I started waking him up at 8:50 by trying to trim his nails. He’d asked me to last night, but I forgot because he fell asleep so late. He started to wake up, but allowed me to do his thumb a bit, which was the main one. Downstairs he played some piano, then started playing chess. Carly came down and he confronted her to play with him for a few minutes. I was able to take over and finish the game.
He kept playing and I made the sign with all of his subjects on it and put it up in the corner. He then played with Magnus Trainer as I made more scramble like yesterday. We then ate and watched the newest Grian video. He had asked yesterday if insects hear, so we watched a video on that. That got him wanting to watch Ants Canada, so he watched one of those, before we finally played Minecraft. He’d also been going back and forth to piano through the morning.
Then to piano, where I was introducing him to 5/4. Then he had a tune. He really had a song of the day, a tune he’s played before, but which he was playing around more with today. The one version I recorded today was very sad and melancholy. I did some tuning of the piano, then we watched a David Bennett video on brightness of the modes. We learned about Brightness versus Darkness. August really liked it, and I think it helped us both with memorizing them:
Lydian Augmented – 2 sharps
Lydian – 1 sharp
Ionian
Mixolydian – 1 flat
Dorian – 2 flats
Aeolian (minor) 3 flats
Phrygian – 4 flats
Locrian – 5 flats
Super Locrian – 6 flats
He asked, “What’s technical mean?” when he heard it in the end of the video. I then started to make us a chart of the above. Carly came down and agreed to play chess with him for a couple minutes. He was really needy about playing chess with her today, and every time she would come downstairs he’d want to play chess with her. When she had to go up to work he listened to the Stories Podcast story “Cybil: Hero of the American Rwvolution” for alone time. We played Minecraft in a lucky block world. Parkour was a new word.
Carly was then down for lunch and he chanted “Mama! Chessy chess is the bestie best. Let’s go!” As she was making food. They played chess and he won. He’s been pretty equitable about letter her win sometimes, but today he was allowing himself to undo moves that he didn’t like, but not her. She went back to work again at 4, and we were doing something, about to get to some learning activity, when she came down with Colin on the phone. It didn’t feel like a very productive day, because every time I was stressing August towards something we’d get interrupted.
He had fun with Colin though: “Yeah! You’re eating waffles! Yeah! Yum! Scrumptious!” We took Colin out and showed him the weeds and our game with the ball, and August showed him how he uses the broom as a lever on the swing. Talked to him for 15 or 20 minutes, then said goodbye. August and I did some piano and Earpeggio, then went upstairs to wrestle on the bed. We did the waking up game, and he had me waking him up this time.
When we came down Carly convinced him to go for a little drive, just to make sure the car was doing fine. They were gone a couple minutes. Back at home he and Vivian were having difficulty connecting on Minecraft. Vivian had been signed out of her account, and it took Carly calling Cassie to get it fixed. I was getting ready for a run. Then Vivian disappeared from the call. He was starting to get upset, but then realized she was in one of the worlds and they played together. Not sure if they talked again though.
I went for a run. When I got back they were still playing Minecraft. When he got off they had some dinner of leftovers: pancakes with peanut better, rest of the sandwich from lunch, and the scramble from this morning.
They then went outside for a few minutes, and when they came back in August did 40 jumping jacks as payment for the plants he didn’t water the other day. They then played chess and did some phone tag between them and Oma and Cassie. Colin wanted a poop skin in Minecraft and we helped Cassie with that, and Cherie was setting up the Zoom birthday for Thatcher on Saturday. August was being particularly demanding for Carly’s attention in playing chess, and was taking back moves himself but not allowing her to.
I took over with chess and taught him about setting up position. I taught him mating with two rooks, then he had fun trying to make up weird positions. It was suddenly 9:30 and I got him upstairs. He went to the bathroom and saw the toilet paper: “Hey! Hearts!” He’d been wanting the heart toilet paper for a long time, and I bought a package a couple months ago and we’re finally using it. I gave him a bath and he brought up the story “Dinosaur Christmas” and how they sing in the song about going extinct because they party so much. I taught him about irony and how we know why they really do go extinct.
His other top front tooth is now really loose, and actually bled a little. He says he really likes the feeling of a loose tooth as he gets to play with it. I don’t remember ever really enjoying the feeling. He then started talking about his dreams, telling me about a dream he had about a video game that doesn’t exist: “little characters…challenges, rainbowy blocks…I got lost in a forest…” And he told me about his dreams about Minecraft: “It makes me get extra Minecraft time in my sleep.”
He ate crackers in bed and we did a Brother and Sister game where they are in a simulation. elaborate was a word of the day. We went and brushed his teeth, then back in the bedroom he read the blue sign all backwards again. He then started a really interesting discussion when he asked, “Why do you feel so bad when you’re upset?” We discussed emotions and memories of being upset: he brought up getting upset with Vivian and Thatcher for running ahead on that walk at the lake house.
He asked about the difference between a world champion versus grand master in chess, and said the former was “more heroic”. I put on an album of Philip Glass: Itaipu. We continued with the emotions discussion, but that went pear shape. As in discussing hypotheticals I asked him how he would handle if Vivian and Colin couldn’t play Minecraft one day. Just the idea of them not being able to play became very upsetting to him, talking about revenge if they had made a choice, or if it was because of something really good (like going on a trip) how I would have to give him the same thing that they were getting or I’d be a bad parent. This went on and on, not improving, but not getting worse either. The album was over and I put on the Philip Glass: Solo Piano album again. I think he was finally, finally asleep at 11:40.
Song of the day:
Showing Colin the weeds and ball:
Chess with Colin, sort of:
Jumping jacks:
Discussing his dreams:
