He woke me up during the night. He didn’t realize that Carly was down on the lower bed next to him already. He’s been waking Carly up more since we’ve been in Pennsylvania and have had separate beds. Sometimes, he’s gotten up and not realized she’s next to him. the other morning, Carly heard a kid outside the room calling for “Mama!” She got up, thinking it was August. It was actually Colin, and she was surprised to find August quietly sleeping next to her.
He was up around 8. We had Chess Kids working on both our iPads, so played a little with Carly between them, although not a complete game. He didn’t like that it was time. I took a shower, and they did Duplos and a construction site with Colin. In the bedroom I sang the “Lost my helmet in the spaceship” song and he wanted all the words so I had to get the phone. I sang a couple of the other songs we’ve written. He asked “What’s drooped mean?” The word of the day was ‘doomed’, and I think I’d been explaining when a house plant was beyond saving and used the word.
He did Wizard School by himself and drew a picture. He told me “That’s a kidney and there’s pee going down to the bladder.” We were getting ready for the fair and discussed how there aren’t backpacks allowed in the fair. He said “We’re not taking any weapons… They’ll trust us.”
We left before 11. It poured on the way down. We parked and waited for the rain to let up, then went in. We saw some of the milk cow judging, which was certainly interesting to see. We then walked through the barns, looking at the different cows, then the goats and sheep and pigs. One of them was named ‘Vivi’. August was a little upset there wasn’t one named ‘August’.
We got through those, then went up to the playground, which was drying out. They played there while I got us a cheese pizza. We took that and sat under the covered area and ate. When we were leaving, about 12:50, I think August said he’d hit Vivian, as I then heard him pleading “Don’t tell my mom!” We ended up going back to the playground first. I helped him up on top of the truck, where Vivian had climbed earlier. He was then the driver and he told me to ride in back. He said we were going to “River, Ohio.” That’s from the Two Dogs in a Trench Coat book, I think.
We left for real at 1:10. I had suggested the library, so Cassie took Colin so he could have a nap (although I don’t think he took one) and we took Vivian with us and we drove to the library in Stroudsburg. Google Maps took us on some roads we had never been on. We saw an interesting church, and a rails-to-trails trail that I didn’t know existed. We listened to Story Pirates episode #22.
We got to the library at 1:50. Inside, he told me “Last time, I walked diagonal.” We went to the kids room and they went and looked at the turtle, Yertle. They played with the stools and found books. August found a di Paola book we didn’t end up reading. Carly got a couple of Clementine books for Vivian, and I found Robo-Sauce. After awhile, we took those, and a couple of Peppa Pig books, and checked them out. I got two cappuccinos at the friends of the library coffee shop there and the kids each got fruit snacks. Vivian got the mixed fruit ones, and August chose strawberry. Nice to see him not needing exactly the same thing.
We found a table, and Carly read them a Peppa Pig book and Robo-Sauce, which they liked. I read a little of our next book group book, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena. As we walked out, August was acting like a robot: “Robo pee activated” “robo grab”. We left at 2:50.
We listened to Story Pirates #23 and Carly took over driving. We were home at 3:15. He found a truck on the floor and wanted to put it away. Cassie had put the big box of them upstairs in Colin’s room, so August took it all the way up to put it away. He had me programming him again. Going down the stairs we counted 14, which I said was his favorite number. He reminded me “100 is my favorite number.”
Cassie and her kids read the books and August and I did wizard school. I was then outside with Colin, playing with bubbles. Back inside, Vivian was playing Magnus Kingdom on her iPad. Colin was trying to touch it, and August did a good job of using his words: “Colin, let Vivian play it on her own for a few seconds.”
We had seitan and cauliflower wraps for dinner. August liked the cauliflower. They were crazy in on the bed. August came and asked for his superhero towel. I put it on him, and as he went to go back to the bedroom Vivian saw him and asked for it and he gave it right up. They then went out to the swings with Carly.
Cassie took Colin in for a bath, and we took Vivian with us, back to the fair. We took Cassie car this time. We left at 6:40. At the fair we went into the exhibits hall. August liked looking at the baked goods, and he quickly caught on to the colors of the ribbons, and went walking around, pointing them out. Carly and Vivian came back from the bathroom, and we looked some more and they pointed out ribbons. Together, they agreed on a slice of chocolate cake from the baked goods sale. And outside we bought a funnel cake.
We found a spot and ate the funnel cake. We told them the cake was for at home as we didn’t have forks. We then went over to the other exhibits hall. August really liked the fruits and veggies. They had veggies that had grown oddly, and also ones used in art projects. He and Carly talked about a large kale plant. And there was a purple cauliflower: “Look, look, look. It won first place cuz it’s purple. One of my favorite colors!”
On our way out, he and Vivian were judging mud puddles. We went to the bathroom. When I brought him back, Vivian and Carly had balloons. August made it clear that he didn’t want one, and that Vivian should just let hers go. He said “If I want a balloon, I would just let it go!” We got an apple dumpling, also for home, and left at 8:20.
In the car, August said “Hey Vivian, say stop sign ahead.” She wouldn’t fall for his bait. When she sees the red signs with an arrow she knows the literal meaning is ‘Stop ahead’. But August says it means “Stop and look if you want to go up.” And that drives her crazy.
When we got to the house he asked uncle Jeff to feel something if it was wet. A bit later, when Carly asked Cassie if she had tasted something to see if it had nuts in it, he said it ran in the family. The four of us (I apologized to Jeff that they weren’t vegan) the desserts.
They got in the bath and there was more exploding tea. He asked “Why don’t I have electric toothbrush yet?” Sick of exploding tea, I managed to sneak out of the bathroom and they played by themselves. Carly and Cassie took over baths a bit later and let them delay hair washings until the morning.
We got him ready and I left him with Carly at 10. About 20 minutes later though he wanted me to sing. I went in for about half an hour. Sang some hours, but he isn’t too good about trying to fall asleep nowawdays, rolling around and wanting to turn things on, etc. He finally requested Carly and she went in just before 11. I think he fell sleep soon after, but they both fell asleep.