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He came down before 7:25. He curled up on the couch for a bit and then headed out to Carly. They came in and played Minecraft. Carly went to the store, and we read the rest of volume 5 of Friends Forever and watched the last episode of season 1 of My Little Pony.

We got him ready to go, and they left for a meet up with Tessa and her husband and kids (Liam and Nava). They met at the Aroma in the mall by Herzliya Park. Carly and August had a smoothie. Later, Carly said he had been a “perfect angel” on the trip, and had to do a lot of waiting and handled it really well. The coffee shop was really busy, then they went upstairs to the big play area thing we’ve never been to. The price was really reasonable (27 shekels, I think, and adults don’t have to pay). They had to wait to go in there as it was at capacity, but it wasn’t overly full once they were in.

Played in there for quite a bit, then went over to the park where they took the pink bike out of the car and he rode back. They were got for quite a while, and didn’t get back until 2:30 or so. I was working on my graphic design skills and starting to design the handouts/online graphics for Kumi Now.

He had a hummus sandwich for lunch ,then we started volume 6 of My Little Pony: Friends Forever. Shirk was a word of the day. We took a break to turn on the AC, then played Brother games. He found a pigasus (a pig that could fly—from what we had just been reading) and we made a list of the animals we could remember Brother and Sister finding:

New species:

Blue Mook

Blue-beaked, blue-footed woodpecker

Catacorn

Giant flying millipede

Pigasus

Pets:

Tigey

Tige-e

Jaguar-y

Peregrine falcon

Kitten – named Blub

He then had another story where Brother’s class was going on a field trip to Bar’s lab to learn about robots. He started it by saying they had a new teacher, as the old one had quit. The new teacher ended up being named Ms. Safety, and was appalled by all of the dangerous things.

When Carly came in he got a bit frustrated because of something, then ended up blocking her in as she sat in the kitchen, putting chairs, then piles of books and things around her. It turned into a fun building activity for him. He would have continued with kitchen supplies if we hadn’t stopped him there.

We spent ten minutes or more working with tht Speech Blubs speech therapy app. Then played Minecraft. He was having difficulty stopping again, but recovered, then we helped to put the books and chairs away. He pushed the dining table chairs back and said he was putting them the “traditional way…symmetrical.” He then wanted a book nest, and got out string and cotton balls to make it soft.

We then went out bike riding. He was a bit reluctant about the whole thing, but enjoyed it. Carly got out with him first. I had trouble getting air into one of my tires, but when I caught up they were on the main street on the other side of the park. We rode up and down that street a couple times. He didn’t want to go up to the traffic circle, so Carly went for a little walk up there and I rode home with him. We went down the back path, with him leading the way.

Back at home he made a little nonsense poem:

“This is taking ages

It hasn’t loaded in ages

Couldn’t the books have more pages?”

We did his evening Minecraft time, then did some more clean up of the cotton balls and remaining books, etc. I took him up and washed his hair and he had a lollipop. He told me about a world he had made in Minecraft called “Minecraft Airlines.” Then there was Minecraft Mix and Minecraft Pixel: a whole series of games where you get to travel through computer. Then Minecraft Discovery. You start with limit s oxygen and have to make a new world.

Then a Brother game where he finds a catahorn in the jungle. Lots of being silly as we got him ready. He said he could choose not to brush his teeth. I joked he doesn’t need to eat then. He replied, “Dada, that’s illegal.”

I left them at 9. He called downstairs that Carly doesn’t know the “I love you to the sky” song and he wants her to her it tomorrow. I heard him say to her, “I’m tired of going to sleep.” I went for a run.

Play area 1:

Play area 2:

Play area 3:

Riding his bike in Herzliya Park:

Trapping mama:

Riding on the street 1:

Riding on the street 2:

Everything that happens in this space time:

He was up right at 7:30. We read the rest of the 117-Story Treehouse. I heated up French toast and we had breakfast. He wanted to ride his bike. He tried to ride it inside, but decided he wanted to go to the park. He randomly asked “Would you rather die by being boiled or in a vat of acid?” He then wanted to look at the periodic table, so looked at it on his iPad. We changed to get going to the park, and left about 9:05.

He rode to and around the park. He talked about making a cat trap. Then matter-of-factly said, “Then you would roast them on top of a fire.” He wanted Brother and Sister to be arguing over whether the story police exist. Then the argument police. I based it off of the Monty Python skit. Then another about the building police when he builds a fighting robot. I exercised for a few minutes as per his instructions and he went on the teeter totter thing by himself.

We headed home after 9:45. He stood under the air conditioner back at home. He then said he wanted to do the reading app (Rivet). He first saw an app about neurons though (Neuronify) so we played with that and discussed how neurons work Inhibit was a word of the day from that. He then had a Brother game where they were going on a field trip to learn about the brain. Don’t think we really did it at this point though, as he wanted to watch My Little Pony. We watched one episode, then watched a couple of videos about neurons, then one Minecraft video about ideas for cave houses.

He wanted to play Minecraft but didn’t like the idea of earning time and got upset. He lightly threw one of his elbow pads and then clammed on the couch for a few minutes. He eventually said he wants reminders of what’s coming next so it is easier for him to stop what he’s doing; basically my idea that I had suggested to him a couple days ago.

When he went to the bathroom he got his hands all foamy washing them and called himself “soap dispenser boy.” We then did the Brother and Bar brain field trip game. Bar had actual dead bodies and brains. The teacher was fainting and ended up quitting. There were the story police, and it turned into chaos. He laughed a lot.

We finally did reading in the Rivet app. He read Dancing around the world and What is a Narwhal? and Floods Are Cool! and Ocean Animals: Coral. Back to Brother again. They were looking for stuff in the ocean. Bar made robot costumes for them. “so made oxygen for you. And it is literally made out of oxygen!” But she made a poop costume for Brother.

I made egg salad sandwiches for lunch. We ate and went out to check the vines. He did alone time, playing with Legos and looking at books. We then played Minecraft. We then were going to do music time, but finding all the stuff was a scavenger hunt. The xylophone sticks were in the Lego container. He drummed a lot, played with the keyboard, and then the guitar.

He said he wanted an app to learn more about the sun. I didn’t find anything specifically about the sun, but found an app that lets you create stars and planets and stuff and see how they interact. The free version only allows up to three objects, but he had a lot of fun with that for a while.

We had planned, earlier when we looked at our day, on going to town to get more pistachios and other things at the bulk foods store and going to the weight room at school. Now he decided he wanted to go to the pool too; if there were kids. As we got ready to go he Asked what the body needs water for. I was able to give him a pretty full explanation of what the body uses water for and how it loses water. He later repeated part of it to Carly. After that, he told me how without water the earth would get really hot. I think he might have been thinking of air, but argued: “Surprisingly, if there was no water…90 percent of the coldness on Earth is from the sea…”

We left at 3:20. We could smell smoke, but he said it was getting better. Last night, verified by Carly, there was a bunch of smoke coming from someplace quite close.

At the school we ran into a few people we know, including Matt and Mandy Kern. We went to the weight room and were there for about 15 minutes. We exercised with a couple of the machines, and he was really interested in how you change the weights using the pins and how they work. We had to leave when I was informed I couldn’t be in there with open-toed shoes.

He didn’t want to go to the pool as there were no kids in it. I didn’t push going with Mama, thinking we could go in the next couple of days. But then Carly informed me the pool was closed both days. We went over to see Carly in her classroom. We played with the new desks. We walked out with Carly so she could put her backpack in the car, then she walked home. Right outside the gate we saw Gabby, who had a tiny kitten with her that they found in a tree. August was initially confused by it or something, but I picked him up so he could get a look. It made an impression though, as he then wanted Brother games where he finds a new kitten.

We were home about 5. He wanted to ride his bike. We talked to Shmuel. He had yet more plants for us. One was actually a pretty decent bush though. He told Carly how he likes to reuse stuff so it isn’t wasted. Saving the Earth for the grandkids (I think he said he has 19 or so) and ll of that. August told me he wants to put plants outside our gate. I think he’s seen the couple of plants that Shmuel has outside the other gate. And he also wants to hang plants from the top of the fence.

August had to wait a minute for something and he talked about how he’s really good at waiting because he’s had so much practice. I think he might overinflate his waiting skills, but at least he’s positive about it.

Carly took him to the park to ride his bike for a while. I made a schnitzel sandwich for myself, but neither of them was hungry. August showed her the galaxy app. They then played Minecraft. He was doing my lots of rhyming. Carly looked up if you can build up a tolerance to poison. Not sure how that came up. He was then walking in circles talking about something; got just the very end on video. We all went outside for a few minutes.

Back inside we read My Little Pony: Friends Forever Volume 5. He was then walking in circles telling me about a huge crafting table and what you can do with it. He drew a picture of it for me. He was then asking my ideas for things to add to Minecraft. He then asked Carly. She said, “Compost.” He informed her, “That’s in vanilla Minecraft.”

I went for a run. They were doing a blog video when I got back. Carly was saying he should have his own vlog where he talks about homeschooling. Based on something she’s been reading/watching.

After my shower I took over. He had a Brother game where Brother found a kitten that had been hurt by some bullies using a weapon with cactus spikes. Brother finds the kitten and saves it. It is named Speech Blubs (Blubs for short) after the app. I sang some songs and he was asleep by 10:10.

Riding his bike 5:

Hi, Petunia song:

Drumming:

He was up at 6:50. Way too early for when he went to sleep. He lay on the couch for a couple minutes, then heard Carly talking outside. He headed out to find her. I stopped him, saying she was on a phone call. He said he was just going to look, so I let him go out; but he yelled “Boo!” Carly told whoever she was talking to that she’d call back.

They came in and, after asking how the Creeper book had ended, she started reading a Diary of a Minecraft Zombie book. By a different author though, so the writing was kind of rough. Realm and flesh were words of the day.

We played Minecraft. He was making interesting structures/sculptures. I then made French toast. He then walked around talking about a bomb to end war. It had helium to make people talk funny. Later he talked about a bomb that shoots glass and shooting glass balls out of cannons.

He declared, “I’m done and I’m full.” He then told Carly about Minecraft. He spent several more minutes walking around in circles and telling me about different bombs. Had things like intestines, carbon dioxide, heat, and light in them. We went upstairs and did a Brother game where Bar took over his room with equipment to study the comet. Brother went to sleep with his sisters, but nothing went right and he didn’t get any sleep. Ended up with a sort of pillow fight with baby Brother and Sister.

We went downstairs because he wanted to use Google Earth. Did a lot of exploring on Google Earth. We looked at the Norte Dame cathedral and watched videos of the fire. Carly talked to him about going to get a bike with training wheels: “Well not now; there’s too much to do in my head.”

They went over to the mall, taking the car, to look at bikes, then went to the nursery in Tel Yitzhak and got a new bush and soil. They also got gas. They were gone quite a while. They came back and played a little Minecraft, then headed back out to go to Mr. Gabi’s. After that they went back to the bike shop. They chose a busy time to go bike shopping, given that Yom Kippur is coming up in a couple days. The guy started by showing them the 800 shekel aluminum-framed bike. Then the 300 shekel one. August really wanted the more expensive, as the guy said it was easier to pedal. I think they tried the bikes a couple times, then finally he was thinking about it and declared that he liked the cheaper one better.

They bought it and fitted it in the car and brought it home. We took the plastic off and raised the seat for him. He had me push him around the yard, then decided it would probably be easier to pedal on the sidewalk. I took him out, and we headed up to the park. After a few minutes he was pedaling around the park on his own. He tipped over once, but instantly said, “It’s okay, it’s okay…” and got back on. When he stopped, but needed to get going again he said, “It’s like respawning in Minecraft.”

Eventually we headed back. He rode most of the way, getting off where the sidewalk is too narrow due to a garbage can. Back at the house, Carly called Cherie and Chuck. August showed them the bike, and eventually Carly took August back up to the park, still FaceTiming. I joined them after a few minutes.

Back at the house I read My Little Pony Legends volume 2, then we watched a My Little Pony episode. We then watched a video about “The Deep”https://youtu.be/PaErPyEnDvk

. He then told me about making an “infinite breathing mask.”

He went and played with Legos. I was heading to a homeschooling meeting and said he could have his evening time after I left, and also watch something with Mama.

When I left at 5:50 they were outside. I know they played Minecraft and August watched episode 24 of My Little Pony. Carly said he kept saying, “This is the worst evening of my life” in a funny/serious voice because of things like spooky scraping noises from Shmuel, her taking too long to get ready, and not realizing she had gone in a different room to get work clothes ready. He had initially been saying “worst day” until she reminded him of getting the bike.

My meeting was more useful than the first. It was a presentation by an occupational therapist named Geelit in which she talked about how the senses are linked to development. They were asleep by the time I got home about 9:30.

Talking about his big bomb:

Unwrapping the new bike:

Riding his bike 1:

Riding his bike 2:

Riding his bike 3:

Riding his bike 4:

He came down about 7:25. He curled on the couch for several minutes before getting up. He walked around a little, then I read the IDW 20/20 issue of My Little Pony to him. I asked if he wanted to say good morning to Mama before we play Minecraft and he went out with her for a few minutes. We played Minecraft. Then I made a mango smoothie. We watched episode 22 of My Little Pony. Phoenix was a word of the day. He then wanted to do a brother game: “One of the backstories, where Brother meets Bar.” We built a yellow sculpture with legos. He kept quoting the Picasso book: “But Picasso said, ‘Yes!’”

He got frustrated when I wouldn’t let him do an iPad building game without doing alone time first. He started off well talking to Carly. He told her what I said and they were talking on the couch. It turned into a big meltdown though. When he calmed down they talked again, and Carly explained how too much screen time isn’t good for our brains and we need to do other things before paying the iPad again. He made the connection: “Like I have to eat healthy food before having a treat?”

She read the diary of a Minecraft creeper book to him. He then requested oatmeal “extra liquidy.” Carly went to get ready and I read more to him. We looked at ocelot photos when he wasn’t quite sure what they looked like. That led to a Brother game where he finds an ocelot. Still hungry, I made a peanut butter and honey sandwich.

For some reason he again started asking us about getting married: “Did you marry him or did you marry her?” “And you both agreed?” “But you don’t have to marry if you want to go together.” “You don’t have to follow culture like that.”

He read a ballerina book to me on the Rivet app. He was then being more of a cat. Carly and August left at 12:15. They went to school, where they went and played with the new spinny chairs in her classroom and went to the pool. They then went and got food from Younes. They were back around 2:30 and we ate some of the food. I then read the second issue of the Spirit of the Forest series to him. And checked out the second volume of the Legends series.

Carly walked to the store. August played the recorder and ate a ton of pistachios. He wanted to save all the shells for an art project. Carly got back. She cleared out the fridge to fit stuff in. August ate the last of the sugary beans. I did the dishes. The two of them discussed how they can have pictures in their heads. He said he had a bad memory in his head of a timeout. He wouldn’t just tell her what it was, but when she asked for a one word description he said, “Let’s do two words: bathroom timeout.” He said it involved walking back from the beach and the other kids walking faster. He got a timeout.

When I was done I read Picasso’s Trousers. We then got out on a walk. He was skeptical about it, but we convinced him of a short one again. I tracked it this time, .91km, and maybe he’ll be interested in going further next time. He was talking about some plant, and said, “It’s a pain in the neck.” We discussed how GPS works. We walked over to the west this time, then back up to the north end of the park. He had said something to Carly about how prisoners are nice on the inside. We stopped to look at the stars, and identified Jupiter and Saturn.

At home we read the My Little Pony Legends volume and he had frozen mango. They watched a Kids Versus Adults episode of Brainchild and I went for a run. When I got back Carly was making August oatmeal. She was trying my method, but the oatmeal turned out too runny. And then she had forgotten the honey. A funny moment. I got him honey, then I took a shower.

We got him ready for bed and Carly said good night. I then read the rest of the Creeper book to him. August was then talking about how to win things, and said, “I know how I would win…confidence. Remember? I learned from Brainchild…” He remembered the experiment where people were asked to count how many photos were in a magazine and people that were more confident in completing the task were actually more successful. He did some singing, then talked about wanting a paper hand fan. We talked about designs on them or decorating them, and he said, “The only thing that matters to me is if they work.” He mentioned not seeing Gabi for a week when he is on vacation, and August said something like, “Instead or vacation Mr. Gabi should live at our house for a few days.” The sweetest thing ever. He was finally asleep by 10:20.

Wearing Mama’s shoes:

Reading about ballerinas:

Figuring out the recorder:

Machine to catch criminals:

He was up at 7:10. I read some poems to him. He then asked about shovels in Minecraft and we looked them up. He told me, “I had an insane crazy dream, but I don’t remember what it is.” He walked in circles telling me about his “vehicles update” for Minecraft. It also includes super weapons and robotic houses. And cost over a thousand dollars. He started playing Minecraft. He said, “Don’t be upset, but I’m not going to play with you.” He was playing in the the Lonely Forest, one of the worlds we downloaded last night. But after a while he wanted to play with me in one of our shared worlds. Plateau and rendering were words of the day.

He had oatmeal, and we read Ponyville Mysteries #5. We then watched episode 21. We went out and checked on the vines. Back inside there was a Brother and Bar game with them playing Minecraft. We discussed our day. He wanted to learn about binary and go to the weight room at school. We made a plan, but then he immediately wanted to do more Brother game instead. I pointed out that wasn’t what we had just discussed and he replied, “Oh no, I keep messing up. I have so many ideas in my brain…” We did more Brother Minecraft game. He found a Bat in the game. Then a Storm Monster.

Then music time. He set up drums and was playing rhythms. He chanted “getting more complicated.” Just caught the end of that on video. He was then controlling drones with the keyboard. He had a pencil and paper and was then designing a new musical instrument. His paper was a checklist of the features it was going to have and he was going to check them off (well, he does Xs). He told me that Brother goes to a school where they do coding. He had me working on the instrument. Then there was more more Brother and the Bat in Minecraft.

We had pizza and pomegranate for lunch. Then watched SciShow kids videos after a video about binary numbers. We then did reading time, and August read a bunch of short books on the new reading app, Rivet, which we downloaded based on an ad. But it is also free, and August clicked with it really well. It is nice that the books are really short, and leveled.

He then played with the recorder during alone time. I exercised, and paused to teach him how to hold it. He ws starting to blow and change notes by the end. We played Minecraft and went back to our first creative world. He wants to make an underground sheep habitat.

Then a Brother game where August pointed out that Brother is afraid of everything, and that he needs “scare practice.” We discussed ways of learning music, but didn’t come to strong conclusions about what he wants to do. He ended up playing with the Musyc app, which we haven’t done for quite a while. I explained generative music as opposed to composed or improvised.

We finally got going to school. He told me about his incredible nuclear bomb on the way, after first asking about the bomb shelters and what they would protect from.

We got to swimming and did some math and spelling practice. Carly showed up and swam with us. He got out and played with Omri. He spent quite a while looking at the sun reflecting off of the pool and making rainbows. He said, “It looks like DNA strands.”

We got home about 5:15 or so. He ate some of the sushi and we read issue 1 of the Spirit of the Forest My Little Pony special series. We then played Minecraft and had pomegranate seeds. He then had pistachios while Carly was outside, but she was nice enough to let him keep eating them when she came in. We listened to the new UNKLE songs. He then ate an egg salad sandwich half.

We watched videos on why you faint (he had asked) and how GPS coordinates work. We were going to look for one on how pencils were made, as he had asked about how pencils work earlier.

After the GPS video he wanted an app that would show him the lines of latitude and longitude. I downloaded Google Earth on his ipad and we played with the “Cool geographic app” for a while. As he played he sang a song that went, “One day penguins should fly. When they evolved.”

We went upstairs to play a Bar and Brother where he finds a Bat again. As we went up, August said in a very creepy voice, “Did somebody say ‘Bad dreams?’” He talked about how much he likes the mandala again: “I like that…it’s not entirely symmetrical, I know…the tiny dots.”

He went to the bathroom, and told Carly about his legs and why muscles grow. In the pool he had told me about how his legs are sore every time after we swim. I told him that was because of the exercise, and I also told him about how muscles are actually damaged when we exercise, but then your body creates new cells to fill the space between the cells that have been pulled apart, and this is how muscles get bigger. He explained all of this now to Carly.

After his bath, I started putting him to sleep. As I sang “Imaginary Bars” he inserted the lines, to the tune, singing:

“Jumped off the highest peak

Then I got a pelican beak”

He tried starting an argument with me again. There was a lot of laughing as I left them at 9:05 and went for a run.

Expansion ideas for Minecraft:

Designing a new music machine:

His special keyboard:

Drumming:

More drumming:

Looking at the water of the pool:

He got up just before 7:40. I read several poems from I’m No Good at Rhyming, then we watched two My Little Pony episodes. He was eating frozen mango and got a bad piece and sort of panicked, but handled it all on his own: finding his water bottle, dragging his stool to the sink, actually emptying the old water, and refilling it. He had oatmeal, then we negotiated some Minecraft time, as he had used most of his morning time, and we needed to get going to the park. As we got going he told me how he had invented a paper Monopoly game. I wasn’t clear on the details, but I guess it didn’t involve a board. He also asked, “Why do parents always kiss with parents?…It’s super gross.” Which seemed like an odd thing for him to say; although later he said that it had come from Eve.

We were driving at 9:00. He had taken scissors and paper with him. We talked about how he had really learned to use scissors with Ms. Anna. He cut all sorts of shapes out of paper on the way.

We were there first again. Lauren and Gilad showed up a few minutes later. We tried to walk around to the other side of the lake. We looked up in the trees, but no trail up there. August found a 2 liter bottle that had been cut in half and wanted to use it for something. We couldn’t walk around the lake as it was blocked off for some reason. We walked across the lake and headed to the big playground.

Someone mentioned playing with the ball again and August said it was the best game ever. That’s where we ended up spending most of our time. He also told Lauren that she should play because she was really good at the game. They also played in the spaceship thing, then the little merry-go-round. They took some time apart as August started making things out of garbage. He made a sort of ball on a string game using a piece of wood, a string, and something for the ball. He gave it to Lauren to try to play, and it was actually rather difficult. He also made a bracelet sort of thing, which we ended up taking home. Gilad was eating an apple and sitting next to his mom and we chatted for several minutes as August built stuff.

A bit after 11 we all got going. On the way out they were talking about Minecraft, and August excitedly told us about an amazing dream he had had last night: He was playing with Carly in the world where she builds really cool boats. He told her he was going to go someplace else, and he went to the other side of the castle. There was a sea there, although there isn’t one in the game. There he saw airplanes flying and boats going across the water. August and then Gilad then had the idea of playing Minecraft together and got very, very, very excited about this. We’ll see if we can make that happen.

We drove to downtown Even Yehuda and got a spot in the dirt lot. We went to the bulk foods store and got a small bag of pistachios to try, a big bag of mixed almonds and cashews, and a small bag of peanuts for Carly to try (she hasn’t found peanuts she really likes here). We also went to Stop City and got a few boxes of bars since they were on sale. We went upstairs to the bathroom, then August tried pistachios and really liked them. He had several before we headed over to the bank. Made a transfer there, then went on to VIPizza.

We ordered a large pizza. August chose corn and tuna for half, and I got mushrooms and bulgurit cheese for the other half. The guy was impressed with me using Hebrew for part of the order. while we waited we read the book I Didn’t Do My Homework Because…. Convict was a word of the day. He ate a slice and a half and had one of those drinks. The guy called August “Mr. Energy” before we left.

We headed home from there. We had time to do alone time and exercise, then play Minecraft, then headed back out, this time to the school to pick up Eve. We got her, then headed to the library to return the two Bone books. We took the elevator up. In the library the kids ended up playing for a bit. August found a book called Santa Bruce and I read that to the two of them.

We headed home. Eve did without the vest today as I realized it wasn’t in the car. But she told me all about how sometimes she’s been able to ride in the front seat, etc. At the house they each had one of the new bars August chose, some nuts and fruit, and some Schweppes. They then both started making potions. Separately. Which was fine, but then when they both finished them, and just wanted to start new ones, separate, I said no. Too nerve racking for me as I have to watch and help a lot, they use a lot of stuff, and they weren’t playing together.

They went upstairs and played. Much better. They dug through the toys and played in the cardboard house. I was able to sit and type, at least for a few minutes. August found the top and was able to spin it really well for the first time. They played with Duplos, then got out the little vacuum thing from the electronics kit and played with that. I ripped up little pieces of tissue so they could suck them up. August took it out on the patio at one point to suck up dust.

Heather was running late, so we ended up back outside a little after 5. Eve realized she had left the water running, with the hose in the ground, the entire time. At first I thought the pressure was low, but it wasn’t. So much for not wasting resources. They liked the foamy like it had made though, and played with it. Carly got home and then Heather showed up a few minutes later.

Carly and August were looking for slugs, and Carly suggested they might be near one of the plants that hasn’t been doing well. August told her, “Nice use of evidence.” He kept repeating the line from one of the poems: “No Mama, I want him with the crust off.”

For iPad time he played with me instead of her and didn’t want her to be jealous. She said she was over it, and he gave a skeptical “You’re over it, huh?”

We had pizza for dinner, then watched episode 20 of My Little Pony. Carly gave him his bat costume and he put it on and loved it. He was acting like a bat and diving on the couch. Still wearing it, I read the dragon poem to him. He didn’t take it off until bath time and it led to a Brother game: “When Brother was out walking in an abandoned, creepy castle he felt the breeze and found a human-sized bat.” Carly went to take a shower. We did a Brother game where he found a bat girl and gets bitten.

I let him look for free Minecraft add-ons for a few minutes. One was a model of the Titanic. So I let him look at that for a few minutes. We then went upstairs and read Ponyville Mysteries #4. Afterwards he got upset when he found out that the watch band that I’d ordered isn’t the same as the one I have.

Carly talked to him, then gave him a bath. Afterwards he ate more pizza and pomegranate, then some chocolate chips with peanuts. We went upstairs, and he told us he wants a poster of the periodic table for homeschool. And, after looking at the table on my phone, that he wants to be an atom of Mercury next year.

He was dragging his feet going to bed. He told us, “There has to be something before brushing teeth. I’m missing something.” We got him ready though, and I left them some time after 9 and went for a run.

Talking to a goose:

In a spaceship:

Merry-go-round:

Pistachios:

Spinning a top:

Electronics kit with Eve:

Wasting water together:

Bat costume 1:

Bat costume 2:

Brother bat game:

Carly was back to work today. He was up at 7:15. I read Ponyville Mysteries #2 then we went out and checked on the vines. He went to the bathroom, then sang “I go to the bathroom and wash my hands”. I didn’t get it on video and he said I was too slow and should have gotten it the first time. We played Minecraft And he had oatmeal and mango. He had a Brother game, based on the My Little Pony episode where Rarity gets wings but they are fragile and melt/burn in the sun. He had Bar make Brother wings and he does the same thing. I told him about Prometheus. Then a brother game where the vine takes over the house. Dad negotiated a solution with the talking vines.

August told me he wants a pick axe. A real one. So he can use it when he goes to an archeological site with Gramma and Grampa. Suddenly, one of the lights in the living room flashed and went off. I thought the bulb burned out, but then realized that neither light worked. Checked the breaker box, but no breakers were thrown. But other things weren’t working either: microwave, oven, some outlets, other lights, and everything upstairs in the bathroom, main bedroom, and office was out. But about half the house was working.

August found this disturbing, and went outside and wouldn’t come back in. When he relaxed a bit he asked, “Is this what it’s like to die? The power going out…” And later made the connection “It’s really quiet.” We had a really interesting conversation: “Did you know that as you die you can bring back your life…your memories…?” “What I think it feels like when you die…” He basically said that you couldn’t anything but that you could hear spooky stuff.

He saw a cat going under the fence and said, “Don’t tell criminals this, but a criminal could use a car to steal something from our yard.” He told me he only goes outside when the power’s out, so I joked about turning the power off to get him outside. He climbed on the teeter totter and told me he is a rust artist, scratching on the rust on it.

Then, suddenly the power came back on throughout the house. When I talked to Shmuel later he said that there are three power lines coming to the house and that the power company must have had a problem. Seemed odd to me, but I’m hoping he was right.

He did alone time, mainly sitting on the couch and listening to music and I exercised. He also made a little “robot” from Legos. We then played Minecraft. For lunch he requested a hummus sandwich like Carly had had on the trip. I made him a half (all the bread we had) and he ate the whole thing. We watched the Brainchild about germs; he said he would never use the 5-second rule after that.

We got ready and were driving by 12:30. He was wearing his shirt with buttons on it, and as we walked to the office he told me they control different “mechanisms” in him, like a “lollipop dispenser.” We had a few minutes, and there is a TV on the wall that silently shows some ads/videos on a loop. There is one with cavemen, and August asked why one of them makes a circular motion with his arms. I missed it, and told him I’d keep my eyes open for it while he was with Gabi. Didn’t see it though.

He went right in with Gabi. There was a lot of noise and laughter. When he came out he had five pipe cleaners wound in circles to take home. Didn’t really learn what else they had done. August didn’t want to go on any kind of adventure, so we just headed back to the house.

We were home at 2:20. While discussing Minecraft and how the forge works smelt was a word of the day. Shmuel came by and dropped off some plants. August and I then did a Brother game where his class goes on a field trip to Bar’s weather machine again. I fixed the kitchen cabinet door that keeps coming loose, and while I did that August did pencil hole art, taking a pencil and poking holes in paper. They were maps of all the places that Bar and Brother have been: one for on the land, one for in the ocean, one for voids, and one for other galaxies.

He remembered a game on my iPad that I had downloaded but never played that he wanted to try. It is called Opus and is about a robot trying to find Earth. That was our reading time, as there are a lot of words and I was getting him to help with them. Inept was a word of the day. He then did a 3D puzzle app where you make a shape out of blocks that matches the shadows that it casts on walls. He was hungry and had some dry Cheerios.

Carly got home, and she sliced up some fresh mango. Carly said she thought we were near the end of mango season, and I joked we were in for four miserable months until we could get strawberries. August asked, “Why is it like four miserable months until we have fresh strawberries?…They’re just regular months without fresh mango…We’ll, it makes them a bit worser…But nothing to worry about.”

He explained his pencil art to Carly. Carly went outside for a while. On the couch, he briefly imitated both Ms. Marion and Eve: “No Eve! I’m going to throw you in detention for a million years!” We played Minecraft. For dinner he had little sushi that Carly made and an egg. We read some of the Ponyville Mysteries, then watched a Minecraft video (https://youtu.be/fNFR9mvtxR4), then a couple of educational videos from Bright Side: “What would a trip through the past be like?”https://youtu.be/R9df8trZW8Q

and “What will happen to the Earth and us in 1,000 years?”https://youtu.be/T2vAcoyGKgw

He then had a Brother game where he met a girl that had all the powers mentioned in the last video (like accessing the internet in her brain). He then spotted Story Dice and had me tell a story. I revived Dr. Figelmeister’s assistant and had a story about him making a delivery.

I went for a run. I came back and took a shower, then took over reading the Diary of a Creeper book to him. He asked me for a story from my childhood and we ended up discussing Glacier National Park. He really wants to touch snow. We also ended up discussing my arm surgery. Carly had mentioned showing him the photos sometime, so I showed him the photos, which he really liked. He was asleep by 10.

Rust artist:https://youtu.be/f3dWIQeXUcQ

Writing with charcoal:

Brother and Bar maps:

His super powers:

I woke him up to say goodbye before I left at 7:30. I said goodbye and told him Mama was downstairs and that he could keep sleeping if he wanted. He nodded to me, eyes still closed, but then did get out of bed and went down to Carly.

I knew there would be light traffic, being the second day of Rosh Hashanah, but I was still shocked when I got on the highway and literally saw no cars for a minute, just bicycles. I thought I had got my holidays wrong and it was somehow Yom Kippur or something.

I got to Sabeel at 9. Marc had brought falafel. We met with Omar until he had a meeting at 10 with some potential German funders. Marc and I worked on editing stuff, then everyone had burgers for lunch. Pretty good. We met with Omar again afterwards, and I got going later than usual, getting home a little after 5:30. No traffic this morning, but some odd driving stuff. On the way into Jerusalem there had been a random police barricade at one point, then on the way back I had to detour a bit due to an accident.

While I was gone they had played Minecraft, of course, and had walked over to the mall, taking his bike, to do some grocery shopping. He got a lollipop. He also did an art project, mixing paint, cardboard, an egg carton, and other stuff. Carly said that there were several times that she was able to go upstairs to do things like laundry, often for several minutes, and he would stay downstairs on his own. And at one point she told him she was going to do some reading. He sat next to her on the couch and played with his graphing calculator app. He would occasionally say something to her, but otherwise let her read for a half hour or so.

They have finished all the Dogman books and had started a Minecraft-based book called Diary of a Slime. He ate some ravioli and stuff for dinner, then I read him part of the book. Intrigued and repulsive were new words from that. He put a tissue on his head and played around. He then had a Brother and Bar game with them playing Minecraft. We watched an episode of My Little Pony, Nd played with Legos for a bit. Then another Brother Game based on the My Little Pony episode. Bar took the class on a field trip to her weather factory. The teacher was nervous. They went to the moon, then Mars. There were then angry robots that took over the earth.

He went to the bathroom, and said he had seen a little a little worm thing in his poop, and that he’d seen them before. Carly got a spoon and container and scooped up his poop, but didn’t find anything. He was pretty sure of it though. Afterwards, he told us of people he had treated in his lab. They had had things like worms and ants. One person had “ated cooked beef on the ground that looked okay but there were ants…”

Out at the couch he explained to me that if nature took over, humans would come back because our DNA would still be on the planet and would do a little Big Bang sort of thing to make a human again. We read Ponyville Mysteries #1. When talking to Carly he said he “took” something, instead of “taked-ed.” Carly complimented him for it, but he said he’d go back to “taked-ed” because “You’ll be sad…because I’m not like I used to be.” Carly said she wouldn’t be sad about him fixing his grammar, as long as he just kept saying “coisonous” instead of “poisonous.” August asked how the word is really pronounced, then kept repeating “POI-sonous? POI-sonous? POI-sonous? POI-sonous?” as if he’d never heard the story before.

We took him up and Carly gave him a bath. In on the bed Carly saw August and I doing our head butting for the first time. She had no idea that this went ll the way back to when he was a baby and he didn’t like kisses so we started to do gentle forehead kisses, which would then end up pushing against each other. She brushed his teeth, and I left them about 9:30 and went for a run.

Tissue on his head:

Discussing his inventions:

He woke up at 7:35. He went and cuddled with Carly outside for several minutes. We finished the poems in I’m Just No Good at Rhyming, then watched episode 12 of My Little Pony. Wallow was a word of the day. He played some Minecraft, then we were getting ready to leave on an adventure to up north. He ate oatmeal and mango, and kept reciting and riffing on lines from “The poem that’s called the door.” So I read that whole series of four poems to him again. He found his U.S. coins and really wanted to buy something from Carly, so she sold him a piece of the honey candy.

We were driving by driving by 9:50. Out of nowhere he asked, “Remember how the sky was all grey in Korea?” I asked what “Children’s Grand Park” brought to mind. He said, “that bridge with the take gardens…carrots.” He’s talking about the inside bridge with a play garden area. He only played with it once or twice. Really interesting that that that would be the thing that he remembers. I asked what else he remembers of Korea, and he said, “Remember that time we went to the park and there were all those balloons or flags up? Something special…” I later realized he probably meant the buddhist lanterns. He talked about wanting another Dada-Zinnie adventure.

He also talked about how he has a power to block out sound: “like if we’re in a noisy coffee shop.” He uses it on us too. We read Bone, Volume 4. He also made shapes with his hands and said, “I just found art with my fingers.” We watched one episode of My Little Pony that I had downloaded for the trip.

We parked and walked up to the entrance of Rosh Hanikra. Carly has been here twice with her school groups. It is cable car down to the old railroad line that used to cross into Lebanon. There is a series of tunnels you can walk through in the grottos on the coast, and also two segments of train tunnel you can walk through, before it basically ends in a wall of concrete towards the Lebanese border.

As we walked up and waited in line, I pointed out one girl with a Rainbow Dash toy, and August spotted a girl with a My Little Ponies dress. As we looked out over the sea he said, “Off in the distance it looks like the edge of the world.” There was a covered waiting area where he enjoyed the fans and had some snack. Right before taking the shortest cable car in the world down, he sang a song based on the “The Poem Called the Door,” repeating “And his father before…” At some point he was talking about Minecraft, and talking about what things are realistic and which aren’t. I talked about how you can’t actually make a sword out of glass/obsidian. He said, “Technically it’s possible…” But it would just break easily. Nice use of ‘technically’.

He really liked the tunnels, but then was ready to head home. He had a peanut butter and honey sandwich, and liked that. But he also tried Carly’s hummus and cucumber and carrot sandwich and really liked it, and also the bread, which he had told me he didn’t like before.

We walked though the train tunnels and saw where the theater is. We then took the cable car back up.

We walked out and got going. August was very negative about going to a beach, and reluctant to go to a coffee shop, although he was talked into that. We drove to one place but it was closed. August played in the toy area outside, jumping in a little trampoline.

We then drove a bit further south and found an open Aroma coffee. It took some time to park, and August started to get really frustrated. Carly found a spot right close though, and we went in. We ordered an Israeli breakfast and August got a sweet cheese pastry. Carly and I shared a cappuccino. I read My Little Pony to him. There were new characters, and August asked me, “How do you make up voices?” Our food came, and of his pastry he said, “I’m freaking out; it’s so good.”

Carly had shown him photos of the beach, and we convinced him to at least see it. His opinion really changed once we got there. As we started to find treasures and he waded around he said, “Amazing, mama. This is the best beach I’ve ever been to.” We found crabs, shells, little fish, and hair ball things. He slipped on the rocks once and almost fell in. He handled it well, and asked for his swimsuit.

I went up and changed and got his swimsuit. He changed, and slipped on the rocks three more times, and was okay with it. Carly went up and changed, then we worked our way around the sculpture area and to the right.

As we were all floating, he asked for his vest and I went and got it. He then wanted a stick to push himself around with. I looked for one, then went up to the car when he was convinced there was one in the car. There were only the flimsy unicorn horn sticks from the other day. When he needed to go to the bathroom I took him up by the bushes.

We left after 5. In the car he told us, “You’re the toughest parents I’ve ever met…I learned that from timeouts…learned good things…” Carly looked for a bathroom at a beach area but it looked like you had to pay to go in. As she drove out of the parking lot, I saw a car stop in front of another car and a guy jump out and jump on the hood of another car.

We read more My Little Pony (the FIENDship is Magic series) and finished reading Bone Volume 4 before it got to dark. He watched a Brainchild I had downloaded, then a Home to make sure he stayed awake until we got home.

At home he FaceTimed withVivian and Colin. We then played Minecraft. Carly got him raviolis and meatballs for breakfast. We read some of The 117-Story Treehouse. We ate an apple and watched a couple videos of how ant colonies battle each other. I took him upstairs and I did his bath. He told Carly that “I’m a digital formation” and everyone is. And he said he had set a new world record for calculating pi. I left them at 9:45 and went for a run.

Sharpening the tile:

And your father before – song:

In the tunnels 1:

In the tunnels 2:

Random trampoline:

At the sea:

Wading in the sea:

Floating in the sea:

He got up a few minutes before 8. He went outside with Carly for a while. Then they came in and I read poems to him. We have almost finished reading every poem in I’m Just No Good at Rhyming Book at least once, and have red several multiple times. We then played Minecraft and ate banana bread. We were going to read My Little Pony but he got upset when we told him not to tip the table with his feet. Carly took him upstairs.

They read Dogman. Voluminous was a word of the day. They got to the end, and he wasn’t interested in the denouement. Carly compared it to him leaving the last bite of food. I put away dishes and organized drawers. August asked me, “Did you know I have living spray?” This was apparently from Dogman. He brought things to life with the guitar pick. Like the door, sink, toilet, etc. He brought the computer to life, and I had it say it was smarter than humans. August argued with it, saying, “You only have Google…and scientists made that…well, you have Bluetooth. But you don’t have the dark web.”

They went to the pool again. Not a long trip, but a decent one. I asked if he saw anyone there. No one they knew, but he said they introduced themselves to three kids. But they didn’t speak English. At least two of them were siblings, according to Carly. He didn’t know what siblings meant, so another word of the day. He ate some mango and ravioli, then took his shirt off because he had gotten mango on it. He sang:

“Anyway, I have learned something

Never eat fresh mango

Or you will get stains on your shirt

Stains on your shirt”

We left at 12:30 to go to Gabi’s. Our front door has started scraping on the ground a little (seems like it did this before) and was a little hard to get closed. In the car Carly was listening to the Lumineers again. I asked August if she’d been listening to the same song all day. Of “Gloria” he said, “I’ll never get sick of this song.” He said he liked the drums at the beginning of it, or the song after.

At Gabi’s he watched, I think, Home (we heard a lot of laughter), and we met with Gabi this week. August came in and checked on us between stories/episodes, but did just fine out there. Gabi told us of how, at their last meeting, they had gotten out checkers, but August refused to play it because it was a winning game. He set it up so that Gabi could play himself. When Gabi was finding it hard to actually do that, he suggested he play against August, but that he let August win as much as he wants, until August wanted him to play harder. August then rephrased, saying, “So what you’re saying is that I could practice both getting better at the game and getting used to the idea of losing.” He was open to the idea, so they’ll play together on Wednesday and see how it goes.

As we said goodbye August told him something about “You should call yourself Scabby.” Because it rhymes with Gabi. He also hopped on the tiles on the floor, saying, “I’m a knight.” On the way back to the car Carly and I discussed the Mandela effect, but I can’t remember what she said that brought it up in the first place.

Back in the car, Carly played “Gloria” again. He said, “I like the drums at the beginning.” And, “This should be our Mr. Gabi music.” He and I then read Bone #4. We were home at 2:20.

He had a Brother game where he met a girl who was vines that took over the house. I got out foods for us, and I got coffee. I joked that coffee was the seventh most important thing in my life. I then said that of course he and Carly were number 1. But then August said that water was the most important thing. He and I were then joking about it, and decided that he and Carly were #6 at maximum, after water, air, food, insects, and the sun. We had a debate on whether events should be on the list, like the Big Bang. I said no.

I went up to work for awhile, then we all went out on a short, short walk. This was like convincing August to go to the dentist. It finally worked after Carly had offered him a treat, and I, not realizing Carly had offered him something, also offered him a My Little Pony episode when we got back. Also, August was on the bike. And he took us the entirety of the Holly Block. I convinced him to at least do the pedestrian path behind the house, which adds barely anything. He turned the “wrong” way at the street, which lengthened things slightly, until he realized what he had done. Carly continued on for a walk, and he and I headed back. He did at least extend the walk to go over by the nearby orchard to see how the mystery fruit is growing.

We watched My Little Pony, then played Minecraft. Another hard time stopping at the end. Carly was back by now. I got dinner ready (he had raviolis and leftover meatballs and carrots). They went to watch an educational video, and he chose a video on why airlines overbook. Compensation was a new word for him. We ate, then he was asking what the “Whydoo” is. We figured out it is from the poetry book, so I read that poem to him, and others. We have finished reading all the poems at least once.

He then had a Brother game where he saved a cat, but then it ate everything. I had him practice filling his own water bottle. We then did Legos. I was making different sizes of square spirals.

He didn’t want to go upstairs for a bath. He curled up on the couch, then wanted to tell us why he didn’t want to take a bath. He brought Carly over and had us each hold one of his hands. He said, “I get wet. Case closed.”

We got him upstairs though, rhyming as he went. He played in the sink, then did a dragon dance to a children’s song we listened to. I went to get Carly’s phone to take a video of it. He had his bath, then downstairs ate the last cookie with milk. He also had the tiny bag of jelly beans that I had forgotten I had told him he could have. We got him ready for bed and I left them at 9:25 and went for a run.

Bringing things to life:

More important than air?:

Talking to Oma:

Singing and Legos:

Rhyming:

The dragon dance: