He came down at 7:14. On the couch a couple minutes then we read part of the Magic Up Your Sleeve book. He asked for an invisible ink pen and I gave him the one from this summer. He played with that, mainly writing on his arms and my hand. He said “That’s the other world. Where there’s another me,” as he looked at the mirrored apple logo on my iPad. Yesterday he had called it the “upside down world” and I told Carly I hadn’t let him watch Stranger Things.
He spotted the Langton’s Ant app on my iPad. We hadn’t looked at it yet. It demonstrates how a simple algorithm first produces chaos, but then pattern. We talked about that for a while and watched it and let it keep going. On his iPad he then played the Space app, which lets you model how the gravity interacts between planets, comets, stars, etc. He played that as I exercised, then switched to Minecraft. He asked “What’s ‘revolutionize’ mean?” A word of the day. I think it is from an ad.
He asked me, after Minecraft, what I thought being a zombie feels like. That went on a few minutes. As we ended he walked away and repeated “active consciousness” to himself, a phrase I had just used.
We went outside. I got bamboo sticks out from the bundle, unwinding the wires, to use as beams for the cardboard ceiling of his fort. We talked about how they would work. I ended up getting four sticks instead of two as he wanted two to play with. He also had a paper towel roll he was using to play with them.
Inside, he was trying to decide what the paper towel roll should be. He said it should measure something: “Something like a tensiometer or something like that…it measures tension.” “How bout it’s a math stick?” We checked on the ant app.
He then wanted to do a Brother story where he was in jail, and asked “What could help him get out of jail?” I asked how he got in jail, and August said “That’s a whole back story.” I’ve used that term as we’ve run into hints of stories in My Little Pony that we don’t know about, probably from the TV show.
I tried to clean off the white board for listing projects we are working on. Water and a paper towel weren’t doing it, and August suggested a magic sponge, which he had just used with Carly to clean the stool and other things. He got it out. It worked, but he kept putting too much water on it. I dried off the board, and got him to squeeze out the water, but it didn’t take much for it to seep under the edge and start ruining the board.
We went upstairs for the Brother escaping from prison game. Bar broke him out of jail, but it caused a huge jail break in the process. Which led to everyone in the jail ending up in different voids. Lots of fighting of monsters, and eating of cake, etc. He said one void was full of lollipops, and I had them getting the “Lollipop” song stuck in their head. August thought the lollipop song was pretty funny.
We got his iPad so he could look at the hydrogen atoms. He did that for a bit, then we headed downstairs and read My Little Pony. Looking forward to September 1 when we can check out more volumes, as we are on our third read through of volumes 1 to 6.
He ate an egg salad sandwich and some nectarine for lunch. He asked “What’s complimentary colors?” We discussed that and ‘clashing’. He then asked “What’s miscreants mean?” Also from My Little Pony. He talked about some plant and said “It’s a who knows plant.” It was the set up for a joke: “It’s for making noses!” He then asked “What’s a neuron?”
He remembered our story from months ago about a girl and a lotion factory (in turn influenced by Story Pirates). This time it was a Brother game where he had dry skin and went to the lotion factory. Then, “I have another story. It’s how he gets itchy in the first place. It’s the backstory!” He was bitten by mosquitoes and scratched a lot. He then asked “What’s hypothermia?” And then was quoting My little Pony: “Throw these miscreants in the dungeon immediately!”
He talked about replacing the cap to the Apple Pencil and I showed him the options I had found on Amazon. We then watched “20+ Space Facts that Aren’t in Textbooks” (https://youtu.be/FfwAKqNM7U0) and “10 Facts about Our Planet You Didn’t Learn in School” (https://youtu.be/BRXdjc5yxVs). He had a vanilla popsicle, then we finished reading volume 2 of My Little Pony.
He was then asking Siri for things, and we found out that if you just say things like ‘tomatoes’ it assumes you are looking for a restaurant, it seems. And August got it to recommend places 5000 miles away and 700 and some miles to the west somewhere. He also asked for a random song and came running to me and said “Siri played a song called “Wiggle” by Snoop Dogg!”
We then got headed to school. Parked, then realized we had left the swim bag sitting at home. Drove home and ran in and got it, then back to school. As we walked by the cafeteria, Reia ran out and said they were eating first, then would join us. At the pool Natalie was already there with Corinne and Elise. Then Rita showed up with Omri and Jonathan, and Cassie showed up with Taya. Hao finally showed up with Reia and her sister, Rayan, sometime later, and Carly got there after 4. So a good turnout at the pool.
We got home after 5. I got him nutty noodles for dinner, and he had seconds. We read My Little Pony. Then I went upstairs and worked for just over an hour. August earned iPad time by doing math, and when I came out he was watching videos on the couch upstairs while Carly took a shower. I sat next to him and did a bit more work. We went down and read more My Little Pony. We finished the Big Mac story.
I gave him a bath and washed his hair. He had the chocolate from Tiv Taam that was the backup treat from our last trip there. He then went and told Carly all about it, but warned her it had nuts in it. We read a little more My Little Pony, then he had a small oatmeal. He wanted more Brother but I just couldn’t. Too tired. He then told me about math concepts in his math, including something called “so-on”. I left them just after 9 and went for a run. Right before I said goodnight he lay back and bonked his head on the corner of the ipad.
Invisible ink on his arm:
Stick arms:
Dancing with his keys:
Caveman dancing:
Three noodles:
Noodle arms:
