He was up on his own a little before 7:40. I was watching the race again, so he watched that for a while. He found his iPad and started watching Julius Jr., so I exercised. August had me get down his rings, and we had breakfast at some point. Shmuel arrived at 8:40 and started working on the water. He had me turn on the water while he looked, and it turned out a tap under a sink had been left open. Don’t know why water hadn’t come out earlier, but he said that was what it was.
Shmuel brought us a bag of plant clippings he said would grow, so August and I planted them. August had taken off his pajamas and put on his underwear and shorts without me asking. August told me he had heard one of the librarians talking of a “sweaty water bottle” so I explained what that meant. I made coffee for Shmuel and he came up and I talked to him. August played around a bit, then got a little extra watching time.
We went upstairs and played a Brother game with the rings. All of the kids were given rings and could do powers with them. They were all holding each other up in the air at one point. And when he was flying Brother would run into everything.
We went downstairs and played Blue Apprentice together. We’ve moved on to a part about ecosystems. He ate frozen mango and crackers. The game had him analyzing jackaloon farts, which he thought was pretty funny.
We got going on our errands around noon. We drove down to the big Tiv Taam, which seem chaotic and crowded getting there. For some reason traffic was really crazy getting in the parking lot, then an ambulance came by. But once in the lot there were tons of spots. August did a great job helping in the store. I had him reading the list to be part of the time, although he was more interested in telling me how fast to go, although that didn’t work too well. He directed me to where the rice crackers are when I didn’t know. He chose two Russian candy treats so he’d have a backup if he didn’t like the first one. As we were checking out, I heard a woman yelling loudly in English at someone about how you say ‘excuse me’ to someone when you bump them and don’t push through. I was hoping it was no one I knew. A minute later I saw two East Asian women come by, looking slightly mollified. I think it was probably a culture clash between the East Asian push through without saying anything culture and a loud American.
Missed our hour of parking time by 2 minutes so had to pay for another hour. Not sure if we could have then gone back in the entrance and used the hour or not. Didn’t matter, as I lucked out and got a spot in the crazy Max parking lot. We walked in with the mission of finding a set of rings like Taya had, metal straws, and rubber bands. Actually, the most important thing was supposed to be Velcro tape for our homeschooling calendar, but I forgot that yet again. But first August found a pink and purple neck pillow with those sequins on it and he really, really, really, wanted it. It was 15, so I told him I’d pay five and he could pay ten. He was very happy about that, but two minutes later realized the pillow wasn’t comfortable because of the sequins and we put it back. We eventually had to ask about the rings and he was excited to find those. No luck on the straws, but we got rubber bands. We also got a lemonade to share on the way out. August had been hungry on the way in, so he had stood outside and eaten the raspberry jello he had chosen at the store.
Got out of the crazy parking lot (really difficult to back out, and as we got in the car August had actually talked about how it is easier to tell if a car has people in it if they are packed backed in, and asked me to always park that way in the future for the safety of other people—I might work on that, as it definitely would have helped getting out here as well) and were home by 3.
On the walk to the car I found yet another of the pink rings on the ground. Then figured it out: I was certain that Taya had started yesterday with 8 or 9 rings, more than the 6 that remained between them by the time she left. She had apparently dropped one on the walk from the car when we took her home.
Shmuel and Shai were working, loudly, when we got home. We put away a few of August’s things, like the set of rings, that he didn’t want Nava and Liam to play with, then we went upstairs to play a game with the new rings. Way too loud though, so that didn’t last long.
He got more watching time (on YouTube), with headphones on, to get away from the noise, and I made zucchini bread and popsicles by myself and started getting snacks out.
Carly got here with Tessa and her kids, Liam and Nava, a bit after 4. They started with the snacks, and August loved the new meat I let him choose. I told Liam that we weren’t going upstairs today, as that was the first place he headed. August was clearly stressed about it, and started to get even more upset when Liam tried to sneak up later.
Carly and Tessa played with the kids as they talked. They played Guess Who, with August playing with Carly. They then went outside, and August didn’t want them going in the Zinnie house. He went in with Carly first and got out all the things he didn’t want to share and I put it upstairs. He was fine after that, and shared the house with Nava.
August found vines sneaking up from the yard below and growing in the area next to his house. He got scissors and cut them all off. He then found the frisbee, and I taught him how to throw it. He got the basic throw down pretty well, and was very excited by it. It was an old frisbee though, and cracked when it hit the fence or tree after a few minutes. He wasn’t bothered though.
Zucchini bread was ready and I brought out a plate and it was devoured by them, particularly Nava, although she only liked the inside and not the crustier outside, and she went through about 10 slices.
Back inside they played another game of Guess Who. They left before 6. Almost a tragedy as they left: Liam saw the keyboard under the white table, and started to step on it. I saw him do it, and as he started to actually put his weight on it I grabbed his foot to stop him. Made August upset though as he thought it may actually be broken, so he didn’t want to say goodbye to them.
After a bit Carly went upstairs. August and I did our reading time (ten words I had written from the list, and a Lunch Robot). He was then drawing circles, etc. and doing art. A couple minutes later I realized he was back to doing a better grip with the pencil, and realized it might be the angle: he was sitting with it propped up on his legs, whereas yesterday we had it flat on the ground. He was then playing around with different grips, and getting silly about it: “Ms. Vicky would love this.”
We were talking about shapes and he did a water drop, and I taught him ‘teardrop’, a word of the day. We read My Little Pony, reading the pirate story.
I then went for a run and took a shower. He was asking Carly about how a microwave works, like the circuits. He then asked me “Can you teach me about time?…No, I mean the plant thyme…Just kidding, I want to learn about binary code. Are there any books about binary code?”
And a minute later he said “What’s my vision over here called?… I’m using my peripheral vision to see you mama.”
He had oatmeal and tries the mango ice cream. He didn’t eat much, and ‘Freezer burn’ was a word of the day. We read More My Little Pony upstairs, then Carly came in and I left them at 9:30.
Enjoying the chair:
Playing Guess Who:
Learning to frisbee:
Trimming the plants creeping in our yard:
