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Really raining in the morning. He was up at 6:00. Carly let him on her computer, but he’s figured out how to use keyboard shortcuts to switch between programs and open and close windows, so he was messing around. He was watching Peg + Cat when Carly left. Had banana bread for breakfast. We switched to books, but we couldn’t find the Plants Vs Zombie book (Timepocalypse) that he wanted. We started reading James and the Giant Peach instead, but he bit his tongue. His response was to want to leave the house: “Can we go? Can we get out of here?”

So we went for a walk at 7:45. He said “I don’t really like the nighttime.” Not sure why. We sang the zero at the bottom of the sea song county by different numbers: 14, 11, 5. And made ups some new words for Ants go marching: 2 is achoo, 3 is sneeze. We walked around the Holly block, then headed over towards Jack and Celeste’s, but as we headed through the paths we felt a couple drops of rain. Looked up to see a huge dark cloud approaching. We turned around and started hurrying home. He was fine though: “My rockets is waterproof!” We made it in the gate and I pushed him up to the porch at 8:05. We had barely made it. It started pouring and I told him I was just going to leave the gate open for now. He was laughing as he asked: “Is it going to keep raining for millions of years? Billions? Trillions?”

We went back to looking for the zombie book. We used a flashlight to look under the couch. August said: “It’s really dirty in there. I don’t want books to get dirty.” He had also wanted to mop today and he was wiping the floor with the mop, although we didn’t use water. He found Green Marshy under there. We then went and checked the car and found the book in there. Back inside we read all of Timepocalypse. When we were done he was being the plants and I was the zombie. “Slap, slap, slap…I’m slapping you to the dark side of the moon.” Took me to a cylinder planet to burn me up.

He wanted me to sing Yankee Doodle in a specific key, so I showed him how to change where we start playing it on the piano and we played Yankee Doodle in different keys. He then wanted to switch to the electronic keyboard and we played GarageBand.

We headed upstairs and he watched Ask the Storybots while I took a shower. Afterwards, he told me “Dada, all I see is a bunch of elements. There’s a bunch of elements looking at us.”

We then left on a walk into town. First stop was the library, where we could now open an account. We looked at the same pollution book and clock books as last time and I found The Very Hungry Caterpillar to check out. After we translated a few more words in the pollution book he was sick animals again, and sang “I’m a baby fish, getting infected.” He then spotted a sign above the toy area and we translated the whole thing, with him doing a lot of the typing. It told parents to keep the area clean.

We went up to open our account and found that the pollution and time books are for library use only. Rather odd, as they are just old beaten up books. So we just got the caterpillar book. But we found out that the librarian’s name is Rifka and she lives at Habrosh 9, just four doors up from us.

From there we headed to the bank, where we tried the ATM and found that we couldn’t withdraw money. Last night we had found that at least two other teachers also couldn’t access there accounts. So we went upstairs. August played GroGarden while I talked to the bank staff. He also came in and played with the guy’s calculator. At one point I looked over and found him flipping through a newspaper, moving his finger on the lines as if he was reading. After about a half hour and talking to two people (and them calling other people) it seemed like the problem was solved: they thought there was missing paperwork on our account, like a W-9, but they checked and it was actually all there and was a mistake and the lock would be lifted “in a few minutes”.

So we went to the park where August scratched at the icky spot, which was kind of gummy due to the rain, with a stick. It reminded him of oobleck and he started asking me about that book. Kind of chilly and windy, so we then headed to the ATM, where we found our account still wouldn’t work. We hung around for a bit, trying to decide what to do. He played at the edge of the steps, looking down below. He wanted to go to a restaurant for lunch but I told him we’d do that tomorrow in Jerusalem. So we left there at 1:45 and went to the bakery instead. Got a few cheesy things and one chocolate one, which he called the poop one. Walked across the street, back to the park, and ate them, starting with the chocolate one. He quoted a Garfield strip: “What are you trying to do? Make us sick?”

From there we went back to the ATM yet again. Still didn’t work. Figured we’d come back tomorrow and try it and we headed home. As we walked past the park where we saw the fruit fight he remembered it: “Dada, when the kids were throwing that fruit the park cleaned itself up!” He then did a lot of talking about and pretending to fight zombies. And everything was a zombie: brick zombies, tree zombies, etc. His funniest was the “poop zombies” when we saw dog poop. Home after 2:30.

We finished James and the Giant Peach and he wanted to start from the beginning. We read Du Iz Tak instead. He then did some zombie playing: “I got brains for my brain cake…Can you be a zombie? Fight, fight, fight, fight, fight…” He also lay on the floor and put his arms and hands in the shape of a heart.

We then headed back out and walked up to the school and that library. He first played in the stuffed animals and pretended to be a slow turtle, crawling along the ground when we went to look for books. He pointed to the built-in benches and asked “Can we sit on those?” I said yes, and he replied “But they’re for not behaving.” He once saw a boy who was getting in trouble be told that he had to sit there because he was misbehaving.

He had wanted to check out Berenstain Bears books so we looked at those a lot. We sat and read four of them: Slumber Party, Messy Room, Blaze a Trail, and Green-Eyed Monster. We checked out Green-Eyed Monster and Moving Day, Magic Treehouse 6 and 7, and Max Axiom Magnetism. Carly found us and we left at 4:30 and got home at 5.

At home he was pretending to punch everything. I took a video to show Cherie what her Plants Vs Zombie books have wrought. They nursed and I gave him a shower that went just fine. He sent messages to Oma – I had him write “punch”. He didn’t really eat much dinner. We read Frog and Toad, Berenstain Bears and the Trouble with Chores, and Peppa’s First Sleepover. Took out the piano keys and put them back in.

He went upstairs with Carly. While on the toilet they did toilet paper math with the squares of toilet paper. In the bedroom he had turned the fan on to oscillating. Carly turned it off and he said “What did you do to my osicillating machine? That’s insane!” They read some Pooh poems, then he was ready for sleep. I asked what he’d dream about and he replied “hurricanes and tornados…and magnets.” He was asleep at 7:45. Before he went to sleep I showed him that we’d made it to 20,000 steps for the day. He’s been wanting to do that.

Playing it like a piano: 

Bakery stuff: 

Making a heart: 

Reading books in the school library: 

Carly took my driver’s license to school today so Ada could take them in tomorrow along with all the other paperwork and get our Israeli licenses. So we were carless today.

He was up just after 5:50. He was scratching at the sheet – I think he may have been a cat, but when I asked he wouldn’t say anything. He went out and found Carly. Downstairs he played Dragonbox Numbers while she went to work. We did some of our gentle head butting and he said “I’m stronger…I win.” He asked “How do you spell The Eighth Garfield Treasury?” And “How do you spell cuh-mu-nu-fu-suh? That’s the sofits in Hebrew.” He’d made up that word a day or two ago, and I didn’t realize what it was: the sounds of the 5 ‘final’ sounds in Hebrew strung together. We read the entire Garfield book. His favorite from this collection is probably the “Booga booga booga” strip. He also was quoting “You’re driving me crazy.” after we read, which may or may not be from the collection.

He lay on floor eating zucchini bread and talking about Hebrew. And he asked “How’s our mold experiment doing?” He then wanted an “underground photo”. So he was a squirrel in a nest I built. Another Garfield quote came out: “Okay, who glued Odie to the ceiling?”

We next read a couple of the Plants vs Zombies books that Cherie sent. The early reader book isn’t much more than an instruction manual for the iPhone game that the books are based on. But the hardback books are collections of actual Dark Horse comics and pretty good. We read about half of the first book of them.

He was then asking to grow things in the house, which confused me at first: “Can I grow apple trees in our house…find a way to grow apple trees in the house? And pears? And plums? We need something…I know, Hungry Little Carepillar.”  Ah, he wanted to play the iPad game. Played that for a little while, then used the piano keyboard on GarageBand and with the tabla app. He started playing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” on the piano.

I made us a mango-pineapple lassi. While August was playing around he asked “Can I make poop pictures for Vivian?” Although we didn’t actually get around to it. He drank lassi and discussed the Hebrew alphabet. He said he got a chunk in his lassi and said “I think it’s a bite of chair. Yep, cuz I really like chairs in my smoothie.”

We went upstairs. He watched Peg + Cat. Watched one story together then I took a shower. I went outside and moved the couch in the storage area and identified that the leaking water in the street is coming out of the cover over the sewage system. The neighbors asked me about it yesterday, and since the landlord will be back in the country in a few days I figured I’d investigate more.

Outside he was walking around humming Yankee Doodle and asked me to sing. He said “Dada, when you sing words words come out of my word dispenser.”

We went for a walk and sang songs: Theres a zero at the bottom (he remembered it goes up to 14), Yankee Doodle, Ants Go Marching, and When Johnny Comes Marching Home. We stopped first at the bank, where we got good and bad news: the good news was that the checkbook we’ve been waiting for was actually there. The bad news was that she assured me there was nothing wrong with our account and that the cards should work. But they haven’t worked since Thursday.

We then headed to the pizza place and got a slice of cheese and a slice of corn. The guy invited August in back and we got to see the slices going through the oven and the pizzas in the big coolers, ready to bake. August was really nice to the guys, even calling out to the younger guy, who was in the back this time.

We ate our pizza, then walked over to the park by the library. He asked “Can you make the three electric spoons? They can shock you, so be careful.” He was then the Blabberwocky (from Peg + Cat) and I was cube that he stole. He then wanted me to sing London Bridge so we sang that. Next he was a raccoon and the play structure was his nest and he was defending it. He then found sap and holes on the trees and was touching them with rocks.

He then said he wanted to get more steps in, so we hopped back on the bike. We stopped at the hardware store to get more Tupperware and clear silicone. Card didn’t work there, and it hadn’t worked at the pizza place. Bank was closed by now (it closed at 1) so we’ll go back tomorrow. Outside the hardware store is the new sidewalk they’ve put in, still covered with sand. So August was playing around in it, doing circles while shuffling his feet, and said he was a merry-go-round.

We walked home along the main street and where the road is wide he started steering us in loops and circles. He said “There’s a pencil on each foot and it says we like graffiti writing.” We got home, but were a little short of 9,000 steps, so August wanted to do more walking. We walked up towards the dead end, then came back. While we were walking he said “I’m gonna spit on the ground.” That reminded me of how he used to spit all the time while we were in Korea. Think he dropped that over the summer.

We got our 10,000, and were home at 2:45. We did more GarageBand and keyboard, then a bit of the caterpillar game. He kept having the iPad fall over though and I was trying to get things together to make banana bread. We made banana bread, and he threw out another quote: “Here’s your cabbage smoothie, Terry darling.” That’s from one of the Andy and Terry Treehouse books, but I’m not sure which one.

He licked the mixer and then the spatula. While it baked we read Berenstain Bears Go to School and more of James and the Giant Peach. Carly was home about 4:50. They nursed, then he was upset when he wanted more. We eventually set a 10 minute timer. He waited for that, reluctantly, and the timer for the banana bread. When the bread was done, and after he had nursed again, he had a slice of that. We then had spaghetti for dinner. He only ate about half his bowl and wanted more banana bread.

Carly took him upstairs for a bath and he had quite a meltdown. She kept him in the bedroom while he was upset and refusing a bath. He was quite cuddly though, cuddling in her lap, as he told her he didn’t love her and was going to kill her and he wanted to go to me. Eventually they decided he could go to sleep. I brushed his teeth and he said he was going to dream about rocket ships. I wasn’t too sure he’d fall asleep, but he did, at 6:50. He really was tired.

Photos: 

Mean raccoon: 

Staeing raccoon: 

I got up early to head to the DMV to get my ID number. Carly already got one with Ada to purchase the car, but I need one for my license. August was up at 6:40. I left at 7 and they were reading the Magic Treehouse #4 pirate book.

I found the place easily enough. Lost out a little on the ticket lottery as I didn’t realize there was a list of names being made. But not too bad. It opened at 8, then I had maybe a 30 or 40 minute wait. No problems with getting the actual paper I needed. The next step is to get the green form with my photo on it. Carly got hers at a mall SW of home last week. I was north. I realized that I remembered a discussion on Facebook about a place to do it in Netanya. I also remember Jack saying he had gotten his right next to the office. Anyway, long story short, the eye glasses place turned out to be closed and I couldn’t figure out when, or if, it would open.

I headed home, and got here at 9:50. While I had been gone they had nursed, read Sneetches, did laundry and organized winter clothes, cleaned, and played some GarageBand. When I came in he ‘hid’ from me. He was then being cuddly, and was a baby slug, crawling on me: “slime, slime, slime”. He then watched Sarah and Duck with headphones while Carly vacuumed. Carly made popcorn and they ate that. I went out and put the pump and water bottle accessories on my bike and put air in the tire of the trailer. And I moved the bookcase to its spot by the gate.

Back inside Carly got ready and headed to the store. August and I played with Solar Walk and Toca Plants. We then headed out on a Zinnie walk. We ended up walking all the way north, past the library and around a block north of there. He didn’t want to stop at any of the parks we came across. We sang a lot of songs though: We all sing with the same voice, What’s the name of that song?, When Johnny Comes Marching Home, Ants Go Marching, Yankee Doodle, and This is the Song that Never Ends. When we sang Ants Go Marching and got up to 11 he asked “Does it keep going?” He had kind of forgotten our version of the song that goes up to 20. He kept giggling and laughing through the rest of the song. He then wanted songs that kept going and going.

We got to our park and checked our steps: 9,970. So we jogged around the circle and got to 10,000. He then needed the bathroom so we headed home at 1:30 and found Carly was home. When he saw the bookcase had shelves in it and doors on it he said “What? I can’t stand in it anymore.” He liked standing in it, although I never managed to get a photo of that.

Carly started making pickles, then I got ready to head to the mall for my green form. August was introducing her to Lightbot Jr. as I left at 2. This trip was even smoother. Right in and got my photo taken. I looked at a couple of other stores and sent a lot of messages back and forth with August. I was back before 4.

He was playing Toca Blocks and Carly was making pickles and spaghetti. He and I sent messages back and forth and he was reading them. A lot of practice sounding out words. I had him tickle hug and kiss mama, which he would go do after reading the sentence. He was then speaking in millipede language. Earlier he had been speaking dung beetle language.

Carly finished the spaghetti and we ate outside. She then headed upstairs to work and August and I read James and the Giant Peach. We then did Hebrew in the translator and on his cards. We then put together the Hebrew alphabet on the  fridge. He wanted to take blurry photos so we did that on the couch and did “underground photos” of him under the pillows. We had heard a Skype call from Cherie, so eventually went quietly upstairs and he burst into the office and said “Hi Oma! Hi Opa!” He stayed with Carly and skyped while I went down and did dishes.

Carly went to take a shower and we read on the bed: a Biscuit book, the Amelia Bedelia library book (he really laughed at the police officer saying she was in trouble, and had me re-read that page several times), and a bunch of the Winnie-the-Pooh poems. He kept wanting more poems, and not a story. Eventually he did decide to read “Tigger Gets Unbounced” but we didn’t get far before he was ready for sleep. He was asleep just after 8. Think he said he’d dream about pirates.

Measuring me against the stick: 

With his pillow: 

We headed to Nazareth for the day. But first, I had to get up at 1am to discuss The New Jim Crow with my book group. Carly also ended up getting up, as she was still not feeling well from the pistachios. I eventually got back to sleep, then in the morning he went downstairs and fell back to sleep, and started waking up again after 7. I got up at 7:45. He was watching Peg + Cat, which I eventually made him watch on the floor as he was getting zucchini bread crumbs everywhere. They nursed on the couch, then he said “I don’t want to go for a drive, mama squirrel…Besides, we’re trapped.” I was the owl, and he had me trapping them on the bed. I made him oatmeal. He got creative: “Mama heard us cuz she has microscopic tube…helps her hear microscopic things…like you…Look, you’re so tiny I can’t even hear you.” He got his water and a drop sprayed him: “Thank you, water bottle! You showered my hair a little bit.” He had me be an owl again: “Mama, I’ve been wanting to show you this owl that traps two squirrels…”

We left at 9:50. Carly drove so I could read to August. He was a machine: “I have gears that steer me. I have all the directions: north, south, east, west, northwest, northeast, southwest, southeast.” And “Dada, some books are written by Jon…Judd Widnick.” We read some of James and the Giant Peach. He then counted to 200 on his own. Just because. Then we read some of Magic Treehouse #4. He also used my phone to take some photos as we drove.

We got to Nazareth and parked – 30 shekels for the day was nice. First thing we saw was a shop selling lots and lots of Santa hats. We walked up the hill to the northeast, then back to the west and found the market. August walked the entire way and was really into exploring and choosing which street to go down next. When Carly stopped to look at postcards I had to basically convince him to not leave her behind.

We ended up at the Church of the Annunciation. We looked around outside the church and heard the bells, then Carly and August headed up the outside stairs to the bathroom. I went in to the downstairs area and heard some service in Latin. And I looked at the impressive doors with scenes from the life of Jesus.

I went up the stairs and found them outside. Carly went into the church and I stayed outside with him for a minute as he said he wasn’t ready to be quiet inside. But then he asked “Dada, can you go in and take pictures for me?” I convinced him to give it a try himself. We went in and he went to Carly. She took him outside for a minute a couple times when he wanted to make noise, but he did a pretty good job of staying inside, speaking invisible language and looking around. We mainly admired all the big mosaics set in the walls.

Back outside, August wanted to go on the zigzag walkway with me, so we did that. August wanted to take a photo of a date palm. Then we admired the stone work pictures on the ground. Then some Korea flashbacks: a guy got his attention and waved at him, and a woman patted him on the said and said “annyang”. It was a group of Korean tourists.

We left and walked back to the west and looked at a graveyard, then found a restaurant called Kitabon for lunch. We ordered a lemonade, bread (which came with yogurt and pickles), cauliflower, and a lamb and potato platter. All very good, and August ate quite well. There were some college students at the next table over looking at August and Carly told him to say hi and he said shalom. They said they say ‘Marhaben’, so I reminded August of the Arabic we’ve been studying the last couple days and he said ‘Marhaben’ to them a lot, and ‘Shukran lake (thank you).

We walked to the west again and saw Mary’s Well, then to the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation, a competing site of the Annunciation, as there is an underground spring in it that feeds the nearby well. The church and entrance were crowded though so we didn’t go outside. August wanted to explore a bit, but was starting to reach his limit, so we headed out on a walk. Back west up another street. But he was getting worse, and told a girl “I’m going to hit you” or something to that effect. We found the site of the Cave of 40 Monks for future reference (it was closed anyway) and headed back to the car.

There, he really had a meltdown as we put him in the car and he wanted to nurse. We needed to go find a place to do that though and it involved me backing out of the tight parking lot, then driving out of the city. He actually calmed down and we considered keeping going, but decided to stop at a gas station area. They nursed in the car and went to the bathroom at the Cafe Cafe. They came back with some little bakery treats.

Carly drove the rest of the way home and he and I read more of the pirates book and played Toca Blocks and ate some snacks.

We were home around 4. They nursed and I put together by bookcase shelves outside and put the doors on. Quickly, though, as I was getting attacked by mosquitoes. August was being a handful, so Carly made him some oatmeal. He and I read Gustav, the Goldfish and Bartholomew and the Oobleck and he shared the leftover food from last night with me: ate a good amount of cauliflower and carrots and falafel.

Carly gave him a shower. I went upstairs after they were done and he said “Dada, I have two of everything: two arms, two legs, two eyes, two stomachs…” He and I played guitar and Carly took a shower. We then went to the bed and brushed his teeth. Carly came in and I said to him “You’re going to dream about…” He interjected “Hurricanes!” I left them before 7:40, but he came down at 7:50. We read Splat the Cat, Everyone Poops, Would You Feed It to the Monkey? and some Plumdog. He was ready for bed and was asleep after 8:30.

In the car: 

Exploring the market: 

In the Church of the Annunciation: 

Counting grapes: 

Reading at lunch: 

Looking at Mary’s Well: 

He announced himself a bit after 6:20, calling something down the stairs. Carly went and got him and they nursed. He then typed on my iPad. We had some zucchini bread, but he was getting crumbs all over the couch eating it there, so I put it on the table. But then he spilled the last little bit of coffee out of my mug while reaching for a book. Luckily very little damage. I assured him it was okay, but when it came to helping clean he kept saying “I can’t!” and “I won’t!” When he was first adament about not helping and told me to do all the work I carried him to the other rug. He hit me and knocked off my glasses. Eventually he hesitantly set paper towels on the spilled coffee on the table, but said he’d only use two fingers. He seemed bothered by the idea of touching the coffee itself. When we ran out of paper towels on the roll though he went and got anither roll from the cupboard, and when I decided to take the opportunity to do a full clean if the table he helped spray the cleaner. When he asked if he could do it I asked spray or wipe. He was a robot and said “My option is set to ‘spray’”.

We then read the full Max Axiom Forces and Motion book, some of it twice. I then vacuumed crumbs and paper towel bits and the rest of the rug. He watched Sarah and Duck using his headphones. His iPad gor stuck on the “Octogan Club” episode so we switched to my iPad. He played around with the vacuum and wanted me to switch the attachments. He looked down the hose and had an interesting story for what he saw inside. Exercised, then went upstairs to shower. He had switched to Peg + Cat.

Back downstairs we read most of the Smurfs #1 book. He ate the last of the tuna and I started making teriyaki salmon sandwiches for lunch. I wouldn’t have remembered the teriyaki part, but he reminded me. We paused to read some Garfield, then I finished making the sandwiches and we ate. He liked a Prophets of Rage song. He rolled around on th floor singing the Hebrew song. He then played with the Everything Machine app and the Creature Machine app while I put together the bike trailer. When I wouldn’t do something for him right away and he said something mean, I developed a strategy of freezing in order to slow down. Seemed to work as it cheered him up and sent a message; but have to use it sparingly so he doesn’t think it is a game.

Went outside to put the bike and trailer together. HE was walking on the stones and tripped and fell and I held him. Back inside he found the Very Hungry Catepillar app on my iPad. It is the new augmented reality app that we hadn’t used yet. We played with that and it is pretty cool. You actually see the catepillar crawling around on your floor and trees grow in your house and butterflies fly around.

He was then getting silly and said “I don’t like the light switch on the refrigerator that always puts mold in my salad.” I confirmed all that with him but have no idea where it came from. He was then asking about what year it is, and asked “How many years are there?” He was then talking about how old he is: “I’m really old. I was on the Earth when anything hadn’t been invented.” And claiming he was millions of years old.

We headed up to do recycling at 2. We had two Ikea bags full today so took a bit longer. We did that, then walked up the street to the dead end. Then he got funny: He started to ask if we were at the end of Israel, which is his usual joke, but then asked if we were at the edge of the world. I asked where he got the idea that the world had an edge, as the world is a sphere. He said “No it isn’t. The world’s flat. The ground is flat so the world is flat.” When I had him explain it again he eventually changed his mind and decided the world was now a cylinder. In the middle we were startled by a barking dog. He threatened to kill the dog, which isn’t really funny, but I can’t blame him when he yells back at them “Go! Go!”

We had to avoid dog poop on the way back, which he actually wanted us to drive over. When I refused I said I didn’t like dog poop. He asked “Why? But you like dogs!” I said well I prefer cats, and also cat poop as it is smaller and they bury it. So when we got home he was pretending to be a cat burying his poop.

We watered the plants and finished spray painting the shelves. He then said he wanted to read “Peppa’s first sleepover problem” (a portmanteau of sorts of the actual title and the title of a Peg + Cat story). As we started it I asked if he’d like a sleepover. He responded “I won’t ever go to a sleepover. Even when I’m a grown up.” He then pointed at the page and asked “Does that say Zoe Zebra?”

We went and picked up Carly at 3:30 then drove over to Argaman’s Beach. Carly had received a package from Cherie with three Plants Versus Zombies books in it, and they read some along the way. We parked and got out, but initially he didn’t want to go down to the beach. Carly gave him a couple of options, and he replied “Oh, I don’t want to do those options.” Of course, once we got down there he was running all around on the beach, using his rockets. We watched the sun set at 4:39. He was having fun smashing mountains of sand that Carly made, and following the motorbike tracks. He asked for a family hug, then wanted one, but had his hands full of sand. He was trying to be sneaky and get sand on Carly. We chased Carly, and he ‘raced’ her and said he won, but “That’s okay cuz you get 2000 love hearts.” He was getting sand on us, and called it “sandifying” us. So I threatened to “wavify” him.

We left around 5 and drove to Younes, the Arabic restaurant in south Even Yehuda. Carly picked out the food while I entertained August. We got 10 falafel, and Carly was sure she ordered fries. When I checked the bag though there was just a single fry. My best guess is that she asked for an order of fries, but he expected number of fries and thought she just meant one fry. May have thought she was crazy, or just wanted one to try.

We got home and I tried the hummus and told August he really needed to try it as it tasted different. He tried it and told Carly “Mama, this hummus is really good!” The food was all really good, but it turns out they use pistachios in the falafel and Carly ended up not feeling too well. Luckily, nothing like a cashew reaction.

We read some Garfield, then they nursed and she gave him a shower. We had received a letter from Cassie with pictures that Vivian drew of poop. That had reminded Carly of the poop tea game they played in the bath this summer. Carly and August played that during his shower and he got through it better. They read Wild About Books and some Winnie the Pooh. I came up and he and I played guitar and then switched to the sequencer in GarageBand. We made up a new sequencer game where we took turns adding a beat to the board until it was full. He was asleep at 8:15 after I told him to dream about electric guitars and sequencers.

Oh, and during the day we took a look at our mold experiment. We started it when we were making zucchini bread. Somehow mold came up in conversation, and I lamented having just thrown out two bites of banana bread that had started to go moldy. But later I found some grapes that were getting old. I cleaned out the jar that had the pizza sauce in it we didn’t like, put the grapes in it, and it is now our mold experiment jar.

Photos: 

Cheese: 

Bike and trailer:  

Beach: 

He was up at 6:05. After Carly left we started reading the 8th Garfield Treasury. We read all of it and then part of the book we own. He was then typing on Skype on my iPad. He wanted to send messages to me though so I got his iPad so he could send messages from his account. I was getting ready for us to make zucchini bread. He saw my phone and said he wanted to type on that. I said he didn’t need three devices. He got upset and ended up saying “I want 14 devices!” We made zucchini bread. He did most of the peeling and some of the grating. We were listening to Bjork and I said I had a dream that we went to Iceland. He said “I had the same dream…cuz I want to go to Iceland…Lets go to Iceland sometime.” We then listened to Ask the Storybots. He stood on his stool at the counter for a good 20 minutes dancing and singing along to the Storybots.

He then played Toca Blocks as I finished up. He kept saying “Oh no!” When you delete blocks it’s a little monster thing that chomps them and says “Ammyang”. So he would say “Thank you ammyang thing!” He wanted GarageBand, and I reminded him of Figure. He played with that, and when I showed him the Gamle Oct Havet sound, which was his favorite, he clearly remembered it as he started laughing and got really excited. We exercised and listened to some Arabic, learning ‘Hello’ and ‘Thank you’ etc. He asked what we would learn after Arabic. He decided all on his own: “Hebrew then Arabic then French then German.”

We went upstairs and he watched Peg + Cat and I took a shower. We came downstairs and took out the bread and had some, then I made tuna melt sandwiches for lunch and we ate and watched Peg + Cat together for awhile. After lunch we sat on the couch and read ten chapters of The 52-Story Treehouse. He saw the electric keyboard and wanted to play that, so we brought up GarageBand and played that. He’s back to picking out all the notes (the Cs, Ds, etc.) on the keyboard. Hope he’ll want to start playing songs again soon.

I got everything set up outside for more painting of the little library. He then came out and helped. He accidentally made a hole in the plastic: “I accidentally made a little hole in the plastic…but what if the ink goes through the whole to the green light and it get blue ink in Shmuel’s nice fake grass?” He kept walking around and talking about light bulbs and ink. The painting went okay, but was a little frustrating for him as he can’t do the spray can on his own and I was mostly keeping him back to avoid the spray and fumes. We got agonizingly close to finishing when the spray can ran out.

He went in and played Human Body and did the whole skeleton puzzle on his own. I snuck up and put some more sealant under the shower divider that Yve put in, as it has been leaking again. August has slowly gotten better about going to the bathroom on his own and letting me go to the other floor without having to follow me. He asked me to install Toca Blocks on his iPad. As he watched the circle fill up to show it was installing he asked “Why’s that have to be slow? I want it filled in right away!”

We got going. Carly was going to see the dress rehearsal of the play, so we weren’t going to go to school first today, and I was taking him to his activity class on my own. We first drove down to Ace Hardware. He played Toca Blocks for a minute but was then quiet. His eyes were closing as we got to the store. I carried him in and quickly grabbed the can and paid. He had his head on my shoulder the whole time and I thought he might be asleep. Luckily he was still awake. I took the north route back to Even Yehuda, which is a mistake around 4. As we were stuck in traffic he fell asleep at 4:12. Parked at the park just south of the studio ten minutes later and got him up with talk of zucchini bread and Tic Tacs.

Had planned on playing at the park a bit, but we were running late and he was waking up. So we went for a walk in the stroller. The first thing he said after waking up was to tell me that a cat that ran away from us was probably afraid of his bluthentorp machine, which somehow chooses a color, like purple, then squishes you if you like purple with a weight that weighs 1000000% heavy.

We went to class and he carried down a round thing. He was hesitant at first. Told me several times “I’m scared.” And “I really don’t want to sit.” He was in and out several times, especially early on, but he is hardly the only one in this class. At one point he came out, couldn’t really get to me, and turned around and said to himself as he walked back in “Well, okaaayyy. I will try it.” With about 15 minutes left he came out and said he was getting tired. But then she was putting down the squares with textured objects glued to them, like he used to really like in his 5-Touch classes, and that got him back in. They were also crawling through the expanding tunnel things, something that he found too scary back in 5-Touch. Afterwards he told me it was still a little scary.

He made it to the very end of class this time, and when he confirmed with me “That’s zero minutes (left)?” he was excited that he’d made it to the end of class.

We walked down to the park where we parked and played for about 10 minutes. Mostly on one of those Jeeps with two handles on it, so we pretended to put out fires. When I wasn’t on it, a slightly older boy came and climbed on next to August, grunted at August, sat there for a minute, then left. When August needed to go to the bathroom we got in the car and headed to the school.

At the school we used the bathroom in the performing arts center building. We heard the play happening, but when I asked if he wanted to see if we could peek in, he instead headed out the doors. He then took my hand and led me around the campus, zooming down the hill, then over to Carly’s classroom. It was locked, so we zoomed back, then up next to the main gates. We sat on a bench to read. He asked “Do we have Max Axiom?” We didn’t, but we had the Magic Treehouse ninja book. We read that until Carly came out. When she came out he wanted to keep reading. The cats were really friendly and August had fun petting one.

We then headed home and got here at 6:30. I gave him a shower and Carly put together dinner. We ate, then played on GarageBand. Carly took him to bed at 7:35. He said “I’m gonna dream about…” Me suggesting what he dreams about has become a game. I said “Ninjas” and he gave me a thumbs up.

He didn’t fall asleep though and he came down at 7:50. Carly took a shower and we read the rest of the ninja book. He was then asleep by 8:30.

Falling asleep at Ace: 

Walking the textures: 

Sitting with the class: 

Climbing at the playground: 

On the Jeep: 

He was up at 5:55. Down on the couch, after nursing, he found the sentence building app on his iPad and played with that for awhile. He then watched an episode of Wanda and the Alien and Carly headed to work. We read Edgar and acted it out a lot. I made an Edgar bed for him on the couch. We then read part of Stars, Stars, Stars and acted out someone staring at the sun. He became a seeing eye dog. He was also the light from the sun and I was the Earth and he ran across the room to me. “What other dwarf planets are there…We COULD use my Space app.” He was then Haumea and would revolve while I travelled to him in a rocket. He was then a space probe: “I took photos of the solar system for you.”

We went upstairs and played electric guitar and mandolin for a long time. He picked up the Jokey Smurf toy and was giving me exploding presents. He said it meant that he wanted to read Smurfs. So we went down and read all of Smurfs #5: Smurfs and the Egg. Exercised and he made words with Cookie Monster. He was having fun not sharing the cookies with Cookie Monster. We then read a little of the Dinosaur book and he played Metamorphabet before we turned to the Garfield 8th Treasury and finished that.

We went upstairs so I could take a shower. He was going to play Toca Builders. He was doing other stuff though and came in before I started my shower and said “Oh shoot, dada. Your iPad just turned off.”

We went downstairs for lunch. We had falafel and sweet potato fries. While I got that ready he took all the spices out of the cabinet and lined them up, saying he was getting what he needed for his recipe. He was a millipede, and said “That’s how many spices I need for my really hot spicy cake.” We ate lunch and discussed our plans today, which now included going to the Skoda dealership as the embassy paperwork has come through. Again. He said “Yeah! I get to go to the spinny chairs!” He then asked “Can I read a Dr. Seuss book? The one about the star problem?” So we read The Sneetches and Other Stories.

We then got going. We were going to Ace Hardware, as the showerhead had broken while Carly was taking a shower yesterday, a music store for guitar strings, and then to Tiv Taam for groceries. To Ace Hardware first, where August helped me remember what color of paint I needed for the shelves. He described the can and that it was spray paint, and a light blue, then helped verify I had the right color. We also found a pizza cutter and got our showerhead. He noticed he wasn’t in a stroller and asked why. I told him we would get the stroller when we were done with Ace.

We went out to the car and put the stuff in the trunk and got the stroller. He needed the bathroom, so we went looking for one and found one in the SE corner of the complex. Used the bathroom, then he went on the little merry-go-round nearby. It went up and down. He called it not the not-very-merry-go-round – a reference to The 39-Story Treehouse where they have one that goes too fast and throws everyone off.

We then walked a block north and found the music store. Got a set of strings and tried out the xylophones, etc. and looked at the keyboards and guitars and drum kits. Showed him a few things related to GarageBand – the hi-hat and guitar pedals. I pointed out the acoustic guitars and he instantly said “Let’s get an acoustic guitar. Can I have one?” We looked at the drum kits after that and I asked which he would rather have. I thought he’d say drums, but he stuck with acoustic guitar.

We walked back to the car and drove to Tiv Taam. A pretty quick trip there, in part because more than half of the store is closed for remodel. No frozen food at all, other things ripped out, no cereal aisle, etc. We found a new toothbrush for August. It is some sort of animal and pink. He wasn’t happy that I couldn’t find fluoride-free toothpaste though. August was getting tired of shopping, but just put his head down on the bar of the shopping cart in front of him.

We went to the car and headed to pick up Carly. Almost got hit by a car that was cutting through traffic. Took the next light, but it was one early, into Beit Yehoshua. Then got stuck behind a big truck hauling hay. Which then had to turn. So took a few minutes longer. August had wanted to send Carly messages as we were leaving, so he held my phone the whole way and sent her lots of messages.

Got to the school just in time as August was falling asleep. Carly got in and had him watch Peg + Cat on my phone – the first time he’s watched something on my phone, but it kept him from falling asleep before the dealership.

We parked at 4 and paid for parking until 5:10. Thought that should be plenty of time. We went and did the paperwork and played in the dealership. A lot of spinning in the chair, but he kept getting loud about how it was a “secret” from me or Carly so then we were going outside. He made pipes and did his sewer game there a bit. For the last stint outside with him he was jumping off of the top step holding my hands and he was a rocket going to different places. Sometimes he wouldn’t launch when we got to zero because he had a glitch. And for about 10 minutes we were all in the office and August wanted to do paperwork too. Carly got out a folder from her backpack and we borrowed a pen. August wrote all of his names, the date, the month, and probably a few other things.

At 5:05 he and I headed to the car to wait for Carly. When I explained why we were going, that our time ran out at 5:10 and that if you stay too long you might get a ticket and have to pay extra money,  he was very concerned that we make it on time. We did, and Carly showed up right behind us.

We were home before 6. I made the grilled cheese sandwiches. They nursed and played with the splat balls. We ate dinner, then Carly gave him his shower. I did dishes and they went outside and watered plants and he played on the slide. They were in at 6:50 and Carly went up to take a shower and he and I went up to play guitar – after he first hummed/sang Ode to Joy and named and played the notes on the toy piano. We then read Berenstain Bears Go to School and The Red Hen and he was asleep by 8.

He cuddled up with me for much of the night and I shared my blanket with him. He woke up at 6 and Carly got him back to sleep. But we heard him yell and think a bad dream woke him up at 6:30. He watched Peg + Cat and Carly headed to work. We then finished rereading The 39-Story Treehouse and also The 7th Garfield Treasury. Another line from Garfield he keeps repeating is “Oh sure, hog the floor.”

I then made a mango lassi and he played Toca Blocks. He then played with the GarageBand sequencer and we then went upstairs to the guitar where he was really liking the sustain effects. He went into his room and saw the piles of clothes on his bed. They were the clothes, mainly Thatcher’s old clothes, that were in the boxes from the U.S. He made a mess on his bed and told me to tell him to clean it up. Then he really wanted all the clothes put away so he helped me sort them and I put them in his closet. He got upset though when I got a couple sheets that were hanging and folded them. He kept grabbing them so I couldn’t fold them and wouldn’t stop.

We read the Edgar book and played “Nevermore” and then he did the coloring book on the iPad and I took a shower. He switched to Toca Builders and Robot Lab and we had fun calling the magnet the “magnet-a-floofer”. We were upstairs on the bed and he had to go to the bathroom. He said what he has been saying every time he goes to the bathroom: “I’m gonna go to the bathroom. When I’m done you will come.” I then gave him his shower. Slightly better today.

Went downstairs for lunch. He ate the rest of the zucchini and cheese, shared the last of the pizza with me, and then we had onion rings. We built a Duplo rocket, then did some Hebrew on paper. He got out his doctor stuff and gave me a shot. He then asked “Can I make a card for Josephine?” I cut a piece of paper and we started on a mosaic but he lost interest and ended up using his Hebrew notebook instead. We went and played with the splat balls and had fun making slo-mo videos of them hitting the ground. We read some more Garfield.

We left the house at 1:35. Had a Tic-Tac as we got in the car. As I put him in his seat he said “When you get older you get a little shorter.” Apparently he and Carly had discussed this. We drove up into town. He was tracing some Arabic. We parked around the block from the bank and got cash at the ATM. On the way back we stopped to look at some statues at a yard and he picked dead leaves out of a bush.

We then drove into Beit Yehoshua. We parked at what appeared to be a promising bike path. Got out the stroller and got walking, only to find it is the shortest bike path in the world. Like 50 meters. I sang a little “Pathy path” song and he kept wanting more, then was singing it on his own. We wandered a couple of other paths between buildings and sidewalks. I found a Minions sticker on the ground and he wanted to throw it back on the ground so someone else could find it. We walked past something and I said I thought it was a school. He said “Yep, see: school.” He had read it off of a sign. He then asked “Is the school microscopic?” The first word on the sign said ‘Microsoft’.

We wandered around a bit more. Translated a few words on signs for him. Then made our way up to the playground. Sat on the merry-go-round and ate half of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He needed to use the bathroom. We got in the stroller and walked around and found one. As we walked he told a story about how someone had put an 8 on his gate and it gets bigger when he grows and will soon be a 9.

Didn’t play at the park long and he was ready to head to the school. Along the way I found a car with a Pearl Jam bumper sticker. At the car I picked him up to put him in and he put his arms around me and I held him for awhile. He then reached out and was moving the car door back and forth. He said “We’re a machine. The sticky stuff is going on the conveyor belt. The sticky stuff is sap. It’s being turned into honey.”

We left at 3:15 and drove to the school. We went to the library and quickly found a bunch of books: The 8th Garfield Treasury, Magic Treehouse books 4 and 5, Du Is Tak? again, a graphic novel called Max Axiom, Super Scientist: Forces and Motion, and a book called Ada’s Violin. We started to read a little of Garfield and Max Axiom, then went and checked them out and then read on the stuffed animals. I started to say “We didn’t get…” and August finished my sentence with “a single bookmark.” Liz wasn’t at her desk, so we did without. We walked up to the drinking fountain with steps and got a drink, then met Carly on the walk back to the library.

We drove up to his class. On the way he seemed surprised that he could control the window and I hadn’t taken control away from him. I said I trusted him, and he said “What does trust even mean?”

He was fine with class and looking forward to it. But as we walked down the stairs he asked Carly if she could go in the room with him. He then talked about how they close the doors and he can’t see us, and he’s locked in the room and can’t come out. We tried to convince him that he could come out, but he wasn’t convinced. Not sure if it was my talk about trying to come out of class less, or perhaps the teacher had said something to him at the end of that class two weeks ago. I’ve also talked to him about coming out of the Thursday class less, and he’s been okay with that.

So we didn’t even make it into the waiting room and turned around and headed back to the car. I asked if we could try again next week. He said “Yeah…maybe.” with a good 3 second pause between them.

At home I made grilled cheese sandwiches and heated up soup. They skyped with Cherie and Chuck. He talked with them more than usual and sent a lot of messages. After they hung up and we had all eaten August and I were sending messages back and forth on Skype as we sat next to each other. He was doing really well with reading all the sentences I sent him. He’s definitely reading now. Of course he’s been doing bits of reading for a long time, and I’ve suspected he can read a lot more than he lets on or wants to show, but today he was demonstrating his reading a lot more.

We read part of the Magic Treehouse #5: Night of the Ninjas and the Forces and Motion book. He was then having me be a passage from Toca Blocks and he would travel through me by climbing over me. Brushed his teeth and was pretty straightforward getting him up to bed and asleep at 7:45.

Cleaning his bed: 

Photo he took of me: 

Hebrew magnet: 

World’s shortest bike path: 

Sandwich on the merry-go-round: 

Peael Jam sticker:  

Skyping with Cherie: 

Carly woke him up just before 6:30. He came downstairs at 6:45, in a very good mood and requesting Garfield. We read Garfield and Carly headed to work. We read all of the 7th Treasury and he had some Cheerios and Larabar. He was then reciting a lot of Garfield lines: “I miss those days…encore, encore.” We started reading Garfield again. I said the author’s name, Jim Davis, and he joked about it: “No, not that author: Jim Widnick” “There’s a sticker on every page of the book.” Judd Widnick is the author of the Hilo books.

We skyped with my parents. He kept asking them to send him emojis. “I’m ready for the kiss now.” He sang the Hebrew letters song for them. Got to 40 minutes on the Skype call. And he did the lip thing where you rub your finger up and down to make your voice sound funny quite a bit – he learned that from Garfield. And he got to eat a cookie to show them what we made.

He went to the bathroom right after we were done, then we went upstairs and got him clothes and added the toilet paper roll to the collection as he requested. Back downstairs we watched the garbage truck pick up our garbage. He then watched the Why is the Sky Blue? episode of Ask the StoryBots. We were then typing on the iPad and I showed him how to copy and paste and keep doubling. We got over a million characters, which was very exciting for him.

He watched Wanda and the Alien and I took a shower. We played Toca Blocks for awhile then I gave him his shower, which he hated. We went down and read all of Mummies in the Morning (the Magic Treehouse book) for a second time, then some more Garfield. He was hungry and ate some zucchini and cheese, then we went outside to water and pick up a bunch more of the tree things that had fallen. We did machine cleanup of the tree things. He was then playing with new sap on the left tree. It looked whiter and foamier than the other sap. He was touching it and I thought he was just going to get a little sticky. But then he came over with big gobs of it all over his hands. We washed most of it off with the hose, then went inside and washed them more. Didn’t bother him too much apparently as he went back and got his hands a bit more sticky again. It gave him the opportunity though to say “It’s no use. I can’t get it off.”

Back inside we read yet more Garfield. He really likes the one with “Oh no, morning found me.” He was then repeating: “I can’t cook. I’m out of tofu.” He claimed it was an Egyptian guard in The 65-Story Treehouse that said it, but I don’t remember the guards even talking about cooking, much less tofu.

After he went to the bathroom he ended up riding his balance naked. He was then talking about the “nikud”, the vowel system in Hebrew. “I’m tzadi sofit. I’m an end sound. I make ‘ts’.”

We got headed out the door at 1:45. Took awhile to change the seat in the car, etc. and get going. We drove to the very planned and artificial-feeling neighborhood north of Even Yehuda, east of Netanya Stadium. There’s a mall at the southwest corner I wanted to check out, but it turned out nothing is open in it yet. There are also several parks to the west, situated in the center squares of the planned blocks. We parked and hopped in the stroller and headed to the first park, Herzog Garden and got there at 2:20.

We paused and he ate some banana chips as a snack. But before we actually started playing he was saying mean things towards other kids, mainly “Go away!” We started to leave, but then he really wanted to play in the park. We walked around to the other side of the park, and I let him get out. He was being a machine that was broken: he explained he had both red things and green things – the red things were bad things to do, like hit people, and the green things were good things, like throw acorns (presumably not at people). He pretended that he was doing both things. We sat on a bench by the playground for more snack and talked about why he could joke about killing things like weeds, but not people. One of his choices/switches was now “Picking to death weeds”. He also used the “It’s no use.” line again. He did a lot of running around as a rocket, and said he started slow and it took him 2000 years to speed up. We ran around the playground together, on and off a little hill, and he asked me to fix his red/green switches. Did some more racing around and went down a slide once, then decided to get going.

Back in the stroller I gave him a small container of Cheerios. Not sure if he had a bad grip on it, or just thought the lid was still on, but he turned it over, dumping them all out. Most landed in his lap and the stroller so we were able to save most of them. We left at 3:10. We walked to the east and south, checking out four other parks, but he wasn’t interested in stopping. He was most interested in getting to 10,000 steps.

We got back to the car and headed to the school. Carly had told me that all three of our boxes from the U.S. had arrived. Her Hebrew class was over at 4:15 and we were going to pick up her and the boxes. He got quiet as we drove through north Even Yehuda and I told him not to fall asleep. As we drove by the studio where his classes are I looked back to see his eyes closing. He was asleep a maximum of 5 minutes by the time I got him out of the seat. He rolled over and tried going back to sleep on the back seat. I got him out of the other side and carried him in. He woke up more when we got to the library, although he immediately kicked off his shoes and said he was going to fall asleep in the stuffed animals: “I’m going to sleep in here.” But then he said “It’s my 3D video phone. I better answer it.” He used his shoe as a phone and I was Mr. Big Nose (from the Treehouse books). He was then a tortoise and I was Tortoise Mr. Big Nose.

We went to Carly’s classroom and she had cleared off a cart. I used it take the boxes out, then made a second trip with bike trailer parts. While I was doing that he was playing on the beanbag chairs and picking up beans that were leaking out and they printed some pages from the computer. Carly and I carried things on our last trip and he walked out to the car.

We got home and he played Toca Blocks while I started opening boxes and Carly made grilled cheese sandwiches. We now have a full set of knives and all our supplies for hanging up the rest of our art. And the framed Breathe and reading posters to hang up.

We ate, and he kept saying “I’ve been waiting to play guitar.” So I went up and got the cords and we plugged it into the iPad and started playing guitar. We moved upstairs to be nice to Carly. A lot of August pushing down frets and asking what that note was when I played it. And he liked changing the amps and pedals on GarageBand.

Eventually we went downstairs and they opened the four splat balls that my parents had put in the boxes. Those were a lot of fun. Carly put on a timer for 7 minutes until he used the bathroom. That worked. Back with the balls he was throwing them at the ground and said “Look at this, Girl.” Called her that several times. They also opened the decorate it yourself mug present from my parents. They actually had it in Chelan this summer but we were so busy we never used it.

August and I then played with all of our ‘new’ Legos while Carly took a shower. By ‘new’ I mean the Legos from when I was a kid. I was remembering which ones were mine and which were Paul’s. We mainly put together all the people, and I did something we probably didn’t do 30+ years ago: put the long hair on the police officers and fire fighters. We also put together the police and fire boats.

We cleaned up all the legos, then read most of the Frog and Toad stories we have. He wanted to read them, because the mail carrier Lego figure reminded him of the  Letter story. Also brushed his teeth.

They first attempted to go to sleep after 8. But he sat up and said “It’s no use.” He came down the stairs and told me “I woke up
at 8:22.” But Carly took him back up and they read The Sneetches and Wild About Books. But he was back down at 8:44. He was talking silly and said “I’m speaking millipede language.” He opened Plumdog on the iPad and read it in millipede language, then had me read a good chunk of it in English. We then read a new BabyLit book I got called Edgar Gets Ready for Bed. We read it twice and he was Edgar saying “Nevermore!” He was then August, also saying “Nevermore!” I would say things like “Take a shower!” and he’d say “Nevermore!” Finally, we read The Fall Festival. He was ready now, and he was up and asleep by 9:20.

Among the plants (and wiping sap in his hair): 

Naked biking: 

The grin: 

Asleep:  

On his 3D video phone: 

Wearing my hat: 

Reunited with more of our stuff:

Pouring out Legos: 

He came down just after 7. They nursed, then he sat next to me and I noted how he looks older with short hair. He spotted the “tortoise milk” out on the counter and ran over to see it. He He did some math in Excel and I went upstairs to take a shower. He watched a couple episodes of Peg + Cat and I left just before 9 to walk to the rental car company. I reversed my path that I walked last time when I returned the car. 3.7 miles in just less than an hour. Got attacked by a couple little dogs as I took the little road that led to the dirt road through the fields. One bit onto my shorts and hung there for a few seconds. I grabbed rocks and threw a couple and managed to get by them.

Got to the rental car dealership just before 10 and, unlike last time, they took my documents and started everything right away. Just had to wait a couple minutes, during which August started texting me messages from Carly’s phone. He can type ‘one’ and sent a bunch of random autosuggest messages. The car is a black Mitsubishi. Got home by 10:30.

They were putting new sheets on the bed and he showed me the “underground” – the inside of the duvet cover. I helped him play in that for awhile (he hibernated with Smokey and took Peter Rabbit on a tour, showing him the underground pipes). I went downstairs to get some water and food and we went back up to play for a bit. He also spent quite awhile sending text messages back and forth from my phone and Carly’s phone.

We then took the car out for our first drive in awhile. We headed to the mall in Kfer Sava. Carly needed to get her photo taken for her Israeli driver’s license. I need to do it too, but first need to also get an ID number, which I’ll do next Sunday. August did fine in the car. As we got close to the mall and he was looking out the window he said “That tree is unpredictable.” We got to the mall a little before 12.

You get your photo taken at an eye place, although we don’t need eye exams. While Carly waited August tried on glasses and sunglasses. He had said he wanted to help Carly, but there was no paperwork for him to help with. We then went out and played on the playground in the park area south of the mall. They first went on a little climbing thing, then August played briefly in a little mushroom house. Went on a round swing with Carly, then we played the big whack-a-mole type game using red and green lights a few times. August helped a little, but mainly liked watching us or another kid do it, and seeing the numbers on the scores increase.

We then found a bathroom, then walked across the rest of the park to a street with shops along it. Found a falafel place and got two sandwiches, some friends, and lemonades. Carly finally had a falafel sandwich here. Sat at a table on the sidewalk and ate. August really liked the falafel, so we’re making progress.

We walked back to our car and headed to the Drorim Mall to do grocery shopping at Tiv Taam. Carly went in to start shopping and August and I sstayed in the car. He got in the driver’s seat with me and played with the electric mirrors and sent Carly a lot of messages and monster stickers on her phone. He and I got out of the car and went and played in the outside play area for 5 or 10 minutes. Climbed in the train and asked me to join him. He went on one of the cars and got his shoe wet, so he took that off and played with one shoe on, jumping on the dots on the ground.

We then went to Tiv Taam and found Carly. I carried him part of the way there. He helped bag groceries, then we made him walk back to the car, no carrying, as we had too many bags.

We got home at 3:20. ُTo encourage him to walk to the car we had called the covered area a portal to another world and he ran through it. That also reminded him of Toca Blocks and exploring the “Other worlds”. So when we got home he wanted to play that. Did that, and then Carly skyped with Cherie. More of the “I love you impossible infinity” routine at the end.

He and I went upstairs to play more in the underground and read The 39-Story Treehouse. Then went downstairs and read part of Mummies in the Morning. I remembered I had a bookmark in one of my books and gave it to him so he could put a bookmark in the mummy book. We then watched Hebrew videos: the numbers video, the colors song, then a couple other color ones. He was then singing the colors song to himself.

He ate some of the tomato soup that Carly had made, then had me typing stuff that he could then copy and paste over and over again. He did some Excel math, then I was typing words for him to read. We headed up to bed and got his pajamas on, but it went downhill from there, with him making “I’ll kill you” jokes. He didn’t like our negative response to those jokes, then he refused to go to the bathroom. After a lot of screaming and “I won’t!” Carly put a diaper on him for the first time in about three months. I left them at 8:30 and he was soon asleep.

Wrapped in a blanket while he slept: 

Trying on glasses: 

Lunch: 

Waiting for us to finish eating: