He was awake just after 7. Not much sleep. Carly took a shower and he joked about the AC: “I’m not gonna ask mama to make it colder until she comes out. I’m gonna ask her to make it colder so dada and I can freeze.” Carly let him mix some yogurt in with his milk and he was excited by that. Let him watch Sarah and Duck and he said “Yeah. The machine one. Because I LOVE ‘No More Wool’.” Thought we were about to hurry to meet up with Carly at the bank for account setting up purposes but then the plans changed. We mainly rested and watched Sarah and Duck and some Puffin Rock.
We walked up to the bank when Carly told me they were leaving met her there. The whole process took around an hour. We traded off with him and he was okay around people, although it seems like he’s decided to just not answer any questions while in Israel.
Left just before 11. Looked at a couple little shops and bought English Breakfast tea for Carly and Earl Grey for me. Went to the playground by the library and played there. He patiently and slowly climbed up the spiral pole, going in circles up the spiral, even though there were lots of them. Played on the play structure, then we discovered the little merry-go-round where you turn the wheel in the center to make yourself go. He really liked it and did it a lot himself, then I got on and he spun me as well. Did some seesaw, he balanced and walked on some stones around a big wonderful tree. Also identified big, spreading Mediterranean pine trees. While at the park he said “Everything I see, I step on. That’s my rule.”
We left at noon and first walked up a street by the library to see a house we considered renting and then took a back streets route much of the way home, finding our first shortcuts through town. Say a cool crow/raven sort of bird with a grey body but black head. Hit one speed bump and thought we could go over it but came to a stop. August wasn’t happy about that.
He fell asleep at 12:20, just before we got home. I had previously pushed him in the stroller up the steps to our house to make sure I could get him back in asleep. He lay in the stroller in the house until 1:10 when he woke up. I napped on the couch.
Watched some more Sarah and Duck, then had some lunch and then played with all the coins we have. He realized that we could literally see through our kitchen door through a variety of little cracks to the outside. He found the tiny hole that one floor tile has and talked about a big hole in the floor: “a deep hole someone could fall in and never stopping. Yeah, not at all. Just keeps going.” We left the inside of the house at 3:15 but then played outside. He was holding a stick thing from the trees and asked, referring to the bird poop on the slide “Can I touch it?” I said “Yes” Repeat that line of questioning about a dozen times. Finally got on our walk at 3:40.
August knew that at this point Carly was with Mandy, who was taking her to do some shopping. We had compiled a big shopping list this morning, and then marked the most important items. August remembered this and asked “Mama has a few things that are important?” As we walked towards the mall I told him “You should look for cactuses.” He replied “No I’m looking for dog Poop. Dog poop is my favorite thing.” And then he sang a song about how he was looking for dog poop, which ended when he actually spotted dog poop.
We looked around the inside of the mall for the bike shop and a little bit at other shops. August grew impatient for a smoothie so we went to Rebar and got a mango mix smoothie – it also had melon, banana, cinnamon, and honey. We sat outside and drank that. An experience only slightly ruined by the realization that people actually smoke in these sorts of areas in Israel, and there were three smokers close to us.
We went inside and bought a pack of notecards at a store. August wanted to carry the orange bag and put it on his wrist and started walking through the mall. He then became Mr. Independent and decided he was going to explore the mall on his own, without me: “I’m going someplace by myself…I’m going everywhere…I’m checking everything out.” He got annoyed when I would follow him, but then kept talking to me as well. He decided the hair shop was just for adults and that he wants his hair cut in a small place that has chocolate ice cream. He spotted a big ‘5’ balloon and said “When I’m five years old I’ll get that balloon.” And he briefly took his shoes off and got in the indoor kid area and said he was going to stay with the other kids and parents and that I should leave. The independence game continued all the way back down the mall until we got to the backpack store, which is open to the mall. He could go all through the backpack area on the left side, and I could see him from the opposite side of the aisle. Eventually I went in, and he proceeded to tell me which backpacks I could look at and which I couldn’t. Oh, and he tried on some sunglasses.
He was a bit annoyed at leaving. I put him on a bench to get in the backpack and a woman talked to us about it. The woman at the smoothie shop had also spoken fluent English. This woman tried to ask him some questions, and at one point he said, to her or me, something like “No I don’t like anything because there’s nothing.” She said he was quite a philosopher.
Carly had told me the bike shop was out by the gas station. So we walked out to and around it. August had a strap and told me he was directing me where to go because he knew where it was. I asked him if he could tell me where it was then. At that moment a guy who worked at the gas station was walking by and thought I was talking to him. Fluent English again. I explained I had been talking to August, but would be happy if he could direct us to the bike shop. He did, so we walked over there.
At the bike shop we looked around. August wanted to try out the bikes and sat on the little kids bikes and tried the scooter. He also wanted to sit on a big kids bike. We also looked at helmets, and they have really nice kids helmets with monsters on them.
He needed to go to the bathroom so we went back in the mall and found the bathrooms. Took awhile. He told me “Vivian pooped in the motor home once.” In fact, he has mentioned this several times, and also keeps asking me where he can and can’t poop (when I say he can poop in any toilet he reminds me he couldn’t poop in the RV or in Colin’s toilet). So thank you, Chuck, Cherie, and Vivian, for introducing all of that.
Left about 5:40. He was getting tired on the way back. We had talked about a cactus we both saw and he called it a cactus fruit because it looks like it has fruit on it. And he said “If I want to step on poop I need boots.”
Home around 6. Carly was there before us and Mandy was still there. She left after a few minutes and we had fun setting up the coffee maker and putting other stuff away. He watched some Sarah and Duck and a little Puffin Rock to help keep him awake. Had some dinner, then he was being cranky with Carly so he went up with me to start some laundry and take a shower. Was just finishing up his bath when Carly informed me that the washing machine was leaking. We switched and I got a towel and tried mopping it up. It stopped after a couple minutes, then the rest of the cycle continued just fine. Carly contacted Ada about it.
August was quite upset about the washing machine leaking and the fact that we couldn’t really explain why. Carly took him to bed and he was asleep by 8.
At the bank:
Merry-go-round:
Teeter totter:
A nap in the stroller:
Reaching:
Smoothie:
Telling me to not follow him:
Sunglasses:
Bikes:
In the backpack:
