He was up at 6:47. He came downstairs and lay on the couch. I asked if he wanted to read or he wanted a few minutes of quiet and he chose a few minutes of quiet. We then read Skippyjon Jones, choosing ‘fan’ (as in someone who likes something) and ‘amok’ as words of the day.
He had time to watch one Pink Panther before we left, as I gave him vitamins and some bread. He watched it, but then complained “It wasn’t even silly!” and got sad about it. He accused me of giving him a not-silly one on purpose.
He calmed down though and we got walking before 8:40. On the way he found one of those magnet business cards on the ground and said he would use it for his magnet art/sculpture. As we got closer to school he asked me to tell a story. So I told a story of a magnet that was made at a factory and had a dream of being a part of art. The other magnets make fun of it, and it ends up in a garbage bag. But then the garbage bag is dropped by the garbage truck and the magnet lies on the ground until a boy comes along and picks it up and uses it in his refrigerator art. Still had a minute, so I made up a joke: two palm trees were standing next to each other. One palm tree said to the other, “Hey Frank, going anyplace today?” Frank replied, “Ugh. You say the same thing every day.” August thought it was pretty funny.
At school we found out there was indeed library time this afternoon, so I could come back at 2 to help with that. We then sat and read a couple chapters of The Magic Tree House #25. He was hungry and ate some of the Cheerios from his lunch. Marion was happy to see him eating.
We talked about him choosing one thing inside and outside to try to do today. This started to unravel, as he said he was happy just standing and watching. Also, earlier he had asked if I went home during the day. I said that yes I did. He’d seemed fine with it at the time, but now he brought it back up. We ended up over on the PKB bench. He talked about skipping school, and also asked “Can I do school at home?” He settled on us doing half and half – him “alone” half the time, and me there half the time. I explained I was there now, then would be back for lunch, then for library time. I’d be in the library for rest time, but including that I’d be on campus for 3 hours, and off for 4. I said that was close to half. He was trying to do the math and add up the time, and I was rushing/estimating too much and he told me “I need it to be exact!”
We got that straight, then the last thing he was upset about was being told what to do. He wanted me to tell the teachers that it was okay for him to stand and watch. We talked to Marion and she agreed that no one was trying to force him to do anything. I was able to leave at 8:40 as it started to rain a bit. Nice for the walk home though.
I got back at 12:30 and waited for them to come out the door. No August. I went in and he was hanging out by the book area. Got him to get his lunch and we went out.
Got him eating food for lunch, then tried to leave. He said “You said 3 hours…I was already alone for 4 hours…” At another point he said “I don’t know what to say.” Mainly impressed that he is speaking so calmly and clearly most of the time. I got away a few minutes ago when Andrea came over and talked to him about his lunch.
Also, he told me he got a cut/scrape on his right knee. He wasn’t upset about it, but said someone did it “on purpose.” He didn’t provide any other details though.
I came back for library time. Marion and Andrea helped walk the kids to the library, in pairs. At the library Ilana was surprised to see us early – she had thought it was to be at 2:20, not 2. Also, she pointed out there are usually two parents. Andrea came in and stayed a few minutes, then Ilana said she could go. The class is less squirrelier than they were last year. Ilana read a book/they listened to a song about the library and treating books properly. Of course, right after Andrea left there was the drama: August had a torn toenail. He came over by me, but I couldn’t find my clippers. He eventually got it off and was okay. And first Hector had to go to the bathroom, then Candy. So I escorted them. For checkout time August chose a book called I See Kitty. They checked out their books and each got a bag. Andrea and Marion arrived to walk us back.
Back in the classroom they had a few minutes to look at books. We sat over by the couch and read August’s book out loud. Sophia listened too. We then started to read her book, a book about trucks which is actually nursery rhymes adapted to have trucks in them. Pretty funny. Andrea rang the bell for the goodbye meeting. They went over to say their goodbyes. She would pick up the rocks one by one and they’d read the names together and say goodbye to that person. She also mentioned that they just watched the video of August singing in the pool, and she sang the song that he was trying to sing. It has more words, about paying attention, but I kind of like August’s version better. Finally, there is a goodbye song that they sing.
After class we went out on the PKA bench (the big box that has been on it for the last couple days was gone) and August ate more: Cheerios Nd apple sauce mainly. I went back in to get the Magic Tree House Book and talked to Andrea for a couple minutes. She said he’d done really well for rest time, and when he’d gotten his scrape today he was upset but calmed down well. August wanted to play some iPad on the bench and he played the Montessorium Geometry app on my iPad for a couple minutes. But I convinced him to head home. We left at 3:30. As we walked out the gates he asked, “Hey dada, when are we going to play pinochle? I really want to play pinochle.” Apparently pinochle was in a StoryBots.
On the way home he wanted to do a video of his version of the “That’s my body” song, which included lyrics about how he only gets one body, then wanted to sing a new “Sidewalk Sealant” song. He then spotted shadows of a palm tree that looked like a crocodile mouth, stopped to look at a moving water meter, and was an answer machine as we got close to home.
We were here at 4. He drew new Hangeul, then Mooka Mook, letters on the chalk board and explained them to me. He asked, “Did you know mooka Mook has nine thousand, eight hundred letters?” He then played the insect app and we ate crackers and hummus. It was difficult to get him moving agin and I had to let him watch one Pink Panther before we left about 4:30.
We walked over to the mall to find out that little kids festival was happening again. Inside, the saw a talking tree statue and really liked that. Then there were animatronic dinosaurs. There were two that you could actually ride, and he stood in line for a couple minutes to do that, but then when he understood you couldn’t actually control them at all, you just sat on them, he changed his mind.
Going by the natural food store he remembered that it had free samples. We went in and they had honey, served in honeycomb, and he used a stick to get a couple samples of that. In Tiv Taam we got carrots and cucumbers and more fruit for his lunches. They didn’t have the kind of hummus that he and Carly have been liking, so we got two of the smaller varieties to try.
Outside, I saw that Pizza Hut was selling slices. We got one each, then sat on the ground in the playground area and ate our slices. August was being really calm after that, but agreed to go try to play on the blow up carnival area. We went and waited in line for the obstacle course one. The guy let me go with August, and I could barely keep up with him. August was through it in a flash. He thought about going again, but then wanted to wait for the little hand crank paddle boats in a little pool. We waited there a couple minutes, but th
en at 5:55 the word came to shut it down. We went calmly, but I saw another guy who was waiting at the front of the line arguing with the poor guy who was just following instructions.
We left at 6 and walked home. On the way, I talked to him about school, and asked what he would like to do. He replied, “The best thing I can do at school is just standing.” I asked why and he said, “Remember? I need to think about how to play with the other kids.” So, I’m not really worrying too much about him not participating. I think there is a lot of thinking going on, and as long as he isn’t saying he’s really bored I think it is okay.
Near home we spotted cat #42. Carly was taking a shower when we got home. He watched Pink Panther for his 20 minutes. He was then repeating “Play now!” from the video game commercials that he likes.
He was then lying on me as he ate carrot. Lots of negotiating over smoothie and carrot. He wanted me to go to school and give the kid that knocked him over a timeout. And he told me to install surveillance cameras in the classroom so we could know who did that. I think he got that from Captain Underpants. He had found Captain Underpants at some point yesterday on my iPad (he has started to use search in iBooks and Skybrary to find books – not that he’s actually typing words in, although he understands the idea, and has us search by author for the books he likes in Skybrary) so I had reluctantly read a chapter, and it was the chapter where the principal catches them doing the pranks with the helps of surveillance cameras.
Carly cut up mango for smoothies and I got his bath going. He wanted Skybrary, so he had the app read him the book about the Sam, the inventor girl. When he finally got his smoothie he drank a little bit, then admitted he was too full. Carly put it in the fridge for tomorrow.
I took him up to his bath. We did a quick one today. He then wanted Skybrary “immediately”, and agreed we should read on the “cozy” bed. We read Rosie Raccoon and. Funny book about Erie Pirates. He was then talking about Niagara Falls. We read If I Ran the Zoo by Dr. Seuss, then Carly was up at 8:30. She brushed his teeth and put him right to sleep.