He came down at 6:54. I asked if he wanted to go back to the bed or downstairs and he pointed downstairs, then had me carry him the rest of the way. He sat on the couch for a couple minutes, then wanted his iPad. I said we needed to read a book first, and he chose Happy, Healthy Ajay in Skybrary. We read that, then he watched the Minecraft videos. I exercised, then made french toast for breakfast. I had extended his time on the iPad so he could finish the video he’d been watching, but then when he was done with that video he insisted on watching for the rest of the 15 minutes and got upset when he couldn’t. Rather uncharacteristic as he has handled it so well.
We read My Little Pony and finished the pirate story. Today was, I thought, going to be the first meet up of homeschooling families at Ra’anana. August first was hesitant to go, both because of meeting strangers, and because he was afraid of it raining, but eventually agreed to go. Then, when it turned out no one was going until next week he didn’t want to go again, but agreed to Herzliya Park.
We built with Legos, adding on to what he had built with Carly yesterday. This was to be a regular activity today. He then balanced between the red chairs. He wanted to do a Brother and Sister game called “Reflections”, after one of the My Little Pony stories he really likes. We went up, and it was about a girl that could control the weather, turn trees to candy, etc. We then did the whole Sister and Brother competing over Baby Sister. He then got a case of the giggles, and thought I was going to tickle him. He was squealing over my hand, just lying on the bed. He would yell “Refrigerator!… You’re suspicious.”
He asked if it was possible to light up a shady area with mirrors. When I said yes, he said he wanted to buy a bunch of mirrors, like 15, from Max to try it. We were playing in the Legos again, and I found his zipper pull treasure in the Legos. Not the one from a few weeks go that he found and lost at the school, but an older one. He remembered that it made things louder and quieter. It was from over a year ago, and I’d been correct about its fate:
From August 3, 2018:
“He saw the metal thing on the table “Can I have my setting changer?” He played with that, but then asked “Can I have my volume changer?” It was the broken zipper pull with an R and an O on it. He really wanted it, and he went to ask Carly. We went to look for it, but no luck. He explained what he remembered of it: “At the hotel with the lovely bathroom and two big beds…and with the wood…made out of concrete…it was a really special hotel.” He was describing when he found it in Ramallah, on a walk with Carly to the store. We showed him the little purse and that it wasn’t in there. He wouldn’t let it go, later asking me if I could make a new one, and if we could look in the vacuum cleaner for it. He only had it for a week before we left for the summer, unfortunately I explained it could be anywhere: still on the floor somewhere, mixed in with his Legos, dropped on one of our walks, etc. I remember him playing with it after we got home from Ramallah.”
And from when he found it:
From June 10, 2018:
“They went to the store and I took a shower. It was closed, but August came back with an OR treasure: a rubber end of a zipper pull with the letters OR on it. They ate the popcorn crackers and broken them apart into puzzles. He called it his volume changer. The O raised his volume, and the R lowered it.”
I had us all packed to go, even had my shoes on, when August said he wanted lunch before we left. I got him an egg salad sandwich. We then decided it was too late for the park, as it would be hot. I showed August a closer park we haven’t been to, and the blue of the surface initially looked like water, and August wanted a water park/playground. I told him we needed to move back to Korea. I looked, but couldn’t find any sort of wading pool within driving distance.
So we read My Little Pony, then played with the Space gravity app together. Back over at the Legos he made a research boat, and I wrote the Lunch Robot pages for the day. We did our reading time, then he started creating a sculpture of objects on the couch. He said, “I’m setting up a surprise for Eve.” He paused to do his skipping around the house, or rather cantering or whatever it is. Back to his sculpture, he said “It’s not really a sculpture…it shows how you can use ordinary things to make creative things.” He also added a little cup with cinnamon so it also had a smelling component.
We got ready to go to school and arrived a few minutes early. We took a quick look at the library, and the librarians commented on him having a haircut and I said it was just clean. But we then picked up Eve and she said something in the car about his hair, and he said it was different because he was pushing his hair to the side now. He had intentionally been keeping it straight down so people wouldn’t see the circle on his forehead.
August told her he had a surprise for her, and when we went in she was so excited about his sculpture. August had really wanted to show her things on Minecraft, but she wasn’t all that interested in Minecraft, so they kind of played individually at first. But then they both worked together to make a potion thing. Then outside Eve was happy to find their experiments from last week.
August got his air conditioning potion from upstairs, and they played with that as well, and they wanted to make their fort. I got the bundle of sticks and they wanted to make a sort of teepee. We used 5 sticks, and I got a sheet.
They had had crackers and meat as a snack, and now went in for juice. Eve drank the coconut water, then had some mango juice like August. They played with the Zinnie house, with Eve being a shopkeeper.
Carly got home just before 5. Heather was running late, after planning to get her at 4:45.
August and Eve were then a couple. I heard her ordering him around in the house. Bit later August went running by me and yelled “I’m going for a walk, honey!”
She left just after 5. August and I ate nutty noodles and read My Little Pony. “What in tarnation is going on?… What’s ‘tarnation’ mean?” Word of the day.
We built with Legos while Carly worked. She had had to listen to a coworker complaining a lot during the day and didn’t get much work done.
We switched and I went up to work. He explored Minecraft. Up in the bathroom he made a foam mix and washed himself.
Thought I was going to leave them at 8:50. He was hungry though and needed oatmeal first. He told us “Do you know when I look at junk I see the billions and trillions of things they can be created to…even an old kitchen sink.” He kept talking about how he does that. It was pretty cool. I finally left them a little after 9 and went for a run.
Talking to Siri:
Random songs from Siri:
Eyeball movement:
Singing about the table:
Working on his stick sculpture:
Skipping:
Explaining the sculpture:
Eve’s reaction to the sculpture:
A new mixture together:
Playing in the house 1:
Playing in the house 2:

