Category: Uncategorized

He was up at 6:20, but Carly got him to nurse. At 7 I thought he was getting up for good and I started to get up, but Carly got him to lie back down, and he slept until 8:20. He came out and climbed up into one of the big chairs. He then got grampa to look at sticks with him:  “Another stick!” He saw Paul, and kind of walked to the other side of the chair next to him and said “Hi uncle Paul.”

While Carly went and showered, the rest of us took August to the playground. He started to climb the plastic thing again, but grampa was helping him, and August got a static shock. After that, he was done with that. Instead, he wanted to climb the big metal ladder part that he’d done part of before. This time, with first gramma and then Paul spotting, he made it all the way to the top – 7 feet or so.

We were packing up, and he was in the tent with Carly. He kept walking back and forth and hiding in one of the interior flaps, and was nonsense singing the entire time. Back out, I got the iPad out for him and introduced him to the new Marco Polo weather app, which he really liked. At one point he fed an animal carrots, and then I asked what the animal was. He replied “I didn’t see…walked away.” After that, he ran across the pavement and fell, scraping his elbow a little bit – his worst fall of the trip. As we were about done packing up, he invented one last game, using his water bottle, with the lid off, to create puddles in the dirt next to the concrete platform. As we were ready to leave at 11:30 I told him he needed to finish up dumping the water. He dumped one more, then handed me the water bottle and said  “want it full of water to drink…the cold.”

We drove to the dam to go on the tour. They are in full security mode, taking our IDs, checking the trunks and hoods, etc. We then had to wait by the entrance until the ranger came and drove us down to the visitor center in a cart. August did really well, and we enjoyed the tour. Our tour guide, Sydney Hudson, was a bit of a character and had grown up in Australia. At the end we learned that he travels a lot with his father, and they recently did a cruise to Antarctica. August liked the noise in the dam. I carried him down the little stairway to the lower floor, where we got to see the parts of the generator that is being replaced. We also got to walk right in by a turbine, which seemed a bit crazy. There the noise was a bit much and he wanted to leave. There were also a lot of dials and lights and buttons, and he got really sad when he couldn’t touch those.

From there we headed home, stopping in Pateros at the quick stop sort of place for lunch and ice cream. He fell asleep as we got into town. As Carly took him into bed, he took his shoes off while half asleep. He slept from 2:23 until Carly woke him up at 4. They then read Max’s Dragon Shirt twice forwards and once backwards.

After he woke up, he spent time out back with gramma, watering the steps and the sand below with the watering can.  After we played in back for awhile, I took him down to change him and he was singing a song. Suddenly he started putting in the names of subway stops “Junggye…Hagye…” We went back outside and did more watering. Eventually, he was making sand castles with Carly. He was having fun knocking them down, but then wouldn’t even let her finish one first. He got upset when I stopped him from destroying her sand castle.

We ate dinner outside on the deck, spaghetti and green beans. He liked both, and liked the green beans dipped in the spaghetti sauce. He also ate all of Paul’s mushrooms.

Carly and I took him out for a walk in the evening, down to the river and then through Riverwalk Park, with him singing in the stroller. As we walked down the hill to the river, he was doing a loud “Noona neena” chant at the dogs in the yard across the street, and I realized he was basing it on the “Neener neener” thing I taught him when we first got out of the car so he wouldn’t be afraid of the barking dogs.

We walked over to the old bridge, then came back. August wanted to find a playground, but at the benches area he started playing on the benches and jumping. I would hold his hands and he would call a number (“11!”) and he would then do that many jumps. He was also jumping off the benches and onto the ground. I was holding his hands, but he was doing most of the jumping – I was just making sure he wouldn’t fall over when he landed.

At home, he took a bath, then before going to bed he went up and said good night to everyone, and to Celeste. Celeste was sitting in the window sill, and August was able to get up really close to her for a few seconds before she jumped down. He went back down and fell asleep at 9:30.

Morning:

Playground: 

Getting ready to leave: 

Home. Watering the ground: 

Evening walk: 

When he woke up at 6:52 we heard him say “Took the socks off” and looked over to see that he had. After we got up, I took him over to the playground while Carly went to take a shower. He climbed the plastic rock climbing wall 3 times, and spent some time throwing wood chips down the slide. My mom then came over. He was just sitting at the top of the climbing thing. We saw robins close by, so was able to point those out to him. He started to take a shoe off and said to himself “Don’t take your shoes off.”  When gramma said it He would then say “That’s funny!” and laugh. We went back about 8:15 to get some breakfast.

For breakfast he ate some of Carly’s sandwich, and I shared some Cheerios. We somehow managed to spill some milk on both of us. We then all went on a walk over past the group campground area. He chose the stroller, but we should have done backpack as we ended up going on a dirt road. We heard and saw killdeer. Gramma gave him a shiny rock, so he kept wanting more shiny rocks, which he would then throw from the stroller. On the way back we stopped and he was throwing rocks into the big puddle in the middle of the road. Paul helped out in supplying him rocks.

Back at the campsite, I went to take a shower and August and Carly played in the tent with his water writing book. He was also asking for a lot of math problems. I heard him asking ”17 plus 17 equal?” but he was doing the doubling thing – after she would answer with 34 he would then ask “34 plus 34 equals?” They apparently got up to the 200s.

We then got in the cars and drove to the playground down by the dam on our side of the river. Played on the structure for awhile, walking across the shaky bridge with mama then going down the slide together, then walked out to a little vie area and looked at the signs and the dam.  He seemed to be sleepy so we headed back.

Carly tried putting him to sleep but he wasn’t doing it, so I offered the backpack, and he accepted. He put his head down on Smokey. We walked past the swim area and then saw a marmot, so we paused napping to watch it. He then said “There’s another one.” and indeed there was. We watched them for a couple minutes, then I heard him whisper “fall asleep in a coffee shop.” We started walking again and he fell asleep quickly. Set the backpack by the picnic table at the campsite and he slept from 2:12 to 3:24. We all read and napped.

After his nap he was eating popcorn with grampa. He waved at Paul, then climbed into the stroller and used it as a chair as grampa gave him popcorn. He heard an air pump noise from another campsite and matched the pitch..

At the. Playground there had been a mom with her 4-year-old son. She told us about the wading area at the park downtown. So after his nap we went there. We found the wading area, but he only touched the water a bit: the main focus was sandcastle building. First it was with grampa, and they built a few together, with grampa teaching him how to pat down the sand and then hit the bucket to get the sand not to stick.. Carly then took over and they built about 20 of them. With my dad August had started to put a rock on each of them, and continued that. At some point he decided to spray each rock with the spray bottle to make it clean. My dad also found a little squirt gun in the sand, so they got to play with that. As we walked back to the cars, I was carrying him and he had the squirt bottle. He squirted grampa in the shorts, then said “Squirted the shorts…just a little bit.”

We drove to the grocery store that sold ice cream, which we had seen on the way there. We all got ice cream and ate it on benches out front. We then drove the few blocks to the start of the wooden sculptures carved out of the old trees. August really liked these and liked identifying the animals and things on them. I took some photos, so then he took some, and took some of Paul and Carly as well.

Carly and I drove past the other park in town on our way back. Has an outdoor pool and a big metal play structure out of the 80s. If we were staying another day we could have gone there.

Back at the campsite we ate ravioli so for dinner. After dinner he was playing by. The tent with gramma and laughing as he dropped sand on her feet. But then he was throwing sand on the tent and wouldn’t stop.  He started screaming when I picked him up. He went with  Carly into the tent for awhile, then came out and read the stinky sock book with gramma a few times.

We did marshmallows again. This time, however, he only wanted the crispy part of the marshmallows, so I worked to make extra crispy parts for him. We then shared our s’mores again.

I then took him to the playground, where there were four bigger kids playing. And hyper. He climbed the plastic thing, and was repeating what he heard the other kids yelling, like “I’m not playing”. They kept screeching and yelling, and he was concerned that they were sad. He had wanted “Dada Zinnie go down the slide” on the way over there, but when we went up to the slide, there were kids coming up it and running by August found this exciting, and even didn’t mind when they bumped into him, and would laugh and do his shaking arms thing. But he didn’t want to go down the slide. He did want up, and I picked him up and he just watched for awhile. Then he said  “want to do the hanging one…like mama” and raised his arms in the air. So we went and I helped him with the monkey bars a couple times. Pretty quickly after that he decided he was done, and he whispered “want to see the campsite”.

Back at the campsite he said good night to everyone, then went in the tent with Carly and fell asleep right away, at 10.

New words/phrases: s’mores, marshmallow, campsite, fire, What’s this one called?

 

 

Our walk: 

Park by the river: 

Asleep in the backpack: 

Sitting with grampa: 

Park in Bridgeport: 

Eating ice cream: 

Sculpture walk: 

August’s photo of Paul: 

Reading with gramma: 

Wearing his sunglasses: 

With gramma again. Watching grampa roast a marshmallow, I think: 

He was up at 8:27. In the morning he was perched on the back of the couch watching the birds and squirrels eat the seeds that he and gramma had put out yesterday. She was beside him, and he asked her to help him look for Celeste: “Want gramma show you how to look for the cat.” After that, he was on the back porch sitting next to Carly on the bench, drinking milk. Then gramma made him an egg for breakfast.

We were all doing a lot of packing to get ready for the trip, and he was handling it pretty well. Carly cut up one of the mangos and he was eating that. He was then singing the “Cada Semilla” song, and when Carly sings it she doesn’t know all the words. So now he was singing “Something, something, something.” And requesting “More something, something, something”. He did get upset when he was trying to climb on the coffee table and I wasn’t letting him, and he bumped his knee and then did some screeching. Carly twice tried to put him down for a nap, but he wasn’t agreeing to that. After the second time, he came up after I had eaten the last of the banana bread and saw my plate. He wasn’t content with “bread” as an answer and asked “What kind bread?” He was content with Cheez-Its as a substitute though.

We left right about 1:30. Carly drove and I sat with him. Drive went smoothly. At the camp site we got things set up, and he sat in the little blue chairs when we got them out. Carly and I then drove into Bridgeport to the “supermarket” to get some groceries, and August was falling asleep in the car, but he made it.

Back at the campsite we went to the playground. He climbed the fake rock wall thing twice, walked around on top, and was throwing wood chips down the slide. Back at the campsite, he went for a little walk in the stroller with gramma and grampa and had fun. We grilled hot dogs for dinner, and he particularly liked the “squishy” buns. I got one out for a second hotdog, and he stole it from me, so I settled his that he had already gnawed on.

After that, we walked down to the swim area on the Columbia. He waded in a bit and threw rocks. A boat went by and there were waves, which he didn’t like, so he walked up on the sand and then started dropping sand on the goose poop, then was dropping it on the water. My parents and Paul then came over and hung out at the water for awhile before we walked back to the campsite.

Back at camp my dad made the fire. I was keeping him well away from the fire, and August tried to do a spin move around my arm and fell on the pavement. But once the fire was ready grampa roasted two marshmallows for August and showed him how to eat them. He was very happy about that. He then shared s’mores with both me and Carly as we made them.

We went in the tend and he and I read the What Game Should We Play? book twice, and he started to talk about falling off of a changing pad in Centralia – something which has never happened, since we change him on the floor there. Carly read to him (the Richard Scarry counting book) and nursed, then when he wasn’t yet falling asleep gramma came in and read One Fish Two Fish with him while Carly drank some tea. He was doing most of the reading. Carly came back in and he was asleep at 9.

After everyone else was in bed, Carly and I did some stargazing. Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter were all nicely visible, and when the moon came up it made a nice moonbeam across the grass. Thanks to the Star Walk app, we were also able to identify pieces of space junk and several stars.

New words/phrases:  too many,

Campsite: 

Playground: 

River: 

S’mores:

Bedtime: 

It was another odd morning. He leaked a little before 5. While he was up, Carly got him to start blowing his nose a bit. They then got up and were up until about 6:40. They skyped, ate, went outside, and played with the polished rocks: “Orange in there. In the poop one. In the snot one.” They went back to sleep, and were up again about 8. He was nursing a lot, then trying to open the door. Carly called me on my cell phone to come and help him open the door, but he had locked it. Once the door was open, August didn’t want to leave without mama. He was very clingy to her this morning. Eventually, we got him upstairs and he wanted to look for Celeste. He decided: “Grampa show you how to get Celeste.”

We were upstairs without Carly for awhile, but then he realized she was gone. So he went downstairs, and started running a few feet before the door. He tripped and fell face first into the door. Luckily, he only grazed the frame with his cheek. He had a red spot on his cheek later, but that was it.

In the late morning, Carly and I took him to Don Morse park in the stroller. On the way, I got him out of the stroller so he could push the crosswalk buttons. While waiting in the bakery for our drinks, he figured out how to do 6, 7, 8, and 9 fingers with his two hands. This was a big deal, and he was very happy about it. To this point he couldn’t really do one number with the right hand and another number with the left. He got upset leaving the coffee shop, as he wanted to keep doing fingers.

At the park we went directly to the swings. He was in a swing at the end and there was a little boy – 15 months, I think – swinging next to him who waved and August waved back. I left to go get my hair cut, and as I left they were playing on a bouncy swing thing, with August jumping on it. When I came back, they had been playing in the water. He spent a lot of time just crouching in the water, feeling the sand in the water. They were coming up to eat sushi, so we sat on the grass and ate lunch. He really liked the sushi, and also the ginger. He liked trying on my sunglasses, then sat on my lap for quite awhile and ate some pizza. On the walk home I started doing wheelies with the stroller, and he would say “1, 2, 3” and then “Down”.

At home, he took a nap from 2:15 to about 4. He woke up and nursed in there, but fell back to sleep. We thought about waking him up, but he was really asleep. When Carly did wake him up, it was still a long, slow wake up.

Once he was awake he ended up outside with gramma, filling the bird feeders and spreading bird seed, watering the flowers, and then playing in the sand. Eventually he wanted to go inside, and I asked if he was checking on mama. He replied: “What to check on mama?” “Check on mama. See if she’s awake or asleep.” A bit later my mom gave him his backpack. He was very happy about that, in particular liking the flashlight.

He saw a picture of corn and watermelon on one of the books, and wanted to eat them. So he sat in his chair and ate some corn and watermelon. I got a hard-boiled egg and said I’d share it with him, but he ate almost all of it. With the bite remaining I put pepper on it to eat and he spotted that and was curious.  He liked the pepper, and wanted more. He ate the last of the egg.

A bit later, as we dished up for dinner, he kept saying “Want some uncle Paul’s.”  He also kept talking about couscous and mushrooms, although we didn’t have any left; same with the jello and peaches which he has requested a couple the last couple of days.

When he was going to go to sleep, I said good night, then he turned to the door and waved and said “Night night gramma and grampa.” So then I took him up to actually say goodnight. As we left the room he said “And Uncle Paul.” So we said good night upstairs, then went into Paul’s room and he said  “Bye”. He was asleep at 9:45.

New words/phrases: forehead, sushi, sprinkler, pemang, wasabi, flashlight, couscous

 

Watching grampa: 

Park: 

With gramma: 

Backpack: 

Dinner: 

Jumping: 

Sleeping with a blanket: 

An odd morning. He was up at 4:50. Nursing on and off until 5:20. He was also saying “Nuzzle noses…cheek rub” to Carly. After that I got him up on the bed with me and we read Garfield for awhile. August particularly likes the ones where Garfield or Odie end up messy, which is a surprising number of them. We then went out on the couch until 7. He watched some Kipper and Korean videos, and we ate Cheerios with blackberries and blueberries, both of which he liked. He then went back in with Carly and slept until close to 9.

He was then outside and wanted to put sand in Celeste’s water: “Celeste can eat sand in the water.” He became obsessed with the wire sculptures that my dad made and the beads that go on them, and started taking them off. One was dropped and lost in the rocks. Carly told him this would make grampa sad, but then August was finding it funny to “break beads…make grampa sad.” So that backfired.

I was playing with him, and we went into the garage and looked around. Back down on the first floor, August wanted the car to beep. Not sure how he thought of/knew about that, but my dad got the keys out and let August push the ‘lock’ and ‘unlock’ buttons to make it beep.

Carly fed him lunch, and I cooked zucchini and mushrooms. He then ate a second lunch, but only ate the mushrooms and skipped the zucchini, which he has generally liked. My mom then gave August a flannel shirt that matches one that my dad has. August was very happy about it and immediately wanted it on. I put it on and he exclaimed “You like it!”

Carly tried to put him to sleep for a nap a couple times, but no success. So we were back outside and, once again, playing with the beads: “Want to break the beads and make grampa sad…this one has no beads.” “Work on the climbing rocks.” He was also counting how many beads each sculpture had. Finally, Carly started hiding a bead in her hands and he was excited to choose a hand and see if it was there. He would only choose the hand where it last appeared.

In the afternoon we all got in the car and went to Lakeside Park. Made our way down to the beach and he threw rocks in the water. Other kids had left a bunch of beach toys around and he wanted to “Hold the green one.” He then spent quite awhile standing with me and throwing rocks at/in the plastic toys. He saw all the bigger kids playing out in the water and decided he wanted to swim: “Want to go out there…want to learn to swim like a fish.” The fish reference was entirely of his own choosing. I told him to learn to swim he had to go one step at a time, the first being getting used to getting deeper in the water. He walked out deeper with me a couple times, getting water up to his thighs. It was really wavy though and he’d start saying “Don’t like it.” The shirt was long, so we took it off and he went around shirtless as he played on the beach and wrote in the sand. He saw some ants and wanted to touch them with something and my mom reminded him of something her dad used to say: “We’re outside and it’s their house.” He did some more writing and walking along the shore with gramma, then found a “shiny bolt” and gave it to grampa.

We then went up to the playground, where he managed to climb the five foot ladder thing on his own 3 or 4 times, with us spotting him. He went down the slide with Carly and me, then next to us, then wanted to do it on his own. He tried several times, and did counting in all 3 languages, but couldn’t do it. Finally, as I was standing up top he went down on his own.

Back home, he wanted to see the gnomes out front. So he and I looked at those. Carly was sneaking off to the store, but when she started the car it startled him and he realized what was happening. He was okay though. Back in the house, my mom and me started to do “Whee” at his requested, and we started swinging him, me holding his hands and her his feet. He really liked that and wanted more and more and more and more. He got upset when we stopped and started screeching. I took him down to the bed for a rest and he calmed down and cuddled with me after awhile. He got quite and was sitting against my shoulder, looking out the window. I took a photo, then realized his eyes were closing. It was only five, so way too early. Managed to wake him up, then get Carly down when she got here. Then, Paul had shown up, so we took him up to see Paul.

We were planning to go to Westside Pizza for dinner, but were unsure how August was going to do. Eventually we decided to go for it, and walked there with him in the stroller. Went in and ordered pizza, then Carly took him out on the street to walk around. She skyped with me and I stepped outside and realized a minute later that they were calling from right down on the corner. He was looking at the flowers and wanting to know what they were. There wasn’t room to eat pizza in the restaurant anyway, so we had decided to head home. So Carly headed home with him.

We followed a few minutes later. At home we ate out on the deck. Carly had tried to get him to eat some vegetables before we got there, but he knew that pizza was coming. Sometime after dinner, I took August down into Paul’s room to talk to him about books. August was playing with the door and enjoying locking us all in. He’s really working on turning the round handles, but generally can’t do them yet. I changed him, and he wanted pajamas on: “Where did the pajamas go? The Owls are dirty. The yellow pants are too warm.” Finally, he was sitting down on the bed with my mom, going through all the Garfield books and finding the numbers on them. He fell asleep a bit before 9 again.

Park: 

Playground: 

Just after 7. Nursed, then I changed him and we went back in on the bed where he wanted to play ‘sit up, lie down’. I did that for a bit, then laid his head on a pillow and said he could start sleeping on a pillow if he wanted. He said “Like mama!” Then he turned his head to the side on it and we both lay there for 4 or 5 minutes. Very cool.

A bit later we were playing with the rocks on the floor upstairs, sliding them on the floor. We then went out for a walk around the yard. We found Celeste hiding in the bushes in the back corner, then watched her run across the yard and around the front of the house. August really liked.

Carly then took him out for a walk in the rain. Not sure where they went to. After that, it really started to pour for the next few hours so we were stuck in the house. I was putting the backpack back together, after washing it yesterday. As I was putting everything back in, August made what I’m pretty sure was a pretty intentional joke. He was looking at the backpack and said “Where does the water go?” Before I could point to where it would go, he said “In the tummy!” And patted his tummy.

My mom then got the metal bowls out for him and they were making music with them. They started spinning/dropping them on the floor, and August was stomping and spinning with the bowls, something he came up with entirely on his own. He needed to have his diaper changed and said “Someone needs a diaper change.” I changed him, then realized I hadn’t taken his photo for the one-a-day thing. I said “I need to take your photo.” Before I could take it, he said “1, 2, 3” then flipped his legs off the changing pad to the right, landed on his feet, and said “Escaping!” This from the boy who is always concerned about falling off of them.

I cut up a plum and he ate all of it. His first plum. He then went down for a nap – the first in a few days – and slept from 12:20 to 1:43.

We ate lunch and brushed his teeth, then he was playing with the rocks with Carly. One rolled under the TV stand, then they were mainly studying them and finding his favorite rocks: “Want more favorites.” “Orange in there.” “Hole in there…the ants like to go in.”

3:30 or so the rain let up and we all went for a walk into town and got coffee at The Vogue, then walked back to Habitat for Humanity to look for books. August was in the backpack. At the coffee shop August was messing with me, first saying he wanted to go outside, then immediately wanting to go back in to see mama. Then back out, then seeing mama. Did that a few times. He also spotted the straws and wanted to play one, and he spotted a little watering spray thing in a plant that I didn’t see. On the way back we walked along RIverwalk Park and he saw the wind on the water. Pretty sure he was calling it “crying water”. We got to the thrift shop just a few minutes before they closed at 5 so I looked quickly and got 10 books or so. We couldn’t find the books at first, so as we walked around with him in the backpack I started saying “maybe…maybe not” and rocking back and forth. August liked that. When we did find books, he got out and my mom watched him while he looked at the toys. He did something, and another little boy gave him a thumbs up.

We came home and ate dinner – basically leftovers from the last couple days – then my mom and me went to Safeway. We got back and August was in the bath, playing. He liked the new shampoo and soap I’d brought back, as well as the new big kid toothpaste. He went to bed a bit later at 8:45.

Dancing bowls: 

Plum: 

Rocks: 

Spotting grampa: 

Rocks in the puddle: 

Wrapped in his towel:  

They woke up at 8:30. He came up to me at 8:50, then wanted to go outside: “Ask mama to turn on the water…turn in the water mama.” I went outside with him, and he spent several minutes just standing at the top of the porch and looking around and performing. We heard a machine noise of some sort up the hill, and we went to investigate. It was a work crew a block up scraping off the old stop lines in an intersection and putting down new paint. We watched for a few minutes and headed back. Went inside and had Cheerios for breakfast. At first he was refusing blueberries again, but then I slipped one in a bite and he liked it so he ate several more. Still rejected a raspberry – I think on texture. He had told Carly that they were “fuzzy”. We went back outside, and were playing with water for awhile, but then “Want to water with grandpa.”

We went in to ask him, but he wasn’t ready to go outside yet. August ended up looking at everything with the magnifying glass, then went downstairs to nurse with Carly. They read Plant a Tree for Me and he he learned the word ‘sturdy’. They then went upstairs and August wanted ice, but wanted it “warmer”. This led to first melting ice in what was left of Carly’s tea, then simply hot or warm water. He kept talking about it and saying bye “Say bye bye to it.”

I took over and did some melting with him, then we ended up back outside, first cleaning out Celeste’s water dish, which had been dirtied by the raccoons, and then simply refilling it, and then the buckets over and over. He also remembered the snails from the other day and how he wanted to hold them: “Sad about the snails in the rain…hold them.”

Eventually we all got ready and got in the FJ Cruiser and headed down to Beebe Spring Wildlife Area. We first walked around on the upper paths, which we had never been on. Didn’t find the mythical waterfall, but found an old rusted car and plenty of things burned by the fire. Oh, and the skull of a marten or something that someone had placed on a stick. Dad found a tooth from it on the ground, and August liked looking at it. We then walked down to the river and he spent a long time throwing rocks in the river: first with grandpa, then with gramma, and then Carly. He slipped and fell on his tailbone once, then cuddled with Carly. When throwing rocks he was looking for big ones, and would then say “BIG one” when he threw it. And he found grampa trying to skip rocks very funny.

We then went back to the car and drove just a ways to Entiat State Park, where he did some climbing on the play structure, watched both Carly and grampa go down the slide (he thought both were very funny), then poured water from his water bottle after I took the straw out. Carly was nice enough to refill from the weather fountain.

On our way into town, we stopped at Walmart. August loved riding around in the cart. He seemed to remember exactly what it was. Carly and I went crazy buying fruit: plums, watermelon, peaches, etc. And I got California rolls to see if August thinks they are a decent substitute for kimbap (which he has requested a couple times). My parents let him (us) pick out a toy for him, and we got a writing tablet thing that also shows him how to draw letters and numbers. And, he got to pick out sunglasses, which he has also been interested in (and a couple times now he has been hiding his eyes). Not a large selection, but he ended up with blue ones he liked. Also, gramma was kissing his hand and he found that very funny and requested more.

We headed home, where he opened the new toy with grampa and played with it a bit. Then he went outside with me and helped me spray down and scrub our backpack. Dinner was then ready, so we ate out on the deck. After dinner, my parents brought out the dead butterfly they had found and August got to see it up close and touch it. Carly gave him a bath tonight, and he went to sleep at 7:30. A couple of wake ups in the next few hours, but then he seemed to sleep well.

New words/phrases: spheres, snowballs, hose, the poke yous  (plant with thorns), sturdy

 

Playing on the porch: 

Filling Celeste’s water: 

Hiking: 

Rocks and water: 

Playground: 

Sunglasses: 

Home. New toy:

Cleaning the backpack: 

Don Morse Park

We woke him up at 10:45. Over 13 hours asleep. He sat up and whispered “Go outside” twice. Carly asked if he wanted to do that right now and he replied “Nurse then go outside.” They then nursed and Skyped with Cassie and Vivi. August was then with my parents and met Celeste – they were holding August and Celeste, and as they brought them closer, both Celeste and August leaned back, afraid to get too close – August is probably still remembering the dog licking incident that he occasionally talks about. He was then out back playing with the sunglasses and the gnome and we ate some banana bread. He was being talkative and said “Where grandpa go?” And “Where the energy come from?” We were all outside and my dad introduced him to watering, using the hose. August loved this and they watered the flowers, then much of the garden. The only hiccup was when they spotted a huge black widow spider.

We ate lunch, sharing a sandwich, then my dad took August out front to see the gnomes (my dad had made the door into the trunk of the tree out front, but the gnomes had just shown up, likely placed there by a neighbor). After that, August saw my dad weeding the driveway and wanted to help out. We did that for awhile, then I needed to go inside, but August wanted “More weeding!” and got a little upset. I got him inside and he took a little break with Carly.

In the afternoon we took him on a walk downtown and my parents stayed home to wait for the window guy to show up and replace a window in the kitchen. August was in the stroller. We walked through downtown and went to the bakery and got lattes, then walked out to Don Morse Park, where August went in one of the swings for little kids and loved it, then did some climbing. We walked back to Safeway – the two of them went shopping, and I went to the post office and picked up my package from Amazon.. I then met them at Safeway. On the way there we had seen the lavender in front of Safeway and I had shown him how to smell it. But on the way back we were already a block away from Safeway and he wanted more lavender. So we told August he should tell grandpa to plant lavender. We walked through Riverfront Park on the way home, and stopped at the farmer’s market, where August liked a couple chickens in a cage and we watched the guy play guitar and sing for a couple minutes. We then walked home via the baseball fields. August requested the “Hasta Manana” song in English, so we started singing it that way.

Back home, Carly introduced August to shucking corn. Did it with her, then one more ear with me. He then really enjoyed eating the corn and ate a bunch of it for dinner. During dinner he said a couple of pretty random things: “Everyone likes to scream in the coffee shop.” and “Go outside…Thanks, I guess.”

We played outside again for a little while, doing some watering and playing in the sand. He was then with Carly and they nursed and he accidentally fell asleep at 7:50. Sometime much later – 11 or so – he woke up and Carly tried to nurse him but he got back up. He came out and walked to me and I realized he was whispering “Dada come.” I think we were both concerned it was going to be a repeat of the other night. I followed him and he climbed up the stairs and got upset when. He just found my mom sitting at the computer. I don’t know what he was looking for. I picked him up and he cuddled on my arm and I suggested we all go to bed. We went down, and I laid him on the bed and he curled up next to me.  Carly came in and they read for awhile and then both went to sleep.  So not nearly as bad as the other evening.

He has been weary of the back screen door after bonking himself yesterday.. He still goes in and out, but he is very attentive to it and prefers someone else deals with it.

Also,  I don’t know if I mentioned that we invented the  ‘high one’ the other day after. I had tried to give him a high five and he only held up one finger.

New words/phrases: weeding

 

Gnome’s glasses:

Watering: 

Gnomes: 

Signing his art and writing: 

Smelling the lavender: 

Climbing: 

Chickens: 

Corn: 

More watering: 

August had a weird night. He woke up at 1:20 and Carly got up with him. They were eating some food and were fine for about 20 minutes. Then he turned around and looked out the window and got really sad then started crying. She brought him in to the bed and tried to nurse, but he just stayed upset. He was gasping and having difficulty getting words out, but kept saying “Go outside” and mentioned the backpack. Finally, I took him and held him, and he mentioned it again. I asked if he wanted to get in the backpack and he said yes, so I started putting him in and he calmed down and cuddled with Smokey. He even wanted the cover up. He was relatively calm now, and we started walking around the house. But then he kept pointing at the back door and wanted to go outside,  and go more upset when we walked past it. So eventually I opened the door and stepped out on the very, very cold deck in my bare feet. We lasted 20 seconds or so – long enough to hear the screech of an owl and for him to understand we weren’t going anywhere. We went back in and he was still upset, but willing to nurse. He was saying “Turn on the lights” over and over, and eventually “Turn on the lights outside.” We sang to him and he nursed and fell back to sleep at 2:40.

He was awake at 10:18. I was right there, and he sat up and whispered “Where’s Mama?” Then a little later, “Go outside please.” Took a minute to wake up, but he woke up happy and with a lot of energy. He went out and spent much of the morning with Cherie. She had printed out some pictures with names of shells on them, and they spent a lot of time sorting through the shells and figuring out what they were called. She also made him an egg for breakfast. Carly and I were getting the car packed to go. After shells, he was playing with a yellow ball and would toss it and chant. He was doing that in the bedroom and spotted his toothbrush and toothpaste, so sat down on the ball to look at them. He then brushed his teeth – he was focused on doing it himself: “Zinnie do it.”

We left at noon, with me driving. We stopped at the Tacoma Mall again and I bought my new iPad Pro – it is to pretty much replace my now 7-year old MacBook as my primary computer. I’m typing this entry on it, getting used to the keyboard. Carly drove from there, and August watched some more Korean songs and Pororo for awhile, then we played with Peter Rabbit, read some books, etc. He was snacking on grapes and made up some inventive math problems: “Podo minus messy equals one.” Right after Cle Elum we stopped for a minute and I took over driving. After that we immediately saw two Trump signs, but luckily those were the only two we saw on the trip.

We got to Chelan just after 5. August covered his eyes for a second, but was then in full exploring and chatting mode. First out on the porch, playing with the gnome and taking off his sunglasses and hat, and then in the sand area, where he tested the limits for where he could put the sand. I got his shovel and buckets, and then a stick for him, and he played out there with my mom. They also played up on the porch, with her picking him up to see the wind chimes and to jump off the chair. When I changed him she came down with us and August was talking constantly about falling off of changing pads and biting my finger and who knows what else. We had dinner and he sat in the high chair and ate rice and meatballs and broccoli. My mom got out the metal mixing bowls and he hit them with a wooden spoon or spatula for a few minutes. We then got the shiny rocks out and they played with them on the floor – after he dumped them out, of course. He kept asking what each one was, but there was no field guide for this one. They were all polished rocks, from my great grandpa, and August started rubbing them on his large, saying “Smoothie..” He and I then shared some banana bread that my mom had made, then she and I took him in for his bath. We had brought the bath toys from Centralia with us.

I was surprised he lasted so long, as he had looked tired a few times all the way back in the car, but no nap. He made it to 9:40 before falling asleep. 

New words/phrases: mollusk, gnome

Shells with Oma:

Looking at the flower: 

In the car: 

Chelan. Sunglasses from the gnome:  

Wind chines:  

Rocks: 

I was up at 6. Carly slept until much later. August was awake at 9:40. He had been stuffy through the night, but was up pretty quickly and exploring everything in the house, including the vacuum cleaner. He spent quite awhile playing with the shells and rocks, first with Cherie, and then with me. Tana showed up to take photos of the house; at first he was shy, but then he was happily interacting with her. I was then playing with the rocks with him, and we were making Qs – he didn’t like it when I tried to add rocks to his Q part. When we went upstairs, he wanted to play with the “Messy ribbon” and Tana played with him a little. He then blew me away by saying “Want to hold the rope…like the kids” When I asked which kids, he said “…in pink…in Uijeongbu.” He was remembering the group we saw on May 25th, first on the train up there, and then later as we walked to a park.

Chuck came home for dinner and August played with him – Chuck was pointing out the spots on his pants. After that, he was outside with Carly. I started finding all of Carly’s boxes in the garage, and brought her big stuffed dog Barney down to them on the back patio. August loved Barney, and played “Barney sees”, kissed Barney several times, and sat in Barney’s lap. Carly was cleaning out those boxes quite a bit today. August and I played on the patio, then started to check out the books that Cherie brought up from Mexico – so far we’ve read the Richard Scarry counting book and Pat Hutchins What game Shall We Play? book. August also spent a fair amount of time standing/playing in the doorway out to the garage, watching Carly. He didn’t seem to like the garage much, or at least walking in it.

Monique came over with her two sons (Rowan and Ellis) in the afternoon. August really liked following after them as they walked around the driveway and picked flowers above the house. August picked a couple to show to mama, although he didn’t quite give them to her. We walked down to the O’Neill path area and did the loop down there to the stream and back. We got hit by rain and hail – luckily we had brought a big umbrella and waited it out under there. He also got to see a slug and a couple snails, which he quite liked. We played by the stream for awhile, watching the other two boys throw in rocks. When Rowan threw a big one, Carly said “Is it a fish?” and August liked that, so he kept saying it when they threw in rocks. August wanted to go in the pond, and later in a puddle in a drainage ditch on the way home, and wasn’t happy when we said no to those plans. He walked most of the way, and was carried by us the rest of the way. I had the backpack with me but didn’t use it.

We came home and Carly did more organizing. I asked August if he wanted fruit, and he got really excited when I mentioned blueberries. I got out a small container of them and he ate almost all of them. Oma then played with the big shells and pieces of coral with him, and Carly showed him a yo-yo she found (he’d wanted one from some book – maybe the Spanish vocab one).

We went over to Steve and Claremay’s for dinner. We went up to the toy room for awhile, and August took the little train down to the living room. The other toy he really liked was the (real) Etch-a-Sketch. At dinner he primarily sat with Carly and ate a good amount. Some from me as well. After awhile he got down and wandered a bit, then got up on the bench at the end of the table with Cadence. He really liked Cadence and Hattie, and asked their names several times. After dinner he was playing with Brad and Hattie and Henry and a couple of other kids. He got tickled by the two teenage girls – which he seemed to like for awhile, but I stepped in a little and suggested they stop, after which he was saying “No tickle”. He escaped and went up to the toy room, where Hattie came up and joined him, playing with the car track thing. She was playing with some blocks and would put them together, then hold them out for Carly to see. Carly asked if one was a flamingo, and she said yes. August then wanted to see the flamingo, but didn’t seem convinced.

Back home, he and I sat on the little couch and he talked about being tickled. He first said he liked it, then switched his story. He also talked about yelling “A” on the bus yesterday and making mama sad.  We gave him a bath, Carly starting, and I Skyped with my parents so they could see him in the bath. After that, I took over and played with August in the bath until he was done. Both days now he has peed on the big toilet, and talked about pooping on it, but hasn’t yet. After his bath, he went to sleep at 8:40. He was sleeping kind of restlessly, and Carly had to go in 2 or 3 times between then and when we finished watching Game of Thrones around 11:30.

Rocks:

Finding Oma: 

Messy ribbon: 

Lunch with Opa: 

Meeting Barney: 

With Carly’s ‘baby’ from an 8th grade play: 

With Rowan and Ellis: 

Dinner. Etch-a-Sketch and caterpillar: 

With the other kids: 

Asleep: