He was first up at 5:40, with my alarm. Carly was already up today so I went and got her. She came in and he fell back to sleep, but walked back out to us a little before 6:10. Nursed for a few minutes, then quietly sat on the floor for a few, looking up at the fan. He walked over to me, then went and sat with Carly. He then got up and said “Back to sleep, please.” He ate a little of Carly’s sandwich, then they went into the bedroom.
Back out at 6:45. Colin out soon after and did laps around him. August was supposed to ask me to read a book but didn’t. August was doing a bunch of sneezing and wanted a tissue and allergy medicine, so he helped me break it up and put it in his water. I wondered allowed how many boxes of tissues we would need in our house in Israeli and he said “Thousands.” He dropped his water bottle, and we joked that he had broken the medicine in it and then the water. I said it had made the water dry, so he drank it and said it tasted dry and said “I like dry water. Just dry water.”
He and Colin then spent a long time playing with the coins, using them in the cash register and putting them in a dump truck. August, knowing Colin sometimes doesn’t like to share, was very cautious at first with taking coins from Colin’s stash but gradually realized Colin was happy with playing together. Cassie went and got a few more coins for them. Vivian got up, and had a backpack, so the other kids wanted backpacks – the first conflict of the day. August put away all the coins though before he got going. They ended up all watching a video (after jockeying for position in front of the computer), and I went and took a shower.
When I came out they had all gone outside to the swings. They were talking about what we were doing today and August said “Anytime I go to a new playground I don’t want to get off swings.” I went in and worked on the blog, then on making sandwiches for our trip. Vivian and August were playing on the porch, filling a dump truck and dumping the water. Vivian was doing the latter ‘job’, then she left and August said “The best part is dumping.” And “Can I dump it out and make the porch wet and get dirt and make it all muddy?”
Vivian came back, and they played together upstairs for quite awhile in Jeff and Cassie’s room. That went nice and smoothly until 11:15 when they came down and Vivian got some sort of drinking straw-making kit or something. I took August away for some alone time and he ended up nursing.
We all got ready to go, and left at 12:30. I was driving the red car with Cherie and August and Vivian, while Chuck drove their car with Carly and Cassie and Colin. Took close to exactly an hour to make it up there. The kids did pretty well. During one of the cuter moments they were talking about getting sick. August said “I don’t want any trees getting sick. I love the trees.” And (talking to Vivi) “I don’t want you to get sick. I love you.”
We arrived at 1:30. Straight to the playground, with clouds threatening rain. Then Chuck walked down and found that the beach was closed due to e. coli. So we played on the playground a lot. They got in line and went down a slide several times. August called out from the swings to Carly: “Hi Carly, hi mommy.” Then to Cassie and Colin: “Come over mama, come over Colin.” Went over to the play structure and down the slide, then back to the swings, trying to drink the rain. To someone, Chuck, I think, August was talking in a silly voice that kind of sounded like his swirly voice, but I couldn’t make out any words. August said “That’s my mixed up voice with other talking voices in it.” And then he randomly asked “Can I have colorful marshmallows?”
It started to rain and we retreated to a picnic table under a tree. Eventually the kids joined us and Carly went over and got a couple of orders of french fries for everyone to share. We ate those, then they did some more playing. Cassie and I then took the three kids back over to the snack counter and got them red, white, and blue popsicles. Carly was reading so I let her be and the rest of us wandered down towards the lake with our popsicles. August and I shared his. Close to the bridge, Colin fell and got a pretty big scrape on his knee. We hung out at the bridge over the dam, seeing some ducks and watching the water foaming below.
Turned around and headed back. Chuck and Cherie continued on with Colin, but Cassie and I ended up with Vivian and August at a volleyball court with sand. The two kids drew in the sand and played around. Carly came and found us after awhile. Cassie and Vivian headed back first, then Carly was making grass rings for August. He said “If it tickles I will take off and throw it down.”
We left the sand area, then played at the playground for awhile longer. I sat and read while they were up on the play structure. Later in the car Cherie would ask what the best part was and August said “Turning the wheel” which was up there. They took the kids to the bathroom. I heard Vivian and August running around in there and a lot of Vivian going “Boo!” Finally, August and I talked to a guy who had a third wheel trailer on his bike like the one I got from Peter. We then all left a little after 4:10.
Pretty smooth ride back, in part because Cherie did a good job of introducing new games when they started to get into a conflict. Over something, I don’t know what, Vivian told him “Don’t think about it.” August replied “I’m thinking about it.” Then “I’m always thinking about it.” And finally “You can’t stop me from thinking about it.” They played a lot of I spy, and when we passed a nursery he was confused as he thought it was a place for nursing. They also did a lot of pretending that the car was full of candy and other things and eating them, and then finally they (mainly Cherie and Vivian) were making a story about a beautiful princess. Oh, and when Cherie said something like “Sparkles always make people feel better” August was confused and asked “Why?” When asked what makes him sad, he said “Mama leaving.” I can’t remember what he said makes him feel better – think there was something he preferred to sparkles or whatever it was.
Anyway, we stopped for gas in Stroudsburg, and were back to the house at 5:15. He played with the little broom and asked Carly “Can I hit your head?” He then helped me vacuum the area around the dining table. He saw Colin and couldn’t believe he was touching his scrape: “No! He’s touching his scrape!” He’d said something along the same lines when he saw Colin touching his knees in the morning or yesterday, even back before he had the big scrape. August doesn’t like his being touched at all.
It was a pot pie for dinner, and August wasn’t eating much at all until we turned it into a game and he was taking ‘secret’ bites from me. He went up to Vivian while I was dishing up more and ended up hitting her. When I talked to him in the bedroom and asked why he said “It’s fun for me.” He said he was ready to apologize and we practiced what he was going to say, about being story and that he wanted to play with her. But then when we left the room he bumped his foot or Colin ran up to him and he lost the words: “I don’t have the idea…I need another idea.” So we had to practice again in the living room before going out.
Soon after that it was time for baths. Carly washed him quick, as Vivian needed to wash her hair. He then went in and went right to sleep by 7:30.