August was the last up today, around 8:30. He made his way to Carly through all the hugs, etc. Carly started to take him in for a moment of private time, but then he said he was okay with Colin and Vivian and so they stayed in the bedroom and played. Carly was a saint for handling all that craziness so early. They were playing out on the porch when I was taking a shower. I ended my shower to hear crying: It was Colin. He had started to come in the room with his hands covered with sand. Carly tried to stop him but poked him with a fingernail and he got upset. Then he got the sand over the bed and managed to wipe his snot on a blanket. Calmed quickly though. Carly got the vacuum cleaner out and August vacuumed the floor while Vivian and Colin took rides on the vacuum cleaner.
August came out and sat next to Colin at the counter (August can climb up on the tall chairs) and wanted the same cereal (Life) and soy milk as Colin. Vivian came and was the one left out of the chairs and got upset – remarkably, this was our first conflict over the two chairs. I poured cereal and milk for him. I didn’t put much milk in and August just gave me a look, like “Really?” He then said he wanted them floating. I gave him some more, then a minute later he asked Jeff “Could I please have a straw to drink my milk?” Jeff showed August a little compass and August asked a ton of question about it. He hasn’t used a compass of any sort since using my phone in the subways and our apartment.
Bathroom. He tri D out Colin’s seat. Vivian came down and went to the whiteboard. August scribbled on her writing though so I took him out of the room. He and Colin then played in the bedroom. I gave Colin a piggy back and August wanted one from Carly. We walked out to the dining room to find Jeff working on the RC car. The kids all “helped” Jeff with that for several minutes. Jeff took off another wheel so Vivian and August could each have one. August had a lot of questions for Jeff about why it had broken and how it worked.
Before we left for brunch at Little Corner Cafe, I went to the back porch with Vivian and August to get our shoes. On the way to the front, Vivian and August ate some leaves that she said were edible. We left at 10:25 and made it to the cafe a few minutes later. We got the big table in the yard, which worked out really well; it would have been difficult to have Vivian and August in the restaurant. They were a bit difficult to start with: August didn’t want water, Vivian was standing on her chair, etc. Things started to turn around when they got up and started walking on the rocks, and then the fruit plate came. For the core pieces August was throwing them on the ground. Carly told him to put them on the plate and he matter-of-factly said “No, I’m throwing it on the ground.” Vivian and August both got big orders of French toast to share with Carly. I got the frittata special. Chuck and Cherie got the eggs Benedict and the corned beef. August and Vivian both ate a lot:
“After I eat those two I want more.” Vivian ate a ton of syrup, then didn’t want to share her third piece of french toast, which should have been Carly’s. August gloated by walking to her as he chewed a bite. Chuck suggested that would be a 15-yard penalty in football. A couple minutes later I was with August and he asked “Why like they do in American football?” Carly had picked up August and hauled him away when he was gloating, and as she carried him we noticed he was wearing one pink shoe; he had slipped on one of Vivian’s shoes as he stood there. I asked him about it and he said “I like pink.” Carly and Cherie took the kids in for the bathroom. There was only one toilet, and they ended up playing musical toilets as they both needed to go multiple times. Overall a good brunch. Service was a little frazzled, but nice. And the food was excellent.
We left at 12:15. Chuck and Cherie headed to do some shopping. I spotted Pennico Park on the map and we drove over there. We played there for over an hour. It was an empty park, but had a nice playground. Did swings, August was brave and went down a steep slide, etc. Vivian wanted August to go on a two person rocking thing, but it was in the sun and August sat in the shade under the play structure. I went to the bathroom, and when I came back they were both on it. I got there water bottles at one point, and August said “I don’t like my water bottle. It’s not purple.” Because Vivian’s is purple. His is pink, which he always likes every other time.
Then, the fire siren went off. Which was new to Carly as well as the kid, but reminded me of Chelan when I was a kid. This one kept going and going though. The kids covered their ears, then wanted to go. I said it would stop soon, but they wanted to go. Of course, it stopped as we got close to the car. Vivian said they could play again, but then the siren went off again. We left for real.
As we left, I pointed out the Chevy emblems on cars. They then looked for both Subarus and Chevys on the way home. When we got to the corn field that is close, August called that one out – I’ve taught him to identify corn – and said “Corn! Yeah! Corn! Yeah!” We were back at 1:35. Chuck and Cherie had purchased flip flops for Vivian and August, pink and blue. August wanted pink, but wore his. They were difficult for him to walk in.
Vivian really wanted to go for a walk in her new flip flops. Eventually Carly gave in and took them for a walk down the gravel road across the street. She used Cassie’s nice stroller with August. They met a couple of girls that Vivian knows along the way and walked with them. They were back about 2:30.
In the play room, August reached into the toy box and activated a piggy bank toy that made noise. He did it a couple times, but had a scared/sad look on his face and said “I want it off.” Don’t know why. Vivian dug it out and showed him how to turn it off, then they played with it, then moved on to other toys and Duplos. That lasted 15 or 20 minutes, then they calmly divided for private time. She went upstairs and he came to me and he and I read Sid the Science Kid three times and Maisy Cleans Up. Colin woke up, so the end of reading time. August was playing with the gate, and Cherie explained the baby gate and the concept of ‘jail’ to August. He kept asking ‘why’.
He went in to nurse, and Vivian hung out in the room as well. They went out on the porch. He mentioned a wheelbarrow and Colin went in and got a Duplo one. August was spraying with the water bottle and sprayed Cassie’s coffee when she spilled some. He then helped Cassie with the watering, and he said “Don’t spray people ever.” Not sure if he was just reciting a rule to himself, or saying it to Cassie when she got water close to him. He was a bit upset when he got sprayed by Vivian a little later. He then spent a long time in the bathroom, Carly with him. Vivian was looking in the window and feeding him green beans. He ate a lot.
We had thought to go to Belvidere this afternoon, but I realized all the shops were closed. Cassie had mentioned a playground in Roseto she had heard about but hadn’t found. I found it at the ballpark. So we were going to go there. But then the kids just kept playing and playing and playing in the yard, so we didn’t go.
Instead, Vivian and August were playing with rocks, and August said “I’m making a tower for Ants that has one really big rock on it.” He found another rock: “Oh! That’s nice! It has holes in it. What the holes came from?” “I’m making a home for Ants. JUST Ants!” As he points at Carly. But then Vivian said she was making a home for fireflies. August’s story changed and he was making a home for fireflies, but then was saying all sorts of insects could come in it. He drew the line at rabbits and bears.
Vivian carried him across the grass to the stones in front of the old outhouse. They played there with the rocks. He was excited about peeing in the grass and was drinking a lot of
water so he’d have to pee. In the meantime, Vivian peed in Colin’s potty chair. So he wanted to pee in that. Vivian brought it over to him and he used it a couple times. Vivian wanted to glue rocks together so went and got glue but couldn’t make it work. She got watercolor paints instead and they painted smiley faces on rocks, then painted their fingernails and feet.
Colin had been playing with them, but went in close to 6 for dinner. I went in after awhile and he was pulling my hand and saying “dinner” and wanted me to sit. I went and told the other kids that Colin wanted us to come in for dinner but they were playing so well that we didn’t want to interrupt them. I ate, then switched with Carly. They painted their nails a bit, then Colin got involved by stealing the rocks with smiley faces on them.
August went in to poop, then when we came out we found Vivian and Colin, naked (Colin had a diaper) in the kiddie pool. August climbed in, but I said “time out” to pause to take off his clothes. He said “Why a timeout? You mean the other timeout?” Vivian was using a scoop to get bugs out of the water. August kindly asked “when you’re done with it, can I have it?”
August then pooped in his diaper and contaminated the pool. They got out, then were over by the grapes arbor. They ate parts of grapes and spit them out and ran around the yard naked. I left for the store at 7. He ate a chicken burger but then bit his tongue while eating veggies. He wouldn’t show it to Carly, but she saw a good amount of blood.
I got back at 8. They were all screaming in the bedroom. Like really screaming. Started getting ready for a bath at 8:10. I walked in our bedroom to find Colin playing night night. He had come in through the screen door. Carly had carefully cleaned the room after the earlier sand incident. I got him out now to find a bunch of grass in the bed. She vacuumed that while I dealt with August. Carly and I were both in the bathroom for his bath. He was doing a great job of letting Carly wash him, including his hair, until I said something about it and then he started whining again. Back in the bedroom, Colin, who hadn’t had a bath yet, ran in, climbed on the mattress on the floor, and intentionally wiped his diaper area with the sheet. So funny, but now time to wash the sheet.
Carly took a shower. Vivian wouldn’t let August go upstairs. When she did, she was bossing him around and I told her she needed to stay away from August and guided her away from August. She got upset – I think she interpreted it as she couldn’t play with August at all any more. Jeff showed August his office, but then we headed downstairs. August and so read the Sid the Science Kid book about germs twice (now five times on the day), then Maisy Cleans Up. Vivian stuck her head out at the stairs and we invited her down. I suggested she could choose the next book, and she chose Miss Bindergarten, which August says he didn’t like. “I’ve read it too many times.” (We’ve read it once, but August had been asking why Vivian doesn’t like the Maisy book and I suggested she had read it too many times). We read that, then started on the Little Clifford Graduation book.
Vivian and August both said they were thirsty. Vivian got a cup of water and let August drink from it. When he had trouble with it and wanted a straw, she went and got one for him. He started to blow bubbles in it and we told him to stop. He asked why and I said because that gets germs in someone else’s water. He then heard Vivian telling Cassie that he was blowing his germs in the water. He looked at me and got a very sad look on his face, exclaimed “I got my germs…” and broke out crying before he could finish his sentence. He was both incredibly tired and we had read that germs book five times. He was asleep around 9:15.
After I came out, Vivian was waiting for me on the couch. We finished reading the Clifford book, but I said I needed to get ready for bed, so no books after that. She was sore with me, and wouldn’t say goodnight or thank you when Cassie asked her to. A bit later Carly and I were sitting in the play room and she came in and interacted a bit with Carly, but ignored me. When she came back a second time she did come and give me a hug, but didn’t say a word. All four of them came down a bit later though for a snack as no one was falling asleep. I got Jeff to tell his whole Ukraine story and about the stuffed cat toys with testicles. So funny. Could be a Moth podcast story.
RC car:
Pink shoe:
Park:
Feeding August green beans:
Hanging out in the yard:
Naked time:
Kazoo and bite mark:
