Author: Ryan/Dada

Headed to the puddle: 

Fireworks: 

Getting pushed: 

Glowsticks: 

More fireworks: 

Columcille: 

He seemed to have a lot of bad dreams last night, although it wasn’t clear what any of them were about. I was downstairs by the kitchen when Vivian and Colin woke up and opened the window above me. “Hello!” Colin kept calling. August was then up at 8. He came out, then retreated a bit from the attention. I held him while he woke up. For breakfast he didn’t like Cherie’s oatmeal, instead requesting oatmeal with milk in it. He was then doing a lot of coveting: wanting the chair Cassie was in, the bathroom when Vivian was in it.

We got ready and left just after 9:30. Everyone but Jeff and Cassie. We took Vivian in our car and Chuck and Cherie had Colin. Got to Freefall Trampoline Park about 10:10. I took August to the bathroom, then we got jumping at 10:30. A lot of jumping and sliding. I stayed with them for awhile, then Carly took him into a big climbing structure thing and I sat and read for awhile. They went back out and he fell at some point. They then came over to the foam cube area and I rejoined them. Vivian and Colin were using the foam cubes to make a square on a trampoline. She had finished the square, but then all the other kids around started playing in/around it and she got upset. It turned into a sort of cube fight, of which August took part. He told Carly “Mama, go in here. It’s soooo fun!” We went and did some more jumping before our time was over at 11:30. He and Colin were jumping and sliding down some ramps.

We left, stopping to stomp in a puddle. Carly drove on the way home. August sang a “Guess who’s here” song. Not sure where that came from. He politely asked “Would you please turn up the music so I can hear it?” But then kept repeating it. We were listening to CSNY’s Deja Vu today. The song at the moment was “Helpless”.

We got back to the house at 12:20. August found a big dead moth on the porch and got the room and started sweeping it off the porch. Vivian saw it and got upset and sad and was crying. Then Cherie came up and, not knowing what Vivian was crying about, stepped right on the moth. Vivian got more upset and Cherie suggested they say a prayer. Vivian didn’t likes that and wagged her finger at Cherie.

Inside Cherie cut pickles as a snack. Things stayed rocky between him and Vivian for awhile. Vivian was blocking from the pickles at one point. Eventually though they were playing in the bedroom with Carly. I heard August asking for a cousin hug. They were then outside for a few minutes spraying water. August came in and sat a toy popsicle and wanted a real one. He went up to Cherie and politely asked “Could I please have a popsicle?” We said yes and he and Vivian both chose lime. He immediately headed out to the front porch where they had eaten them yesterday. I asked if that was the popsicle eating area and he said yes “I don’t want to get inside messy.” Vivian and August sat in the front doorway eating their popsicles for several minutes, discussing why they like lime and who knows what else, as it rained outside. A very peaceful moment.

They did some more playing, then came in with Carly for hot chocolate. Not sure how that came up. A nice sharing moment: Vivian went and got her turtle towel and seemed to flaunt it at first. But Cherie talked Vivian into sharing it, then Vivian gave it to August, then they took turns and were happy.

I went and laid down for awhile – I was woken by mosquito bites and some sneezing last night, and August’s bad dreams. August used the bathroom, but seemed addicted to the toilet. He was on it for 45 minutes to an hour. Exasperating, actually, as I didn’t want to hang out in the bathroom, or keep getting called in for drippies or whatever. When he was finally out he went out with Carly to find Vivian. Think they were in the motor home for some time. Colin came down at 3:40. I was in the bedroom working on the blog and had some music going. The deathly silent house was getting to me. Anyway, Colin came in and danced to Daft Punk’s “Technologic” as it was playing. He then figured out how to choose different songs and would listen to one for awhile, maybe dance, then choose another song. We played night night, then he spotted papa and tata (August) out the window at the grape arbor. By the time we went out to go to them, they came over to the back porch.

Vivian and August did music apps together for quite awhile. They started wanting to take turns, but I talked about how August knew how to use them, and he could show her things and they could work together, and they did a pretty good job, both with Figure and then mainly Musyc.

Carly and I decided to take the two of them into town to get pizza for dinner. August wasn’t moving when I was trying to get him to the bathroom, but as soon as Vivian called first and ran in he said “I wanted to go first! I really, really, really, really, really, really need to go to the bathroom.” Once in there, Carly had some difficulty getting him off the toilet again.

We drove into town and parked near Bono Pizza. Ordered a veggie, a mushroom and olive, and a cheese. We then walked east through town and went to the CVS pharmacy. Carly got something, and I stayed with the kids while they played with some massagers. We then walked back west, checking out the coffee shops (3 of them), a mural, etc. August liked the lines we made when we drove through the puddles in the stroller, so we started hitting every puddle.

Got back and had pizza for dinner. He ate most of a mushroom and olive piece on his own. He then crawled under the table while everyone else ate and just sat there for a bit. He was under Vivian’s chair, which she objected to, so I swept the floor with him, and then Vivian pulled him around by the legs. The three red chairs got lined up and Vivian climbed over them. We told them no standing, and August said they were for sitting and said it was like a bus. So each kid sat in a chair and Cherie sang Wheels on the Bus. August was staring at Cherie with an odd look while she sang, and she started laughing. August, seemingly trying to figure out why she was laughing, asked “You’re not good at singing?” It turned into a train, and into a train song.

They then went to the bedroom, where Colin played night night, and the other two kept giving him cousin hugs. Colin started to say “no” quite clearly.  A little after 7 they were playing outside with the hose. Mainly August was filling Colin’s dump truck and Colin was dumping it out. August also realized that when the pressure was low when he lifted the hose up it stopped spraying water for a few seconds. We discussed that phenomenon. He also drank from the hose and said it was really good water. I got him to say ‘yummy cool wawa’. Vivian told him it was ice cream time, but he said he needed to finish drinking water first. August mainly had the peanut butter crunch time.

Then there were fireworks again. When Colin stole a bunch of used matches, threw them in his wagon, and ran off Vivian followed him. August wouldn’t follow though because he’d have to walk in the grass. He would walk on the the pokey rocks part of the sidewalk each time to get to the fireworks area so he doesn’t go on the grass. But he also didn’t want his shoes on because Vivian didn’t have hers on. August really liked the snakes, and asked to do those: “After we do this loud one can we please do another snake?” And he kept turning to Carly after the fireworks and asking “Did you like that one? Did you see it?”

We went in for a bath at 8:30. Let me hold him and he rested his head on my shoulder for a couple minutes while the bath filled. Vivian took her bath first though and August sat on the toilet for a long time. Carly washed him and it went easy enough, then he played for several minutes. I read paper books for them, letting them all choose books: Maisy Cleans Up, Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten, Clifford Jr. Graduation Day, and Sid the Science Kid The Trouble with Germs. He was asleep about 9:2
0.

My best joke of the day, when talking about the rainy weather: I didnt fly 5000 miles, then 3000 miles, just to feel like I only flew 5000 miles. Jeff’s best joke was when Colin filled the back of his tricycle with fireworks that he poured out of a box, then he took off. He joked about it being a trike bomb and Colin was off for a checkpoint.

Photos! 

jumping: 

Colin jumping: 

Cousin hug: 

Filling: 

Drinkjng from the hose: 

Reading books: 

Colin was up first, at 7. He wanted me to sit next to him whil he ate, then pulled me by the foot to play with Duplos. Vivian was out at 8:10, and August came out at 8:15, followed by Carly. Colin ran to greet Carly with a hug, then when she sat on the floor he ran eight circles around her. Vivian and August played a bit, then went to see the picture of all of us on the beach that Jeff had drawn for Vivian on the whiteboard.

August tried playing with her by scooting under her chair, which she didn’t like. I talked to both of them, saying they needed to suggest ways to play together, as that was what August was trying to do. They settled on board games, but then argued about which game and which color. I clapped out and Carly took over. They played Tic Tac Toe and I heard everyone laughing – they were both red so that August could win. Or something. Very funny though.

They had pancakes for breakfast. August finished his first and wanted a second, but when I heated it he wandered off and played with Colin and Vivian for a bit outside, then watched videos about toilets with Carly (for some reason). And they interrupted Chuck working at one point: “Opa! Opa! Opa!”

Then I reheated his pancake again and he was eating it as I went to take a shower. I came out to find them playing with Chuck. They had drawn pictures too and August drew a mountain with a person on top an a person climbing it. August got corn out of the freezer and he and Vivian both really wanted some. I made it, but then they were off using the copier to make copies of their art.

August then went upstairs with Cherie. He wanted private time up there. Of course, Vivian ended up there as well and they all played. I went up after a bit and Cherie and I threw stuffed animals at the two of them in the tent. Vivian then asked Cherie to read Miss Suzy, then they read Let’s Go Rock Collecting. August wasn’t really interested in the books, so I played wi him, then we all got ready to play at the park.

We left at 11, after I borrowed two cds from Cheri. CSNY’s Deja Vu and a Melissa Ethridge CD she bought while in Memphis. We listened to the latter today, and the kids both liked it. August asked if he smelled Pepsi, and indeed he did, as Carly had just opened a Pepsi.

We got to Stroudsburg Borough Park and went to the playground. There was one of those rolling slides, and after helping him down it a couple times he did it on his own several times. He also went across the shaky bridge, which required big steps. I said “You got it” when he did the end by himself. He then needed help at the beginning, which was downhill, and said “I got it but I just need some help getting across.” Vivian did a lot of the monkey bars, and went on the swings with Carly. Up on the play structure, August started calling me “Ryan!” and called “Ryan, I need help!” Also, August really had fun doing the log rolling toy, with me holding him, while Vivian and Carly went in the splash pad.

August then wanted to go over to the pool. We only brought his pair of the floats, so made him agree to take turns with them with Vivian. Once they were both agreed we headed over. Vivian used them first, and August tried out a life vest for awhile. However, August changed his mind about the pool once we got there. It seemed to be that he wanted it really shallow, like the beach. But he was also concerned about getting water on his scrapes. Up at the big pool, he liked watching Vivian and the other kids slide down the slides into the water. Carly would catch Vivian.

Carly and Vivian got out and we had lunch. August had switched to the floats, as Vivian had also wanted a life vest. When Vivian put her towel around her August wanted it. In fact he wanted to buy the exact towel: the exact size, the exact softness, with the exact same animals (turtles) on it. They went back to the pool. August wanted his water bottle, which we had left in the car. So he and I walked out to it. He looked back at the pool and saw Carly. He said “I see that mama. That mama is my mama.”

I got him int othe shallow pool up to his ankles once, and he sat on the edge and splashed for a few seconds, but that was it. Mainly, we spent a lot of time talking about how the pool filtering system works, how perspiration works, etc. We left at 1:40 with the plan to go to another park. But August wanted the same park. In fact he said something like “All the parks I have not been to I don’t like.” I think it was Vivian that settled on going to both, the one we were just at and a new park. So we went back to the playground and set a timer for 20 minutes. I was spinning them on the tire swing and my finger got stuck in a hole where the chain is attached to the tire. Didn’t break my finger, but hurt a bit and brought the swing to a halt. Vivian and August bonked heads, which hurt him. He nursed. He called Carly “Ata!” a couple times as well. Carly took him to the bathroom, then he got distracted by mud. Vivian and I met them near the car and the drew in the mud. August suggested “Paint me with dirt!”

We left at 2. August said something in the car and Carly said “What’d you say?” August seemed annoyed she didn’t hear her: “Nothing. Pphhh.”

We drove Bryant Park, the small park we have seen several times. A little play structure, which they played on a bit at the beginning, a grass area, little library, and a pagoda. Carly got out the ball, and we kicked that back and forth when the kids wouldn’t let us in the pagoda. We went to get their water bottles from the car and they found it hilarious when I intentionally handed them the wrong water bottles. They were putting water on their heads (August in particularly was incredibly sweaty from the humid day). August’s did work so well for that. Vivian used her cap as a cup and August wanted to do the same. Some point in there he said “I want to do everything that Vivian does.” She was also sitting on a bench at one point, looking at a book. August was also on the bench, trying to get her attention to play. Got some of it on video, but missed the main part of it.

They went on the pagoda and Carly and I sat and read. They were rehearsing. They then put on a dance performance for us. At the end, they had both climbed up on the railing and Carly hadn’t noticed how August climbed up on it, rather precariously. She was on her phone, texting with Cassie and doing some research for our possible camping trip. I had them call her Botswana Cassie, then as we left August was calling to her “Don’t leave, Botswana Cassie!”

I took a right out of the park and we drove through the nice neighborhood. Both the kids noticed what we were doing and August asked if he’d been here before. Drive back to the house was mainly uneventful until near the end. Vivian had wanted the music up and August commented again on how he liked my music and I reminded them they should tell Oma. But the August started singing his own song. Vivian immediately started screeching in protest, to which August responded by simply singing louder and louder. He kept doing it and we had to threaten him with a consequence when we got back.

We were home just after 3. August did some digging with Colin. Cherie had bought fruit pospicles and Vivian got a lime one for August. He was quite happy with it. Vivian had some drama with hers, but August did fine with his. Until he wanted a second one and the answer was no. Cherie then took them all out to light some tank fireworks she had bought. Vivian and August are now apparently fireworks snobs, as they commented on how the fireworks weren’t really loud and didn’t do a lot.

Vivian and Colin came in and were watching a show on a computer on the couch. Cassie said something about not putting their dirty feet on the couch, and August decided he wanted dirty feet too. He headed outside, telling Cherie something about wanting to get his feet dirty so he couldn’t go on the couch, which was hilarious. I went out with him and let him get hi
s feet dirty. It was starting to rain a bit. We went in the bathroom and washed off his feet, and he got one of the spray bottles. He took it out on the side deck and was shaking his head around and spitting.

Vivian and Colin went over to the garage with Cherie. August and I went a bit later. He kept spraying and spitting water for several minutes, and when it was close to empty he kindly asked “Could you fill it up? It is almost empty.” I pointed out he had been so nice with his tone and explanation that he didn’t even need a ‘please’. Over at the garage they went up and down the stairs, then were throwing rocks at a garbage can Cherie had set up. Colin had been talking to me about the rain, and I was picking him up and spinning him in the rain. August liked that too. They had been riding bikes, but August had started to turn demanding and needy: he followed Colin through a couple of bike changes, always wanting the one Colin had. Then Chuck showed up with a big umbrella. One of them. Vivian had it, then August wanted it. Vivian went inside and came back out with a pink umbrella which he wanted even more. At that point I picked him up and we went inside.

I asked him why he was being demanding. What happened? He replied “I broke…rocks got in me.” Carly was cooking dinner, spaghetti, which involved cooking mushrooms. I carried him to the bathroom, bu as we passed he said “The mushrooms are not cooking well” I said that mama knew what she was doing and he argued “yeah but they won’t be really, really, really yummy.” He then tried to watch a show with Vivian, who was lying on the couch. But he was pressing against her and bothering her. Took him back to the kitchen area and he played with Chuck and Colin. He gave Colin a few big cousin hugs. Later, Colin would return the hugs before bedtime. Chuck showed him the magic trick of pretending to eat a Duplo.

We ate dinner. Spaghetti was a hit, as the kids all ate a lot. The last thing ready was a wonderful loaf of bread that Cherie had bought and heated in the oven. The kids were dipping it in sauce and eating it. August confused us all: “I really don’t like the bread…if there is crust I will dip it in sauce and eat it. If there is not crust I will eat it right away.” I asked him to clarify whether he liked it or not, and he stuck with not liking it. He gave me a serious look and said “I really don’t like the bread.” Then he finished his second piece. Vivian was also funny, trying to convince him that he should still eat it (even as he was), saying: “you need to eat your crust so you don’t get sick.” Funny both because she doesn’t eat crusts, usually, and because it sounds like dubious medical advice. Also, August was giving some to Colin, and Cassie was talking to Colin: “Say thank you.” August: “Thank you…you mean not you?” He then wanted to feed Colin more: “I want more bread to give to Colin.”

After dinner, they played outside on the porch with Carly while Chuck, Cherie, and I cleaned up. They did the tea game, where Vivian and August expanded the sort of gross things they could put in the tea. Colin was then pouring water out of a little tea pot onto the concrete and then dancing in it as he watched himself in the window. August poured water on the wood part, and Colin was pointing and saying “Uh-oh” as they aren’t supposed to get water there.

August got half of a plastic shell stuck in the water table thing and was upset. He thought we couldn’t get it out: “They don’t have ANY screwdrivers.” We went and got a screwdriver (I had him ask Cassie if they had any), then I got it out by just shaking it.

It ended up with just me outside with Colin for awhile. I pushed him back and forth across the grass in the yellow car, him squealing. I suggested we could play in the front as Jeff could be home soon. He said no, but then we looked up and saw Jeff’s car. So I pushed Colin around to the front on the car. He jumped off when he spotted fireflies, but then found Jeff.

Then it was just me and August on the back porch. He was drinking a bunch of water from the spray bottle. I squirted him, but it sprayed harder than I thought and I hit him in the back, not the feet. He was startled, but then wanted a spray fight. We only had one bottle though, so he suggested sharing. So he would spray me in the head, had me the spray bottle, I would spray him, etc.

We went in when he needed the bathroom.Cassie walked in and he asked her “What you doing?” A couple minutes later Carly and Vivian were also in the bathroom, I think to start washing Vivian’s hair, and I heard him pleading “I want privacyyyyy.”

Back outside on the back porch, the three kids were getting Jeff’s shirt dirty with dissolved packing material. Kind of looked like soapy water. Then it was ice cream time. August was insanely happy when he saw them getting out ice cream. Carly was sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor again, helping Colin with his ice cream. Colin ran more circles around her. When August was done with his ice cream he ran around her too and said “This is my ice cream circle!” They were then all hyper. First he was hyper with Opa, then he was singing a “Where is Vivian?” song. He and Vivian were then in the bedroom together, being hyper. Colin joined them after awhile.

I gave August his bath, and it was the easiest bath every. Washing his hair was simple. He even thought he had a little soap on his face and turned on the cold water and put his face under the water. We noticed he had a decent little mark on his forehead from bumping heads. Cherie was in with us, and explained to him how the well water worked. We also played with the torpedo bath toys, which I’d never seen before. Once he was completely rinsed I left and he kept playing and talking to Cherie. He got his foot cold, then warm. Meanwhile, Carly played in the bedroom with Vivian and Colin.

All out in the living room, Carly read stories from my iPad for all three of them. Think they read Peppa Pig Gets a Cold, 1-2-3 Peas, Goodnight Already!, and Harold and the Purple Crayon. It was then time for bed, and he was asleep about 9:00.

August came out just before 7:30, and right after the other two. The house filled up quickly. Jeff made pancakes for breakfast. August almost fell off the stool at one point but caught himself. He had a pancake, then said he wanted more. Chuck asked what his favorite part was and he said “Syrup!”

He got down to play with all the Duplo trucks Colin and I had made: “Which one do I like best?” “I’m playing with this one because I like this one.”

Jeff made pancakes for breakfast. Carly helped August with his first one, then I got him his second. I asked for guidance on how he wanted it cut and whether he wanted syrup on his pancake, or on the side for dipping: “Last time I told mama to put syrup ON my pancake.”

The three kids, after negotiating which stickers he could play with, then played with stickers and play dough at the table for quite awhile.I took a shower. When I came out August and Vivian were playing on the beds with Bluie and Green Monster and debating who got Bluie. August then got to brush his teeth using Vivian’s watermelon toothpaste and spit it out. August was then on the toilet and Colin was playing in the sink. When August got off I was putting his clothes on. With August’s shirt still off, Colin tried to give him a hug. August objected: “No! You are making me freeze! I want hand gloves!” August then ran all the way through the house, Colin chasing him. When he got out to the Duplo area, his shorts fell down and Colin caught him.  Very funny. I then had Colin and Vivian give him a big hug and I called it a ‘cousin hug’.

They played in on the beds again and August called for a “cousin hug” a couple times. Vivian got her metal slinky, then Colin wanted a slinky. Then August did. August ended up with the big one and Colin ended up with the little purple one and they were all happy. They played with those for quite awhile, Vivian and August rolling them down the stairs, ending upon the beds where August had the purple one and was bothering Vivian with it and said it was a hair cutting machine. Vivian wanted Carly to do the tea thing, but Carly said she wanted to save that for bath time. Vivian left and closed the door roughly. Turned out she was upset about the tea thing.

August started playing with the rocket shooter thing (he calls it a plane). They played together. After awhile though Vivian went upstairs. Wasn’t clear why. August wanted to go upstairs but I wouldn’t let him. August was then humming Yankee Doodle through the shooter thing “I’m trying to interrupt Vivian…maybe if I try playing again.” “In a nice way?” “No. In a mean way.” We talked about how he liked playing with Vivian but was frustrated she wasn’t coming downstairs. “Maybe if I play with something loud.” I suggested we go for a walk or something but he didn’t like my ideas. “I want to make Vivian like me.” He got a big smile when she came down and said “Boo!”

At 11:45 we loaded the cars. We had Vivian with us in the red Corolla. August announced “I want to look for Subarus on the way.” Much of the first part of our trip consisted of variations on this conversation, on repeat:

Vivian: “Ata, can I have some crackers? Please?”

August: “Ata, can I have some crackers? Please?”

Vivian: “Can I have crackers first, please?”

Carly then played Sarah and Duck on the iPad and had it wedged between the two front seats so both kids could see it. I commented on how cartoons are so much nicer when they have a nice British accent and calming voices to listen to (like Puffin Rock or Sarah and Duck) as opposed to things like Pororo. I then asked August if he could start saying “S’pose” like Sarah does. At first he said no, but I kept repeating it, then he started saying it.

Carly looked for a park to stop at along the way, but met with failure. It was a patch of grass with two garbage cans in front. We then stumbled upon the Edison Public Library a little before 1:30, which was perfect. Carly headed in with Vivian. August wanted to practice buckling himself in the car seat and saying a lovely “I want to buckle myself” song. And then managed to do all the buckles. We went to the bathroom, then Carly and Vivian read much of Johnny Castleseed. Auspicious, as it taught them how to build a sand castle. And they rode the PAC-Man shaped cushions on their sides. And Carly did a “Rocky, rocky, rocky like a chimpanzee” chant with him on a cushion. I found a bunch of Bill Peet books, but not the Merle book, which I recently ordered for August, and read/looked at a book called The Boy and the Airplane by Mark Pett.

They climbed on the cushions some more, went to the bathroom again, and we left at 1:45. As we drove away August saw a guy outside that he said looked like Opa. We thought because of his build and hair, but August also said because of the red shirt.

We continued on to Sandyhook, watching some more Sarah and Duck. August was calm and zoning out as we got there:

August: Where’s my shoe?

Vivian: Its on your foot…Aaaand one’s on your hand.

We arrived at 2:40. We were the last ones there. Chuck and Cherie had left early to spend some more time exploring, and Jeff and Cassie hadn’t stopped, presumably with Colin taking a nap. We met them at parking lot B and got dressed and suncreened up. August preferred the spray, but just barely. He didn’t make it easy for Carly. We walked to the east, to the inland beach. Had a lovely time, but wish I’d been able to experience the Atlantic beach. Also, neither Carly or I realized it was a National Parks site, with a historic area and everything. Would have liked to gotten there a couple hours earlier so we could have checked all of that out.

Anyway, we stopped at the first beach to set stuff down while Jeff and Cassie walked on and found a perfect spot. August threw some sand in the water and waded a bit. We then walked northward, where a sort of pond area was connected to the bay with a little tidal stream that we spent a lot of time in. But as we got there, August and I the last, August said he needed the bathroom. Carly and I discussed which of us would take him, and he wanted me, which rarely happens, because he said “Mama has too much sunscreen.” She took him anyway, and he kept talking about how she felt like she had too much sunscreen on.

I helped Jeff set up the tent in the rather heavy wind. We got that situated so that it wouldn’t be collapsed by the wind. I read a little of my book while Carly played with August in the stream. She had the floats on him for a minute, then he wanted them off. They then wandered up to the tidal lake, where Vivian was swimming. Carly came back for the floats again, and after a couple minutes I went up with them. Waded around a bit, and got August to let me hold him in the water a bit, but not up to his waist. He said “If the robot gets deeper, it will break down.” And then he would do his breaking down noise and stop moving. I said I fixed the robot and put on a waterproof coating. He thought about that and said “Yeah but I put on rainbow paint on it and it is sticky and the robot stopped moving.”

Carly headed back, and did a little reading as well. We then made our way back along the tidal stream and stopped at one point and dug in the sand with Colin and Vivian. Colin managed to get me, dropping sand down my neck. August was antagonizing Vivian by stepping in the hole she was digging, but really just wanted to play with her. When she left, Cassie play-acted with him, and told him what to say if Vivian doesn’t want to play with him and he practiced saying “Then I’ll go play over here” or something like that.

Carly had headed over to the shore on the bay, where the tidal stream comes out, which was where Vivian now was and to see what the people were catching in the nets (small fish). It was now around 5 or so. I took August over there. Vivian had gone back to the camp, but then came and joined us. August let me
hold him high, and wade out into the water. So I had him and Vivian. She wanted to keep going out deeper, and so did August (who wasn’t getting wet at all). We only ever got up to a couple inches below my waist (my shirt didn’t get wet) and Vivian could easily stand. But it felt quite a ways out. There were a couple of 13 or so year old boys who came by us. They started splashing a little and got August a bit in the face. August handled it well, and I politely asked them to avoid splashing August. August liked watching them, and kept talking about them, and when they went by us at one point August said “No splash fights.”

We waded back in a bit, then August let me set him back down, and we started getting him in further and further, Me spinning him in circles around me with his legs in the water. Basically, we got to the point where when I spun him he started to feel the floating feeling from the floats, and when he stood he was comfortable in water up to his waist. I pointed out both those things and gave him a high five while he stood in the water and talked about how next time we could build on that.

Sometime when we were out there one of the many orange Coast Guard helicopters flew overhead and August, knowing that Colin liked them, called across the beach “Helicopter, Colin!” Near the end, as we were walking up the stream towards Carly, one flew low, and August kept calling to mama and wanted to make sure she saw the low helicopter. Finally, Vivian made a detour to a shallow pool. August during this whole last experience kept finding shells for mama and giving them to her. I commented that that might become a thing in Israel and she could make a little shell garden.

As we packed up to go he helped take out tent poles and played with one as a vacuum cleaner. He was sitting on the sand and said “I want to come here next time.” Also, as we had walked up, me holding him and him quite wet, he noted that he was drying off fast because of the wind because of evaporation. I asked Carly if they had talked about it earlier, and she said they had, but that he had been the one that brought up evaporation. I know we’ve discussed it in the past, but not much.

We left the beach at 6:00 and walked to the showers and car. The kids weren’t interested in making any of that go quickly. August and I ended up singing a duet to each other about what we were doing next or something along the way. Managed to rinse much of August off in the showers and get us changed. He started screaming when I first started to hold him up for the shower. I thought it was because he thought I was going to put him right under it, but realized it was because my hands were wet.

In the car Vivian grabbed her iPad from the trunk and declared she was going to play it. I grabbed it out of her hands before August could see it, then got his out and got him to agree that they’d each play with their own iPads. That worked well enough, although he did talk about trading and taking turns a bit. At one point he said he didn’t want hers, but then Vivian declared she wanted it and suddenly she wanted it. Vivian said “I said that so he’d want it.”

They were hungry and ate a lot of the snacks on the way to the restaurant. August got tired of them though and declared “All the things you’ve got, I don’t like.” We got to the Kebab Paradise at 7:30. August was a little hyper, but not bad. When Carly took him to the bathroom he seemed to read the word ‘private’ on a door, as he told her he wanted to go to the private one. We got a variety of dishes, a few of which turned out to be too spicy for the kids. Or for anyone except me. We also got a couple of mango lassees (sp?) which were a big hit. As we finished, I took August outside to look around and Vivian came with. We went and looked at some flowers and they smelled them, then went for a little walk. Vivian ran ahead to another group of flowers and August tried to follow, but tripped on the sidewalk and took a hard fall. Luckily, pretty flat, so the impact was distributed over his entire body. He had a little scrape on his left knee and right arm, although it was his right palm that seemed to bother him the most.

We walked around a little more as I held August, then met the rest as they came out of the restaurant. Vivian rode back with Jeff and Cassie as August was going to fall asleep in the car. They nursed in the back, then we left at 8:25. As we drove, I sang him a few songs until he made his lip noise, wanting me to stop. He was then singing to himself, and as Carly leaned over to him it turned into a “I love you so much” song. She joined in. She told him he should fall asleep, but he said no, he wanted fireworks and said it was dark enough for fireworks. They pretended to light fireworks in the car. He nodded off at 9:15.

We took more of a backroads route home, and had a bucolic drive north and across the Delaware at Belvidere. Carly and I liked that town and figured we’d make it a day trip one of these days. We were home at 10 and Carly carried him in to bed. He didn’t stir a bit. We put things away, had tea, and read a bit and were asleep a bit later than we’ve been recently, a little past 11. 

August and Carly came out a little before 7. He sat on the butter chair stool for several minutes and said hi to Jeff when he got up. He then came and played with toys by my feet before lying on the floor for awhile. All of them got up and had oatmeal for breakfast, then I took a shower. They took turns closing the gate to upstairs and then were playing in the bedroom. Vivian and August negotiated over going in th closet alone. August took Green Mknster and Marshy in for a minute and said he was having private time.

Chuck made an egg for Vivian. August wanted one, of course, but it was the last. Cassie and Colin got out Candyland. August initially said “I don’t like boardgames.” But then “I want to play it. Can I play it?” So his first real board game experience, as Cassie taught him to play. Colin’s speech teacher got here, and Cherie took Vivian and August out to the motor home. I hung out and watched the therapist play with Colin, in part because when I left after a minute Colin came and brought me back.

Carly and I left with Vivian and August at  9:40, headed to Stroudsburg to drop a couple packages off and then go to the library. Vivian does a “Firefly friends!” game, calling to her firefly friends out the window of the car. Only she keeps arguing that August hasn’t met the firefly friends yet, so he isn’t allowed to say the ‘friends’ part when he calls out.

We first stopped at the post office, where Carly ran in and the kids played on the railing of the ramp and the railings on the stairs. Although there were six railings on the stairs, they were often wanting the same one, and August suggesting they set a timer on one led Vivian to decide she was done and go get in the car. Vivian was excited today as she was buckling herself into her booster seat.

Then a quick stop at a FedEx place. We stayed in the car while Carly went in and we played I Spy. Then to the library. Got there about 10:30 and the children’s librarian told us there was a nature show run by a woman with animal costumes going on in the back room. So we went back there. August didn’t want to stay, so Carly went back with him. Vivian had a seat on the ground with the other kids. It was an interactive thing with the woman calling up kids and a few adults. Right away she called me up to be the skunk. Luckily, I didn’t have much to do. When that story was over (about fire in the forest), Vivian wanted to go, so we went and found Carly and August.

They played with some toys, then the library started to get busy, especially after that show finished. I read a funny Doctor Ted book to the two kids, then August was off playing with other toys and kids. I read a children’s book version of the Abbott and Costello skit Who’s on First, then Vivian and I read Dream Big Little Pig! by Kristy Yamaguchi and Poo in the Zoo. I also read Duffy and the Devil by Zemach and a book called Town is by the Sea. We left at 11:45. A game that Vivian and August can both agree on is looking for Subarus. He suggests it even, although I’m not sure he actually knows what he’s looking for.

At home I made Boca Burgers for August and Carly, and we cooked some mushrooms for him and sliced some pickles. He didn’t eat nearly as much burger as yesterday.

Cherie and I then took the two of them (Colin was asleep) on a trip to get eggs, letting Carly have some alone time. Vivian was again trying to forbid August from saying “firefly friends”.  We first went to the farm where they usually get eggs. Before we got out of the car I told August he had to be quiet and careful with the chickens. When I went to get him out of his car seat he barely moved. So I lifted him out, and realized he was whispering. He whispered the whole time. So adorable. Turned out there were no people there. So we walked around a bit and saw the chickens and guinea hens and the pigeons on the roof. An old, fat beagle came over. Vivian said its name was Molly. August let me put him down to see the dog, but he was pretty unsure of it, even though it moved really slowly.

So we got back in the car and headed on up the road, stopping at a second place where Cherie had seen a sign for eggs. We all got out and went to the serve yourself refrigerator. Cherie got a couple dozen, and they were mixed colors – green and blue and brown and white. The kids both wanted green – back in the car, when Vivian said she was going to have the green ones, August let out a howl of despair before being assured that wouldn’t happen. Before we left, they stood at the gate, looking at the gaggle of loud yippie dogs barking at them. August stood farther back before I pointed out that they were behind a gate and couldn’t get to him.

From there we continued on up the road to the mysterious Bangor Big Chair. We helped them up and then they climbed on it. August had fun saying “I can see all the way to New Jersey.” The front lip of the chair is 5 or 6 feet, and they could hold my hands and jump down. Did that a few times, admired the view of the nuclear pant in New Jersey, then we got going. As we were leaving, I think, and getting in the car, Vivian said “I can’t stand to listen to your questions. I never have so many.”

In the car on the way back they argued about the eggs, then Cherie suggested she make French toast tomorrow. So then they started arguing who loved French toast more. Cherie made the mistake/comically brilliant decision to introduce ‘infinity’ into the argument. I contributed by suggesting that their love of French toast, no mater how many infinities, was still short of my love of pie. When Vivian pressed on, I got her to say that she loved French toast more than pie, cookies, and candy.

We were back before 2:10. They both wanted to use the outhouse, so took turns. On our way in August spotted Cassie and thought she was mama. Inside, a package had arrived for Vivian. It was an electrical experiment kit. August was upset for a second that it wasn’t for him, but then Carly came along. August then explained that it was something for Vivian. They used it for a few minutes with Cassie, but August’s frustration was returning. Didn’t matter though as Colin was waking up so the kit needed to go away.

Carly, August, and I then made a grocery shopping trip to Weis. Rather cold inside, and Carly mentioned a sweatshirt. August decided he wanted his sweatshirt, which we didn’t have. So we split up, with me taking August and the cart to a warmer portion of the store. August really wanted food from the seafood section when he saw it, and lamented not having any meat in PA: “I really like meat!” We went and picked out bread and he convinced me to get him out of the cart. He had taken his shoes of already. He climbed around on the outside of the cart and held on while we rolled. We then found Carly and all went to choose ice cream flavors. The talkative section of the store as two people talked to us about ice cream flavors. Finally, we also bought swim floats for August – pink, as they were the last ones, but likely what he would have chosen anyway.

In the checkout line, August spotted multi-colored Tic Tacs and said they looked like pills. I said they were mints, and he wanted to get them. A long sentence: “The ones at home aren’t colorful but the ones at the store are so I want to buy them.” Carly realized we had forgotten Boca Burgers so she went back inside while we put the groceries in the car. When she came back he showed her the white spot on the bottom of his shoe: “Mama, here’s bird poop on my shoe.” Carly drove home and August was excited that he could see her drive. But he also wanted to kick her seat, arguing that it wasn’t as fun to kick my seat. On the way home he asked for Smokey out and played with him as he used a funny choice to talk about seeing the house and motor home.

Back at the hose at 4:10. Vivian spotted him from the motor home this time and he hid behind his hands from her. We went into the motor home and he told Cherie “I wa
nt a to play the harmonico.” After a bit he needed to use the bathroom, so we went inside. Played outside for awhile with Carly and Vivian but apparently took some of Vivian’s pop-its and popped them. Carly came in with him for a timeout. He and I then talked about it and he had a lot to say about it. Apparently he felt that she had more, although Carly said it was the reverse and that Vivian was actually in the process of counting them all out when he did it.

August went back out and I went back in to work on the blog. Colin came in and climbed on my back as I was on the bed. Played there for awhile, then I was drawing trucks for him, cement mixers, etc., on the whiteboard. Carly and August went on a little walk in the stroller but were back after 10 or 15 minutes.

Cassie had made chili and rice and broccoli for dinner. Carly got food for the three kids and I got their drinks. We all ate out on the porch. Colin put his drink on the arm of August’s chair and August said “That’s okay. I just don’t want you to eat my food.” Colin spotted two bunnies, so he and Vivian were off chasing bunnies. Probably part of the reason he didn’t eat much dinner, then ate a ton of broccoli from Cherie’s plate later. The three kids then spent a long time playing on the toys in the grass, from the little plastic play gym and slide, to the push car and wagon, etc. They were really climbing all over them. At one point August climbed up the slide: “This is easy to climb…(slides backwards)…No it’s not!” Over by the old outhouse, August stood on the stones, but then Vivian was lifting him up, carrying him out in the grass, and setting him down so he had to walk on the grass and get used to it. Quite funny, especially as he wrapped his legs around Vivian and she had to set him down on his back once. When I wouldn’t pick him up either he ran all the way back to the steps to get on the porch.

August came in with Carly to get his shoes, so we were then at the front of the porch and all went out to the motor home. They sucked down juice drinks there, then all three played night night on the bed. Cherie needed to take a shower, so we left at 6:50. As we headed out Jeff got home and August said “It’s uncle Jeff.” We spent some time hanging on the branches. Competitive at first:

August: “I want to be the highest. I want to be the lowest.”

Me: “How bout you just have fun.”

August: “No.”

I hung August from a higher branch, still holding him, and August was excited: “We maked mama really nervous!”

Then more fireworks. Carly started with some snakes. August was then dirty and wanted to wash his hands. Colin handled the dirtiness by just getting more dirty, and walking behind my back and holding up his hand on one side of me and saying “Dirty!” then walking to the other side and repeating, etc. He also managed to wipe his hands on all of us. Vivian and August decided they would watch the loud ones through the window, and after it went off would ask “all done?” using sign language. They would then run out, choose the next firework, then run back inside. Repeat.

Back inside August took a long, long time on the toilet. The blueberries had worked (all the kids had eaten a bunch of blueberries right before dinner, which is especially unusual for Colin). August had a long and very funny talk as he sat there, about things in the bathroom (he called it a “foot bathtub” and talked about how it could walk around on its own) and outside (a lot of talk about the ice cream, and whether he could have the coffee one, and what would happen if he ate a lot of caffeine or all of the ice cream).

We had gotten four flavors: coffee, cherry cheesecake, peanut butter crunch, and salted caramel. August and I both had the first three. I just gave him a little of the coffee, which was more than the other kids got. He finagled some of my ice cream from me, arguing he liked the crunch bits in the peanut butter one and then that his was all melted and he wanted unmelted ice cream.

Carly did a bath again as Vivian wanted the tea party thing again. More hilarity, as August and Vivian would tell her they pooped or peed in the tea. The bath was at 8, then we went into the bedroom. Vivian sent an ‘I love you’ note under the door. I let her in to say goodnight. After she left, I mentioned we hadn’t read any stories tonight. Despite barely participating yesterday, he started sobbing, wanting to do stories. Very, very tired. He was asleep at 8:40. I did read a few stories to Vivian and Colin after that: George Catches a Cold, The Little Red Hen (chosen by Colin), In Mary’s Garden (was afraid Vivian wouldn’t like that one, but they both did), Peppa’s Ballet Lesson, and lastly Bedtime for Peppa.

Note: Still no photos. But we are headed to Philadelphia for a couple nights next week and I’ll try to post some of the cousins photos.  

 

Colin was the first kid up. When August came out at 7:15 Colin ran up to him, saying “Bee, bee, bee!” Colin then ran around in circles yelling “Tractor, tractor, tractor!” August talked to Carly, confirming “Is this my mama?…these are the close mama changed into?” August did some good sneezing in the morning as he played on the floor with Carly and Colin. After eating Honey Nut Cheerios for breakfast, he got down and was playing around, then tried to convince Carly to go outside by arguing that the outside chairs were more comfortable than the chair she was sitting in. Really trying to convince her.

He and I went upstairs to the changing room and the music thing. Played there a few minutes, then went back downstairs. Vivian and Colin were watching a video, and August started touching her with the orange bendy thing. She didn’t want him to and I threatened to take it away. He said “If I hide it in my shirt maybe you won’t take it…I’m going to make Vivian mad…I’m going to hurt all of Vivian’s stuff.” He didn’t seem upset, but I took a break with him in the bedroom.

We came back out, and got a chair for him to sit next to Vivian. It was the one with red rubbing off and he didn’t want it: “Vivian can have th scratchy chair.” He kept trying to scoot to her chair. He was offered multiple solutions, and eventually he switched chairs with Colin, getting a fully red one. But then he started scratching it with his finger, saying “I’m going to scratch it up.”

Another break. Admitted he was in a bad mood. Decided apple would help cheer him up. Ate some, then got orange juice and we cut a long straw to make it short and then he was happily sitting in the chair.

I went and took a shower. As I came out, he had just bit his tongue on something. Carly took him in to nurse. Cassie, Carly, and I started getting ready to take the kids to a park. Kind of felt like it took forever. August was hungry and Vivian gave him the rest of her sandwich. We finally left at 10:15.

We got to Mt. Bethel Community Park. He was grumpy and didn’t want to get out of the car. The playground was too sunny or not fun. I asked if he knew why he was grumpy. He said “Everything is mean…I want things that are not mean.” Carly took him to the playground and got him in a swing.

They arrived a few minutes later. Vivian: “my swing is taller” and stick out her tongue. Cassie spott d a groundhog and Vivian went with Carly to investigate. August wanted down and we went to the purple merry go round thing. Vivian got on, then off, and August grabbed he spray bottle. Vivian was upset about that. We ended up over at the play structure. They fawned over a baby, with Colin hugging it and saying “baby, baby, baby…too.”

Vivian and August did a lot of climbing in one part. He said “It’s okay if there’s no grown ups and I’m climbing.”

Back to swings “Fresh air in my nose…it makes the machine work…bum, bum, bum…when it fills up, it makes it work…the tank.”

I took them on the round turning thing that you hang on. They took turns. August put bark on a bench while he waited, but then Vivian decided she didn’t want him doing that. I have her two Yens I. A row at one point and August wasn’t happy about that he ran across her path and got hit. She luckily held on. He went and nursed, and the cloud cover went away. We looked at the dairy barn and we left about 11:45.

Got home and Cherie gave each of the kids a spray bottle. August got blue, Vivian got red, and Colin got a clear one. Vivian and August then argued about whose favorite color was blue and whose was red or pink. I got lunch for August and me. Vivian went out to the motor home with Cherie and Colin went up for a nap. August ate most of the Boca Burger I had made. I gave him one of his pie crust cookies after lunch. We cleaned up after lunch, and August did some vacuuming. It was some nice quiet time in the house. Then August wanted to go outside to the motor home too so Carly took him out.

I went out to check on them a bit later. They were all playing with the harmonium. After that they had letter cookies. They gave the Zs and Qs to August and I got the Ds. Cherie suggested he take an M in to mama. He really liked that idea, although he almost ate it twice by accident on our way inside.

Back inside we were having some nice quite time. But he was bored, saying things like “I want to play with someone.” We went back out to the bus. Cherie spotted him from the motor home and said something. He covered his eyes and didn’t want to walk. When I told him he had to walk he said “No, it’s quite a long way.”

In the motor home Vivian was playing with a deck of cards. August wanted the same deck. Cherie went through negotiations and got them each a deck they liked, then suddenly August said he wanted to play on the bed and took Vivian with him.

At 2 August and I went in. He found a bird in the house. I think it went out the door as we were opening windows together. Vivian and I got lemonade. Vivian got a cup for August but first accused him of taking hers but he was actually holding my cup.

A guy came to pump the sewage out of the motor home, which was a big event for them. They first watched from the window, then the front porch. Once the truck was gone, Carly took them bike riding in the garage again. Back inside we planned for another outing. August went to the bathroom and said he wanted to sit there for  “hours and hours”. A few seconds later: “Mama, I’m done!”

August and Vivian were digging in dirt before we left. Vivian actually invited him to, but then had a very specific spot for him to dig, and he couldn’t dig in Colin’s hole, where she was digging. Vivian had suggested a walk around the lake but when I told her we were thinking a park she said we were going to too many parks. But I found some naturey parks in Stroudsburg and showed her and she liked the idea.

We drove Zacharias Pond Park and were walking at 4:25. For like a minute. Carly carried August and he said  “I just want to fall asleep on mamas shoulder.” But then they both needed the bathroom. From there it was to the small playground, which actually had a couple of good climbing features for both of them, and a metal bar that they climbed and swung on. Started walking again, this time to the left, but August wanted a snack. We sat at a picnic table and ate the sandwich and a few crackers. Finally, a real walk. We walked the longer trail, August mostly being carried, but doing some walking. He would say it was too slow when he walked, but then get distracted by everything and sit down, etc. Found a couple pieces of exercise equipment: bars I helped them hang on, then a slanted board they slid down. We got to the pond and they played on the bridge. From there we then walked the edge. We saw two eagles, a mama duck and six babies, snails in the pond, some small fish, and a frog, which we first heard under a deck area but I eventually spotted.

On our way out we went to the bathroom again. I took August to the right outhouse this time but he said it smell bad. When I let go of the door it slammed on his fingers. Luckily, not hard so no damage done.

On the way home they negotiated over the end of the seatbelt in the seat between them. Carly had to set the timer on that one. We were back at 5:30. They hung on the branch out front, then went out with Cherie for the Smurf Pez dispensers. August wasn’t too grateful for his. He got a generic smurf one, which I called Happy Smurf, but I think he wanted one he recognized like Papa or Smurfette, which the others got.

August had actually dug in the dirt while the others went to the motor home with her, as he didn’t have his shoes on. He then came in and told me and Carly about digging the dirt by the p
lants. He seemed worried about it, so I went out with him. It turned out he was worried that Vivian would be upset.

Back inside he said his foot was hurting. He told Carly “My foot is just worn out.” from the bark, etc.

We got things ready for dinner. A leftovers day but with fresh corn. He tried stealing Vivian’s chair a couple times, which made her scream. I pointed out it was a game that he’s always played with grown ups and we find it funny. He ate some noodles, fried rice, and corn. Cherie was then loading the dishwasher. He kept closing the drawers/door and she was explaining she wasn’t done yet. He kept asking “why?” She started giving nonsense answers, which he caught on were funny: “Because the sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home.” Him: “What my old Kentucky home is?”

Jeff came home with lollipops with mystery flavors. August got a yellow one which turned out to be pineapple. When it got small again he asked if it was okay to crunch it. Vivian went out with Cherie to fill the Pez dispensers. Colin was following August around and August would stick his head in Colin’s face and say “Space, Colin.” They came back in with the filled Pez dispensers and had fun eating those.

I then said it was reading time. I had mentioned the Loch Ness Monster earlier and Vivian had wanted to read it. So we read that, then Tallulah’s Tap Shoes. Vivian was sitting next to me, and Colin next to her. Vivian’s head was on my shoulder. August actually had problems with this. He tried scooting in with them, then he was trying to hit and pinch Vivian to get her attention. He finally went off, not listening to books. We finished by reading Oh, Daddy! a couple times and George Catches a Cold.

It was then bath time. Carly did bath today and they did a silly tea time. A lot of laughing. While August and Vivian were in there I played night night with Colin and his cement mixer. After the bath I think August was frustrated because he wanted to go upstairs. Cherie taught him to say “I want to go upstairs.” and stomp his feet.

August headed to bed and was asleep at 8:05. Vivian and Colin had to go in and say goodnight. I did more reading to Vivian: Berenstain Bears Go to School (twice – appropriate since she’s going to kindergarten soon), Gaston, Goodnight Already!, Hug Machine, Creepy Carrots, and Dinosaurs Love Underpants.

When I went to bed and turned on the light there was a moth-like insect flopping around on the bed around and on August. I caught it and put it outside.

He was up at 6:45 or so. I was already up. I heard him come out, walk around the living room, then go back in with Carly. They came out a few minutes later, then went out to the motor home and visited Oma and got some butter. Came back in and had toast and butter and apple and some lemonade. He sat in the car seat on the floor. He got a little concerned when he couldn’t find mama. She was in the bathroom. I picked him up and he told me I had coffee breath (actually tea). When he finished his apple we both had a mint.

Carly tried to make some coffee, and August told her “Mama, it’s time to nurse.” When they were in nursing, August was being funny by calling me “other dada.” Cherie mentioned wanting to see August’s apps on his iPad. I got it out, but also the piano keyboard. I got Vivian and August playing with that, and showed Vivian how to use the sampler. They dueted for awhile, but eventually I got August over to Vivian’s piano. We figured out how to change the sounds, and he liked the 222 one. But then Vivian came right over and wanted to play it and quickly got upset.

I switched with Carly and went to take a shower. Came out to August vacuuming. Vivian and August then played hide and seek with Smokey. Vivian lost Smokey for awhile, then found him in the mud room. She had thought she’d left him in the refrigerator, but she’d forgotten she’d put him in the mud room. As they were playing and searching for Smokey, Colin started to say “Smokey, where are you?” And August again joked “Is this my mama?”

Cherie took Vivian and Colin out to the motor home, and Carly, Chuck, and I got ready and headed out in his car with August to do some car shopping. We drove to the Chevy dealership in Wind Gap. August was looking sleepy on the way over. We arrived to find out they are closed on Sundays. We walked around the lot and were at least able to determine that we didn’t want bigger than the Sonic, but they didn’t have a hatchback Sonic, so still couldn’t determine much.

We headed back to the house, and I tried to get him lunch. He kept wanting to play. We went downstairs with Jeff and Vivian and August wandered around the basement, looking at the water pump, the diesel tank, etc. and Jeff showed me his plumbing work on the toilet (combining hot and cold water to keep the toilet from bleeding). Back upstairs August got upset about the whiteboard/chalkboard and cookies and I took him into the bedroom. I tried to tell him my plan for what to do next, but he told me he wasn’t ready to listen to it yet. When he was ready we discussed having lunch, etc. But when we went out the pink car from downstairs was already out, so they were playing with that. They did okay taking turns.

They went outside with Carly for a bit, then were back in. August ate some lunch. He and Vivian had a debate about who could go upstairs. At first Vivian wasn’t going to let him go. But then she decided they could have private time together in her room. We went up, and one of them said “We want to be by ourselves.” But then August wanted me in there as well. They played together the whole time, despite talking a lot about alone time.

Colin came back with Cherie, who had taken him in the car to put him to sleep. We went downstairs to use the bathroom, then we had pie with everyone else. Vivian told him he couldn’t have more. He said “When in done I want more pie. I want lots and lots and lots and lots.”

Carly and I got ready to take the two of them to Weona Park in Pen Argyll. We left right after 3. August was getting sleepy on the way there, and almost fell asleep on the way back. We parked by the carousel and went on it at 3:30. All four of us the first time. I stood next to Vivian, Carly next to August. Carly talked about it making her sick, so as we got off August told her “You smell like throw up.”

We went over to the playground and played there for a good hour. Vivian made a friend with Sophia, who was also 5, and there with her grandparents. I pushed all three of the kids on the tire swing (an actual tire this time), then helped the three of them with the monkey bars, and Sophia down the fire pole. She was scared by it, but by the end doing it herself.  She also did well with the sideways monkey bar. She left, and I was pushing Vivian and August on the swings again. I went to switch to Vivian and gave August one last push – right as he let go with one had. He tumbled off the swing, luckily at the front of his swing, at the top of the wood chips. He took a nursing break, then we all went over to the carousel again. I just went on this time and stood between the two of them.

From there we went to the drinking fountains, then the bathrooms. I went and checked out the entrance to the baseball field while they were in there, then we headed over as a group. First, Vivian and August put on a little show on the stage. Vivian and Carly ran ahead and started playing pretend baseball, while August kept intentionally getting rocks in his shoe: “There’s rocks in my shoe.” When he and I got to the baseball diamond he said “I want sand in my shoe.” He thought the backstop looked like a goal and kept talking about getting a goal. I started to try to explain baseball, but realized it was pretty abstract without any equipment.

August wanted a snack, and Vivian started climbing up the remains of the old bleachers. Up at the top there were concrete pieces of old benches. Vivian said they looked like Green Monster. They pretended their apples were pieces of slime. August got a stick, and Carly broke off a branch to make it safer and he said “Now it’s an axe.” I had fun breaking apart slate, and we walked back along the top of the bleachers, then walked down a hill and headed back.  But first we stopped at the benches and took another Smokey photo with the two kids, as Vivian remembered Smokey. Basically, it was a lovely outing and the kids were much easier to handle than back at home.

We were home right after 5:30 as people were scooping up Cherie’s nutty noodles for dinner. Ate dinner, August did okay, then they ended up outside. Vivian and Colin were over at the pull-up bars with Jeff and Cassie and August played on his own with the water table for several minutes. Then Cassie got out the big bubbles stuff and they all had wands and were making big bubbles. Colin was trying to be the cutest by looking through the wand and putting soap all over his face. That turned into them all wiping soap on Carly’s leg.

August was still hungry, and he scarfed down a couple small servings of nutty noodles. Just as we finished Cassie was getting out ice cream for dessert. They got a little of each, and he and Vivian ate out on the porch again. I gave August his bath with Vivian today. They played in there for a good amount. Off to bed after that, although Vivian was reluctant to leave him alone. A few minutes after we closed the door she gave me a small picture she had drawn for him, and a marker and paper for him to write back. She was shocked when I said he was already falling asleep. He was asleep about 8:20.

I was the first one up. Might try to keep it that way, as it was nice to be up at 6 and a couple hours before the whole crowd. Vivian was up next, about 7:20. She and Jeff then made scones, and everyone else got up. August was the last up, at 8:40. I saw him first and followed him out as he made his way to mama, past everyone else. He  wanted to nurse and said “private” a couple times. Vivian had put a note under the door for him while he was sleeping and put more stuff under while he nursed. Eventually Vivian got out the walkie talkies and gave one to Carly and they used those. August came out and they started playing. The kids had some scones, and Cassie, Carly, and I got the kids ready and took them to Mountain View Park. I drove the red car by myself, as August wanted to ride with Vivian and Colin.

We left at 10. I was a few minutes later getting there as I was stuck behind someone who wouldn’t turn right after the off ramp, then missed a turn. I caught up to August and Vivian as August was trying to climb a metal dome thing. We then followed Vivian as she went down to an obstacle course thing. There were two ropes, and they climbed on those. He had and excellent grumpy face when he was telling me he wanted to climb after Vivian on the same rope. At the end of the ropes August was smelling them: “I wanted to smell my rope.”

There was then an elevated square made out of square posts. They walked around on it, August wanting to do it entirely on his own and not hold our hands:

Vivian “You want to crack your head?”

August: “Yeah!”

Vivian: “Then you would die.”

August jumped down “You cracked your head?”

One more stop at the ropes, then August said he needed the bathroom. But they got distracted by the Jeep thing. It had two steering wheels, and August remembered the similar car at a park in Seoul that we went to on a day it turned out to be really polluted. He asked what the second wheel was for and we decided it was for spraying water and he was pretended to spray people he saw: “This one sprays things.”

Eventually they went to the bathroom and then down to another playground (there were several at the park). They climbed up and Vivian went down one slide. August spun a wall thing a lot and went down a small slide several times, climbing back up a green climbing thing. Then to the sand area where they played with the “diggers” as Colin called them. From there Vivian and August went on the tire swing with another girl. She got off, and they chanted “faster, faster, faster”. August really liked the tire swing and said “They didn’t have this in Korea.” A 9 year old boy came over and spun them, getting “too fast” at one point. August also looked at the circle made on the ground and sang a “There’s a dirt wheel on the ground.”

Went over to a bench for snack time. August bit his tongue. “Maybe another cracker will help.” Colin kept pushing the tractor and mixer under my arm and fed me a couple of crackers and a bite of apple. August wanted more apple but we were out. Carly offered him other things and he said “No, I will spit all those out.” Carly convinced him to eat a banana.

We headed home. We were all going to stop at the store, but Colin wasn’t happy so they went straight home. Colin fell asleep in the car. I went to the store, getting spaghetti sauce, frozen peas, some toiletries for me, and an apple turnover that I promptly ate in the car. I headed home, but made the aesthetic and speed mistake of driving through Stroudsburg. West Stroudsburg is rather depressing, and also shut down to a single lane headed east.

When I got home Cherie had finished with pies and had leftover pie dough that she divided between August and Vivian. I helped them make cookies out of it. August was asking Vivian a lot of questions and she got frustrated: “I’m not going to answer. You’ve got too many questions.” August ate three little cookies of raw dough “I basically like little things.” They were using cookie cutters and spoons to make their shapes, and I said something about making a spiral. August wanted a little spiral. That wouldn’t work, so I just gave him a snake instead, which he ate. A bit later he seemed critical that I hadn’t made a spiral, but changed his tune again and said he really liked the snake.

Vivian had leftover dough after making shapes. Difficult for August to understand that they had started with the same amount, and he got upset about Vivian not giving him more. He calmed down, but then when she left some on the counter he took some. She got upset, and when we asked why he did it he said “I like to steal things.” Got that sorted, then they were scaring Chuck by yelling in his ear. Got them outside for a short time.

Carly and I were then going to take the kids to Columcille at 4. But Colin stayed behind with Cassie. I drove Cassie’s car there and we got walking. Vivian kept talking about how she’d been there before and seen things before and August was copying here, and said “I’ve been here a couple times.” He was then walking quite a bit and impressed by his own walking: “You’re walking a long way?” At one point Vivian found some balancing rocks and said she was balancing a rock on top. Just as she got it balanced, August walked up and asked “whatyousaid?” and grabbed the rock she had just set down.

There was a light rain as we walked. Vivian got a walking stick, then August wanted one the same size. We walked in roughly a circle, clockwise. When we came out in the grassy area we went back in through a rougher path with more stones. August pulled his hand away when Carly offered hers to him. We ended up on the same path, took a path a bit deeper into the forest, then turned around and went back to the grassy area again. August had gotten upset he didn’t have his walking stick, and Vivian remembered to look for it where he had dropped it and we found it.

At the grassy area there were were two people walking up the hill behind us. August told them “I’m blocking you.” That was pretty funny. Oh, and along the way we had met two nice dogs, although August was suspicious of both. Vivian had wanted to take Smokey out of the backpack and I said that he only came out for photos. So we found a rock to take a Smokey photo on. Vivian and August sat on a rock and we put Smokey between them. We then took a photo of Carly and the kids (and Smokey) for use in the new staff thing for WBAIS.

We headed home. Some competition over Smokey on the way home, as they argued which of them loved Smokey more (or vice versa). We got back at 5, and Carly started a 5 minute turns for Smokey thing. Carly and Cassie had been making fried rice when I got home from the store, and Cassie finished it up when we were gone. We ate that for dinner, which was excellent, but kind of drowned out by all the craziness: August spilling milk, Colin taking Vivian’s milk and getting upset when it was taken back, taking Smokey turns, Vivian upset when August erased the pictures on the whiteboard (he had said something like “I’m going to erase this because it’s not very good and erased most of it, then left just an owl. When Vivian then told him not to erase it he did.), Vivian using the chopsticks and August pinching her… For the last I took August into the bedroom and he said he was sorry about it. I told him to say “Sorry for hurting you.” He did that, then needed some encouragement in giving her a hug, as she was sitting in the chair and not reciprocating. But he reached in and gave her a hug.

They ended up playing on the whiteboard, with August scribbling things and Vivian saying “I don’t like it.” and erasing it. Vivian then brought in her pogo stick and they played with that on and off through the evening. Vivian also found our little broom from the backpack and got it out. She swept August with it: “I don’t want Vivian brushing my face.” She act how he used it, and he demonstrated by ho
lding it up and saying “sweep, sweep, sweep”.

Vivian and August played on the couch a bit, then at some point August was finding crumbs on the floor and said “I want to jump on the crumbs so I can smash them and hurt them.” Colin had started playing with Jeff’s remote control truck, and he charged it and they started driving it around out in the grass, pushing the empty kiddie pool with it at one point. Unfortunately, it didn’t last long, and when I went out to watch I was greeted with a smoke smell. The engine had burnt out.

So they did fireworks instead. Vivian: “August, closing ears time. Colin, you can plug your ears if you want.” Colin spotted a ton of ants swarming on the ground, and August wanted them climbing on his feet and hands. Back inside, August and Vivian did headstands on the couch while Colin climbed on it, and they played on our bed, jumping off. Carly took a shower. They were hungry, so I cut up an apple for the three of them, and Vivian and August went out and ate all the snap peas from the plant. Vivian shared the last one they could find with August. Cassie came into the kitchen and sat on the chair and August walked right up to her, looked at her, and asked  “Is THAT my mama?”

Carly had some difficulty getting him to brush his teeth, as he wants a flashing toothbrush like the other two. He said something like “Those colors are for older kids” referring to his toothbrush. He was asleep at 8:40.

It was only a five hour flight, which seemed short. But with the Lyft ride at the beginning and long drive to Bangor at the ending, and three hours lost in the air, it was still a whole day of travel.

Carly woke him up around 7:30. Had some cereal with Kayla, then they got Thatcher up to say goodbye. We hung out on the front porch, waiting for the Lyft driver, and August wore Thatcher’s hat. The first time August has worn a ball cap that fit.

He was a little interested/confused that we were riding in a car driven by a stranger, but handled the ride just fine. We saw the Space Needle along the way. Got to the airport and were able to check our bags at the curb. Between online checkin, Lyft, and that it felt much different than our usual international flights. A long security line but not too bad.

We got food at a bagel place and took it down to a quiet corner in the D wing and ate. August and I shared a bagel with egg and cheese, and then a blueberry scone. Carly took him for a walk at one point, and he and I went to check to see if our plane was there at another point. He needed to go to the bathroom and I took him – it was his long bathroom time for the day, so it was nice it happened now and not when we were on the plane with a long line of people waiting.

As we taxied to the runway he was leaning against me. Every time a new noise started up he wanted to know what it was. He fell asleep as we took off at noon and leaned over and laid his head down on Carly’s lap. Carly woke him up just before 1:40. They read Oh, Daddy! a couple times and some Tellulah books before playing Dragonbox Numbers. He and I read the Puffin Rock book, Hello Little Egg, a couple times, and twice he sat on my lap and we looked out the window. But most of his time was spent with Carly, nursing or going to the bathroom again and again and again. And he watched a few episodes of Sarah and Duck, giggling with his headphones on. Meanwhile, I finished watching season 2 of Broadchurch and read some of Gaiman’s Norse Mythology and started a John Sandford novel that Peter sent me.

August got frustrated when we were landing because he wanted to look out the window. We found our bags right away at baggage claim, went to the bathroom, and Chuck found us. We got driving about 8:30. I sat in back with August so Carly could talk to her dad. August protested, telling me “Dada’s not as interesting.” We stopped at a convenience store on the drive with a Subway and got a veggie pattie sandwich. We ate some and got driving again. He barely ate any, but then heard the rustling of a bag up front and asked what it was. It was M&Ms. We did a five bites of sandwich, one M&M process and he wanted me to explain why five bites. I took a video of him and Carly having M&Ms. They both got red, and right after the video he said “Yeah, yeah, red!”

We got to the house at 11. Cherie met us, and August said “Hi Oma!” They helped haul our stuff in through the back door. There was a big catepillar balloon waiting for August, and Vivian had left a Q magnet for August under a pillow. Cherie hung out for awhile, then headed to bed. We went and explored the house and sat and had some tea. August had soy milk from a cup with a long twisty bendy straw and sat on the stool. But he also spent a lot of time just wandering around the first floor, getting a sense of everything. When I first walked out into the new kitchen area with him, he then asked how to get back to our bedroom.

Finally, we headed back to the bedroom and he fell asleep at 12:20.

He woke up at the same time as me again, 7:10. Derek made crepes for breakfast, which were delicious. Derek asked if August wanted a second, and August said he wanted a half. He left a small piece, as usual, and I thought it looked remarkably like a camel. August and Kayla were then playing with the big crane in our room. Thatcher woke up and started playing with them. Kayla walked off, and I watched her. Thought she’d go downstairs. Instead, she went over to the playroom, grabbed a Lego, and came back. August and Thatcher then wanted Legos and tried to take Kayla’s. I told them to go get their own, and they all ended up in the playroom playing with Legos. I went to take a shower and when I came back they had used all the pillows and blankets to make a comfy area with Carly in the middle of the room.

We all headed down to the kitchen for a snack. August continued to not like blueberries since Thatcher doesn’t: “Not blueberries. Thatcher doesn’t like blueberries.” And he kept saying “Don’t eat my food.” to Eddy, even if he didn’t have food. They then had fun locking Eddy out of the house. They wandered in and out of the house a couple times, and ended up in our room jumping on the bed. Thatcher looked out the window and asked “Do you want to go outside?” August: “No thank you. It’s too bright.”

But they ended up going outside and riding bikes as Kayla took a nap. August used the balance bike and headed up the hill: “I can go up hill but not downhill.” We went all the way to the top of the hill and he walked down. They started playing in the dirt. After awhile August wanted to wash off his hands using the hose. Carly said he could go inside and use the bathroom. August responded “Yeah but I don’t want to make the sink all dirty.” Back out, he rode in the little red car thing. Briefly the scooter. Got him water. He was spitting, but when he spit on the concrete and not the dirt Carly took it away. He said “I want to stay hydrated.” He knocked the cup down and it cracked, then when he threw the cup Carly took him to the garage for a bit of a timeout.

Carly went upstairs. I took August and Thatcher for a walk to the canyon. We saw a cool caterpillar. Back about noon for the bathroom. They played out front for a minute, then Derek suggested watermelon. Out back August out on “Aunt Andrea’s” shoes and we discussed calling her ‘Andrea’ versus ‘Andi’ and he said he preferred ‘Andrea’. Derek brought out the watermelon and they sat on cushions and ate it. Carly came down about 12:30 and I went up to the bathroom. But I heard Kayla talking and singing in her crib and went in to find her looking at a book. I picked her up and we read the book and she helped me put her glasses on and we went downstairs.

We all got ready to go to a park with a splash pad area. August saw Thatcher’s goggles in his room and Thatcher told him not to play with them: “Yeah but when things are nice I play with them.”

We left to the park at 1:40. Parking was full so Derek dropped us off. We took the kids to the swings. Kayla in the ones in the sun. August didn’t want one of those so headed over to the more shaded playground. Had to wait for a swing, but he got one quickly, then Thatcher got the one next to it. They chanted “faster, higher” together as we pushed them.

We then headed over to the slashpad. Just sort of got August to start going in the water area and he wanted to turn one of the water gun things. Then someone else hit August with some water. He got upset and that was the end of the water. Carly went and nursed him, then we went on a little walk. We worked on getting him to walk on his own: 5 steps, 20 steps. Eventually he wanted me to carry him and convinced me with a “I’ve got my dada!” We ended up back at the water park from thand north. He contemplated some of the smaller fountains over where Thatcher and Kayla were, but wandered off towards the playground instead and sat and had a snack with Carly.

We left after 2:50. In the truck August and Thather hid behind a towel. Back at the house he played in the truck, first alone, then with Thatcher, while Derek took Kayla to play in the sprinkler. August was talking with a whiny tone and I asked if he was doing it because he was tired. He replied “No, I’m not tired. It’s just for funsies I’m doing it.” They moved to the front set of seats and played there for a long time.

Carly took over watching them, and then they went up to bedroom and got out the piano keyboard for the iPad. I helped them get it set up, then they played with it for a couple minutes but the iPad froze. August didn’t get upset. Instead, he did his quiet thing where he just sort of goes still.

Carly watched them

– played with iPad keyboard – did his quiet thing when it froze

– towel present

– Thatcher hit/August pinched back

– nursing break

Hank’s visit

– August patted Hank

– spraying the mister

– playing in the dirt

– ate tons of snap peas

“What’s yours August?” “I ate all my pizza…Sorry Kayla, I ate all my pizza.”

The shows

Bath at 7. August had a tiny sliver “I can’t feel it!”

Asleep 7:50 “Where’s uncle Hank going to sleep?