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We woke him up at 8. He had slipped off the bed and was cuddled against the edge of the bed. Carly called him cute, then he was standing in his pajamas, looking in the mirror, and made a cute face and said “I’m cute!” In the bathroom, as he sat on the toilet, I started the shower on low so it wouldn’t leak. He asked “Are you peeing in the shower?” When I helped him wash his hands he said “You’re getting my pajamas wet. Now I’m not so cute.”

They went up to breakfast to get coffee and chocolate cereal. I took a shower then headed up. He wondered why opa liked toast and told him he should have protein. Lots of discussion of what foods have protein and other nutritional value. He was excited when he cut his own egg with a butter knife. He was slow but ate a good breakfast.

Back to room at 9:10. We discussed what we were doing today. When I talked about getting back to the car he said “Investigate those holes in the car” He meant the speakers. On the drive into Jordan or up to Petra he had noticed the speaker grills on the door. We then realized we don’t know where the speakers are in our car. As we packed up, he played a lot of the AC remote game – wanting me to push buttons on the tv remote and hiding the AC remote. I put my hat on him, calling it a “Hatty attacky”

We headed down to lobby and he went outside with Carly. He told me “We’re playing follow the leader.” They were hopping around on the squares. He went up the stairs where the lights got farther apart from each other and was almost doing the splits. The van arrived right at 10 to pick us up. I sat in the back with August. As we drove out of town we said “Goodbye Candles Hotel” “Goodbye Wadi Musa” “Goodbye Petra”. He started singing “Stop and look before you cross the street”. He was then a happy boy as he ate one of Carly’s granola bars and hummed. He randomly asked “Why do I like the word ‘highway’?” “What if I get bored of it?”

Some difficulty when he decided to start putting crumbs in the speaker vents and didn’t want to stop when I told him to. We had fun doing art on the iPad though. the van was shaking so much that it was impossible to make a straight line, so we invented what we call “Shaky art”. Did a good amount of that, then we played a little Scratch Jr. with PBS characters, then he watched Sarah and Duck.

We stopped in Aqaba to pick up the guide, then went to the crossing. Went predictably slow but smoothly. He looked at the straps on the backpack and asked “You know what mochatrons do? They make things easier.” He saw Chuck carrying a few bags and asked “Why is opa so strong?” Stopped as we cross the actual line between the countries and took a photo of August standing on it. Our car was covered in dust from the storm and someone had written “I am Mosh” in Hebrew on the hood.

We got going and drove down into Eilat. Parked and I put our backpacks down in the car while they walked ahead and chose to eat at the Ginger Asian restaurant. we got a noodle dish, gyoza, and egg rolls to share.

We then walked down to the water at the Um Rush Rush park/historical site. August and Carly had fun being archeologists, then August had powers that let him crush concrete and steel. Walked back to the car and got driving to Mitzpe Ramon. August had some problems with the Apple Pencil, so did art with his fingers at first. He and Cherie then did a good amount of art together and they pretended to be Sarah and Duck. He watched an episode and ate some crackers. He dropped a piece of cracker in his shirt and called to Carly “Mama! There’s a piece of cracker in here and IT’S TICKLISH!” I finally figured out his mystery song that he’s been humming: “40 Years in the Wilderness” by Bruce Cockburn.

We got to Mitzpe Ramon and got settled in at our AirBnB place. He was hyper and happy with the house. Chuck and Cherie went for a walk. We tried to catch up to them so we walked to the gas station but couldn’t find them. We went to the playground and he had fun smashing a grape on the ground. I went and got the sand toys from the car. Carly went for a walk to the lookouts into the crater/canyon and he and I played with sand. He was a bit sad that two of the cups were stuck together and we couldn’t get them apart. He was building things and said “Maybe I should make a tower out of it, then I won’t see it.” Carly came back and I went for a walk. Wasn’t quite sure where I was going though and it seemed too far, so turned around. Found a really nice metal fence though. He was building a castle of rocks when I got back and said it was to “protect people like during a war”. A guy was working out at the exercise equipment nearby and had music playing. August suddenly broke out dancing.

Carly headed back to the house. We stopped at the exercise equipment and he turned the bike one with his hands. He was a generator and I turned things on in a pretend house, including lots of inventions, until it took up too much power and he broke down. We were back at 6:25. We used the leftovers from lunch for dinner and August got really into the game of what would make him stronger, eating them over Cherie’s (fake) objections: “Tofu makes me really, really, really, really, REALLY strong.” He was really persistent in trying to cut broccoli with his fork. He finally got it cut and was really proud of himself. When he was done he told me about all the healthy food he had eaten.

He and I then got a board game from the shelf: Bingo. An easy one to play in Hebrew. He didn’t want it to be a winner game though, so we had three boards out together and played to see which would get a bingo first. Chuck and Cherie went out for a walk. We played and it took quite awhile, but t was fun.

Carly and I then gave him a shower. Backed off on washing his hair when he reacted badly to the idea. Afterwards he pretended/acted out taking a bath and sitting down in it, etc. with Cherie. We got the beds ready, turning the two sofa beds into one huge bed for the three of us. There were tons of blankets in the house and he made a big pile on the bed and played in it, calling it “Sheet and pillow land”. He was asleep by 9.

Splits: 

Standing on the border:

Dirty car: 

Heard the call to prayer at 4:56. August rolled around a lot in bed and fell off the bed three times. He woke up kind of startled at 7:30. I came out from taking a shower and he felt my neck and forehead and hair. Carly said he was being a good argheologist. She then told him I could nurse him today. He said he would investigate and came and put his hand down my shirt and said she was wrong.

Breakfast was up on the 4th floor. A decent buffet and August and I peeled a hard boiled egg together and other foods. Chuck had a lot of packing and stuff piled on his plate at the end and August was impressed: “You ate a lot!…Why did you have so much food?” We left the hotel at 9:15, got our tickets at Petra, and were walking with August in the backpack at 9:45.

Petra was amazing – no need to go into details. August and Carly were being archeologists, and he was really interested in the green horse poop. He liked the water system into the city and asked a lot of questions. I carried him in the backpack for awhile, then he walked and we took turns with him. When he was hungry Carly sneaked granola bar to him in the backpack so supposedly I didn’t see it. He that that was really funny. We got to the Treasury and he got out of the backpack. He saw two camels walking, one tied to the other: “They’re connected!” We slowly made our way through the rest of Petra, looking at gift shops and the ruins, through the street of colonnades, to the end where we sat at a picnic table and had our lunch from the hotel and our snacks.

I took photos of Smokey while we were there, then when we got going we walked up the path towards the monastery a little, just to where the steps began. Chuck had joked that he needed a sign saying “No donkey” as we were asked if we needed rides dozens of times. It was fun to see the Bedouin horsemen and musicians and families, but there were way too many people coming up to you and aggressively trying to get you to take a ride. And then the child labor; children selling postcards or leading donkeys, etc. when the brochure clearly said it was illegal.

The Treasury was impressive (and I liked telling August the story of how a pharaoh supposedly hid a treasure in the urn carved at the top – now pocked with bullet holes from people trying to get the treasure), but my favorite spot was the theater. Would have loved it if they had performances of Greco-Roman/etc. plays going on there.

We headed back, stopping briefly to have Carly take photos of August and me in the backamapack, perhaps for the last time, and Vivian’s Minnie Mouse shoes at Petra. We set a faster pace on the way back and stopped at the Why Not Shop shop for a break, a little before 1:30. I bought a fresh-squeezed pomegranate juice and an orange juice and we shared those. While the rest sat and rested I went a little ways up the stair/trail that was right there to get a few down at the valley.

We walked some more, August walking and carrying him, then put him in the backpack at the Treasury. I then carried him the last 2km out through El Siq. At one point I pointed out to August that a couple horses, walking slowly, were faster than me. He said they weren’t faster than him, and he gave me some energy. I then passed them up again. When the horse drawn carriages rattled by, fast, August would warn me that they were coming. We were done right at 3.

We sat in the shade and Cherie did some gift shopping. We got back to the hotel and unwound a bit, then left after 4. We met Chuck and Cherie down in the lobby. August started to run, slipped on the thick rug by the table, and hit his chin on the glass table. Left a little mark on his chin but could have been much worse.

We went to a coffee shop we had spotted just down the hill. He watched some Sarah and duck with his headphones and we read. He was hungry and they weren’t open for food so I went across to the minimart. The guy was from Yemen and helped me with a little arabic. I got a yougurt, dried apricots, and a couple of little seed/nut bars. Went back and August was happy with those. He read the Critters Fall Festival book with Cherie. She’s great with the reading strategies: asking him for predictions, looking at details, etc. They then read Lulu the Witch and read part of Pablo and His Chair. A boy came and gave him a cookie thing before we left. Carly took him to the bathroom and we left at 5:40.

Chuck and Cherie went back to the hotel and the three of us went for a walk up the hill and onwards up behind our hotel. The wedding procession of cars, which we had seen earlier, after Petra, drove by and their were people calling out to us. When a second car went by with loud music playing August broke out dancing in my arms as I carried him. We also saw a bunch of chicken. Admired the view of the valley from up there then headed back.

Back at the hotel he and I waited downstairs in the lobby and played with the rainbows produced by the sun hitting a crystal bowl. When Carly and then Chuck and Cherie came down he showed them the rainbows. One of them was trying to teach him something about prisms and light and he said “I already knowed that. I just haven’t told anyone yet.”

At 6:30 we went to the Alqantarah Restaurant up the hill, where we had tried to go yesterday. It was a set menu, with salads, then gifta and kofta as main dishes, then the harisa (coconut) dessert. He made inventions out of silverware while we waited. Carly asked “Can I walk across it?” He said “Be careful: there’s no railing.” I then had my fingers fall of and sue him. When August asked what that meant Carly stole my fork. We then had a big court case with Chuck as my lawyer. When August heard we were doing a court case like we had once done in Carly’s classroom he pounded on the table and called “Order in the court!” He remembered that part. We continued the case until the salads came. August was the judge and since he had seen Carly take the court he sentenced her to 3 minutes of jail. Think she only served a few seconds.

Anyway, the food was great. He ate a lot and was getting strong from the chicken. He would then go under the table to grab Cherie’s leg and show her how strong he was. At one point I taught him the phrase ‘I don’t have to prove anything to you’. Then to Chuck he said “I don’t have to prove anything to you…but I’m stringer then rugrats.” He said he was so strong that “I can even hold up gravity.”

We had dessert, then just before 8, as Carly took him to the bathroom, I ran back to the hotel to use the internet to by a ticket to a Posies concert this summer as it went on sale at 8pm. Wasn’t working at first, just getting a generic error message from Ticketmaster, which quickly reminded me that Ticketmaster is one of the worst companies in the world. It turned out I just couldn’t order the ticket from abroad – when I connected to a VPN and it thought I was in the U.S. it worked just fine. But they couldn’t be bothered to tell me why it wasn’t working in the first place.

I read Kipper’s Birthday to him and Carly brushed his hair. Turned off the lights and they nursed. At 8:50 I heard him whisper “Mama, can you tell me a story of when you were a kid?” Sometime after 9 I had him get up on the bed with me. I sang him some songs and he just lay with me for awhile. Finally, he said he wanted to go back to mama. He went back down to her and fell asleep about 9:55.

We started waking up a bit after 6. We got ready and tried to give August a shower and wash his hair but he got really upset so we didn’t really wash it. They played Seuss Band and then the House game while I took a shower. He was excited that he got to play the house game as it was supposed to be a “Backup for the car!” He stood between the beds and pretended his legs disappeared. Cherie left for a few minutes and he said “Oma vanished!” A couple minutes later he was playing on the bed and said “Aagh! Someone in our hotel room!” Referring to Chuck, who had been there the whole time.

We left a little before 8. When we got outside, windy and cool, August said “It smells good out here, right?” We went for a walk to find a place for breakfast, but nothing was open this early. We walked a couple blocks around where we had been yesterday. August spotted a person with dwarfism and totally commented on it, confused. We said hi and the guy was nice about it. We walked around some more and finally found a place called Ce Bon Cafe. A decent breakfast there. Carly and I got their version of the continental breakfast. August liked it as he liked putting together all the little things. He asked Carly “Mama, can you teach me about government? No, countries?” She taught him words like monarchy, anarchy, chaos He said things like “What’s the difference between kings and queens?” “Are kings bad people?” She taught him about democracies and he said “Let’s practice choosing a leader.” “What’s a leader do?” He then wanted to learn about being a teacher of a school and Carly talked about how the principal can decide what the teachers learn. She asked “What do you think the teachers should learn about?” His reply: “I think they should learn about PHOTOSYNTHESIS.” We finished at 9:45.

Bathroom didn’t have a toilet seat but I convinced him to go. Looking at the squares outside on the ground he asked “What’s diagonally mean?” We got walking and went the long way to find the ruins of Ayla at 10:20. Inside Carly taught August about trading and they pretended to lead their camels to the market and trade things.

Chuck and Cherie headed their own way for awhile and we went over to the mosque. We thought about going in, but it was closed for prayer at the time. August saw ant holes by the wall and tried to feed them/block their holes with leaves.

We got to the hotel after 11. He said there were invisible people in our bathroom – he had a power that made them visible. We then developed the stealing the AC remote game: I was a sloth, hyena, and snake. That game ended when he jumped on my back to squish the snake and when he got off he fell of the edge of the bed. He kept trying to play after that but I was rather done with the game. Chuck and Cherie moved their stuff to our room and went to get sweets from the Pistachio Sweets place.

Carly taught him about archeology and they pretended to be archeologists: “I found pink pottery…this is an ancient measuring cup.” They were digging and finding things and cleaning them off and putting things in a museum. He really liked answering the door whenever Chuck and Cherie knocked and they suggested they find bones. August liked that idea and found a spine. They were then explorers and found an old stone chair: “It’s carved out!” It was really cool and they kept it up for a long time.

We had scheduled our ride for 12:30 but it was running up to an hour late. I had seen a park called Princess Salma Park. We walked down there, passing a dilapidated Mercedes along the way. He and Carly were being archeogists outside. He kept saying “Yeah, garbage.”At the park, 12:45, August played with a teeter totter where the tires were really wearing out. Carly went and rested Andi got him to go around with me for a few minutes, being an underwater adventurer. There was a random set of seashell sculptures. The middle had a big Pearl, which we said was the Arctic Pearl. He named all the shells: “Eaty, snaily, munchy, pokey, clammy…”

He then went back to Carly and did more archeology and had me breaking the artifacts with a hammer.

I carried him back. He hummed a mystery song. He said it was not Wild Kratts. I thought it might be a Neil Young song. We will have to investigate.

We were back at 1:20. We Learned there was no school because of the dust, which had blanketed all the cars and outdoor seating areas at the restaurants.

We got driving and it took longer than I expected. Stopped for gas, then August finished one of Carly’s granola bars. Played a little Crazy Gears. When he opened his water bottle water squirted out due to the change in pressure. He got upset because his shorts and seat were a bit wet. Carly got out his blue coat and I put it under him and he was okay. We drove through a dust storm and ate some chips. We were leaning against each other and watched some Sarah and Duck. There was a wind farm and when I sat up to look at it he wanted to lean against each other again. We made another stop at the Petra View Giftshop and finally rolled in at the Candles Hotel at 4. At the giftshop they had cool chess sets I’m tempted to get for teaching August chess. Cherie got chocolate-covered nuts and shared some with me and August as we got back in the car.

August and I inspected the lobby. We saw a couple of game boards and I said maybe we’d have time later. He said “I have a time machine that makes time for things.” Turned out they only had backgammon pieces in them. Cherie talked to a couple from India. August fund that a bit boring so we went to the other end. There was a big fish tank but no fish. He said a funny “Fishy, fishy” several times trying to draw them out of hiding. Inspected other interesting stuff in the lobby, then we headed up to the room.

A small one here, but it will be fine. He was being whiney and Carly asked if he was tired or stressed out. He said “stressed out”. He relaxed, then was being a spark as we got going: “I’m a spark; so be careful.”

We all went walking looking for a restaurant. Like this morning when we couldn’t find anything open, we now couldn’t find anything open yet for dinner. We went up the hill, then came back down. Found a place called Oriental Petra and ended up with a great meal. I had another Turkish coffee and we shared a couple kinds of sambusak, musakhan, Nabataean sawani, tabboulah, Greek salad, and hummus. There was then a coconut cake thing for dessert. August started slow but ended up eating a lot. Impressive after eating a bunch of snacks in the car.

August was being loud in the restaurant though. Just so excited. He was making inventions with the silverware, then when someone’s phone was ringing he called out “Your phone!” When they brought out dessert he banged silverware on the table and said “listen to that loud noise”. Finally, we somehow got on the subject of broken fingers and Cherie told him how she had broken two of her fingers playing softball.

We walked down the street and looked a gift shop. I wondered if we should take him back to the hotel or keep him outside with all his energy. He said “Let’s keep this energy outside.” There was a benchy area and he ran around and was a rugrat with Chuck. We went down to the entrance of Petra and he liked the huge TV screen with commercials.

We stopped at a corner store for some snacks and he wanted to carry the basket. Just not with the heavy water in it. We carefully touched objects in the gift shop. On the wall back the steep hill he had a machine to help: “It only gives energy to people in your family.” Got to the hotel at 7:10.

In the bathroom he asked “Why is it when you move a curtain on a table fast, the plates won’t fall down?” He was asleep at 7:45.

Driving throug
h a dust storm: 

A rugrat: 

Rugrat running around: 

He was up 7:10. We packed and got ready to go. He was happy here that he could climb up on the platform next to the sink and wash his hands from there. We talked about our plans and I said we were going to Jordan. He responded “Did you say fly to Jordan? Our car isn’t used to flying?…How? You think our car can drive underwater?” We loaded the car and said goodbye to the room. Had another full breakfast. People spotted some small ibex or something right out the windows. We stopped at reception to use the bathroom and were on the road a little before 9.

Stopped for gas about 45 minutes later at a Paz Yellow. An odd place to hear “To Be with You” playing on the speakers. I got a couple mango uncles for us and we left before 10:30. August and I drank one and saw a lot of acacia trees, rocks, and wadis out the windows. I read about 9 chapters of Paddle to the Sea to him then he played Seuss Band with Cherie. We passed signs to a sculpture park along the way and I marked it for the next time we come that way. Also saw a couple ostriches inside a fenced area. Cherie had a cracker mix that had spicy crackers in it. August kept eating all the different kinds of crackers, asking if they were spicy too even as he kept eating them. He watched one Sarah and Duck, then we parked at the crossing at noon.

We rearranged things and left the car and walked to the crossing. August got upset when we had him walk and Carly had to pick him up. His one moment of nervousness. He then did really well as we made our way through. Very few other people, so it went pretty easy. At one point we sat on a bench for a few minutes and admired a mosaic. He asked what a border is and we talked about natural and political borders. He was then making borders on the ground dividing one country from another.

On the Jordanian side our guide met us and passed us through the rest. We had two cars and August and I sat in the back of one with Carly in front. Our driver was Rebecca. She is from Italy and recently moved to Jordan. We got to the hotel, Hotel Jardanah at 1:30. Well, 12:30, as we found out that Jordan doesn’t move to daylight saving time for a couple days. As we waited in the lobby he told me how he didn’t have the bottle cap anymore. He had been playing with a bottle cap as we arranged our car – it had been some sort of spinning machine or something – and I had thought he had picked it up on the ground. He then dropped it when Carly picked him up. I didn’t pick it up as my hands were all full. He now excitedly told me that it had been the mango bottle cap and that he had littered; “My first time littering!”

We have a big room here at the hotel. August had fun jumping on the bed and played with the remote. It was too loud and he said “We need to control that puppy!”

After awhile we all headed out to the south and west for a walk. Ended up at a place called Memories Castle for lunch. While we waited for the food, Carly took him to the bathroom and they had a hypothetical discussion around the question “Could we send someone to the sun right now?” I walked up the block at one point to look around. We got our drinks; August had the best mango drink we’ve had and I had a Turkish coffee. Again, very good. Food finally came. Carly had ordered a couple of the salads and hummus and I got the traditional meal of Jordan. Chuck got the fish and Cherie a chicken and lemon dish and we all shared around.

We left there at 3:10. Went to the Mina Bazaar shop across the street. A guy that worked there was sort of chasing August when August wasn’t responding. I picked August up and he was actually having fun. He wanted to instead chase the guy, but Chuck had by then started talking to him. We looked around a little more and August was blasting things and the guy, then with Carly headed back to the hotel.

We were back to the hotel at 3:30. He had the power to take away abilities. When I threatened to sleep in the bed by the key so I could simply pull it out when I was too cold, he took away my ability to control the AC.

Chuck and Cherie were back and we left before 4. We walked down towards the shore. We stoped by a fountain for a couple minutes while Cherie and Carly went into a gift shop run by a feminist organization. We then continued on. The sidewalk had accent bricks making shapes that sort of looked like Tetris pieces and August was jumping on them, playing Tetris.

Down at the beach we found a spot and stayed there for the next hour and a half. A busy beach with dozens of boats picking up people and taking them out for short rides. August at first didn’t like the rocky sand but then kept playing and playing with it. He also liked the garbage, and was playing with that. He and Carly had a bit of a game called Rock or Garbage? I waded in the Red Sea a few times (we figured out the gulf was called two different things depending on which language you use). A girl, 6 or 7, came over and talked to us a little. August wasn’t too interested though. He said he was “too busy”. He made power pouring sand, and they made a blob monster. A couple of college students came and did a video of me and August making fools of ourselves (well, me) trying to repeat Arabic words they said.

Finally, we gave him five minutes more of playing time. It was getting dark soon. We got ready to go and I asked if he wanted to touch the water before we left. He agreed and we waded in the water a little. Kind of a mistake as he now wanted to play in the water. He played for a few minutes, making his feet wet, then dry, and dropping sand in the water.

On the walk back we heard the call to prayer and Carly taught him about praying. He asked questions about praying and god. Carly was nice enough to let us stop at Pistachio Sweets and August and I chose two things. We got those and took them back to the hotel. As I carried him he showed us how he was working on blowing his nose.

We got back at 6:15. He really liked the idea of sharing the treats with Oma and Opa so we went to their room and shared them. He was getting crazy on their bed though so we eventually headed to our room. The lamps were hardwired into the wall, so to move the beds together I took the lampshade off of one. A new toy for him that entertained him for a long time. After awhile he asked “Dada, can I wear this as a hat or not?” He did that, and we played a lampshade game where I tried to push the dangling things under it and he pushed them out. On the floor he spun around and asked “Are you amazed by me spinning around on one foot?”

Finally, we were on the bed and talking about how fun travelling was. I was asking him how much he wanted to travel places and he had a yes meter where he lifted his legs up to show how much he wanted to travel places. Basically, he really wants to go to every country.

He was asleep at 7:45.

Up a little after 7. He had a good night of sleep. We went down for breakfast at 8. Cherie tried to show him how to close his lips around his spoon. He said “I was doing it my way…yucky.” He ate a lot: eggs, baby corn, tuna, fish, sponge cake, and frittata with me, then chocolate cake and a lot of cereal with Carly.

We stopped at reception to get the park passes and use the bathroom, then headed out just after 9. On the drive he said to Cherie “I don’t think you forget-ed the aphids…you know, the things that taste like tic tacs…Altoids.”

At Masada we went to the gift shop first. I managed to find the little foldout guides to mammals and trees and shrubs in English. As we waited in line for the cable car he was humming Endendino and told us “I’m not getting any attention.” Got him a spot standing looking out the back of the cable car on the way up.

Up at the top the rest of them headed to the north and I went on my own down to the southern tip, which August and I had not gotten to last time. Saw an interesting black bird watching over its nest, I think. On my way back north along the west wall Carly called saying August wanted his sunglasses. So I hurried to the north and found them sitting on benches in the shade at the north lookout area. We sat there for several minutes, listening to the tour guides, which was quite interesting.

On the way down we looked out the back again. We looked around at the Avaya store and saw their Bible verse on the wall. I took him to the bathroom then we got driving before 12. Cherie read a chapter of the Magic Treehouse book.

We got to Ein Bokek and parked in the public parking. We got walking and August remembered the beach toys. I went back and got them and payed for parking while they got changed. I got changed and we set up out spot under a shade cover. I played in the sand with August for awhile and we played a game of me making cup castles as fast as possible and him destroying them. We then buried his legs and feet.

Carly and I then went down and floated together and Cherie played with August, burying his legs and him breaking out. Apparently he was saying “Holy mackerel!” a lot. We had a nice float. Longer than I floated last time. Cooler and more refreshing, although the hot water last time made the experience even more surreal.

August agreed to go down to the water but when I got him down there he wouldn’t even let me put his feet in. I set him on the shore and he ran back up to camp. But he really liked playing in the sand – it was perfect building sand – and he liked the Israeli pop music the group of teenagers next to us had playing. He did not like the shower part at all.

We went over to the Hordus Pizza place and sat outside. Chuck and Cherie got us a couple pieces. During lunch he said “When you eat food and your body throws it up is it because the food is icky?” And “Can I be a baby that throws up if it eats cashews?” He ate two and a half slices of pizza. We talked about going to the stream we had gone to last time and he asked “The stream where we did the storytelling rock?”

We left at 2:15 and made the short drive over to the stream. We walked up under the bridge and were at first shocked to find the stream gone. Luckily, we walked a little further and found the stream. A little less water, and it disappeared into the gravel. We walked up and found a spot to play in. August picked up a storytelling rock as we walked. He was hesitant to walk in the stream at first: “Another problem is there is rocks in my shoes.” We picked a spot and got out the picnic mat and did he storytelling rock and ignoring rock routine. Carly then started building a dam in the stream and that became his big project. I walked farther up the stream by myself and went farther than we had last time, up to where I think Carly went with her students. Some teenagers asked me to take their photo for them, and there was another group up there with their empty guns. People were still walking further up the stream, but it got narrow.

I went back to the spot where everyone else was. August took off his clothes and had naked time in the stream as they worked on the dam.

Eventually we got going and drove back to the hostel, getting there at 4:20. We were playing on the bed and he made up  a pink world where everything is rocks but there is no gravity. Carly went and took a shower, then I took one. He watched a Sarah and Duck, then Carly gave him a shower. He dreaded it but then had fun in there. He came and cuddled with me and said he was “Snug as a bug in a mudg in a judg”. He had fun loudly trying to squish a water bottle, then we all headed out for dinner, back to the same place as yesterday.

Still good, but a little disappointing all around. Carly’s salad was wilted. We got the ravioli with the mushroom alfredo sauce to share between the three of us but it was a smaller serving. I got a strawberry milkshake. August liked it, but it was closer to a strawberry milk. Cherie tried to tell him a story about Carly as a girl, but August dismissed the idea: “When mama was a girl? That’s just a nighttime thing that mama does.”

After dinner, as they paid, I walked around with August. We looked at a couple plants and ended up in a smoocharoo contest. Think he was leading 8 to 7.

The others were ready and we all walked up the hill, looking at the plants. He asked about guerrilla art again. He had gotten a citrus candy from Cherie and told her about crunching it at the end. People went into the hotel to use the bathroom and August and I sat on a bench and had some water. He wanted me to invent a generator. I came up with a flower smelling power generator. People smelled flowers and their sniffing turned the generator. August liked that and we acted it out. Carly took him to the bathroom, then as we were walking he asked

“What’s holy mackerel mean?”

We got driving at 7:20.” More talk of flubber with Cherie and drooping skin: “I don’t want to have flubber; people will tickle it…why is there more gravity when you’re older?”

At the hostel he asked “Does gravity pull down light?” So we talked about how gravity affects light. I put his pajamas on over his shirt. He said “That’s unusual!” We played a little Seuss Band. We then read Hunches in Bunches. He laughed a lot, then was ready to nurse. It took awhile, but not too bad. He was asleep at 8:25.

He was up around 7:30. Got in a short Skype with my parents and discussed a little planning for their trip in the fall, then got started on our busy morning of packing. I had put the cargo holder bag on top of the car, then when I saw Carly going out to it I ran out to tell her something. August noticed we were both leaving and ran out after us. A bit later we both went upstairs and he came up too and asked “Why do you keep sneaking off?” Chuck made potatoes and eggs and August and I had some before we left.

We drove off at 10:15. He had been asking about the lollipop every day since getting it, so had some right after we left. Then saved some for later. We read the Cars book, then he ate some grapes. Ate the rest of the lollipop around the airport.

First stop was Lifta. We almost stopped at the hill as it was steep. But we decided to keep going. He held our hands and walked most of the way down and through the village. I carried him most of the way back up. In the village he liked the abandoned buildings and kept asking to be taught about the Palestinians and why they were forced out of their homes. He was also concerned about the kids swimming in the spring since we didn’t know how deep it was.

We got driving at 1. He ate a ton of pickles and claimed “I like pickles more than anything in the whole universe.” Even more than treats.

We made it to Tent of Nations, the Palestinian farm that Carly had gone to with Sabeel (they had also gone to Lifta). We were there just before 2. We waked up and one of the Brothers showed us around. August said “This farm is kinda weird.” because we didn’t see lines of crops. We looked at some of the farm equipment, an old karob tree, and one of the caves. When Daod was done with a group of Germans he then talked to me and Chuck and Cherie in the big cave while Carly took August outside.

After that we spotted a big lizard. August then spotted a little one. August and I talked about the rain collection system, the solar panels, and how the water is gravity fed down to the taps in the bathrooms.

On the way out Cherie spotted another beetle. August and I also talked about the terracing (natural and man-made) and the settlements.

We left after 3. He joked around with Cherie a lot and played with her arm: Oma’s arms are like dough…it’s cute, unbelievable…whoa…shakey, shakey…” I was helping navigate us through Jerusalem. Eventually I got the iPad out and he played the House game, then watched a couple of Sarah and Ducks. He then started playing I Spy right before we got to the Ein Gedi Hostel.

As we got in a bus pulled in behind us. Carly and Chuck headed up to check-in. It was a Korean Christian student group. As I carried August up he got a lot of looks and still some “Agee!” Made us homesick for Korea.

We checked in, then figured out the restaurant was to the south. I drove now and we went to the village of Ein Gedi. The hotel restaurant buffet was expensive and too much food. They directed us down to the place by reception. On the walk down we saw the view of the wadi and their was an ibex sitting on a rock. And we saw the big ficus and baobab trees. Got down to the coffee shop area where August and I had gotten a frozen drink last time. Sat out on the deck and had a great meal. August and I got sweet potato raviolis and shared them. I had a cappuccino. We shared some of Chucks pizza as well. August had skipped the pita sandwiches that Carly had made for lunch so he made up for it by eating a ton at dinner.

He was. Ring thoughtful at dinner. Asked me “What’s the name for recycling food?…Why aren’t there composts places everywhere?” Then out of nowhere:  “I know you say there’s an infinite amount to learn, by how can there be an infinite amount to learn when there’s not an infinite amount of anything?” Cherie complimented us on our parenting and I asked him how we were doing. He gave a flat “Not so good.”

He and I went in the giftshop while they paid. He had spotted squishy light up toys.

Got back to the hostel at 7:45. He said “Good thing there’s no drain flies.” While washing his hands as there was no plug. We put all three beds together. H had an opinion on which one to sleep on. Carly disagreed. I asked how much fun he had had. He rated himself instead: “I did a great job today, so I get a ten.” I asked “How did mama and Dada do?” “On a scale of one to ten…Two.”

Brushed his teeth and he was asleep at 8:20. I read a good amount of The Way to the Spring after that.

He was up about 7:15. When I came down he was playing with the Legos and magnet set on his own. Cherie said he had been humming and digging through the box on his own. He had also had some oatmeal. He asked me why his Lego crane was falling over and then about counterweights, so we built a crane out of Duplos and experimented with it. Cherie did some yoga with him. They joked around with Oma hairs, then I realized the plant was the same height as him or taller. He stood on his tippy toes and claimed he was still taller.

We played with the microscope and looked at our fingers and his bowl and leaves. We then went out and looked at the progress of the watering system, which Carly was working on. He told me “Look at this calculation screen…I can type in a name…” He could give himself a new name, like Bar, but we would still call him Zinnie. We read the Thump, Quack, Moo book, then he ate some of the potatoes and eggs that Chuck had made. He went upstairs together and he asked about the edge of the universe. When I said we couldn’t actually travel to the edge, his rockets of course could and he was blasting through the edge of the universe and into Hilo’s universe. There was a beeping noise from somewhere and he said it meant there was something wrong with the universe I asked “Can it be fixed?” He replied “Well, just me of course.”

It reminded me of the argument he had with Carly a couple days ago about whether the Earth was in space. He argued that in space there wasn’t any gravity, so the Earth wasn’t in space. He kind of won that argument with her.

I took a shower and he waited in the bathroom. He asked how a water filter works, then we were acting out the water molecules making it through a filter and the bacteria not making it. Gave him his bath and washed his hair. He didn’t like it, of course, and had me just hold him for a few minutes downstairs. Once I set him down in his towel he said “I’m gonna wear this all night and all day.”

He had some peanut butter and almond butter with crackers and I had some lunch, then we all got going. We drove up to town and parked at the west end. Walked to Malkin and had lunch there. August with hot chocolate and me with a Turkish coffee. The five of us shared a green shakshuka and a cauliflower dish. Worked out just right.

I took him to the bathroom, then we all walked over to the park by the library. He went on the merry-go-round with Carly, had me and Carly get upsidedownia, played tag with us, and went down the slides and played on the teeter totter with Carly. Of the teeter totter, which was really bouncy on the tire, he said “I like wearing out things.”

We walked back to the grocery store in the basement of the mall and got snacks for our trip. I was going to walk August home with Chuck, but August didn’t want to separate from Carly. So she took him in the car and Chuck and I walked. Home about 3:40.

August and I tried the candied fruit we had bought then did art together on the iPad. Did some dot connecting pieces (where I make dots and he connects them) and a mosaic that we did together. We then watched part of the Australian Grand Prix together. He went upstairs with Carly for awhile, then we did more iPad art. He heard a noise upstairs and wanted to investigate. It was Cherie’s hairdryer.

I went out and tried the cargo carrier on top of the car. They had made potatoes and broccoli for dinner. We all ate outside. Cherie joked about taking August to the United States with them in their luggage. He liked the idea of going to the U.S. with them but insisted he would sit in his own seat. He got sad when we said we would actually do that but it would be a few months.

After dinner I went up to do some work. He had peanut butter crackers, read some Zita, and Carly blew up the ball. He came to me close to 8 and Carly took a shower. We went down and he wanted to see the rain cover on the backamapack. He was really interested in it and we talked about how we had used it and the reasons he didn’t like it. He said he didn’t like it because I couldn’t hear him. hadn’t thought of that before, but when we had it on it meant that my orange coat was also on and there was a lot of rain noise, so it probably was hard to hear each other.  A couple times he asked me “Why are you so nice?” For no apparent reason.

We went up and got ready for bed. he talked about his batteries and blasted the house to Hilo’s universe. We had talked about reading up in bed but he was too tired. I left them at 8:20 and he was asleep soon after.

He was up at 7:30. He told me he slept well, then said he thought mama was out watering the plants. He got up on the bed and looked out the window and spotted her outside. He wanted to go down and tell her it was a cloudy day so she should come inside.

He went out with her and eventually they came in and tried to get the microscope working. She went up to do laundry and we got it working. We looked at our skin, the rug, a Cheerio, the aluminum of the computer. He picked up on the word “individual” and used it later in the day.

He spent more time outside with Carly, then came in and showed her and Cherie Toca Elements. I took a shower. When I came down they were figuring out the watering system with Chuck. They went outside with it. Carly would pretty much have it done by the evening.

He came back in and I made him oatmeal with mango and he shared some pita and hummus with me. He went back out for awhile. Progress was being made on the system. Back inside he was making monster noises (because of his cough) on the kitchen floor. I cuddled with him on the floor for a bit then we discussed doing some art on the iPad. I realized everyone was done with showers though so we went up and did his bath. Another bubble town.

He did a kitchen mixing experiment with Cherie and they had a lot of fun. As they watched the dye mixing in the water he said “It’s a crazy, complicated spiderweb, right?” Carly came in and he ate pickles. Then played with Makey Makey and magnets on his own. Carly cleaned out her purse. He found a container with a single Tic Tac and told me “I’m gonna have this mint tic tac. It’s my destiny.”

I got snacks together and we all headed to the car. Carly took out the booster seat and he sat in the middle between me and Cherie. He immediately lamented not having a window, but did okay. We read the Cars book from Dee on the way over. We parked in the middle of the Netanya waterfront and walked south. Kind of a hazy day. He climbed on mushroom statues, then really liked sitting on a statue of an elderly couple sitting on a bench. He said “I know I don’t have short hair, but I can still be cute in some ways, right?” There was an abstract sculpture that he told me to take a photo of. I had him help take a photo of Chuck and Cherie in front of it.

We got to a playground we hadn’t been to and played there for quite awhile. He wanted snack on the net thing because I said we had eaten on one at Children’s Grand Park. Had a snack there and played around, then he, Carly, and I played tag over near the bench that Chuck and Cherie were sitting on.

We headed back about 3:15. He wanted me to take another photo of him on the same statue. We saw a big line of big ants – they’d cut a path through the grass. August wanted to step on them though and I wasn’t happy about that.

We left in the car at 3:25. We stopped at Ace for more tubing for the watering system. We also got a new small pan and a rolling pin. We stopped at the gas station and I got out to help/watch Carly. Thought he would be okay as Cherie was with him. But he must have had flashbacks to that one time as he still got upset.

On the way up to the Younes restaurant he was playing with Cherie’s watch and joking about “inflicting pain” on her. He and I stayed in the car while they went in and got food. We listened to music.

We were home at 4:40. He was playing with the Makey Makey on his own, then humming along to his favorite Decemberists song. He and Carly were getting carrots and going to do Tetris with the Makey Makey when I went up to work.

There was lots of laughter with Cherie. I came down about 7:20. He was eating “too much” broccoli and getting stronger and stronger. While wrestling with Cherie he got scared by something. Calmed down with Carly.

He hung on a bit longer, but then was having trouble not messing up Cherie’s folding of laundry. We took him to bed and after I said goodnight he was asleep quickly, about 8:45.

I woke up around midnight being attacked by mosquitoes. Because August was with me I didn’t have the covers up as far as I usually do. Sleeping with August in the bed was fine, but the mosquitoes weren’t. It was also quite warm. So after awhile I moved him down to the lower bed and was fine for the rest of the night.

He was up at 7:40. Heard him coughing and went up. He had turned off the fan. Took him down to have some water. More coughing. Cherie gave him a new shirt with a piano on it. He said “Now I can play music when I don’t have my piano!” He played a song on the toy piano for her. It was quite a good song, with a nice ending. Cherie asked if it was a made up song and when he said it was she called him a composer. He said “But I still don’t call myself a composer, okay?”

We lost an hour during the night due to daylight saving time. So unfortunate that it was the first day we’ve actually needed to be somewhere in the morning. We got out of the house quickly though and headed to the school for his ‘interview’. Since they already know us it was more of just a trial run.

In the car “Go” was finishing up. He requested it again, loud this time.

Got to school at 8:30.

Ori, a student, greeted him, announcing “August is here!” and gave him a laminated paper leaf and invited him in the forest area. August didn’t want to join the group reading a story. We discussed what ‘free choice’ meant and he chose to play with blocks on the light table. I noticed his voice was starting to sound a little hoarse. He was doing a lot of yawning through the morning and rubbing his eyes and mosquito bites.

A group came from the library. Emmett gave us Corduroy, then when Omri came she showed us what was in her purse: nothing. Candy then came and played at the light table with him. Candy pointed out that her shirt matched Omri’s purse and August pointed out he had pink on his shirt as well. Candy asked his name and gave him a block. They built a tall tower until it fell. Mariam took kids out to feed the birds and she explained the bird restaurant to us.

Preschool has a relaxed start to the day and the last students showed up close to 9. Then it was time for morning meeting. I had told him I would be somewhere in the room while he played. He specifically told me I should be in the forest area. He sat with them for the meeting. They did a couple songs. He came over between them and told me something about “we’re going to plug in the computer now.” Don’t know what he was talking about. They discussed the schedule for the day and explained it to August. They went to wash their hands for snack and he ran over to me to tell me that he got to go with the first group because he had pink on his shirt.

He had two rough moments. He had asked me to come with him while he washed his hands. It got busy in the sink area though so I hung back. I didn’t realize they were also having the kids go to the bathroom. Mariam came and got me a minute later as he was in the stall but wanted me. Snack was amazing. They had fresh broccoli from their garden, white cheese, a graham cracker, and egg salad. He ate a good amount. There’s a boy in his class, Leonard, that looks a lot like Colin and seems to be a bit of a clown. There were 12 kids total today and it sounded like one girl was gone on vacation. Another 2 boys are coming after spring break.

August’s second rough spot was when they were done with snack. They line up and wash their own plates. He first wanted me to wash his plate. I said he could do it. But he didn’t want to get his hands wet. He reluctantly did it, then when she had him flip the plate over water spilled onto his feet. He wasn’t happy about the wet shoes. We dried them out and he calmed down.

The class then went out to the playground. August went out and got a pan and wanted to make a strawberry cake. Anna asked if he had had any of the strawberries from the fields around here and he gave a long explanation of how the strawberries at the store were gross so we get our strawberries from the strawberry stand and they are good there. He made some strawberry cake, then one of the girls found a blue bit of oil pastel on the ground. She gave it to August. He told me about it, then proceeded to get his hands covered. We went inside to wash his hands. He played inside for a bit but was coughing a lot and rubbing his eyes. He said he was sleepy a couple times and agreed it was time to go. We said goodbye to everyone and went outside to say goodbye to Anna. She told the kids to say goodbye to him, then August was giving them a “Bye, bye, bye, bye…” as we left.

As we got home he said his fan predictor said it was time for us to turn on the fan over the couch. We told Cherie about preschool and they did magnet science. She thought experiment #10 wasn’t very good. He said “Well, its still science. And science is cool.” I went up to take a shower and August came with me. I was looking for something and he said “In the Leonardo da Vinci room?” That is apparently the name of our bedroom.

He was wanting a treat and I said he could have a popsicle after I was done: “Nothing’s happening until dada takes a shower.” He said “What do you mean? I’m moving all the time.” During his bath he poured some soap in and made “bubble town” Cherie taught him the word “agitate”.

Downstairs he had the popsicle and I couldn’t remember if it was mango or peach. I told it was ant flavored instead. He told Chuck and Cherie “Dada says it’s ant flavor” “peach ant…it’s an undiscovered ant”.

He wore his nursing mittens while he ate the popsicle. We got walking to the mall with Cherie and Chuck and he finished it as we left. He wanted to keep his mittens on though and wore them all the way to the mall even though the temperature was close to 90.

We looked around the market a bit and parked his bike along a fence as everything was so busy. We all went to Tiv Taam he rode around in the cart. He liked the picture on our Trader Joe’s shopping bag: “I love that picture…it’s a Josh Ritter picture.” I think it reminded him of the style of art on our Josh Ritter poster. We found Chuck and Cherie and paid then headed out. We stopped at the music stand in the mall and the woman showed him a pink ukulele. She was convincing me that a ukulele is the easiest instrument for him to learn chords on… I asked which was his favorite and expected him to say the pink one, but he instead pointed to the one with Plants vs Zombies on it.

We were home by 2:40. Chuck and Cherie went up to rest. August had Mac and… and raspberry tea and pita and hummus. I went upstairs to do laundry and he stayed downstairs playing with his Legos. That doesn’t happen very often. We discovered there was an extra chain piece in our Lego set. August sat playing with them and sang a “Two chainies” song.

I offered to pick Carly up as it was hot and she was tired. She agreed so August and I headed to get her. He saw the seed pods from the art museum in the bike and asked “When’s the cone tree gonna be in season?” And he spotted the black cat sitting in our yard under the swing.

We picked up Carly, then on the way home spotted the pair of laughing doves, likely the same couple I saw by our window earlier, doing their dove dance together on the side of the street.

At home, August helped water plants out the windows. He then played with Legos on his own. I read and Carly finished watering plants outside. He and I then finished reading Hilo 1. Carly came in and they nursed, then I made a strawberry and mango smoothie and we had that. At the mall we had also gotten almond butter at the health food store and August wanted to try it. We liked that. He then went upstairs with Carly to do some “Exploring!” He called me up for questions about the tooth brush. Told him it was Chuck or Cherie’s so he should ask them. He later went up with Chuck and Cherie. Came back down wi
th his other pair of new pajamas, with a moon and space stuff on them: “They’re amazing!…I love them.”

Cherie said that was all of the presents except for the ball that was still upstairs. He went up with her to get it. She told him to be careful: “I already knowed that! I have that information in me already. I just haven’t told you.” It is a big blow up ball that lights up when you bounce it. He called me up and Cherie was closing the shades in the small room. Played with it up there for awhile then took it downstairs.

He then helped Cherie open the bottle of wine, doing most of the turning. The two of them then went out and she was teaching him about the parts of flowers and how pollination works. Carly went out as well.

He was getting sleepy so we took him up. He helped me and Carly try to get all the mosquitoes in the room. There was one stubborn one that we gave up on, but I think I got it later after he went to sleep. He was asleep about 7:30.

They arrived at 5:04. August woke up before 6 and Carly got him back to sleep. He was then back up at 7. A little shy to see Cherie, but warmed up quickly. She gave him ‘Zinnie sleep mode’ pajamas, then he made her food from his kitchen. Cherie mentioned needing to learn his words and he taught her words: “picture…mug…light table, spring”. He then covered her with pillows. Carly headed to work and he played a song for Cherie. He made it up and called it “Abstracto”. He explained how the piano works “They pivot on those points…”

We did the rhythm game and he explained the internet routers and the AC remote to her. He had her play the rhythm game with him, then drew an “On Beyond Zebra” letter for her “I use it to spell Smudgamufudge”. Which meant pillow. Then it was off to playing dominoes with her. He told her about his powers “claw power…killing power…but I just kill bad stuff that isn’t humans…” “There’s no button that makes information come out; just a button that makes the information to IN…There’s a magic thing about my computer: it never gets full.”

He paused and ate some strawberries and Cheerios for breakfast. He turned into a drain fly when he had a slightly green strawberry.

He talked forces with Cherie and they used Peter Rabbit to experience centrifugal force. He got out the Magnet Science box and she read the instructions for the experiment that is also a game. he said “No winners. I make everything no winners. Just for fun.”

Cherie headed up to bed. He did some Musyc and GarageBand, then watched one Magic Schoolbus episode, about a bakery. We then headed out to do recycling. He peed at 10 for the first time this morning. We walked up and did recycling, which took awhile, especially as we had to walk back to the house when we realized the water bottle had fallen out of the back of the bike when it had tipped over, then went in the park and exercised in the exercise area. He was a spider monkey climbing on the equipment and also just exercised. He was doing pushups using a bench. He had me take a couple of making mama nervous photos and said “I love these making mama nervous photos.”

We were home at 10:45. He started banging on things in the house so I had him do that outside and told him we could make music out of the sounds. We did a bunch of samples in GarageBand, recording things like ‘grass scrape’ and ‘teeter totter’ and several others. He then made a song and called it “Monster music”.

Inside he wanted some frozen mango. He ate that out at the table. Concerned when his paper towel blew away. He asked “Why do people sometimes sneak art into a museum?”, Referring to our discussion yesterday. Of the Visa sign he asked “Did we think the sign in the museum was good? … yeah, I really liked it too.”

We vacuumed out the car and the vacuum cleaner turned off a couple times. We paused and made raspberry iced tea for later, then water drink for now. As he sat drinking some of that at the table he called to me “Maybe the bag is full.” Indeed that was the problem. He was then being a cat.

Chuck and Cherie were up after 12:15. I took him up to see Opa and August quickly started playing with him and I went and finished the car. August came down and got his new green tractor and took it upstairs and I heard hm showing it to them. He then came down with a case from the plane that Chuck had given him and another one of those brush/comb things. And I got my new iPad keyboard and set it up.

Back upstairs he was doing laps around Cherie as he told her things, then came down with her and they went out to the”Poop yard” for a bit. When Chuck sneezed he counted his sneezes, then explained to them “I count cats and sneezes with dada.”

We had all cycled through to get showers (August got to skip today), then we headed to school at a quarter to 2. We first headed to Dvorah, who was helping set up a cell phone for them. We saw Ada and August really liked her necklace with big plastic circles on it. Cherie liked Ada’s hair with metallic pieces weaved into it. August told Cherie he likes her hair just the way it is. While Chuck did that, the rest of us ended up in the library.

In the library a student had a mannequin in pieces in chairs. August really liked it and shook hands. He played in the stuffed animals with Cherie and was a worm eating a hole though her. He sort of introduced Cherie to Liz. With Cherie we went back to the kids section and they played games (Cherie would tell him which square to jump on next) on the squares rug and I looked for books. Got Magic Treehouse #15, The 52-Story Treehouse, Young Cam Jansen and the Lions’ Lunch Mystery, and Thump, Quack, Moo. August took them to check out, then he and I did a little chess.

The bell rang at 3 and we took Chuck and Cherie over to Carly’s classroom. Hard to get him out of there, but after a couple potato chips we headed over with Carly and Cherie to the preschool. Class was rambunctious at first so we hadn’t missed much yet though we were a few minutes late. I sat in the room and Cherie sat out in the hall at first. Earlier, when August and I had talked about plans for the day, he a couple of times said “But Oma and Opa won’t be at the preschool, right?” But he was fine with them being at activity class. I think he is starting to pick up on the fact that the other kids don’t have family at those classes, but they do at the activity class. Of course, he was just fine with Cherie being there once it happened.

Mariam sort of told the story of Pesach (most of the kids were interrupting and distracting, but she had August’s attention; “What IS Passover?”0, then they started coloring. He asked for my help with that and he was coloring every petal on a flower a different color. Cherie came in and we switched for the rest of the class.

After class we met Chuck and Carly downstairs and we all went out next to the water tables with the water beads. August played with Tomaso there. Carly took Chuck and Cherie in the car back to the house. August and I stayed a bit longer. It was only as he and I cleaned up, right after Tomaso had to go, that he told me they had been squishing the water beads. Sounded like Tomaso had started it.

We walked up to class. Just him and one of the new girls, Adele. They were so cute together, especially when they were crawling like snakes. Another boy (Lahvi? Levi?) showed up a bit later. The three of them had a ton of fun. August needed a pause when he fell over and hit his face on the plastic tubs but he was right back to it.

He was pointing things out and explaining them to Chuck and Cherie all day. In the car he had asked Cherie “Are you trying to learn English words?” as she was actually trying to understand how he says them. As we drove down the street he pointed out the exercise equipment he likes to play on and said “I know you have exercise equipment in the country you live in but…”

We got to Younes, the Arab restaurant, at 5:45. We had a wonderful full meal there. August ate some corn and carrots and really liked the taboon bread. Of the meats he didn’t eat much, but liked the chicken, I think. And he liked the lemonade with mint. After dinner he first was crawling under the table, helping pick up food we had dropped as Carly and Cherie packed up the leftovers. We then stood and watched a guy making the taboon bread. We first saw him putting it in the taboon oven and taking it out, then making the round balls out of the dough. August named him “Stickyhands”. Finally, the guy let him touch some of the dough and August took big bites out of it. The host gave August a lollipop.

We got his hands unsticky while Carly took Chuck and Cherie over to the gas station to get water. August agreed to save the lollipop for later in exchange for ice cream when we got home.

We were home close to 7. The excitement continued as Dee’s package had arrived. August and Carly opened it. He got a nic
e shirt, a box of Lego Cars, and a Cars Track Stars! book. Cherie had also brought him a digital microscope and a Countries of the World card game.

We then had a little ice cream along with the biscuits they had brought from England. August wanted to nurse, but for the first time ever said “Okay, I can wait.” We were all impressed and Cherie taught him the term “delayed gratification”. August and I made one of his Lego cars, then i went up to kill mosquitos in our room.

He had been playing and talking to Chuck and Cherie on the couch – there was a pulling her hair game. I got him to calm down and he wanted to read Dr. Seuss on my iPad. I took him upstairs and he took a very long time going to the bathroom. He told everyone “If you need to go to the bathroom you can go downstairs.”

He wore his new pajamas and Carly cut out the tags. Then went to bed at 8:40. He did a little science experiment to see how far away the bookmark could be from the fan and still flutter in the wind. He told me “I’m adjusting to having them over.” Earlier he had done a good job explaining why he doesn’t want his hair cut – because he doesn’t want to be cut.

I left them at 8:50. I was up about 9:40. He was still awake – just couldn’t shut off after such an exciting da. I asked if he wanted to get up on the bed with me. He said yes and climbed up. He kneeled and looked out the window, then put his arm on the head of the bed and rest his head on it and closed his eyes. It looked like how he would sleep in the backpack. After a few minutes he lay down on the bed. A couple minutes later I moved him to the wall side and he was asleep at 9:55.

Rhythm game with Oma: 

Push-ups: https://youtu.be/QeaG0QjdKPI?rel=0

Monster music: 

Making iced tea: 

Being a worm eating Oma the apple: https://youtu.be/39OwJFfFoGg?rel=0

Square jumping game with Oma: 

Playing at the water table with Tomaso: 

Activity class – snake crawling: 

Activity class – rolling the big ball: Activity class – beanbag throwing: 

Presents from Dee 1: 

Presents from Dee 2: 

Presents from Dee 3: