Category: Daily

Hallelujah! He slept through the night. He came down at 7:50. I got him his vitamins and the last cookie to start him out. He watched some Magic School Bus. When he was hungry Carly got him apple. We played the science lab game several ways. After he went to the bathroom he told Carly he wanted to clean the toilet so they did that. He then wanted to clean up the rug area and was ordering Carly to help him. He got distracted and wanted to take a photo of the window screens. He got the macro lens and did that, then was speculating on how many little squares there were in total. He then went upstairs with Carly for awhile and he was taking videos of himself singing. Downstairs he and I played a little Polytopia on my phone. Then we read The 13-Story Treehouse. He was hungry so had a piece of peanut butter and syrup toast.

We played more of the science lab game, taking an adventure from a gumball factory all the way to a gumball machine, being chewed, then through digestive system, to the waste treatment plant, to a river, up to a cloud, rain, through a plant, etc. He said: “More adventure!” He was talking about a kind of power plant and said ‘hypothermia’ when he meant ‘hydrothermal’. I explained what hypothermia was and that became a word of the day. He was nice and dramatic when Carly was trying to do something and couldn’t play with him at the moment and he said, “I don’t think you’ll even play with me anymore.”

I took a shower, then played with the straw thing with him. I asked what he wanted and he pointed to a cube and said he wanted four squares. “But it has to be a flat square. Like it has no bones.” We ended up making one big square on the floor that he could lie in. He was then a cat in the park that I took home. He requested oatmeal from the packets so I made him some. Carly was cutting up mango to freeze it. He ate oatmeal and mango and Carly headed to the sushi place to get some sushi and pad Thai.

After a bit we went on the couch. He looked at anatomy and I studied Hebrew. And we listened to Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall (#68). Then to Led Zeppelin IV.

Carly got home and we ate sushi and pad thai. I went out to look at our plants for a few minutes. When I came back in they were playing school and he was an assistant. He had a couple math problems on the board. He asked if I was the student. He explained some math problems to me using the blueberries and was then knocking over towers I was building out of them.

Carly made him a sort of chocolate milk with chocolate chips, then she made corn fritters. which he tasted and rejected. Carly was up watering plants so he climbed up on the counter with her. We went outside and discussed pulling up the one papaya plant that had never really grown. August went and tore the leaves off of it and he and Carly pulled it up together. I had pulled a muscle in my neck/back when I woke up and Carly and August shared giving me a massage.

They went outside to sweep the yard. August had wanted a lollipop and she had said he could earn one by sweeping the whole yard. There had been negotiations going on and they ended up splitting it into thirds or something. He had his lollipop, then we went for an evening walk from a little before 5 to close to 6. We walked to the southwest, then on the way back August started doing time lapse videos as he sat on the bike. I said we should have done videos like that when we first moved to Israel to show people our neighborhood. Also, I’m generally wishing we’d been more into the time lapse videos back in Korea. I did that one way back when I was first alone with August and we walked down the stream in Seoul, but it hadn’t turned out too well. We should have gotten a Go Pro, attached it to the backpack, and we could have done time lapse videos of the Fortress Trail, etc.

At home he did slo-mo videos of me jumping and running. Cherie and Chuck had called us when we were on our walk, now Carly talked to them as she sat outside. He ate more pad thai and watched The Pink Panther. For listening we were on to Billy Joel’s The Stranger.

Carly gave him a bath, then we read Hilo and had some Cheerios. They went up and brushed his teeth. He came down and told me “Mama can’t read that book I want to read. It makes her nauseous.” I went up to read the Plants Versus Zombies Lawnmaggedon book to him. At one point he stopped to tell me “Dada, do you know what I have in my car? A microwave, oven,…” And listed several appliances. This was a response to a car in the book that cooks pancakes, and also a video he has watched several times on Skybrary that has a kitchen sink and other things in it. He also asked me, “Why do some plants not make it?” Referring to the papaya that he pulled up.

We finished the book, he said good night to Carly, and we played one round of the science lab game. He insisted he was hungry, so we got some Cheerios and he ate those as he lay on the bed. Seemed like he was almost asleep. I got ready for bed, we had lights off at 9:35, and he was asleep by 9:50. I went to sleep soon after.

Carly had told me that yesterday, when I was on my run, August had spotted a cockroach in the kitchen. At least, that’s what she thought it was as she didn’t have her glasses on at the time. He called it a beetle and wasn’t happy about it.

Singing:

View from the Zinnie bed:

Goodbye to the papaya:

FaceTime with oma and opa:

Walking home time lapse 1:

Walking home time lapse 2:

Walking home time lapse 3:

Dada slo-mo 1:

Dada slo-mo 2:

On the couch

His photo of the screen squares

In his square

On the counter

FaceTime on our walk

We let him sleep late this morning as he hadn’t slept well though the night. I went in at 8:35 and he woke up easily and seemed fine. I let him watch some Pink Panther as he ate apple and vitamins, then we got ready to go. We drove to school.

I dropped him off about 9:30. We had to wait a couple minutes for the class to come back from the Hockey Marathon. He and Andrea talked about taking more photos. He said they didn’t need to take photos of the hockey marathon as it didn’t happen regularly. He was talking to Andrea about it being Derin’s last day and about how they were about to have cookies for snack and I was able to walk off. I took my bike home.

I finished listening to Denton Little’s Death Date as I worked on a cover mockup for the Sabeel book. I then called the insurance company about school evaluation coverage (fully covered) and wrote an email about our bills. I then studied Hebrew and Arabic in the afternoon.

I picked him up just before 3. He was sitting on the carpet with Andrea and the other non-bus kids. We went out to the bench to eat. He said, “I love Emmett’s mom.” No idea where that thought came from. He did really like her as a yoga teacher. He spotted a cat and said, “103.” He ate a little and was excited about going swimming. I asked about the tea party and he said it was “super good” as they got more cookies. Had also had tea and used his straw which is always stored in the bottom of his snack bag. I re-read him the Lunch Robot comic and he said, “My science lab IS always dangerous…robots can only go up to 23 volts, and that was a million volts…”

We saw Cassie and she asked if we were going to play on the playground. We said we were going swimming, but he liked the idea of playing with Taya first. But first we had to finish our round of the science lab game. We had started over again with day one. We went over and he played around Taya and Gabriel (also in PKB with Taya) and his older brother. August was excited to show them all the macro lens and how it works. He did that, then was running and jumping on the swing on his stomach and really getting some good momentum. I tried to get him to do it later, but he wasn’t getting the same power into it. He was back to taking photos when Carly called. He talked to her for a couple minutes. Had a really good conversation with her. He said something to her about how she always talks to me so she could talk to him now.

Cassie and I were talking about the Supreme Court process and August kept taking photos and videos. He did a slo-mo of Taya going down the slide. He had another phone call with Carly, then she came over and found us. I realized that the pool closed at 4 today due to the Hockey Marathon, so we cancelled that plan. Then, Cassie said that August’s spots looked like hand, foot, and mouth disease. I realized that they did look a lot worse than when I had dropped him off. They were now on his hands and feet and bottom, and he said his throat was a little sore.

I did some research and was pretty convinced that was it (it starts with a fever and the spots come after a couple of days, and it hits most often in the late summer/fall) so we headed out. Stopped to fill up his water bottle and couldn’t get him to the car – people kept coming by, he didn’t want to move, Cassie went back to look for Taya’s water bottle, etc.

Finally, got him going. He had found a little square bead with Rs on it earlier, now he found a plastic piece and a golden leaf (like a decoration) lying on the ground. As I carried him out to the car he started singing a song that I was convinced was a song he had learned at school. The only lines I remembered were “This is the leaf for me. Shining in the golden sunlight, shining in the gold-like sunlight.” There were a few lines before that. But he told me he had just made it up. We left before 4:20.

He played Dragonbox Little Numbers in the car. At home I heated up his dinner for him and Carly made him a smoothie. We gave in and helped him eat/drink on the couch since he is still supposedly sick. He was watching Pink Panther – he was watching an episode about an ant eater that I remember – and I went up and filled out the paperwork for the psychologist. The read the Cam Jenson book again. I came down and they were discussing how he took photos with Andrea today. He said no one else helps the teachers, and that he didn’t think any of the other kids noticed or cared about taking the photos.

He played school with Carly. He arrived two hours before school started and was her helper. They played for a few minutes, then she took him up for a bath and washed his hair. Went pretty smoothly.

She trimmed his hair. He was being a fan and I had to turn him off so he would sit still. But then he was saying that we accidentally pushed different buttons: “You pushed the rocket button.” Downstairs he got a lollipop and we read Magic Tree House. Carly told me that ‘impersonate’ was a word of the day, from the Cam Jansen book, then August and I added selkie and dappled from this book. We finished reading Magic Tree House #31: Summer of the Sea Serpent.

We then read some books in Skybrary: Camille’s Team and Dilly Dog’s Dizzy Dancing. We also played. Couple rounds of his science lab game and the one where I am trying to build a tower of blocks as tall as him but he keeps growing and growing. It is a simple one, but he’s done it several times over the past week or so.

We went upstairs and started the Plants and Zombies book over from the start. Carly changed the sheets and pillow cases, but she’s quite worried about getting sick before her Week Without Walls Trip. So she slept in the other room and I put him to sleep on the big bed. I’ll sleep on the floor. It was about 10:15 that he and I started. We did one round of the science lab game, then I was singing songs. At 10:40 he sat up to ask if the clock said it was 1 or 10. I assured him it was 10 and he lay back down. He was really starting to scratch his feet and his wrists and bottoms. Finally, around 11 I was pretty sure he was asleep. My have been longer, but it was hard to tell as he kept scratching in his sleep. I got some of the cream and managed to put it on his feet, ankles, and hands. We will see how restless he is tonight. I’m afraid he won’t sleep very well.

Changing colors and changing back in his science lab game:

Slo-mo Taya:

Taya on the ground:

Playing on the swing next to mama:

?rel=0

Showing Taya the optical illusion:

Golden sunlight song:

Waiting for the class to return

His photo on the birthday poster they are making

Playing the game…and some of his spots

One of his photos of Taya

His photo of me

Selfie and spots

Haircut

Naked time

Him and Taya jumping on the swings

He was up around 5, I think. He was at least doing a decent job of just resting in bed. We all got up around 5:45. He watched Llama Llama as we got ready. Carly took his temperature and it was 37.6. That combined with a lack of sleep convinced me to keep him home for now.

Carly headed to work and he switched to The Magic School Bus Rides Again. When he went to the bathroom he was talking about a special machine he had to see tiny things and it was made out of special iron. He said it could show a model of a water droplet (from the episode he’d been watching), but then he told me it wasn’t a model, but the real thing, as he’d added tiny tentacles that got real water droplets. He said he wanted to show mama, so we did a video to send to her, but then he said it was too complicated of a machine to explain to her.

We Skyped with my parents and wished my dad happy birthday. We were doing a good job skyping but August was clearly looking tired. Thought he might take a nap today. We said goodbye and pulled out the bed part of the couch, as he didn’t want to go upstairs. We rested for awhile – maybe 15 minutes or so. We then played his science lab game. He kept expanding it, with having the kids coming back day after day to do different things in his science labs. Later I was talking to him about how he calls it a game, but it is also a form of writing stories, as it is more than just the chasing games, etc. that the kids usually play at school. We played it for a long time. I got us to eventually take a break and we read Magic Tree house. He then watched Pink Panther and ate apples and I rested. After while we were back to the science lab game. In the game he claimed that he was always at his science labs, doing science. I was asking if he did other things, like go to the beach. He said, “I do that! Just with science!” As the game extended with multiple days he had the kids going for trips through the heart, nerves, brain and others. Then it was other things, like a car battery factory (apparently he had seen how car batteries are made on YouTube). Then it was one long extended trip through a Gumball machine, the plastic wrapper, getting chewed, digestion, the toilet, and the sewer system: “That means we’ll go on multiple adventures!”

He asked, “I have a question for you: do people know what makes up DNA? What about inside the stuff that makes up DNA?” For lunch he had rice with mushrooms, then he wanted to start the science lab game over from the beginning. Then he started a new game with a new scenario: “You’re just going to be walking through the park and you find a door not attached to anything…and you’re going to be someone’s sister and you don’t even know me and you’re very nice.” I asked him, “Are you a mad scientist?” He replied, “I’m not mad! I’m trying to help people learn! I’m not trying to take over the world!…I try to reach the world better ways to live…Like not pollute as much.”

He played on the iPad and we did some Hebrew. We had done some Hebrew and Arabic together earlier. He played Math Tango, etc. Jumped around. Then back to “You’re someon walking through a park and…”

He went to the bathroom, then had a cookie but didn’t eat it all. He then told another story where a door appears in a classroom as they finish math and start art. It goes to a guy who gives them a magic school bus. He takes the class into the teacher’s brain and they change his DNA into a lizard. He talked about taking away someone’s nervous system so they can’t feel “sad or nervous or angry…”

So he had declared himself not sick, and his temperature had been back down below 37 for several hours. We had planned to play with Taya and Grace and a couple other kids after school and he said he was up to it. We got in the car and headed to school. But on the way he had some bar. He didn’t eat it all, and when I didn’t take it from him right away he got upset. Then, he wanted his water and got upset when I couldn’t hand it to him, even though we were just a block away from school. He was clearly tired. He agreed to head home. We went to the school and had Carly bring out the iHerb box so we could take it home. Carly noticed bumps on his legs and took him in, against his will, to see the nurse. He was afraid he was going to get a shot. The nurse said they were just because his fever had broken.

Carly went to finish up some work and pack up, so we went to the library for a few minutes. We saw Amelia and she told us that one of August’s bracelets was in the library. It was one he had given one of his teachers. We went and picked it up so August could track down its owner later. (It turned out to be Marion’s.) Liz said that Amanda had been playing with it, like worry beads. August watched one Sarah and Duck while lying on a bean bag, then Carly was ready to go.

He got home and he promptly fell sleep from 4 until 5:20 when Carly woke him up. He watched an episode of Magic School Bus about how trees and plants communicate with each other through their roots. That was totally new to him and Carly and I only barely knew about it. He then watched Max and Ruby and I cooked a chana masala (https://cookieandkate.com/2014/quick-vegan-chana-masala/) and Carly made a mango smoothie. We ate dinner (he said it was yummy but then didn’t eat much) and Carly went up to take a shower. We read Zachary Zebra’s Zippity Zooming on Skybrary, then August ate a little more and Carly gave him a bath and I made the popcorn he’d been requesting. I did dishes and they read some Beezue and Ramona and Red Wagon, then did their preschool game. He also took photos of popcorn. He told Carly his preschool ‘problem’ from the other day – that his name was on the cubby twice.

She took him up and I said good night at 8:35. They were reading Will I Have a Friend? I got a text message from Carly asking to add ‘inference’ to the words of the day list. I then went on a run.

When I got back he was still up. She read him the small Plants Versus Zombie book, then I took him in on the Zinnie bed and read one of the bigger Plants Versus Zombie books, Lawnmageddon. Read about half of it. He was ready to go back in to Carly at 10 but he didn’t fall asleep. I heard crying, then it got quiet around 10:15 and I thought he was asleep. But he was still up at 10:30. Finally asleep about 10:45.

His new machine made of iron:

Leading us to a different science lab:

Inside a gumball machine:

Slo-mo mama:

Slo-mo August:

Resting

Standing on the couch

Sarah and Duck and the recovered bracelet in the library

Nap on the couch

Popcorn

I woke him up at 7:15. He watched a couple Pink Panthers and we got ready. He rejected the blue polo shirt and asked for a different one. That’s new. He wanted a pink shirt. He was fine with the idea of dance class after school, in fact had said something about it just being a normal day of school before that, but when we got to his classroom he changed his mind. He started to insist on a check-in at lunch. I told him could come at 3. That didn’t appease him, and I handed him to Andrea after a minute. She mentioned something about how they needed to take some photos together.

I went up to the library and business office and figured out how to pay for his dance class. I also picked up a free copy of Teaching Grammar in Context that I thought Carly might like.

When I came back in the afternoon it was about 2:55 that I walked down. He was poking his head out of the door and looking for me over on the bench. He was happy to see me, and we went inside for a few minutes. The bus kids were already gone. Candy was running an ice cream shop and I got ice cream from her. She asked August what kind of ice cream he wanted and he said “bubble gum.” Andrea told me that he’d worked with her to take photos for big schedule they’re making. August explained that the kids would be able to tell what the schedule was based on what was in the photos. Sounds like what they had last year in PKB. Great for a couple reasons: a schedule like that is exactly what he’s been wanting, and it really seems like Andrea’s taken a lead on including August as a helper with projects. Seems to be working so much better with him than Marion’s focus of him needing to be independent and self-directed.

I took him upstairs just after 3. August made sure I’d be outside on the bench. He insisted on the PKA bench. We saw Amelia and she said she wasn’t quite ready for class to start, but he could go in to PKC and hang out with Omri. He ran off that direction with nary a glance back at me. I went out and sat on my usual bench (he can’t tell me what to do!) and studied Hebrew.

He came out a little after 4. We discussed the schedule thing with Andrea, then sat on the PKA bench. He had eaten half his cookie and part of his lunch again, and for snack he had eaten the cereal bar in his snack bag. So, that’s another concern that I think we’ve now overcome. He ate the other half of the cookie and recorded a video to tell Carly about dance class. He sang about how he loved the first dance class. He didn’t provide details, but he said they’d acted like animals earlier in Play Ball with Dion.

Trying to change up our sitting and photo spots a bit, after he took a few macro lens shots we moved over to the other side of the elementary and sat outside of a 1st grade classroom. He ate some more, then I remembered that I had a container of cookies for the Kerns to deliver. So we walked over to Mandy’s classroom to deliver them. August had started to act tired as he sat on the 1st grade bench. She wasn’t there, so we set the cookies on her desk and put a note on it that said “1 per Kern”.

It was close to 5 and I suggested we go see mama. He wanted to play one round of the science lab game first so we sat outside her classroom and did that. We were almost through the script (I pointed out how the whole thing is a story that August has written and he seemed pleased with that realization – I should write it up to him as a story) when Carly spotted us. We followed her upstairs and too her classroom. He and I lounged on the beanbags and he was quite lethargic. I joked about how Carly’s classroom might be making him sick, as the last time he was like that in her classroom he ended up with a fever at home. We call that foreshadowing…

I took him to the bathroom and we watched a few minutes of Sarah and Duck. Wee then headed home. I carried him to his bike and he was very cuddly. He was quiet on the bike on the way home. We were close to our park when he didn’t steer us around a planter thing and I had to stop. We asked what was going on and he said, “I’m really sleepy.” Carly picked him up and carried him part way, then I took him. He perked up to ask, “Is it possible to have just a mama or just a dada?” We said yes, and explained and Carly added that it’s possible to have two mamas or two dadas. So he was asking, “What about 3 dadas?…99 dadas?” As we got to the house he asked, “Is it possible to not go to school?” We talked about homeschooling, etc. and then he was asking about the earth not having any schools, which I said was impossible as there actually are schools, but then he said, “Think back in time…” And I had to admit that there was a time before schools. We also talked about other ways of learning, and reasons why people might not be able to go to school, like they don’t live near one. So we were speculating on how far away you could live from a school. He asked if 2000 kilometers was possible, and I said Antarctica is probably the farthest you could get away from a school.

We were home at 5:40. He watched Pink Panther and later some of the marble videos. He had teriyaki rice and veggies for dinner. He said above his lip felt hot. I couldn’t feel it, but Carly thought she could. We took his temperature and it was 38. A little high, and we didn’t really force it in his mouth, either.

He played a little school with Carly, but was clearly tired, and after a few minutes he said he was ready to go up to bed. She took him up and got him ready and brushed his teeth. Skipped a bath though. He tried to convince her to skip brushing his teeth by saying, “I know that teeth brushing is important but getting more sleep when you’re sick is even more important, right? Right?” I came up and told him we didn’t have a word of the day yet and he said, “Just talk about stuff with mama and I’m sure I’ll find a word of the day with that.” Which we laughed at, but then she told me what he had said about brushing his teeth and said that was a good use of concession and rebuttal. He excitedly said, “Two words of the day!” I left them at 7:05.

He fell asleep, but after 8 we heard a noise. He was coming down the stairs. He told Carly “You weren’t up there.” She went up with him for awhile, then at 8:20 he was back down, awake. She got him Cheerios and they read the Red Wagon book. He remembered he hadn’t had a cookie because he hadn’t finished his dinner earlier. He ate a big piece of carrot and a couple slices of apple and I let him have a cookie. We then read a few chapters of Magic Tree House #31. We added ‘cove’ as another word of the day as I looked up photos to show him what a coves is. They went back up at 9:20 and fell asleep around 9:45.

Discussing dance class and his day:

Playing school with mama:

Waking up

Ice cream stand

Outside first grade

Delivering cookies

Doing the science lab game

I woke him up at 7:20. He watched a Pink Panther and we got ready to head out. I read him the message from Carly. She probably called him ‘Little Boy’. He replied, “She didn’t say that! She would say puffyhead fluffy!”

On the walk to school, when a car drove by, he said, “I just saw Mama’s cousin. Her 25th cousin.” Marion explained the schedule to him, saying they were doing something different now, having the choice time, like Thursday afternoons, also on Tuesday mornings. He was a bit confused as she kept jumping between talking about Thursday and today, but it was good news for him. Andrea rang the notes to start a meeting outside and I was able to leave with him just standing this morning.

I walked home, then picked Carly up at 12:20. We headed to see the psychologist, Dr. Aviv in Ra’anana. We met with her from 12:50 to 1:50. Went well and we’ll see what happens. Sounds like much might be covered by insurance, and it might be nice to have an outside professional in on the communication with the school.

We drove back, and I ran in to go to library time while Carly parked the car. I had told Marion I might be a few minutes late, but should be there by the time they get to the library. I called it correctly, as I met them at the top of the preschool stairs. August said something like, “You made it just in time!” I went into library time with them. Ilana read the book Ferdinand to them. August moved to my lap about halfway through. For checkout time he chose a book called Red Wagon by Renata Liwska.

On the walk back to his classroom I briefly met Ms. Rena, who he knew and said hi too. It turns out she’s the mindfulness/yoga teacher. She looked familiar, but I’m not sure from where. August and I, in discussing the schedule, realized they’ve been unlucky, as they have that on Mondays, and with all these vacation days they don’t have Monday for several weeks in a row.

I found out he did choose dance again. I also found out that he ate some past today for lunch, and ate half his cookie. And he ate the cereal bar for snack. He ate some more on the PKA bench, then, once all the kids were gone, he started delivering cookies. He first delivered them to Marion and Andrea. I noticed Marion’s daughter, Amelie, sitting in there as well and I suggested he give her a cookie. He walked over and very nicely asked, “Would you like a cookie?”

Out on the bench, Anna walked by and he excitedly offered her a cookie. Then, it was Amelia, then Vicki, and then Myriam. We learned that Vicki and Myriam had never heard of ‘snickerdoodles’ before. Myriam was convinced it was a word he made up. And we found out that our cornbread was the first time Vicki had had it. Amelia reminded me she was from the Spokane area as we pointed out that our cornbread hadn’t actually been all that traditional.

He did a lot of macro photography, then we headed over to the library. We returned the Magic Tree House book and checked out #31. I also got Gay-Neck, one of the earliest Newbery winners that I haven’t read. Don’t know if he’ll be in to it or not.

We went outside and sat on the bench and played the science lab game. He spotted cat #100 of our counting game. We saw Lillian come and sit on a bench near us and start reading. I pointed her out and he excitedly ran over and offered her a cookie. She said that Eve was inside when I asked her. She hadn’t been there when we were inside, so I joked to August that they must have a secret door. August liked the idea of a secret door. Later he added secret passages between his labs in the game.

We went in and he gave cookies to Liz and Eve. We went back out and a minute later Liz came out to share her cookie with Lillian, only to find that she’d already had one.

Carly came when she was ready to head home. We went and got his bike. He used his bell and said, “I like to ring my bell. It’s like music to me.” We were to the car at 5:10. I had found an odd plastic piece on the ground today and put it on his car seat. He started playing with it as we drove home. He told me, “I noticed something. You gave me something that can transfer music and all kinds of sounds all around the world.”

At home he did school with Carly. He told her he recorded her class for every home around the world to her. He was her assistant, setting up for the class. They were also doing some math, multiplying 5 times 5 for something. He showed her “birthday cake, birthday cake, make a wish” from dance class.

I got him dinner, and we turned on some music. August said it was the perfect food with the perfect music. Then didn’t eat much. Carly asked him about school and he said, “Everyday my brain organizes school stuff so it’s still organizing stuff.”

He watched some Pink Panther and marble videos, then Carly gave him a bath. He and I then read Red Wagon, some Magic Treee House, and a couple Skybrary books: A Picture Book of Benjamin Franklin and Mr. Mouse’s Motel.

Carly took him up to bed and he was asleep about 9:50.

The science lab game:

Giving Lillian a cookie:

Giving Eve a cookie:

His new treasure – a sound teleportation device:

Enjoying Pink Panther

Library time

His book choice

Cookie delivery

Explaining his science lab

Cat 100 in the background

No school or work today. I woke him up again, just after 7:30. He got his shoes on and went out to Carly. They came in and were on the couch. Carly read a funny story from Sharna on Facebook about trying to get a refund for plane tickets. He then wanted to watch a video on her computer. But he didn’t want to use his iPad. It turned into a game/messing with him when she started typing everything he said. He got into it and started saying random things. Carly said he could wait until she was done t watch on her computer, as she had some work to do. They then debated whether the game counted as waiting, but Carly pointed out she hadn’t actually done any work. He then waited semi-patiently. Carly commented on how he likes eye contact as he got close to her face. He asked what that meant and that became the word of the day. I read Beezue and Ramona to him and Carly worked outside.

He then started singing a “I love bunny slippers!” song. Think that was based on a sample sentence that Carly had written for her students. Carly came in and they watched a Ted-ED video about renewable energy. I went up to take a shower. They then watched an immune system one. He was watching a Kids Health eyeball video when I came down. He then had us play out the secret science lab under the preschool.

We made cookie dough together. Although he wanted to break it into segments and did the math on how many ingredients we could do at one time. He then went to play school with Carly, and she convinced him that one of the things they needed to do was to go outside and water plants. He used his plant meter out there. He came in and was saying, “It’s actually useful, right? So I was right…Sometimes when someone wants to buy something you don’t think it’s going to be useful but then when you try it out it is.” They lost one of the tips but it seems to still work.

He played the Blue Apprentice science game. Cookies came out of the oven and they each had two cookies. Carly argued we should eat them all right now as they are best when they come out of the oven. He watched some Pink Panther and I went up to do some work. They headed to school and the store and were back about 3.

I came down at 3:30. He was playing the science app and they were eating popcorn. We then got ready to go and headed to Kfar Saba Park. We were meeting up with Sherry and her sons, Edin and Seger. When they asked how old he was he explained that he was a little more than four and a half. It was the first time I’ve heard him talk about the half. We went up to the playground and Seger took him off and they explored the playground. Very cool of him to take August round like that.

After awhile we decided to head south through the park and see if the zoo part was open. As we walked, August used the camera and took photos of sculptures and things along the way. He took a selfie and said “Stylish.” The zoo wasn’t open (although we peeked in and August liked the birds), but there was a little trampoline place near it. The two older boys went in the harness ones where you can jump really high. August went in the regular trampoline pit area for 10 minutes. He had a lot of fun dancing and doing flips on it. He asked, “How did they make this so strong, but so flexible?”

We started to walk back and stopped in a grass field and Sherry and her boys showed August how to play soccer and they had fun for 10 or 15 minutes. We continued back to the playground, and August walked Carly through the magic passage. He then was on the ship play structure area with the two boys. Suddenly, August took off running, past us and over past the trees. They were starting to count for tag and he didn’t understand the boundaries. We took him back and for the next 20 or 30 minutes they sort of played tag hide-and-seek on the ply structures.

August also came over and played with the slo-mo and time lapse on the phone. He took a slo-mo video of Edin doing a break dance move. We all went and sat in the grass and had a snack. We had brought popcorn. Then headed home after that.

We got back at 6:30. Carly went upstairs to shower and work. We had pasta for dinner and played the Blue Apprentice app, although I was falling asleep. He drank some milk to earn a cookie for dessert. We tried to Skype with my parents but they weren’t online, so we left video of August sort of dancing on the couch.

I took him up and gave him a bath, then brushed his teeth and on the bed we read part of Plants Versus Zombie Timepocalypse and he did a lot of reading in Biscuit Plays Ball.

Carly came in and put him to sleep. I left them at 9:15. She told him she would be gone next week for the school’s Week Without Walls trip and he handled it very well, just asking how long it would be.

Wind science with a hat:

Making snickerdoodles:

Exploring the playground with Seger:

Dancing on the trampoline:

Rolling on the trampoline:

Playing soccer:

Time lapse dancing:

Slo-mo dancing:

Slo-mo break dancing:

Video Skype message to Gramma and Grampa:

Explaining something (science lab, I think)

His stopwatch is still going, even after the iPad software was updated

Off to explore the play structure

When he called himself “stylish”

Trampoline

Possibly the best photo ever

I woke him up at 7:30. He stretched for a minute, then we headed downstairs. He got his shoes on, then went out and sat on Carly’s lap and they were talking about all sorts of things. I took him his vitamins. At one point he came back in and got the snack bag and took it out. He was disappointed to only find Cheerios. I took the bag inside and filled it with things like mixed fruit and a sliced apple and took it back out to him. He predicted spilling his Cheerios, saying to Carly, “Remember the time my Cheerios spilled all over the floor?” Five minutes later he spilled his Cheerios. I came out and sat at the table and did some typing next to him. He got the bucket and brought over the big bag of soil and he made a concoction, sweeping up some of the Cheerios (I got him the little broom from Korea) and putting them in. He added water from his water bottle, then mixed it and had me help him scoop it around some of the plants.

I went in and finished an email as he looked at a couple of music apps and an astronomy app. I went upstairs to take a shower. He borrowed my phone and macro lens and took photos, then switched to the Moments app and shot with the blue white balance. He really liked the photos and asked me to post some of them on the blog.

Carly had been going back and forth with Tessa, trying to schedule a family meetup today. We were headed (in theory) to Tel Aviv and the port when we learned that Ofir had fallen down an escalator at the mall and headed to the hospital in an ambulance. So she switched and was taking the kids to the Sporteque area across from Herzliya Park.

We got going and got to the park at 11. We’d never been there, as I didn’t know there were playgrounds in the middle of all the tennis courts, etc. August wasn’t a big fan of the play structures as they were kind of big. We played on them a bit though, and he showed me an exercise. He then got the macro lens and was taking photos. I sat and read and they shifted to the next ply structure. We moved over there and he paused for a snack as well. We decided to head back to their house and left at 11:50.

Carly was eating a snack bar and he asked, “Why do you like bars so much?” She replied that they are convenient. He sang “Convenient! Word of the day!” and asked what that meant.

We followed Tessa to her house, about a three minute drive, and got there at noon. He told me there was an underground passage from his laboratory at school to here. He was playing by the chair and tried to tell Liam about his secret laboratory. Liam said that wasn’t real, but started talking about the television instead. He showed us the Paw Patrol theme song. Tessa then got out the magnet blocks and we all played with those. Tessa got cucumber and cottage cheese out for a snack and we sat at the table for while. Lim had started the iPad time by wanting to show us a pizza making game. August got his out and they played TodoMath for awhile. Neva had fallen asleep for a nap on the way back and slept much of the time.

August really liked their fan and figured out how to use the different oscillation and timer controls. He and Liam also did some synth playing together but August yelled at Liam when he was changing the sound settings. August has a favorite sound that he likes and he was afraid he would lose it. I had to explain that it was a default setting and we could always go back to it.

We left at 1:30. We were going to look for a place to eat nearby, but realized that parking would be a pain. So I suggested we drive up to Udim, south of Ikea, where we’ve been talking about going. We found Cafe Muskat and got a table inside. August stood in front of the air conditioner and cooled off, lifting up his shirt and turning around. We ordered a mango smoothie, lattes, sweet potato raviolis, and risotto balls. Israeli portions (slightly small) and prices (slightly high) but very good. While we waited for the food, I took August back to the bathroom, which involves walking through a big home goods shop. Then the bathrooms are out back. There’s a little sitting area back there and August found all sorts of little plastic pieces as treasures. They sort of look like jacks.

We went back and ate, then he played a little iPad. Carly and I took turns looking at the shop. She took him to the bathroom as it was closing at 3. They took there time, as they found more treasures.

On the way home we stopped at the nursery. Took convincing to get August to agree to that. We let him pick out seeds and he chose bell peppers. I got a plant and pot for the desk upstairs, and Carly pondered her next purchase for the yard. August also convinced us to buy a meter that pokes into the dirt and shows the Ph, moisture, and sunlight levels.

At home he and I stayed outside and experimented with the plant meter. The sunlight and moisture meters at least work quite well. I took the plant up to the desk, then we finished the Magic Tree House book. I had downloaded a couple of science-related apps. One is a game called Blue Apprentice and he started playing that. Really cool, and is going to be something we play for quite awhile.

He played with Carly for awhile and she told him that her students call rhinos ‘chubby unicorns’ and he liked that. He was hungry and we cooked some mushrooms and added pesto and cheese to pasta and he made that. I then made a full pasta dish, adding a yellow pepper and feta and basil.

He played with Carly and they played school. They did math, and she explained the word ‘manipulative’ and that was a word of the day. They read a Bob Book and did some more writing. He was being a helper and helped her set up her classroom. He wrote ‘Welcome’ on the whiteboard and helped her clean up the classroom. For art time he showed the students how to draw a mechanical fish. He also showed them how to sit and put “fishies in the pond.” He said the next subject was Earth time and he got the globe. He explained what a country is and that land is a solid. I pointed out that the globe is a ‘model’, a word that had also been explained in the Blue Apprentice app. Another word of the day.

Carly did the rest of the dishes and I played the preschool game with him – the story he’s developing where he turns steel into gold with explosions and wakes up the preschoolers and they come down and see science.

He asked how many milliseconds are in 90 Pluto years. I asked him what the first piece of information was that we needed. He said how long a Pluto year is. So we then walked through the math together, with him pushing in all the numbers on the calculator. We got 703,883,520,000,000 milliseconds in 90 Pluto years.

August is doing well adapting to school, but in talking to other people at the school it was suggested that there is a good psychologist that we could talk to about testing for giftedness. She’s worked with the school a lot. We figured it couldn’t hurt to talk to her, so Carly scheduled an appointment with her for Tuesday.

August told me, “Bicep…they’re tiny microscopic animals that live on your skin – I know that’s confusing – but they live on your skin and make it itchy…if you use shaker cream it kills the things that make you itchy. It comes in a package that had a thousand for containers.” “Well you got it. I told you it.”

I went for a run. They found the other new app, Froggopedia, which teaches you the life cycle of a frog and lets you dissect a frog. He told her he didn’t want to do more reading because his brain was still sorting words from yesterday. Then he used all the stuff on top of the dresser to explain how there were things he remembered and here were the things he doesn’t remember.

I got back and took my shower and said good night and left them after 9:40. He was asleep before 10.

Explaining his science lab to Liam:

TodoMath together:

Testing out the plant meter:

Turning steel to gold:

I got up at 7. At 7:15 I picked him up off the bed to wake him up Downstairs he lay on the couch and fell back to sleep while I got his vitamins and Cheerios. Carly got him to wake up, then read more Beezus and Ramona. She read the whole section of Beezus taking Ramona to the library and then eventually having to pay for the book after Ramona writes in it. Carly and I both remembered that from our childhoods.

I made french toast with berries for them. We all ate outside. Carly was then watering plants and August played with the hammer. He then came in and played with the anatomy app (we used the augmented reality mode) and then he watched the scientific method video on Brain Pop Jr. We were listening to Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life (#57) and I did all the dishes. August did more macro photography, having also done some a bit earlier.

He let her trim his hair and he got a butterscotch lollipop. He told us that butterscotch is his favorite flavor. They played card games, but not winning games. He told her, “I learned how to play a game called slapjack.” We had done it a couple weeks ago.

I went up to take a shower as they were watching a video about robots and humans. Part of the science project website. When I came back down they were on the rug, surrounded by paper. Carly was watching a video and tying knots and August was having fun cutting up paper into small pieces. They were making a model of bones and muscles and tendons. He said, “I’m into cutting paper now.”

Carly was over on the couch and August ran over and into her and hurt her. She said she had to go upstairs for something. He stayed behind and huddled in the couch. When I went over I realized he was crying. He thought she’d left because he hurt her.

We read some Magic Tree House #30 and watched a marble video. Carly headed to the store at 12. For lunch he had oatmeal and mango. We then went upstairs and he helped me move the couch from the small bedroom out to the play area. He took the lint out of the dryer, then we charged the old phone and he played with it a little, using the compass and voice recorder. We then measured him on the wall chart for his 4 and a half year height.

Carly was back at 1:10. August was excited about telling her about the couch and being measured. She wasn’t thrilled about the couch, but later admitted it was good there.

He had been wanting to play with the “birthday camera” (he calls it that because that’s generally the only time I take the DSLR out to use it) since our aperture discussion yesterday. So we went downstairs and played with that. He particularly liked the fisheye lens. We talked about doing a stop motion video and he went up and got the box of wooden blocks from upstairs on his own. He said, “I have an idea. We can build a little, take a picture, build a little, take a picture.”

He ate noodles and chicken. He told Carly that 60 plus 60 is 120, and explained that adding seconds is like normal math: “Seconds has math in it exactly like regular math.” I asked him what 9 plus 9 is and he claimed it was 19 but he explained his thinking well. He found a tendon bit in his chicken. Carly said she had made a mistake and, “We all make mistakes.” He replied, “No, I don’t!” He spent several minutes on his own, gluing popsicle sticks together for us. We then made our stop motion movie. That went really well. He wanted to do a fish movie, like the sample movie, and we got as far as drawing fish on paper. He and Carly would later do a little more coloring, like of the water background.

He brushed Carly’s hair and told her, “I’m your special hairdresser.” Carly went upstairs to work for awhile. He watched Max and Ruby and ate some crackers with peanut butter. Carly came down and admitted I was right about putting the couch in the play area.

We headed to Ra’anana Park in the late afternoon, getting there at 5:15. I went and paid at the meter while they went in and were then hiding from me. We started at the smaller covered playground. I did some reading while they went on the play structure, which he was calling his house, then used the sound reflection things.

We then walked over to the big and very busy playground. Carly and August went and did a circuit of the big play structure. Carly particularly liked the shaky bridges. I read a book. They came back and sat next to me and he had a snack. We had a good view of the gibbous moon. He said, “When the sun sets, it’s really dangerous to be on the moon because it gets 900,000 degrees.” And asked, “Do scientists know there’s aliens on the moon?”

We left as it was getting dark. He told me he snuck to Mandy’s classroom and ate everything – the chemicals and everything. And that “I think concrete is yummy. Like a treat.” In the car we watched domino videos on my phone to keep him awake.

At home I got his bath ready, then I went for a run. He was reading Will I have a friend? to carly when I got back. He was doing lots of reading. He then chose the fossils book and was trying to read that. Carly told him about the concept of a ‘just right’ book and they went downstairs to find a just right book and he read a Bob Book.

Carly went to take a shower. August and I went on the Zinnie bed and were looking at Bedouin photos again. We went to the big bed and he was opposed to Carly leaving, but she said good night, and after some songs he was asleep at 9:30.

Carly told me he had talked to her about his reading and explained that “When I read, I first look at the word and think what is is, then I say it.”

Gluing sticks:

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Brushing Mama’s hair:

Lego explorer:

Ra’anana Park 1:

Ra’anana Park 2:

Ra’anana Park 3:

Ra’anana Park 4:

Breakfast outside

Making tendons science

Trying out the couch in the new spot

Playing with the old phone on the new couch location

Drawing fish for the stop motion

Spots

Running down the ramp

In his house

Blue August

Snack time

Off to tour the play structure

I let him sleep until 7:15. He watched one Sarah and Duck and we were off, walking at 8:40. On the way he told me, “My favorite time of the day is when I take my mat to the teacher…because I get to walk around and stand…”

Got to school just after 8 and I left at 8:10. I saw the rosemary he and helped them find yesterday and the focaccia they had made with it. I had him take the paper schedule out to Andrea and he said I could leave after she read through it. So she did that and he asked me to pick him up. I picked him up and said goodbye and handed him to Andrea. No crying, so smooth. Left campus by 8:20.

When I got to school at the end of the day he didn’t come running out. I went in, and he was with Andrea looking at her computer. They had celebrated Marion’s birthday today, and he had asked who’s birthday was next. It turned out to be Bibo’s in October.

They had had a good birthday celebration for Marion. He ate focaccia bread and drank water. He did the movement/dance class with Ms. Amelia after rest time. He had gotten his timer out of his snack bag and told me I’d forgotten to take it out.

He had handed me some of his treasures – a blue bit of wire, a nut of some sort, and a blue rubber band or hair band. He grabbed the cornbread and was out on the bench eating before I was done packing up his stuff. Out on the bench he told me, “I saw the note you gave me…it was a good gift for me.” I had drawn a picture of a robot saying hi to him.

He said everyone had loved the bread. And he had been on the playground earlier in the day when some people had gone to do gardening. He told me he had “wandered”.

He took photos around outside. A nice one of the beads on the teepee thing, the vines, and then all sorts of textures on surfaces. We headed to the library so he could find more textures, and he found a lot in the different rugs and fabrics. The battery was running low so we plugged it in, and he did art in MS Paint on the computers while I looked for books. We got Magic Tree House #29, Cam Jansen and the First Day of School Mystery, The Word Collector, and a rather dated DK book called Space Exploration. August also had fun watching the people on either side of him play computer games. His favorite was the one to the right, where it was a first-person shooter game, as he told us later.

Carly arrived and we checked out the books. Eve checked them out again. We went outside and August wanted to run around the library. He went to the left and Carly went to the right. August took quite awhile to show up. It turned out that there had been two teenagers sitting on the walkway, blocking it, with their feet up on the railing. He had solved the problem by crawling under their legs. Carly asked if they had found it funny. He said they hadn’t laughed, but it seemed like they thought it was funny.

On the walk home Carly found him more amusing than last year. On Vatikim he found a tangled length of thin rope. It was then dragging behind him as he steered with his feet and tried to untie it. He said, “My string is really causing problems.” At the house he figured out how to tie it to the swing and made it into a machine, using the string to make it move.

In the house, Carly cut up a starfruit. He was being very teenager-y about it, not thinking it would look like an actual star. I tried to film it, but missed that part, but caught his surprise when she sliced it and handed him a star-shaped piece.

He and I started to read Magic Tree House #29. The books change into more of a fantasy series now and they are in Camelot. One of the characters explains they are now in a ‘legend’ and defines it, so that was our word of the day.

I started to take him upstairs for his bath. He said something, and Carly said it sounded like he said I was pooping in the living room. She ran with the joke, and I had him say, “Mama, you’re being uncouth.” I was then saying random phrases to make him laugh. That continued upstairs in the bathroom.

He had his bath, and then as he went down the stairs to say good night to her he was singing a “Mama” song for her and doing a little dance.

I took him up to brush his teeth and put him to bed. In the middle of the brushing he spotted a lizard up in the corner of the ceiling. I was going to capture it, but Carly decided it could stay. August didn’t like the idea at first but went with it.

We read more of Magic Tree House #29, until they leave with the Christmas Knight. Turned off the light and sang and then were quiet for quite awhile. thought he was falling asleep, but about 8:50 he insisted on Carly. She went up and he was asleep soon.

Eating after school:

Running around the library:

Tying his string:

The swing machine:

Starfruit joy:

Making him laugh:

Staring at the fan

Sitting in the cubbies

Today’s treasures

Digging into corn bread

MS Paint art

String treasure

Contemplating his evening snack

He came out the bedroom at 6:20 and I told him mama was downstairs. He went down and sat on the couch for five minutes until she came in from the yard. She headed to work, and he watched some Sarah and Duck. We took the car to school and he cried when I handed him off to Andrea. He had gotten in a last couple of questions about the schedule, then I told him that Andrea could tell him more.

Maaian and his teachers sent updates on his day. Maaian said “August cried for about 2min this morning, and now he and Ms. Andrea are already finding materials and brainstorming ways to create a wrecking ball like the one he made at home.” And sent a photo of them looking for materials.

His teachers wrote later in the day:

“August cried for a couple of minutes but then settled in with the group. We went for a Nature Walk where August shared with us where the best place on campus was to find rosemary (we were on the hunt for Ms. Marion’s birthday). He led the class to the spot! Hector also asked to be partners with August on the Nature Walk.

August shared with us about the wonderful experiments you were doing at home. We heard about a very spicy soup and the wrecking ball!

During recess, August completed a bunch of challenges from going around everything in the shape of a circle to going up and down the slide. Yaya decided to join in with him as well.

At lunch time, Eve was quick to pat the spot next to her and asked August to come sit. Unlike other days, we have noticed August drinking a lot of water. This is a great improvement. As for the food, he joined in the group and sat at the table being a part of the class next to Eve who kindly invited him.”

The bus kids had left when Carly arrived at 3 but he was fine. Did the thing where he ignores her at first. They sat on the bench and ate for a half hour then went to her classroom. They watched a video on that machine that was just launched to clean up plastic in the ocean and August learned it communicated with a satellite, so then he was typing satellite language into Carly’s computer. They also played outside and he did some dancing in the amphitheater area for her. They stayed there until I picked them up at 5:45. August really didn’t want to take the bike home.

They were actually at the entrance of the school when I got there, talking to Eve’s mom, Heather, who is a new art teacher at the school. The first thing he said to me was, “Why did you have to chat with Omar?”

We got home at 6. He and I watched Sarah and Duck together. He played the subtraction game and somehow broke it (found a glitch) as the problems stopped working. He did some TodoMath.

I went for a run as he was eating dinner and I think he tried the cookie things that were leftover from lunch with Omar. When I got back they were reading Magic Tree House #28 again. On chapter 7. I went to take a shower, leaving them at 7:50. He was asleep about 8.

Before I went to bed I heard him really laughing in his sleep. He was up against the edge on my side, so I slept in the middle. In his sleep he sat up and slept against a pillow up against the wall for several minutes.

The snail garden:

Lunch note from me

To school

Staircase in the Sabeel building

When I picked them up

Kaak bread

Looking for wrecking ball supplies