He was up just before 7:20. I had gotten lunch and field trip supplies ready already, then jumped in the shower while he was with Carly. We were driving to school today so we could drive to his field trip and because of activity class in the afternoon.
On the way he asked if oil had to be changed like in a car. Don’t know where this came from. Then about how it was done. We also listened to “Go” so he could show me the part at the end that he’d been humming.
We got to his class in time for the pre-field trip meeting. Then walked out with them to the bus before heading to our car. We listened to his playlist for awhile, but then he said he wanted to listen to new songs. The farm is called Halbrecht Farm Food Garden. Took about 25 minutes to get there, a bit north of Netanya.
We parked and walked in and found his class. They were sitting down for their morning snack. I met a dad, Hershel, of a boy in PKC named Ryan. And then I spotted Selma’s dad, Sergio. He was wearing the same Osprey child-carrier backpack that I carried August in. He had his two-year old son in it. That was fun to see. August and I went over and reminisced about the backpack and August told him how he didn’t like the rain cover.
Then the three classes each went to a different station. We did beekeeping first. The guy was pretty good and did a decent job of keeping the attention of 4-year olds. He showed us a honeycomb from a hive that was right there. August sat on my lap. At the end the guy asked if they had any questions. August shouted “How do the bees get the nectar out of the flowers?” But he didn’t hear and then wrapped up the session. August speculated that the bees go IN the flowers, as opposed to butterflies that have their long tubes.
Next up was the animals. No lecture here. she just took them to a wheelbarrow of food and had then start feeding the sheep and goats, then feeding the bunnies and guinea pigs. I didn’t know how August would react to this, as he had gone last year from liking to feed the sheep to just wanting me to feed them because he didn’t want to get bit. But he got right to it. She then took us over to the chickens and they went in and saw where they roosted, then were throwing feed around for the chickens. A rather chaotic scene, with 15 preschoolers in a chicken coop. I had a chicken eat out of my hand, and August followed suit. She then took us over to the baby chickens and they all got to pet a baby chick. He said it felt “soft and silky”.
They then had a few minutes to play at the playground. He first was digging with a rake, then I found a shovel. He and Blanka were filling up a wheelbarrow together, then she wanted the shovel and he let her take it.
Our last activity was picking things in the garden. They all got paper bags and the woman led them into the garden where she showed them several plants and let them pick it. The first was lavender (he loved smelling it), then there was lemongrass, which she said was a lemon popsicle, then lemon geranium, which he says “smells beautiful”. Finally, there was dino kale and she had them all take bits and roar. Along the way he also picked a small tomato “for mama” and was asking what other greens we could pick for her. We got some beet greens right at the end.
We were surprised to find that there was no bread making. That had been the part August was most excited about. It turns out there had been some miscommunication and it wasn’t in the contract, although we later found out it was in emails. Anyway, we headed back. On the way we saw the bus pull over for some reason. So August and I took advantage and stopped at the strawberry stand to get strawberries as well.
We got to the school just as they were going in. They read Paper Bag Princess for storytime, then talked about what they liked on the field trip. He said “I liked-ed feeding all the animals!”
For lunch he sat at a table with Omri and Reia and we did some Hebrew with Omri. August was then doing magic, turning me into things. Candy then came around sharing a bag of chocolate treats with everyone.
During rest time I read Corduroy, If Rocks Could Sing, and Tin Forest. Afterwards they watched videos about bees, including one from SciShow Kids. They then watched videos of the story/song Driving My Tractor, and the songs Over by the Meadow, Knick Knack (from Barefoot).
They all got their backpacks and then headed up to yoga class. They were airplanes as they walked up there, which August really liked. Emmett got hurt right before he went into the yoga class. It would have been Carly’s teaching nightmare if she were in the same situation as the yoga teacher is actually Emmett’s mom. So he was upset and climbing in her lap and climbing over her while she was trying to teach yoga to preschoolers. She did really well though. They each got on a mat and she read a book with poses in it. One involved tickling yourself and he was really honestly being tickled by himself and laughing. They then played a game where they passed a ball around using just their feet. And finished with a fun “Bootcamp Yoga” song.
I’d been feeling like I had allergies since last night, but it was getting worse. In the library we sat outside the entry and had a Tic-Tac break. He had fun sneaking a few. We then went in and I read one chapter of Magic Treehouse #15 to him but I was so stuffy. We went out for a snack break. He asked “What’s a ‘bummer’ mean?” Anna had said it when she was talking about how they didn’t get to make bread. We went back in the library and I managed to read the last couple chapters of the book.
We went out to head to activity class. Rain was threatening and there was supposed to be a thunderstorm. So we drove the car up to the park which is just a block from the studio. He played at the park for a few minutes, sitting in the round thing. He had asked what “radar” is (from a Sarah and Duck episode) and was now a radar himself.
We went up to activity class. Adele was excited to see him again. Class started well, but after about 15 minutes August said he was done. Too tired. It had been a long day. We left class at 5:05. He played with the little toys for a few minutes before we decided for sure to leave. August and I had a fun Hebrew moment when we heard Etai’s mom saying “bakbook” to him, which we both recognized as ‘water bottle’ – we had learned it in our lesson on Monday, then reviewed it with Omri earlier.
Raining a bit when we left, so coats on and umbrella up. On the way I realized I had left my water bottle in the studio. We drove there and then ran in to get it. August, the boy who refuses to use any water bottle except his one favorite one, kept telling me “but you have other water bottles.”
We left again and were home at 5:45. He told her about the tomato he got her: “A nice, cute red one.” “And beet greens!” Carly made a smoothie, which I had told him we could have. He bumped into her in the bathroom and said, falsely, “It was your fault.” He drank his smoothie and asked me questions until I went upstairs.
I slept. Carly managed to clean the kitchen, then brought August up for his bath. There was a lot of crying about that, then more when she tried to get him to sleep in the other room where she had been sleeping. They came into the regular bedroom to help him calm down. I woke up enough to tell what was going on, but that was about it. He calmed down but wasn’t going to sleep. He went downstairs and had dry cheerios. I got up and came down. He finished the Cheerios and wanted more, but insisted on something with sugar. This ended with him crying “I’m not tired!” repeatedly. I eventually picked him up and he was able to calm down. Upstairs we hunted for mosquitoes, killing one, and I left them about 8:40 and he was soon asleep.
Yoga class:
