Tuesday: Children’s Grand Park

He was up at 8:35. A short night, given the late bedtime. They nursed and then played with play dough. Carly got a new bar of soup recently, and he has been talking about it every time he washes his hands, wondering why it isn’t square, and why it is Dove soap. He came out of the bathroom saying “What’s the dove soap about, agout, labout…” They then blew bubbles (I don’t know if I’ve mentioned that he calls the bubble mixture bubble “oil”), then did some painting: “Why we working on a masterpiece about?” “Paint mama. And I’ll attack you.” He said “I want breakfast food.” and was sad when I told him banana bread was all gone because he had eaten it all last night.

He and I went to Children’s Grand Park today to give Carly some final time to prepare for the job fairs and pack. We left at 11:45. He wanted to go to the children’s museum first, so we did. When we got in, he wanted to go straight to the chalkboard. Did that, and he drew for about 2 minutes. But then he changed his mind and actually wanted to leave; he explained that he wanted to find a playground that had swings. I convinced him to stay for a few minutes so we could go up and have lunch. We went up and ate. Afterwards, as I packed up, he spotted all the food on the ground (it was busy today, as the kids are off from school) and he started stomping on the crumbs. Finally, before we left we went down to the bathroom and he used a urinal.

We went and checked on the new playground. Looks like they’ve done some work on a path around the top of the hill, but as August asked “What they not working about?” Second week in a row that there was no sign of any work being done. We walked up to where we saw the welding taking place last week. Turns out it wasn’t for the playground, but for a new covered area around the minimart place.

We went to the playground (the one that wasn’t torn down there) and went on the swings. We got there at 1:10 and were on the swings for just over 20 minutes. After a couple minutes he noted he was being quiet: “Why you silent? What Zinnie not make any noise about?” We sang some Basho songs after that.

Checked on the zoo. Still closed. But we could see the guanacos, moutlons, zebras, and alpacas. The alpacas were new, as there used to be kangaroos there. We went to see if the seals were open, and they aren’t. August and I were both looking back towards the herbivores and spotted deer up on the hill, in what I have guessed is the veterinarian area. He was excited by spotting that, then went and stood at the fence, looking at the donkeys and deer and talking about how we couldn’t go through the fence for several minutes.

He said he was getting cold, but refused the hat. We talked about what to do next, and he wasn’t excited about the children’s museum or conservatory. Open to the coffee shop though. So we went there, and up to the third floor. We got a strawberry smoothie to share, and I held him up so he could watch it being made. We found a table with comfy seats. He played on the iPad, mainly making music in Notion, and I did a little reading. He started to get rambunctious and loud. I carried him outside and made him wait outside the door while I packed up, since he wouldn’t quiet down. Worked well (and we could still see each other).

We went back to the children’s museum. In talking about where to go, I mentioned the reading area. He thought this was funny, as “Reading area is at home.” He then said, joking, with a smirk on his face, “I want the parlor at the children’s museum.” Anyway, we went to the book room. He first played around with a magnifying glass, using it primarily to watch a girl and her mom who were playing up in the reading loft. The girl was wearing a tutu, and he was curious about that. A bit later he was bothered that the other five magnifying glasses were missing, and I had to go find them for him, and he put them all back in the holder.

He had to use the toilet, so back to the bathroom. Then back to the book room, where we went up to the loft and read the When I Grow Up book a few times. Again the bathroom, at 3:35. It was a urinal every time today. As we passed the small sink he asked “Why that the stupid one?” The previous trip to the bathroom, we had tried to use that one. The sensor works very poorly on it, and in trying to get it to turn on, I had squirted August in the eye. I must have called in the ‘stupid sink’, as he remembered this time. I started to call it the ‘silly sink’ after this and I think that stuck. Hopefully.

Anyway, back in the reading area, he played with the pretend cupcakes. He’s never gotten to play with them before. He gave me several of his happy looks while playing with them. He pretended they were different flavors, but somehow always gave me the kimchi-flavored ones.

Sometime after 4 we headed out. We sat out on one of the round benches in front of the children’s museum and ate a snack: some Larabar, peanut butter sandwich, and string cheese. On the subway home he ate some crackers and randomly quoted the Puffin Rock episode about dung beetles: “Oh no. They still need to make a nest.”

Home at 5:25. They nursed and Carly read some Pooh poems. He had some stir fry for dinner. A bit later Carly started his bath and then I finished. They were making sculptures with the letters and then he was making letters out of the ropes of the bag they go in.

August and I made banana bread together, and Carly took a shower. August finds it difficult to not keep dipping his finger in the dough.

Carly made some nachos, and August carefully inspected the chips he had to make sure they didn’t have any “stuff” on them. We all ate nachos and watched Puffin Rock together for awhile.

Amazingly, he had stayed up until the banana bread was finished. He had a couple slices, but again would not actually say ‘banana bread’, even though he was terribly excited to have some. So funny. We read Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight and Pajama Time, and at 9:25 he went in on the toilet. From there he headed to bed and was asleep at 9:50.