Saturday, September 1: school pool and baking a pie

He came out just after 7:10. Seemed like he knew it was a weekend as he said “Mama”. Usually he’s been saying “Dada” during the week. He had 20 minutes of iPad time. Played Weather and then watched things on BrainPop. He wanted to go outside and check on the slime. Couldn’t find one of his shoes and I finally found it hiding under his stool in the kitchen. He thought that was amusing.

They went out, then came back in. He told her, “In preschool, when you finish a book you have to start at the beginning again. That’s the rule.” I figured out he meant at rest time, so that kids weren’t getting up and down repeatedly. He explained that during rest time, “I just lie on the furniture, getting up and down every few seconds…like I’m wandering around like this.” But then he said he stays right by his mat. Carly suggested he could look at Bob Books for rest time. He was slightly open to the idea.

He decided the word of the day was ‘introduction’. We weren’t sure where that came from, and he talked about an “introduction box”. Still no idea. He said he was a word of the day machine and made up the word “Butroncrunch”. “Its when a button crunches and you use glue to stick it together.”

They went upstairs to get things for an experiment. As he went up the stairs he said, “I’m so tired I’m like a sloth.” Which was a nice simile. They came back down and I made scrambled eggs. He ate the eggs. He told one of us, “I want to introduce you to the science experiment.” They hung a string across the kitchen and made a scale out of two cups on it to measure the weight of Pez. He also decorated the line and I helped him cut and hang up a piece of cardboard. He said it was a sign and said, “I’m trying to make a counterweight store.” It changed a bit, as the line bounced up and down: “That’s why it’s called the up and down store…candies that bounce up and down in your tummy…” He had some Pez, then I headed to a shower.

I came back down as he was finish iPad time. He was doing math. I then did a little synthesizer with him, playing together. We started a mosaic on the floor. He liked doing the lines but declared us done right after starting he coloring. Carly had a sandwich and he was hungry. So I made him peanut butter and syrup toast and cut up an apple.

We then read some more Magic Tree House #26 and watched a video of gorillas playing, as August had asked if gorillas actually do that. He had more iPad time and wanted to play music for Carly and wanted her to order him to do things on it. We talked about going to Tiv Taam and August give his opinions of the two locations: “Yeah, I hate the big one.” He explained his preference: “When I go there (the small one) I smell candy…” He played more music on the iPad and talked about how he had been making music his whole life. He was playing Bandimal and showing Carly how to do it: “And I’m great at teaching people how to make chords. And I’m great at making animal music.”

He played some other music apps, then somehow started making up the “The everything that starts with a B store…Would you like to buy any B things?” We joked about things that start with B that you could buy, and I mentioned bop burgers in Korea and sighed. August asked, “Why does dada miss Korea so much?” Carly questioned the same thing, as I had been the one that wanted to move. We talked about how we like going new places, and August agreed: “I LOVE going to new places. 2 thousand hundred percent!”

I then went to the big Tiv Taam to do the shopping while they stayed at home. I got back at 1:40. They had done some art. His art was of a dream. Before that it was someone’s imagination. They had also had a smoothie.

He wanted to do iPad art. So we charged the pencil. He drank more of his smoothie. Carly tried to give it to him in the glass jar it was stored in but he insisted on one of his cups. He ate potatos that she had cooked and I had a shnitzel sandwich. We then used the Apple Pencil and did some art. Then back to the synth app. He was really into iPad music and art today. He repeated “That’s because I spend my entire life making music. “

We wanted to get out of the house and away from the iPad so we headed to the school pool. Our usual lovely time at the pool and we stayed a bit over n hour, until it closed at 4. August then wanted to show me the orchard, so he walked us over there and showed us where they’d found the fruit. He also spotted the lemony plant and said we could make tea with it and ripped some off for us to take home and make tea. We also stopped in the middle of the library building and he had fun making echoing noises.

We headed home and August and I got to work making pie. Actually, I started by prepping all the apples, then he came over when it got interesting. And at one point we dipped apples in honey for the upcoming new year. All went well until we were putting on the crust. He just wanted to eat the leftovers and not make cookies out of them. He got really upset that he couldn’t and had to eat dinner instead. After a few minutes he said, “No one’s being nice to me.” I picked him up and calmed him down and cuddled. Eventually he calmed down, and a bit later he ate dinner. He helped roll out the extra dough and cut it into interesting shapes for the cookies using the pizza cutter.

I got the pie in the oven and Carly asked when it would be ready and acted impatient. August told her, “Mama, your can wait patiently.” I started to get ready to go for a run, but then Nathan and Ruby and Ceder called on FaceTime. I went out for a short run, getting back just as Carly was taking out the pie and then hanging up. It was supposed to cook for 45 to 60 minutes, so I figured 45 was safe. Unfortunately, it was burnt on top. Luckily, it would turn out that only the crust around the edge was really too far gone.

I quickly took a shower and Carly put cinnamon and sugar on them and baked the crust cookies. We dug into the pie, with vanilla ice cream, of course. August wanted both a fork and a spoon and I said, “I like the way you think.” Fork and spoon. He explained, “I think I have a different kind of brain than other people.” ”I think quicker…and I can learn so fast…I can go out of school in a flash.” We also ate a cookie.

August and I read some Magic Tree House. In bed we brushed his teeth and I tried to tell him the ant and the grasshopper story. He wasn’t that interested in it though. Carly came in and I left them at 9:10 and he was soon asleep.

The up and down store: