He came out at 7:08. Just over 8 and a half hours. Ugh. He climbed into bed with me for a few minutes, then we got up at 7:15. Downstairs we read The Boxcar Children #2. When Carly came down he told her jokes: “How does a pea protect itself? It’s SHELL-ter!” (Which he had just made up) and “What’s a whale’s favorite game? Swallow the leader!” (From a podcast) and “Knock knock…interrupting trombone…” (From me, I think).
We did more reading, then played Minecraft – I almost finished the roof and he was working on Carly’s path. He then asked what mandatory evacuation mens (from the I Survived a Hurricane book from last night) and voluntary was also a word of the day. We had oatmeal for breakfast, then he played piano and he had a piece he really liked that was mixing major and minor. He was then practicing the song he’s been learning. We did a Brother game – another advanced civilization and Minecraft. Sister was making a multiverse portal and needing black hole converters. We did much of that outside.
Back inside we watched a crane fly video that Cherie had sent,https://youtu.be/2RF6iyrwAeU
, then we did some videos for Eve and Zoe. He quickly requested a Zoom meeting with them, but was shy to do so. We read some What If. I then read him the email that Carly had forwarded from Hank and we watched the piano video he had sent:https://youtu.be/MO97wSZmBmg
He listened to Circle Round’s “The Piper and the Pooka” for alone time. He noted when they used the phrase “stock still” in the story. Not sure if this is where he heard the phrase for the first time. Think this is the third time we’ve heard this story.
We played Minecraft in his world that he uses with Vivian and Colin. Vivian had made things in her world between times they had played together in it, and now August wanted to build things to surprise them in his world, as they were playing in it today. He added a bunch of bells for Colin, decorations on the tower thing, and we decorated a tunnel and he made a big piece of wall art in the tunnel that was really cool and he was really proud of.
We played piano, then Supersonic Piano. He then had a Ms. Safe games with piano class. He played really hard music for them, that I had both inspire and make the class sad and he thought that was pretty funny. We ate pizza outside for lunch. Back inside he did Supersonic Piano and had a Swedish fish, then more pizza. I saw him starting with the crust and was confused, as he usually doesn’t even eat the crust: “Starting with the crust…and end with the tail!”
To earn stars he started with Khan Academy working in multiplication. Did two quizzes to jump ahead. The for music we did a Ms. Safe music class with the metronome. We were working on timing and walking the hands at the same time, which is really tricky. Then, for reading, he read from Rivet, reading level 2 and 3 books. He has clearly made progress. He talked about wanting to learn jazz, and we did a bit of that, but I don’t really know how to teach him much, and he isn’t too interested in watching videos.
The groceries came; Carly wiped them off, and I put them away. He used stars for 30 minutes of Minecraft time, and he played with Carly for a while, adding more to the world for Vivian and Colin, and then I took over when she had to go to a meeting. He asked, “What’s intricate mean?” He then used it a minute later, saying “I’m good at intricate patterns.” He finished his art piece and said he wants to do a heart later.
I got him out for an ant walk, and we went and watched ants where he had gone with Carly. I hadn’t taken his water bottle, so when we walked back to the house to get it we made up a funny “Water store” song based on the “Juice Store” song, and it was all about how the water store only had things that make you thirsty, and no water. When he got his water bottle he was really laughing, and I wasn’t even saying anything and he was laughing just looking at me, and spit water on the floor. I was turning my back to him to help him not laugh.
He had some of the new crackers and peanut butter, then did some piano time. I took out the action and figured out the one key that has been sticking and fixed it, and fixed the lowest note on the piano. Getting better. He did more really cool playing, then we worked on composing together; him providing all of the ideas, and me helping get it into Notion. That worked quite well.
He then just wanted to listen to stories, so listened to Circle Round’s “Kangaroo and Joey Too” and “Three Wishes”. I went for a run, longer this time and using the 500 meters. I saw Brian and his family again. When I got back August was listening to “The Stonecutter” on Stories Podcast.
Carly had cooked more veggies to eat with the coconut rice and we had that for dinner. He played Minecraft with Vivian and Colin. Unfortunately, Vivian wasn’t too receptive to the changes and additions that August had made, not liking the decorations or bells in particular, although she liked the tunnel. While they played I spent a little time on the roof and beams, and watched the rest of that coronavirus concert, then started some work.
When they were done with Minecraft I read some of What If? and perturbation was a word of the day. He finished his first dinner and wanted more. But then they called Cassie back to see if Vivian wanted to do story time. Cassie asked her and she said no, and Cassie said she was upset about something involving Minecraft. Not clear what that was, but August took all of it badly and got really upset. We managed to keep him around the couch, and eventually he agreed to go upstairs with me and go in his room by himself and listen to stories by himself. I sat out on the couch and worked, and he turned on his air conditioner to 17 and listened to “Why the LeVes Change Color” and “Max Goodname and the Silent Night, part 1” He was hungry so I brought up his second bowl of dinner and and Cheerios, and he used the stool as a little table. He really liked the Max Goodname story and asked me to come in and listen to it with him. It was more like a fantasy story, with dwarves and enchanters and whatnot. I went in and listened and also kept working. He then listened to “Peanut Butter Jelly War”, then part two of Max Goodname. Vengeance and dwarf were new words. Didn’t finish it though, as he wanted the kangaroo story again after asking what Tanglewood is (we looked it up and it is a concert venue in Massachusetts).
We listened to the live “Kangaroo and Joey” story, then he went to the bathroom. He said he wanted to learn more about composing tomorrow, specifically how to compose the note lengths in his head. I suggested some activities we could do, and hummed a line. He told me he thought that two of my notes were out of tune, flat. Carly came in to actually wash him and he brushed his teeth really well on his own. I then took over and brushed my teeth. He said he wasn’t going to floss. I said okay, but I was going to floss, and I got his out for him and just set it on the counter. He decided to go ahead and floss too. We’ve also started doing mouthwash, and he did that again today.
We said good night, and in the bedroom he was trying to say “Wink, wink”, but wasn’t really using it correctly, so I taught him how to do that. He also asked how to actually wink, and I reminded him how he’d found it really hard to calmly close his eyes when he was back in Korea. He tried winking, but couldn’t do it. I’m sure he’ll figure it out at some point.
We read a little of The Boxcar Children. He went to the bathroom and was talking about dogs for some reason, and what they can understand/learn. As we walked back to the bedroom he said, “Hey! I just figured something out: you can code dogs!” Lights off at 10:35 and we listened to Peace Out’s “Water Cycle”. He played with his snow globe and asked how he got it and I reminded him of Cherie buying it in Jerusalem. He remembered, and also thought it was funny that there were all those crowds and no social distancing. He noted how the phone screen could reflect in it and called it the “3D version…” We listened to Jherek Bischoff’s Composed Instrumentals, which he really likes. After one track he said, “I can’t get to sleep.” But was asleep soon after that by 10:55.
A tune he’s been working on:
Bouncing the ball over him:
Music for Eve and Zoe 1:
Music for Eve and Zoe 2:
Zoom meeting request:
Reading time:
Open piano playing:
Open piano playing 2:
