He got up at 5:57. He turned on the lamp, talked to me for a few seconds, then turned it off and said “Good night!” and closed the door behind him. When I came down he was watching Wild Kratts and laughing hysterically. It was the same part of the Hummingbird episode that he was laughing at yesterday (where one of them blows a trumpet) and he watched it a couple times.
I got him vitamins and zucchini cornbread and he and I read Baby Bear’s Big Dreams and 7 Ate 9. He then wanted to play with Carly. When she walked over to him she leaned over nad clapped her hands. He asked, “Is it time for a bath?” Because that’s something she often does when she’s getting him for a bath. She suggested they go outside, and he said no, then: “Well, I do love nature. It’s just not the right time. I’m having fun with you at home.” “I want to cuddle with you, and do scientific experiments.” They decided on a tape structure with the cardboard stuff. Meanwhile, I was sending messages to Glecy about her vacation to Guatemala and so August learned about piñatas and decided that’s what he wanted to make.
We worked on that, then he turned into a cute animal that hibernates and eats plants and digs holes. We decided on a prairie dog. The prairie dog game went on for quite awhile, and eventually it was living in a strawberry shop and the owner was buying shipments of plants for it to eat. We then read about 60 pages of Amulet as we lay on the floor by the windows. He was hungry, so he had the last pancake. I went up to take a shower. When I came down they were both doing art outside at the table. Carly was making a hand picture and he was rubbing flowers on paper to make colors. Something he learned at school. He had the binoculars on and had been using them.
After awhile I heard him getting grumpy about his art: “No you don’t! It looks ugly!” “We’re doing a card for Mikaela, or we’re doing nothing.” He was being quite grumpy.
They went upstairs and rested.
He came back down and wanted to do”piñata work.” Carly fell asleep. We worked on the piñata structure, then he was a baby kinkajou: “Not hyperbole starving, real starving.” I asked August if he had watched Charlie Brown Thanksgiving with the other kids yesterday and he said he had a bit. He wanted to watch it again, so I downloaded that and he wanted to watch it. But then when he was watching it he said he had already watched it. So he switched to A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Carly headed to the store to get carrots and for the dish she was going to make. And she stopped and got strawberries at the stand. August and I listened to Odesza remixes when he wanted to hear new music. He had me play a preschool game where I was a teacher watching maker time. August was a student that makes a jewel: “Tt casts a spell that makes your pupils red and purple…red with spirals…it’s swirling in a circle. You know, an optical illusion…” It was very much based on Amulet, but he extended it. After the jewelry he was back to being a kinkajou.
Carly came back. August initially wanted a smoothie, but then was happy to just eat several strawberries. I asked him what he was thankful for, and he said, “Yesterday I was thankful for you taking care of me. This time I’m thankful for all the treats you give me.” It sounded like they had talked about it at in their class.
August was finding it funny to say “I’ll kick your everloving…” and when Carly didn’t want him saying that he was acting sulky. I taught him what that meant and ‘sulk’ became the word of the day.
August and I got ready to go for a walk, and while we were out the door he said, “I’m gonna kick your everloving garbage!…Much nicer, right?” And had to share it with Carly. He then picked up the tire that he found last spring and water spilled out and into one of his shoes. We dried it out, and finally left at 1:45.
We walked to the south, him with the binoculars around his neck, stopping to look at things. He got off his bike and was looking for treasures. He spotted the big flag with the binoculars. We went up that dead end, then up the path to the stairs. At the top of them he played in the dirt and bushes, finding tiny snails for a few minutes.
We got going and he told me, “It’s the perfect time for a preschool game. I already thought up the scenario.” There was a giant plant attacking the preschool and he teleported the class to August’s house. We walked the path and spotted big ant mounds. He then spent several minutes playing with ladybugs, ants, and snails.
We got back at 2:45. Carly was done with the carrots and I baked the salmon. At one point he told Carly “Thank you for taking care of me, Mama.” After he went to the bathroom I told him he needed pants on. He asked, “What’s a special holiday when you can be naked at school?”
We left by 4. About 10 minutes into the ride he fell asleep. I woke him at 4:55 as we parked at their house.
We went into their house, and August and Taya took a few minutes to warm up. There were two other kids there, Liam and Zoe. Cassie said that Taya had been talking about August all day. They got wild, and eventually we decided to take them to the park. Carly and I took August, Taya, and Liam to the park at 5:50. Taya and Liam had baby dolls in strollers and pushed them. August wasn’t interested in them, but at the park he helped find little rocks to be food for them. He also went on the swings with Carly. Taya found a flashlight and they used that to find rocks. August also found an old remote control. As they looked for food he found some treasures: a hair clip, a little jewel, and a sticker that he put on the back of my phone. He fell off a swing. He wasn’t really hurt, but was upset for a few seconds and told Carly “Stop it! You’re never nice to me!”
When we got back to the house we were met by Liam’s dad who said, “This must be the famous August we’ve heard so much about.” August replied with, “Yep! I’m a scientist! I make machines and test them! And I have a secret underground lab!”
It was time for dinner. The three kids sat together at a small table in the kitchen. He ate pretty well. He then played by himself with the blocks that were on the floor. He made a structure out of them. He then played with the other kids, but was then getting really hyper with Liam’s dad. August made a big pile of pillows on the couch and was talking and singing about “Sailing the seven seas.”
We had plenty of pumpkin pie, then he watched Charlie Brown on his iPad with Taya. It was too loud in the living room so they went to the bedroom. Megan, who had shown up late, went to the bedroom with them and her little sister called on FaceTime and August was talking to them.
August had seen the ice cream, so also had to have some of that. We got going, and as we got to the car he was asking what ‘blockhead’ meant. So that became a word of the day. I realized we didn’t have his sweatshirt, so Carly yelled up to the balcony. Taya found it, and they threw it down.
He asked, “Do you know what blood is made of?…iron, water,…” and he had the name of something that he said made it red. As we drove he requested “This Year” “That song’s stuck in my head.” We listened to that and drove home.
At home it was pretty straight to bed. Carly brushed his teeth and then I put him to sleep. We read 7 Ate 9 and then did a short preschool story and he was asleep around 10. I’d put him to sleep on the big bed, so lifted him down to his bed.
Jump rope slo-mo:
Making a jewel:
Amoeba mistletoe song:
Walking and humming the Smurfs:
With Liam and Taya:
Walking to the park:
On the swings:
Whip cream:
His ship on the couch:
Sailing the seven seas song:
Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy Mommy:
His photo of the pinata
Ladybugs and ants
Getting food for the babies
