Another nice day. I keep thinking we’ve had the last 50+ degree day of the winter, then we have another one.
He woke up at 7:17. Upset at first, but I started reading Kipper and he got drawn in. Then wanted to play with chapstick, putting it on himself and me. From there we played with the kitty cat puppet – he really likes the bumpy soft texture of the back. We did some art, then played with the Duplo people on his car puzzle. Earlier, he had been asking for his eraser for the whiteboard. I had said I didn’t know where it was. Quite awhile after that he opened the art drawer and found it and exclaimed “Aha! I found it!” We then played some piano – he does a nice version of ABCs while pounding on the keys. I then brushed his teeth while he watched songs on YouTube and let him watch some more while I got our snacks ready. I looked over to find him kind of doing a pushup with his legs on the arm of the couch while watching it.
We have a new game the last couple of days called ‘Bzzt’. It is the sound of being shocked. He touches me and I make the shocked noise. He was really into it today, particularly as we were getting ready to leave. Then, when I had him in the backpack and were about to go, I realized I hadn’t put his shoes on yet. I said something like “Oh, I still need to put your shoes on” and he replied with a big “Oh my.”
We got to CGP and he wanted to go to the playground. So we went to the Adventureland playground and spent an hour or so playing in the sand, writing letters and words and twirly twirls. Near the end, he heard a big group of kids walking up the main path and he walked away to go see them. A second group came by and he just started up the road, following them. I told him we needed to get the backpack and he stopped. He found a long stick and played with that all by himself for several minutes, then wanted me to use it to draw letters in the grass over and over again.
I changed him and put him in the backpack. He was hungry so he had a snack. And kept eating. Finished one string cheese, all the strawberries, and most of the leftover quesadilla. Only took 7 minutes to put him to sleep.
He was asleep from 12:47 to 1:56. When he woke up and was walking around the cafe we met another woman and her 19 month old son. She has seen us there before and doesn’t know how I get any reading done while taking care of a baby.
From there we went to the zoo for a little while. Went to the horses and goats, where he petted the horses and then fed the goats some food that other kids had dropped. That went well until one of the goats bit his finger a bit – not enough to cause damage, but I think it startled him. From there we went and watched the baboons for several minutes. He then wanted in the backpack. We went and saw the deer before we left.
We went to the children’s museum for a little less than an hour. Stayed on the first floor. It was later in the day, so not nearly as crowded as when there are school groups there. He spent a lot of time at some new stuff he hadn’t played with before: a little tunnel with displays that light up, little drawer things that show you different rocks and minerals (he was saying ‘selenite’), etc. We also spent time making letters out of the magnetic strips. When I made ‘Q’ he said “Q, quack, quickly.” We spent a few minutes over in the ball area before changing him and leaving.
On our way home we stopped at the pink building and went to the stationary store, looking for notecards. Only found a tiny little set. Don’t know why there are so difficult to find here. August saw the display of stickers and I let him choose a set to get. He first saw a set with piggies, but then I saw a pack of sheep and alpaca stickers. He chose that one, handing the other to me and saying “hold this dada.”
Carly was a block away when we left the building, so we met her and walked home together. August spotted her across the street and a good distance away, repeating “see mama!” At home he ate a little pizza for dinner, but not much else; he had eaten a bunch during the day, finishing the last of the sandwich as we left the children’s museum. Oh, and on the subway there was a boy about his age sitting next to him. The boy hurt his hand somehow and was crying. August started comforting him, patting his leg and shoulder. As we got off, the boy gave August an orange. August ate all of it on our walk home.
He did quite a bit of reading with both Carly and me. He used his new stickers to decorate both my chair and his chair, then moved several to the table. A quick bath. He didn’t fight it, but he’s gone back to not sitting down in the bath, so he doesn’t do much playing at all. He kept trying to climb up on the back of the couch, so we were teaching him it was an area just for the stuffed animals. He got tired a little after 8 and went to bed pretty quickly. When Carly suggested it was time to turn off the light, he got up and did it himself. He fell asleep about 8:20.
New words/phrases: knock at the door, stickers in class, becoming a dinosaur, giraffe, mama says that, selenite, it’s working (shapes sticking), hold it dada (giving me stickers to hold), Santa Clause, Q is for question, stuffed animals, becoming (neighbor, cow)
Playground:
Zoo:
Children’s museum:
Comforting the boy on the bus:
Home: