He was up at 6:34. But not really up, as he lay on the couch for close to 10 minutes. He got up and went and found his iPad. He said “I want to show you something” and asked where the world clock was. He showed me the stopwatch was still running and it was up over 330 hours. He was very excited about this. I’ve been making sure we start each day with books, but last night I reorganized his iPad, hiding/getting rid of a bunch of apps and adding in a few PBS apps and a math game we’d tried a couple years ago called Quick Math Jr. that I thought he might like. He noticed the changes and wanted to try Quick Math Jr. so did that for awhile. We then did Skybrary and read Percy Gets Upset and Zero, Zilch, Nada. He then went to his Dragonbox math apps.
He sang a line and part of a tune: “That you’re never gonna get to touch.” He thought it was Josh Ritter. I figured out it was “Hey Man (Now You’re Really Living)” by the Eels, which is on his Songs for August Zinn @ 2 Years playlist. It was also cool because he was sounding more like an actual singing voice and not just a little kid’s voice.
He found the Word Wizard app on his iPad. The app where you trace letters in words and you can add your own. He hasn’t used it in a couple years, but I thought it was a good one to bring back. The old version stopped working with the upgraded iPad, so our old word lists (of family members and animals, mainly) don’t work/exist anymore. He remembered the lists, actually, and I had to tell him that. We had fun re-recording some of them. I started a list of our words of the day and he traced some of those. Then he wanted to do body parts. We added a bunch, with him doing the recordings, and he switched to Human Body to look for more words. He would find something (blood vessel, bacteria, etc.) and I’d make a note of it so we could add them later. He found some other games he hasn’t played recently (Endless Wordplay, Metamorphabet, and Music4Kids) and played those as I took a shower and we got going.
At one point we were discussing the science center, and he was trying to remember it, since we’d only been in the exhibits once, and decide if it would be more fun than the Madatech science center in Haifa.
He had to play with his barrier stick outside before we left. It is his long taped-together bamboo stick that he puts between the boards of our walkway. I acted as someone trying to get through and it would open or close for me. We left before 10:30.
He requested Chemical Brothers on the way up and looked at the map on the phone as we drove. We went up 4 this time. He looked like he was going to fall asleep, but made it.
We parked a block south of the museum. Things didn’t look promising, as the building that the exhibits are in is under construction. Luckily, it turns out it is still open as they add an extension to it and a floor or two on top. However, the museum was also very busy. Much, much busier than last time, when it was just us and one or two other families. We first dropped a few coins in the spinning thing. I’d found 4 of the 10 agora coins in the car. Then we made our way around the inside for 30+ minutes. Hard to get turns on things, like the big car track. He was a little discouraged, but still having fun. Mainly, he played with the whirlpool making machine. I would be a fish swimming in a normal old pool (we were thinking like McElliott’s Pool) and then I’d find a button underwater and push it and it would make a whirlpool I’d get dizzy in. He also wanted me to make fun of each thing, as if it was his science experiment, then he’d amaze me with it. That was from a Captain Underpants plot.
I was hungry, so convinced him to head outside for awhile. I grabbed a quick bite, but he was too interested in science to eat much yet. Did a little science, mainly some of the water things and driving the solar-powered boats, then went back inside. Managed to play with the car track a couple times and wandered around everything else a few times as well. Periscopes, funny mirrors, dark area, magnets, infinite mirrors, chair of nails, etc.
Then back outside for lunch at 1. He really was hungry, as he ate both of the hard-boiled eggs I had brought, leaving me the last bite of each. He did more of the water pump things, then needed the bathroom. We went in the other door and wandered around, looking into the medical classroom at the anatomical models, then used the bathroom and filled our water bottles. He spent several minutes watching other kids play with the coin spinning thing, but was frustrated as they only had one coin and weren’t letting it drop to the bottom. Seeing it drop is his favorite part. He wanted to do more coins, but was upset I hadn’t brought more. He got to watch one, at least. Outside, we saw a helium balloon floating away and instead of liking that he said he really wanted to let one go as well – a desire he’s talked about before, since he skipped that possibility after refusing a balloon at the fair in Pennsylvania.
We went back to the car. We looked at the map, debating what to do next. Finally decided to go down to Olga Beach, right down the hill. We had gone there once before. We didn’t have our swimsuits, but we had the beach bag with toys.
We got down to the beach and put down our stuff. He was soon down to his underwear and playing in the water. The beach here is kind of different, with the waves crashing a ways out, but having a long in and out distance. So even though it was just a couple inches deep where he played, the waves could splash pretty high. So he never lay down, although he sat for awhile. He said things like “I love this water” a couple times. He also found a bigger plastic shovel where we put down camp, and we took it home later. He also asked “What would happen if you put a cat in the water?”
Around 3 he needed to use the bathroom, so we decided to head out. The bathrooms were open this time, so that was nice. Used it, then got going. as we left, a woman who had been at the beach with her dog was smoking near the parking lot. She asked where I was going. I said Netanya. She said perfect, and that I could give her a ride to her home in Hadera. I politely refused, saying my wife wouldn’t want a dog in the car. And pointing out we were heading south, not east. She was upset about this, and I got August to walk away. At the car I explained to him why I didn’t give her a ride. The easiest thing to point out was asking hm if he wanted a rather large dog riding next to him in the car. He said “No!”
Then, as we were about to pull away, another woman, An African woman this time, got my attention. She needed her car jump started. I wouldn’t have been able to help, but she had the cables. This one I happily agreed to. Moved our car over and August got out to watch. I had to position the car a little closer, and August chose to stay with the woman while I moved the car. That was very brave of him. I think he also liked seeing the motors. I heard him telling her his name. On the second attempt we got the car running.
We drove to Even Yehuda and stopped at the big grocery store in town. Main reason was to get the last item on his preschool list, a box of wet wipes. We also got some produce that Carly requested, a bottle of wine to celebrate Carly’s first day, and coffee and milk. He spotted a pudding cup with M and M sorts of candies on top. Something he’s wanted before but never had. I agreed, and he agreed to share it with mama as another first day celebration.
When we got back to the car and I put the groceries in I realized that one of the handles on his bike was missing. I didn’t say anything, but I didn’t see it in the trunk at all either. Back at home, I went back out to the car and this time found it. It had fallen inside the beach bag when I put the bike in the car.
At home he and I went outside and did the daily challenges in the Nature Cat iPad app. He drew pictures of a couple rocks, we recorded the sounds we heard as we sat under a tree and discussed them, and he drew a picture of his favorite bird, a puffin. Inside, we read Percy Gets Upset again and made the word of the day ‘scowl’. We also read the Vicuna Vacation book and he had the app read Picky Peggy to him. He doesn’t usually choose the narration over me.
He had had some stir fry and rice, but mainly ate the rice and tofu. He now agreed to just eat a carrot and ate the whole thing. He and I then went out and planted his classroom plant, then I let him have his pudding treat, which he shared with the two of us.
Carly took him upstairs and gave him his bath and they cleaned the bathroom. I did most of the dishes, then went for a run. When I got back he was having an apple lollipop. He had let her trim his hair. Just a little off the back, but it didn’t bother him, and it looks much nicer now. He agreed that he’d let us cut it again when it grew “6 or 7 inches”. We suggested every two weeks instead and he agreed to that and I set a recurring reminder.
I talked to him about his first day tomorrow and how it was just an hour and suggested we could go out for lunch afterwards to celebrate. He asked Carly, “Will you celebrate my first day of school with me?” We told him we could all celebrate together this weekend.
I went upstairs and took a shower. On the way up I heard him telling the cashew knock knock joke with Carly.
He requested sleeping with me. I told Zinnie story #4. I then sang some songs and he was asleep by 9:05.
By the way, I don’t think I’ve mentioned his ‘box’ versus ‘cubby’ preference. He really wants me to call it his ‘box’ at school, not ‘cubby’. This goes back to last year. In telling one of these stories a few days ago I used ‘cubby’ and he told me to use box. And he told me that when we went to the jumping place this summer and put our shoes in one he heard me call it a cubby and he noticed. We laughed about that one. But then a day or two ago I jokingly referred to it as a ‘cubby’ in a story and he said ‘I HATE it when you call it that!” So ‘box’ it is.
Stopwatch up to 311 hours:
Egg:
Beach:
Jump starting the car:
