He was up at 7:25. I tried to get him to lie back down, but he said it was daytime. He then got up and went to the bathroom. He was out with Carly for a while, then came back in the bedroom. He got his iPad and played Minecraft and showed me the hide and seek world that I’d downloaded.
We went out and I got him cereal and a banana for breakfast. He ate, but then got frustrated with the door—he wanted it closed so the heat wouldn’t come in, and Colin wanted the screen door. Cassie and Colin went outside, then August was closing the door completely and locking it. When I wouldn’t let him lock them out he got upset and I ended up taking him to the bedroom. He wasn’t really upset too bad, but when he saw Carly he insisted on her taking over. That was quickly going to become more of an issue, so I let her come in, and I went and took a shower.
After my shower he was still hungry, so I gave him 7 or 8 apple slices from yesterday and he ate all of those. As we got ready, he headed outside with Vivian. August asked me “What’s a tensiometer?” I looked it up and explained. Word of the day. I asked where he’d heard of it and he said Magic School Bus. That made sense. Colin found his worms and August found a nice piece of what we assume is quartz in the driveway, although it was whiter and clearer than the other pieces he’s found.
We got driving at 10:45. Parked, and were walking at 11:30. August asked “Did you know everything has an answer?” Then smiled as he asked “What’s the answer to why everything has an answer?”
Carly bought tickets for the museum and a ride on the canal boat. We had about 15 minutes, and we had some snack and Vivian and Colin tried the zip line in the playground.
Carly came back with the wristbands, and August wanted his on his wrist. The first time every. Probably helps that he’s been wearing bracelets and watches.
We went on the boat ride, which was about 50 minutes. It was a lot of fun, and we learned a lot, as the tour guide was really good. Supposedly rack and pinion was invented on the canal system. We also learned that the canal boat operators brought their families with them, and that when babies started crawling they would be tied with a rope. Sounded like a pretty good life for the time. The kids really liked the mules pulling the boats along. We had some excitement at the end as they missed the dock. They got a rope across, then the captain jumped to the shore to help pull the boat back to the dock.
After we got off August told me he had a boat that “I pulled it with 16000 peregrine falcons.” He then found a hole on the ground and asked one of the women what the hole was for. They thought it was an animal, but didn’t know for sure. We then walked to the stable and petted one of the mules and learned more about them.
From there we went to the museum. They climbed on the toy train outside for several minutes, then went inside. He and I had fun with the competing gears thing, then he and Vivian spent a lot of time in the corner where they learned about tillers and rudders and steered a boat back and forth. They were doing a lot of imagining.
They went back to the train outside and played there until I pointed out the tunnel in a hill and got them to go check it out. August tried going going over the hill and told me “I discovered mathematically that this is a faster way to get to the other side of the hill.”
We then went to the playground, where August watched kids doing the zip line, although he said he didn’t want to do it. August spent time jumping off a rock, trying to touch a leaf as he did so. He and Vivian went back to the train with Carly after having Carly ask Vivian if she’d play an imagining game with him. The train was full of electronics. We got going at 2:30.
On the way back we stopped at a nursery and Cassie looked at bark, then I kept going. They also stopped at a grocery store for a couple things. They were home about 4:30.
Colin and August played with the race track. August wanted to pretend to fix Colin’s car when it had a flat, so I took them out to find the pump. No luck finding it, but they played in the garage for a few minutes.
Back inside we had chili for dinner. Cassie asked me to set up her phone in her car, using bluetooth, so I did that. Cassie found the pump. August and Vivian weren’t playing with each other much; she had declared she doesn’t want to play in the fort. He was wandering around the living room, being bored, but said he liked being bored.
Jeff got home, and handed August a piece of titanium, since August had talked about titanium yesterday. They went outside with Carly, then Jeff launched fireworks. They came back in and had ice cream. When they finished Vivian commented that August was the only clean one. I worked two and a half hours.
Carly took a shower. August was still hungry, so he ate a banana. They went back outside and did a couple more fireworks, the louder one.
In the bedroom he was wrapping up in the blankets and sheets, pretending to be a caterpillar. He claimed that cheetahs aren’t cats because they aren’t cute and make him allergic.
He said “You know, Mooka Mook the cat.” He meant Shmorgadeboop. I Sang the Big Numbers song and he was sleep by 10:20.
Canal boat ride:
Petting the mules:
Steering the tiller:
Screaming time in the garage:
Spraying Carly with the hose:
Playing under a sheet:
