He was up at 7:15. He went outside with Carly for a few minutes. Inside, we read several of the I’m Just No Good at Rhyming poems, then started playing Minecraft before I remembered skyping with my dad, so we called them for a few minutes to say happy birthday. They had eaten at the Italian place in town. We then went back to Minecraft. I got banana bread. August took a bite that was too big and ended up spitting it out. He then had a Brother game where Brother had pneumonia, then choked on pizza, then had an allergic reaction to cashews and Bar saved him every time. Bar ws then making things using the periodic table.
We read a bunch of Bone 3. Carly was getting them ready to go to the pool, but he was really wondering whether we had all the things in our version of Minecraft to make the computers. So I agreed to look it up and check. Then when we found out that there were chemistry-related items that we could use he insisted that he try them now. He ended up hitting me, although not too hard. Carly talked to him and they eventually got ready to go and went swimming.
At the pool were Sharna and Maya and family and Jonathan and his family. They came back and he watched part of Monster U. I went up to keep working, after watching the first few minutes. He was hungry before I went up, so I made him a tuna sandwich. I heard them outside at one point.I came down, and we did a video of August’s “Goo goo, gaa, gaa” routine, which I generally found a bit annoying.
Carly went to Younes to get some dinner. He and I played with the chemistry stuff in Minecraft. When Carly came back we convinced him to try the falafel (which he hasn’t touched in a couple years) and hummus and he said it was amazing: “I’m going to have falafel and hummus everyday! Is it me or is my brain freaking out?” He was then talking about Minecraft; he made a machine to put real things into Minecraft. Including books. He then talked about how you could put a computer to play Minecraft inside of Minecraft itself: “You can play Minecraft in the Minecraft world!”
We read Bone 4, and out of the woods was a new phrase for him. Carly had gotten a little honey dish and dipper as a gift at school, so I sliced up an apple and August and we had honey and apples. August and I looked up honey dippers to learn more about them. Carly walked to the store to get a few things. August was repeating phrases like “Well, well, well, what do we have here?” and “I’ve made a monster!”
August went up to recycling with me. On the way out he placed tree things on the wooden chair to make it comfier. He didn’t have a shirt on, and his shorts were on backwards. He looked kind of funny on the walk there and back. Up at recycling he found a stiff black tube that he took home. He put a leaf in it and held it up like a flag pole as we started back. He also decided it was good for exercise, and demonstrated how to use it.
Carly was home when we got back. He wanted to watch an educational video, and we watched a couple of short National Geographic videos about the sinking and discovery of the Titanic. At the store Carly had received a free bag of these cooked red beans and we tried them. Not too bad. They are sugary, and very much like the red beans that were used in a lot of sweet stuff in Korea.
August wanted a Brother game with Brother drowning, but I wouldn’t really do that one. We went upstairs, and he did a lot of talking about everything as I made the beds and folded laundry. Carly made raviolis for him and eat them. There were a couple of the beans left in the bag, and I said someone should eat them. August repeated it: “Dada says eat the sugary beans before bed. Dada makes all the rules in this family.” Carly said that was the worst thing he could say. And he said, “Next to ‘stupid.’” August and I were then making funny rules.
I went for a run while Carly gave him a bath. He then had oatmeal. They had been reading Dogman, and he wanted to read more, so she read more before bed, and he was so into it that he had trouble stopping. They were able to negotiate a number of pages. I left them at 9:15.
He was up just after 7:30. He curled up on the couch with me and watched a few minutes of the 4 Hours of Silverstone. We read several poems in I’m Just No Good at Rhyming. He then wanted Minecraft. We played and ate some banana bread, then read Bone Volume 3. We then watched Kurzgesagt videos on “Is meat bad for you?” (https://youtu.be/ouAccsTzlGU) and and “What happened before history?” (https://youtu.be/dGiQaabX3_o) Generation was a word of the day.
He then told me about how he had invented a bunch of things back in history, like discovering electricity: “By rubbing rocks together and using certain fibers you get from animals as cords…” Then he talked about how he invented healthier food. He discussed more inventions and we played with Legos.
He had wanted to learn about pneumonia, so we watched a video (https://youtu.be/dzJNabJAPaE). He then did alone time, starting with mandala art on his iPad. I then looked over and he had two books on his lap. They were the two Bone books and he was looking through them. I asked him what books he was reading later. I thought he might pick up on the word “reading” and argue that he wasn’t reading, but he didn’t do that.
Back in Minecraft we worked on the upside down house—it is attached to the bottom of a rock overhang and you can only fly up to it.
He asked for salmon with lemon for lunch, so I made that. We were listening to Beatles, as the deluxe edition of Abbey Road came out today. We did the Brother and cookie game. The usual one at first, with all of his family/friends eating his cookie. But then one where he buys one for everyone, but there is a riot in the mall when passers by think he is giving away free cookies to everyone. We watched an episode of My Little Pony. He screamed when Twilight Sparkle got scared by snakes.
We ate lunch and he had his whole piece of salmon, then he had a cookie with milk. He spit milk everywhere when he was just drinking it at the end and got a chunk of cookie in his drink. We then did music time on the iPad and guitar. He kept doing music for alone time, then we did 15 minutes of Minecraft. He got upset when I literally had a second more of Minecraft than him. I went up and started laundry.
He was playing with the unicorn horns (the ones Taya left), being silly with them, then we played with Legos and we made a remote control for the robotic worm that we had made. We did a little more guitar time. He was jokingly using the word hate and I explained why that was not okay. He seemed to get it, but couldn’t let another joke go by: “I won’t say hate anymore…oh no, I said hate.”
He asked if people could make obsidian, so we looked up mad-made glass and discussed that. He also asked about humans first making clothes, and he said that we should go back to not wearing clothes as a species.
We left a little after 3. As we got in the car he talked about wanting to teach Kai about Minecraft when he is older. He said he doesn’t really like babies and that “The only thing I’ve discovered about babies is that they have their own language.”
We got to school, and he was asking me about some symbol that he’s seen in Minecraft, but only in survival mode. I figured out he was talking about the achievement notifications. As we got to the pool, Omri and Jonathan were out of it, and August talked to them for a few minutes. I got in the pool first. August spent a lot of time on the steps, practicing back and forth, and taking the vest off. He was also swimming around really fast. He’s got pretty good form for just figuring it out on his own.
Carly showed up, and I got out after another ten minutes or so. August got out, and Carly was playing with Jonathan and Zohar and one of her friends. They were chasing and splashing her in the pool. August had been encouraging this for several minutes, but didn’t like how they were splashing Carly. He seemed to think they were being too rough. He started to get upset, and we called it a day; the pool was closing in a few minutes anyway.
At home we had some dinner. I made a schnitzel for August, but he says he’s tired of schnitzel. He had carrot coins though. He played with Legos with Carly. He brought up more preschool memories, saying, “My teacher says you HAVE to have a plan before you start to write.” This was in context of discussing abstract art, and how he likes abstract art. I understand what they were trying to teach the kids (and I also think they were trying to preserve art supplies), but it really did seem to stifle his creativity, as he would never do the art table, and I remember clearly Marion’s disdain for his focus on wanting to do “abstract” things, when she wanted him to work on figurative work. Carly taught him about Miro.
I went for a run. When I came back they were reading a Sir Cumference book (they’ve about read all eight available on Skybrary), then watched a video about the Titanic in Skybrary. “Why would they say it is unsinkable? Cuz then people would just stay in their rooms…”
Cary gave him bath. She took a shower and we read The 117-story Treehouse. I brushed his teeth. Carly came up and talked to him for a few minutes. As he went to the bathroom he asked me how I would make water if I had to. I told him about collecting evaporated water on plastic, and how I learned that from a Reading Rainbow video when I was a kid—just like the Skybrary video he’d just watched on Skybrary.
I had lights out at 9:45. August was making rhymes, like:
Why look up at the sky
If you’re about to die?
Because you love your mothers pie?
He said I should use a weight room. I reminded him about the weight room at school and that we’ve been meaning to go there. He remember Shani trying to take him to the sensory room. And he’s interested in going back to her house. I suggested we could go to both the sensory room and weight room some day. He said he didn’t want me to steal from the sensory room. Don’t know why he asked that, but it led to a discussion of illegal things and prison, etc. He asked what a judge does. There had just been story police in the treehouse book, so that was where some of it was coming from. I sang to him, and he was asleep by 10:20.
This morning, as we first played with Legos, he told me he had had a weird dream last night. He didn’t remember much of it, but he had remembered it because he had been playing with the Legos in his dream. He didn’t remember much of it, and I forgot some of the details he did tell me. But it is one of the only times that he’s voluntarily told me about a dream he had.
He also, when playing with the sparkly unicorn horns thing, talked about wanting sparkly lips. He’s also talked about wanting a fancy necklace, like the silver ones at the mall. Fancier than a bead necklace that we could make.
I had had it on our agenda to record a video birthday message for Dad. Forgot to do that though, and thought about skyping after he was asleep. We’ll call in the morning.
He was up at 7:40. We read the My Little Pony IDW 20/20 issue, which I had managed to find. He had french toast for breakfast and some mango. He told me he missed the old brand and that the new one doesn’t taste as good. He then realized it was the full story that we’d read; the one he had gotten upset about yesterday. We got ready to go and he talked about wanting a metal detector again (that’s what his taped stick with a magnet on it is). And he asked, “Did you know I made a UV helmet to kill gnats on your head?”
We got to Ra’anana Park at 9:35. The first ones this week. Lauren and Gilad showed up soon after while August and I were looking at a red dragonfly. The boys chose the covered playground, and we headed that way first. August did more walking this week. There, they started the airplane game. I had brought the plant and animal identification things, and Lauren and I looked at those and discussed animals while we were the passengers.
We had to get off when the plane (which had been headed to Saturn) caught on fire. They played on the spinny thing again and the log, then made their way to the larger, newer merry-go-round outside the main area and went on that together, and asked me to help. After a few minutes of that August was ready to move on and we asked. Gilad first went up and played with the music-making blocks, then we walked over to the big playground.
August found a round yellow foam rubber treasure on the way. They played on the tree play structure until after 11. They had brought a light ball, and they played on the slide, climbing up and down, and we took turns trying to catch the ball when they threw it and throwing it back to them.
We walked back towards the cars together. On the way August found a curvy stick that he said looked like a unicorn horn. We discussed which character it looked like. He found a couple more, and took all three with us.
We said goodbye and drove to a pizza place in Ra’anana. August had wanted to go to VIPizza, but this place opened at 11. August commented on it not being a good place as it was small. His first impressions were correct, and we probably won’t be going back. They only had sodas to drink, so we didn’t get anything. We ordered just a small cheese pizza. When it was ready, she didn’t stick her head out the door to tell us, but instead knocked on the door to get our attention. And the outside area was full of garbage. August liked the pizza, at least, declaring it almost as good as VIPizza. I wasn’t so positive on it though.
At home he did digital art for alone time while I exercised. He made a “Man chin”/mansion pun. We did 30 minutes of Minecraft, so he owed me 8 minutes of alone time, which he did by lying on the couch and playing with legos while I got ready for banana bread.
He then helped me make the banana bread. He had funny mixing it, and was trying to get it as fluffy as possible. He talked about how he was “Agitating” it and it was “plumping up.” “It’s really plumping up; it’s like a cardboard dump.”
He asked Siri, “Hey Siri, did you know cucumber is my favorite fruit?” Siri replied, “Oh.”
For word time we played with the magnets, making sentences and discussing words. He made a big stack of magnets. We then watched some of the Preschool Prep sight words and phonics videos, which he used to watch. I didn’t find the song I had been looking for.
We read My Little Pony #70, then had some fresh banana bread. He went to the bathroom at 4:25 – first time since before the park. Afterward he asked, “Does it feel different to be a girl?” He thought it might, in your tummy area, since you could have a baby.
We read about the moon in the Discover magazine: selenology, Luna, and lunacy were new words. And we read about steam power again. He had some bubble gum, and we watched Wintergatan Marble Machine #90 and learned about flywheels and torque limiters.
Carly got home, and in telling her about the pizza place said we only spent 17 shekels for lunch. August thought that was expensive. He then talked about a meal being as expensive as “Buying a car… the most expensive thing you could think of. Well, next to a time machine.” Carly wondered where he picked up ‘next to’ like that.
He told Carly about Minecraft. She had noticed the Minecraft blocks in the library too. He had been telling Amanda all about them yesterday. He told us he still feels his itchy tooth:
“If I’m distracted I won’t…If I’m playing Minecraft I don’t.”
I went and sat outside and read Peter’s book. They played Minecraft and had a strawberry smoothie. They came out and checked on plants, then were watching Kurzgesagt videos on colonizing Mars, What would happen if you took a piece of the sun to earth, eradicating NTDs, and the sizes of life.
For dinner he had tuna sandwich, carrot coins, and cherry yogurt. He ate all of the carrot and yogurt but didn’t touch the sandwich. He asked, “What’s thermal energy?” “I discovered that doctors could restart hearts with thermal energy…”
He then asked what pneumonia is. I wasn’t sure which word he was saying at first so we discussed pneuomonia and ammonia.
He chose a lollipop for hair washing, and I took him up. Carly took over for his bath. I was expecting to go back up and read to him, but they got ready and called me up to say good night. I left them about 9:15.
It had gotten really quiet for quite a while before she washed him. I thought they were reading or something, but it turns out he had gotten really sad, for quite a while, about not being able to nurse anymore. He’s done this a little, but usually it is when going to sleep, and he’s really tired. Not so this time.
He got up at 7:35. Downstairs, we spent over a half hour reading and laughing about I’m Just No Good at Rhyming. He was then making up poems of his own:
“I’ll kick you I’ll kick you, that’s what I’ll do
I’ll kick you I’ll kick you Ms. fartingmatoo.”
“Turn on the air conditioner
Turn it on fast…
I will go past.”
He went and played with Legos, and I heated French toast for breakfast. He sang a “Children is better than kids…” song, inspired by poems in the book. He ate the French toast and mangoes. He did over 20 minutes of alone time. For most of tht time he looked at one of the Bone books, then one of the Plant Vs. Zombie books. I exercised. He had a cookie and milk, then we did art on paper, doing abstract shapes and elf houses together.
For science we watched the “Thinking” episode of Brainchild. He then had a Brother and Bar game where Bar had secret weapons. August asked, “If a war happens do the police come?” We talked about the difference between police and military. A word of the day. He decided that Bar is part of the military and has secret weapons in her lab.
We looked at our agenda, and he chose music time. He had me get the electric guitar, but he mainly made music and rhythms in an app on his iPad. We then read isue #74 of My Little Pony, but he reacted really dramatically when, after reading the preview story at the end of it, I said I needed to get some lunch.
He sulked on the couch, and I made tuna sandwiches. We ate that—he had half of his—then did a Brother game where Brother makes a rover out of Legos. He also talked about the start of the story idea he had yesterday where Brother returned home and his parents were gone, but we didn’t go anywhere with that one. So I made the rover, and he helped.
We then went outside and checked on plants, and he helped direct the vines through the fence, and pulled them away from the gardening tools. Then back to music and reading. His idea was that he would make music and I would write a song and write down the words, and he would read them. We did that, and he had read some words, but we were then distracted by a call from Shmuel. He needed to take a photo of the electrical boxes. We had just found out that the water for the lower yard is attached to ours, and Shmuel has never paid part of the water bill, like he had told Ada he would. Now he told me that electricity for the new unit goes through our power box, but there is a separate meter for the unit, so he’ll be able to divide the bill. Just another thing we’ll have to keep track of.
August kept playing with the sounds on his iPad, and made sounds that he thought sounded like emergency sounds, and had Brother games where he was being woken in the middle of the night because of a war or volcano or earthquake. Bar would teleport them away, but her choice of location was usually pretty bad: the desert or South Pole, etc.
At 2:30 we got ready to go and headed to school. A quick trip to the library to returned volumes 1 and 2 of Bone and check out 3 and 4. We then went and picked up Eve, then Corinne at 1st grade. We were watching Corinne and Elise until Grace could come and get them at 4, as Natalie is out of town. We had to wait a few minutes for Elise, as she was late getting back from art.
We all went to the big playground for about 20 minutes. The kids played there, on the spinny thing, etc. and raided the snack bag, although there wasn’t much in their. There were exactly 5 pieces of watermelon gum, so that was perfect as there were 5 of us.
They then agreed on the library. There was a staff meeting going on in there, so I hadn’t wanted to spend too long there. There was some jockeying to be first to the elevator, but we made it, and they were quiet enough going through the library. Elise watched some crafts stuff on the computer. Eve and Corinne looked at books at first, but were sucked into the computer as well. I offered to read to August, but he said, “I just want to play with the stuffed animals. They’re my favorite part of the library.” He snuggled with them, then built an elf home out of those, his shoes, my hat, and the book markers.
Taya and Cassie also tracked us down in the library, so we had quite the group. Grace arrived and picked up the two girls just before 4, then August, Eve, and I headed to the house.
Here, they had popsicles and some crackers and meat, then spent pretty much the whole time making a green concoction by the sink. Heather got her at 5. Carly got home, and I got him the peanut sauce and noodles for dinner. He barely touched it, claiming it was too spicy. I then got him the last of the meat and potatoes, but he didn’t touch that much either.
He and Carly played Minecraft and I went up to work. He eventually ate a full carrot, then he had oatmeal. As I came down I heard him saying, “Too bad my planet is destroyed by the dragon that came out of Minecraft…” We then read My Little Pony #75. He taped up his magnet stick, calling the tape “obsidian tape.” He skied more about obsidian, and also the strongest metal, so we learned about tungsten. He said, “I’m starting to make armor with obsidian.” He was Bar, and said he was making armor for Brother for the war tomorrow. He asked to just be teleported away.
Upstairs he made a chemical in the sink he called “Subtosis” He washed himself. He talked about going back to Greece again, as he liked it so much: “If I saw the mayor of Greece I’d say ‘Greece is the best.’” In the bedroom I brushed his teeth. He found a little feather, and told Carly his feather had the same power as you… It has a love generator.” I left them about 9:40 and went for a run.
He came down at 7:40. He surprised me at the bottom of the stairs as I didn’t hear the door, owing to the loud street sweeper going by. We read the first 4 chapters of The 117-Story Treehouse, which I had preordered and just came out today. As we logged into Minecraft he said, “Dada. I can read this now: ‘Your friends are not playing Minecraft right now.’”
We played Minecraft, then I made French toast. As I did that he took my watch and went out in the yard and ran around for 6 minutes. He remembered his yogurt thing and I let him have that. He then wasn’t ready for a French toast. I went out and checked on the vines on the white fence. He brought in a tree thing, then said it was an extendo-penis so you didn’t have to take down your pants to go to the bathroom. He wrapped the end with tape but it was too scratchy, so we wrapped it with tissue. He then said it was a penis for Sister so it would be easier to pee. He changed his mind and said it was some sort of navigator thing and taped it to the wall.
He added a couple of Underworld songs to his playlist. He then had a Brother game that started with Brother breaking a window with a soccer ball and Dad was going to put him in jail. Bar saved him and they ended up on an exoplanet, with an oxygen generator, electricity, and a couch to play on. Went on from there.
He tried on my glasses. Prescription was a word of the day. For alone time he spent 15 minutes looking at books. We played Minecraft, then read Bone 2. He ate schnitzel and we watched the video that Cherie sent: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/new-video-watch-the-alaskan-way-viaduct-come-down-in-6-1-2-minutes/
He asked, “What’s pedestrians?” Another new word. Then had a cookie and milk. He did alone time again. More looking at books, and I exercised. We played his second 15 minutes, finding one of the underground outposts. He was upset when his time was out though, and accused me of wasting time, as we didn’t find a portal and we could have made one instead.
We got through that, and he tried the new juice we had bought: banana, mango, melon. We made popsicles, two of each flavor, and two mixed. Then a Brother and Bar game with them on an ice world. They met a sarcastic polar bear alien trader.
We discussed what we should do everyday and decided that science and music and art should be every day, in addition to math and reading. Then we did his previous scenario where Brother and Sister find themselves in a mineshaft with Baby Sister. It turned out to be a set up for a practical joke by Baby Sister and Bar—which was mainly his twist. They dug their way out, finding themselves in an aquarium.
We watched an episode of Brainchild about oceans, then did reading time based on words from that. He did iPad art: “Thats like twilight…the stars and stuff…”
“We should do a preview of the next Brother game: the next game is they come back home and their parents and everything is gone.”
We got ready to head to school to swim. As we were about to go out the door I told him, “You only have one shoe.” Matter-of-factly, he replied, “Yep. That’s right.”
We got to the pool about 3:10. Omri and family were there. August and I acted out the whole Sister and Brother preposition hide and seek game we did before. This time, there were Hide and Seek police that got them in trouble when Brother played so badly. That was his idea, based on The 117-Story Treehouse, where there are story police.
August said I should be a teacher again, then realized that I would have to leave him, and changed his mind. I said he’d have to go to school, and that led to a discussion of school. He said he thought school would be too hard because the subjects got harder, and he’d be behind. I talked to him about how he is actually way ahead in reading and math and science and that wouldn’t be a problem. He was pleasantly surprised by that.
Carly got there, and then as he played with a lane marker sang, “this is the starting line of my song.” I got out and started to study Hebrew. He needed to use the bathroom, so I took him. The bathroom smelled horrible, so we hurried. Back outside Omri and Jonathan were looking at/bothering a caterpillar. He played with them for about ten minutes.
We then got ready to go. August stopped to smell a couple bushes, then talked about how he uses the plants to make lavender soap, and lipsticks, etc. This went on for quite a while, and he was talking about how he mixed different scents.
Carly walked us to the car, then she walked home. We drove, which took a while, as there was scouting drop off at the Israeli school—Carly was already past the school when we drove by.
As we drove, August said, “They should make cars that don’t need seatbelts.” He then said he made “Automatic brain cars…best of all, they can talk and have feelings.”
When we stopped, the little brown dog that has been hanging around was right outside the car. August said he was okay with it, and he even let it come in the yard. We talked about pets, and he’s okay never having a pet, since he’s allergic.
Carly got home, and I heated up noodles and peanut sauce for him. We then played Minecraft, doing the dragon part in creative mode, and did more Brother games on the couch, and he had a popsicle. Carly took over, and I went up to work.
They did magic tricks from the library book. He earned time and showed her a portal in Minecraft. They also read a Sir Cumference book. He was looking at it on his own when I came down.
We switched and Carly went up. He ate the oatmeal that Carly had made him. We finished reading Bone 2. We discussed the betting scheme in Bone extensively, and fix was another word of the day.
Carly gave him his bath. He dropped something from the counter and called to her to pick it up, then was really whiney about having to pick it up himself.
Once the bath was over, I took over to put him to sleep. I brushed his teeth, and we discussed the end script thing in Minecraft, which I had read out to him. It is about how the ‘player’ doesn’t realize that they are creating real worlds, etc. He talked about how “Once scientists know everything about the earth they could make like a Minecraft that is super real…”
I showed him a photo of him with Great Grandpa Steve that came up on my watch. We also continued our discussion of having cats and allergies and pets and traveling. Eddy came up, and why she wasn’t there this summer. August explained she had been sick with “Pressurized Brassia.”
We discussed school again, and this time he talked about not wanting a really strict teacher, and he talked about Marion being more strict. He also talked about how we should give Velcro tape to the teachers, as he thinks they could really use it, particularly at preschool. He has mentioned this before. He ended by saying Carly and I were the best teachers, because we would explain things the most.
I sang to him, and he fell asleep around 10, I think. But I fell asleep with him before getting back up so I’m not sure.
He woke up a little before 7:40. Curled on the couch for a good ten minutes. We read My Little Pony #72. We then played Minecraft. He made some string art in it, and then what was sort of a performance piece, filling a whole area with witches. At the end we started building a big house hanging off a point of rock.
I surprised him with a cookie and milk, then he had oatmeal and mango for breakfast. He had a Brother game where Brother was trying to invent something like Bar. He decided to build wings made out of rock, since that had never been done before. Bar eventually, after a few falls, helped him make the stones much lighter with a ray of some sort. Still didn’t work, until Bar pointed out the wings were too small. Brother had made them bird sized, not thinking about how he is bigger.
We talked about our plans for the day, and he again insisted he wanted me to get the exact same color band on my watch. I showed him the Apple store to show him that they don’t even sell that color any more, and he quickly decided I should get the rainbow band instead.
He then wanted to help me get my exercise goal; I thought he meant by exercising or walking with me, but he meant by wearing my watch and exercising. So I put the watch on him and he ran around for a full 7 minutes. It said he burned 60 calories.
He then went to Legos and I went up and got ready. He added a song to his playlist that he heard. He was then asking Siri random things, and we learned about the Monkey Tree Phenomenon: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_tree_phenomenon?wprov=sfti1
He got going, and said, “I don’t believe in God, but I believe in aliens, and mathematical spaceships that nobody invent d before…and supernova black holes that can travel at the speed of space…and exoplanets that could explode at any second now…and tons of aliens might be at your door, ready to kill…” “Isn’t it cool that I believe in crazy stuff that no one believes in?” We discussed belief versus thinking something is possible. He replied, “I believe they are out there to discover…”
He was grumpy about getting ready to leave. He kept having things he wanted to do first, like watching My Little Pony. He finally changed his clothes. Grumpy about leaving. He asked, “What’s a phenomenon?” And he got Siri to play a song called “Tomatoes” https://music.apple.com/us/album/tomatoes/600713348?i=600714153 He had some crackers and meat, then noticed colored reflections in the sink, first off the red cutting board, then went and found other things that were other colors. He got the blindfold we had made last week and had me put it on. He immediately started doing the clicking, which Carly has taught him about.
As we headed out he ws running around and did a few laps of the yard. Shmuel had left two awful fake tree things at our gate. August had “planted” one yesterday, and we now planted the second one. He found gum on the sidewalk and got a stick to poke it with and declared it his gum stick, saying he would take it everywhere. We checked on the bucket we had put under the pipe leak. As we got going, we heard a Storybots version of “Rain Rain, Go Away” and August exclaimed, “What!? They’re inviting it to come another day?” Rain song
We drove down to Petah Tikvah Park. Traffic was bad on the way down. I had let August play his iPad on the way down, and he played Minecraft part of the way before putting it down. Parking was also horrible; all of the parking around the park seems to be taken by people going to the mall. And the big dirt lot is a free-for-all, with people parking wherever they felt like it. I saw a guy on his phone; I’m pretty sure he had been blocked in.
I headed to the first street to the north and found a street parking spot. August thought I was being picky about my parking, as I was trying to make sure I didn’t have one tire on the curb.
We took his red bike; the first time this year, I think, and walked to the park. He found a little merry-go-round and played on that. He made a game based on the colors around it, and each was a different temperature. He asked me if I preferred boiling hot or freezing cold, and we got into a discussion of why I would prefer freezing cold, and pain versus cold.
We went for a walk around the park, taking a look at the new pond area where there used to be a dirt field, and discussing several of the music-themed sculptures. Most of the gates were locked, so we had to walk back up close to where we came in in order to exit and head across to the mall.
We parked the bike at the entrance of the mall, then walked around the mall. Finally found the iDigital store. On the way, August talked about how he had an “everything store” in the mall and that it was really busy; he also had secret passages to it. At iDigital they only had watch bands in pink, black, or too expensive. So we left and went down to Rebar. August got a raspberry bowl, which he really liked, but was more of a cup, and looked much more impressive on the menu.
We walked back to the car, then drove to the little Tiv Taam. It was a big shopping trip, as we hadn’t gone to the store yesterday. He handled it well. He remembered salmon with lemon on it, so we went and found that salmon was on sale.
At home he wanted to watch educational videos, and watched videos about vaccines, phages, and AI. Carly got home, and they played Minecraft together. I started making a peanut sauce noodle dish, and while that finished up, Carly took August up to one of the stores in town. She had to buy a bunch of candy for a school thing, and August got one piece. August was being hyper in the store, and a woman said something to Carly, probably about the candy. Carly thought she probably thought the candy was all for him.
They got home and dinner was ready. He really liked it. At least once. A little more, as he had earned some time after she got home. When going to the bathroom he debated me on something, and I said “Grant you…” about something. He asked what grant means, and asked “Dada, why do you always use big words I don’t know?”
While playing Minecraft he used a potion, and started to ask what it was, but then read “weakness” on his own. I baked the last of the cookies. He was fine with having one of them from yesterday, and ate it with milk. He then grabbed the strawberry yogurt thing from the fridge and demanded to have it. He’s never insisted on having a treat like that before. It took him a few minutes, then, as I calmly talked to him on the couch, him still clutching it, I reminded him of his mind tricks. Totally worked. He said he’d put it back, and he asked Carly for carrots instead. He asked her to cut them as coins and said, “I’ll imagine they’re chocolate coins…pretty cool I have a mind trick.”
He ate the carrots and we read My Little Pony #73. We then started to read the Myths and Legends one again. He was set against going upstairs, but then persuaded him to go up. We did a Brother game on the bed. It was the sewing the shirt story. We were supposed to do that, then go in for a bath, but he kept having an “And then…and then…”
Got him in the bathroom and he played in the sink. Let him do that until 8:45, then washed him. He did his own face. We went down and he had some frozen mango for snack. We discussed whether it was okay to eat burnt marshmallows. As he ate mango he told me about his marshmallow treatment plant, for getting rid of burnt marshmallows. It was based on a waste water treatment plant and included UV rays and other things he had recently heard about (don’t remember what that was in).
It went on and on, getting more extravagant. He increased the size of the Earth, then was putting everything in it, like everything from Minecraft and all of Pinkie Pie’s crazy ides. I got him upstairs and he wanted to tell Carly all about it: “I feel my head getting bigger…Do you know what’s going on in my brain?”
I left them at 9:25. I fell asleep on the couch for a bit, then went for a short run.
Running laps for exercise:
Funny bunny song and Legos:
Clicking with the blindfold:
Little merry-go-round:
Singing about the cat in the mall:
Discussing his recycling machine:
All the craziness for the giant death stream for burnt marshmallows:
I went and woke him up at 7:55. He cuddled with Carly, and eventually he said, “Hey, tushie.” Carly asked if he got that from the archives. He asked, “What’s archives?” She explained. A word of the day. They played together for iPad time. She started Minecraft with him, then I finished. When they started, Carly and I were going to switch. However, that didn’t happen, so then he only got 5 minutes with me and he was upset when he didn’t get more with me.
I had made a fried egg for breakfast, and he eventually ate that. He got up and went and got a yogurt on his own, and he came back with the berries and yogurt thing he had picked out. He then told me, “As good as the drink we had in Korea…remember? In the subway station…with the chunks of coconut in it…I have a picture in my head.” “mango and coconut…cardboardy container like milk comes in.” It seemed to be a pretty genuine memory, although I couldn’t remember a drink exactly like that. There was one in a can, but there were also a couple of coconut and fruit thinks in other containers.
He then started a funny “I’m thinking what you’re thinking” argument with me. With the Legos we added another floor to our building, then he was finding all of the little “jewel” pieces. As August took pieces off of my finished cars for his jewel collection, I talked about a flashback to playing with Paul and how he probably did that to me as well. August asked, “What’s flashback?” I explained, as in a book, then Carly pointed out I had just used it in a different context.
He sang a “Mama’s comfiest clothes” song. I told him it sounded like “grumpiest” clothes, which he thought was funny. He had something to eat, and wanted me to tell the Brother story where everyone drinks all of his milk. He said, “It’s the funniest story ever.”
Carly decided she wanted to go to the pool with him, so they got going. Unfortunately, as they were leaving he fell on the walkway and slightly scraped his knees. They went to the pool, but no one else was there, and it hurt his knees. He played on the side and let Carly swim for a few minutes, then they came home.
I came down and got lunch, and she she made shrimp and corn for him. We read My Little Pony #69. I then took him to Mr. Gabi’s. That went just fine. We were a little early, so I read part of My Little Pony #70 to August as we waited. Suddenly, there were people coming and going in what is usually a pretty empty office area, so I felt a little self-conscious doing all the voices.
August had been snacking on his Bamba snack (the puffed peanut butter snack—we had gotten a couple bags to share as snacks at the pool, then forgotten to take it. August remembered it when he was hungry before we left), and it was the one thing that he wanted to show Mr. Gabi. I think just because he liked the picture of the baby on it.
So he took that in with him, and I didn’t hear from them for 50 minutes. August went to the bathroom before we left, and he decided to stand up for it. He said, “I should do magic on mama so she has a penis.” I asked him what he did with Gabi and he said, “A lot of stuff…everything with the army.” “I gave him one (bamba) even though he didn’t ask…” He liked the toilet paper, which had flowers on it, and asked to get it. But then he remembered wanting the toilet paper with hearts on it “because that’s what we had when we moved here.”
In the car, headed home, he told me how he had “Recorded a candy eruption” on video, which was very rare. Then it turned out that he had been the one that had put the candy in the pipes, then he described how it exploded; he was taking inspiration from hearing out steam pipe explosions happen. I think we had seen a video of that. We listened to StoryBots songs and he particularly picked up on a song about inventions.
As we got home he talked about inventions like his “sound panels,” which were like solar panels, but for sound. Inside, He wanted Carly to change so he could cuddle with her clothes for alone time. Instead, he started alone time by looking at the next Bone book by himself, but he saw a funny picture in Bone and wanted me to read. We read for several minutes, then he got back to alone time, looking at a yearbook. He found a cheerleaders photo; he had been asking about cheerleaders and why they are called cheer-leader earlier. Not sure where he heard about cheerleaders.
He played Minecraft for 15 minutes with Carly. He got upset at the end again. He tried to cheer her up by playing the Prepositions Game with her. He said, “When I grow up I want to be a miner.” I made a shopping list, but then we decided August and I would just go tomorrow. Today, Carly would just take August to Younes Restaurant to get food.
I got a few minutes of work in while they were gone. They got back, and he did 15 minutes of iPad. We then read the rest of My Little Pony #70 and started #71. He then had a short Brother game where he met a changling, which he was convinced was Millie playing a joke. Then we had dinner; he had pasta With butter and carrots and meat, while Carly and I had the food from Younes.
He played Minecraft with me. We explored the haunted mansion world. He had his third yogurt of the day. I put another sheet of cookies in the oven. August wanted a fresh one, but wanted to test himself by starting at the ‘old’ cookie still in a container until they were ready. Instead, we watched a Brainchild episode, all about motivation. He then had a cookie and milk. Motivation was another good word of the day. He really liked the whole bit at the end, which involved hypnotism. When he ate the cookie he said he let a chunk get really soggy, then used a mind trick to like it. He asked, “Do you want to know the trick I used in my head?” He then had a Brother game with Bar hypnotizing him to think carrot was cake.
We needed to go upstairs, but he wanted a “Preview…prologue” of the next Brother and Sister one. In it, Brother and Sister would find themselves stuck in a mineshaft with Baby Sister. I asked what kind of carrier, and he said like the maroon one that Mama had, but he also said it was the one that had been over by the bathroom, and that was only ever the big Osprey backpack.
I got him upstairs, and we were listening to some Dr. Seuss songs, including a funny math one. But then he discovered a pack of bars in Carly’s backpack from the trip. He wanted it, right now. I said after his bath he could have Cheerios. He went downstairs to talk to Carly, and wasn’t coming back anytime soon, so I folded laundry. I then went down and found him curled on the couch next to Carly, upset.
He was being stubborn, and wanted the full bar, now, before his bath. We eventually got him upstairs, and he went in and lay on the bed. I went in and talked to him about how he wasn’t compromising, and how that doesn’t work for anyone. He gave a quiet “I guess I can try.” He went in and Carly started to give him a bath. I said good night to them and went for a run. It was quiet when I got back at 9:30.
He woke up on his own at 7:30. He went outside with Carly as she watered plants. Back inside he played with some of the straw things, then announced, “I got this caught in my hair and I like it.” He played Minecraft with Carly. He was having a problem again of putting water over what Carly made. Problematic, because flowing water is har to get rid of in the game. After making friend eggs for us for breakfast I mentioned our cage-free egg discussion to Carly, and he had it again with her. Basically, he had found new eggs at the store, and I’d figured out they were cage-free and bought them. He liked that, but then was confused on how the eggs were different, and, when I said they weren’t, why we cared about the chickens. He told her, “I have a bunch of chickens in my lab and I treat them nice and good.”
I made him oatmeal for second breakfast. We then went upstairs for a Brother game. Brother was playing in a Minecraft world created by Bar. He just likes watching the animals in the game and doesn’t like anything scary, but her world was full of dragons, etc. I called it “Bar’s world of death” and he thought that was really funny. He then requested a retelling of the full story where they find Tigey in the jungle. Now, however, the two younger siblings were also there, and they ending up fighting to cuddle with the baby tiger.
We then learned that Tessa and her two kids weren’t going to come this morning, as Tessa wasn’t feeling well.
He played with the fractal app. Looked like ferns and octopus arms. We talked about different kinds of symmetry and read a bit of this article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symmetry_in_biology?wprov=sfti1 He switched to the hydrogen atoms app and made different kinds of atoms: “This is a viper atom…” Then a Brother game with a talking lizard. At first Brother thought it was Millie, but it turned out not to be. Then, when he told the lizard about how Millie is a difficult friend, she overhears and they get in a fight. August had Brother then discover his power, but then wanted him to lose it.
August said his power is being creative, so we went to build, in character, with the Legos. We did that for a while, making a tall building with things hanging from it, and all of the Lego cars on it. I eventually found the pieces for all 5 Lego cars that he has.
I went upstairs to work for an hour and a half. They did two science experiments that didn’t work. One trying to do something (static?) with pepper and another trying to make a fire with a battery. He also did some alone time and they did more Minecraft. Then we learned that Marka was cancelling on us as well, as her son Noah is sick. The good news was that Noah was excited to play with August. August doesn’t want to play with any of the kids tomorrow, as they might still have germs and he didn’t want to get sick.
Carly and I switched at 1:20. I read a good portion of the first issue of Asterix and Obelix to him. A lot of new words for him in that, but he specifically asked about sickle and mistletoe. He had the last of the pizza for lunch, and we watched episode 9 of My Little Pony. We then played with Legos more, adding to our house and cars. He wanted to earn more iPad time. I wasn’t sure how much he had earned earlier, so I sent him up to Carly to ask. I also didn’t know when we were heading to the beach. He came down and told me, “Dada, I had to do tons of convincing.” He sat on the couch and looked at the books, like the dictionary, issue of Discover magazine, etc. for 15 minutes. We then played Minecraft together in our creative world. We were listening to old Ball of Wax CDs, and he really liked an odd song called “Supplies” and added it to his playlist.
As he went to the bathroom he asked, “Why can’t you make yourself sweat?” We talked about things we can’t just make ourselves do, like fall asleep, etc. He had some more oatmeal before we left. He also asked, “What’s a lucky pony?” He then quoted My Little Pony: “It’s a lucky pony indeed that can rely on so many friends.”
We finally got headed to Beit Yanai Beach. I read the end of volume 1 of Bone. We got to the beach at 4:50. He was still a little worried about the sore on his foot, so he wore his light up shoes to the beach. I told him he was brave to still try it though, and he disagreed with me. As Carly parked I commented on how there were “A few people” there. He asked why I said that, and asked if it was sarcasm. I explained understatement.
We found a spot on the beach and Carly went for a swim and August and I started digging. We made an island with a moat around it. He put tons of shells and other things he found in the middle. He found the rind of something, and rind was another new word. Carly came back and we took turns playing with him. I waded in the water, but was mainly on a roll studying Hebrew, so didn’t go for a swim. She took him to the bathroom, and they took a long time coming back; he had stopped by the showers to play with the flow of water there. We decided to back up all of our stuff and move over there.
I played with him first, as he made a channel for the water. Carly and I again traded back and forth, although for stretches he was doing well playing by himself. Sunset came and went and the park started to clear out. He was still in the zone. They built up a big reservoir to hold the water, but it would eventually breach, rather dramatically. When it happened once I pointed out the water at the end was actually getting close to the sea. We ran down there, but it didn’t quite make it. We went back up and repaired it, making it even bigger. Then when it breached again, even bigger, we ran down and August was really excited that it touched the sea.
We finally had to convince him to leave after 7. He didn’t want to, but then said he had his evening time to look forward to at home. I pointed out how he was really developing his ability to think/look ahead and his delayed gratification. He turned that into another discussion of the future of Earth without humans. I asked if he knew about plastic, and he started with, “it mucks up the air…” Carly also mentioned that she and I had read The World Without Us and I said I could read parts of it to him sometime. We were driving at 7:15.
He ate dried mango for snack, and I read more of the Magic Misfits book. At home we got dinner ready, and he started with a berry yogurt. I was having to rush so I could get to the table so we could all eat together; Carly had taken August’s plate from him so he wouldn’t finish before I got there. He randomly asked, “Is it just me? Or is the world getting a little smaller every year?” They played Minecraft and I did a bit of work.
I did the dishes and they went upstairs for a bath. He ended up upset about something. I went up after he had calmed down, then was in the office. Carly came in and said that August requested I don’t leave the office for a few minutes, and I don’t try to ask him about what happened.
He came downstairs for one more small bowl of oatmeal, then he wanted a short Brother game. In it, Brother had just bought a bottle of milk to drink. Then he runs into everyone he knows. They want some of his milk, too. When he objects that he only has one straw they all pull out his own and drink all of his milk. He had me repeat it.
I got him back upstairs and said good night to them. It was close to 10 by the time I left, and then went for a run.
He got up right at 7:45 again today. I read the start of Neil Patrick Harris’s The Magic Misfits (on sale for 2 dollars) and he liked it enough to buy it and keep reading. We read several more pages, then he wanted Minecraft. Con was a word of the day. He played in his creative world. He asked me to join him. He was digging a huge hole with dynamite to get to the bottom of the world. We dug all the way through, down to the void area below. I then made breakfast. He walked around telling me about dragons and other things in Minecraft. He had oatmeal and mango, then some of my pizza.
We discussed and wrote out our plans for the day (later he would remind me that there were several things on our list that we didn’t do) and started with the video that Cherie sent about neutron stars colliding. He then wanted to watch other news, and we watched a couple of stories about the flooding in Texas and the hurricane on the coast, and ended with an article about deadly animals: https://apple.news/AvdaD1cB-Q6apSomdQJt8EQ. This led to a Brother game where he finds a baby golden dart frog and almost dies, then another jungle one where Millie was being a tiger to eat jungle animals, then one where they were back at school and Millie was an ant so Brother kept drawing attention for talking to himself.
I had hugged him on the couch to make him stop saying something like poop but then he kept doing it. I said if he wanted a hug he could say that. He said, “Can you do more hugging.” “Dada, hug.” For alone time he worked on a Lego car. I vacuumed the AC filters and started laundry. He came up and did a potion in the sink. I exercised. August said, “Mama doesn’t like going on the hike, but I think it’s good because then she gets exercise for the next year when she does the how.”
We went back downstairs to use his 15 minutes, but then he reminded me that he had already gotten extra time in the morning and he was supposed to earn it back. So he earned his second 15 by making a straw pecking hat out of the straws. I watered the plants. For his next 15 in Minecraft he was gliding with the elytra.
He asked, “Back when there were cavemen…electronic-y stuff…How did they invent it if they didn’t have the material?” We talked about how inventions built on one another, and also how the sharing of scientific information intensified with the printing press. “I invented a faster way to get water…I invented a water bottle…I invented an iron water bottle.”
He ate pizza for lunch, then we got going. We drove down to the big Tiv Taam. As we walked in, a car drove past, and the two people in it saw my shirt (the one from Glecy) and shouted, “Seattle!” We spent an hour in the store. We got chocolate chip cookie stuff and things for sandwiches for dinner. He chose a Russian candy treat, and also said there was something he wanted to get for Mama. He led me to these little containers of cheese in oil and herbs. He had apparently seen them a couple trips before and thought she would like it. He said he couldn’t get it the last time we went to the store because we went to the little Tiv Taam. He was the one that chose the big one today; not sure if it was specifically so we could get that for her.
We then drove up to Bet Yehoshua. Carly wanted to try the meat from the smoked meat guy. I stopped by the little store by the park area. Didn’t see him. There was a nice little coffee stand though, with a nice seating area. So August got a strawberry popsicle and I got a small cappuccino and we sat and read a bit more of the book from the morning. I had asked about the meat guy and was directed up and around the corner.
We drove up there and found it. August spent time picking wax off of a rock before we went in. The guy that served me, Dima, I think, was Russian and had recently been on a BBQ trip to Texas and New Orleans and Nashville and other places. Before we left he showed me the photos of a whole hog he had helped roast in New Orleans. I picked August up so he could see, because I knew he’d like that. I told him about Korean barbecue. I think Derek would like this guy.
We were getting close to 3. I had the idea of putting our frozen and refrigerated stuff in the staff lounge, but August really wanted to go home first. So we dropped off the food, then headed to school. There was something he really wanted to look up about Minecraft, so we did that in the car before driving. At one point, as he was talking pretty incessantly about Minecraft all day (more so than the past few) I pointed out how Minecraft is open-ended and allows him to see all sorts of possibilities (his super power). He agreed.
When we got to school we went to fill up water bottles. Ilana walked by, and August told her, all on his own, that he though she should have a book on ventriloquism in her library. I also told her about getting the meat, as she was the one that we had first heard about it from. We then saw Heather and Zoe as we walked to the pool.
We stopped in the bathroom and he went to the bathroom and got changed. A funny moment when I made him wash his hands, and he didn’t think he’d gone to the bathroom. He was so busy thinking and talking about other things (probably Minecraft), and he realized himself that he was distracted. First time he’s been that self-aware about it.
We got in the pool at 3:40. Carly was already there. Omri was there, but was out of the pool by then. Randomly, he asked us which of us asked the other to get married. Not something that has come up in any story, I think. He played the kickboard game with Carly.
When we were leaving close to 5 we were in the senior lounge area while Carly went to get her other backpack. We talked about what seniors are and I explained. He then decided he was building a college so kids can stay at this school if they love it. He was building up, making ladders so you could get to classrooms above the cafeteria. He also said, “There’s also going to be secret places…” And also, “Schools so parents can learn to do their jobs better.”
As we drove home he talked about a plan to make a fort at Vivian’s house, out where the bricks are, but not exactly in the place where Vivian thought there was poison ivy. He then randomly asked, “Why does Colin like trucks so much?” More self-awareness as he said, “I’m thinking about a million things at the same time.”
Home at 5. He made another straw creation, a pecking hat, and told Carly, “You might say something that a teenager would say. Like ‘How did you make that?’ Because it is really amazing. You won’t believe how amazing this is.” We had the meat and potatoes and carrot for dinner. I was the only one that had it as a sandwich. Carly bought Ethiopian coffee at a market in Akko and made that.
August mentioned the emotions stickers, the ones we had used for red and green, and talked about not liking or needing the sheets. Then said, “I thought of something I could have done in the past: ripped up the sheets with red stickers.” Carly finally made the sheet that he’d kept on the refrigerator, from the day he just had green stickers, silently go away. I thought he might notice it missing now, but he didn’t.
He had a few of the straw things together and was swinging them back and forth and noticed it was the same optical illusion as the guitar strings: it looks like there are two strings. We talked about why that happens, and he had a pretty good grasp on it. He had seconds on the potatoes. I went upstairs and worked on sweeping the laundry area (I might actually use the outside desk as things cool off a bit) and hung up our swim stuff.
Back downstairs, August helped me make chocolate chip cookies. He made a sculpture on the couch too, which he later knocked over after making sure I took a photo of it. When they were ready, I had him carry a cookie on a plate up to Carly, who was resting on the bed. Perfect timing, as they were talking about needing milk to go with it as I walked in behind him with milk.
Back downstairs he hung out while I did dishes. I dumped out his battery experiment, which he had started when Eve was over. Upstairs, he played in the sink and asked, “What’s minimize mean?” Another word of the day. He made a ring out of the hair from Carly’s brush. It fell apart before I could take a photo, but then he added soggy cardboard to it for a photo. All was fine until I tried to wash his hair. He got upset, then threw the bottle of cardboard water when I left to go get a small treat for him. Carly took over and I went for a run.
He was still awake for a while I said good night when I got back and I heard them talking after 9:30.
He woke up on his own at 7:45. Downstairs we read several poems, then he played Minecraft, building a floating house and defenses for a village in creative mode, like he had discussed doing last night. I got French toast ready for breakfast. We ate, and got ready to go. As we walked out, he told me that next time he has popsicles at a playdate he wants strawberry banana, confirming my suspicion that he had let Eve have it yesterday without saying anything. When I asked him more though he wouldn’t say anything.
We were driving at 9:10. August liked “Love You to the Sky” from his playlist, and we ended up listening to all of the remixes as he kept wanting to hear the song. It was just Lauren and Gilad at the park today. August was shy for a few seconds, but then we headed over to the music area. August ran circles at the music making machine and we played around, then headed on to the tractor, where August had played with Chuck. I asked if August remembered playing with Opa, and he didn’t reply, but a minute later he was making juice by pumping a lever, which is what he did with Chuck. He and Gilad played on the tractor for a long time. It turned into a flying tractor or something and they were asking us to get on. They were having a great time being silly together, and August was laughing really hard.
We then headed over to the covered playground. We stopped to show them the Zigzag sculpture, then went to the concrete maze for a few minutes before reaching it, where they played the airplane game again. From there August wanted to go to the big playground for the climbing structures, so we headed over there. They were both done a bit after 11. Good timing. August was really sweaty. We started to walk back with them, then August wanted to stop to watch the parakeets and mynah birds that were in the grass, and we could get quite close to. We said goodbye to them. Spent another 5 to 10 minutes watching the birds on the ground and in the tree. There was also a rainbow kite stuck in the tree.
From there we drove to Wiz Kids. Got a box of word magnets, and also a Monster Speak card game. Since we were looking for reading stuff, August suggested he find words in the store that he knows, and wanted me to write them down. He read: Love, Yard, Help, Monkey, Find, Give, You can, Long, Name, Sing, Fish, Bingo, Verbs, Water, Magic. He thought elephant was element and fiction was friction.
We drove home, listening to more of the remixes. I made egg salad sandwiches for him for lunch, then he showed me the new world he was working on in Minecraft. He’s made a really creative floating house. He then had a Brother game, with him on the beach, relaxing. Bar makes spacecraft in her lab and zooms past him. They talked about the ship. We then looked at our agenda for the day. He did art on the iPad for 15 minutes of alone time: “See, it’s total abstract.” I exercised. He then did 15 minutes of Minecraft on his own.
I went out and watered plants. He worked on his egg carton sculpture. Added his comb. He asked about the origins of his playlist (April 3, 2017) and wanted to hear the first song. We listened to “Pay your dues” and then all the versions. He was running across the floor and diving on the couch. “This is a good use of the couch. I never want to move.” “This will be so fast I’ll catch on fire and burn up this room, Brother.”
I asked if he wanted me to play music again, like guitar, and he excitedly said, “Yes!” I got the guitar down and we played with it and GarageBand and he also played with synths on his iPad.
We next opened the word magnets and he was reading a word, then telling a little story using the word. Recorded a few. We wrote a poem together:
1 Are you done?
2 No, this will take longer than you think.
1 How long do you think it will take?
2 I said, it will take longer than you think it will take, I think.
1 Well, how long do you think I think it will take?
2 I think you think it will take less time than I think it will take.
1 Why do you think that I think it will take less time than you think it will take?
2 Because I think you think I think it will take more time than you think I think you think it will take.
1 Thinking that I think it will take less time than you think it will take isn’t really thinking, is it?
2 But you said you think that you think that I think that you think… AAAGH. Just go away and come back when I’m finished.
1 And, uhh, when exactly do you think that will be?
2 AAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!
We worked together on a Lego car house, making a house on top of one of the Mindstorm car bases I had made. He then wanted to play on his own to get the rest of his alone time. We were listening to KEXP, and he liked a few songs. One was from Primal Scream, and I said, “This band is called Primal Scream.” He replied with an excited “Oooooh.” He asked me about the ‘parents better than children’ poem in the book and we discussed what each is better at. He then danced to “Get Innocuous” by LCD Soundsystem. He wanted to play guitar for more alone time, and we agreed he could earn more alone time if, instead of watching a full movie tonight, we watch something shorter. He agreed, and as he sat on the couch, playing guitar, said, “I want a kid guitar sometime.” We played Minecraft together this time.
He was being slow getting going, then finally, about 5:30, when he was getting hungry, he at first declared it was too late to leave the house, as it would get dark soon, and might rain. Even if it was for pizza. But eventually he changed his mind and we drove up to VIPizza. Town was busy, so initially I parked in our usually side street spot. August was legitimately distressed by this, so I quickly agreed to look for a closer spot, which I wouldn’t normally do. We drove around the other end of town and the park by the library was absolutely packed. Some event going on. We found a spot in the lot between the dirt lot and the hardware store—a lot we have never parked in before, and I just noted the other day, realizing it was a public lot. August was happier now.
I gave August the option of checking out the park or getting pizza first. He chose pizza, and it was the correct choice. Outside the grocery store we saw John from the school and his wife. August noted they had bought watermelon. We went into VIPizza and ordered a pizza. Carly wouldn’t be eating any of it, so I got tuna and bulgarot cheese on half, and August got corn on his half. He saw a girl get a mixed slushee, so he got one as well, and I got a cappuccino. Our timing was perfect, as the event must have finished. It got really crowded, and soon there was a line and no tables left. It was too loud for us to read Bone, but at least we had a table.
August ate a slice of his, and part of a slice of the tuna and said he liked it. On the way back to the car he talked about having a full feeling in his tummy to get rid of. I was a little concerned he was actually getting stomach aches, so we talked about the feeling, and he assured me it was generally a good feeling of being really full.
We got home at 6:50. The water from the leak is starting to reach out near the street, so I took a photo. Inside, August said, “We need a real germ microscope…I don’t know what a germ looks like.” He did his evening iPad time. He asked “What’s stronghold?” He’s asked a few times, so we discussed it. We opened the Monster Speak cards and made some sentences. I was less excited by this one: the outside of the box is mainly in English, but the rules for the card game are just in Hebrew. Also, there are less unique words than I expected, as cards are repeated. He also asked “What’s a metamorphosis?” Another word of the day.
We watched two My Little Pony episodes. 7 and 8. Lots of laughing. Then we did a Brother and Bar game with them arguing, then a girl with wings crashes into the house. This led to the little sister wanting danger again.
August remembered cheesy crackers, which he has mentioned a couple times recently, always recalling that he had eaten them at Herzliya Park. He said, “It was on our agenda.” I pointed out that he just used the word agenda. He said, “I’m okay with that word now, well when I say it…The J makes a nice feeling in my throat: agenda, agenda…”
Sadly, the cheesy crackers I had seen in the back of the cupboard had been open, for months. So we tossed them out. Put them on the list to buy at the store tomorrow.
He had frozen mango and milked that, and seconds, into time to play with the Legos. I took him upstairs and we did a bath. It was late, so when he protested washing his hair I gave in. Carly was back late, after 9, and asked if he wanted a call. He at first said he didn’t need one, but then changed his mind, so he could “See the precious mama.” We called her, and she showed us the mosque off in the distance.
When I went to brush his teeth he spit it out. I had put my toothpaste on it. He handled it well, grabbing his water bottle, and going to the sink to spit more. He mainly laughed about it. I got the lights out by 9:50. August quoted the line from the poem about dragons eating knights: “No armor, mom. I want the crust off.” Did a little singing and he was asleep by 10:15.
