He was up just after 7:30. We went down and he spent several minutes lying on the couch. I got his allergy medicine and vitamins. Much less sneezing today. We then watched some of the Spa WEC race as it was snowing. August said it was actually a live race from England.
He watched a few minutes and said that was enough. He watched the subnivean zone episode of Wild Kratts and I got him oatmeal and we watched it together. When he was done, he said “I found a way to make snow myself, but it turns off the water system in the whole city. I used 84 quadrillion barrels of water…aquamisting nozzle…it has a little freezer in it that makes it into a snowstorm…” Which was from the episode.
We went upstairs to act out the snow machine and vole story from the episode. He of course wants to put the AC down to 16 (the old system would only go down to 17). At least it was appropriate for this story this time.
We went back downstairs for our few minutes of Green Planet, then read a few chapters of Ben Braver before he played some Magnus Kingdom.
We went outside. He played on the slide with his strings while I picked up the tree things. He didn’t want to earn a coin. Eventually he said, “You cleaned up most of the yard. It looks pretty nice.” I said, “You’re just trying to convince me to go inside?” “Uh-huh.” He told me that the smoke machine on the house was actually a weather machine, and that he had a watering system to take care of the plants. It delivered the water directly into the plants: “Straight to the vacuoles.”
We went back inside and I sliced some apple for us and we made a list for the day. I let him play 15 minutes of Polytopia, then he read Jumper and the Clown to me. We ate schnitzel for lunch and he was dancing to some music by Assemblage 23. He had added a song to his playlist earlier.
He played with the iPad keyboard. He counted the letters as he didn’t believe me when I said there were 26. He asked about polygons and we drew regular and irregular ones. We then played the game where he was typing on Brother’s iPad from across the room.
He then called me repeatedly as I (as Brother) was trying to write a story. I asked his name at one point, and he said his middle name is ‘June’ (like Eve), something he did for the first time a few days before.
We exercised, then he went to the bathroom. he wanted to go without underwear, and I just told him to be careful with the zipper. He changed his mind and wanted underwear back on, but wanted to play a little story where Brother hurt his penis with the zipper. He then had Brother playing with knives and scissors and going to the hospital. When Brother told Sister he was hurt, and she asked how bad, I had him say, “Let’s just say there’s blood all over the kitchen floor.” August thought that line was really funny and repeated it a few times and had me repeat the story a few times.
I talked about needing to stop to get gas today, then he suggested a story where Brother and Sister are with their dad and run out of gas when he won’t stop when the light comes on and they want him to. He then mumbles as he says the gas has run out and they were right. He found that part really funny as well. Did that a few times, then we went down and took apart more of the printer. He read the calming strategies from the posters, then told me I could do 5 minutes of thinking time. He had me sit in the calm space and set a 5 minute timer on his watch. He sat in the red chair and was quiet for 5 minutes as well. Totally his idea. We also made the beds at some point, and got ready to go and left at 2:40.
A little early at school, so we played a few minutes of Polytopia while sitting on a bench. We then went over to the Robotics lab. August was a little nervous about that, and not as excited by it as I would have expected, but we got a nice little tour from Mike Shappell and a couple of the students. Mike showed him the 3-D printers. As we were walking around August started whispering in my ear about an element he discovered. When we left he told me he had invented a metal and named it after Mike. It was called Mikerocon.
We got changed and went to the pool. Breezy and cloudy, and there was a big group of middle schoolers in the pool for some reason. It took August some time to get in. I got in first, then he had me lift him in after playing on the edge for awhile. He had a Brother and Sister game where they played hide and seek, and Brother was really bd at hiding (hiding behind her, in front of her, on her, next to her, and under her). He finally got better and it took her longer and longer to find him.
There were 3 girls throwing diving rings around and competing to get them. They lost one over on the stairs and August picked it up, then swam across the pool and gave it to them.
We got out and left the school at 4:55. As we walked to the car I commented on him not being interested in insects now. He said especially not catching caterpillars. I asked what he is interested in now. He said, “Comets. But don’t worry. You don’t have to buy a space telescope and spend thousands of dollars.” We went home, and planned to pick up Carly and go get a pizza and get gas. But when we got home Carly had forms to fill out for the medical center for August’s appointment next week. I took over, figuring it out on her phone, and August taught her chess with the chess set.
By the time I was done with that Carly had basically eaten and I was too hungry to wait for pizza. She was also really tired. So I made him Swedish pancakes and carrots. She read Frida Gets Lost to him. I also played some Magnus Kingdom with him. Carly went up for a shower and to rest. She also let him watchUp. I watched that with him as we ate dinner together.
He spent a long time in the bathroom, and told me about how time is different at every point in the universe. I was surprised he remembered that, as it has been months since we discussed it. He was talking about how he has special clocks in his laboratory to measure time. He told me, “Time goes faster the higher you’re up. The special clocks can measure it from low to high.” He did his turn on his watch game father getting 60 minutes.
Carly was going to take him up for his bath. He didn’t want to go up and was swinging the swim noodle around the house. He did a good job staying calm when he was unhappy, and Carly took him up. He had her doing wall sits upstairs for some reason. Not sure how it started, but she said it was good exercise to prepare for her hike next year with the students. She gave him a bath, then I came up and read Dr. Seuss to him: There’s a Wocket in My Pocket andBartholomew and the Ooblek. Carly came up and I left them around 9:15.
Discussing and reading the time-in posters:
Shivering and playing in the pool:
