He was up at 7:56 and was Carly’s shadow through the morning. I read a little Garfield to him, then he turned off the lights and tested his light-up shoes by hitting them on the floor. He wanted to wear them, but then agreed to wear his clean crocs, which Carly had washed for him. We headed out for a walk, the three of us, at 9:15.
We walked over to the Artisanal Bakery. We all shared a piece of quiche and a mixed berry scone. Well, August had most of the scone. Carly and I shared a large latte. Alas, no men’s shirts in stock. I’ve been meaning to buy one.
Carly downloaded a geocaching app (the tour guide had mentioned geocaching to us, and we’ve been meaning to try it with him). He liked the idea, and the first one was over at Centennial Park above the ranger station. The clue was 4+3, so August walked around until he found the 7 on an electrical box. The next part took us longer, but we found the fake pine cone under the edge of the concrete block. Carly signed the paper in it, then he put it back.
He wanted more. Next was one up by a pond next to what used to be the Whaley Mansion. Found that one on the bench and I signed it. He wanted a funny name, so we also included Smokey and Shmorgadeboop. Carly had a phone call with Glecy while we looked around. August found a Lego flag on the ground and we included that in the container for the cache. Next up was one down in Riverwalk Park. We walked over to the new bridge and under it, then found it attached to the bottom of a bench. Signed that the same way, then headed home. August wanted to keep finding, but there weren’t anymore closes.
We were home at 11:45. August picked some weeds and added them to the little bucket of dead flowers from yesterday and composted it all. Inside I heard him asking Paul for more cans he could crush. I took a shower. Afterwards, he was sad that there was sand in his squirt gun. He was also hungry but refusing food options. He loved corn when he first had it, but has decided he doesn’t like having it stuck in his teeth and refuses to eat it. Carly got him to eat some of her leftover noodles though and he was a happy boy.
Grampa then took him to explore the garage. They tested batteries, he put another screw in the cardboard box, and they started to take the cedar trunk apart using the electric drill and a philips head bit. Dad measured him with the tape measure and taught him to answer “What are you up to?” with “Forty inches.” And with the batteries he was teaching him black was negative and went with the minus sign and red was positive and went with the plus sign.
My parents, Paul, and I then went to Walmart. We looked at tablet computers for them and got groceries for dinner and banana splits and I got some random things: a bicycle helmet for him (a Paw Patrol one that matches his shoes), a new snack bag (Carly is making me throw away the one from Korea), and a few others.
We were back at 4. Mom called him Z and said she was G, and I was D. I was going to take August geocaching, Mom decided to go with us, and August told her “Put your shoes on, G.”
We first went to one at the turnoff for the old Chelan Fall bridge. We had fun finding that one. It’s too bad though that they have blocked off even the viewpoint now, as August would have liked to have seen the river.
We then went down to Beebe Springs. The first one was supposed to be an easy one in the parking lot. We looked for a good amount of time with no luck. We then went to look for a second one a thousand feet to the north. Along the path there was a rock with animal tracks painted on it. August climbed on, pretending to be a raccoon. He held the phone on the way to the next one as we walked. We found the location, but as we looked around August scratched the inside of his knee on a stick and it was bleeding.
He was upset about that. He wanted to go find the one in town, but in the car he fell asleep at 5:35. We headed home and I woke him up down in the bedroom at 5:45. He was resisting being woken up. His eyes were closed but he was resisting me moving his leg so I could wipe it with a wet tissue. And he gave me a grunt. I was asking him questions and asking him for thumbs up or thumbs down. I said to grunt if he wanted me to leave him alone and he grunted. Eventually though I bribed him awake with one of the cookies I’d taken but we hadn’t eat on the trip.
As he ate his cookie he told Carly “Mama, white chocolate is good. You should start having it.” He had a timeout after he sort of hit her, then he came up and was grumpy and blaming me for his scratch: “You did hurt me…you had the idea…” He threw a wooden coaster on the floor and Carly took him back down.
We had burgers and chicken patties and hot dogs and corn on the cob and watermelon for dinner. I did the barbecuing, with my dad. We also did tofu for August, and he complimented me on how I cooked it. I usually do it too hard for him, but he complimented me for it being nice and squishy.
He had the idea of putting watermelon in his leftover milk, then some flowers. Then of blending it. Carly went inside with him and they did it. August said it was really good and everyone should try it. He walked by and threw Chester, the stuffed bear on the floor, and asked “Why do I throw Chester on the ground all the time?” Paul said that was one of the great philosophical questions.
I agreed to take him outside for a short garage exploration before his bath. We clamped a pipe and he worked on it, tested one battery, and when I said we couldn’t do something right now he said “Not until next year?” And I held him up to use the bird knocker that Roger Niman had made. On the way in the house he spotted the fishing float that Dad had found at Beebe Springs. August wanted to put it in the fishing box, which Dad had mentioned. I told him after a bath, but we forgot.
Had his bath at 7:30. I washed his hair and it went pretty well. I used the baby shampoo this time, but August objected to that: “I’m not a baby… I’m not a little kid!” Going back inside he got indignant when I called him ‘buddy’: “you called me a butt…buddy counts…mama got upset once when I called her buddy.” He was probably saying ‘butty’.
It was time for the final celebration: banana splits. Mom taught us how to properly make a banana split, using the Meadowmoor banana split bowls. I think it goes without saying that August loved it. The three of us shared one big split and he asked for refills on everything. While Carly got him some he said “I see ice cream surface tension. Ice cream surface tension is really cool. But I’m eating it.” And he asked “Gramma, next year in your house can we make banana splits again?” He had three cherries.
We went and played Magnus for awhile. In the bedroom I had the closet open and he said “Cindy is in the closet!’ It was my dad’s coon skin cap. He then wore it as we went upstairs to say goodnight. Dad talked about when he had gotten the hat. August saw someone on TV that looked like Paul, and he asked them why they didn’t have jobs on TV. They then talked about the times they were on TV.
He just hung out with them for awhile, kind of laying on Mom. He told her “You’re smaller than grampa. That’s why you can’t fix stuff.” Dad said he can’t make apple pie. To which August said “Why, cuz you haven’t learned it?…Maybe you’ll put a bunch of baking soda in it…make it puff up.”
Back downstairs he asked Paul to moisturize the soap while he is gone. Basically, he likes the bar soap to always be wet. Paul said he would. August said “If he can do it, I can give him love.” A few minutes later when he said good night to him he said “Good night, love heart…love.” I left August and Carly at 9:55.