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Carly was coming down with his cold, so at some point during the night she went downstairs and started sleeping on the couch/bed down there. He woke up at 5:30 and I took him down to her and they both slept until 10. I had slept to 8. It was the first night we all had a full night of sleep. He had yogurt and mango for breakfast, then we went outside and added more water to the experiment, as the sugar had dried. We saw one ant check it out, disappear for a second, then suddenly there were a bunch of ants.

He was being a bit rough with Carly, who didn’t like it, as she was sick. We read books and watched Sarah and Duck with him. The internet wasn’t working well again, so no Puffin Rock. We read Dinsaura Love Underpants, Oh, Daddy! George Gets a Cold, Winter Days in the Big Woods. He helped Carly clean the floor a bit and we killed ant. Carly was trying to explain to him why we kill insects indoors. He kept asking “We’re trying to make them dead?” We went out and checked on the ants again, then came in and he played with the Namoo app (about plants) for the first time in months. But he remembered there was one about growing and salt water and was insistent about it. I didn’t remember what he was talking about, but then found it: the roots that you can change the salt level of the water for and see them grow.

I took a shower. Carly was then finishing up cleaning the floor, and August and I went on a walk to do recycling. We have to take our cardboard and plastic just up the street by the park. We actually saved a bunch of the cardboard so we can use it for projects. He carried a toilet paper roll, but decided he wanted to make something out of it (he was using it as a telescope) so saved it by wearing it on his arm. Part way there is a tree that has some sort of grape. The sidewalk was littered with the crushed ones but he wanted there to be grapes for him to step on. He said “Greedy people”. He has learned the word ‘greedy’ from Sarah and Duck and used it a lot today.

On the way back to the house we met our neighbor woman again. Her name is Simhach and her husband is David. At home I ate the leftovers Carly had brought from the dinner for me. August was being rough with Carly again, so this time she took him up on the bed and they wrestled around. He had a lot of fun. He went to the bathroom, and said “I love going to the bathroom.” Carly went upstairs to rest. August then wanted to take some of the pillows up to the big bed to make it comfy. Once up there though he wanted to go in with Carly and rest. He went in with her for awhile, then I took him downstairs and Carly rested for real.

August could now watch Puffin Rock, and I worked on some Hebrew, making flashcards. He wanted a peanut butter and jelly sandwich so I made him one and Carly took a shower. Carly called down the stairs to him and he hid. She came down and they tried Skyping with Cassie and family. Problems with Skype, but they got FaceTime working. At some point I heard August say “They promised to come visit us?”

A bit past 6:30 Mandy and Matt Kerns picked us up. Originally just Carly was going to go, but since he slept so late we decided to all go. The party was at Ada’s house, north of Tel Aviv University. It was pretty fancy, or at least well decorated. Ada is also a sculptor so there are several of her sculptures and then lots of other art and rugs. The party was mainly out in the backyard. Rather crowded, so we spent all of our time just inside or outside the back doors. It was catered, so we got some french fries for August. When dinner was served we got a table right by the door with the Kerns, Meghan (August calls her ‘Airport Meghan), and Ada. A couple of other people rotated through as well.

August did great. We had taken the iPads and the stroller in case we needed to take him for a walk, but we didn’t use either of them. He played with the rugs quite a bit, hiding his legs under them. He hid in an office room at one point and I went and told Carly he was hiding and she went and found him. I held him up in front of the big fan outside, and he spotted the lemons in the tree. When dinner came he ate a good amount. And Mike, the head of school, came and joked with him, trying to get August to believe there was a yellow elephant out in the street. August wasn’t falling for it though. He was sucking on his middle finger and I asked why, and he said “It’s tasty…Mama you can taste my finger.”

Carly and I took turns going down to see Ada’s studio and her work. Then dessert came. August agreed to eat fruit first, so I got a bunch of watermelon and mango. He then shared a couple of the lava cakes with Carly and then wanted more mango. He also ate some lychee, which I really liked. During the party I was asking August how he liked the house and he said he’d like to come visit “every once in awhile “

We left a little after 10. August was trying to figure out which car was there’s as we walked, judging cars to be too small. We were back by 10:35. On the way back we started to watch a little of Sarah and Duck to make it. And when we got out of the car I asked him to do his broken robot. He did it really well, doing a slow shutdown all the way to the ground. Then, when I turned him back on. it turned out to be a dancing robot.

At home we finished the Sarah and Duck we had been watching, then read part of Berenstain Bears Go to School. He tried to swing his feet with one hand on the couch and the other on the table, but the table moved and he fell and hit his head on it. Carly took him upstairs and he calmed down and took a long shower, holdingthe shower head and spraying himself for a long time.

He was finally in bed at 11:30. I gave him a kiss but he said “I want mama kisses because mama kisses are the best kisses in the world.” He was asleep soon after that.

Photos. Waking up:

Mop:

Pointing at the fan at the party. Part of the pointing series: 

Getting food. Disappointed the brown things were stuffed mushrooms and not chocolate: 

Earing his fruit: 

He had some big coughs in the middle of the night. Carly got up around 4 and August sat up in bed a few minutes later and said “Mama? Where are you mama?”  But then the miracle happened: he lay back down and went to sleep. 15 minutes later or so he woke back up and wanted a tissue. I went and got one and helped him with some snot, then he lay back down again and went back to sleep. Unfortunately, the cold just wasn’t letting him sleep. A few minutes later he sat up again and wanted mama. I told him to lay back down and I’d go get mama. He did. I went down and told Carly what had happened. He slept another 10 or 15 minutes before we heard to door open so we ran back up and this time Carly helped him back to sleep, I thought, at 4:45. He said “I don’t want to cough.”

I fell back to sleep, but I guess he never really did fully and they got up. I got up at 7:15 and Carly left for work a little while later. We watched a little more Puffin Rock while I drank some coffee and then took a shower. With the iPad off, he then wanted to play with the jar of coins. I put them in a plastic cup, and then he spilled them out and played with them and put them back in. It then turned into a science experiment, as he wanted to put in water. From there he added green soap, sugar, paper, and corn flakes. Oh, and a tea bag. We talked about diffusion and dilution and absorption.

We then did a second experiment, and decided to put some sugar outside to see what would happen. I had him make a hypothesis on what would happen, and he decided that animals would eat it, and the animal would be ants. In determining what to do we started to make our list of rules for experiments, which mainly was that we couldn’t hurt any animals. So we put sugar on a piece of cardboard and placed it on the edge of the lawn.

Back inside he helped me crush his allergy medicine and put it in his water. He wanted to put more in but I said too much could make him sick. I think he somehow misunderstood and thought we had put too much in and he got really sad and upset, thinking we’d done something wrong. He went to the bathroom and got him dressed, then he found the Smurf Pez dispenser and was giving me shots with it. We also listened to the new Arcade Fire album today and a playlist of 1991 alternative hits.

As we were getting ready to leave for a walk to the park, I realized that water was actually leaking through the wall from the bathroom to the bedroom, and had in fact started to damage the desk we bought. Let Carly know. She was with Ada, on their trip to Tel Aviv and Jaffa, and Ada contacted Eve (sp?), the school maintenance person who had driven us from the airport. He came in about 15 minutes. August and I played outside while we waited. He joked with August a lot, trying to take August’s coin (he was playing with a ½ shekel) and August put it in my pocket and kept telling Eve that. Eve decided he could install a marble edge to keep water in the shower, and he also looked at the washing machine and realized that the drain was clogged and that the pipe in back had to climb too high for the pump. He cleared the drain, and said he would shorten the pipe when he came back on Sunday or Monday to fix the bathroom. During this time August had been hiding in the corner bedroom, but peaking out and playing, and then came out to watch him clear the drain.

After he left August and I had some lunch. A PB and J for him and a sandwich for me. August was spitting in the grass, and he had also found a little screw in it and played with that, throwing it down the slide and also scraping the bird poop off of the slide. He tried to convince me to let him watch more Sarah and Duck or Puffin Rock: “The episode I’m going to watch is my favorite.” He remembered Colin sitting on my foot and Chuck’s foot and bouncing and wanted to do it. Turned into a rocket and we did that for awhile. We headed back outside, and as we did so he started talking about his beds and Vivian and finally said “Where will Vivian sleep?” I think I had mentioned that another kid could sleep in the second bed when we discovered the pull out bed. He had clearly been thinking about it.

We spent some time raking the lawn. The ants hadn’t come for the sugar, so we theorized they didn’t know it was there. He suggested we move it by the ants by the slide, as there were several there. We did, and made sure that there were some ants walking across the cardboard.

We finally left the house at 12:45. He played at the playground for awhile, mainly talking about which things were for babies and which were for big kids: “Babies can’t sit on that.” “Anything you sit on is for babies, alright?” There was a little toddler there, and they played close together. He started to climb a ladder, and the baby tried to climb the other side. They barely touched, and he got down and came over and told me all about it, and seemed to be relieved when I told him it had been a gentle touch. We played a little hide and seek and went on the teeter totter where you stand up.

We then went to the pharmacy and got bath soap for him and shampoo and conditioner. The woman spoke English and guessed we were with the American school. I grabbed a Zone Perfect bar for us to share and realized it was more than 3 dollars. Got it anyway, and we went and sat on a sad bench and ate it. August said “Dada…in going to get you something special. Just for you! Something round…” I reminded him about how he had gone back to sleep on his own without mama last night. He seemed to remember – I think he said something about me getting a tissue for him. He then decided he’d go to sleep on his own right then and there and lay down on the concrete by the pharmacy building: “I always sleep here. I’m awake until there’s an ant crawling on me.”

We headed home at 1:50. He put all the coins, now clean, back in a cup and added water. He said he was making something for me and mama. We then played tea game, or a variation there of, where he gave me a drink and there was something disgusting in it: “I made a drink for you.” When I wouldn’t let him watch anything he said “That’s mean.” We had planned to go to the pool at the school and swim with Carly after she was back at 3, but Carly asked if we could go to the grocery store since they closed early and would be closed on Saturday. So we did that.

As August put on his shoes he was having trouble getting one on, as the back piece was bending. He told the shoe “Stop playing that game.” Then he told me “I’m not coming with you…just stay here and play. That not the most fun thing.” We briefly interacted with our neighbor again as she was getting in her car. She said hi, and also said he should have a lot of water. So she speaks English as well. We walked over to the Tiv Taam grocery store. August was falling asleep as we got there. He said he wanted to go mint shopping, then fell asleep at 2:45. I was taking my time shopping, as it was easier with him asleep to figure out what they had. Then ran into the Kerns and two of their kids. We talked for quite awhile, about the bike shop, our houses, etc. August woke up at 3:35, a couple minutes after I left them, as he was facing the candy aisle, unfortunately. I went over and found the Kerns in line to checkout so he could briefly see them.

We then finished shopping. August had a couple mints as we did so, and he remembered that it was “English Breakfast” tea that Carly liked. It was sometime after 4 before we headed home. There, he got upset with Carly because he still couldn’t watch anything and was hitting her. She cut up a mango and I added it to yogurt and he ate a good amount of that. We all went outside and he used Carly’s spray bottle to add water to the sugar. That did it, as the ants instantly started coming. The two of them then cleaned the slide together and he played more with the little screw. When we went in we watched a couple videos about tetanus. He wanted to watch more, but they start to get
rather disturbing, and I said no.

They played for awhile and I went up and sorted his clothes and emptied one suitcase. We then went out on a walk. Carly’s first walk into town, and our first leisurely walk. We looked at the red sand along the way, and August enjoyed playing in it. We walked past the grocery store and then over to the playground by the park. They briefly went on the swings, then went on the merry-go-round together. There was another girl there that was interested in him, but he was being shy. He showed Carly how he could climb up the spiral and then step over to the play structure on his own. Played a bit more, then just a little of the badger in the slide game, which he brought up, before we headed out.

Getting quite dark at this point (8:15), and we took our backroads route home. At home he read Dinosaurs Love Underpants and Splat the Cat with Carly, and Sarah and Duck Go to the Duck Hotel (which we bought) with me. Carly gave him a bath. He was clearly tired, but was telling me he wanted to read more and also said he wanted to sleep in his room in his bed tonight. So interesting that he’s developed that idea – mainly comes from Vivian, I think. He was asleep by 10.

iPad on his head: 

Closing his eyes: 

Part of my pointing series: 

Outside the pharmacy: 

Napping in the grocery store: 

On the merry-go-round with mama: 

He was awake just after 7. Not much sleep. Carly took a shower and he joked about the AC: “I’m not gonna ask mama to make it colder until she comes out. I’m gonna ask her to make it colder so dada and I can freeze.” Carly let him mix some yogurt in with his milk and he was excited by that. Let him watch Sarah and Duck and he said “Yeah. The machine one. Because I LOVE ‘No More Wool’.” Thought we were about to hurry to meet up with Carly at the bank for account setting up purposes but then the plans changed. We mainly rested and watched Sarah and Duck and some Puffin Rock.

We walked up to the bank when Carly told me they were leaving met her there. The whole process took around an hour. We traded off with him and he was okay around people, although it seems like he’s decided to just not answer any questions while in Israel.

Left just before 11. Looked at a couple little shops and bought English Breakfast tea for Carly and Earl Grey for me.  Went to the playground by the library and played there. He patiently and slowly climbed up the spiral pole, going in circles up the spiral, even though there were lots of them. Played on the play structure, then we discovered the little merry-go-round where you turn the wheel in the center to make yourself go. He really liked it and did it a lot himself, then I got on and he spun me as well. Did some seesaw, he balanced and walked on some stones around a big wonderful tree. Also identified big, spreading Mediterranean pine trees. While at the park he said “Everything I see, I step on. That’s my rule.”

We left at noon and first walked up a street by the library to see a house we considered renting and then took a back streets route much of the way home, finding our first shortcuts through town. Say a cool crow/raven sort of bird with a grey body but black head. Hit one speed bump and thought we could go over it but came to a stop. August wasn’t happy about that.

He fell asleep at 12:20, just before we got home. I had previously pushed him in the stroller up the steps to our house to make sure I could get him back in asleep. He lay in the stroller in the house until 1:10 when he woke up. I napped on the couch.

Watched some more Sarah and Duck, then had some lunch and then played with all the coins we have. He realized that we could literally see through our kitchen door through a variety of little cracks to the outside. He found the tiny hole that one floor tile has and talked about a big hole in the floor: “a deep hole someone could fall in and never stopping. Yeah, not at all. Just keeps going.” We left the inside of the house at 3:15 but then played outside. He was holding a stick thing from the trees and asked, referring to the bird poop on the slide “Can I touch it?” I said “Yes” Repeat that line of questioning about a dozen times. Finally got on our walk at 3:40.

August knew that at this point Carly was with Mandy, who was taking her to do some shopping. We had compiled a big shopping list this morning, and then marked the most important items. August remembered this and asked “Mama has a few things that are important?” As we walked towards the mall I told him “You should look for cactuses.” He replied “No I’m looking for dog Poop. Dog poop is my favorite thing.” And then he sang a song about how he was looking for dog poop, which ended when he actually spotted dog poop.

We looked around the inside of the mall for the bike shop and a little bit at other shops. August grew impatient for a smoothie so we went to Rebar and got a mango mix smoothie – it also had melon, banana, cinnamon, and honey. We sat outside and drank that. An experience only slightly ruined by the realization that people actually smoke in these sorts of areas in Israel, and there were three smokers close to us.

We went inside and bought a pack of notecards at a store. August wanted to carry the orange bag and put it on his wrist and started walking through the mall. He then became Mr. Independent and decided he was going to explore the mall on his own, without me: “I’m going someplace by myself…I’m going everywhere…I’m checking everything out.” He got annoyed when I would follow him, but then kept talking to me as well. He decided the hair shop was just for adults and that he wants his hair cut in a small place that has chocolate ice cream. He spotted a big ‘5’ balloon and said “When I’m five years old I’ll get that balloon.” And he briefly took his shoes off and got in the indoor kid area and said he was going to stay with the other kids and parents and that I should leave. The independence game continued all the way back down the mall until we got to the backpack store, which is open to the mall. He could go all through the backpack area on the left side, and I could see him from the opposite side of the aisle. Eventually I went in, and he proceeded to tell me which backpacks I could look at and which I couldn’t. Oh, and he tried on some sunglasses.

He was a bit annoyed at leaving. I put him on a bench to get in the backpack and a woman talked to us about it. The woman at the smoothie shop had also spoken fluent English. This woman tried to ask him some questions, and at one point he said, to her or me, something like “No I don’t like anything because there’s nothing.” She said he was quite a philosopher.

Carly had told me the bike shop was out by the gas station. So we walked out to and around it. August had a strap and told me he was directing me where to go because he knew where it was. I asked him if he could tell me where it was then. At that moment a guy who worked at the gas station was walking by and thought I was talking to him. Fluent English again. I explained I had been talking to August, but would be happy if he could direct us to the bike shop. He did, so we walked over there.

At the bike shop we looked around. August wanted to try out the bikes and sat on the little kids bikes and tried the scooter. He also wanted to sit on a big kids bike. We also looked at helmets, and they have really nice kids helmets with monsters on them.

He needed to go to the bathroom so we went back in the mall and found the bathrooms. Took awhile. He told me “Vivian pooped in the motor home once.” In fact, he has mentioned this several times, and also keeps asking me where he can and can’t poop (when I say he can poop in any toilet he reminds me he couldn’t poop in the RV or in Colin’s toilet). So thank you, Chuck, Cherie, and Vivian, for introducing all of that.

Left about 5:40. He was getting tired on the way back. We had talked about a cactus we both saw and he called it a cactus fruit because it looks like it has fruit on it. And he said “If I want to step on poop I need boots.”

Home around 6. Carly was there before us and Mandy was still there. She left after a few minutes and we had fun setting up the coffee maker and putting other stuff away. He watched some Sarah and Duck and a little Puffin Rock to help keep him awake. Had some dinner, then he was being cranky with Carly so he went up with me to start some laundry and take a shower. Was just finishing up his bath when Carly informed me that the washing machine was leaking. We switched and I got a towel and tried mopping it up. It stopped after a couple minutes, then the rest of the cycle continued just fine. Carly contacted Ada about it.

August was quite upset about the washing machine leaking and the fact that we couldn’t really explain why. Carly took him to bed and he was asleep by 8.

At the bank: 

Merry-go-round: 

Teeter totter: 

A nap in the stroller: 

Reaching: 

Smoothie: 

Telling me to not follow him: 

Sunglasses: 

Bikes: 

In the backpack: 

I got up at 7:45 but went back to bed. I was woken up by “Mama!” at 9:31. That wasn’t good. I knew he wasnt ready to be awake. Spent the next half hour holding him. He wanted to go outside so I held him in the yard, and that helped a little. But eventually he said “I want the stroller.” We changed his clothes and left just after 10. Walked clockwise around a couple blocks and back to our place. He said he wanted to keep walking. So we went to the northeast. After five minutes or so I gave him his water and told him to drink. He did, then said he wanted to go home. Got back a little after 10:30. He cried once we got inside and he said he wanted to see mama. I held him on my shoulder and we stood in the air conditioning and he was asleep by 10:40.

 

I set him down on the couch (which I had figured out how to turn into a bed). He opened his eyes and looked at me for a bit but then closed them and went to sleep. Until 10:55 when he woke up, gave a cry of frustration, and said, I think “We’re not going to be there.” Perhaps referring to us going to visit mama at the school. But I told him to go back to sleep and, remarkably, he lay back down, turned on his side, and went back to sleep.

 

He was awake again at 11:35. Carly had said we could go to the school at any time, so we got ready and left at 12:15. It took less than 20 minutes to get to school, pushing the stroller. As we got near the entrance of the school, August pointed at a car and said “That’s the kind of car we’re going to get in Israel.” It was, indeed, a Chevy Sonic – the only kind of car we looked at with him.

 

We arrived at 12:35. Didn’t have long to look for her as we ran into her after just a few seconds. They found a bench and nursed and I grabbed some lunch. I ended up going up and getting my photo taken for an ID card, then August ate some watermelon and we looked a bit at the library. We then went to find a playground. Walked down the length of the elementary school, refilled our water bottles at a fountain, and left the stroller at the top of the stairs, and went to the big playground. Of course, the thing he most wanted to do was the biggest and most difficult for him, as it was crawling through these tire shapes that are hanging in the air and spaced wide apart. Got him over to the spider web thing instead, like that playground in Korea, and he asked “Can I go crazy?” Climbed up on the play structure, inching around in circles on the spirally pole, and was interested in the bird poop all over. I gave him a leaf that he could use to brush it off the play structure.

 

We went to Carly’s classroom a bit before 2:30. It is nice, with windows looking outside down both of its lengths. Hung out there a bit, then we all went down to the bathroom. He went in with me, and I found out his underwear was on the wrong way. I can’t even really explain how. I remember this morning thinking that his underwear was starting to get too small, and it was difficult to get down now. Obviously we were both really tired at 9:30. In fact, the plan was to go on the school trip to Ikea at 3. But first Carly was too tired. I still planned to go, but as we were playing at the playground I decided that rugs and sheets and whatnot could wait. Holly came by and we left at 2:50. She gave us a ride home.

 

We expected him to take a nap, but he didn’t. He occasionally starts singing our conversations now, and did that again. He watched some Sarah and Duck with me, and turned down more nursing at one point, saying “Nope. There’s not milk in there anyway.” I fell asleep, and got up before Carly left at 5:30 to go to the school dinner at a place down on the water in Netanya. When I had come out August was watching Puffin Rock. We watched the Dawn Chorus story together, then the one where they race. He wanted to pull out the other end of the table and he helped me do that. He was talking about Vivian pooping in the bathroom of the motor home and said “Sometimes I poop in motorhomes.” Which he never actually did. When he asked for a mint he started doing a whole happy mint dance and song, which was pretty cool. Then, as we put on his shorts or shoes, a “One foot and then the other” chant.

 

We walked up to downtown and the grocery store there. He had chosen it over going back to the other, and I thought we’d have good shade walking north in the evening. He was really tired in the grocery store, but did a good job of trying to not get frustrated and helping with the shopping. I had let him get another chocolate pudding thing, contingent on him helping, and when he would let out a small cry of frustration he would then check with me to see if I was going to put the treat back. He rode around in a cart and got out and walked part of the time.  The woman who rang us up was nice and commented on his nice blue eyes. We haven’t left those compliments behind in Korea.

 

On the way home I pointed out the moon. He asked if the moon talked – a reference to the talking moon in Sarah and Duck. So the moon talked to him, reminding him of calling it a banana and a D moon in Korea. We stopped at a park about halfway and sat and he ate a peanut butter sandwich. He didn’t want to play at all and we headed home. The town was quite lovely as the sun set, and I’ve noted that it all smells better than Korea where we would get some sewage smell and the smell of rotting ginkgo berries.

 

At home he watched some more Sarah and Duck and I cooked a broccoli veggie burger pattie that we found at the store. It is a nice green inside. I put it inside a warmed half of a pita along with some mayo and cheese and he ate almost all of it. Right before it was done he had wanted to call mama, so I had let him do that. But when we hung up he got upset and I thought he was just going to cry until she got home and wouldn’t eat anything. Luckily, I calmed him down and he ate a decent dinner.

 

Carly was home at 8:35. He was lightly hitting her and he said “I never do it on purpose.” Which was repeating something she had said to him, about how when she pokes him with a fingernail, etc. and hurts him it isn’t on purpose. But his clearly are.

 

Carly gave him a shower and he went straight to sleep after 9. But then he woke up sniffling a couple times. Clearly he was coming down with a cold. I had give him some allergy medicine right before bed and he said his throat itched, which he has heard from Carly and her allergic reactions. I check the ingredients on the burgers to see if there was anything unusual in them and there wasn’t. After a couple wake ups and as his nose got stuffier it was clear that he had been talking about a sore throat.

 

I, having napped earlier, now couldn’t really get fully to sleep and when he got up fully awake at 1:30 it did not feel good getting up with him at all. He watched Sarah and duck in his room and I slept in 5 minute increments. He was getting frustrated with the stuffy/runny nose and around and around 2:30 he broke down crying and frustrated, saying “The snot’s not going away…It’s not going to go away. Is it going to?” Took 15 or 20 minutes, but finally by 3 he was able to get back to sleep.

Nap on the couch: 

Playground at school: 

At the grocery store: 

View on our walk home: 

Broccoli sandwich: 

I was up at 8, Carly and August came down just after 10. Nursed, then they shared a strawberry yogurt: “I love it!” “Next time I want to shop for raspberry yogurt…And chocolate.” For the pristine white new table he said “I don’t like the scratchiness.” – echos of his complaints about the red chairs in Pennsylvania. He was then being silly in the bathroom: “How bout I pee out th window?” “I don’t think I’m going to stop peeing.” “I just love getting pee drips on me.” When he was done he said he wants a stool so he can reach the sink. Carly took a shower, then he wanted more yogurt and Carly suggested having grapes with it: “I love grapes and strawberry yogurt…Because I love mixing things.”

Then went and played out in the yard for awhile: he looked in the playhouse but didnt’ go in. Went down the slide once after we moved it into the shade although we realized the top of it is broken. Played on the seesaw some Moore, and then he found a nice nut on the ground. There were a few of them, but didn’t appear to be from the trees in the yard. I suggested that birds might pick up the fruits elsewhere and eat them in our trees. He came back to this idea several times through the day. He eventually took the nut he found (the shiniest of all of them) in to Carly.

Carly asked what he thought of the playhouse: “How was the playhouse?” “Good. I don’t like our home though.” He then decided to put the nut outside: “I want to put it back outside. Bye, nut!” But then he had a change of heart and it ended up in ‘his’ room on the windowsill. He was upstairs with Carly for awhile, then downstairs he had me pick him up so he could be right in front of the AC to feel the wind. He said “I want to stay here forever.”

We went for a walk at 12:30. We crossed the bridge to the mall on the other side. Right on the other side we saw a decent-sized lizard run across the path. We walked around, he danced in the little padded kids area in the mall, we did some shopping at the grocery store (pita, hummus, a knife, sugar to replace the ant-infested sugar at home, milk, soy milk…a few other things), he played briefly at the outside play area, we contemplated getting a coffee at the good coffee shop but decided against it, then headed home, getting back at 12:45.

Carly made spaghetti, but before we could have any her principal, Holly, who lives two or three doors down from us, said she could take us in her car to try to find a coffee maker and show us around. So she drove us up into town. We parked and went to one hardware store where we got a glass electric kettle – which is exactly what we wanted for tea, but not a coffee maker. But at least a success. We walked to a second place and saw a few shops along the way. She then drove us past the school and to the southwest to show us a couple other things (a nursery, another grocery store) and a restaurant where she needed to pick up a couple things.

She dropped us off and then we ate some spaghetti and soy milk and he had a pita with peanut butter and jelly in it. He played on our terrazzo (I would learn that from my dad later) tile floor, saying that the black stones were poop and that he was trying to not step on them. When that was too difficult he said he was vacuuming up the poop. Carly and I moved some furniture around – I like the idea of the dining table as a big table along the wall, and we created a couple of separate sitting areas. August liked the table against a wall, as it turned into a fort. We used all the pillows from downstairs, then he went upstairs twice to bring down a couple from the beds. He had a nice comfy fort and stayed in for awhile.

Eventually though he of course had to go to the bathroom and that took a good long time. Think this was the time that he wanted to look at the Human Body app while he was on the toilet, and Carly took one of the red chairs over so she could sit in the hall outside the bathroom. Carly went to the pharmacy up by the park and bought a few things and came back just as we were getting ready to go out to the park. So we waited for her, he played on the teeter totter some more, and we left at 6.

We walked the half block up to Bruner Garden, the park and playground a half block from us. He climbed around on this, talking a bit about how he wasn’t going to share things, although he then did share one panel thing just fine when a girl, Alma I think her name was (and mom was Eva), also wanted to climb on it. He played around on the ship play area for awhile, then rocked on a thing with Carly. Stayed about a half hour and left after 6:30. We stopped and smelled what we think was a sage plant – one we might consider having at home.

At home he ate some more spaghetti and sandwich. I got the green bouncy ball out (think he asked about it) and I got him to throw it halfway down the steps so it would bounce. When we got to the top of the steps though I couldn’t convince him to do it, and he wanted it back in my pocket instead. He nursed on the couch and was falling asleep. I said it was too early, so Carly woke him up. He startled and said “Wait, where’s the coin?” and kind of looked around for it by his hand and in Carly’s. He had been dreaming about a coin.

I gave him a little shower and he did just fine with it. He was then asleep at 8:30. Carly and I watched Game of Thrones, then were getting ready to head up when suddenly he appeared at the bottom of the steps at 11. Carly took him up, but he wasn’t falling back to sleep. So I called my parents and we skyped. Gave them the full tour and also talked about their three nights up in Holden. August ate a full peanut butter and jelly pocket sandwich. He played outside a bit with Carly, and was startled by a cat that ran through the yard. As he was being startled by that he backed up into the kitchen doorway, then I opened the door, startling him more. On Skype, he told grammar and grampa he wanted green nail polish.

My mom had mentioned the not liking cow’s milk thing, so after we skyped he wanted to watch cow milking videos. Watched a few, then he said “Can I have some cow milk?” While getting it he told Carly “I love your green shirt, mama.” At first he said he liked the cow’s milk, but then he said he didn’t. Went back upstairs with Carly and watched more cow videos and tried for sleep again. Long night short, at 1:30 Carly got up with him as she couldn’t sleep anyway. I fell asleep. They woke me up just before 3. He had been trying to sleep, but was now throwing the animals around, and still calls Green Monster Green Marshy, I took him into the master bedroom and Carly went to sleep. I tried to sing to him but he wouldn’t let me, saying “Your quiet sound is too quiet.”

We went into the little bedroom (his) and he looked at the now wrinkled seed and the paper mache ball from Vivian and his Israeli coin, He was’t happy that the nut is getting less shiny and wants to throw it out. He let me sing two songs to him, my usuals: Imaginary Bars and Idaho. He played with his cheeks in the mirror, then said he was ready to go to sleep. He went in at 3:20 and I thought he was asleep until, loudly, “mama, I want to switch.” We went back out at 3:35. We watched Sarah and Duck in his bedroom. He watched the No More Wool episode several times (he says he loves it and it is his favorite – calls it the machine episode), and the Christmas lights one a few times, and probably a couple others through the night.

He went back in at 4:15. Back out a few minutes later. We went downstairs and watched more Sarah and Duck. I would sleep for 4 or 5 minutes until the short episode was over, he’d ask for a new one, etc. We finally went back up at 5:55 and he was asleep just after 6.

The playhouse: 

A cat: 

iPad and bathroom: 

In his fort: 

At the playground: 

Sage: 

AC: 

Shower: 

The downstairs at least is looking pretty good and now awaits our art and stuff from Korea and the U.S. The upstairs and patio have more work to do…

He slept on the plane from 12:40 to 7:20. I watched A Man Called Ove and The Comedian and got a couple hours sleep. After he woke up he buckled himself at one point, went to the bathroom a couple times, ate a little of his breakfast (a summer squash pasta thing and a roll), and was happy as long as we were feeding him mints. As we went through immigration later he would say “I want to go mint shopping.”

We exited the plane with Meghan, and when I asked him what country we were in he first said “Philadelphia”. He then had to do a lot of waiting. And more waiting. At immigration we got in a line with only 10 people or so in it. And it didn’t move. And then there was a shift change. August spent much of his time hanging on the railing next to us. But that portion probably took 45 minutes to an hour. When we got to the counter things went quick. Then, in baggage claim we found our three bags quickly. But Meghan was missing a suitcase. So she went and stood in the lines at lost luggage and we waited and waited. I stayed with all our other bags and read some Game of Thrones while August and Carly went and sat on a bench. Meghan’s hunch had been correct: there was a bag that looked like hers and another guy had picked it up.

We got out and met Ada and the driver (forgot his name, but he was quite funny and liked August). As we were late, they didn’t have time to take us and come back for Heidi, who was arriving around 6:30. So they took us to the coffee shop (confusingly called Kakao, which in Korea is the big chat program/other tech things company) and we had some lattes and August had a pretzel. He was really interested in the orange juice machine but never insisted on getting any. We walked around once to fill up his water bottle, and I was holding him in my arms, on his back, and we made up a “Floaty Float” song after he spotted dozens of helium balloons littering the ceiling of the reception area of the airport.

It turned out that Heidi also was dealing with a lost luggage issue, so we waited and waited. We finally left the airport at 7:55. Drove first to north Tel Aviv and dropped off Meghan. August and Carly got out and walked around a little on the sidewalk. Then a little farther north to Ada’s place to pick up cash for us so we have something to start with. Then on to our place. He watched some Sarah and Duck and some Kipper to keep him awake, then occupied. He was getting rather impatient by the time we got to Even Yehuda, and had more mints and a Zone Perfect bar along the way.

We got to our house after 9:30. August went straight to the little teeter totter in the yard. He wanted me to get on but then realized I didn’t fit. The first house rule is now apparently “If it doesn’t fit you you can’t go on it.” The guy let us in and showed us around.

Wanted to find rockets; link to what Vivian said as we were in the car with Cherie

“I want to go dessert shopping when this is gone.”

Asleep 12:30

 

He was up at 6:30. Csrly took him to the bathroom, then he came out and started to play with the toy vacuum cleaner. He sang a nice song that turned into “This fits in the vacuum” as he put a stick in it. He was then walking on the sunny spot on the floor and sort of chanting. He wanted to go outside, so I went out on the porch with him. He wanted his sweatshirt and shoes, so we got those. He played a little on the porch and with the sad. He was disappointed that the sand had dried out:  “That’s too bad, there’s no water in there.”

He wanted to go for a walk, but when I asked if he wanted to go get mama he said no, just dada and Zinnie. Maybe the first time this summer that he’s wanted just the two of us for something. He repeated this several minutes later when we were out by the lake and he wanted to keep going for a walk and I asked if we should go back and get her. Anyway, the walk was prompted by seeing two women run past and through the lake parking lot. Me headed across the grass to the lake, me carrying him. He said something about how we wouldn’t catch up with the runners, and also how he prefers to be carried on walks. We just went out on the little gravel spit into what is usually the lake. Played with the rocks and threw them in. I threw a rock in to surprise him with a splash and he asked what it was. I said it was a frog and he quickly caught on to the joke, and when we’d throw more rocks in he’d say “It’s a frog!” Playing around, he joked “It wetted me and it tickled me and it poked me and it hurted me.”

We went back in after a half hour or so. He told me he wanted ice cream. “Dinner, then ice cream.” He was excited when Oma and Cassie came in, spying them out the window and watching them as they walked in. A little conflict started when Vivian came down. He helped crack and mix eggs for French toast, just like Vivian. Cherie made the kids french toast. He then played with the toy vacuum, putting coins in it.Vivian joined in on the game. Colin was down too, and he and August ended up playing with a flashlight in our closet. Cherie then took Vivian to the store with her.

They played outside with Carly, then I took a shower and did some packing. When I went out the kids were with Carly and Cherie out at the play area. She and Vivian had brought back little bouncy balls from the store. They switched around a bit, but August ended up with a green and white one, which he liked because he said it was for mama. Much later, when I went through security at the airport, I would forget the ball was in my pocket.

Carly went inside. Played with the balls a bit, then he was swinging with Vivian, her holding his swing to make them both go. I saw two golden eagles fly low overhead. All the kids ended up in the motor home with me and Chuck and Cherie. August tried a bit of dried green bean, then when we were trying to ask him if he wanted apple he ignored us and kept talking about how “Dada, I ate the rest that was in my mouth.” We played the elevator game: “I want to take the elevator.” He developed that sometime with Carly over the last couple weeks, just where we slide him on and off our lap. Then he was: “I’m the pipe that goes up to the water tank.” Cherie let him and Vivian share water from a cup and he had tons of why questions about sharing water with Vivian and why he couldn’t blow bubbles.

They ended up all in the bed in the RV. August said “I made a really strong firework that killed Vivian.” Which luckily he didn’t repeat, but was a reference back to something Cherie explained while we were in the car driving home from the lake. Due to August’s why questions she had gotten off whatever point she had been making to explain why an explosion could kill someone. August was then tightening screws on Vivian. He and Vivian each had a magazine and were reading them in bed. August was looking out his window and could see the motor home. Then took some negotiating with Vivian to let her blind be drawn so he could look out and see the lake, which he quite liked.

Cherie had let them explore some of the cupboards in the bedroom, and I had seen magazines from when Carly and Cassie were born. Then back out in the main room she got out the canisters for flour, etc. that Carly liked. Think Cherie said she got them in 1970. She was saving them for Carly, and later I would manage to pack them in the backamapack and get them to Israel. Anyway, the kids wanted to bang them around, but Cherie let them switch to her cheaper pots and pans. A racket commenced.

Eventually, August went inside to nurse. Vivian put notes through the door, then August ended up playing with the toy coffee maker and mixer and got some tomatos and wanted to make a tomato drink. Very excited by this. So Cherie helped him blend the tomatos with the hand mixer. He saw Colin trying to use the toy mixer and said  “Oh dear. Colin shouldn’t use that.” He drank some and said “I dranked the tomato drink.” Did you like it? “Yeah!” Although he had actually just said “Hhh.” He did end up drinking more of it though.

I spent a dull chunk of time checking in online and signing us up for United frequent flier accounts. When I was done Colin was excitedly pointing to something outside and I went out with him. He wanted to go over to the grape arbor where he pointed out insects and we picked some grapes and raspberries. Back inside August was in the bathroom and declared “Mama, my favorite thing is poop.” Then a bit of sadness. He had been fine with going to Israel up to now, but a couple times today he would say “I don’t like Israel. I like it here.” Luckily, he never got upset about it.

Cassie and Cherie had made spaghetti, so they had some of that. Vivian had worn her dress that Glecy sent her from Sierra Leone. August wanted a turn, but lost interested when spaghetti happened. Too bad, as I would have liked for him to wear it.

He ended up hitting Vivian over something (may have been the dress). I talked about being really sorry, and not just saying it (as he said he was ready to apologize right away). Him: I have a machine that runs on sorries. I put more sorries in there.” And he said “You feel sad for what you did.” Back to the machine: “It only needs sorries to work.” “Real sorries in there.” And he used Vivian’s line: “Stop! There’s a bug on your head! For real!”

Then Vivian said it was time for a treat: “Mama! She says it’s dessert time!” It was Kinder Surprise Eggs. He started with the top, then Vivian immediately traded with him before he knew what he had. He got a little car, but then Colin wanted that, so August ended up with the little skunks, which he was a bit disappointed in. Jeff went to wash his truck, and the kids joined in. August mainly ran the hose, spraying off our dirty rags and spraying the truck. I joined in. August then needed to go to the bathroom, and I let him pee in the grass since it was the last day. He was very excited about this and kept asking for my reasoning. He then said “When it’s the last day I will always pee in the grass!”

Went back inside and I packed the canisters in the backpack. Vivian knew we had sticks for drawing in the sand nod brought in a rather big one as a gift. I said it was too big, and she came back with a small stick. Very sweet of her. It was some quick goodbyes, and Vivian grabbed August’s hand and started to walk him out, saying something like “Time to go to Israel”, which I just missed getting on video. We left by 5:20, me sitting up front with Chuck, and Cherie in the back with Carly and August. August fell right to sleep, by 5:30. So a quiet trip after that, except we saw an Apple mapping truck before exit 30.

They dropped us off, said a quick goodbye, and we headed in. August was only half awake as Carly put him in the stroller and took him in. He gave Opa a high five as he went past. Took some time to check in, as we had to shift some stuff in our suitcases to make them both under 50
pounds. We got dinner. Carly ordered a couple of Boars’ Head sandwiches for us, and August and I went to a salad bar thing and got lasagna, potatoes, and carrots and broccoli for him. He really liked his food. Carly had to wait for our sandwiches, and he kept offering her some of his food. When I was feeding him with a fork a tine got his cheek a bit. He dramatically said “You poked me. There’s a hole there.” He wanted water and we went to find a drinking fountain to fill his bottle. Came back and then Carly took him to get a smoothie. When they came back he said “You can have some, dada.” Carly went to get a latte, and while she was gone he asked for the green ball, which I now knew was in my pocket. She came back, and while he was playing with it he tripped and fell on the floor and ended up nursing.

We went to our gate after 9. Confusing as there was an extra security gate, but no one explaining anything about it. He made a friend, Amalia, who was a girl just older than Colin that was running around. August started rolling on the floor, and she copied him. Carly then managed to find Megan, a new third grade teacher at the school who was on the same flight. So we talked to her. As we were boarding, August then sneezed nine times. Impressive.

While taxing and during takeoff August wanted the window seat and was looking out the window. We figured out how to turn the lights on and off, and he joked “Where’s the eye button?” Which was a game with him and Vivian when we were robots and it would make me blink. He was looking out the window as we flew and could see the lights of New York, etc. We changed seats when they went to the bathroom and I had the window seat for the rest of the flight. Our flight took off at 10:45. There was some dinner, he watched one Sarah and Duck episode wearing his headphones, then he went to sleep at 12:40.

A few photos. Something bothering his foot: 

Vivian in her dress from Glecy: 

Somethinf on his chin:

Snokey and mints:  

Up at 7 after Carly had spent quite awhile getting him back to sleep. But she got him back to sleep yet again before he came back out another five minutes later.

Jeff made pancakes for breakfast. August ate a whole one, but also wanted batter: “The white stuff is batter…I want batter. I LOVE batter.” Jeff gave him some in a cup, but August didn’t really have much. He and Colin started playing with the cash register. There were only the few coins that Carly had found yesterday, and they wanted more. Jeff and Carly both went and got more, so they had plenty.

A bit later August left the bedroom and told Carly he was going to put something under the door for her. He told me he wanted to write “I love mama so much.” He wanted me to write it though, and only wrote the ‘I’ himself, then he went and just told her himself. Last night, before going to sleep, when she had said “I love you so much” he said “I love you so much too.”

We got ready to go outside and he wanted to wear the Minnie Mouse shoes and sang: “I like the Minnie mouse shoes. I like the Minnie mouse shoes. Do they fit fit fit?” Spent some good time swinging. Cassie was picking up sticks knocked down by the wind (it was windy throughout the day) and he yelled “What are you doing Tia Cassie?” Chuck was starting up the weed eater and August wanted to see. But first Vivian spotted a nice fuzzy caterpillar and we watched it. Then Carly came out as we were trying to move it to safety. She finished that, then we went up and watched the weed eater, then they went in and I went to take a shower.

We got ready to go and left at 10:20. We had Vivian, and Cassie had Colin. We went to the Giant Food in Wind Gap, where Cassie rented Sully. She and Colin then did a little grocery shopping while we got going to Wind Gap Park. But on the way there August had some good lines: “The machine runs on wind.” “I’m already spraying foods in the car already…I’m spraying mints!” And he spotted wind chimes while we waited at a red light: “Wait! Some noise! Wind chimes. You love all wind chimes? I love wind chimes.” Vivian asked “Even if they’re loud?” He answered with “Yeah. I love loud things, so…” With a perfect trailing “sooo….” And they discussed the kazoo as they shared it. Vivian claimed “The germs are on the inside.” And once, when Vivian asked “Can you close your window?” He replied “Umm, I can’t. Too busy.” With the kazoo, I think.

Anyway, at the park we went to the playground. Big, but very boring and utilitarian, with random toys placed in a big fenced rectangle. Played around there for awhile, and Cassie and Colin showed up. Carly said August seemed stressed for some reason, so she took him over to the other set of swings by the stage. The rest of us soon followed, and we ended up at a picnic table where we had our snack. He and I shared a banana and Vivian said I was opening it at the wrong end. August spotted a white spot on the bench and was asking if it was bird poop. Carly was being funny and trying to get him to stop touching it, and said it might have bird flu. He broke out crying on this – I think it was the mention of ‘bird flu’, as he knows it as something pretty serious, since it closed zoos in Korea. He kept asking Carly “Did I touch it?” and she assured him no, and that she realized it was a different kind of bird poop.

When he calmed down we headed over to the stage area. The three kids went up and did some performing and running around. Vivian tried to teach August and Colin how to play fishy fishy cross my sea. They were then playing school. Vivian dropped them off with Cassie, the teacher, then picked them up a couple minutes later. She held both their hands as they walked down the steps and away from the stage. I heard her ask “Do you want to stop by a park?” August said “I want the donut place.” Vivian: “Sorry, it’s closed.” I sat on the stage reading for awhile as they played under a tent shelter at the back of the audience area. That lasted a few minutes, then they decided to head home.

We headed to the car and Carly drove back to the house. August was holding his feet up in the sun and singing a “I’m heating up my feet” song. Got back at 12:30. The kids were slow to get out and Carly headed inside. When he was ready to get out I was trying to put on his shoes but we couldn’t find both of them. Looked around the car for a couple minutes, and he was starting to get distressed. I went in to get another pair of shoes only to find that Carly had grabbed his other shoe for some reason.

We went in and had sandwiches for lunch, then he and Vivian made a fort in the dining room and painted their paper mache shapes (August had done a triangle, but Carly did all the work, and Vivian had done a ball, and did about half of it). August then had a bowl and made a random mixture of things: water, ice, paper, starch, and finally salt. Couldn’t drink that one, so he then wanted a drink, so they made one together, including, but not limited to: water, ice, lemonade, cinnamon, jam, and soy milk.

We went out to the play area again. At one point he wanted down from something and called “Get me down Carly. Get me down Ryan.” Looking around on the ground he found a piece of glass and looked through it, then threw it away. He then wanted to find other garbage to throw away. He found a dead dry worm and jokingly (I hope) asked if he could eat it. They got over by the edge of the property and then Jeff told us he had sprayed weedkiller over there. August heard what was going on and asked Vivian if there were dangerous chemicals. When she said yes he got upset again. Carly had to take him inside.

Inside only for a minute, then headed back outside to the garage after Vivian had found the bike helmet. Think they may have ridden mikes for a minute, but when I got out there they were playing with the car washing stuff, although mainly to make a mess on the floor. Chuck finished with his car and we switched to the red car and Vivian and August helped out with the scrubbing and the spraying. Vivian had gotten in the pink toy car and was turning the button. It was just making noise, as the battery was low. Colin and August were also trying to play with it. I left when Carly came out. A couple minutes later I heard a lot of crying. Vivian and Colin were upset as Cassie was putting the car away back downstairs.

They all headed back on the porch. August rode the little tricycle up and down the side, then needed to go to the bathroom. While on the toilet he talked about it just being a bathroom for him and mama. When I said that made me sad he said I could use it too, but no one else. He then got violent: “Yeah. Taking over the bathroom and breaking it. Breaking the pipes and the toilet.”

Went back out and played with the water table and sand for a long time. I went in for awhile and came back out to find them making a big mess of sand on the arm of the chair next to Carly. Went on for quite some time, basically until August had the idea to turn on the water and wash it off. That was sometime after 5. The others headed in, and he and I sprayed and swept off the porch and chair. Colin actually helped a bit by pointing out spots of sand on the chair for me.

We went in to find Jeff conducting a science experiment: they were dropping magnetic balls through copper pipe and observing that it moves slowly. August at first demanded to play with it, but then sat down to watch Jeff demonstrate. Got a bit chaotic though as three kids had three balls and pipes and went in different directions: as Carly and I helped Colin find his ball when he dropped it, Vivian and August went off, marking spots on the floor where the balls found nails under it.

Called the experiment to the end after a few minutes. August wanted his wet shorts off. Carly asked if he wanted his underwear off too. He said “No, because I don’t want to see my bottom or my penis.”

Pozole again for dinner, alo
ng with cauliflower and green beans. A lot of yummy noises from him again as he ate. I was still trying to get August to eat, and Colin was still eating, when Vivian suggested popsicles. I got them over the disappointment of me saying no by suggesting we go out and throw balls on the roof othe playhouse. So we headed out there. Vivian was the first to get a ball to work, standing at the top of the ladder and throwing it up so it rolled around in the grooves. Difficult to do from the ground, as the balls just bounce off.

August ended up sad about something, and went inside to nurse. Then played on his own out in the playroom. He wanted soymilk, then was playing with the coins. I tossed a coin to him. He didn’t see where it came from, so he was confused and asked me. I told him I tossed it to him. He smiled and said “Thank you, dada!”

A bit later he was nursing but was then kicking her. I took him in to do his bath. He sat on the toilet first and we talked about saying nice things to mama. He came up with “I love mama so much.” and a couple of other things, then went and said a couple to her. Cassie came into the bathroom and he wanted to say something nice to her and he said “I love Tia Cassie”. He had been cranky going into the bath, but ended up having a pretty good bath and washed his hair without too much trouble. There is a little ‘stroller book’ called Tweet Tweet that he had me read 5 times. He said a couple times that he loves the book. He did some playing on his own, then dramatically exited the bathtub. He was trying to exit the tub on his own, but needs help. Before I could grab him he slipped down to the ground which is lower than the tub. His left foot hit the ground, his body spun around, and his right foot landed on the stool. I barely got a hand on him, but he didn’t need it.

He got out of the bath at 7:15. Went into the kitchen and they were getting ice cream. I dished up two kinds of ice cream for him and they went out and ate it outside. He came in and wanted some of the pink (strawberry) ice cream like Vivian had. Carly agreed and gave him some more. He was ecstatic: “I got extra ice cream! Vivian! Mama gave me extra ice cream!” A couple minutes later, Cassie was trying to get people to finish off a couple of them that were almost empty. August walked in wanting even more, and she gave him a scoop of peach. He couldn’t have been happier. I joked that she did it because he had said he loved her. After all that ice cream he told Carly he was ready to nurse. He was then straight to bed and to sleep at 7:45.

He came out just after 7. Didn’t come to us, but instead went straight to the cash register for a minute. Then turned away from us and was just sitting, looking at his shadow cast by the bright sun. Then went to nurse, passing Colin going the other direction. When he came back out he joined Colin in watching a Blippie video about letters and vehicles. Carly went into town to go to CVS and UPS. August drank from and sprayed a spray bottle on the porch, then we ended up with Colin and Chuck at the play structure at 8:50. Colin met him and grabbed August by the arm and pulled him to the play house. We played out there fine until Vivian came out. August immediately wanted her swing, then to hit her with the other swing, etc. So I took him inside to Carly. I took a shower. When I came out he wanted her whiteboard, then English muffin. She went outside. Carly found some coins for the cash register for him and he played with that.

We decided on going to Danbury Park as the weather was looking nice (had considered a library with shadow boxes) and going to the pool. Vivian came back in and there was a conflict over markers. A bit later he almost threw Duplos, then wanted to sit on the piano like she had, even though she had been told no. They finally got it together when August started putting paper under the door and they started playing that game together. They also played with the Magic School Bus toy.

We got ready to go and Cherie decided she could take Colin with us as well. We left and got to the pool a little after it had opened at 12. Everyone had fun, but probably Carly the most, as she went down all of the waterslides. August waded in a little – certainly better than at the last pool – and far enough to play with the wheel on one post. But then he decided he didn’t like his shorts wet and he got out. He wanted to walk around the building to get to the “dry playground”. He first tried the grass – spent a couple minutes putting his foot on it “tickling” and “poking” his foot with grass. Then he went for it, walking around the corner of the building on the grass, only to find a fence blocking his way. I got him to stay to watch Carly go down the slides, and he let me carrying him while I walked into the deep pool up to my waist to show him it was okay to get the swimsuit wet.

We left the pool about 1:15. Proceeded to play on the playground for a long time. Carly and I had been here once with Cassie when Vivian was a baby. About 1:50 we headed to the snack stand for popsicles. Vivian and August both got orange popsicles, while Carly got an ice cream sandwich and I got a Snickers ice cream bar. They had ‘twin pops’, which had two sticks. They were able to break them apart, and August said something like “Two popsicles is enough for one day.”

August also played the tea game with me. I ordered a latte and he said “I put sugar, sugar, and coffee…Nothing you don’t want. Just bugs.” And when we were having popsicles I was holding a handful of napkins: “August, I have a hand full of…” “No, I wiped it on my shirt.” And Vivian and Colin were playing at the play counter/window and I heard her asking him “What’s your name?” “What country are you from?” “How many copies do you want?”

We left at 2:50. As we walked away, August said “Bye playground” all on his own. As we got to the car, Carly accidentally hit the panic button and scared all of us. We went to Walmart where Carly ran in for a couple things. I parked and brought the kids in, but didn’t make it past the entrance with the telephone and the claw games. Vivian wanted a stuffed animal; August liked the bear with stars on it. He liked listening to the phone. Then they got into a conflict over the key machine and August hit.

Carly finished and we headed home. In the car he bugged her a bit by putting his foot over the side of the car seat. We were home at 3:30. Out on the porch a bit, then Carly and Vivian talked about doing papier mache. They came in, and August had misheard, saying “I want to do paper machine.” They did art in the dining room, and I went out with Colin, first out back, then to the play area. While on the swings he was doing a lot of pointing things out, including a couple airplanes he spotted. He would make a jet plane noise and move his hands together while doing it. And a lot of asking “what’s that?” At one point he wanted August to come out with him and said what sounded like “Ata. Is. Here.”, pointing in at the house for ‘Ata’ and at the swing for ‘here’. ‘Is’ was more vague, but it seemed he was saying something.

August and Vivian came out, and Colin ran to greet Vivian and was saying a lot of something. August wanted his shoes out to try walking on the rocks and was saying  “Pokey, pokey.” They played in the garage for a couple minutes on bikes, then followed Cassie to the compost and then on to the play area. August was running around in the Minnie Mouse shoes saying “I can run even faster than Vivian.” Vivian and August were on the swings for a long time together. Vivian was holding August’s swing and pushing with her feet to make them both go. They had a good discussion about what worms would taste like. Carly and Cassie were both out and we had the rocking chairs as well and I made us a couple iced coffees. And Carly spotted an ant pulling a green spider through the wood chips and they watched that.

We went in for a dinner of pozole. Kids like that, but the big hit was corn, which they kept asking for more and more of until it was all gone. As they sat at the table Colin roared and August told him “Colin, no Rrring at the table.”

After dinner, August got quite excited when he spotted Jeff driving in, “It’s Uncle Jeff! Uncle Jeff!” We went out to tell him hi, but when we got out to the play area August got shy and was covering his eyes, etc. before finally saying “Hi, Uncle Jeff!” Played out on the play structure more. Colin and August both got a bit hurt going down the slide. Vivian today, as a game, has been trying to reverse the hitting scripts, starting with her responses (tickling him, telling him there’s a bug on his head) and then trying to get him to hit her.

We went back in for ice cream and I scooped them ice cream in the adorable bowls and they ate on the back porch. August dropped his spoon and it went under Vivian’s chair. He was quite dramatic about it, and Colin was excited about spotting it under the chair and kind of reenacted spotting it.

They went in for baths. While it was filled and they went to the bathroom I played with Colin. He was playing nighty night and pretending the bedspread was ice cream (yellow or chocolate). Carly gave Colin a bath, which was amazing as he is okay with you pouring water on his head. Vivian was washing blueberries and then got a little mixer thing and was mixing up a drink for August. Out in the kitchen more ingredients were added: orange juice, cinnamon, ice, lemonade, Cheerios. August actually got washed somewhere in there.

Carly tried to put him to sleep, but Vivian was sliding things under the door. August heard and said “Someone slid something under the door for me.” He got up and was looking at them: ‘It’s not for you mama because there’s no writing on it…it’s not for anyone because there’s no writing on it. Yeah. There was a pencil but I didn’t write on it.” Tried nursing again, then got up and went out and he and Vivian played some more, mainly spending a long time going to the bathroom. Took him back out and to bed and he was asleep about 9:30.