He was up about 7:10. He only woke up once during the night. But I think he was back to sleep before I even got there. We read all of The Last Kids in the World except for the last chapter before he wanted to switch to Minecraft. We played in his Outpost Ahead world, figuring out how to explore and fight in an ocean monument. We had oatmeal squares with milk for breakfast and he watched the two Kurzgesagt videos on the immune system and the “Antibiotic Apocalypse” episode, which was timely as a couple days ago I had been explaining why antibacterial soap isn’t necessarily a good thing. We then watched a Life Noggin video about “The Science of Anger”. A new channel for us.
We finally discussed our day and set up the calendar. We did a Brother game, where I had Brother talking to his amygdala when he was getting stressed or upset. Amygdala was a word of the day. Brother was calmed down by a cat. We replayed the story where Brother meets Myna, and then Brother playing Minecraft from the beginning. August had a story where Baby Sister came along and messed with his iPad in different ways, getting brother killed in Minecraft.
We had crackers and pate and he asked to look at pages of The Scientist that he tagged. We looked at models of atoms, and how some of them are old understandings. He explained his diagram of a molecule “like the earth around the solid…I used a couple analogies in that.”
He then read from Rivet. He read a level 1 “Colors of the Rainbow” then a level 2 book called “Bubble Fun” and then a level 3 book called “Unicorn Snot”. He needed some help with the last one, but not a lot. He’s definitely making progress.
We watched a video of robot battles (https://youtu.be/ELaeirIZw8c) after he asked for one. He stopped it a couple times to tell me about his robot designs, including emergency propellors to get out of the pit.
He then asked, “What was it like for the human ancestors?” He said he meant cavemen. As I looked for videos eye explained, “cuz I like history. I like thinking about it.” We watched a PBS Eon videos “The Humans that Lived Before Us” (https://youtu.be/_ANNQKKwWGk) and “The time it rained for 2 million years” (https://youtu.be/_1LdMWlNYS4) Gastroliths was a word of the day.
He told me about a planet he discovered and studied “And then, guess what? Apocalyptic rain…acid. Because there’s no water…” “Here’s an apocalyptic landslide I discovered on another planet…”
As he was sitting on the toilet and taking a long time he explained, “It’s just so soothing to sit.”
He then asked, “How’d the ice age happen?” We read the second half of the Older than Dirt book, which Carly had checked out and sort of answered his question.
He then wanted to paint. He said he wanted me to work on faces. But then he wanted to be the queen and I was the servant and his mixer. He started on a painting and said, “This is a person with not much hair.”
He did 15 minutes of alone time and then Minecraft. He was producing iron golems and having them fight the monsters. He turned it into a a big analogy: “Iron golems is like our immune system right now…it dropped its nutrients…I’m a helper T cell right now…I’m gonna use my proteins to make more iron golems, I mean immune cells now…”
We then got going to school for our flu shots. He had been fine with the mentions of it through the day, but when the time came to go he had second thoughts and said he couldn’t do it. I talked to him, and I suggested we could get two treats at the cafeteria. That gave him enough courage and we were able to head to school.
At school we walked to the middle school office and picked up the envelope with the forms and money that Carly he left for us. We then went to the nurse. We were second in line, after Robert. But then the nurse who works at the school left to get coffee before the rush came. The guy that came in to also give shots would only do the adults. So he did me, but then we had to wait several minutes for her to get back. We read the Shel Silverstein poem about a girl making excuses for not going to school (until she realizes it is Saturday). But then when the nurse came back it had filled up, and August had second thoughts and hid behind a screen thing. I convinced him out, but he tripped over the foot of it and fell.
He shook that off and I got him up, and held him while he got the shot. He screamed, but then calmed down after she got him a bandaid. We headed over to the cafeteria and when we were on the grass he realized his knee was bleeding from his fall. So a second bandaid, this time from the backpack, and he was able to carry on to the cafeteria.
In the cafeteria he picked out a ice cream sandwich and one of the chocolate muffins. He was in heaven, having two treats. He made some comments about never getting another flu shot, but I think he was pretty convinced that it was worth it thanks to the two treats. He actually shared with me really well, and I ate about half of the treats.
We then headed to the library. As we came in Liz was leaving and she stopped to tell us how she hadn’t had any desserts the night of the party, but there was a single slice of our cake left over from the quarter that August and I had left behind. And she ate it in the morning. That was really cool, and we talked about how we were happy that we had left some behind.
We went back to the kids area and read a bunch of books: Fangsgiving, two Elephant and Piggie books (Pigs Make Me Sneeze and My Friend is Sad), Square, The Day I Lost My Superpowers, and How Do Dinosaurs Lean to Read? August also made one of his chair sculptures.
We checked out several books: The Adventures of Beekle, The Biggest Bear, Presto and Zesto in Limboland, The Universe Ate My Homework, and an odd book called Ballad.
He was singing as we left the library. We saw Candy and Reia doing some drawing and talked to them. They were then getting chased by a couple of boys, and August said, “Don’t know what that’s about.”
We then walked over towards Carly’s classroom. He sang along the way, a tune he seems to be developing, and pausing to hit posts and stuff along the way for his rhythm.
We met Carly by the middle school, then headed home. He asked to have jelly beans at home. She suggested chocolate milk instead. He came back with jelly beans and a glass of regular milk. He called it a “Crossover argument…connect the dots argument.” He was then wanting to help us solve arguments, and was helping Carly solve her argument with Brian about consulting a reading specialist.
We were home before 5:15. He asked me, “Do you have any arguments with Omar? Maybe I can fix them.” And he told me, “I made a building called the career development center…it’s a big school…since it teaches kids about astronomy I have a big telescope…” I have no idea where he got the career development center phrase.
They had some food (rice and sweet potato and carrot), then Carly painted Lady Bird Johnson, at August’s request. They were talking about him using her new smart brush and he said, “But I have to be gentle and that’s not my thing.”
He talked about painting a flag, and writing on it: “Everytime you come here you have to do a touch of funniness.”
August made up new paint colors and painted his hands, and then Cherie called, with Vivian and Colin, who are now in Mexico. Vivian taught August that stool is another name for poop, and August said, “I’m not going to use that technique.” Technique was his word of the day, apparently.
We ate some quiche when it was done. He liked the bacon in it. He then did math story problems with Carly. Carly went up for a shower and I kept doing math with him. I was teaching him to calculate percentage discounts.
He watched a couple of Brave Wilderness videos, both involving stings. He then discussed the painful stings he’s discovered, including the “The Mariana Slicer,” which is a lizard with gills that lives in the Mariana Trench.
We then read more of Tree Mail and almost finished it. I got him upstairs and he was playing Yankee Doodle on the bathroom tiles. He then made up songs as he sat on the toilet, including one about a spider. Gave him a bath, then he was performing in the mirror in his bedroom.
As I put him to bed he asked, “Have any arguments we can do? I want to stretch my brain muscles.” As I got set up he did meditation breathing on his own. He was asleep sometime around 9:30.
Painting a face: https://youtu.be/q6ZSP2_h9Pw
Iron golem and immune system analogy: https://youtu.be/KRtLE5mCIy0
Music on the way to the classroom 1: https://youtu.be/6xhDFsXn8gw
Music on the way to the classroom 2: https://youtu.be/OY1jgGsmTBA
Story problems: https://youtu.be/o81drSa8Q-E
Spinning my painting: https://youtu.be/ZfYtqRK9h7I
Yankee Doodle on the tiles: https://youtu.be/uGf2pYtDsIY
Aaaaaargh…..right back at you: https://youtu.be/Ql6SS5WYZWk
