Author: Ryan/Dada

He was up about 8:35. He waited for me to come up, then went to the bathroom. When he was done he climbed into the couch bed for a couple minutes. We went downstairs and he cuddled with Carly for a couple minutes and they did radio talk.

We read some of The Boxcar Children then played Minecraft, building in the flat world. I added some ruins and details. He asked, “What’s appealing mean?” When time was up he went outside with Carly. She had met with Alex. I made breakfast, making a scramble of eggs, cheese, broccoli, and turkey. We did a Brother game with him meeting Tune, a girl who does magic with music. He was listening to Supersonic Piano.

We ate our breakfast in tortillas and ate outside. He was talking to Carly about the different enchantments in Minecraft and asked about words like looting, impaling, and aquatic.

Carly started painting outside. August remembered a paint mixing app, and I put it on his phone for him, along with Adobe Capture, which I thought might be interesting for him. He played with that for a while, and took a few photos, one of flowers. He then came in and turned on “The Shepherd’s Disguise” on Circle Round and made a fort on the couch. He asked me to get his blanket and made a nice for for himself while he listened. When he was done listening we went upstairs for Ms. Safe games, with the student Tal. Her class was studying safe things like pillows and feathers. He then had a ripped toenail and got upset about. After several minutes of pleading for me to come up with a solution that didn’t involve nail clippers or a bandage he finally let me put socks on him, and he wore those most of the rest of the day until the nail broke off on its own.

We went back to the game and there was a student in a wheelchair, named Plorp. We went downstairs and he started playing piano. We played more Minecraft in the Flat Land. He randomly asked, “What’s eavesdropping mean?” I made him a grilled turkey and cheese sandwich. He was playing piano with his eyes closed. He started by eating his sandwich outside, but was scared inside by a buzzing insect. Inside he ate and we watched National Theatre’s production of Frankenstein. Makeup was a word of the day. Carly came in to find out what disturbing video I was showing him. We watched 18 minutes.

He then wanted to go play upstairs again. We went up and did the dog and cat hand fights thing. We went back downstairs and he wanted to learn about another medical condition. Looking at Osmosis the first I found was leukemia and we watched the video for that. We then moved to piano and composed short pieces for each other. He liked the one I composed for him (I called it “Shmorgadeboop”) but he didn’t actually try to play it. I practiced piano and they worked in PowerPoint.

To get him out on a walk we all went. We walked down by the Monster Zapping park, and he had his bar as we walked. He then turned around and led us back. As we got back to the house he spotted the excavator and said, “Look! I see a giant cat!” Because it says CAT on the back of it. Think that was an original joke of his.

We got back and watched GoodTimeswithScar. Carly got him food, and he ate the asparagus, but only the tops. He explained himself: “Think of it as a paint brush: I only wanted the bristles, not the foundation.”

I went out for a walk, over in Bnei Dror again, but this time doing the loop north of the mall. He played Minecraft, then he and Carly continued their documentary and popcorn series, learning about the quest for extraterrestrial life. Distinctive was a new word. Carly asked, “What’s Enceladus?” He replied, “A moon of Saturn.” He was asking about a lot of words, including, but not limited to: ammonia, reverberate, significant, central, permutations, nourishment, savage, carnivore, premise, and conviction.

Carly talked to Cherie and I did some work. I did some extra editing for Omar of a piece written by a woman about their Bible study groups. They then read Older than Dirt. She gave him a bath and they read more of it. She washed his hair and he had a lollipop. I read The Boxcar Children as he had the lollipop and we finished the book. I’m starting to like the series better. August joked to Carly: “Nonfiction and fiction is equally good!”

We brushed our teeth and went downstairs to say good night to Carly. Carly had spotted him wiggling a tooth, and now he let slip that he actually has two loose teeth. We listened to one story on the Stories Podcast (a short one), then Peace Out’s “Sun Salutations” Salutations and continent were new words. We listened to the Rival Consoles album again. After several minutes he told me, “I can’t go to sleep, but just so you know I like the music.” He was finally asleep by 11:15.

Daily piano 1:

Daily piano 2:

Feeding ants:

Melodica tune:

He was up at 8:05. I went up, and he was on the couch and instantly crawled under the covers. I got in with him, and he fell right asleep. I hadn’t expected that to happen.

He was then up by 8:55. I went up, and we talked about May Day, and then Buddha’s Birthday. Back downstairs he played and played piano.

He went to the bathroom and asked about Buddhism again and reincarnation. He started arguing about god not existing and I told him about how science needs testable hypotheses. I meant this as a reason to not actually argue against them, but he took it as a good argument in and of itself and went out to tell Carly: “The hypothesis can’t be tested.” “Buddhism, that’s the same problem…”

We then watched videos to learn about May Day and Buddha’s Birthday and watched a reading of a book called May Day Around the World, which focused on the spring celebrations of it. Lei was a new word. We then watched two videos of trapeze performers, since it had come up in a Peace Out a couple days ago and he didn’t know what it was. August liked the symmetry of it.

That led to a Brother and Sister game with trapeze artists in forest. Carly came in and he played piano. Then he asked for more kinds of performance, then specifically something that would scare Brother. I came up with a motorcycle cage (something we saw once or twice in, I think, Spokane at car shows):https://youtu.be/TM_jORDiEz8

Syncronized was a new wotd.

We played some Minecraft, finding our old dirt house in the survival world, until Gilad called and August played with him in his new Survival Island world, which he had seen listed last night when August played with Vivian. He ate oatmeal, then crackers and meat, while he played.

They played for about an hour, then we did a Brother game of them going to the beach and getting stuck in the traffic jam. He wanted another performance thing to scare brother and I came up with sword swallowing and we watched a video (https://youtu.be/q6bLxt3_9pA – exquisite was a new word). We next watched the latest Grian video. Allocated, backtrack, P.S., and asthetic were new words.

I made him a quesadilla. He talked about cutting down a forest in Minecraft and making a desert in Minecraft: “So it can metasophically…” mixing metaphorically and philosophically. He was then going on about Myna digging a billion blocks. Sister had a business now, landscaping, and Brother is her secretary. He ate outside and kept talking. He watered his weeds, then most of the other plants. He spotted a spider and we took photos of it.

We played a Ms. Safe game with a new student, Arthur, who had amnesia. Then read The Boxcar Children. Ought to was an interesting phrase for him, and he was using it later. Carly came out, and we went inside a few minutes later. He wanted another medical condition for a student, and we came up with Allie in a wheelchair. He was asking for more, so I thought of narcolepsy. We watched a video about narcolepsy and learned the words narcolepsy, cataplexy, paychological, and impaired (https://youtu.be/f6C6o4SLbTA). The Osmosis channel looks promising for future videos. There was then a new student, with narcolepsy, named Tal. purchase was a new word, and we played a game with Tal being a new student.

Downstairs he listened to the camels story in Circle Round, then we read through and watched the video for Ted Ed Earth School day 3, learning about what our smartphones are made of. Irreparable was a new word. We also watched their elements song from that. He then spotted an Extra History video on the 1918 flu pandemic. We watched it, and it turned out to be a 4-part series. We watched two and a half of them. He learned words like trachea, riot, and pneumonia. He was really liking them, and only stopped because he was talking about them: “This is the first time and epidemic helped civilization…the war ground to a halt.”

I got him out on a chocolate bar walk. He headed to the back path as the black dog was out. We walked up through the park, got almost all the way home around the block, and he spotted the dog again, so we walked back the way we had come. Worked well, as it doubled our length. Along the way he asked, “What’s vital mean?” He ate his bar as we walked, and said, “I gobble up cookies faster than a spinning black hole gobbles up planets.”

We were back at 5:30. He stayed outside with Carly and I went for a walk. It was the furthest I’ve walked since they first implemented the 100 meter rule. The night before that had gone into effect I had gone on a run over to Bnei Dror and taken a photo from the other side of the park. I walked over there this time and took a photo from the same location. I got back and took a shower, and August, Vivian, and Colin did Minecraft.

At the end August suddenly had the idea that they needed to do reading with Vivian again and got upset when Carly woudn’t say yes right away. She needed to ask Vivian first, and Vivian hasn’t been wanting to do it. He got upset and was hitting her, but it didn’t last as long, and after she agreed to come out of the bedroom he went into his own room, turned on the air conditioner, and started listening to Stories Podcast: “The King’s Figs”, “The Hat, the Horn, and the Purse”, and “Anasazi and the Magic Bowl”. Carly brought him a fruit plate, then I got him some peanut butter crackers.

We skipped a bath again. He went in the bedroom with Carly and was helping her

Helping Carly with her movie:

“Why are you doing iMovies of your work? It sounds like a waste of time.” He asked what foothills were. Not sure where he heard that. He also asked her, “Do you ever hear my music while you’re working?”

We went in and read some of The Boxcar Children. Talking about fruit August said, “Cherries…scrumptious…nothing like a meal of raspberries, blackberries, and cherries.”

We listened to Peace Out, then we listened to an album called Persona, by Rival Consoles—another album Paul has been listening to. August liked it right away. He was finally asleep by 11:15.

Exploring rhythms:

Exploring rhythms 2:

Watering:

Going upstairs song and dance:

Teeth brushing and laughing:

I went up at 8:30 to start waking him up. He was quite asleep though, and I let him sleep until 9. Downstairs I encouraged him to play Minecraft right away, as we had Gabi at 10. He logged onto his Taiga world. Very frustrating to move from world to world, and yet he still wants me to play with him. We did work on our ice tower house together a bit, and he’s been changing his skin a lot, which is pretty funny.

He quickly had some oatmeal and then we went upstairs and got ready for his meeting with Gabi. He overheard Carly talking about passing a law, and as he went to the bathroom he told me what he had overheard (something about an idea dying if it isn’t passed), and said “That makes sense to me.”

He listened in on her a bit more and heard her saying they were out of time, and he said he knew it was just for the lesson and not her full day, because he remembers from before coronavirus that she works until the evening.

They started their meeting and Gabi asked him to point out some feelings he has had this week on the feelings poster. August was pointing and using sign language and they did some typing back and forth, using emojis. They mainly talked about being happy, but August couldn’t tell him what made him happy this week. August then came and closed the door. They played the tank game for most of the time. He called me in for something, when he thought there was a problem, then closed the door again when I left it open.

Downstairs he played piano and I made the rest of the Greek letter signs. He then started a game where the Mom and Dad meet another dirt scientist. Played one, then another way. “I heard you’re the Crazy family and you study dirt. It’s all over Wikipedia.” I used the word preeminent and that became a word of the day.

We went outside for a minute, then he went back in when he thought he saw a bee. I made him crackers with meat and cheese and went back outside and read while he played with a music app and ate those. We then read The Boxcar Children. Coward and FBI were words of the day. That led to a Brother and Sister game:

“You know how I take stuff from what I learn? This is going to be about the FBI.” It involved Brother meeting an FBI agent in the woods and the agent asked him if he had seen any evidence. First Brother told him about a metal box, which turned out to have been scientific equipment, then he remembered finding a million dollars in the woods. It ended up with the FBI agent catching the very inept criminalL “Spill the beans. You have spilled the beans, actually.” “There’s one more bean you have to spill…”

We went back inside and did some Earpaggio and piano figuring out seventh chords. We then continued the Brother game, with Brother admitting to stealing donuts. It turned out that they are free donuts, and Brother always thinks he is stealing them. He was hungry, so I got a bunch of things out, and taught him the word smorgasbord. We had tuna on crackers, asparagus, and soup. We kept going with the game of catching criminals: Ms. Serious and Ms. Danger teamed up as crime-fighting vigilantes, but had a falling out when Ms. Danger broke small laws like jaywalking, then Ms. Serious and Ms. Mean teamed up, which was more successful, as they enforced the small laws. We were then watching the Ólafur Arnalds visual EP re:visions.

Carly came down, and he was laughing hysterically, locking her out of the house. We did more reading, then he said, “I just thought of something to put in a Brother and Sister game: serial numbers. Like on cash.” Did some Brother and Sister game, then watched StressMonster (we’re a few behind on her channel) and had banana chips. He played some piano and I took a long video of him working through some dissonant music ideas, then he did alone time listening to “Peter Rabbit and Penny” (I think it was) on Stories Podcast. In Minecraft we played our creative world. He used a fill command to help enlarge the underground redstone machine area I was making, but then used another one on the surface that created a huge chasm that cut through a few rivers and looked ugly. He agreed to not do more when I pointed out he could delete our house and other things accidentally.

Then more piano. He had some really good stuff, and said it involved a formula for making sure the F key didn’t stick. We got outside and played our ball game, then got out on a walk. We walked the back path and up through the park, looped around, and came back down the path and sat at the bench and he had his chocolate bar. We were discussing the coronavirus, and how the restrictions were lifting. He did a great job talking about it, and he brought up how it didn’t affect him since he wasn’t in school. He also brought up memories from preschool, like when Simona had a nosebleed due to allergies. He also said, “So you know, I know I shouldn’t call you idiot when I’m upset.” We also talked about pets, and he definitely doesn’t want a pet, but if he did he said he would be okay with a mouse and a hamster, and wants them to have a wheel. He looked at the plants in the circular planter in the middle and said, “I like the terraforming they’ve done…I have ideas…”

Back at home we sat in yard and looked at coronavirus graphs. Carly came out and he showed her the graphs. He wants to tell Oma she should come to Israel because it is safer. Carly asked if he had watered any plants besides his two weeds, and he said no, saying “I LOVE my plants.” And told her, “Bugs is like coronavirus for humans, but not as severe.” As I went in he was telling her something about how it is satisfying when the water gets wet. They came in a few minutes later and we composed “Pattern” on Notion.

I read a few minutes of The Boxcar Children #3, then Vivian called and they moved to Minecraft. They had difficulty getting her connected to August’s world, which was the survival world they had started yesterday, so Vivian figured out how to make one, and eventually they all got into that world. I went for a walk, walking as far north as the Snakes and Ladder park, since, the the 500 meter limit on exercise has been lifted. I got back and took a shower, then he and Carly were watching a documentary about dark matter and eating popcorn. Xenon was a new word. They then moved on to a new episode.

I read to him while he ate some dinner. Cherie called and he talked to her. Told her she should move to Israel. Fortified, ammunition, and bindi were words that he learned from her. “It helps you remember you are god.” “I’m not god!” They then got into an argument about god.

When that was done Carly took him up and gave him a bath. They did a lot of laughing and were looking at her computer on the bed when I went up. We brushed our teeth and discussed CB language and technology: “over and out”, he kept saying. We listened to “How the Camel Got His Hump by Kipling on Stories Podcast. Then “Hansel and Gretel and the Apple Trees”. He had a Sister game which we did of Sister joining the Mynacraft server. We listened to Peace Out’s “Bike Adventure” and then put on the Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Michael Brooks album Night Sound, which he really liked from the beginning. He asked, “What’s queer mean?” They use it a lot in The Boxcar Children (along with “laugh”). He kept trying to talk to me, and was finally asleep some time after 11.

Tank game with Gabi:

Locking Mama out:

Letting her back in:

Dissonant music session:

Material for composing:

Material for composing 2:

Examining the spider web:

He was up at 7:40. We cuddled on the couch bed. The first thing he said was, “What’s a geita?” He had asked me this one before, but this time was able to tell me it was from the Circle Round story “The Dancing Goats”. We listened to it, and it turned out to be the instrument, gaita. He also asked about hide (a skin, that is). He pointed out this was where he heard “making ends meet”.

We went downstairs and he went to the piano. Carly was working at the table. We then played Minecraft. He just did lucky block stuff at first. I was trying to get him to use a tissue for his runny nose, and said the tissue had to get enough snot for its family before the lean times of the summer. A few minutes later he commented on how he got my joke about summer being the hard time for tissues, when it is winter for humans. He also said he doesn’t like tissues, but wants them to survive. He switched to a Taiga Bay world and started to make a random sort of sculpture: “I don’t put a lot of facts into it. I just randomly place stuff. That’s how you make it look good.”

We had oatmeal for breakfast and we left reviews for the story podcasts. He liked leaving them, but only did one-word reviews and didn’t want to add details. He then wanted to go outside to play the ball game. We went out and did that for quite a while. We then went upstairs to a Brother and Archeologist game. We then remembered and replayed the story when they save and get Tigey. Way back at the beginning of the Brother and Sister games.

Then back downstairs to educational videos: oboe, tuba, day in the life of a satellite team, “What the HECK is time!?” (We discussed the line “Time is a representation of causality” and causality was a word of the day), “Where do New Words Come From?” from Ted-Ed, and “Flocking Behavior of Birds” from Smarter Every Day (murmurations emergent behavior). The Smarter Every Day guy was making analogies as he learned about the birds and I commented how that is like August. Maneuverable was another new word.

We went back upstairs for a Brother and archeologist game about algorithms, where the algorithms, like from the bird flocking video, were applied to Brother’s cats in Minecraft. Then back downstairs where he listened to “Kangaroo and Joey Too”, which he really likes. We played more in Taiga Bay and Carly made a smoothie. He then played piano while I made lunch.

We played the Kings and Queens game and ate grilled cheese outside. Then had chocolate milk. He asked if there was an “owner” of the United States and we talked about dictators. Opposed was a new word. He said, “I don’t believe in claiming…you have to win an election.” Carly was making a chicken dish. We did Earpaggio, then moved inside. He started playing piano, so I made more Greek alphabet signs. We then went back to Earpaggio our ogether, identifying seventh chords, and getting up to major minor 7th. We discussed the “no ifs ands or buts”. We then went out and read on the swing. I read “Toads and Pearls” (blessed was new) and “Little Red Riding Hood”, finishing the book. “Bearing” was another word of the day.

He hung out with Carly for a while and I went upstairs for a bit. They were laughing and maybe did some reading. He then listened to “The Sultan’s Figs”, a new Circle Round, and I went for a run. I came back and they were watching the Mars rover documentary and having popcorn and I showered. He then started playing Minecraft with Vivian and Colin, playing in survival. That lasted an hour. August talked about wanting to do the reading at the end, but then agreed to the plan of hanging up and calling Oma instead. He Played piano for her and explained seventh chords. They then played Pictionary using the whiteboard in Zoom. I was working, then watched Twelfth Night.

We went upstairs and Carly washed him. He then watched more of Twelfth Night with me, and we talked more about how they do their acting and the technology involved. He then asked about Lewis Hamilton and he asked “How can he be better if they all have the same speed limit?” We talked about the skill and strategy and technology. We then talked more about the acting in the play, and he was smiling and asking me, “Is this a real smile?” And we discussed more of Shakespeare versus modern time and how the production could be different. Finally, he said, “Tell me some different kinds of archeologists…-gists” He could think of paleontologist.

We brushed our teeth and said good night to Carly. He was joking with her and said “You’re as dull as ever…because she’s a teacher.” He also said some nice ones. In bed we listened to “Tokyo and the Dragon King” and “Blue Corn Maiden” on Stories Podcast. He had a little game with Brother where he meets the god of weather, who can change the month/seasons (like in the stories). We then listened to Peace Out’s “Circus Spectacular”. Trapeze was a new word and we’ll have to watch videos tomorrow. He then asked “How do you gasp?” When I showed a quick gasp he said he thought it would be longer, and he then compared it to being staccato versus legato. We listened to Apocalyptica’s Plays Metallica (that’s four cellos) and he was asleep about 10:50.

Song 1 today:

Song 2 today:

Playing for Oma:

Explaining seventh chords:

It has now been 50 days since school was first cancelled.

Before going to sleep I heard him moving around and then making some noise. I went in to find him sliding off the top bed with his head down on the lower. I lifted him back up on his bed. He sat up for a second then let me lay him down. He then slept until after 7:30. We finished volume 2 of The Boxcar Children, then he played lots of cool improvs on piano. He wanted to go upstairs and was doing a funny march on the way up. He had more Brother and the archeologists games. We were trying to remember the word iridescent.

We played for a while, then went downstairs for Minecraft and apple and peanut butter. I then heated pancakes but he didn’t really eat them after he was done with Minecraft. We went back upstairs for a Sister and Myna competition when Carly came in. He was joking about Carly being me and me being her, after joking that she was a man. Came back down again and he ate the pancakes and we watched the next day of Ted-Ed Earth School “Lifecycle of a T-Shirt” annually, quantity, and metric ton were our first words of the day. He took a break to play variations of “Hacked”

We transcribed a couple of his short songs and he had a line he wanted me to send to Dalit via video. At one point he was reading the Greek letter signs on the refrigerator that I had made. I did some practicing and when the sirens went off for Memorial Day at 11 we went outside to listen back inside we kept doing piano, and he was the archeologist again, telling Sister about what he had found, and how he used scanners to look for rare elements or human DNA in order to determine where he should dig. He got really into that and was walking around me in circles explaining how he worked.

We went back to the t-shirt video and he asked about escalating and garment. We next watched the newest Grian video and discussed encroaching conclusion vault and prosperous. We then watched Iskall, and jackpot was a new word.

We had some fish sticks for lunch, then got back to the piano. I started making Greek letter signs for the next five letters. He went to the bathroom and took a long time in there, talking about Minecraft projects the whole time, and I finished the signs. He then had a game with the teachers. Ms. Mean, Ms. Funny, Ms. Less-Funny. He liked my line, changing the line from Shivers, “As funny as a cactus in a balloon shop.”

We went down to do some math, starting division in Khan Academy. He flew through the first 3rd grade division quiz, but then on the next lesson he barely wanted to engage. It was like pulling teeth to get him to finish it. We finally concluded that, and had just come to a compromise about doing a Ms. Serious game downstairs, as I don’t like going up to the bedroom, but then Carly came downstairs so I gave in and we went upstairs. We played for a few minutes, but even though he wanted Ms. Serious to teach her class he still wasn’t interested in doing math problems, so we went back downstairs where he listened to “The Pumpkin Seeds” on Stories Podcast for alone time and ate his fish sticks.

In Minecraft we went adventuring in our survival world. He got upset when he got himself trapped below the ice and thought he was dying. I managed to save him though. We made maps and adventured east, looking for a mesa, which we haven’t seen in our survival world.

We then went out for the ball game. When I asked “Why?” about something he said, “Oh, you’re a curious kid.” We played the ball kicking game, then went inside did some Sister game as we got ready for Gabi. But then Gabi cancelled, saying he was having problems with his internet connection. We rescheduled for Thursday at 10. August was really disappointed, but we coped by having vanilla ice cream and watching Iskall and ate pistachios.

He then had some tomato soup and we watched more of the Alt-J concert. He asked, “What’s tends mean? Like ‘I tended my sheep?’ Or ‘I tended the house?’” He played piano, and I switched to Twelfth Night. He did some Supersonic Piano at some point, and went back to the piano, where he was doing a long improv, which I should have recorded, as at the end he told me it was using bits of like every song he knows, and listened a bunch, like “London Bridge” and all of the Supersonic Piano pieces he knows bits of. I got his iPad and opened GarageBand and got the drums going, and he was playing along to it. I then got my iPad and was playing in GarageBand and then the synth. He hasn’t played with it for quite awhile, and when I reminded him of it he ended up taking over and played with that until Vivian called just after 6.

They played Minecraft, and Carly was still upstairs doing the principal candidate interviews. I went for a walk and took a shower. Cassie was talking with Colin’s teacher, so we let them play long, but it went on for a long time, and August wasn’t getting off until they did. It was close to 8:30 by the time we got them all off. Too late to do all of the story time afterwards, and Vivian hasn’t really wanted to do it recently anyway, but August couldn’t handle that and had a big meltdown.

I took over, and eventually got him to go up in his room. He turned on the air conditioner to 17, I got him Cheerios (and then seconds) and he listened to “Rumpelstiltskin” for the first time on Stories Podcast. He opened the door to ask me what abolish meant. It was Independence Day eve, with parties going on at houses near us, then some sort of little parade went by with people in the back of a truck, blasting music. Carly got him a fruit plate when he was still hungry and he listened to the Mark Twain frog story while he ate it.

We discussed options for the school going back to campus, but are hoping it won’t happen. He and I brushed our teeth, etc., then I read “Three Wishes”. We listened to the Peace Out on unicorns, then I put on a Yann Tiessen album and had lights out at 10:25. He was asleep by 10:50.

Piano work time:

Working on piano pieces 1:

Working on piano pieces 2:

Working on piano pieces 3:

Memorial Day sirens:

Playing with drums:

Showing us a funny dance:

He was up just after 7:30. I met him up on the couch. We went downstairs, but he was still quite tired and lay cuddled in the blanket. We read a chapter of The Boxcar Children. We watched an Iskall video and interpretation was a word of the day. As were mimic and PS (postscript).

We went outside and he played with the swing for a while and talked about Minecraft. I then put down the picnic mat between the sun and shade. He curled up next to me and talked about falling asleep inside and me carrying him outside. I ended up reading The Boxcar Children. He got up on the swing and curled up for much of the time. He wanted to do alone time, so we went inside and he asked for help finding “Kangaroo and Joey Too” on Circle Round.

After alone time he did more Minecraft, playing in Lucky Block. For an educational video he watched the Kurzgesagt cancer video, and infallible was a word of the day. I then went and made signs for the first five Greek letters, and ended up putting them on the fridge. We then started the Ted Ed Earth School (https://ed.ted.com/earth-school) on day 1 with “Should we Eat Bugs?” (https://youtu.be/rDqXwUS402I) Entomophagy and nomadic were more new words.

We went upstairs for a game, with a new student named Kim, whose family grows bugs. We looked up anaphia. while we were up there. When we went downstairs we went outside and he worked with the Articulation app a bit, but turned more into just playing around with it. We ate lunch outside: crackers with tuna and cheese, and cauliflower, followed by chocolate milk. When Carly came down he talked to her about her students and teaching and grading. We then watched the GoodTimeswithScar video and cult and miscellaneous were new.

We went back to the Ted Ed lesson, answering the quiz questions and going to the National Geographic activity about how products move around the world, then mostly playing through the cocoa growing activity a few times: susceptible volatile and export were terms we discussed.

He played some piano, then asked for a poor country. We looked at the globe, and he chose“Ethiopia. It’s like Antrhopod. I like to say it…It’s a very satisfying feeling.” There was some sort of game associated with that after we went upstairs and I let him play a couple minutes of Happy Glass, mainly watching all of the game ads, which he likes. He then listened to “The Hat, the Horn, and the Purse” just because. He asked what stingy means.

Downstairs he scared Carly outside. We went in to earn some stars, but he went to the piano and played and played. He challenged Carly to piano competitions. He was talking to her about how he was transposing his playing from one minor key to another. He then talked about showing her some of the Supersonic Piano pieces he would learn, and made a really cool analogy that he talked about at length: “Think of my practice as a road trip. Antimelancholicis the destination. Our house is the C song…I have a long way to go on our car trip. I want to show you places on the way…”

Eventually Carly had to head back up to work. He started getting impatient and sad waiting for Vivian and Colin. Not sure why it was so hard for him today. We watched part of Twelfth Night, from the National Theatre. He got distracted by chasing a fly out the window. We read some of The Boxcar Children, but that wasn’t cutting it. We watched a KEXP live performance by a band called Great Grandpa. We watched a few minutes of that but grew bored. We switched to Alt-J and he liked that much better, but eventually he was acting really tired and I was afraid he was sick. He said he wasn’t, and said he wanted a podcast. He lay on the couch and listened to the new Stories Podcast episode, “Animal Jam”. He recites parts of the opening and ending of both Stories Podcast, and Circle Round, which he had surprised/confused Carly with earlier. He then listened to “Loki and the Golden Hair”.

Finally it was time for Minecraft and he played with Vivian and Colin. I went for a walk. When I got back they were watching the Mars documentary and eating popcorn. He was asking Carly about words like execute interposed saga _contours_and fringe. At 8:17 he walked over to me and asked, “Is it time to take my bath?”

Carly gave him a bath, then they were in the big bedroom doing a lot of laughing, and reading something. He came into his bedroom and did some Earpaggio with me. He had a Brother and Sister game with Ms. Mean being told she had to change and be nicer, and he used a new word he learned: “Cats, escort Ms. Mean from the school.”

We went and brushed our teeth. I read “The Frog Prince”, where surpassing and rap were new. He then listened to “The Magic Chalk and the Very Real T-Rex” and learned about freeze tag. He went to the bathroom then we listened to Peace Out. Either from that or randomly he asked what a culprit was. We put on the Moby Ambient album and he was asleep at 10:45.

Spin Dance:

Piano piece 1:

Piano piece 2:

Trying to film his piano road trip analogy:

He called to me at 4:30. I went in and he said, “I had a bad dream.” Went right back to sleep. He got up about 7:30. He went to the bathroom, and I helped him go downstairs, carrying his blanket down when he requested it, and he went and said “Boo” to Carly. I went back to bed and they played Minecraft together and he played a lot of piano and was playing when I came down. She’d gotten him oatmeal for breakfast.

I came down and we discussed my meeting, and Zoom in general. August and I then went up to the bedroom and played Brother and Ms. Safe games with the new students. The first was Nord, who was blind: “Nord, but people call me Flipper Flopper.” Usually the stories have focused on Ms. Safe, but August wanted it “from Brother’s perspective when he meets that person.” We played for 20 minutes or so, and there were several new students, all together, by the end of it, and Brother was talking about Minecraft and trying to help Nord play Minecraft.

We went downstairs, and I showed him part of the BDubs Minecraft video where they blow up a mountain with TNT cannons. We were then going to read The Boxcar Children, but August asked me to get his water bottle upstairs for him. I told him I’d go up with him, but I wasn’t going to do it for him. For some reason, this became a big thing. We got upstairs, and were even going to just read in the bed, when he got as far as finally picking up the water bottle from the counter, but then gave it to me to carry it downstairs for him. When I said I wasn’t going to carry it down for him he started hitting me. We went downstairs for a few minutes and I was trying to get him to calm down, but he refused to abide by the plan we had made. I started to get him back upstairs, but he refused to go past the halfway point and I called Carly to come and help. She took him the rest of the way up the stairs and talked to him.

I went for a walk, and he was still in his room when I got back. He was listening to the “Two Hour Road Trip” episode of Circle Round. When he came out he wanted Carly to carry down his crackers for him. She carried the crackers, and he had the bowl. He dropped it down the stairs, and broke a corner. He was very sad about that, and she consoled him. I took a shower, then downstairs he apologized to me. I made us hot dog bites and the asparagus and rice for lunch. We ate, but he walked around in circles talking about a huge machine in Minecraft that he can transport around between seasons. It uses all sorts of new red stone blocks that he was making up. “It’s a dream come true for the Boomers”, meaning BDubs and the others.

He played piano and sang a “I want to do alone time” song. For that he listened to the “Golden Fleece” story at end of the 2 hour episode. He asked about deny and fleece. He played Minecraft with Carly. I finally set up the speaker we have in his room properly, so it works over wi-fi and not just Bluetooth. We then figured out the lucky block add-on in Minecraft. We had to download another version from the internet and finally figured that version out. I let him play it for a few minutes, and he was really excited about sharing it with Vivian later.

We went downstairs and did some Earpaggio and then a Ms. Safe music lesson, where I was teaching him how to count rhythms. That went pretty well, as he was surprised to learn how some of it worked and seemed to be catching on. We then tried to do some Greek. We tried different apps. I think Mango, which is free through the Sno-Isle library, is the best for us right now, and I should start making little letter posters to teach us the Greek letters.

He went outside, and agreed to pick up the tree thingies for a star. I untangled the hose, and Carly pulled the car over and washed it. For his iPad time he played in the Lucky Block world while sitting outside. Back inside he asked me to do the attacking game, where when he gets close I try to grab his arm, etc. Lots of laughing ensued. He played piano, and then asked, “Does the king pat any taxes?…then that’s a royal advantage.”

We had some soup, then played Minecraft with Vivian and Colin in the Lucky Block world. He did some video chatting with Vivian and Cherie. Cherie left, and we were going to call her later when Vivian and August were done. I think Carly did some reading, and disperse and rash were new words. But then when August went to the bathroom Vivian hung up. August was very sad and upset about this, and didn’t want to call her back to find out what happened. And he didn’t want to call Oma.

Instead, he liked the idea of going up to his room. Carly came back down, and we heard him playing melodica up in his room. Sounded quite sad, and I said we needed to get him a harmonica. He listened to podcasts after that, and was probably up there for an hour total. He came downstairs to have more food.

He asked what bewildered meant. Not sure where it was from. Another new word. We went back upstairs. Carly had let him skip a bath, but he brushed his teeth and did all of that with me, and then we were in bed at 9:50. Spent a lot of time talking about Lucky Block, then I read “Snow White” in the book we’re reading. New words were vengeful and sprite. He went to the bathroom and then we listened to a Peace Out. I put on John Coltrane’s A Love Supreme and he was asleep by 10:30.

Experimenting:

Picking up tree things:

Discussing Lucky Block with Viv:

A sad song:

He got up and used the bathroom at 6, then went back to sleep. He then woke up at 7:35. We read Shivers and help helm was the first word of the day. We both found the line “But the celebration lasted about as long as a balloon in a cactus store” really funny. He played piano, then went outside with Carly. He finally remembered Minecraft and we all played together. More piano, then he wanted a Ms. Safe game with autism. We hadn’t learned anything about autism yet though, and I was also in the process of making us pancakes, and he got a bit upset when I couldn’t do it right away. We talked about it, and then watched Temple Grandin’s TED Talk together:https://youtu.be/fn_9f5x0f1Q

. He sent messages to Cherie and I finished pancakes, then he watched Kurzgesagt’s “What if we nuke a city?” While we were eating he said, “This is amazing…your pancakes.”

We went up for a Ms. Safe game: a student who had experienced a nuclear explosion and was now deaf and blind. He chose the name Val from the gender-neutral name list. Switched to Blank, who is just blind. The kids were jealous that Blank could read dots. Just kidding, as August changed his mind and it was autism. August couldn’t really make up his mind, and the constant changing was giving me a headache. We ended up with Nico, who has autism. Brother became Nico’s friend after Ms. Safe sat them together. Then a student that was deaf and blind. Brother kept making mistakes, like thinking the student could hear him, etc. Then there was Scout, who was blind, then a student with asthma at the end. We went back downstairs at 11:15.

We watched the newest Grian video and had banana chips. I had the Preservation Jazz Band video on and he watched part of that. Carly came down and started working on a soup. I got August out on a recycling walk, but as usual he was first spooked by the dog from across the street, which was on the other side. We got past that, but then a minute into recycling, as he was eating his chocolate bar, it started to get a little windy and August got really upset. I managed to finish recycling, but he wasn’t happy about it.

Back at home he stayed out on the front porch for a minute. We then read Shivers outside on the swing. He played with the broom, and was figuring out how to twirl it around in a circle. We discussed imperial versus metric. As we were sitting there a family with, I think, three kids came along, and they were walking a white and orange dog. The black dog from across the street was there and popped up. They asked me about the dog and I assured them the dog was fine. They spoke good English though and I should have asked them if they lived in the area, as the kids were generally around August’s age.

Back to Ms. Safe games with Nord, a blind student. We then had the short and humorous “Tale of Rodney” who was a student that wanted to know what it was like to be blind and taped his eyes shut and then kept running into things until he fell into a bottomless pit. Ms. Safe threw a sandwich down to him.

Inside he did Supersonics Piano, then started a podcast and I went for a walk. He was finishing that up as I got back. He had had some apple and peanut butter and some sugar fruit, and now had the left over salmon, and I made him a tuna sandwich with what was left of that. He played piano, making up several new things. We played Minecraft in creative.

Carly cleaned out the fridge and it looked beautiful. We took care of some of the leftovers: August finished off the rest of his salmon and I made a grilled tuna sandwich with the rest of that. He played piano and then finished lunch. We talked about going back upstairs, and I was joking about something, to which August asked, “Have you been drinking mercury‽” We played the Ms. Safe game with Nord, who was blind and a student who had asthma. There would also randomly be a pirate in class, and Bar would change the code to delete the pirate.

We did Droplets, or at least started to, then he went outside with Carly. After a while they came in and watched a Mars documentary and had popcorn. There were a lot of new words: incontrovertible, impurity, basin, manipulation, suspended, perpetual.

He then played Minecraft with Vivian and Colin, in Colin’s world, and had soup for dinner. He was then sending messages to Vivian and talked about reading a book about a tusnami. When he was having a problem with something and looking for Carly I asked if I could help and he told me, “It’s not your business.” They read some book, and were watching videos of Zambia, which was somehow related.

I did some work and finished watching Orson Welle’s Chimes at Midnight. We went upstairs and August spent a long time on the toilet. He did a ton of talking, naming a color “vibrant black” (VB for short). He was talking about his crazy house, which started with the huge class. Moved on from there and seemed to include Minecraft. In the bedroom I let him talk it out, as he was pacing back and forth in the bedroom.

When he had calmed down we listened to “Turtle Island” on Circle Round and discussed the phrase “Making ends meet”. He asked, “What’s a geita?” I didn’t know what he was talking about, and he said it was from a folk tale. We finally had lights off at 10:30. He then asked, “What’s appealing?” “To me washing dishes isn’t really appealing.” We listened to Peace Out, then put on the Bach Cello Recomposed album and he was asleep at 10:50.

Jazz dancing:

Working on a song:

Playing for Vivian and Colin:

More melodica:

He was up at 7:30. That’s only eight hours of sleep. He went straight to the bathroom, then asked me, “What was that symptom?” He meant asthma. From there we went into the big bedroom and started a Ms. Safe game, with a new student. First he saw a spider on the wall though and I had to squish it. August reminded me he had had a dream about spiders and slugs fighting the other day. The new student was named Plot and had asthma, then there was another new student named Simon. August said of the new students: “Lets just forget boy and girl…let’s have gender just not exist.” We played until we went downstairs at 8.

He played piano, then went back to playing the new student game. Upstairs, he’d been coming in through the door when Ms. Safe introduced the new student. Now, he went under the blanket that I had over my legs. He said, “Let’s do it metaphorically like a play. I’ll go out of eyesight…” I think it was Jane Eyre where I’d talked about how some of the visuals were metaphorical. I looked up a list of gender-neutral names to use for the game. Next was Zion, from Greece, who was also deaf. We watched the Seattle Symphony Morning Notes video with a double bass player, then a couple of videos about deafness (https://youtu.be/Hrgqs4MmK3U andhttps://youtu.be/0YcGev7B5AA

). We then watched a Mumbo Jumbo video about making a pistonless redstone door. Logistics and fortification were words of the day. And then a short UNICEF video about disabilities.

Then pack to the stories, with Vesper, who can remember really well. August asked what that was called and we looked it up and found highly superior autobiographical memory (HSAM). He played piano as I got my own breakfast, then we went upstairs for more Ms. Mean and Ms. Safe games.

As we went back downstairs he asked if there was anything that made it hard to learn. Dyslexia was another new word. He played piano, and transposed “Elevate: Two” in D Minor: “Instead or being cool it’s really sad…it’s the sort of thing you’d play at a ceremony, when someone dies.” The next student was named Blank, who also had a good memory. He finally had breakfast, having oatmeal and strawberries for breakfast. The piano was still open, and August didn’t want the front back on. We talked about having a transparent piano, then I realized there are a couple of holes in it that would allow me to make a sort of stand. I rigged up a stand for the music out of two metal chopsticks and the board. I eventually swapped out the board for a piece of glass, making it more transparent, and only using one of the chopsticks.

He played, then we discussed amnesia, then synesthesia. Back to the games, with Oni, who has synesthesia. She tasted tomatoes when told she has detention by Ms. Mean. August then spotted the white, black, and orange cat on our kitchen boxes and was trying to shoe it off to protect the plants. He liked the Michael Kimanuka allbum we were listening to. He was then sending emails to Carly and actually typing words. We played Minecraft in creative.

We went outside and read The Boxcar Children on the swing, then went inside to play Minecraft with Gilad. I made grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for breakfast. When they were done he had Sister and Myna doing building competitions. I worked on finishing “Flight Over the Mountains” and thus book 1. I showed him the Supersonics Piano Land of the Middle Seas book on the iPad and he listened to Supersonics Piano.

We watched a Ted-Ed video on asthma, where he learned words like chronic simutaneously inflict counterintuitively excess and poverty. That led to a Ms. Safe game with Ako, who had asthma. August explained the two kinds of inhalers to the class, comparing them to “like vaccine (the preventative one) and antibiotic (for when you have symptoms).”

Carly came down, and August wanted to do alone time, since she’d interrupted our game. I got him to agree to just an educational video though, and he watched the Kurzgesagt video on Vaccines. “What’s conclusion?” We watched a Car Seat Headrest NPR Tiny Desk Concert as he sent emails to Cherie and Carly. We went to the piano and I read the message I’d gotten back from Dalit, and we discussed and worked on wrist position, watching a Pianote video to help. The real issue though is that the chair is a little low (I added a second cushion to help), but even more so that the petal is too far down for him, so when he wants to use the sustain petal he scoots to the front of the chair and stretches down to reach it. So the real solution would be to make something to raise the pedal.

For some math time we moved to Khan Academy and pretended it was for a new student in Ms. Safe’s class. We worked on rounding, but he said, “I like to have absolutes in math. It’s more accurate.” We did some of that, then he had a new student for Ms. Safe: Delta, who was blind. We went upstairs for more of the games, and did a lot of pillow fighting. He went outside with Carly, and they appreciated the buds on the side of the tree. August wanted to pick them, like Shmuel had told him, but agreed to leave them until they got too big. It was getting pretty big.

I went inside and practiced a little piano. He came in and wanted to be a student from the future. I got him to listen to Circle Round instead. “The Months of the Year” Shawl was a new word, then he started the “Two Hour Road Trip” He asked about on the verge and sympathy. We had some dinner, then I got him to go outside for some exercise, but that only lasted a second until he needed to go to the bathroom. We went outside again and were starting to kick the ball around. Kids from across the street, and a couple others, were doing some sort of parade thing with the Israeli flag, presumably for Independence Day next Wednesday, and had a couple tables set up where they had lemonade or something. I then heard them calling “Augustus!” That’s what David calls him. I went to talk to the kids. August came with me at first, but then took off running inside. He didn’t want to get too close to them. I tried to explain to the kids that August was shy, and I’d go talk to him. I think they were offering him some of the juice. August had locked the door, and it took a minute to convince him it was just me, and the kids weren’t with me.

He went upstairs, and spied on them from his room. He enjoyed that. We went downstairs and it was time for Minecraft with Vivian and Colin in her world. After that he had a date with Cherie. They spent most of the time emailing things back and forth. They talked something about food, and Cherie said “I’ll pass” He asked what that meant, then said “That’s good, because you’re on the other side of the world.” August was sending things like screenshots, and screenshots of screenshots, and a whole Rivet book that he took screenshots of. He also figured out how to send YouTube links to her, and sent some Ants Canada and Kurzgesagt videos to her. I also helped him send the “Alien and the Snake” stop motion video that he had made with Carly last year. Cherie and August both had anatomy apps on their tablets and discussed them. Cherie asked “What’s your favorite part of the body?” and he replied, “The cardiovascular system.” He played music for her, then I told him to take the phone up to Carly and say goodbye. He did that, then she gave him a bath.

He saw the melodica case, and went downstairs and got his and brought it up and played. We brushed our teeth, then in bed we listened to “The Great Pooka Rescue”. The second pooka story we’ve heard. He asked about tavern peculiar hound and spurs. He went to the bathroom, where he also asked, “What’s hearty mean?” Back in bed we listened to Peace Out’s “Ready, Set, Grow” and then the Epic45 album again. He was asleep at 10:30.

Changing the key D minor:

“It is working” song:

Improv time:

Math time:

Date with Oma:

Melodica:

I went up about 8:15 but he was sleeping so soundly I let him sleep. He woke up at 8:30. I said good morning, and he said it back, then a few seconds later asked, “What’s iridescent mean?” I remember hearing it sometime yesterday, probably during a story, and wondering if he was going to pick up on it at some point.

Downstairs I read a few Mary Oliver poems, then from Shivers. Said good morning to Carly, then he asked me, “What’s revise mean?”

We played Minecraft in our creative world, so I mainly did other things. August was figuring out how to type fill commands on his own. We listened to Radiohead.

We had oatmeal for breakfast, then ended up discussing lines of longitude after he asked what revive means and I used the example of reviving travel plans. We determined there’s about 60 degrees of longitude that we haven’t travelled over (between Jordan and Thailand). He looked at Google Maps and I played some piano. He asked “What’s terrain mean?”

We watched some of Treasure Island, then played Brother and Sister games with a girl from the future. We went outside, on the swing, and they continued, and in the future they had giant electronic swings: “It can hold millions of people.” I read some of The Boxcar Children, then we went inside and he played piano and I made lunch: spaghetti, cut up hotdog, and cucumber and hummus. He listened to “The Hat, the Horn, and the Purse” for alone time. Gil, from across the street, called in to me and I went out to try to help him. His internet isn’t working, and the guy from Bezek needed to access the pole in the lower yard. Alas, since Shmuel added a second gate we couldn’t access it even if we could open the first gate down there, and it turns out he’s changed that lock as well. I gave Gil Shmuel’s number though, and talked to him myself, and he agreed to give me a set of keys. I can also open it for potential renters.

Back inside we ate lunch, then August played a lot of piano. I suggested adding in chords to his bass lines, not just the bass note, and he then started doing it right away. We played Minecraft and I spent some time working on a spiral staircase, then August had us switch to the creative world.

We next watched the rest of the Treasure Island. August paid pretty good attention, but also played Toca Blocks on his iPad. Carly and I then placed a fruit and veggies order from a local shuk. August and I went over on the floor and worked on some rounding in Khan Academy and Greek in Drops Kids. He saw the list of languages to choose from and was really excited about Greek.

Carly was going to head to the pharmacy, but the car wouldn’t start as the battery was low. Odd, since it’s been fine each summer, and this time it has only been three weeks. In discussing the error message that came up in the car August asked, “Was it a syntax error?” Mike Shappell came over quickly and helped us jump it. He also came in to take a look at what I’ve done with the piano. He left, and soon after our fruit and veggie order arrived via electric bike with a trailer. They also had their strawberries in paper-based containers, which was nice. The low point in all of this was that the stupid little dog was around again, although it disappeared soon after.

August and I were discussing tuning a piano exactly…”infinity…Okay, let’s put this in perspective…” Carly had gone for a drive around block. The car was fine and restarted and she went to the pharmacy. August and I went on a walk over to the monster blasting park. He wore his mask on the way over because he “wants to be fashionable.” He wore it until he got hungry and took it off to eat his bar. We sat on a bench and he ate it and I read some Boxcar Children. When he was done we headed home.

At home he played piano with the lid open. Carly cooked some tofu, and it turned out to be hummus tofu, which was kind of different. He was then being silly with her, and liked the feeling of being “scared” when she was splashing water at him from the sink. He was getting pretty crazy until he jumped on the black chair. It was against the wall though so didn’t bounce like usual and he hit his face pretty hard. Carly comforted him, and eventually took him outside where he had his last Easter treats, a small pack of Gobstoppers. They saw David going for a walk and David asked about exercise, August told him “I exercise my fingers.” Colin called, and I went for a walk/run. My ankle has been sore and after a bit I decided to just walk.

August played Minecraft and had dinner (I had made more rice, and Carly did asparagus). And he had strawberries while Carly cut them up to freeze a bunch of them. Vivian read to us for quite a bit again from her book. August then played lots and lots of cool piano. I shared a video with Dalit, asking her if she’s available for Zoom lessons. Carly got him upstairs for a bath. After his bath I heard him say something about “And my butt shakes a little!”

We brushed our teeth, then he showed her some Greek in Droplets. In bed we listened to “The Magic Bowl” (the third live one—he really likes that they’re live) where he learned making ends meet and kaput. Then in Peace Out we listened to “Belly Breathing” where he learned salutations and asthma. I put on an Epic45 album. Instead of calming him down though, the Peace Out episode got him thinking, and he talked about how he wanted to learn more about disabilities. And he was very aware of his own learning process: “I’m going to take what I learn and put it in Brother and Sister game… is a good technique.” “ This is something we should do in the games: see how’s the kids (in Ms. Safe’s class) respond to someone who is deaf.” Finally, finally, had lights off and him quiet at 10:55. But then he popped up with things a few times, like, “That’s What I do when I learn something. As soon as I learn something I instantly do a Brother and Sister game… like with asthma…Dada: remind me to do a Brother and Sister game about asthma first thing after I wake up…” He was finally asleep by 11:30.

Today’s dramatic song:

A tune:

Dramatic music game silliness:

And again:

Swing music:

Evening improvs 1:

Evening improvs 2 – a new song in the making: