Category: Uncategorized

Colin and Vivian were up really early, so August ended up getting up around 6 or so. They played outside at some point, and were all coloring on the paper when I got up. He went outside with Carly on the porch (too cold for me). Back inside, he saw Vivian drinking warm soy milk in a mug, and wanted ‘tea’ himself. He excitedly ran and pointed to the mugs and said  “Want it in a mug.” Later, he and Vivi had a blast giving everyone shots with the play syringe. We sang Cada Semilla in English, which has the line “…you need something else”. A game the last couple weeks or so has been giving him examples of ‘something else’. So we played more of that. Vivian set up the yoga blocks in a line, and August was walking on them. He slipped and fell once, but thought it was funny, then was intentionally trying to make them slip.

Carly, Cassie, and I got all of the kids in Cherie’s car, and Carly drove and we went into town. We stopped at Burgerville and Carly ran in and got a bean burger, fries, and a couple of raspberry milkshakes. We drove to Riverfront Park and played there and ate our food. Vivian and August were both on the swings, then Cassie went off with Colin and Vivian, but August spent his whole time in the swing. At one point he started singing an “Other hand” song. Not sure where it came from, but it was about the game where you hide something in one of your hands and he chooses it, it isn’t there, then he chooses the other hand. He had hand motions with it and a lot of words. He would later sing more of it back in the car. Perhaps his most impressive song so far.

Back at the house he slept from 11:43 to 2:18. A long time. After his nap, he played upstairs with Colin. I went up to find them doing kisses and lots of head rubs. Carly spent a lot of time in the afternoon scanning photos and papers. Cassie and I had August and Colin down in the sandbox. Vivian had gone with Cherie to Costco and other stores and were gone for a few hours. In the sandbox August stood on the corner (so as to not get too dirty) and mainly played with the toy cow, putting it in the water. Vivian and Cherie got home, and Vivian gave August a box of band aids to play with. Earlier in the morning, August had been outside with her and Cassie and he had fallen down and reopened his toe and scraped his knee a bit. We played with the bandaids; August still didn’t want one, but he found it fun to put them on other people and watch Vivian put them on us.

We ended up outside again, this time out front. Vivian wanted to do hopscotch, so I drew a hopscotch course for her, and August helped write the numbers. Vivian then showed him how to hop on it. He can’t hop on one foot, but he had fun hopping on it. We played with the squirt guns, and I brought up the bucket so we could fill it up and refill the squirt guns. Big surprise was that August could position the bucket and turn the water on and off on his own. Couldn’t do that last year. The two of them played with the water for quite awhile. Then August started playing in the sand Chuck had put in the cracks. I was blocking him from doing it and said “That’s a no-no”. He responded with “That’s a yes-yes.” Very funny. We also talked about it being tempting, which he pronounced “that’s temptaning”. They got back to the water, and Vivian was dumping out the buckets and sat in the water. August, who still won’t sit in the bath, saw her and sat in it too. But just for a second, then he was done.

I talked to August about going in for dinner and getting something to eat and drink. He said  “I was thinking bout orange juice.” We started to walk inside, and he saw the bottles of water on a shelf and grabbed one and said “Give this to mama.”

We ate dinner – leftovers today, as we had about 6 dishes to finish up. Carly then took them downstairs and they played in the sand. Back upstairs, Carly gave Vivian her old Russian nesting dolls. I was then downstairs with them for quite awhile as they played with the noisy ball toy and plastic oven, and played the piano. Very easy supervision time, as they mainly played by themselves and with each other. Cassie took Colin and Vivian upstairs, and Carly tried to get August to sleep a couple times, but no luck. At 9:30, Derek, Andrea, and their two kids showed up. August was thrilled by this, and first watched Thatcher hop like a frog, then studied Kayla’s pajamas with desserts on them. The last piece of excitement was watching Uncle DD pretend to prick his finger on the toy syringe and going “Ouch!” Still took a lot of effort and time after that (August and I read the Berenstain Bears Truth book at some point), but he was finally asleep around 10:30.

New words/phrases: bandaid, hide and seek,

Morning:

Park: 

Headed home: 

At the house: 

Kayla and Thatcher arrive: 

A few firsts today: spitting out Oregon grapes himself, playing on his own with another kid in another room (Vivian), an injury that needed a bandaid, and pooping on the toilet.

Awake just after 7. His first words when he woke up were “Where is Kayla?” In the morning he played with Oma’s yogurt without really eating any, then she left to go pick up Cassie and her kids at the airport. August got sad, because he wanted to go with her. Back in the house, he got upset that we wouldn’t let him play with the grate, then nursed. He walked around, sliding his feet on the pot holder things. At some point I asked him what he was thinking and he said “I was thinking bout more rectangle crackers.” I was giving him his vitamins and he said  “Where should I put them?”

The three of us then went downtown. We took the stroller. We went to Santa Lucia and got coffees and a scone. Sat outside for a bit and then went walking. Up to and around the college, seeing the new building they are building. August spotted Oregon grapes, and we did a little of the ‘patooie’ game, then he spotted red berries, which turned out to be hollies. We studied those, crushing them in our fingers to find the seeds.

We then went to Safeway, after which he didn’t want to get in the car seat. He explored the car for about 8 minutes, insisting “Zinnie can do it” but he wouldn’t get it, so then we had to force him in. We got back to the house, and just as we were going in Cherie arrived with Cassie, Vivian, and Colin. They did greetings, and August tried to do a forehead hug with Colin. Played in the driveway for a few minutes, then Cherie and I took Vivian and August down to the blackberry bushes at the edge of the property and picked blackberries. The two of them then ended up going downstairs, and Cherie and I were working on taking the toys upstairs. August was jumping on the couch, and slipped off the cushion and his foot went down in the couch and cut his toe. Pretty traumatic for him, as he has never had a cut like that before. Finally got one on his foot and the trauma helped him nurse right to sleep. Kind of a short nap though, as he slept from 1:20 to 2:18. A long nurse, then we got a bandage on his foot, as it had started bleeding again.

He ate some spaghetti, then he and Vivi played in the house. She was giving him dancing lessons, showing him how to spin and leap, and kept trying to play tag (which he really doesn’t like) and hide and seek (which he doesn’t understand). By the end of the day he was sort of understanding the latter.

Chuck and Cherie had gone to pick up the motor home, which had been getting some small repairs. Cherie and I helped him park it in their new driveway, then everyone got in and explored it. August really liked the light switches and the vent/skylight.

At 5:30 we went over to Claremay and Steve’s. Carly had been working in the afternoon to make two quiches, which we took. August and I took a few minutes to get in the house, as we were doing patooie with the Oregon grapes out front. At first he was putting the berries in my mouth and I was spitting them out, then he started doing it on his own – the first time he’s spit them out. And when he heard someone hammering down/across the street he started clapping in rhythm to it. We went in and had dinner. Vivian fell through her chair and started crying, which made Colin cry, which made August very concerned about both of them. After dinner, he and Vivian first played in the toy room by themselves for several minutes. That was pretty amazing. Then they played on the deck, spinning and jumping and dancing. He had picked some of the pedals from the flowers you can supposedly eat (pansies), but he wouldn’t actually eat them. I was asking Vivian and August where their energy comes from, and August answered “From the flowers.”

We went home, and Vivian and Colin headed to bed. I gave August a bath, and before it I had him standing up on the counter to smell the soaps, and to take his clothes off. I thought he was pooping, or about to, and asked if he wanted to poop on the toilet. He said no, and at first insisted on pulling his shorts back up, but then he changed his mind and wanted to poop on the toilet. So I set him there and it worked, as he pooped on the toilet. For the first time. Bath went well, and he was washing himself with all sorts of soaps, until he decided to wipe his eye. Then he just kept trying to rub his hurting eye with the hands covered in soap. He didn’t get much in though, and I got him out of there. He went down to Carly, and they did some reading. She thought he was gong to sleep, but they ended up doing a good amount of reading (I guess they read that Skippyjohn Jones book a lot) before he was asleep a little after 9.

Standing on the coasters:

Walk to the college: 

Greeting them: 

Claremay and Steve’s: 

Up at 8. He was thrilled to see Oma, and wondered where Opa was. He and Oma were looking at a spiral potholder, which led to looking at the rocks and then then spiral shells. Carly took a shower, then skyped with Vivian and Cassie. I took a shower, and when I came out they were playing in the sink in the hallway bathroom, playing with the foamy soap. A couple of workers came to change the locks on the house and do some other work. August was very interested in them and wanted to know their names. Eventually, we watched them out an open window, and then asked their names. One was Kaitlyn. She asked his name, and he was shy. I said “Is your name August?” And he said “No…goo-uh-goo. Becoming goo-uh-goo.”

We went to Wal-mart to get contacts for Carly, and August had fun trying on the sunglasses. We then went and dropped our car off for an oil change, etc. We went over and played at Riverside Park. First in the little kids swing, where he could drag his toes in the gravel, then on the spinning thing I have to hold him up for, then on the red turning thing. Oh, and after we got out of the swing, he had sat on my lap for several minutes in the gravel and we had played with the swing, pretending it was attacking us, and hitting it away.

We then walked to Burgerville. Along the way we saw blackberry bushes. August wanted to eat one and I started to warn him it might be tart, but he ate it and really liked it. We had a turkey and a bean burger, fries, and shared a raspberry milkshake at Burgerville, then picked up the car.

We came home and he napped from 1:40 to around 3. He was rather demanding today, especially in the afternoon/evening. He watched Mary Poppins and other videos with Oma, then was smelling soaps with me (the beginning of the demanding). We went outside and he saw Opa pulling weeds and wanted to go over there. Along the way, we found little shiny beetles on the ground. I said something about getting one on a stick, and August wanted to do that, but was poking the beetles with it and didn’t like e stopping him. So I took him in and he nursed with Carly. We had curry and rice for dinner, then went out on the porch, where he played peekaboo with Cherie through the screen door.

After dinner, we all went for a walk. I gave August a choice, and he chose the backpack. He was very focused on finding more blackberries. We found them near the start of the trail area. He got down and was picking them. He preferred the crunch red ones, as opposed to the dark, ripe blackberries. We did that for several minutes, then changed his diaper on the path, then got him back in the backpack. He went along with it, but wasn’t too happy about stopping. I, however, was getting attacked by mosquitoes. August was excited to actually see mosquitoes though and enjoyed waving his arms at them. As we walked he kept requesting more berries, wanting “red and green…purple and blue…blue and red…blackberries”. He got Smokey out and played with him a bit as we walked, showing him the trees. He also imitated my Smokey voice and said something like “These are nice trees.”

Back at the house we played with the soccer ball outside. He was actually setting it down and then kicking it, or just rolling it with two hands, and squealing when the ball came close to him. Inside, we got out the Peppa Pig workbooks and were tracing in those. He pointed to one picture and said “Peppa Pig is dressed up for winter.” He and Carly had also had nice art time today, filling up more of the paper, and sand time, making a big castle.

Carly gave him a bath, then took him straight to the bedroom around 9 because it looked like he might go to sleep. But they ended up doing a lot of reading and he fell asleep by 9:30.

Also, at some point today he wanted to touch my teeth, then told me they were yellow: “What is the yellow?” Thanks, son.

New words/phrases: amber, spiral, contacts, peekaboo, next time,

A fountain his size:

Playground: 

Burgerville: 

Sandcastle with mama: 

Evening walk: 

Back home: 

When he woke up in the middle of the night, I heard him whisper several sentences. Didn’t catch the specifics, but he said ‘Opa’ several times. He was then up close to 8, and excited to see Oma. They explored the office supplies drawer. I measured him with a tape measure, and he is 35 and a half inches tall. Cherie was then teaching him to use a stapler, then they ate yogurt together. Then, the first deer of the day as he and Carly watched a couple off the deck. I took a shower, then after that he was playing with the bubble thing again, and watched Mary Poppins videos with Cherie, particularly “Love to laugh”. I finally got him downstairs, and we played in newly-filled-by-Chuck sandbox for a good long time. Back inside, Carly used the word ‘tempting’, and he wanted to know what it means. She explained, and he caught on, then started listing things that are tempting: “That’s a tempting thing”, he would say. Apparently throwing things is very tempting to him, as he listed sever of those: throwing chalk, throwing water, throwing grass. Chuck got home, and August absolutely screeched as we talked to him through the door. Carly was eating a salad, and someone asked him  “Do you like salad?” He replied with “Not much”. Finally, he amused me when he climbed on a chair and said to himself “You can sit here, if you want.”

He slept from 1:45 to 3:55, but woke up and fell back asleep twice in there. After he seemed to wake up I skyped with my parents. He enjoyed seeing them but was having a rough afternoon; the ‘tempting’ thing of throwing the shells down the air vent was too much for him, so eventually we put the shells away. Finally, I got him outside again. We just walked around the property, starting with the new driveway for the motor home. We got up there and startled two deer. We then started following them around the property, finding a third along the way. We continued to follow two down the hill, watching them eat and poop along the way. He wanted to find the deer poop, and we did and studied it using a stick. After about 40 minutes we made our way back to the house.

We had pasta and mushrooms and salad for dinner. He ate a ton, and did pretty well with a fork, although still tends to wipe his hands on his shirt, so we still had to change him at the end. Cherie mentioned something about him jumping like a monkey, so he wanted to do ‘Five Little Monkeys’. So he and I went into the bedroom and acted that out a couple times. He was then back out with Oma and Opa and they started doing one and two finger hugs, and cheek and nose and forehead rubs. He would do these a bit later at Steve and Claremay’s, and then as he was telling them good night. Chuck and Cherie left first to make sure Steve and Claremay were at home (they didn’t answer their phone), and August got sad, saying “Want to go in” while pointing to their car as it left. Once we got the call they were there, we headed over as well.

At their house we hung out outside. He remembered the monkey-faced pansies, and found a spiderweb and did some entertaining, running around between us. He went inside to find toys at one point, but went downstairs instead, where he got fascinated by the baseball that was left playing on the TV. Then, he figured out how to turn the channels, and kept asking “What is this?” I finally got him away from that, but it was funny as he hadn’t shown much interest in television at my parents’.

Back at the house, we spotted some deer while getting out of the car, and he and Carly watched them. She then went inside, and I watched them with him for a few minutes. I gave him a bath, and he was really into smelling soap, as usual. He used their bar soap to wash himself, then at the end of his bath Cherie let him smell a bar of sandalwood soap. He said nice goodnights to Oma and Opa, then we took him in and did some reading. I read him the Strawberry Shortcake book that is around, then he took awhile to drift to sleep about 10:10.

New words/phrases: safeway, tempting,

Our walk studying the deer. Deer poop: 

Steve and Claremay’s: 

Forehead rub: 

Watching the deer before we went in: 

He woke up at 7:50 and opened the door and came out – the first time he had opened a round door knob on his own. He wasn’t ready to say good morning to Oma, so Carly went in and they nursed. She asked if he wanted her to change his diaper first and he said “No, maybe not.” When they came out they were looking for Cherie and went down stairs. She came from upstairs and made some noises to get their attention. He said “What is that? Maybe a bird. Eee, eee.” He then came upstairs and they spent several minutes walking like different animals, including a bear and doing a crab walk.

I took him outside while Chuck and Cherie worked on cleaning out the garage. We got the bubble fan thing working and he played with that – blowing bubbles a little, but also just liking the wind and noise. And he spun in the empty pool. Inside, he ate some breakfast with Carly. He hasn’t eaten blueberries recently, but started eating them and raspberries off the Abby Cadabby plate. They had a pressure washer show up. August saw the guy and asked “Who’s that?” So we watched him a lot, and August got a broom and did some sweeping. I was talking to him about our plans for the day and said we were going into town, and he asked “What town we going to?”

Carly and I took him in to Safeway, where he sat in the cart and took Marshy with him. He liked dropping the groceries in the cart behind him. We then went over to Borst Park. He went on a big kid swing by himself for a little while, then I pushed him in the little kid swings for quite a long time. Carly ran back to the store. When he was done swinging we climbed on a play structure and did the shaky bridge together. Carly showed up, and met us as we walked over to the arch climbing thing. She helped him climb up it a couple times, then we headed back.

The garage was looking pretty empty, and they were working on the attic above. August really wanted to climb the ladder and go up there. At one point August went to open the door to the garage and Chuck made a noise. August responded with “You scared me!” I watched August while Carly and Cherie worked on the quiches for dinner. August and I also played a bit with the shells today, and did art on a big piece of butcher paper that Cherie got out.

After the quiche was done, the three of us went over to Steve and Claremay’s. There, August went straight to the toys, but then he and I went out to with Claremay and picked apples. He really liked that. Back inside, we went downstairs to see Steve. He told his Harry Truman and Army recruitment stories, and August played with Claremay, both with a ball we were throwing around and with the Etch-a-Sketch. I did the ball hiding trick with my two hands and he found it hilarious. A really nice visit.

We headed back to the house for dinner. The quiche and asparagus was delicious, and August ate a bunch of both. He started to get funny at the end, and put his feet up on the table. Carly pushed him back and let him put his feet up on her arm. After dinner, he went outside to see the soon-to-be sand area with Oma. We were then in the bedroom and August was doing his own Peter Rabbit voice, which Carly found scarier than mine. He then patooied on the bed, so Carly gave him a ‘timeout’. Back out with the shells, he and I played a game we started earlier in which he tries to feed them to me and I say “That’s not food, that’s a shell!” He thought about Bluie so we got Bluie out, and he had a grand time throwing Bluie back and forth with Cherie. Then August decided to go out into the garage. As he got to the door, Chuck knocked on it, and August shrieked hilariously. Earlier he had talked about being scared when people hid or surprised him, but this time he just loved it. He spit on the floor again, and we said  “Time for a timeout” To which he excitedly responded “Timeout!” and ran for the bedroom. At which point I said I surrender, as he has clearly won. I made it a day short of28 months. But when we all settled down, I did take him into the bedroom and we had a talk about rules. I first started asking him about the rules for throwing, and he then started talking about the spitting rules on his own. He then said “Show you things not patooie on” and grabbe Marshy and said “No patooie on Marshy” He then went around the room and house pointing out other things he couldn’t patooie or “spit” on: sandals, the bed, the backpack, Opa (which he appreciated).

Carly gave him a bath, which was much mellower than yesterday, then he did a very sweet session of saying goodnight and getting hugs from everyone. Earlier I had also said “I need a…” And before I could finish he said “Hug!” and gave me a big hug, then went back to Carly and said “Big one!” He was then asleep at 9:30.

New words/phrases: gouda, squirt gun, ambiguity and damaging, pie crust, spitting

Turning and stomping in the empty pool:

Safeway: 

Borst Park: 

Cleaning: 

Lying on the lounge chair: 

Steve and Claremay’s. Picking apples:

Back at Oma and Opa’s: 

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: