He was up at 7:22. Kind of a short night. They nursed, then read some Amelia Bedelia. They then skyped with Cherie and everyone in Mexico – Cassie and family are all there. August played piano for them, then Carly moved to the parlor to talk. When August noticed they had left, he started pushing the piano in there, then was following her around the apartment with the piano. Eventually, I got him on the iPad, and he wanted to play the Duck Duck Moose apps. He did Word Wagon, then I helped with division in one of the apps. We went and did math on paper and with blueberries, then was pretending to float in space like the people in Metamorphabet when he was doing head stands and I was holding his feet. Then he was a jellyfish.
More nursing, then Carly tried to read Creepy Carrots but he wouldn’t let her. They read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. He started by intentionally skipping words. They then read Creepy Carrots. We switched, and I read Frog and Toad’s “The Dream”. We discussed dreams and he said he has weird dreams but remembers “zero things.” Carly vacuumed, and August and I read the Splat the Cat snow book.
Carly turned off the vacuum, and August was asking her “Are you done mama? Are you done mama?” Not realizing she had headphones in. He went to the piano and was playing. I asked what his third song should be, and he said Itsy Bitsy Spider, so I started to teach him part of that. It will be his first song using a black key. He also played his little C major tune that he invented and has played many times.
We had thought about him skipping a nap today, but he was acting sleepy, and eventually Carly took him in to the bed. But he only slept from 12:40 to 1:07. He clearly didn’t think that was enough, as he kept wanting to nurse and was cranky. Carly was holding him, and I started joking about stealing him from her, and he eventually perked up. He and I shared a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and several strawberries for lunch.
He decided to move all the stuffed animals from the couch back into the reading area. He was taking exception to Carly moving them in the other direction. Moved a total of 14 things in, but when I asked him how many he counter up to 35. “I skipped 18 and 19. Who needs 18 and 19?”
He wanted heart surgery. So we did that, but he said his heart was still slow. So he gave himself a shot and said “I put some earwax in there and now it’s gonna be fast.”
I was getting ready to go and do some grocery shopping, and Carly was going to get him outside. It was in the mid-40s and sunny today. I was trying to help get him ready, but first they shared some crackers, then he really wanted to do math on paper, then words. He started telling a story of sleeping in the stroller and singing the Jumping Game song. Didn’t entirely make sense, but he told it in a very soft and serious tone, and seemed to be based on real memories to an extent.
I went to the pink building, then returned the groceries to home and went back out to try and find them. I called and texted, no answer. So I walked around the park a couple times, then headed to the stream. They had walked along the stream and I found them walking the street home. I was able to run up and surprise them. He didn’t want to stay out, but wanted to get home to do numbers. We were home about 3:40. He put his nursing mittens on but then we decided his hands were warm enough that he didn’t need them. It was so warm in the apartment that he took his shirt off as well.
They nursed and did more math. Carly started spaghetti. August and I did all sorts of exams and surgeries stomachs and hearts and veins and arteries were involved. I had gotten some Shaun the Sheep bandaids at the store but he wasnt too excited about them, saying he didn’t like bandaids.
I went to make coffee and August had me count some blueberries, then he went and was playing Yankee Doodle. We played mandolin, and he helped me take off one of the sets of strings so it will be easier for him to push them down to make notes. Carly was getting compost ready to take out, and August was inspecting it. He touched, or pretended to touch, it, and we had a good germs discussion. I said he could study germs when he grew up, which turned into a discussion of careers. He said he didn’t want to do that. When I asked what he did want to do, he settled on playing piano. He went and was playing the piano, and playing the C major and chromatic scales and singing along. As he got to the high notes he was squealing and explained “Because I was going to the high notes.”
We ate some spaghetti, then I took out the compost. They did some mandolin together. I came back and they nursed and did more math. He was then showing me his kicking and saying he could kick fast. He went to the bathroom, then told me he was sleepy. We went in on the reading area and read Paddington. Carly showered, and he played Metamorphabet. More fun with the vacuum one and vacuuming up the village.
He and I shared 3 bananas. Or, rather, 2 and a half. Played more piano, then the guitar on Metamorphabet. He took one more bite of banana, and said “I’ll have the rest after my bath.” Carly gave him a bath.
They had fun in there, then he said something about “I hope Manny is here.” Then said that was “Made up.” I thought maybe it was the same pretend person/something that he talked about yesterday. I suggested it was his first make believe friend, and that led to a discussion between all of us of what is real and what is pretend. I had mentioned Nearly Headless Nick (our ghost in the chair) and we discussed him.
He and I ended up on the reading area and read most of Cat Alley. Tried for bed at 8, but he was back out 20 minutes later. I heard them debating what his last name was, as he leaves out the ‘Althauser’, which I swear is none of my doing. He had some water, then found the part on the iHerb box where it says ‘Thank you’ in several languages. We talked about them, then he pretended to trace them. We then read Kipper’s Snowy Day and Kipper’s Toybox (twice).
They went back to bed at 9 and fell asleep by 9:15.
Photos. Reading with mama:
Resting:
Math:
Mandolin:
