I started waking him around 9:10. I kept poking him and finally he was awake after 9:30. Carly had gone to the licensing office to renew or driver’s licenses and was successful, and got back as we were still in his room. I read one Wayside School story, then he was looking up at the glow in the dark stars on his ceiling and started seeing pictures and shapes in them. A hat, presents, and then all sorts of shapes, like different triangles. We brushed our teeth, then I took a few minutes to move the desk in the office, just turning it to look out the other window. While I did that he sang words from his art on the stairway.
We went downstairs and he played some piano. Then spent his iPad time trying out different add-ons, trying to get them to work. The most successful one was a nuclear bomb add-on, that made a huge explosion which would basically freeze the game for a couple minutes and leave a huge crater. Carly got bad news about our health care options; they have a new plan, with Clements, that requires us to either just get travel insurance when we go overseas, or that includes universal coverage (which we’ve had up to now) for an extra $190 a month. And the latter is the only one that covers coronavirus. So we were trying to figure that out.
I got him some French toast for breakfast. The two of them played chess. We then played a bit of chess, then they went outside and played ball for a few minutes. Back inside I got his attention by suggesting I teach him the card game War. I don’t quite know why I did this, as I soon remembered I don’t like the game. But we played one game, with him winning, then watched a couple of educational videos: “How did giant Pterosaurs Fly?” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b4kAycprQg and “Neutron Stars Keep Getting Weirder” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpE4A3-lo-M. We then watched a Stressmonster video, and he watched a couple of Bright Side videos while I did some work: One about not eating salt (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssFiNIEfxy4) and one about wearing socks when you sleep (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTek4yvsVeg). He now wants to eat less salt and wear socks to bed.
It was time for Gabi, so we went up and he met with Gabi at 3. Gabi is in quarantine because his wife was exposed. August started by saying “Sorry you have to be in quarantine.” I heard them discussing ‘scared’ and ‘loving’. He typed ‘scared’ when Gabi didn’t understand what he was saying. They played chess, tanks, and reversi. At the end he said, “This is so amazing. I want to do more.” So we downloaded an app to play it and we played one game.
We got ready to go to the pool. Carly stayed at home. August and I drove there, and August even suggested we should start taking some of the float things out of his vest. But when we got to the pool it was too crowded for him. There weren’t really any more people in the pool than there was on Sunday, but there were a few more people out on the grass. I couldn’t convince him otherwise, so we headed home. As we walked back to the car he saw some ants that dart in and out of their nest really fast, and he wondered, “Why do they do that?” We speculated on why animals might move fast or slow. On the drive home he asked about color blindness and wants to do it as a Brother and Sister game.
We were home at 5. He didn’t really want to talk about why he didn’t want to go to the pool with Carly, but said it didn’t have to do with COVID-19. We placed a fruit and veggie order. He played piano, and wondered, “How do you play a carpety song?” And asked “Why are prices different?” for different fruits. I suggested a couple things, and he added, “Another is how rare it is?” He told Carly about not wanting to eat salt, and she mentioned how Cherie likes salt. He said, “Next time we talk to her I need to tell her it’s not good.”
I mentioned I was going up to work as we were doing the session on home demolitions. I had to explain what a demolition was, so a word of the day. I went up worked form 5:30 to about 7:30. He had his Minecraft time with Vivian and Colin. Vivian logged off again when she didn’t like something. He was playing chess with Cherie when I came down, and Carly had made spaghetti.
August and I went upstairs, and somehow childbirth came up and he asked why doctors and nurses are even needed, after it came up that most people are born in hospitals, but he was slightly different. We discussed that, and things like cesarians.
We did some wrestling, and he was laughing hysterically at my wimpy voice. He was different patients/people like, Flora Blora – paralyzed from tree, shot with arrow in hand, and Tanty Janty – shot by 100 arrows.
He went out to Carly for bath time, but they disappeared for a while. Then she gave him a bath. He told me the full story of “Cow wells and cow bells” and then listened to “The Werewolf at the Inn”. He wants the snack bars advertised – Perfect Bars. He asked what they meant by stock up — another word of the day.
We listened to a Rival Consoles album. He was then pushing on his loose tooth, his bottom right, and it hurt. Took a couple minutes for him to be okay with it. I fell asleep, and he woke me up at 11:10. He told me, “I can’t believe my Dada, yourself, worked at a summer camp.” I had mentioned that earlier, and he now asked me what it was like. He woke me again, and wanted to talk about Vivian getting upset. So we did that. He then woke me to turn off the AC. He told me, “I had a pretty weird dream last night: a video game w’ere in, fire ants… chaos…” At 11:40 he told me, “Here’s why I’m not afraid of medical conditions… I’m not afraid of developing one… it seems amazing, actually.” He then asked about handicaps in golf. I had mentioned them earlier, and apparently so had Carly. It was now 11>50. He was finally asleep right at midnight at end of album.
Picking out constellations on his ceiling:
Playing War:
Piano time:
The wimpy game:
Wimpy August:
Laughing at my wimpy voice:
Piano time:
