Author: Ryan/Dada

At 4am August tried to get up: “It’s 4 o’clock. Time to get up.” Carly miraculously got him back to sleep. Carly got him up before she headed to work. When she left he was choosing a show to watch on Netflix but was a machine breaking down and couldn’t choose. He seemed to be thinking about choosing Max and Ruby. So I chose it for him. He liked Max and Ruby. Some good laughter at first. The stories are really repetitive though. He watched a few stories before being done. He wanted crackers and had a few. I made him a pancake with jam but he wouldn’t touch it. He asked to play Piano Maestro. I finished learning “Just the Way You Are” and we started on another song. He watched another couple of Max and Ruby stories. I exercised. I had made a pancake for him for breakfast but he had rejected that, wanting only crackers and the occasional strawberry.

He played with the tape measure and I was teaching him how to measure things. We went upstairs and played some of the Monster design game together. I then took a shower.

While playing monsters or something he said “I’m smashing you with 19000 hammers, 1 (something), 3 guns, 2 cutlass…like a pirate…2 mechanical arms…” The guns and cutlasses like a pirate was a reference to Captain Woodenhead in The 26-Story Treehouse.

Then it was his bath. He actually played for awhile today, spelling and reading words with the letters and bouncing the bouncy ball around.

Went down stairs and he watched the Marble Machine music video and ate his leftover honey and peanut butter sandwich. He stacked the chair full of pillows and called it the “pile chair”. It was a machine. Good until he tried pulling off the cushion.

He went to the bathroom and saw the vacuum cleaner and asked if I had tried to fix it in Korea. Been rather awhile since we’ve discussed the two vacuums and how the other one was loud and I moved the bag-holding clip from that one to this one. We made a strawberry and mango smoothie and drank that, then played with the kaleidoscope cards for long time. I did dishes and explained we needed to clean before we left so the house would be clean when we got home. Instead, he took out the keys to the piano. He wanted me to play more Piano Maestro but I made him clean up the keys first. We found the last key back under the couch and I used his ‘bassoon’ to get it out. He said “Thank you bassoonie.”

Worked on the Bridal March in Piano Maestro. He made me pause when he went to bathroom. He turned on the option so I could see the notes and explained “Dada, I wanted to turn on the note thing cuz it will make it a little easier.”

We got outside and he did some of his music machine. In the car I introduced him to podcasts. Carly had sent me an article with podcasts for kids and I had subscribed to most of them. We started listening to Tumble Science podcast episode called “Meow of the Misunderstood Cat”. August was hooked and after a minute asked me to add it to his playlist. I explained podcasts were different from songs (different app, for one) and we realized we could star them instead. The episode debated whether cats are evil or misunderstood and explained the science of their behavior along the way. August predicted ‘misunderstood’ and was excited when that was what the kid judges decided.

We then listened to a Story Pirates episode (“How Do You Play Day/Samantha”) and he wanted that starred too. The first story was particularly funny, too.

We got to Winter Lake Park. Parked on the west side this time by the wooden playground. He first wanted the one with his spiderweb (where he first started the buying things from stores game) so we walked over there, about 2:45. He first talked about his shopping list at one store. He asked “Do you have your equipment on?” That would be the equipment needed to climb on his spider web. When he bought stuff he asked “How long’s the receipt?” At Tiv Taam he always likes to see how long the receipt is.

We wandered around from toy structure to toy structure. Each was a different store. One had appliances (August informed me that he had to restock his web each time – the stuff from last time wasn’t there anymore), another had comfy things, another had fruits and vegetables. At the web he asked “Do you want to sit inter chair that has water in it? It will be fun. Cuz you will get your bottom wet.” And “I baked a cake. You can have some if you eat healthy food.” He said something had “your favorite trumpet in it”. I said “Miles Davis?” He replied “Oh! That’s my favorite band!…We should listen to Miles Davis.” He climbed over the web and was doing things he hasn’t done before. He realized this and said “That means I’m a better spider than last time…it’s because I’ve grown more…yeah, because I practiced.” He then made fruit salad and vegetable salad, then we ate those before eating the chocolate and peanut butter cakes he had baked.

We went over to tree-shaped spinning thing. This place had a movie theater in it showing a monster movie. We had rockets and “firelocks” and were apparently sucked into the movie theater and had to fight monsters.

That lasted a good time then we ended up back at his web. We did some Drops and he said “It doesn’t matter if a boy is called a yeled (girl). Can you call me a yeled?” I said I could, to which he replied “then you’ll turn me into a girl?” I said I don’t think my words are that magical. We then talked about heading over to the wooden playground. August said he the ground was wood, too. I said the ground wasn’t wood. He said he had turned it wood: “I did. I suppose my words are that magic.”

We walked to the wooden playground. On the swings for a bit, then he wanted to climb on the big structure. He helped push the stroller across the sand: “There’s our tracks. We can follow it on the way back…see where we go-to”. We did two big laps of the big wooden structure. There was a part I couldn’t really crawl through with the backpack so I went down and met him father along and he went through the net bridge on his own. He played railings like instruments (“Harps” he said a few times). He requested I take a video of it, but a worked started sawing something at the same time.

Earlier we had joked about going into the wood, and during our second lap he suddenly remembered his “wood power” and we were termites in the wood.

Finally, we were getting ready to go. On the way to the bathroom a boy on a skateboard calmly rolled by. August said “He should be careful on the skateboard.” We used the bathroom and he said “Thank you!” when I turned off the water. When I flushed he said “Oh! That’s a nice toilet.” Then “I WONDER how that flushes down to where the pee and poop goes…I wonder where…It has to go somewhere, dada.”

The sun was setting and we were close to the big pedestrian bridge, so we walked up on that. He got out of the stroller, and somehow, right there in the middle of the bridge, it turned into a big imagining session: “I turn posts into people…you run the posts through it and…it just rains people…watch this! Aargh! People coming down!” And “The people that are sick or dead go into the turbine and it shoots them up into space…to the sun…and when the sun is full it turns the dead people into NEW People!” The sun then came down and went into the ocean. And kept going and going. And was cooling down. And then he was just lying on the floor, looking down through the boards at the lights and cars below. He said “Yum! This wood is edible!…I licked it…I’ll justick it one more time!” And then he was a machine – a disappearing turbine, actually – that when you put food in it made the bridge disappear. We then fell down onto the cars, and were actually in a car, and the cars disappeared.

The sun was down and it was getting cooler so we put on his second coat. On the way back to the car we walked by the skatepark. I
asked if he saw the skateboarders. He said “I HATE skateboarding…because it’s so dangerous. I’m not gonna skateboard until I’m 100.” Hilarious. And I don’t know where this strong opinion of skateboarding came from. He was then pointing out all the kids not wearing helmets.

We went back to the car and left at 5:25. We listened to another episode of Tumble Science called “Voyage of the Ocean Trash”. Starred that as well. During the intro August spoke up and asked if we could ever clean all the plastic out of the ocean – right before the girl they were talking to on the podcast asked the exact same thing. At the end of the episode he out of nowhere asked if I remembered the words to “Do You Want to Build a Snowman?” He has had slight exposure to that song (I think we may have watched the video once, but months ago – perhaps Korea) but no idea why it came to mind. I didn’t, but I asked if he wanted to hear it. We don’t have it, but asking Siri to play it worked. We finished listening to it as we got home at 5:50.

They nursed and we got mac and cheese for dinner and he watched one episode of Max and Ruby. He and I then read half of Max Axiom Electricty. At which point he got up and started chanting in a robot voice “electricity” over and over. At one point hiding his head under the blanket while he did so. He got back up on the couch and we listened to “Do you want to build a snowman” and “Electricty” on my phone. He wanted me to play more Dust Buster but GarageBand wasn’t working. We read the rest of the Electricity book, then Carly took him up to get ready for bed. He said “I’ll dream about toothpaste and brushing my teeth.” I left them about 7:45.

Listening to podcasts: 

Winter Lake Park: 

Shadow: 

He woke up at 6:35. He came and sat next to me on the bed and I carried him down to Carly a few minutes later. She was about to go outside and drink her tea and he went with her. Back inside he agreed to a strawberry/cracker arrangement, but was then upset when Carly cut the strawberry in four pieces when I usually do two. So he had to wait until she was done making spinach pancakes before he ate. He had cinnamon and sugar on his, and was incredulous when he saw that Carly had yogurt and fruit on hers: “What‽ You didn’t put sugar? But the sugar’s sugar!” After he ate he came and sat on my lap and looked at the weather forecast with me for a few minutes.

Carly started to make macaroni and cheese and he really helped grating the cheese. I went and took a shower. When I came back down they were still grating cheese. August was being a mouse, stealing some. They grated the Parmesan cheese and August was interested in the hard shell part. Carly cut it off so he wouldn’t try to grate it. He asked why she cut it off and she said “I don’t trust you.” He replied “I trust myself!”

Carly gave him a bath and brought him back down and he sat bundled in his towel on my lap. He requested Toca Builders. He sort of built some three dimensional letters, then said “I’m building the Maze of Doom!” from 26-Story Treehouse. We did a little Drops then ate the delicious macaroni and cheese. He wanted to play the car and gas station game with the Duplo cars with Carly but she was cooking. I played with him, but he wouldn’t do the gas station part with me.

He had built a big pillow pile over his piano earlier (I had accompanied him upstairs to get pillows and he convinced me to let him throw some down – he called that the “Zinnie way” as opposed to the “Mama way”, which was sliding them down the steps – he did the last one the Mama way though and was excited by that too). He now went and removed pillows from the top and lounged across them and experimented by moving keys around and making different chord sounds.

I then went up to the office and started my work time. They had popcorn, took the backamapack and suitcases out to the car to see what would fit, and took care of the yard, I think. And other things I’m sure. They then decided to go to the beach. They went to Poleg Beach. The water was up high and it was really windy. Too windy, so they didn’t last long. They drove up to the boardwalk area but it was still quite windy. The cover on the bike acted as a kind of sail and the wind would still push the bike around when she took it off. There was one gust in particular where they just had to hunker down. They went back up to where the car was and across the street to the sort-of-science-y park with the helicopter thing where we’ve played before. They were back at 3:30.

As he went to the bathroom he told Carly “If my iPad breaks you will buy me another one.” “Not if you say it that way.” He rephrased “If my iPad breaks could you buy me another one?” This was bringing back a conversation from a couple days ago when he asked “Why do some kids not have iPads?” That had also led to a discussion of what would happen if he lost his iPad or it got broken.

August found the tape measure and was measuring things. Carly wanted to use it to measure leg space in the car. He went out and helped her measure. Came back and told me “We solved the mystery of how much luggage will fit.” We then went upstairs and solved the “mystery of the kaleidoscope cards”. He often says “I love mysteries!” He and I played with the kaleidoscope cards – putting together a few of the puzzles and making his own designs. He also licked his toe, which I was happy to catch on video.

Carly went out for a walk and he and I played Piano Maestro. Well, mainly I did and he watched me. I’m starting to get into two-handed songs, so it is hard, and the app breaks the song into pieces for you to learn one piece/hand at a time. So the first time for each piece I’d let him do “Zinnie mode” in which he would play as many mistakes/make as much noise as possible. He then lets me do “Dada mode” where I actually practice that piece. But after a half hour or so, as I was done practicing that song today, he took us to easier pieces. Then, he was suddenly doing it on his own. He did it a couple of times and was getting better keeping the tempo. In fact, he was playing with playing the notes slightly late in order to reduce his ‘Timing’ score, then did it again accurately.

Carly skyped with Cherie to discuss car things for the trip. August stopped playing piano. He asked “How many times are we going to Skype with Oma and Opa before they come here?” A good thunderstorm hit while they were talking. Poured rain and thunder and lightning. August went back to the piano and started playing Dust Buster, playing on his own using the on-screen keyboard. He found a set of Chinese songs. Carly got dinner for herself and ate while sitting a looking out the kitchen door at the storm outside. August watched with her, and when it was really pouring he said “Is it Friday or not? The ice cream truck will not come!”

I got him soup for dinner. He ate two bowls. But then he wanted a treat since he ate so much. Not happy there was no treat today. He went back to the kaleidoscope puzzle on his own and started to figure one out on his own. Got the first card, then needed my help to find the second one, but he placed it properly. I then helped him finish with the tricky third card.

He then remembered his “bassoon” from the park yesterday and asked where it was. I had figured he had forgotten about it and thrown it in the garbage. Luckily, the rain had stopped so I went out to the garbage and got it and washed it off. He played his bassoon and played Juicy Juice Store song on it. I told him I’d always wanted my song played on the bassoon. He sang London Bridge and changed up some words: “Silver and gold will waste too much money…my friend lady…” Then some Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. We then looked up some of the songs I’ve made up for him and sang them: “The hungry, hungry baa baa”, “Lost my helmet in the spaceship”, “The elephant was hiding low”, etc.

We went and read Lulu Witch, then a little over 20 pages of The Sisters. He asked “Can I get ready for sleep?” I took him up and got his pajamas on. Carly brushed his teeth. I told him to think about what he’d dream about while I went to get his water. When I came back he said “roses on a bed and a toothbrush on the flowers.” I left them at 7:55.

Sometime during the day Carly gave him a list of subjects (art, science, reading, music, etc.) and asked which was his favorite. He said “Science!”

Grating cheese: 

At the beach with Carly. He thought I’d like this door: 

Back home: 

Flexible: 

Bassoon: 

Reading with me:

I had a good book group meeting to discuss A Curious Beginning. Up about 1:10 and back asleep about 4. So I slept in. I think he was up a bit after 6. They watched a couple Sarah and Ducks and played with the Lego cars and the alien. He made a machine out of the pillows and chairs. I heard them debating ‘Unconnects’ versus ‘disconnects’ as he explained the giant/human making machine. When I came down he said “It makes 17000 giants.” He and the giants were then fighting an ice dragon – Carly. Carly made pancakes and we read The 26-Story Treehouse. When he was done eating he went and washing his sticky fingers on his own.

They nursed, then Carly went outside. That didn’t last long, as he wanted to play with her: “Can we play that car and gas station game PLEEEAAASE, mama?” She came in to play it with him. He sang part of “We all sing with the same voice” “…sometimes I feel angry, and when I want to cry I do.” They went back outside. He typed on my iPad outside at the table and I went up to take a shower. Back downstairs he was laying pillows over the couch and table: “I’m making an underground nest. But don’t destroy it.” Carly was making popcorn, and he lounged on the couch very relaxed as he ate it. I then took him up for his bath and he watched Marble Machine music video in the bath.

Back downstairs we did panorama photos, at his request. He was getting the idea of how to do it and keep it level. Then it was back to being animals: “I’m a talking rabbit…Its May!” And then he said “I’m popping ducks out of my bottom!” We then played the Flynne game “Bam Bam I mak-ed a shelf! I hammered the screws!” That was to wake me up.

I had some Cheerios and strawberries and he wanted the milk. I tried to give him a bit with Cheerios in it: “Get those out you silly Billy.” Back to the Flynne game he had May take  over the fox lair.

We got going to the big Tiv Taam. There, Carly headed right in and we got out a couple minutes later. He had found the tape measure in the console and was measuring things and wanted to take it in the store to measure things. As we walked through the parking Jack drove by and we said hi to him. He was driving up to pick up Celeste at the entrance of the store. As he drove on August asked “I wonder how Nellie’s doing?” So as we caught up to them and saw Celeste August asked her. She then asked if he’d like to come visit Nellie sometime. He said not right now, but that he would. We were in the store just after noon.

We found Carly and he wanted to get in the cart. Shopping went smoothly and we had a full cart. Carly had purchased supplies for the movie day fundraiser her kids were doing and so on the way back we stopped at the school and she took those things in. In the car August wanted to play with the stopwatch on my phone, but we realized that the stopwatch he had started a few days ago was still going and up over 190 hours. He immediately wanted to let it keep going.

Back at home Carly cleaned out the fridge and put away groceries and I made lunch for me and August. August was playing around and suddenly asked “Is there infinite stars? Is there an infinite number of stars?” So we looked that up. August also wanted a smoothie but he wouldn’t help me out by going out and asking if Carly wanted some too. So then when I wouldn’t make the smoothie he refused to eat the tuna sandwich as well.

Upstairs Carly plugged in the Christmas lights: “Why do you always put them on NOT BLINKING‽”

After awhile he kept asking for the smoothie, so I told him he had to help me with something. He picked up and put away all the pillows, so then I made a mango and strawberry smoothie. I asked him to get the milk for me but then realized he couldn’t open the door. Several minutes later he told us “We need to buy a refrigerator that’s easier to open!” As I was making it I assured him he could like the honey spoon. He was at the sink with Carly when I tried to hand it to him. Carly, thinking I was handing it to her to wash, grabbed it and threw it in the sink. August realized what she did and wasn’t happy about it. She rinsed the spoon and put some more honey in it for him.

We drank the smoothie, and for some reason ended up talking about putting gas in the car. I told him that my plan in the future was to make sure to open his window so he could talk to me. He replied “MY plan is to be out of the car THEN get gas.” He asked “Can we watch a song about loose teeth?” We found a Wobbly Tooth song on YouTube that he liked.

A bit later he asked for the mango popsicle: “It wasn’t enough sweetness…the honey, it wasn’t enough sweetness.” Carly got out the popsicle. When I took a photo he told me I should put it on the blog. Said the same for a photo earlier on the couch.

We did some Drops as Carly was making minestrone soup. He and I were then getting read to go for a walk and were about out the door when Vivian skyped. Talked for a couple minutes, then we got going for a walk at 3:45. As we left he asked “Dada, could you forget less?…Not forget so much?” I had joked I sometimes forget to take photos of a park when Carly told Vivian we’d take photos of the park for her.

As we walked up towards the snakes and ladders park he asked”How did we go places when we didn’t have a car and we needed to go places that were farther than we could walk?” I asked if he meant in Korea and he said yes, so I told him about the glorious busses and subway. A bit later he asked “How do you take a photo when is dark?…” He was specifically asking about a panorama photo, and I told him I didn’t think it would really work well if it was really dark. He asked “Then how do you take a photo of the sunrise…sunset?”

At the park he first ran over and played in his ‘shop’. Throughout our time there he was asking how many photos we took for Vivian (he and Carly had decided we’d take 10). When he wanted me to set him down on his hands and knees on a net thing he asked “Could you set me down like this? Like a bear?” We went and spun in the planets thing and talked about elliptical orbits. Then he wanted to take panorama photos of the park. He tried some from near the Jeep thing, then got up on the play structure and did several from there, intentionally see how massed up he could make them. Then it was over to the big climbing area where there were a few other kids playing.

Finally, some snakes and ladders. I sat on the ground to take a photo for Vivian. Then he came and sat in my lap. Cuddled there for several minutes and was getting drowsy and said he was tired and ready to go home. It was a little before 5.

Before we left he found a plastic piece of tubing that he wanted to play with. He carried it as he rode on the bike. He sang “She’ll be coming around the mountain” and then was playing it as in instrument. He said it was a bassoon.

We were home at 5:20. Carly was Skyping with Cherie. He went to the bathroom and told me he “Only a fair amount” of toilet paper. He’s been ripping off paper, but using too much. Back with Carly he told her “You should be Skyping with Vivian, not Oma!” He showed them how he played his bassoon. Carly told him not to put it in his mouth. He said he didn’t but “I accidentally put it in my mouth when we went over bumps. That’s what happened!”

So then he skyped with Vivian and showed her how to play bassoon the bassoon. He played and said “An excellent bassoon player!”

Carly gave him some minestrone soup. He was excited: “Dada! Mama’s gonna give me noodles soup! I love noodles!” As he ate it he said “It’s so good I can’t stand it.” When he dripped soup on a seat and one of us asked what he was doing changing seats he said “Moving that seat, silly boy!” He and Vivian got into a “MY toys is eating YOUR toys!” debate.

After skyping he and I finished our latest read through of The Sisters. He had a slice of apple pear
and a cracker. Carly took him upstairs and they played with the kaleidoscope cards. He was talking like a baby, but he liked the idea of dreaming about playgrounds. Carly started to put him asleep about 6:55. A first: He said “Blanket please” and fell asleep with a blanket on him. He nursed for a minute then asked “Did I go to the bathroom?” He then fell right to sleep.

He woke up just after 6: “Nurse-y?” Carly took him down. I came down and he was lying on the couch, but got impatient for Carly as she made her quesadilla. She came and read The Animal Santa (one of our library books this week) and Go Away Big Green Monster! and part of Wild About Books. He wanted a quesadilla of his own so Carly started it and I finished it. He ate half of his half quesadilla.

He watched marble machine videos “You need to type apples  and stuff in your typing.” He typed on the iPad a bit. He climbed in the upside down stool on the chair and said it was comfy. Then he wanted to do the metronome thing on my phone, which led to wanting to play mandolin, so I went and got that. He went to his music box and carried back the recorder, alien drum, and kalimba. We had music time.

He was still hungry, so I got him some strawberries and Cheerios and he watched Sarah and Duck. He did a strawberries/Cheerios eating pattern. I exercised. He stacked some pillows and said “Dada, I’m building a blue meter. It tells you how blue you are.” He also said he had a lab and it said “Danger. Keep out.” I think a Treehouse reference. He had me set him on the machine to test his blueness a few ties, then it turned into the Flynne game. He used the recorder as a magic wand and told me “I turned you into a mouse!”

We skyped with my parents, then he wanted to send messages to me, so we typed back and forth on Skype between his iPad and mine. We talked about going to play at the school this afternoon. He said “But I don’t think Bar will be there.” I said there could be other kids though and he said “I’ll like them, too.”

We went upstairs and he watched Sarah and Duck and I took a shower. He then wanted to play with the Kaleidoscope cards and insisted we play with the in the big bedroom. That’s where he and Carly had played with them.

Yesterday I had discovered a small scrape on the back of his thigh. He didn’t notice it until I said something. Before his bath today he said “Don’t wash that scrape. Only five seconds, you know.” He was over enthusiastic about letting the water out of his bath the second I put him in and he was upset when I stopped him. I quickly washed his hair and we made it through.

He told me “On Mondays and Fridays you don’t listen to Hebrew when you exercise. That’s your challenge.” I usually listen to a Hebrew app, but he wants me to use an exercise app instead. “That’s your challenge” is what I told him the teacher meant yesterday when she said he’d stay with her all through the class next week.

We had carrots and veganaise and he drank some milk while I made some of the sweet potato balls for lunch. Which he wouldn’t touch. He asked what lemon water was (from Sarah and Duck). I told him and he asked if he would like it. I told Hume “We’ll have to try it.” He replied “The question is, do we have lemons?”

He keeps asking me to do more Piano Maestro, which requires paying for it. He won’t do it himself, but I figured he’s so interested that I might as well pay for a membership and he can watch me playing and learning and maybe he’ll get involved. So we, or rather I, played Piano Maestro for a good hour plus. He was very encouraging for much of it: “You got it!” “You’re doing good, dada.” “Accidents happen.” He was then having fun making mistakes while I played. We switched to the kid version (Dust Buster – included in the membership) and played a little, and he played just a bit. Not much, but a good start.

We were then getting ready to do recycling and go to the school. He reminded me “Bar help-ed me on at the playground. We were cooking things. You remember that dada?” And he was ready to go: “I mean are you ready? Have you gotted our snacks and stuff?” So he helped me clean up (pillows everywhere, etc.) and we got ready to go. Outside, he said a feather and said “Is that one of our dog feathers? You know, to scare away dogs.” Which is actually a pretty good joke. Yesterday he had found the rocks in the same spot that were from the back of the orange bike – the rocks I keep in there to scare away dogs (which, luckily, we’ve had no problems with for the last couple months).

We left at 2:25 and went up to recycling. I had told August we could do the ice cream truck if it came (since it has been an ongoing question the last couple weeks whether it would come). But he’s had a lot of treats this week, and when we decided to head to the school to see if there were kids to play with I figured we’d miss the ice cream truck, which comes close to 3. Well, as we were at the cages doing recycling I started to hear it somewhere. I wasn’t sure I had money with me and didn’t want to have to hunt for the ice cream truck. So I sang along with a song he was singing and he didn’t hear it.

We finished up recycling and headed through the park. He saw a cool tricycle and said we should get him a bike like that, so I took a photo of it and briefly talked to the mom. A girl got on the bike, and August said something about it being Bar. He said “Every girl I see is called Bar.”

We kept heading to school and were just at the big roundabout intersection and turning towards school when he heard it. At first he wasn’t sure what it was and was asking what the noise was. Then, he stopped us, and looking back he identified the ice cream truck turning down a street. Took a few minutes to convince him that we might not be able to find it, and that it would make us late for playing at the school. He still wanted to play at the school, so he agreed to keep going.

We got to school a couple minutes after the bell rang. We headed first to the library. I said it would close soon, so he said he’d wait on the bike and I could return our three books (Berenstain Bears Too Much Birthday, The Animals’ Santa, and You Wouldn’t want to be a Medieval Knight!) and get a Magic Treehouse book. I went in and told Liz that August was sending me in to do his errands. I grabbed Magic Treehouse #15 and #16 and surprised August by getting The 26-Story Treehouse – which was the first one we ever read. When I checked them out and took the books out to August he did end up yelling hello to Liz and talked to her for a second.

We then went to the big playground, as there weren’t any kids on the preschool. On the way down in the elevator he lay down on the floor, which he always does in elevators. At the playground he started by climbing up on the web sort of thing and saying he was making mama nervous. He played by himself for awhile, but then there was a girl about his age who he started to play around and follow. She was a bit on the quiet side too, and eventually I heard August say “Hello” to her a couple times but didn’t hear if she said anything.

He came over to me and had a snack at one point and we read some of The 26-Story Treehouse. Then he was back, playing with the kids as they ran around. A boy asked him if he wanted to play with them. At one point they (6 or so of them) were standing around the spinning thing, taking turns. August did it once and excitedly told me about it. They ran out to the field once and he sort of stopped to ask if he could go and I told him he could.

Carly showed up and hid behind me as he played with them all on the big play structure. He climbed up the twisty slide after the girl (I think her name may be Sophia) did it – something he’s never done before. In fact, there there were a couple of other things (climbing up and swinging from bars) that he’d never done before until he was following the kids today and copying what they were doing.

They all ran way out into the field and ran around a bit. The girl said a couple things to August but we couldn’t hear what they were. They all ran back, and August ran right around Carly to keep running. Then everyone was going so August said “Let’s get going.”

On the walk home when Carly tried to ask what he did
today he just kept saying “I don’t know”. A few minutes after telling her about missing the ice cream truck he used some persuasive technique on her: “Can I have hot chocolate since we didn’t get the ice cream truck?” He was also talking about his powers: his straw power (he shoots out straws to suck things up) and something else, but he said his most powerful is his ice cream truck power, which fills the world with ice cream trucks.

At home he and I had nutty noodles  He ate with me while Carly took care of plants. They then shared the bubble gum ice cream bar we had bought for her a few weeks back from the ice cream truck. He was then being grumpy after that, and I said “You’re being…what’s the word?” He filled in the answer “Grumpy?” He was looking for his water and found it in the backpack: “It’s not a mystery now!” We read a few chapters of 26-Story Treehouse. He and Carly went upstairs and played with the kaleidscope cars and I heard him singing.

They came down and played with the Legos and Duplos

He got frustrated. Carly had him repeat “That’s too bad. I guess I’ll try again.”

Carly went to take a shower. He and I read The Cat in the Hat and The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. He then went upstairs with Carly. For his dreams he said “Bad dreams…magic rugs” No idea where the magic rugs idea came from. I left them at 8:10.

Kaleidoscope cards: 

Carly got him up, or he got up on his own. They nursed and she headed to work. We watched Sarah & Duck and ate crackers and cheese. He really liked the line “Building block? You’re definitely NOT my sandwich.” After the episode about making a sand sea cow he turned it off and we acted out finding an occupied shell – he was the baby crab. We read a little of Clemetine’s Letter, then he wanted to go outside and play his music machine (stick) and metronome (teeter totter). Of a chair he said “It’s a scale fortune teller…it tells you what scale something is…major scale.”

As we went inside he told me “Dada, my shop isn’t open on Hannukah and Christmas.” He played with the alien and spaceship and collected dinosaurs for the international zoo in the Andromeda sector. There was also time travel. This was s we listened to Sun Ra’s “Space Probe”. Seemed quite appropriate. At one point he said a dinosaur would die in the zoo, so I had the alien assure him that a team of paleontologist would come and study the dinosaur’s habitat and recreate it in the zoo. Sometime later he remembered and asked how the team was doing.

We read most of Max Axiom Electricty and he was then a robot and I had a remote control. A lot of talk of motors and being tiny like an atom and motors. The remote control and robot were broken and he had me fixing them with superglue.

I opened Google Maps and discussed what to do. He said “I want to show you what I was thinking.” Although he mainly wanted to search for gas stations, which he proceeded to do around the world. He found one in Greenland.

He looked at the Berenstain Bears book on his own as I got his French toast ready. As he ate it I was learning perfect and bad in Hebrew so we debated which the French toast was.

He played a couple of Toca apps while I exercised, then was upset when I wouldn’t buy a new app. We went upstairs and I showered. He watched Sarah and Duck and ate a couple strawberries. He kept watching upstairs while I made lunch for us. I learned my lesson – he got a peanut butter and jelly/honey sandwich today.

He chose his lollipop from his stocking today and was talking about having it in the car: “…get buckled up, then I can have my lollipop! That rhyme-ed!”

We did his bath – another quick version with him pulling out the plug. In his room he played with all his bracelets and asked where they were all from. He talked about how much he liked them, but he didn’t want to wear one. He said they were for seven-year-olds.

We were ready to go, so he played outside a bit more and was singing “Down by the Station”. He asked where the song was from and I said his songbook. He asked if it was on his playlist and I said we didn’t have a recording of it. He asked if we could get one, so in the car I searched Apple Music and we found a tolerable version. He listened to it a few times on the drive to the beach before he let me change songs.

We left at 11:20. His lollipop lasted the whole way (20 minutes) plus a minute on the bike. We took the orange bike so we could do a beach walk. One of the songs that came on on his playlist was a song from his Poli class. He asked if there was one about street lights. I found that, and it tells you how to cross the street. He asked me “Dada, do you always do that?” As we got in the stroller he asked “Why are Smarties little circles and they don’t stick together…they are cutted in the middle?” We had found the Smarties wrapper as we got in the car, so he’d been thinking about it.

We parked up on the hill, but it turned out parking was free. He had fun driving on the sand-covered sidewalks though on the way down. We got to the beach, and didn’t get too far, because right away he spotted an elongated hill of sand that he said looked like a person. And he wanted to destroy it. He asked if I’d brought the sand toys. We set our stuff down and got out our implements of destruction. We played on the sand hill. It was a building at one point, as I started making channels down it and said it was erosion, and he told me no, it is a building. So then I was making channels and he was destroying them, literally sliding down the hill on his stomach to do so.

We stopped to go and have lunch. He ate much more sandwich today, of course. I had brought my yellow water bottle from Korea. We haven’t used it in Israel yet. He wanted to use it and asked “Do you remember how we make it work?” I asked if he remembered using it in Korea and told him he had first drunk from it when my parents were in Korea and we were on a hike. I said “Of course, I’m sure you don’t remember that specific time. He replied “I still remember that in Pacific time!” Very funny as it is rare that he confuses words like that.

Back on the ‘person’ I started making a big hole. Then, I made a perpendicular hole near the bottom of the hill. August was doubtful we’d get them to connect, but he ‘helped’. Eventually, it did, and I mentioned pouring water through to see if it would go through. He excitedly grabbed the bucket and ran off towards the water. Unfortunately, there was a jerk of a dog owner with three yappy puppies on the beach, and August ran by them. They dogs, who had been chasing a soccer ball around, started chasing August and literally jumped up on him. I had to run and grab August. He was traumatized. The dog owner called his dogs away, but offered no ‘Sorry’ or anything to us. Said dogs were later just wandering all over the beach and around the tables at the restaurant. I didn’t say anything to the owner, but should have. August and I shouted one away from us later on.

Anyway, I got water and that cheered August up. First bucket didn’t work. But after several buckets and straightening out the tunnel we had water trickling out the other end.

We decided to go for a walk at 1:15. We walked north along the beach to the end of the swimming beach. Then took the bike over a couple of rock places. We then cut to the east, off the beach, in search of the Israel National Trail, or at least where that portion of it is marked on Google Maps. We tromped our way through garbage-laden sand and dunes, over a busted guardrail, etc. But eventually gave up when it was clear there wasn’t anything between us and the road. We turned back and tromped back to the beach and walked back. Along the way he found some of the blobby rocks and kept one that did, indeed, look like a “Sea cow” rock. Back near where we started we stopped under a shade shelter and had a snack, then read The Berenstain Bears Too Much Birthday. He got on the bike and was ‘spying’ through his hands, then the handle. We left at 2:05.

As we walked up to the car he told me “I hate parties”. He said he just wanted the three of us and a cake for his birthday. He didn’t like the idea of a bunch of people at a party. I had Carly ask him later and he articulated it quite well. As we got to the car he used a couple of new phrases. He joked about calling the car Sputnik instead of Skoda. I said that would be a good name and that Carly would prefer that name over Skoda Mama. He insisted the car was still Skoda Mama or Carly though and said “I would prefer if you call our home Sputnik. If you care about that.” There was then some dog poop by his door and I asked if he wantedto get in the other door. He said “Well yes, if you (don’t) mind.”

I’d forgot to ask him about using the bathroom and he thought he needed to go, so we then drove down to the beach and walked in and used the bathroom. We then headed home. I stopped at the strawberry stand and August said he’d wait for me in the car. I got a couple containers of strawberries (25 shekels total).

We got home and made a smoothie. He said it made him turn into a strawberry. Which I then ate. But he said he was a strawberry with mold on it: “Some cyanobacteria on it! And volvox!” He learned those from the Classify It! app. That made me sick, then he went a
nd got the doctor stuff and checked me out and gave me medicine.

He was then being a kitten, and Carly got home a little before 4. She was asking what we did today and asked if we went to the beach. He replied “It seems to me we did.”

He went outside with her and was then being a baby. He went down his slide and helped water. I vacuumed the car. Then August and I got in the car and headed to his activity class. We were a little early, so we drove down to where the road to Kfer Netter has been closed. Don’t know why, except it is a legal thing. Very frustrating, as it is already insanely hard to get from one town to another here.

We went to his class. He had been positive about it all day, and started okay. Lasted about 10 minutes then came out and said he was leaving. Sat with me for awhile, then back in. She had a magic wand activity, and turned them all into snakes and they were crawling around (and I recognized the word for snake). When it was August’s turn he used the wand and said “I made you disappear!” When she had him choose an animal he said “Dog!” Then I heard him say “I made you disappear!” again. They crawled around acting like dogs, and he was the loudest dog – reflective of how he sees dogs as a species, I think. I also saw him standing in front of the mirror, staring at himself at one point.

He was then back out with me, sitting on my lap again. I took him to the bathroom and he saw they have the heart toilet paper: “My favorite toilet paper!” He speculated how much toilet paper they have, with all these people: “More than we do. I’m sure they get more rolls.” Back in to class again, then back out, saying “I’m tired. I can’t make it all the way through class.” Rested again, then he went back in for the last couple minutes. And at the end he stayed to help her clean everything up. When he came out he was very happy and excited that he’d made it. But as we walked up the stairs, unprompted, he said “So class was pretty good. But I don’t like class too much.” He then told me th teacher said he would stay in the whole class next time.

As I got him in the car he kicked off his shoes and then was looking for them. I spotted one, and he told me “I have better eyes than you.” He hasn’t mentioned that recently. Also didn’t work at that moment as I was the one that saw it. We got home and sat in the car for a few minutes as a song I liked was coming on. He got out of his seat and looked at the screen: “Is this song called Angel?” It was, indeed. I asked him what else he could read on the screen and he read ‘back’ and ‘up next’. The song was Depeche Mode’s “Angel” and he added it to his playlist.

Inside they nursed, then he had nutty noodles for dinner. Carly then had the computer typing messages to him. He was doing a good job of reading them. Carly took him upstairs and after they had been up there for some time I went up to see what was going on. I opened the door and Carly said “We’re going to bed!” They were playing with the kaleidoscope cards my parents got for us last Christmas, I believe. They were having a lot of fun, particularly when they realized we had two sets. We got him ready and brushed his teeth. I asked what he’d dream about. He said “I don’t know. Scary dreams and mosnters eating me.” Beaches? “Yes! And scary monsters.” Carly had to go do a few things, and he cuddled in on the bed with me. He wanted blankets and pillows pulled around him and he was being a baby “when you first met me”. I told him he had held my finger when they first gave him to me, so he did that. He then asked “Are you used to having me around?” Which I thought may have been a discussion that he had had with Carly, but it hadn’t been. I told him it had been a big change, but that I was always used to having him around. She came back and he was asleep about 8.

Kaleidoscope cards: 

It was a big day. It started when Carly got him up. As she woke him up the first thing he did was give her a big smile, eyes still closed. When they came down after 6:50 he asked me a couple times “Are you going to take me to my bath?” It seems like he may have been having a dream about bath time.

Carly headed to work. He messed with making buttons and copy and pasted a huge document on my iPad. He went to the bathroom and I wasn’t happy when he unrolled the roll. He explained he would do it while he was three and stop at four. I got him an apple and some crackers and he watched a new Sarah & Duck about scarf lady. He said “I think the telephone is knitted! I think the whole house is knitted!” And he was laughing a lot through the whole thing. He watched the show and I did Arabic and Hebrew. He got down and we put the keys in the piano and he requested a piano video. We did two.

When I exercised he has been wanting me to use the Seven app again, which tells you what to do with an animated person. He asked if the app would know if I stopped doing lunges: “Thr police will come?” And he asked “Does that person pee?”

Played with both his kaleidoscope and telescope, then played a song for me: “This song only needs the white keys.” We went upstairs and I took a shower. He wanted to get going to the science center today but it was difficult to get him to focus, as he kept getting distracted. We did a very short bath for him, but he was first distracted by Carly’s spray bottle.

After his bath we got him dressed. Chose his robot shirt for the science center. He asked “Who gave me that robot shirt? When I put it on I feel like a robot!” Couple minutes later: “I love this robot shirt!”

We were in the play area and I had random music we hadn’t listened to playing on the iPad. A long track by Thurston Moore, which is basically an homage and exploration of guitar feedback, came on. He asked “What is this? I love this song! Could you add it to my playlist?…You should totally add this to my playlist!”

He started sitting in the rocking chair and banging the wall: “When I bang the wall it gives me chocolate ice cream! Don’t you know that? I love this ice cream shop…And the harder I bang the chocolate-ier it gets…those bangs were a bit too chocolate-y.” I then noticed that the banging, which he had mainly done a couple days ago when I was in the shower, was actually chipping the paint. Worse, there was a big scratch below it. He said he had been doing it with his finger. I think he was enlarging something that was already there, but we talked about how he couldn’t damage the wall.

He watched the Marble Machine covers video while I made lunch: “Dada, I’m playing all those instruments inside me.” An ad came on and I commented that it wasn’t his favorite ad : “I STILL like it. It’s about brushing your teeth.” He played with the pillows and set them up between the couch and the table: “Can I try to relax on it like you did?” He then reenacted me from yesterday lying on them and falling through.

Trying to get out the door, he played a chord on the piano and asked what it was. We looked it up on my phone, then outside he played his “music machine” – the one with his long stick, the rake, the swing, etc. As he walked out to the car he said “see? Easy peaey!” He got his chocolate snowman once in his seat. Then asked “How did candy appear in my stocking?”

As we drove up to Hadera and the Technoda science center he was singing, making things up. He sang about a monster trying to bite, wanting a mystery, and cake and cookies.

Parked at 11. We had just gotten a fuel message saying we needed to refuel and he wanted to read it. Once on the sidewalk he had to act it out: “Can I pretend to be a car and we run out or gas and we’re stuck in the middle of the highway?”

We went in only to find that the inside museum part is now closed for a year or so for renovation. Major bummer, as it was the funnest thing we’ve found within 30 minutes. The outside part was open and they let us in for free. There was a big group of students out there, so we walked around the water stuff first, then sat to eat lunch. They were Palestinian students, and a bunch of the guys were playing music and dancing, which August liked. I had made my new toasted pita sandwiches, with a variety of options: using mushrooms, cheese, pesto, etc. August wasn’t impressed.

I started working on my Arabic typing, translating some of the words on a sign. As the students cleared out a little August wanted to go over to all the music stuff. We wandered around that side for quite awhile, playing with everything, particularly the long tube that you talk and listen to, so you hear the delay.

We now had the place almost to ourselves. He tried the water bucket on a pulley and it was hard. I noted it was a single pulley so it was hard. He looked at the other one and said “That’s not a single pulley!” Did that, then the pump, which he could push up, then hang in the air as he pulled it down.

He asked “What’s the best way to get water?” I started talking about modern water systems. He said “No, I mean in the past!” We did the screw thing (Archimedes’ screw?), then finally went and figured out the remote controlled solar-powered boats, with the help of the attendant that was there. We were the only people out there but the attendant still told me I couldn’t actually touch the boat when I tried to show August how the rudder work.

But we had fun, then finished up outside we went inside and did the coin thing, dropping them into the funnel thing. August and I had stocked up on 10 agora coins before we left, and August had gone out to his calculator in his Zinnie shop to get more.

We raced one around, then waited for a group of school kids to clear out, then we did more. More students came in, and one student put about 10 coins in at once. August liked that, and said “Who wins?” He also started singing our Juicy Juice song. When we were done we went and used the bathroom. He was excited about the sink: “Yeah! The sink is exactly my size.”

He wanted to do Drops, so we sat out on a bench in the hall and did AR view in Drops and reviewed words. When we did boy and girl he said “I’m a ילדה(girl)  I’m not a ילד(boy)” Of course, a minute later he said “I’m a kitten.” I was then talking about how it was too bad the museum part was closed and said “I’m disappointed about the cars on the track” He told me “You don’t have to be.”

When we went to get out we found that the gate outside was locked, and no one was in the guard station. We went back in and the desk area was empty too. After a minute someone came, then buzzed us through the door.

We stopped at the car, then walked a block west to the park and playground that we had played at with Carly when we first came here. He climbed up into the play structure and was excited to be taller than me, then came down the big slide. I got a call from Seth regarding the Sabeel work and August let me talk for a few minutes while I talked to him. August and I then wandered around a bit, playing, then went over to a big merry-go-round that, when you turn it, the individual seats then turn as well. Pushed him on that for awhile.

We then got back to the car at 1:30 and August played in the driver’s seat. He discovered the windshield washer fluid worked. I then had the idea of going down to the beach, which was close.

We got to the beach at 2:15. I parked, and got August out of his seat. August was giggling and smiling as I turned off the car. I asked him what wasso funny and he said “I trick-ed you that my window was open!” I had to turn on the car again to raise his window.

We walked down to the beach and found a good spot. Made circles with the cups, then he chose a diamond shape for the moat. After awhile he had more fun destroying the moat and castles than bu
ilding them. He washed his hands off in the sea, then asked me to bury his feet in the pool that was forming as the tide came in.

We were leaving 3:25. We tried to find a bathroom. As we walked, he asked “Why does persons have to have fingernails?” A bit later he asked “Can I have some mime mineralim (mineral water)?” He had remembered the term from the Drops drinks category.

I got a call from Bet-Chen, the Hebrew teacher at the school, saying she had time to do a Hebrew lesson with us today at 4. So I conferred with Carly, who thought the lesson would go better without her there, and August and I hurried back to Even Yehuda.

Along the way I stopped at a gas station. Thought we had it down by now, but this station was giving me different choices. As I was trying to figure out it, I realized that August was really upset and crying in the car, trying to get out of his seat – he had been calling to me but I couldn’t hear him, and he couldn’t open his window as the car was off. I was about to give up (we still had plenty of range for getting home and all), but an attendant came and helped.

August calmed down and watched the numbers on the pump. The attendant thought we must be cold, just in our t-shirts. Back in the car August asked “Is Skoda Mama’s tummy full?” We talked more about the Hebrew lesson and he shouted “Nooooo!” More funnily, he objected, something along the lines of “Hebrew TEACHER‽ But, we have Drops and Memrise (apps we use on my phone)!”

We got to the school and Heidi directed us to the floor below the library, telling us that was where the language teacher classrooms are. August had fun as we hunted down room 468. August had brought his kaleidoscope in the car, and I had suggested he bring it to show the teacher. He took it in to see her, and instantly warmed to the Hebrew lesson, particularly when she gave him a chocolate cupcake. They played with matching fruit and vegetable cards, talked about the cupcake, played with a big ball (he started counting in Hebrew as he bounced on it). For much of the time he was mainly parroting everything back that she said – quite well, but kind of funny. I realized later that it was because he’s used to Drops and Memrise and repeating back what we hear.

They finished by watching a couple of Hebrew songs on YouTube – a couple of color songs and a version of one of his favorite Hebrew children’s songs.

We finished up, then went outside and Carly met up with us and we headed home. Carly commented on how the seat was moved back and asked if August wanted it moved forward. August loudly responded “I WOULD NOT PREFER IT FORWARD AND WHAT ARE TOU TALKING ABOUT?” So funny.

We were home at 5:20. He showed Carly his music machine, and of the teeter totter he says “The faster it goes, the faster the BEAT!” “There’s another way it works…”

Inside we got dinner, and I made a sandwich like I had for lunch for Carly and me. August reminded me “The one you should have brought was peanut butter and jelly!” On the way to school he had also told me “Dada, my favorite sandwich is peanut butter and jelly.” I told him I got the message. He had nutty noodles for dinner, then Carly made him hot chocolate.

On the iPad he played with Musyc, then spent a lot of time composing a song and would occasionally ask me to add notes too. He asked me to be a sleeping fox – we haven’t done the Flynne game in a long time. After playing that for awhile, I put on my socks. August said “A fox doesn’t put on socks!” I said “But what about Fox in Socks!” and we talked about when we got that book for him: it was at Whatthebook when my parents were there. Carly had then taken August back via the subway, losing a hat along the way. My parents and I had gone on to the Korean War Memorial.

Anyway, we read Fox in Socks, Green Eggs and Ham, Gustav the Goldfish, and The Zax.

Took him upstairs and Carly got him ready for bed. He told me he’d dream about “science…and scary dreams, and scary monsters, and monsters eating me.” I left them at 7:45.

But he was back down at 8:20. We read Fox in Socks again, Hop on Pop, I Can Read with My Eyes Shut, and The Foot Book. He stood up and played the wall hanging as an instrument. Took him up and left them at 9:20.

He had lots of “I wonder…” questions today.

Quicksand: 

Wall hanging instrument: 

Being blurry: 

Carly said he wanted to read books at 3am, but luckily went back to sleep. He slept later than me for once, only just barely. I had just made it downstairs when we heard “Mama?” at 6:25. Carly headed to work and he was playing on the iPad, typing. He asked “How many words are there?” We looked up some numbers on how many in English and all languages. And I was explaining how there were thousands of languages. He said “Like Frenchinado. It’s a new language. It has nineteen million…”

I made French toast and straweberries. He ate almost a full piece. As he was almost done I asked if he wanted another and he said yes. I had just cracked another egg when he changed his mind and said he was full. He wanted to do food coloring experiments and I said yes and he went to get out the containers. He told me blue had leaked and held up his hand, covered in blue. It could have been disastrous, but wasn’t. When they had organized they had put the spices, etc. in plastic bins. It had just gotten on that and wiped off. Same with the counter where he set the leaking container. We went and washed our hands. They were slightly blue all day, but nothing else was.

On the iPad I suggested he find the app with Muffin Man in it. No luck, but he played with a few apps along the way and had fun in the Monster Lab app making monsters. In Hebrew he used the AR view in Drops and was going through the categories one after another, reviewing. When we had a lot of words in a category he would say “We’ve done a fair amount of that.” We exercised. He asked “What happens if you don’t exercise for a whole year and it (phone) reminds you? A police officer would come?”

He said the black chair was a pipe, so we climbed in it to explore. There was a treasure chest, then a sucking machine in it that sucked us over to the square rug, which was a “whirlpool in a wardrobe”. He said it sucked off his clothes and started to take off his clothes. That was a reference to the Treehouse books where they have a whirlpool and it sucks off their pants. The whirlpool took us to another world.

He said he wanted to go for a walk, so we left at 9:45. Started up north and found a bag of books. Rescued an old Hebrew dictionary, a couple of random Hebrew children’s books, and Dr. Seuss’s Happy Birthday book, in Hebrew. That was the big find. We dropped those off at home, then we wandered down towards the trail. Ended up at the little not-much-of-a-park. I reminded him how he had blasted monsters there once, so he was doing that. He climbed on the rocking log thing, then we went over to the merry-go-round. Played a bit more, then we sat on the merry-go-round and studied Hebrew.

I explained to him how 2nd person pronouns (you) are gendered in Hebrew and gave him examples. He got grumpy and insisted that I use the girl pronoun when talking to him. I said okay. Then a minute later he was still grumpy and told me “It doesn’t matter” which pronoun he chooses. A cat wandered over and was nice to us and I pet it a bit. I told August though that you have to be cautious around cats you don’t know because they might scratch. He didn’t want me to pet it anymore. He was then a kitten, climbing on my lap.

He eventually got out and got on his bike and was riding around the little park area on his own. Then he was a cat again: “I’m going to scratch the furniture when we get home…I’m gonna snag some of my אמא’s clothes when we get home.” At first I thought he was still being a kitten and he meant he was going to scratch the clothes. But then he talked about using them in one of his piles, and I realized that he meant he was going to ‘snag’ them as in ‘steal’ them. It was a word he got from The Sisters, as one of the girls ‘snags’ her sister’s clothes. Also, I liked the use of Hebrew instead of ‘mama’.

We left at 10:30. I thought we were going home, but he initially drove us towards school. He asked “Can we go back to bus rides sometime?” I said yes, in a couple days we could. He drove us up the block, then back down and said he wanted to sit at the bus stop for fun. So we did. But when I asked what we were doing there he said he had “tricked” me and we were actually going to take a bus. I pointed out we couldn’t take his bike, and I didn’t have money for it. But it’s as a good trick.

We were home at 11. He really wanted nutty noodles for lunch so we had those. He then was setting up pillows and things (books, spice containers) and told me “I was trying to debug the computer!” First I thought he learned ‘debug’ from Carly while playing on Scratch, but the I realized it was from The Sisters when the older sister ‘debugs’ the computer by surrounding it with chairs so her sister couldn’t bug her.

We decided to get some new Sarah and Duck cartoons, so we got season 5. Watched one together, then I took a shower. He was hungry, so we went down and made a smoothie. We then a did count-to-ten superfast bath for me, then he helped me clean things up downstairs and we searched for our library books to figure out what to return. We found the noun book and Berenstain Bears Stage Fright book upstairs.

He asked “What if we learned-ed all the words to learn?” I said there’s always more to learn. He responded “Like us learning French?”

We left at 1:25, on his orange bike. He got a chocolate snowman from his stocking. He took a bite and said “The chocolate snowman said ‘Oww’.”

We got to school and first saw Airport Megan. He did a good job talking to her. We parked the bike and went in and he returned the books, carrying them all over to Liz. Then walked across to the cafeteria and did our metal recycling. Been awhile, so the bag was pretty full. He can now stand on his own and just get it in the container. Hard for him to see the hole though, so he preferred me to pick him up.

As we walked back to the library he asked “Do you remember the first time we came to the library and it was closed?” I couldn’t believe he remembered that, but it was true. We met Amanda and she said the library was closing. We saw Ada as we entered the building and talked to her for a minute. We went in the library and set down our stuff. He looked up at a framed puzzle of penguins and said “That’s a lovely puzzle.”

We went to look for books, and he was really into finding books and would have checked out about 20 if he could. We got a stack and started reading You Wouldn’t Want to be a Medieval Knight in the reading area. A preschool class came in. They said he could stay for story time with them, but he wanted to go away. So we went to the corner with all the beanbags and he made a wall of them. We read a little more of that, then read Berenstain Bears and Baby Makes Five and  Too Much Birthday.

He wanted to go play, so he scooped up all the books and just carried them up to Amanda to check them out on his own. We walked down to the preschool playground. On the way down the stairs he was looking to blast things and he declared a woman coming up the stairs a monster and started to blast her. I tried to stop him, but she found it amusing and blasted him back. He played at the music wall and play kitchen by the entry of the preschool, then headed to the playground.

At the playground he played the xylophone tubes and then set about doing some cooking with the pots and stuff. There were some slightly older girls playing together and they got in an argument. August would pause and watch them. Then, one of them came over and started helping him fill up the pot with wood chips. He told me “That one helped me fill it!” She started playing with him, and told the other girls “This is my best friend.” One of them said “Do you even know his name?” So she asked. I told August to ask back, and she said “My name is B-A-R.” (It is short for something.)

August was attached. They cooked together, then he followed her over as she used the dirt/sand to put out a fire in the
castle they were pretending was in the passage through the building. They were picking some leaves, then the girls all ran off and all the way to the big playground. He said “I need my leaves…I’m following her!” And chased after. I watched from the passageway. It is the farthest he’s every played away from me – maybe 50 to 70 meters. He followed them back around the other way a couple minutes later.

He and Bar (and Olivia) were then getting dirt wet in a pan and getting their hands dirty. I rinsed his off once with his water bottle, then the second time he just stuck his hand on in, getting it nice and dirty. He followed them into the preschool a couple of times, and I went through with them once. He, Bar, and Olivia lay on the grass a bit, a distance away. Once, when coming back from the preschool, he saw Olivia go through a metal archway/trellis. He commented on it, and I started to show him the vines that were planted and how they were starting to climb it.He was interested at first, then said “No time!” and ran off.

Bar and Olivia and their parents left about 4. August and I put all the pans, etc. away (something no one else seems to do ever), then went up to the entryway of the library. I looked at the free book shelves and saved Patrick McManus’s They Shoot Canoes, Don’t They? and Eugene Ionesco’s play Exit the King, which I was particularly excited about.

Leaving the library Carly talked to another teacher, who asked August his name. He first replied “Zinnie”, which was interesting because he had told Bar “August”, then said “I call myself Zinnie and August nowadays.”

We left at 4:30. He had been so calm and happy all day it had to change at some point. He was wanting to ride on the wrong side of the bike path, then yelling at people on the way home. Carly picked him up and carried him the rest of the way and he was better.

At home they looked at the plants outside, then had nutty noodles for dinner. He wanted the marble machine video, but instead we found these videos of other Rube Goldberg-type marble machines. August was fascinated and watched video after video of them. He went outside with her for a short bit. He wanted tea, so I brought him cinnamon and honey tea. They skyped with Colin. Colin was excited to see August and still calls him ‘Ata’ and was telling him about the digger in the video they were watching.

August and I then read a good chunk of The Sisters before Carly took him upstairs. They read a little of the Medieval Knights book, but then switched to baby mode. Read a couple of the little nursery rhyme books, one of the Pigeon books, and part for Brown Bear, Brown Bear. And they looked at the kaleidoscopic stacking cards that my parents got him last year.

I suggested he dream of marble machines. I left them at 7:40.

I watched episode 3 of the new season of Black Mirror (haven’t watched the other episodes yet), then did some Sabeel work. When I went to bed I heard him whine in his sleep “Can I do anything?”

Food coloring: 

AR view in Drops: 

Chocolate snowman: 

Spying: 

Reaching recycling: 

Playing with Bar: 

He was up just after 6. When I came down a little later he took my iPad when I set it on the table. He and Carly played a little Ear Wizard, which is a ear training app where you identify chord progressions. Think he would have played more except he doesn’t like that you run out of chances when you make mistakes. Carly headed to work and August, who keeps asking for a new Toca app, played a couple that I realized we already own (Toca Kitchen and Toca Band) and I made the last of the pancakes. He ate a few bites, but wouldn’t eat any more. We did the AR view in Drops for a bit, then he wanted to measure the spiky plant in the indoor planter, after we talked about how it had grown a lot. But we couldn’t find the tape measure. He was excited: “Another mystery!” Exercised, then we went up and watched the “Fancy Park” episode of Sarah and Duck together.

I took a shower, then we watched the “The Play” episode together. He mainly ate strawberries and crackers for breakfast. We did his bath and he spent a lot of time watching the Marble Machine and then animated musical instruments (Animusic, I think it is called) videos.

Downstairs, he took blurry photos of me, then had me take blurry photos of him. He chose the best one and chose a filter, so I posted it to Instagram. While I started to get lunch together he, who was just wearing underwear, lay face down on the rug in the kitchen in the sun.

He asked for peanut butter on a spoon and said “There’s crunchies in there! There’s zookeepers in there!” And he ate a few carrot sticks dipped in pesto veganaise. Finished making sandwiches for lunch, then we put together the piano together. He played the piano and was making some cool patterns so I took a video. He saw me, and wanted to perform for a second one. He was performing for the camera, then wanted to watch it.

I said he could have a Tic Tac in the car, and he asked if it was a mint one. I said those weren’t out there, but he had a box of mint ones from Christmas. That reminded him of his stocking and he wanted something from it. He chose Smarties and was very, very excited. I also got out a balloon and we were blowing it up and letting it go. He really liked that too, but wanted to get in his car seat so he could have those Smarties.

As we got our shoes on he did the head pushing game, the kissing game, then we made up new ‘games’: he did the bonking game, bonking his head against my leg. We left 11:30.

In the car I gave him his Smarties. He ate them slowly, making half of it last until Ra’anana Park. We listened to his playlist and he requested the Teuni Teuni theme song again, then a repeat of Pil Pilon as we got to the park. We went to pay. August was very concerned about enough time – he wanted to pay for a whole day. We paid right at 12, until 3:15. August wanted to see the engine of the car so we popped the hood and spent a few minutes looking, then we headed into the park.

We decided to go over to the instrument area first. He said “I loved the instruments part…there were so many monsters there!” He remembered blasting monsters last time. He had spotted a cat near our car, then said “Its a good time for cats to be around. Cuz it’s a nice day.”

At the instrument area there were other kids doing the turning thing. He was patient and played other things first. And he banged on a harp thing and said he was playing along. We eventually sat on a low wall and ate some lunch. When other kids were done, then we went and played with it. I peeled an orange and August didn’t want any at first. He gave in and ate a piece and told me “Oh! It was good! You were right!” While spinning the music box thing and listening to the songs he said of one “it had ‘הילדים’ (children) in it!” And he kept talking about how many steps he was getting, walking around in circles.

Before we left we used the QR code scanner on a few of the plants, and we were admiring the different kinds of oranges in the trees. There is a variety of citrus fruit that looks like small oranges the size of olives. August and I picked one and tried it. Like a strong lemon, but with an orange-ish taste to it.

We got walking and after discovering the ‘zig zag’ sculpture (I first read ‘zig zag’ on a metal sign, in Hebrew), composed of 3 metal pieces that align to make a zigzag if you stand in the right location, we made it to the concrete maze/play area. he wandered around in that for a bit, using the telephone and finding a sweatshirt someone had forgotten. We then continued on to the first playground we had played at with Carly when we first visited the park – the big covered one. August remembered of part of it that “it was taped (closed off) last time”. He played on the big swinging log thing and made music. He told me he wanted to spit and I got him to go over off the playground area. I asked him “why’d you spit?” He replied “For funsies. Because I wanted to go back to spitting.” While on one of the toys he described his store. It had all sorts of random things: “17 baby swings…” Back on the swinging log he made music again and asked “Can you pretend to shoot heavy metal balls that make notes?” This was a reference to one of the Animusic videos, where marbles bounce off of wires to make music.

He did a lot of singing of “She’ll be coming around the mountain.” I got a phone call from Omar at Sabeel. August did a pretty good job of letting me talk. He had me swing him around on a spinning thing and he got pretty dizzy. We left that playground at 2. I pointed out a sculpture of a cow and the Hebrew word for ‘cow’ (I’d also read the word for horse on another). He said “I hate cows. They’re stinky.”

Finally, we went and played at the big playground, notable for the acorn rocket and the huge wooden play structure. The acorn was in use so he wanted to play in the log again, but it looked like there was water in there. I gave him permission to use his sweatshirt (which he wasn’t wearing) to dry it up, but then he said it wasn’t working. It was something sticky. Oops. He rode in the acorn rocket with a couple of other kids. The mom pushed and sang a little “Jingle Bells” along with him.

Back out he climbed on some little platform things. He asked “were those in Korea?” They have spirals on them and they had them at the spiderweb playground. He ran over to the pointy rope climbing thing. He saw a sign on it and said “I hate signs”. He then asked what ages it said and I said 5 to 12. He got really sad and started to cry. Picked him up and held him in my lap and tried to explain what ‘designed for’ means. He kept saying “I can’t do it…I can’t” then defiaintly “I CAN do it.” Finally, he started to calm down and I reminded him of “making mama nervous” photos. So he climbed up on it and had fun taking a making mama nervous photo. Then he ran and climbed up a metal ladder and asked me to take another making mama nervous photo.

Then it was to the big wooden play structure. Climbed up and went around on that for awhile. But then as he was going down one of the steep, shallow staircases he slipped, about three steps up. He held on tight to the railing though and swung around, holding himself by one hand, until his feet landed on the ground. He was a little hurt and dazed, but not too bad.

Played around on some of the smaller structures on the way back to the stroller. On was a time machine or the such: “Done! We’re at Anavacanda!” He sneezed and I counted them. He asked “Why do you always count my sneezes?”

We went to the bathroom before 3. He used the wheelchair stall and said that’s the one he always uses. He was asking about the bars, and liked raising and lowering the bar that is movable. He washed his hands well and now likes to dry his hands, but they just had hand dryers in this bathroom. I used it, but he said it was still too loud for him.

On the way to the car I stopped a free library, so
I stopped. Got a Hebrew book of short children’s stories and an English version of Saul Bellow’s Herzog. We got to the car just before 3:15, much to August’s relief. As we got to the car he said “Our Fabia Mama is right there.” In the car he was looking off at something and I asked what. He said “I’m spying at the sun.”

He’d been asking to get hot chocolate at the store, so we stopped at Tiv Taam at the mall. He had the second half of the Smarties on the way and was falling asleep as we pulled into the parking lot. We went in and got crackers, then had difficulty finding the hot chocolate mix. I asked a woman, in Hebrew, where the hot chocolate was. Was stumped though when she responded ‘Lo Ivrit’. She spoke Russian. August and I eventually found it though.

We drove home. I called Carly as I though she might be walking home. She was, and just a few seconds away from where we were when I called. One of the first things he said was “Can you show mama the making her nervous pictures?” I asked if I could tell him about his fall. He did a great job of saying I could tell her, but not so he could hear it. I think he said something about keeping it a secret from him, and being quiet. We told him I could wait and tell her later.

We were home before 4:30. He was on his teeter totter and taught Carly the term “Time signature.” When I told him I’d be leaving he said “Yeah! I get mama time!” I asked what he’d dream about tonight and he said “Bad dreams…and Smarties!”

For the Guys’ Night Out I drove, picking up Jack. Rick then joined us for the ride over. There were eight of us total. No movies in the theater worth watching, although I’d hoped we’d go see the Star Wars film. But everyone had already seen that. We had dinner at Rubinstein instead, which is a bit pricier. And involved lots and lots of meat.

While I was gone August ate dinner, then had hot chocolate outside. They ate popcorn and watched about 20 minutes of Brother Bear. They read a couple of books and he was asleep at 8.

Being blurry: 

Lying in the sun: 

Lunch: 

My sweatshirt:

Zigzag: 

Pensive of the swing: 

Acorn robot instrument: 

A making mama nervous photo: 

He was up at 6:48. He whispered to me “Time to wake up.” When I came down a little after 7 she was making him oatmeal. Carly tried to get him outside and mentioned the sun. He said “You mean that bright thing in the sky‽” We read The Sisters instead, then he made a pillow pile. He wanted more pillows from upstairs and Carly tried to get him to go get them on his own. He wanted her to do it, but she told him that the “guidebook” said that he was old enough to do it. That sort of worked, and she went up with him and showed him how he could push them downstairs.

But upstairs he wouldn’t clean up the mess from yesterday with her. Eventually I traded with Carly and he calmed down and I got him to clean it up with me. They nursed, then Carly needed to head to work for the Conflict Resolution project. He and I plugged in the guitar and played GarageBand. He then switched to Piano Maestro and mainly had me play it. He wanted me to pay for it so I could play more songs, but he only tried it once and said he wouldn’t do it more: “Too hard”.

As he was looking at the guitar chord lying on the floor he saw a crescent shape in it. We took out laundry and went downstairs. He added his animals to the pile of pillows, putting them in caves. We then played Toca Plants on the iPad. I talked about how creating the new plants is a kind of puzzle, and how he likes other puzzles. He said “I love the puzzles.” I mentioned other puzzles he has liked, and mentioned the Busy Shapes game. He wanted to play it, but I said it was too easy for him now, but he insisted, saying “I like the baby one.” So we downloaded it so he could have some nostalgia time with it. I exercised, and he played with the AR mode in Drops. We just discovered it. Basically, it is a fun way to review the words you’ve learned. You move the phone around and see bubbles with pictures in them around your room. You pop them and see/hear the Hebrew word. He was telling me he knows the spa words and how to read the letters correctly.

Upstairs I took a shower and he watched one Sarah and Duck and ate strawberries and crackers. He had a good bath. He was throwing the letters up in the air, which was good when he kept them in the bath area. He then had an excellent hair washing, as he pulled out the plug as I was doing it and thought it was really funny that I had to wash him quickly, so wasn’t bothered at all by me actually doing it: “Sorry, there’s no more water left. We did’t make it in time.” But actually it did. I made salmon sandwiches and we had those with strawberries for lunch. We were listening to an album called Teacher and the Rockbots and he had his foot on mine and we were doing more pumping in time to the music to make it go. If we stopped he would then pause the music and say the machine had stopped. We’ve done that a couple times now.

We talked about the bicycle and third wheel trailer. I assured him he could go on it and it was safe. He said “Are you sure, dada? I’m seems to me it isn’t safe.”

He was playing piano and I interrupted him to put on his pants. I actually apologized first for interrupting him, then he said “Next time you do it I will…Could you not interrupt me?” I liked the ‘I will’ in there as I think he was starting to say a threat, like ‘hit you’, but thought better of it. I went upstairs to do something, and he called “Come listen to my song…hurry before it is over.” He played that and another improv for me. After that he got up and I picked him up. I said I loved his music and he said a very sweet “Thank you” and gave me a big hug.

He went back to the piano and took the keys out and said “The London Bridge is falling down!” He then put the keys in randomly and was seeing how they would sound. We took the innards out of the piano and played with them using the xylophone sticks. He also played with his kaleidoscope.

We finally got ready to go outside and watch me ride the bike around a bit (without him on the trailer): “Yeah! I really want to do that! I will be excited!” As we took it outside he talked about things he likes to do: “But the most fun thing to do is play music” “…watch you ride that three-wheeler bike.” “But the most fun thing I’ve ever done is THROWING AWAY THINGS IN THE CAGES!” He watched me ride. He was interested, but first said he would ride when he was an adult. When I pointed out it was for kids he said “Maybe when I’m seven.”

We went for a walk at 1:45. Apropos to nothing he asked me “What is geography?” So I explained. He was driving us in funny loops and stuff in the park and said “You know we’re writing funny letters right?”

We got up to the snakes and ladder park (his request) at 2. Let him coast down the grass hill once, then he went and started his store. He said “We’re a small things store!” On the structure he sang a little song: “Falling down a passage / And it goes to a dark-making village.” Which I thought was an impressive rhyme. We played around the rest of the park: the Jeep, the spinning thing, etc. At one point: “I think I’m running low of Zinnie power…I have 9 percent.” I had to charge him by turning the spinning thing over on the structure. Climbed through the rope structure with my help, then we went to snakes and ladders: “Let’s pretend the snakes is ladders, and the ladders is snakes!”

We did some more AR view in Drops, then went on the spinning thing. We were being Earth spinning around the sun. He was talking to Jupiter, then when I got off he made me Jupiter.

Finally, we went and relaxed in the round swing. He said “I love this place”. I asked for clarification and he meant that park. He then asked “Can I have שוקולד הם (sounds like ‘chocolate ham’ – means ‘hot chocolate’)?” I said I didn’t know if there was any left at home. He replied “If there isn’t that’s okay, but if there is dada could you get me some chocolate ham?”

We left at 3:15, taking the back route out of the park, so a slightly longer walk. We stopped at our park and did the store again. He did a couple of funny GIFs for Carly as we sat up top, then we spotted Carly walking home and called to her. She came up for a couple minutes, then we all walked home at 3:45.

I found the hot chocolate. Carly made it and I put his hot chocolate outside. They went outside and I joined them after drying off a chair. He requested more hot chocolate, and Carly gave him the last little bit. He tasted it and said “It was pretty hot.” Didn’t cry, but was sad and climbed into Carly’s lap. After a minute he went and drank the rest of it.

We all went inside and he skyped with Vivian for a long time. There was a lot of hanging up on each other and calling back. Vivian said that Colin had pooped. August said “I’m gonna hang up. I don’t want to smell the poop!”

Nutty noodles for dinner. August told Carly (his idea) “Should have done a haircut when we skyped with Vivian.” August and I played Wizard School and he was doing more people/monsters/robots than he has done in the past. My favorite sort of looked like a family of 4 together, but when I asked what it was he said “A winnicado…it’s one of the meanest monsters in the world.”

We took him up for his pajamas and when he got those on without too much of a fuss I gave him some of our treat bread. We then brushed his teeth. When I said I love him a ton of Qs he said “I love you ONE star.” I asked if I could have more stars and he said “I shoot stars at you.” I asked what he was going to dream about and he said “Stars…and scary dreams.” Left them at 7:20.

Animals in caves: 

After his bath: 

Snakes and ladders park. His thinking face: 

Climbing: 

The Earth: 

GIF for Carly (not sure if this will work): 

Hot chocolate: 

The Winnicado: 

In the middle of the night he got up on the bed in between us. He then turned sideways and put his head on my chest and used me as a pillow for quite awhile. Apparently he was using Carly more like a soccer ball. At some point she straightened him out. He was up at 6:20. I was still trying to sleep and he came and tickled me to wake me up. They went downstairs and ate popcorn and watched Timmy Time. And I heard him playing piano. When I came out he was upstairs and starting to make a mess/pile in his room. But he wanted to add more and more stuff, and when we wouldn’t let him keep getting more he was upset and locking us out of his room. Carly got him to calm down and played with him a bit, then he and I played in the main bedroom for awhile.

We went downstairs and played Math Tango for awhile. Carly made him a pancake but he only ate half. I took a shower and they went for a walk to the park, where they mainly played store. I studied some Hebrew, then was going to go find them and they got home as I was heading out, at 10:50. August asked for some strawberries and crackers and was singing “Do you know the cracker man?” I heated up some french fries and he rejected those. I questioned what 3-year old doesn’t need french fries. He and I were then singing Zip-a-dee-do-da together.

We all got going on an errands mission at 11:10. As we got in the car he sang the words to Jingle Bells to the tune of Do You Know the Muffin Man? We first went to Ace. We got a space heater for the bathroom, an extension cord so we can use our vacuum cleaner on the car, and a new electric kettle as our first one died. ANd Carly bought a couple of candles.

From there we headed to Tiv Taam. August and I played out the playground while Carly went and started shopping. He went on some of the rocking things, then up on the play structure he went down the straight slide several times. There was another girl there and she went down the spiral slide so he wouldn’t do that until after she left. His favorite part though was the Tiv Taam price stickers that someone had put on top of one of the rocking things. He spent several minutes humming and scratching them off with his fingernails.

When he was done we went in to see if Carly was done shopping. We called her and she said she was by the lentils, so a little later, after we had helped a little bit and were checking out, he used her pen to draw a map on his hand and said “Do you see where we seeing my finger map? And the lentil section is right there.” He also added the bathrooms to his map.

We were home at 12:45. He played in the car for a few minutes until he needed to use the bathroom: “There’s pretend babies there. Did we take away control?” Inside we tried out the new heater and played Tea Party. And he made another big machine out of all the pillows. It was a water machine that made water and put it in bottles. Carly made a pancake for him. He also drank some milk, but dripped some on the table. He helped me clean that up.

Carly was cooking, making nutty noodles, and August had some raw tofu: “I like the raw tofu!…Mama, why is raw tofu good?” We read chapter 9 of Magic Treehouse $14. I had some chai tea and August wanted some. I gave him some, further cut down with some milk. He really liked it and asked for more. I suggested we look for decaf chai sometime at the store.

I was trying to get August out for a walk as we were getting in Carly’s way in the kitchen. But then he got interested in helping Carly and helped her grate cheese and do other things. He had some nutty noodle before we left, and she started on the lentil soup.

We got going and went up to do recycling. The cardboard cage was open so he was excited about walking into it. Then, at the glass recycling someone had left several wine bottles out on their own and a bag full of wine bottles. So August had fun recycling all the glass, which was shattering quite well in the bin. We then went for a walk. We went around the Holly block. He said we were going to go seven times. Near the end of the second block we actually ran into Holly and her daughter. August pointed out a cat to her and we told her what we call the block. August said his walk meter was at half and that “I made it out of clay.” A reference, I think, to the statues in the Magic Treehouse book which it had said were made out of clay. He said that meant that he wanted to go home for awhile, then we could go on more of a walk. We were back at 3:40.

We played some Classify It, learning a good amount as we worked through some of the advanced levels, and Drops. They nursed, then briefly skyped with Cherie. Carly had realized that the parsley was missing from our Tiv Taam trip, so August and I left on another walk at 4:25. We went over to the mall. We figured out the parsley and found some matches for the candles. I had suggested we’d get a little something extra, and we went back to the sweet breads. I was thinking like the honey bread, but he saw one with dark stuff in it. He thought it might be chocolate. I told him it didn’t really look like it. He said it would be okay if it wasn’t chocolate because it would still be good.

We were back by 5:30. Carly was skyping with Cherie. We had the treat bread and turned out to be fig and coconut. Actually pretty good. They then skyped with Vivian. She and August were skyping for a long time, and eventually August stopped Skyping and we realized Vivian was gone. So Carly hung up. Vivian called back a minute later. Vivian and Cassie were talking to August and he was spinning the fidget spinner. Cassie asked what he was doing and he said “I’m spinning my poop.” When they were done there was sort of a race to hang up. August cut off her last sentence and said “Sorry. I already hanged up.”

He ate a little of the soup Carly had made, then we were doing Drops. I told him we had to do ‘Geography’ before ‘More Geography’. He did about two words with me before he went and asked Carly if he could use her phone so he could do the ‘More Geography’ section on his own. He asked me to send him a video on Wizard School, so I sent him three: one that looked like the phone was flying up the stairs, another of Puff talking in dragon language, and one of Angeles’s head slowly coming in and out of the frame, silent. He watched those, then as Carly took him upstairs to get ready for bed I sent him one more of Monkey Nice Banana’s head coming into the frame, then going around in a circle. I sent it to his iPad, then set up the iPad in the bedroom so he’d see it when they went in the bedroom. He thought that was pretty fun.

He was being pretty crazy before bedtime. When I asked what he’d dream about he said “Bad dreams and Wizard School” I left them at 7:25 but he came down at “7:52”. Carly took a shower. We read A Violin for Elva, then had two strawberries and crackers. We read 20 pages of The Sisters, then we finished Magic Treehouse 14. We took him back upstairs about 8:50 and he fell asleep that time.

He took a photo of his pile: 

Outside Tiv Taam: 

Trying out the heater:

More machine: 

Squeezing lemons:

Holding parsley and looking at the meat: