A busy day. When we’d invited Lauren and Gilad over I hadn’t realized that today would be a half-day at WBAIS due to parent conferences. So we ended up going straight from them to picking up Eve and Zoe at school.
He woke up a little before 6:30 and came out new called “Dada!” I went up and got him back to sleep, although he was back up again at 6:45. Not a long night of sleep. A few minutes on the couch, then used the bathroom. The first thing he told me about was a spider he discovered called a rock spider. Its bite can put you in a coma for three years.
We finished reading Earthling! I had enjoyed the whole thing. It took some coaxing and flipping ahead to get August to want to finish it, as it was a bit stressful for him, wondering if the main character would make it home to his dad. Anyway, I was also pleasantly surprised to see how it pulled together somethings at the end from early on that I’d forgotten about.
He needed to blow his nose, but told me he only likes doing that with Carly. I finally got him blowing his nose with me. I think because I inadvertently gave him more chocolate than she does. He watched the newest Phineas Rage island survival Minecraft episode and ate cereal. We then continued the Brother game where he is a blacksmith in Minecraft.
We then read more of the My Little Pony “Reflections” story. He asked about both cliche and dignity and I explained them. We got the house a little more in order and he got dressed.
Lauren and Gilad showed up closer to 10. They first played with Legos. August was really happy with the random structures they were making together. I then suggested they do a science experiment together. I helped them through the tin hedgehog experiment. That went really well, as they could both do one. We watched a video about tin, and I explained what was going on a bit more. They then played with the MEL Chemistry app on the iPad, making atoms together. They also watched a video in it that really got August’s attention, as he would reference it a few times through the day, including when he told Heather facts.
August also asked for banana bread, so I brought that out for everyone and Lauren and I discussed gluten free flours. I had also cut up the rest of the strawberries for a snack.
August gave Gilad a quick tour of upstairs and we ended up outside, where we all played catch with the smiley face ball. That was fun, and August was throwing the ball harder. They left at 11:50 and August and I headed to school.
As we walked in we heard a couple of women call a preschooler Augie. I confirmed that was his name, although not if it was short for August. We picked up Eve, then ran into Heather getting Zoe. The kids were ready to head out, so we went straight to the car.
We drove up into town and parked in the paved lot, getting the only spot. We walked to VIPizze. Had just opened. When we’ve been in on half-days at the school before it has been busy (we saw Hector and others there once, I think). But we were the only people that ate inside the entire time we were there. We did, however, see the Kern girls walk by, and the kids all said hi to them and waved a lot.
We got a large pizza, half cheese and half corn. The kids each ate a slice. August only actually ate ⅔ of a slice. He had just eaten strawberries and banana bread through. Zoe sort of snuck a second drink pack so they each got two. August took his to go though as he didn’t want that either. August saving “Yankee Doodle” for them. Several times Zoe taught us a “Mrs. Yankee Doodle” song. August liked that, and kept coming up with new words for it (you say things like ‘E for Eve”) and really has his first letters down. August had noted that their shelf up high with random toys and dolls on it had a lot less items on it. We joked about them being stolen, and I had them speculate on ways that they could have been stolen. They came up with some good ideas, and August had a couple involving magic that were pretty funny.
Eve had been giving out cool unicorn stickers (one ended up on the steering wheel and August got one he wanted to later put on his head with tape). Before we left she gave two to the guy who works there. We took the second half of the pizza with us.
August wanted to run around the park (he was full of energy) so we headed over there. August went on the swing right away and wanted to be pushed. Not normal behavior for him recently. They then played on the structure, then moved over to the merry-go-round until Eve needed a bathroom.
We all walked to the bathroom behind the health food store, but it was locked. So we walked back to the pizza place. From there it was back across the street again to the fruit and veggie market. We got two packs of strawberries and a pineapple. Then we walked to the car, only to realize I had set down the pizza somewhere. Luckily, I was pretty sure it was at the pizza place when Eve went to the bathroom. We walked back and got it.
Finally, there was a woman who had beached her car over the curb: the front right tire was in the sand of a tree planter, and the axle or something was on the curb. The tires were just spinning. I tried to help her, but I don’t think her English was really strong. She said someone else could help her. We went and got in the car. There was another guy looking at her car when we drove out of the lot.
We were home at 1:30. A topic of conversation at the pizza place had been magic spells and potions. Zoe apparently has been looking in the library for magic spells. August had listed all of the spells he knows from Minecraft, and threw in things like a time travel spell. So at the house they made potions and discussed magic spells. We opened the bottle of rose taste/scent and they used that. They played outside, and I cut up strawberries. They tried tying the bikes together but the string kept breaking. I found some twine but I don’t think they got around to trying it.
I made them all chocolate milk. They sat around the table, drinking it. August finished his quickly and told me, “Just so you know, I don’t savor chocolate milk.”
Finally, two big activities inside. First, they were doctors. I became one of their patients and spent much of the time just lying on the floor, which was nice. August and Eve really got into discussing the symptoms and then drawing on the whiteboard and paper their diagrams and charts explaining what was happening. In fact, when Zoe was their patient they spent so much time over at the whiteboard drawing and talking that Zoe gave up and got up and went back to playing with play dough. Play dough was the other major thing, and they took the four containers (which I’d forgotten we’d had) and had fun mixing them all together.
The only bit of tension came when Eve had a bunch of the play dough and August wanted it. I could tell there was something he had planned, and he kept asking her for it. He handled it well though, and after they left he went in and used all of the playdough to make a bowl with a ball in it.
Heather showed up to pick them up at 3:45. August remembered to teach her some facts: that graphite is in layers in a pencil and that atoms in a liquid are not bonded.
We then played Minecraft. Carly got home after 5. He was watching the Brave Wilderness snapping turtle episode and liked the commercial for Snowfeet. I heated up some corn for him and he had seconds. The grilled cheese was then ready. There was just a little of his spaghetti sauce left, so I put it in the sandwich. He said he wouldn’t like it, but he eventually agreed to try it and really liked it. A point for me.
We played some Brother and Greena game (him going out to the jungle. I developed this recurring joke where he keeps having to run back to his house for things, which is 6 hours round trip. He does it all the time, and August started having Greena say, “What’s up with Brother?”). Carly then ready some of the Minecraft Myna book to him.
They went outside, and he showed him how he can throw now. He then came in and had me come out and we played catch for 10 or 15 minutes on the patio in the dark. As we played catch he talked about how confidence is so important and brought up the episode of Brainchild about it. We were catching the ball successfully several times in a row.
Back inside he had banana bread and she read more. He talked about how good the bread is. He talked about his favorite biomes in Minecraft: ocean monument, mesa, savannah, jungle. They kept reading. He drank the last of the banana milk at last call.
We were listening to “Let It Go” at his request and he said, “They should turn Let It Go into a show.” I was then his patient again and he taped my hand to the coffee table. He let me free it and we went upstairs. Carly washed him. He wanted to be weighed. He is now 18.6kg.
I brushed his teeth. He blew his nose, but without a tissue, so it went all over me. Carly found this amusing. We then blew it with the tissue. He agreed to have his chocolate chips in the morning. I told him it would probably be the first thing he asked me for in the morning.
I left them at 8:45. I heard her talking about logical fallacies. I went for a run.
Legos with Gilad:
Singing for Eve and Zoe:
Catch with Gilad:
On the swing again:
On the play structure:
Merry go round 1:
Merry go round 2:
Rubber band chain:
Drawing a medical chart:
