6:05. Lots of laughter in his sleep. Then popped up and ran out “Dada?”
Took Carly to work. It was pouring as we left, and Carly covered August with an umbrella as I carried him. I drove around the block and we admired the channel taking water over to the highway. We had to drive about 25 km/hour there and back as the roads have inches of water on them in some places. Water was coming up from manhole covers in places.
Back at home August asked for hot chocolate. I made him some, and he said “Mama should try cold tea.” I had just sent an email to Carly joking that my coffee was still warm.
While I was in the kitchen and he was on the couch he asked “With so many people on the earth, how can the earth have so many?” We talked about sustainability and overpopulation – Agricultural Revolution for almost 4-year olds.
Today he wanted blue eggs. So we used blue food coloring. Of course, with the yellow eggs they still turned out green, but it was a darker blue-green. But the allure of colored eggs has worn off and he only ate a bite or two, then was upset when he couldn’t have other things. We played some Monster Physics together and finished the last four levels, then started over with another monster. Because it is so open we could use different strategies for passing the levels again. We ate carrots and veganaise and crackers. He passed a few levels on his own, then needed help to make a ramp up to a big bridge he had made on one level. I said it might be too steep of a ramp and he said “I can’t take apart my bridge! It’s the prettiest bridge I’ve ever made!” Out of nowhere he said “Mama should get her hair cut…cuz her hair is so long.”
We went upstairs and I took a shower. He watched one Sarah and Duck. We went downstairs and had a peanut butter and honey sandwich, then played Piano Maestro.
We then went upstairs for his bath. He asked “Can you help me make up a song about someone that is pooping in the kitchen?” He liked what I came up with and said “It was pretty good so you should add it to the blog.” He saw something that was pink and said that pink and purple are his favorite colors. I said I preferred blues and greens. He replied “Well you should totally like pink and purple. Those are the best colors. Do you know that?”
In the bedroom he tried picking more paint off the wall under the window. He explained “I’ve been chipping off the paint cuz when we move to another country the school is going to paint it.” I had to explain again that in the meantime we would have to deal with it, and we planned on being here for quite awhile.
He made a big pile of pillows and jumped on them from the bed. He wanted me to put a video of him doing it on the blog. He wanted me to pretend to be a little kid seeing a scary movie and he acted out the movie, full of monsters and robots and lasers. When I tried to get him to do another one he said he had frozen and his internet connection wasn’t working.
We went downstairs and made applesauce muffins. He started by getting all of his ‘ingredients’ out for them. He helped with the fun bits (e.g. honey). He told me “About the apple sauce: you got some on the flour container.” I let him lick out the honey cup. He kept saying that I gave him too much. We had to take off his shirt and he ended up with a sticky tummy. I think he was wiping his hands on it. Washed his hands three times.
While they baked he sang “Oh honey won’t you mow, oh honey won’t you mow my grass…” to “Oh Dinah won’t you blow your horn.” Not sure where the mow the grass idea came from, or which ‘honey’ he was referring to.
We read some of the new Sisters books. He said “I don’t really mind the presents I get. If I don’t get all the presents on my wishlist…” He was remembering one of the pages we read last night where the sisters make their Christmas wishlists. We waited a bit after the muffins came out to eat them. They were horrible stuck to the paper but were still good.
We then played more Monster Physics and did some Hebrew. He played his toy piano and was playing “I’ve been working on the railroad.” Carly decided the weather was good enough to walk home. So he and I left at 4:25 to go to his activity class. I saw Carly walking the other way and waved.
We were the first ones there and Segal talked to him about it maybe being a private class today. She also talked to him about maybe her music being too loud. He had said as much early on in class, then one week her solution was just to not use music. Abigail and Daria showed up, and Segal said the parents could sit inside if they wanted. So I sat inside and was able to keep August in the full class. I could also redirect him when he just refused to sit by the mirror, etc. Really worked better, and I didn’t have to do too much. And despite her efforts to keep it quieter I still saw August cover his ears a couple times and she would turn the music down a bit. But then it would be louder again. I don’t know what was going on there. It was still incredibly loud.
Anyway, a fourth kid, יב (Yav), showed up as they did a Spider-Man game. They took turns showing what the Spider-Man doll was doing. August had his be a rocket. Segal protested, as his rocket (running around with the doll over his head, making a rocket noise) was basically what they had just done (running). I suggested a jumping rocket and that worked. After that they were snakes, then they were rolling on the floor. I haven’t actually seen him roll like that before. Ditto for walking backwards and then walking on their hands and feet.
Yav and Daria spent much of class outside the room, so it was a small class. All the others disappeared near the end of class, so at the end it was just August. And when class was over August helped her clean up. When he came out to me he was very excited about making it through class.
While he helped I went out and talked to Shiley, whose son is Ori in the next class. She had lived in Pittsburg for a couple years in high school but was otherwise born and lived in Even Yehuda. She told me of a Israeli show called פרפר נחמד (cute butterfly) that is sort of like Sesame Street. When August came out he saw that Ori had an eye patch and was concerned that he was hurt. We had to ask – it was for treating a lazy eye. We talked to Shiley a bit more and August went to the bathroom.
Then when we got home we had to drive around the block to find a spot. So we were a bit late. Carly came out and met us. A present from Andrea and Derek and the kids had finally arrive – they sent it in early December. We opened that. There was a book called The Snowy Day, which I had almost bought on iBooks at one point, and a frog musical instrument that August really liked. And a bag of chocolate coins and a Santa Clause.
They then Skyped with Colin. He got upset about his food choices. Carly took him upstairs, then they came back down for a little while before going up again. She said he needed to go to the bathroom. He said “I just went to the bathroom, silly.” Came back down again as he was finally ready to eat dinner. Carly got him rice and broccoli and seitan. I found a video of the פרפר נחמד show on YouTube and we watched part of it. He then went upstairs. When I asked what he’d dream about he told he didn’t want me to tell him what to dream. So maybe the end of that. He was asleep about 7:15.
