When I went to bed last night he was asleep sideways across the bed where my head would normally go. So I put my pillow below him and had to sort of angle sideways to get my feet on the bed.
He was up a little after 7. He immediately wanted to find Carly. I woke up with him, and told him she was downstairs. I was quickly trying to get dressed and was sneezing as I realized that Carly was actually in the shower, and August was downstairs talking to Andrea and getting upset that he couldn’t find mama. I hurried down, and he was quite upset, especially when I wouldn’t let him go upstairs, as he was noisy and Thatcher was still asleep. Luckily, Andrea had made biscuits, and eventually he was tempted by a biscuit with honey and the jam that Carly had made on it and he calmed down. In fact, when Carly did show up he didn’t get all that excited.
August played on the couch with Andrea and Kayla. Andrea did This little piggie on Kayla and he liked hat but didn’t let her do it to him. They Kayla was tickling August and trying to get the bee on his shirt. They read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? August had me ask them if they wanted to go up to the playroom. But Kayla was looking at another book. We stayed downstairs a bit longer then went upstairs to the playroom. Kayla was up soon after with Derek.
August was talking to Derek when Carly left to return the vacuum cleaner (she had done part of Andrea’s car this morning) and got upset. He wanted to go outside and convinced me to put on our shoes by pointing to the stroller outside. But once we went out the door he just started playing and wouldn’t get in the stroller. We played in the dirt, etc. then when Carly got home I took a shower. August brushed his teeth, then all the kids were playing in the play room. I said he red glasses were probably his favorite toy. He said “and the instrument (car)…and also the monster (that you feed).”
We headed to Stephanie’s just after 10. They greeted us on the porch and August played with a tent pole, using it as a crane. Inside we played for a few minutes with some puzzles (he put the pieces in the clock puzzle) and in the house toys area. Of the kitchen stuff he said “yeah. It’s so interesting.” August and Cedar played together with a toy phone. August was getting allergic, rubbing his eyes, so we headed outside.
There, Ruby showed us the amazing box she has decorated as the home for one of her dolls, with all sorts of things (like a covered wagon and a whaling boat) inspired by stories they’ve read. Then a delivery person brought a big box. It was a math curriculum they had ordered. That provided most of the entertainment for the rest of our visit, after August had worn Ruby’s slippers. The main two things we played with together was a math weight scale and these boards on which you use rubber bands to make shapes.
We headed out just after noon. Two hours had gone quickly. August fell asleep and napped from 12:50 to 2:00. After he woke up he was really in a good mood and talking a lot. He said “Maybe when we go faster it makes me sneeze. And when we go slower it makes me yawn…”
We arrived at Steve and Claremay’s house at 3:15. Steve was asleep on the couch, so we went up to the toy room with Claremay and August played with the toys. He pushed the button on the little oven/stove thing that used to be at Chuck and Cherie’s house and said “I’m grinding beans.” Which he had learned at Derek and Andrea’s, not to mention at 8st Coffee.
We then went outside for awhile. He dropped rocks off the side at one point and we went down to pick them up. I had some cider and he wanted a taste. He swirled it around in his mouth to taste it and then commented that it was more apple-y. Claremay prepared some snacks, and he of course most liked the cookies. He grabbed a piece of mine at one point and ate it and said “I’m eating it because dada is not eating it.” He walked around with shoes on his hands, but then hit Claremay. Saw the mountain, and played in the yard a bit with Carly. It was now just after 4 and Steve came out. August went in with Claremay and got a plate of food, and also came out with a huckleberry jelly bean.
He snuck back inside, and I went in because I was feeling allergic. I heard the tinkle of glass, then he came around the corner with a licorice jelly bean and gave it to me. I let him have it though and he ate it in two bites. He walked around the living room pondering it and decided he liked it. Outside, he ate a few bites of cantaloupe and seemed to like it well enough. He was getting tired of visiting people and started to say “I don’t like you.” So we went inside. He went back outside after a few minutes though, and I lay down on the downstairs couch for a few minutes as I was feeling quite allergic.
We went back inside and he played with the green soccer ball, rolling around on it: “I wanted to listen to the music. The music reminds me of balls. The music reminds me of this ball.” He then delivered licorice jelly beans to Carly and Steve. He kept wanting more licrorice and we were discussing how not being able to have something makes people want it more. However, he managed to grab extra jelly beans and said “I like extras.”
One of us took him to the bathroom, then he went and asked Claremay what she was doing in kitchen. He ran to Carly and said, on his own, “Got my mama.” He and I then played with the hose. He managed to spray me with the hose. Twice. I said “Althausers” as they are known for their water fights. He responded with “Nimans”. He stole another licorice after giving one to Steve: “Really got extra. Now I shouldn’t have any more.”
We then had dinner. Barbecue chicken and apple sauce, which August really, really liked. August and Carly then used the binoculars for several minutes.
We went to the living room and he rolled around with the ball more and played with the fisherman rocking statue that Chuck and Cherie had brought back from Europe. He was then out front with Carly and stepped on the beauty bark and apparently (we were never actually sure) got a sliver. His first, and it was quite traumatic: “Don’t touch it. Don’t look at it…Don’t do anything.” “Not anything will help.” “I just want to put it on the flowers.” And on like that for several minutes. I got a bucket and Carly filled it with water. August by this point was dramatically walking around, tiptoeing on one foot with a shoe on the other: “Now it feels better…half better.” He wore their reading glasses as he hobbled around. Carly pretended to have a sliver and put her foot in the water. He liked that, but wouldn’t do it himself.
At one point Carly tripped him, then he wanted to do it again. He played with the old style telephone, holding it to his ear and talking through the mouth piece. He played around, getting into as much as he could in the living room (glass things, coasters), then gave good high fives to Steve and Claremay before we left.
We left at 7:20. He was tired and exhausted, and got really upset when we wanted the windows up and took control of the windows from him. He continued to be upset until we stopped at a rest area an hour later. We had tried everything along the way, and he would calm down for a second, then get upset again. Finally, due to exhaustion and talking through our plan for the rest of the evening, he calmed down soon before we got to the rest area. Our plan had us stopping at the rest area, nursing, then driving to the house, getting blueberry yogurt drink, and playing with the instrument car in the playroom. He said at one point he wanted more added to the plan, but of course it didn’t matter. After the rest stop he calmed down, then fell asleep in the car at 9:00. I carried him into the house at 9:20 and lay him on the bed and Carly changed him into a diaper in his sleep.
In talking to Derek later I found out that we had eaten at the same fish and chips place in Yellowknife
. I’ve mentioned that place to a few other people, but didn’t really expect to find someone else that knew about it.
Biscuits:
Phone:
Hiding the sliver:
Reading glasses:
Telephone:
High fives:
