He was up at 6:42. He was starting to get silly with Carly and I suggested they read All By Myself before he returned it to the library. I got his lunch ready and made oatmeal. He told me, “I don’t know where my picture goed-ed at school…the one you took before school.” Our family photo. We’ll have to look for it. He requested a second bowl. Probably hungry from not eating much for dinner last night. He had requested food after brushing his teeth, but went to sleep without getting any more food.
Carly headed to school. He told me, “Dada, two ways to catch flies: permanent tape…a rubber thing…” He explained all about his two methods. He ate his second bowl, then watched some Max and Ruby. He wanted to see how a glue gun is made. I let him watch a few minutes of videos about glue guns, then we got going, walking at 7:40. On the walk he explained “In my universe, time is faster…” And explained how if you went to his universe 200 years would pass while only a year had passed here, or something to the effect. Actually a pretty good explanation he gave of how time is relative.
We got in the classroom right after they had started meeting. He said he didn’t want to go to school. To do so we’d have to get there before the other kids. Listening to what they were doing today, I heard they were having time when the kids from PKB and PKC could come into their classroom. I told him about it, and he said, “And the kids from I’m not going to school again ever ever.” To appease him, I told him I’d come back a little earlier than usual. He asked that I be out on the bench while he was lying down, then come in when he was playing. I agreed to that and was able to go.
I walked home, worked, then rode my bike back for library time. He was fine when I went in, playing with the blocks, making a tower, close to Ben from PKB. I played with them for a few minutes, then Marion and Andrea had me take the kids to the library in small groups. Ilana isn’t doing regular library time because of the author visits. First I took Leonard and Yaya, then August and Simona. August got a superhero book for the first time, about Superman and Bizarro. Then Bibo, Hector, Eve, and Judson. Back in the classroom we sat on the floor and read August’s book. I had a group listening and wanting me to read their books, then they realized Candy had a book as well, so I took her.
Back in the classroom we packed up, then went and picked up Taya. We went to the playground and started with snack. I got August to finally try the dried banana and mango. He liked both and declared, “I love dried mango!” Played around the playground with Taya on the big swings, little swings, and then the boat/bus thing, pretending we were going to South Africa. Cassie showed up a little before 4. August was then screaming and when he wouldn’t stop I gave him a timeout. He wouldn’t accept that though, and threw the plastic chair, then threw a piece of wood at me. We left, no more playing with Taya.
We went by Carly’s classroom, but she was still meeting with someone. We took the long walk home. Along the fence above the preschool he said he had seen a wire attached to the fence. We eventually found it and took it off as a treasure. He asked me, “Remember that bottle cap I left on that trip? Did you like that?” He still remembers that bottle cap he dropped on the way to the Jordanian border.
Next up, he got off the bike by the recycling area near the pool. He found a length of coax cable, 6 to 8 feet long, and wanted to keep it. He kept walking, and probably did half of the walk on his own feet today. As we walked by the Israeli school there were students arriving for something. Teenagers pulled up in a car and a song was really loud. August asked if we could listen to that song at home. It was “Parallel Universe” (appropriate for him as he likes universes) by Red Hot Chili Peppers and I pulled it up on my phone and we listened as we walked. He was pulling the coax cable along now, and he stopped at the bulletin board to empire the hundreds of staples on it. And he made some sort of machine with the coax cable, attaching it from the fence to the bike. He was charging up the bike.
He got back on the bike for more of the walk. He started asking me about electric fences and seemed surprised to find out that houses don’t have electric fences. Near the house he got off the bike again and started talking about the electric fence around his laboratory. This went on for quite awhile, but included: “I reach in, grab the dead crocodile, cook it, and eat it. I like catching animals. Remember that flock of birds I caught? They’re all gone.” And he told me he picked grass at school, washed it off, and baked it in the oven. Only robots could eat it, but not humans. Carly caught up to us at 4:50. He explained this all to her.
We were home at 4:55. She told us of a young falcon she saw outside her window. He was then the falcon that she saw.
At 5:30 I headed over to Jem’s, the new pub/restaurant over at the little mall. The first guy’s night out I’ve been to since we came back. Usually they’ve been playing cards, but today were trying out this new place. Howard told a story of when he coached high school basketball in South Africa, a couple years after Mandela took power. The basketball team was all black, and basketball was a black sport. But the captain of the rugby team saw their drills and wanted to join in and ended up integrating the team.
I was home just after 7. He was working on his skyscraper sculpture upstairs. They had pulled out the couch for something as well. She washed him, then downstairs he found the red stick-on light in the drawer. I mentioned it was like the one in the Zinnie house. We went out and put new batteries in both of them. He was asking why the batteries look different, and ‘standard’ became a word of the day.
We hung up the second light and had them both on in the house. He then had the idea of cleaning up the Zinnie house and putting in a book shelf and comfy chairs and we could read out there. He also suggested heat lamps.
Back inside he had one of the popsicles, and we read part of Zita the Space Girl. He got a chunk of the popsicle stuck in his throat or something and threw part of it up. We took him upstairs and got him ready for bed and I left them at 8:40.
Playing blocks near Ben:
On the big swing:
Discussing super girl:
Leading with the cord:
Explaining how he cooks crocodile and grass:
