He was up at 9:09 and called me up. I read one chapter from Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger before we headed down. He then played Magnus Kingdom for his morning time. A nice change from having to play Minecraft all the time, although Magnus Kingdom is really too easy for him now. For breakfast we both had oatmeal and watched the latest Grian episode, which may be the best Hermitcraft episode yet:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD-HFbZQc6w
We played chess on the wooden board, and he showed me some yoga. He is incredibly flexible, at least compared to us adults. I got him outside for a little bit. He watered his plant and we played ball. We then sat in the swing and I read two chapters of Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger.
We went back in and Carly was making a salad: “If I had to choose between eating tomato and eating lava, I’d choose tomato. I mean lava. I meant to say lava.” He spent five stars to play Minecraft, and we played in a biospheres survival world that he downloaded and that is pretty interesting. Carly asked if she should play with him and he said, “This is a too claustrophobic world for you.” So I played with him.
She read some Joey Pigza Swallowed thé Key but then he wanted to make a web out of rubber bands. They worked a bit on that but it didn’t go far, as we are low on rubber bands, then August wanted her to painted. She painted, and he was her assistant, filling up the water dish and giving her more of colors. He’s reluctant to paint on his own, unfortunately.
I got him an apple with peanut butter and honey. Then seconds on peanut butter and honey when he ate those without the apple. He ate a few slices of the apple and said it was delicious, but didn’t finish it. He’d barely eaten any oatmeal as well. He sang an annoying but funny song about using the color yellow, and when Carly lay on the floor and he’d been eating his apple he said, “I’m assuming to cuddle with you I need to wash my hands.” He washed and they cuddled, then he listened to a story for alone time, after which he and Carly went and played Minecraft outside.
We went upstairs and he played tanks with Gabi at four. I brought him 3 of his crackers. I know they spent some time discussing the emotions poster. When they were done August and I got his room nice and cold and read more of Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger. We stopped with just one chapter left.
I took him downstairs. At one point August wanted to use the SharetheMeals app and eventually we did it. He showed Carly how it worked and they donated 50 cents. August told Carly, “It’s like what you did, but more efficient.” He was talking about how she solicited donations and went out and bought stuff and then drove it down to south Tel Aviv.
I went up to work. We had our arts session. I was excited to find out that the woman, Tania Nasir, who was reading poetry by Mahmoud Darwish, knew and worked with the great author John Berger, who helped translate the poems she was reading. John Berger was one of the first ‘international’ writers I knew about, having picked up his Pig Earth in some U-District used book store when I was at the UW. I haven’t read any Berger in decades, so need to change that.
I came down at 5:30 to 7:30 and all of us worked together to bring in the groceries order, which had just arrived. I then got August dinner, of raw tofu and teriyaki dipping sauce, and the multigrain rice Carly had just made with broccoli and beans. He played more Magnus Kingdom, then I got him upstairs.
We called Mom, and when he saw her he said, “Hey cribbage master! Whatcha doing?” We finished out our first game of chess together, which took two hands. August introduced his random drawing a card to see who gets the crib technique to her and he got the crib both times. But it probably only saved us one hand on the game.
Carly gave him a bath, and I was working on the video editing. Carly brought him up crackers, but then in bed he managed to flip the plate. The crackers were fine, but he needed a full wardrobe change. He put on the shorts that need to be buttoned.
Back in bed he said he was going to listen to “My favorite story: Narcissus and Echo”. He had described the story in detail earlier. He then listened to “The Wonders of Snake Oil”. We brushed our teeth, and he was saying things like, “This person is hideous…” From one of the stories, and hideous is his new word. It is probably from the Narcissus and Echo story, as he was quoting lines from it, and sang a very funny “I have high cheek bones” song.
In bed we listened to Beethoven’s Second Symphony, at his request, then Nielsen’s First (my choice, as it is the latest Seattle Symphony release, and I want to work our way through their collection to discover new composers). The clock said 23:23 when we first got it up, and he was asleep by 11:45.
Flexible exercise:
Skype dance:
Playing cribbage:
Mirror song and dance:
