He was up at 6:20. As he came down the stairs he said, “Mama?” Cuddled with her on the couch, then watched some Pink Panther. I got him oatmeal and Carly headed to school. We had planned to drive, but the rain was holding off so she walked. When he went to eat breakfast he asked me to find the Smurfs Christmas episode he had been watching yesterday morning when we had to get going. He finished that, then we read a few pages of Shivers before we had to get going.
As we got ready he asked why he doesn’t have any pants with zippers. I asked if he wanted some, and he replied, “No! I’d play with the zipper too much and people would see my underwear.” And out of nowhere he said, “Dada, your job is kind of an odd job: writing stuff, and doing paperwork…” We drove to school and parked on the street. As we walked in he said he was going to catch fish for lunch and cook it in his “overhead oven”. When we got to the classroom he showed me the old school overhead projector that they’re using as a light table.
I was able to talk to Marion for a few minutes. She told me about how she’s staying calm with him when he’s upset. I told her about how he said he’s open to squeezing a pillow when he’s upset, but I didn’t have one. I then had the idea of borrowing one from the library, so went and did that.
As I was talking to Marion, August learned his first real swear word, courtesy of Eve. August was watching Eve draw, and she said “Bullshit!” Or maybe “Holy shit!” August repeated it. Marion turned around and calmly told them those are words we keep inside our bodies, or something like that. Hopefully it won’t catch on.
I walked home, worked (almost finishing up with the Consortium website before realizing it wouldn’t save anything. Aagh.) and then walked back. Missed the rain.
I went to pick up August, and found him in the art room with Vicky. He had ripped his sticker sheet in half, and was fixing it, but it didn’t sound like he’d had a meltdown. Instead, he hadn’t wanted to do Playball again. He came in, and didn’t want to go to Yoga either, so he had stayed with Vicky. They had been in the block area, and then were down there. Not quite good enough of a day to get his treat today. But he seemed okay. Vicky said she had sat with him during lunch today as well, and he had told her all about how I had made the sushi for him (which he actually ate for lunch!). I told her that it was actually Carly that had made the sushi. She also said she had shared some fig with him. He had been intrigued by all the seeds.
I had brought a pillow from home, identical to the one I borrowed from the library, and switched them out. Vicky said he had squeezed the pillow a little.
We walked over to Carly’s classroom. Along the way he tried shaking the two small palm trees. We then talked about how he had spat at Ms. Rimona today. He said it had been right in her face. He said it was better than ripping things up, but when I clarified that while it wasn’t quite as bad as hitting, it was kind of like hitting with our germs. He replied, “Oh, I didn’t know that. I won’t do it anymore…I’ll just squeeze the pillow.” So I realized that he doesn’t really know the hierarchy of behaviors. He’d probably respond well to a chart/clarification of them.
I dropped him off with Carly. Along the way we met Cassie and she said that Taya was playing with Grace, if he wanted to go. So August changed his mind about playing in her classroom, and she took him down to Cassie’s room. I went to the short open board meeting in the library. Nothing too interesting, but put some faces with names. And looking at the shelves I realized that the school has quite an extensive Eugene Ionesco collection for a high school library.
When I went to Cassie classroom, a little before 4, I found August, Grace, and Taya doing art at a table. Carly wasn’t there. She was through the back door, doing some work at a table. They played for another 5 minutes or so, then Cassie came back and Grace had to go to a guitar lesson.
As we got in the car to drive home he asked, “Israel is so big. Why do you call it so small? Why is it small on a globe but big to us?” As we walked inside he asked if we could take apart a car. I suggested getting a project car in Chelan and he could work on it each summer with Grampa. I joked that I’m sure Gramma wouldn’t mind a car sitting around for the next 12 years.
He went and was playing with the electricity kit on his own. Carly headed upstairs. When he needed help I joined him. We looked for a little clip piece to hold on the light lamp thing. No luck. We ate broccoli and cheese and read Shivers. I went out to move my bike before it rained more. He played with the big wrench. He spotted a small flying insect and asked me to catch it. We did, and he really liked it moving around a lot, but then he quickly decided to let it go outside.
He told me that someone, like a teenager, had shown him a silver tooth at school. He couldn’t say who it was though. I had met the substitute teacher after school, but now wasn’t sure about her name. I think Ms. Tracy. I asked him, and he said it was, but then said he was kidding. So it turned into a game of him fooling me, as I asked about different names.
He wanted to unscrew his balance bike. As we started to do that he named the rug the “Circuitry and screw rug.” He saw the welding on it, and we talked about the difference between ‘soldering’ and ‘welding’ and those were words of the day.
Carly came down and caught another bug for him, similar to the first, but skinnier and longer. He said, “The best thing ever is that it’s moving a lot…the bad news is we don’t know what it eats.” He soon let it go as well.
Carly started on cleaning the house, as the speech therapist is coming over tomorrow. August asked for oatmeal. In the bathroom, he asked, “So, Dada. How long can a toenail grow?” When I walked away a minute later he asked, “Dada, could you talk more about toenails please?”
Carly was vacuuming and bumped into him as he walked behind her. He was upset but recovered. He was then singing a “I’m using a big extension cord” song. I took him up to his bath. He played in the sink, making a lot of suds and giving himself a soap beard. In on the bed we read more Shivers. Carly cuddled with him and read The Little Kids Big First Book of Why. I came back after ten minutes or so and took over. He told me, “You’re full of circuitry and love.”I was trying to get him to sleep quickly. We did a short visualization, although I can’t remember what it was. August took over the story and finished it. He calmed down and was trying to get to sleep, but then started talking about how he didn’t like his teachers because they made him do things. I assured him that they loved him, and that we would work it out. He was asleep by 8:50.
Playing with Taya and Grace:
A fast bug:
Taking apart the balance bike:
Soap beard:
