Awake 6:52. He stood in the doorway of the parlor and I went over and gave him a kiss. He covered his eyes and I said “I’ll give you some alone time.” I headed back to the couch. He asked “What you said?” I repeated it, but instead of going into the parlor he came over and leaned against me. Then wanted to type on my iPad. After that we watched Puffin Rock and ate some Cheerios and strawberries. We read the note from Carly, which suggested he ask me about molecules. So we looked up pictures of molecules, then drew molecules on paper. I would draw a bunch of dots, then he would connect them with lines. Often making H shapes. He did some lines that looked like Arabic, and then he told me “Practice the language you don’t know.” So we did a little Arabic.
I put on some music, the Ask Your Mama album to “Gospel Cha-Cha”, and he started drumming with his hands on everything. Back to drawing. He was learning the terms ‘atom’ and ‘bonds’ And invented a new element “teterium”. There was a lot of talk about what color to make the atoms and bonds: “I changed my mind. I want purple.”
We tried to do some exercise, but he kept trying to touch the phone. When I put it in my pocket, he got more upset, then was trying to leave the refrigerator and freezer doors open, which was even more frustrating. I was picking him up and taking him to the reading area. Eventually, we calmed down. We talked about getting frustrated, and he said “I don’t want you to do that.” He also copied my frustrated voice, putting his arms down by his side and saying “Zinnie!”
We did a ton of music time today. I’ve found it is easier to stay at home for long periods of time, as we are now focused on activities for longer, instead of moving on from one thing to another every five minutes and leaving a trail of destruction. So we’ll do 20 or 30 or 40 minutes of music at once. He wanted new songs, so we were learning songs like “Down by the Station” and “Did You Ever See a Lassie?” And others. He then wanted to draw notes, so we did more art, drawing notes.
Then we did do exercise together. He got into trying everything out, like wall sits, etc. We then read most of the orchestra book. We would pause when he saw notes, and he would sing. One of the songs he made went:
“The funny thing
The important thing
To know
Is the scissors are sharp
You have to be careful.”
I had stood up while he was singing and then he said “Hey. I thought we were reading it.” We finished the book, then took care of some animals. He was trying to give a shot, but the one with the vet set doesn’t work very well. So I went and got the doctor kit. He asked where it was from and I said the Kerns gave t to us when they moved to Israel. We played with it, then he asked “Tell me again bout staying with the girls.” So we looked up that day in the Day One app and talked about that day and other days he had babysitters.
We then composed a song for contrabassoon in Notion. Which reminded me that yesterday, as we left Children’s Grand Park station, we saw two people with cellos on their backs. August asked what the first one was, then spotted the second. Then, as we were outside the station, we looked across the street and saw yet a third. That led to me asking him what instrument he would like to learn, and he said double bassoon (aka contrabassoon). We might have one of those kids that chooses the largest, most expensive instrument.
He then had to go to the bathroom, after which I took a shower, but not until after I got him strawberries and crab for a second breakfast. While playing around, he said “Oh Baba. You’re too young to dive. You have to be older to swim.” Which I’m not quite sure if it is an actual line, or a retelling of the story I tell about Baba going swimming.
I made a sandwich for lunch, then realized the pollution level was really high – over 160. So we had more music time. Played cymbals and tambourine and triangle. He said he wanted more instruments. I asked what we should get next and he of course said double bassoon.
He went to the bathroom and had me tell him more about baby brains. We then ate lunch, starting with a pineapple coconut jello thing he chose at Home Plus awhile back. I mentioned that he had had coconut before, but couldn’t remember where, and he answered “Thailand yogurt” I mentioned that Gramma likes coconut, and he asked a bit later “Does Opa like coconut?” Also ate our sandwich.
Drew more molecules and Hebrew then he said “Want to make more music.” He wanted more instruments again, and I thought of the iPad. So he was playing bass and strings on there.
Pollution or no, we needed to get out. We left at 1:45. The idea was to go to the play area at Toys R Us. But we didn’t go because two things happened. First, he walked. And walked. Until 2:18. That was much of the way to Toys R Us. Every step. It was an exploring walk, finding all sorts of things (ginkgo berries, weird spots, leaves) along the way. Then, a couple blocks short, he suddenly wanted up. I put him in the stroller and he fell asleep at 2:25. Went to a coffee shop in the building on the third floor, called Cafe the Table Harris.
I started waking him up at 3:10, with little success. So I pushed him across the street to the park (백합어린이공원) and woke him up at the swings just past 3:20. Bingo. He needed to go to the bathroom (a third day with underwear) and then we went on the swings. We were singing songs, and I pulled out a few we hadn’t sung in awhile: A Ah Apple, and A is for Apple. I kept messing up word on the latter, and ended the “So many ways to mess up this song” He found that hilarious. Eventually he got off, and went over to the climbing structure. Climbed on it a bit, and went across the bridge, then wanted to go on the tube slide. This one is different though, with bars farther apart. He tried hanging on the bars a bit, and I helped him sit across the bars so he could slide down the last few feet. He wanted to stand on the bars, and I let him do it at the bottom. I took a photo, and told him it was a ‘Making mama nervous’ photo. I sent it to her, and she delivered, writing back “You’re making mama nervous!”
We headed out, getting to Home Plus by 4:40. It was a Zinnie-paced trip, as it lasted 50 minutes, despite having a rather short shopping list. For example, he really wanted to touch all the things in the pre-built aquariums and I was telling him he could only touch a little. He responded with “But I want to touch things a lot.” Also the first time we were searching out each other, having walked down different aisles, circling around, etc. And he wanted to play the privacy game in the store.
We got home after 5:30. They nursed, then they took care of animals. He then came out, commandeered the iPad, and sang from the songbook.
He went in on the toilet, then, pointing to the old sticky tape by the door, asked “Can I eat that?” I laid out a life lesson for him: No eating sticky things you find on walls. Or floors. Or under desks. Etc. So then he asked if he could eat hard things, then stated “I’m eating hard things.” and started eating the wall, the door, etc. As we walked back down the hall he said the funniest part yet: “Sorry, I just like to joke. I can’t help it.”
We read Drum Dream Girl at his request, then he did some iPad music, then art in Sketchbook. I gave him a bath and it was a hair washing day. Which went pretty well. He claimed to not like it, but then afterwards he was talking about every day being a hair washing day. He was out at 8:30. They nursed, then he had a bagel and cheese with me: “I’ve never had a bagel before.” Not true, but he probably doesn’t remember. They nursed after Carly got out of the shower, and they read After the Storm. He went with me to the bedroom and we read Drum Dream Girl and most of Berenstain Bears Go to School.
He had said he wanted to try falling asleep without nu
rsing today, and he agreed to try, lying between me and Carly. We gave it a good shot, starting just before 10. I told Puffin Rock stories and sang songs. He really wants the stories, so working on making him keep his head down for me to keep telling the story. He kept crawling over Carly though, or saying “Mama, mama, mama, mama…” and thinking of things: wanting water, the humidifier on, etc. I kept putting his head back on the pillow. He wasn’t getting upset really, and then started to really yawn. So close. At 10:30, as he was lying on his own with his head on the pillow next to Carly, he suddenly gave some big sobs. Carly let him nurse, we told him he had done a really good job trying, and he fell to sleep.
Photos. Drawing molecules:
Ginkgo berries:
Walking:
I don’t understand:
Playground:
Down the slide:
Touching aquariums:
He wanted to try on the pink snowsuit:
