Author: Ryan/Dada

He was up just after 6:40. He watched some Wild Kratts. He said “When I push this purple button I’m the biggest animal in the creature world and I have the biggest brain in the creature world. And I have the biggest eyes in the creature world. And I’m the loudest animal in the creature world.”

We then did an obstacle course. Started by building a Duplo part together. We were listening to the new Decemberists and he liked “Cutting Stone”. He started asking about it right away and humming, then singing to the chorus. Did a big obstacle course and he talked about his power cord still being connected to the book swap. And he asked about blackouts and brown outs. We discussed ‘rationing’.

He watched Sarah and Duck and I played phone tag, going through 3 different numbers/people before ending up with August’s doctor. Carly realized August needs a typhoid shot again. Long process, but it eventually came down to we can get it Sunday at 2.

He lay on the floor with his initials bracelet for several minutes. I made him peanut butter crackers. He’s decided he doesn’t like the crackers and just licks off the peanut butter, then asks me to put on more peanut butter. He said again that he likes rectangles because they are pink. Squares red, circles yellow, ovals blue. He’s being consistent with his colors.

I took a shower, then was fixing the doors on the wardrobe in August’s room. He kept calling me back into the bathroom and was getting impatient and I was telling him to wait a minute. Which makes him want my attention more. He came into the room and started throwing the stuffed animals at me and said it was to make me not upset. I told him I wasn’t really upset, but that you give someone hugs to make them not upset. Finally he came over and gave me a hug. And I fixed the doors: screws had come loose on the wheels and it was riding low, scraping.

We got ready to and started to leave at 10:30. He’s been pretty good about letting me go and put stuff in the car while he plays in the yard. However, today I told him I was putting the backpack in but once I was out there he yelled to me, then came running out, upset, thinking I was leaving without him. Got him calmed down and actually left at 10:50.

He remembered the couple of little candies he had found (from Halloween) in the car yesterday. They were my backup to keep him awake/happy on long trips. He got to have a Swedish fish on the way down to Tel Aviv.

The doctor called back on the way down. August can get his shot on Sunday at 2. We listened to a lot of Chemical Brothers on the way down. August told me “I learned it’s easier to explore space than the deep blue sea.”

Parked in a parking lot near the Carmel market. We were walking at 12. He walked a bit, then I carried him as we entered the very busy market. He had fun pointing out interesting things. He was also using his “space and finder machines” to find us space in the crowd and where we wanted to go. A guy at a CD stand gave him a lollipop and we stopped at a less-busy square where we watched a couple people playing some steel drum things and he had about half of the lollipop. He asked me “What does ‘crack in the day’ mean?” Think that’s a mishearing from Wild Kratts.

We walked though more of the Carmel market (which is produce and other stuff), then found the less-busy Binyamin market, which is all arts and crafts. We were hungry and found the Druze Corner, which is a restaurant stand out in the middle of a pedestrian street. We got two sandwiches/wraps and sat on cushions and ate them. August got a peppery bite early on and was then cautious about eating, but he loved the bread and liked the yogurt and za’atar. He kept saying “Real delicate bread”. Eventually he ate more than half of a sandwich.

Spotted a couple cats while we ate and he pretended to be a kitten curling up on the cushion. We got him in the backpack and got walking at 1:20. We walked up through the Binyamin market to Magen David Square. He asked to walk again so I got him out. We walked down Allenby and then finished the circle (well, triangle) back to where we had lunch. On the way we saw an opera singer. We stopped and watched two songs. I had August give him some coins and he handed August a business card. Later August said he liked the second song best. There was also a balloon man close to a guitar player. We had stopped both times to watch for a minute. August said “But I don’t like balloons. All I want them to do is POP!…after they go in the air, of course.”

He was also big into pointing out abstract art on the walls/doors. Lots to choose from. A couple of alien looking ones we really liked. And he finished the lollipop.

Got him back in the backpack again and we headed away from the markets and towards the parks. We stopped and got two bottles of mango juice, then walked across to Hakovshim Garden. Drank some mango juice and played in the playground. There was toddler, a boy, wandering around and August was both interested and cautious of him.

Got him back in the backpack after 2:30 and we walked west towards the sea. August made up a “Let’s go see, the Mediterranean Sea” song. Caught the end of it on video. He then did a “Ekk! Stop filming me!” thing. But then promptly asked me to film him again so he could pretend to be annoyed and ask me to stop filming.

We got over to the sea and walked to the south to Charles Clore Park. We watched the waves for awhile, then walked down to the playground. August was talking/asking about how planets form and we ended up discussing the death of solar systems and stars. We didn’t find a restroom in either of the parks so he went by a tree, then went back and played on the play structure. There was a turning thing that he played with with another boy, who was turning it on the other side. Played around and pretended it was a boat. He said “Someone is brachiating our boat!” We went and sat and had more juice.

At one pint I went to the backpack and when I came back I patted him on his head and said “Tag, you’re it.” His response: “Why did you tag me? That’s unusual. We don’t play tag very much.”

He hung on a bar and talked about how he was brachiating like a spider monkey. And talked about how they don’t have thumbs. His phrase of the day today was “I have no choice but…”

He then wanted to play in sand and I pointed out the big beach volleyball sand area nearby. We went and played there. He buried his legs in sand and I was able to read a little. He wanted to move a couple times to be closer to other kids. Sadly, the girl had to leave as soon as we moved the first time. He and I made towns out of sand. He sat on a pile of sand and turned in a circle and made a volcano. Then made a path by dragging his feet.

He really didn’t want to leave and I was in no hurry. Finally, we headed out about 4:20.

We got to the car, but then had to get out of the car at the exit to pay. He was fine with me putting the window down. We listened to Story Pirates on the way home. Along the way he said “Most people call me Squarespace.” But insisted I call him Zinnie. He had a sour patch kid on the way back, but it didn’t last long enough. We listened to music and he was playing along, but he fell asleep at 5:17, right before we left Highway 4. We were home at 5:24 and I woke him up. He sleepily said “Can I have…I got my dada.”

They nursed, then went outside, where Carly was going to teach him about arguments. He came in and told me “I’m going to school bathroom.” He told Carly about how he was discovered by scientists. He was being hyper and said “I’m trying to empty my battery… It’s a pretty big battery.” He and I played snakes and ladders. Carly went to take a shower. I gave in and let him make up rules, but he decided it was more fun with mama.

We read some more of Hilo 3. Carly got him ready for bed and I went up at 8:30. He told me “Take a picture of my bot
tom…You never taken a picture of my bottom!” I did not.

Told him about my Yellowstone trip again and we talked about geysers and hot springs. He asked “What if there was no dams on the world?” And said “I’m a blob of jelly.” He wasn’t really trying to sleep and I almost switched with Carly. Kept trying, and he got upset and was crying. I decided to pick him up and held him for several minutes. He calmed down and I thought he was close to sleep so we tried lying down again. Couldn’t do it. He told me it was better standing up. Stood back up again, but this time he couldn’t stay calmed down. Carly took over at 9:20.

Market:

Druze bread:

Art:

Lollipop:

Shore:

Blasting me:

Sand:

He was up at 6:15. Carly had gotten him back to sleep a couple times in the late morning, but he still got up early. He got to watch an extra Wild Kratts as a result. He told me: “When you see me with your eyes you think I’m not that big, but with this microscope, yes.”

Afterwards, I went to get the wood glue out and he said “Do you want to play that glue, toothpick, and screw game?” He meant fix the hinges on the cupboard. We did that, breaking up toothpicks and glueing them in the screw holes. He had the idea of using the cutter on the pliers instead of the hammer to break them off (that’s how the guy on the video did it, but when I tried the toothpick just went flying). He had fun breaking toothpicks. We then left that to dry.

Went and built with Duplos. He wanted to figure things out himself: “Don’t tell me what to do.” “You can do some. I just want to figure it out. By myself.”

I then made him a walking path, starting with arrows on the ground, like he liked in activity class. The path kept expanding as he would ask for “More!” It ended up stretching from the red chair in the corner, across to the couch, then to the black chair. It utilized chairs, the stool, the stuffed animals, Duplos, etc. He was then ‘sick’ on the couch, gave himself a bandage cast like mine.

We then went and finished fixing the hinges. Door now works. He was then a sick whale, then a kitten, and I took care of them. I took a shower and he watched the crocodile episode of Wild Kratts, which he’s seen before. I asked what the best power was of the crocodile and he said “Be so protective…Could you be protective of me?”

He had his bath and I washed his hair. He was grumpy about that, and we went downstairs and sat in the chair together for a few minutes. He then hid under the blanket on the couch, then was playing with the doctor stuff on his own for a few minutes, blanket still over his head.  I started to make baked salmon with za’atar and lemon. While I did that he had naked time and played with a pot and steamed carrots, adding water. He then got a popsicle thing and played with the water with it and the measuring cup.

We ate lunch outside: the salmon, broccoli and cheese, and our iced raspberry tea. He asked “What’s another word that’s cool? What’s another word I don’t know?” “Why do you buy different bowls over time?” He was wondering why we have different bowls than he does.

He had also been surprised when the salmon was easy for him to cut and eat. I had used the word ‘delicate’ and that would be the word of the day.

He made a big nest out of pillows on the couch, then drew an abstract picture on the chalkboard, before we left for school a little after 1.

We went to the book swap and took a good amount of time looking around. He was patient about it. He chose a couple of early reader books on his own, and helped me choose some others. I was excited to find a book called Paddle-the-Sea, which I remember one of my teachers in early elementary reading to the class. I’ve thought of it from time-to-time, and even tried searching for it, but hadn’t found it. But there it was.

There was a toddler there and she and August sort of played together. August was acting like her: crawling, and then at one point mirroring her by putting his hands in his mouth. He crawled under a table and she wanted to follow. They spent a few minutes silently following each other around.

We ended up with 17 books and went back to make it an even 20. Out in the lobby he really liked the art on the wall – abstract cityscapes. He showed me all his favorites, including one with windows and the ones that were the most abstract. He then spent time touching all the little pottery object things attached to wall outside.

We stopped at the bake sale and got two cupcakes. Sat on a bench and ate those. He loved it, and ate a couple bites of mine as well. We went to the library, which was busy because of parent conferences. He headed to the Lego area and played with a dragon hand puppet, picking up Legos.

We went to the bathroom, then sat and played some chess. Matt Kerns came by and said happy birthday to him and asked about his birthday. August said that we made cake, then went on to tell Matt about the cupcake we just ate and that he ate some of mine.

We went back to the lego area and he made a cool vehicle thing that had a weird piece attached to a lego person’s head. It was fragile and August said “It’s really delicate.” Delicate was definitely his word of the day.

Getting ready to go to his class, he took my hat and put it on. He then played around in the lobby, using his mechanical arm to grab more cupcakes and books from across the school. He was also plugged into an outlet in the book swap room (he had needed to charge his battery there earlier).

We went to the preschool and went in to realize that there was no Hebrew class due to parent conferences. As we walked he told me “I now know every living thing has a DNA code.”

So we played at the playground. He made soup. I was surprised by one of his ingredients: “frosting…I learned that from my cooker school. I learned that from my Baker school. It teaches you to care and share…my school.” He went on the swing and now has the basics of pumping down. He went for a few minutes. We played on the slides and he slid into me. He went and played with the instrument, then found a wooden moon piece off of something and played with that. Carly called, and August started repeating everything I said, using the same tone.

He talked about having brain freeze: “Did you know I have brain freeze so I wasn’t thinking straight.” Finally, he was ripping apart the blueberry-like berries to get out the seeds when Carly showed up. They went on the regular swing together and talked about how he used to do that in the carrier when he was little. They then went on the disk swing together.

He fixed the car before we left and declared that it ran “Very smoothly and it works very well.”

Carly headed home and we walked up to his class. Class goes incredibly smoothly now. Highlight today were when Sigal rolled him up as a hotdog. He also talked about how he likes to look at himself in the mirror. At the end, when she throws a star to them and they pretend to eat it, he ran over to me and offered me a bite.

We stopped at the exercise equipment on our way back. We joked why there was one bite out of one of the apple pieces. He said “But it was most likely me.” It was.

We got to the car before 6. I said “I love you a ton of marsupials.” He said “I would say…miniaturizers and heat amplifiers.” Miniaturizers and heat amplifiers were his inventions (from Wild Kratts, I think) that he had been talking about all day. At one point he asked me which one I preferred and said “miniaturizer”. He then kept trying to convince me that heat amplifier was also cool.

We got home and he read a Magic Schoolbus book with Carly. Ate broccoli and cheese for dinner, then they read Gravity is a Mystery, another one of our new books. Carly said “Gravity…Now that word sounds funny.” To which August said “Yeah! And ‘keychains’!”

They played school together and she had him write ‘gravity’ on the chalkboard. I carried him up and Carly got him ready for bed. She killed a couple mosquitoes and August said “If there’s another one a clue will be if I wake up with itchy spots.” I left them just before 8

7:10. Seemed startled when he saw me as he came down the stairs. But not upset. I got to hold him for a few minutes. I had set the iPad on the table and he got it. The only words he said were the words to the Wild Kratts song as he sang it.

The imagination was at work:

“Let’s go in the time machine…it’s in the garbage can I used to cook my eggs…in my not-real house…it’s not really made for two people.” Not really sure where all that came from.

“My miniaturizer is magical. My heart gets smaller, my blood vessels get smaller, the things the blood goes through gets smaller, all the things in my body get smaller. Yeah, so it’s magical.” “Dada, why can we see veins through our skin. It IS my eye sensory power…” The miniturizer is from Wild Kratts, but the discussion of how things get smaller is his own.

He watched two episodes as I got things going in the morning. We went upstairs and he was first going to play something while I took a shower. I made peanut butter crackers, but then he came into the bathroom and was incredulous I didn’t bring up Cheerios too. I got those for him, then he watched a Sarah and Duck while I took a shower. Skipped a bath for him.

We were outside at 9 but stopped as he played with Carly’s shoes for several minutes. He made what he called the “Shoe detective”, which senses dangerous animals like rattlesnakes, although he then changed the name to the “anti-venom”. We were driving at 9:10.

We listened to music both directions. He primarily requested Chemical Brothers. Listened to some on random, but he specifically asked for the “Go” remixes that he likes a couple times.

We parked and took the small stroller the couple blocks to the museum. We walked downhill two blocks and one required him getting out and walking down stairs.

We got to the museum where they were continuing work out front. The walkway was gone and we sort of had to walk around the side and watched a digger working for a minute. Got arm bands (which he flat out refuses to consider wearing) and were playing in the toddler area at 10:30. He started in the water area for a few minutes, then we went to the blue blocks. We first made a monster, then knocked it down. He made a second monster, then said “Not enough abstract though.” He was really into things being abstract today. We then made a town. I brought him blocks and he said “Did you notice you’re doing teamwork?” When smaller kids came and took his pieces or knocked down his town he did a great job of not being bothered by it or joining in.

He mentioned going to the science part a couple times but kept getting distracted. We walked through the mirror and tall grass part, then he got inside the 3D shapes. Went to the bathroom, then up to the science area.

As we went up he said “There’s so much interesting parts I don’t know where to go.” We went through the energy area, discussing the different types. Spent the most time at the geothermal exhibit, which also includes a part about brownouts/blackouts. He’d bring that back up later.

We went outside and had a little snack (sandwich and apple). He then pulled the ship up and dropped it back down the ramp. We played with the Archimedes screw and saw a couple guys fixing the mirrored shields burning the ship display, which is apparently supposed to make smoke, and discussed that.

Wen’t back in and went to the sound room. We spent a lot of time watching the binary counting machine, which was broken last time. Went up to the puzzle area, then downstairs to the da Vinci room. He quite likes that one Anders kept asking what the machines were for. Then upstairs to the magic room, where I perfected my technique for pulling out the tablecloth. August played with the hovering ball exhibit for several minutes.

We went to the next room and did the smelling stuff, then played with the different-shaped bubbles and the big sheet bubble thing, which we’d never done. Lot of fun with that one, as he could make the bubbles and pop them and blow on them.

Spent a little ice in the teeth room, and saw a couple babies in there, then wanted to be a baby over in the microscope and telescope room. I wasn’t having much of that, and he asked why I don’t find it as funny as mama does. Thankfully, after that we went to the optical illusions room. There was a boy who was about 11 there with a guy and we followed them into the dark room. The other boy knew his stuff and was explaining everything to the man. August picked up on that, and really started to explain each exhibit to me. At one point he said “Did you notice I’m teaching you about it?” We did the shadows thing a couple times, then got going.

On our way out we stopped by the energy room again and ended up at the stationary bikes that run the train set. He is tall enough to sit on the bikes and sort of just start to peddle and make the train move slowly. Did that for 10 or 15 minutes.

We got the stroller and walked to Cafe HaPanina. He was counting cats along the way. He spotted the first two, then I spotted two. He didn’t like that and said he got to spot the next two. He was also pointing out abstract things as we went, mainly paintings, but also fences and tiles.

Got there about 2. There was a cat sleeping on a chair nearby the whole time. They had music on like Tambourine man, Simon and Garfunkel, Wild World, Starry Starry Night. We ordered the zucchini pancakes again. August had a mango, peach, and yogurt smoothie and I had a Turkish coffee. We got his iPad out and did a little art (abstract, of course), but mainly he talked and wanted to sing. Didn’t want to read either. It was fine, but he had a tendency to get loud. So not exactly an ideal coffee shop visit. I.e. I didn’t get any reading done.

August got a bit sleepy and pretended to be a cat sleeping with his head on the table. We petted the other cat, sleeping on a pile of papers by the front door, on our way out and left a little before 3.

Pointed out more abstract stuff on our way to the car. I had found a old battered painting of a man with a face made out of birds on the way there and sent a photo of it to Carly. Should have bought it to hang out on our porch. Forgot about it on the walk back.

We drove about 15 minutes to a park to the northwest. Parked and walked to it, only to find the play areas roped off. August found a broken bench, then we walked over to the exercise equipment and played on it. August really gets going on the one that swings side to side and we discussed how he can actually go farther than me because he’s short and thus his hips don’t hit the side.

We went to the bathroom, then on the way back he found a green rope climbing thing and wanted to climb on it. He hung from it and said he was a sloth. In the meantime he noticed that the tape was down from around the play structure. So we went and played on it. 10 or 15 minutes.

We left about 4:15. Listened to music the whole way home. He requested Chemical Brothers and the Elements song. We were home by 5:20.

He and Carly played with the magnets and stuff. He said to her “Mama, there’s real science to do!” He played the Robot Factory app for a bit. When he ran off to the bathroom he told me to design a robot. When he came back he said “You didn’t do the work I told you to do!”

Had some spaghetti for dinner, then did more playing with Carly. The did some sentences and math on the white board and Duplos. They made a really tall tower that he knocked down by blowing on it. I traded with her and we made a helicopter shaped thing, which he said was a wind turbine.

He ate the last piece of birthday cake. He was asking about da Vinci and said that da Vinci invented him as well. We went to the couch and read Madeline and the Bad Hat and part of Hilo 3. I took him up and got him ready for bed. Carly came in and he was asleep about 9.

Abstract: 

He was talking in his sleep. Carly had to get him back to sleep a couple times. He was up at 7:15. He watched an episode of Wild Kratts. We then played a little of that awful Street Music app. Then he found Chess. We did a little of the tutorial and then two games with the computer set at level 1. At one point he said “I love chess.”. We went to do magnet science and used a Duplo car to make a car we could push with a magnet.

Listening to music. He requested “Like I Used to Be” and asked to be picked up. We danced to it and “Endencino” and “Elements”. Then I set him on the couch and listened to other songs. During “Song for 5 and 6” he lay his head on my shoulder. We were listening to my Songs for August Zinn @ 4 playlist.

We started to head upstairs and he gave me a look and said “Don’t forget a little something something for me to eat upstairs.” Made him peanut butter crackers. He found wax from the cheese last night on the floor: “I think I have a special fluid that senses it. A microscopic fluid you can’t even see…” Sure that was from Wild Kratts. He watched Wild Kratts squid and sperm whale episode and I took a shower, after which he was making loud sperm whale noises. He wanted to play with the kaleidoscope cards in the bedroom so we did that. He was playing under the blanket and saying “Who knows what’s going down in the deep sea.” He was then stealing the kaleidoscope cards. He said “Do you know what’s going on?” When I said no he replied “Then you should learn it from a scientist!” He said “I’m in the subnivean zone!” That as definitely the word of the day and it came up a lot. That’s the area below the snow where animals are able to keep warm and live through the winter.

We did his bath and I had to hurry him a bit before the siren drill. He’s been pretty calm with the washing the last few days. We got downstairs and heard the siren drill at 11:05. They aren’t very loud from our house at all. We sat in the stairwell and discussed why that was the best place to be. I mentioned that Carly and her students were practicing going to the safe room at that same time. He seemed incredulous: “How do they practice going in the room? There’s a door and they go in it, right?”

We were going to Ace to get the duplicate keys for the kitchen door fixed, so I was studying them with the door to see what was wrong. August enjoyed messing with the door. He requested some of the fancy cheese and we ate some. He said “It tastes like salmon.” Because it is smoked. Also sliced an apple and he had a slice before we left at 11:35. I got him in his seat but he noted “I’m kind of loose.” I tightened it and he declared “More safe.”

We went to Ace and convinced the guy to grind down the edges of the keys. We also bought wood glue to fix the cabinet door and a couple of car wash mitts.

We then walked a couple blocks north to where the movie theater is (I carried him much of the way) and got a couple slices of pizza at a pizza place there. August was a sort of Waze machine that gives you options for how to get someplace and gives you the directions. Pizza place was much like the one in town (slices on cardboard, same sort of drinks) but had more pizza options. We sat and ate and he asked “What does three minutes flat mean?” And said “I can bake a cake in nine seconds flat.” Think it is a phrase from Wild Kratts. He asked about the word ‘instructions’ and also how the car can tell us where to go: “How can the car do that though?” He also asked “How do people make shows like Wild Kratts?” And he wondered how they know everything about the animals, and then how scientists actually study the animals.

We then drove the north route into Even Yehuda. As we parked down the street from the post office at 1:30, the song “Almost Loved” came now. He was excited and said “I think that was a mystery song!” One that he’d been humming at some point.

We didn’t take anything with us to the post office to mail a letter for Carly. Didn’t expect it to take as long as it did – probably close to 20 minutes. August wasn’t too happy about the wait, but we made it.

We were running short of time to go home and then walk, so we decided to just drive to school. Parked, then walked down to the preschool playground and found his class playing there at 2:15. A girl told us the sandbox was closed. August kept saying “I already knowed that” (he’s kind of big on claiming he already knew things) and when I said she was just being helpful he told me  “I already knowed that. But still…” He played on his own, taking all of the pieces of wood and stacking them and pretending they were a fire and roasting marshmallows. The class went in a little past 2:30. We helped clean the playground up a little and played a bit longer.

Went in at 2:50 and wandered upstairs and played with the old overhead projector which they are using as a sort of light table with transparent blocks. There were also 5 plastic lemons and oranges, kind of random, that we spun. And he wore a hard hat. He went in to coding class at 3:10. I sat right outside the room (partially because the AC was too cold in there). He called me in twice to show me what he was doing or to ask for help, but otherwise did just fine on his own. They did a color-by-numbers thing (his first experience with that) then did iPad coding games.

We went to the library and played with the chess pieces for awhile. I played one game. He is getting down the piece names, at least. We then went into the kids books area. He played with the Legos and I sat and read. Carly was staying late as she needed some planning time. August got hungry and we went out to eat an apple. August was asking me why I like to follow instructions and signs, then we heard the sounds of the robot team in the back part of the library. We went and watched them try out their new robot for the first time. Pretty cool. Liz and her daughter Lilian came and stood by us. They were eating an orange. August busted them: “They are eating in the library.” Liz said he was right and they would take it back to her desk.

He played a bit more, then we picked up the Legos and went out to eat the Larabar. That was where we were when Carly showed up at 4:55.

We were home at 5:15. The keys work, although a bit rough. August was itchy again today, and even had scratches on his leg from where he was scratching himself last night. August said “The cream we bought doesn’t seem to be doing biological magic.” ‘Biological magic’ seems like a Wild Kratts phrase as well and he kept asking about it. They played with magnets, we had some yellow cheese, then they did more Tetris.

I got him a bowl of broccoli and sweet potato. He ate the broccoli but said he didn’t like the sweet potato because of the texture. He ate more broccoli, then I got him a slice of cake. I then let him “sneak” a little more frosting when he said he wanted to just look at the cake again. We then read the Swap book from the library last week a couple times. He wanted back in the cake container, but I wouldn’t open it. We joked that there were lizards in it. He had a couple spoonfuls of peanut butter.

Carly took him up and got him ready for bed. I went up at 8 and he said he wanted to fall asleep with me. I told him about getting our first cat, Jupiter. Carly came back in and took photos of his itchy spots for the nurse. He asked why we have eyebrows and lashes. He was saying something about that then said “Grr” and flung himself over on his side, his forehead pressed against my lips. He was silent for a few minutes and I thought he was asleep. Then he whispered “How do we make plastic?” I said it was from oil and he said “But isn’t it a liquid?” He was scratching, so I went down and got the cream. Carly came up and also gave him some of the allergy medicine.

I stayed with him for another 20 minutes or so but he wouldn’t calm down like the one t
ime. He asked “What’s scientists?” I said we could answer his questions in the morning and he said “What do you mean? They’re very cool. And you might not remember them again.” “Where does everything in the world come from?…My hypothesis…Everything  comes from something else…but that doesn’t make sense.” Carly and I switched at 8:45 and she was back down just a few minutes later.

7:08. Called for Carly, then stopped mid-stairs and sat down when I said she was at work. Asked “What you mean?” He had some excellent morning hair, then when I said to smile for a photo for mama he gave a good friend of sorts. He watched an episode of Wild Kratts (on spider monkeys – brachiating is likely to be the word of the day), then we got season 2 of Sarah and Duck. Sarah takes the shallots for a bike ride and as they ride by the bread shop they call out “bluebirds!” I asked “bluebirds?” And August said “It’s a kind of bread.”

He played Monster Physics and just made a couple of inventions: a claw machine one, then a rocket. He wanted a big cage to keep the rocket from going all the way to space, so we made a huge rocket cage and had fun with the rocket bouncing around in it. He wanted the song “Rocket Man” and was first humming it. We then listened to the real song and I picked him up and we were dancing around to that  and Matt and Kim’s “Like I Used to Be”. He requested that song again, and twice when I set him down he asked to be picked back up.

He watched the Will Kratts giraffe episode while I took a shower. During his bath we watched a YouTube video called “The biggest Lego machine in the world”. He, being a machine, had all the parts: “I have that, I have that too…I have everything…including the Arctic Pearl.” He watched a second Lego machine video and started narrating it, and did it in song, singing something like “Then it goes down a winding inclined plane” to the tune of “Rocket Man”. He asked how smelling works, and we ended up watching two KidsHealth videos: smell and body shape.

He had naked time downstairs as I got snacks ready. He also requested to listen to “Electricity”. As he ate pasta he then had a mystery word that sounds like ‘quick’, but wasn’t. He came over to me, grabbed my head and pulled it down, and carefully said it into my ear. Couldn’t figure out what word it was. He asked “Why’s mama always want me to eat broccoli?” He was playing with the magnets on the floor and asked how magnets actually work. We watched a couple of videos about magnetism as we sat on the floor of the kitchen playing with the magnets. DUring the Dr. Binocs video it asks “Did you know that the Earth acts like a giant magnet?” August replied “I DID know that!”

He then ate all of his broccoli and got to have birthday cake. I told him we were done watching videos and were going to go. He said “But I like seeing things! … But you can learn things outside too, right?” We left at 1.

Outside, he discussed the difference between the words “Ultimate” and “alternative”. Both used in the song “Electricity”. “I’m the ultimate discovery…I’m an alternate discovery.” He was then poking his stick through the bamboo wall: “I’m gonna reach far into the deep blue depths!”

We drove to Kadima Forest. We had been there once with Carly. Found a quicker route this time as Apple Maps had led us wrong the first time. There was a big group of kids and parents there – some parents group thing. August was initially put off because he thought the playground was too busy. They were having some gathering though, so there were only a couple on the rope climbing structure. He climbed on that for a minute, then went over to the almost empty play structure and went back and forth on the bridge. But then he was ready for a walk.

We went and got the big backpack (the backamapack) out of the car. Went to a table and got him in it. He thought he was going to be too big, but felt just fine in it. We then wandered around the dirt roads in the park. He was in the backpack for 35 minutes and we did just over a mile. Just like it used to be. He hasn’t gained much weight, and I wasn’t carrying any iPad, etc. Along the way we spotted several flowers and some birds, and animal and human tracks in the dust. We found one place with a view across the fields, to the northwest, and he spotted the power plant off in the distance. He talked about having “eye power”.

I had found a decent walking stick along the way, which he held onto as we walked. When we got back to the playground area he stood on a couple of picnic tables and played with it, hitting the tables. He then started to draw pictures in the dirt and spin around with it. He asked me to translate a sign (where you put your ashes from fires), then he got to go to the bathroom outside.

We left at 3:10. Took the stick with us. He wanted to go to a less busy playground. We’d spotted a couple on our drive, so we drove back and stopped at one in north Even Yehuda, next to a synagogue. It was actually kind of taken over by teenagers when we got there, but he was intrigued that they were throwing around pieces of the broken ground cover stuff. And most of them took off soon after we started playing on the teeter totter sort of things. August then climbed up a tall ladder, and I’d toss pieces up to him and he would slide them down the slide. Played around like that for quite a bit. He also had me climb up in it with him, up the short ladders, then a tube you climb up. I didn’t fit too well, but made it, then we went down the big tube slide.

We got a drink, played with the broken buttons from an old cassette player, then he stacked pieces of the ground cover stuff on one side of a teeter totter thing and then shook them off by going on the other end.

We headed home about 4:15. Thought we were going to get home right after Carly, or spot her close to home, but actually got her just a couple blocks from work. I rolled down August’s window and he shouted “Hi Mama! Want a ride?”

We were home before 4:30. They played with magnets, then he and I read I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew. They then played with the Makey Makey and got into Tetris. I heated up dinner for him, and eventually they stopped. Well, August didn’t want to and had a big tired fit. He was crying “I’ll try to be good!” Carly got him calmed down. He ate his spaghetti, but skipped all the meatballs. When asked why he replied “No, because if I eat them it will turn me the size of a toe!” Carly mistakenly said something about him being a toe, and he said “No, the SIZE of a toe!”

When they had gone to the store yesterday, he had picked out one of those fancy cheese for me, the smoky yellow cheese. He spotted it and suggested we open it. We did. It reminded Carly and me of holidays and Hickory Farms. He and I played one of the new music apps a bit, then read some more of Sisters 3. When he went to the bathroom I finished his meatballs from dinner and joked I was the size of a toe. He joked that he actually was a toe and had fallen in the toilet.

Carly took him up 7:35. I went up about 7:50. Gave it a half hour with him. I was encouraging him to close his eyes and try for another minute at one point and he said “Why do you always suggest what I should do?” And he mentioned telling him what to eat, etc. He then asked “Can I suggest what you should eat?” I said yes, and he said “You should eat Crackers and cake and pasta and oatmeal and chips if you have healthy stuff…” He was very close, but wanted mama. I switched with her at 8:20 and she came back out after about 10 seconds.

Flowers:

Smokey:

 “Seeing power”. Power plant off in the distance:

He got up right about 7. Heard them start playing with the magnet science kit a few minutes later. I came down and joined them a half hour later and did more magnets with them. They went outside and he ate oatmeal. Came back in and they did Makey Makey stuff – doing the bongos and the guitar ones. He said, with the magnets, I think, “I did an experiment to see how strong the bonds were before the bonds break!” August asked what “but still” meant and I used ‘despite’ in my answer. Carly then joked about what ‘despite’ means. I was heading upstairs to my shower, and Carly taught August ‘bifurcate’ as the word of the day. Think they ripped up a piece of paper.

I took a shower, and when I came down she was vacuuming and August was watching Julius Jr. with his headphones. He got all dramatic over having to take a bath and had to nurse. Then to Carly: “There’s one more thing you need to be nice to me: Let me love you more than you love me.” I took him upstairs for his bath. He shook his slinky and said “That’s like sound waves.” Bath went fine, then he watched Sarah and Duck and ate peanut butter crackers. He requested they do some science before they left, so they did some more magnets. That kit got a lot of use today.

They left at 11:30. They went to the plant store out east. Got plants for her classroom, tomato seeds, and pots to transfer the broccoli into. I worked. They were back after 12:30. They did magnets outside. August dropped one of the magnets and it broke, but it still works because, well, it’s a magnet. He ate broccoli and a piece of cake. And they planted tomato seeds with orange juice as an experiment. I came down to see how they were doing “Hi little ZZ.” He said “You say ‘Hi big ZZ.’ I just turned 4.” He had more oatmeal outside.

They left again. They dropped off the plants at her classroom but didn’t spend a lot of time there, then went to Tiv Taam to do some general grocery shopping. I had more work time.

They got home and Carly got to making spaghetti. August and I did yet more magnets and Makey Makey. I was then trying to get him to go do recycling with me. He got the big foam piece form the magnet set and was playing with it. He asked how styrofoam gets in the ocean. He called it “My most precious foam ever.” All amusing until he started to break it apart himself. I had to take it away and throw it away again (it had been thrown away once, but Carly realized we were missing the white disk that was part of the set).

Finally got him to go at 5:15. We went and did cardboard and glass recycling. Plastic was more overflowing than ever. Don’t know what’s happened to their pickup schedule, but it has been bad for a few weeks. The park was too busy, he said, for playing. He suggested the snakes and ladders playground. I warned that it might be busy too and he changed his mind. He decided to walk around the Holly Block a couple times. We also walked up Kibuts Gulyout, counting cats. And we made up a song about preschool. Something like “Preschool, what will it be like? You’ll learn lots of stuff, it will her be enough, you’ll have lots of fun, in the classroom and out in the sun…”

He spotted a sign he wanted to translate by the synagogue park area. It says ‘No dogs allowed’. He was then joking about magically making traffic on the street and said “There’s more traffic than in the tunnel to Solla Sallew!”

We were home at 6:10. We read Madeline (I had gotten a free copy of that and Madeline and the Bad Hat at the library). He didn’t eat much, even though Carly had made spaghetti and meatballs and sweet potatoes. I finished off the last of the soup.

He watched an episode of Wild Kratts, then we watched Omar in Mexico on Facebook while Cherie watched as well. After that was over he went to the bathroom and talked about having a malfunction. Carly didn’t understand him at first because he pronounces it “mile-function”. She had him say ‘poisonous’, which he still pronounces ‘coisonous’.

I took him up and got him ready for bed. We read Barnyard Dance and The I Love You Book. For each page of that book he would then ask me if I loved him like that. So when I read “I love you when you are sick” he would ask “Do you love me when I am sick?” I would say yes, then read the next page. He did that for every page, right through “Do you love me just the way I am?” So cute, and also good pronoun switching practice.

He talked about going to sleep with me, but when Carly came up to say goodnight he changed his mind. And she was ready to go to sleep too. He was asleep around 8:30.

He was up at 6:35. I said happy birthday and told him mama was downstairs. He started to go down, calling for her, but she didn’t respond. I figures she was outside so accompanied him down and helped him find her outside. A bit later he ate his oatmeal and mango outside. They came in and she taught him some spanish and he destroyed the power plant. They shared the musical instruments, then did some glitter glue. He said he liked it on his hand: “I squish it and glub it and moosh it and…”

He then opened the presents from us: the play kitchen and accessories.

He pretended the grapes were prunes and was pooping everywhere. Don’t know why I didn’t take a video of that. Carly started putting together the kitchen, which came in about 70 parts.

I skyped with my parents. August was pretending to be a baby, so not too communicative at first. Got him to start giving them hints as to what his present was, starting with stovetop of his kitchen. They got it when he brought the faucet, I think.

After skyping, Carly and I were discussing the cake and what shape it would be. He had previously said he wanted square. Carly asked him “Do you want a rectangle cake?” He replied “Yeah, because I like pink.” Interesting synesthesia response. I asked “What color are squares?” “Black. I mean red.”

He watched two episodes of Wild Kratts and Carly sat outside, reading and enjoying the clouds. August went and got her and when he came back in he said “The inside is a disaster.” They went back to working on the kitchen.

I went up and took a shower. Back downstairs they went outside and ate more oatmeal. The kitchen was half done and he and I played restaurant. I would cook all sorts of strange dishes for him. We let him skip his bath as it was his birthday. When he was in the bathroom he took off the roll of toilet paper and asked me “Do you wonder why I have this toilet paper…Its because SOMEONE got peanut butter on the safety bed!” And broke out laughing. He was repeating my line from the other night when Carly was wondering why I had a roll of paper towels upstairs.

He then had his own Thai restaurant and served food to Carly: “What food would you like from Thailand?” We played dominoes, then he played a little Gro Recycling on his iPad. I asked him what color triangles are and he answered “Triangles are green, squares are red, and circles are yellow.”

We took his bike and all walked over to the mall. Parking lot was nice and empty on a Saturday, but August pointed out that the playground was busy. We went to Rebar and ordered a medium banana and chocolate smoothie and sat on a bench in the sun and shared that. We then went to Tiv Taam and did a little grocery shopping, mainly for his cake. They found both regular birthday candles and a ‘4’ candle.

We then headed home, getting here before 2:30. He ran a Thai restaurant and I made a batch of raspberry iced tea – our first iced tea in a few months. He was impatient and wanted to try it right away, so drank a little outside at the table. He wasn’t too impressed, and I didn’t think it had much flavor yet. Carly said she thought it tasted strong enough and I said Carly’s sense of taste was better than ours. He didn’t like that: “Uh-oh. Eck.” He wasn’t really convinced when I tried to explain that it was neither a good thing or a bad thing.

He was a bit whiney for awhile. But turned around when he and Carly had popcorn and broccoli. I went and got a little popcorn and he informed me I had to have some broccoli too. Carly worked on the kitchen and I made the cake with August. He played kitchen with Carly while I then made the frosting. Talking about something she was making he said “I don’t want it until the day that no cars drive on the street.” Referring to Yom Kippur.

We then left for dinner at 5:10. Outside he picked up his shovel and said his joke again: “Do you want to know why I have the shovel?…Its because SOMEBODY got poop on the safety bed!” He was then a plant, wanting to be watered. He asked me to make up a song and we came up with:

“August is four

What is that good for?

Having a cake

And a kitchen we will make.”

We parked a block from Sushi Ishimoto. They’ve changed the menu, so didn’t have an English menu. Translated the online menu though and we got a couple kinds of veggie sushi, the Thai shrimp soup, and the shrimp pad Thai. August used his chopsticks and the wooden ones and said “I put sticks in there and made a lovely sculpture.” He liked the sushi but had trouble eating it: “How can people eat this‽” The food was all very good. He made a very good choice for his birthday dinner. As we finished up they skyped with Cherie and Chuck from the restaurant and August tried wearing the headphones to hear them.

We went for a little walk through downtown, then headed home. Continued the skype call with Cherie and Chuck and August opened his present from them: the Magnet Science kit and the Makey Makey kit. He instantly got into the magnet kit when they opened it up to play with the magnets. They had to hang up to start their English class and we had cake. We sang for him and he blew out the candles.

We had milk and cake at the table. Then Cassie called and we skyped with them. Carly took him up and got him ready for bed. I went up and we played some music apps, then read Tallulah’s Tutu. He wanted Carly and I got her. I left him at 8:35 and he fell right asleep.

He was up at 7:12. I was in the bathroom and heard him coming down. I called out to him, but he didn’t say a word and just headed to the couch. He was quiet for a good 8 minutes as he just woke up on the couch. Then requested Cheerios and Wild Kratts. Watched two episodes then we went and played with Duplos. Actually, it started with him wanting the slinky and I said it might be in with the Duplos. We made a big structure, which was later a power plant, and I said “But still not the slinky.” He replied with “Yep, but let’s not give up. Let’s still try to find Slinky.” And told me “I love building structures!”

I had turned on the new version of Endencino and he wanted it on repeat. After awhile, as he hummed and played in the air, he said “Turn the music off, dada.” Like he couldn’t go back to building because he had to play along with the song. Kept humming it though.

We went upstairs and he had peanut butter crackers and watched more Wild Kratts and I took a shower. I got our snacks together as he finished watching an episode. There was lots of talk about rattlesnakes and roadrunners as he took a bath. When he emptied out the bath toys he said “There’s the slinky!” We’d forgotten he had it in the bath yesterday. He took a long bath. When I was out of the bathroom he poured water on my stool, which was quite funny, to him at least, but then he poured water on the floor. I was able to wash his hair for the first time in four weeks. Did that and got his hair brushed.

We went downstairs and he destroyed the apple core with the apple slicer before we left. At the door he spent a few minutes playing with Carly’s shoes and laces: “I’m trying to figure out how mama puts her shoes together and I’m not sure how.” He was humming Endendino.

We got going and listened to his playlist on the way down. Parked north of the Yarkon River, by the power plant, at 11:25. He liked that, and as we got going he said “I do everything in the world and I’m a part of the power plant.” And he talked about a special microscope and said “The special microscope with all the technology is called the BAC.”

We got walking and headed north, past the lighthouse and towards the airport. He was talking about how complicated he was and I said something about not being able to understand his technology and he said I could because “I discovered a book that had everything in it.”

We stopped at the beach by the airport. We went down and he found a clear gelatinous blob that turned out to be a dead squid or something and he poked at it with a stick. I also started taking photos with my big camera for his birthday portraits. He was really interested in the camera and I showed him how you can change the aperture.

He mentioned needing a bathroom, so we got going. He had a new mystery song and we stopped to record it. We then stopped at a boardwalk area for a snack. We also played more with the camera and he was trying to take photos. He asked what would happen if the aperture was too open and I showed him, and he figured out that the opposite would make it too dark. There was was hole in the deck and he said “Warning, warning” in a robot voice. We were discussing the hole and whether it was supposed to be there or not, and he told me “Still, cracks happen.”

We took a slight detour to take a quick look at the big playground. He spotteda couple chairs and said you could eat in those chairs. I said we too bad we didn’t have our pizza yet. He said “Yeah, but still. Are you going to say ‘Good spotting’?”

“Yeah, but still” was the phrase of the day. He said it 50 to 100 times. We continued  on and found a bathroom. He really liked the toilet bursh holder “Its really colorful. Abstract. It looks like a tuba.” And then the toilet paper: “Whoa. I love those abstract pictures on it!”

The pizza place seems to not exist anymore, but there was a place called Greg Cafe. Busy though, and we put our name on the waiting list. I said we could go somewhere else if he liked, and mentioned the McDonald’s. He said we could go but shouldn’t get “The squeezing thing you didn’t want in the car.” Took me awhile to remember the fruit squeeze thing he got the last and only time we’ve been to McDonald’s in Israel, which was several months ago. I didn’t know if the lid would go back on, so I had told him he could have it at the restaurant or wait until we got home.

Anyway, he was happy to wait and we got into Greg Cafe and ate inside. He ordered the pizza with corn. I had the salmon shawarma. For his smoothie we ordered mango and pineapple. Then found out that they were out of mango. And strawberry. And banana. We tried melon and pineapple with a yoghurt base. I had a macchiato. Lots of “Yeah, actually.” He talked about the Eretz museum and asked about the rotating exhibits: “what is it called?” “temporary”

Had a good lunch, and we played with the camera more. He tried taking photos of me looking at books. He had spotted a book on Marie Curie when we first came in, and we ended up getting it as his birthday book later. He ate some pizza, had some smoothie (didn’t drink a lot, but he talked about how it was good, and a new flavor), and ate a few chunks of my salmon. There was a dessert thing that camewith his – a little roll with chocolate in the center and frosting to dip it in. There was leftover frosting so he used his fingers. Messy, so I got out our apples and the crusts from the peanut butter sandwich and he used those to finish the rest. I asked if he wanted more pizza and he said “I’d totally love more.” It was too cold for him though so we took it for home. Finally flagged someone down to get the check and we then went to look at books.

Also considered getting a nice edition of Greek myths, but they were in plastic and couldn’t see them. Settle on the Marie Curie book, then he found a box of dominoes. He’s been interested in those so we chose those two items. As we went up to play they started to put up fences closing the book side. He was a bit concerned we were going to get locked in.

We left and went across to the pretty-big playground August had spotted. A busy place. He did some climbing, crawled in a bike rack (he was a mouse), and made his way over to the pirate ship play structure. Spent a good amount of time there. He played with the telescope and said”I see someone coming on the ship. I want them to…What’s it called when they have to go in the water and die?…Yeah, walk the plank. I want them to walk the plank!”

We slowly made our way back to the bike. He stopped at a table and lay down on the bench for awhile. Then got a turn in the round thing and lounged in there.

We went back over to the boardwalk and to the carousel. He first went on the donkey, which rocks. Mid-ride I switched him to one of the horses, which goes up and down.

After the ride he wanted to play in the sand area. He was dropping sand to see it blow away, then dragging his hands through to make tracks. We went to the far (north end) and he spent several minutes just playing with his shoes and the sand. I went and sat over on the edge and read for awhile. We saw an older boydrive a four wheeler over the edge. He fell 3 or so feet onto the sand. Luckily no one below and he cried a bit but was okay. August came over to me and stole my hat and went and filled it with sand. Hard to pull him away as it was such a nice spot and moment. At one point, as we played in the sand he said “Do you want to know if I’m excited to turn four?…I am.”

We left at 4:10. Stopped at the bathroom again. Then we rode over a little hill thing in a square between some buildings. He got off the bike and went on top of it and pretended it was the Tortuga, the ship in Wild Kratts, and that it couldn’t swim nd he fixed it so it could. That’s a storyline in one of the episodes.

We paused on the bridge to look at the river. He asked “What happens if you out
a cup in there and drink it? Would it be salty or not?” We talked about that and he spotted a pipe/tunnel emptying into the river.

We were driving at 4:35. “Canon in D” came on his playlist and he wanted it on repeat and I said no – too much sleepy music. We listened to super music instead. We got home at 5:15.

Carly was outside. We went and looked at the plants and he noticed that Carly had watered the plants. Carly showed us a broccoli that is growing. We went inside and they opened the dominoes. He said “The person that used their pieces first wins, but NO WINNING IN THIS GAME!” Carly made popcorn and they ate it outside. She hadn’t put enough za’atar on it for him so she had to make his own bowl with more. He came in and used the bathroom. He asked me”How does electrons go through metal if it’s a solid?” And “How does wind work?” Ones to look up later.

He went back outside with Carly and a minute later I heard a squeal. He had bit his tongue. He came in saying “I won’t eat popcorn anymore!” They read the Marie Curie and he took photos of Carly with my camera. We talked about the SD card of the camera and a bit later he asked me “What’s ‘information’?” He told Carly “Can you be someone taking a photo with a special camera and I’ll be the information and I’ll be the camera reading the information?” Acted that out a few times.

He ate some pasta for dinner and then showed Carly our Duplo “Powerplant” from earlier. He told her “Only people that have superpowers can understand it.” They made a Lego powerplant. I took over and added to it. He told Carly “That’s the crown. I told dada not to destroy it because I love it.” And at some point we were playing in the kitchen and he started Qing things.

Carly went to take a shower. He sang from his songbook, then we played Musyc. I took him up to get ready for bed. He told me jokes as I carried him: “Why’d the doorbell ring?…Because it’s human.” “Why’d the clog get drained?…Because it’s full of water.” He really laughed at those.

Carly went to bed with him and he was asleep by 9.

Pre-birthday lunch:

He was up at 6:40, right after Carly left. Not enough sleep. Got to hold him for a couple minutes, then he requested Wild Kratts. He watched the hummingbird episode, then just a little Max and Ruby. We played a little Seuss Band then read Oh the Things You Can Think!, The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, and The Cat in the Hat. Ate some peanut butter crackers then played with Duplos and his slinky. We were making tall DNA-like structures with the Duplos, then he was using the slinky like a whip to knock them down. He found if he hit the stool legs with the Slinky it wrapped around them and got stuck, which concerned him at first, but then he liked it.

Did a big kitchen mixing experiment using more oil this time and I exercised, then we watched the Wild Kratts seahorses episode together and went upstairs. He watched the dolphins episode as I took a shower. He came in the bathroom saying “Click click”. We went downstairs for Seuss Band and to listen to “Electricity” on repeat. He requested it and said “I was thinking about it.” He was playing Wild Kratts and said “Let’s power suit this.”

Went back upstairs for his bath. We hooked all the cups together and he put the toy basket thing on the edge of the tub, leaning against the wall and put all the toys in it to test how strong it was.

Back downstairs he ate a good lunch: several strawberries, some soup, and milk, which he requested. He said”I figured out wht mama wants me to drink milk so much. Becuase it makes your bones healthy and strong.” He then said “I turned into an animal that has ecolocation!” And “My health meter says I need to eat ONE MANGO!” He had also eaten some frozen mango for breakfast.

He then talked about all his senses and how he was built. Went on for minutes. He was discussing both ecolocation and the platypus sense. He explained how his senses attached to his system. He opened all the doors on him: “I’m the best discovery ever!” “I have ALL SENSES! Can you believe it?”

We were getting ready to go and I asked if he needed any cream. He wasn’t itching, so I didn’t put any on. But he said”But what if it’s itchy but I just didn’t notice?”

He randomly said “I remember something about an island…They turned it into a jail…Then they turned it into a museum. Because it got too expensive.” I asked “Where did you learn that?” “Maybe from mama. Mama knows a lot of things. Why does mama know a lot of things?” Turns out Carly had told him about Alcatraz when she told him about her trip to San Francisco.

We left at 1:20. He ate the last Haman cooking on the way, making it last the whole trip. We listened to Story Pirates on the way and he was asking me more about Squarespace when we got out of the car.

We went to the library first, at his request. No books, but he played with the stuffed shark for a few minutes, carrying it around. He heard the printer and said “What do you mean? You said the power is out.” We hadn’t discussed that since the morning when Carly told us that all the power was out in the school. But it had come on  after a couple hours.

We ended up over at the chess set and clock. He wanted me to play, and I played two blitz games against myself. He enjoyed that. I was then teaching him the names of the pieces, how they move, and how they are set up.

About 2:20 we headed to the preschool playground. Part of the PKB (his class) class were out on the playground. A girl ran over and offered him an apple, then Ms. Marion came over and offered him some more. He was a little overwhelmed at first, and went off on his own to play the musical instrument by the sandbox, then to play in the sandbox. But then some of the other kids were playing around the sandbox, and when it was time for them to go in and get ready to go he helped clean up the sandbox toys. He then wanted to head inside with them.

We went in and watched them get ready to go. Class was kind of crazy today, perhaps because of the earlier power outage. The bus kids left, leaving August and Ori and Junyeok. They all played with the light table and built with blocks on it. Junyeok showed August how the switches to turn the table on worked and he was really excited. He had also found a few buttons on the floor, and then we were trying to solve the mystery of where they go. He found where they went on the craft table.

He was having fun so it was a little difficult to get him to head to Hebrew. We made one more stop on the way when he found the water table was outside with water in it and the bead things were all big.

Then up to Hebrew. He did fine. In fact, he had the opening activity down, where they pass the ball around asking each other their names. He passed the ball to the next boy, repeating “Shalom. Me ata?” after Myriam. They did color games, finding red, yellow, and orange things around the room. He was carrying his shoes around for a few minutes as he searched for things until Myriam convinced him to set down his shoes. Four other kids there today, Maya, Lana, Tomaso and one other girl. They were rather crazy too.

They moved to the table to color a sheet of orange, yellow, and red fruits and veggies. I helped August a bit with that, but not a lot. Myriam noticed that August kept yawning.

After class we went out and played with the water table for several minutes. And the musical instruments. Then we went over to get the bike and he played on the car thing for a few minutes. Breeze was kind of cool and I asked if he wanted his coat. He said “Teleport my creature power suit to me.”

Carly had taken the car to Ikea to get the play kitchen and accessories for his birthday. August and I walked up to his class. He headed down the stairs and announced “I’m here!” Parents were in the room today but didn’t have much to do. I mainly stood at the side. They were pushing the big foam things around and stopping, and he would lay on his all funny. He yelled something about Endencino  to me and it took me a minute to realize it was an instrumental version of the Hebrew song. Very different from the one we have. I figured out it was from Ensemble Baby Oriental and we listened to it later at home.

He was getting tired in class, but made it. At one point he came and said “Low battery, low battery. Is there an outlet in here?”  There was another game where they took rings from one end to put them on cones on the other. He was concerned it was a winning game, but it wasn’t and he really liked it.

His favorite part was the walking path at the end. It was a pretty good one. There was a sort of log part to walk across. He refused my, and everyone else’s, hand every time he walked across it, saying he could do it himself. Sigal is great, but sometimes tells the kids how they’re supposed to do something, when it doesn’t really matter. On the course she first told August he was supposed to slither like a snake, but then realized his hands and feet thing, straddling two blocks, was “Very good idea.” She came over and told me he had had a very good idea too.

Carly was waiting for us outside. She told August the ‘secret’ about his hotdog waiting at home and he excitedly told me. We went home and ate outside, listening to the new music. Back inside He played a little Toca Blocks.

Carly took him up and got him ready and they read some ‘baby’ books like The I Love You Book. I went up at 7:10. The bottom of one foot was itching, and he was confused because there wasn’t a red spot. I went and got the cream, then we tried a little more. He said he needed mama, so I switched with her at 7:45. She told me I had done the hard part, as he then fell right to sleep.

She wrapped the presents in the evening. We also got a box from Cherie, but the box from my parents hasn’t come.

Cocoa mix:

Shark carrying:

Paying attention:

Not needing a hand:

He woke up while I was still up on the bed, about 6:25. He was scratching at his hands and had been itching a lot during the night. He had seemed to develop itchy red spots before his bath yesterday. Ended up with them on his feet, hands, face, and neck, and one on his lower back. They didn’t seem to be spreading though. A bit later I found some Cortisone in the bathroom, so we didn’t have to go to the pharmacy.

Carly headed to work and he watched Wild Kratts. We played Seuss Band. He’s getting pretty good. We then read a lot of Dr. Seuss: The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, To Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street, and Bartholomew and the Oobleck.

I was trying to find the “I Can Dance” song from the preschool yesterday. Not available from iTunes, but finally found it. Need to buy it though. We went and played the camping book with Cubetto and listened to music. One of the obstacles for Cubetto looks like an X and he really got into talking about why X is useful (as a letter, a plus sign, multiplication). In a robot voice he said “Z is very useful cus it is used in zigzags.” Finished the Cubetto camping book, then had some toast with peanut butter and one with cream cheese.

He asked “How can planets be made without people? They don’t have hands?” We discussed the universe and galaxy formation and the Big Bang, etc. “But where’d the dust come from?” I asked his idea: “From a different world.”

He also asked “Why they use the word ‘sister’?” My etymology answers aren’t always satisfying for him: he likes when I can explain the parts of a word, like bicycle. For sister I showed him the OED entry for it and how it came from different languages. Not exactly what he wanted.

We went up and I took a shower. Then he played for a long time in the bath. Allowed me to do some clean up upstairs and put his bed in order, fix the closet doors, etc. In the bath he told me “I’m gonna tell you something about me. I can walk on water.” Me: “Oh, like that animal? The…” “Monitor lizard!” He had learned that on Wild Kratts. At the end of his bath he said “I’m a rubber ducky that came alive.”

He played with the CAR puzzle on his clean bed. I remember when that was too hard for him. He was humming the “Christmas Ameoba”. He talked about not wanting to ever sleep on his bed because he was worried about falling off it. I pulled out the lower bed which he called the “safety bed”. And he practiced rolling off the top bed to see how it feels.

Went downstairs and said I was going to make grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. He said he didn’t want any. I asked “Don’t you like grilled cheese sandwiches?” He replied “Yeah, but not anymore. Remember, things change.” With this last sentence he was giving me a big grin; he was throwing a line I had used upstairs back at me. I had told him that when he said he wouldn’t want to sleep in his bed.

Made a mango and strawberry smoothie and he basically just ate that for breakfast. He was asking how water actually evaporates and we watched a couple videos on the water cycle and evaporation. His big takeaway was that he molecules don’t break apart when they float into the air.

He asked “What ‘hyena’ mean?” Then “What ‘wild’ mean?” I explained ‘wild’ versus ‘domestic’ and he had some difficulty wrapping his head around how animals live on their own:  “Someone has to be with them if they have a baby.” When discussing how they eat: “What do you mean? They have to cook it.”

I let him watch one more Wild Kratts and they used the word ‘adaptation’. He got really excited. A day or two ago he’d been asking me what ‘aventation’ meant and I didn’t know what word he was talking about. He explained that he had meant ‘adaptation’: “We solved the mystery!”

He then asked “Dada, why don’t humans know why all the stuff in the world come to life?”

We got going and down to Poleg Beach about 1:30. He was wearing his pink sunglasses at first but it turns out they are loose on his head and fall off. Switched to the other ones. He had some struggle getting through the sand with the bike down to the beach, but made it. We watched where the stream reaches the sea, then walked along the beach and found a shaded spot to play. Somewhere along the way he asked “How does the force work though?” when referring to gravity. Told him we’d have to look it up.

Got out the beach toys and started playing. First smoothing sand, then burying our feet. Stopped to eat a couple of our cookies. A girl who turned out to be two and a half came over and dropped a blue shovel by August and picked up his pink one and took it back over towards where her mom was. August saw, but wasn’t bothered by it. He ended up being totally cool with sharing all the beach toys with her. She also sat on his bike a lot and played with it and he didn’t mind at all. Such a huge change from a few months ago when he talked about how he’d never let anyone touch his bike, and when we parked it places he was afraid other people might take it or use it.

They didn’t interact a whole lot, but played next to each other. Later, he and I were down near the water and he started spinning around on his hands and feet, making lines in the sand. She joined in and was following him around. The mom came over and talked to me. The girl’s name was Alili (like hallelujah in English). The mom talked about how she’s a stay-at-home mom and how great it is because they do things like go to the beach. The first person I’ve met in all this time who has had the same view on it. And Alili is heading to school next year, mainly for the ability to socialize more, so kind of like August. The mom had also been asked to do a drama program for 4-8 year olds at WBAIS. She was a drama teacher for 10 years and adapts Hebrew stories into plays for kids. She didn’t know how well it would work in English though so she declined.

Back up in the sand, as we were burying our feet, August would be a crab under the sand and then pinch me. We also buried our feet together. We talked about what ‘technology’ means and he said “I’m a so complex technology.” In packing down the sand he said “Get stronger, your majesties!” He had me hold him like a baby and he pretended to fall asleep. He then saw a sign that warns about rip currents and how to swim out of them. I explained it to him, then we acted it out several times. He was the current, and I was the swimmer either swimming the correct way (to the side) or just trying to go back to shore and getting pulled out instead. He’d then tell me to “Swim to the side!”

He went down to the water and he was making shapes with the round cups. Alili and he mom left, then he had me bring buckets of water up and pour them in a little tunnel thing he had made. When I came up once he was cuddling in the sand next to the backpack. He was a bird and it was his nest and he was sleepy. This lasted for several minutes. We added to the nest with the blue bag and the picnic mat over him.

We got packed up and got going. Pushing through the sand to get to the wet sand we actually lost the left wheel of the bike. August fell over. He found it all very funny though. The wheel went back in and still seems usable though, although looser than the right one. We tried to go to the bathroom but they were closed. On the way to the car he saw a white car and said we should get a car like that. He said he would still call the white car “Skoda Mama”. I said it wasn’t even a Skoda. He replied “Well then people will be confused…Yeah, that’s my destiny.”

He asked me to put Cortisone on and requested it “everywhere” it was itchy. More specifically he wanted “Where it starts to be footed.” That is, his ankle. He said his feet bothered him in the night.

We drove up to school (we were listening to old Story Pirates episodes on our drive today) and picked Carly up  a block from sc
hool. I drove them home then I drove to the new Herzliya Medical Center for my follow-up with the doctor. Got there right at 5, but had some reading time until I was called about 5:40.  He looked at it, then said we could take it out. He just reached over and pulled it out before I could say anything. A slight aching after he did it, but not much.

Horrible traffic on the way home. Got here at 6:50. When I arrived they were upstairs. He was saying he wanted to go to bed, and he wanted to sleep with me. He was pretending to yawn. We didn’t think he seemed all that sleepy. I showed them the piece of metal that had been taken out of my hand. About 3 inches long.

Downstairs he played with the vegetable steamer, which we had indeed bought as a toy for him when he liked the one at Derek and Jill’s house. He kept saying “I can’t believe it gets so small!” He was into confusing us mode when Carly asked about something and he said it was from “planet Groovy”. I asked where ‘Planet Groovy’ was from and he replied “Windows!”

He ate some more pasta for dinner. He asked Carly “Mama, why is there borders that make countries in-between?” We had discussed borders a bit when he was asking what a passport is for. There was also more talk of why we can’t know everything – how there’s always more stuff happening and things to learn about.

We played some Seuss Band and read I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today! and On Beyond Zebra. One more Seuss Band song then we went upstairs. I tried to get him to sleep. He was itchy so I went and got him the cream. I switched with Carly about 9 and they were both asleep soon after that.