He woke up at 6:25. He came and picked me on the shoulder to wake me up, then headed downstairs to find Carly. She got him back to sleep 20 minutes later on the couch and then headed to work. I had been up late finishing an entry for Sabeel, so fell back to sleep on th couch as well.
He slept until 8:40. Even then he was curling up on the couch while I read him some Ramona Quimby, Age 8. We then read The Butter Battle Book, which he requested as “My grandfather took me out to the wall”, which is the second page of the book. Then, as I read the book, he read/had memorized the sign in it.
He then played Dragonbox Big Numbers and I got breakfast for us and typed. We then read Rice and Beans in Skybrary and it is about a girl who is adopted. So we made ‘adopted’ the word of the day. We also read Freda Plans a Picnic and Your Guide to Superheroes. I exercised and he was reading the written out numbers needed to switch to the parent area on Dragonbox Big Numbers. We played with the catapult, launching clay into the kitchen, then got to making carrot cake. He helped shred up the carrots, then helped add ingredients. When he was hungry he ate a carrot, then a full pack of the seaweed snacks we had brought from the U.S.
He asked what ‘smithereens’, and ‘pork and wee beans’ meant. And what ‘auditory’ meant from the superheroes book. He found and played Star Walk Kids. He passed the quiz on constellations and excitedly told me about it. I asked what he had learned and he said, “Well, there’s no place on Earth that you can see all the constellations…They pretended the Earth is a carousel.”
We had some carrot cake when it was done. It turned out well. Didn’t do frosting so as to make it a healthier snack, as opposed to a treat. We finally got going to Ra’anana Park at 2. He looked at the house across the street, under remodel, and said “Do you know how I can work on that house? With my brick cannon and paint cannon.” That was inspiration from the inventor book we had read in Skybrary. He watched Waze as I drove to the park. When we got there he wanted me to park right where I had placed the dot in the parking lot on Waze. Which meant a little extra walking to the pay meter.
We first went to the free library and found a couple of Roald Dahl books, Danny, Champion of the World and The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. And a copy of Kipling’s Just So Stories. We then walked to the other end of the park and the sound area. We did the sound machine that you turn and he had me match his steps as he walked in circles. We went and sat on a shaded bench and had a snack/lunch – egg and apple. Saw a sign that said it was a scents and sounds garden, so discussed the word ‘scents’.
We finished up there (we also saw the green fruit on the trees) and walked across the lake to the western playground. Played on the rocking thing in the ground, then he said he was running out of power and had to charge in the spots of sun. He got in one of the swings and was in there for several minutes. Very mellow, and I was afraid it meant he was going to fall asleep in the car. He got out of that and played on the big swinging log. He said it charged him, and each set of ropes charged him a different amount. Additionally, they made different chords.
We went to the bathroom, then he spotted the talking disk things, where you’re spaced apart and you speak into the big disk and the other person can hear your voice.
We did a quick walk past the zoo, saying hi to the animals, and got to the car right at 4:18, which was the time we had paid until. In the car he played Tinybop Nature and something else and we were home at 5.
Carly was already home. He was grumpy about wanting to play iPad. Carly read the Spanish The Berenstain Bears. He then actually helped me wash dishes, rinsing and stacking most of them. He had some peanut soup, then some iPad time. They then skyped with Oma and Vivian, but he was falling apart. He didn’t like the suggestion that we had left his bike helmet there, and he was trying to be silly to have fun, but no once else was liking the craziness.
He and Carly then made another bracelet and I went for a run before 7:30. They were reading Ramona Quimby when I got back. I showered and he played with Cubetto, doing challenges. He had had Cubetto turn the wrong way and I heard him say “I don’t like to be wrong.” I helped him, then took him up for his bath. He used the shower head to rinse himself. He then had us do synchronized steps as we walked down the stairs. He cuddled with Carly and his eye was itchy. Thought it may have been some soap on his hand that didn’t get rinsed off. We read The Butter Battle Book. I was going to put him to sleep but Carly was ready to sleep, so I left them just before 10 and he was soon asleep.
Dancing on the tilting thing:
Relaxing in the swing:
