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He started waking up at 4:30 and got up at 5:20. The first thing he said was “I want my feet cold…freezing.” and took his socks off. They went downstairs and nursed, played on the iPad, read some books, and were outside when I got up. He came in to get the tweezers. Back inside he played the My Food and My Body apps and shared some of the pasta dish with Carly for breakfast. Carly went up to the bed and August wanted to go with her. Worked for awhile but he was getting crazy while she was resting: “I was a little crazy. Not a lot crazy.” “I’m not gonna go crazy EVER AGAIN!”

We went out while she took a nap. I took the DVDs of the things that Carly had dropped off to be digitized at the end of last summer and that Cherie had been keeping in the motorhome until we picked it up this summer. I converted them on the computer. Sadly, it appears like the cassette of their August 17th presentation went missing. August played some Animal Doctor while I got that going, then we went downstairs and he finished the rest of his noodles from earlier and we had some banana yogurt, which he liked this time. We then went outside and did the raisins in soda water experiment again. We also dropped in a coin and a piece of the tree things to see what would happen. Carly came down while we were still outside.

We then got ready to go and headed off to the mall. We first went to the pharmacy but didn’t get anything. At the kids area there was some mom and kids class going on. There was music playing and they were dancing. August watched. I headed down to Kravitz, the stationary store. They caught up a couple minutes later and spent several minutes looking at all the pencil sharpeners and erasers. I got some small markers to hopefully use with the Hebrew stencil and we got a flashlight.

We then headed back outside to go to Aroma, the coffee shop and cafe. We got a fruit smoothie with date sugar for August, I got a chai latte, Carly got an iced cappuccino, and we shared an Israeli breakfast, which had a bunch of options and sides: eggs with veggies, bread, a cucumber and tomato salad, olives, tofu, and probably a couple other things.

We sat in the corner and ate – all quite good. August played a little My Foods on his iPad and I studied the Hebrew menu and my book. Carly headed to Tiv Taam and started the grocery shopping and eventually we went to find her. In the store August really liked a pot holder thing that looked like a crocodile mouth and he used it to carry around the Tic Tacs we chose. He found the candy section and a Minions thing in particular. He tried putting the crocodile thing and the Minions thing in the basket for us to buy.

He fell asleep at 1:10 on the walk home. Carly took him up to the bed and at 1:55 she went up to wake him up, which took a lot of work. They played, then came down at 2:20 and had a cookie and milk. I went outside and sprayed more dirt off the walls, a UPS guy asked if he had the right street and then for David at number 3, who I could confirm was our neighbor, and I put our number 1 up on the fence next to the gate. I went inside and found August eating more pasta and cauliflower. After that bowl I got him a second, then a third. Carly got him a bite of the soup she was making after that. He was watching some Puffin Rock.

I had also gotten new stamp pads to use with our rubber stamps and we played with those for awhile. He found an empty paper towel roll and took it upstairs with Carly again to destroy it on the bed. They came down to cut his hair while he watched Puffin Rock. I helped, trying to hold his head and keep it straight. She did well, considering he wouldn’t let her actually cut too closely.

I cleaned off the patio again, as spraying the walls had left more dirt on it. Back inside we read part of the Rocket book before he wanted to play Human Body and Carly tried a little more hair cutting. I went out and taped up the slide.

Carly went upstairs to do some work. Playing Human Body or My Body, he was putting on the bandaids and said “I think the white one is polka nuts.” He meant polka dots, and I think was confusing it with ‘coconut’.

They went upstairs for awhile, then came down to go for a walk at 6. We headed to the playground, but August said “Hey! Why are we at this playground?” He wanted to keep walking, specifically to the mall. We kept walking north, and of course he wanted some Cheerios, but I hadn’t brought the backpack. He had a couple of Carly’s mints instead. We saw a house with a bamboo fence and he said that all of the houses with bamboo were his. I asked if he was afraid the monkeys would come and eat the bamboo (which he had asked about yesterday). He said, patronizingly, “No dada, the monkeys won’t eat all the bamboo.” As we got close to home he was chanting/saying hi to weeds, playground, trees, poop, etc.

We were home after 6:30. Carly said he could have cereal and milk and he was very, very excited about it, with his hand in the air. Carly called Chuck and Cherie, then went upstairs to talk to them. He sat at the table, eating, and watched Puffin Rock. He was laughing a lot. Carly gave him a bath while I changed the light bulbs around to find a place for the one we bought so we now have a light on the landing upstairs.

He and I then read Astrosmurf. About halfway though he said he was tired and we went up to Carly. Tried for sleep a little after 8 but came back down 8:20ish. We read Sarah and Duck at the library and got two new Peppa Pig books: dentist and Peppa’s First Sleepover. Carly had some food and August ate some bread with her, then she Skyped with Glecy for awhile. He then wanted more dried Cheerios. I said no, and he went to Carly and said “Dada said I couldn’t but you said I could.” His eyes got really big when he thought of that one. She hadn’t. He settled for a couple of raisins, then we brushed his teeth again and went upstairs. He fought sleep for awhile, but was asleep at 9:45.

Alligator hand: 

 № 1:

Reading Smurfs: 

He woke up at 7:40. I met him coming down the stairs. He looked down and said “What’s that tea noise?” He had just heard a spoon clang in Carly’s coffee mug as she got up. They nursed and then read Emma’s Eggs. Trying to change his clothes, he started walking around with his pants around his ankles. Carly had the big windows open as it was cooler (low 70s) this morning, then he helped close the windows and we turned on the AC when it got warmer. He wanted to try honey water and ice cubes again so I let him try it but he still didn’t like it. We then skyped with my parents for a short time as it was late for them.

We did a lot of cleaning through the morning: Carly did the floors and some laundry; I used the hose to clean some of the outside walls that are dirty and the patio, and I wiped the rest of the counter that still had the dust left from the work they did yesterday.

August had made a nest on the floor again and was jumping on the pillows and also getting cozy under them. I mentioned wanting a massage at some point and August told me to turn over and he pulled up my shirt and gave me a massage on my back. Very nice of him. We did the sleeping game, where he wakes me up, then we did rubber stamps and we learned the word for shoes in Hebrew and we practicing it through the day.

Eventually, about 12:15, we went on a little walk over to the Drorim Mall to see what is actually open on a Saturday. As we left our house he asked “Is a monkey going to eat our bamboo?” Surprisingly, quite a bit is, including most of the cafes and restaurants, and the grocery store, which multiple people had told us would be closed. Inside, August liked the big almost-dead moth we found on the floor.

We headed home, and as we walked he told a make-believe story about the pool: “I’ve seen people throw rocks in the pool at school…strangers…Little Rock’s that can go in the filter…yeah, for reals…not me though.” He was quite upset when we stopped at home, as he wanted to proceed straight to the school.

But we needed to stop to have some lunch and get changed into our swimsuits. We did that, and got on our way around 1:45. At some point he told me, and I have no idea why, “Sorry dada, you can’t take my monkey…my stuffed monkey.” He kept saying he wanted to forget his floaties like the first time we went to the pool: “I want to forget my floaties.”. I took them anyway, but then when I pretended we had forgotten them, to go along with his wish, he just kept pointing at them and saying they were right there.

At the pool he first went in without them. Played in the pool a few minutes that way, then he wanted the floaties on. Carly put them on and he swam all over the place. We stayed until a quarter to 4, when the pool would close. A couple times he talked about being ready to go home, but then when he got over to the stairs he would play on the stairs and want to stay. He was sort of standing on the second or third step down and jumping forward into the water, then turning around and swimming back to the steps.

We left at 3:45. He wanted a nap along the way, but didn’t fall asleep. At home Carly cooked veggies and I did the outside spraying. August and I did some more Hebrew stamps and stencils. Had the yummy pasta for dinner. Washing his hands, we did a “The germies go away.” chant and he said  “The germies say the germs aren’t going away.” I went upstairs to download Game of Thrones and August came up and was playing his Human Body app on the couch in the office.

We went downstairs and each time he walks down he talks about bumping the screws that hold the railing on and says that they are loosening because of it. He told Carly “I’m gonna play Human Body next to you, mama.” Looking at the blood part he really liked watching the white blood cells at work, saying “That’s a bad bacteria.” He yawned and told me “I’m not sleepy; I just need to rest.” We had a cook and milk and Carly took a shower. We then read Sarah and Duck and Biscuit Goes to School. We bought a new Sarah and Duck book about a trip to the library and read that. Finally, he looked at the songbook for the first time in a long time and was singing to it.

Carly tried brushing his hair but he got genuinely sad because it hurt. I then gave him a shower and he wouldn’t lean his head back at all. So then he rubbed his eyes, but had soap all over his hands and got it in his eyes. He wasn’t too happy about that at all. Got him ready for bed and he was asleep about 8:30.

Photos: 

Moth: 

Swimming: 

Blocks: 

He was up at 6:30 and just fine when Carly left. He and I read the three books we checked out from the library. Carly called to tell me that Shmuel was on the way to the house. I did some picking up and discovered that our yogurt experiment must have been a hit with a cat or a bird, as the container was empty in the middle of the yard.

Shmuel and Shy (the handyman) arrived a little later. August did a great job with them, although he still won’t tell anyone his name. He continued to watch Wanda and the Alien while they got to work. He was interested in what they were doing, and at one point we went outside to get a better look, and August used his tweezers to pull apart some of the tree pieces while standing at the top of his ladder. When they started doing some drilling though it was too loud for him so I let him go upstairs, where he sat on the couch in the office.

Then, Eve showed up to cut the drainage pipe for the washing machine. I stayed downstairs with Shmuel and Shy as they were showing me something. A minute later I hear knocking, and Eve yelling from upstairs. I went up to find the door closed and Eve locked out on the porch. August had come out of the room and closed it. Since the doorknob is broken and won’t turn you get locked out on the porch even if the button isn’t pressed. Shmuel and Shy had brought a know one to replace it,but hadn’t yet made it upstairs. Eve thought it was quite funny when he found out that August had locked him out, and said that he’d lock August out the next time he was here.

Shmuel and Shy were here until a quarter to 12. They fixed a lot of the windows so they would open and slide better and installed handles and new locks on several of them. They replaced the cracked grout along the edge of the kitchen counter, and fixed the door upstairs and several of the windows there as well. And they put outlet covers over the open boxes downstairs. Oh, and they also fixed the lazy susan in the cupboards and one of the broken hinges on a cupboard. Unfortunately, they missed one of those. But otherwise they did a great job and got a lot accomplished in that time.

They took a couple of work breaks, and I served them coffee at one point. I also put out snacks for them, then August and I made chocolate chip cookies, using the dining table as our counter as they were working in the kitchen. Cookies were ready right as they got ready to leave. I gave two to Shy and Shmuel (who says he can’t have sugar) took one for his wife. At one point August went to the bathroom and was asking why the ceiling wasn’t flat. He was then counting invisible babies on the stairs above us: “Ten babies standing on the upstairs stairs not holding on… they fell.”

After they left I finished baking the cookies and there was a lot of cleaning to do, between the baking stuff and all the mess they left. And while August and I were scooping out cookies he kept wanting more drops so he could eat the dough. When the cookies were done he had a cookie though and agreed it was better. He had the idea of dipping it in milk. I can’t remember if that’s something he’s done before or knows about. He was concerned though that Carly would want the dough too and even asked her about it in the evening. She assured him it was okay that she didn’t get any of the cookie dough.

Also, while they had been here and after I’d had an Israeli radio station, Kol Ha Campus, on. It had been Israeli music at first, then they were playing all English stuff: Rage Against the Machine, Beastie Boys, Jay-Z. It was all uncensored, which I wasn’t worried about, but I thought it was funny when I realized we were listening to Limp Bizkit’s “Break Stuff”.

And August found a line of ants coming in through the kitchen door and turned into an ant killing machine, spinning in circles and kicking and stomping with his feet.

We played some Human Body on the iPad and he did a pretty good job of putting together the entire skeleton puzzle on his own. Think he’ll be more into puzzles when they arrive from Korea. We talked about the party later and how it was for Celeste. He said “Who’s Celeste? Wait, is it a cat?” He did some playing on the couch, and asked why his stomach area is squishy. I told him it was because of bending and breathing and told him I’d show him. He asked “How are you going to do that? Are you going to cut me open?” He wanted to play the machine app (Simple Machine), so he did that and I took a shower. After his shower he told me about how Carly doesn’t have good apps on her computer: “She just has her boring videos and Puffin Rock…That’s all she has on her computer, dada.” He wanted to play the Mammals app so did a little of that. We then read parts of some of our paper books, although not a lot.

He had some peanut butter and jelly sandwich and chose cow’s milk to drink with it. He explained “Poop in cow’s milk I like because I love poop…I’m actually a poop machine.” He asked where his sandwich was and I told him I had set it next to his iPad: “Next to my iPad? THANK YOU, DADA!” He was then snacking on raisins, and a chewed little raisin bit ended up on the floor and then was on my finger. I said something about how no one would want to eat it, and he said “I would. Cuz I’m a compost.”

Finally, we did a lot of rocket time on the couch, going to different planets and “Time for liftoff!” Carly came home and rested for awhile and took a shower and got some food before we left for the party. While talking about treats at the party August said “My favorite thing is muffins. Chocolate muffins.” Funny because he’s never had a chocolate muffin.

He did some drawing with his chalk and was concerned when he would drop a piece of chalk and a little would chip off. He started smearing the chalk with his hand and wanted to know what it tasted like. I let him lick his hand once, but then he kept wanting to lick it. I didn’t think he would like it. He then threw all of the pillows and sheets on the floor and we moved back the coffee table and he jumped off the couch onto them.

Just after 5 we headed to the party. He slowly walked in but was bothered by how loud it was. It bothered him much less when we found some cheese he liked and then Susan brought us a piece of cake. Carly came over where we were in the living room and we went and got food from the table. August did some watermelon then treats, but then we found plenty of other things to eat. We tried different chips, had a couscous thing, a couple different kinds of sweet breads, a thing with grapes in it, etc. August kept saying “I’m going to try something else…I’m going to try another treat.” He was getting more and more bold, walking over to the table and through the crowds on his own.

He went outside with Carly for awhile, and they saw the dog poop. And Tom, the husband of the elementary principal, Sherry, showed August around outside. Inside, August patted the dog a few times and we looked around, and he spent a lot of time looking at the cake.

Carly and I talked to Chris, a high school Social Studies teacher quite a bit and found out his wife is from the Seattle area. I was talking to Jack and Heidi and told them about our plans to build a Little Free Library and put it outside our house, and I then met a high school science teacher who told me to talk to Ofir, the head of facilities at the school, as there might be old shelves/materials we can use.

Around 7 August really started to get silly outside, going back inside without us and telling us to stay outside, then looking out through the windows next to the door. He said he was going to sleep on the rug, then went in, closed the door, and lay down in the middle of the party. Back outside, with Jack and someone else, he started pulling his shirt up over his face and hiding. He tried combining his games, trying to open the door and go in while his shirt was still over his head.

Carly took him in to go to the bathroom, then we left a
bout 7:30. At home he did more jumping on pillows, offered Carly a green mango, and heard the downstairs neighbor’s motorcycle starting up. Carly took a shower and he went to the bathroom and played some Human Body. I took him up for his shower, and he went in and got the bed wet, telling me “I ALWAYS get the bed wet. REMEMBER?” Some more wrestling on the bed and he was asleep by 8:45.

Photos: 

Jumping: 

Party: 

Home: 

7:05. He sat on th floor upstairs and had a minute or being upset, then had me carry him downstairs where he lay on the carpet for quite awhile, silent until he spotted an ant and wants to follow it. Spent some time exterminating ants, then he watched Puffin Rock and ate Cheerios. He got a remarkable amount of milk on himself today, which usually bothers him, but today it did not.

Paused to go out and check on our soy milk experiment. All dried out now, so he wanted to add water. We added some and set it back out. He then wanted to find it what would happen to yogurt. He said he wanted strawberry yogurt and a banana, but then didn’t want either, so those became my breakfast.

He requested his airplane app, saying “‘ll play my airplane app and you dance to your music.” There had been no dancing happening; I think he just wanted some entertainment while he played his app.

He felt my pocket and asked “Are the mints still in there?” When I said no he gave a funny face and an exaggerated “Oooh? Where IS the mints then?” He asked for his water bottle and clarified “I don’t want water ON the couch; I want to DEINK water on the couch…When I drink water it goes in my hose…One end of my hose is attached to me and the other end is attached to that outlet.”

We put out our yogurt experiment: a little strawberry yogurt mixed with water. “Do the germs like the nutrients? I want to ask the germs…The green germs like the white germs…” Looking out at the lawn he said “I want to lawnmower shopping.” I reminded him we don’t have to mow our lawn.

Back inside we played some Gro Forest and I took a shower. Or tried to. He followed me up to play the iPad upstairs, then came in to go to the bathroom while I was in the shower. He then played with my deodorant while I brushed my teeth. He wanted some special milk, with honey. I gave him some, but he said that mama lets him squeeze the honey himself, and mama lets him have extra honey. We went over to the easel to play and do our goals, but were distracted by finding ants carrying bits of food out through the crack where the sliding windows go into the wall. We cleaned that up (August likes to kill the ants, but wants to leave the ones with food alone) then did our goals and played with stencils and rubber stamps. Actually, he mainly used them as blocks, using those and the cotton balls to make a house for ants. He grew a little frustrated when I mentioned all the blocks we have coming from Korea, as he wants them now. Finally, we read Skippyjohn Jones Lost in Spice and Albert (about a guy who holds a bird nest in his hand the whole time it has eggs in it). August didn’t like Albert, so we decided to return it to the library.

Eventually, it was time to head into town for lunch, etc. But I couldn’t find my coin pouch thing and was looking for that. August was getting impatient, I think, and started to do a lot of hitting. That delayed us further. We finally left, and took kind of a long route, zigzagging some new roads, until we reached downtown. Went first to the bank to deposit our cash. First ATM was Hebrew-only, but there is one inside that has English. August helped me, pushing most of the buttons and helping put the cash in the machine.

From there we walked to V.I.Pizza. We got two slices of the pizza they had available, a cheese with a few green olives, and each got a beverage. I asked for a knife to cut up his piece and we got a pizza cutter. He had fun trying to use it on the pizza. And he wanted to sit in the table closest to the corner so we were close to the stroller outside and no one could take it. When eating the crust he said “Dry mouth” – a reference to the Sarah and Duck book where she eats too much bread.

From there we walked to the hardware store. Got black tape, a blue folding stool for the bathroom, and some sealant to try to close some of the ant routes. We spent several minutes looking around the store. He liked seeing all the different parts, although he was reluctant to touch most of them.

It felt kind of early to head to the school and the park along the way. I knew he wouldn’t want to play in a park for too long. So we walked slowly. We stopped at the park we had walked by with Carly when we walked from school into town.  He climbed on a play structure a bit, went on the merry-go-round, sat and drank some water and we got out the iPad and played Gro Forest together, and then he wanted to go down a little slide but decided to was too sunny. Instead, he stomped on the tall grass, saying it was a musical instrument and that the song changed.

We continued on to school, and right before we got to the gate we heard the bell ending school. We had arrived a minute late, as students started to come out to their busses. The school has a single gate as its entrance and exit, so we were stuck for close to 10 minutes. August enjoyed it though, and as he watched them come out he made his machine noises and moved his arms back and forth like he was conducting or swimming. I asked what he was doing and he said “I’m putting all the people in my machine and putting them up into logs.” Slightly disturbing, but a reference to Gro Forest and the machine that cuts trees and turns them into logs.

Once in we went to the library. They have a huge selection of picture books. We could have stayed there a long time, and August kept wanting to read books there. We found The Wind Blew and read that, then read a Biscuit Halloween book. We ended with A Birthday for Frances, Biscuit’s Earth Day Celebration, and Rocket Writes a Story.

It was about 3:30 when we got going, but he first stopped to play with the big stuffed animals. He lay on them, and had me cover him up. He would have happily stayed there longer but I finally convinced him to go find mama. We went over to the pool and first went to the bathroom. It took awhile, and when we finally came out Carly was getting to the pool at the same time.

We went in, and Carly spotted an open shed with swim noodles and swim fins in it. She ended up getting noodles for him and her, and she wore swim fins. He tried the swim fins at one point but they were too big and he was upset there weren’t any smaller ones. The noodles were a good tool for August; as soon as he had one he let go of me and started swimming around out in the open. It was something he could still hold onto a bit but allowed him to swim on his own.

We had a good hour in the pool playing around. We tried stopping at the library to ask one of the librarians about when we could come in but they weren’t there. I saw the free books We then got going home, and had to stop a couple times to keep August from going to sleep. We stopped at Jack and Celeste’s house to borrow a big measuring cup so August and I could make chocolate chip cookies tomorrow.

At home we had some dinner and took August up for a shower. He kept asking “Could you put more soap on me?” I commented on how tan he was and he said “I know”. We all went in to wrestle on the bed and he was asleep about 8:20.

ATM: 

Hardware store: 

Playground: 

Library: 

Silly in bed: 

He was up between 6:30 and 6:40. Carly was upstairs when he woke up, and I went up a bit later and found him awake. Carly left at 6:50 and he handled that just fine. He played Gro Forest and ate dried Cheerios, then decided he wanted them with milk. I suggested he type to someone on Skype and he decided on gramma and grampa. He said “I used to do it all the time but now I don’t…Why?” He watched Wanda and the Alien while we waited for Eve to come and install the strip for the shower. The show has grown on me a bit; he certainly found it very funny in parts. Eve came and August did just fine with him. August said something about calling him “another grampa” after he left. I’m not sure where that connection came from. Playing Gro Forest: “Any of the fruits the bunny can’t eat…Because they’re just for the neighbors at my house.” And he kept talking like he was a robot: “My sensor told me to touch the flowers…the sensor actually sent a message.” I took a shower, and as I was still wet I heard him getting really upset. Eve was supposed to come back, but not until the afternoon, but I thought he may have come early. I rushed down to find that the iPad had restarted.

We went outside to check the soy milk experiment. It has gotten more wrinkly and gross, but not clearly moldy. He said “I want to see if water makes it liquidy again.” We also watered the plant. He said he didn’t want to do it because he wasn’t good at it. I convinced him he could do it. Up in his room he put all of the Korean coins in my pocket and we took them downstairs. He kept saying he wanted to use them for something. We made some of them shiny using vinegar. On the coffee table he used the coins to make a shape, and I asked if it was a snake. He said “I’m not making a snake, dada, I’m making a little nest for my screw.”

I tried to make sandwiches, but he went to the bathroom and wanted me to wait for him. I finally gave in and got one of the white chairs to sit on. Him: “Not that one…the poop chair…Mama’s poop chair.” We finished the sandwiches, and he let me just cut his in halves (well, quarters as opposed to eighths) today. He said “I need lots of jam to make my skin tasty.” He’s used variations of that line several times now.

We then took the club soda and raisins outside and did the sinking/floating experiment. We also used olive oil and he saw how olive oil and water don’t mix. He tried a raisin again, then changed his mind on them: “I started to like them!” “The spicy ones are for me.” And he tried drinking our water/oil/raisin mixture. Of the floating raisins he said “I’m going to make hose raisins sink by putting more raisins on them.” And it worked. For each thing I asked him to do he would say “Only if I eat one more raisin.” And at one point he realized the air conditioner was on and thought that mama might be home, as when we’ve been out and come home that’s an indicator that she got home before us.

Back inside he spotted a big line of ants going across our kitchen to the rugs. Think there were some crumbs on it, possibly from where he had eaten his sandwich standing at the counter earlier. We repelled that invasion, using a broom, cleaner, a mop, and our fingers. Back inside, he noticed some more ants over by the easel. Suddenly, twenty or so popped out of a tiny hole in the corner. Killed them and sprayed there and they stayed away. Going to talk to the guy at the hardware store about filling holes and keeping out ants. Ada and the landlord both said there’s pretty much nothing we can do, but it seems like closing up all the cracks would help…and be better come winter. On the bright side, haven’t seen any spiders since the first couple days we were here. They weren’t that bad, anyway, but maybe they stay away now that people are here.

We played with the cotton balls, then he wanted to see how candy was made. We watched a couple videos, and during one he pointed and asked “Is that extruders?” It’s a word he’s heard several times on these sorts of videos. He then had me carrying him around on his stool. I then got out the Hebrew rubber stamps, which he was excited about. Except for him it turned into covering his hands with ink. Also, we discovered that one of the rubber pads doesn’t match the letter on the back. It is one that is close though, so we might just live with it.

I had decided to hang around the house as Eve was supposed to return in the afternoon. Thought about heading over to the mall to get some lunch and play there, but August wasn’t excited by the idea. But about 2:30 he decided he wanted to go on a walk. In part because he wanted a Tic Tac. So we went out on a Zinnie walk bout 2:45. He chose our paths, and had us go around to the right and up the little path, through the park, and along the paths to the second park. He wanted to keep going along the road towards the school. I said we needed to stay close in case Eve came. When we were out in the sun August said “I just turned on my machine that makes more clouds.”

We went back to the house to check. No Eve. Kept walking, as he still wanted to, to the NE this time. He was quiet, and said he wanted more numbers songs. I was singing the one to the tune of ABC. We stopped and watched a couple cats, and  I gave him some Cheerios to snack on. He asked if they had honey, then said “If they don’t have honey I call them mama Cheerios.” Which comes right from Vivian. We ended up at the playground and he finished the Cheerios as he sat in the stroller. He dumped out the crumbs, calling it “seasoning”. He then called the container a shell – first a crab shell on his finger, then a “frog shell”. Later I realized he meant like an egg. He was still hungry, and I pulled a carrot cake Larabar out of the backpack. He said it was “disgusting”, but I reminded him how he had tried raisins again and liked them. He then ate the entire Larabar. Except for the very last bite, which he said was “gross” and gave to me.

He went on some exercise equipment and got really sad when I said that one of them was just too big for him as it was for older people. I got him to go on one of the swinging ones though, like the kind he first knocked himself over with when he was just a few months old. Now, he could hold onto the handlebars and everything.

We got home at 4 and did a lot more with the Hebrew stamps. I did all of our names in Hebrew, which surprisingly are all the same number of letters, despite (generally) a lot of vowel sounds not being represented in written Hebrew. He got more ink on his hands, and in his ear, and on his cheek. Carly got home at 4:20 just in time to see him all inky. She turned the air conditioner cooler and August said “When I’m really sweaty my hair feels gross.” He was getting rough with Carly, so we went upstairs to wrestle on the bed. I stayed for a few minutes, but then went downstairs in case Eve showed up. He didn’t.

Back downstairs he played some of his airplane app and kept wanting to show things to Carly, who was starting to cut up veggies for stir fry. He switched to an art app before I left to go to the store. I walked over to Tiv Taam. As I walked there the song “Big Hard Sun” played on my playlist. Seemed very appropriate. Was able to stock up a little on soy milk and juice so we aren’t always running out. Tried asking for ‘One bag, please’ in Hebrew, as I knew all the words. But she needed it repeated, then thought I meant one of the reusable bags. Should have asked what they call the regular grocery bags.

At home I got some dinner. Carly had found frozen seitan and basmati rice – with all our rice in Korea none of it was long grain. August wanted to brush his teeth, then he wanted a new show. We found Ask the Storybots, a Netflix show. Only six episodes, but it turned out to be perfect and August loved it. The first episode was ‘Why does night happen?’ And the second was ‘What makes an airplane fly?’ August loved that it
was about robots and had pipes and machines and everything. And he liked the songs. I liked the jokes and the special guests – Jay Leno was in the first, Kevin Smith in the second.

I took him up for his shower after that, then we went down, intending to read stories. Carly came down though and he was jumping on her.  We went back up to play on the bed. At one point he said he was safe next to Carly, then asked me “Can you unsafen me?”

I left about 8:20 when he seemed to be slowing down a bit and Carly took him to the bathroom. He was asleep about 8:30 or a little after.

Pretending to drink our oil, water, and raisin mix: 

Blue: 

Cat: 

Exercise equipment: 

Cotton ball: 

Ink: 

Jumping: 

Just after 6:40, right after Carly had left, I thought I heard shuffling feet upstairs. After a while he came downstairs, climbed on the couch and then got upset: “Mama was nursing me!” I think maybe he was having a dream. Sat there a couple minutes then poked me and demanded “Puffin Rock.” He watched the first snow episode and said the snowflakes looked more like snow bubbles and “When it snows I will catch snow bubbles to eat.”

He wanted dry Cheerios so he could eat on the couch. Ate some there, then wanted some with milk so he ate at the table. He wanted to draw with the stencils, but when we went over there we found some ants on the ground and got distracted by getting rid of those. We talked about what he wanted to learn, and he said he wanted to learn how knives and blackboards are made with cool shiny machines. So we watched a couple videos of knives and blackboards being made – common element being that they were both made out of steel.

We went out and watered the plant, and he mentioned something about leaves getting better. I pulled up the photo of when we first got the plant and we could indeed tell that leaves had gotten bigger. August said “Planty says dada should give planty a coin to help it grow.” Back inside we read a couple of Biscuit books and Berenstain Bears No Girls Allowed. We then went back out and checked the soy milk experiment. It suddenly looked interesting, as the top has dried out and gotten wrinkly and cracked.

We talked about going somewhere, and he said “Good. Cuz when we go there I will clean it up with my mechanical machine.” We then had some toast and jam. I was feeling achy and didn’t have an appetite, so didn’t eat much through the day. He played some Gro Forest, then went to the bathroom and said “I want you to wash off my germs in my bath tonight, dada.” Back out on the rug in front of the air conditioner, he noticed the small cracked part on my foot. He was concerned about it, and gave me some medical advice: “let it heal without a bandaid…Don’t touch it.”

He then watched Peg + Cat, sitting on the floor right by the couch, and let me nap for awhile. He tried convincing me to go to the school and pool, saying “You just watch me. You just watch me while I swim.” I pointed out it was the walking I didn’t want to do.

We drew with markers. He liked the idea of a mosaic, so I did a bunch of lines and we, mainly I, filled them in. He did draw a big machine made of green lines connecting and stretching across the paper, several of the lines being cords to plug it in to electricity in other places. I used a paper towel roll and tape to make a roller so we can roll up the other end of the paper, as he was a little upset when he tore a small hole in the paper with a marker where it went up on the rug. He played with that, hiding all the markers in the roller.

Made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for him for lunch. After lunch he took his shirt off by pulling it down, in the process it was pulling off his shorts and underwear, so he was dancing around, talking about his “escaping bottom”. He then had some funny naked time on the couch, which lasted until he almost leaked on it. He went to the bathroom. When he was done he was really trying to convince me to come back: “Trust me, dada, I’m done. For reals.”

Back on the couch we read parts of the electricity book, then rested on the couch. He wanted a blanket so I got my sheet thing from the bed. We then made a rocket on the couch out of all the pillows. He said “I wish I could stay here forever.” His rocket kept catching on fire, and he would get in his escape capsule (sitting on a pillow) and I’d carry it across the room, then put out the fire.

That lasted quite awhile, then we watched some Peppa Pig. Finally got going and left at 3. We took recycling up and dropped that off. A few times recently he’s used the sentence “I found something you might want to see.” He used it to point out something along the way.

At the playground he had me lift him through the high hoop a few times, then he went on the swing. But he wore his sunglasses so he wouldn’t get metal in his eye. Went over to the ship structure for a few minutes when he spotted a pipe he was curious about. And older boy came and was playing on the structure above us. August closed his eyes and covered them with his hands when he spotted him climbing down.

There was the noise of tree trimming down the street, which at first he said was too loud, but then he wanted to go find it. We walked down the street and watched them across it, up in a lift using a chainsaw. We speculated on why they were cutting off so many branches (too many for my taste). We went back to the park, as Carly would be walking home soon. Went on the swing again, but then decided he was ready to head home. He said “Bye park, bye swing, see you later.” He then got quite upset when I didn’t want to carry him right across to the stroller.

We went home and he was still a bit upset. Carly came home a few minutes later and they nursed and read some of the books she had checked out from the school library. Carly then headed over to the mall to do some grocery shopping, and August and I read Patch and Little Owl’s Night.

August had suddenly developed an appetite this evening: He ate three containers of dried Cheerios. He ate a banana while Carly was here, then a second one, of which I just had a bite. He was still hungry, so I made two eggs and cheese and cauliflower. I gave him half. He took a bite and said “This is really good.” He wanted still more, so I made him another egg’s worth. Had had two or three bites when Carly got home. While she was still gone he had been looking at the books on the couch and said “Thank you mama for all these books.”

Carly came home and he and I read the Patch book again. We also finished the Lost in Spice book. We watched a video of a crocodile eating a chicken. I had thought I’d be able to find something more kid-friendly about what alligators/crocodiles ate, but all the others looked potentially graphic, so we stopped at that.

He watched a little Peppa Pig, then did art with Carly. When Carly asked why he wouldn’t fill in shapes he said “I’m not very good.” They went outside for awhile and he showed her the soy milk experiment. He came back in for the tweezers, and was using them to tweeze apart one of the tree things.

They came back in and had a mango, then he went up and went to the bathroom and took a shower. Back down, he read books with me. Sarah and Duck and some Biscuit. And a Sleepy Dog, Wake Up! book, which is a level 1 reader. He wasn’t happy that it was so short. We also brushed his teeth. Carly had headed to bed, so after we were done reading we went up to her. He was asleep about 8:30.

Photos. Checking the soy milk experiment: 

Pointing to the pipe over on the ship structure: 

Hiding from the boy: 

Watching tree cutting: 

Brushing his teeth: 

Trying to drink the toothpaste: 

7:14. I found him at the top of the stairs, smiling. Walked halfway down, then asked me to carry him. Set him on the couch and he lay there for a few minutes, then sat up, silent for a few more. Seemed to be contemplating the sun coming in through the window across from us. That window had been stuck, with th blinds down, until I got it unstuck a day or two ago. I had my arm around him for several minutes while we sat there. I’m starting to appreciate the opaque windows. They do cut down on visibility outside when it is hot, which I don’t like, but the light is good. And when it cools off a bit we can open both sets and have big breezes and views out of them.

At 7:25 he lay back in the couch and whispered a “I want cereal…And milk…please.” I got him cereal and he sat at the table eating it. When he spilled some milk on the table he said “Mess!…I made some bad cells.” He was referring to our talk last night about how cells die and the body makes new ones.

When he was done he came on the couch and wanted to be covered with pillows. It was his burrow and he said it was raining out. A minute later he said the clouds were running out of rain. He said “My burrow’s farther underground.” Good use of ‘farther’.

We went outside and caught ants to put in the bug viewer. Then came back inside and he played the forest app and I took a shower, then did some Gro Recycling with him. He remembered all the mints he got at the pool yesterday and said “I had a mouthful.” He then said “I want to go on an adventure!” We almost got out on a walk, but then he spilled the Tic Tacs while acting crazy and wasn’t happy when I took them away. We did some art, using the stencil again, and he drew on his hands and feet. We discussed our goals and he thought up learning about how markers are made and what alligators eat. We went and watched a couple videos about how markers are made, as he wanted to do that right away.

I had our first glass of iced tea and let August drink some. He really liked it, particularly with crunchy sugar in it. We watched a couple of quite funny Peppa Pig stories, then got out on a walk at 11:40.

We headed over past the mall, looking for a cafe that Google Maps says is there, and a park area. It was another bust: the cafe must be in an assisted living complex we couldn’t go in. Saw some nice flowers though, and August liked all the blue street signs around a roundabout. We walked back to the mall and ate our lunch on a bench by the outdoor play area. August wasn’t thrilled about the bird poop on the bench. He went in and played on the airplane toy for a bit, sitting on it a bit, but mainly chasing flies that were bothering us and blowing on them to chase them away.

We went into the mall and went to the Kravitz store (where I’ve got notecards and tape). We found a ruler set (August chose green, for mama) and a couple of stencils: ovals and Hebrew. We also got a 9V battery for electricity experiments.

We then went to the grocery store and he helped shop, carrying the basket around most of the time even as it filled up. We got crackers, vanilla soy milk, and raisins and club soda (for science experiments) and a few other things. We headed home. I tried to feed him the crackers, but he ate a couple and decided he didn’t like them. He also rejected raisins again after trying one. He would also reject the vanilla soy milk when we tried it at home. Kind of struggling to find snacks for him, as all he wants is Tic Tacs now. Although he was excited to get mushrooms and cauliflower, so that’s something.

We were back at 1:50. Turned on the AC and watched a little Puffin Rock. We then drew with the stencils and rulers. He just wanted me to do it, and explained “I’m too little…No, I don’t want to make mistakes.”

We headed back out at 2:45. There are big piles of branches along the way where workers are trimming trees – feels like they are taking away our shade, although most of it isn’t. At the school we went and found Meghan. Before we did so I asked if he wanted to ask to keep the stencil longer, or whether he was ready to return it. He said he was ready, and I had him walk up to her and give it back. He then spotted her shelf with scissors, markers, etc. and there was a bucket of highlighters. The first video we had watched this morning was about highlighters, which he doesn’t really know. He wanted to see how they work, so I got out a napkin and he tried all the colors. Then, he found a big tub of colorful wooden shapes and we built a rocket out of them.

We then tried to go to the library, but got there just after 3:30 and found out that Amanda was closing it at 3:30. So no checking out books for us today. We ran into Carly there, who was trying to talk to Ada, and gave her her swimsuit. August and I went over and got in the pool, and Carly got there about 4:15. We had a lot of fun until close to 5. August started to do a little bit of dog paddling out in the middle of the pool. He and Carly got to play around too.

On the way home, when we hit the rocky pavement at a construction site, he said he was a machine that threw rocks in the street. I think he meant it as a helpful thing, getting them out of our way. Earlier, on our walk to the mall, he had first been a machine that eats poop and disgusting stuff so people don’t have to see it, then a machine that eats pollen so people don’t get sick.

Got home about 5:30. Carly made him eggs with the already cooked cauliflower in it and that worked pretty well. And she and I took turns taking showers. He watched a little more Puffin Rock, then played with the chairs, pushing them across the floor and saying “I’m up to something.” He then played with the cotton balls and asked “Can I put cotton balls on my bottom cuz my bottom’s a little itchy.”

Carly got him up to his shower and I helped him get it done. He and I went in on the bed, and he played with the remote. He turned it really cold and I said I’d sleep in a different room: “Okay. But not mama. Mama always likes cold things.” He then turned it really warm (30) and called Carly up. He was really giggly and hid his face from her until she saw the setting. Some silly time on the bed, then he was asleep about 7:20.

Don’t know if I’ve mentioned that he can no longer squat like he used to. He used to do it all the time when playing on the floor. A couple days ago he sort of had one knee down and he pointed out he was sitting differently. I asked if he could still squat and he tried it without much success. He then tried it on his own yesterday. He could do it, and said he could do it for a long time, but he was shaky, and not nearly as natural with it as it used to be. Must be something about bone and muscle development.

Waking up: 

Pillows: 

Our lovely light: 

Iced tea: 

Airplane: 

Swimming: 

Carly had new student orientation today so left around 7.

7:14. Sat on the stairs for a minute but recovered quickly. Then watched a couple episodes of Peg + Cat. Had toast with strawberry yogurt spread on it and a little mango juice for breakfast. We then went outside to check on our soy milk experiment (still looks like soy milk) and he said he wanted to go to the park and stay there until it turned to mold. We went back in and took our the cotton balls from the tea experiment and washed them off and got clean cotton balls to compare them to. We talked about why the white ones changed color more. Then, I showed him the science experiment books I’ve been collecting on the iPad and we looked at those. We then did the soap experiment, heating a small bar or soap in the microwave to make it expand. We decided to wait until Carly was home before we broke it apart and tried to wash with it. Back in the books we looked at experiments some more and started to compile a shopping list.

He then played Gro Forest while I went and took a shower. Came back and we played together. I stretched on the couch, and he sat on my back and claimed it was tickly: “Everytime I sit on you it’s tickly. Don’t be tickly.” He was still hungry and so had some of the “Cereal from Korea”, Cheerios, and soy milk. He said he wanted to see how bread was made, so we went to YouTube, but was distracted by a Peppa Pig video. We watched a couple then finished getting ready to go and left at 11:30.

We didn’t quite know what was happening with new student orientation and the pool, so I planned to go to the private pool that is also close to the school. On the way, August started singing number songs, including his number version of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik which he hasn’t sung for quite awhile. Peg + Cat has really had an affect.

We got to the pool only to find it closed. So we went to the school pool anyway, getting there a little after 12. There were a few kids and adults there, but not many. I still had the Tic Tacs in my pocket when I started to get in the pool. I saw a little water in them, so August and I finished the last 8 or so off. August had 3 or 4 in his mouth and took a few minutes enjoying them and the lifeguard commented on how he had his priorities: must enjoy candy first, then get in water. Once I n the water August was asking why things sink so we talked about why things sink different speeds and density of air. He also pretended we were on a rocket in the pool.

The students started to show up, and Grace talked to him about their cat. Apparently he liked to call their cat “Fire…orange fire” because it was orange. Carly came and got to swim with August for the first time. I slipped off to get some of the lunch provided. He interacted with a bunch of the girls while Carly had him. He then got a little upset because he wanted to play games with the other kids. And because the pool was so full we couldn’t move around much, there were a lot of waves, and he was getting splashed. He complained about them, but he didn’t want to get out. Carly went and talked to Cassie (who is also a twin, and has a 2 and a half year old) and August hopped on and jumped off my leg in the pool, singing a “Jumpy jump” song.

We got out of the pool just before 2 and went to the picnic table outside Carly’s classroom where he ate his sandwich and Carly and I took turns going to the bathroom to change. We started walking home, and I was going to turn and head into town to go shopping. Right before I left them, Holly came by. She gave the two of them a ride home. August had just been falling asleep in the stroller and wasn’t thrilled about getting out, then fell asleep in the car for a minute and didn’t want to get out of the car.

I walked up into town. Checked out the site along the way where Google claims a toy store is. There is not. Our neighborhood grows more and more empty and in need of a car with every trip. In town, I first went to the health foods store and bought the glass iced tea jar and a couple of jar glasses. Then next door to the kids’ store. The woman in there was really nice and talked to me about learning Hebrew. I picked out a Hebrew stamp pad kit for August and a couple of nice spoons. She was all out of forks. I was looking at little science kits, but they were a bit too much for August. She suggested a bug jar. That looked really cool, so I got that.

Then to the hardware store, where I got a spirally hose and a cheap bottle cleaner for the sink. They had just sold out of duct tape. Again, the younger guy was very nice and said I could come and just talk to him if I wanted to practice my Hebrew. Finally, a stop at the grocery store, where I got bread and milk, etc. and also corn schnitzels and I found a Brita pitcher.

I walked home and gave him the bug container first. He then came up to me and told me how mama had given him the pudding treat for lunch without having to do a deal. He was very excited about this. When asked, he remembered our deal (“one bite of fruit, one bite of treat”) and was probably giggling extra hard when he ate it, but Carly just thought he was excited about the pudding.

We then went outside and he got to play with the hose, and hosed out the inside of his playhouse. He put seeds and a screw and I put a bit of the tree things (you can really see the spirals of them in it) in and found a feather for him to look at. Not a lot of luck finding insects, but that can wait for another day. We also watered the plant. He wanted to watch me do it, then he did a little extra.

Inside, he watched me fill the iced tea pitcher, and he was curious as to how the Brita filter works (he’s used to the pool filter, which requires a big machine). He showed Carly our expanded soap, which she thought looked like a cracker, then he had fun breaking it apart and we decided it looked like laundry soap and he put it in water. Oh, and outside he could see some spots on our soy milk experiment. Might just be dust, but he was excited that it might be mold.

Had some dinner. He ate a little corn patty and cheese, but not a lot. Carly found a bunch of ants coming in the front door, so they had fun hurriedly spraying and killing ants and finding more.

Past 7 the long trip to bedtime began. He sat on the toilet for quite awhile, and when I ran out of explanations for something he said “I put more explains in.” We went down and read a couple Biscuit books, Sarah and Duck, and Oh Daddy! He and Carly tried for sleep close to 8, but no luck. He came back down and we read Elva’s Violin and parts of the books about electricity, including the safety guidelines, which he had a lot of questions about. He asked me if I could nurse, and I said no, only mamas could. He was a bit upset about this and said “But I want to nurse some kids!”

We went back upstairs at 8:40. He had ripped up a tissue before we went up and said it was for mama. We found her in the office and he excitedly presented it to her: “Ripped up tissue for you.” Tried for sleep at 8:50, but he started talking about molecules and microscopes and jumping on the bed. His brain just wasn’t going to sleep. Carly went to finish getting ready for tomorrow. Tonight was the most difficulty he’s had getting to sleep since we went camping. I sang him some songs…A ah apples, the Sesame Street songs he liked before we left Korea, then Carly came back in and they tried again. He rolled over to me.

He came out with me and watched me get ready in the bathroom. I narrated (now I’m putting toothpaste on my toothbrush…) and he kept saying “Okay”. We went back in and he was asleep at 9:45.

Oh, and when I was pouring Cheerios for him this morning he said they were flashing. We figured out they were falling in front of the light reflecting off the edge of the window and tried dropping more in front of it to make the flashing.

Waking up: 

Cotton ball dyeing results: 

Trying to crouch: 

Playing on the couch: 

He was up about 8. Nursed, then had some of his “Something something milk”. We skyped with my parents for close to an hour. For breakfast he wanted dry Cheerios (they have them at the store here) and sat there making his yummy noises. He then had yogurt and added Cheerios into his strawberry yogurt and ate it. I took a shower, then Carly went upstairs to rest and work. August got silly with his shirt and pulled it down around his waist like a skirt and ran and danced around. We ate some grapes, went outside for a short while, then drew more shapes on the paper and played with cotton balls. He went under the table and was doing more “Elevator rain machine” but bonked his head on the table and went to Carly at 11.

Back down, he had a paper towers roll and was dropping and blowing the cotton balls through it. He asked me to keep doing more shapes. He decided he didn’t want to return the stencil to Meghan. He started hitting the paper with the green marker and said “That’s sparks of electricity…It killed you.” He then turned to painting his feet and sang a”Painting my toes” song. The paper towel roll had gotten a little squished, then he tried tearing a loose piece of paper off of it and made it worse. He wanted to go find Carly, saying “I want mama to ruin the rest.”

He took it upstairs to Carly and they did ruin it together. They came down and we ate the leftover ravioli for lunch. Then August and I decided to go on a walk. Because he wanted Tic Tacs, that is. He went up to Carly and politely asked “Do you want to go on a walk with us mama?” But she stayed behind. As I buckled him in the stroller (he always reminds me if he isn’t buckled) he asked “You need to be buckled so you don’t sneak in anyone’s houses?” We left at 1:15.

The goal was to walk up Kibuts Galuyot Street, which dead ends to the north, but it looked on the map like there might be a walkway to the north. So we headed up that way but found it was a dead end. On the way we stopped and visited the cat we always see lounging on a ledge and August petted it this time. We went back to the synagogue a bit to the south and found that what looked like it might be a different path around to the north was actually a very rough and sandy alley, which the stroller wouldn’t work on. So we walked around the regular streets and up to where Google Maps says there is a cafe and then a nursery. It was an odd street, with big houses/apartment buildings and no trees, kind of set back from the street and towering overhead. August noticed birds sitting up on a windowsill and said they probably wanted to go in the building. Didn’t find the cafe, then August heard an odd noise that he said was a really long way away. It was a big metal fence that was making noise in the wind. We watched and listened that for a bit, then walked up to where the nursery is. It is indeed something, but doesn’t look like it is an open to the public sort of place. As I was looking down the dirt road to it, I spotted four or five small dogs about a half block away. I saw them start running towards us, so I started running, pushing August in the stroller. They actually got close, and I was ready to start kicking at one of them when they turned around. We walked around to the north side and realized that the road that would head back to the playground to the west was actually a dirt road and blocked by a construction dumpster. The dogs were now back to their original spot, which was now down to our right. One decided to run towards us. It turned around when I reached for a rock, and I threw one rock at it to further scare it off and it ran back. August was generally excited by the running and chasing, although he had yellled at one dog when it got close.

We found a path that led through the housing and came out to the playground on Ha-Hadarim Street where he had once eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich after we first went to the grocery store in town. We played there until 3. We went on a spinning thing that had 5 seats a couple times. He noticed the holes in the bottom of the seats and I explained it was so that water would drain out, as no one would sit in them if they were full of water. He said “If my bottom was itchy and my clothes was off and I was sitting in it I would want to.” He played in the dune buggy toy that also has a pretend battery in it. I rested on the slide and he went down it, like we used to do in Korea. We realized his shoes were remarkably clean and were trying to figure out how they got clean, as they had had  stuff stuck over their entire treads.

He also went on the big rope-based climbing structure. Did a lot of climbing himself, and I helped him a bit. And he rocked on the green seat thing suspended from it. Finally, he climbed up on the play structure and played with the binoculars. We sat on the bench we used before and ate some watermelon, then left at 3 and were home at 3:15, drenched in sweat.

He went up with Carly for awhile, then had some crazy time on the bed, and made funny noises with his lips. They went outside a bit, then when he came back in I showed him Peg + Cat. It is a cartoon about a girl and a cat and is math-based, with each story involving a math concept or two or three. He loved it. We had also tried something called Wanda and the Alien the other day, but I didn’t like it and thankfully he didn’t as well. As we watched we ate some coated peanuts together, then a cracker. Carly came down and they nursed on the couch. He wanted an apple, but the apple Carly cut was frozen. She cut up a mango, but he said he didn’t like it. Carly whispered to me “It’s not the best mango.” and he heard it from across the room and repeated it. He also told me “I don’t love mango as much as you, dada.”

He helped me refill the ice trays, then I started moving the furniture upstairs, after Carly had done a little earlier. We were switching things to where we finally want them, with our beds in the room closest to the bathroom and the sofa and the desk in the corner room. August hasn’t wanted to play TodoMath the last few times I’ve suggested it, but after Peg + Cat he was suddenly back into math and played TodoMath. Carly came up to help me for awhile, and he was calling up. Carly went down to check on him once, and he got really sad – the iPad had turned off because he hadn’t been using it, wanting to show Carly that something was green. They also watched some Puffin Rock and ate some dinner and were were outside, raking, when I finished. They came in to look. Going up and down the stairs there is lots of talk of walking or being carried up the stairs. He was telling me that mama doesn’t always hold on when walking up, and he later observed that she doesn’t hold on on the lower part, but does on the upper level.

And after I explained to him about why he had to get a new water bottle because of the mold in one of the straws, he wanted to see the mold in the old straw, so I had shown him when we got home from our walk. Later, talking to Carly, he said “Can I use this straw cuz dada says I can’t use the straw in the little water bottle cuz it has mold in it.”

He was less interested in the mo bed furniture than he was in hearing the Tic Tacs still in my pocket. He acted silly about those as I pulled them out and hid them back in my pocket. He and I read the Sarah and Duck book, possibly twice, and George Catches a cold. I made a veggie burger sandwich for myself for dinner but he said he was full. He was talking more about seeing mold, so we decided on another experiment, placing some of the new soy milk drink (which he doesn’t like) in a yogurt container and putting it out on a ledge to see what happens. Earlier, he had tried to dye cotton balls using two tea bags in a cup. We will check that in the morning.

He then spent a long time on the toilet, then we went up with Carly. She was sleepy and it was past 8 so we decided to skip a bath. He had a lot of energy though. I found a little sticker on a pillow and h
e was confused by it. He said “It’s supposed to have the company on it. It’s supposed to have the brand.”

“I’m a scary dragon.”

She tried to put him to sleep, but it didn’t work. So he came down with me. We read Sarah and Duck again, then Peppa Pig Windy Fall Day, Tiny Rabbit’s Big Wish, and a few Biscuit books: Goes to School, Visits the Doctor (which we bought at his request), and First Beach Day. At some point he talked about how we ‘only’ have two toilets and that “When Vivian comes I will go toilet shopping.” And he said he would buy one for Colin that was the same size and color as the one that Colin has.

He also talked about how when he goes to sleep I always go back downstairs and was asking why. So I said that I would go to sleep with him tonight. We went upstairs and got ready in the bathroom, then went to bed just after 10. He was asleep just after 10:10, and slept right up against me much of the night.

Paper towel roll:

Neighbor cat:

Playground: 

Filling ice cube trays: 

Carly woke up feeling sick so called Mandy and she came and gave her a ride to work.

He slept until 7:40. I heard the door and went up to find him coming out of the bathroom, looking for Carly. He said something like “Mama said she would nurse me.” He got upset but my suggestion of special milk calmed him right down. We went down and got some special milk for him and an iced coffee for me and he played the new Gro Forest app. At one point he took a break and said “I have a new game but you need to buy it. It’s sixteen dollars…” He ate some banana yogurt for breakfast and also played the recycling app and we quickly (for us) got ready to go and left just after 9.

We were meeting Ofer, husband of one of the teachers, and his son Liam, 4, at the school. Also, the pool was only open until 10am before closing until 3, so we wanted to get there for some swim time.  We tried the new Tic Tacs that we had gotten at the store yesterday as we left the house. He was shocked to find that the orange ones aren’t actually orange, as that is just the color of the container.

I hurried and made it to the entrance of the school in exactly 15 minutes. We walked up to the pool right at 9:20. We had a good time in the pool and he did a little more swimming along the edge. I had fun talking to Ofer, who is Israeli, and August was intrigued by Liam and his snorkeling set, although he didn’t want to borrow their other set quite yet. Liam speaks English but his Hebrew is stronger, and he wouldn’t speak any English to August during our entire visit.

At 10 we got out and sat in some chairs and had a snack, then all went over to the ‘Soup’ playground. August and I decided the other playground would be called the ‘rocket’ playground. There, they started to play together more as August was putting pieces of wood in the shopping cart and taking them over to where Liam was. They also spent a lot of time playing in and on top of the car toy that has four steering wheels in it. August said they shot balls. They also climbed on top, and were fixing the car and its engine using items as tools. Liam started talking to us more, but only in Hebrew and Ofer would translate. August was starting to act a bit like he did with Vivian, wanting the same toy as Liam. Meanwhile, Liam didn’t want to share the front seat, or let August play with toys he had set down and August asked to use. Ofer said none of it was new to him as they have an almost-two year old as well.

They left a little past 11 to pick up their daughter at daycare. August and I played a little more, then he was ready to head home. We saw Ada on the way out. I had the towel over the stroller and pulled it forwards on the side so he would have more shade. He grabbed it and pulled it tighter around him so he was enclosed. After a couple of minutes I realized he was silent and when I checked he was falling asleep. I sang some songs on the way home and thought he would fall asleep but he didn’t. Had a good rest though.

He lay under the AC then played the forest app and I took a shower, then a coffee and milk for us. We did a little GarageBand and we filled a new spray bottle with vinegar and water and we sprayed the doorsteps to help keep the ants away. He played with the case for my sunglass things and said “Come on, give it a try…greedy thing.” And we watered the plant, giving it a little more as it was looking a little wilted.

Finally, at 2:45, he and I headed out, trying the rest of the 3 Tic Tac flavors we had along the way. We went over to the mall and looked around a bit at the market outside. He wanted to get closer to the speakers playing music so we did that for a bit. Not a lot of luck shopping for stuff at first. Got tape at one store and paid with 11 shekels for something that was 10.90. But he was out of coins so had to use the credit card. While I shopped in that store he chose to just sit in the stroller near the entrance, and had fun waving to me when he saw me down the aisles. We then went to the grocery store and August helped shop, carrying and pushing and hopping along the basket much of the time. At one point I started to pick up the basket and move it myself and he protested, then said “Punky dada”. August joked about picking up the big M and Ms on the statue again and when I paid I this time had to wait a long time to get all my change as she was out of coins. We have our bank cards now so once we deposit some money we can start paying with that.

He was falling asleep again on the way home again, but woke up when we followed the path the water would take in the pipes/channel from the highway towards us. He had asked where the water went on the way over. We realized it would go…into a parking lot and street, with no drains.

At home he spent a little time with Carly, then I took him downstairs while she rested. We used the shapes stencil from Meghan and drew on the paper, then he also drew on his hands. And some ended up on his face. He got out the cotton balls and poured them all out and started throwing them around, calling “Confetti! Confetti! Confetti!” I was throwing them to/at him under the table and he was putting them through the legs of table, calling “Elevator machine!” Eventually, all of the cotton balls ended up all the way over in the kitchen, where we were throwing them up and having them fall down on us. He lay on the floor and I made it rain on him.

For dinner I started by cooking the ravioli in the freezer, and Carly came down for a few minutes. He ate some of that, after I cut all of his ravioli in half, then we read Sarah and Duck Stay at the Duck Hotel a couple times. I had also cut up the cauliflower and was baking it and he had some of that when it was done. He liked it but said it was too peppery, so I had to scrape the black specks from it and he ate more after that. We read the Sarah and Duck book again. He was being silly on the couch, so when he said “My head feels right…I have a headache.” I wasn’t sure if he meant it. He also said “Could you please drink out of me? There’s something attached to my foot and it’s a straw. The machine makes juice water for you.” And “You’re the tank and the hose is attached to me. Tank, can you give spit back to me?”

At 7:45 we went upstairs. Carly was talking to Cherie. August took a shower and was asleep by 8:15.

Photos: 

More shade: 

Dropping cotton balls on him: 

Marker on his face: