He came down at 6:30. He wasn’t being cuddly with Carly though, instead being annoying, and not answering questions. He had some frozen mango, then oatmeal. He watched part of a Max and Ruby. In the bathroom he noticed that the chain to lock the door, which Carly had taped up when we moved in, had fallen down. He said he did it: “I use-ed duck tape remover from my lab. So now you’re out of luck.”
It was supposed to rain all day, although it never materialized. We all drove to school at 7:20. We dropped Carly off at the entrance, then parked in the lot. We saw a big bushy black dog, and as we walked in Marion and her older daughter had the dog and were calling the owner. August was wary of the big dog, and said he was taking its tongue out with his extend-o arm. Later he talked about using some of its fur in his laboratory. He also told me, “I have the power to make kitty cats follow me wherever I go.” When August was a bit more comfortable around the dog, I told Marion we could wait with it. I knew she wanted to get to her classroom. It took another 5 minutes or so. The owner got there just in time. The dog was starting to get playful, twisting out of my hand by lying on its back, then bounding around, jumping up with its front pays at shoulder level. The guy was appreciative, and said the dog was young, just a year. August and I then saw him having trouble getting it in the car.
It was still early, so we went down by the playground. August had his morning bar and we walked the now-finished sensory path at the end of the preschool. We were back to his classroom about 7:50, and Eve was there. I saw the Why Should I Recycle? book that he’s been talking about, then left him playing with Eve.
I said goodbye and went to the library for a few minutes, then headed to the library. I went over to the auditorium before the Cat Weatherill author opening assembly. When PKA showed up, August had his hood up. He grabbed my hand and we walked in. As we sat down he told me “You know, I still like those bumpy bricks.” He meant those tiles with bumps on them that you find at the edge of stairs, etc. In Korea they were outside the elevators and he liked it when I ran the stroller over them. Here they were at the top of the auditorium steps.
He sat on my lap for most of the assembly. Mike (the head of school) and Ilana (the librarian) did a 10 questions about fantasy books thing, with all the students answering with paper triangles with A, B, and C on them. The 5th grade class acted out each of the options. Then Cat told a story from one of her books about pirate ghosts. August made it through, but it wasn’t his favorite thing.
I walked him back to class, then went back to the library, telling him he’d find me in my usual spot when PKA and C came for their ‘private’ session with Cat. We went to the back of the library and he sat on my lap again. She told “The Three Little Pigs”, summarized the story from one of her books (the one with a light in it), and then they did “The Farmer and the Turnip,” with the kids getting up to act it out.
Dropped him off again, then I worked on editing Zoe’s novel in the library before going to the auditorium to get a coffee. Zoe showed up at 11:20 and we met in there, then the staff lounge when students showed up for lunch. When teachers started to show up we finished up in the library for a few minutes.
I walked home, expecting rain to start at any point. Got lunch and did Sabeel work, then walked back at 2:50. Again, no rain, although it was windy. I bought him one of the little pastries he likes for his snack, but when I went in the classroom they were eating lemon cake that Judson had brought. He said I should get the recipe, so I looked one up. I did give him a pack of gummy fruit snacks, then Anna had brought over apples and he had some of those. There are six students in the class. Besides August it was Gabriel, Taya, and Sam from PKB and Simona and (I think) Candy from PKA.
I sat out at the picnic table and typed. Vicky was going to try to make it back from a meeting to talk to me about literacy group, as I told her I’m curious to hear more about it, but she didn’t get back in time.
When I went in he told me that he was working on a chair (they had egg cartons and other materials) and that they would hot glue gun it next week. Andrea told me that he and Simona were working on chairs for the baby bear. They had been talking about fixing things. His change of clothes was in his box, and it turns out he had had a little accident today, just making to the bathroom late. He had been a little upset about it, she said.
He ate a few Cheerios while sitting on the bench. Taya and the other PKB kids climbed up on the PKB bench and sat in the window well there (not as dangerous as it sounds). August was calling Taya by some nickname he had thought of for her (something like Tayoot). She didn’t like it, so I told him it needed to stop.
Carly had walked home, not feeling great after school. Still no rain. August wanted to go to the library when I told him I had Mighty Jack and the Goblin King and Bone #1 books with me. We returned them and checked out Zita the Spacegirl, Mighty Jack, and Bone #2 We read some of Zita, then some of Mighty Jack. We checked them out just before 5 and walked out to the car. He said, “I’m on a desperate mission and I need wheels.” Which is a line from Mighty Jack. On the drive home he added the song “Kiss Them for Me” by Siouxie and the Banshees to his playlist.
At home he played with Carly on the couch. She then read Mighty Jack from the beginning. I heated up foccacia and chili for dinner. He was being grumpy (also refusing foods) and told me that what would make him feel better was buying something for him in a store. I talked about retail therapy and finding other ways to feel better. He wasn’t convinced. They read more of Mighty Jack.
Carly took a shower. He had a popsicle (he had eventually eaten a fair amount of chili and part of a hard-boiled egg). When she came down he went to the bathroom and she was going to take the chain off the doorway, as she doesn’t want him to lock himself in. He insisted that he get to unscrew it, so she pulled the chair over and he did it, with some help on the tighter screws. She took him up for his bath. There was a lot of screaming and name calling and I thought the bath was done. Then I heard washing. I was doing dishes and picking up downstairs.
He wanted me to put him to sleep. As I lay with him, he told me “Dada, you need to make mama not leave…I will kill Mama’s principal…I will kill Mama’s students.” She had told him about her upcoming conference and how she would be going to Spain. That was what all the yelling was about before his bath. Clearly he didn’t take it well. She said the mistake was probably telling him she was going to another country. He was upset about Sophia moving away, and this sounds like that. He talked about it for several minutes (nothing positive) and I assured him she would come back and we’d have fun while she was gone (I suggested we eat cashews and listen to loud music and eat pizza) but he wasn’t convinced. I sang a couple of songs and he was asleep by 8:30. He had also been saying “I will almost kill mama…I will almost kill you…” Oh, and he said he’d also kill the security guards so they couldn’t get him in trouble. Carly said that when she told him it was actually the security guards that he thought were in control and that it was their fault that she had to go away.
Author visit assembly:
Preschool session – three little pigs song:
Preschool session – pulling the turnip:
Unscrewing the door latch:
