He slept through the night and came and crawled in with me about 7:40 for a few minutes. Then went downstairs. He played Minecraft with Carly. Afterwards, he said, “I should play free jazz.” Carly was making scrambled eggs and bacon, and August wanted to put in food coloring. He poured the green in. It was completely open, not just a pin prick, and about half a bottle went in. Looked good, but when Carly cooked them they ended up tasting soapy. So she made August a fried egg instead.
We read volume 8 of Bone. Coyote, as in someone who sneaks people across the border, was a word of the day. We then did a Brother game where he met the sound engineer girl again. We read more Bone and Carly went to the store. He did his alone time, then played Green Planet. He then wanted to listen to Circle Round and did more alone time, and we played Minecraft.
Carly got home and got him broccoli and cheese and chicken for lunch. He said, “Did you know I discovered a kid 80 years ago that refused to eat any treats? And he died by the age of 5.” He liked the broccoli: “Next time give me those three kinds of cheese. Cuz that was really good.”
August and I got going and listened to the Sugar Cubes as we drove to Gabi’s. When we parked and got out he was giving his theories about why a tree had a really fat trunk (to protect against fire, etc.). We went to Gabi’s. There’d been talk of having us stay in with him now, after August wouldn’t let Carly go out last time. But when Gabi asked if I should be in the room August said he guessed I could stay in for a couple minutes. I watched him set up the armies and kill a spy, then he said I could go out. I went out and read and worked in the lobby. Forgot to make myself a coffee though. At the end I heard him tell Gabi about his graphite in pencils fact.
As we walked back to the car we did some Brother games. We have a running joke now, since he always sings “in the merry, merry month of May…” at the beginning of each that the family is stuck in May due to all of their time travel and black holes, etc. and Brother always gets frustrated because it is still May.
We then drove over to Ra’anana Park. We did the beached bike thing for a while, then rode into the park. He asked me, “Which is crazier? Despicable Me or Dog with a Blog?” He’d learned about them from Apples to Apples. He started to ride around the side of the lake, then wanted the bathroom so we walked back to that. He talked about going in the gallery but it was closed today. So we made our way back around the lake, and he stopped in two places to take photos. I rested on benches while he did so. We then played with the musical instruments area. We were talking about going and getting some food. We were thinking of the place in the park there, but I thought it might be busy, and mentioned the sushi place nearby. He loved the idea. I looked at the place, Ze Sushi, on Google Maps to see how fancy it looked. August said, “Ooh, did I just see colored sushi? I love the contrast. So creative.”
So we headed back to the car and drove up to Ze Sushi. We sat at the counter and ordered a combination platter and a lemonade. It was 18 pieces, and August ate 8 of them, including the two long ones with the raw fish on top, which he gulped down. He also really liked the lemonade, even though it was rather on the tart side. He took a few photos in the restaurant, then we walked around the building area for a few minutes and he took more photos.
On the drive home he liked the Sugar Cubes, and I told him I’d make a smart playlist of all his favorite bands so he could hear more songs from them. He liked that idea. We were home at 5:15. He played an “open…closed” game with the blanket and Carly. They finished a Junie B. Jones book. He pointed out, “She’s using a kidding trick.” They then read the Muscles book, which led to him doing exercises on the couch and floor. I think he asked for a treat or something, and when Carly said he had to have healthy food first he said, “How about I get upset and don’t get upset so you give me chocolate chips?” Carly said she wondered when he would figure that out.
He was then telling us riddles (like from the Circle Round story about the banker’s riddles), and asked me to gather: “Fire that won’t go out, wood that won’t burn, tree that plays music.” I figured it out, saying I’d get him a photo of a fire, petrified wood, and musical tree sculpture. He wasn’t too thrilled with me actually coming up with answers.
Carly made a smoothie, then he played piano, both playing and singing “Always”. He was looking at the keys and asked, “Why is this part white and this is antique white?” We talked about why that may be. More practicing of “Always”, then he Moved to the melodica where he was figuring out his new tune in multiple keys, then trying to play “Always” in two octaves at once.
He wanted to hook up his iPad and I had to restart it. “Why are you apple-ing it?” I liked the new verb there (as it shows an apple when you restart it). He played with the sampler, recording all sorts of noises.
I went for a walk. He spent most of the time being really focused on the sampler, doing things like ripping paper. They were playing Apples to Apples when I got back. He had his laser pointer again. They had found it earlier. It was Carly’s idea to look behind the couch and August was the one that spotted it.
He ate pickles and strawberries, and we did a Brother game where Bar recorded his whole life to get all the funny bits. I had them naming a wing of the hospital after Brother, since he used it so much. He thought that was really funny, but didn’t know what wing of a building meant, so a word of the day.
I got him upstairs by leading him with the melodica. Spent some time teaching him about different keys. He asked “Why does film get grainy?” We were in the bathroom, and he told Carly, “I used three kidding tricks on him to delay my bath.” One was sitting on the toilet for a long time, another was getting me to talk about the camera, and the third was something like that.
After his bath we were talking about doing something and I told him about how I’m impressed by his use of words and we were discussing brain development. Rather backfired though as when he wanted to do something and when I took him into the bedroom to talk to Carly about it he instantly got upset when he saw her. I talked to him and when I said we needed to talk to mama about it he said “Oh.” Carly came in to put him to sleep and I left them 9:25.
His famous sound collection:
The reflection of the seahorse sculpture:
The stream:
Xylophone music:
Rhythm:
Downing the sushi:
“Always” on toy piano:
Singing and playing “Always”:
Singing “Always”:
Playing his song in different keys:
