Colin was up first, at 7. He wanted me to sit next to him whil he ate, then pulled me by the foot to play with Duplos. Vivian was out at 8:10, and August came out at 8:15, followed by Carly. Colin ran to greet Carly with a hug, then when she sat on the floor he ran eight circles around her. Vivian and August played a bit, then went to see the picture of all of us on the beach that Jeff had drawn for Vivian on the whiteboard.
August tried playing with her by scooting under her chair, which she didn’t like. I talked to both of them, saying they needed to suggest ways to play together, as that was what August was trying to do. They settled on board games, but then argued about which game and which color. I clapped out and Carly took over. They played Tic Tac Toe and I heard everyone laughing – they were both red so that August could win. Or something. Very funny though.
They had pancakes for breakfast. August finished his first and wanted a second, but when I heated it he wandered off and played with Colin and Vivian for a bit outside, then watched videos about toilets with Carly (for some reason). And they interrupted Chuck working at one point: “Opa! Opa! Opa!”
Then I reheated his pancake again and he was eating it as I went to take a shower. I came out to find them playing with Chuck. They had drawn pictures too and August drew a mountain with a person on top an a person climbing it. August got corn out of the freezer and he and Vivian both really wanted some. I made it, but then they were off using the copier to make copies of their art.
August then went upstairs with Cherie. He wanted private time up there. Of course, Vivian ended up there as well and they all played. I went up after a bit and Cherie and I threw stuffed animals at the two of them in the tent. Vivian then asked Cherie to read Miss Suzy, then they read Let’s Go Rock Collecting. August wasn’t really interested in the books, so I played wi him, then we all got ready to play at the park.
We left at 11, after I borrowed two cds from Cheri. CSNY’s Deja Vu and a Melissa Ethridge CD she bought while in Memphis. We listened to the latter today, and the kids both liked it. August asked if he smelled Pepsi, and indeed he did, as Carly had just opened a Pepsi.
We got to Stroudsburg Borough Park and went to the playground. There was one of those rolling slides, and after helping him down it a couple times he did it on his own several times. He also went across the shaky bridge, which required big steps. I said “You got it” when he did the end by himself. He then needed help at the beginning, which was downhill, and said “I got it but I just need some help getting across.” Vivian did a lot of the monkey bars, and went on the swings with Carly. Up on the play structure, August started calling me “Ryan!” and called “Ryan, I need help!” Also, August really had fun doing the log rolling toy, with me holding him, while Vivian and Carly went in the splash pad.
August then wanted to go over to the pool. We only brought his pair of the floats, so made him agree to take turns with them with Vivian. Once they were both agreed we headed over. Vivian used them first, and August tried out a life vest for awhile. However, August changed his mind about the pool once we got there. It seemed to be that he wanted it really shallow, like the beach. But he was also concerned about getting water on his scrapes. Up at the big pool, he liked watching Vivian and the other kids slide down the slides into the water. Carly would catch Vivian.
Carly and Vivian got out and we had lunch. August had switched to the floats, as Vivian had also wanted a life vest. When Vivian put her towel around her August wanted it. In fact he wanted to buy the exact towel: the exact size, the exact softness, with the exact same animals (turtles) on it. They went back to the pool. August wanted his water bottle, which we had left in the car. So he and I walked out to it. He looked back at the pool and saw Carly. He said “I see that mama. That mama is my mama.”
I got him int othe shallow pool up to his ankles once, and he sat on the edge and splashed for a few seconds, but that was it. Mainly, we spent a lot of time talking about how the pool filtering system works, how perspiration works, etc. We left at 1:40 with the plan to go to another park. But August wanted the same park. In fact he said something like “All the parks I have not been to I don’t like.” I think it was Vivian that settled on going to both, the one we were just at and a new park. So we went back to the playground and set a timer for 20 minutes. I was spinning them on the tire swing and my finger got stuck in a hole where the chain is attached to the tire. Didn’t break my finger, but hurt a bit and brought the swing to a halt. Vivian and August bonked heads, which hurt him. He nursed. He called Carly “Ata!” a couple times as well. Carly took him to the bathroom, then he got distracted by mud. Vivian and I met them near the car and the drew in the mud. August suggested “Paint me with dirt!”
We left at 2. August said something in the car and Carly said “What’d you say?” August seemed annoyed she didn’t hear her: “Nothing. Pphhh.”
We drove Bryant Park, the small park we have seen several times. A little play structure, which they played on a bit at the beginning, a grass area, little library, and a pagoda. Carly got out the ball, and we kicked that back and forth when the kids wouldn’t let us in the pagoda. We went to get their water bottles from the car and they found it hilarious when I intentionally handed them the wrong water bottles. They were putting water on their heads (August in particularly was incredibly sweaty from the humid day). August’s did work so well for that. Vivian used her cap as a cup and August wanted to do the same. Some point in there he said “I want to do everything that Vivian does.” She was also sitting on a bench at one point, looking at a book. August was also on the bench, trying to get her attention to play. Got some of it on video, but missed the main part of it.
They went on the pagoda and Carly and I sat and read. They were rehearsing. They then put on a dance performance for us. At the end, they had both climbed up on the railing and Carly hadn’t noticed how August climbed up on it, rather precariously. She was on her phone, texting with Cassie and doing some research for our possible camping trip. I had them call her Botswana Cassie, then as we left August was calling to her “Don’t leave, Botswana Cassie!”
I took a right out of the park and we drove through the nice neighborhood. Both the kids noticed what we were doing and August asked if he’d been here before. Drive back to the house was mainly uneventful until near the end. Vivian had wanted the music up and August commented again on how he liked my music and I reminded them they should tell Oma. But the August started singing his own song. Vivian immediately started screeching in protest, to which August responded by simply singing louder and louder. He kept doing it and we had to threaten him with a consequence when we got back.
We were home just after 3. August did some digging with Colin. Cherie had bought fruit pospicles and Vivian got a lime one for August. He was quite happy with it. Vivian had some drama with hers, but August did fine with his. Until he wanted a second one and the answer was no. Cherie then took them all out to light some tank fireworks she had bought. Vivian and August are now apparently fireworks snobs, as they commented on how the fireworks weren’t really loud and didn’t do a lot.
Vivian and Colin came in and were watching a show on a computer on the couch. Cassie said something about not putting their dirty feet on the couch, and August decided he wanted dirty feet too. He headed outside, telling Cherie something about wanting to get his feet dirty so he couldn’t go on the couch, which was hilarious. I went out with him and let him get hi
s feet dirty. It was starting to rain a bit. We went in the bathroom and washed off his feet, and he got one of the spray bottles. He took it out on the side deck and was shaking his head around and spitting.
Vivian and Colin went over to the garage with Cherie. August and I went a bit later. He kept spraying and spitting water for several minutes, and when it was close to empty he kindly asked “Could you fill it up? It is almost empty.” I pointed out he had been so nice with his tone and explanation that he didn’t even need a ‘please’. Over at the garage they went up and down the stairs, then were throwing rocks at a garbage can Cherie had set up. Colin had been talking to me about the rain, and I was picking him up and spinning him in the rain. August liked that too. They had been riding bikes, but August had started to turn demanding and needy: he followed Colin through a couple of bike changes, always wanting the one Colin had. Then Chuck showed up with a big umbrella. One of them. Vivian had it, then August wanted it. Vivian went inside and came back out with a pink umbrella which he wanted even more. At that point I picked him up and we went inside.
I asked him why he was being demanding. What happened? He replied “I broke…rocks got in me.” Carly was cooking dinner, spaghetti, which involved cooking mushrooms. I carried him to the bathroom, bu as we passed he said “The mushrooms are not cooking well” I said that mama knew what she was doing and he argued “yeah but they won’t be really, really, really yummy.” He then tried to watch a show with Vivian, who was lying on the couch. But he was pressing against her and bothering her. Took him back to the kitchen area and he played with Chuck and Colin. He gave Colin a few big cousin hugs. Later, Colin would return the hugs before bedtime. Chuck showed him the magic trick of pretending to eat a Duplo.
We ate dinner. Spaghetti was a hit, as the kids all ate a lot. The last thing ready was a wonderful loaf of bread that Cherie had bought and heated in the oven. The kids were dipping it in sauce and eating it. August confused us all: “I really don’t like the bread…if there is crust I will dip it in sauce and eat it. If there is not crust I will eat it right away.” I asked him to clarify whether he liked it or not, and he stuck with not liking it. He gave me a serious look and said “I really don’t like the bread.” Then he finished his second piece. Vivian was also funny, trying to convince him that he should still eat it (even as he was), saying: “you need to eat your crust so you don’t get sick.” Funny both because she doesn’t eat crusts, usually, and because it sounds like dubious medical advice. Also, August was giving some to Colin, and Cassie was talking to Colin: “Say thank you.” August: “Thank you…you mean not you?” He then wanted to feed Colin more: “I want more bread to give to Colin.”
After dinner, they played outside on the porch with Carly while Chuck, Cherie, and I cleaned up. They did the tea game, where Vivian and August expanded the sort of gross things they could put in the tea. Colin was then pouring water out of a little tea pot onto the concrete and then dancing in it as he watched himself in the window. August poured water on the wood part, and Colin was pointing and saying “Uh-oh” as they aren’t supposed to get water there.
August got half of a plastic shell stuck in the water table thing and was upset. He thought we couldn’t get it out: “They don’t have ANY screwdrivers.” We went and got a screwdriver (I had him ask Cassie if they had any), then I got it out by just shaking it.
It ended up with just me outside with Colin for awhile. I pushed him back and forth across the grass in the yellow car, him squealing. I suggested we could play in the front as Jeff could be home soon. He said no, but then we looked up and saw Jeff’s car. So I pushed Colin around to the front on the car. He jumped off when he spotted fireflies, but then found Jeff.
Then it was just me and August on the back porch. He was drinking a bunch of water from the spray bottle. I squirted him, but it sprayed harder than I thought and I hit him in the back, not the feet. He was startled, but then wanted a spray fight. We only had one bottle though, so he suggested sharing. So he would spray me in the head, had me the spray bottle, I would spray him, etc.
We went in when he needed the bathroom.Cassie walked in and he asked her “What you doing?” A couple minutes later Carly and Vivian were also in the bathroom, I think to start washing Vivian’s hair, and I heard him pleading “I want privacyyyyy.”
Back outside on the back porch, the three kids were getting Jeff’s shirt dirty with dissolved packing material. Kind of looked like soapy water. Then it was ice cream time. August was insanely happy when he saw them getting out ice cream. Carly was sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor again, helping Colin with his ice cream. Colin ran more circles around her. When August was done with his ice cream he ran around her too and said “This is my ice cream circle!” They were then all hyper. First he was hyper with Opa, then he was singing a “Where is Vivian?” song. He and Vivian were then in the bedroom together, being hyper. Colin joined them after awhile.
I gave August his bath, and it was the easiest bath every. Washing his hair was simple. He even thought he had a little soap on his face and turned on the cold water and put his face under the water. We noticed he had a decent little mark on his forehead from bumping heads. Cherie was in with us, and explained to him how the well water worked. We also played with the torpedo bath toys, which I’d never seen before. Once he was completely rinsed I left and he kept playing and talking to Cherie. He got his foot cold, then warm. Meanwhile, Carly played in the bedroom with Vivian and Colin.
All out in the living room, Carly read stories from my iPad for all three of them. Think they read Peppa Pig Gets a Cold, 1-2-3 Peas, Goodnight Already!, and Harold and the Purple Crayon. It was then time for bed, and he was asleep about 9:00.