He woke up on his own at 7:45. Downstairs we read several poems, then he played Minecraft, building a floating house and defenses for a village in creative mode, like he had discussed doing last night. I got French toast ready for breakfast. We ate, and got ready to go. As we walked out, he told me that next time he has popsicles at a playdate he wants strawberry banana, confirming my suspicion that he had let Eve have it yesterday without saying anything. When I asked him more though he wouldn’t say anything.
We were driving at 9:10. August liked “Love You to the Sky” from his playlist, and we ended up listening to all of the remixes as he kept wanting to hear the song. It was just Lauren and Gilad at the park today. August was shy for a few seconds, but then we headed over to the music area. August ran circles at the music making machine and we played around, then headed on to the tractor, where August had played with Chuck. I asked if August remembered playing with Opa, and he didn’t reply, but a minute later he was making juice by pumping a lever, which is what he did with Chuck. He and Gilad played on the tractor for a long time. It turned into a flying tractor or something and they were asking us to get on. They were having a great time being silly together, and August was laughing really hard.
We then headed over to the covered playground. We stopped to show them the Zigzag sculpture, then went to the concrete maze for a few minutes before reaching it, where they played the airplane game again. From there August wanted to go to the big playground for the climbing structures, so we headed over there. They were both done a bit after 11. Good timing. August was really sweaty. We started to walk back with them, then August wanted to stop to watch the parakeets and mynah birds that were in the grass, and we could get quite close to. We said goodbye to them. Spent another 5 to 10 minutes watching the birds on the ground and in the tree. There was also a rainbow kite stuck in the tree.
From there we drove to Wiz Kids. Got a box of word magnets, and also a Monster Speak card game. Since we were looking for reading stuff, August suggested he find words in the store that he knows, and wanted me to write them down. He read: Love, Yard, Help, Monkey, Find, Give, You can, Long, Name, Sing, Fish, Bingo, Verbs, Water, Magic. He thought elephant was element and fiction was friction.
We drove home, listening to more of the remixes. I made egg salad sandwiches for him for lunch, then he showed me the new world he was working on in Minecraft. He’s made a really creative floating house. He then had a Brother game, with him on the beach, relaxing. Bar makes spacecraft in her lab and zooms past him. They talked about the ship. We then looked at our agenda for the day. He did art on the iPad for 15 minutes of alone time: “See, it’s total abstract.” I exercised. He then did 15 minutes of Minecraft on his own.
I went out and watered plants. He worked on his egg carton sculpture. Added his comb. He asked about the origins of his playlist (April 3, 2017) and wanted to hear the first song. We listened to “Pay your dues” and then all the versions. He was running across the floor and diving on the couch. “This is a good use of the couch. I never want to move.” “This will be so fast I’ll catch on fire and burn up this room, Brother.”
I asked if he wanted me to play music again, like guitar, and he excitedly said, “Yes!” I got the guitar down and we played with it and GarageBand and he also played with synths on his iPad.
We next opened the word magnets and he was reading a word, then telling a little story using the word. Recorded a few. We wrote a poem together:
1 Are you done?
2 No, this will take longer than you think.
1 How long do you think it will take?
2 I said, it will take longer than you think it will take, I think.
1 Well, how long do you think I think it will take?
2 I think you think it will take less time than I think it will take.
1 Why do you think that I think it will take less time than you think it will take?
2 Because I think you think I think it will take more time than you think I think you think it will take.
1 Thinking that I think it will take less time than you think it will take isn’t really thinking, is it?
2 But you said you think that you think that I think that you think… AAAGH. Just go away and come back when I’m finished.
1 And, uhh, when exactly do you think that will be?
2 AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!
We worked together on a Lego car house, making a house on top of one of the Mindstorm car bases I had made. He then wanted to play on his own to get the rest of his alone time. We were listening to KEXP, and he liked a few songs. One was from Primal Scream, and I said, “This band is called Primal Scream.” He replied with an excited “Oooooh.” He asked me about the ‘parents better than children’ poem in the book and we discussed what each is better at. He then danced to “Get Innocuous” by LCD Soundsystem. He wanted to play guitar for more alone time, and we agreed he could earn more alone time if, instead of watching a full movie tonight, we watch something shorter. He agreed, and as he sat on the couch, playing guitar, said, “I want a kid guitar sometime.” We played Minecraft together this time.
He was being slow getting going, then finally, about 5:30, when he was getting hungry, he at first declared it was too late to leave the house, as it would get dark soon, and might rain. Even if it was for pizza. But eventually he changed his mind and we drove up to VIPizza. Town was busy, so initially I parked in our usually side street spot. August was legitimately distressed by this, so I quickly agreed to look for a closer spot, which I wouldn’t normally do. We drove around the other end of town and the park by the library was absolutely packed. Some event going on. We found a spot in the lot between the dirt lot and the hardware store—a lot we have never parked in before, and I just noted the other day, realizing it was a public lot. August was happier now.
I gave August the option of checking out the park or getting pizza first. He chose pizza, and it was the correct choice. Outside the grocery store we saw John from the school and his wife. August noted they had bought watermelon. We went into VIPizza and ordered a pizza. Carly wouldn’t be eating any of it, so I got tuna and bulgarot cheese on half, and August got corn on his half. He saw a girl get a mixed slushee, so he got one as well, and I got a cappuccino. Our timing was perfect, as the event must have finished. It got really crowded, and soon there was a line and no tables left. It was too loud for us to read Bone, but at least we had a table.
August ate a slice of his, and part of a slice of the tuna and said he liked it. On the way back to the car he talked about having a full feeling in his tummy to get rid of. I was a little concerned he was actually getting stomach aches, so we talked about the feeling, and he assured me it was generally a good feeling of being really full.
We got home at 6:50. The water from the leak is starting to reach out near the street, so I took a photo. Inside, August said, “We need a real germ microscope…I don’t know what a germ looks like.” He did his evening iPad time. He asked “What’s stronghold?” He’s asked a few times, so we discussed it. We opened the Monster Speak cards and made some sentences. I was less excited by this one: the outside of the box is mainly in English, but the rules for the card game are just in Hebrew. Also, there are less unique words than I expected, as cards are repeated. He also asked “What’s a metamorphosis?” Another word of the day.
We watched two My Little Pony episodes. 7 and 8. Lots of laughing. Then we did a Brother and Bar game with them arguing, then a girl with wings crashes into the house. This led to the little sister wanting danger again.
August remembered cheesy crackers, which he has mentioned a couple times recently, always recalling that he had eaten them at Herzliya Park. He said, “It was on our agenda.” I pointed out that he just used the word agenda. He said, “I’m okay with that word now, well when I say it…The J makes a nice feeling in my throat: agenda, agenda…”
Sadly, the cheesy crackers I had seen in the back of the cupboard had been open, for months. So we tossed them out. Put them on the list to buy at the store tomorrow.
He had frozen mango and milked that, and seconds, into time to play with the Legos. I took him upstairs and we did a bath. It was late, so when he protested washing his hair I gave in. Carly was back late, after 9, and asked if he wanted a call. He at first said he didn’t need one, but then changed his mind, so he could “See the precious mama.” We called her, and she showed us the mosque off in the distance.
When I went to brush his teeth he spit it out. I had put my toothpaste on it. He handled it well, grabbing his water bottle, and going to the sink to spit more. He mainly laughed about it. I got the lights out by 9:50. August quoted the line from the poem about dragons eating knights: “No armor, mom. I want the crust off.” Did a little singing and he was asleep by 10:15.
Music machine:
Tractor silliness:
Watching the bird tornado:
Couch slo-mo:
Electric guitar:
Word magnet stories:
Electric guitar 2:
Electric guitar 3:
The world without us:
