Friday, November 16: Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem

Carly had parent teacher conferences today, so my parents and I took August to the science center in Jerusalem. Planned to do more, but it was really rainy.

At some time during the night a storm hit. I was asleep, but woken up enough to know I had rolled onto my back. Eyes still closed, there was a very bright flash, then a loud clap of thunder. Then the rain hit. It rained and rained until letting up around 7.

He was up about 7, while I was in the shower. Came down and found them laughing on the couch. He wanted Cheerios and Carly got him the bag of them she had had for a snack for him the other day. He kind of grumbled, but didn’t say much, then lay on the couch, sort of using them as a pillow. Eventually I realized he wanted them in a bowl, not a bag. Happy now, he carried his bowl out, still wearing his pajamas, and we drove Carly to school.

Back at home he just rested on the couch for several minutes while I made sandwiches for lunch. He was then hungry and wanted pancakes and requested cinnamon and vanilla as secret ingredients. As I made the pancakes he wrote times on his box with his “treasure pencil”. He was writing things like how long we were going to spend at the science center. He wrote ‘4:00’ after I taught him about the Colin.

He was then singing a song from school, likely dance class: “If your hands wiggle jiggle then dance about…” Dad asked him about hearing the storm and August said he didn’t: “That’s cuz when I’m asleep I have my ears blocked up, sealed with steel!” “Grampa, do you think you could make an ear like that in your garage?” The other day asked if Grampa could fix anything in his garage.

We ate pancakes. August left the final wedge of it. He was then having fun with scissors, cutting rubber bands and tape and paper towels. He was then singing a very nice song about us: “You are the best parents I’ve ever seen…Mama is the best mama ever…” He was then naked, and did a funny galloping dance around the entryway. He wanted me to do a slo-mo, then burst of him. He was then trying to remember his magic spell from yesterday, and I had to look it up to tell him it was the “Mighty magic” spell. He was then repeating it over and over as we left.

We got ready to go and headed to Jerusalem. Took the highway 4, then 1 route. No traffic, as it was a Friday. Not entirely relaxed though as it was raining much of the way. We got to the science center and parked right near the entry. Very few people there, which was very nice. We went in about 11. August did his usual wandering around, getting the lay of things. A little before 12 I convinced him to pause for lunch. We went downstairs to the tables and ate. I’d made us tuna sandwiches and some of his carrots stuff. At 12 I took him to the bathroom, then I headed out.

They stayed until 2. He was busy the whole time. Mom said they’d suggest he move on to something else, but he would really stay focused on what he was doing, and often went back to something he had done before. When I talked to him, the one thing he really told me about was sending message to other countries, using “lightning.” I.e. electricity. It was a telegraph system, and he had told them he was sending messages asking them to visit, or hoping that he could visit them. At 2 they were trying to get him to go to the bathroom, but at first he wanted to wait for me. And he suggested there would be a bathroom at where I had my meeting. When Dad pointed out he wouldn’t be going there, August finally relented and went into the bathroom with him. He said that people would think he was his Dad instead of his Grampa.

I had a fine meeting with Omar. The accountant was there, and we figured out that the reason my paycheck hadn’t gone through was that my branch had closed, so our information had changed. I logged into my account and we found that both our branch number and account number are now different. We talked a little about next steps for planning year 2 of the Kumi Now project.

I left there a little before 2, and got to the science center at 2:08. I drove past Lifta both ways, and past the Knesset once. Perfect timing, as they were walking down the stairs. The rain had let up and I was hoping maybe we could stop at a park, but now it had started to get rainier again. We stopped at the top of Lifta for a couple minutes to see it, and it started raining harder as we stood there. We drove home, taking 1 to 444, then 5. I pointed out all the odd/interesting stuff along 444 that I’ve seen, but never actually visited, because I’m always on my way to or coming back from Jerusalem.

We were home before 4. Carly was already here. Conferences had gone well for her today. August requested a smoothie, and we discussed ingredients as we headed in. He wanted apple and mango, and cinnamon and honey as the special ingredients. We joked about calling the honey ‘snail slime’. I made the smoothie, and August was keeping the special ingredients secret from Carly. She asked “Whats the secret ingredient?” With a very serious face he told her, “I’ll tell you when you’re drinking it.”

We read more of Dragons Beware!, finishing it again. He rolled up the Star Wars bookmark and taped it. He said, “I love bookmarks! It’s just that there’s so many other things I can make.” He then went upstairs with Carly for awhile. When they came down he was acting like a baby.

I then made shakshuka for dinner, which turned out quite well. He stayed busy with Mom and Dad. August primarily liked the egg from it. He played some Dragonbox Big Numbers with Carly, then I played with him when she went to take a shower. We then played a preschool game where there was a monster, then he was a robot saying “initiating emergency exit…You would be all separated to your homes…” He was then teleporting the teacher and students to and from their homes.

I was talking to him about school and asked if Eve took naps at school, as Carly had been arranging a play date with Eve tomorrow and Eve’s mom had said she still took naps. August asked, “Why do you ask?” He then told me “Judson doesn’t really…” I remembered that August said that he and Judson mess around during rest time. He told me, “One time we messed around the entire rest time…”

I was going to go for a run, but decided it was too cold and was just going for a walk instead. He wanted me back before his bath time. Carly said, “I don’t know why you think I’m incompetent.” He replied, “Yeah, I know. Sorry.”

I went for a walk and Carly gave him a bath. When I came back they were watching videos of Vivian and Colin. Carly made him oatmeal, then seconds. He talked to me about how he closes his eyes and then he can shrink inside himself and see tiny things like quarks. Very well said and I wish I had a video of that.

We went upstairs at 9:10. He told me “Did you know that falcons, I think it’s a kind of bird, can fly 368 kilometers an hour?” We brushed his teeth, did a short preschool game, and he curled up and went to sleep.

Cutting things: