He was up at 7:30. Colin was already up and ran across the room to him: “Ata! Ata! Ata!” He’s done that a couple times and I’d like to get it on video. Vivian was the third up, and they participated in a cousin hug together, then an Oma hug. They had English muffins for breakfast, and were breaking off small pieces as “hay” for Colin’s trailer for his tractor. Vivian and August then had a bit of a rough spot. Vivian found a computer mouse in their utility drawer. August of course wanted it, but Vivian had no desire to share it. Cherie got her wireless mouse. August was asking how it worked and guessed that it had a battery in it. Vivian wanted the wireless one, but then sulked when she couldn’t have it. Cassie took her kids outside, and Carly and August played separately for awhile. I took a shower, and when I came out they were all over at the play structure. Things were fine for a moment, but Vivian and August were climbing on a metal trailer, which was wet, and August fell down.
Carly went inside, then Cassie picked up a shovel and Colin wanted to play with it. Which meant August and Vivian also wanted to play with it. Vivian was upset when she had to go third. August was smoothing the wood chips with the shovel. Cassie asked Vivian if she wanted the small shovel and she kept saying no. But when Cassie left and came back with another big shovel and the little one Vivian wanted the little one. August saw it and also wanted it and was then upset Vivian had it. Meanwhile, Cassie and I discussed the difference between a shovel and a spade and looked it up. Ended up in the garage, where Cassie was sweeping, but Vivian tore up more styrofoam and dropped on the ground. August also wanted to do it, even though Cassie was telling Vivian she had just said not to. When he got upset I picked him up and headed inside. He said “I want fun!”
He nursed with Carly, and I heard him say “That’s not fun.” I think she was telling him about us going into town. He came out and played with the toy cash register. It only had a couple coins in it and he wanted more. A lot of saying he ‘needs’ things today: “I need more coins.” “I need the shovel.”
The three of us left a little after 10:15. We were headed into Stroudsburg to get passport photos for our Israeli visas and to try to download some shows at Starbucks for the upcoming flight. We parked behind Starbucks and first found the photo place across the street from Starbucks. The guy was really nice. Carly went first, then me. August got a bigger stool and sat very serious for his photo. He had moved his eyes when the photo was taken though so had to have a redo. Had to instruct him to straighten his back, raise his chin, etc. which led to funny interpretations (his chin way up in the air, for example) but when Carly straightened him out he looked right at the camera and got it this time. While we waited, he had tons of questions about all the equipment in the shop: canned air, flash diffusers and screens, etc.
We then went across to Starbucks. Sadly, they don’t have his usual chia seed juice, or that brand at all. Got him another juice and we sat down. He was being pretty wild though and didn’t seem too fond of the juice either. Carly started a few downloads on her phone then left it with me and took August over to the park. August had remembered that the park would have the rolly slide. Apparently he went on it once, and the bridge, and in the little kids playground and on the swings. There was another kid there that asked August if he wanted to do parkour. The dad explained that they had run across a video of parkour and were now trying to introduce it in a safe way.
I managed to get a few things to download, but not much. I started to walk over to meet them, and met them walking back towards me at about the halfway point. That was about 12:45. Carly drove home. August spotted a small scrape on his ankle and didn’t know what it was from. He didn’t like it: “It’s not part of my scrape collection cuz it isn’t a line…I don’t like circles.” He was then talking about beetles, and helping them and not helping them, repeating “I’m helping the beetles…I’m not helping the beetles.” I would give a happy or a sad face. That game went on much of the way, with variations, and August said “I like happying and sadding.”
Back at the house we went in to get some lunch. August asked “Can we go back to Starbucks and the photo place? After we go to sleep and wake up actually?” After that, Vivian came in and the two of them had an amazing afternoon and evening. It started with August being in the bedroom and shoving things out under the door to Vivian. She then got more markers and paper and was shoving them under so he could draw pictures and push them out to her. I asked what he was drawing and he said “mountains”. Carly and Colin then got involved, with the two of them on the outside and Vivian and August on the inside. He drew pink pictures for Carly, and a couple times said they were climbing walls. That lasted until 2:40. They were then supposedly cleaning up and making confetti, but it blew up again.
I made a run to Weis to pick up a few groceries, leaving at 3:30 and taking about an hour. When I got back they were playing in the RV. I went in there and they were eating a nice sour apple. August said “The next time I throw up I want gatorade…The blue gatorade.” And then he bit his tongue. I picked him up and Vivian said she saw it bleeding. August didn’t like to hear that, and she insisted “It’s bleeding.” With him insisting back “Its not bleeding!” He calmed down, and Chuck had turned on music. Colin started dancing right away, and was able to ask me to dance to: pulling my hand and pointing to the floor, then doing a little dancing himself. All three kids ended up dancing. August also was excited to use the vacuuming system in the RV. He only liked it with the attachments off as it wasn’t as high pitched. There was also some talk about squiggly worms: “I want a squiggly worm.” Which had something to do with a discussion when I was gone: Cherie had tried to think of something that August wouldn’t want to eat and suggested that, and August said he did.
We then went back outside to the swings and to play with the little shovel. August did some digging in the dirt. We discussed tetanus and rabies and August was asking a ton of why questions. Cherie tried to turn the table on him, and when he wanted to climb up on the end of the monkey bars she kept asking him “Why?” He had several answers: “Because I want to sit on it…Because it is a nice sitting place…Because it is monkey bars.” Then he ran out.
We went in and had dinner, which was noodles and cauliflower and tofu and a tahini sauce and also corn on the cob.
After dinner they did a little art with the glitter glue paint. And Vivian agreed to give August the favored chair during the rest of his visit and she and Cassie made a ‘Z’ and a ‘V’ sign for their chairs and put them on the back. Vivian then went out on the swings. August wanted a popsicle, but there was just one lime one left. Carly and I mentioned confirming that that was okay with Vivian, but August said “I want to share it with Vivian.” We went out and I had him holler across to Vivian on the swings. She came in and we got a cup for it and two spoons. August asked her “Do you want to go out on the porch?” So they went out and did a great job of sharing the popsicle. Colin got a raspberry one and I had a raspberry one as well.
Vivian had the idea of moving to the bench swing to finish their popsicle and offered to carry August over there. They didn’t make it that far, settling for sitting in the wagon. Vivian helped August walk from the steps across the handle of the wagon and sit down. Jeff got home, and Vivian had to pee in the grass. August wanted to pee in the grass as well, but Vivian said there was a special spot. August wanted to see the special spot, so
Vivian started to pull him in the wagon. They got sidetracked by Jeff taking Colin over to the pumpkin plant. Vivian pulled him halfway there, then they stopped and were playing in the middle of the lawn for a minute. Vivian then went to pull him more, but August wasn’t ready and fell in the wagon. A superficial scrape on his knee, but enough to hurt.
Carly took him in, and while nursing he fell right asleep, about 7:30.