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He was really laughing in his sleep for awhile around 7. He was awake at 8:15. We did some of the bouncy game on the bed. He was asking what we were going to do today. He wasn’t happy about the driving and is getting tire of it: “Why is driving only in hours?” He was ready to get out the door and to a coffee shop: “Mama, could you put on your shoes please?” And he velcroed my sandals for me. We left at 8:50.

We drove for a few minutes to Blue State Coffee. August got apple cinnamon oatmeal, while we got bagels. He told a story about a dog getting a warning about something. As he ate his oatmeal he dripped some on the table, then licked it off. He asked Carly “Does that make you nauseous? The licking the table part.” He was then in a grumpy mood about the iPad. He really wanted to play, and said he hadn’t gotten to play it at the last two hotels.

We left at 9:30 for a walk around downtown. We saw the site of the first pay phone, then he explained how to make a telephone from sand and use it in a sing-song voice. Lots of interesting things to see in Hartford: the Old Statehouse (sadly closed today, so we could see the oddities museum in it), the site that Stephen A. Douglas campaigned, sculpture outside the art museum, “Forgotten Connecticut” paintings on the sidewalk, the Linden building, a very out-of-place building of 60s(?) glass blocks, an umbrella sculpture, etc. And one of those abstract orange metal sculptures that seem to be common – I’ve wanted to figure out if it is all the same artist, or different artists. Construction around this one though meant we couldn’t see a sign for it.

He wanted to go down a wooden ramp I’d joked bout going up, then I spotted a regular ramp across the street. I raced him up it and then back down, pretending we were a race car. He enjoyed that. Only. Minute later though he decided he was done with a walk. We headed back. On the way we saw the Ancient Burying Ground.

We got back to the coffee shop and Carly took him in to use the bathroom. He did not handle waiting well, yelling a couple times.

We got driving. He played the reading game, and decided the word of the day was ‘mineral’. We played a little of the comet game together, then read more of the Roscoe Rules book. He didn’t seem to be enjoying it s much as yesterday though, so we switched and finished reading the second Captain Underpants book.

We drove two hours, and stopped at the Waterwheel for lunch. I drank a dirty hippy (chai and espresso) and we ordered vegetable don (veggies and brown rice) and a tofu bahn mi. Carly had taken him to the bathroom, and then outside to do some challenges while waiting for food. He took me over to look at some leopard print stools he had seen, and he weighed some produce on a hanging scale. We went back and ate. He’d done well enough in the restaurant that we went and got a treat for the road. He chose an apple cinnamon scone.

On the drive we read a couple of book samples (Ada Lace, Detective Dot). He then hit me in the face. Harder and more direct that I think he intended, but I wasn’t happy about that. We then re-reading Hilde Cracks the Case: Bear on the Loose. He lasted until just before we got back, then he hit me again. Carly took him out for a timeout t the entrance to Kirkridge.

We got to the house at 3:10. They were playing around, and Colin said “Aha! I found you August!” We walked over by the lake, and I was being motorcycles with Colin. He just kept running and running. I’ve never seen him with so much energy. Vivian and Colin met a couple with a dog. August asked if Vivian could pet it. They talked, and the woman said “mamas are the best.” August said “Yeah, cuz she’s nursed me four years”. We kept walking and Colin and I hid from the rest. They found us, then Colin led me out on the spot. He then really wanted Carly to see the pond and his dinosaur tattoo. He then spent a good minute chasing a dragonfly, then he was a dragonfly as he kept running on the way back. Finally, he saw a grasshopper and he was then a grasshopper.

We were back after 4 and they had popsicles. There were plastic eggs, and August really got into putting nuts in them and hiding them for Colin. Vivian went up to her room for alone time. When August heard this he wanted alone time too. This year though he wanted it in his own room, which was a nice change. He went in and told me “Could you scream in here when Vivian is done with alone time?”

There was noodles for dinner, then he was saying “poop”. Vivian told him not too, and he had a meltdown. He kept saying things like “Vivian’s just ordering me around!…You’re just ordering me around!…I want to do it my way!” As he calmed down I tried talking to him about the Sesame Breathe app again, and how the monster chooses to calm down. He said “Stop taking about it! Or I will have to delete that app.”

They ended up outside, playing on the rollercoaster track thing. He had to go get his shoes and was afraid of the bees. I pushed Colin on it. He and Vivian found more things for the sharing bowl. Then he came running over “Ata…uhh, mama. Can we go for a walk to find things?”

I read in the bedroom. They had gone over to the swings, but then came in for a timeout when he hit Colin over something. Then another timeout when he was repeating the “Don’t pee your pants” line from Hilde to Vivian and she didn’t like it. There were a couple minutes of quiet while August and Vivian watched a Magic School Bus together. But then Vivian was skipping ahead through scary parts. August didn’t like the skipping, and didn’t like having control. Efforts to mediate proved fruitless, as neither would budge.

Carly and August came back, asking about the catapult kit. Colin was already asleep, so Vivian, August, and I spent the next hour or so working on the catapult. Well, they helped for part of it, then mainly played with the clay for the balls, then licked the batter out of the big bowl after Jeff made coffee cake.

They took a bath and Carly did the tea game. I washed him. Vivian and August were being generators in the bath, giving people power. At one point August said “I love everybody!”

We got him ready, and I left bout 9:50 and he was asleep at 10.

Hartford:

At lunch in Milford:

Saturday, July 28: Dada/Zinnie adventure around Concord

Carly left round 7 and went and got coffee at The Works Cafe, then caught a Lyft drive out to where her workshop was on Compassionate Listening, at NH Conference Church. August woke up at 8:28. He asked for Carly and I reminded him she was at her class and we were going to the science center. He said “Alrighty.” He got down and lay on the floor for awhile, then went to the bathroom. He then had a cereal bar and watched Magic School Bus while I took a shower and packed.

We took out our backpacks, then checked out and left at left 9:55. We left our car at the hotel and walked into town, to The Works Cafe. At the corner a big fire truck went through the intersection. He asked, “You think that fire truck was out on a call?” That was cool, but it reset the lights at the intersection, apparently, and we’d already realized the lights take forever up here. Waited a couple more minutes with other people, then crossed. I realized it was 9:59 and ran up to the clock tower. We hadn’t heard it, but the clock said 10:01 and we’d missed the ringing.

At The Works we ordered a classic smoothie, an egg and cheese sandwich, and a latte. We sat outside and looked at all of the fire trucks across the street (a ladder truck, a hose truck, an ambulance, and a regular truck) and discussed how fires are fought.

August looked at his smoothie cup and asked what ‘chill’ meant. We discussed its meanings, and I suggested it as the word of the day. He then said that ‘development’ was the word of the day. I realized he meant from the Hilde book, where there is a housing development in the woods.

We finished eating and got to the car at 10:40. He whispered “You know what I built at the hotel? A 9000 story garbage can that when you say open it opens and when you say closed it closes.”

We drove to the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center. At one point I was able to tell him about McAuliffe and the Challenger as we looked at a photo of the crew. Anyway, we got in just at 11. Started by making a stop motion video, then played with these rotating things that make a rhythm. He danced to that. His favorite activity, which we came back to multiple times, was making pictures with gears – sort of a Spirograph meets a turntable. Did some of those, then went to the space area. Upstairs we was the floating balls, Newton’s pendulum, and a exercise bike that was about exercising on a mission to Mars.

We went back downstairs when he spotted things he hadn’t done. Played with the scales, then headed to find a bathroom. That took us down the hall to the planetarium. He then piloted a shuttle lander simulator once, then we played with wooden blocks. I did the challenges, while he was more creative (a “Tiny zoo”). Back to the simulator one more time after it cleared out.

Then back to the rotating rhythm thing and gear spirographs. He made one for Carly. A cool sound frequency thing followed, and a different Spirograph sort of thing, using a screen and a sort of digital drawing board. A shadow activity, then a video thing that has you walk a certain pace and takes a video, then has you walk half speed and speeds up the video to see them in sync. Some more gear and chains stuff, then a running thing. A cool globe, more scales, more wooden blocks…it kept going. The final thing we played with was three chairs that show the effects of doubling. It starts with a small chair, then a chair that is twice the size, then a huge chair that is twice the size of that. You can measure them different ways.

As we walked out, we went to the gift shop. He immediately saw a kit for making a catapult and loved it. He then saw one of those black hole donation things, where the coins roll in a circle. He remembered he had found some pennies in the car so we went to get them. We found 2 quarters and 4 pennies. So then I told him I had spotted a penny squished in the gift shop. We had done one at the natural history museum the day before as well.

We went in and squished a penny, then did the black hole. He remembered the catapult. It was cool, and my only hesitation was luggage. We got it, and then a small liquid hourglass – something he could actually play with in the car.

We got in the car and had a snack and this time he did the reading game on his iPad. We left at 1:50. The first time he had held my phone and watched the directions. We went west of town to the Mill Brook Gallery & Sculpture Park. Spent about 15 minutes outside looking at sculptures. He wouldn’t let me by the two hanging iron monkeys sculpture. We went inside and looked around. A lot of cool stuff. We did some talking about materials as we looked around.

We then drove to the southeast and arrived at the Audubon at 3. We went inside and looked at the reptile room. Living reptiles, but lots of taxidermied animals as well. We went to the bathroom, and discussed the word ‘development’.

He requested I tell him another story. We first went to the car and got Cheerios. He said “Dada, I love you…Dada, I really like you.” We started walking, and he requested the story again. He told me “At restaurants, it’s actually a Z story.” So I told a Z story about meeting an elf in a cafe called Z’s Cafe. We got down to a bench by Turkey Pond and sat there. He counted the “gummies” on the bench. These were the remnants of (I think) moss patches, which (I think) looked like chewing gum spots to him.

The place closed at 4, though I don’t know if that applied to the trails. So we got going. He led on way back at first, and almost ran into a garter snake on the way back. We watched it slither off. He then asked for a Zinnie story, in which Ms. Robin asks for help for tools.

We got back at 4, and he figured out the controls for the moon roof and we drove with it open. He was then telling himself a story about someone named Georgie, though I didn’t catch any details.

We had time until we picked Carly up after 5, so we drove over to Rollins Park. He wasn’t too enthused about playing at the playground, but we ended up walking the edge of it, working on our balance. He was holding his water bottle to his chest with one hand, and holding his hair back with the other. He played on the play structure a little, figuring out how to go up a shaky cylinder ladder, then came down a slide.

We could see the big thunderstorm coming, and lighting off in the distance. We kept checking the weather app and radar to see how far away it was. We headed back to the car at 4:45 and the rain hit about 2 minutes later.

It was quite a downpour as I drove to the church. The long day and the sound of the rain put him right asleep, and he slept from 4:52 to 5:10 when Carly woke him up. A woman at the workshop helped her get to the car with an umbrella.

I drove at first, along the river on 3A. We kept taking 3 south, and had to stop when August bit his tongue eating carrot while he played the reading game. We drove until we stopped for dinner at the Lobster Boat restaurant in Merrimack.

We had a nice dinner of lobster bisque, alfredo pasta with shrimp, and a couple of salads. I had a beer. August ate a lot of shrimp until he got one with some shell on it.

As we left it was pouring, but the radar info said it was supposed to stop soon. So we waited in the entrance. Sure enough, after 5 minutes it basically turned off.

Carly took over driving from there. We read Hilde Cracks the Case #4. He then watched Sarah and Duck. He stopped watching the lemon cafe one because he remembered that the cafe closes before they can order and he doesn’t like that. He then played the feelings game from Sesame Street, the human body machine game.

We got to the hotel and up to room right at 10. He liked the lemon water in his water bottle, which we’d filled from his cup at the restaurant. Earlier, he’d had pineapple infused water from the hotel when we left. Carly took a shower and I made the complimentary ba
g of popcorn.

We read Captain Underpants and ate popcorn. We read most of the preview of the Roscoe Rules book until we stopped at 10:45. He was asleep a little after 11.

Flying the shuttle:

Sculpture:

Audubon hike:

Park:

Rain:

We had a wonderful museum day today.

I caught up with Formula for the most part (didn’t finish the race) and took a shower. He slept until 9:12. I dressed him, and he went and admired himself in the mirror: “Good…you dressed me up good.” We went down to breakfast in the hotel. He and Carly used the pancake machine to make a pancake. That was pretty cool. As they walked away, another kid told them another pancake was coming.

We were back to the room before 10. In the elevator August was taking too long to push the button so I reached over his head and did it. He didn’t see what happened, and thought the machine had chosen for us. So back in the room he had us act the elevator thinking for me, after I didn’t push the button in the elevator.

We got going up to the museums. Carly had ordered an 11 o’clock entrance to the Seuss museum for us, so when we got up about 10:30 we first went to the natural history musuem. He liked looking out at the big tyrannosaurus, then he and Carly made earthquakes with a machine. We looked at the minerals and crystals and then I sat down and worked on our BECU stuff while they looked around a bit more.

It was then 11 so we headed over to Seuss. The Seuss museum was really busy, so he spent a lot of time just wondering around, saying it was too busy. I lost them for a few minutes as I looked at the Theodore Geisel exhibits upstairs. I really liked some of the individual pictures and family cards he had drawn. Eventually though we found a video of The Butter-Battle Book playing. It was near the beginning, and August sat down to watch. The sound from the TV was incomprehensible, so I narrated the story for him for awhile. For awhile it was self-explanatory enough, then when it got to the last weapon I heard him narrate the weapon creation process for himself. We talked about the ending, and he had an amazed look on his face when he realized they were equally powerful at the end. I suggested that ‘stalemate’ was the word of the day and we discussed what it meant, and in chess.

The crowds had calmed down and we went around some more. The main thing he did was the McElliot’s pool activity where you decorate a fish, then push a button and it swims across a big screen that looks like an aquarium. He did 20 fish or so.

Then he was done. Carly and I both liked it, but thought it needed one more floor of activities to be really substantial. Lots more Seuss stories that could be covered. We also saw the new mural, after the one from I Saw It on Mulberry Street was taken down due to the Chinaman character.

We went outside to find that they had dance music playing and a big bubble machine going. August ran through the bubbles a bit, but mainly he just stared at the bubbles, entranced.

We went back to the natural history museum. I got my debit card to work. He saw the donation box and told Carly he wanted to give more money to the museum. We went upstairs to the area we had started in before and repeated some of the stuff and looked at the T-Rex again. He pointed to the big humerus bone in a display case down below and told Carly it was from a dinosaur that was twice as big as the T-Rex. She asked how he knew that. We had looked in there earlier when she had gone to the bathroom. It was from an herbivore, like an allosaurus or the such, that was said to be up to 92 feet long, compared to the 40 feet of the T-Rex.

We found a balloon artist without any customers. August was intrigued, but asked if her balloons had helium. She said no, in fact they aren’t allowed in the museum, but he still said no. Carly asked some advice on how to get into balloon animal making and the woman gave some pointers. August watched while she made a sword for another kid, then he chose an alien hat. He wore it for a few seconds, then it went on the stroller. But he really liked watching.

He didn’t want to go in the Clifford the Big Red Dog exhibit, but when we went down the stairs there was someone in a Clifford costume. And August loved it. He was trying to figure out if it was a person or real, and started looking for evidence. He saw the zipper, but said it had a tail, and toes. He felt it, and a couple times he said it felt like someone was inside, but he wasn’t sure. He asked Clifford a bunch of questions, and gave him a hug and high five. It was soooo cool.

We then went downstairs to the animals/aquarium area. This was my favorite part. August really liked the exploration drawers, where you pulled them out and found all sorts of things: bones, sea stars, shells, etc. etc. Watched a little of a catfish video, then went to the bathroom. We walked around the rest and got going.

We ate lunch at the nearby cafe. Carly ordered (sandwiches for us, and mac and cheese, soup, and apple sauce for August) and August and I claimed a table outside. We heard a balloon pop. As we left, we realized it was the alien part of our hat; it had gotten hot in the sun and popped.

Now, he saw someone in a Cat in the Hat outfit and went over and talked to it for a minute and gave it high fives.

We next went into the art musuem. We explored three of the galleries pretty fully: the middle one, the American painting one in back, and a more contemporary gallery on the right. We spent a lot of time looking at the big mural painted in the 40s. Carly explained it to him and he was most interested in how the artist won a contest to paint it.

He was hungry and talked about having “Snunch” (the term we had coined for having snacks for lunch). We left at 2:20.

We drove and drove and drove. We read the next Hilde book in there. About 15 minutes from Concord August started asking about a gas station for a bathroom. We got to the hotel after 6:30. He was looking desperate, so I told her to stop out front, and I grabbed him and ran in. We made it. He talked about pee making things sticky, and suggested “A tiny suction cup in the pee.” We did the boingy, boingy, boingy, bounce game, then left before 7.

We spotted a Chinese restaurant and decided to go there. We got lo mein and shrimp and pea pods and a couple of spring rolls. He suggested something to us and said “Oh yes, I thought so. I thought you would.” Dinner was good, then we walked into town. We saw the capitol building and Carly realized that the clicking of her backpack straps made an echo. We got August out of the stroller to run out some energy. He ran around for about 5 minutes. We walked farther up through town.

There was a storm off in front of us so we turned back. We stopped at a square and saw an odd sculpture of Lincoln and a crow. We then got to the clock tower, and when August found out that it rang at each hour he wanted to wait, even though it was 26 minutes. We waited 26 minutes. He was very patient about it, and very happy when it went off at 9. We headed back and got back to the hotel at 9:10.

Carly gave him a bath. Put his pajamas on, then she took a shower. I was lying on the bed, and he climbed on it, and on my back, and said he was a massage machine. He ws then a tattoo machine:  “you earned three tattoos…one heart, one flower, one circle…Every time you get two massages you get three tattoos they are different.” “Calculator, telephone, and round red button.”

We finished the Hilde book and read 10 chapters of a Captain Underpants book. He said “You should really stick to what you know, like tea parties…you know, the mean-agers.” It was a line from Hilde.

Once again he was having trouble going to sleep with Carly. I took him over on the other bed, and after some more struggling and talking about how we go to sleep, he fell asleep to my left, lying on my arm. I fell asleep too, then woke up a bit later. I rolled him from the edge of the bed and made a pillow wall on the other side of him. I think we fell asleep a little after 11.

He came out at 8:15. Colin was first to spot him, as he sat at the counter. Ate some egg and English muffin for breakfast. Cassie went for a run as they ate breakfast and Colin watched a car video. I took a shower. They played Magnus Kingdom and then both Vivian and August were going to wash their hair. Vivian was going to wash her hair in the kitchen sink. August was intrigued by the idea and wanted to watch her first, but then Vivian changed her mind and refused to wash her hair. So I washed his hair in the bathtub. He fought it at first, but then got through.

He was acting out, but it turned out he was stressed about the trip we were packing for and we talked bout that. We had talked about the word of the day a bit earlier, ‘vigorously’, and now he told me “Rub my back the word of the day, please.”

Carly was out with Cassie by the garage and cars, cleaning out the car and vacuuming it. He wanted to make his Nom Noms smell nice like Vivian’s. She had used the bathroom spray and the rose water on them. So August yelled out through the window, “Tia Cassie, can I use your perfume to make my nom noms smell really good?” She said yes, and he sprayed the orange spray into the bag. But then he decided they were sticky and he was afraid the spray was making the color come off of them. So he washed them in the bathroom sink, and explained to me what he had done: “to the second drain” “Now a lot of water is in the sewer system.” And then he got broader and explained the whole well system here: “from the wet sand” “for washing our hands, and drinking, and flushing the toilet…”

Vivian came in and announced they were having popsicles. Him: “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!” They ate them out front, and he asked “Can air conditioners keep it from melting?” Inside, he then had Cassie microwave the rest of it to make popsicle juice He narrated the whole process to me. He and Vivian were then playing in on the beds. I came in and he was standing on the windowsill. He had his hand on the stick for the blinds. Just as I told him to be careful and not pull on it, he said he could hang from it and pulled. The blinds came down and hit him on the head and the stick came off. Luckily, the blinds are the clip-in kind. Nothing was broken, and he recovered quickly.

Vivian came in and started reading a book to August, but when August said something she didn’t like she stopped reading. When I tried to help her, thinking she was having trouble with a word, she told me she was reading in her head because she didn’t like what August had said. I made her go read out in the other room.

She was being moody because we were leaving, but as we left at 11:45 she ran out, bringing August his Nom Noms. Carly drove. We saw three deer, then he said his “Stop and look if you want to go up” thing. He also read a “Water. Caution” sign.

We chose to stop in Dansbury, Massachusetts for lunch as there was some sort of sculpture park there. On the way we noted as we crossed states. We had some adventures in parking, but then found parking at the Motherhood on Main Cafe. As we parked, August said, in his Waze voice,”You found your destination.” Inside, there were a lot of choices. We ended up with a tuna salad sandwich, veggie soup, turkey sandwich, and a sunrise smoothie (strawberry, mango, and orange). They gave us a metal number, 3, to put on our table. August really liked that, and hung it on the back of his chair. We talked but where we were and he said “Connecticut should be the word of the day tomorrow.” While we waited he walked around looking at the different salt and pepper shakers, as every table had different ones. The food came and was okay, but the soup was too spicy for him and he didn’t really like the tuna with dill. And the bread was hard toast. Carly went and got him a grilled cheese sandwich as well and he ate some of that. He danced to a guitar version of “We are Young” that was playing, then randomly asked “Why can’t you park in the middle of the road?”

When we finished we walked through town, stopping at a couple of their history stations (they have a bunch of boards telling the history of the town) and saw the 7 or so sculptures in their sculpture area. We got driving again. August and I read Hilde Cracks the Case #3.

We got to the hotel, the Holiday Inn Express in downtown Springfield, MA and to our room, 203, at 7. He really liked the squishy carpeting and said “Sinking into my socks like mud.” Which we thought was an excellent simile, despite not wearing socks. He asked “Was that hyperbole?” The beds were tall and he complained “I can’t even get on the beds!” But there was a foot stool he could use. He explored the room, figuring out the switches and remotes and pointed at the ironing board: “Is that a canoe?”

He climbed on a bed, and we made a big game of “boing, boing, boing, boing, bounce’ where I’d bounce him on the bed four times, then, flop him down on it. He was laughing a lot, then laughing more and more as I started to malfunction and do different things when I bounced him. As I did it, he had turned on the little reading lights, which were on articulated arms and said “The lights are cheering you on.”

We headed out for a walk, and headed to the Dr. Seuss Sculpture Garden a couple blocks away. It was 7:30 or so. We got up to it and started identifying the statues. He identified one girl as Daisy Head Maisy, but I think it may have been Sally from The Cat in the Hat. We saw Thideick and August remembered reading it to him at 5 months in Centralia when I had a broken arm. When Carly went to the other side of the rope to climb on the statues (the ropes simply said it was too hot, but it wasn’t now) he was hesitant to break the rule, but eventually did, and hugged Dr. Seuss. We were talking about running out of time, and he went and said “I got my stroller.” And “We spented all our minutes.”

We walked down to the other end and saw the Lorax, which I was very excited about, then the security guard came and said it was closing and talked to us as we walked out the north end.

We walked back down through town (stopping to see the mice running around a park, and the statues there) and tried to get down to the riverfront park, but that entrance was closed and it would take a few blocks of driving to cross the train tracks. So we walked back up to town, seeing the moon on the way.

Next mission was food, but the Italian place we walked to was closed for vacation until July 31st. There wasn’t anything else open, except for a chicken place Carly had seen. We talked about going back to the hotel and ordering something, but then I saw that it also had pizza. We went in and ordered two chicken sandwiches for us and a slice of cheese pizza for August and an order of fries to share. Turned out it was cash only, and it took most all the cash we had. While we waited, Carly and I tried out debit cards in the ATM but couldn’t get them to work. August and I played I Spy.

We got our food and walked back to the hotel. We pulled out the table and ate. August asked “Is there geoduck in my pizza?” I said no, and besides, it would more likely be lobster or crab or clams that you’d get in this area. A minute later he said “I think I got some chewy crab.” He explained “You said there there was crab in this country.”

He watched some Sarah and Duck. We then watched the timer and stopwatch and ate a little more while Carly took a shower. He talked about having “A sweet tooth” and reminded me that was from the dog Zeus in the Hilde book. I brushed his teeth, and I mentioned that we all needed to go to the dentist once we are back in Israel.

He was then crazy and not going to sleep. I lay next to him and told three stories:

An August story. He comes back to Israel and is playing outside in the yard on his own for the first time and finds a door in a tree. It leads to a tunnel full of animal statues. It eventually ends, he returns, and h
is parents don’t believe him when the door disappears.

A Zinnie story. First day of preschool. Makes friends with a girl named Teegan. They find a door in a tree. There is a stairway that leads up and they meet Ms. Robin, who is as big as they are. She serves them work cookies and tea. Ms. Anna calls and they have to leave, but promise to return. They decide to not tell anyone else about it.

The second Zinnie story. Later that day, Teegan and Zinnie are playing on the computer. They were excited by the idea, but it is easy math. They decide to explore the wires inatead, and find themselves inside the computer. They almost get lost, but manage to find their way out. They realize they need to be careful, and also need to figure out what is going on.

After a few more minutes of him being problematic and taking him to the other bed for a couple minutes, he was quiet and fell asleep just before 11:30.

He woke me up during the night. He didn’t realize that Carly was down on the lower bed next to him already. He’s been waking Carly up more since we’ve been in Pennsylvania and have had separate beds. Sometimes, he’s gotten up and not realized she’s next to him. the other morning, Carly heard a kid outside the room calling for “Mama!” She got up, thinking it was August. It was actually Colin, and she was surprised to find August quietly sleeping next to her.

He was up around 8. We had Chess Kids working on both our iPads, so played a little with Carly between them, although not a complete game. He didn’t like that it was time. I took a shower, and they did Duplos and a construction site with Colin. In the bedroom I sang the “Lost my helmet in the spaceship” song and he wanted all the words so I had to get the phone. I sang a couple of the other songs we’ve written. He asked “What’s drooped mean?” The word of the day was ‘doomed’, and I think I’d been explaining when a house plant was beyond saving and used the word.

He did Wizard School by himself and drew a picture. He told me “That’s a kidney and there’s pee going down to the bladder.” We were getting ready for the fair and discussed how there aren’t backpacks allowed in the fair. He said “We’re not taking any weapons… They’ll trust us.”

We left before 11. It poured on the way down. We parked and waited for the rain to let up, then went in. We saw some of the milk cow judging, which was certainly interesting to see. We then walked through the barns, looking at the different cows, then the goats and sheep and pigs. One of them was named ‘Vivi’. August was a little upset there wasn’t one named ‘August’.

We got through those, then went up to the playground, which was drying out. They played there while I got us a cheese pizza. We took that and sat under the covered area and ate. When we were leaving, about 12:50, I think August said he’d hit Vivian, as I then heard him pleading “Don’t tell my mom!” We ended up going back to the playground first. I helped him up on top of the truck, where Vivian had climbed earlier. He was then the driver and he told me to ride in back. He said we were going to “River, Ohio.” That’s from the Two Dogs in a Trench Coat book, I think.

We left for real at 1:10. I had suggested the library, so Cassie took Colin so he could have a nap (although I don’t think he took one) and we took Vivian with us and we drove to the library in Stroudsburg. Google Maps took us on some roads we had never been on. We saw an interesting church, and a rails-to-trails trail that I didn’t know existed. We listened to Story Pirates  episode #22.

We got to the library at 1:50. Inside, he told me “Last time, I walked diagonal.” We went to the kids room and they went and looked at the turtle, Yertle. They played with the stools and found books. August found a di Paola book we didn’t end up reading. Carly got a couple of Clementine books for Vivian, and I found Robo-Sauce. After awhile, we took those, and a couple of Peppa Pig books, and checked them out. I got two cappuccinos at the friends of the library coffee shop there and the kids each got fruit snacks. Vivian got the mixed fruit ones, and August chose strawberry. Nice to see him not needing exactly the same thing.

We found a table, and Carly read them a Peppa Pig book and Robo-Sauce, which they liked. I read a little of our next book group book, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena. As we walked out, August was acting like a robot: “Robo pee activated” “robo grab”. We left at 2:50.

We listened to Story Pirates #23 and Carly took over driving. We were home at 3:15. He found a truck on the floor and wanted to put it away. Cassie had put the big box of them upstairs in Colin’s room, so August took it all the way up to put it away. He had me programming him again. Going down the stairs we counted 14, which I said was his favorite number. He reminded me “100 is my favorite number.”

Cassie and her kids read the books and August and I did wizard school. I was then outside with Colin, playing with bubbles. Back inside, Vivian was playing Magnus Kingdom on her iPad. Colin was trying to touch it, and August did a good job of using his words: “Colin, let Vivian play it on her own for a few seconds.”

We had seitan and cauliflower wraps for dinner. August liked the cauliflower. They were crazy in on the bed. August came and asked for his superhero towel. I put it on him, and as he went to go back to the bedroom Vivian saw him and asked for it and he gave it right up. They then went out to the swings with Carly.

Cassie took Colin in for a bath, and we took Vivian with us, back to the fair. We took Cassie car this time. We left at 6:40. At the fair we went into the exhibits hall. August liked looking at the baked goods, and he quickly caught on to the colors of the ribbons, and went walking around, pointing them out. Carly and Vivian came back from the bathroom, and we looked some more and they pointed out ribbons. Together, they agreed on a slice of chocolate cake from the baked goods sale. And outside we bought a funnel cake.

We found a spot and ate the funnel cake. We told them the cake was for at home as we didn’t have forks. We then went over to the other exhibits hall. August really liked the fruits and veggies. They had veggies that had grown oddly, and also ones used in art projects. He and Carly talked about a large kale plant. And there was a purple cauliflower: “Look, look, look. It won first place cuz it’s purple. One of my favorite colors!”

On our way out, he and Vivian were judging mud puddles. We went to the bathroom. When I brought him back, Vivian and Carly had balloons. August made it clear that he didn’t want one, and that Vivian should just let hers go. He said “If I want a balloon, I would just let it go!” We got an apple dumpling, also for home, and left at 8:20.

In the car, August said “Hey Vivian, say stop sign ahead.” She wouldn’t fall for his bait. When she sees the red signs with an arrow she knows the literal meaning is ‘Stop ahead’. But August says it means “Stop and look if you want to go up.” And that drives her crazy.

When we got to the house he asked uncle Jeff to feel something if it was wet. A bit later, when Carly asked Cassie if she had tasted something to see if it had nuts in it, he said it ran in the family. The four of us (I apologized to Jeff that they weren’t vegan) the desserts.

They got in the bath and there was more exploding tea. He asked “Why don’t I have electric toothbrush yet?” Sick of exploding tea, I managed to sneak out of the bathroom and they played by themselves. Carly and Cassie took over baths a bit later and let them delay hair washings until the morning.

We got him ready and I left him with Carly at 10. About 20 minutes later though he wanted me to sing. I went in for about half an hour. Sang some hours, but he isn’t too good about trying to fall asleep nowawdays, rolling around and wanting to turn things on, etc. He finally requested Carly and she went in just before 11. I think he fell sleep soon after, but they both fell asleep.

He had a bad dream, waking up talking about how he didn’t have the right amount of hamburger. He woke up at 7:55. Cassie made delicious raspberry scones. August was loud and having to warn him about words a lot with Colin. He liked the scones, but not the berry parts so much. He and I played the Creature Garden app. I went and took a shower, and he and Vivian played together on the iPad. We were getting ready to go, and he told me “When I see the toy machine at the jumping place, I’m going to walk right by it.” He said he remembered it from last year, and he and Vivian had already talked about it.

We left at 10. We had planned on a day in Easton, but because of the rain we landed on the trampoline place instead. Sadly, the industrial museum in Bethlehem isn’t open until Thursday – I really think August would like that one, and the Canal Museum in Easton isn’t open until Wednesday. Me alone in the Toyota. Trip down went pretty smoothly. We got in and were jumping from 11 to 12. Lots of jumping to be done, and only one incident of a child (Colin) knocking over blocks (August’s). Carly and I spent a lot of throwing balls back in forth in the dodgeball area while August ran from one end of them to the other. She went in the climbing house thing with him and I sat and read.

As we left at noon the plan was to separate at some point, as Carly wanted to go get some shopping done. I think Vivian melted down with the idea of being separated, but then I had suggested going to a county park to eat our sandwich lunches. We were going with that plan as we got in the cars, but then Vivian said maybe we shouldn’t go because it might rain. August took this as her making decisions and flipped out and started swinging at her.

So we took him and his seat out and cancelled the park plans. They headed home, and the three of us headed to Dick’s Sporting Goods. August had calmed down, but he and I stayed in the car listening to music while Carly went and shopped. He climbed into the front seat and played with the vents and controls. Had a good downpour while we waited. Carly came back out and we headed to our next stop, Wal-Mart. We did a repeat, with Carly going in and him climbing up in front. We listened to a Story Pirates on the way back home.

We got home at 2:30. We could see dark clouds coming. Carly went in first, and August and I were out in the driveway when some strong winds suddenly came up. I said the rain might be coming, and he sprinted into the house.

He said sorry to Vivian, and they were soon cuddling on the bed. I had some work time, then August and I read 5 chapters of Hilde Cracks the Case: Hero Dog! He went out and Carly helped him and Vivian, and Colin joined in, to make a concoction. I went back to work. Then some wildness as they played out on the porch. He banged the rocking chair against the wall and left a mark. Then got timeout when threw something at Colin.

They all left to go to Vivian’s violin lesson. August and I finished reading the Hilde. I was happy to see all the rest of them are just $2.99 on iBooks. Cassie had made a delicious soup. August had some and said “This soup is good.” And he asked Carly “Hey mama, how’s your cute little baby paper doing?” Which is a line from the Hilde book. He had some more soup, and we discussed who was vegetarians and omnivores and herbivores. He said “I definitely like that soymilk.” This was after Carly had said he’d “definitely” drink it.

We played Magnus Kingdom, then they got home. Jeff had gotten them some little candies, so they got to eat that. Colin did some painting at the counter. August was chewing on a plastic turtle, and earlier he’d been chewing on the medicine dispenser and on his shirt. I asked him about his teeth and he explained that one of his top front teeth is itchy.

The kids had known there was ice cream for dessert, and hadn’t gotten the message that the candy from Jeff took its place. So there were now small bowls of ice cream that they ate outside. August had me carry him across the grass to see the pumpkin plants, but a few minutes later I saw him walking across the gravel to go in the garage with Jeff and Vivian.

They came back with fireworks. A couple aerials this time, then the bee ones and sparklers. I set up the Chess Kids app on him, then Colin saw the photo of August in the Max (from the Where the Wild Things Are cutout in Korea) on my phone and really liked it. He kept asking to see it, and showed other people. Then he was calling August Max. He also seemed to think that it looked like Jeff.

Vivian and August did a crazy yelling game at Carly as she lay on the couch. I did their bath. Colin did the tea game too. They’ve lost their creativity with the tea game, as they just do “chemicals that make you explode”. We got him ready for bed, then he said good nights. He went upstairs on his own to find Cassie and say good night to her.

Vivian then fell down three stairs. He ran out, we thought to show concern, but he said “Hey tooshie.” We told him to go say something nice instead, and he said “I love you.”

August said “Oh no! I’m doomed!” about something, being dramatic, and we made ‘doom’ the word of the day for tomorrow. We looked at Khan Academy for a few minutes, and he said “Drawing is my favorite.” I left them at 10 and he was soon asleep.

He was up after 7:30. Carly was in the bathroom but then went in the bedroom with him. August came out and requested his iPad and played Creature Garden.Vivian came out and ended up with control. Life and soy milk for breakfast. I was researching KiwiCo and Little Passports. Sadly, KiwiCo doesn’t ship to Israel. I took a shower. Back out, I got out the watermelon for them.

Cassie headed to the grocery store. Carly read to them and then they did art – collaborative this time and it was successful. Carly did a great job of setting it up, and then they either shared or had different things they were in charge of. They called it a castle, but then also it seemed to be a mailbox. I did car Duplos with Colin. We used the Duplos to build a home for Lightning McQueen and another car. He was having them sleep: “Tired…The sun’s up!”

Moved to the living room and trucks for a construction site. August was helpful, wanting to get Colin more trucks and tools. He found a tractor with a trailer in Colin’s room: “You could use it to haul materials.” Carly was on a productivity spree, cleaning up everything behind us. Cassie was home by 11.

We got the kids ready and left for Klein Farm, our annual ice cream and cow outing. I drove separate, listening to The English Patient.

We did ice cream first. Vivian had gotten one of the mango ice things, but August went for ice cream. The woman working there told August it was National Vanilla Ice Cream Day. She then said she had a vanilla with fudge in it, and he went with that. Carly asked about the sizes, and hinted she wanted the same size as the mango one. The woman totally got it, and said she’d put it in the same size cup. Carly got a coffee toffee flavor and shared it with me and Cassie.

We sat by the playground and ate. The kids and Cassie took shelter in the play structure when it rained, and Carly and I sheltered under the umbrella. Carly said they should serve a little scoop of multiple flavors, and we cme up with the idea for a place called ‘Frozen Flights’.

We all headed down to see the animals. As we got to the pigs, August said “Do you think that pigs pregnant?” Think he was correct. Vivian said she saw a pig’s butt. August said “I’m looking at TWO pigs’ butts!”

We spent a lot of time with the cows. We saw one peeing, and August observed “It’s eating while it’s peeing.” Vivian and August saw a cow pooping, then kept watching to see another cow poop. We also looked at the names on the cows, and Vivian and Colin were petting the cows.

We decided to head back to see the goats. We stopped to watch a duck taking a bath in a puddle. Vivian found a feather, and August said “I want goat feathers too!” The found feathers, then we moved on to the goats. Vivian then discarded the feathers, and August decided to put them through the fence. As he did so, a goat came over, thinking he had food. August told it “Just feathers, goat.”

August had talked about getting food to feed the goat, but having Carly actually feed it. The vending machine wasn’t working well. Vivian got some with a quarter, but then another woman and us tried with multiple quarters and none came out. We shook it and the woman tried again and got some, so I used one more quarter. No luck. A couple minutes later, another woman got some, and offered some to August. He took it, and Vivian walked up and immediately asked him for it. He handed it over.

I went up and sat and read until they were ready to go. I took August to the bathroom, then we left. We got back at 3:15. They both had timeouts for spitting in the car. He decided to stay in the room for a bit on his own nd wanted to play with the World Clock. He told me, “I’m going to do it by myself…but leave the door open.”

Colin acted sick. I took care of him, then Vivian and August were giving him medicine. August popped one of the eyeball splat toys. Colin closed August in the bathroom and popped another one. They then took care of me – August started squirting water in my mouth and then Colin offered me Cheez-Its. The three of them were squirrels and Vivian was the mama. That lasted for several minutes, then Colin spotted an interesting insect outside – a fishfly, I think: https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/fishflies. We watched it for several minutes until Colin tried to hit it and I had to make him stay inside. Vivian and August then took it over and released it under a bush.

We had vegan chili for dinner. August really liked it. Cassie then got all sorts of art supplies out, and August did these scratch paper things. He said, “Those are all the noodles that I made.” Instead of doodle. August got upset about Colin taking things from him. Then he and Vivian played Wizard School. I took a short walk, but it started raining as I left. Went to the other side of the lake and back.

Carly had given them a bath, then August and I played with the whiteboard. I wrote our recent words of the day: melancholy, century, and symmetry. August then copied ‘melancholy’ and then he and Vivian did that and the other words. We got him ready for bed and he was asleep at 9:50.

Carly was reading the Hilde book with Vivian when Jeff said “Guess who’s home?” As Colin ran towards the front of the house yelling “Mama! Mama!” August suddenly came around the corner the other way, and also shouted “Mama! Mama!” Luckily, they didn’t run into each other. It was 8:05.

I took a shower, then Carly had Vivian and August making art out of things from recycling while I played with Colin. Things went downhill though with the art, and August started needing the same things that Vivian had. When he got really upset over a spoon Carly had cut out of cardboard, I scooped him up and took him to the bedroom.

I talked about going on an adventure of our own. At first I included Carly, but when I mentioned a dada/Zinnie adventure he was excited about that, then when he was out of the bedroom with Carly he seemed excited about going without her.

So I got us ready to go and we were driving away by 11. I asked about a word of the day, and he thought about it for a minute and said “Melancholy”. I think he mis-pronounced the first syllable the first time, but he had simply remembered it from the one or two times Carly had said it a few days ago as a possible word of the day. So I defined it for him later, and used it several times during the day.

He decided he wanted to go to a coffee shop, then a park. We got to Stroudsburg and the first problem was parking. I didn’t have any coins, and beyond the coin parking it was all permit parking only. Eventually parked in the KFC parking lot. Walked across only to find that the first possibility, The Cure Cafe, was crazy busy due to brunch. Just to the east then was Sweet Creams Cafe. But they had a sign on the door saying they were taking a break from today through Thursday.

We got back in the car and I headed east, figuring to try Brodhead Brew near Dansbury Park, the park we were planning on. But it was simply closed. Didn’t get close enough to see if there was a sign. August was now set on Starbucks. I did see a coffee and bagel place, but he wanted Starbucks.

So we went and parked behind Starbucks. I said we were going to go in and get change. I knew he was going to not be happy about leaving the car as it was, but then I reached into the pocket on the door and found a single dime. 15 minutes. We went in and ordered: August got a chocolate milk, I got a vanilla iced coffee, and we got a vanilla yogurt and a fruit bar. We waited for my drink and claimed a table, then went back out and put a quarter in for an hour. Perfect timing, as it was on the last minute.

He asked what yogurt was from and we discussed it, and he then called it milk. When I called it yogurt he said “From the cow’s perspective it’s actually milk, right?” I don’t know how a cow would actually feel about it, but it was a good use of ‘perspective’.

We sat and ate and drink. The bar was too tart for him. He wasn’t impressed by the yogurt either, as it wasn’t very sweet either, but he ate about half of it. He had drunk the chocolate milk while on the other side of the table, then came and sat in my lap while he ate the yogurt. We then got out his iPad and played the Intro to US Montessorium app. The first set of states included Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey, then he played part of the second set.

We went and got the bathroom code and he got to type it in at the door. He went to the bathroom, then saw the Braille on the baby changing table. He said he made a camera that could read Braille (like how my phone reads QR codes, I think). We talked a little about Vivian, although he didn’t want to talk bout it much. He said something about not liking how she is better at everything.

We got our stuff, threw way our garbage, and headed out the front. Walked out the front door at 1:15 and around the block. He asked about what coins the parking meters accept, and said “Maybe I should invent a parking machine that accepts every coin in the world.” As we got to the car he said “So that dime was useful.”

We looked at the geocaching maps and he now wanted to do that first. We chose the first one, which was at Bryant Park, actually in the little free library.  August wanted to hold the phone, and watched the map as we got close to the green circle. He excitedly started telling me to stop here as I got to the park.

We parked and went in, and I found the cache in a hollowed-out space in a book called Inside the House of Cash. He set it on a rock on the ground and explored all the little things in it. There was a bus card in there with barcodes, etc on it and he pretended to scan the different parts, and each would have a message. A couple he made up were: “Thank you for finding this geocache. Come back again…” “Thank you. We hope you like all the flowers in this town.” There were also different things painted on rocks around the flower garden, and he had me read them to him. Some said things like ‘Mum’, while others were the names of plants. One was a “In memory of…” so I mentioned the one next to it might be a name as well: Aralia Cordata. But he realized that a painting of a leaf on it looked like the plant that was next to it and said it was the name of the plant. He was correct.

Finally, he went across to the park and looked at the big globe. He went around it, and sang a couple songs about airplanes flying around the world.

We then got going again, and headed back towards the house and looked for three geocaches all along the east fork of Martins Creek. We started at the south, and stopped along the road by the bridge. We crossed the road to where the cache was supposed to be, and spotted a big snake curled up under some branches a couple feet from me. Didn’t try to figure out what it was, and kept our distance. We looked for 10 minutes or so. Also saw a bunch of bones that I am guessing were a deer, and a lovely view of the stream.

We gave up on that one, and went to one on the next bridge north. More success here, as we found the magnetic case attached to the back side of the railing in a post. Signed our names (and Smokey), then headed north once more for the last one. This one was also supposed to be magnetic and had been recently found. But we couldn’t find it. He was disappointed about that, and now wanted to go a park, or at least do more geocaching. But there weren’t any close to us. He settled for a Zinnie drive, although I did most of the direction choosing. He sat, snacking on the cereal mix. We drove in a circle, south, then to the west and back around to the house.

We got back at 3:40. He had me programming him again to go all the way to the house and inside. Carly asked if he was ungrateful and he said “I’m full of snacks.” Carly took over programming him. He ate snap peas and watched Vivian play Magnus Kingdom. Earlier, as we looked for a coffee shop, he had asked “Why does Vivian and Colin’s house have so many trucks?” I said because Colin loves trucks. He said “But Vivian doesn’t.” Then, he had, on his own, the idea that they should give away some of the cars and trucks. He now told Cassie his plan: “Every time he gets a new one they should give a broken truck away.”

Carly and I decided to take the kids on a walk to the other side of the ‘lake’. But it was a downhill spiral. It started well enough, with August and Vivian pulling Colin in the wagon. But once we got on the trail, August started running. He was really happy about running in front. But Vivian saw him and took off after him. Once she caught up, she wouldn’t let him get ahead anymore. I was pulling Colin in the wagon, then mostly with Colin as we stopped and ran around in the grass, then went down into part of the drained lake. I knew August was trying to find the same number of shells and flowers, etc. as Vivian, but didn’t realize it was such a problem until he said he could never have as many as Vivian, and I then heard her say she had 11 things.

We started heading back, Vivian and Colin in
the wagon. Vivian got a little upset when she dropped one of her flowers on the ground. August was happy for the moment, running in front. But then she got out and grabbed the flower, then started running in front. She passed him, and he started yelling to her. She wouldn’t let him catch up, so I yelled at them both to stop. I made him get in the wagon and Vivian had to walk with Carly.

Back at the house, Colin got the drum and was hitting it loudly, much to Vivian’s chagrin. So I took it outside with him, along with a xylophone and harmonica. Vivian came out a minute later as I was drumming and asked if she could drum. I handed her the sticks, then turned to the xylophone. A few seconds later, Vivian disappeared with the drum, taking it back inside.

When Colin and I came in at 5:25, August was in the bedroom, seemingly grumpy. I went in with him for a minute, but then Vivian ran in and they started playing together. Cassie had made spaghetti for dinner, so we ate that. Vivian saw the artwork from earlier, and one of August’s pieces was stuck to one of her pieces. She got upset with him, but I pointed out that August wasn’t even in the room when the artwork was put away. He was upset that she now wasn’t going to play with him, and she was having difficulty saying sorry. And a bit later she was playing Magnus Kingdom on her iPad and he was watching. When she was stuck she asked Cassie for help. August got really excited and said that he could help her. When she refused his help he completely melted down and we grabbed him and took him to the bedroom.

He played Magnus Kingdom with Carly, then Green Planet. I played some Green Planet with him, then Vivian came in and wanted to play it with him. I wouldn’t let them, because a.) there’s no educational value and b.) I didn’t see it ending well.

It started raining hard, and they went out and watched rain from gutter together. Back in the kitchen, Cassie said something about the supply of food running out. August heard this and was concerned, asking a couple times: “Why are the food supplies running out?”

I went to do some work, on an entry about the environmental effects of the occupation, and they ended up playing on the iPad together. When I came out Vivian was doing all the playing, but August assured me they had been playing together and he was still having fun and learning.

Carly gave them a bath and played the tea game. When he came out he requested to be a superhero in his towel. Carly and Cassie had put in the window screen and we tried out the window fan but it wouldn’t work. While Carly went to ask Cassie, August and Vivian examined it together and cuddled on the bed, then snuck out on the porch, where the other adults seemed to have been hiding. When Cassie came in to look at it he said “Here’s my evidence…I pushed every single button and nothing happened.”

Carly brushed his teeth. He wore his s’mores shirt as it was warm tonight.

She read Two Dogs In a Trenchcoat to August and Vivian. They were laughing a lot. She stopped when August was too silly. He was in a good mood though.

I went in with him about 9:30. We did the world clock and timer and I sang some songs. I left at 10 when he requested mama. He was asleep a few minutes later.

He was up at 8, shortly after Colin (who had slept a full 12 hours). Colin was excited about seeing August, who was still waking up. Carly made him oatmeal for breakfast. He ws then curled up in one of the butter chairs, and Colin crawled up next to him. They then played with the big container of trucks and vehicles. There had been annoying houseflies around until Jeff got up and killed them all with his salt gun.

August wanted to play the Nancy Drew app, so I bought the rest of it. Colin and Vivian came and played with him until Cassie and Jeff and Colin went to the YMCA. August and Vivian kept playing. Perhaps the start of the day’s troubles, as Vivian was controlling the iPad and taking over the game, although August wasn’t complaining. I took a shower, then had them stop. August said “Let’s play the bouncy ball game where we close the door and mama freaks out, okay?” He had Life cereal and soy milk. More playing around, and he spilled the crumbs of cereal and we got out the vacuum cleaner.

We decided to head to a park, and chose Pennico Park in Bangor. Talked to Jeff and Cassie, who he left the YMCA and were on their way to the store, and the plan was to meet us at the park.

Things started to go downhill once we got in the car. August picked up the tape measure, but Vivian took it from him, saying it was hers. Carly said 5 minute turns, but when we got to Pennico Park at 11:40 Vivian walked around carrying it so he couldn’t have it.

August had me program him to walk the black edging of the playground. Vivian called him over and they played around, although she still wouldn’t share the tape measure. August went and cuddled with Carly and Vivian played with a toddler (Scarlet) and her parents. Carly had him do some running challenges and then when they went and asked Vivian for the tape measure she gave it to him. August said “Let’s measure something together.” He found a rubbery bit on the ground and said “At the Shmorgadeboop playground, the surface was that material.” We went on the swings and he said “I know what the word of the day can be: individual.” A balloon artist came by, he was friends with the couple, and made something for Vivian. He asked if August wanted one and August bluntly said “No”. He was afraid of it popping or blowing away outside.

We left at 12:20. I was thinking we have 9 more hours of this. Cassie and Jeff had gone home instead of to the park since they were hungry. August went downstairs with Cassie and the kids and Cassie gave him a good tour. He had a slice of pizza for lunch. Cassie had been on the phone talking to Claremay for her birthday. August wanted to use the phone to talk to someone, so I asked to use it, and we called my parents. My mom answered, and August said “Hi Gramma, it’s August”. He asked her a few questions, mainly bout whether she was doing a good job feeding the birds and squirrels. So cute. He asked about Grampa, and mom put him own. He asked him if he was working on fixing the car that was making that noise.

After a couple minutes he just hung up. He then agreed to skype with them, but when we did Vivian was wanting to get in on the action and August started saying his bad words and didn’t want to talk. Vivian also started cranking cars on the track, so I hung up.

Vivian and August had a good moment together and decided to do another plat together. Carly and I watched the matinee performance, as Cassie was trying to put Colin asleep. Colin didn’t go to sleep, and instead came down and August watched Sarah and Duck with him. Then, August and Vivian did a second performance for us all. I heard August talking to Colin about why Sarah and Duck wasn’t loading. He then wanted me to answer Colin’s questions about why the next Sarah and Duck wasn’t loading, but I was rather confused, as Sarah and Duck was now playing, and I don’t think Colin was actually asking any questions.

Vivian has a science cook book and she and August looked at it. We were then going to go to Columcille. Carly told August he was going to the bathroom first. Vivian raced in to use the bathroom first, and August got upset. I took him in the bedroom and we talked about it. He had wanted to go and say more mean things to her, but he eventually calmed down and apologized to her.

So we went to Columcille. Problems started right away when August didn’t like that Cassie’s car got there before us. Then, the actual walking. Or really more like sprinting, as Vivian led us from one place to another. The longest we stayed at one spot was the bell, which he had fun hitting. But then ran us to the pond, then to the castle, then along the path. “No running” then turned into a fast skip, etc. And August wasn’t handling it gracefully. We ended up back by the bell, and August found what looked like a “poop flower”. That was a good moment, as he got to teach her about those flowers we have in Israel, related to celery, that have a dark spot in the middle, which he says looks like poop. Then something else happened and I decided it was time to take him back.

Good timing, as it started raining, and everyone followed me. We were back to the house at 4:50. He had some ‘separate time’ with Carly and they read a book. Carly had made coconut curry for dinner, and we ate that. A new favorite.

He then got up on the stool to get down the solar-powered flower thing from the windowsill, which he’s done several times. He then went to take it outside and Vivian got upset and forbade him from taking it down in the future. We worked that out, then Vivian welcomed him and shared the task of hiding the strawberries in the hide and seek muffins.

He then  helped me out away the rest of the dishes from the dishwasher. He found a butter knife, but said “I’m developed enough to carry a single butter knife.” Jeff had come back with a load of rocks, so he went out with Vivian and Colin to see the rocks. They came back and ate a muffin, then he played with the cash register with Colin. Carly read Hilde to August and Vivian, and I played hide and seek with Colin (he actually hid inside, in the living room closet) and went up and read to him in his room. Three or four books.

We heard August upset. Colin immediately got up, grabbed a book, and wanted to take it to August.

I switched with Carly. After a couple minutes he explained that Vivian had said he couldn’t be in a newspaper, or make one. The Hilde book is about a girl who has a newspaper, and Vivian said she had been in a newspaper before. August, of course, hasn’t been, and wanted to be. Not clear why she said he couldn’t. When he was calm enough again he had me program him like the Nancy Drew dog (again). I directed him around the living room, then into the bedroom, where Vivian was, and commanded him to play with her.

Jeff had made lemon cookies, and he got to taste Carly’s. He was then upstairs with Vivian. He next was walking down the stairs, calling me and Carly things: “Mama’s an iPad, Dada’s a book group…” But it turned into mean words. Vivian was playing Khan Academy Kids, which I had told Cassie bout, so August played a little Magnus Kingdom. Vivian wouldn’t let him watch her wash her hair so we played Mobster Learn until she was done and he could get in the bath.

Carly did the poop tea game and washed him. He wanted a lemon cookie, so ate carrot to earn it. I marked the carrot with a knife and he ate more than that. He and Vivian then each had a lemon cookie, then Carly came in and cut up the watermelon. Sadly, who was getting more watermelon turned into another competition. Mainly August’s fault, but Vivian wasn’t helping by immediately asking for more whenever August asked for more.

I took him in the bedroom and we talked again. He requested Carly for tooth brushing. She did that, and we switched again, with me coming in t 9:15. We set up the world clock again and talked about that and I sang some songs. Carly cme back in when he was ready a
nd he fell right to sleep, about 9:40.

He was up at 8:30, before the other two. I let him watch something on Netflix, and he saw Captain Underpants. I let him watch it, but Carly didn’t like the idea of that. He agreed to watch Magic Treehouse instead. When Colin and Vivian were up we played with the garbage truck with Colin. They went outside to the swings and I took a shower.

When I got out, they had come back with Jeff toget sunglasses. He had. Big piece of slate that he was gong to hammer apart for them. Did that, then Jeff got an musing wrong number call from someone who thought he was Larry and had seen his he’d going into a store. They then did smoke fireworks and snakes. Vivian and Colin had fun running and dancing around in the smoke, but August kept a respectable distance. I then pushed Colin and August around in the pink Jeep. Vivian and Augist did Pop-Its and Carly prepared hot dogs.

We ate, then they were jumping off the bed. we got ready to go, and Carly and I (Cassie had worked last night) took the three kids to Weona Park in Pen Argyl. We got there at 12:20. I mainly pushed Colin in a swing, and he spotted all sorts of trucks on the roadway. Vivian went and met the puppy named Haze. August played around with Vivian, then had apple for snack. And then went in a little swing next to Colin.

We were brave and took the three kids to Weis to do some grocery shopping. Went pretty well, although Carly had to take August out near the end. I’m not sure what he was upset about. She had taken Vivian and August to the bathroom, and I had pushed Colin around in a cart and got several of the groceries. We found the toy cars at the end and Colin chose orange. I took Vivian and August to the little machines with their quarters. August chose the sour fruit candy one and Vivian helped him turn it. She then asked if she could have some. I said yes, but before I could explain she could have some of August’s, she put her quarter in the same machine. So, a lot of candy.

Colin didn’t fall asleep on the way back to the house. Carly, Vivian, and August went and made fruit and veggie juice in the juicer, Jeff took Colin, and I did some editing. Cassie came down. We were filling the blow-up pool, and August and Vivian disappeared upstairs. They came down with pictures for Carly and Cassie. Vivian had just learned that it was their birthday. August gave Cassie a hug as a present.

Colin got in the water and August stood in it a bit. Vivian brought out a son art kit and she and August did art together. Colin got out and wanted to do art, so I got the other machine and he and I did several pictures. Inside, Colin was acting sick. He kept saying “Colin sick”. I would pretend to take care of him. August brought in a cucumber and Cassie cut it up and he and Vivian ate it. He helped take care of Colin, giving him medicine.

I went and did some work. They made pizzas, and the kids got to put toppings on their own little pizzas. I came out and had dinner. Vivian and August then played out in the sand box. Colin fell asleep nice and early. Vivian wanted to show August the little pears, but he didn’t have shoes on. So she started carrying him across the grass. They got to a stone less than halfway. He decided he wanted shoes. Got shoes and they played out there a bit.

They ended up inside, playing on our beds. They closed the door on me. I went out and, carrying my tea, did a little walking down by the lake. It turned out they had been working on a play. They called us in and we watched. They acted out Humpty Dumpty. August was Humpty Dumpty.

They took a bath together. I did the tea game with them today and washed him. The four of us went outside to catch fireflies. August had found a big beetle earlier. Anyway, we watched bats coming out of the house, and I pointed out Jupiter and Venus. The two kids played around with the astronomy app on my phone, and seemed to be understanding it a bit more, both of them.

I went in because of mosquitoes. Carly looked at photos on my phone, so then August and Vivian did the same. I brushed his teeth. He said the word of the day was ‘intro’. August, Vivian, and I looked out the windows at the insects flying in the lights of the park and the bats eating them. Vivian had said earlier that she’d never seen that.

I left August and Carly at 10:35 and he fell asleep soon after.