August stayed at the house today while Carly and I escaped for some shopping to Stroudsburg.
August got up during the night and said he needed to go to the bathroom. Carly told him to go back to sleep but he insisted. She took him to the bathroom, he went, then went back to sleep.
A guy came with a backhoe around 8 to remove the pile of dirt and rocks where they plan on parking the RV. I took Colin out to watch for a few minutes. August was up at 8:30, and after nursing he went outside with Cherie to see the backhoe, then they were in the garage. There, he hit Vivian when he wanted her bike. She brought him in and he had a timeout with me. We discussed strategies for when someone has something he wants.
I took a shower and when I came out he was finishing his breakfast. He was having “Mix” cereal of Life and Cheerios. The backhoe started up again and startled him. I took him outside and Vivian called to us from the RV. They greeted us as we entered the RV. Colin was chanting “Eat! Eat!” And grabbed August’s hand and led him to the table to where they were eating some of Oma’s cereal. August didn’t want any but the three of them ended up playing on the bed for several minutes then August, just for fun, hit Vivian on the bed. We went inside again. Then back outside, where we just stood and watched the “digger” for a few minutes before going back in the RV where they ate some pumpkin seeds that Cherie had just roasted.
Carly headed to the Walmart past Tannersville for an eye exam so she could get more contacts and Cherie and I and the three kids then headed to the back porch and the water. We emptied the pool and moved it and the slide towards the corner and away from the door down to the basement. August was cooling down his hand by putting it in the water and said “I’m colding it.” He spent a lot of time running the hose through the rocks at the corner by the tomato plant, making a sort of stream that Colin put some green tomatoes into.
The backhoe driver then drove it right between the house and the garage – a tight fit – and started to work. Colin, then all the kids, watched from the play room. Colin started a little digger dance, then Vivian and August joined in and Cherie sang a digger dance song. I got just the end of it on video. But then August was playing with the workbench toy thing and asked if he could turn the hook things to hang tools on. I said yes, but then Vivian told him he couldn’t turn the top one and he hit her again.
After another break, Vivian and him had a glorious hour and a half where they played without conflict, starting by having privacy time in the bedroom, starting at 11:45. They came out and got toys and took them back in the room and were calling it their “house”. They came out for some apple, then went back in the bedroom, then came back out for lunch. Chuck made grilled cheese sandwiches for Vivian and August and he really liked that. While they waited they sat at the counter. August really wanted the bottle opener that Vivian found on the counter and was playing with. Eventually, August started using a toy syringe as a microphone. Vivian then gave him the bottle opener and once he had it told him he had to trade and took the syringe. He was happy though.
Carly home little before 1. Soon after she came home it was the end of the glorious time, as Vivian was lying over the Ottoman and August wanted a turn. They ended up nursing, then the kids were playing on the porch again. Colin was pushing Vivian around the porch on the tricycle. They ended up needing a timer set for that. When August had a turn we ended up at the front porch and Vivian was playing a disgusting chocolate game, putting mud on the spoon to feed me, then telling me it had something disgusting in it. I requested vegetarian chocolate, so a lot of them had animals in them.
Carly and I wanted to go and see our next car option, the Kia Forte, and there was one in Stroudsburg. Cherie said we should leave August with them, so we did. He cried as we left and cried for about four minutes. He didn’t want a cookie, but finally agreed to a popsicle when Cassie offered one. Later, Cassie asked them if they wanted a snack and when they went in she offered them something like carrots, green beans, or something else. He said “That’s not a snack…It’s not crackers.” He interacted with Chuck and Cherie more than he has. And he hit Vivian once, then as Cherie was talking to him about it she asked “What are you going to tell Vivian?” He said “I’m going to tell her to suck it up.” Which is hilarious. I’ve never heard him use that phrase before and don’t know where he would hear it. It’s possible he was just making a vacuum cleaner reference, as he often starts acting like a robot or vacuum cleaner when he doesn’t want to talk about something.
Carly and I got to check out the Forte5 and liked it better than the Chevy Sonic. We then drove to the Stroudsburg Walmart and got more contacts as the first Walmart didn’t have enough in stock for her. Finally, we drove to the Weis in Pen Argyl and did the grocery shopping and got back to the house before 4:30.
After we were back, someone offered snap peas to August and said there was a bowl of them out on the porch. I went out with him, and he didn’t want to eat one at first until I said they were Vivian’s and she had left them. He started eating one and said “I’m eating all or Vivian’s snap peas…Dada said I could eat all of Vivian’s…”. He then found one of the pig masks that he and Carly had painted and sent and played with it. He asked “What if just Vivian can wear it?” and was a bit concerned but I told him it was okay. He was acting sleepy and yawned six or seven times by the time we found Carly outside.
Colin was delighting in the big ruts of mud left by the dump truck and called it “dirty time”. August joined in, but complained (as he didn’t have his shoes on) when they ran across to the a different tree: “They’re not going back to the shade!” August then played the chocolate game with Carly and I headed in to work on our car choices spreadsheet.
On the back porch though Vivian and Carly were going to have a water fight. August and I ended up out there participating. August had the big soaker thing and hit Vivian a couple times, and did okay with getting sprayed with the spray bottles as long as it didn’t get his face. Somehow, Carly ended up sitting down and I did most of the water fighting.
Dinner was then ready. Hot dogs and sauerkraut and green beans and asparagus. He made a game of bugging Vivian, standing up really close to her face. He ended up going in with Carly for some Mama and Zinnie time. I was there and he said “I want privacy. Shoo, shoo, shoo.”
Colin and Vivian were then watching Bob the Builder. August was visibly tired and then upset about the red chairs and threatening to hit. I took for a break and we talked about “hugs not hits”. He wanted to nurse, so we found Carly. She and I were discussing cars while he nursed and he twice sat up and said “Stop talking!” At 6:30 she asked if we should let him sleep, but I went in and he got up and we went out and he got on the horse and rode that. He then wanted to try watching the video again, but still couldn’t settle for a chair so he went back in with Carly.
But he didn’t fall asleep, so Carly gave him a bath, then while she took a shower he and I went upstairs. He was really interested in Vivian’s room but knew she didn’t want us going in. We spotted a Bernstain Bear Bedtime Battle lying on the floor though and we took it to the changing room and read that. Then took it back to Vivian’s room and borrowed the Sarah and Duck Visit the Doctor and read that.
He wanted to then watch Sarah and Duck, but when I said no to that he decided he wanted an apple instead. We went down to the kitchen. I started to get the apple and knife out, but then he asked me about something at the end of the counte
r. It was the outlets, and specifically he was asking me about the ground hole. I explained what it was, and he asked if it hurt. He then got really sad and was holding his finger and said it hurt and broke down crying. I don’t think he actually got shocked, but maybe had it pinched in there. And especially after reading the safety rules in that book when he realized what he was playing with I think he got scared. We went in to Carly and he was asleep at 8.