He climbed up and asked me where mama was at 6:07. When I came down about 7 he was watching Timmy Time, but soon turned it off. He wanted to nurse. I distracted him for a few minutes by practicing Arabic with him in Memrise. He was then getting frustrated about not nursing until Carly got him over drawing pictures. Carly had him laughing over a picture they drew with people attached, then a big stack of things (person on a car on a tree on a cow etc.).
He and I then Skyped with my parents. He played the mystery tune for them a few times and a cool arpeggiated chord progression. He also hung up on them a couple times. Carly had been working on cooking the beet, so when that was done he ate oatmeal with mango and beets (on a separate plate) outside. Then Carly began her ambitious project of removing all of the old dirt from the planters around the kitchen. I cleaned our shoes from yesterday with the hose (and August’s help) and we used a stick to flick some cat poop off the fake grass, then I played store with him. He kept wanting to pick one of his little carrots today, so I went in and cut carrot sticks and he ate those and vegenaise and a couple crackers.
I went to take a shower and when I came back he was eating popcorn and watching Timmy Time. Carly had made eggplant sandwiches for her and me. I then gave him a bath. He sprayed me in the face with a squirt car. Went pretty well overall though as I was able to wash his hair. Back downstairs Carly had been removing dirt, but the last window was stuck. We got that open, then she continued and August and I used the last of the green paint to paint the back of the sign board a bit. August is excited to get more paint at Ikea.
I called Omar at Sabeel and things sound good. He wanted to meet in person in Jerusalem and we decided on tomorrow or Tuesday. Carly and I talked and decided on tomorrow, but later in the day he told me there would be demonstrations tomorrow and he didn’t know if he’d be able to make it to the office, so I’m planning on going to Jerusalem on Tuesday.
August requested mango so I thawed four pieces for him. He ate that and requested five more. He and I did Drops and French in Memrise while Carly showered. We got ready to go shopping and left at 1. I couldn’t find my hat before we left, and at some point I asked if he had put it in the Zinnie shop. He said “I think so.” Then, “Finding dada’s hat is one of the things I wanted to do today.”
We got to Ikea and found it pretty busy. Went pretty well though. We started upstairs, August looking for hopscotch. None upstairs, but he had fun playing on the beds and pretending to sleep, then going in a wardrobe and pretending to be teleported (a la The 91-Story Treehouse). We got to the kids’ stuff and he started playing with a kitchen set. Carly stayed with him and I continued on downstairs. We got another set of sheets for the Zinnie bed, 6 bags of potting soil, and other random items. Had planned on a dresser, but then weren’t sure if the box would fit with us all in the car, so measured the box. He and Carly caught up when I was looking at storage bins and wasn’t sure which ones Carly would want. He did some hopscotch patterns along the way.
Carly ran back to get a kid’s calculator and a set of cups for playing in the sand from the kids area, then met us at checkout. August had been helping to push the cart, and was excited about a hot dog. They went and got a hot dog and falafel sandwiches while I checked out, then we ate at Ikea.
We got home after 3. August started playing in the car and we unloaded everything. Carly put the dirt in the planters and I stayed with him. He was playing with Siri through the car, then he asked me “Water please, Ryan.” after Siri had called me Ryan.
We moved to the yard and he checked the Zinnie house: “I don’t see your hat. Let’s keep investigating.” I went and put his new sheets on the bed. He was running his store, but then stopped his delivery service to Carly, saying she had to come to the shop.
We headed to his activity class a little before 4:30. Sigal, the teacher, was already inside and there were no other kids. I started writing the checks, and Carly was with him. He went in the class a bit, but was kind of hyped up and panicky, especially after climbing on my back as I was writing checks and then falling forward and hitting his face on the table. After a few minutes he declared he was going home and headed up the stairs.
Carly and I switched. I got him back inside and we spent a couple minutes doing things like refilling his water bottle from the dispenser and playing with the latches board and a couple other toys. He then started going into class for a minute or two at a time. Several times he came back out though saying “See? I told you she was going to kill me?” After the first time he went in he came out and told me “You didn’t sneak!” Apparently Carly was going to “sneak” into the room for a couple minutes (Sigal had told her she could be in for awhile). He was getting more into it, but Sigal had them sit down. He started to come out and she called to August. August yelled to her “No! Sitting is boring!” When I got him back in again I heard him say “Sitting is boring!” to her again. But he was staying in longer and longer. They were doing things like ‘skiing’ on blocks and climbing over stools. I knew he was totally into it when I heard him telling her “I’m ready! I’m ready!” He made it to the end of class and was really excited when it was over. He told Carly “Class was fun!” and he was really smiling and excited for the rest of the evening.
At home we had some discussion about what was the best thing ever. My answer is ‘pie’, but he argued “Nothing’s better than nursing. That’s impossible!” and “Nursing is the most awesomest thing I’ve ever done.” But he also argued that the best thing ever is sap picking, and then “invisible infinity rockets”.
Carly headed him up some dinner and we ate outside. He played some Wizard School, then we read two Tallulah Books. As we were getting ready for bed he said “Oh yeah! We’ll see about that.” about something. I suggested he dream about class. He said “Class…and a volcano! And a storm!”
I left them at 7:20 and he was asleep soon after.
Learning to make change:
Wanting to help scoop dirt:
Teleporting in the wardrobe:
Measuring at Ikea:
Trying out the beds:
