He was up about 8. Nursed, then had some of his “Something something milk”. We skyped with my parents for close to an hour. For breakfast he wanted dry Cheerios (they have them at the store here) and sat there making his yummy noises. He then had yogurt and added Cheerios into his strawberry yogurt and ate it. I took a shower, then Carly went upstairs to rest and work. August got silly with his shirt and pulled it down around his waist like a skirt and ran and danced around. We ate some grapes, went outside for a short while, then drew more shapes on the paper and played with cotton balls. He went under the table and was doing more “Elevator rain machine” but bonked his head on the table and went to Carly at 11.
Back down, he had a paper towers roll and was dropping and blowing the cotton balls through it. He asked me to keep doing more shapes. He decided he didn’t want to return the stencil to Meghan. He started hitting the paper with the green marker and said “That’s sparks of electricity…It killed you.” He then turned to painting his feet and sang a”Painting my toes” song. The paper towel roll had gotten a little squished, then he tried tearing a loose piece of paper off of it and made it worse. He wanted to go find Carly, saying “I want mama to ruin the rest.”
He took it upstairs to Carly and they did ruin it together. They came down and we ate the leftover ravioli for lunch. Then August and I decided to go on a walk. Because he wanted Tic Tacs, that is. He went up to Carly and politely asked “Do you want to go on a walk with us mama?” But she stayed behind. As I buckled him in the stroller (he always reminds me if he isn’t buckled) he asked “You need to be buckled so you don’t sneak in anyone’s houses?” We left at 1:15.
The goal was to walk up Kibuts Galuyot Street, which dead ends to the north, but it looked on the map like there might be a walkway to the north. So we headed up that way but found it was a dead end. On the way we stopped and visited the cat we always see lounging on a ledge and August petted it this time. We went back to the synagogue a bit to the south and found that what looked like it might be a different path around to the north was actually a very rough and sandy alley, which the stroller wouldn’t work on. So we walked around the regular streets and up to where Google Maps says there is a cafe and then a nursery. It was an odd street, with big houses/apartment buildings and no trees, kind of set back from the street and towering overhead. August noticed birds sitting up on a windowsill and said they probably wanted to go in the building. Didn’t find the cafe, then August heard an odd noise that he said was a really long way away. It was a big metal fence that was making noise in the wind. We watched and listened that for a bit, then walked up to where the nursery is. It is indeed something, but doesn’t look like it is an open to the public sort of place. As I was looking down the dirt road to it, I spotted four or five small dogs about a half block away. I saw them start running towards us, so I started running, pushing August in the stroller. They actually got close, and I was ready to start kicking at one of them when they turned around. We walked around to the north side and realized that the road that would head back to the playground to the west was actually a dirt road and blocked by a construction dumpster. The dogs were now back to their original spot, which was now down to our right. One decided to run towards us. It turned around when I reached for a rock, and I threw one rock at it to further scare it off and it ran back. August was generally excited by the running and chasing, although he had yellled at one dog when it got close.
We found a path that led through the housing and came out to the playground on Ha-Hadarim Street where he had once eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich after we first went to the grocery store in town. We played there until 3. We went on a spinning thing that had 5 seats a couple times. He noticed the holes in the bottom of the seats and I explained it was so that water would drain out, as no one would sit in them if they were full of water. He said “If my bottom was itchy and my clothes was off and I was sitting in it I would want to.” He played in the dune buggy toy that also has a pretend battery in it. I rested on the slide and he went down it, like we used to do in Korea. We realized his shoes were remarkably clean and were trying to figure out how they got clean, as they had had stuff stuck over their entire treads.
He also went on the big rope-based climbing structure. Did a lot of climbing himself, and I helped him a bit. And he rocked on the green seat thing suspended from it. Finally, he climbed up on the play structure and played with the binoculars. We sat on the bench we used before and ate some watermelon, then left at 3 and were home at 3:15, drenched in sweat.
He went up with Carly for awhile, then had some crazy time on the bed, and made funny noises with his lips. They went outside a bit, then when he came back in I showed him Peg + Cat. It is a cartoon about a girl and a cat and is math-based, with each story involving a math concept or two or three. He loved it. We had also tried something called Wanda and the Alien the other day, but I didn’t like it and thankfully he didn’t as well. As we watched we ate some coated peanuts together, then a cracker. Carly came down and they nursed on the couch. He wanted an apple, but the apple Carly cut was frozen. She cut up a mango, but he said he didn’t like it. Carly whispered to me “It’s not the best mango.” and he heard it from across the room and repeated it. He also told me “I don’t love mango as much as you, dada.”
He helped me refill the ice trays, then I started moving the furniture upstairs, after Carly had done a little earlier. We were switching things to where we finally want them, with our beds in the room closest to the bathroom and the sofa and the desk in the corner room. August hasn’t wanted to play TodoMath the last few times I’ve suggested it, but after Peg + Cat he was suddenly back into math and played TodoMath. Carly came up to help me for awhile, and he was calling up. Carly went down to check on him once, and he got really sad – the iPad had turned off because he hadn’t been using it, wanting to show Carly that something was green. They also watched some Puffin Rock and ate some dinner and were were outside, raking, when I finished. They came in to look. Going up and down the stairs there is lots of talk of walking or being carried up the stairs. He was telling me that mama doesn’t always hold on when walking up, and he later observed that she doesn’t hold on on the lower part, but does on the upper level.
And after I explained to him about why he had to get a new water bottle because of the mold in one of the straws, he wanted to see the mold in the old straw, so I had shown him when we got home from our walk. Later, talking to Carly, he said “Can I use this straw cuz dada says I can’t use the straw in the little water bottle cuz it has mold in it.”
He was less interested in the mo bed furniture than he was in hearing the Tic Tacs still in my pocket. He acted silly about those as I pulled them out and hid them back in my pocket. He and I read the Sarah and Duck book, possibly twice, and George Catches a cold. I made a veggie burger sandwich for myself for dinner but he said he was full. He was talking more about seeing mold, so we decided on another experiment, placing some of the new soy milk drink (which he doesn’t like) in a yogurt container and putting it out on a ledge to see what happens. Earlier, he had tried to dye cotton balls using two tea bags in a cup. We will check that in the morning.
He then spent a long time on the toilet, then we went up with Carly. She was sleepy and it was past 8 so we decided to skip a bath. He had a lot of energy though. I found a little sticker on a pillow and h
e was confused by it. He said “It’s supposed to have the company on it. It’s supposed to have the brand.”
“I’m a scary dragon.”
She tried to put him to sleep, but it didn’t work. So he came down with me. We read Sarah and Duck again, then Peppa Pig Windy Fall Day, Tiny Rabbit’s Big Wish, and a few Biscuit books: Goes to School, Visits the Doctor (which we bought at his request), and First Beach Day. At some point he talked about how we ‘only’ have two toilets and that “When Vivian comes I will go toilet shopping.” And he said he would buy one for Colin that was the same size and color as the one that Colin has.
He also talked about how when he goes to sleep I always go back downstairs and was asking why. So I said that I would go to sleep with him tonight. We went upstairs and got ready in the bathroom, then went to bed just after 10. He was asleep just after 10:10, and slept right up against me much of the night.
Paper towel roll:
Neighbor cat:
Playground:
Filling ice cube trays:
