He was up at 7:20. Carly read pieces out of the Seuss Kwuggerbug book, then Pippi Longstocking. He was doing his over-the-top cuddling though and she left for awhile. When she came back down a little later he apologized on his own. She had been talking to him yesterday about not using all of his iPad time in the morning, and they now strategized on how to use it. He decided to watch one episode of StoryBots and chose the How Do Airplanes Fly? episode.
He watched most of it, then went over to Carly and wanted to type big numbers in Excel. He asked about the symbol you use to put in numbers. I thought he meant hyphens, as we see them in parts numbers, etc. But it turned out he meant commas, and remembered you put them every three digits. He made huge numbers that Carly then had to read out. He called them “incredibly graphic violence numbers”, which is a based on a joke from the Captain Underpants books. He added 9+4 and explained to Carly why it equaled 13, “because one of the 4 goes to the 9.” That’s how I’ve explained it to him before, and he’s now internalized it. Carly was then doing the same thing with him, but applying it to problems with 8s.
August and I worked on our Lego cell tower, turning it into a skyscraper. It wasn’t yet tall enough for him: “It doesn’t scrape the sky yet, dada.” We listened to the new Cranberries album. He had oatmeal and mango for breakfast. He asked me to explain one of the printer circuit boards and we discussed the different kinds of plugs that the printers had.
I went up and took a shower. He was finishing the StoryBots episode. I came back down and we played Dragonbox Big Numbers. We then moved to reading Captain Underpants. ‘Odd’ and ‘even’ were words of the day and he started to explore what numbers are odd and even. We finished book 11 and started 12.
Carly made him French toast rolls with banana and peanut butter. He ate those and loved them, then we read more of book 12. As we got ready to head to the pool he started making things in his lab. He was making underground tunnels for us that we could drive our car through so there wouldn’t be traffic. He said the walls were covered with graffiti. We discussed train speeds and bullet train technology. We then watched a TED Ed video about how a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, and the latest Marble Machine video.
When we got to the pool it was busier than we’ve seen this year. He was hesitant at first and wouldn’t enter the pool area. After a couple minutes Carly convinced him to come in. A few kids had already gotten out, and several more got out soon after. We had fun in the pool for about an hour, and got out a little after 2. As I was drying him he spotted a pigeon couple sitting on top of a post. He thought the smaller one was probably the girl. He told me he decides if they are boys or girls “By how tough they look.” He was now applying this to people and added, “And if they’re wearing dresses definitely a girl.” He speculated on why boys don’t usually wear dresses: “Why? Because they want to be tougher?”
We were home at 2:30. We did even and odd numbers outside and I taught him the pattern to the ending digits. I cut up carrots and strawberries as snacks and Carly made him a quesadilla. Gabby and Jillian got here at 3:00 and watched him until 4:30. Carly and I just went upstairs and had time to work. August also loves being with them, so we figure it is good mentoring for him. They played with playdough and art inside. At one point I heard him ask, “Ahem. Are we done with this?” And they went outside in the yard. When we came down August was playing music for them in GarageBand. They had also made him a robot hat, and drawn him a picture.
After they left he and I played the piano teaching app for awhile, then experimented in Infinite Arcade. He ate the carrot sticks, then asked me to cut more. We went upstairs and played the brother and sister seal game. Carly was skyping with Cherie and August sang a song for her. I chatted with Peter.
I made the Greek pasta with broccoli and a cream sauce for dinner. We all ate, and discussed our plans for tomorrow. Carly asked him if he wanted to earn money working outside. He responded with, “I don’t want to do that, but I’d be happy to play in my Zinnie house with you.” They went out and I did dishes. On the couch he made some music, singing to himself. They were also looking at coins, and August asked to clean them with vinegar, so they did that. He then had the idea for a sweet drink, and I let him combine milk, honey, and cinnamon and he loved that.
For some reason ghost peppers, the spiciest pepper, had come up in conversation the last couple of days, and he was asking about what they do to you. So we lay on the floor of the kitchen and watched a video of a tv reporter eating one, then a better video of an 11-year old eating a ghost pepper.
Carly took him up for a bath at 8:30. I heard him talking about a robot pterodactyl. I went up at 9. He told me about the challenges he had given Gabby and Jillian: one was a coloring contest, and the other was to make the best robot out of play dough. The reward was “A big air kiss from me.” We read until 9:10.
He was then talking about his spaceships that travel faster than light, and they teleport across the universe. He asked, “What’s a sequence?” For a story from my life I told him about playing baseball as a kid. He made more music before calming down, and was finally asleep right at 10.
Carly and I were able to watch the first episode of Game of Thrones, finally, tonight.
Getting in the pool:
More music in the car:
With the babysitters 1:
With the babysitters 2:
Calculator math:
Music on the couch:
Chant on the counter:
