So close to 1, mostly asleep, I heard August rolling around or doing something. Suddenly there was the sound of the lower bed rolling out. I got up and went to go check. The door was blocked by the lower bed, which had rolled a foot or so extra. August was asleep on his bed. Seems like it had been out a little more than extra and he had started to get up and it rolled. Luckily, he didn’t fall, and instead simply lay back down and went to sleep. Luckily, I could reach my hand in and slowly move the bed. Will have to make sure the bed doesn’t come that far out, and/or figure out something else to keep it from happening. An inch closer to the door and we would have had a real problem.
He then woke up at 7:10. I went in with him and got him to lie back down and then he slept until 8:10. Downstairs we read Ben Braver. Based on a mention in the book we watched Times Square ball drops. He talked about setting up a celebration that would block out the sun. He then asked if stars could orbit each other, so we watched a Crash Course video on binary systems:https://youtu.be/pIFiCLhJmig
Binary star and shlep and Algol Paradox were words of the day.
I went upstairs while he was composing on the couch. I was talking to Carly, and he called up and needed to go to the bathroom. When I said I’d be down in a few seconds he instantly started to be demanding and get upset. I told him he could come upstairs to the bathroom. He eventually came up, but had a bit of a meltdown for a minute, with Carly holding him on the couch, before he calmed down and talked to me about it. That out of the way, he asked about learning things in Notion, like how to change time signatures and make ties. We didn’t do the time signatures, but he figured a lot of other things out today.
For breakfast I made us fried eggs and toast. We ate, and then finally played Minecraft. We listened to the narwhal episode of Brains On, some news (but just the kid news — when I mentioned we hadn’t been listening to as much news because it was all about corona he thanked me), and an Ear Snacks about RBG, playing the new “RGB” song that we’d heard on the other podcast. We then went to the piano and did a lot of composing. He told me, “Here’s something weird about my piano playing: “Fairy Flight” is harder than “Oh, Susanna” but I can play it easier.” We discussed motivation and practice and how they go together.
I got him to go upstairs and I took a shower. He watched Phineas Rage. Downstairs I made a grilled cheese sandwich and we listened to a Wow in the World about spicy peppers. He was then graphing on couch and we tried figuring out derivative functions, without much success. I got him outside and we walked up to do recycling. He only let me do part of it though; the clouds were dark and I think he remembered the time it started to rain while doing recycling, so he dragged me home.
At home he told me, “Here’s something that freaks me out: the square root of 92 squared is 92…All those decimals!” He did more composing, and randomly asked “What’s enthusiastically?” A word of the day. He showed me how he was adding notes that went together to both the treble and bass, and said, “It’s like solving for x: I have to put stuff on both sides.” Since he had been composing by himself he suddenly had the idea that it should count as alone time. When I said no (it was free screen time though) he got grumpy. Eventually got over it and brought up Giordano Bruno: “Remember his argument? Is God is infinitely powerful he would make an infinite universe?” He then had an imagining game where he (Bar?) was confusing a Roman: “There’s also cosmic background radiation… there’s quantum computers…”
He said he was hungry, no surprise since he had barely touched his sandwich and hadn’t eaten the pickles for lunch, so I now got him a yogurt and carrot coins, both of which he approved, but again didn’t really ate either. We then did a little writing practice: He had me write out words like quantum physics and Krakatoa volcanic eruption and copied some of the words, then did a few lower case As before deciding he was done. He said he was really hungry, and I pointed out all the food he had passed up. He agreed to eat the sandwich, so I reheated that and he did a much better job this time.
For alone time he listened to Circle Round’s “The Elephant’s Tub”. Based on the ad at the beginning he asked, “What’s life insurance?” We discussed that. In Minecraft we had earlier started working on a big tree house (based on an idea from a Brother and Sister game, in which I had had her do a tree house when he had her log on to a new server—I’m noticing that I haven’t mentioned a lot of his games today, but there was a lot of imaging going on today as well), but after setting a spawn point in the tree he had moved the bed. He was then trying to fall from the tree in a mine cart in a way that wouldn’t kill him. He took the precaution of removing all of his gear, but then fell and died. But he ended up back at spawn, which we haven’t been to in months. He found it very funny though, so an indicator of how his thinking has changed in the game). Anyway, I went and picked him up in a boat, then he found a treasure map, so we spent the rest of our time digging for that.
Colin called on FaceTime and they talked a bit. Colin kept telling him to go outside or upstairs and to get Carly. August took him outside and he sat in the chair, composing, and I showed Colin August’s music. It was windy and we eventually came back in. He said, “I like to compose. I feel like a composer.” They hung up, and when Carly game down he told her, “Mama. I’ll teach you what I learned about composing. I can make beautiful songs.”
They called back and Carly was reading them all a book about planets over Zoom. Colin and Vivian were on their own devices. I went for a run; the first in some time. When I got back they also had Derek and the kids on the call. A full cousins time. I had started dinner, but then switched with Carly so I could go do financial stuff (setting up the account since we have to move firms for her pension). I came back down and we all ate the pasta and tofu and broccoli and cheese dinner. August and I then watched a Ted-Ed I’d found for him: “Radioactivity: Expect the Unexpected”.
We then did some learning time, over on the floor. We did the “Cellular Automation” part of the mechanical physics course. Think we’re going to have to go back to the easier math classes after this, but there was some good learning going on, particularly with the number of combinations thing.
I got him upstairs, and with Carly I heard him coming up with his own lines for “Oh, Susanna”:
“The restaurant was so crowded, I was first in line…I was so unscared in my bunker, I peed my pants…”
She gave him a bath and I brushed his teeth. In bed we listened to “The Little Dutch Boy” (using his finger to stop the leak) from Stories Podcast. His eyes were bothering him so he washed his eyes with water from his water bottle but got the bed all wet. We solved it by putting down his comforter as his bottom sheet. He liked that.
When he went to the bathroom he started philosophizing about money: “Why’s money so valuable? It’s just pieces of metal and paper?…Ones and zeros…”
Back in bed he got really excited about composing: “I’m going to compose an intense song called “Times Up”” He had the tune and hummed it and told me it would be in C minor and use triplet 32nd notes. He was using an invisible piano on the wall to show me which keys he was using. He then talked about his goals: “I can’t wait until I’m accurate down to a 64th note…” And he talked about wanting to give himself challenges for him to then play on the piano. And he talked about wanting to know how other composers compose music. We ended up making a list of goals for tomorrow:
Goals for tomorrow:
• accuracy (to 64th notes)
• how to change time signatures in Notion
• Learn about how composers compose
• compose “Time’s Out”
We finished listening to “Velociraptor”, the last Bedtime Explorers podcast (until they release more). August wondered what meditation we’d do tomorrow. We listened to the Philip Glass: Musical Offerings album and he was finally asleep around 11.
Composing time 1:
Composing time 2:
Colin watching him compose:
Moving his hands in “opposites”:
Playing Fairy Flight in 5/4:
Cousins learning time:
Talking about his composing plans 1:
Talking about his composing plans 2:
