He was up at 7:20. We sat on the couch and I asked if he wanted to read Hilo. First thing he said to me today was “What do you mean? We’re in the age of dinosaurs. It hasn’t even been invented.” He asked for Cheerios and while I got them he then asked “I will tell you something: how do you make the weird cone that goes with ice cream?” So that led to watching a video about how ice cream bones are made, then his old favorite ink video, which he said he remembered. We paused from that to watch a Sesame Street video of Endendino (https://youtu.be/TdpjO_8L3r8) and listen to the version we have. He finished a second ink video, then wanted to play Musyc. He talked about how making lines and having shapes bounce off them to make music isn’t really real, and that he calls that ‘super music’.
He was interested in zucchini bread when I had it with butter, so I got him some. We read some Hilo from where he’d gotten with Carly. He asked “Can I have a shirt with a Z on it?” And said “I have way more powers than Hilo…magic power, and rule power, and knowing everything power.” We read through chapter 6. Played some Sound Rebound and then I showed him the video Sumoud https://youtu.be/g3R9E6T-rRU, about a Palestinian family who has had their home destroyed, skipping much of it to focus on the parts with Sumoud in it. He was grumpy after that, I think still processing what we’d talked about about being nice to people. He said he was doing things I wouldn’t like, but then wouldn’t stop so we had a timeout on the ouch.
We then made and had a strawberry and mango smoothie. Drank that, then he wanted to do an experiment. We added oil this time and then had fun adding food coloring to the water or oil. Then, when we started added cinnamon, baking soda, etc. it got really clumpy, making a bumpy landscape at both the top and bottom of the water. And making blobs sink and bubbles go back up. August did a great job of cleaning up all the bottles when we were done.
He watched Julius Jr. and I took a shower. We watched the Marble Machine update video but skipped through much of it and then videos on how candy canes and ice cream sandwiches are made. Gave him his bath. He sang Endendino and scrubbed with the toothbrush. He got the bar of soap and played with it in the bath, making the water white and losing the bar under all the toys.
Downstairs he wanted to play Toca Blocks. And he spotted something in the game that he thought we hadn’t discovered how to make – a mailbox. He wanted to figure it out, but I said it may take a long time. He said “Yeah, but we can try. That’s what discovering is Al about.” He spent some time trying to make it by combining blocks – he called the advanced blocks “The specialies”.
He wanted meatballs for lunch so I made him 4 and he ate most of those. We got leaving after 2. He played instruments with his stick from yesterday outside, then he started singing “Oh my goodness he stays awake for weeks.” He made up a new tune and took words from my song about him not falling asleep but added the “Oh my goodness” part on his own.
We were taking a bunch of supplies, including the iron and ironing board, to Carly so she could fix one of her bean bag chairs. There are little flexible rubber pieces on it and in the car he speculated what they are for: “My only idea is…”
Talking about his new version of the not sleeping song and the tune/patterns he made up he said “It didn’t exist until I made with up.” Which I think goes back to a conversation I had with him months ago where I explained why I liked abstract sculptures, because when a sculptor makes a new shape it is the first time it has ever existed.
Got to school about 2:30. Saw his future class down on the playground, but they were going back in right as we got down to the preschool playground. August played on the playground for awhile, then about 2:50 the classes started to leave to go to the busses. We went into his classroom and he looked around. He went under the loft and liked the rather curvy mirror on the wall and how it made the floor look hilly/holey. Maaian came through and talked to us. August told her how he accidentally erased a little from the whiteboard and she said it was okay. He also told her how he liked the mirror. He then went up to the loft and was commenting on how messy it was up there as it hadn’t been cleaned up. The teachers came back and I talked to Anna about when we could come and visit. We settled on Tuesday at 2 as they will be having a birthday party then. August dropped down a couple of pieces to me (well, tried to get them past me) from the loft, then we got going to the Hebrew class.
We went up to the class. He went right over and sat in the circle. I sat off to the side more and read most of the time. More about Purim today. We had to change rooms as carpenters were coming in. In the other room they did a Purim song and got noisemakers and each got a triangle Purim cookie. And they got masks. I went and fixed August’s and another girl’s when the strings were pulling out. August wore his on his head a little, but not much. He loved the cookie and noisemaker though. They did the story again and August got to hold Mordechai.
So he did a great job in class. We took our time heading out. He played with the squishy little ball things and checked on a couple things downstairs before I got him out the building. He’s sounding pretty positive about going to school now.
We went to Carly’s classroom where he got to watch the custodian vacuuming up all the beads from the beanbag chair that she couldn’t pick up. He then wanted Carly to teach him about continents and oceans after he spotted the big maps they had made up on the wall and asked her if her students had made them. He then taught her about kiwi birds and remembered they were birds that didn’t fly and lived on an island.
August and I got going to walk up to his class and Carly headed home. We got to the studio and it was closed. Oops. Clearly no class due to Purim. We started to walk back to school and the car. He stopped at the exercise equipment along the way and got on the elliptical machine and talked about going faster than light. I said I couldn’t really measure how fast he was going on the machine and he said “Yeah, but how do you know that…you do. I programmed you to know that.” He got off of it and spent a lot of time making it go even faster with his hands. He also did some sit-ups on the bench.
Spent quite awhile there, then went across the street to the playground so I could get a drink. He stopped and said I could continue on to the drinking fountain on my own. He went to the platforms he could climb on. He did that, climbed in the pod things, climbed on the play structure, and shared a small teeter totter thing with a smaller boy. He was acting like a baby too. I had been reading when he started saying “goo goo gaa gaa”. I asked “Is that a sign you want me to play with you and put my book away?” He gave me a thumbs up.
Finally walked to the car and on the way home he had me repeat the 4 Non Blondes song “What’s Going On?” I like when he asks me to add a song to his playlist when we are already listening to his playlist.
It was hard to park at home due to some Purim thing across the street so we had to park up the block. We were home at 6:20.
He played some Toca Blocks then ate couscous and peas for dinner. He had trouble eating the last of the peas before he could have more meatballs. I said that someone who was faster than light should be able to eat the last 7 peas pretty fast. But then he got crazy and sort of flipped his plate pretending to be fast. Got him to help clean up, and to eat a few more peas, but he didn’t want squished ones. He ate a couple bites of meatballs, but was started to fall apart. On the couch he started balling, I think basically when Carly suggested it was time to go upstairs. I carried him up to the toilet where he just kept s
obbing but didn’t fight it. Carly got him ready, then I said goodnight and left them at 7:20. We both thought he was going to fall asleep in a few seconds but then he calmed down and started asking her for stories. It was closer to 7:50 when he fell asleep.