Author: Ryan/Dada

Carly and August came down right after 7:30; he had started to wake up a little before 7. He ate some banana with me, then greeted Kayla when they were back from a walk. He was interested in Derek making coffee, then we followed them up to the playroom. We played with the blocks, and August started using ‘our’ and ‘your’, saying things like  “your castle” several times. He also moved blocks away from Kayla, carrying them half way across the room, so they weren’t in the way when she was trying to stand. He also played with Thatcher’s “Giant, giant fish”.

We then we’re finishing getting ready to go and I took a shower. We ended up in the play area again. Kayla drooled a bit, and I used a rag that was on the floor to catch it. August then took the cloth and spent a good five minutes walking around and wiping everything – including the bouncy thing, fish, and Eddy’s tail. He also rocked on the bug thing and started singing the ABC song, so we sang all the variants of it. And he played with Kayla a little more before we headed down and had breakfast before we left. He and Thatcher ate at the island together again, then we took off just before 10:30.

We stopped at my friend Mindy’s house in Greenwood. I knew them from the Boys and Girls Club, and since their youngest daughter, Justine, was 4. I had babysat a lot for them, and dogsat their old dog Hudson. Mindy and Max are architects and have done all sorts of education-related projects (children’s museums, zoo exhibits, etc.) Anyway, the daughters are both in college now and I hadn’t seen them for years until I ran into Mindy on Greenwood a couple years back and have been Facebook friends since. We visited about 2 and a half hours and had a blast. Justine dropped by. They had done a complete remodel of their house and, given that they are architects, it was pretty amazing. August was slow to come in, but loved a sculpture by their door, and soon was fully into exploring the house. Mindy won him over with her shiny toe nail polish; after that he seemed comfortable with her. Carly mainly watched August and explored, but they also sat at the table and he loved the apricot juice, so she was able to visit as well.

Could have stayed longer, but we wanted to avoid the horrible, horrible traffic in the afternoon. Left at 1 and Carly drove. He complained about wanting to nurse for a minute, but then cuddled with Marshy and fell asleep at 2:30 and woke up at 3:38, just a couple minutes before we got to Cherie and Chuck’s.

Cherie was there when we arrived. The first thing he went to was the shells, and they identified them for a few minutes. I then took him downstairs and he stood at the sliding door, watching the rain, then we freed a fly that was buzzing around the door and did some standing on the yoga blocks. He then went upstairs, and ended up playing with her keys. She took him out and they played with the buttons for the car. He got scared pretty good by the horn honking when pressing the panic button. He then spotted deer out the window, and went out with her until they got scared and ran away. He wanted to see more deer, and they saw three later. He went in and nursed, and then I took him downstairs again. But he started talking about the “beeping” and it turned out he meant the blinking of the light on the printer down there. He was holding on to me, and wouldn’t let go. We played with the printer, but that didn’t change his mind and he wanted to go back upstairs.

We ate a delicious dinner; lamb and bison and asparagus and sweet potato and salad. August had started with grapes, and used his fork to eat them; he’s getting pretty good. He then ate pretty much everything except the salad. And he drank a lot of milk. A big meal for him. More ‘patooie’ on the floor, but then I took him up for a bath and he spit in the water, which was a bit better. He started to make funny noises and put on quite a show. I said he was turning red, so he started making noises, then chanting “You’re turning red….you’re turning grey…” I took him down and he said good night, then Carly took him and he fell asleep about 10.

New words/phrases: apricot, dimples, skinny, our, your

Pwaq

Pqe

Pqeo

Pqaj “That’s a silly name.”

Swi

Before we left:

Mindy’s house: 

Asleep in the car: 

Oma and Opa’s house. Straight to the shells:

In the bath: 

Today’s first big event was heading up to Everett to go to the Imagine Children’s Museum with my friend Sarah and her kids. Then, Carly made dinner for everyone with the help of her friend Becky, and Chuck and Cherie were able to come for dinner – quite an end to our last full day in Seattle.

August woke up a little after 7. Carly went up to him, and they came down about 7:30. He played with Kayla first. We were kind of fake tickling her, and she was grabbing at August, and he climbed into my lap. We then read a couple of books from the box of books by her playpen. Eddy was panting, and August started panting like her, and petted her a bit more. August and Thatcher ate Cheerios and scones (that Andrea had baked) together at the island, then we got ready to head out.

We left a little after 9:30 and headed up to Edmonds. At Sarah’s house August took a minute of convincing before he came in (smelling flowers along the way). We met their new au pair (from Austria), and August got into full house exploring mode. And Lauren and Andrew had fun showing him around. They ended up in Lauren’s room playing with a couple balls. Lauren was rolling on her stomach on the big one, and August was trying to do it on the tiny hand-sized ball. He was also doing his jumping and throwing thing.

We left, and met back up at the museum. Our first time at this one, and we got in thanks to their free passes. August had a great time, and Carly followed him around. He refused to wear an apron at the water area, and at one point got upset when he wanted to use a toy that another kid had. They went outside and nursed (very odd that the museum doesn’t have a nursing room), then came back in and were fine until our free parking-induced 90 minute limit was up. I didn’t see much of them, as I was visiting with Sarah.

We made plans to meet up for a quick lunch at Brooklyn Bros Pizza, but August had only slept 9 hours, and was looking ready for a nap already. So we said goodbye and headed back to the house. He slept from 1:40 to 3ish. Carly went up when he woke up, and a couple minutes later I heard Kayla. I knew Andrea was upstairs but in a meeting, and Derek had taken Thatcher to the store to get some fish, so I went up and got her. She was excited to see me and we played for about 10 minutes before Derek got back.

Carly then continued to work on dinner: veggie wraps, corn, rice, and the fish that Derek contributed. I went outside with Thatcher and August and they played out in the hole. I just watched and turned the water on and off. That lasted a good 30+ minutes. It started to rain, and eventually August was ready to head in. They came in and ate rice cakes and drank milk. And had some peanuts – which August actually ate. Chuck and Cherie then arrived, and the two boys ran to greet them. Hyper play time with Oma and Opa then ensued. Cherie noted how the boys were mimicking each other. We ended up in the play area, which went well for awhile, but then August started throwing blocks and threw one or two over Chuck’s head (like the yo-yo over Thatcher’s last time). I took August down, but August wouldn’t agree to not throw them, finding it funny to say otherwise – as Derek said, it sounded like he’d been hanging out with a 4 year-old for a week. So he stayed downstairs with me for a few minutes, and had just changed his mind about the throwing and headed back upstairs when they came down.

More playing ensued, and August did a ‘patooie’ on the floor and actually spit – progress in that we are working on spitting out toothpaste and this is progress. He agreed to wipe it up, but then kept doing it. Led to more sitting on my lap while he wouldn’t agree to limit it to the sink and outside. Eventually he did, and he headed outside. Only I hadn’t specified where outside, so he started right in on the mat, porch, and Thatcher’s shoes. I was working on limiting it to the grass, but then Thatcher joined in, and eventually both of them were ignoring both me and Derek on it, so that was the end of that.

We ate our big dinner and had fun, although August didn’t eat much (although he had eaten a lot of fruit earlier and other stuff). It was raining pretty well outside, and water was actually streaming from the drainage pipes into their dirt play area; August stood on the porch and stared at it. Chuck and Cherie left, so we said goodbye, then I was upstairs with the boys playing blocks. I was helping them build separate towers that they could knock down, which worked for awhile until August wanted to build on Thatcher’s and I said no. He got sad I took him down to tell Carly about it. I think that almost worked, but they ended up nursing. They started to come back down the stairs and he heard something happening and asked “What’s going on?” They then ‘helped’ clean the kitchen by sweeping while Carly and I did dishes and cleaned counters.

They were both getting tired, and we were soon heading up to bed, but not before Carly and August first tickled Uncle DD. Andrea and I took the boys up to the play area and read books. The boys each insisted that their own parent read; Andrea and I sort of worked it out and they mostly tolerated it, but kept requesting. There was one book that had them acting like animals (Gallop!). August flew around like an eagle and swam like a turtle. We also read Dragons Love Tacos and The Pout-Pout Fish. After the Dragons book, it was clear they were both ready for bed. Carly took him in and he was asleep about 10.

Playing with Kayla:

Sarah’s house: 

Children’s Museum: 

Back at the house: 

I had my now annual book group meeting up at Peter B’s cabin on Lake Roesiger east of Lake Stevens.  Fourth year? It went quite well, although I had woken up in the morning with a headache. In a week of crappy weather over here, it was pretty nice up at the lake. Carly drove me up to Peter’s house, getting up there about 9:20. Me, Peter, his kids, and Stephanie went to QFC to get snacks, then drove to the lake. We had good discussions on our books, and also Peter B’s retirement. And, for the first time in the 14 or so years that Peter W and I have known Peter B, we met his wife, Carol.

Carly drove back to the house, and then back to pick me up, with August alone in the backseat for the first time this summer. And…it went quite well. So that was good. During the day, they played with Derek and Thatcher at the house. Lots of playing around in the playroom, and outside in the dirt. And August took a nice, two hour nap.

Carly and August drove back up around 6:30, and we stayed until close to 9. Peter barbecued some chicken and made a salad, and Carly stopped and picked up a variety of interestingly flavored sodas, which we then drank in small glasses and sort of taste-tested, wine style. August was very much into smelling each of them as well. They were flavors that included things like blackberry, cardamom, ginger, and pineapple, so quite fragrant. Oh, and Christine and Kasiah had gone and gotten strawberry shortcake for dessert. We all, of course, liked that. The kids got out a wooden train set for August, but he was being a little shy, although he played with it a bit. Instead, he liked playing with all the random magnets on their fridge, and flopping on the couch. At first I was flopping him, but then he was flopping himself for the first time.

We headed home, and I tried to keep him quiet (rather unsuccessfully) as I gave him a bath. He wanted to smell everything that looked soap or toothpaste-like in the room, so we spent most of our time on that. Carly then put him to bed right around 10.

Favorite part of Thatcher’s house:

At Peter’s house:  

Headed home: 

Asleep: 

I woke up in the morning to find August sleeping off the pad and up in the corner, a good foot and a half above the head of the bed. Later, at 7:35, he suddenly came down the stairs on his own and found us. August nursed, then first played with Kayla, who was standing using the stools. He liked the hearts on her pajamas and was touching those. A few minutes later he and I got close to Eddy and were petting her for awhile. He grabbed a shirt of mine and was hiding in it and said “Where is he? He was here.” And when Kayla screeched he asked “What is that noise?”

A little before 10 we headed out to take care of at least one of our failed errands of the day before. Up at the thrift shop, I found a sweater, and Carly found a few shirts and a pair of pants for August. I was watching August while she looked, and August found an Elmo book about caring for the planet that we got. Carly paid, and August saw a rack of bracelets, and proceeded to try on pretty much all of them at least once. We finally were able to leave the bracelets.

We headed down to Carkeek Park where Carly met up with Colleen and a couple of her other colleagues from CPM. On the way, August managed to pour water on himself from his water bottle, so we changed pants.

At the park August threw around a bouncy ball that someone had left in the play area for a few minutes, then we went to the swings. As we walked by the play area with the salmon, August ran off and then pointed along the pathway from the other side of the building and said something like “walking here”. He then ran to a specific spot, tapped the ground with his finger, and said “fall right here”. He was remembering falling and scraping his knees right there.

He was on the swings for several minutes, then we went down to the beach, where we first drew with charcoal in a log and August did some singing and played by himself. We then headed down to the beach where we saw some sea stars, crabs, anemones, snails, and a little worm. Thatcher showed up after awhile, and I didn’t know it was him at first because he didn’t say hi and he was wearing sunglasses. But then I figured out it was him and he joined in our exploring. After 20 minutes or so Derek came down with Kayla for a few minutes, but then some raindrops started to fall, so they headed up. Took awhile to pull August away and convince him to go up and see mama. Back up by the playground, we got out the picnic mat and ate some lunch on the grass, then said goodbye and headed home.

At home he napped for close to an hour and a half, from 1:50 to a little past 3. While he fell asleep, I went up and finished the airplane with Thatcher that we had started building before. After his nap, he played with Thatcher out in the pit, turning on the hose and making a river. Carly filled up a bucket with them and made a mud castle, which Thatcher quickly destroyed with his hoe. August started to sing songs about the water, and playing there, using real words “Stand right here…playing in the water…” Etc.

We then drove to Ken’s Market and bought stuff for dinner: a quiche, hummus, drinks, etc. and went to Stephanie and Nate’s house or, as August now knows it, Ruby’s house. We sat at a table along the side of the house. He and Ruby did some art together, we ate, and Ruby showed us a really cool book called Blue 2, that August also really liked. But his favorite thing was playing with the cats and dogs and petting them. He held a string toy for one of the cats, rubbed heads with them, petted them, barked back at the dog that was barking at me, and fed the old dog one piece of food at a time, placing each piece on the floor in front of her. Oh, and he got to use a bubble gun thing out on the porch. A bit past 8 we said goodbye, and Ruby gave Carly and him a hug.

We went home and skipped a bath and he was asleep sometime after 9.

New words/phrases: wrist, bracelet

Morning:

Bracelets: 

Carkeek: 

Ruby’s house: 

Saying goodbye: 

He slept until 8:30 or so. We got ready to go pretty quickly, as we were heading to Seasons Cafe (owned by Andrea’s sister) at Swansons Nursery south of Carkeek Park for breakfast. But we had some time where we were playing in the play room.  Thatcher was swing around the yo-yo, then August had his turn with it and was kind of throwing it a foot or two in front of himself and jumping at the same time. That was fine until he found it funny to throw it over Thatcher’s head, who was sitting with me, making an airplane out of some block things. The second time, I just barely started to say I was taking it away and August knew he had done wrong and started screeching.

But eventually we got going to the cafe and got there a little after 10 and looked at plants a bit on our way in. I placed our order while Carly walked around with August. He was really wanting to throw the rocks on the ground, and was getting frustrated and difficult to handle, so Carly took him to the car for a minute while I waited for food. When food arrived, I walked to get them, and they were already on their way. While I had waited, I found a book about planting a garden that had zinnias in it, so showed that to August. Carly had an English muffin sandwich with preserves on it, and I got scrambled eggs and the “squishy” croissant that August had been interested in.  We ate, then looked at the koi, which Thatcher and August watched quite a bit, then started wandering around and looking at plants and other things. August wanted Carly to have him hop, and he was really into names of the plants. There was a little play house, and August insisted on taking his shoes off before going in. There was a little girl playing there as well, and August said hi a couple times. August saw a wooden fences made of squares and said “What in the squares? I don’t know. Want to check (it) out? You see it? I see it.”

We were going up to meet my friends Meghan and Shaun at their home in Lynnwood at noon, so headed to the car. August had been having a lot of fun, but then asked where we were going, and didn’t like the answer and refused to get in the car seat. So Carly nursed him for a few minutes, then we bribed him with a graham cracker and we were on our way, getting up to Lynnwood just a couple minutes late. Had a great visit with Meghan and Shaun and their daughter Maddie, who I’ve known since she was one or two and is now headed off to college. Carly and August stayed in the car for a bit, then came in and got to meet and pet one of their cats. Then their son, Gavin, played with them and gave them a tour. They went outside and played soccer and frisbee,  and Gavin was teaching August how to catch, and he showed them his room and different toys in the house. Stayed until a bit after 2, then headed back to the house for a nap. He slept from 2:35 to close to 4. Woke up, and had a tofu dog for a late lunch.

We were talking about what we were going to do in the afternoon, and August said “Walk around see what we find spinny things”. We then had a series of unsuccessful errands: got to Jiffy Lube before they closed at 5, but they said it was too late for an oil change. Then to Ross to look for a sweatshirt for me, but no luck. Finally, we went to Salvation Army to look for some clothes for August, but they had closed at 5. And August got upset leaving Ross, so we had to hang out in the car for awhile.

We headed to Capitol Hill and parked close to Molly Moon’s. We walked into Cal Anderson park. While Carly went to the bathroom, August spotted a white spot on the ground and looked at it and said “Smells like pee. Smells like chips.” They had a table outside the bathrooms that had soap on it, and August wanted to get some and smell it. Did that, then we went up to the playground. He went on the swings for several minutes. Carly was quiet for a few minutes and August said “Mama say anything.” He also had a couple of good swinging chants, and was flapping his arms. Finally, he pointed off in the distance and said “That’s a cool mountain.” It was the mountain-shaped fountain. So we went and looked at the pool and stream, etc. He was looking at the algae in the pool and talk about it: “Mama says no throw the rocks. Mama says only dumping. Mama liked dumping. Nah, not in the algae.”

We then put him in the backpack and had a nice walk up Broadway, then walked by Carly’s old apartment, then up to Safeway where we got veggie burgers and stuff for dinner. Along the way we looked up several flowers and plants, and I taught him about stop signs and street signs. When we said that mama’s old apartment was on 13th Street, he wanted it to be on 14th.

We got in the car and headed home. As we got close, he asked “What they doing?” Carly asked who he meant, or if he meant people in general. He said people, and so Carly listed several things people could be doing in their houses. She mentioned one being sad, and August said “What sad about?” Carly would say one thing, then August would ask for more and more and more. So that is a new game, listing things people could be sad about. He kept saying “More sad about”. Also, as we got to the house we were listening to something (probably Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’s The Heist) and there was a song where they were swearing near the end of it and August started to sing along. He’s starting to pay attention to my music in general and ask for the name of songs when they come on.

Back in the house he wanted to go right back outside, despite the fact it was a bit chilly. So I played with him out the front door while Carly made the burgers. At one point he held up his hands, referring to the fireworks we had just heard, and asked “what is those?” Inside, we were talking about the house and I made the mistake of asking if he wanted a big house. He said yes, and repeated “Want a big house? Yes.” But he also said “Want a house made of blue soap.” (There was blue dish soap on the counter.) Finally, we were sitting on the couch together, him and me, and he made up a name where he said “mamas name is…” and finished with a bunch of nonsense syllables. At first he was coming up with names on his own, then I was doing it and he would keep insisting “more names!” We ended up doing everyone he knows, and all of his stuffed animals and cartoon characters.

We then had a bunch of fun as I gave him a bath. Also sort of his first deep conversation. We were listening to a Mountain Goats song, “Heel Turn 2”, where he repeats the line “I don’t want to die in here” several times. August started asking “What does die look like?” I tried several explanations, but he wasn’t buying them, even grabbing my face like he does to look in my eyes and ask it several times. Then we spent time smelling the bath soaps, and he said they smelled like colors, like “blue and pink” and “purple and green”. Also, while I had him sitting on the toilet we were talking about potty training, and how he could wear underwear like Thatcher, and August remembered the Monster Party book (with the line “Monster picks out underwear.”) and remembered several things from that story, especially the balloons. Finally, I got him out and he was looking in the drawers. Opened one and it was empty and August said “There’s nothing in it.”

Carly took him in our room and he was looking through the books and for some reason decided he definitely didn’t want to read a Bob Book, taking each one and shoving it under the bed. He chose a pigeon book instead and was asleep about 10:15.

One more note: I don’t think I mentioned it, but yesterday or the day before he started to say ‘I….’, which he hasn’t really done until now.

Nursery: 

Taking off his shoes to go in the playhouse:  

Meeting Meghan’s cat: 

Back at the house: 

Errands: 

Cal Anderson Park: 

Home yet again: 

August was up at 7:40, and Thatcher came down a few minutes later. Thatcher tried tickling August, who didn’t want to be tickled. August backed away, saying “No, no, no” and then pointed to me and said “Tickle dada”. Thanks, son. We played up in the playroom, and Thatcher was doing his ninja moves, jumping and rolling around on the floor. August was trying to do moves like Thatcher. I was downstairs a bit later and everyone else had gone upstairs. Kayla woke up in her stroller, and I held her on my lap for a couple minutes while I finished typing. A bit later I was out front watching Thatcher and August while I held Kayla. Chuck and Cherie were then up, and we were all up in the playroom for awhile, then back out front. By the kitchen, Augustw as afraid of Eddy, but then was stomping to the rhythm of Eddy’s tail thumping on the floor. Cherie started singing “Chim-chim-aree” from Mary Poppins and August liked it. He asked  “What is song called?” I then pulled up the lyrics on my phone, and we watched the video from the movie. Finally, Cherie taught August to hop on his hands and feet like a frog and bunny.

We left at 11:20, Carly driving, and August surprised us by falling asleep at 11:35. We got to Dee and Grant’s house at 12, and Carly stayed in the car with him until he woke up about 12:35. He was hesitant about going inside, and I hung outside with him, playing with the wind chimes and looking at things in the yard. He was wondering what the things on a quail’s head are called, and I couldn’t Google a good answer at the moment. He kept requesting “More wind chimes” and then we were knocking on the little window above the couch. He could see my dad, and I told him to yell “Hi grampa!” Eventually, he was comfortable being inside, and sat on the rocking horse for a minute. He got off it, and then put Marshy on. We were looking at the pizza menu, and August had opinions about which pizza he wanted, even if he didn’t know what was on each:  “Want mad dog” “What kind you want?” “I was think about 5.” My mom gave him a hug, and he wanted “more” hug, then surprised her by saying “How have you been?” He was curious about the tower fan they have, and said “Some kind of fan in there.”

After the soccer match was over (France beat Iceland handily), we headed up to MOD Pizza for a late lunch. August ate a lot of olives and mushrooms and crust, and some sun-dried tomato. We had a good lunch, then headed back to the couch. August and Carly nursed in the back room again, then we went out on a walk with my mom and Dee and Paul. August asked about flowers, and directed our walk though a church parking lot a bit. I then got Bluie out and August made a name of throwing him from the stroller. At first, there was a bit of a script where August would kiss the part of Bluie that had hit the ground, then throw him again. We got back and hung out at the house. Carly and August were out in the yard at some point. In the house, August watched his Korean videos, then some Kipper and Pororo. He was then doing some singing, and throwing Bluie around to my dad and Carly. He did a good job saying bye bye to everyone. I was most sorry to see him say bye to Paul, as it will be the last time he sees him this summer. He had had fun with Paul, requesting Paul sit with him both ways in the car for lunch.

We drove from there to Central Market in Shoreline, by where we went to the farmer’s market. We got some salad bar stuff for dinner. Carly looked around first, and I stayed with August, who enjoyed pushing a little cart around. He and I went and got milk and half and half and picked out bread. I then went and got some food.

We got back to the house and ate dinner at the kitchen island, then I gave him a bath and washed his hair while Carly did some cleanup in the kitchen. Andrea had made macaroons, so we got to eat those. August managed to stay up until a little past 9:30.

 

Dee and Grant’s: 

On a walk: 

Pizza: 

Back at the house: 

Shopping: 

I was up first and got to visit with Andrea and Kayla. August was up at 8:40, and they came down around 9. Andrea made delicious crepes for breakfast. I was then with August and Thatcher outside. They were standing on the retaining wall stones together, then Thatcher went to the corner of the yard. August asked “what thatcher looking at?” He then put his finger to his lips and said “Hmmm” a few times. A bit later we were back inside, and Thatcher was jumping off the bed, so August had to jump like that as well.

We all headed to Carkeek Park. We went down on the beach, and August hated the seaweed at first. But then Derek was showing him crabs and August wanted to find more. Eventually, he was tromping over the seaweed and wading through the water like it was nothing. The next big find was a starfish, which August got to touch after dipping his finger in water. Chuck and Cherie showed up, and August was first exploring with Oma, then holding hands with Opa as they explored with Thatcher. August was getting a little obsessed, saying “more crabs! More crabs!” And at the end, after we had seen a baby octopus, he was requesting more crabs and starfish, and anemones.

We went back to the house, then all went up to the Shoreline Farmer’s Market. Thatcher and August both held Cherie’s hands and sucked their thumbs as they walked through the parking lot. Not sure who was copying whom there. Carly went to look around, then August and I walked around a few minutes later to find her. We bought a veggie quesadilla and a chicken Mo pocket for lunch, and a cold drip coffee from one Cup. Ate those standing up, and looked down to see Thatcher and August lying across the chairs, again copying each other.

We headed home, and Carly took him up for a nap. He would nurse, but was just too excited. He would pop up and say “Go see Thatcher!” So they played a bit, then we headed down to Carkeek to meet up with Anneka. Carly hurried across the field to Anneka by the playground. I told August she was going over to her friend, and August asked “What is the friend’s name?” We practiced saying “Hi, Anneka” but when we got there he was too shy to say it. He wandered around the playground a bit, then was contented with eating tortilla chips. He wanted to nurse and was falling asleep. We got him back awake and I then tried to take him around the bathroom building to the salmon hill/climbing area. August saw it and started running, said something about climbing, then fell and scraped his knees. He ended up back nursing with Carly, threatening to fall asleep again.

Luckily, we got him up again and I got him over to the salmon area and he loved it. Spent the next 45 minutes or an hour there. He climbed the rubberized hill side a few times. Made it entirely on his own the first time. Carrying the spray bottle each time. He starts to make a distressed sound when it gets too steep, but keeps going. The second time I had to go help him. The next couple times I went up with him but he did it on his own. We went down the slide together once, and we got out Bluie and he threw him around. (August has officially decided to use ‘he’ when referring to Bluie – I’d been neutral, or mixing it up.) He also spent a lot of time looking at and climbing on the little hills with starfish and shells on them. He walked over to one thing and said “I show you this.” And he was asking what something was in the rocks and said “I don’t know.”

Finally, I took him over to the swings and he went in the little kid swing and stayed there for a long time. He was first throwing Bluie and I would pick him up. But then he was just swinging, holding Bluie. He talked about going up to the sky like the badger (remembering the Korean book again) and bent his head back, looking up at the trees and sky. There were big kids playing on the swings next to him, and he watched them. But most of the time he just was peacefully swinging. He finally got out when he saw a big kid jump off the bigger swing and he wanted to do it. He wanted to be able to swing on the big swing and drag his feet in the wood chips, but of course is not tall enough.

We went back to the house to find a full party in session. Glecy was there, as was Hank. Judith and Ethan and Andrea’s parents showed up a bit later. Carly and I took turns eating and watching August and Thatcher outside the front door. August didn’t eat much of the actual dinner, aside from some salmon, but he really liked the peas and pea pods from the bush outside. He also had a lot of fun sitting with Oma at the table and hitting a beer bottle with a knife. Ethan was sitting next to them and started drumming on the table, and August was drumming on the table like him.

I took August up for his bath. We were up there playing for awhile, then Carly switched with me. I came back up a bit later to find Thatcher had joined August in the bath. They were having a lot of fun. I took over again. All was fine until August splashed Thatcher a little in the face. Thatcher got quite upset and was crying. As I got August out and got him dressed he kept asking why Thatcher was crying and saying things like “Want understand.” Carly took over and he was asleep a little after 8:30.

New words/phrases: anemone, I don’t know, understand

Hmm. What is Thatcher looking at?:

House: 

Farmer’s market. Notice how Thatcher and August are copying each other in both photos: 

Back to Carkeek: 

In the car: 

Party and evening: 

It was hard to leave Chelan. Our time there definitely flew by. But actually getting out the door was aided by August sleeping until a bit past 9. He was then slow to want to get up; perhaps he sense something was happening. My mom did get to help feed him spaghetti in the morning though, and then we took our traditional family photos near the front of the house before leaving a little after 11.

Carly drove most of the way, from Chelan to the McDonalds east of Monroe. August had a bit of trouble with this, especially when in sunk in that we were going to a new house. I got him to cuddle with Peter Rabbit and Marshy though, and then we read some Wheels on the Bus and a few others, then watched a lot of Kipper and videos from class on the iPad. And he ate most of the strawberries and liked the one short little tunnel by Skykomish. We stopped at McDonald’s and got chicken sandwiches and a room temperature iced latte – there was literally no ice in it. They nursed in the car, then I took over driving, and he fell asleep a bit after that, from around 2:45 to 3:15 when we got to Derek and Andrea’s new house.

It was at first overwhelming for him. Carly took him up to the bedroom and nursed. He made it out into the hallway for a couple minutes with Thatcher, then needed to retreat to the bedroom again. A little before 4 we got him out again, and he went downstairs with me and then outside the front door. There, he started to play with Thatcher, mainly with the sidewalk chalk and a paving stone that Thatcher had made at school that included bits of pottery, glass, keys, and other objects in it. Later in the evening August strung together a sentence something like “Had fun play with Thatcher pieces of glass out”, referring to Thatcher picking out loose pieces of dull glass from it. August also really liked a wind chime hanging on the wall by the door that had plastic beads on it.

Thatcher then led us to the backyard, where the two of them had a lot of fun playing in the big drainage hole, which is a little kid’s dream play area. Derek turned on the hose and let it pore down the side. August was fascinated by this and was enthralled watching a stream form down the hill. It then snuck around him and started to pool at his feet. August was unaware of it until Thatcher pointed it out and August quickly stepped out of it. August did well climbing out of the hole once, then tried walking back down. He slid down, landed on his butt, and slid the rest of the way down the hill.

We ate dinner on cushions and a little table in the yard. Derek had made delicious pesto pasta and veggies. August mainly ate the pasta, and enjoyed using Thatchers forks to eat it. After dinner, Thatcher started showing off his tricks using his red wagon. August wanted to do all of them as well, so Carly and Thatcher would help him balance on the wagon like Thatcher had. Thatcher then jumped out of the wagon, and I was holding August’s hands while he did the same. August was doing a surprisingly good job of jumping up and over the edge of the wagon all on his own – my hands were just there to keep him from falling.

After that, we went in and Carly was preparing dishes for the dishwasher. August has continued to ask “What is the messy?” Every chance he gets, and had done it a couple times to Derek when he was preparing the vegetables. He asked Carly, then answered his own question with “Doing dishes to wash the tomato off.”  We went out front and we’re doing sidewalk chalk. And writing some letters. I had noticed that August was pronouncing Thatcher’s slightly off, and then I saw him draw an F and say “F for Fatcher”. August then put on his own sunglasses for awhile. He put them on and said “Like a gnome” (the one on my parents’ back porch.

We all went for a walk, with August in the backpack. He started a “Wiggle, wiggle” song to start with, then we were using the phone to look up all the flowers and some of the trees we came across. We are all going to know our flowers soon enough. He easily identified lavender and maple trees on the walk; I think cedars are going to be next. We did a lot of spinning in the backpack, and the poking mama/I’m not a tree game. August started chanting “I’m not a tree, I’m a person” and drumming on my back. Near the end, I said we were going home, and he had to clarify what that meant. He asked “What house called?” We settled on ‘Thatchers house’.

Back at the house, I took him in on Thatcher’s bed while Andrea read them a dinosaur book. Thatcher was then going to bed, and August would be up for another hour or two, so the three of us got in the car and went to QFC to get some snacks and other supplies. In the car August asked “What store we going to?” There, August really liked the bottles of vitamins and wanted to know the names of all of them. He was pretty hyper, but it worked for us. I was doing the self checkout and realized the hummus didn’t have a barcode. I called the attendant over and she said “Merry Christmas” – in part I think because she saw Carly trying to handle August close by.

We drove back and Carly gave him a quick bath while I caught up on this stuff. He went to sleep a little past 10.

New words/phrases: glass,

Last morning with gramma and grampa: 

The drive: 

Thatcher throwing a ball at me: 

Doing tricks on the wagon: 

Going for a walk: 

He was awake around 8, but Carly didn’t coax him upstairs until close to 9, and even then it was with considerable reluctance. Eventually he warmed up, and they played outside while I did some work. I was then outside with him, and he sort of did some weeding with my dad in the flower bed in the deck. Although that mainly meant my dad weeding, and August throwing the weeds around. He was then playing with the spray bottle and spraying both gramma and grampa when he wasn’t drinking from it. Inside, we did flopping, first on the green chair, but then on the bears: both the big one (Chester), and the little one (Teddy). He and I then ended up in the kitchen, me supporting him as he stood on the counter, and we smelled all of the spices in the cupboard. A couple times. He was very interested in their names and describing their smells: something he applied colors to, saying that one smelled purple and green, another green and white, etc.

Around 12:30 we got in the Jag and drove into town. Too hot to drive. We went to BC Macdonald’s and had ice cream. A very impressive selection of flavors, with a lot of berry ones. Carly of course got bubble gum, and that was also August’s favorite, which meant there was more huckleberry cheesecake for me. Although he also liked my dad’s bright red boysenberry ice cream. We ate a little in the shop, and talked to the owner a bit, then went behind the building to the park and sat on the grass. There, we were doing the “Jack was jumping, jumping…turn around and sit back down” song, but we couldn’t remember the beginning. August was having fun though and kept requesting it, making the ‘more’ sign.

My mom went to get the mail and walk home; the rest of us drove. We went downstairs and he wanted to read Skippyjohn Jones and then fell asleep, from 1:50 to about 3:15. Carly and I (mainly Carly) had been doing a lot of cleaning and packing. After he was up, he was hanging out in the bathroom as Carly cleaned, and he was looking at himself in the mirror and performing for himself. He was then upstairs playing with my mom and the rocks: “Ooh, oh, ooh. I like this one. Stripes in there. Orange in there.” He was then throwing around Celeste’s little pillow, mainly backwards over his head.

About 5:30, he and grampa headed outside and planted a little Japanese maple together, between the log and the street. That was very cool to see. August helped with the digging and planting and watering, then got up on top of the big log and was playing there: doing a “Doo da doo da doo” dance, looking for walnut shells from the squirrels (he called the broken pieces “Semi-walnut”, as they were part of a shell, like a ‘semicircle’ is part of a circle), and spinning the ornament thing.

At 6 we all walked up to Quick Wok for dinner. The first time any of us had been there. August once again was an adventurous eater, and liked the noodles. He loved the baby corn, and after eating all of our baby corn, he moved on to Carly’s tofu, my water chestnuts, and our mushrooms. My mom had gotten a spicier dish, and he did his thing again where he would eat a spicy bite, react to it and request water, and then eat another bite. Got it on film this time. Then, he grabbed Carly’s fork and just started stabbing pieces of tofu and eating it, as if he’d spent a bunch of time with a fork. But to now he hasn’t expressed much interest in using a fork or feeding himself with one.

We came home, first walking to the end of Robinson in search of a noisy wind ornament my parents had heard. We didn’t find it, but we got a good look at the river. We then sat outside and were entertained by August, who was first doing a silly walk in circles around the deck and patio, and then running. Carly gave him a bath, then he came out for one last “Night, night” with gramma and grampa. He had seen Celeste as well, so he and Carly waved off in the yard in the direction she had gone and said “Night, night”. She then took him down and he was asleep about 10:15.

New words/phrases: bubblegum, huckleberry, Skippyjohn Jones

Throwing weeds: 

Ice cream. Signing ‘more’ for Jack is Jumping: 

Back home: 

Planting a tree: 

Quick Wok for dinner: 

Entertaining at home: 

August and I went to Wenatchee with my parents today, leaving Carly to have some alone time to work on her classes, He was up at 7:45, and spent about 45 minutes nursing and reading with Carly. Since I was taking him later, she played with him in the morning while I did some work. They played outside a lot and did sand castles. Back inside, I found out that August knew exactly how to move the cursor to choose and send emoticons in Skype, sending them to Vivi. They then skyped with Cherie. Carly fed him some spaghetti before we left, and he again requested pepper in it. Finally, he requested that Carly blow bubbles in the milk. Don’t know if I’ve mentioned that, but they’ve been doing it for several days.

We headed to Wenatchee at 12:30. I sat with him on the way down. He got upset once on the entire trip, and it was as we were reading the Richard Scarry counting book and there was a picture of firefighters spraying water; I mentioned it was like the hose he watered flowers with, and he instantly got sad because he wanted to spray water and knew he couldn’t. He ended up cuddling with my teddy bear, which he had brought with him.

We made it to Wenatchee and to the clinic where my dad had an appointment. There was a toy area and he started playing with my mom with the train. He hasn’t really played with a train at all, and really liked it. He particularly liked pushing it through the tunnels. At 2 my parents went in to the appointment, and we played a little longer. I got him away from the train as he was overdue for a nap. We found a book of colors in Spanish and went out to the couches and read it a couple times. He was rolling around and lying on the couch, and said “Sorry dada for pinching”, which happened yesterday morning. I took him in to the bathroom to change him, and he wanted to see the faucet on. I turned it on, then started to set him down and he said “See lavender soap.” That surprised me, as I hadn’t even noticed the soap. Not sure it if was the picture on the bottle or the word that he noticed. Later I asked and he said picture.

We went back out and got in the backpack and started walking in the 100 degree heat for a nap. Tried to stay in the shadows. After about 10 minutes I thought we were good and went in Hastings, ready for the AC. But August’s head came up. Walked in the shade of the building for another 5 and went back in only to find that they have permanently closed the coffee shop. I consulted Google, and found a pottery/coffee shop a block away called Inspirations. Went there and got an iced latte and sat down and listened  to Christian music for the next hour+. My parents showed up and got drinks and we waited for August. He had fallen asleep at 2:30 and woke up at 3:18 but then fell back to sleep. At 3:45 I started to try to wake him up, and at 3:50 he started to slowly wake. It took awhile, and he clung to me. He especially didn’t want to get in the car, which he was afraid would be hot. Eventually we got in and drove over to drop of batteries for recycling, then headed down to the park by the river.

Got out and started walking. August walked on the gravel on the side and in the bark in the flower beds. He was fascinated with the flowers and learning their names from my parents: begonias, petunias, geraniums, and especially snapdragons. My dad showed him how snapdragons work, and August wanted all of the flowers to snap. Eventually he understood it was just the snapdragons. We kept walking and found a place in the shade with some river access. Got out the picnic mat and ate our peanut butter sandwich and strawberries. He wrote ‘lavender’ and other words and letters in the sand with my mom, and he sat on a log in the air that we could shake. I had taken some photos, and he wanted to look at them. He would look, then turn the phone so my parents could see. He would say “Do you see this?” and “Oh my goodness.”

We walked a bit further to find the stream by the boathouse. He saw a dog coming the other way and had me pick him up: “Uh-oh a doggie…might tickle it…it’s okay…not barking.” At the stream, he sat on the railing and we watched a mama duck and 4 ducklings. We then went down and he threw little rocks in the stream. On the path he had also hidden from a family walking the other way and said “Hiding from kids.” As we were leaving, there were people by the kayaks and you could tell that he was deciding whether he should hide or not as he had his hands at the ready.

We walked back to where the car was and he liked the sculpture of a frog and pointed out its body parts. I changed him, then he went with my mom to see a tortoise sculpture. We then left, although not taking the red or blue cars like he wanted.

We drove to Pybus Market and went in to look at restaurants choices. Something about the place – the big room, the people, the woman singing on a stage – was overwhelming for him and he kept saying “Go outside.” So we settled on a place called South, right at the end by the car, as he could see there were windows and outside seating. We sat outside. At first, August was concerned about closing the door to inside, but we convinced him it was okay. He sat on a regular chair and did just fine. The sever gave him this little bendable sting-like toys, and we had fun making shapes and letters and things out of those. He shared fish tacos with me, and ate the rice, beans, fish, and tortilla. He got a few spicy bites or rice, but he just grimaced and requested water, and then would eat more rice. Really starting to handle some spice.

We was fine walking through the market after that. Then headed home, sometime after 7, He sat in the back with gramma this time, although at first he didn’t want her to read the books and wanted me to read them instead. On the way down we had read the Wheels on the Bus pop-up book several times and he wanted that again. Got out the water writing thing for him and he was fine after that. He had also really liked the tunnel on the way down, and remembered it as we got close and my dad asked him what we’d be going through. He was also really trying to figure out place names and what they were, particularly ‘Wenatchee’ and ‘Chelan’, asking “What Chelan look like?”

At home, he was most interested in following Celeste in the yard, but was thrilled when Carly came out. They nursed, then I gave him a bath. He surprised me again by this time pointing out the coconut soap on the counter. I mentioned this to Carly later, and she said he had done it the other day, although neither of us remember pointing out what it was. I gave him a bath and washed his hair, which went well. He was studying the shampoo bottle and asked where the penis was on the girl on the bottle, even though you could just see her head anyway.

Got him ready for bed, then he was learning to stick his tongue out with Carly. I then took him up to say goodnight to gramma and grampa. He showed them how he could stick out his tongue. He also wanted to say goodnight to Uncle Paul, but we reminded him that Uncle Paul was gone. Took him back down, and he was asleep about 10.

New words/phrases: snapdragons, coconut

Asleep on the floor: 

My glasses again: 

Sad with Teddy: 

At the clinic: 

Awake in the coffee shop with a mark on his forehead: 

The park: 

Up the hill with grampa: 

Playing at dinner: 

Headed home: