August got up around 6:30, came out and got Carly, but then went back and fell right to sleep. He then got up again an hour later. Colin was already up and he ran to greet August and gave him a car. August then sat on Carly’s lap and Colin kept playing with him, asking August to help him fix a truck that kept falling apart. When August and Carly went into the bedroom a few minutes later, Colin went running after them, shouting “Ata!” about a dozen times. There was a lot of “Roar!” coming from the bedroom as they played in there after that. And a few minutes later, after August had walked out to the kitchen, Colin came running after him carrying one of his pairs of pants. Colin had seen them in the laundry basket and recognized them as August’s and was handing them back to him. And once in the kitchen they were both sitting on the floor and Colin was scoot chasing him around the room.
Cherie asked one of them to pick up a piece of chalk that was on the floor in front of the fridge. But Colin rain over it with the Jeep toy he was sitting on and it broke. Cassie explained what he had done, and the next thing we knew he had run off and came back with a dust pan and was trying to clean it up.
August found the missle thing and was patient as Colin took it and put a grape in it and played with it. We couldn’t find the last piece of the launcher though so he couldn’t fire it. Vivian got up, and was soon sitting at the table, watching something. August wanted to play with her, and at least said “Can I bug her then?” before he ran over and put his face in hers. When she got upset, he hit her. Carly took him in for a short timeout, and then when he came back out he went up to her again. I said something about how it meant he wanted to play with Vivian, but it was Cherie that talked to Vivian and got her to stick her face back out at August and to tickle him when he hit her. That turned it into a good game, and they were both very happy.
I then had August brush his teeth, and while it was his regular toothpaste he spit it out in the sink. I took a shower, and a bit after that the truck came with the load of mulch for the play structure area. At first everyone was out there and I got a shovel. Vivian and August really liked that the mulch was really warm and sort of smoking. August kept saying he wanted to get warm and asked me to throw it near him as he was on the swing. He was asking “Can you throw it over here, Ryan?” Everyone else went in with the kids and Chuck and I could work faster throwing mulch everywhere. Carly came back out after a bit to help. I made up a tongue twister about Chuck: How much wood could this Chuck chuck if this Chuck could chuck wood? This chuck could chuck…
August and Vivian came back out, and August wanted to use the shovel, so I helped him do that and he did a little scooping. He then wanted to use the wheelbarrow and I remembered there was a plastic one out back. We went and got that, and he used it to haul a few loads to Carly. When he was done he wanted to wash off the wheelbarrow, and got upset that no one would carry it across the grass for him. We made him wait a few minutes until we were done with all of it and then I went over with him. He saw Carly washing off with the hose and asked “What’s she doing?”
We washed it off and our hands and feet, then went inside. In the kitchen Carly accidentally hit him in the face. He wasn’t really hurt, but felt wounded. They nursed, then Vivian headed to the store with Cherie. We had some lunch, then he wanted soy milk. The last soy milk was out in the RV, so he went out with me to get it. Back inside, Vivian and Cherie back after 1. Vivian started playing with the little plane (like the one she sent to August in Korea) and August wanted it. It was suggested that August play with the big one from the toy box and he liked that idea. When he got it out Vivian wanted to play with it and got upset when August got it first.
August played with it for a few minutes, then wanted to go find her. We quietly went upstairs to look, as Colin was taking a nap, but she wasn’t there. We found her out on the play structure, swinging with Carly. He played on the swings, then we went back inside to use the toilet. We were then getting ready to go to the library. Vivian said August could wear her Minnie Mouse shoes (he had first worn them to go get soy milk) and helped him put them on. They then did a series of shoe dances in the mud room. He then went out to the RV with Cherie to use the bathroom. There was something about him having a hurt feeling, and really being upset that she wouldn’t let him put pepper on it.
We left a little after 3. I drove with August and Vivian in the red car and Carly rode with Cassie and Colin this time. The drive went smoothly. August was in the vest and did fine with it, and I put Vivian in charge of snacks. They ate a ew slices of apple and Cheese-its.
Got to the library and went inside. They were playing with hand puppets when Carly and Cassie showed up and I went out to move the car (I wasn’t sure I had parked in a legal spot, and only realized after the kids were starting to get out of their car seats). When I came back August was upset about sharing. He got excited about books, at least finding them on the shelves, then needed to use the bathroom. As I took him he said “it’s the same one? The same library? That’s good, because I really like this one.” I guess he’s not used to visiting things multiple times this summer…
After we were out, Cassie and Vivian read Fish for Jimmy, about the internment, and Carly read a book about pooping. The kids played with toys a bit more, and me and Cassie read a couple books to to them and one other little boy that was there. But August wasn’t paying much attention, and his nose was bothering in. When we were in the bathroom he said he was going to stick his finger “too far” into his nose and I told him not to. He now seemed afraid to stick his finger in his nose at all and kept asking for a tissue and wanting to nurse. So Carly and I took August back in the red car and Cassie stayed longer with Vivian and Colin, who were playing on one of the computers.
At home Cherie was finishing up the vegetable soup and making some letter pasta to go in it. August had fun looking at the dry letter noodles. He really liked the soup, much more so than the other two, and while he was eating it he got out of his chair once, did a very Colin-like dance as he spun in circles a couple times, said “I like soup” and sat back down.
After dinner we all went out to the play area. August is getting better at hanging from the underside of the curved ladder. Cherie had some green beans that were getting old, so the kids had fun throwing them into the woods for the bunnies. August and I then went inside and got a popsicle. I was trying to convince him to get a different flavor, but he stuck with the bigger lime ones but said that tomorrow he’d have an orange one. I had some pie, and when we finished that he told me “Grab some more pie, dada.” It was the last little bit and August decided “From now on I like the last of the pie.” Walking out of the kitchen he accidentally kicked a cup that was on the floor and said “Sorry, cup.” While eating his popsicle he was spinning his head around and holding up the popsicle above his head and talking in a lower funny voice. He called it his “swirly voice”.
It was then bath time. Carly gave him a quickish bath, then he played while Colin and Vivian took theirs. Vivian remembered me saying we should read Daisy-Head Maisy, but then it wasn’t actually downloaded on the iPad. While it downloaded, Vivian started the kids doing a dance performance. Carly then did some ballet, and Cassie did some gymnastics. We read the book, during which August headed to bed. They liked the book, and Vivian wanted to read more. But it was now past 9. I talked to Jeff and Vivian for awhile – to Jeff about his time in west
Africa and to Vivian about how she and August were doing really well together. August wasn’t asleep, however, and came back out after they had headed upstairs. Carly took a shower and he and I played around a bit and then read all of Bread and Jam for Francis. Another one that I really remember from being a kid. He went to sleep by 9:40.