He was up at 6:25 as I was done with my shower. When I came down a minute later he was outside, watching Carly water the plants. They came in and he said he had checked on the stick he had put in a tree. He took me out to show me, and it was the U-shaped metal piece, with the ends covered in sap and tree things.
Back inside he asked for his iPad and asked when he could watch something using my headphones again. I said he could use them right now, but he said it had to be part of a game and when I had built a nest for him.
He watched Smurfs, then we read Amulet. We got going and on the walk to school he was humming Josh Ritter’s “Change of Time.” He was then singing a song about loving something, but I don’t remember what it was.
He checked on me to make sure I was sitting outside for a couple minutes, then I was able to leave. I went home and did a little work, then rode my bike back for the preschool Thanksgiving lunch at 12:20. He got up and ran over next to me when I went in the room.
All three of the classes went over to the grass area by the playground and took turns singing songs. Marion was curious to know if I would recognize the “wa-da-lee-ah-cha” song PKA was going to sing—apparently her husband had remembered it from when he was four. I told her I had heard it when working at summer camp, and from August singing it, but didn’t remember it from my childhood.
Then PKA led the procession over to the eating area. August started to get frustrated with Hector for supposedly cutting. I took him aside, and we waited a minute to get food. We sneaked a piece of the squash bread to eat while we waited.
We got food and went to our spots, marked with the rocks. We were sitting with Nicholas and Sophia and their parents (Miles and Anastasia). Found out Nicholas really likes animals and I told him about Coyote Peterson. August ate a bunch of food (he loves buffets). He particularly liked the kimbap (as did I) and picked apart a few pieces but ate every bit of them. We also really liked the apple turnovers from PKC. We also sat with Marion, and had fun talking to her. When Carly got there after 12:50 we were talking about the play (and the French accents) and she told us how preschool hadn’t been invited but she forced her way in. Pretty awesome, actually.
Then the desserts were brought out. August had a chocolate brownie thing, then more snickerdoodle cookies than I wanted to count, sneaking one more after Carly left.
Most of the students left with there families. There were 3 or 4 other students left in PKB. He said, “Ms. Andrea! Your classroom looks so big!” The table were all outside. August wanted to stay, so I went and sat at the picnic table and typed. They had, I think, the Peanuts Thanksgiving video playing, but August was playing in the building area when I left.
He then came and found me when they started Playball and wanted to be with me. Simona was also leaving at the time. So we played outside. He played with the tubes and little balls from the waterless water table. And he sang an excellent “If you didn’t remind me…” song as he did so. He found a water bottle by the play structure (he was an injured animal again) and recognized it as Taya’s and took it into PKA.
He found the green cubes from the bottom of the cut flowers that kindergarten had had for some reason. He had looked at them yesterday, and they were in a stagnant dukes of water. We were speculating on what it was, and he told me”It’s compound fiber…little bits of plastic…dark green sand…”
He then told me “You see plankton…with tentacles out of its base…it speaks in colors…dark colors, like red orange, and yellow mean it doesn’t like something, and light colors mean it DOES like something.”
Back by PKB he saw Taya opening the blinds on the door. It was now close to 3 and they were leaving. I went in and asked Anna if it was okay for Taya to come out with us. She came out and she and August ran to the swings where I pushed both of them, which they thought was funny.
Cassie came and Taya got off, then they were both tickling August when he swung forward. He was laughing, but I could tell it was getting too much so I saved him by grabbing him off the swing. Cassie talked about how she was a bit stuffy, but that nothing could cancel Thanksgiving. August said he could, by making everyone forget about it. But he emphasized that he could but didn’t want to.
Taya grabbed Cassie’s phone, and August wanted mine. He wanted to take a slo-mo video of how the sand jumped when he stomped on the cover of the sandbox. We did that, then Cassie was getting ready to go. She offered August a lollipop and he chose mango. As he ate it he asked me if anything protected against lasers and missiles. I taught him about ‘armor’ and that became a word of the day.
To help Cassie get Taya up to the car August and I accompanied them. I had asked Taya if there were going to be any other kids at Thanksgiving. She named 6 or 7, which turned out to be fiction. But one was ‘Olivia’, and she and August ended up chanting “Olivia!” as we walked.
When we got to the car, at the far end of the parking lot, Taya said she needed to use the bathroom. So she walked back with me and August while Cassie drove.
August and I went to the drinking fountain, then Carly met us with us and we headed home, about 4:30. On the way he found a stick, which he was then running along fences as we went.
August was rather wired, telling us to “Stop talking!” or “Be silent!” to get our attention. He typed on my iPad in Pages, sending messages to satellites. He accidentally called up Siri, then told her “Siri, I wasn’t talking to you. I was just typing.” very cute. Then, “Siri, once upon a time there were two beasts…” We then played a game where he was a snake and I found him and took care of him. He then played with his tape. And he sang a song:
“Raise your hands
Take a deep breath
Repeat after me
Cock-a-doodle-doo”
He was then playing Simon Says with Carly and he still says “Santon says…” We then finished reading Amulet. Then he was back to being a snake and we added a lot to it. He had me make another nest for him today. I asked him about the Thanksgiving assembly they went to with the second graders. He said they acted out a story called “The Saddest Thanksgiving Ever.” In it, the food ran away. Back with his tape, he taped a bookmark on the couch, and taped his stuff animals in the nest. He was humming the Smurfs song. He then used my headphones and watched Wild Kratts in the nest, laughing hysterically to the hummingbird episode part where they blow a trumpet.
I took him up for his bath, and he took up some binoculars/a kaleidoscope that he had made out of toilet paper rolls and tape and construction paper. A quick bath, then he wanted the real binoculars. It was late, but I was reluctant to take him outside. He told me, “I want to see what I can see. You might be wrong.” We went outside and he had a lot of fun, looking off at the moon with the clouds moving in front of it and across at the bridge. He said he saw a big sign off in the distance, then described how he had invented. Big electronic billboard made with millions of lights.
We took him upstairs and got him ready for bed and I left them about 9:10.
Art on my iPad:
Humming Change of Time:
The PKA song:
Thanksgiving lunch:
If You Didn’t Remind Me song:
Swinging with Taya:
Sand slo-mo:
Silly with Taya:
His stick amplifier:
Talking to Siri:
Santon says:
Taping in his nest:
Using the binoculars:
The moon and August describing his electronic billboard:
