He was up at 7:50. He went right downstairs and I stayed up folding clothes and cleaning up. He was whiney with Carly until they started playing Minecraft. He watched one Super Tony video, something about building. He ate cereal with strawberries, then spent a lot of time playing piano. He was playing “London Bridge” and “Skip to My Lou” over and over, with chords, and had them down quite well: “Past August, seven days ago, didn’t know how to do that!” “And I’m excited to show Ms. Dalit it!” He was then just playing the chords with his left hand and singing “London Bridge”.
He seemed ready for a new piece/challenge so we went back to trying apps. We tried Skoove, starting to learn a version of the James Bond theme song, but it seemed too hard for him to use on his own, then we tried Simply Piano. Much better, but later in the day I realized it was Piano Maestro that we had used before and was even more directed at kids. He then figured out the E minor pentatonic scale. Carly was making cupcakes as she had realized she wasn’t sure how to get the strawberry stuff in the center using our cake pan and he got to sample the first one. He wanted them to look like “poop cupcakes.”
He wanted his alone time and sat out on the swing listening to podcasts for it. He finished “Song of the Singing Mouse” on Wow in the World. He was hungry so I made him a grilled tuna sandwich and he ate all of that. We played Minecraft and Carly ran to school. I then went up for a shower after she was back.
Lauren, Avraham, and Gilad showed up a little before 1, coming from his Lego class close to us. August opened the present right away; a 3-in-1 Lego set. We started with snacks; August was very, very excited about getting to eat Doritos at home. Avraham was most interested in the piano, as he is into woodworking. August did a great job of handling adult talk, then Carly took them out for slime making. Gilad didn’t like the feel, but Lauren really got into it. So Gilad played around the yard for a while and we all enjoyed the perfect weather.
August started to hint that it was cupcake time and we went in and had cupcakes. Gilad had suggested building with Legos, and the two of them went down on the floor and spent the next 45 minutes or so just playing together. Wonderful when that happens. Avraham told us about his work designing power transformers, and particularly about solar panels, which was really interesting, then they left just before 3. Their other kids all had parties at school today, as it was the last day before the Purim break.
On the piano August was teaching Carly how to play “London Bridge”. At one point I said, “I can’t believe you’re almost 6.” He responded with something like, “I can. The time continuum basically works out.” I then realized it was Piano Maestro I had been looking for. August picked up where past August had left off a few years ago, so he could easily see his progress. August found that he could sing the notes (since it was in listening mode) instead of playing them on the piano, which seemed like cheating in a way, but was also a great sight reading activity in its own.
He then did another set of alone time, playing piano, and we played Minecraft. He and I then watched two StressMonsters videos (2 and 3). He was hungry so ate most of a container of dried mango and I let him have a few more chips. Still hungry, so he had mac and cheese and broccoli for dinner. Carly had been doing some grading and she switched with me and got him seconds and I went up to work. I actually lay down for a few minutes as a headache was coming back, then got to work.
August had been really reluctant to let me go. Eventually he’d agreed to let me work for 15 minutes and I said I’d check on him at that point. I had heard them happily playing piano together at that point so kept working. Then I heard them talking to Cherie. August came up a bit after that, saying it had been much longer than 15 minutes. I told him I needed two more minutes, then I’d come down. I came down, and they were sitting out in the lounge chairs, reading the Comic Science Solar System book by flashlight. I was able to go back upstairs and keep working.
I came down at 8 so Carly could take a shower. August and I started a Brilliant physics course, which was about forces on F1 cars. He understood bits of it already from our previous discussions on wings and downforce, and also showed an impressive intuition about some of the problems. Microcosm was a word of the day and one I think we’ll use regularly. We then watched a Chain Bear video about the aerodynamics of F1 cars:https://youtu.be/ZFEzMKYjShc
August made a sort of connection to laser pointers, then got talking about ways he uses compressed air, like digging through Earth. He would later tell Carly about how air moves faster when you push it through a smaller space, and showed her with blowing air.
Before we went upstairs he had a yogurt. We went up, and he thought it was really funny to go in his room and lock his door and do Desmos. I folded laundry and set up the beds again.
He came out without a problem and Carly gave him a bath. As we were getting in bed he talked about how the people that do the Stories Podcast don’t know about physics, but their specialty is folk tales. He said, “My speciality is sight reading, aerodynamics, physics and trigonometry…” But not chemistry, he said.
We listened to the two parts of the Stories Podcast’s “Meowmaid” (he instantly started pleading for part 2 when 1 finished; good note to self to never start a multi-parter before they release the second part—luckily, these were older episodes this time) then Bedtime Explorer’s “Special Song” before putting on Haydn piano. He was asleep by 10:40.
London Bridge improvement:
Simply Piano:
Opening his present:
Slime time:
Happy birthday!:
