Carly was back to regular school again. He was up about 6:30. Came down and I picked him up and held him until Carly came out of the bathroom. After Carly left he wanted peanut butter crackers. He saw them on the plate and said “That’s shaped like a toilet. I’m about to eat a toilet.” He watched Julius Jr. and ate his crackers. We then made a Duplo machine and exercised. He played the Me app for a bit, then we did some Wizard School. I wanted to get going to the zoo, so we went upstairs. Had to play with the Smurf figures briefly, then I was able to take a shower. He came in and had fun locking my watch for a minute. When I put on lotion he wanted me to make letters. He said one looked like a letter from shakmook language and said “I’ve been teaching birds to read shakmook language all day.” He wanted a Thatcher treat during our drive but said “I’m afraid to tell mama. She might say ‘aargh’…that’s my hypothesis.”
He also decided he wanted to make a backwards A ah apples song. Downstairs, I got his clothes off, then he had some naked time before I got them on. He put just his shoes on and said “Why do we always have Dr. Seuss songs stuck in our heads?” We were then humming a Seuss song and he was dancing around with the mop. Pretty funny.
Got him dressed, then cleaned up a bit. We had found a few of the math blueberries in the container with the musical instruments. He was playing with them and said “They do make a great noise. Maybe that’s why they’re in the instruments.” We left just after 10. Listened to music on the way down, mainly the Julius Jr. song on repeat many, many times. Took just over an hour on the way down. No reduction of traffic after rush hour, apparently.
We went to the zoo first this time. For the driving part August mainly stood up in the back seat, holding on to tightly to the headrests on the front seats. We saw a hippo walk into the water.
At the zoo part we went in and played first at the playground for a few minutes. He went on the zip line things twice. He then decided he was ready for lunch. We went into the restaurant area. He got a hotdog meal and I did the hamburger. The hotdog and hamburger were okay, but the fries left a lot to be desired. He was excited though that canned mango juice was an option and we both went for that. His meal came with a little plastic water gun. August talked about how Carly would want to eat outside, but he wanted to eat inside. We read Seuss’s You’re Only Old Once.
We got going and took about an hour walking the primates loop of the zoo. He posed as gorillas in a cut-out photo thing. At the gorillas they have a family tree of the gorillas, there are eight or so. Apparently Lukas, the patriarch, is kind of famous, as I heard two groups pointing out Lukas and calling him by name before I even found the sign. Then a high school group came and the tour guide was pointing them out by name. August was on his bike, and the high school girls rushed and shoved in front of him to take photos, but then one of them noticed and pulled him right up to the glass. We headed on to the orangutan and gibbons. There are ropes that you can hang on, and August did that.
We got going on a walk around the loop. Saw all sorts of primates. They have a lot. We saw a baby baboon and he asked about the baboons’ bottoms, so we read the sign. Then saw a mandrill up close, eating some plants. He walked on a balancing log by a bats cage, then needed a bathroom, so we kept going. Not a long time in the zoo itself, but August wanted to do more of the driving part. Went to the bathroom by the parking lot at 1, then went to do more of the driving part. August said “What does stupendous mean? Treats is stupendous!” After he ate some apple I let him share the last cookie from our batch.
This time August sat in the front seat. Saw most of the herbivores, like the antelopes and addax and wildebeest. Listened to old Story Pirates stories as we went. In one of the author interviews they sang a song called “I Sing You a Song”. August liked it and we found it on Apple Music and added it to his playlist. The lions were sort of hidden in the bushes this time.
I backed up at one point and August saw the backup camera screen. A few times he wanted me to put it in reverse so he could turn the wheel and see the lines change. The most exciting part was when we drove by the ostriches. They are curious of the cars. One walked right by August’s window and he said “Hi, ostrich!” Another came and looked in mine and pecked at the window.
We then went to the big playground in the Ramat Gan park next door. About 2:15. I mentioned that we hadn’t watched the nature show that Thatcher likes and that Oma recommended to us for a long time. I told him to remind me at home but he reminded me right away. He said “I reminded you here!”
He drove us along the brick edging as we went, which makes his voice sound funny as he sings, and apparently especially with his fingers in his ears. We got to the playground but played for just a minute with the sand toys which I’d brought along before he needed a bathroom. We found a nearby bathroom, then came back. He went on the big wheelchair accessible merry-go-round. He sat in one of the seats and said “This is small. There’s no WAY a wheelchair could fit in here.” He then sat in one of the little spinning seats and got himself spinning. He lounged in that and said “This is the life.” A reference to the Plant a Tree with Me book, which we haven’t read in a long time.
Had a bite of hotdog. Then said “I need a treasure map. Because we’re pirates’.” We did a bunch of silly treasure hunts, making him run and climb around the playground. Something binged ay one point and he said “It was my hotdog maker. It bings every time it makes a new kind of hotdog .” At one point we ran to the spider web thing and he said he won at first, then said “Actually, it’s a tie.” He’s liked the idea of ties since I introduced them.
He kept wanting to do one more treasure hunt. Finally pulled him away close to 3:30. Stopped at a part where there are little ramps to let him roll down them in the bike several times. He looked at the lake and wondered how deep it was and hypothesized about that. We then walked around the lake for the first time. He got a little upset when I said we didn’t have time to go to the coffee shop. But he liked a little sculpture garden, and climbed on one of them and wanted a photo of a couple others.
Got back close to the car at 4. There was a sax player sitting on a bench, and repeating a 4 note line that August liked and was repeating. August noted that it was actually 3 separate notes, as one was repeated.
We got driving and were listening to Story Pirates. At the end of one he heard them mention Twitter and asked about Twitter, then specifically told me about Plumdog and how Plumdog’s owner dresses her up and posts the photos on Twitter. He also said we should try Squarespace for free, as that’s one of the ads. He was impressed to find out that our blog is on Sqaurespace.
He had been doing the radio station thing on his bike and one of the songs I sang was “Take Me to Church” and he had asked if I made it up. I said no and explained how we used to listen to it and he’d fall asleep. Well on the drive back we switched to music – more Julius Jr. several times – then I played that song. It went quiet in back and I looked back and saw him with his eyes closed. And grinning. But he was also getting sleepy for real. Called Carly and had her talk to him. She promised him hot chocolate if he stayed awake. Then put on some “super music”and more Julius Jr. etc. He managed to stay awake. Although we forgot the hot chocolate.
We were home by 5:30. Carly and I were talking about her teaching and he asked her “Could you teach me something about Israel?” “Why do different countries have different people?” “Why do people eat different foods?” “What did
you teach your students about Israel?” Carly was telling him about different people and holidays in Israel and she told him about Yom Kippur “What is God?…How does God help you?” He was excited to find out that the Muslims spoke Arabic, and that a lot of them lived in Jordan, which he knew about, and asked why they lived there. He asked “Is there another name for Gob…you know; the person that helps you not die.”
Carly then Skyped with Derek. Thatcher told us about the lizard he caught. August was being a baby and cuddling with us. Afterwards, August and I watched Coyote Peterson, which was the show I was thinking of earlier. We had asked Derek for the name. August chose a video where he is bitten by a giant desert centipede. August watched the first few minutes over and over: “That’s the cool part.” He liked the centipede bite and also the guy getting bit by a big snapping turtle.
He played a couple minutes of Robot Lab, then Carly took him upstairs. We finished the last round up on the bed. I left them at 7:15. August urged me to not stay up too late again.