They slept until close to 8:30. The curtains were fully closed last night and they didn’t realize it was so late. Upstairs, August and I tried putting batteries in other Viewmaster but it wouldn’t work. Dad would later fix it. Carly went downstairs to get ready. When August saw Paul he asked “Will you take me to the rock crushing place?” That apparently came from Carly yesterday. August had been wanting to go back and do more fossil hunting, and wanted to find one that the museum would put on their shelves. She said we could go back next year and Uncle Paul would help him.
He was then the Robo Zinnie Vacuum 4000: “The bigger the thousands, the stronger the sucking.” He asked for peanut butter toast with syrup and honey so I got him that. We then played with the set of airport Legos for the first time, working on a couple of planes. He told me “I’m not interested” in the Hot Wheel cars. Left them out though and later he played with them with Carly. He asked to use markers and I think mentioned making shapes. We were going to go get them, but never made it.
He was undecided about going to return the vacuum with Carly, but eventually decided to go. He was unhappy about going in Paul’s car, but he eventually agreed to that as well. Didn’t know how the trip would go, but after they left at 10:20 he did a great job at the store. He was singing “Better not wake the baby”. A woman in the produce section was particularly entertained. The other day when they were on a walk a guy had told Carly that she should join in.
They were back at 11. He came down and asked Paul how to check the tire pressure. The World Cup match had just started, but Paul went up and helped him. August came back and said all the tires were at 30 psi but one was a little high. Watching soccer, August remembered Chicsgo was a soccer team. I finished filing our FBAR.
Upstairs, August was saying his bad words and I gave him a warning. He was totally talking with his hands, waving one towards me, when he said “But I was saying half the word.” He’s trying out all sorts of ways to push the limits, and will then say “Oh, I didn’t know that.” We played with the imitation play dough, which turned out to not be very good at all as it was old and we discussed his big kid voice. Something in his voice has sounded different to me the last couple of days. He called it his confused voice, and was then exaggerating it.
For lunch he had spaghetti and green beans, then some tuna casserole when I had some. He wanted to play cribbage, and Carly was teaching him how to beg for it. He ended up playing cards with Gramma and was teaching her a cooperative matching game loosely based on go fish that he was making up on the spot: “This time when we play go fish we play with Zinnie Rules. And a Zinnie Rule is you get 12 cards.” “No! We don’t need to look at our numbers in Zinnie Rules.” He calls the clubs “Clover”. When they played yesterday he had called it a flower and Carly said it looked more like a clover. Even though she told him it was called ‘clubs’ and she used that more, ‘clover’ stuck in his mind.
I went down for the end of the Uruguay versus Portugal match. August came down for the last few minutes and we played with Lincoln Logs as we watched. He went outside with Carly a little as I got the snacks and moved the park pass and a few things to Paul’s car. He had noticed that a lid on one of the play dough containers wasn’t completely shut and wanted Carly to snap it down.
Carly was staying and Paul was heading to work soon. So it was me and August and my parents headed to Beebe Springs. We tried to sit August in the back with my mom next to him. He wasn’t having that. Too many changes with car arrangements. We agreed to rearrange, with my dad driving and me sitting next to him. He then said “Announcement!” and announced that he needed me or Carly next to him when we were driving. We left at 2:15.
A windy day down on the river so August and I wore our sweatshirts. But very comfortable. August wanted to chose the path and wanted to go up by the sculpture first. Turned out we had to take the grasslands trail anyway as the lower trail was closed, although we’d sneak along it on our way back. August did much of the walking, although not as much as the other day. On our walk out to the pond I was able to show him a dragonfly and we let milkweed seeds fly in the wind and Dad cut open the milkweed to show him the milk. At the pond we threw rocks in for a few minutes until some people came to fish on the other side. We headed down to an open area along the river and sat, watching for a beaver. August didn’t want to leave until we saw a beaver. We also discussed the direction of the river as it was deceptive due to the wind, which made it appear that the water was flowing north. August argued with me at first, and I think he thought I was joking, but eventually he believed me and was intrigued.
We went walking again and snuck along the shore route. It was closed last year as well. By the beaver pond Grampa showed him a stump that beavers had chewed on, and they talked about animals that eat bark. We headed buck to the car, and almost went down to the river again to throw rocks, but he was seeming a bit tired so we headed home.
Got home at 4:15. He went and checked out the bird and squirrel feeders. He then got a little sliver in his hand. Tiny, and I think it was more a scratch than an actual sliver and there wasn’t anything in it. He said it kept hurting though, and inside he went and got a wrench/clamp thing from the drawer and talked about cutting off the sliver/his finger. At first it seemed more funny, but as he repeated it it turned darker.
I went downstairs and was working on the closet. I showed Mom and August the space for August’s toys and we got down Tiddly Winks. First started plying in the bedroom on the carpet, then went out and played on the coffee table.
We went up for dinner. Carly had made soy chicken and noodles and broccoli. He and August then went down to practice ‘independent time’. First, he was worried about the idea and wanted to make sure that me or her would be there. They went in and he played with the big sticker sets. Played by himself with them for 4 minutes or so a couple times. A good start. We then played more Tiddly Winks. We were sitting on the floor playing, and he was banking his head off the couch cushion behind him: “it’s so much fun!” A few minutes later: “It’s satisfying!”
I took him upstairs and carried him. He wanted to be a sack of potatoes agin. I had done this at Beebe Springs, squeezing him, spinning him, eating him, tickling, etc. He kept requesting more things and would remind me of things. I licked him and he said he didn’t want my germs. We talked about how we share germs anyway.
I gave him a bath. He played for ten minutes or so, then he started to worry about his scrapes. We went ahead and washed him to get it out of the way. I told him I wouldn’t wash his knees, and I didn’t, but that some water might drip on them. Afterwards he told Carly “Dad’s promised he wouldn’t but he did.”
Carly was making tea and put the cover on the end to make it whistle for him. She took it off, and he grabbed it off the counter. It was still hot and hurt him a bit. Don’t think he was actually burned. Cuddling with Carly he said “Gramma said I can’t say ‘stupid’ when I’m hurt.” We agreed with her, although he claimed that Carly had once told him he could.
He got dry cereal and was playing the guessing game with my parents when I went for a walk after 8. I got back at 8:40 (close to half done with The Goor Earth). He was sitting on the couch with Mom reading a book. It was the Berenstain Bears B Book. They had read Horton Hears a Who before that.
He said goodnight and we went downstairs. We read a little Garfield and and a couple jokes from The Real Book of Jokes. I left him and Carly 9:45. He was a
sleep by 10. Carly had told him about volunteering at an orphanage. Which kind of backfired as he asked “Do I have to worry about that?” He also told her he was sorry for hitting me in the head earlier. Which I vaguely remember, but it hadn’t been a big deal.