He was up just before 7. Carly went down with him for awhile, then they came up and he had cereal for breakfast. All four kinds. She made a mix for him and he really liked that. We then worked on the Lego plane they’d made, adding a copilot spot, lights, and steering wheels. I then took a shower and they broke the geode open with a hammer. That was fun, but he immediately wanted another one. When I came out he wanted to throw things in the compost, so we went in and got the compost bowl and he carried it out and threw it in. He then helped Carly pick off the dead flowers.
Then it was time to prepare Paul’s car for us to use. I drove it to the back, and Carly started vacuuming it. Carly showed him dead bugs in the back of the car and he asked “Could you suck up those bugs, please?” While she vacuumed, we went upstairs in the garage. He looked t the green wooden chair that isn’t finished. He said “I want to tell grampa what material…metal or iron or steel.” He thought it would be comfortable because it could be smooth.
Carly then took the car around on the grass and August helped her wash it, and he had tuna casserole. Meanwhile, I was talking to my parents, looking at the garage and shed and discussing moving furniture and what we can get rid off. Paul had a bunch of stuff to take to Habitat for Humanity, and we managed to find a few more things. I had some stuffed animals, but kept the Garfield ones for August and Paul kept the jaguar stuffed animal for dad. Carly drove to Habitat at 11:30 and also went and rented a wet vac. August spent some time pretending to be Cindy hiding a cat ball (Mom had told him about Cindy doing just that), then he and Mom got a bunch of ingredients out and started doing “combinations” with food coloring, molasses, oils, vinegars, and all sorts of things.
I started working on stuff downstairs and brought up a cribbage board. August was first just playing around with it with my parents, pretending it ws actually chess. But then I got out the book of Hoyle and Carly helped teach my mom, and August, cribbage. They came downstairs and I showed August some toys. He didn’t like the styrofoam glider as it was too broken for him. He liked the Lincoln Logs though, but agreed to play with them later as they were going to go into town.
I had put the car seat in Paul’s now very clean car. August was very upset about the idea of a new car though, and wanted the black one back. He called it “Butt butt car. Idiot car.”
Once Carly had agreed to walk to town today though he calmed down, and when I suggested he just try the view from his seat he agreed, although he said just for a second and made me promise to take him out as soon as he said so.
On the way back from Canada, August had figured out how to open and close the window using his toe. Paul’s car has manual cranks that he isn’t too happy about since he can’t fully do it himself when he’s in his seat. Also, the window doesn’t go all the way down. But he agreed to give the car a try tomorrow.
They left at 3. I did a little more closet organizing downstairs, then did some Sabeel work. They walked to Bear Foods and got popcorn and a root beer. They ate out on the bench, as it actually rained for a short while. He didn’t like the carbonation of the root beer at all and didn’t understand why anyone would: “why‽”
They walked around, and Carly mentioned something about being back in Israel in 5 weeks (that’s how long he needs to wear his turquoise shoes for). August instantly did the math and said “Only 5 weeks. But I thought it was 2 months. Then I’ll have to start PKA…” He was very stressed about starting PKA and wanted me to volunteer at PKA. He was going to ask me about volunteering as soon as they got home, but at the house, about 4:40, he got distracted asking grampa about sprinklers and ended up in the garage.
Mom later told me the story: He wanted to find Grampa and mom told him that he was out in the garage. August said he needed her to go with him. They found him working on the blinds, and August asked if he could help. Dad said he was still trying to figure them out, and August asked “Can we figure them out together?” Don’t think they actually figured out the blinds (he just needs to put up the small blinds, and the set over the stairwell) as they got distracted by other things.
He also got a sliver in his foot and got really upset, especially when Dad mentioned the word “tweezers”. Mom came into the garage, and they put water on it. Eventually it didn’t hurt when he put his shoe on and he was. Carly and I didn’t learn about this until hours later, so cool that he let them handle it and didn’t immediately need us. And he also stepped on his concoction bowl, sending red liquid all over his leg. It looked like blood at first and he ended up with a red foot.
He came downstairs and started building with the Lincoln Logs. It was a jail for a GI Joe figure that had fired a catapult. Small windows for air and a little light. The person got one toy to play with and got to go outside once a day for exercise. And then the Viewmaster. He ended up loving this one. He started with the story of Smokey Bear, and would describe each picture that he saw. He looked at another one, Westward Expansion, I think, and kept saying “Whoa…So cool!” He went back upstairs and told Mom “I was downstairs playing with the stuff dada had as a kid.”
She had made spaghetti for dinner, along with meatballs. August refused the meatballs but had spaghetti and green beans. After dinner he was talking about “The laser beamix laser beams the laser beams.” He was then looking out the windows and asked Mom “Is that Cindy?” He sounded confused, and mentioned something about big eyes. He had actually spotted a raccoon in the yard. We watched until Dad went out and scared it up the tree. He then stayed for a few minutes to make sure the cats would leave the raccoon alone and August and I headed down to the park for the concert.
It was a blues duo. August wanted to be down close again. And he started running back and forth behind the stage, then was doing circles. Dad showed up and we sat in the grass and August kept running circles. He called me down and wanted to run across the wooden bridge with me and back. Up on the grass he then looked through the Viewmaster. He was still listening to music though, as he asked me “Why was he afraid about breaking a string?” Something the guitar player had mentioned a minute earlier.
He went down and did more running during the last couple songs. But then he fell right in front of the stage, scraping his knees. He was so upset. He lamented “I already got that sliver in my foot.” He didn’t want to see it and kept asking me if it was red. I took him off away from the stage. Had difficulty going back to get our stuff though as he’d keep yelling, and called people “Idiots” when we walked by. Eventually the last song ended and we got our stuff. He didn’t want to sit in the stroller though as he could see his knees too much. I gave him three options, including walking or me carrying him. He told me they were all bad options.
Eventually, he agreed to me carrying him, as long as I carried him with his knees not rubbing. As we got walking he asked me “When I go to PKA can you volunteer for a week?” Carried him that way a couple blocks, then put him in the stroller. He didn’t like that, as he kept his feet down so his knees wouldn’t bend.
When we got home, a little after 8:15, he jumped out of the stroller and said “Upstairs super-fast rockets for me.” Inside he drank from the backpack and asked me to refill it. When he said goodnight to my parents he said “Goodnight table and kaleidoscope.”
Downstairs we bought and read part of the fourth Captain Underpants book. August then acted out putting flour on a windshield and doing other pranks and I was Mr. Krupp. Carly’s to blame if he starts playing pranks on his teac
hers at school. Carly brushed his teeth and I left them at 9:10. He was asleep soon after.