He called me in at 6:30 and I pulled the blanket over him. For several days now when I do go in I just leave right away and he is fine. I plugged in all the lights and everything, and Carly added the artichoke to the stocking, which I’d forgotten last night.
He was up a little after 7, and it wasn’t long until we got to Christmas stuff. But, first, as he said last night, he went and changed the countdown to 0. He started on his stocking and we skyped my parents and brother.
Cherie and Chuck:
• microscope
• Just Ask! book
• Apples to Apples
Mom and Dad:
• posters
• Soldering iron
• Star registry
• microphone
• Laser pointer
Dee and Grant
• card
• Mastermind
• Kandoodle
• two Magic Tree House books
• clothes
Us
• toy robot
• No Thank You, Evil!
• melodica
• artichoke
• purple cape
He was really into both the melodica and the microscope, although they were all very thoughtful presents and will get a lot of use. In playing the melodica he was making up a lot of tunes, but also surprised me by playing the full chorus of “Always” by Erasure. We said goodbye around 9:30 when the iPad battery was running low.
Carly had made pancakes—regular ones, as that had been his request last night when I mentioned a yummy breakfast in the morning. So no swedish pancake tradition for us. I had done most of the looking with him, then he told Carly, “Mama! Visit microscope land with me!” He got dirt and leaves from out yard and also looked at soap, then they went on a short specimen-gathering walk at 9:55. He said, “I want to start taking notes on what I find.” And, “I’m a scientist rediscovering what other people have discovered.” He asked what specimen means, and it was a word of the day.
Then the three of us went on a short specimen gathering walk, just across the street and up. More microscope, then we went out again to this time get a bit of one of the cacti. It was raining though, so he stayed on the porch while I went and cut off a piece of a cactus. I sliced a piece of it and it worked really well on the microscope, as did looking at the little spines. HE and I then went up to the playground for more specimens.
When we returned I made lunch, making grilled cheese and turkey to go with Carly’s soup. I had found a series of free leveled readers on Apple Books from Read Hat Reading, so we read a couple of those together, alternating sentences, starting with one about microscopes and then a couple others.
He finally realized he’d never done his morning iPad time, but first we discussed expectations and strategies for when it was over, and that his ability to learn more time later in the day depended on handling the end of this time well. We played Minecraft and it went well, and he got his two chocolate chips. He then did more microscope time on his own, looking at different spices and taking photos. And he played more melodica before having us do a Sister and Brother game on the couch as Bar and Sister operated and put things in him that would make noise, and giving him microscope eyes as a joke
Carly went for a walk, and when she got back the Skyped with Colin and Vivian, who had finished opening their presents. She had a microscope (just like August’s, from Cherie), and Colin had a scooter and a remote control Ghostbusters car.
August wanted shaving cream on his hands. He got it on his arms, then when I went for a walk they made slime. Sort of. It was gel, and Carly things they put in too much of the shaving cream. It was still fun to play with and look really interesting. They then did his alone time and 30 minutes of Minecraft. He did more microscope, then ended up Skyping with both families of cousins at the same time.
August then got out the Kandoodle toy/puzzle and did a couple of the puzzles. He ran to show Carly, declaring, “It’s a good brain exercise!” We were going to go to Giraffe for Christmas dinner, but when I suggested we take something small with us to the restaurant to play with (like Kandoodle) he first insisted on taking the microscope, then the melodica. I said he could take his iPad with GarageBand, and he had the idea of using the sampler to get the sound of the melodica, but he wasn’t entirely happy with the results. Finally, he got over it and we left before 6.
We drove over. On the way he told me, “And I loved what you gived me.” “I was talking about artichokes two days ago. You learned from me, great.” At Giraffe we ordered two dishes, and Carly read to him after he was done coloring the placemat. We left after 7.
He told us how he can have pictures in his mind: “I can be on Pluto and not die. I can be atom sized. I can do anything.” We were then talking about which countries have the least rain, after he said he wants to move to an even drier place, and we looked at list of countries with rain: https://www.nationmaster.com/country-info/stats/Geography/Average-rainfall-in-depth/Mm-per-year
As we got home he talked about wanting to look at poop in the microscope. We said no. He said it would be nice to the poop, giving it the gift of light: “It doesn’t get to see light in the body unless the nurses are doing surgery on someone’s butt…”
Carly made popcorn and they started a brain documentary but it reminded him of music and he used the big keyboard with Notion. We then played with other music apps, including Sound Forest and Bloom. We then read part of The Soul of an Octopus
I got him upstairs and Carly gave him a bath. They did some microscope upstairs, then she read to him as I took a shower. I then put him to bed. We listened to “Three Wishes” and pleasure was a word of the day. He needed Cheerios, and asked, “What’s the brightest light humans have ever made?” We listened to music and he was asleep at 10:30.
Countdown to zero and starting on the stocking:
Presents 1:
Presents 2:
Presents 3:
Presents 4:
Presents 5:
Presents 6 – melodica:
Presents 7:
Presents 8:
Presents 9:
Presents 10:
Melodica:
Microscope 1:
Microscope 2:
Collecting specimens:
