I heard the door open at 7:40. He called “Turn off the air conditioner.” I went upstairs and turned it off, then he went back in and lay on the bed. I lay down next to him. He asked “Is it a free day?…Let’s go on a dada-Zinnie adventure…like the one on your birthday.” I asked what about mama, and he said she could stay at home.
We then went downstairs and he went out to Carly. She asked how he was and he said “Good. And how are you?” I heard him explain which chair outside is his favorite and how he doesn’t like the cracked one because it is broken. As they came back in he asked her “Do you want to go on a Dada and Zinnie and Mama adventure?”
He wanted to play the teasing game while she made him oatmeal. I redirected the game back to its original purpose a bit, what to do when someone is teasing someone else, then he had his oatmeal, but got distracted with being a witch and making potions under the table.
We were debating something but then he said he had magic powers. I asked “How can I argue against magic powers?” He then said he would make a cow: “I’ll mix a special chemical to make two enormous horns growing out of its back.” Then made a hall of mirrors “I can protect you with my chains…when you feel lost I can pull them and save you.”
I went up and took a shower. When I came down they were doing a science experiment. they had a string hung up from the oven to the kitchen door and were shooting a balloon along it, learning about force and momentum. He then turned it into an experiment of seeing how much weight he could tape onto it: “My hypothesis is that when there’s too much force then the knots will break. Carly was talking about vocabulary and the book Crispin and used the word “Medieval”. He asked about it and a couple minutes later I heard him repeat the word to himself.
He was hungry so had some peanut butter and honey toast. He was then talking about Korea, and asking where we would go on a dada-Zinnie in Korea. We walked about Children’s Grand Park and Dobongon and Uijeongbu.
We left at 10:40, headed to Tel Aviv and the Eretz Museum. Carly drove and August had us pretending we were in Korea. We talked about going to Children’s Grand Park and I mentioned visiting the robot sculptures. He said “And you be the robots?” So seems like he still remembers that part.
Carly got the perfect spot on the street right outside the museum and we were in at 11:20. He was singing as we went in, a list of made-up words, and said “I’m singing all the rocks that hadn’t been discovered.” Carly spotted Ada in the gift shop and we went in there and said hi and looked for a few minutes.
We went through to the museum grounds and first walked over to Sundial Square and saw all the sundials. August learned a bit how they worked. We then walked to the glass building. August was hungry so he and I sat outside on a bench and had a snack while Carly looked around a bit. We then went in and Carly showed him the archeological glass furnace and the glass knight. August explained to her what the knight was, pretending he was an archeologist. Carly mentioned that glass wasn’t a solid and then he told her about jello. I remember that we had once had a similar discussion, but that was several months ago. A nice connection. He then said “Lets go dig some more!” They were archeologists a few more times, then we went across to the Nehushtan building and he showed her the Roman coffin he had touched.
Outside we stopped at the drinking fountain and while on the bike he sang a digging song and continued to be an archeologist. From there we went to the coffee shop. Rather pricey, so we got one cappuccino and one hot chocolate to share, and then a pasta dish with large shells stuffed with a spinach and cheese mixture.
Finally, we went to the Map: Reading Between the Lines temporary exhibit. Took the elevator up and down to that. August really liked the big robotic machine drawing a map of Israel in sand, and the video screen next to it where notes were played when metal disks on the video were hit with light. We looked around some more, liking the ceiling, which had different colored papers hanging from it in some approximation of a map of Israel, and some other pieces. But August had the idea of going home and making a surprise at home – drawing a map of Israel in some sand – and he even sang a “map it of sand” song as I carried him around. So he was ready to go.
He and Carly went to the bathroom and I look around the gift shop. He and I then sat in the lobby and read If You Take a Mouse to School while Carly looked. When Carly came back he asked her “What’s onomotopeia?” It’s a word I’ve mentioned a few times, and it is written on the chalkboard by the Mouse in the book.
We then walked down the block and turned and walked over the river and went to the big playgrounds on the other side. I looked at the free library thing (got Brave New World, The Island of Dr. Moreau and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea) in wonderful old covers) and they played on the play structure. He apparently went down the slide on it. I pushing him in one of those hanging spinning chairs. Carly went and sat on a bench. August was complaining the playground was too busy so I pointed out that the big wooden structure, just to the west, was empty.
We headed that way, stopping at one one of those little merry-go-rounds. We sat on it and had a snack. We talked about our adventure and he said “With mama even gooder.” Up on the wooden structure he was an archeologist. He thought a king had lived there. He was then a king ordering me around. I brought the food up and we sat up at the top, having more snack. We were sitting up there when Carly came up.
We went across the path to Coffee Zoo and got a hot dog. Sat at a picnic table and shared that. Then back to the first structure, which was less busy. He and Carly took turns going down the elevator sort of thing.
We stopped at the bathroom and walked the same way back to the car. As we were leaving the playground he had found a small piece of sidewalk chalk. Back close to the car, by the museum, he got it wet in the big drinking fountain and was writing on the ground, making an experiment of how it changed when it was wet.
On the way home we stopped at a gas station. Carly ran in to get milk and a couple of things. When she came out I said she was fast. August said “Maybe she didn’t pay them.” Same joke I was going to make. I joked maybe she just came back with a bag and he liked that, saying “She just went in and said ‘Could I have a bag?’”
We were home after 5. He had been pretty messy with his granola in the car and I’d had to stop him from throwing it. As we got out he started throwing the ample amount in his seat all over the place and only stopped when I pulled him from the car. Took him in to Carly, then I set up the vacuum cleaner and brought him out to clean. He did a great job of that, vacuuming most of the back seat area all on his own. He said “I love cleaning up in cars with the vacuum cleaner.” He also did the trunk with me helping him stand on the back bumper.
Inside, he asked of Carly “Let’s play santin says.” That’s how he says ‘Simon says’. That’s how he always says it, but he says he’s saying ‘Simon’. He can also tell the difference when Carly says ‘santin’ or ‘Simon’. Very interesting.
We ate dinner outside – veggie burgers. He wanted to mix water drink and milk as an experiment so I got another cup and we did that. He said he liked it. Wasn’t bad, actually. After dinner he played around with dirt and helped with adding compost to some plants. Went inside to the bathroom and was a bit wet, so had naked time after that. Then more time taping things on the string.
Carly took him upstairs to his bath. He asked her about ‘symbiotic relationships’. I know we’ve used the phrase talking about animals and trees, and it has come up with othe
rs as well.
Downstairs we played on the couch. Ended up with me pretending to sleep, and he would poke me, and I’d talk in my sleep, saying random things I was dreaming about, like “giraffe hospital’. He found this hilarious. He did some as well.
I took him up to get ready for bed. Brushed his teeth and he tied string around his toothbrush. He said “I hate wars.” Agreed. “I hate dogs. Disagreed. We talked about the noise of the air conditioner and he said “I dream about that sound in my sleep all the time.” He was asleep around 9 again.