He was up just before 8. He came out with Carly, then after a few minutes I reminded him about the tooth fairy. He went back in and found the $1.50 and the note. A few minutes later he wanted some breakfast and I got him a bowl of multigrain Cheerios and Life cereal. Andrea put on a DVD of Wild Kratt (the one they watched last year) and I went into the bedroom to work.
August came in to get his iPad to watch something, but ended up watching one of those marble video game videos. When I came out all the kids were now watching that, and I got him to turn it off after a minute.I got some of Derek’s incredible creation for breakfast, and August wanted me to go downstairs with them as they played in the fort. He positioned me as a guard: “Now dada has eyes on both entrances.” Colin was in there again, and saying “I don’t like this place” but stayed in.
Carly gave him a bath with Vivian and she washed his hair. August was then watching Andrea and Thatcher play mancala and learning how to play. He was then watching Derek and Andrea sitting out on the porch and playing ukulele.
We got going at 11 to Claremay’s house. He told us “Do you know what pec is? It’s the speed of light…” He used it like a variable. I crammed myself into the back of Chuck and Cherie’s car, then the three kids were in the row in front of me. As we got them buckled August was saying “…cheesesticks, poop poop!” Quoting the owls in the Treehouse books.
I was able to watch Too Old to Die Young and listen to my audiobook both ways. Vivian and August watched videos on her iPad.
We had a great time at Claremay’s. Brad and Levi and the kids were there, as was a good chunk of the rest of the Althauser clan, although not nearly the whole crowd. August was comfortable from the beginning, and soon started with one of the little egg salad sandwiches that Claremay had made.
Glecy was there as well, and August had a great time with her. He was answering math questions that she asked, and he explained how people can’t tell the difference between his ‘thirty’ and ‘forty’. When an answer was 40, he said, “If you think I’m saying 30, three zero, you’re wrong…”
The kids had more food, and then went down in the yard to play. They mainly looked for snakes, after Thatcher had found one within 20 minutes of getting there, then there were bubbles. August came and asked if it was okay to go in the lower yard when people were going down there and I said yes. He didn’t insist on me coming with him. A bit later Claremay suggested the kids could dig up the potatoes. August led that, and they had a great time digging them all up. The other highlight was dessert and more dessert. August had some pie, peach I think, then there were cookies (he ate several pieces of melon to earn a sugar cookie at one point, and Cherie gave him more of a chocolate cookie too), and multiple trips to get licorice jellybeans, then when they were playing downstairs they found the peppermints. When Cherie was giving Colin pieces of a cookie he asked her “Is he done with that?…I’d be happy to finish it.” I focused on the berry pie, having a couple slices. August summed up his dessert consumption by telling me “I’m a sugar boy.”
At some point during the party he came up and told me “Your great-great grandpa is my robot dad.” There were two other 5-year olds there, Hattie and Jake. I introduced him to Jake at some point. They played with the other kids well, but I don’t think they did a lot of talking.
As we left, Glecy gave us a big bag of snacks for the kids. It included two big tubs of animal crackers, so they had some of those in the car.
We got back just before 6. Derek and Andrea got stuck at the gate, even though they had the key card. We had been behind them, but they weren’t waiting at the gate when we got there. We assumed they had gone in already, so called Levi and he let us in. But Derek and taken a different route and ended up behind us, so was waiting for us to show up.
August told me “Did you know there’s an answer for everything? There no magic.” Andrea gave him a little notebook and pen that did invisible ink, then the pen had a light that would let you see it. August was fascinated by it.
Derek had music for the kids on, songs like “Can’t Touch This”. Colin asked me to pick him up, and he rested his head on my shoulder. He then wanted me to jump/dance with him. Did that a few times.
August was talking to Thatcher about the drives to his house and to and from the airport. August asked me about them and I told him the drive from the airport to Vivian’s house was two hours. He said “Two hours. That’s like nothing compared to the drive to Thatcher’s house.” Meaning the one from Chelan to Claremay’s, I think.
We went for a walk to the beach. We went to the rope swing area. The tide was pretty high, and there was a good wind. A lovely evening though. Vivian and Thatcher ended up jumping off the tree on the rope swing for the first time. They got that down pretty well and wanted to come back in the morning to do it more.
We got back at 8:30. August was watching Derek practice ukulele using the Kala app. He and Thatcher were wanting dessert: “But what’s for dessert?” I listed all the things they had at Claremay’s.
We got them ready for bed. No bath tonight. August came and counted by multiples of 3 that are even numbers again: 6, 12, 18, 24, 30. He and Colin were playing with the fan in Cassie’s room. They ended up squabbling over it. I saw Colin pushing August in the leg, and August pushed him in the head. The only moment of drama between any of the kids all day, I think. I took him into the bedroom, and left him and Carly a little after
10, I think.
The tooth fairy:
Listening to ukulele:
Thatcher and the snake:
Squiggly the snake:
Math with Glecy:
Zeroes on My Planet:
Math song:
Jumping on the couch:
A log leap:
Thatcher on the rope swing:
Vivian on the rope swing:
Pulling the wagon:
