Thursday, January 23: new play area with Gilad and play date with Eve

He woke up at 6:50 as he was really stuffy. When I went up he went back into his bedroom and got in bed. I lay down on the lower one. He stayed in bed for quite a while but didn’t fall back to sleep. We went downstairs at 7:25 and he spent another 15 minutes resting on the couch, covered with the blanket. I then read Lobel’s Mouse Tales. He did a lot of laughing.

I had the bed part pulled out, and as I was reading I had heard the garbage truck honking in the street, and when done I heard it backing up. I got up to take a look outside. August gut up as well, and then ran back to the couch. I didn’t see it, but he somehow managed to hit my coffee mug, which was full and in the center of the coffee table a ways away from the couch, and send it flying off the edge, soaking the front of the couch and the rug. I spent about 20 minutes soaking it up and then washing it.

We played Minecraft, then I made French toast for breakfast, that we had with strawberries and yogurt.

It was then time to get going and we got ready and drove to the Ra’anana Mall, which is just a block or two north of where we bought our car but I didn’t realize was there. There are a lot of malls around here. On the way we listened to music, then he had a Brother game where he met a girl building an actual base in the park, like in Minecraft.

We found street parking behind the mall and took it, then walked around the end to the front. There was loud machinery/fan noises coming from the building and he asked, “Are they building a tornado in there?” “A helicopter?” He then said, “That’s a C note.” I got out the piano on my phone and tried to test it. He was in the ballpark, at least. When I then tested him on notes from just the keyboard, asking what note they were, he was really close on one (within a half step), then within a step of the next, but then seemed to hit the mark. So, I don’t think he has perfect pitch, at least not yet.

In the mall we found the play area downstairs and sat at a table outside and waited for them. We were talking about large number math, and he asked, “Could you tell me the record for the most digits of pi memorized by a human?” We looked that up, and they showed up at 10:15.

We went into the play area and played until 12. They started in the first room, spinning things on the wall, then went in the ball room. Lauren and I were able to talk then, but then the kids wanted us to go up in the structure with them, and we played with them most of the time after that.

We worked our way through it, stopping for the basketball part, then spending most of our time in the soccer area again. All four of us were playing, kicking balls, and switching back and forth from one side to the other. August, again, was generally a referee or goalie, but then after a while started playing, trying to kick the ball past Gilad. He was really excited when he got a goal, then his second and third. Gilad was actually keeping score, and August was okay with it. He was winning, so that helped, but it was a big step.

Eventually we headed back down and they played on the first level again. August was a squirrel and had a whole squirrel fort going, that Lauren and I helped him build. And they spent more time in the ball area. Around 12 Lauren and Gilad had to get going so we all headed out. We said goodbye, then August and I walked around the mall, looking for someplace for lunch. I was thinking a food court, but we didn’t find it at first. We were about to head out to the street to try to find a pizza place but then we stumbled on the food court and found a pizza place with no line. August got a slice of cheese and I got an eye-shaped thing that had an egg on top, August ate his slice and a chunk of mine.

We exited at the north side of the mall this time and walked back to the car. As we got driving August asked about the Civil War and we talked more about it, including about slavery, which was a new concept to him, I think. We also talked about the lack of medicine, etc. and so he also asked me to tell him about the president who was shot, but he was disappointed that I didn’t know that many details.

We drove to the Red Pirate Toy Store over by the train station. Carly had wanted some bubbles to take to the gan with her class tomorrow, and August liked the idea of having bubbles to play with Eve. I also thought of getting him one or two other things, like the games/sewing thing that Shani has been using with him.

We walked around the store. He tried out a punching bag and liked it. We found the bubbles, but Carly hadn’t responded to my email asking how many yet. We looked around and were looking at the toy section. He found some puzzle games but they were a bit pricey…maybe an Amazon purchase. He wasn’t super excited about Rush Hour when I found it, so didn’t get that. He was taking photos and Carly called, so he answered. We showed her the bubbles and bought a few for her, and two for us. In the art area August got a packet of beads and I found the notebooks for writing in. I didn’t know how he would respond to that, but he was actually excited and said we should get two: one for homeschool practice and one for him to write in on his own. We also got a few with graph paper in them, as they were one shekel each.

We headed home, stopping at the strawberry stand. They are now down to 3 for 50 shekels. We were at home at 2:05. I let him do a short alone time to fit it in. And I realized he hadn’t gone to the bathroom in at LEAST 6 hours. Later, we couldn’t remember if he had gone to the bathroom before leaving to get Eve. If not, he didn’t go until after she left.

We played Minecraft, then ran to the car and headed to school. We quickly walked and dropped off the bubble supplies in Carly’s classroom and picked up the stuff left over from them making play dough to take to the gan. We went and got Eve and checked in with Heather, then Eve led us to the preschool playground.

August didn’t want to go, but agreed to a half hour. He played on the swing a bit while she was making stuff in the kitchen area. He kept asking how much time was left but was a good sport about it. But then he started playing with her in the ship area and then the car. They were a couple who had two kids and Eve kept calling him “Honey.” August said they were driving to a red dwarf She said their daughter at school had hit someone and they needed to go pick her up. August asked what had happened, and after Eve made up something (about a friend not sharing or something) August said, “Why would they follow the rules? Of course they won’t follow the rules; they’re children.”

August also asked me to remind him, “What is asymptote?” And tried to explain it to Eve. Eventually we headed to the house. They played outside a bit, and I got them a snack of strawberries, crackers and peanut butter, and chocolate milk. They played more outside, but August wanted to burn more paper. So I burned a couple of pieces for them. August came into the kitchen and asked me, “Burning fire is addictive…why?”

Back inside they played with the Legos and straw blocks. Heather showed up about 5:15 and told us about their move to Albania. It is good for her, the girls will get to go to an IB school, and Dave will have a work visa. August told her, for her facts, what an asymptote is and that the color of fire depends on its temperature.

After they left he and I built a lego arch for Carly to try to drop things on to break it. He then played lots of piano. I looked up the chords for “Just a Little Love” as he talked about learning the chords of a song. Eventually, we were on the couch and played with the squishy light up alien thing we had bought at the toy store. The alien was trying to eat August, or parts of him, with its feelers.

I went for a run. When I got back he was finishing his time on Minecraft, then watched Life Noggin videos. He had cauliflower, hummus, and pita for dinner. Carly read articles about living robots to him and watched the videohttps://youtu.be/aQRBCCjaYGE

Carly gave him a bath and I did dishes. She was then reading to him about the human body, and I heard her explain the cerebrum to him. A word of the day.

We switched and I let him do a few of the moves in the game that goes with his watch. He hasn’t been wearing it recently, but wore it all day today and had tons of steps. We read some What If? about human versus computer power. MIPS was another word of the day. He talked a lot about the chapter, then we tried two meditations in an app that Carly had told us about. He went to the bathroom and said good night to Carly. He’s stuffy but wouldn’t blow his nose. Lights off at 9:30. We listened to more of the Bach Cello Suites – Recomposed and he was asleep by 9:45.

Noise from the mall: