He was waking up around 6. Then got up around 6:30. When I got up they were sitting outside eating toast with peanut butter and playing Namoo. They were looking up what process proteins do. A bit later she was teaching him how light makes colors. I found the beads he had found in the mall play area and brought them out to him. He played with them on the table: “No escaping beady! No beadies escaping in this land!” When he was done he put them in the outside treasure bowl. When he finished his toast he left one bite, as usual: “I’m full. I just leave-taking one bite of crust.”
He brushed off the green plant table with a paintbrush. He and I went inside and read some of the Zita book and Monster Party. He then wanted to play with Duplos. We built a pyramid and it was dedicated to an ancient Egyptian zookeeper. Then we had a nice archeologist open it and study all the stuff and create a museum exhibit out of it. Two more pyramids followed: one dedicated to the harvest, and another the burial place of a farmer. Carly had taken a shower, then we switched and I went up.
We left at 10:30. I drove and we picked up Robin, a teacher at a school in north Even Yehuda, at a bus stop near Kefar Sava. We were going to meet with Fatin, the Palestinian woman Carly knows in Tira, and a teacher there so they could plan their event bringing together students from the three schools.
We met the other teacher at the gas station in Tira and she took us to the Alef middle school in Tira where they were having a Palestinian Folk Day. People were wearing traditional clothing, there was food, music, etc. She showed us around and introduced us to the principal and a sheik. Then took us out and gave us some food: some really, really sweet things that August liked but even he eventually said they were too sweet, and za’atar bread, which August really loved. We then went inside to see a music performance. There was a woman playing a drum and a guy playing oud. We all stayed in and watched for awhile, then they all left to go to the office and have their meeting and August and I stayed for a few more minutes. He enjoyed it, but it was really loud, and eventually he realized mama had left. There was a woman that had said she wanted a photo with him – she had joked with him that they had the same eye color (hers were brown) – but she chose the wrong moment to approach him as we left the building and he wasn’t in the mood for a photo.
We listened to the music from outside and was fine, then he started drawing a lot of attention from middle school girls, who were coming up and touching his hair and cheeks and tickling him. It got worse as the performance was over and we were suddenly in a sea of middle school students. My first advice to him was bad advice – I told him to tickle back. Bad, bad advice, as then they tickled him more. I had been holding him, and actually lost him as he slid out of my arms and to the ground, where he was scooped up by a couple of girls. I got him back, and my next piece of advice worked much better. I told him to do high fives. The teacher who had liked his eyes also intervened and helped get the girls to give him some space. It also made me realize that my 5 or 6 words of Arabic are pretty inadequate.
Once he was high-fiving he had a lot of fun with it, and was even smiling a lot when they touched his hair or cheeks. He admitted he liked the attention. After a few minutes he remembered mama and we went exploring, sort of looking for her. We went in the school a little, then I asked if we should do more exploring: “Yeah! Exploring!” There was more music, outside now, and we watched it. when Carly and the rest came out he told her “We were listening to new Palestinian and Arab music! It was really good!’
We got in our cars and they led us across town to Fatin’s house. She got us coffee, and him orange juice. We sat in the living room with them for awhile, and he also tried a walnut. We then looked around the house at all the knickknacks. She had lived in Nigeria and had a lot of giraffes and elephants around. He then spotted a snow globe with the Eiffel Tower and said “Maybe she lived in Paris!” But then we kept looking at the knickknacks in that area and realized they were from several different countries. I asked him to revisit his hypothesis and he revised it, saying she had probably just been to those places.
I had the iPad but he wasn’t too interested. So we went outside, where she has a really nice yard with all sorts of plants. He said “I bought a lot of chickens for the people who live in this house too!” So they could have a poop yard. He found some balls and we kicked them back and forth, then we looked at plants, touching some cacti and aloes. They were done just after 1 and he used the bathroom then we got going.
We dropped Robin off and got home at 1:40. Carly went upstairs to rest. I was getting tired of making Duplo pyramids, so we made a Greek temple instead for the archeologist. We read Wecome to the Symphony and I put the dining room table ends up as we don’t really need that much table. We’ see how that feels. He had fun copying Carly again, and had done it earlier in the day. They went outside and played and took care of the yard. She made him a super stick by taping together two sticks so he could better reach the tree branches to hit them.
Inside he was taking bits off the broken ball. We talked about impulses and thinking about them, as he was putting the pieces under the couch. He then wanted to practice it, and practiced having the impulse to throw a book, but then deciding that it wasn’t a good idea.
Our next event of the day was International Day at WBAIS. We left at 3:30. We went in and got right to the countries and treats. Spain (a potato thing), Switzerland (August said “The cheese smells like poop.” But he liked the chocolate.), Germany (a pack of gummy bears for later: “I remember way back in Korea we had gummy worms.”), India (some savory things for once). He spotted Ms. Vicky (his music teacher) and was really, really excited. That was really cool to see. He’s only had class with her twice and seen her briefly one or two other times. Puerto Rico, Panama. There was more chocolate in here and some cookies, one of which, he said, the frosting tasted like marshmallow. We saw Gaby, and he excitedly told her that he’d had treats.
We walked across to the other side: Japan, Kazakhstan (more chocolate), Czeck Republic. In a few places he got treats in wrappers and we convinced him to let us save them for later. I commented that we hadn’t seen anyone in his class, then we spotted Omri. He liked that and we went over and said hi.
We lasted about an hour, then headed home. But first, there were boxes to pick up. An iHerb order and an Omazon box.
We got home and opened the iHerb box. Vitamins weren’t too exciting, but as he explained to Carly: “But then I was so excited about the water mix dada gotted!” We made some and shared it. Then the package from Oma: tons and tons of plastic eggs. I filled 8 of them with random objects (rubber bands, keys, coins, a tissue, Carly’s wristband from the fair, etc.) and hid them outside. He went out and found a couple, then said “I think I got to the point I need a hint.”
Shmuel came and said that Shay was supposed to be moving out any minute, so out of an over abundance of caution, August and I took our egg hiding inside. Hid them once and he found them. Then he was playing with them on the coffee table and ‘hugging’ all of them. I added two more to the mix, and he saw what I had put in them as they came apart in his hugs. He said “You shouldn’t have put them close to the hugaroo machine, right?” Then had a “Don’t put them close to th hugaroo machine” chant.
He ate some potatoes, then there was some of the sausage for him, which he seemed to decide he didn’t like without trying. He was having the start of a meltdown as he was still hungry. he said “You know I don’
t like it, mama. Don’t force me to eat it anymore.” Carly suggested to me that these fairs weren’t worth the meltdowns afterwards.
I got him up to his bath. We watched some of the Formula E race. He then did a good job letting me wash his hair. He started to get upset when I started to wash it, but then let me do the rest. We went and used the hairdryer, then he told me “I want some naked time.”
The cauliflower was ready, so he ate a bunch of that and some potatoes. He assured me though that “I’m just staring at the potatoes.” Carly went up to a shower. When I was slow to get up, he said “Or did you forget to get up?” Which is something that Carly says about herself sometimes.
He ate a bunch more and had milk and we watched the race. Lots of talk about energy and batteries and regeneration. Also, we talked about Paris and the Eiffel Tower, which he had seen in a snow globe at Fatin’s house. “I spotted the Eiffel Tower!” He noticed the flag of Switzerland next to the driver’s name. He had gotten a sticker of the Swiss flag and we put it on my shirt and I was still wearing it. The drivers name is Rosinquist, and August liked it and kept repeating: “Rosinquist!”
Requested the “I Can Dance” song. We listened to that and he hummed and danced in his chair. I then took him upstairs after 8:10. She got him ready and called me up. We had a nice little conversation after he asked what’s your brain for? I left them at 8:25 and she put him to sleep on the big bed so he could sleep with me. He was asleep just after 8:30.
And did I mention, Shay moved out!
Za’atar bread:
International Day:
Flowers:
