He was up at 6:54. He came down and sat on the couch and started demanding a treat: “Just give me a treat.” A rather inauspicious start… He watched a Wild Kratts about chameleons and had oatmeal with mango. He went to the bathroom, then looked at the post-it notes on the side of his art kitchen (the ones from the infamous incident with Taya) and asked why they stick. I said it was interesting, and used the word ‘bond’. He sang, “Word of the day!”
He asked, “Why do we have to keep buy more and more stuff?” and we discussed reasons for buying and not buying things. He was playing with the broken umbrella and called it his shell. Mechanical, I think. At some point he was being an upside down turtle, waving his feet in the air and said he learned it from Mr. Dion.
It started to rain about 7:20, so I decided we’d take the car. I had to distract him from the umbrella and we got going after 7:45. When we got to school it was only a light drizzle. At the entrance, where they usually have music playing, there were actually three people playing instruments instead. On the way down I talked through the schedule. I would list something, and he added poop to it: “Poop yoga” “Poop snack” “STEM poop” “Poop ice cream”. The last being the ice cream we would get if he had a good day. When we got to his class Eve greeted us at the door. Yaya and I think Hector were there, and August ran over and started playing with Yaya, looking at (and erasing, I think) the message Marion had written for the day. I hung up his stuff, then was reluctant to leave without saying goodbye, as I was afraid he’d notice and come running after. I hung out on the steps for a couple minutes and he didn’t, so I decided I was good.
It was raining more, but not too heavy and I walked home, listening to The Emissary. I set up my new keyboard and worked from home, then rode my bike back to school. It had actually been pretty sunny, then was getting clouded when I headed out. As I headed up the hill towards school I could see big rain clouds coming in and wanted to get to school quickly. It started to rain once I was already down by the preschool.
I waited a few minutes until Carly showed up, then we went upstairs to meet with Vicky, who is in charge of the preschool. It was a productive meeting with her, as she is quite pragmatic. Still, took quite awhile, an hour and a half, to come up with ideas.
Carly and I then went to the cafeteria. She got a coffee and I got a sandwich, as I hadn’t really eaten lunch. I went and waited for him. He ran out just before 3, past the bus kids lining up. He told me that he had gotten upset with Andrea. He had wanted her help making something (a round piece of cardboard, I think) and she just kept telling him to keep trying. He had gotten upset enough to hit her. Vicky told us, and he told me about it as well, that he had hit Lydia earlier in the day when she had something he wanted. He didn’t go into details, but he still seemed upset with her.
He seemed ambivalent/confused about STEM class, but when I directed him that way he asked for his snack. I gave him a sort of small bar I had gotten at the store yesterday. He ate that, then went in to class. I sat out at the picnic table and read and worked.
Hit near end
Me up to Vicky’s
“I’m trying to not hit at home. And I’m trying to not do it at school.”
We met carly at the library and headed home. When we got here, Shmuel met us at the gate. He wanted to pick the weeds above the door. He did that for us and I got gloves and bagged the weeds.
After Shmuel left, August and Carly were playing school by the whiteboard. They were playing with playdough and adding shapes to the umbrella. He showed her his piece of pumice and then wanted to try to drill a hole in it. I was getting his dinner, so Carly went out with him. He managed to drill a hole in it.
He came in and ate dinner (broccoli, meatballs, and rice). He wanted water and went and refilled his water bottle from the bathroom sink all on his own.
He has the random idea of wanting to put spit on her rights in two different places to see how it soaked through. When she said she had an old pair of tights he could experiment on his idea changed. He wanted to make a concoction to use as laundry deterrent in the washing machine. He had had this idea before, but his concoction at the time had included lotions and other things I wasn’t excited about running through the washing machine.
He made his concoction, with a brief timeout for picking up a sharp knife after Carly told him not to, then Carly helped him load the washing machine.
He got a flashlight and the two of us walked up to the garbage spot by the recycling bins. I had mentioned there was a broken washing machine there and he wanted to see it. The top of the case was ripped open, so we could see the drum and other pieces inside.
We walked home and did some imagining games on the floor, discussing dungeons and prisons and the ethical treatment of prisoners. He was hungry, and said he really wanted oatmeal so we made a bowl, with him doing most of the cutting of the mango. He ate the full bowl.
At one point, I came down from upstairs and he was under the umbrella and said, “Dada, punch me.” I thought he meant his turtle shell, so I pretended to punch the umbrella. But he said he wanted me to punch him. Kind of an odd moment, and I wouldn’t even pretend to do that.
Over on the couch he said something that sounds like “Putting” or “pudding”. When I asked what he was saying he said, “that’s what Ms. Vicky says when she doesn’t have an answer, I think.” I think maybe it is ‘pardon?’ in her English accent. We read Monster Party and Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day He asked to read it again, but said, “Just because I love really angry people. Because I love sad people.” We discussed that and didn’t read it again right away.
Carly came down and we were discussing standards-based grading and she talked about how it didn’t click for students. August took on the role of students and kept asking, “Teacher! Why is it not clicking!?”
She took him upstairs for a bath. They came down and he said good night to her and I took him upstairs. We read Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and talked more about school. He was humming a song and wanted to listen to it tomorrow, but I couldn’t quite place the tune. Brushed his teeth and we got in bed. The first time in quite a few days where he seemed to actually fight going to sleep for while. He asked for a visualization, but then was interrupting it, so I stopped. Eventually he was quiet, and I fell asleep with him for awhile. I think he was asleep around 9.
Morning music:
Explaining the flowers:
Drilling a hole in the pumice:
Investigating the washing machine:
Humming the mystery song (“More Bones”):
