He started waking up at 5:40 or so. I got up first and went down to make coffee. When they came out of the bedroom he went to the stairs and I heard him say “I’m going down here at 6:04.” But he ended up staying upstairs while Carly got ready. They came down and he did some Excel and was then typing when Carly left. When I suggested reading he wanted to go upstairs to do it. So we took The 39-Story Treehouse up on his bed and read. Since we’ve started getting bookmarks at the library, he likes putting them in the middle while I’m reading. When I need to turn the page he takes the bookmark out, then places it back in the book when I turn the page. Repeat. Looking up at the ceiling, he asked how we remove the planets when we leave the country. We talked about how we’re not moving anytime soon, so they can stay up there. We finished the book.
We started laundry, then he was being a rocket taking off, and invented “3, 2, 1 Bul-gamps!” Don’t know what gave him that idea. Although in the Treehouse book they do a countdown, but it turns out that one of the characters can’t count, so it is like 10, 9, 4, 7, 5, etc. and he also had me do that several times today.
Downstairs he played with the sequencer in GarageBand. Really got into making shapes and patterns and letters today and seeing what they would sound like. We then played a bit with a new music app called SoundForest that is kind of interesting, and then Lightbot Jr. in which you program a little robot to do things. Think that will be promising in the future. Did get him thinking about right versus left, and the challenge of his left versus the robot’s.
We went back upstairs and he watched Wanda and the Alien and I took shower. We then built with the blocks and I blew over a tower. He was then doing it, and I remembered how much trouble he used to have trying to blow out air. So he was practicing it for awhile. A bit better now.
I then took him in for his shower. He said “You first. Can you do another shower?” It didn’t go any better than an evening shower. He escaped once and ran into his room. At least when it was over and I got the brush he let me brush his hair without getting upset. We were in on the bed and he asked “Can I just watch a timer with 11 minutes and 29 seconds?” So he just watched the timer countdown, and each time the minute changed on the clock on the table he announced the time: “11:00…11:01…” It seemed to calm him down. Eventually he said “Don’t shower me anymore…Don’t wash my hair.” I gave him a choice of outfits and he chose the planets outfit. He said “11:11. Is that when you got married?…What married mean?”
We then went downstairs and made cookie dough. He helped, but kept asking for sugar and chocolate chips and dough. Despite having brown sugar and a small supply of chocolate chips along the way. Had to be patient.
When we were down mixing, but before baking, he wanted to take the piano apart. We took out the metal rods, then took them upstairs to use the triangle and drum sticks on it. Played with the drums, etc. for awhile so we’ll. Went back down and started baking the cookies. When he was distracted from asking for more dough by stabbing the butter and saying “I’m getting textures in the butter.” I let him keep doing it. He was already hungry, so I made him a grilled cheese sandwich and he ate that while we waited for cookies to make. We then each had a cookie. Worth the wait.
There was one slice of the apple left and I offered it to him: “But I just had that sugary stuff. It will taste sour. See?” And ate a bite of the apple. While I was working on cookies and dishes he had been playing with the Hebrew magnets and it turned out he had put the whole Hebrew alphabet together. He asked me if it was correct. Then it was over to the piano where he took out the keys and we worked to put them back in.
We played with the sequencer in GarageBand again and made shapes. We discussed who we could give cookies to at school, and he first thought of Mandy. He was then a sick fox and cuddled with me on the couch and told me “I’m worried about class.” He then played with the stopwatch on the iPad.
Before we left he had a long narrative about direction-telling mittens, schools, and a clock store: “My mitten told me to go this way…I bought it at my school…there’s a clock store at my school…” And it continued on to: “I’m called Box Jimmy Brick Towel…I have 1000 rockets on my back.” No idea where the idea for that nickname came from. Then “I’m Zinnie now. But I still like machines!”
As we got going he sang a song: “To school and class and back to home.” We had planned to go in the pool, but about halfway I realized I’d forgotten his floaties. At first he wanted to go back for them, but we decided it was too far. We got to school a little after 3 and went to deliver cookies. Couldn’t find Megan or Holly, so went down to Mandy. The three girls were also there. I had August ask if they wanted cookies, but then he got upset, saying “I don’t want to share!” I gave them cookies, and Mandy gave him a Toblerone in return that made things a bit better.
We stopped and he ate the Toblerone and was feeling better after that. He agreed to share more cookies but wanted me to do the sharing. So we headed to the library and shared a cookie with Liz, one of the librarians. I then got him to ask about Garfield books and she showed us where they were. We got them all down and he chose the 7th Garfield Treasury. We found a couple bean bags and read it. Liz said she was going to share the cookie with Lillian, who is one of Carly’s sixth grade students, and a bit later Lillian saw us and said the cookie was really good. When we checked out the book it was then Lillian who checked it out, and we shared another cookie with them, which Lillian was going to share with her little sister.
August and I then changed out of our swimsuits and then went and found Megan and gave her a cookie. Holly was now gone, but August saw the magnetic dart board outside the middle school office. We played with those for a few minutes, with August standing on a desk and me holding him, until Carly came out and was ready to go.
We headed to class. August was in a really good mood. He told a story about saying shalom to kids all over the world, then having a cannon with infinity hearts in it. He also told me that “Faster driver faster” was from Lucy and Pogo. Before class he and the teacher did a whole high fives routine, that also included using their feet. Then downstairs we shared cookies, and Daria’s mom asked him to choose a cookie for Daria. So August picked one out and handed it to her. Once class started he didn’t want to go in at first, then was coming out a lot. His repeated line today was “I don’t know what they’re doing.” I’d look in and say “Uh, they’re throwing bean bags everywhere. Go have fun throwing bean bags everywhere.” In the middle he stayed in for a good amount of time though. But near the end he came out saying he was tired and ready to go.
He was then on the grumpy side on the way home. At home they nursed, and he told me to fall asleep. I pretended to fall asleep, and he just went back to nursing. Carly asked why I was asleep and he said “Because I told him to fall asleep.” When they were done he and I played GarageBand. He found the voice recorder and we recorded him singing several times. One of us got food for him and he sat and ate. He ate a good amount, but said “The cauliflower is over-pepperized.” and came and got his water bottle.
A bit later he said “I’m a silkworm. I’m writing my book. The first chapter is called sparecrow.” He wanted to show Carly Toca Elements so we played that for awhile. He was getting sleepy so we went upstairs to read. We read some of the Mummies in the Morning book. I left them after 8 to go to sleep. But he was back down 8:15 or so. He had been reading the time off the clock every
time it changed. We finished readying the mummy book, then he went back upstairs and was asleep by 9.
Cookie:
Library:
Two photos he took:
Lillian checking out his Garfield book:
Squirrel nest before class:
Trying my glasses:
