While torrential rains fell north and south of us, here it was off and on. Too much rain to get August out of the house more than a couple seconds, but Carly and I were each able to get out for walks/runs sometime during the day.
I was awake in bed when he got up just after 7 and joined me. He cuddled under the covers for a good 20 minutes before I asked if he was ready to get up. He went downstairs, and was soon playing Minecraft with Carly. It was raining and thundering outside, as well as in Minecraft. Carly learned that he’s afraid of the lightning in Minecraft, and asked if that was also the reason he doesn’t like rain in real life. He said, “I just don’t like it in real life, I’m not AFRAID of it.” He switched worlds after a few minutes, and Carly stopped playing with him.
He then played piano, and then we ended up playing the repetitive Brother and Sister game where Bar’s playing chases him off again. He got a little upset when I wouldn’t play it anymore.
Carly made Swedish pancakes and I played Apples to Apples with him as George and Harold (he suggested the name). He then used the big pot to make a time travel potion. He then went back to the piano, and eventually we set up GarageBand and the keyboard. He had eaten one pancake, and now finally ate his strawberry and I gave him the second pancake.
Carly left for the store. He did more music and was having me look up his complicated chords. I was trying to teach him that there are more types of chords than just major and minor, and eventually get him to understand the idea of chord progressions, although he doesn’t seem to interested in those so far.
He took a break to tell me that he had designed a log shaver better than Leonardo da Vinci’s (we had seen it at the science center). His shaving/smoothing machine involved millions of small parts to make it instantly make a smaller circle until the log was smooth.
I was then trying to get him to clean up, and we eventually did a good job of that (the potion remnants, Apples to Apples, etc.) He had the last Swedish pancake and wanted to cut it himself, so he worked on that. Carly called about which crackers to get and he talked to her for a bit.
He went back to the piano. He figured out how to play Yankee Doodle in C sharp major. First the verse, then the chorus. Accented notes and transpose were words of the day. He said, “This means my brain is developing more.” He then observed that “It’s like half a note!” So I taught him whole step and half step. I’ve mentioned scale intervals a few times before, but this is the first that he seemed interested.
Carly got home. He showed her his playing of “Just a Little Love”, which he had suddenly figured out on piano, and Yankee Doodle in C sharp. As Carly put things away he asked me to go upstairs for a Sister game. It was once again about when she first met Myna on her Minecraft server (Myna had invited her after seeing a picture of a Minecraft castle Sister had made). Myna’s sever is called “Popatonia.” August put the fan on in the AC unit. It was cold upstairs, but he said he liked the “fresh and Rosy fingered” fan. I wore my sweatshirt and played from the corner of the room or doorway.
Downstairs he did a cool improv on the piano, then was playing in GarageBand. He decided his favorite keyboard in GarageBand is Anthemic Lead – Mainroom Glide Synth and wanted me to make note. I figured out how to save it to his ‘Custom’ area so he could always find it, and taught him how to add more.
We had some lunch, Carly prepared him broccoli and sweet potato, but he didn’t eat much. He went back to the keyboard. We had some Brother game going on, where Bar was playing music at Brother’s birthday (he had finally figured out that, even though the were stuck in May, after 365 days he could have a birthday) and Brother was jealous of her playing. He switched to the synth app, then figured out the pitch bend and modulation buttons on his keyboard: “THAT is how you do it.”
He kept playing. Carly finished the Egyptian cat lung soup that she had been making. August initially said, “This isn’t how I expected it to come out…” But then he called it interesting, and then he ended up eating it all. He listened to “The Months of the Year” on Circle Round.
He then wanted his treat, and we entered into candy cane negotiations. He got outside enough to carry out his stool for some reason, but then went back inside. That was it for the day. Carly had gone for a walk or jog and got back. It was still sunny (the last of the sun break for the day) so I took my turn. I went over past the mall to the east. It got cloudy and looked like more rain clouds might be coming. They went to the north and south though and I was fine, but on the way back, when I had blue skies overhead and the sun was shining, I got rained on, a medium rain, for several minutes. I think it was blowing from the south. Very odd though.
I got home. He had spent much of the time sucking on his candy cane and staring into space. He tried to convince us that that should count as alone time. I said it did not, but that all of the music and Circle Round time earlier had counted as his first set of alone time. They were setting up to paint though so continued to do that. They were making thank you cards. I took a shower, and when I came down he was working on a painting and singing about a sibling. He had filled up his whole paper, and talked about how Carly’s painting teacher in Seattle would be happy (she had said something like that to Carly). He asked if he could meet her painting teacher someday.
He covered his hands and forearms with paint. I said, “Your a silly little boy.” He immediately said, “You know me.” And then, “I’m called Ishmabody.”
He then did his 30 minutes, with Minecraft. He was going to play with Carly. But she had started to make sauce and didn’t want to play in yet another world. So he played with me for 15 instead, which turned to the whole 30.
When he was hungry I got us some peanut butter and crackers. He ate 5 or 6 total, and I told him it would be soup after that. He then had a Sister game with Brother wanting her help to make a snail and slug mod. He had seen the moth still in our house flying around. He was excited by it at first, but then it was fluttering around him when he was eating and he didn’t like it any more. He had named it Mothy. So I caught and freed Mothy. August didn’t believe me about how moths navigating by the light of the moon.
Carly had been FaceTiming with her parents. He wanted to call back so he could as well. He played his new songs for them, and lasted 10 or 15 minutes. He went the whole afternoon/evening without a shirt, having taken it off for painting.
We had some more soup, then he played music for a second alone time. He asked, “Why does time go by fast when I’m doing something fun like this.” We played Minecraft together, looking for a stronghold. We had just gotten near when his time was out. Frustrating, but he was okay, with a couple chocolate chips, then a couple of Life Noggin videos. Carly started reading The Talented Clementine to him. There was a part where she is making fun of twins so Carly called Cassie to tell her and they left a voicemail.
Back on his piano he figured out “Just a Little Love” in G flat pentatonic major. When it was time to go up I carried him up. Carly gave him a bath. She had made him oatmeal but then forgot it in the freezer. It was almost frozen. I rescued it and heated it up and told him I added more honey. It was barely anything, but he claimed it was the sweetest oatmeal ever.
He was still hungry, so I got him a carrot and couple strawberries, which he ate. We then skyped with Mom to see how Dad’s surgery had gone. They hadn’t been able to fix it, so took out the damaged tendon. His recovery was going okay, and there hadn’t been too much swelling.
We said goodbye, and August claimed to still be hungry. Carly got him some Cheerios. We brushed his teeth and said good night. I put him to sleep. We listened to two Circle Rounds, “Unwelcomed Guest” and “Cow Wells and Cow Bells”. He put lotion on his hands after going to the bathroom, and fell right to sleep after that, about 10:20.
Message and song for Gramma and Grampa:
The log smoothing machine:
Figuring out Just a Little Love:
Yankee Doodle in a new key:
The new tune in GarageBand:
Painting the whole canvas:
Clothes head:
