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It really seemed like he heard Carly leave today, as right after she left I heard the door upstairs. And when he saw me on the stairs he got upset. He started crying and I went to him. He said “I’m not gonna like you. I’m not gonna love you.” He then went to the door and was calling “Mama! Mama!” through it. I picked him up, and he said “I’m gonna kill you.” The frustration left him, and he lay on the couch for several minutes and I got him ‘special milk’. I told him I put a little extra “something something” in it since he was upset this morning. He would remember this, and later ask Carly if she’d put extra something (it wasn’t sugar) in something else because he had been upset this morning.

He drank it and said “Lets watch some shows.” Watched some Care Bears while we ate the leftover eggs and some toast. The claw truck came and we watched it pick up the branches and cardboard across the street. They left the metal and plastic stuff. That stuff would be gone later.

We played the Solar System app, then he mentioned wanting a new game. I had wondered if there were any Sarah and Duck games. There are – Sleepover and At the Park. We purchased both and played them. He continued playing while I took a shower. After my shower he told me to cut  “the hairs I don’t like” on my face. When we went downstairs he spotted two spiders in the stairwell.

My raspberry iced tea was ready, so we had some of that and he seemed to like it. He played Gro Garden and we got ready to go. Which was a slow process as he kept wanting me to play, or needed something else. I made sandwiches and used the last of the biscuit spread to make him one more piece of treat bread. Finally, he asked why headphones work and we ended up discussing ‘foreground’ and ‘background’.

We left at 10:40. Two №11 busses, at 10:45 and 10:48, went by. Then I think I figured out the schedule enough for the 48 to realize that there are very few busses. The next one would be the one we caught last time at 11:40. But there is an earlier bus, maybe 9:30 or so. So we decided to wait until tomorrow. Instead, we went to the playground and sat down and ate our sandwiches and banana. We discussed  where garbage goes, air pollution, and acid rain. He then had a plant killing machine that at first seemed to just kill weeds but then killed everything. It had a chemical that was “Worse than the chemical in bleach.” I made the mistake of telling him I don’t like my bananas as ripe as him. He said “I don’t like my bananas so sugary.” as he gave me the last couple bites to eat.

Then went to playing. There were two smaller kids who turned out to be 2 and a half and 1 and a half. The mom offered August a salty bear-shaped snack. He ate, but didn’t want another as he didn’t like the crumbs on his hands. He wiped his hands on his head, saying “I love crumbs in my hair, just not on my hands.” He saw a fake compass on the ship play structure and we discussed directions, and I reminded him of the compass that Uncle Jeff showed him. We played with the compass on my phone. She then offered him dried apples instead, and he really liked that. He ended up sitting on my stomach while I lay on the ground and we discussed dried apples and other fruits. He really liked the idea of making dried apples.

Eventually got up and went to the play structure again. He wanted to play the game where he slides down on my head. We did that, and still had his shoes on. He looked at the bottom of his shoes and pointed to something: “It has that on it so it’s not EXACTLY clean.” Did that a bit more, then we saw some guys dump out the big cage of cardboard recycling. That made him want to go home and get the recycling and bring it back. First, we stopped at the water fountain. It drains straight to the grass and we talked about watering the grass and how that works.

We looked at the big pile of cardboard and asked “Don’t you just want to jump right in it? All the time?” But then he decided it was too icky. We went home and got our bag of recycling, then went and dropped it off. We then stood there and watched a claw truck pick up the cardboard and foam recycling.

We went home. Sitting on the couch he told me “I don’t really like long hairs…on your legs too. That’s why I always try to pull your hairs out, dada.” He played the Mammals app and watched the bat digest and poop as he lay his head on my stomach.

He went to the bathroom and got really talkative: “Now I love it. I eat chicken all the time…meat and chicken and toast and dried Cheerios and milk Cheerios and drink water and drink juice and that’s all I eat and drink, dada.” I then took a couple minutes of video where he continued with that, after which “And chains and sinks and drains and dirt and rocks…but mostly animal stuff dada. I eat things that animals eat. I eat toilet paper, dada. But mostly I eat ropes and chains and jump ropes that is underground, dada. I eat mud too, dada. And towels. I eat towels. But mostly things you hang up sheets with. And phones. I eat watches. And iPads. And plastic. That’s all I eat though. I eat tiles, too, dada.” “I love chicken though. I just eat chicken. I eat chicken and meat. That’s all I eat.”

Did some more Mammals, then set a timer. When it went off I said we should get going. He told me “When you’re lazy could you lie down and fall asleep?” I thought he was going to wake me up, but he just kept playing the iPad. He was playing me. I objected, then he did try waking me up, saying “I’m gonna play loud, loud Israel music while you sleep, dada.”

He was then being cranky as I made him get ready to go to the store. So I started putting happiness in him, through his ears and head and elbows, etc., which made him laugh. He said “Put happiness in my eyebrows…I’m putting happiness in you.” But then he was grumpy again and I asked “Where’d all the happiness I just put in you go?” He told me “A machine tooked it.”

We left at 2:15. As we went out he said, for no apparent reason, “I want to renovate this house.” I asked what he thought it should have and he said “Some fake trees.” Interesting, as we’ve listened to “Fake Plastic Trees” by Radiohead, but the song doesn’t actually say “Fake trees” in it. I looked up the lyrics, and he told me “I have a machine that makes the right words.” for the song. He spotted the dirt track across the street and asked “Does that go to the mall?”

We headed over and found the parking lot for the mall full. Something was going on, and it was a little kids fair thing out front. We went and did our grocery shopping first. Pushed him around the store until the basket started to get full, then we parked both and brought things back to it. He helped carry a few things, although the cold things made his hands too cold.

We paid and headed outside. We went to the fair and watched, but it was too busy for him. Listened to some music, then he wanted to head home. We were back at 3:50. Across the street he saw all the scattered garbage left over from the piles of garbage being picked up. He asked if it turned to dirt or polluted, then “The plastic pollutes the earth COMPLETELY? So we can’t live?”

When we got in he turned on the AC: “I’m sure mama will be really sweaty…Mama likes it up really high. That’s why I turn it up really high all the time.” He was then a bug killing machine with “Strong chemical and really sharp blades.”

I sliced up an apple for him and he really liked it. He also had the idea of making raisins and said “When I was in Korea and ate raisins all the time I didn’t like raisins, but now I LOVE raisins. That’s why I want to put out grapes and turn them into raisins…I want to check on them every once in awhile…I think they’ll turn into grapes when we’re sleeping…I’m sleepy.” We soaked the apples in lemon water and he ate the other apple and watched Lucy and Po
go, then read Hilo. He wanted more apple, and as I sliced them he was talking. I asked “What’s that?” He replied “Don’t talk to me!…I’m talking to myself. I’m talking to my brain.”

Carly got home at 4:50. Out of nowhere August told her about seeing Jeff working and being able to see where the water comes into the basement. Kind of cool that he is forming some long term memory. He also told Carly why he didn’t want to play at the kids fair: “There was too much kids so I didn’t have my people machine.” He played Human Body. He watched the digestive parts and we talked about that was what was happening to his apple in his body. Carly got some rice and curry for the two of them but we called it “mama’s food”. August would go and get one bite and laugh hysterically, then go back for another bite. We had also gotten raspberry Jaffa cakes at the store and eaten one while we were at the kids fair. He told her all about them. Lots of explaining.

We did a smoothie machine, and he made smoothies for me and Carly with our favorite fruits. He told Carly “I’m gonna put extra sugar in because you’re sad about something.” Then told her “I have something for you…poop.” “I have toy poop that is plastic…rubbery plastic.”

I was putting together an iHerb order, and the two of them played the Sarah and Duck apps together. He went to the bathroom, then was playing with one of his bamboo bowls and dropped it and it broke on the floor. We checked on the apples. They were rubbery, but getting there, and August had one and liked it. He was jumping from the couch onto the pillows and jumped and did a forward roll.

We went for a short walk. Startled by a huge dog that was in a yard that also had a shorn sheep in it. We were back at 7:10. He watched/played Lucy and Pogo, then I gave him a shower and washed his hair. He got the bed wet, then saw pictures in the wetness on the bed: “That’s another rocket. That’s another rocket…those are rockets and satellites we send to other planets.”

As we walked downstairs he said he had a lightbulb machine: “It reused them. It gives them more power.” That was cool because he sort of put two things together: he knows about burnt out light bulbs, and knows about recycling. We took the apples out and he had a few.

We went back upstairs to the bed to put on his pajamas. Carly came with us. But he was hyper and not ready to calm down, so we decided he’d try to go to sleep with me. Carly headed down. He was hyper for awhile longer, then when he started to slow we went down and got his water bottle and the iPad. We went back up and read the first four chapters of Hilo, after which he was looking really tired. We tried turning the lights off for a few minutes, but he was getting upset, so I went and got Carly. He was asleep right about 9.

He was laughing in his sleep during the night. He was then awake at 6:55. He walked into the office and looked at Carly’s clothes. He pointed to her shorts and said “I don’t like that dark color.” At a bra: “That goes around mama’s nursing.” Then had fun throwing all of his clean clothes downstairs, then started taking his pajamas off and throwing them down until he was naked. We walked downstairs and he asked “Whys it so quiet in here?” It is quiet when the AC is off, and really quiet when the refrigerator is also off (I’m a little concerned by how much the fridge runs – it seems like it should be off more often). Anyway, he went went and turned on the air conditioner. He wanted to listen to music. He requested new music, but I put on my playlist of favorite songs. We listened to the Los Gossos song and he liked it and wanted it added to his playlist. I had seen a National Geographic video of a crew removing fat, oil, and grease from a clogged sewer system and showed it to him. He watched it again and again and again. 

We then went and read Hilo, starting from the beginning. We paused for grapes and more Cheerios. He said “But grapes clog my pipe.” Some more Hilo, then he watched Care Bears and told me “My pipe is clogged…See all the gross poop? The gross fat?” I took a shower, and after that he was talking about a “Pipe that goes down to a music tree…”

We then moved to playing with the pillows. He said “I want to pretend to be a leaf machine.” So we set up the machine and did what we did yesterday. But instead of batteries being boxed and going to the store it was leaves being cut out, painted green on each side, put into bags, and being taken to the assembly area where we’d build apple trees and plant them. That went on until he got destructive (after I was worn out and needed a break): “I cut it with my very strong cutter. If you touch it when I turn it on it will break all your bones.” More leaf machine, then birds were dropping plastic parts into him, then he was a blender. Brushed his teeth, then it was a toothpaste machine, making mango toothpaste. Once I was worn out again we did some Flynne game, as that lets me lie down for at least a few seconds at a time.

He wanted a cracker and I told him to try not to get crumbs on the ground. He said “But gravity’s going to pull the crumbs down.” I made him eat outside. We had been listening to music and Radiohead’s “15 Steps” came on. He said “I really like this music! Could you add it to my playlist?”

We played factory again, this time making smoothies, then switched to playing Robot Factory at 10:35. The dryer was supposed to come between 9 and 11, and when I hadn’t heard anything by 11 I started texting the number from yesterday. We had peanut butter and jelly for lunch, then read Jumpy Jack and Googily.

Around 12:15 a guy called. He only spoke Hebrew, although confused me when I asked in English if they were delivering a driver and he said ‘No’. And when I asked if he spoke English he said “British”. Anyway, he kept talking really fast, but he kept repeating “Ata ba bye-it”. Which I then realized was “You at home?” I said yes, and they showed up about 12:30. They hauled the dryer up the stairs in about 10 seconds, then asked for a tip because of the stairs. I tipped them, and decently, but then realized after they darted off that it was still in the box. Also, I should have asked them to move the couch up and the bed out to the curb and tipped them a bit more.

I got the dryer out of the box and in trying to get it off the styrofoam bottom I realized I could just set it up on the washer. August played with the dryer vent, which actually makes a good toy. So I got it set up, although after attaching the vent I realized it could also be attached to the side, so might change that later. We tested it to make sure it worked.

August played Human Body and then the Weather app. He was hungry and I told him I was having difficulty finding things to feed him: “I eat different things. I don’t want the same kind of something. I want different kinds of something.” We ended up with toast and banana and he ate almost the whole banana. We read more Hilo and Sleepy Dog, Wake Up.

We had looked at the library books and he said he didn’t want to return any today, and we were running out of time. I was talking about going to school and how we needed to get there before the bell rang and I mentioned when we saw all the big and little kids coming out of the gate. Confused, he said “But, little kids can’t go to school‽” He assured me it was okay if we had to watch the people coming out as “I have my people machine and log machines with me…in case there’s a bunch of people walking by us.”

We finally left at 2:45, but when we got over to Vatikim, about 8 minutes, I realized we had forgotten the floaties. Went back and got them. When I came out with them he said “No! No floaties!” We got to the school and changed and got in the water. I was just up to my waist when he needed to go to the bathroom. We went and it took a long time. Carly came and was in the pool before us. There was another teacher family there with a 2 and 4 year old (Ben and Maya). August watched them, but was shy. When we got in we mainly went and stayed in the deep end. He kept putting his foot up on the edge to feel the breeze on it. It was 5 by the time we got out and got going, and were home about 5:30.

Rice was running out, so he ate a little food with Carly, and I made eggs with mushrooms, seitan, cauliflower, and cheese. He was impatient for them to be done as they were cooking and I kept telling him I just had to put a few more ingredients in: spider legs, etc. He said “Oh. I like bat eyes in my eggs.” He ate a good amount of eggs, then went with Carly on the couch. He told her “Say ‘I’m not going to give you any space.’”

We started reading Hilo. Carly went outside and swept and cleaned the slide, then went up and took a shower. We paused reading to eat grapes and Cheerios. He asked me to count the grapes, then I arranged them in a shape in the bowl. As he ate them we did subtraction and named the other shapes. When it got down to 2 and 1 I told him not to eat more as then we wouldn’t have shapes. He told me “We can always get more grapes.” While he finished eating them I responded to an email. He didn’t like that though and hit my leg with his head. I told him not to do it, and he did it again, really hard. I got up and Carly took him up to his shower.

I went up after they were done. He had some crazy time on the bed but mainly cooperated with getting his pajamas on as he was ready to nurse. He was asleep just after 8.

He slept all the way until 7:25. Twelve and a half hours. I came out of the office and he was at the top of the stairs. He told me “Don’t come down.” I asked if he wanted to be downstairs by himself. He changed his mind, saying “Come down.” Downstairs, we took off his diaper and he spotted a new insect, with two long antennae, on the ground. Got done looking at it and said “I’m gonna turn on the air conditioner and turn it up really high…I’m really warm.” After that he climbed on the couch and asked “Dada, could you get some dried Cheerios and set up some Care Bears for me?”

Watched Care Bears, and when he had had more dried Cheerios and still wanted more I suggested more foods, but he wanted something he could eat on the couch. So I cut up grapes and allowed those on the couch. He was being itchy this morning, and it was bothering him on and off through the morning. We put cream on at one point. We read Hilo, reading the first five chapters. Chapter 5 ends with Hilo being crushed, and shown to be a robot. When we started playing with pillows August turned that into a game: “Crush me apart.” “I want to play that robot game.”

I went up and took a shower. He sat on the toilet the whole time and talked a lot about his spit. Back downstairs he wanted to be a towel machine, a battery machine, and a leaves machine. Then he was a broken machine: “The clouds in me are a little broken.” We went outside for a few minutes and I found a pine cone thing from our trees that we haven’t seen before. August wanted a cracker, and I gave him one of the square crackers. At first he was eating it outside, but then he went inside and was intentionally dropping crumbs for the ants. I wasn’t happy about that and as I swept I said I wouldn’t play that game with him. He said “You won’t love me anymore?” When I assured him otherwise and hugged him he said “You don’t have to like me” “I’m not your baby; I’m mama’s baby.” “I’m playing a game you don’t want…I’m gonna play a game you don’t want me to play…The game I’m going to play is when you don’t want ants in the house.”

That done, we set up the pillows as a conveyor belt and it was a battery sorting machine. He would be the batteries being dropped on the belt, then at the end of it I would put them in a box (a pillow), close, tape, and label it, then pick it up and put it in the truck and drive the batteries to the store in the kitchen. We did that 27 times. He kept saying “It’s a comfy ride.” He let the machine get broken down after that. He then planted apple trees, before remembering the Robot Factory app and wanting to play that. We played that together, and he got into the process of making the robot, trying it out, then going back and making it work better.

We did part of a round of Animal Hospital, a few more rounds of the battery game, then left for downtown at 12:50. We first went to the bank where he helped with the ATM to deposit more of the relocation money. When we were done with that he said “Thank you” and gave me a hug for letting him use the machine. We then went to the Israeli restaurant by the pizza place for lunch. August had said he was hungry a few times. I ordered falafel, but when the guy brought out our food the first things were hummus and pita and salad: “Those are all the things I don’t like!” He ate a bite of pickle but said it was too spicy. When the falafel came he ate a couple bites but then said he didn’t like that either. I got ketchup. It was in a Heinz bottle but clearly not. August tasted it on the falafel, but wouldn’t eat anymore. He said he just wasn’t hungry, but I couldn’t tell whether he really wasn’t or whether he just didn’t like it. He did, however, drink all of the mango drink he got.

August had said he needed the bathroom. Not one there, so we walked across to the library. Right, it’s closed during the middle of the day. But then he was saying he didn’t really need to go. We went to the hardware store where we got rubber bands, more Tupperware, and exchanged the light bulbs I’d purchased for the fixture that doesn’t work for bulbs we can actually used. I used some more Hebrew on the older guy that works there, but he seemed down so I asked if he was tired. That turned into a little lesson on times of day.

We then went to the mall the grocery store is in. Rode the elevator to different floors (it is small) but no bathroom. August said he still didn’t need to go though. So we went to the grocery store and bought frozen fruit, which was pricey, for smoothies, bananas, and then looked for raisins. No raisins, but we got apricots, cranberries, and covered peanuts in hopes of finding some more snack options for August. He ate one apricot after we had paid, and one cranberry. And that was it.

We then walked home, taking some back roads. He did need to go to the bathroom when we got close, but he made it just fine. He wanted to play more Puffin Rock-inspired games, saying “I want to play the Silkie game…I want to invent it.” We played Flynne, and he was waking me up. He really screamed once, and I held up my hand to ward him off. He ws still coming towards me and I bonked him in the nose or lip. He wasn’t happy about that, and kept doing his whiney I’m-not-happy-with-you cry for a few minutes. At 4 the digger came home across the street, so we watched the guy park that and he felt better. We read more Hilo, and finished most of it, more than three-fourths finished, before he wanted to start over at the beginnng. He was asking about the title, which includes ‘earth’, so we looked at the Solar System app and the different planets. We were doing that for just a couple minutes when Carly got home.

He ate a lot of the rice curry for dinner. I told him he couldn’t have just rice bites, so he thought those were exciting – he also agreed to eat a lot of veggies so he could have just rice bites. For his goals earlier he had wanted to learn about stickers and cotton balls, so we found videos on how both are made. We then played more of our box game and he watched an Ask the Storybots episode. When he was asking to watch that, or something else, he told me “You never say ‘fine’ now, dada.”

We went for a walk, over to the west in basically the same area as before. Earlier though, so not dark. On one street there were two loose dogs walking slowly ahead of us. I slowed down but Carly thought they looked nice. When we got towards the end of the street though and they were still some way in front of us I wanted to turn back, and just in time, as one of the dogs turned to us and started barking. We kept walking away, and it followed us close to a block. Carly grabbed some rocks and when she started to throw one at it it turned and ran away.

After that, Carly got August to get out and walk, holding her hand. He walked most of the way home from there. I picked him up to show him one of the water tanks on top of a house and when I set him down I made the mistake of setting him in the stroller, so he went back to riding. At home Carly tried to get him to walk up the stairs. But he told her “Ma-MA! We always ride up the stairs…so that’s why I don’t have to get out.” She managed to push the stroller up the stairs.

We were back at 7:20. He and I watched/played Lucy and Pogo and Carly showered. He then played Shake the Tree. While doing that he got off the couch and I asked if he needed to use the bathroom. He said no, but then as I played the game he got back on the couch to watch, but then said he was peeing. I grabbed him off the couch and he started crying. Some got on the couch, but not much. Carly took him up and cleaned him up. I went up and gave him his shower. Carly then managed to brush his hair. He wasn’t fond of it, but he didn’t stop her from doing it. He was asleep a bit after 8:20.

Photos: 

In the box, ready to be carried: 

Mama and Zinnie in the swing: 

I was up at 6, Carly down a bit later, after nursing August, then he was down at 7:15. They nursed and did some reading: Thunder Boy Jr. and parts of other stories. He played Dr. Panda Hospital and I made us eggs with mushrooms, cauliflower, and cheese. We then skyped with my parents, which lasted pretty long. While Carly was upstairs and we were skyping he asked for biscuit spread. I gave him two crackers with it on and we talked about it being a secret. At first he was actually afraid of what would happen if Carly found out. But then he wanted to give one to Carly too. I made him one, and he took it to her and said “A secret one for me and a secret one for you.” He also said “I want to bake another treat in our oven sometime.”

He also played the Flynne game with Carly, telling her how to make a den and growing mushrooms, etc. We were done Skyping at 9:25. He was also growing a worm tree: “Brown worms and blue and green leaves”. He went upstairs with Carly to do laundry, talking about worms in the washing machine: “When it’s empty and there’s no clothes in there and it’s not spinning.”

I took a shower, and when I came down he was watching Care Bears. I then headed to Tiv Taam to do some grocery shopping. While I was gone they did some science experiments: oil and water, tasting things while plugging their nose. On my walk back one of the guys on the clean up crews outside asked for water and had a big bottle. I got water for him. Carly went outside and was doing more sweeping and we moved the swing over towards the front door where it is a little more level.

Mandy came and picked up Carly at 1 to take her shopping. Carly got a blender, a dryer, more towels, a duvet cover, and a few more items. The dryer will be delivered later. While she was gone I was sleepy and dozed while August watched Care Bears. I made pizza, and August was starting to sing along with the opening song of Care Bears. We ate all the pizza (it was an egg pizza, using the leftovers from the morning, and quite good), then he had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. While I was gone he had eaten a good amount of the rice curry stuff.

He wanted to eat the PB and J on the rug, telling me “Can you let me? You’re really nice.” He lay down on the rug and I asked if he was sleepy. He said “No I’m not. I’m just lying here cuz it’s cozy.” We played the Flynne game and it turned into machines: “I have a powerful machine that doesn’t do anything. It just makes fuzzes…cotton ball fuzzes…it cleans them up, and vacuums them up somehow…”

Carly was back at 3:30. We unpacked and set stuff up. August wanted to use the cardboard for something. He then wanted Lucy and Pogo, so we read/played that, then an app called Shake the Tree, that is based off of a board book. We then read Hilo again. Chapter 4, then back to the beginning, rereading the first 3 chapters.

He wanted to wrestle on the bed and I said I could go up with him. He said “But you’re not a great wrestler; mama is.” He was getting a bit hyper and rough, so we went back to the Flynne game and were more machines. We set up the pillows as the conveyor belt, then he worked and went through the machine, making stickers and sheets. He wanted to hide under the sheet, so we did that for a bit, hiding from a monster, waiting for Carly to come downstairs, but then he needed the bathroom. He talked about: “I want us to be the ocean for people to swim in. I’ll be the tide carrying things away.”

We read Peppa Pig Dentist twice, played Dr. Panda Hospital, and then he went outside with Carly. I heated up rice and curry for him and me and we ate outside for the first time. Which was nice until the mosquitoes found me. We were planning to go for a walk around 6:30, and about that time Carly took him in because he wanted to nurse. I was expecting them to come out after awhile, but instead it was really quiet inside. I fled the mosquitoes and came in to find Carly coming down the stairs. He had fallen asleep at 6:45.

Photos. Lazy time: 

Dada and Zinnie: 

My glasses: 

Bowling: 

Eating outside: 

Got one arm in: 

He was awake at 4:30, just for a few minutes, but enough to be talking. Carly got him back to sleep, but I was awake, so went downstairs and did some reading on the couch. I went back upstairs after Carly got up sometime later and went back to sleep. He was awake at 7:15, and I slept for another 20 minutes or so. When I came down he was playing Human Body. Carly spotted ants inside, and he said “Where are they going?…I haven’t eaten anything at the table yet so there isn’t any food…I haven’t fed the ants yet.” Carly cooked mushrooms for him, and he was very excited, as they were the brown mushrooms that he had spotted and we bought for him at his request when we were at the store. In the bathroom, he was making the binging noise with the toilet paper holder – a regular activity for him. He saw and ant, I think, and he said “It was in the sink turning on the water and off the water…because it was trying to drown and die.”

We went outside and checked on the cats and ants, then he helped Carly put cheese on the pizza she was making. They played the Flynne game, and he told Carly  “You can be the earth now.” He asked me “But where’d the foxy game come from?”  I told him he had made it up and he replied “Nope, a company made it…I’m a company.” They ate pizza and I went and took a shower. I came back and he was watching Care Bears. I watched with him and Carly went out and fixed the patio table, taking off the old tape and putting on new tape to make it level and look much nicer in the process.

We went over to the mall for lunch and went to Arcaffe, sitting out on the deck. A decent place, and you can almost pretend that the view is okay, except you’re looking out at the back parking lot for the mall. They have mist machines and August really liked those. We got three drinks: an iced cappuccino, an orange and carrot, and a strawberry yogurt thing. August liked that one the most. And he and I shared a salmon and ginger sandwich. He ate a decent amount of it. Carly went to start the shopping, and August watched three Sarah and Duck stories while I studied some Hebrew. We then paid and went to find Carly. Spent just enough time to find cumin and curry for her, then he needed the bathroom. Went into the mall and found another set of bathrooms. He took awhile, and we met Carly halfway as we walked back to the grocery store. My Hebrew helped me ask for the check, find the spices quickly, and find the bathrooms. Good progress.

While he was on the toilet he talked a lot: “I have a car machine that squirts out a lot of cars.” Talked about breaking sensors with “My breaking machine.” And “I love the smell of pee and poop because I’m a dung beetle eating poop. Mmm, yummy poop.”

We headed home, where he wanted a new app. I found the Dr. Panda apps and got Hospital and Handyman. He spent some time playing Hospital, then we all left at 2:25 to head to the school to swim. As we left, he was talking about killing the weeds that are growing so that we can plant something else, and explaining how he would use hisrake and shovel to kill the weeds.

We were swimming right at 3. He wanted a swim fin to drop, we played the chasing mama game, and I was lifting him out of the water and into the air. He really got splashed, his head entirely drenched, when a boy jumped in. He wasn’t happy about it, but handled it okay. It is the wettest I’ve seen him in the pool. I got out and did a little reading, then August needed to use the bathroom. When they came out of the bathroom, he was doing a dance across the concrete that we called the pool dance. They stopped to look at the berries that Carly told him were poisonous, and he told her that I had said they weren’t (I’d told him they wouldn’t likely plant poisonous plants at a school). They were done with the pool, so we packed up, changed out of our swimsuits, then sat in a couch by the cafeteria and had a snack

August wanted to go to Carly’s classroom, so we walked over there. He played on the bean bags, then he and Carly played school. He sat in a desk and she taught him some math and reading. He then wanted to be the teacher and they switched spots and he told her the answers to some math questions.

We left at 4:45 and were home by 5:20. I went over to the junk pile across the street to see if a set of shelves that had shown up would work for our little library. Instead, I found a full box of pottery jars. I made a couple trips to bring them into the house, thinking we’d maybe save a few. Carly called, then FaceTimed with Cassie and Colin and Vivian. I went up and took a shower. When I came down, Carly had put the pottery up on the shelf above the kitchen. I went and got the off-white pieces. We ended up with twelve pieces up there, a nice bowl in a cupboard, a bowl out on the patio table, another bowl replacing the plastic container for the cat water, and a watering can outside.

August played the Handyman app for awhile and really liked that. He and I then played with the pillows again, first playing the crab game (the red crabs trying to get into Bernie’s grotto), then reverting to the Flynne game. We then read Berenstain Bears Think of Those in Need, Thunder Boy Jr., and Peppa Pig Goes to the Dentist. We read a sample of Hilo, The Boy Who Crashed to Earth and bought it. While it downloaded, I took him up for his shower. He told me “Soap is awesome. I love soap going down the drain.” We went back down and read three chapters of Hilo, then he was ready to head up to bed. He wanted me to stay for a minute. He was asleep by 9:30.

Photos. Fort: 

Lunch: 

Watching Sarah and Duck: 

Sunglasses: 

Mama’s keys: 

On the bean bag: 

He was up at 7:22. I looked up the stairs and he told me not to come up. He was happy and took a slow walk down, spotting the light on the wall and discussing his favorite screws where the railing meets the post. Downstairs he played Human Body and ate Cheerios. We went upstairs to get him some clothes. His upper lip was dry and bothering him so I got chapstick. The first one was out, so I let him have it and he ended up licking and eating the last little bit of it during the day. And his current tube of toothpaste was running out so we went up and got his next tube to use. He wanted water and I said I’d go upstairs and get his bottle, and he said “But, I’m gonna miss you.” In Human Body when you tap on the word labels they fall to the bottom and you can stack them. He said “I love my word stack.”

For breakfast I made 4 kinds of toast and we shared them: with yogurt, cheese, peanut butter, and biscuit spread. We watched Care Bears while we ate and after. The episode about Scare Bear and the first one are his favorites. When he was done with the toast he used the plates as a hat, then told me to wash them. Used some chapstick, then spent some time on ants.

We read three of our new books: more of Don’t Pollute, Splat the Cat Fishy Tales, and  Jumpy Jack and Googily. He said his penis was itchy again so we put on some cream, then did some exercise. Spotted some more ants and found a couple of raisins on the rug that he had apparently thrown there during breakfast for the ants.  We were listening to Bjork through the morning, starting with her first album. It will take quite awhile to get through it all.

We made pizza for lunch, him helping most with the cheese, and ate that and watched more Care Bears. I then went up and finally took a shower and he played Gro Recycling in the bathroom. Back downstairs, he sat on my lap on the rug and we read the Bill Peet book Farewell to Shady Glade. He really paid attention and had tons of questions through it. He found yet another raisin on the floor. He was claiming that he threw the raisins to the ants during the night: “Yeah but it was when I waked from sleep.” He did some dancing to Bjork before telling me it was too loud.

He wanted to watch something and I told him he couldn’t and he complained that he couldn’t do “ANYTHING”. We turned that into a gam, trying to lay on the couch and do nothing. He was then a machine: “This part and this part were making boxes for sunglasses to go in.” We ate a few of the round crackers and he was getting crumbs on the floor of the kitchen. Did a thorough job of sweeping to make sure we weren’t leaving anything for the ants.

We got ready to go to do recycling. He went to check on the weed plants and if they were ready to pick (thinking of his Gro Garden game). We watered the weeds with the AC hoses, then I took him into the driveway area to see all the junk. Had fun looking around in there for a few minutes, then back in the yard we watched a black and white cat drink from the dish of water we put out and then sit in front of the playhouse.

Then, the ants. August noticed them first. They had come up right outside the kitchen, holes everywhere along the edge of the patio. Worse, they were close to the door and tons were exploring the house. We went into major ant mode, eradicating them from inside the house, then trying to drive them away from the house with vinegar and cleaner and water. During this, August started ending every sentence with ‘dada’: “there’s a spider, dada. It might get in the house dada…It’s a feather dada. Birds lose their feathers dada? Why, dada?”

We called it good and left at 3:15. We went up and he helped with recycling. He didn’t want to play in the playground and just wanted to head home, so we did a little walk around the block and were back at 3:40. The ants were still all over outside, but hadn’t returned to the house, instead forming a line up the wall to something on the roof. We went upstairs to make sure they weren’t going in the house somewhere, and we saw an all-black cat drinking from the water dish.

We went downstairs and played the Flynne game and were planting trees: apple, worm, onion. He was a cloud, raining on the seeds, and said the sun was on his back (behind him). Carly got home and he told her about the cats: “The Little house is for cats and kids…but dada says they’re not pets.” I finally used the sealant I had bought to close up some of the holes around the big sliding door and around an old wire that goes into the kitchen.

We had some dinner, then we read two Peppa Pig books: Around the World and First Sleepover. At the end of Around the World they end up jumping in a muddy puddle as the sun shined. August said “That’s silly cuz muddy puddles show up when it’s raining.” He then played Human Body and said of the white blood cells he was playing with “I love those, dada.”

At 6 we walked over to Holly’s house to pick up the garbage can and a few other small things that she’d driven over for us from the school (they were extra items that Ada had). She also had a wooden shelving unit she thought me might like. We saw her cats and met the dog. It backed at first, and August covered his ears. We went in and saw the shelves but weren’t sure if we had a spot for them.

As we got back to the house August said “When I go in I need that sweet, sweet, sweet stuff.” He was referring to the biscuit spread. He played a little Human Body, then we used Sesame Play to find a game we could play. It gave us a game where you whisper a word as quietly as possible, then keep repeating it slightly louder until the other person guesses the word. August really liked that.

Just past 7 we went out for a walk. We headed to the west and south. We found a house that had at least 3 tractors in the yard, and we found a couple of houses that had really interesting old stuff as decorations on the outside walls. Walking back we ran into Holly walking her dog. Convenient, as we had found a spot for the shelving unit (in our entry way for shoes, etc.) and were going to her house to get it. We got it, and she helped us bring them back.

I gave August a shower and told him two of my Puffin Rock stories – Baba swimming and Flynne stuck on a cliff. We haven’t done those stories for months. In the bedroom he asked why there wasn’t a grey sheet. Said he likes the smell of the pink sheet. He told me “My bottom and my penis get itchy every once in awhile.” Then he was a machine: “The machine was stacking up banana peels with no bananas in it.” “My outlets aren’t supposed to be washed so a part of the machine puts covers on the outlets…” We also did some reading: Oh, Daddy and some Peppa Pig, I think.

I was going to try to put him asleep again, so we went downstairs to say goodnight to Carly and get his water bottle. I then tried getting him to sleep. We used the timer on my watch to practice lying down. I also pressed the watch against his arm so he could feel it vibrating when it went off. We did pretty well, and while he would talk about wanting mama or going downstairs he wouldn’t try to leave. Finally, he got so close: He was silent for 30 seconds and almost asleep. Then he got sad and started crying and said “I can’t do it!…I need to nurse!” Carly came in and we told him he did a good job trying and he was asleep at 9:45.

Photos: 

August and I slept on the couch bed until he woke up and I took him up to Carly at 3:45. Then, he was up at 6:34 but Carly got him back to sleep. She left, and he slept until he came down just after 7:50. I picked him up in time to see the street cleaner truck sweeping our street. Watched some Care Bears and he asked for the round crackers we had bought, so we tried some of those. We then had a piece of toast and our biscuit spread while I made eggs and cheese and cauliflower for breakfast. He ate a lot of that, and we read Peppa Around the World

Tried new shows. He wanted to try new shows on Netflix and we watched a minute of 3 or 4 of them and he (and I) didn’t like any of them. He settled on playing Gro Garden, which he hasn’t done for some time, then helped me clean the toilet.

We spotted some ants and August took credit: “I made crumbs for the ants…Normally, I make crumbs for th ants cuz I don’t like crumbs…” We went outside for a bit. There was a broken bit of the tile I was trying to match to a broken spot and August helped with that. And we investigated the sap situation on the trees. Back inside we took care of more ants, then he played Animal Hospital on the floor of the bathroom while I took a shower.

We discussed our plans and he wanted to know how pipes are both cleaned and made. We started with the Flynne game though. At one point he started talking about “How people die (kill?) themselves.” Turned out he was saying “their cells” instead of “themselves”. He was talking about cells dying in the body and getting new ones.

We then watched pipe and welding videos and how pillows are made. He was a machine: “I’m making something. I’m making some sort of material.” We got the books out to decide which to return to the library. We read Merle the High Flying Squirrel and A Birthday for Frances and he decided to return all the books. He played Human Body and I made lunch – a pizza which he ate most of.

Getting ready to go a little before 2 he saw me open the door and said “Are you going to leave me behind?…But I want you to leave me behind.” We walked to the school, and at the construction site he told me he had seen where the cement comes out of the big truck that was there. We first went to the library, which he was a bit frustrated with because he thought we were going to the pool first. But he helped choose 8 new books to check out: two Berenstain Bears (Don’t Pollute and Think of Those in Need), Bill Peet’s Farewell to Shady Glade (they also have Merle the Squirrel), The Story of Babar, a Charlie and Lola book called Look after Your Planet, a Splat the Cat book called Fishy Tales, a book by Sherman Alexis called Thunder Boy Jr. (that’s more for Carly), and a fun looking book called Jumpy Jack & Googily.

He had been complaining that he was too sweaty in the very cold library and that was why he wanted to go to the pool. But when he finished playing with the big stuffed animals (he took off his shoes) he was ready to go look for the butterfly garden. We went and found it. Very sunny, so he didn’t want to get out of the stroller, but he smelled some flowers from there. We then went and changed, heard the school bell while in the bathroom (earlier he had talked about wanting to hear the bell again), and got in the pool. He had gone to the bathroom when we changed, but about 3:40 he needed to go again, and we met Carly coming out of the bathrooms as we went in. Back at the pool they played in the pool for awhile while I sat and read. Then I got in and we did more chasing of mama. I also swam under August a couple times. There had been a mom and daughter swimming around earlier, and August got splashed a few times, and he loudly hollered towards them “Don’t splash me!”

We got out at 4:45 and changed and left. He ate a bunch of raisins on the way home and we were home before 5:30. He did the immune system on Human Body, making the person sick by allowing germs into wounds. We crossed out our goals on the whiteboard and then he played the Flynne game with Carly. He was the shrews and sprayed her a couple times, but it mainly turned into farming game a la Gro Garden, as he grew apples, potatoes, French fries, etc. for her, adding sun and water to them until the were ready to pick for her: “But I do grow toothpaste plants.” “I’m gonna grow rug plants.” He and I read half of Berenstain Bears Don’t Pollute and Peppa Pig Around the World and then all of Sarah and Duck at the Library. In that book, where they are trying to cheer up the donkey, I asked what helps him cheer up. He finally said “Blinking”. We used that on him, somewhat successfully, when he got upset at the end of his shower and when he hit his head.

I gave him a shower. He did just fine for most of it. I said something about me being his wonderful dada, and he joked: “No, you’re not my wonderful dada; you’re my mean dada. You’re always mean.” He was joking then, but then got quite sad and upset as I finished rinsing his hair. Carly came up, and he was playing on the bed and bonked his head on the wall. He was upset and it took some work to get him on the toilet. Carly was trying to cheer him up by sort of dancing in and out of the door. He was laughing a lot but then screaming and saying “If you don’t stop, I will hit you.” I left them at 8:10 and he was asleep by 8:20.

Photos: 

Pointing at pitch: 

Lair: 

He was up at 6:10, walked down and found Carly. Watched some Puffin Rock and said goodbye to mama, then had cereal for breakfast with a mix of our three milks (oat, soy, and cow). He played Human Body while we listened to Billy Joel’s Innocent Man album. We played Musyc together, and we would make something, then he would say “Too loud!” and erase it all. We took a plastic container outside and he filled it with water for the cats or birds, then he said “Now I’m gonna water our fake grass so it can grow.” Back inside he wanted to see how cardboard boxes are made so we watched a video, then watched videos of ice cream factories while he sat on the toilet and I showered.

Back downstairs I made us a bigger breakfast, as we shared three eggs with cheese and cauliflower. We then made green tea and lemon iced tea and put it in the fridge to brew and I started laundry. Playing Human Body he focused on the heart and lungs and we talked a lot about the red blood cells and their trips around the body. He asked what makes snot and tears and spit. When I talked about the glands he asked “Does Human Body show us the glands?” When I said no he got upset: “It doesn’t show us any of the fun parts though…I never get to see anything!”

Played one round of Animal Hospital, then I showed him the Pet Doctor app. You use it to be a doctor for your stuffed animals, taking a photo of them and answering questions about how they feel and making notes about their condition. We did it with Marshy and Green Monster, and would later do Bluie and, even later, Smokey.

But then the big game, which we called the Flynne game (from Puffin Rock). Basically, we took turns being Flynne the fox or Mossy and the shrew crew and they would wake Flynne up and make her run away with their scent glands. This lasted a long time. He got a little dark with it: “Oona and baba killed Flynne so she couldn’t eat the shrew crew.” Then said “I have a pretend show that’s about dying people. I’m gonna watch it now.” Back to the game: “I’m messing up your den, dada.” But also he was a machine: “It kills you really fast like this…so the doctor can’t fix you.” “I’ve got something in me that unsicks them.”

We then spotted a weird insect on the wall and caught it and put it in the bug viewer and looked at it. He ate a large cracker, then I said I needed to hang the laundry. He still wanted to play, so we set a timer for 10 minutes and did the Flynne game until it went off. I hung laundry and he talked the whole time about the game and the couch and pillows: “I don’t really like your den cuz there’s not enough color on the pillows…” He said he likes the striped pillow the best.

Back downstairs we talked about our plans for the day and our goals. We played more Flynne game, then watched the recycling truck pick up the limbs across the street. I made cauliflower and sweet potato fries for lunch and we tried the iced tea, which was good already. Did more Flynne game, then took care of Bluie. We stopped to sit at the table and eat lunch and watch Puffin Rock. I had a few of the fries but he ate most of them and didn’t like running out. He ate a lot of cauliflower too though. The recycling truck came back as we were getting ready to go to the grocery store and we left at 2:40.

We walked over to Tiv Taam at the mall. He did a pretty good job helping with the shopping. He is all into trying out new things, so I gave him a few minutes to choose a new milk and he chose a coconut milk to try. And while looking at peanut butter he found a biscuit spread I agreed to get as a treat. We also found pizza sauce and got long sandwich breads to use for pizza. He spotted a price gun thing sitting near an employee and asked if that was a price machine. I was surprised he knew what it was, but later Carly told me they had seen someone using one. He was at his limit though and was being cranky when I was bagging groceries. I asked if he was having a hard time and he said “Yeah.” While we were then getting mints and putting the backpack on, etc. he hit his head on a cart and got pretty sad. We then stopped at the health food store as I had seen salt and pepper shakers out in their display. Got those, then inside they had crackers and five spreads out as sample by the counter. August tried all of them. They also had samples of seed and nut bars and we tried those. Free samples really make him happy.

We got home at 4:30, before Carly as she was staying a bit late. We took care of Smokey and played the hospital game, making a hospital bed for him and Smokey (as first he said Smokey had been hit by a car and then he said he was as bad as Smokey). He was really closing his eyes trying to act asleep. We were doing that when Carly got home.

They nursed, then we had more green tea with sugar. August said “I need some extra to make my skin sweet.” And “It tastes brilliant when it’s like this cold.”

I made pizzas with cauliflower and seitan that Carly had just fried and those were really good. We then had toast with our biscuit spread, which he really liked and wanted me to let him eat spoonfuls of.

We looked at our goals. When writing them I had mentioned reading later and he had said “Yes, please!” We said we could read now and he said we could then cross it off. We’ve crossed things off a couple times, and at the store he was helping cross everything off the list. But he went ahead and erased the goals. We read Peppa Pig Around the World after we bought it and Sarah and Duck at the Library. We brushed his teeth, then Carly read Sarah and Duck Stay at the Duck Hotel. I looked up ‘helter-skelter’ to confirm what it meant and realized it was a spirally slide. I said we could start calling the spiral slides helter-skelters and August disagreed, insisting we call those ‘slides’ and the straight ones ‘helter-skelters’.

I took August up and gave him his shower. When we came out he thought he heard Carly watching something and he kept talking about her shows and “She has those boring videos she watches all the time.” He was a sock making machine tonight and would make socks then tell me I was a price machine and I’d put prices on them. He decided socks were 100 dollars a pair. They tried for sleep 8:10. No go. He went in the bathroom and hung out while Carly took a shower. He then came down and we read Peppa Pig Around the World and the dentist book twice. During the first book he asked “Why are they flying with the wheels down?” He’s never actually seen landing gear go up/down but we’ve talked about it multiple times when we are actually on planes and hear the noises. In Dentist George pours fluoride wash down his toy dinosaur’s mouth. August asked “Does it have a digestive system?”

He went back upstairs with Carly at 9:10. They were going to the bathroom first, and August was really articulating the order they were going to go and nurse, etc. Earlier, before we left the house, he was on the toilet and I stated the 4 or 5 things we were going to do before we left the house. He was repeating it, but adding things in, like washing his hands, that I had left out.

Still no sleep, and August wanted me to go to sleep with them, which he’s mentioned to Carly several times too, I think. So I got ready for bed and got in bed with him. He was quiet, but wouldn’t actually lie down between us, insisting on being sideways. He was kicking his legs over my back, which was actually a pretty good massage and he called it as much. Would have let him do that as long as he needed, but he would also reach up and grab Carly, or push on her with his head.

So around 9:30 I took him downstairs and I pulled out the sofa bed. I lay down and said I’d take him upstairs once he was falling asleep or asleep. He didn’t like the idea, and wouldn’t get on the couch, but he never made an attempt to walk upstairs. He wouldn’t get fully on the couch/bed until after I talked about how Vivian goes to sleep on her own, an
d I suggested we set a timer for a minute and see if he could lie down next to me. He said he didn’t want to do it, but slowly climbed on the bed anyway and did it. For the first minute I had to put my hand on his chest a couple times to keep him from sitting up. But then he kept lying there. He turned sideways for awhile as he kept asking when we could go upstairs, etc. but stayed on the bed on his own. Did the timer thing again and he did it on his own, no hand from me. Finally, he said something about wanting mama, said “No, upstairs”  and rolled over one more time, facing the wall, and was asleep by 10:20. That’s the first time he’s ever fallen asleep at night without Carly and nursing. And I think the first time he’s fallen asleep with me while lying down since my parents were in Korea.

Water dish: 

Taking car of Green Monster: 

Jumping: 

Sitting on me: 

Out of the lair: 

Our insect: 

Watching the tree trimming: 

Sweet potato fries and cauliflower: 

Squeezing his eyes shut: 

Pointing at pizza: 

He got up right at 6, climbed off the bed and went straight to the bathroom without making a noise, and went to the bathroom. But then he complained that his penis hurt. It was quite unlike anything that has happened to him before. After a few minutes, Carly called the school nurse, who didn’t think it was a bladder infection. And it got better through the day, so I think it came from wearing a wet swimsuit and riding in the backpack yesterday.

He wanted to watch more Care Bears and was watching that when Carly left for work. Had some Cheerios and raisins, and looked at both the tree trimming and street cleaning that happened this morning. Read a couple Peppa Pig books (started with First Sleepover), then made some toast. August didn’t like the toast much but wanted peanut butter and I let him eat peanut butter with a spoon. He joked about what was in the peanut butter: “There’s chocolate people in there…Blood in it! People blood in it!”

Players some Human Body, then had a round of ant killing, then played a bit with the markers. A little writing with them, at least for me, but then he had a couple between his toes and walked with them, calling them his stilts. When they came out he held them in his hands and used them more like very short crutches. He also talked about all the plastic we saw at the beach in the water. That was one of the big takeaways – there is a lot of plastic there.

Then, on his iPad he wanted to do a music app. First Notion, but we had troubles with that, then we ended up playing Musyc for the first time in a long time. We played awhile, then I tried to go upstairs to take a shower. He decided he wanted to come up with me and play it in the bathroom, so I helped him bring up the iPad. I took my shower, then we went back downstairs and played it even more.

August requested a cookie, and when I told him there was one more he said “One cookie‽ But then mama won’t have one!” I assured him she had had one last night. We also discussed what to bake next, and decided on some sort of bread if we can find bread pans. He finally went to the bathroom again and felt better, although it still bothered him.

A little more Human Body, then he wanted to put a chip of chalk into water to see what happened. He started with an orange piece and it turned the water orange, so he wanted to add other colors to it. We did our goals and discussed what we were doing today. He wanted to learn about how pencils are made. We then discovered ants going under the couch, so took some time for that one as well. He lay on the floor and showed off some of his yoga moves and wanted me to do them as well, although he said I wasn’t arching my back as much as him. Tough teacher. We brushed his teeth, and he did a good job both squeezing out toothpaste and brushing. He then wanted to leave some on the toothbrush to dry, so we did that.

In packing for our day out I suggested taking the tennis ball and the bug viewer. He was reluctant to take either as he is afraid we will lose them. We finally got going after 12:30. We walked to downtown and checked out the two coffee shops/cafes. The first, closest to us, has a sit down eating area that looked nice, but was a bit fancier than we were looking for. Their coffee/bakery area is nice but focused on sweet things. So we headed to the second one, which only had a couple of croissants and bread.

So we went across the street to the Sushi Ishimoto place. The waitress was on the phone when we went in so I struggled with a Hebrew menu. But then she brought me an English menu. We got a bowl of the regular noodles, with veggies and tofu. August was really hungry by now. The noodles were really good, although a bit pricier than the pizza place for a lunch (about 11 dollars for us, and we didn’t get drinks). When we were done he played around, waving his hair back and forth, and he did some Dragonbox Big Numbers on the iPad. He had to use the bathroom, so we did that. He asked “Why’s it smell so nice in here?” And while sitting on the toilet he randomly said “Wait a second – I’m gonna cut up all my concrete.”

We left there about 2 and went to the hardware store. We got light bulbs, more Tupperware, and WD-40. While picking out light bulbs the older guy was trying to help me and explain why I should learn Hebrew while simultaneously August was being impatient. As we left, August stumbled on a box. He speculated on what was in the box, deciding either light bulbs or candles: “I fell right on the wick.”

We left at 2:15 and I suggested we get a drink at the small grocery store. When we got there I got a drink but he said he only needed his water bottle. We also decided to try oat milk (as they were out of soy milk) and I got some mint tea for iced tea purposes.

We got walking, and he was making noises and said “I’m a fertilizer machine.” A big dog scared both of us from behind a fence, and August, violently, said “I just killed the dog so it wouldn’t bark anymore.” Back to the fertilizer machine: “I’ve got thousands of sucker tubes attached to me dada…all the fertilizer at once.” By the community center he said “There’s something you might want to see, dada…there’s thousands of them.” They were some sort of small round nuts from a tree.

We got to school about 2:50 and went in and changed into our swimsuits. Head the school bell as we were in the bathroom. He assured me he didn’t need to use the bathroom. We went in the water for a few minutes, then he did. Went and used the bathroom, which took awhile, then back to the pool. He saw a couple of girls walking towards the pool, then turning down the path that heads into the gym, and past the pool filter room. August asked “They want to look at the actual filter?”

Carly came and got swim fins and a couple of noodles. August was all over the pool with us, and I did the Jaws noise at one point and tapped them with one of the noodles. This turned into a big game, with August wanting to chase Carly all over the pool doing “dun dun” as he hung on my back. Very tiring. We got out at 4:30 or so, then changed out of our swimsuits. August was really bothering me about mints, but really he was hungry, so I was trying to get him to realize/vocalize that. He said he didn’t want raisins, but finally he agreed to some and ate most of the container.

We were home at 5:15. The toothpaste on the brush wasn’t entirely dry, so he wanted to make a nest to wait in. We got all the pillows from the bed and also a sheet. Carly got him spiral noodles for dinner, although he didn’t eat a lot. Didn’t learn about pencils, as he decided on erasers instead and we watched videos about erasers, soap, pasta, and paper. He tried the oat milk but decided “Hmm. I think it needs to be cold.” Carly gave him a shower, but he got really upset about the rinsing of his hair. Cheered up when he could get the bed wet. He was going crazy on bed avoiding hair brushing, and Carly took a shower. He continued to be all sorts of machines: making boxes, batteries, and dough, among other things. He was starting to slow down so we got his pajamas on him, then tried for sleep. He talked about wanting me there when he falls asleep.

That didn’t work and they got my iPad and did some reading.  Looked at my colors thing, read some Peppa, I think, and I heard August explaining how the sample books work. He fell asleep a little after 8.

Sushi restaurant: 

Pool: 

I heard the door at 6:54. I walked up the stairs and he saw me and he asked “What are you doing?” and then asked me to carry him down. Not upset or surprised at all that Carly were gone. Sat on the couch for a minute then needed to use the bathroom; likely why he woke up. We played Tio Mio together (an app where you change quadrants of a picture to make a person wearing the outfit of a profession, then you see a little cartoon of that profession), then he wanted to watch a new show and chose the Care Bears on Netflix. We watched a couple episodes and ate breakfast. We then read more of Astrosmurf before August spotted ants on the carpet. They were going for a raisin that he had dropped last night. While I cleaned up the ants he had a machine: “I’m using a machine with sharp spinner blades that kills lots of ants.”

We then read several Peppa Pig books: First Sleepover, Dentist, Santa. As we read them, he called the younger brother, George, ‘Colin’ a few times. Not sure he was doing it on purpose. While reading the dentist one we started talking about baby teeth versus adult teeth and I said that adult teeth people had until the end of their lives. He asked “Until you die?” I replied “Well, yes, everyone eventually dies.” To which he then asked “But not me?” I then explained that that was a very long way away and nothing to worry about or something. He stared off, thinking, for a few seconds, then I suggested we go back to reading. That was a tough one.

I found some more ants to chase out of the house, then made sandwiches, then we made his nest of pillows and played with that. We finally left about 11 and got in the backpack in the front yard. As we were doing that our neighbor pulled up and she had her niece with her. They came to say hi. The girl’s name was Emma, I think. She didn’t talk though. We then walked over to the bus stop where it said we had 28 minutes to wait. We ate some lunch, and August contemplated all the bolts and how the bus stop would come apart (I had pointed out that they had taken down the one across the street). The bus came a little past 11:30. He had fun looking out the window during the nearly hour-long bus ride. He spotted a few construction sites, and said a building looked like a theater just for grown ups: “And just buttons. Boring buttons.” He also seemed to think the bus was fast, perhaps because of the loud noise: “This is way faster than cars.” It was a comfortable ride though, compared to busses in Seoul. When it started filling up, there was a funny moment when he thought he saw a dog: “I see a dog back there..It’s hair!” It was actually a woman’s head.

We got off about 12:30, got in the backpack, and looked around a bit to try to figure out where we caught a bus headed home. We then walked down Herzl Street to the main beach in Netanya. I stopped at a concrete bench to make sure we had sunscreen and scraped my leg on the very pointing broken end of the triangle-shaped bench. We got down to the beach, found a good spot, put on sunscreen, and then before we touched the water he said he needed the bathroom. Luckily, there was a bathroom a short walk across the hot sand. We went and did that, then went to the beach on the south side of the little point we were on. Lots and lots of kids in the area.

We started playing a little before 1:30. He started with just playing with the waves on his feet for several minutes. We found a cheap plastic spoon toy and he played with that in the sand. After 20 minutes or so I got him to walk out in the water a bit, but he said it hurt on his leg. He actually did have a red spot that looked perhaps like a bug bite. Went back and played in the sand a bit, then I got him out in the water again. This time, he got out deep, and I had him floating out where it was over his head for awhile. We were right in front of the lifeguard hut, and they take their job seriously here (unlike at the school where they are on their phones): two guys with binoculars always looking out and regular announcements about “boys…” and “small boy…” and occasionally “girls…” that went past the rope, etc. I at least know those words in Hebrew.

We spent most of our time floating in the shallower water though and playing around. About 2:30 we went back in and played in the sand again. We made little sand castles and he waited for the waves to knock them over. Finally, at 2:40 he went back in for one last little wade in the water, then we got ready to go. We stopped at the showers to rinse off and he liked the low faucets and used those on his hands and feet.

We got walking about 3. On the way back up we stopped to admire the sculpture of guys playing music, and then we spotted a smoothie shop and stopped and got a delicious mango and banana (his choices) yogurt smoothie that we ate on the way back to the bus stop. At one point he wanted to save the rest for the bus stop, but I said we might not be able to take it on the bus. At the bus stop, at 3:40, he told one of his stories: “I’ve seen people take smoothies on the bus when they’re not supposed to, dads.”

We waited there a few minutes but then determined it wasn’t the right spot. We had to go inside the building to the inside bus terminal area. Found the spot for our bus, then proceeded to wait more than half an hour. Couldn’t find any way to figure out when the next bus was coming. Thought about taking him to the bathroom at one point, but was then afraid we’d miss the bus.

Finally, at 4:22 a bus came. Luckily, the route back is a little more direct and we got home about 5:15. We watched some Sarah and Duck on the way to keep him awake, as he was definitely falling asleep.

At home he first showed Carly the peeing part on the Human Body app. He also watched the white blood cells and asked “Do they have mouths?” He also likes the intestinal lining part. We made his nest and I was trying to get him to rest with me, but it turned into the waking me up game, with him getting Carly to come and wake me and me hissing or growling or whatever. He was laughing like crazy. He also ate some dinner with Carly. She took him up for his shower, then there was more silly time on the bed. We talked about going and reading stories, and for a minute he was insistent he was going to nurse, then come read stories, but then he changed his mind and said he was going to sleep. He was asleep at 7:30.

Pointing on the bus: 

Down to the Mediterranean: 

Beach 1: 

Beach 2: 

The beach: 

Smoothie: 

Silly: 

Watching the eclipse: