Carly was out in the parlor and heard the bedroom door open sometime after 12:30. But August didn’t come out. She came and checked on him and he had opened the door, then, while standing on the floor, put his head down on a pillow on the bed and had fallen back to sleep. He smiled when Carly picked him up, then slept the rest of night on the reading area until 7:20.
I got up a few minutes after him, and ended up spinning him on the floor. He was back to his optical illusion: “it looks like it is turning but it actually is not. Optical illusion!” We had banana bread for breakfast, then Carly Skyped with her parents. I took a shower then we all got to work on more sorting and packing. Carly started with the books and toys by the reading area, and August had fun making towers out of blocks. Then August and I went through all the books by the desk and all the books out by the couch. He chose a ton of books to donate, and was also very happy to save books. When I held up a book he liked he’d get a big smile, grab the book, and take it in to the big box we were using. He did a good job of choosing books to donate. In the evening Carly and I went through and pulled out a few that we wanted to save, but it wasn’t many.
That took a good chunk of the morning. Then at some point he was doing math problems and asked about 2+2. Knowing he knew the answer, I gave him a nonsense answer. He ignored me, and told himself “Tu sabes”. We had a can of chicken in the cupboard, so I used that to make us a chicken salad sandwich for lunch.
In the afternoon we headed out for a walk, all in shorts and short sleeves, as it was 73. We stopped and got coffee and fruit drinks – August chose mango and banana. While we waited he climbed on the big spheres outside.
We walked up to Madeul Stadium, doing Carly’s route from when she first was taking August out. We got up to where that big globe is, and August wanted to get off and look at it. Did that, then went to look at the new seating area, etc. at the Environmental Education Center. They’ve added a lot there in the last couple of years. There’s even a little indoor playground. Not too impressive, but might have been fun during the winter. We then went into the building itself and played there for quite awhile. There are three stationary bicycles that you can use to power Christmas lights, a radio, and a fan. Did that for awhile, then August and I got out the notebook and did some insect and plants rubber stamps that they have there. Finally, there is a wall where you can turn on different appliances and see how much power they are consuming. August and I played with and discussed that for several minutes.
We headed out, got on the bike, and walked around to the Madeul playground. They went on swings, then August went to play on the play structure. He went down the slide once, then went and got Carly off the swing to play with him on the play structure. He then went and got on the bike, ready to go.
We went to the spider web playground. There it was to the swings first, then I pushed him a bit in one of the broken toy cars that were around. We went over to the play structure, and Carly saw a ‘Store’ window area, and that became the main game. First, she sold him things, then they switched and he was the shopkeeper. Left that at one point to go on the spider web, but he fell forward after he climbed onto the spider web and that was the end of that. It was back to the store after that, and eventually it took some convincing to get him going as he wanted to do even more store.
We all came home, and made a grocery list. August wanted to go to the store, so we all went. Carly hurried ahead to start shopping while we parked the bike and headed down. August and I stopped to watch a couple kids lose at the claw machine (it of course dropped the toy). He and I then went and found tissue packs for the backpacks and found Carly just as she was finishing up.
At home, Carly made couscous and zucchini. He played some Dragonbox Numbers. We ate, then she went to a shower and we did some drawing. He wanted me to draw a cow, so I did a very simple cartoon cow, but that wasn’t up to his standards. Did a snake and a spider, but then he wanted a ‘real’ cow. So we pulled up a photo and did a cow that was more to his liking.
I gave him his bath and washed his hair. I had a playlist of ‘unplayed’ songs going, and we were on the numbers: i.e. Bands that start their names with numbers. He really liked 10,000 Maniac’s “These are Days”, so we added that to his playlist. Then he really liked a hard rock song by a band called 8STOPS7. Finally, he wanted me to add 4 Non Blondes’ “What’s Up?” to his playlist. We were playing with the squirt cars, and he was spraying himself in the face and mouth with air, saying he was drinking the air.
After his bath we went in on the bed and listened to some more music and looked at the photos on the wall, counting the mamas in the picture from Glecy, and the Vivians in their picture. He went to sleep a little before 7:30.
Sorting and playing:
Environmental Education center:
Playground:
Home:
