He was up at 7:30. When he wanted cereal for breakfast I asked which kind of milk he wanted in it. He said soy, then as I poured it he sang a little song: “I like soymilk because it doesn’t come from an icky cow.” That was apparently the lesson he took from our trip to the farm yesterday. I remember telling him that “this is where milk comes from”. Apparently he thought about that.
After breakfast he took off his shirt. He then played with the toy drill for quite awhile, “fixing” things. The cutest was when he fixed Colin’s truck for him and Colin pointed to spot after spot, saying “Here”. It was pouring through the morning. Augist stood in the doorway once and Colin said “Outside” and pushed him in the back to make him step outside. August decided he was too cold though and came back in. He also drilled holes in the floor and said “The holes is just for beetles.” Colin and Vivian ended up watching Sarah and Duck on our iPad somehow and the Vivian switched to a game and was playing it. August came along and a minute later I saw him running away from the couch, the iPad held over his head. He later told me that he had wanted a turn, but admitted he didn’t use his words. So I’ve been practicing scenarios with him when he doesn’t use his words, having him act out what he should have said and we did that with this as well.
The rain let up and we decided to head to Belvidere to walk around, get coffee, and go to a park. As we were getting ready August wasn’t doing too well with Vivian. He tried to hit her with shoes after he couldn’t handle the seats again (basically, both he and Vivian only like the red chair with no scratches on it; since she is always using that chair he can’t sit at the table with them). So on the way there I said that Vivian needed to ride in the car with Cassie. Neither was too happy with that, but as we left at 10:15 he said “After we go for a ride and come back I will act much better.” Also, it meant that on the ride there he hummed and sang the entire way without Vivian telling him to stop and without him getting really loud to annoy her.
We drove into Belvidere and parked near the Thisilldous Cafe. We got out the two strollers and started to go for a walk, down to the park square and past the county courthouse. Then Vivian needed a bathroom. So we reversed directions and tried to go to the library, but found it closed. We walked around the block and back to the Cafe, but it turned out to be more of a diner than a coffee shop, so we decided to head over to the Sarivan Bake Shoppe, which was supposed to be open, according to the hours on Google Maps. But we walked the three blocks only to find it closed. Along the way there were some big bumps in the sidewalks which Carly and August called the roller coasters. So we reversed course and went back to the cafe.
The woman that seated us was grumpy, bordered on rude, but the rest of the staff was nice and the food was good, once we were able to order and got the food. We ordered a couple plates of fries, a waffle, and scrambled eggs and toast. Carly took Vivian and August outside while they waited for food and they went up and down the block, going up and down the steps to buildings, hanging on railings, and playing in the water on a table out front. When the food came they came back in and of course enjoyed it all. Vivian stuck a piece of waffle on her finger and August followed suit.
After that lunch of sorts Cassie headed back with Colin and he fell asleep for a nap. We transferred Vivian’s seat back to our car. The four of us initially went for a short walk to a playground at an elementary school. Along the way August saw a church with a pretty tall spire and asked “Can we go to the top and look out?” Not being something we’ve really focused on doing before I thought that was an interesting request. We kept going, finding a really impressive old house (there were a lot of impressive old buildings through the town) and getting to the playground only to find that it was apparently closed until 2 while a summer camp group used it.
So we walked back, got in the car, and drove east to find the ‘Shoe Tree’ sign I had seen when we drove through at night on our way back from Philadelphia. Found it and learned that it was an old oak tree that the barefooted country families would stop under to put on their shoes on their way to church on Sundays.
We then ended farther east to check out Pequest River Park at 1:10. There was a decent playground there, although it was getting overrun with prickly plants. Also, there was no river access. August started to practice the monkeybars, which was cool. He needed to use the bathroom so we did the long walk to the outhouse. We had brought Cassie’s emergency toilet with us. We didn’t use it, but August wanted to and said “I like red suitcase emergency toilets.” After the outhouse he was being a broken machine and also told me “If you are broken I will pick you up.” Which was very nice. He also talked about having a tank of electricity: “There’s a tank with electricity in it.” “When the tank is empty, a truck comes and fills it up. An electricity tank.” Which kind of sounds like a combination of our talks on how portapotties work and rechargeable batteries.
Back to the swings he said “I want to have privacy on the swings.” He then went to the monkey bars and was practicing hanging on them. Vivian then wanted to use the monkey bars, so I was showing them how to share the monkey bars, with Vivian asking nicely, August stepping to the side so she could go by, then when she was out of the way hanging again. That was going well but then he had gone up another step missed it going down. He fell onto the step below, then off it onto the ground. He got up, and said “There’s pain”, referring to his ankle. They nursed, and he recovered.
Vivian played a good joke on me. She said “Ryan, let’s go down the blue slide.” I went around to see that the the entrance was actually boarded up. She had seen that. We ended up playing with the slide, pretending there was a family of badgers in it. After that sillly time we got going. Vivian went to the bathroom, then we headed back west and across the river to the ‘Jerry Brunetti Environmental & Welcome Center’.
This park was nicer, and while Carly stayed with the kids on the playground I walked down to see if there was water access. There was, with a little trail leading down to the shore. There were a few feet of shallow, slow water and lots of rocks to throw. Went back and got all of them and we went and threw rocks in the river. They argued a bit about saving or throwing certain rocks, but otherwise had fun together. They also found little shells and dug in the sand. When Vivian had to go to the bathroom August and I stayed a few more minutes and played. We also took out Smokey and took a Smokey photo by the Delaware.
We headed home and got back sometime after 3. It was all about playing on the play structure after that, since it is finished. On the swings he was walking in a “my favorite circle”. They got all the cars and were rolling them down the slide and dropping them on the ground. Cassie went in and got the sandwiches that Carly had made for our trip and brought them out for a picnic. August generally wasn’t wanting to get dirty, and didn’t want to get the picnic blanket dirty. Cassie then found out that he doesn’t really like wet wipes, so then we were asking and determined that he likes getting wet even less than getting dirty. Although by the end of our time outside he had decided he liked wet wipes and was requesting them.
When Carly came out, Colin initiated the tea game and played it with her: “Carly, Carly…Tea” August had another slightly frustrating fall, climbing up the bottom of the curved ladder. He had just asked if it was okay to do so, then slipped and hit his nose and face on the bar. He said “I was trying to climb!”
He was talking and Cas
sie noticed that he sounded like Sarah from Sarah and Duck. Earlier I had told Carly that his “Oh” and “No” and other words were sounding like Sarah. He was really gentle with Colin, saying at one point: “I stepped on your foot a little, sorry.”
He and Cassie were talking about cleaning things and she asked “Aren’t vacuums the best?” He replied “No, Colins the best, “ which was really sweet, but then continued “Vivian’s actually the worst and Colin’s the best.” Which wasn’t.
He and I went over and washed off our feet and hands in the hose, then headed into the house at 5:45. He ate some ramen and broth, then we all had spaghetti for dinner. August was wearing the Pippi Longstockings sort of wig and bothering Vivian with the end of it while she still ate.
They headed out on the porch at 6:25. Thunderstorms and rain had come through so no going on the grass at the moment. He asked Cherie “Can I pee in your tea?” Then really got funny when he said “Yeah but I need to poop too.” He went to the bathroom instead. He then had a popsicle and ate it outside. I got pie and we shared the two. I asked about his favorite foods. He said “My worst is spicy things…My best is popsicles…Blackberry pie.” He saw Cherie mopping the floor inside and told her “I really like that mop.”
The rain had stopped and he wanted to go walk in the grass and mentioned it a few times. So I told him I would go get my shoes in the mud room and we could go. I got my shoes, but then found that August had found Carly in the bedroom. He nursed, and soon fell asleep, just after 7:30.