This Is Our Blog

He woke up at 5:55 and went straight to the bathroom. When he saw Carly he told her what time he had woken up. They nursed, then he wanted to type words. Carly let him use her computer. As she got it out he played with her computer case, rubbing the little bumps inside it: “I hope mama doesn’t mind if I make bumps in here.” He did math in Excel. Started at 7000 and kept doubling until he got to over 28 million. At one point he did a lovely face for the number 189. And at one point he said “I might have to stop at infinity.” We read Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day as Carly headed to work. He then watched/played Lucy and Pogo, then typed on my iPad: “I’m writing a list of things we should do today.” “I’m writing down Fahrenheit numbers to write how hot the countries is.”

He wanted to watch Winnie the Pooh, so first watched Winnie the Pooh ABCs. As the intro music played for the next episode he lay on the couch and said “When I watch Winnie the Pooh notes come out of my feet.” He then watched A Day for Eeyore. He played with his brush as if it was a grater: “Im getting carrots for my apple-carrot bread…Mama said three cups.”

He was then a baby kangaroo. I made him a pouch, which later got destroyed by an asteroid, according to him. Turned into a pillow fight. He played Dragonbox Little Numbers while I made us a lassi. He then discovered Endless Alphabet again. After lassi he was nimals needing rescue, like an elephant in the ocean. He was then a bird giving me bird flu. When I was sick he then told me that one of the pillows was a doctor. Eventually he said “Catch the doctor!” and threw the pillow at me. He was then sick numbers, like 77, and I was a teacher talking to students about substituting numbers. As he said that more and more numbers were sick eventually math was cancelled. He said one of the numbers had measles.

We went upstairs and he did more Endless Alphabet on the bed: sap, refreshing, prank, revitalized. He was then weird machine as he lay on my lap, such as one that took oil which made him explode and count minutes. Then: “I have a bag of flour and I make it into soy powder and I make that into water and it flows out of me into the sea then it comes back salty.” Another: “Can you grind a rock in my grater and it turns it into wheat and I turn it into bark and when it’s all the way through my conveyor belt it turns out it’s fork…Can you get rocks from the desert?” And another: “You’re in someplace strange but it’s not your home…there’s lots of machines that do anything….this machine makes hair. It comes out my hole then you glue it on your head.” There were more.

Eventually, he turned back to Endless Alphabet and I was able to take a shower. We then went outside and watered all the plants. He did a lot of that and I picked up the tree things. He also picked off the dead leaves from the bougainvillea cuttings. He got hungry, so back inside he requested a bowl of corn and ate that and more of his lassi. I was also making him a corn pizza. He had been eating his lunch on the kitchen floor, then was putting together the Hebrew alphabet on the fridge. He took a couple steps back and stepped on the plate with bites of pizza on it. I had to hold him by the foot while I grabbed a paper towel so he didn’t wipe it off on everything in sight. After that he was upset with his pizza and wouldn’t eat the non-squished pieces.

Instead, he went and did some drawing on paper with a marker, then was drawing with chalk on the chalkboard. A piece of white chalk broke off and he wanted a cup of water to put it in. He had a lot of fun dissolving it. He then did some typing in Arabic on his ipad, but kept wanting mine. He went back and finished the alphabet on the refrigerator, then started making a new zoo with Duplos. I was getting us ready to go, then picked him up. He said “I’m a carpet famished…give me some fuzzes…Thats what carpets is made of.” ‘Famished’ was an Endless Alphabet word. Finally, he was admiring the plant growing inside in the planter and asked me to measure the new branch of it that is now as tall as all the others.

We left at 1:45. We walked north. He talked about wanting to see us get to 10000 steps. We went to the nameless big playground on the right as we walk up to town. We sat in the car (which he calls a plane) and snacked on our grapes and crackers. Then spent a lot of time playing on the snakes and ladders board, doing some hopping, addition, and counting by twos. We went on the spinning thing a couple times. Then back in the “plane” where we went on Zinnie Air flights to Japan, then Egypt. He chose the destinations. Turned into time machine as he had us going back to ancient Egypt, then farther back.

We got going awhile after I got a call from the hardware store. We stopped and I went in to buy the new handle for the shower. He stayed on his bike, but kept yelling that he wanted to see our step count. From there we walked west down the street, past where they are making a new sidewalk. There was water running down the side of the street, and we followed it to the end of the block, then it turned left, our direction. We followed it, riding the bike through the water, and we got to the front of it, where it was still flowing. We spent a good 15 minutes watching it slowly make its way down the hill. We would ride through it when there were no cars and see our tire tracks. Near the next intersection it made its way across to the far side of the street, then curved back to our side of the street: missing the only set of drains we saw the entire way. As it slowed even more at the intersection where it was flat we said bye, bye to the water then kept going.

Several times he said “Faster, driver, faster.” Not sure where he got that, but it sounds like something he heard somewhere. He kept wanting to see the step count and at one point told me “I’m impatient.” We stopped at Motek Garden to step on oranges and he rode the rocking wooden boat thing. He then said he needed the bathroom so we kept going.

We got home a little before 4. We checked our step count and we got just over 10000 and he got to see the confetti. He played Dragonbox Egg Hatch and shared my mint iced tea that I had made. He then asked “Can you make my pouch?” He was a baby kangaroo again. Carly got home and got some food for him. He wanted to watch more Winnie the Pooh and requested the Shapes and Sizes episode (which he hasn’t seen in months).

I left a few minutes before 5. Jack picked me up and gave me a ride to the school. There were ten of us total. We went and had dinner at the BBB burger place, then went and saw Thor: Ragnorak at the theater. On the silly side of superhero movies, but very funny and fun to see in the theater. I got home just after 10.

While I was gone August basically nursed and kept asking to go upstairs to bed. He fell asleep by 6:40. 

Incoming pillow: 

Park: 

Waiting while I go in the hardware store: 

Watching the water go down the street and skip the drain: 

Second playground: 

I was woken by a mosquito. Got up and realized it was a Sunday while I was getting dressed. Went back to bed in the Zinnie bed after a few minutes. He was up around 6:30 and I got up by 7. They were on the couch. He wanted to type and started on his iPad, but he was doing his fast typing and it was lagging, so he switched to using my iPad. Then watched It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. I made us all French Toast. We ate breakfast, then we read all of The Enormous Crocodile and then some of 78-Story Treehouse. He then nursed and played with Carly and the friends on the couch. He agreed to set the timer for one hour before he could nurse gain.

He then had a ton of fun taking photos with the iPad. It was set up on the couch, so he would get items and position them behind the camera and take photos. He also took photos of his pajamas and hands and I showed him how to also use the front-facing camera. He took a photo of himself and said “Mama, look at this! It looks like I’m flying!” He made a big stack off all the other items that he took photos of: books, blanket, sandals, etc.

Carly had found a weird worm thing in the bathroom this morning and she put it in the bug viewer. We watched that, and he also took a photo of it.

They got ready to go for a walk. As they went out the door he told her “I’m a chicken. I’m gonna follow you into space.” Even funnier for her since she didn’t know it was a reference to a Peg + Cat episode. They left 9:30. Walked down and played in sand by strawberries. Before they left he’d been asking to take more photos on their walk and he took a photo of a tree. They were back at 10:15.

When they got home he immediately headed upstairs – he’d talked about lying in bed when they got back. They played up in the bed. He reluctantly told me I could go up too but be on the other bed. Came back downstairs and played on his iPad with Google Maps, the calculator, and then his Space app. He made a mess of items on the moon and I asked who would clean it up: “Anyone doesn’t. The moon is supposed to have messes.”

We read the Alphabet book after which he was acting like a zorilla after we looked up photos of it. He kept pointing at Carly, who was cooking a rice dish, potatoes, and carrots in the kitchen: “What’s that? It’s something scary. Really scary.” We then twice read the little Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day book that we’d bought long ago at a used store in Seoul.

He then went and helped Carly with the cooking. He helped with scooping up rice and peeling carrots. He was then hungry but only ate a couple bites of quiche. He spotted the corn in the fridge though so I added some cheese to it and he ate two servings of it. I also heated up some pizza and he ate a little of that.

He got upset when he wanted to nurse. After we made him wait a bit he got to nurse, then played Mammals on his iPad. We then did Duplos and we made a roof for our house, then put together the tractor and trailer. He filled the house with stuff through the windows and door, then did a countdown and we destroyed the house. He also destroyed the zoo. So we did a robot cleanup (he was  EightyBot) and put all the Duplos away.

He went to the kitchen and came back and told me “The rosemary wasn’t as strong as I thought.” I took the paper I’d folded up as my pattern for doing making the clock, cut the edge straight, and traced the edge and gave it to August as a dodecagon. Carly’s rice dish was done and he ate a ton of it after asking for seconds. He asked “What broccoli helps your body do?” He was then a sick baby squirrel that needed broccoli to help him get better. Carly wanted to vacuum, so he listened to Beethoven’s Ninth while Carly vacuumed using headphones. He yells really loud when he has them on and they are slipping off. After that he took more photos on the iPad.

We got ready to head into town to get something to drink and do some errands. Outside, he went in his Zinnie house and wondered why there wasn’t stuff in it to play with. As we got walking at 2:45 I asked what he wanted in there and be said “machines”. Also, we spotted flowers growing on both Carly’s tomato plant and the tomato plant we have have in a pot.

We walked up into town and went to the coffee shop. Carly and I got blended coffees and August got the orange and carrot juice. We got it to go and walked over to the park by the library. He started by yelling “Go away!” But calmed down when we said we’d leave. I reminded him of the blueberry mess that he’d played with last time and he went and found it still dried on the ground. This time he wanted to scratch it with his fingers. He came back to the bench where Carly was writing a postcard for Claremay and Steve. He wanted to write things on it: “Can I write How are you?” “Can I write I love you?” “Can I write How are you doing?” He did write some of that, and Carly talked about how they could write more letters at home.

We left at 3:20 and first went to the bathroom. I took him in, then Carly went and he wanted to go in the toy store. We went in and he played with the kaleidoscope. He and the woman that works there were looking through kaleidoscopes at each other. She said she had seen us by Habrosh. Turns out her friend, who works across the street at the sushi place, lives in the house across from us.

We then went to the post office. At first Carly was just going in, but he wanted to go in too and he wanted to help mama. When there was nothing for him to do he was upset. We went across the street to the hardware store. While I got sealant (for the bottom of the toilet) and a lightbulb and asked about the shower handle (should be in tomorrow) he kept being grumpy with Carly on the sidewalk. When I came out he ran the other way and into the produce store, where he yelled “Go away!” a few times.

I got him out, then we headed to the grocery store. Carly carried him and I commented on how he doesn’t often just get held any more. He asked if he could still get that (hugged and carried). Very cute. I did the grocery shopping – just apples and feta, and I got us a couple small bags of Doritos to try out. They tended to be sweet in Korea, so we’ll see if they’re any different here. I saw him sort of run into the produce section and do one “Go! Go away!” Carly got him back to looking at the displays by the door (he likes the prices on them).

We walked home, getting here at 4:30. They nursed, then he and I walked across the street and released the insect, since we didn’t know if it would eat our plants. We talked about good and bad insects for gardens and then he was acting out us being aphids and ladybirds.

Back at the house he asked “Can I take a photo of a photo?” Carly gave him carrots and potatoes and rice and he ate all of that. He then wrote a letter to Vivian . He first wrote “How are you doing?” But he decided to make them all funny letters so it’s not really readable, but it looks nice. He wrote a similar letter to my parents. I writing one letter he drew a lone and said “A line across like the equator.”

We then did Hebrew, mainly writing cursive on paper. But he was then looking at the pronunciation practice part and was reading several English words (the translations) entirely out of context. He read ‘bell’ and ‘here’ and a few others. He took some photos with his iPad, and I showed him a photo of Carly carrying him earlier. So then when he was cuddling with Carly on the floor by the couch he asked me to take a photo of them hugging.

We then read James and the Giant Peach, starting from the beginning, and read about 8 chapters. Carly took him up and gave him a shower. He had asked to skype with gramma and grampa a couple times, so it was now late enough. We skyped with them. He spent most of the time typing emojis and arabic. But they got to see some of his Skype dancing at the beginning, and he answered several questions. He said he was ready to hang up. He was
ready to sleep. They had gotten a bunch of snow overnight. When we were done he went and told Carly we had Skyped for 40:38.

We got him ready for bed and I left them before 7:40. He was asleep soon after that.

Coffee shop. Wonder how many people actually end up reading the Spanish book here: 

Being carried: 

Wanting his photo taken with mama:

He was up at 6:09. They nursed, then played Dragonbox Plus. I went over to help. We then read eight chapters of The 78-Story Treehouse. We then went and played with Duplos. We added a pattern to the wall of the zoo, then made a house. He then acted out sucking me up with a straw – I was the puddle and he used the Duplo tub as a straw machine. That was from the Treehouse book.

He then watched a couple episodes of Peg + Cat and I went and took a shower. He then asked “Can I spell words on your iPad, dada?” He spelled a few words. One was rather creative: “I want to spell ChairShoe…it’s a robot chair that makes shoes.” Did more nonsense typing, and we played on the piano. We then played with the new version of GarageBand, trying out all of the new sounds and the sequencer. He pointed to one symbol and said “I know what that one is: chimes.” Eventually played other music apps, pausing once to nurse.

We got ready to go and headed to the store at noon. He was fine until we got over there, then before we went in the store started yelling “Go away!” I made him stay outside with me for a minute and he got really sad, separated from mama. We went in and after a couple minutes Carly took him and carried him around for the rest of shopping.

I paid, and found them outside doing the chocolate game: he had a chocolate chip, then had to wait 3 minutes, then 6, etc. We were up to 15 by the time we got home. We took the long route, along the trail, home and were here by 1:30.

He did more typing in Korean/Arabic/Hebrew and then was asking me to play songs on the toy piano. We played Wheels on the Bus, Yankee Doodle, The Ants Go Marching, Twinkle Twinkle, etc.

Carly skyped with Cassie. August ran over very quickly to say hi to Colin and Vivian. But later Vivian got his attention by hiding under a blanket or something and being a green blob. August took me upstairs, climbed on the bed, and hid under the covers and asked me to touch his head. He was being a blob like Vivian and wanted to say the same thing, so we went down and asked what Vivian had said: “I’m a big green blob!” He also pretended to be a ghost, saying “I’m a Halloween ghost!” And then he was a baby squirrel hibernating. He lay right next to my head, and wanted to watch the stopwatch on my watch. Did that for several minutes, then asked if he wanted to read a book. He went and got The World of Babar. We read parts of that, then he was a blob again: “Something squirted me with green paint so now I look like Vivian.”

We went downstairs and they nursed and ate some quiche. Then back to the algebra app. We finished all the levels, then it repeats the levels, this time with all numbers/variables instead of the cartoon symbols. I was happy to see how well August was doing on the early levels. He was then playing it with Carly, who hadn’t really played it much before and so was still trying to figure it out. He was helpful: “Wrong” “Did you cry?” “Now you got it!” “Mama, did you get one star?” “Dada, can you help mama?”

I then started making an analog clock for August, using a Cheerios box. He helped color the hands, then I cut curvy shapes out of the leftover box for him so he could color them while I finished the box. Finished the clock, using a paper clip as the center.

He and I then headed out with his balance bike at 4:40. I had moved the seat on the balance bike lower as Carly had seen kids with lower seats. He rode it a bit on his own as we walked up to the park, then I pushed him. At the park we spent some time on the exercise equipment. He wasn’t too happy with all the other kids around and I said “They’re not bothering you.” He replied “No dada, you’re wrong. They are.”

He wanted to go back to the house and switch to the orange bike and go for a walk, so that’s what we did. Sang some of our old songs (“Mama love August…”) but mainly Wheels on the Bus. We walked to the north east, then at the second street circled back to the west and down HaHadarim and past the park. We kept going down to the trail and headed west for several minutes. Almost entirely dark by now. A woman commented on us singing Wheels on the Bus and commented on it and said “Swish swish swish” – referring to the wipers verse, which I’ve always done as “back and forth”. Funny, as I remember a couple other people seeming to think I was singing it wrong by doing it that way. Anyway, August also made up his own verses, including “The pictures on the bus go … … …” as he looked over at the graffiti. It was funny, as the pictures didn’t make any noise.

At some point he said, referring to the chocolate game, “When I get home I’ll ask mama how many minutes there are and she’ll say zero.” As we headed home he started excitedly chanting numbers and letters and words, including ‘Andy’ and ‘window’. He explained it was information for his computer. We were home at 5:40 and he remembered and asked for chocolate. Carly was skyping with Cherie and he went and did some of his counting songs/skills for her. After the call we read some Plumdog, back up to page 100 and something. Carly brought him grapes. While he finished those up we watched the Hebrew counting video.

I gave him a shower and washed his hair. He wasn’t happy at all but suffered through it. On the bed I brushed his teeth, then tried brushing his hair with his brush/comb. He held it and played it as an instrument, showing me how you play each side to make the bristles “vibrate”. The harder he played the bristles, the louder he said it was. He said it was an instrument from China. Carly managed to brush his hair and I left them at 7:45. He was asleep before 8.

Reading together: 

He woke up at 6:55. The moment he heard me come towards the stairs he yelled “No!” He made his way downstairs and asked for “Dragonbox Egg Crack”. So we played some of the algebra app. Got some zucchini bread. When we got to the highest chapter (set of levels), when it actually starts looking like math, he did some playing on his own and clearly understood a good chunk of it. I was impressed. He went to the bathroom and said “After I go to the bathroom I’m gonna make an electrical bed…it keeps people warm in the winter.” He was then a baby squirrel in a nest: “I have a measurement, I have a machine that tells me how long the days is…it says 10 percent. That’s low long the day is.”

We then made a fort and read the rest of Magic Treehouse #2. He then pretended to be a cat: “I bury my poop and I’m orange and yellow and black. I have legs and a tail. I’m a kitten!” We shared a banana, then he did some Arabic, tracing in different apps. He then made a zoo wall, but didn’t put any animals in his zoo. He played a little Robot Lab and I exercised, then we went upstairs. He watched a Peg + Cat (the first episode) and I took a shower.

Downstairs he watched another episode, where they go to space and eat baby corn. He was then corn: “I’m a baby corn plant that’s sick.”

We went outside and talked about going to town for lunch. He asked “Can I watch Eine Kleine Nachtmusik when we get back from Eine Kleine Pizza?” Before we left he went to the bathroom. The second he jumped on the toilet, before he started going, he started saying “I’m done. I’m done…I’m just playing a joke.” He was then telling a story as he pretended to be the 100 chicks from Peg + Cat: “I’m a hundred chickens…we have a hundred schools where we learn to fly. And our home is a 100 polygon with 4 legs.”

We left at 11:45. We walked up into town. Town was surprisingly busy today. No idea why. We went to the bank and got cash, then to the hardware store and they said they’d order a new shower handle for us. He was too hungry to stop at the toy store. Wanted to get an analog clock teaching thing. We were to the pizza place by 12:30. And it was closed. We weren’t the only ones confused, as other people were trying to open the doors and go in. No sign.

So we went next door to the bakery and got 5 little pastry things to tide us over until we could get home and bake a frozen pizza. Which was actually August’s idea, as he said we could still have pizza even though the pizza shop was closed.

Thought about going to the toy store, but it was also surprisingly busy. And figured we could make a clock at home. We went to the grocery store and got a few things, including corn to put on our pizza, at August’s request.

We headed home and stopped first at Motek Garden at 1:10, where he squished oranges as EightyBot, but complained the oranges were too hard/there weren’t enough of them. He then played with a dried palm frond, waving it over his head. We didn’t stay long and got walking. He then made up a song about EightyBot trying to fish but not getting a fish, but needing to keep trying.

We then stopped at the pine tree park at 1:30 and he sang more of the EightyBot song as he sat on the slide. Came down and played in the sand, then wanted to take photos of himself, making all sorts of funny faces. He then wanted to take photos of a tree trunk and the weird growth at the bottom of the drinking fountain.

We left twenty minutes later and headed home. As we got home he talked about a new machine: “I have an electric pillow signing machine…it signs out pillows when people go to a playroom.” It was also quiet so it wouldn’t wake people up.

At home he watched Charlie Brown and I made us a mango and banana lassi, then added the corn and baked the pizza. He ate that, and I started preparing the quiche. He played Toca Blocks, first making a treehouse “Rooms for my friends”, then a Smurf village. Preparing the quiche was slow as he kept wanting me to help.

Carly was home after 4. I got the quiche in the oven. They nursed, then we went outside. August was eating cilantro leaves, then holding his long stick “diagonal” and playing with it. He then hugging/climbing on me, but then he was a cactus. He had me plant him and then he grew.

Inside we read the Stars, Stars, Stars book (a freebie from the library) for the first time, and he pretended to be different temperature stars. He then played with Google Maps and was going through the walking directions as he walked to Iceland and Uzbekistan. We read chapter 11 in James and the Giant Peach. He asked what fainting was and I reminded him of Carly fainting at Thatcher’s. He said “That was at Vivian’s” and was pretty insistent about it. But he remembered that he was also sick. He was then being a silk worm and offering me silk for different things. I used the term”Harvest the silk” and he replied “What, but they’re not plants!!” I reminded him of honey.

They nursed, then Carly read him some Plumdog for the first time. They ate some quiche when it was finally done (they’d had a bit to eat already). They then shared the chocolate treat from the bakery.

Carly gave him a shower. He was singing the Hebrew song loudly. He came back down and was typing Arabic on my iPad, then we finished reading The 78-Story Treehouse. Back on my iPad he started asking how to spell random words and would type them. He typed: ‘and the zero book kaleidoscope chair’. He was then typing really long numbers.

He was ready for sleep. We took him up and he was intensely crazy on the bed for a couple minutes. I left them but then heard some crying happening. But then it ws quiet, and he was asleep by 8:30.

Waking up: 

Pine needles: 

Paying with the diagonal stick: 

He was up at 5:45. After nursing he did math in Excel. He started at 7000 and kept saying his result until he got to 448000. He then typed in Arabic on his iPad. Did some Little Dragonbox Numbers as Carly went to work. He’s clearly getting better with mental subtraction. He went to the bathroom and started making a “25 20 15 10 5 0 That’s how we count backwards by 5s!” song. Wanted to read books: “I want to read Plumdog, the Dog Who Crashed to Earth…I want to read Emma, the Woman Who Crashed to Earth.”

We made a fort and read Peppa Story Collection one and a half times in it. He then ate a whole apple. Played Little Dragonbox Numbers and he made up a counting by 6s song. We tried more of the algebra app. Too hard for him, but he likes it. We then went upstairs and he watched Ask the StoryBots while I took a shower. It was the Why is the Sky Blue? episode. I came out of my shower and asked him so why is it blue, and he then had us acting out being air molecules and blue wavelength light.

We went downstairs and made zucchini bread. He helped with both the peeling of the zucchini and the grating of it. In fact he did most of the grating of the two cups of zucchini. While it baked we read more Plumdog, then I made tuna melt sandwiches for lunch. He ate most of his. We were listening to music and he liked a Drivin N Cryin song and seemed to like the new Weezer. We then spent a lot of time on Hebrew, doing cursive and block letters. He wrote some letters, and we were learning some words. We then spent a lot of time reading and translating Goldilocks and the Three Bears from Hebrew. That actually seemed like a good way to learn it together.

He then had us acting out Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Ran through the whole thing two or three times. He then had us acting out the Robot Lab iPad game, sans iPad. I was the robot, getting stars, then he was the magnet taking me out at the end of the level.

HE then got the Dinosaurs and Prehistoric Life book and had me reading about random prehistoric creatures, which he would then act out.

At 1:50 we walked up to the cages and did the recycling. We came back and changed into swimsuits. We took some time with Duplos and put the last of the Duplo zoo stickers on some of them. We then made some rockets. He held one at an angle and said “It’s flying diagonal.”

We left at 2:30. As we left he told a long story about his ‘nahaleim’ (‘shoes’ in hebrew). About how he lost them then he found them then they wore out so he got new ones but they were worn out too “but all the shoes in the whole world were too old…” It went on.

Perhaps even cooler was that as we were walking he developed a whole robot counting song, where each number was a number of something on his robot body. He had one leg, which I learned when he restarted from 1. He had 8 arms, 9 powers, 10 batteries…

We got to the school and went and did the can recycling. A lot of cans had built up so he was excited to do them all. We then went to the pool and were in at 3:10, after going to the bathroom. We were the only ones in the pool for most of the time, until a woman came to do laps near the end. August said “I’m a lonely ball floating down the river…” He was being the ball from Plumdog that bounces over the wall and they just watch go down the river. I hadn’t really planned on swimming, but then when we were talking about what we could do at the school I gave it to him as an option and he immediately said that was what he wanted to do. It was a great decision, as it felt really good. The air was a little cooler, but that made walking into the pool really easy. And there were no swim lessons to stay out of the way of.

We got out close to 3:50. He wanted to get out using the ladder at the deep end. He was then a robot (“Eightybot” – which he was all day, saying it was another way of saying ‘Dino-roar’ and that it meant he loves 80) that rusted when he got out. So funny.

We changed out of our suits and then he sat on the black couch outside and ate some apple and zucchini bread as a snack. We met Carly at her classroom at 4:15 and he pretended to go from his home (the beanbags) to school (a desk): “Bye bye. I’m going to school…I’m learning about machines.”

We walked up to the studio and his class. He was being shy with the teacher at first, but mainly for fun, I think. He made a nest on the couch with the pillows and said “I’m in my green squirrel bed.” In trying to get him to come out a bit less to ask me about the time, I showed him the analog clock in the studio. We talked about the minutes, and where the minute hand would be at the start and end of class. At first he was still coming out a lot, mainly to ask what it meant when the minute hand was at 10, 11, etc. And he had to go to the bathroom. But after that he really got into playing. They were using frisbees to bat balls around on the floor. So didn’t see him for about 20 minutes, then at 5:25 he came out with what I at first thought was a sad look. But he said “I’m tired” and I picked him up. He got up really early, so not a surprise.

We headed home, admiring the gibbous moon, and for as tired as he had seemed he perked right up. More snacking – apple and a Larabar along the way – then just past the community center I realized the bike handle had fallen off. Carly continued on with him and I walked back to try and find it. Found it less than a block away, at the other end of the community center by the statues. Caught up with them and walked home together.

We were home about 6. He and I did a little more Dragonbox Plus (the algebra one) while he ate pasta and pesto and mushrooms. Carly gave him a shower , then in bed he wanted to be in a squirrel nest with me and read books. He went and brought back Amelia Bedelia, Bookworm and Biscuit Wins a Prize. We read those, then he went and got Me and My Dad and Wild About Books and the Babar book. We read the first two but then he was too tired. We went down and got his water bottle, but he told Carly he wasn’t ready for her to come up – he wanted to practice minutes.

He set a few minutes on the timer and we tried that, then I introduced him to the stopwatch and time how long he could lay still, eyes closed, and not talking. Started at 11 seconds, but got up to around 40, I think. We got Carly and I left them at 7:40. He was asleep within 10 minutes.

He was up right at 6:40 again. I said “Is that ZZ?” He replied “Don’t come up!” and slowly made his way downstairs. He went and turned on the fan and a light switch, then sat on the couch. All very calm. He asked to play Robot Lab. He went to the bathroom and told me to make a new robot while he was gone. He was then singing a Counting by 2s song to the tune of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik. He’s done that a bit before – that is his own mashup. When I said the legs were rectangles on his Robot he said “The legs are cylinders.” He had us acting out the Terry monster scene from 78-Story Treehouse. While I was getting vitamins and banana bread he was looking at his Hebrew alphabet on the fridge and added letters: “I have 14 made-up Hebrew letters.”

We read three chapters of the new Magic Treehouse book (#2), Then read a lot of The 78-Story Treehouse, to page 280 or so. Then we got out the Hebrew alphabet workbook he hasn’t used yet and he spent a lot of time tracing letters and singing his Hebrew alphabet song – even including some of his made-up letters even though he wasn’t looking at the fridge.

He decided on a walk at 8:30 but said he wanted to stay in his pajamas since it would just be around the block. He had some Larabar and water on the walk. We went over to Vatikim, then south and back over to our house. He sang the whole ZYX (backwards ABCs) song on his own and we did a lot of counting by songs. We looked at some old furniture and talked about painting old furniture. He really liked the idea.

We were home at 9. He ran straight to the couch and was a sick baby walrus. It was sick due to pollution from a factory and swallowing plastic bags. Next he was a baby shark. We went outside and he helped water plants. Got maybe ⅔ done then he wanted to play GarageBand. He did that on my iPad while I finished up with the watering and tying up some of the tomato plants.

He did some of the coloring book, then we watched the Hebrew counting book twice. He then watched Charlie Brown while I finished making my sandwich and his grilled cheese. We ate lunch, then watched a Coyote Petetson video, which Cherie had recommended as it is Thatcher’s favorite. August was then  a red velvet worm.

He played a little Dragonbox Little Numbers and was learning counting by 9s on his own and was chanting “9, 18, 27, 36”. He got the big dinosaur book we have and asked me to read about tyannosaurus rex. We then read part of After the Storm. He then typed arabic on my iPad and saw the character counter. He got up to four digit numbers: “Four digit numbers is cool!”

He was then a robot that needed charging, then we went outside for a moment. We read some Garfield, had a pillow fight, then read the Elephant on a Line book in Korean. He spotted Dragonbox Algebra on my iPad and we played more of that than we had in the past. Sort of understanding the rules, and I think he’ll really get into it at some point, but still pretty hard. Switched to Google maps and was figuring out how to do walking directions on his own – to places in Uzbekistan, etc.

He went and took apart his zoo and dumped out the Duplos, just in time for us to head to the grocery store. He was fine on the walk over, and as we got a cart and as he started riding in it. But then he was making noise and I had to pull him out and head out of the grocery store. That did the trick, and he agreed to go back in. He was still a little surly, but stayed quiet, and said he was talking in an “invisible language”. I think he discovered he could think mean thoughts but not say them outloud.

We did the rest of the shopping, including getting some lentils and tuna for a family that they are helping at school. At first August wanted to make sure he got the same things, so we also got tuna. But he was okay when I didn’t get lentils for us, and when I asked how many bags we should get for the family he said 3. At the end I was getting popcorn for us and got two boxes, but he said the second box was for the family, so we will donate that as well.

Took apart his zoo

We were home at 3:30. At the store I had reminded him of his Halloween candy. I let him choose, and he got one Starburst, a red one. I cut it in half and he chewed on it, walking around as he enjoyed it. Walked in circles in the kitchen for a couple minutes, then would say “It dissolved”. Then watched Charlie Brown for the second time today.

He went to the bathroom, and getting of the toilet said “Dada. I’m learning basketball. Do you want to play?…You throw the balls and catch them…they go through the nets…” I asked “Where did you learn about basketball??” “From people in the country.” I mean, he has seen, very very briefly, people playing basketball, but we’ve never discussed it. Don’t remember it from any of his books. Think I may have pointed out kids playing basketball at the school a couple weeks ago.

We then went out again and rode his balance bike up to the playground. He first went to the exercise equipment so we exercised. He went to all of the machines he can use, then he jogged around with me a few times. We were then playing with the drinking fountains when Carly showed up.

We walked home and they went out and picked tomatoes. He did more Dragonbox Little Numbers, then Google Earth on Carly’s computer. He found a couple really nice spots in Scotland I’d like to visit. He did some Excel math and I prepared some falafel for dinner. He ate those, then had pasta and pesto and mushrooms as well.

We read more of James and the Giant Peach. Got to the giant insects part and he was insects crawling on me. Carly took him up to the shower and I actually gave him his shower. He was still being cranky and mean after his shower, so I said he couldn’t get my side of the bed wet anymore and dried him off. He was mad at me about that, and only grudgingly said sorry to me a bit later for saying mean things. When he said “I love you” before going to bed it sounded very much like he was 13. He was asleep right at 7.

Up at 6:40. He was upset at first but calmed down on the couch and spent a few minutes waking up. Was counting on his fingers and counting by 11s and then wanted to look at the shapes book. We read Elmo’s ABC Book on the iPad and he learned another knock knock joke. We then read about 80 pages of 65-Story Treehouse. He watched one episode of Ask the StoryBots (Where Do French Fries Come From?) then we ate some toast at the table. We then read all seven stories in Peppa Pig story collection, which was just released. He then asked to play the Robot Lab game. Actually a nice little game as it had him doing a little problem solving. As he was making a robot: First arm: “Fire to burn people.” Second arm: “Rainbow to make rainbows so when people are sad it cheers them up.”

We moved upstairs so I could take a shower. But discovered that the internet wasn’t working. Back downstairs to troubleshoot, and restarting the modem did the trick. Later, August would pretend to be the wi-fi router or the modem, talking about what color he was blinking, or how many of his lights were turned on.

Back upstairs he watched Wanda and the Alien and I took a shower. Downstairs we read the end of Plumdog, then started at the beginning, then read some Garfield. He was then reading the Hebrew alphabet off the fridge and singing his Hebrew song with extra letters. He’s added additional ‘sofit’ letters at the end and an extra ‘yod’ in the middle, and kept adding more.

Then some more Garfield. I then made a mango lassi and let him lick out the tablespoon after I did the honey. We drank our lassi, then he recited a big Hebrew number and said “That’s 22!” He remembered the structure of them from watching that video once.

I made grilled cheese sandwiches for us and he ate his whole sandwich, minus some crust. He was singing and said “I made a Counting by 11s song.” He sang it some more, then counted by 11s. He asked me what came after 110, and we worked on going up to 220 a couple times. He then said “How do you count by 12s?”

He did a little Duplo zoo, then asked me to add animals while he want to the bathroom. He’s been repeating lines from the books we’ve read. From Garfield: “That’s my hot water, Garfield. I was going to make tea.” “Garfield!” “Okay, who ate my socks?” From Plumdog: “I’m gonna bite your stupid head off.” He then did a little more coloring book as I got snacks. We then practiced telling knock knock jokes, and he’s starting to understand playing both sides. He knows the ‘Boo who?’ one from Elmo and the ‘Interrupting cow’ one from Hilo 2. I also taught him the ‘Aren’t you glad I didn’t say banana?’ one.

We next inished reading Magic Tree House #1 and discussed which books to return. He randomly asked “How do you write עץ (tree)?” So I showed him on paper. We went outside, and before we left he wanted to wash off his little rake and shovel.

We left at 2:20. He wanted more knock knock jokes. I looked some up, then he would ask for ones about things: “tree” “fence” etc. The best one I made up was: “little red riding” “little red riding who?” “No, Little Red Riding Hood!” And he really laughed to cows go/cows go who?/cow’s don’t go who, the go moooo! one that I looked up.

We got to the library around 2:45. They had two Treehouse books we hadn’t read and he chose The 78-Story Treehouse. And we got the second Magic Treehouse book. He wanted to sit on the highest level of the reading area to read, he said because he wanted to see the pumpkins that were hanging up. I said “Ah yes, there are pumpkins.” To which he replied “Not any pumpkins, Halloween pumpkins.” That’s phrasing he got from the Treehouse books which start “We live in a treehouse. Not any treehouse, a 78-story treehouse.”

He was getting a bit hyper in the reading area but we were the only ones there. He was running around in circles on the rug and counting rug squares by 4s. We read 5 chapters of 78-Story, then he was sucking me up with a straw (something that happened in the book) and playing on rug.

He was being a bit loud with his voice and when he couldn’t quiet down I got him out to the big stuffed animals. But along the way he kept chanting “red, red, red” (being the wi-if router) and wouldn’t stop. We had to have a talk outside the library, then he turned down his volume back in the library. We checked out our two books, and Liz showed him a music playing and dancing dog toy thing. August liked it but seemed a bit disturbed by it as well. We looked a little at some other decorations, then Carly showed up. Before we left, August spotted two legs sticking out from under a pile of books – it was the witch from the Wizard of Oz. He was really amused by that and looked at them for a couple minutes, wondering if it was going to scare him.

We walked up to his dance class. He said on the way that he had plenty of energy and had done extra charging. Once there he had some difficulty at first as the waiting room was quite full. He yelled “Go!” A few times. We took him outside, then Carly stayed up at the top of the steps and I got him back down and into class. I thought he did quite well – he came and checked with me a few times, and asked how much time was left. He left for one minute and had a bite of banana bread, then went back in. Spying through the curtain, I saw him actually sitting down with the other kids several times. But when he came out at 5:12, with 3 minutes of class left, the teacher came over and said that all of his trips to the door were really hard for her.

He said he was done, so we got going – nice leaving a minute early anyway as the waiting room is already a zoo with everyone waiting for the next class. Oh, and I met Rachelle, the WBAIS PE teacher who told Carly about these classes via email. She had a daughter in the next class. Carly got to meet her too, as they actually hadn’t met face-to-face.

Anyway, on the way home he did a lot of bike riding on his own. We were home at 5:50.

He did a little Robot Lab, then I got It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown going and we all sat at the table and watched it. I wasn’t sure how much he was following it, but when I offered to skip through the Red Baron part he said no, and when it was over he asked if he could watch it again. I said another day.

He looked at Google Maps with Carly. When he had to go to the bathroom he told Carly how many more places she was supposed to look at. Carly took him up for a shower and I did dishes. I came up and they tried for sleep but he wasn’t ready. He came downstairs and we read 78-Story Treehouse while she took a shower. We went up and I left them at 8:02 to try for sleep again. He came back down at 8:16, which I know exactly as he announced it as he came down, having read it on the clock.

We read 7 chapter of James and the Giant Peach, then went back up just before 9. He actually wanted to try to go to sleep with the timer. He set it for just over 6 minutes. But after about two minutes he wanted to nurse. He was asleep soon after 9.

A phrase he liked today was “The gloaming”, which is from Plumdog.

Smashing an orange on the tree: 

Reading and smelling the fir branch: 

The witch’s legs: 

Watching Charlie Brown: 

Trying to sleep on the stair: 

Had a good short downpour about 5:40. August was up right at 6. He played some Dragonbox Little Numbers. Carly headed to work and we switched to reading all of the book, from start to finish (except for the ones about Jon’s dating which I skip). We then went outside and he found his mud bricks in the bike. Took them over and melted them with the hose. The rain had knocked down a lot more of the tree things and he helped me pick them up. It rained lightly on us as we did that. He sang a”We’re robots” song as we picked up. He found a shiny little round thing and I said I had thought it was a beetle. He said “No. I’m sorry to say it isn’t.” He wanted to dump out the bag of tree things so we took it across the street.

We were back inside before 8:40. He pulled a big stack of books, Hebrew and English, that he wanted to read. We started with the Hebrew elephant book. Translated a few words, then made up the story from there. Translated a little more on my phone, then he got into typing random Hebrew or Arabic and seeing what it would produce. He was then translating Arabic numbers into English. We discovered the translation service works fine for numbers up to a million, then starts to break down. He wanted to do more Arabic, so played Zee’s Alphabet on the floor while I got ingredients ready for banana bread. He kept calling me over to see each letter and word.

He then helped with all of banana bread. Felt luxurious using a full set of bowls (unlike the taped together bowl I was using at the end in Korea) and the hand mixer for the first time. August liked the hand mixer, although it is too big for him to use entirely on his own.

He did some more Dragonbox Little Numbers while I cleaned up. We went upstairs and he watched one episode of Wanda and the Alien. Didn’t want second episode. I took a shower, then we headed back downstairs to check on the banana bread.

It was ready. He played a little of the forest app while I took it out and cut it, then made a phone call to Skoda. Carly had talked to the embassy and determined that we had to go with the new chassis number. So I called Skoda and talked to Shai to clarify that, and he said they were going to give us 2000 shekels back due to the hassle and delay.

We did more with the elephant book, then he was a sick bird, due to pollution. We then headed over to the Duplos and he started to make a zoo on his own, building a fence around the entire big piece. He was then asking about shapes and how many lines of symmetry an octagon has. I drew it, but then went to show him on the iPad in the shapes book. From there he wanted to do art. He titled his first piece “Round bus” and the second was “It’s an interesting cow…a died cow. and when it is dead it is green.” Drew a ouple more pieces, then we spent a long time on the coloring book. Randomly he talked about “Gymfobens is a play structure just for kids and animals and babies. Not for big things…”

He was humming Eine Kleine Nachtmusik together so we ended up watching it on the iPad and watching the entire thing together. We were then looking at the shapes book and he wanted to make red spirals. We went and drew them on paper. He is starting to quote Garfield now, namely “Almost, but no banana” (actually “Close, but no banana”)

We then headed to the park with his balance bike. We first went on the exercise equipment. He did the leg press and was a heart pumping – he explained how the blood was going through him and to the lung to get oxygen. He wasn’t getting on his balance bike so I said I would have all the fun. That got him. He said “No! I want to have all the fun!” He rode his balance bike and was the city pound catching me (which happens in Garfield). Also in Garfield Jon talks about going jogging. August didn’t know what that meant, so I showed him and we were jogging around in circles together.

But that turned into racing, with him declaring he won every race. So I said he needed to share the winning and let me win sometimes. He had some difficulty with that idea: “I’m gonna win all the time.” “Can you share the winning? Thumbs up or thumbs down?” He gave me a big thumbs down with a grunt. He also spent some time picking up several pieces of garbage and throwing them away.

We headed back towards the house to get the orange bike and go for a walk. I was pushing him on the balance bike and when we got to the house he wanted to keep going so he could practice his balance bike. We continued on around the corner and then up the back path, back to the park, and then finished the loop around to our house again. We were back to the house (again) at 3:50 and switched to orange bike.

We went on a Zinnie walk of sorts and ended up at Tal Garden, the little park. He went on the crocodile thing and then we did the merry-go-round. We headed home and got here at 4:25. As I was getting the nike up the stairs August said “Dada. Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is beautiful.”

He watched an episode of Ask the StoryBots (Airplanes) and I made a banana mango lassi. Carly got home just as I finished that. We drank the lassi, then Carly showed August a video of people counting to 100 in Hebrew. We then did the iPad coloring book with the Apple Pencil, which we had left to charge while we went on a walk. He had mushrooms and pesto and pasta for dinner. We then read more of Plumdog, stopping about 12 pages short of the end, then read After the Storm. Carly took him up and gave him a shower, and he was asleep a bit before 8.

Pretending to sleep: 

Painting the round bus: 

Brushing off the water: 

Exercise: 

Bike: 

Merry-go-round: 

The clock changed back an hour during the night, so it was around 2:45 that August sat up saying “I want to read books”. He didn’t go back to sleep and I got up with him at 3:25. We read After the Storm, Where the Wild Things Are, and Biscuit Gors Camping. He refused to read more and went back upstairs at 3:50 and to Carly. He didn’t go back to sleep though and started reading the clock: “5:02” (actually 4:02). I took him downstairs again. He watched 3 episodes of Wanda and the Alien and I got us Cheerios. He was then talking about his treehouse and it had “Saw ice skating cave with real ice skating saws. It has 67 million blades.” He then counted to 100 by 2s. We read the ancient Egypt chapter of 65-Story Tree house, then he was talking about numbers and lying on the couch, We read the future chapter of the book, then went back upstairs and we fell asleep with Carly. She got up at some point, then he was up at 7:15. I was up a half hour later.

They went out and harvested a few cups of basil from our plant. August then played Dragonbox Little Numbers and Carly made pesto. We read some Garfield and he was laughing hysterically. Carly went upstairs to make a phone call to Skoda. She and I traded off as we dealt with the car fiasco. Finally, close to 11 I was off the phone. Carly had gone up to take a shower and August got to watch one more story of Wanda and the Alien. When she was done I took a shower. They had done a collage on paper while I was gone.

We planned to go to town to do some grocery shopping and get a coffee. When we left we found that someone had thrown an egg just short of our front porch. We rinsed that as best we could. August chose the bike over the stroller even though he seemed really tired. We made it about two houses before he stopped the bike. We tried to switch to the stroller but no luck. In the end Carly stayed home with him and I just went to the mall. Got cash at the ATM and went grocery shopping. I got enough to load up my backpack and the two reusable bags.

I was back at 1:45. He hadn’t taken a nap and was playing GarageBand as they sat outside. We continued with GarageBand inside after I put away groceries then moved to Legos making rockets. He told me to try to touch the rocket and it would fly away and he’d laugh. He was singing a line from a StoryBots song: “Hurricane…fight with a tornado”. Carly took over and I went to make a sandwich. The tired boy was having a hard time so they took a break and went upstairs.

We then went for a walk just before 3. Walked down to the strawberry fields. August played in the dirt and watched ants by the field. He ate almost a full apple on the walk. We stopped at the park and Carly continued on home. He sat in the green chair thing he couldn’t play with yesterday. He started the thing where he made up mean things to say, but stopped it quickly this time when I said we’d just go home. We went on a couple of the shaky things then he was ready to head home. We walked the long way around the Holly block. He stopped to play with hard red mud and decided to take a couple pieces of it home in the back of the bike.

We were home at 3:50. He ran to the bathroom with one shoe again. He asked how to count by 11s and learned in about one minute, then ran and told Carly how to count to 110 by 11s. He learned about the modes on the air conditioner, then we did more Legos, making little cars for the astronauts to drive around on. Carly wanted to vacuum so we cleaned up all the Legos. Then had French toast for dinner.

We read After the Storm and Garfield – more hysterical laughter. Carly took him up for a shower, then I finished it with the hair washing. He got the bed wet. He was really tired, but it was only about 5:40. He agreed to skype with gramma and grampa and we skyped with them for about 45 minutes. Helped keep him awake just long enough. He did a lot of emoji typing to them and showed off some of his multiplication skills. He also put together a couple of impressive sentences explaining the basil harvest to them.

I left Carly with him at 6:35 and he was instantly asleep. She was out by 6:40.

So early: 

Playing with his hair: 

His favorite thing on the playground, supposedly: 

He was up at 6:45. I got up an hour later, having had my book group meeting. I had been up from 1 to about 3:30. He was doing his Wanda and the Alien watching binge style today, after just watching two episodes the last two days. All 3 this morning. He wanted me to sit on the couch so he could cuddle in behind me like a nest while he watched. After that he was animals sick from pollution that we took care of. It rained hard for a minute outside and we paused to watch the rain. When the last episode was over he and I went and played with Legos. I made him a rocket and he said it was Astrosmurf’s: “it’s not smurfing off!” He then have me invent rocket fuel.

He then played TodoMath: he finished the level 10 100 puzzle on his own, then was working on quick multiplication. He understood the concept pretty well.

He then went upstairs with Carly to start making a rocket out of the dryer box and toilet paper rolls. Carly grabbed the Picasso’s Trousers book to use as a straight line and he didn’t want her to ruin the book.

They did that for quite awhile and I cleaned the kitchen. He came down as I was peeling some of the oranges from yesterday. He ate a few slices of them, then had a slice of pizza and “cupcake milk”. He asked for more Wanda and the Alien. I explained we had been lazy this morning and needed to do something else. He said “I want lazy iPad Saturday!” He went and lay down on the couch, being lazy. He set 5 minutes on my watch and sort of pretended to sleep. He was doing different funny sleeping poses: “I’m upside down…I’m a bat.”

Carly made us a mango lassi, then they read some 65-Story Treehouse together. He was then chanting “Aardvark! Cheesesticks! Poop poop!” He was being hyper while she was trying to rest. I spun him around, then we played some Duplos and made up different things to chant.

Carly went upstairs to work and he and I went up and did recycling. We then went to the playground, but he was upset to find other kids using his “favorite” part. He started saying “Go away!” I stopped him, and then he had a good idea of going over to the exercise equipment and playing there. But over there he was making up languages and then saying that “That means ‘Go away’” or “That means ‘I’m going to cut them’”. When I told him not to do that he would then do one that was nice, but then he would do a mean one again. When he said something mean to me we headed straight home, a bit after 1:30.

Carly and I talked to him on the couch. She was trying to get him to practice “I’m uncomfortable”, which is what he used to say. He wouldn’t say it, and at first said “I’m gonna get worse”. But then he at first started to write things like “I’m uncomfortable.” in the air, but wouldn’t say it out loud. I pretended to be Eve and then Shmuel so he could practice. Finally, he said “I’m shy. I’m gonna go upstairs.” He then lay down and pretended to restart “Do you see the apple?”

They nursed, then he was still having a hard time. They went upstairs as he saying he wanted to sleep I finished reading The Book of Dust by Philip Pullman just as August came back down. We read some 65-Story Treehouse, then we had a nutty noodle linner outside. Carly had cooked the interesting shape pasta, including the ones that he says look like ghosts. I was then trying to figure out where he learned about ghosts. There is the Scare Bear episode of the Care Bears, but the ghost in that looks like a bear, not the sheet sort of ghost. I think we also read a Biscuit Halloween book from the library, and last year he did see a few minutes of A Charlie Brown Halloween at the Halloween party. But not a lot of ghosts overall, but he understands the concept and that they are in a dark house.

Anyway, then back inside where he was more animals suffering from pollution (fish, sea otter). We made a Duplo rocket, then Carly took over and I went and lay down for awhile, getting back up at 4.

Carly got his costume on. He opposed it at first but was okay when it was on, especially since she was giving him a chocolate chip every 10 minutes. When he was in the bathroom with her he told her he was afraid of the Halloween party we were going to. Some good communicating there.

We left a bit early, and between chocolate chips he kept asking “What minute is it?” The party started at 5 and we got there about 10 minutes early. He looked around at costumes, Carly got a green trick or treat bag for him, and I got a hotdog that he ate part of while we waited.

We went in and wandered around. First did the trick or treating, which he really liked. When he was walking on his own across the grass he was dancing to different songs. A bit later he was really dancing to “Ghostbusters”. After trick or treating we went through the hedge maze, which he basically ran through, I think to get out of it quickly.

Then did some of the activities: a ring toss thing, then sitting at the art table where he colored a picture of jack-o-lanterns and put stickers on it. Did a different ring toss thing. And they walked the cakewalk together for a few minutes until he won something. He chose a chocolate brownie. Every 10 minutes he could have another piece of candy. He had Skittles, M&Ms, Sour Patch Kids, and more M&Ms. He was doing a good job of sharing with us, giving pieces to Carly in particular without being prompted.

We went and waited for popcorn for awhile – figured it would be the slightly healthier alternative to candy for awhile, but the crowd waiting for popcorn was large, and the supply limited. We talked to Ada for a couple minutes, and August admired costumes – in particular he spotted someone dressed as a minion, and he liked the wizard costume of the popcorn person. Earlier, there had been someone dressed as Ms. Frizzle from The Magic School Bus.

He was okay with heading home, so we decided against popcorn. We left at 6:05. As we were walking home he said “When we go home we really need to brush my teeth.”

At home we read 225 pages of 65-Story Treehouse. He was then an elephant, putting out fires with his trunk “That was from cigarette butts.” (Another reference to the book at the library yesterday). Carly took him upstairs for his shower, then he and I read more Treehouse downstairs, then went upstairs and read  After the Storm on the bed. He got a little hyper and was chanting “Aardvark, cheesestick, poop poop” before he nursed with Carly. He was asleep by 8:25.