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He was up at 8. I heard him asking for us and went in. He asked for Carly and then lounged on the bed while I went and got her. They hung out for awhile, then came out. August wasn’t too social towards Chuck at first. He got the sphere and had Carly working on it, having her work on the second path “You need to make it the right direction; it’s powered by gravity.”

I took a shower. Cherie made him toast but he barely touched it. I think because it just had butter on it, but he wouldn’t say anything when I asked why he wouldn’t eat it. He and Cherie sat together and played the game he likes on her tablet. Carly made him an egg and he ate that.

I took him out for a walk with me at 11:40. A few houses down, we saw a doe along the roadway, a few feet from us, and watched her eating the bushes. We kind of travelled down the roadway with her a bit. We went to the second beach entrance, at the other end of the spit, and took a few minutes to play horseshoes. He wanted me to keep going until I actually got one around the post, but I didn’t know how long that would take.

We left the stroller and walked down on the beach. He looked at the broken shells and spotted the lines of seaweed, etc. left on the floor and talked about how it was evidence that the tides had been up here. This was something we had discussed yesterday on the beach.

The tide was down, so I was able to pick him up and step across the outlet stream of the lagoon without getting wet. He had wanted to look for crabs, but the beach was different here, with smaller rocks. We threw rocks in the water. He was taking rocks in both hands and throwing them, sort of crisscross. He sat on my lap and ate the rest of the apple for snack. I got the small binoculars out. Paul had loaned them to me one day and I’d put them in the backpack and forgotten about them. August had fun with them, looking out across the water at boats and trees and exclaiming how big they looked.

Eventually we decided to head back to the house. I figured Vivian and Colin were there by now. The tide had come up. In fact, a couple of times August went and hauled our backpack up away from the water. We looked at the outlet stream, but it was high now, and the bank down to it was loose anyway. So we walked the spit the other direction, back to the beach we had been on yesterday. We discussed the wind and the wind sock thing along the way. As he walked along the road, using the binoculars, he said “I love my binoculars.” Really have to get him his own binoculars now.

We got back by 1:10. We had walked the rest of the loop around to the house. He got out of the stroller and ran towards the house, yelling “Binoculars!” Carly asked where he got them, and he yelled “Uncle Paul!” Vivian came down the stairs and greeted him. He seemed uncertain how to respond. I asked who it was, and he said “Rada!” In the house, he went crazy with saying “Poopie” to everyone, then he and Colin were Qing everyone together. I’m not sure what made him start that.

The kids went back in Vivian/Colin’s room with Chuck and Cherie. I heard him call for me when he wanted down. I waited in the hallway for a few seconds though as Chuck and Cherie tried to help him. But he got sad and upset that I wasn’t helping him so I had to intervene. They found a jumprope and Carly took them outside to show them how it worked. After that, Carly suggested gnomes, and August said “I need to teach you about making gnomes out of pinecones…there’s all these interesting materials.”

They went for a walk out along the trail to the west with Chuck and Cherie, and I did some work. They were back about 4 when Derek and company arrived. Craziness ensued, and I kept working for awhile to avoid some of the chaos.

Cherie had made an absolutely huge bowl of nutty noodles. There are a lot of dishes in the house, but they have metal on them, so the only ones that can go in the microwave are the children’s dishes. So when August went to get something for his nutty noodles he chose a cup. At first I tried to convince him on a plate, but then decided that was a good solution.

A bit later, August put on his shoes and walked outside around the deck all on his own and even walked by Eddy. He paused and called back to me at the door “Dada come if the dog comes towards me.” He did it, and came in the other door. Seemed to be testing himself with the dog.

Colin started the cookies. August saw it and chose one, choosing white chocolate macadamia. It had been an early dinner, and cookie was about 5:30. We then spotted a raccoon out in the yard.

They got the kids together for a group photo, then Andrea had gifts for all of them: personalized bags (August’s matches his dinosaur bath towel) and a post-swim sweatshirt thing. The kids all put them on and everyone then headed to the beach with the kids, leaving Chuck and Cherie behind for some peace and quiet. It was drizzling as we walked.

We walked out on the point to where other kids had made a fort of wood. The kids started adding to it and going on expeditions to get more wood. There was also a rope swing and people took turns on that. Vivian and Kayla went wading in the water. I had some fun with photography. Carly sat on a log and hit the bark, making a drum noise, with a stick that Kayla insisted she add to the “bridge” the kids had made out of sticks.

Jeff and Cassie headed back as Vivian was all wet. The rest of us took longer. We started to walk back, but stopped at the swings. Kayla and August were on the swings and Andrea and Carly were giving them underdogs. Andrea told the story of Derek breaking his arm when he was two, and August asked “Can I break my arm?” We’d also been talking about broken arms when I was working on throwing rocks earlier. Oh, and when we were on the beach together this morning I had mentioned doing a word of the day. I chose ‘verdant’, but then August came up with ‘bionic’. He said he knew the word, but didn’t know what it meant. So more broken arm talk there since I have metal in my arm.

I headed back to the house, but they stayed a good half hour longer. They went down to the lagoon and Derek showed them how to catch spider crabs.

They got back at 8:10. He shared another cookie with Carly. Vivian and Colin were still awake. There was a lot more playing. I gave August his bath and washed his hair. He wasn’t happy with it at all, but actually took the hair washing okay. Vivian played a lullaby for him on the guitar. He and Kayla played on the bed and he explained the lamp to her: “It’s a two pivot point turning lamp.”

He went to sleep pretty quickly at 9:30. Carly told me of a couple incidents during the day:

While he’s normally very cautious, when Vivian was jumping on a rock out in the water he copied her. When Cherie said of something “it’s not the end of the world” August agreed and told her what the literal end of the world would be like – when the sun ran out of fuel and went dark, but it would be a long, long time in the future. 

He sat up at 8:05. Blinked a bit, then threw himself back down on the bed for a few minutes. We got ready and headed down to breakfast in the hotel. August has started lying down in the elevators again. He called them something like his “quick elevator rest”. And he said “I have a sensanation that tells me when an elevator’s about to stop at the right floor.” He spotted the “colorful cereal” (Fruit Loops) and had that first. I had biscuits and gravy and hard boiled eggs and yogurt. He was refusing most of the food items, but finally started eating cantaloupe for small pieces of the sweet bread I had.

Back in the room he had a flying car that took us to the raspberry stew stand. Carly noticed our suitcase was starting to break and he got really worried about it. He wanted us to call someone to fix it: “Turn on the telephone!”

We left at 10:10. He sang the “Sidewalk sealant” song in the car. We played the pirate game on the iPad and finished it. We then stopped at Alexander Park as we were running a bit early. he went on the merry-go-round, then Carly got him up the slide but he wouldn’t go down. He swung from the bar on top though, making Carly nervous. There was a slightly-older boy there banging on the slide, and August banged on it too. He went on the swings next to Carly and was pretending to be a record player, getting stuck and having me put on new songs. He sang “Wood ship, go let’s go by the wood ship.” We headed to the car about noon and as we drove he looked out and sang a couple songs: “Garbage can garbage can, you are full.” And “Flower, flower, you are wilting.”

At the motor home Cherie made us corn fritters. We were afraid August wouldn’t eat them because he’s been refusing corn because it sticks in his teeth. But he declared “Perfect amount of corn”. They played random Candy Land and Carly got the splay balls to play with and we did slo-mo videos of them splatting on the table. As we left, he wanted to see the batteries in the motor home. He told them “Chief Joseph Dam had a truck for tours with an entire set or batteries!” He then kept asking Chuck questions about the motor home and they spent a few minutes looking at the wires and hoses connected to the motor home. And Cherie had shown him how the awnings fold in.

We drove over to Claremay and Steve’s. We found them down in the garden area. Claremay gave him some blackberries, and we opened up a head of garlic so he could see what it looked like. Claremay showed him an animal hole in the yard, and gave him a green blackberry to try after she thought he said he wanted a “white berry” when he said “ripe berry”. August had the idea of giving Steve one of the unripe berries, and the two of them had a lot of fun as August tried to get him to eat it, and Steve hid the berry in his hand and pretended to eat it.

He then went on an edible plant tour with Cherie. They had nesturtium, snapdragons, lemon balm, and a couple others. He said the lemon balm was his favorite. He’d gotten a licorice when we came in the house, and now had more. He then acted like a fish and had Carly catching him with a fishing pole. Claremay surprised us with a white cake with chocolate chips. August wanted a second piece, and when I was asked permission I explained my philosophy that grandmothers were allowed to feed him whatever they wanted to. Moved on to rocks for awhile, then he asked “Can we eat a daylily? Is day lilies edible?”

We got going north and stopped for gas at 3:20. He helped wash the windows. We played the chess game and read some of the first Sisters. He needed to use the bathroom so we stopped at. Starbucks. We played more chess and he got a card that talked about how to use two rooks for a checkmate. When we came across that scenario a few minutes later he said “So, let’s do what that card taught me.” We were listening to the Songs for Lipton playlist. From the car I ordered three pizzas from Good Guys Pizza to be delivered to Derek’s house. We sang the sidewalk sealant song together.

Carly talked about him needing a bath “sooner or later” when we got to the house. He told her “Stop thinking about sooner or later, please!” He wanted to wait until the nighttime.

We got to the house and Thatcher was spraying the hose up in the air and letting it fall. August didn’t get wet. He said “Let’s wait for the spraying to go by then we’ll run by like in the pirate game.” In the pirate game we had been timing the character’s run through a tunnel when lava would drop down. As we got out of the car Thatcher brought the hose down to spray the sand box thing and hit us indirectly. August was not amused. I took him in and dried off in the bathroom. He wanted to stay in the bathroom forever.

Eventually got him in the kitchen area and he found a bouncy ball. He bounced it around and talked about how it had momentum. The pizza came at 6 and we ate it outside on the grass on a blanket. He was nervous about dog poop on the lawn and wanted me to carry him between the house and blanket.

Inside they went up to the playroom and Carly was with them. When Thatcher and Kayla cme up he announced through the microphone “Don’t make the towers too tall, okay?” He had been telling Carly to stop building a tower and it fell down. He then delivered shapes to them for building, using a truck.

I headed off for my concert, the 30th anniversary concert of the Posies at the Neptune. The Neptune is now a theater and concert venue. I remember seeing a few movies there, particularly Das Boot. I parked across from where the Mac Store used to be, on 45th, and walked to the Ave. I walked north to 50th, then back south along the Ave and a bit on 15th. Book store was closed for the day. Gyro-cery still exists. Saw a sock store for Carly, and appropriately, a Korean BBQ place two doors down. Lots of Vietnamese places now, although still enough teriyaki joints. The best name was Pho-Shizzle (or was it Sizzle?) I walked up to Red Square, then headed back up to the Neptune.

After the concert I returned to the car, then got cash at the WSECU. Tried to go to the two Dick’s on the way back to the house, but both were crazy busy. Back to the house at 12:30. Had some leftover pizza and juice and went to bed.

While I was gone they had a bonfire and made s’mores. August cooked a marshmallow but didn’t want to cook it too much because he didn’t want it slipping off. But then he remembered that he wanted to try. Raw marshmallow, so he switched for that. Had his s’more in parts. He decided cooked marshmallows were better, but he was fine with what he had. He was upset when they didn’t pour water on the fire (they just put the cover on it) as he wanted to help (and perhaps Smokey was in his head telling him they were doing it wrong). They then all had bath time together, and he was asleep right at 9. She didn’t wash his hair, and when I went to bed he was sideways at the top, his head in my spot. So I put my head right next to him and could really smell it.

I watched the British Grand Prix on their big TV. It finished just as Thatcher and Kayla were getting up and a bit before August, who was up after 8. Derek made pancakes for breakfast, then I took a shower. They were playing in the play room with blocks. Andrea told Kayla not to knock something down, but August had a positive attitude: “Then we could build it again!” He and Thatcher were then making sound machines, and arguing about how loud they could be, and how many eardrums they could break – getting up to their favorite ‘-plex’ numbers. August now says “ enshmugadorflugplex”.

He initially didn’t want to leave. He was having too much fun with Kayla and Thatcher and didn’t want to see new people. We got to Stephanie’s at 10:10. Outside, she let him choose a rock that had belonged to her great-grandmother (she had started learning geology late in life and then collected rocks all over Washington and Oregon). Got him inside and he played with their new piano that someone down the street had given them. He sang songs for them, then did a ‘poop’ improv on the piano. Just caught the end of it.

Played with a wooden car track for a bit, then outside he enjoyed picking alpine strawberries off the bush and eating them. Ruby chose Loyal Heights Park for our destination and we got walking. Left the stroller behind. August noticed cracks in the sidewalk that weren’t sealed, and we adapted his sidewalk sealant song. He started singing “Why did they forget about the sidewalk sealant?”

We got to Loyal Heights Park. They went on the teeter totter-ish rocking thing like in Israel and Korea. Then over on the swings. He was on his stomach and looking at the shadow of the chains: “It looks like the chain is stretching!…Like a slingshot!…Optical illusion!” Stephanie then had the idea of making gnomes out of pine cones and materials from around the park. He loved that. Used grass, pine needles, flowers, wood chips, etc. When Stephanie went to find a home for her gnome in the trees across the park he went with her, going out of view for a few minutes. When he really gets involved in something he doesn’t mind us being gone. In Chelan it was the garage with my dad and the birds/squirrels/gardening with my parents.

We did more gnomes together and went to hide them together, then even more and he went with Stephanie gain.

We then decided to walk up to Larsen’s Bakery to the northwest. On the way August started singing “Open the door, look at the floor.” I realized it was one of the songs from Ball of Wax Quarterly #50 (“More Bones” by Wiscon), which we had listened to in the car. I taught him the next line, “everybody walk the dinosaur” and he kept singing it over and over. I played the song on my phone so Stephanie could hear it, then as we walked August and I listened to the original Was Not Was song as well.

At the bakery, August chose an orange sugar cookie, Carly got a chocolate chip cookie, and I got a cranberry scone. Carly and I shared a latte. We sat inside and ate. Nate and Stephanie shared small chocolate cookies and brioche with us.

We walked back to the house and saw their backyard. They filled in the pond and made it into a sitting area, with a small fountain that flows into a rain barrel buried underground. August picked mother strawberry and we got going.

We stopped at Safeway after crossing the Tacoma Narrows bridge (August and I talked about the bridge and engineering as we crossed it). We got chips and beer and wine a few other things. August said “Fresh and rosy fingered like the dawn”, which is the full quote from the Odyssey that Carly likes. We left there at 4:20.

We got to the house. Chuck and Cherie were already there. August was instantly drawn to the bunk beds that were going to be Vivian and Colin’s. He could climb up in a second, but needed me to lift him down. We took the toy guitar out and tried to tune it, but it wouldn’t stay in tune. Levi and Sarah and the three girls (Cadence, Hattie, and Evelyn) were here, and the girls said hi, then were watching something downstairs. August and I played with the 3d sphere puzzle with a metal ball in it that you move along a path by rotating the sphere. He would watch closely as I worked on it. He got hurt once when he was holding it in front of his face to look at it and walked into the end of a couch.

Chuck and Cherie cooked up some lamb and beef patties for dinner and we ate those with a big salad she’d made.

I convinced August to come downstairs with me to see it. We went down and he immediately saw the vice on the bar/workbench and sat on the tippy stools. He only fell over twice, but landed pretty gracefully. He ended up playing with Hattie and Cadence. Hattie was pretending to be some sort of animal and August was copying her. He was then running around going “Nibble, nibble” at everything. He ended up chasing them around, saying “Nibble, nibble.” Eventually they had to leave and we said goodbye.

We then headed out for a walk. We went to the beach at the start of the lagoon. We saw a deer, then went down and saw the little crabs. Carly headed back to take a shower and the two of us stayed, doing a crab “scavenger hunt” and throwing rocks with barnacles into the water so they could get more food.

On the way back we took a slightly longer path. He told me, saying nice things, “Hey flower, love heart, fresh and rosy-fingered like the dawn…”

At the house he was hungry and ate Cheerios, apples, and milk. Got him ready for bed and I left them around 10. Asleep pretty quickly.

He woke up right at 7:30 when I turned on the TV to try to watch the World Cup match. After he got up, he spotted his Dr. Seuss backpack and wanted to wear it and really liked it.

We headed to the motor home at 9. Cherie made french toast with yogurt and blueberries and syrup. She taught him the word  ‘miniscule’. He spent more time with the sink and flushing and asking questions about the plumbing. They went to the bedroom and came back with Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders. They played Candy Land. August, before he won, said “Yeah, well while we were playing I turned it into a winning game. I like winning.” We played with the splat balls and we did slo-mo videos of them. August and Cherie then played Chutes and Ladders. He learned “Jimminy Christmas” from Cherie. She told him the stories in the game and they talked about which were natural and imposed consequences. And he chose being sick over not having candy for a week when given the choice of consequences.

We left at 11 and drove to Portland. August played some Magnus Kingdom on the way. He was acting pretty sleepy by the time we got there but ended up not taking a nap all day. Kind of surprising considering all the time we spent driving.

We knocked on Spenser’s door and called him. No answer. So we walked up to Monsoon Thai and sat outside. Ordered pad see ew and peanut curry with shrimp. For drinks we got a mango juice and an iced Thai coffee and an iced Thai iced tea. He played the We Aargh Pirates game. He mainly ate the pad see ew as the curry was a bit spicy. But he dared the spice enough to eat three and a half shrimp.

When we got the check she brought three hard candies. August said “I know I’m full, but if I notice a treat, I want it.” He didn’t actually like it all that well (he said it was too big) and we threw it in the bushes. As we were walking back he was repeating “Biannual, decade, score…”

We got in the car and Carly dropped us off at the OMSI. We bought tickets and started exploring at 2:30. We started in the space hall, which isn’t actually very big. He mainly played in a Gemini capsule, pretending to be an astronaut. We then went to the general exhibits and played with a big musical instrument. We went to the end of the room and spent a lot of time with the wind stuff: making paper fly up through the tubes into the air, making a wind scuplture, folding a paper airplane, etc. Then the shipping containers and cranes and scanning the shipping containers to see what was in. There were then activities on water pressure and tsunami waves that he played with.

From there we went upstairs and across to the topographic map area. There, you played with sand, scooping it into hills and valleys, and a projector from above projected a topographic map on top of it. Very cool. Left that when he needed to use the bathroom. Found the life science area and wandered around there, and ended up at the food waste pinball game, playing that with other kids for quite awhile. We spent a few minutes in the minerals area, then played with the wine turbines.

Next big thing was the permafrost exhibit, with an area where you built things with Lincoln logs and then saw what happens when the ground lowers. Played and played with that. He said “You’re all the people in Africa dying…this is your food storage…” Not sure where he’s heard of famines… And then there was a fossil fuels whack-a-mole sort of game. Played a few rounds of that.

From there he said he wanted to control the robots he had seen. He led me back to the general hall and to the robot four-in-a-row game. We watched a game finished up, then he played. He didn’t like that it was a winning game. And when he lost he handled it well, but as we walked away he was clearly frustrated and talked about how it was stupid.

We went to the google.org robot exhibit. The downstairs was okay, but not spectacular. But he had fun controlling a robot, watching a robot tour guide, and playing with the robot grips. He liked the Roomba display and had me act out going to work. He would then have the Roomba clean, and I’d come home to find everything clean. But upstairs was where the excitement was. they had these cubes that you could build into a robot, and we spent a half hour or so there, adding pieces to a robot and changing them around. The only disappointment was that the dancing robot show was done for the day, even though there was still more than two hours left of the day.

He did a few levels on a screen that had a coding game like the ones he played in coding class, then we exited through the gift shop. August wouldn’t let me look at the gift shops at all, which was probably good for the bank account. I was tempted by a mug with a robot on it.

Outside the exhibit he played with the tilting labyrinth game, then we found the 6 and under play area. It was now past 6 and starting to clear out. There were only a couple kids there when we got there. August ended up playing with the only other kid in the sand area and with the ball/tube area. That kid left and we had the whole place to ourselves for the last 20 minutes. August set up a shop in the shop area and showed me his “wares”. He sold me some canned goods and stew and we finished by having a tea party (reminded me of having tea in the little kids area at the children’s museum in Seoul) and helping pick up some of the balls, veggies, and fruits.

Played with a windmill sort of thing, then he found a nickel on the ground. I told him we could take it downstairs and drop it in one of the funnel things. We went down to do that. It wasn’t a donation thing, but the balls were missing so we used the nickel anyway. But he dropped it on its side Nd it fell right in. I tried to grab it but missed. You could reach in down below, but it had bounced somehow and was nowhere to be seen. It was 7, so I just left it. He seemed okay with that at the time.

We went outside and took a selfie outside the science museum (like outside the one in Seoul), then met Carly right after 7. When she asked him how it was he said “The winning game was stupid, the colored sand was stupendous.” He was then worrying about the nickel: “Is it okay that I broke the rules with the coin?” He was afraid it would get stuck inside the ball path area.

On the way to see Spenser I told him he should sing “Better Not Wake the Baby” for him as the Decemberists are from Portland. August told me “It’s not from the Decemberists. I made it up inside me and sent it out through a cord into the car and out the speakers.” He laughed at his own story. “At Spenser’s house I’ll attach the cord to the wall and it will come out the stereo.”

We got to his house and Spenser met us outside. He gave August a present wrapped in yellow tissue paper. Lots of it. August thought it was funny as he kept unwrapping and unwrapping. It was a plastic robot toy that walked when you wound it up. He was thrilled by it.

We started walking to Monsoon Thai again to get mango sticky rice. Would have taken about an hour as August was playing with the robot. I picked him up. At the restaurant, August initially sat next to me. But when he had an opportunity, he climbed up next to Spenser and asked “What rules do you break?” They had a hilarious discussion about nose picking and going backwards on an escalator. And dams. August showed him the Magnus Kingdom app and they played that together. It was really cool to see the two of them together and I wish we could have August spend more time with him.

While we were gone, Carly and Spenser had gone to Peter’s bar (although Peter was out of town) and played card games with a couple of Spenser’s friends from the bar. Spenser told Carly about moving out of his last apartment and his bicycle accident last year.

We said goodbye and drove over to a grocery store. Picked up food out of the salad/food bar and a small container of strawberries. Then drove to our hotel in Vancouver. In the elevator,
on our way up to our hotel on the third floor, he also pushed the button for 2. He had a hilarious giggle as it opened and closed at 2. There was a mom who was very understanding and her daughter who was 6 or 7. They found it funny, and apparently the girl had tripped and hit the ‘call’ button the day before.

We got to our room and ate dinner. He ate the mac and cheese and some veggies and several strawberries, once I bit off the tops. Carly took a shower and he had us acting out his cord attached to the car and playing songs though the speakers to unsuspecting drivers game. Got him ready for bed (skipped a shower) and he was asleep at 10:30.

He slept until 8:15. He wanted to play Math Tango and I gave him the iPad to play it on the couch as I tried to take a shower. He wanted help though and Carly tried to help him. He told her “Dada’s in charge”. I let him play Green Planet while I took a shower. When I came out he was upstairs eating hard boiled egg, watermelon, and cereal, and milk for breakfast.

He was then playing with my mom out in the living room, pretending to be Cindy. He was lying on the back of the couch, pretending to sleep. Obviously much less concerned about cat fur than he was when we first got here. After she said something about the cats not using the mat at the front door, he was then pretending to come in, bringing in dirt.

We got the car packed, and as we were heading out he sang nice “Bye” and “Goodbye” songs to them. We took the usual family photos in the front yard, then left at 10:15. He played Magnus Kingdom in the car, doing a lot on his own. We then read some Sisters (when I objected, he reminded me I liked the first book better so we should read that) and Loch Mess Monster. He then fell asleep from 12:39 to 1:40.

I woke him up and we ate a cookie. He played with a new app, something like What’s in Space, and ate a couple graham crackers and some apple. We stopped for gas, then he was holding my phone and looking at Waze.

We got to the motor home at 3:45. Inside he asked them “How’s this a home, if it’s out of home?” He was excited by the kid’s cup with liquid and glitter in it, then played with the three splat balls that Cherie gave him, one of which is poop. Chuck said something about him needing a haircut, then Cherie said “We’re going to let it grow.” He said “Thank you!” He explored the kitchen with Cherie. He had some orange juice and blew bubbles. Chuck asked if he heard a bubble machine. August laughed and made a mess. “You shouldn’t have said a funny thing!” More splat balls, now getting the third poop one.

We left at 4:15 and went to Claremay and Steve’s. Chris and Mark and cousins, with a camper Eurovan, were there from San Francisco. August was nervous and hid under the table. We went up to the toy room for awhile, then outside when everyone else left. He got more comfortable and ate potatoes and roast and carrot for dinner, then loved the berry and custard pies. He asked Chuck “On a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is super good and 1 is super bad, what is it?” He gave me the last of his pie because “I don’t want my pie cuz it’s too slippery.” He then walked down to the garden with Chuck to see berry plants. On the way down I heard him say “Snapdragons!”

They came back up and took the bowls of rocks over on the table between Steve and Claremay. August was asking both of them what specific rocks were.

We went back to the toy room. He played and sang a song about Palestinians and needing to get out of a wall. Didn’t get that one on video. He found a doctor kit and used it on me. As we got ready to go, he was sad as he wanted to spend more time with Oma and Opa. He then spotted the licorice container. Ate several jelly beans and other licorice things that Carly and Cherie gave him. He also sat in the new chair with Carly and said it was tight because she was taking up most of the space.

We left at 6:50. As we drove he sang the “Only Children” song, making up his own words. First time he’s sung that. We were talking about Carly’s uncles and he was upset she has more uncle’s than him. He told her “You need to apologize to me.”

At the motor home he went to the bathroom and really liked the flushing. He told Carly he remembers racing Vivian to the bathroom last summer. Although he doesn’t know why he was always racing her. He turned on all the light switches and explored the bedroom with Cherie. He loved the flushing, and asked “Can I flush two more times?” When he flushed it reduced the water pressure in the kitchen, which was a fun game. He then asked Cherie about the “lives” game on her tablet

We then walked over to the putting green. Opa introduced him to golf and putting. August had fun with that, but mainly he liked having Carly and Cherie putt and he would retrieve balls for them. When he wanted Cherie to do it he said “Try, Oma.” He then was making a tunnel with his legs. It was one point if the ball went through his legs, and another point if it went in the hole. We saw a rabbit, and it ran fast, so then August was running around like a bunny. While Carly was putting she kept missing and said “I keep going to the right.” I replied “At least it’s not an election.” She said it was my best joke ever.

We said goodbye and headed to the Holiday Inn Express. Once we were in our room he asked “How did they get their food at that castle?” He explained more and described both Apollonia and Masada.

We headed out for a walk, getting the stroller out of the car. He noticed that our car didn’t have any neighbors, but when we came back it had cars on either side of it.

We walked up into Chehalis, past where Carly used to put pennies on the tracks and volunteer at the call center. We turned left and walked through downtown, admiring the amazing clouds and passing where Carly bought erasers and took dance classes. Turned left and passed the two open bars and an open Thai restaurant. Back by the train tracks we saw two trains go by at the same times. August had run out of Cheerios (he had spilled some early on our walk too) so Carly said we could stop at the gas station. Stopped and got him a small pack of blueberry breakfast biscuits.

At the hotel I proved that “Well I’ll be a monkey’s uncle.” is a real idiom (Carly didn’t believe me). So I sang a song with the line. August said “I’m going to laugh forever.” We played around and Carly took a shower. He sang a song that went “Alarm clock alarm clock, I love you, I love you.”

I took a shower as Carly started to put him to sleep. When I came out I heard them talking about preschool. It had been mentioned earlier in the day that he’d start preschool again in 6 weeks or so. So he brought it up again. I was falling asleep and think he fell asleep around the same time, 10:15 or so.

He was up at 7:56 and was Carly’s shadow through the morning. I read a little Garfield to him, then he turned off the lights and tested his light-up shoes by hitting them on the floor. He wanted to wear them, but then agreed to wear his clean crocs, which Carly had washed for him. We headed out for a walk, the three of us, at 9:15.

We walked over to the Artisanal Bakery. We all shared a piece of quiche and a mixed berry scone. Well, August had most of the scone. Carly and I shared a large latte. Alas, no men’s shirts in stock. I’ve been meaning to buy one.

Carly downloaded a geocaching app (the tour guide had mentioned geocaching to us, and we’ve been meaning to try it with him). He liked the idea, and the first one was over at Centennial Park above the ranger station. The clue was 4+3, so August walked around until he found the 7 on an electrical box. The next part took us longer, but we found the fake pine cone under the edge of the concrete block. Carly signed the paper in it, then he put it back.

He wanted more. Next was one up by a pond next to what used to be the Whaley Mansion. Found that one on the bench and I signed it. He wanted a funny name, so we also included Smokey and Shmorgadeboop. Carly had a phone call with Glecy while we looked around. August found a Lego flag on the ground and we included that in the container for the cache. Next up was one down in Riverwalk Park. We walked over to the new bridge and under it, then found it attached to the bottom of a bench. Signed that the same way, then headed home. August wanted to keep finding, but there weren’t anymore closes.

We were home at 11:45. August picked some weeds and added them to the little bucket of dead flowers from yesterday and composted it all. Inside I heard him asking Paul for more cans he could crush. I took a shower. Afterwards, he was sad that there was sand in his squirt gun. He was also hungry but refusing food options. He loved corn when he first had it, but has decided he doesn’t like having it stuck in his teeth and refuses to eat it. Carly got him to eat some of her leftover noodles though and he was a happy boy. 

Grampa then took him to explore the garage. They tested batteries, he put another screw in the cardboard box, and they started to take the cedar trunk apart using the electric drill and a philips head bit. Dad measured him with the tape measure and taught him to answer “What are you up to?” with “Forty inches.” And with the batteries he was teaching him black was negative and went with the minus sign and red was positive and went with the plus sign.

My parents, Paul, and I then went to Walmart. We looked at tablet computers for them and got groceries for dinner and banana splits and I got some random things: a bicycle helmet for him (a Paw Patrol one that matches his shoes), a new snack bag (Carly is making me throw away the one from Korea), and a few others.

We were back at 4. Mom called him Z and said she was G, and I was D. I was going to take August geocaching, Mom decided to go with us, and August told her “Put your shoes on, G.”

We first went to one at the turnoff for the old Chelan Fall bridge. We had fun finding that one. It’s too bad though that they have blocked off even the viewpoint now, as August would have liked to have seen the river.

We then went down to Beebe Springs. The first one was supposed to be an easy one in the parking lot. We looked for a good amount of time with no luck. We then went to look for a second one a thousand feet to the north. Along the path there was a rock with animal tracks painted on it. August climbed on, pretending to be a raccoon. He held the phone on the way to the next one as we walked. We found the location, but as we looked around August scratched the inside of his knee on a stick and it was bleeding.

He was upset about that. He wanted to go find the one in town, but in the car he fell asleep at 5:35. We headed home and I woke him up down in the bedroom at 5:45. He was resisting being woken up. His eyes were closed but he was resisting me moving his leg so I could wipe it with a wet tissue. And he gave me a grunt. I was asking him questions and asking him for thumbs up or thumbs down. I said to grunt if he wanted me to leave him alone and he grunted. Eventually though I bribed him awake with one of the cookies I’d taken but we hadn’t eat on the trip.

As he ate his cookie he told Carly “Mama, white chocolate is good. You should start having it.” He had a timeout after he sort of hit her, then he came up and was grumpy and blaming me for his scratch: “You did hurt me…you had the idea…” He threw a wooden coaster on the floor and Carly took him back down.

We had burgers and chicken patties and hot dogs and corn on the cob and watermelon for dinner. I did the barbecuing, with my dad. We also did tofu for August, and he complimented me on how I cooked it. I usually do it too hard for him, but he complimented me for it being nice and squishy.

He had the idea of putting watermelon in his leftover milk, then some flowers. Then of blending it. Carly went inside with him and they did it. August said it was really good and everyone should try it. He walked by and threw Chester, the stuffed bear on the floor, and asked “Why do I throw Chester on the ground all the time?” Paul said that was one of the great philosophical questions.

I agreed to take him outside for a short garage exploration before his bath. We clamped a pipe and he worked on it, tested one battery, and when I said we couldn’t do something right now he said “Not until next year?” And I held him up to use the bird knocker that Roger Niman had made. On the way in the house he spotted the fishing float that Dad had found at Beebe Springs. August wanted to put it in the fishing box, which Dad had mentioned. I told him after a bath, but we forgot.

Had his bath at 7:30. I washed his hair and it went pretty well. I used the baby shampoo this time, but August objected to that: “I’m not a baby… I’m not a little kid!” Going back inside he got indignant when I called him ‘buddy’: “you called me a butt…buddy counts…mama got upset once when I called her buddy.” He was probably saying ‘butty’.

It was time for the final celebration: banana splits. Mom taught us how to properly make a banana split, using the Meadowmoor banana split bowls. I think it goes without saying that August loved it. The three of us shared one big split and he asked for refills on everything. While Carly got him some he said “I see ice cream surface tension. Ice cream surface tension is really cool. But I’m eating it.” And he asked “Gramma, next year in your house can we make banana splits again?” He had three cherries.

We went and played Magnus for awhile. In the bedroom I had the closet open and he said “Cindy is in the closet!’ It was my dad’s coon skin cap. He then wore it as we went upstairs to say goodnight. Dad talked about when he had gotten the hat. August saw someone on TV that looked like Paul, and he asked them why they didn’t have jobs on TV. They then talked about the times they were on TV.

He just hung out with them for awhile, kind of laying on Mom. He told her “You’re smaller than grampa. That’s why you can’t fix stuff.” Dad said he can’t make apple pie. To which August said “Why, cuz you haven’t learned it?…Maybe you’ll put a bunch of baking soda in it…make it puff up.”

Back downstairs he asked Paul to moisturize the soap while he is gone. Basically, he likes the bar soap to always be wet. Paul said he would. August said “If he can do it, I can give him love.” A few minutes later when he said good night to him he said “Good night, love heart…love.” I left August and Carly at 9:55.

I read, typed, updated the blog, and watched the entire Sweden versus Switzerland match while August still slept. Carly had tried to wake him up a couple times but he would go back to sleep. We finally woke him up at 9:30. About the first thing he said was “Can I have a cookie?” Then, after I said we were going to have breakfast first, he reasoned “Next year I’ll ask Gramma to make apple cookies…with chunks…So I can have a cookie whenever I want.”

Upstairs he and Carly played a little chess, then the pancakes and bacon my parents made were ready and we had breakfast. In the middle of breakfast, he remembered the beer can that he’d asked Paul to save for him to crush. He asked, and luckily Paul had a few soda cans downstairs that needed crushing. They crushed the cans together. August wanted more syrup, and was eating a baby carrot to earn it, but he decided he didn’t want more syrup, but ate most of the carrot anyway.

He took out the compost, then played a game of solitaire with my mom. He then watched Dad spray the bees nest, then I got his car seat moved and the car packed. We had realized we might not get our car back until Thursday morning, so Carly hurried the car up to Les Schwab. Luckily, they weren’t busy, and were very fast, and she was back quickly. Already had the X-Type packed though so we still took that.

While we waited, he had watched some soccer with Paul, then played with the ship models up on the shelf. He took. Smaller one and said “This is a submarine trying to sink that ship, alright?” He then acted it out. Dad had been watching a black and white movie last night or a couple days ago and August had asked what was happening and that’s what dad explained.

We got driving and stopped at Wells Dam at 12:30. We just looked at the displays there. August really liked a button that he would push and it would play rock music and show a video of construction in the dam. August would dance to it. He also had some story where he was explaining “Now the propellor is covering up the entire world.” As we started to leave, August called everyone by name to make us stop and explained that the music was on (“I just buttoned it!”) and he wanted to stay and didn’t know how much longer it was. I picked him up and we went and listened to a little more, then he was okay with leaving.

We got to Chief Joseph and went through their odd security setup and had about a half hour to wait. We ate some of our lunch and snacks. There were two other groups on the tour, a total of 12 of us. Theresa, our guide, showed up, and it turned out she was the one I had talked to on the phone earlier when I’d finally tracked down a phone number.

The tour was fun, and August loved it. She was a little quiet, and tired, so no Sydney from two years ago, but still good. And she took us around more than two years ago, going out to see the pin stocks and walking much farther down the row of generators. We got to touch a shaft between a turbine and generator, although August was a bit too nervous to touch it himself. He wore a blue helmet during the tour. And tried out the quiet telephone booths.

Finished the tour and had some time to look at the displays. He liked the electric truck she drove us in on and we talked about how it worked. He was very concerned about making sure he had a seatbelt on.

We left there and went across to the fish hatchery. Looked at the dam from there and tried the two numbers on the door for a tour but didn’t get an answer.

We then drove across to Berryman Park in town. It has an old metal play structure from the 80s or before. Two years ago, with a two-year old, it looked insanely dangerous. Now it just looks dangerous. He went on the swings with her, then when she said I had to go on the structure with him, he called “Ryan Niman, stop!” She had told him the sign said ‘Designed for ages 7 and up or accompanied by Ryan Niman’. Went on it a little, then he headed over to the war memorial full of random military equipment with almost no signs. August walked over there, carrying a stick and humming to himself. I mainly carried him as we walked around it.

We ended up at the swings. He asked “What’s the biggest star in the universe?” He ended up swinging and playing on the swings, singing about Rigel-5 and the multiverse. Mom came over and played with him on the swings, putting something on his back.

We then started to head out. He found a piece of metal and asked Grampa if he could do something with it in the garage. August managed to get it all the way home and we left it in the garage by the lathe with the other pieces of metal.

We got driving, and August spent the first 15 minutes serenading us with a song he made up that went “Sidewalk sealant, sidewalk sealant, don’t ever forget about the sidewalk sealant.”

We got to Howard’s at 5:30. When we went in there were containers of candies, and I told him he could have one when we were done with dinner. He was excited, and told the waitress all about it on our way to the table. He was excited about the coloring stuff again, and he ordered the halibut for us. After he ate he was playing iPad under the table. Grampa said something and he said “Grampa! Don’t make fun of me like that!” Carly took him outside as we finished eating, and I saw her laughing as they walked along the path.

In the car on the way home he was dramatic when he dripped some water on himself after drinking from Carly’s water bottle. Made it home though, a little after 7. In the garage he talked about the shock absorbers on the doors, and at some point he mentioned that the back door should be one too. I told him to tell Grampa that but I don’t know if he ever did.

The three of us went for a walk up the hill at 7:30, all the way to our lookout over the hill. As we walked he said he had a machine called the “3 to 2 2000” . It turned 3d objects into 2d objects. A nice walk, but up at the top he had a stick and he couldn’t help swinging it around and almost hitting Carly in the face. She eventually stowed it in the back of the stroller and gave it back to him at the house, at 8:20. He was then in my way and as I tried to maneuver the stroller around him I hit the end of the stick and it broke off a few inches. He decided he didn’t want it anymore and rather casually said “Dada, I’ll never have a stick like that again!”

Carly gave him a bath and quickly took away the next stick he had been playing with, the dowel from Grampa. I watched the end of the World Cup match, the penalty kicks. I came up to wash him, including his hair, but Carly was letting him out of the bath. He had gotten out of a hair washing. He said nice good nights to people, then we got him ready for bed and I left them, around 9:10, I think. I went in at 9:45 to sing to him, then we ended up talking about counting sheep. We changed it to counting fish in the fish ladder. He liked that and we were counting. Occasionally a fish would go backwards and we would subtract one, and sometimes there wouldn’t be any fish for while and we’d stop. Carly came back in, and he explained that to her. I left them at 10:10 and he fell asleep soon after.

They were up a little before 7 and I heard them in the bedroom for awhile. They came up and August stayed with me. We played chess, getting the last of the pawns.

Carly headed to Walmart to get the oil changed on the car and get a couple things. She found out the car needs two new tires and ordered them from Les Schwab. August went to the bathroom and was really silly, dancing around naked in front of the mirror and singing songs. Very random songs. He had some of his cereal mix and we went downstairs for the end of Mexico versus Brazil. August messed with remotes and made shapes out of Tri-Ominos and played with the magnifying glass from Grandpa Dahl’s stuff and the Lincoln Logs. He sang about how fun Lincoln Logs are.

We went upstairs for more food and gave my parents their gifts of the hamsa and AncestryDNA kits. Carly got home. August ate and drank milk and I went to take a shower. They read some Captain Underpants downstairs, finding their Poopypants names, and he watched a couple SciShow Kids videos about space. I got him dressed and they then left for a walk. Before they left he said “Oh boy, our feet smell bad.” Apparently from Captain Underpants. Wanted to play one more round of school with the baby rooster, which is apparently what he does with it on the wooden shelf. Used the Smurf car instead.

They came back from a walk then went to the post office, then got back at 12:20. He played with some empty boxes I’d brought up, then shucked corn with Carly. Had lunch, then we played the chess game together. He said “I’m pineapple squeeze-it.” Not sure where that came from.

We got ready to go to the playground with Mom but found the backpack full of water from the water system so had to clear that out first. We went up to the playground at the elementary school. Started off well. He went up and down the twisty slide, then played on a balance beam several times. He went over to some shaker things, but when he pushed them they spun over the bar they were on and hit him in the head. He wanted to go home, but I got him to eat one of his bars as a snack. He calmed down and we stayed awhile longer, but just at the bench where Mom was sitting. He wanted to head home, but agreed to walk down to the baseball fields.

We walked down there, between the fields, and went down to look for marmots. We spotted one sitting up on a stump on the hill above us, then two running in the treatment plant facilities. I spotted a golf ball for August but he wasn’t too excited about it and threw it down the hillside. He had been putting his head to the side in the stroller from when we left the playground. Clearly tired, and as we walked home he was humming “Always’ by Erasure to himself until he wasn’t and fell asleep a block from the house, at 2:50.

At the house I pushed him around back, then took him out and I lay on the lounge chair with him on me. I read on my phone and he slept on me. I tried to wake him a couple times and let him sleep until 3:25 when we woke him using kettle corn to entice him. I also brought him some water drink.

Carly told him about the book she is reading where it uses the pronoun ‘they’ for one of the characters. He said it was against the rules, of grammar that is. The two of them ended up arguing about galaxies and the universe and multiverse and outer space and which is bigger etc. Carly said he should just end arguments by saying “I’m four.” He replied “Why? Because 4-year olds know most of the stuff?”

I loaded the car with the old TV and electronics and was going to try to find out where to recycle them. August wanted to go with me and went to Carly and said “Hug me one more time.” He kissed her on shoulder. He saw my old phone case sitting on a table and took it with us. He said it was in case I changed my mind about my case.

Couldn’t find the recycle place listed on Google Maps, so we stopped in at Zippy Disposal. A guy told us where the old facility was and we drove out there but no bin outside the gate of the facility which had closed to the public in May.

We were back at 4:40 and August saw bees going in a hole bone the paper box. He walked around the house on his own and told Grampa and then turned on the sprinkler. He and Carly got out the Venus fly trap, then went outside and did some digging in the garden. I went out to find him sitting in the dirt, using water to make mud. But Carly put his hat on him and he decided he was done. He got up and talked about taking off his hat and underwear and shorts. He did that and Carly wiped his legs with a paper towel. He was then having Carly act out Poopypants.

We went down to read the book and he now said “I’m Butt Butt Pineapple Butt.” We read the book and had fun with the name chart. He was hungry and we went upstairs and he said “I want ten grind up crackers.” He tried to convince us that we should grind up crackers in the garage. I let him have two that he could break up himself in a bowl.

Back downstairs we played some more chess and watched the replay of the second half of the Belgium versus Japan match. I had managed to watch much of the match earlier, including the final goal, but had missed the first 4.

Then upstairs for dinner. Left over soy chicken and fajitas, etc. and Mom made chicken nuggets and tater tots. Mom mentioned a project with him after dinner and he wanted to eat a big carrot to earn the project. He had already eaten a big carrot before dinner. We had small carrots on the table and I told him four of those would equal a big carrot. He said “Oh, can I glue together four carrots?” I assured him they didn’t have to be glued.

After dinner, Mom and him made cookies together. He did a great job and they had a lot of fun. When it came to licking the spatula, Mom said they had to go and ask me. He said something like “Dada knows me better. We just come here once a year.” When the first batch was out he got the biggest cookie and ate it with milk. He wanted to deliver one to Uncle Paul so I went down with him. He gave it to Paul and said “Enjoy!”

I gave him a bath and he played by himself for awhile and I was able to read. He saw the caulking on the edge of the tub and we talked about tar versus caulk. Then he said “Those worms that make silicone…” We then talked about silicone versus silk. He asked what silk was like and Mom brought him a silk scarf to feel. He was also hitting me on the back and having me be a little kid complaining about it. Oh, and he stuck the ball in the little cup and knocked it out. Yesterday I taught him how to whack it on the tub to use the momentum of the ball to pop it out.

He went out and helped finish the last batch of cookies. We went down and I read him some Garfield. Carly brushed his teeth and they read some Captain Underpants. I left them at 9:30.

He was up at 8:10. I carried him upstairs. They went downstairs for awhile.

Upstairs we played the chess game and watched soccer. I was going to make scrambled eggs but mom volunteered to do that. I went to take a shower. He had scrambled eggs, and a second serving before I came up. He was worried I wouldn’t have enough.

Carly asked Mom about digging a hole, but spelled out the word. August sounded it out and figured it out and got really excited. We had him to ask Dad if they could dig a hole in the garden: “Grampa said sure! Come with me now!”

He led Carly to the gardening shovels and was telling her about all the different sizes before they got in the shed. He had seen them when he did some gardening with Mom and they put them away. They worked out on their hole for awhile. I went out as August was ready to bury things. He buried a flower, then Carly came back with a crushed can and we made another hole and buried that. He said they were for future archeologists to discover.

We ended up in the garage. The voltmeter was on the counter and we tested a battery with it. Dad came out and asked if he wanted to help put the front wheels on the 140. August helped with the jack and then got to use a mallet to pound on the wheel nut. We went upstairs and August found a philips head screwdriver and told us how Carly had used a screwdriver like that to open up the wet vac when there was gunk in it. He found two screws and screwed them into the flaps on the box holding our old food processor. He ended up doing a total of 8 screws, 2 on each flap.

He then helped us put together the two old wooden tables that go with the furniture we used when I was a kid. We got those together, but August got grumpy when I wouldn’t let him screw into the wood. I took him inside to Carly for a change of scene. Mom came out and the three of us spent a good amount of time discussing furniture and made progress on planning.

Inside, August and Carly were making a tape and cardboard sculpture creation. Carly was his Robo Assistant. When they were done he went down with me and we played Tiddly Winks. A lot of discussion on dinner plans and we decided to do fajitas. He found some play dough he had left out and wanted to put water on it. I said it wasn’t a good idea or something and he said “Yes it is. I’ll prove it.” But when he did it we found a problem we hadn’t anticipated: the color bled out of it on our hands. So we quickly threw it away. Carly wanted to go to the store and ended up taking August. They left at 2:45.

When they got back he stayed outside, first using his bike as a stationary bike. He was interested in riding it, but after mom came in and asked me about it he was out in the garage with dad and said “I’m distracted” so it was okay if I didn’t take him somewhere right now. The two of them drilled more holes out in the garage.

Mom, Paul, and I were then looking through grampa Dahl’s stuff. Got the 3 boxes down to one to store in the closet (and also held onto the binoculars and some other things that came out of them). August came down to play with me. We got out the checkers set, but before we did anything with it he decided to play the chess game. Progressing through it well, and he got the second knight.

Carly cooked the veggies on the grill, then I did the beef and chicken. Quite windy outside so we ate inside, at 6:15. August liked having all the cooked mushrooms for himself: “Not cooked mushrooms, not so good. Barbecued mushrooms yummy. Rotten mushrooms yuck!” Someone mentioned him being a human and he protested “I’m not a regular human. I’m a robot kid!” After he ate a good dinner, he wanted the “sugary popcorn”. Carly let him have some, in what was basically bribery to get him to quiet down for a bit.

They looked at the Venus fly trap that needs to be potted, then ended up watching watching Venus fly trap videos with Mom as he started his bath. I washed him. He said he was okay with water dripping on his knees today, but didn’t want them scrubbed. After his bath we played a little of the Green Planet game downstairs. He spotted Cindy watching us through the window.

We then got out the Tri-ominos out and made shapes. I was trying to get the DVD player working (we had moved out the trunk to the garage earlier and put the TV on the wooden stand, as dad is going to work on the trunk) and baseball ended up on TV. August liked the idea of watching it, but then enjoyed pushing random buttons on the remotes. We re-watched the start of the Formula 1 race when it was on.

Went upstairs and he had a snack of peanut butter crackers (with Ritz) and the last of the berry granola. We went for a family walk at 8:45. We walked up the hill for a view of the lake and river. We saw a deer walking through a yard. Looking at the view, August spotted crops but we didn’t understand him. He said “Crops…you know, like the Palestinians…multiple things grow.”

Back at home after 9 he said good night and we got him ready. He requested going to sleep with me for a couple minutes. I sang three songs, then he wanted Carly. He was asleep at 9:50. 

They slept until close to 8:30. The curtains were fully closed last night and they didn’t realize it was so late. Upstairs, August and I tried putting batteries in other Viewmaster but it wouldn’t work. Dad would later fix it. Carly went downstairs to get ready. When August saw Paul he asked “Will you take me to the rock crushing place?” That apparently came from Carly yesterday. August had been wanting to go back and do more fossil hunting, and wanted to find one that the museum would put on their shelves. She said we could go back next year and Uncle Paul would help him.

He was then the Robo Zinnie Vacuum 4000: “The bigger the thousands, the stronger the sucking.” He asked for peanut butter toast with syrup and honey so I got him that. We then played with the set of airport Legos for the first time, working on a couple of planes. He told me “I’m not interested” in the Hot Wheel cars. Left them out though and later he played with them with Carly. He asked to use markers and I think mentioned making shapes. We were going to go get them, but never made it.

He was undecided about going to return the vacuum with Carly, but eventually decided to go. He was unhappy about going in Paul’s car, but he eventually agreed to that as well. Didn’t know how the trip would go, but after they left at 10:20 he did a great job at the store.  He was singing “Better not wake the baby”. A woman in the produce section was particularly entertained. The other day when they were on a walk a guy had told Carly that she should join in.

They were back at 11. He came down and asked Paul how to check the tire pressure. The World Cup match had just started, but Paul went up and helped him. August came back and said all the tires were at 30 psi but one was a little high. Watching soccer, August remembered Chicsgo was a soccer team. I finished filing our FBAR.

Upstairs, August was saying his bad words and I gave him a warning. He was totally talking with his hands, waving one towards me, when he said “But I was saying half the word.” He’s trying out all sorts of ways to push the limits, and will then say “Oh, I didn’t know that.” We played with the imitation play dough, which turned out to not be very good at all as it was old and we discussed his big kid voice. Something in his voice has sounded different to me the last couple of days. He called it his confused voice, and was then exaggerating it.

For lunch he had spaghetti and green beans, then some tuna casserole when I had some. He wanted to play cribbage, and Carly was teaching him how to beg for it. He ended up playing cards with Gramma and was teaching her a cooperative matching game loosely based on go fish that he was making up on the spot: “This time when we play go fish we play with Zinnie Rules. And a Zinnie Rule is you get 12 cards.” “No! We don’t need to look at our numbers in Zinnie Rules.” He calls the clubs “Clover”. When they played yesterday he had called it a flower and Carly said it looked more like a clover. Even though she told him it was called ‘clubs’ and she used that more, ‘clover’ stuck in his mind.

I went down for the end of the Uruguay versus Portugal match. August came down for the last few minutes and we played with Lincoln Logs as we watched. He went outside with Carly a little as I got the snacks and moved the park pass and a few things to Paul’s car. He had noticed that a lid on one of the play dough containers wasn’t completely shut and wanted Carly to snap it down.

Carly was staying and Paul was heading to work soon. So it was me and August and my parents headed to Beebe Springs. We tried to sit August in the back with my mom next to him. He wasn’t having that. Too many changes with car arrangements. We agreed to rearrange, with my dad driving and me sitting next to him. He then said “Announcement!” and announced that he needed me or Carly next to him when we were driving. We left at 2:15.

A windy day down on the river so August and I wore our sweatshirts. But very comfortable. August wanted to chose the path and wanted to go up by the sculpture first. Turned out we had to take the grasslands trail anyway as the lower trail was closed, although we’d sneak along it on our way back. August did much of the walking, although not as much as the other day. On our walk out to the pond I was able to show him a dragonfly and we let milkweed seeds fly in the wind and Dad cut open the milkweed to show him the milk. At the pond we threw rocks in for a few minutes until some people came to fish on the other side. We headed down to an open area along the river and sat, watching for a beaver. August didn’t want to leave until we saw a beaver. We also discussed the direction of the river as it was deceptive due to the wind, which made it appear that the water was flowing north. August argued with me at first, and I think he thought I was joking, but eventually he believed me and was intrigued.

We went walking again and snuck along the shore route. It was closed last year as well. By the beaver pond Grampa showed him a stump that beavers had chewed on, and they talked about animals that eat bark. We headed buck to the car, and almost went down to the river again to throw rocks, but he was seeming a bit tired so we headed home.

Got home at 4:15. He went and checked out the bird and squirrel feeders. He then got a little sliver in his hand. Tiny, and I think it was more a scratch than an actual sliver and there wasn’t anything in it. He said it kept hurting though, and inside he went and got a wrench/clamp thing from the drawer and talked about cutting off the sliver/his finger. At first it seemed more funny, but as he repeated it it turned darker.

I went downstairs and was working on the closet. I showed Mom and August the space for August’s toys and we got down Tiddly Winks. First started plying in the bedroom on the carpet, then went out and played on the coffee table.

We went up for dinner. Carly had made soy chicken and noodles and broccoli. He and August then went down to practice ‘independent time’. First, he was worried about the idea and wanted to make sure that me or her would be there. They went in and he played with the big sticker sets. Played by himself with them for 4 minutes or so a couple times. A good start. We then played more Tiddly Winks. We were sitting on the floor playing, and he was banking his head off the couch cushion behind him: “it’s so much fun!” A few minutes later: “It’s satisfying!”

I took him upstairs and carried him. He wanted to be a sack of potatoes agin. I had done this at Beebe Springs, squeezing him, spinning him, eating him, tickling, etc. He kept requesting more things and would remind me of things. I licked him and he said he didn’t want my germs. We talked about how we share germs anyway.

I gave him a bath. He played for ten minutes or so, then he started to worry about his scrapes. We went ahead and washed him to get it out of the way. I told him I wouldn’t wash his knees, and I didn’t, but that some water might drip on them. Afterwards he told Carly “Dad’s promised he wouldn’t but he did.”

Carly was making tea and put the cover on the end to make it whistle for him. She took it off, and he grabbed it off the counter. It was still hot and hurt him a bit. Don’t think he was actually burned. Cuddling with Carly he said “Gramma said I can’t say ‘stupid’ when I’m hurt.” We agreed with her, although he claimed that Carly had once told him he could.

He got dry cereal and was playing the guessing game with my parents when I went for a walk after 8. I got back at 8:40 (close to half done with The Goor Earth). He was sitting on the couch with Mom reading a book. It was the Berenstain Bears B Book. They had read Horton Hears a Who before that.

He said goodnight and we went downstairs. We read a little Garfield and and a couple jokes from The Real Book of Jokes. I left him and Carly 9:45. He was a
sleep by 10. Carly had told him about volunteering at an orphanage. Which kind of backfired as he asked “Do I have to worry about that?” He also told her he was sorry for hitting me in the head earlier. Which I vaguely remember, but it hadn’t been a big deal.