We had some loud thunder sometime in the morning. Later, around noon, we had some more thunder that actually shook the house.
Carly got him up before she left. He was a little worried about the idea of people coming over this afternoon, and he just lay on the couch quietly as she left. He asked for Cheerios and Max and Ruby. During one of the stories there was a mention of bedbugs and he asked what those were. I explained, and he asked if we had them here. I said no. He said “Well, I don’t want to go to any country that has those.”
He randomly threw a water bottle at me, which resulted in pausing Max and Ruby for awhile. I think I just happened to be in the way, as later I saw him throw it into the pillows in the corner of the couch again after drinking. He watched a Max and Ruby story where they take care of a baby. A few minutes later he said “Well I don’t want to have a baby.”
We built a nice Duplo playground. He put a bed in and said “There’s a bed of nails!” We then went upstairs to okay with the kaleidoscope cards: “That’s a fancy one! It’s the best design ever!”
Back downstairs I exercised and he watched more Max and Ruby. We then ate crackers, cheese, and strawberries. We did Piano Maestro, then we went upstairs and he watched one Sarah and Duck while I took a shower. After Sarah and Duck he had gone into the bedroom and was playing with the kaleidoscope cards on his own, then brought his finished design into the bathroom for me to see.
We skipped his bath today. Downstairs he played on the piano and said “That’s the Hebrew song!” I asked him to play it again. He had figured out the tune to the Hebrew colors song we watch on YouTube. We added a little more to the maze: “We’re done with our Lego maze. It’s the Maze of Doom. Can you make a guy be lost in the Maze of Doom?”
Finally, I was trying to rehang a picture hook that had come down. He saw me scraping the wall with the screwdriver and said Shmuel wouldn’t be happy about that. I told him the school would repaint the house after we left. He said “Wait; so all my wall damages will be painted?” I stressed that wouldn’t happen until after we moved out – we’d have to paint the wall damage we can see on our own before then.
We left at 11:35. We were planning on the sushi place for lunch and picking up pizzas at VIPizza for dinner. But both were closed. We parked and walked up to the bank and got cash. Then walked over to make sure the pizza place was closed. It was just before 12 and there was a woman taking down chairs in the Sushi Ishimoto.
So we first went to the library until it closed at 12:30. We looked at a book about trees, and he played in the pillows on the couches. He found three clock books and we looked at those. We translated some words and he translated ‘הקטר’ (locomotive) on his own. We couldn’t check those out though, so went to look at other books. He found a Spot book with a clock (פנוקי, מה השעה?) and I got a book called צורןת (Shapes). We went to check out and told the librarian we didn’t actually know how to check out books, although we had registered. She found us in the system and gave me our account number, which I promptly lost in the next couple of hours. On the way out I looked at the book sale shelves and found a children’s book called פעם נצחתי שלושה ענקים (I Defeated Three Giants, I think). It was in great shape (new) and appears to be short poems about things like spaghetti and pizza. And the art is really cool. Anyway, I took it to buy it. The sign said books cost 5 or 10 shekels and I swear she told me 5. She took my 10 shekel coin and put it in the till. Then I stood there waiting for change. I would have paid 10 for it anyway, so when she said she didn’t need me anymore as she was writing out the record of the sale I headed out.
We walked to Sushi Ishimoto and it was definitely open. A couple teachers, Howard and someone else, were there. We ordered the pad Thai with shrimp again. Before we left home August had remembered that we should bring his chopsticks. We got those out and he practiced with them a bit. He liked the pad Thai and ate a good amount. We saw Gaby come in with about 10 other middle school girls – the school had a half-day today, with a staff training in the afternoon, which is why everyone could go to lunch. We also had water, and August liked the water in his. He was squishing the lemon with his straw and it slipped on him. The glass slipped and rested precariously on the edge. It didn’t fall though. August didn’t appreciate this remarkable event, however, as he was upset that some water had splashed on his sleeve.
He whined about it as we headed back to the car. He told me it was still wet when we got in the car (I had told him it would be dry by then), but it wasn’t bothering him anymore. In the car both directions we were listening to episode 3 of Story Pirates. We were home at 1:35. We spotted another spot of cat poop and discussed what it looked like. He said “Cat Poop-ish?” He was asking why that meant the cat might be sick. I explained, and he asked if it was the same for other animals. I explained yes, and he said “And trees!” I said no, but he argued that trees also ate, and when I said but they don’t poop. He said “What do you mean? They could just poop out their roots!”
We got on the orange bike and headed to Tiv Taam. We had seen only small branches down in town, but on the way to Tiv Taam we saw whole branches ripped off of young, healthy trees.
Tiv Taam was busy, so luckily he sat in the cart. But he complained that the actual seat was too tight. So I let him sit in the cart itself. As we added groceries he stacked them neatly in the end. He had to go to the bathroom so we left the cart and walked down there. He told me “Dada, I was getting ready excited in the cart.” He explained it was the first time he had sat in the cart. He also liked the liquid soap in the bathroom: “It smells flowery.” We went back and finished shopping. He wanted to touch the cheeses, so I decided to get a nice aged cheddar for later. And I surprised him by getting the fruit popsicles again when we went to pay.
We walked home. I reminded him he couldn’t get off the bike or it would tip over backwards. At home he went to the bathroom again. He asked what would happen if the toilet paper holder, which is getting loose again, broke off. I said we’d have to fix it. He said we should leave it broken until we leave. I asked when he wanted to move again. He said he wanted to live here one more year. When I asked where he wanted to me he said “Greenland”.
He watched Max and Ruby while I did dishes and straightened up (Carly had done cleaning last night) for the guests. Carly and Tessa were walking, but got here at the same time as Ofer and the kids (Liam and Tava(?)). August hid under the pillows behind the coffee table at first. And the other two kids were shy at first as well. August warmed up by making a kaleidoscope design for them. He was then drinking more of the watermelon water we got at the store and asked me to move it closer to them. I got out the cheese and crackers and started making sandwich pizzas, strawberries, and apple sauce for dinner. Carly got him over with the other kids as they were starting to play with the Duplos and musical instruments. August had some difficulty at first with them playing with his toys. He let out a blood-curdling scream the first time. Carly took him upstairs. When he came back down he asked me if he could have his popsicle now as he wasn’t doing so well. He got upset one more time, and was also upset about waiting for the popsicle.
But then Liam wanted to play hide and seek with his mom and August really got into that. The two boys went and found the moms hiding upstairs. Then he and Liam hid once and the Carly and Tessa found them. August also played with Ofer, piling pillows on him.
Shay, downstairs, texted, saying he didn
’t like the running (which had just started with the hide and seek, and was mostly upstairs, but was downstairs a bit too). I explained we would have dessert soon, then they probably wouldn’t last much longer. He said he understood.
August kept asking me, every one or two minutes, what time it was, as I had said they could have popsicles at 6. So right at six I got out the popsicles. The kids sat on the floor together and ate their popsicles. They stayed pretty clean.
There was some playing after that (August and Liam were being pirates with the kaleidoscope and a piano key), but their kids were ready to go. August was a little concerned that they were going to take the kaleidoscope. They left about 6:30.
August did some Hebrew on my phone. Carly took him upstairs, then I switched with her and played with him on the bed. He wanted baby books, so we read Boynton’s A to Z and But Not the Hippopotamus and some of The New Kid on the Block. He acted out being a motor and a storm breaking plants and trees (after the party he and Carly had gone out and found that the big purple plant’s middle had all broken). I left him just after 8 when he said he was ready for sleep and sent Carly up.
Lunch:
Broken trees:
Riding in the shopping cart:
Popsicles:
Magic wands:
