He was up before 5:30. He decided he needed to use the big toilet, so no going back to sleep. Carly got up with him. He watched Puffin Rock, ate oatmeal (he asked carly to spill, but refused to use he spoon still), did play dough, some music and ShapeKit on the iPad, and they read Berenstain Bears. And lots of nursing.
When I got up, he wanted to paint. We did that together for awhile, and he was having me paint shapes. But then: “You paint a shape while I rest with mama…I locked it so dada can’t get in. He’s painting shapes.” They read more Berenstain Bears books, then he and I played with play dough. He kept going to ‘rest’ with Carly. He had to go to the bathroom, and sat on the toilet for a long time. I stood in the hall, playing with th Teuni Cannon, much to his amusement. Back in the parlor, we played for a few more minutes, but then he wanted to nurse. In the hallway, he briefly tried to argue that he wanted to take his bike out and ride it, but then he went in and fell asleep for a nap at about 9:35 to 11:22.
They nursed and did some reading, then he came out and I gave him some banana bread. He was talking nonstop, explaining where we should eat and that he didn’t want butter on it: “Let’s eat over here cuz banana bread has crumbs…no butter, no butter, no butter. Banana bread is yummy without butter.”
They nursed again, and then played the puffin game for a long time. He now pretends to swim, counts how many fish he catches, then offers them to one of us. Often they are ‘seagull fish’, which are apparently disgusting. I took over at one point, and refused to eat the seagull fish. He tricked me though: “It’s not seagull fish, it’s gummi worms. (I take the fish) Seagull gummi worms.” He was then resting in the pillows on the reading area, and hiding under pillow “Don’t see toes now.” I was getting his toes. I suggested we skype with my parents. He disagreed about the location: “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. I want it out there, not in the parlor. No, it’s not a good idea.”
Carly was heading in to work for awhile. He said “I want a kiss before mama goes.” She left at 12:40. We skyped with my parents for an hour. We spent much of that time playing with play dough. August also spent much of it sitting in front of the camera so they could just see his pajamas. They would then pretend to tickle him. He sat on the reading area in the pillows, then was commenting on how sunny it was today and wanted his glasses, so we got those and he put them on and showed gramma and grampa, and I reminded him that they had gotten them for him this summer.
After Skype, we were getting ready to go to a park. I had asked which park, and he requested the tree play ground. As we got ready, he reminded me “You need to find your gloves.” I had earlier told him I needed to find my gloves, and he remembered.
We left for the park at 2:30. On the way down he wore both his gloves and his sunglasses. He climbed on the mushrooms, then wanted the shovel to “practice digging”. We made two sand castles using our bucket. The first one he stomped on, but the second he said “I’ll leave it there.” He then wanted the swings. Spent a lot of time on the swings. At first I asked if he wanted his sunglasses back on “No dada. If I am on the swings I do not wear my glasses.” But later he put them on, and I also got his hat on him, so he had the whole package.
He took one break from the swings and we wandered to the other side of the park. He went and grabbed the shovel and bucket and took them with us. He was worrying about them and didn’t want someone to take them. If I tried to set them down on the ground while we played, he went and picked them up and handed them back to me. He climbed on the wooden climbing structures a bit, then the catepillar, and finally the turtles.
Then back to the swings. This time, he wanted to do “swirling” – I figured out he wanted me to twist him up, like we’ve seen big kids do. Did that several times. Then he wanted to go crooked, so I was pushing him around at angles. Finally, before we left we did a few more sand castles and stomped on them. Carly had called, and I asked how much longer he wanted to play, and he said “A lot”. But a few minutes later he said he was getting cold and wanted the coffee shop.
So we packed up and headed out, and went to Caffe d’Ate nearby to warm up. He chose a mango yogurt smoothie. I would have gone with a usual strawberry or blueberry, but I told him he made a good choice as it was really good. We shared that, and he composed music in Notion while I did some reading.
After 20 minutes or so we were ready to head home. But as we walked through the park he wanted to go to the dinosaur playground. Went there and went on the swings for about 20 more minutes.
We got home at 5:30. They nursed. After which he came out and wanted “Breakfast foods”. He got sad that she wouldn’t give him more banana bread and lay on the floor for a few minutes at her feet in the kitchen. When I tried to talk to him he went into the parlor for a second, but came right back with the playdough. We played with playdough, and he then ate a ton of mushrooms after carly cooked them. At one point he went in the parlor and got a stamp for the playdough. He came back and asked “Why there’s no humans in the parlor? I handed him the last of the mushrooms in a bowl. He looked at them for a second, then said “Grab! You stealed it!”
Carly got out one of the healthy popsicles that she had made earlier. He ate that, making yummy noises the whole time. Then played with soap bubbles in bathroom, smearing bubbles all over the shower, toilet, etc. The nursed and read Berenstain Bears books, and opened a Christmas card from Glecy.
I gave him a bath. He didn’t want to go at first, and was instead “resting” in the pillows of the reading area. But then I said we could play with squirt cars and he said “Fine” and headed for the bath. He played for a long time, but didn’t want to be washed. I finally forced him to get washed.
He was first in bed by 7:45. He wanted the humidifier on, saying “I want the Huy-mood-afier on. It helps with my cough.” She got him to sleep, but just as she was about to get in the shower, he came back out. Carly tried to get him back to sleep. No luck. She came out and took a shower. He read books on the iPad with me: sang to the songbook, then Gaston a couple times, and then Hug Machine. They went back in, and he came back out again. We went in the reading area and read Winnie the Pooh: all of the House for Eeyore story, and the poem Sneazles. As I read the poem I tapped my feet to the rhythm. August was holding my feet as I tapped. Then, when the poem was over he simply walked off. I heard the door to the bedroom open, then shut. That was 9:40.
At 10:20 I heard the door open. He had never fallen asleep. We ended up laying on the floor by the door in the parlor. I sang him several songs. Then I started singing “Ladybug, ladybug”. He instantly got sad and told me to stop. I’d forgotten that at one point that song made him sad because the ladybug leaves. I changed songs, but Carly heard him crying and came out. He said he was ready to go back, and she took him in at 10:40 and they fell asleep.
Photos:
Tree playground:
Protecting the bucket:
Popsicle:
Holding my hand as he isn’t sleeping:
Presents ready for Christmas:
