I had my book group meeting. Near the end of it Carly actually got up. So when I was done I switched with her and slept on the big bed with August. He had been curled up with his bottom in the air when I came in, but then came up and shared a pillow with me for most of the rest of the night. He was talking in his sleep, several sentences, at one point, but all I caught was something about “school” and I think a “stick.”
He woke up at 7 and told me to go back to sleep and closed the door behind himself. About 7:50 Carly came in to get his iPad and she said he was upset because he had suddenly had the idea of going fishing but we couldn’t do that. He came up a few minutes later, asking me to come down and do a slo-mo video of a portion of a marble race.
Downstairs, he changed his mind. We played the brother and sister game for awhile, then he was telling me about what powers his lab. I was trying to ask Carly about something and he got upset that I wasn’t listening to him. Carly took him upstairs. I got a hard boiled egg and the last of the sourdough bread as toast for my breakfast. He had some of the egg. Then we were back to the brother and sister game. He wanted to make a concoction, claiming it was actually my idea yesterday. So we made a concoction.
Carly and August then went to pick rosemary by the bridge and I took a shower. They got back when I was finishing my shower. August came in to the bathroom and left the bag of rosemary on the stool. He watched a little of a marble race, then a Berenstain Bears. He asked if we could get lumber from our trees and make something from it. I explained you can really cut lumber from a tree without cutting it down, and we ended up watching a video of how you cut down a tree with a chainsaw.
Carly found the keys that had been missing in the bottom of her purse. We have no convincing theory on how they got there. August is one valid guess. August asked if we could get a chainsaw and sad when I said we could not.
We got walking at 11. The idea was to walk to the mall, with August walking on his own the entire way, to practice walking so we can explore Athens in April. And we were going to get a snack there. We made it as far as the little parking lot area this side of the cloud bridge. August wanted to stick sticks in the dirt, like we had done with the pipe at school. We got one stick in, then another, then another. Carly sat and read for awhile, then headed home, as she was getting allergic. He was telling me what to do and said, “I’m kind of your commander now.” When I suggested I was done, he told me, “Just pretend you’re doing something funner.” That as from Berenstain Bears. August and I kept building, incorporating rocks and other pieces of wood. We called Carly to let her know we were finally ready to go to the mall. While we waited for her to show up, August did a cool dance, and said that our sculpture looked like a stage. He performed his dance again for Carly when she got there.
We walked to the mall and went to Aroma. He requested a “Burrito brownie.” Which was just a normal brownie. He got that and I got a long round cheese tube bakery thing. Carly and I both got cappuccinos. August insisted on sitting inside, then was glued to the TV. He told us, “Please don’t interrupt me. I’m watching something. I love this. Wow. I need to invent that. Wow. That’s a great picture.” He particularly liked the soup, and a commercial involving a bus passing a car.
We walked back, asking Carly and I to swing him between us along the way. He stopped across the street to get a piece of wood from the garbage area. We went in and started cleaning up before Eve came over. He put all the Legos (they had opened the set this morning) in a plastic bag. I was cleaning upstairs. He and I were outside, and hammered the white piece of wood to the railing of the Zinnie house. We then got a second piece and were nailing it on when Eve and her mom got here at 1:50.
Heather stayed for a few minutes as they played outside. She left and Carly went upstairs. Eve and August made a sort of concoction to plant the tomato seeds in the olive can. They also put in some spices and an old lightbulbs. Eve sort of took over that one, so August went in and got a container for himself. While he and Eve were talking, I heard him say, “I’m STILL a scientist. And I’m STILL a robot.” They came in and Auguet pulled out the couch and they jumped on it while Carly made a smoothie.
I took the two of them to the park. August found one of those ads that gets hung on doorknobs and tied a string to it. He found a second along the way. He was leading, as I was pushing Eve on the bike. The second one got ripped as Eve got of the bike and August asked me for several minutes if I could find another one. They played on the exercise equipment, then I found an old computer monitor by the recycling. We took it up on the ship and they used it as they steered their pirate ship and watched out for crocodiles. A grandmother had two kids, and while smaller of them was crying she asked me to put the other one in the double stroller for her.
They hauled the monitor over to the round swing and tied it to swing and had it dragging around as they swung in the swing. We played around the park for awhile longer. I read a few pages, and August and Eve played on their own for a bit. We headed home, taking the monitor with us.
They played around the house. August started painting the styrofoam. Eve played with the piano, and joined in on the styrofoam painting. Heather arrived just after 5.
After they left, Carly read Mighty Jack and the Goblin King. August requested Michael Jackson from Siri, and had done so earlier as well. I mixed the sourdough bread dough. They skyped with Cherie for a few minutes, then when I was done August and I had past for dinner and Carly went upstairs to skype more with Cherie.
August asked me how they make balls of yarn without a tube in the center, like toilet paper. So we watched a video and discovered the answer is that there is a tube and it just gets pulled out. It was at a yarn factory in Washington. He then watched a video about how paint is made. He then had the idea for an experiment. He mixed baking soda and food coloring. He then painted it on paper, soaking the paper. He then had me dry it in the oven: “Thats how you dye paper.”
They read more, then he started taking apart the monitor on his own. I finished with the bread and kitchen for the evening, then helped him. As we worked on it he said, “The funner part is taking apart the computer than using the computer.” Looking at the circuit boards and parts he said, “I’ve used that part in my inventions…” One of the kinds of tape in the monitor broke apart easily and he called it “brittle…I still remember that word you taught me.” And he said, “Sorry dada…I should say, I love you dada, for finding this comouter we can take apart.”
His mood towards me changed when I took him up to his bath. I fixed some drawers that weren’t working correctly and he was okay until the actual washing, then there was screaming. As I got him ready for bed he told me how he had seen (during the middle of the night, I think) a constellation of birds in the shape of a cow. He flew up and electrocuted them and started the day without us and cooked them in the oven. He saved some in the refrigerator for me. It was 90 birds making up the shape of a cow. He repeated all of this for Carly, building it. He then told us that I had said the screen time password for his iPad in my sleep and he had watched thousands of things without us knowing. He explained that he had charged his iPad when the battery was running low so he could keep watching.
Carly came in and I left them at 8:50. I went for a walk, and finished listening to Forward the Foundation.
Starting the stick sculpture :
Dance in front of the sculpture :
Watching the TV at Aroma :
Hammering :
In the yard with Eve :
Leading to the park :
At the playground 1 :
At the playground 2 :
Dyeing paper :
Taking apart the computer monitor :
