He came out just after 7. Didn’t come to us, but instead went straight to the cash register for a minute. Then turned away from us and was just sitting, looking at his shadow cast by the bright sun. Then went to nurse, passing Colin going the other direction. When he came back out he joined Colin in watching a Blippie video about letters and vehicles. Carly went into town to go to CVS and UPS. August drank from and sprayed a spray bottle on the porch, then we ended up with Colin and Chuck at the play structure at 8:50. Colin met him and grabbed August by the arm and pulled him to the play house. We played out there fine until Vivian came out. August immediately wanted her swing, then to hit her with the other swing, etc. So I took him inside to Carly. I took a shower. When I came out he wanted her whiteboard, then English muffin. She went outside. Carly found some coins for the cash register for him and he played with that.
We decided on going to Danbury Park as the weather was looking nice (had considered a library with shadow boxes) and going to the pool. Vivian came back in and there was a conflict over markers. A bit later he almost threw Duplos, then wanted to sit on the piano like she had, even though she had been told no. They finally got it together when August started putting paper under the door and they started playing that game together. They also played with the Magic School Bus toy.
We got ready to go and Cherie decided she could take Colin with us as well. We left and got to the pool a little after it had opened at 12. Everyone had fun, but probably Carly the most, as she went down all of the waterslides. August waded in a little – certainly better than at the last pool – and far enough to play with the wheel on one post. But then he decided he didn’t like his shorts wet and he got out. He wanted to walk around the building to get to the “dry playground”. He first tried the grass – spent a couple minutes putting his foot on it “tickling” and “poking” his foot with grass. Then he went for it, walking around the corner of the building on the grass, only to find a fence blocking his way. I got him to stay to watch Carly go down the slides, and he let me carrying him while I walked into the deep pool up to my waist to show him it was okay to get the swimsuit wet.
We left the pool about 1:15. Proceeded to play on the playground for a long time. Carly and I had been here once with Cassie when Vivian was a baby. About 1:50 we headed to the snack stand for popsicles. Vivian and August both got orange popsicles, while Carly got an ice cream sandwich and I got a Snickers ice cream bar. They had ‘twin pops’, which had two sticks. They were able to break them apart, and August said something like “Two popsicles is enough for one day.”
August also played the tea game with me. I ordered a latte and he said “I put sugar, sugar, and coffee…Nothing you don’t want. Just bugs.” And when we were having popsicles I was holding a handful of napkins: “August, I have a hand full of…” “No, I wiped it on my shirt.” And Vivian and Colin were playing at the play counter/window and I heard her asking him “What’s your name?” “What country are you from?” “How many copies do you want?”
We left at 2:50. As we walked away, August said “Bye playground” all on his own. As we got to the car, Carly accidentally hit the panic button and scared all of us. We went to Walmart where Carly ran in for a couple things. I parked and brought the kids in, but didn’t make it past the entrance with the telephone and the claw games. Vivian wanted a stuffed animal; August liked the bear with stars on it. He liked listening to the phone. Then they got into a conflict over the key machine and August hit.
Carly finished and we headed home. In the car he bugged her a bit by putting his foot over the side of the car seat. We were home at 3:30. Out on the porch a bit, then Carly and Vivian talked about doing papier mache. They came in, and August had misheard, saying “I want to do paper machine.” They did art in the dining room, and I went out with Colin, first out back, then to the play area. While on the swings he was doing a lot of pointing things out, including a couple airplanes he spotted. He would make a jet plane noise and move his hands together while doing it. And a lot of asking “what’s that?” At one point he wanted August to come out with him and said what sounded like “Ata. Is. Here.”, pointing in at the house for ‘Ata’ and at the swing for ‘here’. ‘Is’ was more vague, but it seemed he was saying something.
August and Vivian came out, and Colin ran to greet Vivian and was saying a lot of something. August wanted his shoes out to try walking on the rocks and was saying “Pokey, pokey.” They played in the garage for a couple minutes on bikes, then followed Cassie to the compost and then on to the play area. August was running around in the Minnie Mouse shoes saying “I can run even faster than Vivian.” Vivian and August were on the swings for a long time together. Vivian was holding August’s swing and pushing with her feet to make them both go. They had a good discussion about what worms would taste like. Carly and Cassie were both out and we had the rocking chairs as well and I made us a couple iced coffees. And Carly spotted an ant pulling a green spider through the wood chips and they watched that.
We went in for a dinner of pozole. Kids like that, but the big hit was corn, which they kept asking for more and more of until it was all gone. As they sat at the table Colin roared and August told him “Colin, no Rrring at the table.”
After dinner, August got quite excited when he spotted Jeff driving in, “It’s Uncle Jeff! Uncle Jeff!” We went out to tell him hi, but when we got out to the play area August got shy and was covering his eyes, etc. before finally saying “Hi, Uncle Jeff!” Played out on the play structure more. Colin and August both got a bit hurt going down the slide. Vivian today, as a game, has been trying to reverse the hitting scripts, starting with her responses (tickling him, telling him there’s a bug on his head) and then trying to get him to hit her.
We went back in for ice cream and I scooped them ice cream in the adorable bowls and they ate on the back porch. August dropped his spoon and it went under Vivian’s chair. He was quite dramatic about it, and Colin was excited about spotting it under the chair and kind of reenacted spotting it.
They went in for baths. While it was filled and they went to the bathroom I played with Colin. He was playing nighty night and pretending the bedspread was ice cream (yellow or chocolate). Carly gave Colin a bath, which was amazing as he is okay with you pouring water on his head. Vivian was washing blueberries and then got a little mixer thing and was mixing up a drink for August. Out in the kitchen more ingredients were added: orange juice, cinnamon, ice, lemonade, Cheerios. August actually got washed somewhere in there.
Carly tried to put him to sleep, but Vivian was sliding things under the door. August heard and said “Someone slid something under the door for me.” He got up and was looking at them: ‘It’s not for you mama because there’s no writing on it…it’s not for anyone because there’s no writing on it. Yeah. There was a pencil but I didn’t write on it.” Tried nursing again, then got up and went out and he and Vivian played some more, mainly spending a long time going to the bathroom. Took him back out and to bed and he was asleep about 9:30.