Carly woke him up at 9. He cuddled with her on the couch, then started singing “squirming on mama is the ultimate discovery” as he did so. I hunted all around the house to find his water bottle, only to find it a few feet from them hiding behind a pillow. She made him crackers and meat (his request) and some mango slices for breakfast. But first, they went out to the compost to see if they could see the grubs/maggots. He dug around in it with a shovel and found a lot, and back inside told me all about it, and a rotten orange peel he touched: “It wasn’t really gross to me because it was rough and brownish.”
He ran over to me and showed me a “finger language” with his hands, humming as he did so, although he said the song wasn’t part of the language.
He wanted to do his morning watching time, and watched Bright Side videos about what happens if you stay in a pool for two weeks, and what if the sun never went down (https://youtu.be/nmSH93wXbFU). He then watched a Dr. Binocs compilation of natural disaster episodes (https://youtu.be/HaEmIakO7f4).
He found the pump and speculated more on why a balloon loses air if you pump it up and leave it on the pump. He pumped up some balloons, and they made a big one. He played around with it, bouncing it in the air all over the house (something I distinctly remember doing a lot as a kid). I went up to start working, and when I came down for something they were using string to measure the equator of one of the balloons. We talked about equator versus circumference, and our ‘margin of error’ (although there may be an even better term for the limits of our measuring capabilities). August says he likes things precise to the nanometer.
I went up and worked. I saw them outside, him still with the big balloon. He had one of the fruit yogurts. He told Carly that new things fill him up faster. They got ready and left at 12:15.
It sounded like they mainly played in Heather’s room. The new kids, of Joe, the middle school counselor, were there. Max is 5 and seemed really outgoing in the pool the other day, but he spent his entire time painting and August ignored him. He, Zoe, and Eve spent their time playing some sort of make believe game with the computer, sending codes to each other. Zoe gave him her portrait of August. August kept calling Eve ‘Vivian’. Zoe told him where her secret hideout is, although it isn’t clear where it is. August got really excited by it and kept talking about it. They said there were pillows and all sorts of other things, and that it was under the library. August kept saying he wanted to go to sleep so when he woke up he could go play in it.
When that was over around 2 they went to the classroom and played there. He made some game with pieces of cardboard on the floor and using a ball. I finished work for the day and ran to school, taking back roads on the north side. I met them at the swimming pool and got changed and went swimming with them. Maya and Ben were there. We were invited to Ben’s 5th birthday on Saturday. Maya and August played ‘Hang on August’s Mom’ for a while. August got out to see what was in the shed. We got some rings and played with those, then played monkey in the middle.
August asked “What’s the ‘heebie jeebies’?” We got ready to go, and I ran home. When I got home I helped him use the cheese grater to grate open the little fruit he had found somewhere. I then went and took a shower. I made a plate of crackers and pita and hummus and meat and cheese and he ate with me. Carly went upstairs to rest. We read some of Munchkin. He asked “What’s ‘vulnerable’?” A word of the day.
We did some taking apart, then Vivian called on FaceTime. He had just gotten plastic bags for gloves to avoid the dust from the printer. He had me put on rubber bands to hold them. Of course, with Vivian the talk about the gloves turned to touching poop, and he went outside and found cat poop to pick up. We then went out on the street and he found dog poop. He crossed the street and looked over at the garbage area for gross stuff to touch. Plenty more dog poop, and he found a little treasure. The FaceTime connection was still working, and we were showing Vivian and Colin everything.
August wanted to walk further, but I didn’t have shoes on. We walked back towards the house. We were going to show them our car on the way. Colin got upset when our video froze and he couldn’t see the car. Vivian and August were both taking tons of photos in FaceTime. She said she took 58, then 61. He did the math in his head: “58 plus 61?…119.” Vivian tried to take us out to their garage to show us their dad’s flat tire a couple times, but of course lost the connection as soon as they got to the garage. We hung up after 6:30.
August went upstairs to find Carly. He told her he had a new tooth: his first molar is coming in on his bottom left. He came down and showed me. I got him broccoli and macaroni and cheese for dinner, then let him have a cup of chocolate milk.
We read a new book, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to School. ‘Mistook’ was another word of the day. We saw an ad at the end of the Bodie Troll book for Over the Hedge. We had started reading that before summer, now went back and read more of it.
He had a big idea for making a cardboard house, so we went upstairs to look for cardboard. We got out the big pink box that he and Carly had worked on. He had a plan for making it much bigger, and tall enough to stand in. We went downstairs and he got all of the little cardboard boxes out of recycling; not nearly enough for the house, but he said we could make cardboard things for inside it. He had decided that the pink part would be the entryway where the shoes go, so we could make cardboard shoes. Although he said they would be “a hundred percent not water proof” and “As dry as the tip of my penis.” We also measured him in his room and he his a full inch taller than on his birthday.
He also decided that he was going to stay up late into the night working on the house with Carly: “Maybe mama can work with me using our jet lag powers.” Downstairs, I started making him shoes. I had flip flops done by the time Carly took him up for a bath. By the time they were done I had added an edge and front and strap of sorts to them, turning them into cardboard Crocs. He was very happy with them. He looked put his big toe in his nose as he sat on the couch and said “I put my daddy toe in my nose.”
I took him upstairs and we got him ready for bed. He was jumping off the bed. He said it would be easy for him to go to sleep since he had used so much energy and was tired, and because he wanted to go to sleep so he could wake up and play in the fort area. He was then telling me I could turn off the lamp. I sang “Meridian” and he was out by 9:50. He was clearly tired.
Balloon fun 1:
Balloon fun 2:
Monkey in the middle 1:
Monkey in the middle 2:
Bzaa:
Touching poop with his gloves:
Cardboard shoes:
Ninja kicks in the air:
