He was up at 7:05. They nursed on the couch and he was being funny, growling anytime he stopped nursing. We got leaving early and were out at 7:50. We drove to Appolonia National Park, about 25 minutes away on the coast. August was being pretty grumpy about things. He usually perks up once he’s outside, or once in the backpack. But we got to the park, paid, parked, and got him in the backpack and he didn’t improve. Got out the Cheerios for him and he wasn’t happy when Carly held the container for him: “I love to help myself.”
Carly and I loved the park, both for the view and for the history. It is the remains primarily of a Crusader town and castle. In our time here I’ve thought of the Romans, Jews, Byzantines, Ottomans, etc. but hadn’t thought about the Crusades. Although August wasn’t too excited about it all we did spend a good amount of time there. On the way back we went down the beach trail, and then August did start to cheer up and become more curious. He asked what a few sites were, an a couple were big Byzantine cisterns. He was asking why they had to store the water, so I talked about the environment and reminded him of Masada. Then, he was being a machine and said he was a freshwater machine, spraying water everywhere. That changed, and he said he was a clam machine and spraying out clams. The rocks everywhere must have reminded him of clams, as he said they were all clams. But then I said that they were drying out. He turned back into a water machine, but this time he said, all on his own, that he was a saltwater machine, putting salt back in the water and spraying it on the clams. He knew that clams live in saltwater.
We drove towards home and stopped at the big Tiv Taam to get some herbs so Carly could make soy chicken. They stayed in the car and I went in with my phone and translator app. Unfortunately, I could only find one thing. Went back out and we headed home. As we got out of the car he asked me if I could like 17 on the air conditioner. We were home at 10:45. August was being Dragonbox Numbers building buildings – they would take 2000 or more days to build.
We ate some lunch. August had rice and mushrooms. The first one was too hot for him, but instead of just spitting it out he just sat there with it on his tongue for several seconds before spitting it out. They nursed, and he was sad when I turned the temperature up from 17.
They went and played with Duplos. First he said he was building a doctor robot. But when I went over and took Carly’s place he said”A robot. A robot that kills people.” “Can I build a machine that kills people?…Why?” “I’ll eventually have enough parts to kill people.” When Carly protested that she didn’t like that idea he assured her “I don’t yet.” For the record I did not, nor shall I ever, let him build a killer robot. I asked what parenting strategy I should use to get him to stop talking about making a killing robot and listed a couple (ignoring him, forbidding him from saying it, etc.) He came up with another: “The thing that makes me not say that is having treats every day.” He then sang a”I’m getting parts for our machine” song and seemed to be getting parts for a different machine. But then he added”I’ve got enough parts for a killing machine.”
Luckily, we built a zoo instead. But then he destroyed it and said “I’m remodeling it.” I built a rocket and he was sending me in the rocket to places. He asked something about how long people stay on the moon, so I looked it up and found that the longest mission was about three days on the moon. He spotted my kitty mug on the table, newly arrived from Korea: “Why you got your kitty mug‽ It looks sad.” Back to Duplos, he broke the rocket, then brought in a game from in the car where we have our car break down and we call someone to fix it: “Hello company that fixes rockets. Can you fix my rocket so I can go to the moon?”
We had been talking what it was like to walk on the moon and I realized a video would be better. We went to the couch and watched videos of astronauts walking, hopping, falling, and driving on the moon. He then played with Google Maps and was looking for doctor places and found a hospital, as he knows the symbols. We played some doctor game, then he was a hedgehog eating me as I was a worm. Carly then read him Jill’s Story in 26-Story Treehouse and read further on as well.
We all went upstairs and were cleaning/sorting/etc. He was messing up his bed/room and then cleaning it up. He would want me to give him a certain number of seconds and he would clean as fast as possible: we got into some silly ones, like Q seconds and door seconds.
I went out and took a few loads of cardboard to recycling and got August’s water bottle out of the car, where we left it. When I came back he had sorted his bed again: “Big things there, medium things, and small things.” He had sorted his room like Peg + Cat sort their room in an episode that is all about sorting.
Carly went downstairs and did some work and I put together the drawers while he watched Peg + Cat on his bed. I got him some dried cheerios, then some more, then some apple. About 3:40 we went down to get more apple. Carly made a mango smoothie and we read Pussy Cat Pussy Cat, But Not the Hippopotamus, Barnyard Dance, and Kiss Good Night, which reminded me that’s why I started to call his stuffed animals the ‘friends’.
He went to the bathroom and was saying things like “You’re the poop and pee again saying ‘We don’t want to be in the toilet…I think I’m done.” We went downstairs and made a house of Duplos. He said he loved purple more than pink now. I asked if he loved mama more than purple. He said “I love mama more than any color” Which sounded very sincere and emphatic until he added “I think so, yeah.” I didn’t ask about myself. They then nursed and read a bunch of 26-Story Treehouse. I took over and read more with him. He then wanted to play with Peter Rabbit and do the puzzle.
Carly Skyped with Cherie and Chuck as she made the soy chicken. August at first didn’t want to skype, but then changed his mind and did a fair amount of talking. We then did the full Peter Rabbit puzzle before he took it apart this time, then he watered the indoor plants. We went outside to water, then came in and ate the soy chicken for dinner. He and Carly then read the Willy;s Stories book. She asked him”What’s your favorite thing in the house?” He answered “All our stuff from Korea.” We all went outside to sweep and water flowers.
Carly took him up for a shower, and I went in to finish the hairwashing. He was then being a squirrel on the bed. The squirrel was getting hurt, and as usual he would describe a video of the animal getting hurt (which comes straight from the Animal Hospital app). His story was more elaborate this time, actually explaining who took the video: “It’s a video a worker made…The yard where I get nuts…The worker lives there. He made a machine that gives me nuts when I’m out of nuts.”
The baby squirrel then kept peeing in its nest, I think because it was too lazy to leave it: “I peed in a machine that takes the pee to a polluted stream…You’re the pee saying…You’re 2079 viruses…”
We read The Wind Blew twice. I got him some apple and he ate a few slices. He then forgot about the bowl on the bed and was jumping around and landed his face/head on it. Luckily not hard, but brought an end to the playing. Tried for sleep at 8:10 but didn’t work. He mainly followed Carly around while she got ready for bed and did some stuff, then they tried again and he was asleep by 8:40.
Appolonia:
Home. Rocket with flowers:
Reading:
Curled up:
