He woke up at 5:40. I went in. He said, “Just so stuffy.” He kept trying to get back to sleep, and I tried to sleep in the small bed. Not too successfully. Finally he got up and we went down at 6:35. I lay on the couch. Carly got us a second blanket. He lay on the couch too for quite some time, then started watching Phineas Rage videos when he was bored. He got a good amount of watching, and a little a Minecraft time, in before I finally got up around 8. We had oatmeal for breakfast and then he started playing piano. Mainly coming up with stuff, but also practicing “Bluebird”.
We played Minecraft, making a moat and observation room on our flat world house. He said he discovered a disease called “infamous of the genitalia”. I think it might be from “inflammation of the genitalia”, which is probably a symptom of one of the diseases he’s learned about.
He then watched “The Immune System Explained I” from Kurzgesagt. And then part 2. He played more piano and I glued the chipped corner piece of the board that goes where your feet are. Not really visible, but I figured it would be nice to fix it a bit before putting the board back on.
He then had Brother and Sister games where Synth (the character was interacting with Ms. Safe and the class. He then hid in the blanket and turned the AC on low while I made lunch. We ate a tuna melt and chocolate milk for lunch. Then he had crackers and peanut butter.
We drove to piano as he talked about a Minecraft Sister and Myna game. It was rainy, so not a play in the park sort of day. We parked right close to Dalit’s house and went in.
He had memorized the “Bluebird” piece, then sight read “First Serenade”. He noticed the clock making a ticking sound and used it as a metronome. He did a pretty good job with it, but it oddly turned into a 4/4 piece once he started playing with the metronome. She tried to correct him, but only showed him once by playing it on a lower octave. So I wasn’t impressed by that. When they were done, she was actually most concerned that he was mixing up the left and right hand. Which to be honest I’m not sure how he was doing that. Maybe he was reaching down with his right thumb to hit some notes.
She let him play around a bit until he said he was ready for a new piece. He took a couple minutes and then said he was read for a new piece. This piece had an F sharp in it and they talked about the different names of it and of the rests. They worked through that, then she asked if they had 45 minutes today. I said sure, and they worked through a second piece. It actually ended up being a little over 50 minutes. August did mention a couple times near the end that it felt really long (at one point he said it had been 5 hours) but he was still having fun. At the end we then scheduled next week, deciding to try a switch to Thursday, as she wanted earlier on Wednesday, but 1 is okay on Thursdays.
We then drove down to IKEA. We went and had ice cream first, then walked through the store. He was following the arrow and the feet on the ground. Our primary goals were a frame for the music poster and a cover for the light in his room. But he didn’t want a paper one, so I said not today (Carly had wanted a cheaper one, and I didn’t feel like carrying a big box, as I didn’t have a bag for our smaller stuff either). And the frames weren’t the right size. But we did come across seat cushions so we got green ones for the table. And I got a small set of drill bits and a snack bag of cashews at the end. As we stood in the long line at the end there was a problem with their speakers and it was making what we called “rhythmic static.”
We then drove to Ace Hardware. The goal there was a rotary tool and tips and maybe some wood so I could start working on the replacement pieces for the piano hammers. Alas, they only had the tips for the rotary tools. So nothing there. Although we did buy one clamp, since we don’t have any. I thought my glue job wasn’t holding on the board, but when we got home it was actually okay, so didn’t even need that, although it will be useful in the future.
On the way out to the car it was raining quite a bit. August handled it okay and I had the umbrella, but I picked him up to carrying him over the big puddle that was the parking lot. He fell asleep on the way home, and it was raining pretty hard when we got here so I let him sleep for a few minutes, about 20 in total, then I took him in.
We played Minecraft, then watched a “History of Humans in Minecraft video.” We started part 2. BCE was a word of the day. Carly called, and I asked if she wanted a ride. She did, so we paused and headed out to pick her up. Of course, it stopped on the way there, and Carly decided to walk a bit and got about a block before we picked her up.
At home I started to put up the new set of hooks for a coatrack that someone had given her at work. I managed to get the middle screw drilled in deep enough, but just could not get any of the other 4 holes that deep. Don’t know what I’m hitting in the wall. So we’ll have to go get shorter screws as these are really long.
They did math, doing some Khan Academy and graphing, then read more of Astrophysics for Kids in a Hurry. He was being silly and under the blanket. When Carly didn’t want him climbing on her he said, “I’ll just wander around the couch aimlessly.”
She went up for a shower and I read How To. He was then a poisonous spider biting astronauts, etc. Then in Rivet he read two or three books to me. Has clearly made progress in his reading although we haven’t practiced much, as he was reading most words and quite fluidly. He ate more dinner, then had sweet potato and zucchini.
Carly got him upstairs with candy and washed his har and read to him. I took him in to bed and we listened to two Circle Rounds: “The Lute Player” and “The Rooster in the Sky” again. He was pretty hyper. We did a meditation, then listened to Brian Eno’s “Ali Click”. He was asleep at 10:35.
New synth sound:
Playing at piano lesson:
Reading to me:
Piano line:
