He slept all the way until 10. Carly then put on a green and yellow sweatshirt that he hadn’t worn yet and he liked it and wore it the rest of the morning. He had some English muffin and jam, then Paul was outside with him following the cats. August wanted his shoes on though so he came back in and gramma put on his shoes. I went back outside with him. We managed to pet both the cats, at least a little, and August had fun following them. Out back, we found really clear raccoon prints through the sand area.
He needed to use the bathroom so we went back in. I then got breakfast for him – toast and jam and yogurt and fruit. He had wandered outside with Carly now and she had seen the raccoon prints. When I told him food was ready he got really excited.
I showered and switched with Carly. Lots of playing with what became the “lake” in the sand/mud area. I couldn’t find my sunglasses, so spent a lot of time looking for those. No idea where they went. So we didn’t leave until 1:10. His seat was in the sun, so he was reluctant to get in it. When I did he wanted his water bottle and said “Maybe my water bottle will help me cool down.” Carly drove, and he and I read What Game Shall We Play? We were then just listening to music, and he asked what the line “what they managed to do” meant in the Oberst song “Uncanny”. He then wanted his heart sunglasses. Luckily, Carly had brought them.
In Pateros we parked and walked and found my parents and Paul. When he spotted them he started loudly chanting “Gramma and grampa and uncle Paul!” First order of business was the salmon lunch. Made our donations, then ate. August ate a lot: of the salmon, corn salad, bread, and of course cookies. He had chocolate chip from us, then my mom gave him some oatmeal raisin. He also really wanted some of my dad’s cookie. I made a joke about eating Paul’s cookie, saying “If I can reach it, I can eat it.” August totally picked up on the line, then started walking around the table, repeating it. He didn’t get any more cookie though. As we left lunch, there were two women in AmeriCorps shirts, and I heard one say to the other “Did you see his princess sunglasses? So cute.”
Next was watching a woman and man demonstrate the musical instruments: rainstick, elk feet, flutes, etc. Announcements came on, and August didn’t like that, so we kept going. Ended up looking at some beadwork, then going to the table where kids could make things out of beads. August and I made a bracelet and Carly went and sat under a tree and read. August wanted random letter beads, but then the first three we put on just happened to be CFA – Carly’s initials. So we did all of our initials, then the letter Q. Turned out quite nice. August was also really interested in what the boy next to him was doing, but also decided he really wanted the boy’s chair, and kept trying to climb in it with him. Carly went and got the other woman to help tie the bracelet, and as we left August asked the boy “Can I have your chair now?”
We got him in the stroller and all walked along the river. Not far, as he spotted the playground. Went over and stood by the structure for a minute, wearing his bracelet. A smaller girl came by, and August put his arm out in front of her. She hit him. Her aunt (I think it was) got her in trouble, and I talked to August and asked why he blocked her. He said “I don’t like that girl”. When I threatened a timeout he said “I like that girl! I like that girl!” He said a little ‘sorry’ then I let him play. He climbed to the top of the round thing once, but that was it. I took him to the bathroom, then he seemed ready to go. We said goodbye to the other three and started to walk back.
But then the couple that was at the musical instruments was playing music – him on guitar and her singing. Songs like “Blue suede shoes” and “sea cruise”. The three of us sat down and watched about five songs. We would clap after every song, and if other people weren’t August would say “They’re not clapping…everyone else is not clapping.”
We went to the bakery, and got a brownie and chocolate chip cookie for later and a venti iced latte for the ride back. I waited for the food, then Carly and August came back to fill their waters. When we were done with that, he saw Carly putting sugar in the latte and wanted to do it. When we wouldn’t let him and left he got upset: “I want to do all the things. I want to do MORE THINGS! I only got to do ONE THING!” We were headed home at 3:50.
There, he wanted to play in the car so Carly stayed with him. They had Josh Ritter on and he was having fun turning the music up and down. Mainly up. Mom and I blew up the pool. When we had it filling we tried to get August to walk over to us, but he didn’t want to walk through the sun: “I don’t want to go in the sun. It feels better in the shade.”
Downstairs, he was jumping on the bed on the ground. Carly left at 5:20 to go to the store to get some garden burgers and a few other things. He and I wandered into gramma and grampa’s bedroom and looked around, and he really wanted to climb on the bed. He got creative and stacked the cat beds as a stool. Not tall enough. He then started clearing the nightstand of books and stuff to try and use that. I gave in and helped him up. He jumped on the bed and looked at the pine cone pull on the fan and I taught him how that work. He slid off, then curled in a cat bed and asked “Does this fit me?”
We were outside with the cats for a bit, petting them, and I mentioned Celeste. He said “She was hit by a car?” I was surprised, but figured someone had told him. I asked later and he and Carly had discussed it. Back inside I suggested we go get out the banjo and guitars. He was very excited: “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” He reacted once that way earlier, I think for the lunch. We went down and looked at those, tuning the banjo and hooking up the electric guitar to his iPad. A bit later dad came in and asked if it was time for burgers. He reacted excitedly again: “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” and kept telling people “It’s burger time!”
We got dinner ready. He watched the grill a bit. During dinner, dad rubbed something off his face, and August said “Thank you”. August ate a whole garden burger with a bun and pickles and cheese. He dipped it in the beans and ate a fair amount of those as well. Carly had given him some of one of the drinks, and when he wanted a refill she had me add milk, and she told him it was an Italian soda. That was a hit, and he kept offering it to other people, saying “Do you want some of this drink?” He had a refill. As we ate, he asked “We goed outside cuz you know I don’t like the rolly chairs? Not at all.” When he was done eating, he was crawling on Carly, and made a bridge between her and mom: “Your connected to mama and gramma?” He also announced “Good dinner!”
After, he asked “Can I play with the flowers anymore?” Carly said no, and he explained that he liked the dirt better: “But that ones so much cooler.” He then had the claw hand thing and was getting frustrated he couldn’t pull it tight enough. I sat with him and held it and told him to use two hands and he did it several times. I commented on how loud the neighbors were being, with weed eaters, etc. He said “I don’t want to hear ANYTHING.” Then copied me several times: “I want to go to the city where it’s not so loud.” He then played with the claw hand with Paul. Paul was trying to get August’s toe, and August told him “I don’t want my toe owie again.” He then made imaginary coffee and cake for Carly, adding all sorts of interesting flavors.
The three of us went for our evening walk at 8:30. We sat in the park at a picnic table and ate our brownie and cookie. He made constant yum noises. We then went to use the bathroom, only to find they were locked. So we hurried over to Safeway. He took a long time in the bathroom, then we headed home, walking along the lake. We were
home after 9:30.
He pulled out all the bath/bed delay tactics: “But I’m hungry.” He climbed on the chair and got the sparkly bear for Carly, which is her favorite: “I got the sparkly one for you.” He also tried getting on the back of the couch, which he isn’t supposed to do because of the window, and which he did earlier. When I wouldn’t let him, he said “I can’t climb on anything.” He drank from the straw in the pink water bottle that I’d used earlier and told me “Yeah, but I want fresh water.” I gave him a bath, then he went down and watched Paul play Age of Empires. He kept going back in there, and Paul joked about him trying to avoid bedtime. Finally, he was asleep about 10:40.
Finished bracelet:
Playground:
Clapping to the music:
Jumping:
Being a cat:
Petting Cynde:
Brownie and cookie:
Washing my legs:
