He was up just after 7. Carly went up with him for a few minutes, then they came down and she went to work. He watched a Magic School Bus Rides Again. We got going to school and at school he wanted me to hold him. I said I needed to get to work, and he told me to hand him to Ms. Anna. I handed him over and he was fine. Easy peasy.
I went to the library and worked, then went back for the party at 10:15. They were having a meeting as the parents came in. They sang a caterpillar caterpillar song, then Down by the Bay. They sang along to the recorded version, then Anna said they needed to sing one more verse to include a rhyme that August had come up with: Lego eating a bagel. They had everyone gather around the projecter and showed a video/discussed the tea party book. August wasn’t too interested in that. Luckily, they had paper over the tables for drawing purposes and he did that. They gave out presents to the room parents, and gave me a tea cup, made by Blanka, for volunteering. There was a little free time where he did more art, then all three classes went out and held hands with the parents and sang the goodbye song for the kids that were leaving.
Some words from Maaian, then it was time for the party. Kids played on the playground for a bit while the food was brought out. I told him I was going to go check on our food and make sure the signs, etc. went with them. He said a minute, 60 seconds was okay. I got stuck at a traffic jam at the door though, and as I walked back Marion came walking towards me, carrying him. She said 60 seconds had been okay, but 65 was not.
The next hours was basically spent eating. August had some carrot and watermelon in between his doses of multiple cupcakes, cookies, cake, and berry brains. When he got the chocolate cupcake he said “This is something to look forward to.” I said it would be, but he was actually eating it, so there was no looking forward.
It ws clear there was plenty of leftover food, so I made a plate for Carly and we went to take it to her. It included the last chocolate cupcake. He wasn’t excited by that, wanting another one himself. He’d literally had about 6 desserts by then. Got him to compromise/accept it. We took the plate to Carly, then headed back and he had one more small cupcake with just chocolate chips in it.
We went in the classroom to start packing up all his stuff (there were his mugs, sheet, change of clothes, etc.) and he gave Myriam the chocolate bar we had gotten. I’d had the idea of having August choose random funny things at the store for gifts, like a jar of marmite, etc., but he was asleep. Then I spotted the dark chocolate bars called ‘Merci’ and that seemed appropriate. Marion and Anna had vanished, so I wrote a note and left them on one of their laptops. August played with artwork on the wall for quite awhile, and adjusted some of it, adding a long yellow string to one of them.
We then walked to Carly’s classroom and she got ready to go. He was upset about not playing in her classroom until she suggested they were going on a field trip. They pretended to be on a Magic School Bus field trip to the tongue on our walk to the car.
We were home at 12:50. As we walked in he said “Dada, do you know I do it different on the west coast?” Which is from a Mountain Goats song we’ve been listening to and he was singing in the car a bit. He then was talking about destroying and then remaking the recycling bin, and he built my phone into it.
Carly mentioned that Anna and Marion had mentioned August’s Lego rhyme to her. He said “Have you ever seen an August, eating a Pogust?” He claimed Hanako says that everyday at lunch. Kind of hard to believe, because I’ve barely heard Hanako say anything to hm.
We looked at the tea party book and too out the mugs. When he heard that my gift mug had been made by Blanka he said he wanted to make me a gift mug as well. It started out sweet, but as it set in that he couldn’t easily do that he got upset and had a meltdown. When he calmed down they went upstairs and built a structure out of random things in the play area and I went in and did some work.
I came down at 3 and they were making oatmeal. He was singing “A Little Uncanny” “…was fair enough, about a perfect ten.” He then made a concoction in the kitchen. I eventually got him going and we headed to the pool at the school.
We ran into the tall woman again, who it turns out is Rebecca, resource teacher at the school. We were riding his bike to the pool and he wasn’t wearing a shirt. She said he didn’t have his s’mores shirt on, but asked if she could squeeze him anyway. He thought for a second, then said he had a machine that turned him into a s’more. Then he was a s’more and she could squeeze him. She squeezed him for a few seconds and when she was done he said “I’m still a s’more!” So she squeezed him again. So cute. She talked about how she doesn’t have little kids now, so that made her day.
Omri and her family were at the pool. As we first got in he was basically yelling at her “Don’t splash me!” just to warn her. They had fun in the pool together though, and were both hanging off of me. He and Omri made up a song that they repeated a lot and laughed about: “I don’t want to be a chicken. I don’t want to be a duck. So I kick my butt.” When we got out he was then talking with Zohar, her sister. She was showing hm a clapping pattern, and they climbed on the fence together. Omri was out of the pool as we left and I suggested he give her a hug goodbye. He went and gave her a hug, then Omri said “Now, a kiss.” They kissed, and then she said “Agh” and wiped her lips. August later told me he had made it a spitty kiss.
As we walked from the pool we were by Mike, who had also been in the pool. I told him how we had had fun at the preschool and looking forward to next year. He is going to New England this summer. August talked to him about the elephant, and they agreed it had been swimming in the pool. August said it had said hi, and Mike asked what language it was in. August said “Like this…” and did an elephant trumpeting.
On our walk up to the studio, August said “Omri always pretends you’re at home. I think she doesn’t understand you’re at the library.”
We were 5 minutes late to class and were the only ones. She suggested we wait and join the older class today, at 5:30. August liked that idea. Etai showed up a few minutes later and got the same offer. So they sat in the sitting area and played with the toys with Sigal until the second class.
But when class started August decided he’d rather keep building with the pieces, and clamping things with the claw toy he was using. But I think he was also a little nervous about playing with the bigger kids. But after a few minutes I got him in and playing and all went well until the end.
Near the end he was chanting “I hav a piggy back; you have a stinky foot.” Not sure where that came from. We talked to Sigal for a minutes, saying goodbye. He told her he would make a machine that would have his picture in it so she could see it.
On the walk back to the car he asked something along the lines of “Being gone for a long time doesn’t mean forever, right?” I thought he meant us and our trip this summer, but when I said he was right he said “I will shrink Blanka, Emmitt, and me and go back to PKB.” They are the two kids that are moving away. I didn’t think he’d really paid attention to that, but it clearly has made an impact.
We got to the car at 6:40. We got home and ate. He had the rest of his oatmeal. Went outside with Carly for awhile. He spilled some water in the bathroom but helped clean it up with paper towels. On Facebook I saw that NASA was broadcasting a spacewalk on the ISS live, so I showed him that. He wanted to watch a space shuttle launch video, so he watched a couple of those videos. Carly took him up and gave him his bath. I went up just before 9. He asked m
e again “Can I make a cup for you? A gift?” We read one chapter of Cam Jenson and the Mystery of the UFO. Sang a couple songs, including the big numbers song. He had me go all the way to nonillions, then to tontillions, which he says comes next, then infinities, then enshumgedorflugs. Amazing, he was still not asleep. and he decided he wanted mama. She came up and he was asleep about 9:30.
His self portrait:
Hug:
Kiss:
