He woke up at 8:40. He called down the stairs and I went up and he went back and lay on the bed for a minute. He then headed downstairs and lay on the couch, not saying anything, until almost 9, when he said he needed to go to the bathroom. He did that, then wanted his iPad. I got that and allergy medicine. He watched an educational video that YouTube recommended and I made oatmeal. He ate that and watched the Berenstain Bears, the one about enjoying what today has to offer, when the weather keeps changing on them. He finished the episode and turned his iPad off on his own.
He then came and asked if we could buy bubble water. I thought he meant to replace the bubble mix that spilled the other day. But then he asked if it was good at getting flavors out of your mouth. He then clarified that he meant fizzy water, and he said he could taste his breath. I reminded him about mouthwash, and he went upstairs and Carly helped him use his mouthwash. Downstairs he told her about how he wanted to buy fizzy water and do an experiment to see how it helps take away the taste of his breath. ‘Carbonated’ was a word of the day.
We were then talking about our plans for the day, and he got stressed out about watching stuff while we met with Gaby today. He talked to us about it, and eventually said he could try it.
He explained that on My Planet you can type 3 and a fish symbol on a calculator and it will tell you how many coins it is worth.
He brightened up with the idea of a Brother game. We went up to play. Brother was trying to figure out how to make money fishing, and Bar helped him with the fish calculator. Brother then tried to go fishing, but it didn’t go well. He couldn’t bring himself to keep the first fish, which was cute, then the next fish was too ugly. Then they got bite-y, nd got worse and worse. August had him fishing out at sea and getting attacked by sharks, etc. Eventually, we had him wake up from a bad dream, only to find a fish in the bed next to him. That was August’s dental and he thought it was pretty funny.
Back downstairs he told me how he had gone back to the science center and made a better rocket using the materials from the marble kit. He was then asking me what 9 times 3 is, then repeating it. He said “I really want to remember what 9 times 3.” He had a little crackers and peanut butter for lunch. When he got his underwear and shorts on backwards, Carly helped him think about which direction they go.
He only reluctantly ate broccoli. Carly and I were discussing insurance reimbursements, and he got stressed about us discussing health care. Carly soured him she was just worrying about the overall cost of health care, not something specific to us. August told her she worried when she didn’t have to. He said “I’d want you to worry if WE were running out of health care.”
We went out to see the new plant that Carly had bought at the store. We talked about the little bits of styrofoam in the soil, and looked it up and found out it is actually ‘perlite’. Another word of the day.
We got going to Gabi’s. August did a ton of sinning, starting with Dog Man and Captain Underpants. He kept singing about all sorts of things, and sang “flies out acid on your skin, then drink it up, look it up and see if Vivian was right.”
August sat and watched Home as we met with Gabi to discuss plans for this year. We heard him laughing a lot.
From there we drove to the school. In the parking lot he found the end of a zipper pull, and called it an ancient alien sensor thing. He said they only travel through portals and don’t use spaceships.
When we saw Eve, in the entry to the auditorium, he was initially shy, but then she ran over and gave him a big hug and lifted him up. He closed his eyes as she did it. It lasted a few seconds. Very cool.
We went to Heather’s classroom and they painted on canvases. August said his was a bunch of little pictures together. I heard him tell Zoe that one of them was a treehouse with legs. Zoe painted a picture of August, which was really cool. August was reluctant with cleaning up, but he liked the feeling of the paint as we washed it out and he used his fingers. And while they were painting Zoe and Eve were bickering about something and Heather told them to stop because they’d been arguing all day. August asked them “How do you argue all day?” And he had a conversation with Heather about is, suggesting it was because they told each other what to do, and Heather said she thought he was right. He was pretty amused by the whole thing, grinning as Heather and the girls talked about it.
The kids then went outside. They started in the bushes area that August had talked about playing in yesterday. Heather and I followed them as they went around the cafeteria building to over near the nature preserve. We then headed across the school to some place Zoe likes by the middle school. But August and Eve wanted to see Carly, who had gone to work in her room. We went in and found her opening big boxes with bean bags and other things in them. August and Eve hid in a big box and Heather called Zoe in so they could scare her. They played with the box and in the beanbag chairs, and August used scissors and helped cut open several of the boxes.
Heather and the kids left at 4. Back in Carly’s classroom August played with the handle to the cabinet with the AC in it. He was trying to remember a word, then explained it really well. He meant ‘satisfying’. He thought the handle was satisfying. There was a pump that came with the seat things. He played with it, and really wanted to take it home to use it to blow up balloons.
So we took it with us. August and I left. Carly was going to work until 6 and walk home. When we had gotten in the car earlier Carly’s key wouldn’t work. So we were going to go to the hardware store to get a new battery, and also the grocery store to get fizzy water for his mouthwash experiment.
We parked by the post office and went to the grocery store. We got a box of strawberry snack bars, then while looking for the water he saw chocolate pudding so I let him get one of those for his snack right now. We found the water, and also got some cashews. We paid and sat at the picnic table near the Moto store (where we once sheltered during a rain shower) and had our snack.
We then went to the hardware store. We got three CR2025 batteries for our car key remotes. We drove home, and August watched Home. Carly was back about 6:40. He had been getting impatient as I couldn’t find the balloons. She found them, and they blew up balloons. I got dinner for myself. August was being grumpy again, and he threw the bottle with the ants in it again. He got really upset when I said we needed to let them go, and Carly took him upstairs. He talked about it really well though and I came up and talked with him too. We talked about pets and pain versus killing (as he was confused about why we could kill ants inside, but shaking the ants around wasn’t okay).
Downstairs Carly made a mango lassi. When he was in the bathroom he talked about touching his pee. I was upstairs at the time, and when I came down Carly was telling him he couldn’t say “I’ll kill you” even if he was joking. He was pushing back though, and eventually explained that he had initially wanted to touch his pee, but then decided he wouldn’t, but then said “But I would do it if you said ‘I’ll kill you if you don’t do it.’” Carly had missed the context and just heard the “I’ll kill you” part.
He said “It’s okay to say something if you’re using it in a sentence.” And he referenced a conversation from a year ago where we had said it was okay to use the word ‘dumb’ if it was in a sentence about something else, and not just calling someone ‘dumb’. We agreed that he had used it in a way that was okay, and Carly apologized to him. He really did a great job of explaining himself.
We drank our mango lassis outside and Carly watered plants. August kinked the hose and made it squirt. They played that together several times.
Back inside we finished reading Bodie Troll. He said something that was rather demanding to me or Carly, and I explained once again why he needed to say it politely. He replied “Why? Vivian doesn’t have to.” That was a big a-ha, and I said that while Vivian is amazing and I love her very much, she also needs to work on being more polite, and that it would be awesome if August learned how to be so polite that next time they played together she actually learned how to be polite from him.
He randomly asked about animals that make light, and we discussed ‘bioluminescence’. We started Bodie Troll from the beginning and ‘tinkle’ was another new word. He also really liked the phrase “Hissy fit meltdown.”
He was hungry and ate a few pieces of fresh frozen mango. And more and more and more. A phrase he repeated a lot today was “At least you’re head is not being in the toilet.” It is from Home and the Boovs (aliens) say it. He asked why they said ‘being’ is there and I tried to explain the ‘to be’ verb and why they make mistakes.
We went upstairs and he played in the sink. The hand soap was almost out and he filled it with water. He studied the bubbles and made “soap eruptions.” He wanted to make a potion, mixing a bunch of things, but it was almost ten. Carly took over and got him washed and brushed his teeth. I read a little more Bodie Troll in bed, and said good night to them about 10:20.
Discussing his new rocket at the science center:
Singing about Dog Man:
Lots of singing in the car:
Singing about the SAP building and other stuff:
Painting with Eve:
Explaining his painting:
In a box:
Surprising Zoe:
