Carly got him up before she left, about 6:40. He watched a Magic School bus episode about pollution. His nose has been runny and has been bothering him so we used some chapstick before we went. We were walking before 7:40. Everything seemed pretty normal, although he did talk about not wanting to go to school.
But when we got to his classroom he went to get an orange from a basket that Lydia or Eve was holding. When they said he couldn’t he got upset and grabbed one. I had to make him give it back, and he was saying mean things to them, and tried to hit Marion. I took him out and we talked on the bench for a few minutes. Took him back in and Andrea came and took him, suggesting they look at the photos that he and Yaya took in the nature reserve yesterday.
Then, about 10:30, I got a call from Vicky. She had August in her office. She had him tell me over the phone what had happened: they were on the playground and there were four people on the swing (the limit). Eve wouldn’t let him get on, and he threw a chair (one of the small plastic ones) at her and hurt her. She was okay, and after August had talked to Vicky they had gone and checked on Eve. She was okay and August had apologized.
I drove and picked him up. We talked about it in Vicky’s office. She had to do the talking now; he was much more talkative over the phone. We headed out. After we walked by the security guard he said, “I don’t like the security guard anymore cuz he see-d me out of class.” We left at 11.
At home we sat and finished reading The Meeting, started it again. There was then a knock on the door. It was Shmuel, and he was giving us a few plants. He was still working in Mikaela’s yard, and said he’d be around for about an hour. I asked if he wanted coffee, and he said when I was ready, and I could call down to him. So August and I planted the plants. We put the droopy one with purple flowers in the big colorful vase we found, the one with red flowers in the old metal bucket that we first used for growing tomato seeds, and the two smallest plants in the pink pot that I have up on the ledge outside the office, but the flower seeds haven’t grown.
And yesterday, when he had been here and left the ladder, he had also left a bush. He had seemed shocked that Mikaela had pulled it up. But it was mostly dead, with just one small living shoot. Carly was just going to toss it, but now August was wanting to use the saw. We picked off the small growths on the tree, and I lifted him up to use the saw on a couple. So, we also took that dying plant and used the saw to cut off the dead chunks, then planted it over by the fence near the Zinnie house. An experiment to see if it will survive. I aid it had a “slim chance of survival.” August made ‘slim’ the word of the day.
I made coffee, but when I went out I realized that Shmuel had left. I mentioned having too much coffee now, so August got a bowl and had me pour coffee in it and he made concoctions and poured them into his water bottle.
We did more sawing and hammering. He had me nail a piece of bamboo to his Zinnie house as a wind tester. He then wanted to go inside and do a brother and sister scenario. He introduced it with: “Right behind you there’s a ravenous bear.” We played out the scenario. He (as the sister) saved me from a bear dressed as a crocodile.
I then pulled up the Mind Yeti app (which the elementary school uses for their mindfulness program) and we watched a couple of mindfulness videos. He then wasn’t happy when I wouldn’t read him Monsters Beware! I had told him we weren’t going to read any of the books involving fighting will he was hitting at school. Instead, we read the newest Hilde book, Tornado Hits!. He wanted oatmeal and I made him eat more of his lunch first. We finished the book, and he sang a song at one point. He played with the drill, then we read The Bad Seed twice.
Back outside, we cleaned out the Zinnie house and swept it. Threw a way a lot of the old balls and random toys that were out there when we moved in, and got all of the plastic plant pots out. He told me he knew how to use the saw because of Marion. He had watched her use it when he was with Hector.
Carly got home and he got hyper. I took him upstairs and tried to listen to Mind Yeti with him. He really doesn’t like it. But eventually he said he could turn on calm and happy robot modes if I asked him. He also said he would be okay with me saying visualizations to help him calm down. He just doesn’t like the app.
Downstairs we ate dinner, and he asked for a second bowl of curry.
He cuddled with Carly and asked her to tell “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”. The boy’s name was Johnjoe, and wanted to be a scientist. He said “I’m a good rememberer…In dada’s stories there used to be Dr. Figlemeister.” She told the story a few times. August wanted the boy to fool the townsfolk multiple times.
She took him upstairs for bath. I did dishes and his lunch. They made a tent on the bed, using the purple bucket and clothes hampers to hold up the blankets. She then went to take a shower and I read Breathe to him. We then finished reading The Musical Monsters of Turkey Hollow . He asked me, out of the blue, “Can we go to Thailand this summer?” He was playing with a couple of runner bands and calling them his headband, although he was putting them on his toes and feet. I turned out the lights and he wanted a visualization. I had him being a leaf floating down a stream. He was asleep at 8:55.
Drill fun:
“It’s masking paper” song:
Indian spiderwebs…or roots:
