feather:
Leaning:
Dada and Zinnie hand prints:
Wanting to build it taller:
Head first:
King Kong Juice:
Hands:
