He was up at 6. Carly skyped with Cassie and family. Vivian was playing a song on something, and Carly taught them the “I like to make mistakes”. I told Carly how I intentionally make mistakes with that song so that August can correct my mistakes. Vivian was really into talking to August, but he found the Dr. Seuss music app I had installed on his iPad and he was hooked. He was playing that, and started to sing “If I Go” to it. Carly left for work and had to hang up the Skype call.
I made scrambled eggs and veggies for breakfast. He continued to play with his music apps. He drank some water and said “I’m using my water bottle to make music with my hard rock guitar” as he sucked on it and it made noise. He wanted to play mandolin and I went to take it out. Then, tragedy. I went to pick it out of the case as he bent over to look at it. I hit him with the headstock in the left cheek, and one of the wire ends poked him below the eye. So kind of lucky, as it could have been worse. He didn’t exactly see it that way. When he calmed down, I played mandolin and he played piano and we played a couple songs together for the first time.
On his iPad he chose Magic Piano and we figured that out a bit before he moved to a different music app. Exercised, then we read Welcome to the Symphony. He memorized the sentence “The brass section…” after he had me read the paragraph several times. We watched a piccolo flute video, then he watched Pirates of the Caribbean (symphony, that is – he hasn’t seen the movie yet). He was still hungry so had some crab. We then had some word silliness: “I like to make mistakes…” “That’s a funny thing to moon…” “The trombone is wearing my sock in the orchestra.” Him: “I started to say my ribs didn’t work but…they are bone…I said they were broken.” And he quoted the Peek-a-Zoo app: “Can you dance th macaroni?”
We watched brass instrument videos and found a guy who shows off and plays all sorts of random bass trumpets and alto horns, etc. August was then playing music but being silly about it: “I’m playing the trombone silly.”
I went to take a shower, and I heard him call out, still processing the videos we had seen several minutes earlier: “There’s a bass trumpet the guy knows? There’s a BASS TRUMPET?” Before I could get in the shower he then said through the door: “I’m 77 hungry. I’m still hungry.”
So I got him something else. He then invented another silly game: “Oh yeah? Well I’m a…” We would take turns finishing the sentences with a random instruments, animal, or other random thing: play structure, joint. He was then copying my answers. We also ate the last piece of pizza.
He said “Sing the song I don’t know…falling.” I didn’t know what he was talking about so I made up song about me falling and breaking my arm. Finally realized he meant London Bridge and he was really excited (although he said he also liked my song). I tried to go take a shower again, but just as I was about to step in I heard “Turn off the water. I want to make a nest.” I tried to ask him to go watch something or play piano but he got a sad look on his face and went and lay down on the reading area. So I made a nest with him. Some good cuddling, then he started talking about neighbors and was pointing in every directions, asking “neighbors that way?” I said we might have less neighbors in Israel, and that was hard for him to believe. He then got the little puzzles and we did some of those.
Finally, a shower. At the end he said he had to go to the bathroom. I was drying off and said he could go and I’d be there to help him wash his hands. When I came out I found the door closed. He had turned on the light, closed the door, and was on the toilet. When I opened the door he said “You surprised me”.
We ate a small piece of cake, then did the big Itsy Bitsy puzzle and sang London Bridge. We left at 12:30.
He sang the Mani song until a few stops from Children’s Grand Park. He was then singing his new song, “Anikalooah”. Those two, plus his “The shovel caved it out” are his first three very clear and repeated melodies/songs.
We went and did some sidewalk chalk (he was asking how to spell words in Korean, like playground, mama, dada, and writing them), then had some food. He saw the tennis ball in the backpack and asked why we had it, then wanted to play with it. He immediately started throwing it to me and was super excited when he got it to me. Started a couple feet away then got him to back up a bit. Every time I caught the ball he would jump up and down and be excited.
He was acting tired several times, and so I figured we’d try a walk. He did some hopscotch, then we went to the bathroom, then for a walk. He was singing and singing. We paused to eat some crackers and he said he was done singing, but it soon started again. So we went to the lower coffee shop. As we walked in he said “I turns to upside down V turns to N turn to M”. He did another one as well. We did multiple of these when he was learning to draw letters (C to O to Q being the most common), but these were ones he had just imagined in his head while walking.
We went to the counter and he was looking in the display case. He saw muffins and said “Looks like muf-cakes”. Wasn’t clear if that was intentional or a slip. Very nice either way. We got a strawberry smoothie, then went and he did art on his iPad. After awhile he started asking me for help in spelling his made up words from his two songs and was writing them down.
He said he wanted to play a big piano. Not sure if he remembered there was a piano upstairs or if it was a coincidence, because then he seemed surprised when I said there was one upstairs. He kept saying “You mean up there!?” and pointing to the ceiling. We were joking about me hiding something, and he made up “I hid Zinnie’s iPad because he didn’t follow the rules.” Then, as we walked up to the roof he said “I was dreaming about having a long piano.” I later asked if he remembered any other dreams he’s had, and he said no, but he reiterated that he remembered dreaming about a big piano.
We played the piano for quite awhile. I hadn’t worn my heavy coat today, but in the shade on the roof with some wind was a bit chilly. Couldn’t elevate though, as he was so excited. Let him get up and see inside, and he really liked that. We played songs together, and he made things up. He also surprised me by transposing the songs he knows to different keys: He figured out Are You Sleeping on the black keys, Itsy Bitsy Spider starting on G, and was working on it on the black keys as well.
It was time to get going. We went to the bathroom up there, and he asked “What’s a woozle?” Remembering that Pooh story that he was a bit frustrated about because he didn’t learn what woozles are. We talked about reading more Pooh, but then forgot later.
At the station he was walking around and playing an instrument while I stood in line. I asked what he was playing and he replied “French horn. You know. French Horn’s the best.” On the train he stood most of the way. He was looking out the door and saw the train going the other way. I said it was the train going south like we had earlier. He then pointed the way were were going and said “That’s north?” Then left down the tracks: “That’s south?” He ate some crackers, then asked me about the months and we worked on the ones he doesn’t know. He did fine standing up, but the last few stops started lying down and I corralled him in the corner by the door so he couldn’t lay down in the middle.
We were home at 5:40. They nursed and I trimmed and cleaned his nails. We read Welcome to the Symphony, and then they nursed again and read one of the new books Carly brought home from the library. She gave him a bath and I did dishes. He was still hungry, and she fed him some of the quinoa. It looked like eyes: “Why does the mushroom have eyes?…I want another one with eyes
.” “Mama let me eat quinoa in the bathroom!” “Say that’s thousands of eyeballs.” Joked about eating Bob.
Lots and lots of french horn and trumpet playing at home today. Finally, I introduced him to a book I had just purchased: Boston’s Museum of Fine Art’s Musical Instruments. It is instruments from their collection, many with audio or videos. He watched a few of those and loved it, but was rubbing his eyes. I left, and he fell asleep about two minutes later at 7:35.
Photos. Puzzles:
Throwing:
Trying to close his eyes without squinting:
Spelling his words:
