Nursing 5:30 and up before 6. Very upset until close to 6:30. Dr. Panda Handyman with Carly. He and I read Curious George Cleans Up. They went downstairs and nursed and I went and laid down for awhile longer. When I came down he was playing TodoMath. I helped a bit with that. He has gotten into the Daily and Mission sections, trying to get the monsters you can earn. We read more of Magic Treehouse #10. Carly made sandwiches for us. I made my sandwich. August went to the bathroom, then was singing Yankee Doodle with all Z words. Then imagining “Dada, there’s a rocky cliff there…Ther s some smasher robots coming up. I must destroy those….Let’s destroy them together…You know, I’m pretty powerful.” “I crushed your hat becuaee it was a scary ghost.” Lots of swirling on the rug and getting dizzy.
I took a shower. They watched videos about beets. We left at 9:20. Carly drove the 42 kilometers up to Leket Israel Binyamina. August and I read The Cat on the Mat is Flat. We got there at 10:02 and parked and were confused as there was no one there. A bus with an Israeli school group and then a bunch of cars from WBAIS pulled in a few minutes later as we were out wandering around, looking at the mud.
We walked a couple hundred meters up to the beet field. We got to picking and August loved it. Really loved everything about it. He would help us pull, pull on his own, put the beets in the buckets, use his rockets to help us dump the buckets, compare the size of one beet to another, etc. He also liked the shapes of the beets, calling our attention to “interesting” beets. When everyone else first got there he was being antisocial and he and I walked behind everyone else over to the field. He warmed as we picked beets though. And we were picking next to Grace and Gaby, which added to the fun and also helped him: they would talk to him, and when he heard them say something he would ask questions, or be concerned when one got hurt and ask if she was okay.
The coordinator declared we were done around noon. 6 crates of beets picked. Took a group photo, then walked back to the car. August walked much of the way again before asking me to pick him up. He was then singing a “2017” song.
On the way home August reached over and pulled the door handle. Didn’t open, but set off the sensor and broke the seal a bit. Carly pulled off at the next exit and we figured out how to turn on the auto door locks. August was also looking at Google Maps on my phone and told Carly we were close to the Mediterranean Sea and was excited when we were able to see it. We then read Kipper’s Birthday.
We got home, used the bathroom, and grabbed the rice dish, juice, and zucchini bread we were taking to the middle school holiday/Holly’s birthday party. It was at Ilana (the librarian) and Howard’s house, right up near downtown.
August again did pretty well with people. A little shy at first, threatening to say “go”, but started to get him food, and that changes everything. Carly got a plate of food and he sat with her on the ground outside and ate a bit, then he and I went in and he played on the couch and in the beanbag. He kept being a snail or a squirrel getting stuck in it. Jillian came in and he was speaking squirrel language to her. Later, he was trying to speak car or squirrel language. He started that to the Hebrew teacher, then he said the only Hebrew he knew was ‘Shalom’. I said what about numbers, and he started to rapidly count in Hebrew, lying on his back on the beanbag, and got up to 49, I think.
He wanted some juice so we used his straw from his water bottle. When Carly came in and played with him on the bean bag he was getting stuck in sap. They sang “Happy Birthday” to Holly, then Carly got a plate of desserts first. They sat out on chairs and ate. August told me “The fruit salads really good.” I went in and got desserts and he shared more of mine. We also had some soda water. He turned to Carly and said “Did you turn off the oven?” A random reference to a little drawing in 91-Story Treehouse. As he was talking he kept saying “Besides…” and “Actually…”
Near the end, as people were leaving, he declared “I really liked all the foods except…except all the people.” But he had actually done quite well with people. In fact, as we were talking to בת-חן (the Hebrew teacher – Carly was discussing starting lessons with August, and I was discussing Hebrew songs with her that August likes), Ilana took Carly and August for a tour upstairs and August let Ilana pick him up to show him the roof.
We got home at 3:10. As we got to the house he said “Uh-oh. Something’s happening. I’m getting squishier and squishier. I think I’m turning to mud.” I think the “squishier” reference was to the beets and how some of them would be soft. August and I played with Legos and I made a rocket and we read Curious George Cleans Up. He wanted to go upstairs, where we found Carly in the bedroom. I rested and they went down and made popcorn and watched Planet Earth.
We went for a walk at 4:45. Walked down to where we thought we saw an owl yesterday, but no owl today. As we walked he declared “We’re mixing chemicals with a roasted chicken…We’re trying to figure out what makes the chicken explode.” No idea where that’s from. He was also using his rockets to pretend we were flying off a cliff. I reminded him of Carly’s rule, which is ‘No having fun near cliffs’ and so he was then saying “We’re having fun on a cliff!” We walked to the end of that trail (at the highway) and back, then just counterclockwise around our block.
At home we played Math Tango and Carly cooked the beet greens she had brought home. August liked them and ate a good amount. We read Biscuit Goes to the Vet, Biscuit’s Hanukkah (which we bought for 99 cents) and Paddington. August was getting tired and asked to put his pajamas on on the Zinnie bed. He took a long time on the toilet and was talking the whole time: lots of talking of Pluto (he claims it is a planet) and pressing buttons and moving to a restaurant and typing in search… We got him dressed and in bed. I told him to “Dream about beets” and he said “and parties!” I left them at 7:25 and hew as asleep by 7:40.
Chewed beet:
Bucket carrying:
The fields:
