Category: Uncategorized

Just after 6:40, right after Carly had left, I thought I heard shuffling feet upstairs. After a while he came downstairs, climbed on the couch and then got upset: “Mama was nursing me!” I think maybe he was having a dream. Sat there a couple minutes then poked me and demanded “Puffin Rock.” He watched the first snow episode and said the snowflakes looked more like snow bubbles and “When it snows I will catch snow bubbles to eat.”

He wanted dry Cheerios so he could eat on the couch. Ate some there, then wanted some with milk so he ate at the table. He wanted to draw with the stencils, but when we went over there we found some ants on the ground and got distracted by getting rid of those. We talked about what he wanted to learn, and he said he wanted to learn how knives and blackboards are made with cool shiny machines. So we watched a couple videos of knives and blackboards being made – common element being that they were both made out of steel.

We went out and watered the plant, and he mentioned something about leaves getting better. I pulled up the photo of when we first got the plant and we could indeed tell that leaves had gotten bigger. August said “Planty says dada should give planty a coin to help it grow.” Back inside we read a couple of Biscuit books and Berenstain Bears No Girls Allowed. We then went back out and checked the soy milk experiment. It suddenly looked interesting, as the top has dried out and gotten wrinkly and cracked.

We talked about going somewhere, and he said “Good. Cuz when we go there I will clean it up with my mechanical machine.” We then had some toast and jam. I was feeling achy and didn’t have an appetite, so didn’t eat much through the day. He played some Gro Forest, then went to the bathroom and said “I want you to wash off my germs in my bath tonight, dada.” Back out on the rug in front of the air conditioner, he noticed the small cracked part on my foot. He was concerned about it, and gave me some medical advice: “let it heal without a bandaid…Don’t touch it.”

He then watched Peg + Cat, sitting on the floor right by the couch, and let me nap for awhile. He tried convincing me to go to the school and pool, saying “You just watch me. You just watch me while I swim.” I pointed out it was the walking I didn’t want to do.

We drew with markers. He liked the idea of a mosaic, so I did a bunch of lines and we, mainly I, filled them in. He did draw a big machine made of green lines connecting and stretching across the paper, several of the lines being cords to plug it in to electricity in other places. I used a paper towel roll and tape to make a roller so we can roll up the other end of the paper, as he was a little upset when he tore a small hole in the paper with a marker where it went up on the rug. He played with that, hiding all the markers in the roller.

Made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for him for lunch. After lunch he took his shirt off by pulling it down, in the process it was pulling off his shorts and underwear, so he was dancing around, talking about his “escaping bottom”. He then had some funny naked time on the couch, which lasted until he almost leaked on it. He went to the bathroom. When he was done he was really trying to convince me to come back: “Trust me, dada, I’m done. For reals.”

Back on the couch we read parts of the electricity book, then rested on the couch. He wanted a blanket so I got my sheet thing from the bed. We then made a rocket on the couch out of all the pillows. He said “I wish I could stay here forever.” His rocket kept catching on fire, and he would get in his escape capsule (sitting on a pillow) and I’d carry it across the room, then put out the fire.

That lasted quite awhile, then we watched some Peppa Pig. Finally got going and left at 3. We took recycling up and dropped that off. A few times recently he’s used the sentence “I found something you might want to see.” He used it to point out something along the way.

At the playground he had me lift him through the high hoop a few times, then he went on the swing. But he wore his sunglasses so he wouldn’t get metal in his eye. Went over to the ship structure for a few minutes when he spotted a pipe he was curious about. And older boy came and was playing on the structure above us. August closed his eyes and covered them with his hands when he spotted him climbing down.

There was the noise of tree trimming down the street, which at first he said was too loud, but then he wanted to go find it. We walked down the street and watched them across it, up in a lift using a chainsaw. We speculated on why they were cutting off so many branches (too many for my taste). We went back to the park, as Carly would be walking home soon. Went on the swing again, but then decided he was ready to head home. He said “Bye park, bye swing, see you later.” He then got quite upset when I didn’t want to carry him right across to the stroller.

We went home and he was still a bit upset. Carly came home a few minutes later and they nursed and read some of the books she had checked out from the school library. Carly then headed over to the mall to do some grocery shopping, and August and I read Patch and Little Owl’s Night.

August had suddenly developed an appetite this evening: He ate three containers of dried Cheerios. He ate a banana while Carly was here, then a second one, of which I just had a bite. He was still hungry, so I made two eggs and cheese and cauliflower. I gave him half. He took a bite and said “This is really good.” He wanted still more, so I made him another egg’s worth. Had had two or three bites when Carly got home. While she was still gone he had been looking at the books on the couch and said “Thank you mama for all these books.”

Carly came home and he and I read the Patch book again. We also finished the Lost in Spice book. We watched a video of a crocodile eating a chicken. I had thought I’d be able to find something more kid-friendly about what alligators/crocodiles ate, but all the others looked potentially graphic, so we stopped at that.

He watched a little Peppa Pig, then did art with Carly. When Carly asked why he wouldn’t fill in shapes he said “I’m not very good.” They went outside for awhile and he showed her the soy milk experiment. He came back in for the tweezers, and was using them to tweeze apart one of the tree things.

They came back in and had a mango, then he went up and went to the bathroom and took a shower. Back down, he read books with me. Sarah and Duck and some Biscuit. And a Sleepy Dog, Wake Up! book, which is a level 1 reader. He wasn’t happy that it was so short. We also brushed his teeth. Carly had headed to bed, so after we were done reading we went up to her. He was asleep about 8:30.

Photos. Checking the soy milk experiment: 

Pointing to the pipe over on the ship structure: 

Hiding from the boy: 

Watching tree cutting: 

Brushing his teeth: 

Trying to drink the toothpaste: 

7:14. I found him at the top of the stairs, smiling. Walked halfway down, then asked me to carry him. Set him on the couch and he lay there for a few minutes, then sat up, silent for a few more. Seemed to be contemplating the sun coming in through the window across from us. That window had been stuck, with th blinds down, until I got it unstuck a day or two ago. I had my arm around him for several minutes while we sat there. I’m starting to appreciate the opaque windows. They do cut down on visibility outside when it is hot, which I don’t like, but the light is good. And when it cools off a bit we can open both sets and have big breezes and views out of them.

At 7:25 he lay back in the couch and whispered a “I want cereal…And milk…please.” I got him cereal and he sat at the table eating it. When he spilled some milk on the table he said “Mess!…I made some bad cells.” He was referring to our talk last night about how cells die and the body makes new ones.

When he was done he came on the couch and wanted to be covered with pillows. It was his burrow and he said it was raining out. A minute later he said the clouds were running out of rain. He said “My burrow’s farther underground.” Good use of ‘farther’.

We went outside and caught ants to put in the bug viewer. Then came back inside and he played the forest app and I took a shower, then did some Gro Recycling with him. He remembered all the mints he got at the pool yesterday and said “I had a mouthful.” He then said “I want to go on an adventure!” We almost got out on a walk, but then he spilled the Tic Tacs while acting crazy and wasn’t happy when I took them away. We did some art, using the stencil again, and he drew on his hands and feet. We discussed our goals and he thought up learning about how markers are made and what alligators eat. We went and watched a couple videos about how markers are made, as he wanted to do that right away.

I had our first glass of iced tea and let August drink some. He really liked it, particularly with crunchy sugar in it. We watched a couple of quite funny Peppa Pig stories, then got out on a walk at 11:40.

We headed over past the mall, looking for a cafe that Google Maps says is there, and a park area. It was another bust: the cafe must be in an assisted living complex we couldn’t go in. Saw some nice flowers though, and August liked all the blue street signs around a roundabout. We walked back to the mall and ate our lunch on a bench by the outdoor play area. August wasn’t thrilled about the bird poop on the bench. He went in and played on the airplane toy for a bit, sitting on it a bit, but mainly chasing flies that were bothering us and blowing on them to chase them away.

We went into the mall and went to the Kravitz store (where I’ve got notecards and tape). We found a ruler set (August chose green, for mama) and a couple of stencils: ovals and Hebrew. We also got a 9V battery for electricity experiments.

We then went to the grocery store and he helped shop, carrying the basket around most of the time even as it filled up. We got crackers, vanilla soy milk, and raisins and club soda (for science experiments) and a few other things. We headed home. I tried to feed him the crackers, but he ate a couple and decided he didn’t like them. He also rejected raisins again after trying one. He would also reject the vanilla soy milk when we tried it at home. Kind of struggling to find snacks for him, as all he wants is Tic Tacs now. Although he was excited to get mushrooms and cauliflower, so that’s something.

We were back at 1:50. Turned on the AC and watched a little Puffin Rock. We then drew with the stencils and rulers. He just wanted me to do it, and explained “I’m too little…No, I don’t want to make mistakes.”

We headed back out at 2:45. There are big piles of branches along the way where workers are trimming trees – feels like they are taking away our shade, although most of it isn’t. At the school we went and found Meghan. Before we did so I asked if he wanted to ask to keep the stencil longer, or whether he was ready to return it. He said he was ready, and I had him walk up to her and give it back. He then spotted her shelf with scissors, markers, etc. and there was a bucket of highlighters. The first video we had watched this morning was about highlighters, which he doesn’t really know. He wanted to see how they work, so I got out a napkin and he tried all the colors. Then, he found a big tub of colorful wooden shapes and we built a rocket out of them.

We then tried to go to the library, but got there just after 3:30 and found out that Amanda was closing it at 3:30. So no checking out books for us today. We ran into Carly there, who was trying to talk to Ada, and gave her her swimsuit. August and I went over and got in the pool, and Carly got there about 4:15. We had a lot of fun until close to 5. August started to do a little bit of dog paddling out in the middle of the pool. He and Carly got to play around too.

On the way home, when we hit the rocky pavement at a construction site, he said he was a machine that threw rocks in the street. I think he meant it as a helpful thing, getting them out of our way. Earlier, on our walk to the mall, he had first been a machine that eats poop and disgusting stuff so people don’t have to see it, then a machine that eats pollen so people don’t get sick.

Got home about 5:30. Carly made him eggs with the already cooked cauliflower in it and that worked pretty well. And she and I took turns taking showers. He watched a little more Puffin Rock, then played with the chairs, pushing them across the floor and saying “I’m up to something.” He then played with the cotton balls and asked “Can I put cotton balls on my bottom cuz my bottom’s a little itchy.”

Carly got him up to his shower and I helped him get it done. He and I went in on the bed, and he played with the remote. He turned it really cold and I said I’d sleep in a different room: “Okay. But not mama. Mama always likes cold things.” He then turned it really warm (30) and called Carly up. He was really giggly and hid his face from her until she saw the setting. Some silly time on the bed, then he was asleep about 7:20.

Don’t know if I’ve mentioned that he can no longer squat like he used to. He used to do it all the time when playing on the floor. A couple days ago he sort of had one knee down and he pointed out he was sitting differently. I asked if he could still squat and he tried it without much success. He then tried it on his own yesterday. He could do it, and said he could do it for a long time, but he was shaky, and not nearly as natural with it as it used to be. Must be something about bone and muscle development.

Waking up: 

Pillows: 

Our lovely light: 

Iced tea: 

Airplane: 

Swimming: 

Carly had new student orientation today so left around 7.

7:14. Sat on the stairs for a minute but recovered quickly. Then watched a couple episodes of Peg + Cat. Had toast with strawberry yogurt spread on it and a little mango juice for breakfast. We then went outside to check on our soy milk experiment (still looks like soy milk) and he said he wanted to go to the park and stay there until it turned to mold. We went back in and took our the cotton balls from the tea experiment and washed them off and got clean cotton balls to compare them to. We talked about why the white ones changed color more. Then, I showed him the science experiment books I’ve been collecting on the iPad and we looked at those. We then did the soap experiment, heating a small bar or soap in the microwave to make it expand. We decided to wait until Carly was home before we broke it apart and tried to wash with it. Back in the books we looked at experiments some more and started to compile a shopping list.

He then played Gro Forest while I went and took a shower. Came back and we played together. I stretched on the couch, and he sat on my back and claimed it was tickly: “Everytime I sit on you it’s tickly. Don’t be tickly.” He was still hungry and so had some of the “Cereal from Korea”, Cheerios, and soy milk. He said he wanted to see how bread was made, so we went to YouTube, but was distracted by a Peppa Pig video. We watched a couple then finished getting ready to go and left at 11:30.

We didn’t quite know what was happening with new student orientation and the pool, so I planned to go to the private pool that is also close to the school. On the way, August started singing number songs, including his number version of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik which he hasn’t sung for quite awhile. Peg + Cat has really had an affect.

We got to the pool only to find it closed. So we went to the school pool anyway, getting there a little after 12. There were a few kids and adults there, but not many. I still had the Tic Tacs in my pocket when I started to get in the pool. I saw a little water in them, so August and I finished the last 8 or so off. August had 3 or 4 in his mouth and took a few minutes enjoying them and the lifeguard commented on how he had his priorities: must enjoy candy first, then get in water. Once I n the water August was asking why things sink so we talked about why things sink different speeds and density of air. He also pretended we were on a rocket in the pool.

The students started to show up, and Grace talked to him about their cat. Apparently he liked to call their cat “Fire…orange fire” because it was orange. Carly came and got to swim with August for the first time. I slipped off to get some of the lunch provided. He interacted with a bunch of the girls while Carly had him. He then got a little upset because he wanted to play games with the other kids. And because the pool was so full we couldn’t move around much, there were a lot of waves, and he was getting splashed. He complained about them, but he didn’t want to get out. Carly went and talked to Cassie (who is also a twin, and has a 2 and a half year old) and August hopped on and jumped off my leg in the pool, singing a “Jumpy jump” song.

We got out of the pool just before 2 and went to the picnic table outside Carly’s classroom where he ate his sandwich and Carly and I took turns going to the bathroom to change. We started walking home, and I was going to turn and head into town to go shopping. Right before I left them, Holly came by. She gave the two of them a ride home. August had just been falling asleep in the stroller and wasn’t thrilled about getting out, then fell asleep in the car for a minute and didn’t want to get out of the car.

I walked up into town. Checked out the site along the way where Google claims a toy store is. There is not. Our neighborhood grows more and more empty and in need of a car with every trip. In town, I first went to the health foods store and bought the glass iced tea jar and a couple of jar glasses. Then next door to the kids’ store. The woman in there was really nice and talked to me about learning Hebrew. I picked out a Hebrew stamp pad kit for August and a couple of nice spoons. She was all out of forks. I was looking at little science kits, but they were a bit too much for August. She suggested a bug jar. That looked really cool, so I got that.

Then to the hardware store, where I got a spirally hose and a cheap bottle cleaner for the sink. They had just sold out of duct tape. Again, the younger guy was very nice and said I could come and just talk to him if I wanted to practice my Hebrew. Finally, a stop at the grocery store, where I got bread and milk, etc. and also corn schnitzels and I found a Brita pitcher.

I walked home and gave him the bug container first. He then came up to me and told me how mama had given him the pudding treat for lunch without having to do a deal. He was very excited about this. When asked, he remembered our deal (“one bite of fruit, one bite of treat”) and was probably giggling extra hard when he ate it, but Carly just thought he was excited about the pudding.

We then went outside and he got to play with the hose, and hosed out the inside of his playhouse. He put seeds and a screw and I put a bit of the tree things (you can really see the spirals of them in it) in and found a feather for him to look at. Not a lot of luck finding insects, but that can wait for another day. We also watered the plant. He wanted to watch me do it, then he did a little extra.

Inside, he watched me fill the iced tea pitcher, and he was curious as to how the Brita filter works (he’s used to the pool filter, which requires a big machine). He showed Carly our expanded soap, which she thought looked like a cracker, then he had fun breaking it apart and we decided it looked like laundry soap and he put it in water. Oh, and outside he could see some spots on our soy milk experiment. Might just be dust, but he was excited that it might be mold.

Had some dinner. He ate a little corn patty and cheese, but not a lot. Carly found a bunch of ants coming in the front door, so they had fun hurriedly spraying and killing ants and finding more.

Past 7 the long trip to bedtime began. He sat on the toilet for quite awhile, and when I ran out of explanations for something he said “I put more explains in.” We went down and read a couple Biscuit books, Sarah and Duck, and Oh Daddy! He and Carly tried for sleep close to 8, but no luck. He came back down and we read Elva’s Violin and parts of the books about electricity, including the safety guidelines, which he had a lot of questions about. He asked me if I could nurse, and I said no, only mamas could. He was a bit upset about this and said “But I want to nurse some kids!”

We went back upstairs at 8:40. He had ripped up a tissue before we went up and said it was for mama. We found her in the office and he excitedly presented it to her: “Ripped up tissue for you.” Tried for sleep at 8:50, but he started talking about molecules and microscopes and jumping on the bed. His brain just wasn’t going to sleep. Carly went to finish getting ready for tomorrow. Tonight was the most difficulty he’s had getting to sleep since we went camping. I sang him some songs…A ah apples, the Sesame Street songs he liked before we left Korea, then Carly came back in and they tried again. He rolled over to me.

He came out with me and watched me get ready in the bathroom. I narrated (now I’m putting toothpaste on my toothbrush…) and he kept saying “Okay”. We went back in and he was asleep at 9:45.

Oh, and when I was pouring Cheerios for him this morning he said they were flashing. We figured out they were falling in front of the light reflecting off the edge of the window and tried dropping more in front of it to make the flashing.

Waking up: 

Cotton ball dyeing results: 

Trying to crouch: 

Playing on the couch: 

He was up about 8. Nursed, then had some of his “Something something milk”. We skyped with my parents for close to an hour. For breakfast he wanted dry Cheerios (they have them at the store here) and sat there making his yummy noises. He then had yogurt and added Cheerios into his strawberry yogurt and ate it. I took a shower, then Carly went upstairs to rest and work. August got silly with his shirt and pulled it down around his waist like a skirt and ran and danced around. We ate some grapes, went outside for a short while, then drew more shapes on the paper and played with cotton balls. He went under the table and was doing more “Elevator rain machine” but bonked his head on the table and went to Carly at 11.

Back down, he had a paper towers roll and was dropping and blowing the cotton balls through it. He asked me to keep doing more shapes. He decided he didn’t want to return the stencil to Meghan. He started hitting the paper with the green marker and said “That’s sparks of electricity…It killed you.” He then turned to painting his feet and sang a”Painting my toes” song. The paper towel roll had gotten a little squished, then he tried tearing a loose piece of paper off of it and made it worse. He wanted to go find Carly, saying “I want mama to ruin the rest.”

He took it upstairs to Carly and they did ruin it together. They came down and we ate the leftover ravioli for lunch. Then August and I decided to go on a walk. Because he wanted Tic Tacs, that is. He went up to Carly and politely asked “Do you want to go on a walk with us mama?” But she stayed behind. As I buckled him in the stroller (he always reminds me if he isn’t buckled) he asked “You need to be buckled so you don’t sneak in anyone’s houses?” We left at 1:15.

The goal was to walk up Kibuts Galuyot Street, which dead ends to the north, but it looked on the map like there might be a walkway to the north. So we headed up that way but found it was a dead end. On the way we stopped and visited the cat we always see lounging on a ledge and August petted it this time. We went back to the synagogue a bit to the south and found that what looked like it might be a different path around to the north was actually a very rough and sandy alley, which the stroller wouldn’t work on. So we walked around the regular streets and up to where Google Maps says there is a cafe and then a nursery. It was an odd street, with big houses/apartment buildings and no trees, kind of set back from the street and towering overhead. August noticed birds sitting up on a windowsill and said they probably wanted to go in the building. Didn’t find the cafe, then August heard an odd noise that he said was a really long way away. It was a big metal fence that was making noise in the wind. We watched and listened that for a bit, then walked up to where the nursery is. It is indeed something, but doesn’t look like it is an open to the public sort of place. As I was looking down the dirt road to it, I spotted four or five small dogs about a half block away. I saw them start running towards us, so I started running, pushing August in the stroller. They actually got close, and I was ready to start kicking at one of them when they turned around. We walked around to the north side and realized that the road that would head back to the playground to the west was actually a dirt road and blocked by a construction dumpster. The dogs were now back to their original spot, which was now down to our right. One decided to run towards us. It turned around when I reached for a rock, and I threw one rock at it to further scare it off and it ran back. August was generally excited by the running and chasing, although he had yellled at one dog when it got close.

We found a path that led through the housing and came out to the playground on Ha-Hadarim Street where he had once eaten a peanut butter and jelly sandwich after we first went to the grocery store in town. We played there until 3. We went on a spinning thing that had 5 seats a couple times. He noticed the holes in the bottom of the seats and I explained it was so that water would drain out, as no one would sit in them if they were full of water. He said “If my bottom was itchy and my clothes was off and I was sitting in it I would want to.” He played in the dune buggy toy that also has a pretend battery in it. I rested on the slide and he went down it, like we used to do in Korea. We realized his shoes were remarkably clean and were trying to figure out how they got clean, as they had had  stuff stuck over their entire treads.

He also went on the big rope-based climbing structure. Did a lot of climbing himself, and I helped him a bit. And he rocked on the green seat thing suspended from it. Finally, he climbed up on the play structure and played with the binoculars. We sat on the bench we used before and ate some watermelon, then left at 3 and were home at 3:15, drenched in sweat.

He went up with Carly for awhile, then had some crazy time on the bed, and made funny noises with his lips. They went outside a bit, then when he came back in I showed him Peg + Cat. It is a cartoon about a girl and a cat and is math-based, with each story involving a math concept or two or three. He loved it. We had also tried something called Wanda and the Alien the other day, but I didn’t like it and thankfully he didn’t as well. As we watched we ate some coated peanuts together, then a cracker. Carly came down and they nursed on the couch. He wanted an apple, but the apple Carly cut was frozen. She cut up a mango, but he said he didn’t like it. Carly whispered to me “It’s not the best mango.” and he heard it from across the room and repeated it. He also told me “I don’t love mango as much as you, dada.”

He helped me refill the ice trays, then I started moving the furniture upstairs, after Carly had done a little earlier. We were switching things to where we finally want them, with our beds in the room closest to the bathroom and the sofa and the desk in the corner room. August hasn’t wanted to play TodoMath the last few times I’ve suggested it, but after Peg + Cat he was suddenly back into math and played TodoMath. Carly came up to help me for awhile, and he was calling up. Carly went down to check on him once, and he got really sad – the iPad had turned off because he hadn’t been using it, wanting to show Carly that something was green. They also watched some Puffin Rock and ate some dinner and were were outside, raking, when I finished. They came in to look. Going up and down the stairs there is lots of talk of walking or being carried up the stairs. He was telling me that mama doesn’t always hold on when walking up, and he later observed that she doesn’t hold on on the lower part, but does on the upper level.

And after I explained to him about why he had to get a new water bottle because of the mold in one of the straws, he wanted to see the mold in the old straw, so I had shown him when we got home from our walk. Later, talking to Carly, he said “Can I use this straw cuz dada says I can’t use the straw in the little water bottle cuz it has mold in it.”

He was less interested in the mo bed furniture than he was in hearing the Tic Tacs still in my pocket. He acted silly about those as I pulled them out and hid them back in my pocket. He and I read the Sarah and Duck book, possibly twice, and George Catches a cold. I made a veggie burger sandwich for myself for dinner but he said he was full. He was talking more about seeing mold, so we decided on another experiment, placing some of the new soy milk drink (which he doesn’t like) in a yogurt container and putting it out on a ledge to see what happens. Earlier, he had tried to dye cotton balls using two tea bags in a cup. We will check that in the morning.

He then spent a long time on the toilet, then we went up with Carly. She was sleepy and it was past 8 so we decided to skip a bath. He had a lot of energy though. I found a little sticker on a pillow and h
e was confused by it. He said “It’s supposed to have the company on it. It’s supposed to have the brand.”

“I’m a scary dragon.”

She tried to put him to sleep, but it didn’t work. So he came down with me. We read Sarah and Duck again, then Peppa Pig Windy Fall Day, Tiny Rabbit’s Big Wish, and a few Biscuit books: Goes to School, Visits the Doctor (which we bought at his request), and First Beach Day. At some point he talked about how we ‘only’ have two toilets and that “When Vivian comes I will go toilet shopping.” And he said he would buy one for Colin that was the same size and color as the one that Colin has.

He also talked about how when he goes to sleep I always go back downstairs and was asking why. So I said that I would go to sleep with him tonight. We went upstairs and got ready in the bathroom, then went to bed just after 10. He was asleep just after 10:10, and slept right up against me much of the night.

Paper towel roll:

Neighbor cat:

Playground: 

Filling ice cube trays: 

Carly woke up feeling sick so called Mandy and she came and gave her a ride to work.

He slept until 7:40. I heard the door and went up to find him coming out of the bathroom, looking for Carly. He said something like “Mama said she would nurse me.” He got upset but my suggestion of special milk calmed him right down. We went down and got some special milk for him and an iced coffee for me and he played the new Gro Forest app. At one point he took a break and said “I have a new game but you need to buy it. It’s sixteen dollars…” He ate some banana yogurt for breakfast and also played the recycling app and we quickly (for us) got ready to go and left just after 9.

We were meeting Ofer, husband of one of the teachers, and his son Liam, 4, at the school. Also, the pool was only open until 10am before closing until 3, so we wanted to get there for some swim time.  We tried the new Tic Tacs that we had gotten at the store yesterday as we left the house. He was shocked to find that the orange ones aren’t actually orange, as that is just the color of the container.

I hurried and made it to the entrance of the school in exactly 15 minutes. We walked up to the pool right at 9:20. We had a good time in the pool and he did a little more swimming along the edge. I had fun talking to Ofer, who is Israeli, and August was intrigued by Liam and his snorkeling set, although he didn’t want to borrow their other set quite yet. Liam speaks English but his Hebrew is stronger, and he wouldn’t speak any English to August during our entire visit.

At 10 we got out and sat in some chairs and had a snack, then all went over to the ‘Soup’ playground. August and I decided the other playground would be called the ‘rocket’ playground. There, they started to play together more as August was putting pieces of wood in the shopping cart and taking them over to where Liam was. They also spent a lot of time playing in and on top of the car toy that has four steering wheels in it. August said they shot balls. They also climbed on top, and were fixing the car and its engine using items as tools. Liam started talking to us more, but only in Hebrew and Ofer would translate. August was starting to act a bit like he did with Vivian, wanting the same toy as Liam. Meanwhile, Liam didn’t want to share the front seat, or let August play with toys he had set down and August asked to use. Ofer said none of it was new to him as they have an almost-two year old as well.

They left a little past 11 to pick up their daughter at daycare. August and I played a little more, then he was ready to head home. We saw Ada on the way out. I had the towel over the stroller and pulled it forwards on the side so he would have more shade. He grabbed it and pulled it tighter around him so he was enclosed. After a couple of minutes I realized he was silent and when I checked he was falling asleep. I sang some songs on the way home and thought he would fall asleep but he didn’t. Had a good rest though.

He lay under the AC then played the forest app and I took a shower, then a coffee and milk for us. We did a little GarageBand and we filled a new spray bottle with vinegar and water and we sprayed the doorsteps to help keep the ants away. He played with the case for my sunglass things and said “Come on, give it a try…greedy thing.” And we watered the plant, giving it a little more as it was looking a little wilted.

Finally, at 2:45, he and I headed out, trying the rest of the 3 Tic Tac flavors we had along the way. We went over to the mall and looked around a bit at the market outside. He wanted to get closer to the speakers playing music so we did that for a bit. Not a lot of luck shopping for stuff at first. Got tape at one store and paid with 11 shekels for something that was 10.90. But he was out of coins so had to use the credit card. While I shopped in that store he chose to just sit in the stroller near the entrance, and had fun waving to me when he saw me down the aisles. We then went to the grocery store and August helped shop, carrying and pushing and hopping along the basket much of the time. At one point I started to pick up the basket and move it myself and he protested, then said “Punky dada”. August joked about picking up the big M and Ms on the statue again and when I paid I this time had to wait a long time to get all my change as she was out of coins. We have our bank cards now so once we deposit some money we can start paying with that.

He was falling asleep again on the way home again, but woke up when we followed the path the water would take in the pipes/channel from the highway towards us. He had asked where the water went on the way over. We realized it would go…into a parking lot and street, with no drains.

At home he spent a little time with Carly, then I took him downstairs while she rested. We used the shapes stencil from Meghan and drew on the paper, then he also drew on his hands. And some ended up on his face. He got out the cotton balls and poured them all out and started throwing them around, calling “Confetti! Confetti! Confetti!” I was throwing them to/at him under the table and he was putting them through the legs of table, calling “Elevator machine!” Eventually, all of the cotton balls ended up all the way over in the kitchen, where we were throwing them up and having them fall down on us. He lay on the floor and I made it rain on him.

For dinner I started by cooking the ravioli in the freezer, and Carly came down for a few minutes. He ate some of that, after I cut all of his ravioli in half, then we read Sarah and Duck Stay at the Duck Hotel a couple times. I had also cut up the cauliflower and was baking it and he had some of that when it was done. He liked it but said it was too peppery, so I had to scrape the black specks from it and he ate more after that. We read the Sarah and Duck book again. He was being silly on the couch, so when he said “My head feels right…I have a headache.” I wasn’t sure if he meant it. He also said “Could you please drink out of me? There’s something attached to my foot and it’s a straw. The machine makes juice water for you.” And “You’re the tank and the hose is attached to me. Tank, can you give spit back to me?”

At 7:45 we went upstairs. Carly was talking to Cherie. August took a shower and was asleep by 8:15.

Photos: 

More shade: 

Dropping cotton balls on him: 

Marker on his face: 

He woke up at 7:20: “Mama!” I ran up and he was still in the room. I picked him up and he flailed a bit and pointed towards the other bedroom and said “Mama’s out there!” We walked downstairs and he rested on my shoulder for a few minutes. We then rested on the rug and read Winter Days in the Big Woods a couple times. He then wanted to watch Puffin Rock on the couch and chose the “Puffin Practice” episode – which he seemed to read. It is also his favorite episode recently.

Had a breakfast of yogurt toast and two cups of milk. The first with his “something something” in it. He said “The more sugar I get the tastier my skin is.” And talked about that for awhile.

He played some Gro Garden, then I remembered that there is a Gro Recycling app so we downloaded that. Got going with that (he really likes that each kind of recycling has a different bin, and then also a different machine with switches and stuff) then I took a shower. I came down and asked him what he was recycling and he told me that “That one does all the people stuff.” It was kind of like the medical waste: toothbrushes, q-tips, etc.

We talked about what we wanted to do today, and then he wanted to draw on his feet again. I let him this time. He said “The more fruits you eat, the more colorful it is.” And “I hope mama will like it.” We had waited too long to skype with my parents and they were offline, so we left them a message, with him showing off his feet. He had gotten a little on the bottom of his feet so I wouldn’t let him walk on the rugs, which he did an okay job about.

We were waiting for the laundry to finish, so we went and watered the plant, and I let him have a couple of the small mints. He complained that they didn’t make his mouth minty enough. When the laundry was done it was still really wet and drippy. He watched me hang laundry, then walked in the puddles. He found the remains of a cotton ball that had gone through the wash and was concerned we had no more cotton balls.

Before we left he knocked all the shoes down from the shelves by the door and then put them away. Twice. I stopped him before it happened again. As we walked he said (on his own) that he doesn’t want to have a dog. He then said “and not a cat or a kitten.” When I reminded him that cats bury their poop he changed his mind and told me he wants a cat AND a kitten. As we got close to the top of the hill before the school he started singing “Almost to the top of the hill” – I had sung that a couple days ago and he remembered it. Then, as we got to the last roundabout he said “I have a better nose…I can smell sun sometimes.” Indeed, a couple days ago he had said “I smell the sun”.

We got to the school about 12:30. The security guard checked a schedule and told me the pool doesn’t open until 3. I assumed I had just read it wrong, so stood around for a couple minutes trying to decide what to do. I looked at the calendar again on my phone and it said 1. I went back and asked and he called someone and said I was correct.

On our way in we first saw Jill and Grace coming out. They asked August if he had eaten the mango. A couple minutes later we then saw Gaby and she asked the same thing. He and I sat on a bench under the covered walkway and ate our lunch. He had a good appetite today and ate most of his sandwich and a bunch of grapes and watermelon.

Looking up the path towards the pool he said it looked like it dropped off at the end and he wanted to jump off it. I told him it was probably an optical illusion and that was just the top of the hill. He liked being reminded about optical illusions and did the bigger/smaller thing when someone walked towards and away from us. He spotted what he thought was a piece of shell and said it was a seagull shell. Then: “I think a Puffin lives there…a tiny puffin.” When we were done we walked up the path and saw the soccer fields and went in to see the gym. It was then 1 so we went and got into the pool.

We had fun in the pool for about 50 minutes. Just us at first, then a group of kids came. There was a boy smaller than him with arm bands, but August didn’t express any interest in him except for comparing the arm bands to his floaties. He preferred watching the older kids as they played tag and another game. Stood watching them play for a couple of minutes before going to the bathroom.

After the bathroom we walked over to the playgrounds. Meghan saw us and invited us in to see her room. She had a shape stencil that she suggested August borrow, so we did. Before we left he wanted to feel how soft a rug was in her reading area. So he took his shoes off and walked on it. It had books on it with the names of different genres and I was reading them off: nonfiction, historical, science fiction… When I got to science fiction he said he wanted to read that. He wanted to read about people in rockets. He was upset we couldn’t do it right at the moment, but I suggested we could pretend to be in space at the playground.

We then stopped to fill up our water bottles, then as we completed our walk to the playgrounds he spotted the pictures down at the end of the lower hall so we went to see the kindergarten, 1st grade, etc. area and talked about how that might be where he goes to school in the coming years. Finally, he said he had a seagull machine: “I’m holding it and spraying seagulls everywhere.” And a “Super soup machine.”

At the playground he climbed up the big ladder and talked about how safe it was, then, after picking at some bird poop with a leaf, we sat in the big tube and pretended it was a spaceship and traveled to different planets. We then went to the preschool playground and I made soup for the astronaut. But he told me “Astronauts don’t like soup…astronauts don’t like bark.” So I made a pizza instead and they like that.

A little after 3 we headed back to the pool. This time he surprised me when I glance over once to see him kicking and swimming along side the wall, not holding on. He did it a few more times before we had to leave. We went and changed into our shorts, then went to Carly’s classroom. A little nursing and playing in the beanbag nest then we left at 4:45.

We walked up to town, checking out one park along the way. The library was open so we went in and looked. A nice kids area that he wanted to play in, but no English section. Then across to the second hardware store we had been to, which had nice bamboo bowls and cups for August. Also got a few other things, like gardening tools, a new drain for the kitchen sink, a flyswatter, and a big bowl. August and I went to look at the kids store, but it closed at 4. Carly had gone to the bank to pick up our cards. We met her there and I got my bank card as well. Finally, we went to the grocery store. After we had done most of the shopping August got out to walk around. Carly left the basket, which is a big plastic one with wheels and a handle that you can pull, and August started pulling it around and shopping. He would want to put something in and I’d explain we didn’t need it and he’d say “Oh. I don’t need that.” He saw Carly and told her “I’m gonna get a headache drink for you.” While we were checking out and bagging groceries he dropped the towel and something and was afraid he had dropped his water bottle. I went over and he was telling a story about it: “I dropped the water bottle and it rolled and went out in a car and it drove away.”

At the grocery store Carly had found a Spider-Man and a Hello Kitty water bottle. He chose the Hello Kitty. He thought it lit up somehow, as he thought he had seen the Spider-Man one do so. I told him it was probably just a reflection from the lights.

We were home by 6:30. The walk was kind of slow as we let August have a vanilla yogurt, stopping every few seconds so Carly could give him a bit. Carly made him an egg and cheese and he ate a bit. He played the recycling app a little, then we talked about how he had said he want
ed to learn more about trees and roots. We downloaded the Gro Forest app, then watched the Peppa Pig gardening video and a time-lapse video of roots growing in water. Didn’t play the app, as it was then time to go up for a shower. He did that, then sat on the toilet while Carly took a shower. I heard him say “I pooped in space.”

In the bedroom he stubbed his toe with the door, then went to sleep about 8:15.

Photos: 

Lunch at the school: 

In the rocket: 

Soup: 

Pointing: 

He got up at 7:20. Obviously still tired. Slid down the stairs one at a time on his bottom. At one point he said “Mama said something.” Got him to sit on the couch next to me and he played GroGarden and cheered up: “No you dont, bugs.” There was a big claw recycling truck outside and August said “I want to take a picture for Colin!” We got a photo and a video and then August waved as they left and they honked for him.

We had toast for breakfast. One with jam, one with cheese, and he suggested yogurt on toast, so we did that as well and he really liked it. Eventually, we were making our plans. He was in general not being good about answering questions this morning, so wasn’t as into it today. At one point he wanted to color his feet with markers. I said no and he said “But I’m not pretty. I want to be pretty.” He said he wanted to get nail polish – green for mama and purple for him. He eventually came up with “I want to go outside and visit someone.” And “Go to the high school and look around.” And he also said swimming, but I said we were going to wait a day due to our sunburns. So I said we could see if the public library has books in English.

He then came up with the idea of seeing robots break down, so we searched YouTube and watched a few videos of robot fails and talked about how balance is hard to program and how it is difficult to program robots.

Those videos led to a 100 year old mechanical violin machine which he really liked, and that led back to the Marble Machine, which he watched a few times.

A little after noon we got going. We stopped and ate our lunch at a spot a block or so northwest of us. It is a closed community center or something with benches and trees outside. There was a big ants nest coming out of the bricks close to us and August fed them a crumb from his sandwich. So we ended up learning about insects today as we discussed what their home was like. Later we’d talk about dung beetles and then flies.

He spent quite awhile looking at the ants, then we kept going and stopped in the sand/dirt (there’s no grass) park a few blocks north. He saw something interesting and wanted to stop. It was one of those barrels that you can walk on. Played on that a little. Then he wanted to play in the sand with bare feet, but he saw poop so he wanted me to carry him everything. He said he spotted a beetle and got really excited. I didn’t see it, but he thought it went in the sand and thought it was a dung beetle. So we looked up dung beetles and found that there is indeed a kind that lives in Israel (Scarabaeus sacer). He got a stick and dug for it a bit, but no beetle. He said he was digging a home for beetles. When he was done he turned to me and pointed and seriously said “There dada. Now leave it alone.” A few seconds later. “Okay dada, I’ll stop hitting you.”

I had said he could have a mint on the way and he wanted it now, so we sat on the bench and got one. After sucking on it for awhile he apparently got part of it stuck in his throat. He asked for water, but when that didn’t get rid of it he got upset and I had to hold him for a few minutes. He wasn’t having trouble breathing, but it was clearly uncomfortable and a little traumatic for him. When he was feeling better he was able to joke “Now it’s down to my leg.”

We headed on up to the library at 1:30. We needed more water so were looking for a drinking fountain. Went through the little park by the bank and found out the stroller doesn’t do well in sand. I had to sort of walk it on its wheels to get through. Turns out the library was closed. At first I thought completely, but later found out it is open in the morning and then 4 to 8pm. No water in the park either. We played a little on the merry-go-round and then on the little kid swings. He brought up visiting someone at home again, but he said no to going to see Jack and Nellie. He liked the idea of going to the school and seeing Holly or airport Meghan, but then decided he didn’t want to make the walk there.

We headed home about 2:15. We stopped at the little grocery store in town, which we haven’t been to. I got an iced tea and he got a strawberry and melon yogurt drink. We took a path and street south from there and found a street with some quirky houses. We stopped at yet another park, Motek Garden, and drank his yogurt drink. There, he saw both pine cone things that at first he thought were dog poop, then actually dog poop. There were flies on the dog poop so we talked about how they eat it and it turns back into dirt, etc. He watched them for a little then we headed home.

Got home just before Carly and Ada showed up for our meeting with the landlord. August turned on the air conditioner and then lay on his back on the floor right under it, arms spread and sunglasses still on.

Carly took him upstairs for a few minutes, then let him sit in his room and watch Puffin Rock. We heard him talk a few times from up there, but only had to go check on him a couple times. The meeting went pretty well, with the landlord, Shmool, agreeing to fix the windows so they all open and do most of the other minor things. He also said he’d bring us papaya plants for us to plant. We do have to keep the black couch that we don’t want as he says it is a nice couch and he doesn’t have anyplace to put it. We’ll put it up on the covered balcony. And Ada was very happy to see the plant from her party planted in a pot out on our table.

After they left August was being crazy on the new beds in the corner bedroom. We have shifted as I used the pullout bed from the kid bed and raised it with blocks of wood and books to simply extend the queen bed. We can now get rid of the blue bed and use the sofa couch as a couch. Eventually we’ll switch which rooms they are in so our sitting room and desk have more windows.

Come dinner August didn’t really eat anything again. He hadn’t eaten but a small peanut butter and jelly sandwich and his yogurt drink since breakfast. He saw Carly doing something in the kitchen and asked her “Do you have gloves? Because I don’t want you getting messy.”

Carly took the vinegar out and sugar to see if it would repel ants. She put it right on the sugar and it didn’t seem to have the desired affect, as ants still swarmed the area. Eventually though it seemed like it did work as advertised. We’ll start spraying outside the doors and along the kitchen windows.

We went for a walk and headed south and found the Agricultural Trail, which is the old closed highway that Jack had told me about. Walked that a bit, then a few different streets on the way back. Saw some cats. August ate some more PB and J and a couple of Carly’s mints. When we got home he ate some watermelon.

On the toilet he told me “I think the poop comes from mints. Cuz that’s what it smells like.” He took a shower bath, then played on the bed. I said our bed setup was now as good as in Korea. He said “I’m not loving it as much as the one in Korea; there’s not as much pillows.” He then got a little upset and said “I want to go pillow shopping.” I reminded him there were other pillows in the house and he went and got almost all of them – from the couch next door and from the couch downstairs. He made a nice nest for himself (he also did the nest thing in beanbag chairs at the Kerns’ house on Monday). He was asleep by 8:20.

He was up at 8:35. Held him for a couple minutes, then he just lay on the floor for several minutes before getting up to go to the bathroom. I noticed there was a strawberry yogurt missing and found out that Carly had let him have it last night. I told him that was nice of her. That led to “No, you’re not really as nice as mama because you don’t give me yogurt when it’s not breakfast.” He then told me “I don’t like your pants; I don’t like anything that belongs to you.” and “I want toast though. I hope I can do toast on the couch.”

We’ve gotten into a routine now where I make breakfast and he can watch a few stories in Puffin Rock or Sarah and Duck. Today he had the rest of the mango they had brought back from the Kerns’ tree, and we shared some toast with cheese and some toast with jam. I cleaned up and then he could switch to an app. I showed him GroGarden, where you plant seeds and make them grow, feed the veggies to animals, compost the leftovers, then put your compost on the garden. We played it together for awhile, then I went and took a shower and got us ready to go. We did our goals for the day, and he said he wanted to learn more about swimming. We put down going to the new playground we found yesterday, and then he said he wanted to learn more about gardening. He said he wanted to learn more things, and when I asked what he thought and said “going underwater in mama’s pool.”

We finally got going around 11:30 and got in the pool a little before noon, wearing his pink floaties. There were seven other kids there, from a baby up to big kids. August didn’t really play with them, but he liked the excitement of them. They were there with two grandmothers who I talked to a bit. August got right in the pool, walking down the steps most of the way. He then took right to the floaties. After just a couple minutes I had him holding onto the edge on his own and letting go a bit. Carly came and watched him for a bit, and for a little while he swam a few feet away from the wall on his own. He spotted bubbles on my chest and said “I see oxygen bubbles on you.” And when he saw the other kids with their noodle toys and other floats (he liked a tube with balls in it) he said “I want to go floaty shopping.” We stayed in the pool until about 1:30, then finally got out and went and sat in the shade.

There were quite a few birds around and we watched those, at one point he was telling one to “Stop squeaking!” He also found a little bump in the grass and thought it might be an anthill. Took quite awhile for lunch and then, after a lot of indecision on whether he wanted to go to the playground or back in the water, we got back in at 2:30. The extra pool time was probably what was too much for us. Didn’t think about putting more sunscreen on and in the evening realized we both had pink shoulders.

We also met Gaby, a new teacher, as August pointed to her and asked “Is that a kid?” She’s a teaching intern in HS social studies. He liked watching me swim to the deep end and back, and to put my head under water, which he kept asking for again and again. Finally, about 3:15, he needed the bathroom so we got out and went. He spotted a couple cats going by outside. After he was done we went and showered and then went to get ready to go. He touched his shoe to the water and then asked if he could put his shoe in the water. I said no as it was really dirty, and he got quite upset, thinking he had made the pool too dirty.

We went and followed where the cats had gone, and spotted Holly walking towards the exit with cats following her: “I want to follow them…Go where they are going.” She went out to the front entrance of the school, where she feeds the cats. We watched three cats eat for a couple minutes.

We left about 3:30 and walked home. At a construction site there was a big pipe coming out of the ground. I guessed it was the water pipe, but he said sewer and had a logic to it: “water pipes comes from something else…sewer pipes go to the ground.”

We walked to Tal Garden, the park we found yesterday. He played on a rocking thing and a merry-go-round. I spotted Jack, who I got a ride with yesterday, hauling branches out of his place. He brought his dog Nellie over for August. August fed Nellie a couple pieces of his cracker and petted her a bit. Jack said there were some parakeets living in the park and pointed out holes in the trees that are nests. August and I were finding more of them when Carly showed up. August had just been crouching between my legs saying “I’m a beetle and this is my hole…But it’s not Bernie’s.” I had asked “A grotto?” August was amused, saying “No! It’s not a grotto.”

We showed Carly the little path/shortcut that leads straight to our other park right close to us. As we walked he was making sure Carly saw the things he saw and said “everything I see mama has to.” Carly headed to the pharmacy, and we headed down another little walkway we hadn’t seen before. August sang a “I will see you at home” song after what Carly had just said. The path comes out behind our house, past another house. So we have another walking path.

At home we looked at our goals and then he wanted to watch gardening videos. We watched a Peppa Pig gardening video, then a video with kids gardening. Carly got home then. He got some milk with “something something” in it and I made iced coffees for me and Carly. We went outside and watered the plants and he hung out with Carly for awhile.

But then he was being cranky, not eating any dinner, and hitting Carly out of nowhere and having a timeout with me. He was being dramatic, saying  “I have to stay here forever.” Earlier, I was doing something upstairs on the computer and August thought I was doing something fun and wanted to come up, but wouldn’t come up on his own and he said he was “never see” me.

But we finally got ready to go and walked over to the mall and went to the grocery store. August had his shoes off and spent much of the time, after he got his foot pinched by the stroller wheel a bit, looking to see if there was blood and trying to pull himself around the store.

We then went out and got our anniversary ice cream. We sat outside under the huge trees that were full of birds. They were making a lot of noise. I got cookies and cream and Carly got two flavors, strawberry and chocolate. August had plenty of ice cream, but he still wanted his own.

At home we almost skipped a shower, but we had been swimming. He had fun playing in the shower though and then I took a short shower as well. They went in and he was asleep by 9:30.

Floaties: 

Watching cats: 

Playground: 

Watched by the dog: 

Anniversary ice cream: 

The bridge home: 

He was up at 8:08. Upset for a minute, and sat at the top of the stairs, crying.  But when I took one of his socks off he threw it through the railings to the stairs below and that turned into a game. I made him toast and watermelon and strawberry yogurt for breakfast. He sat at the table and watched Puffin Rock while I did dishes and took a shower. Every time a new story would start I’d hear him call “Another one!” While he went to the bathroom he told me “I want to go water table shopping.”

When I came down from my shower we finished the story he was watching then turned off the iPad. We used the whiteboard to list our goals for the day. He had told me he wanted to play with sand today. So I wrote pot the plant, go swimming, lunch with mama, and find sand. I then asked if he wanted to add anything else, and he said “learn about chalk”.

So first we went outside to pot the plant. There was a garbage truck working nearby though and he didn’t like the sound. He said it was “too wrinkly”. It moved on and we were able to pot the plant. He was able to see the roots and we talked about all the stuff he knows from the Namoo app about roots and leaves and water. After that he did an experiment with water and cotton balls and a tea bag but did it outside this time. He also looked at our ant experiment and added a little water to it.

Then we went in and watched a couple videos about how chalk is made. We found a good one about how to make your own sidewalk chalk. After, he said something like “everyday I want to watch vidoes and explore”.

We crossed off the things we had done from our list and got ready to go to the school and go swimming. We left at 10:45. Took some different roads on the way. August got a mint as we walked and he kept talking about “I want to get more mints for Vivian and me…And Colin…When Vivian is here and we run out of mints I’m going to buy big ones for us to share…Not expensive ones though.” Found a second park a couple blocks away that he said he wanted to go back to, and closer to the school we watched a guy trimming branches from up in a tree.

We got there about 11:15 and walked over to the pool. Matt was there with the three girls. August started talking to them right away and I put on sunscreen and he didn’t complain. We went to the stairs, and he was slow at first, so I simply picked him up and walked in as it was quite warm. He didn’t protest, and after a couple minutes I had him in up to his neck. He gave the girls high fives, we walked along a rope, he hung on the side of the pool on his own. For a bit we got out and walked over to the little kid pool. He was sitting in the water talking to the three Kerns girls and Matt and I went to get my camera. When I came back though he had said he needed to go to the bathroom. So I took him, and when we came back out we went back to the deeper pool. Jill showed him how to kick and he practiced that, and then Carly came out and visited for a few minutes.

She left to go finish lunch, we took a few more minutes, then went and got food and took it to her classroom to see her and to eat. Along the way we saw Holly and she took us in to see the office cat, Taylor, who doesn’t have a tail.

We ate in her classroom, and August ate a good meal: green beans, mashed potatoes, fish, chicken…everything on the plate. We also had a little cinnamon roll that he really liked. He played on Carly’s bean bags. He curled up on the big blue one and was really comfortable. He called it a nest, then wanted me to join him and he just spent a lot of time resting, making sleeping noises.

Eventually we left and went to find the preschool playground. Got there and looked around and started making soup with a pot in the sand/wood chip area. He needed the bathroom, so we found one at the end of the building, then went back to soup making: “The sand is basil and I needed more basil in there.” We mainly made soup, but also looked around at the other toys which were kind of in a mess. About 2:15 I said we needed to go back to the pool or we would run out of time. He was concerned about running out of time, so we got going.

Back at the pool there were just a couple of adults. We played around some more and he talked about wanting to swim like the adults. We worked a little on having him lay on his back in the water. Before we left we met Steven, the new elementary music teacher. I talked about bringing his floaties next time and August talked about bringing something else: “I have something that is waterproof…It is special and it is on the floor and next time I will bring it and play with it in the pool. It is special to Vivian and me.” Don’t know what he was talking about.

We went to Carly’s room about 3:45 and met her and walked home together. At home he watched some Sarah and Duck and I took a quick shower. We went outside and waited for Mandy and Matt to pick us up at 4:50. Mandy dropped Matt and I off at the school entrance for ‘guys night’ and took Carly and August on to their house.

When they got there Gaby came down and started playing with him and took him outside and he was just fine. He had a lot of fun with the three girls, and he was really excited about making lime juice (which were actually unripe lemons). The pizza was good, but Carly made the mistake of leaving the leftovers on our counter for a bit when they got home – we really need to fight the ants. She also thought he seemed ready to stay with the kids as babysitters. But when she talked to him about it before they left he got a little stressed because he thought she meant right now. They got home about 7:30.

He told her “I want to learn things…I want to go to preschool to learn things.” Which I think was an impressive idea drawn from different conversations: when talking to people at the party, etc. he’s heard us say he’ll go to preschool next year. And when we were at the playground today he initially said he was too big to play there, so I had to explain it was for the preschool and 4 and 5 years old. Finally, as we walked to Carly’s classroom one of the times we saw a little cart/truck with a trailer full of boxes that looked like books. He asked why it was books, and I explained you use a lot of books at school, then went on to explain you do art, write things, do experiments, exercise, etc.

Meanwhile, I rode in a car with Jack, who had previously lived in Turkey, over to the restaurant we were meeting at, a burger place called Black’s. We had a beer, a lot of starters, and a burger. Good overall, and the conversation was more mature (older group), worldly, and generally fun than what we experienced in Korea. Also, no complaining about the school, which was a plus. So that’s a good sign. It was Brian’s birthday, so there was also a tart at the end. We (there were eight of us) then went and saw Dunkirk. Glad I saw it in a theater, and definitely a good film to watch.

August was asleep at 9:15 and I was back about 10:30. On the way home we saw the partial lunar eclipse from the car and I told Carly about it so she could go out and see it.

Naked boy: 

Watering the plant: 

My sunglasses:

With me in the pool: 

Bean bag chair: 

Cooking at the soup playground: 

Towel: 

He was up a little past 10. We found ants in the kitchen and he helped kill some that were near the door. While he was in the bathroom he found a little piece of plastic on his foot, and asked “Can we please go plastic shopping when I run out of plastic?” To distract him from nursing, Carly gave him some warm milk with a little sugar in it. He drank it all and asked me “Fill it up and put a little something something in it…Some crunchy crunch in there…” The crunchy crunch was sugar at the bottom that apparently Carly hadn’t fully mixed in. I managed to get his clothes off him, but he was then naked for quite awhile. Carly asked if he wanted clothes and he said “I’m enjoying naked time.” I took a shower, and when I came back he was watching Puffin Rock and eating toast with jam. I then made him toast with cheese while Carly finished cooking the cauliflower and carrots. He ate some cauliflower when it was done but rejected the carrot.

Carly left around 11:30 and walked to work today. They had a tour of the medical center. While she was gone, August and I put out some jam for the ants, which they really liked, found sap on one of the trees, and we swept out the playhouse. He found a little yellow square bead that he liked and put it in water to clean it.

We then left at 11:45 to walk into town to the grocery store. There, he got to put a coin in to get a shopping cart, then played with a coin for much of the trip through the store. Got a full load (backpack plus a full bag) and headed out. He got to get the coin back out of the cart when we left. On the way back he sang a nice song about the shade and where dogs like to poop. And he almost lost the coin. He dropped it, we went back a little ways, then I realized it was under him in the stroller. We stopped at the pharmacy to get some allergy medicine for Carly and August remembered the cotton balls that he had seen last time so we got those.

We got home and he mixed water with some cotton balls, then added salt and pepper. Made a mess on the table. Then finished with a tea bag, which broke open while he was playing with it, adding the “crunchy”. I made a veggie sandwich and hot dog, which he promptly ignored. He then also decided to take a fair amount of time going to the bathroom. This was just as Mandy was supposed to be arriving. Carly had initially planned to meet her at the school, but Carly was dropped off at home, so Mandy came straight here.

She picked us all up a little after 2:30 and we headed out for car shopping and a trip to Ikea. Car shopping went okay. She drove us north of Even Yehuda to where I had found Kia and Chevy dealerships. She sat with August and watched Sarah and Duck as we looked. Kia apparently doesn’t have the hatchback version of the Forte in Israel, and Chevy has stopped shipping the Sonic here. Those were our first two choices. We have the Chevy Spark as a fallback small car, but in the evening I went back to the research and came up with three other cars that are the same size as what we want and appear to be available here.

From there we went to Ikea. Mandy went and got a coffee and we got shopping. August got through it eating about 20 mints and several crackers. He did okay, but got impatient and cranky. Probably in large part because he hadn’t eaten much. He also wanted to see how the big shopping cart machine worked at the end was upset when we didn’t spend time on that. We did pretty well shopping, though: two rugs, an easel for him like Vivian’s, a stool for the kitchen, small rugs for the kitchen, a dish drainer, welcome mats, a new pillow for me, some sheets, a pot and soil for our plant, a couple of light covers, a cutting board, and probably a few things I’m forgetting. We guesstimated just right as we got it all in Mandy’s car with very little room to spare.

We got home at 6:45. He went on the teeter totter, climbing on on his own (having always asked for help getting on before), then inside he said “I’m going ant exploring.” Luckily, I don’t think he found any in the kitchen. While I had checked out at Ikea, he and Carly had gone to the cafe area and gotten falafel sandwiches and an orange juice for him. He had been sitting in the middle of the floor, drinking his juice.

At home we started to unpack everything and also eat our sandwiches. Carly put hummus on her sandwich and August said “I don’t like hummus at all. I’m never going to like hummus.” August had fun playing with the new rugs and all the plastic. And he watched a little Puffin Rock. Carly cut up the watermelon we had got at the store earlier and he ate some falafel. We are pretty happy with the downstairs for now. I sat on the couch with August and asked how he liked the house now. He said he still doesn’t really like it, but that he might “When the toys are here and the books.” We read Dinos Love Underpants and Carly took him up to the shower where he played for quite awhile and I managed to give him a good hairwashing. He then went in and fell right asleep at 9:30.

Sleepy wakeup:

Sweeping: 

Pretending to drink his experiment: 

Car shopping: 

Ikea: 

Easel: