He was up just before 7:30. He came down and I read a few of the poems to him. He told me that his favorite one is the one bout the unipede that is tired of having to hop everywhere. He told me “Did you know I had a dream about Minecraft?…It was when I found one of those secret ruins, with those boxes.”
We then played Minecraft. He had French toast and banana for breakfast. I played the new Underworld song, “S.T.A.R.”, for him. He asked what due meant and we got the iPad and spelled and illustrated do, due, dew, and doo doo. He did the illustartions for the last two. He drew poop with a face and said, “It’s a happy grandma donut of poo.” My book drawing had been 3D and he
He then drew pictures of the brain activity of a guy thinking. First he was building a building and thinking about how to use ladders in it. Then, “And that’s him thinking if people will like it or not. So he’s afraid.” He was making triangles and made a long skinny one and said, “That’s a beak triangle.” And he said “Now Ill draw him with a sad face on…Hes sad because he’s thinking of people not liking…” “He doesn’t think the mean teenager will, that lives across the street.”
He commented on how his drawing was the best ever, and that he’s a lot better than when he was smaller. But then he said that if he went to art class he could just draw abstract, as that is what he likes best. We looked at his older art, and he wanted to draw on top of a photo, so he placed an image of him, Taya, and Reia in the library and drew on that.
He kept drawing and drawing, so that ended up being his alone time, and I exercised. He drew for a full 30 minutes. We played Minecraft, then looked up how to tame cats in the dame. He then led to a Brother game where Brother rescues a cat. We then made the beds. He did more alone time with the Legos, then we used Khan Academy to do a little grammar (identifying nouns) and shapes, and then doing some math (equal sign).
For reading time I read him a longer Khan Academy book, then he read a couple short ones. We also wrote out our agenda (or, “Things to do today” as he prefers). I boiled eggs for egg salad, but we finished up the dolmas and he had mangoes, then had crackers and meat, and then was full, so we saved the eggs for tomorrow. He told me about an “Allopede,” which has the legs of a centipede, millipede, and a unipede combined. He then did the dishes. He asked “What’s loincloth?” Think from the Caveman books. He told me about how he first made casts. And asked, “What’s filthy mean? Like, ‘Colin’s face is totally filthy.’”
He had earned 30 minutes. I thought it was the evening time for later, as we had discussed, but he really wanted it right now, and ended up getting it. First a little with me, but then more as I got our stuff ready to go. Before we left, he played with the roll of Gorilla tape and was using it like a hula hoop on his arm.
We got going and headed down to Ace. He heard the song “James Brown is Dead” on the way and asked to also listen to it on the way back. We went to Ace and bought a coffee grinder. Pretty quick trip. At the checkout, I saw the fire extinguishers again and bought two of them. August was very happy that I remembered the fire extinguishers.
We then drove to Max, where I found big rolls of velcro tape. No luck finding ink, and they still don’t have metal straws. I let him get the watermelon water drink again by checkout, then we headed to Even Yehuda. He talked the whole way there, first asking “What’s downside?” Then with a Brother and Bar game idea with Bar going crazy, then talking about how he makes artificial feathers that are exactly like real feathers for pillows, etc. so that bird don’t have to be hurt.
In town we parked across from the bank and went and got cash for Carly. We were then going to walk to Gutale to see if we could get coffee beans there, but then I thought to stop at the bulk foods store. They did have beans, in cans, and we got a couple. The girl that works there had gone to international schools in Vancouver and Thailand. She gave me a free espresso shot. August also remembered the really good roasted cashews so we filled up a half bag of them. He was right; they are much better than the packaged ones in Tiv Taam.
We then drove to school to go swimming. He was a bit frustrated when we parked because he wanted to go home and play a Brother and Sister game first. I suggested different spots, and he said Carly’s classroom would work. So we went there, and did a Brother game where he got upset about a squishy thing. I realized I’d forgotten Carly’s shorts, so I drove home and got them. They were at the bathrooms by the pool when I got back. August told me “I learned another parenting trick.” It is how we sometimes say we’re going slower when he demands things. So he had turned the tables and when she was telling him to get his swimsuit on he told her, “I go slow if you demand!”
We went in the pool, and he played in the stairs portion for ten or fifteen minutes, but then his foot started hurting. I got out with him. Mike Shapell had talked to me before going in, and he had mentioned how his kids had learned how to make computers within Minecraft, and they were asking him things like “How do you read binary?” August was very intrigued by this, so we watched a video of a guy explaining how to make computers within Minecraft and Carly was able to swim for another 20 or 30 minutes.
On the way out we stopped to pick up a package that had come. August said hi to the security guard, and August was excited to hear it was a book. We opened the package in the car. I had ordered the newest Hilda book, Hilda and the Mountain King, and it was just released.
At home, or along the way, we had talked about books being in different languages, and I talked about the difficulties in translating books. So he took that up and invented a “printer translator.” You put a book in it, tell the machine what language you want the book in, and it prints a new book in the new language.
Carly made coffee, using the new grinder and beans. We started the Hilda book. Shmuel said hi through the fence and gave us a lemon tea plant. He had also put new plants in the edges of our kitchen boxes, and Carly had to be forceful in saying she didn’t want them there as they were hard to water.
In Minecraft we figured out how to create a flat world. Played with that a bit, but boring, so we switched to the creative one. He showed me how switches and pistons work. For dinner we had meatballs and rice with teriyaki sauce and carrots.
He asked “What’s assertive?” We discussed how some people have to practice being assertive, and he said , “Here’s a skill I don’t have to practice: savoring cookies.” Carly read two Sir Cumference books to him. They are books that have math in them. I had read him one of them in Skybrary a few months ago.He then had a small oatmeal. After which he said, “Let’s do the brother and sister game. After I get this full feeling out of my stomach.” He also told me how to get a new water bottle from the reflection in the glass. This has come up before, as has teleporting into photos and mirrors. A big influence was the “Reflections” story in My Little Pony.
We went up for a bath and he played in the sink, then one of us washed him. We went down and each had a cookie. He waited until I was done before he started his, and talked about how much fun it is: “Waiting is fun…The amazing world of savor.” Back upstairs we read more My Little Pony.
Carly said good night to him, and I was going to put him to sleep. He wanted a short Brother game where Brother found a sleeping cat. He then huddled in his clam position with his hands over eyes. He talked about how he saw amazing things when he did it and that makes him feel better. I suggested using it for inspiration in his drawings, but he said no app on his iPad could show it. I sang a couple of songs to him. I thought he was asleep, and when I tried to get up he asked, “Dada, what are you doing?” He was asleep by 10.
Washing dishes:
New Hilda book:
Making soapy hands song:
