August woke up with a lot of energy. Just a couple minutes after waking up, he was down with Cherie happily playing with an old deck of cards, dumping them out and picking them back up and making a lot of noise.
She had to go teach a yoga class, and we were going to leave for Olympia before she returned. However, that changed as I was sitting here at the living room table and looked up to see a Stellar’s jay come flying in the door. Carly stood at the entrance to the steps with August in her hands for a few minutes. He thought it was great fun to watch the bird flying around, and kept asking for ‘more’. She took him downstairs, and after about 20 minutes of chasing the bird around the living room and kitchen, upstairs and down, I cornered it behind the couch in the corner and used pillows to block its escape and the window screens to direct it towards the open window, and then a broom to give it a slight nudge that sent it flying up and out of the window.
Anyway, that and other delays meant we didn’t leave until after 11:30. We first drove up to the BECU at Lacey to make our annual $2000 contribution to August’s Coverdell account. What should have been a 5 minute visit turned into more than 20, as the guy who set it up last summer apparently didn’t know the difference between a CD and an IRA. Luckily, BECU has these little kid toys on handheld boards, and those kept him pretty entertained. Carly did take him outside for the last few minutes. Oh, and when Carly was depositing checks/cash in the ATM, August liked the noise it made when it took in a check and would ask for ‘more’.
We then drove to Olympia and parked around the corner from the camera shop so I could pick up the cassettes I’d had transferred to CD. While riding with August in the backseat, I’ve found that he has ticklish palms: a little press with a finger on the palm of a hand will send him into fits and giggles.
After picking up the cassettes/CDs, we went for a walk along the waterfront, walking north from the playground area to the dock and observation tower up close to the market. August walked around the area close to the tower for several minutes, showing himself to be surprisingly adept at spotting each cigarette butt on the ground. Carly and I ended up trying to cover them up with our feet whenever he got close to one. He also revealed he’s still fascinated by drains, especially when there is water under them. A group with several school age girls went by while we were there. They were quite loud and running around. As they went by, August signed ‘more’ and wanted to follow them when they left. And he liked to stop and look at/smell the flower boxes the city has along the walk. There was one in particular, on the way up, where he stood on the bench and studied them for several minutes.
Before we left, we stopped back by the playground for a few minutes for bathroom and changing purposes. He also nursed and had some banana bread. He then played in the playground for a few minutes, holding banana bread in one hand, and playing with wood chips with the other. It confused one adult into thinking I was letting him eat wood chips, until she realized it was actually food he was holding.
He was having a grand time in the car as we got back to Centralia, talking up a storm. As we pulled into the driveway and stopped, he got really quiet and stared out the window. We played in the driveway for a good long time. He’s gotten pretty good at using the hose, and now walks around with it, painting circles in the air.
He played around in the house for awhile, and then I took him up for his bath. We had fun in the bath, but he wouldn’t sit on his own today. Anytime I stood up, he would stand up.
His latest new words are ‘berry’ and ‘all done’. He said ‘berry’ while pointing to the berries in Cherie’s oatmeal, and he’s started to say ‘all done’ when he is finished with something. He’ll give the ‘all done’ sign (waving two hands) and say ‘all done’ in the same voice he uses for ‘bye bye’.
The bird adventure:
Waiting at BECU:
Olympia:
Covering cigarette butts:
Snacking:
Heading back to Centralia:
The house:
