He was up at 6:30. Heard him call “Dada!” Went up and found him in the bathroom. “Where were you?” He had expected me to be on the bed, I think. He went to the bathroom then Carly brought him down. He wanted to go nurse in the “parlor”. Apparently he had remembered that aspect of the ‘parlor’ after all the times Carly said “Let’s go nurse in the parlor” back in Korea.
He had some difficulty letting Carly go to work. He went and held onto her backpack and said he was going too. He watched some Julius Jr. and Llama Llama. He can sing most of the Llama Llama theme song now.
He went to add to his waker upper machine. He then asked to put together the watering system. I didn’t know where it was so he wanted me to pick him up and he would use his rockets to look for it. We look around the house and he told me about how his fire came out of his feet, and that it bounced off of things like sound waves. Then the fire came out of his head.
Couldn’t find the watering system. We were listening to Chemical Brothers and he sort of danced to a song, playing his drum machine. He then requested the Elements song and we listened to more of his playlist. He made the “freegeometry” shape out of Duplos. It was just a cube, but if you pushed the button on top books about geometry came out. And if you put books in it that AREN’T about geometry they would turn into geometry books. “Tri book…shows you everything that has three of something.” “Look! I finished the thingiematron! When you push it, books come out about thingies…like bicycles and tricycles.”
He wanted to plat the Elements app. He played that and I exercised, then helped. We finished discovering all of the elements. He also found Carcassonne, the board game, on my iPad and we started to just make a town with it. I called the medical center about reducing the size of my cast. She was supposed to look into it but never called me back.
We went upstairs so I could take my shower. I started some new show on Netflix for him, about a musical, but he switched to Julius Jr. After my shower, back in his room, he asked me “Have they discovered an electronic lever?…But how? Motors just spin.” Talked about that a bit, then he wanted to play more Carcassonne. We actually figured out the rules and played one full solitaire game. “Alternative” was his word of the day. Not sure where he picked it up, but he asked for it to be defined a few times and kept using it. Then to Music Memos again. He asked “What underappreciated mean?” That was from the Julius Jr. episode he had watched, about a robot that was underappreciated.
We did a quick bath for him and headed downstairs. He played a little Human Body. Asked “What’s problematic mean?” We discussed white blood cells and germs. And he asked “What’s aerodynamic mean?” Don’t know where he heard that one. And “What’s friendship?”
We left at 11:30. Sort of. He wanted to play in the car. There, he wanted to hear the Llama Llama song. Not on Apple Music but I found it on YouTube and figured out how to have it repeat. Listened to it several times. Later, and on the way home, he would be singing a lot of the words.
We got driving and listened to the ‘extra’ Story Pirates episode – he had me repeat the beginning several times to listen to the theme song.
We got to Ganei Yehoshua Park along the Yarkon River in Tel Aviv, parked, and were walking at 12:20 with his bike. The last story we had heard was about how a kid had taken 10 years to invent a no-veggie machine. So as we got ready and left August was talking about his own no-veggie machine, that took 20 years and contained every food except veggies.
We were going into the park to eat lunch. First found a little playground and played there. August climbed on the fence, then saw all the babies as there was a mom’s group in the playground. Most of them were leaving but a few remained. August was then a baby, and I had to carry him from place to place. At one point he had me rock him like a baby and he pretended to fall asleep in my arms, with his head hanging back a bit over my arm. Bigger, but reminded me of when he was small. He was having me sing “Rock Me Mama” to him to put him to sleep.
Played around for awhile there and went on the swings, then I got him to go. We walked up the river to the pedestrian bridge and across to the other side. He wanted to stop and eat so we found a bench facing the river. Had our peanut butter and honey sandwiches and the salmon salad. He ate most of the salmon.
He’s started to also ask what words mean. During lunch he found a big rusty nail and was poking a post with it. He asked “What is ‘post’ from?” I taught him the word ‘etymology’ and he practiced saying that. Meant to look up ‘post’ in the OED but didn’t get around to setting up my library access to it as we sat there.
We got walking and went to the big playground, which is where we were headed. He played on the wooden structure first. He played on his own, with other kids, mainly on the shaky bridge and I started reading a book about immgrants and refugees in Israel, called The Unchosen. He got off the structure and was shaking the bridge with his hands. He asked “Dada, I’m shake-i-atron…I attach to something and I shake it…Do you want me to turn it off? My battery is at 27.”
He wanted to move to the second set of toys, so we got the bike and moved over to that. He spun in a hanging sphere thing, then pretended to sleep in a circle that was sort of like a hamster wheel. He needed to use the bathroom and when I said we could find one he was the one that found a sign. I spotted a free library thing and he said “Oh no!” and talked about how he doesn’t like me finding them.
Only took a minute, then walked down and used the bathroom. We crossed back over the river on the main road. I had to carry the bike up stairs and he found a stick along the way. He carried it as he rode the bike. When he joked about hitting someone with it when I had asked him to do the opposite when someone was walking the other way I the bridge we had to stop and have a serious talk about it. I had threatened to take away the stick, and he then had all sorts of questions about for how long and what I would do with the stick, etc.
We paused to look at the river (we had seen boats and ducks on it) then kept walking to the Eretz Israel Museum. When we were having all the fun in the park I gave August the option of leaving the museum for another day a couple times. He insisted he wanted to go.
We got in and purchased a ticket, which wasn’t too bad, and I fit the stick in the backpack (sort of). We first went to the Man & His Work exhibit. Spent a lot of time at the outside area where they have displays of the tools used for different jobs in the past, like weaver, shoemaker, baker, blacksmith, carpenter, etc. It was a hit with August, who had tons of questions and kept pointing things out. Realized we should also watch videos of a loom and blacksmith later.
We then went in the main building for the exhibit. As we went in and I read something about it being about Israel I quietly told August it was also called Palestine. Similar stuff in there that we talked about. The main thing we discussed were the traps for catching animals, namely the ones that look like jaws. He had me tell him about them a couple times. We did a quick walk around the rest of it, then headed out.
We sat on a bench outside and had a snack (mainly zucchini bread). “I don’t call it thirsty, I call it hungry.” He’s also previously told me that I should always include my water bottle when I tell him what food we have. And didn’t think much of my food/drink comparison.
Next, we worked our way back to the center and up the ramps, stopping at a drinking fountain, and made our way to the building with the history of coins in the region. Which, given all the empires, etc. is substantial. He liked looking at t
he coins, particularly the tiny ones.
We stopped for bread next to a cool archeological mosaic and found a tiny pink blob on a sign. I wouldn’t let him touch it and he speculated on what it was: “Maybe it’s a kind of gelatin.” Don’t know where that came from. He also asked “How can wind carry things up if it doesn’t have arms?”
We next went to the Nechushtan exhibit, about the history of the Timna Valley. He really liked the fake cave you walk through and the display on the history of copper work. But the best part was the 1800 year-Old Roman lead coffin, which was just sitting out where you could touch it. It had designs all over it as well. So I let August touch it and he was really impressed. Came back to it a couple times.
Finally, nearing closing at 4 we went into the building on the history of glass work. From its beginnings to contemporary Israeli glasswork. He really liked a tall hanging piece, then the fact that the round building really echoed. He did a little singing. All was well until we were walking around and he started to say he wanted to show me a piece. Just as I said something about the knight made out of glass. He turned around and pointed the same thing out to me and the said “You just said that. Grr.” He then lay down on the floor, grumpy. He stayed grumpy for awhile. He said he wanted to start the whole building over. We did a little, but it was almost 4.
We went and found the bathroom before we left. As he sat on the toilet he told me. “I didn’t like how you did that glass person.” We briefly looked at the museum store (he said something about “Not more books!” but actually it was glass stuff I wanted to point out to him) and got walking at 4:05.
On the walk he was asking about the distinctions between ‘impossible’ versus ‘improbable’. He maintained that liking tomatoes is impossible. We got to the car and left at 4:30.
He was singing a line from Llama Llama “you’re as great as peanut butter” and asking why they say ‘peanut butter’. We listened to the song again and they don’t say that line. Not sure if he made it up, or there are more/different words in the actual shows.
Took a little over 50 minutes to get home. On the way we finished Story Pirates and he told me about the fastest thing in the universe: “Light isn’t the fastest thing in the universe. I’M the fastest thing in the universe.” We then listened to his playlist and he really liked the Endendino song, a Hebrew children’s song (https://youtu.be/MXooV9yW7V4). We listened to it 4 or 5 times and were singing along. We got home before 5:30. We saw the black cat on the platform above the door and named it ‘Sof al Hakatino’, which is a line from the song he had just been singing (http://www.hebrewsongs.com/song-endendino.htm)
We had Carly come out and see the cat, then he went in with her and was being silly on the couch. Not sure how he still had so much energy: “I have know everything power…I told dada I win the love game and the knowing everything one.” I got him noodles, couscous and peas, and meatballs for dinner. He ate a lot of food. He helped Carly water the plants through the windows and she went out to water the rest. He talked about the traps from earlier and asked another etymology question: “Why’d they use the word ‘trap’?”
He watched some Julius Jr., then I tried to get him to read books with me. He ended up reading with Carly instead. She read The Knowing Book, which I had gotten at the library, but he didn’t really like that. But then she started Hilo 3 and he really got into that. A lot of laughing.
She took him upstairs and the got ready and read some more Hilo (to page 72). I then went up about 8 and switched with her. He cuddled next to me and asked me to tell him stories from when I was a kid. He asked for age 2, and I told him my vague memories of moving to our new house. He said that mama couldn’t remember 2, but he also said my story was boring.
We started talking about love at some point and I told him he will always have my love. “What if I lose it?…What if I forget?” We also talked about how some people need more love and about loving Palestinians. He wants to learn about them. We tried going to sleep several times but he was very talkative. Asked for stories from when I was 6 and 7. Told him about the writing competition we used to have at school. Did the timer several times, counting in my head, but he never made it past 40 seconds of being silent and still.
Finally, a bit after 8:30, I agreed to go get Carly. He said “If I can’t do it I hope you still love me.” And “Will you love me when I’m 9? 10? 11? Infinity? 100? But what if I only make it to 99?…I don’t like that.”
Still took him awhile to fall asleep with Carly. She almost got up to finish getting ready for bed herself first. But then he fell asleep about 8:50.
He did a lot of walking on my feet today, seeming to remember it from when he was smaller: “This is how we walked when I was a baby?”
Traps:
Glass:
A hard time:
Cat:
