I had a good book group meeting to discuss A Curious Beginning. Up about 1:10 and back asleep about 4. So I slept in. I think he was up a bit after 6. They watched a couple Sarah and Ducks and played with the Lego cars and the alien. He made a machine out of the pillows and chairs. I heard them debating ‘Unconnects’ versus ‘disconnects’ as he explained the giant/human making machine. When I came down he said “It makes 17000 giants.” He and the giants were then fighting an ice dragon – Carly. Carly made pancakes and we read The 26-Story Treehouse. When he was done eating he went and washing his sticky fingers on his own.
They nursed, then Carly went outside. That didn’t last long, as he wanted to play with her: “Can we play that car and gas station game PLEEEAAASE, mama?” She came in to play it with him. He sang part of “We all sing with the same voice” “…sometimes I feel angry, and when I want to cry I do.” They went back outside. He typed on my iPad outside at the table and I went up to take a shower. Back downstairs he was laying pillows over the couch and table: “I’m making an underground nest. But don’t destroy it.” Carly was making popcorn, and he lounged on the couch very relaxed as he ate it. I then took him up for his bath and he watched Marble Machine music video in the bath.
Back downstairs we did panorama photos, at his request. He was getting the idea of how to do it and keep it level. Then it was back to being animals: “I’m a talking rabbit…Its May!” And then he said “I’m popping ducks out of my bottom!” We then played the Flynne game “Bam Bam I mak-ed a shelf! I hammered the screws!” That was to wake me up.
I had some Cheerios and strawberries and he wanted the milk. I tried to give him a bit with Cheerios in it: “Get those out you silly Billy.” Back to the Flynne game he had May take over the fox lair.
We got going to the big Tiv Taam. There, Carly headed right in and we got out a couple minutes later. He had found the tape measure in the console and was measuring things and wanted to take it in the store to measure things. As we walked through the parking Jack drove by and we said hi to him. He was driving up to pick up Celeste at the entrance of the store. As he drove on August asked “I wonder how Nellie’s doing?” So as we caught up to them and saw Celeste August asked her. She then asked if he’d like to come visit Nellie sometime. He said not right now, but that he would. We were in the store just after noon.
We found Carly and he wanted to get in the cart. Shopping went smoothly and we had a full cart. Carly had purchased supplies for the movie day fundraiser her kids were doing and so on the way back we stopped at the school and she took those things in. In the car August wanted to play with the stopwatch on my phone, but we realized that the stopwatch he had started a few days ago was still going and up over 190 hours. He immediately wanted to let it keep going.
Back at home Carly cleaned out the fridge and put away groceries and I made lunch for me and August. August was playing around and suddenly asked “Is there infinite stars? Is there an infinite number of stars?” So we looked that up. August also wanted a smoothie but he wouldn’t help me out by going out and asking if Carly wanted some too. So then when I wouldn’t make the smoothie he refused to eat the tuna sandwich as well.
Upstairs Carly plugged in the Christmas lights: “Why do you always put them on NOT BLINKING‽”
After awhile he kept asking for the smoothie, so I told him he had to help me with something. He picked up and put away all the pillows, so then I made a mango and strawberry smoothie. I asked him to get the milk for me but then realized he couldn’t open the door. Several minutes later he told us “We need to buy a refrigerator that’s easier to open!” As I was making it I assured him he could like the honey spoon. He was at the sink with Carly when I tried to hand it to him. Carly, thinking I was handing it to her to wash, grabbed it and threw it in the sink. August realized what she did and wasn’t happy about it. She rinsed the spoon and put some more honey in it for him.
We drank the smoothie, and for some reason ended up talking about putting gas in the car. I told him that my plan in the future was to make sure to open his window so he could talk to me. He replied “MY plan is to be out of the car THEN get gas.” He asked “Can we watch a song about loose teeth?” We found a Wobbly Tooth song on YouTube that he liked.
A bit later he asked for the mango popsicle: “It wasn’t enough sweetness…the honey, it wasn’t enough sweetness.” Carly got out the popsicle. When I took a photo he told me I should put it on the blog. Said the same for a photo earlier on the couch.
We did some Drops as Carly was making minestrone soup. He and I were then getting read to go for a walk and were about out the door when Vivian skyped. Talked for a couple minutes, then we got going for a walk at 3:45. As we left he asked “Dada, could you forget less?…Not forget so much?” I had joked I sometimes forget to take photos of a park when Carly told Vivian we’d take photos of the park for her.
As we walked up towards the snakes and ladders park he asked”How did we go places when we didn’t have a car and we needed to go places that were farther than we could walk?” I asked if he meant in Korea and he said yes, so I told him about the glorious busses and subway. A bit later he asked “How do you take a photo when is dark?…” He was specifically asking about a panorama photo, and I told him I didn’t think it would really work well if it was really dark. He asked “Then how do you take a photo of the sunrise…sunset?”
At the park he first ran over and played in his ‘shop’. Throughout our time there he was asking how many photos we took for Vivian (he and Carly had decided we’d take 10). When he wanted me to set him down on his hands and knees on a net thing he asked “Could you set me down like this? Like a bear?” We went and spun in the planets thing and talked about elliptical orbits. Then he wanted to take panorama photos of the park. He tried some from near the Jeep thing, then got up on the play structure and did several from there, intentionally see how massed up he could make them. Then it was over to the big climbing area where there were a few other kids playing.
Finally, some snakes and ladders. I sat on the ground to take a photo for Vivian. Then he came and sat in my lap. Cuddled there for several minutes and was getting drowsy and said he was tired and ready to go home. It was a little before 5.
Before we left he found a plastic piece of tubing that he wanted to play with. He carried it as he rode on the bike. He sang “She’ll be coming around the mountain” and then was playing it as in instrument. He said it was a bassoon.
We were home at 5:20. Carly was Skyping with Cherie. He went to the bathroom and told me he “Only a fair amount” of toilet paper. He’s been ripping off paper, but using too much. Back with Carly he told her “You should be Skyping with Vivian, not Oma!” He showed them how he played his bassoon. Carly told him not to put it in his mouth. He said he didn’t but “I accidentally put it in my mouth when we went over bumps. That’s what happened!”
So then he skyped with Vivian and showed her how to play bassoon the bassoon. He played and said “An excellent bassoon player!”
Carly gave him some minestrone soup. He was excited: “Dada! Mama’s gonna give me noodles soup! I love noodles!” As he ate it he said “It’s so good I can’t stand it.” When he dripped soup on a seat and one of us asked what he was doing changing seats he said “Moving that seat, silly boy!” He and Vivian got into a “MY toys is eating YOUR toys!” debate.
After skyping he and I finished our latest read through of The Sisters. He had a slice of apple pear
and a cracker. Carly took him upstairs and they played with the kaleidoscope cards. He was talking like a baby, but he liked the idea of dreaming about playgrounds. Carly started to put him asleep about 6:55. A first: He said “Blanket please” and fell asleep with a blanket on him. He nursed for a minute then asked “Did I go to the bathroom?” He then fell right to sleep.
