This Is Our Blog

He woke up at 7:20. I was up but still in bed and he climbed in with me for a good ten minutes. He’d only slept 8 hours and 20 minutes, but woke up rather stuffy. We went downstairs, and he requested his blanket. I read him a few Mary Oliver poems and then a couple chapters of The Boxcar Children. In Minecraft he discovered that there is a new free educational world called Neolithic Revolution. We went in that a little and I talked about it, but the guides thing in it wasn’t working. We switched to our survival world for the rest of the time.

I heated up french toast for breakfast and he watched a couple Super Tony videos. When Carly came in he excitedly told her that there are life hack videos about school, like how to erase an F. We then watched a few educational videos of my choosing: cello players from Seattle Symphony Orchestra (https://youtu.be/KxopOA5YFXU), a SciShow about novas (hypothetical was a word of the day) (https://youtu.be/GaHZ_uiqgjM), and then, when August asked why snakes shed their skin we found a channel of kid-hosted videos called Inspero. We watched the one about snakes (https://youtu.be/O9UlAPFIwbg), then one about the biggest number, learning about numbers like googleplexium, Graham’s Number, and Tree 3 (https://youtu.be/2bPnSMhnfzQ). Oh, and we watched a short NASA mission video as well (https://youtu.be/xkVG79xSJuE).

He then went outside to tell Carly all about the big numbers. They saw the neighbor David with his grandson Riki with peanuts or macadamia nuts. I went inside for a minute. David was offering August some, I think, but I don’t think he took any, as he wasn’t willing to get too close. He then watched the video about the Chinese economy that Carly was watching.

We then did piano time together inside. We had a piano competition, then a game with him being the person from the Boston Symphony Orchestra and talking to Brother and Sister. He wanted to do his alone time so started podcasts. He found a Stories Podcast that had an audio glitch near the beginning. He thought that was funny, but switched to a different story, “One of Us” and walked in circles as he listened. He then decided to play in the flat world for Minecraft time.

We went outside and had some pita and hummus and banana chips and he had a game with Brother and Sister stuck in the car in a traffic jump full of “black beetle cars.” That’s from Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang. I had the dad get on the highway going the wrong direction, adding hours to their trip to the science center.

Inside we watched Grian’s newest, and installed and noughts and crosses were new words. We had schnitzel and cucumber outside for lunch. We then went inside for math time and did a lot of Khan Academy. We were getting quite warm and I realized it was 32 degrees and August turned the AC on. We were then starting writing time, when Carly came and told us that Brian said there were lots of things to take apart out in the junk piles. It was enough to get me and August out for a walk, but we didn’t find anything. We were skeptical though, as we’d seen a claw truck pick up our own junk pile earlier in the day.

I gave August his chocolate snack bar as we finished walking around the Holly block. He likes it melted, and was letting it melt in his hands, then licking off the chocolate. He ate that with Carly in the yard as I walked up and checked one more spot. Back home, I walked inside and found a tiny bird flying around the house. August came in and helped me keep track of it as I opened windows. It finally went out one of the kitchen windows.

He sat on the swing and pushed himself with the broom, then had the idea of a bridge making game. It turned out it only had me making spaghetti bridges against myself while he did Supersonic Piano. He asked, “What’s luminescent mean?” It is from the Pooka story. And in Supersonic Piano he asked what celestial meant. The bridge building stopped, and I was low energy, with a headache. He played with the spaghetti noodles and had fun breaking them up and putting them under me on the couch. I was also trying to get Facebook Messenger Kids working, and even though it works in 70 countries Israel isn’t one of them and I couldn’t get it set up.

We both got our energy back. He remembered burning himself on the stove in Thailand, or at least remembered being told about it. We looked at photos of that, then of other small apartments (Tessa’s, where Liam and Nava live), and Cassie and Noah and Taya’s apartment. And I found a photo of August where he looked a lot like Ruby, so I found photos of her.

We then went back to writing. He copied out a few words we’d chosen, like Vivian and August, and worked on letters like ‘e’ ‘i’ and ’n’. He asked, “Whats vibrant mean?” Probably heard it from a story. For his starts he then did a half hour of Minecraft, adding more stuff in his world for Vivian. He made a beacon for her shower area. He was really excited by the effect he made, and the colors: “I hit the bulls-eye on that…That’s totally amazing. Just looking at that makes your mind blow…your mind breaks.”

He played piano, and we were listening to KEXP. A few weeks ago they were still working from the studio, but staying in different rooms. Now, they were working from their homes, with just one person back in the office. John, the DJ was at home, and they were doing to do a live performance with the musician in his front yard, tossing a cord out to him.

August wanted stories, so listened to Stories Podcast “The Inch-High Samurai” but switched to “The Treasured Axe” on Circle Round. Then “Practice Makes Progress” I was getting ready for a run and they called Vivian and were working out why she’s been getting frustrated the last couple days; they apparently agreed Colin was the main issue.

I went for a run. When I got back they were playing Minecraft. He would get up and run and jump around for exercise. Did it 3 or 4 times. They called back after Minecraft for reading time, and Vivian ended up reading to them. August asked me after “What’s toil away mean?”

Carly took him up for a bath. We brushed and flossed our teeth together, then listened to “The Magic Cloth” on Circle Round and “See Star? Sea Star” on Peace Out. I then put on the Charles Vaughan album Haunted Woodland Volume 3. It is a drone-y thing, and I didn’t know if he’d like it. But when I asked he said he loved it. I was totally falling asleep, and he had woken me up for water and Cheerios, so now I fell back to sleep. Not sure when he was actually asleep, but it was by 10:50 or so.

A song:

Laughing looking at me:

End of a song:

Bird in the house:

Lever on the swing:

Writing practice:

Minecraft shower renovation:

Dramatic song:

Vivian reading to them:

He got up at 8:05. He went to the bathroom upstairs, then downstairs he wanted to learn rhythm on the piano. At first I thought he meant counting, so we started on that, but he meant playing with the metronome so we switched to that. Played for quite awhile. We played Minecraft, then I made french toast and he had a Sister and Dad and composer for Boston Symphony game. We ate our french toast outside and continued the game. He said, “I’m a jazzophologist…I study jazz.” We were sitting outside when the sirens went off. We talked about it, and he was a little skeptical of the whole sirens thing.

He scared Carly when she came through the doorway. She honestly yelled and was scared. He said, “I scared your pantsies off…You jumped a meter in the air. It’s like you’re a kangaroo.” He himself was scared in by a bee. Talking about jazz, I looked for jazz concert videos and we watched a jazz band on KEXP for 8 minutes or so, then watched the newest GoodTimeswithScar video. He then had a game with Myna and logging on to a server run by a very braggy person. We did the story once, then asked for a repeat.

For alone time he listened to “Loki and the Golden Hair” on Circle Round. He asked what lingering meant, so a word of the day. We played Minecraft, then went upstairs to the bedroom for a Ms. Safe rehearsal game and some wrestling. We came back downstairs for lunch (pizza and crackers with meat and cheese and pistachios). He saw a yellow butterfly through the window. He then wanted more stories and listened to “The Telltale Wrapper” and “The Thanksgiving Pie-Off” and “The Little Red Hen” and “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”. We discussed how their version is different than Carly’s. In her version the boy is eaten.

He asked about bee stings and what they feel like and wanted me to compare them to other things. I mentioned nettles, and he came up with a game where Brother fell into a bear trap made out of nettles. The dad was then slow to get calamine lotion, getting distracted by things like the dirt shop.

We got ready for a walk, but then set up Zoom on the laptop first so it would be ready to use with Gabi later. As we went out for a walk August was asking why witches burn in the sun and trolls turn into stone; I made up physics about the sun burning out phosphorous, etc. We looked at his ant spot. I was trying to spot butterflies as well, but no luck. I got him to walk a bit further, but he complained that he found ants but “But they’re not booming with population.” We walked back to the bench by the corn flower and a little dog really scared August on the way. Actually, the dog was just walking with its owner, but August yelled and gave it a very wide berth.

We sat and he had his chocolate bar. We ended up discussing back when he was in the backpack and what he remembered from it. We also discussed my books, and other things about Korea. He asked what “Mandatory evacuation” means, from the hurricane book.

We went up and did math with the multiplication blocks. While doing that he found two of the tiny banana shaker bead pieces and put them in a container made of the magnet pieces. We tried to watch a couple videos about body language, but didn’t find a great one. Carly came down and August ran to her and said, “Bye, Dada!” We then helped her come up with interview questions for helping to interview for the principal position. August was really into that.

We went up and got him ready to meet with Gabi. It worked well on the computer. Gabi had problems though. He had some sort of video or similar thing to show him, but it wasn’t working for Gabi. They tried troubleshooting it for a few minutes, then just switched to playing games. They played the tank tame, then for the last few minutes I went in and helped with a Pictionary sort of game.

As we headed downstairs August suggested he use honey to work on pronouncing his R. Totally his idea and not something we’ve talked about. We got some honey and the Articulation app and sat outside and worked on R. We worked on it together for quite a while. The biggest helps were talking about the vibrations in his throat, then focusing on how the lips don’t pucker like for W. He was getting pretty good with R by the end.

Shmuel came by. He was outside, and I went to talk to him. August came over and asked me to stand a little further back: “You know, social distancing.” I had sent Shmuel the movie, and he complimented August on the music.

I brought out the coconut rice and broccoli for dinner, and more asparagus this time as August said he really liked it. I noted a spot of syrup I had dripped on the ground earlier, and August tried to clean it up on his own.

Carly talked about her day and how she had had a talk with her students about whether money buys happiness. August chimed in and was totally on the side of money not buying happiness. He was very well spoken about it, and said, “You have to be humble to be happy.” He, and/or Carly, brought up a couple of the folk tales, and I brought up The Boxcar Children. August talked about how money doesn’t make you successful; if you are poor and get bread and milk that could be successful.

He wanted to hear “The Tell-tale Heart”, as I had told him that “Tell-Tale Wrapper” had been based on it. We discussed it a bit more, but I said it would be a few years before we read it. We went inside for Minecraft with Vivian. After a while she got upset about something being on fire; August was pretty sure that it was something that Colin did, but he got upset thinking she was mad at him. Just too stressful so he stopped. We played together in our world instead.

He then wanted to listen to stories and listened to Stories Podcast: “The Grasshopper and the Ant” and “The Three Little Pigs” threshhold Was a word of the day. I went for a run. A lot of people out there, most without masks. They were watching a documentary about terraforming mars when I got back. En route was another new word. I took a shower and when I came down they were finishing bag number 2 of popcorn.

We got him upstairs and August asked me, “What’s agonizing mean?” I described it, and he suggested like choosing between cupcakes or ice cream. But then he had a practical solution: “I’d choose the one with more sugar.”

Carly washed him. In bed I read two stories to him from a book of fairy tales called _

Brave Red, Smart Frog. I read “The Three Noodles” (entirely new to me) and “Hansel and Gretel”—the first time he’s really heard that story. There were a lot of words he asked the meanings for: console, grief, premise, feeble, sparse. He also asked, “What’s forgiveness mean?” as we went to brush our teeth. We did that, and he did a great job but was scared out of the bathroom by a big fly, which we trapped in there. So he didn’t do mouthwash today.

Carly surprised him by coming out of the bedroom, as we thought she was asleep. Back in bed we listened to “Persephone’s Winter” on Stories Podcast: pantheon and fickle were new. He then had the idea for a new girl in the Brother and Sister games, a girl who said everything really, really fast. We did that for a minute, but it was frankly a bit annoying. I read him a Mary Oliver poem “The World I Live In” and we listened to a Peace Out on Loving Kindness. Put on a Max Cooper album and he was asleep before 11.

During the sirens:

Tiny ant:

Pronouncing R:

He came out at 7:08. Just over 8 and a half hours. Ugh. He climbed into bed with me for a few minutes, then we got up at 7:15. Downstairs we read The Boxcar Children #2. When Carly came down he told her jokes: “How does a pea protect itself? It’s SHELL-ter!” (Which he had just made up) and “What’s a whale’s favorite game? Swallow the leader!” (From a podcast) and “Knock knock…interrupting trombone…” (From me, I think).

We did more reading, then played Minecraft – I almost finished the roof and he was working on Carly’s path. He then asked what mandatory evacuation mens (from the I Survived a Hurricane book from last night) and voluntary was also a word of the day. We had oatmeal for breakfast, then he played piano and he had a piece he really liked that was mixing major and minor. He was then practicing the song he’s been learning. We did a Brother game – another advanced civilization and Minecraft. Sister was making a multiverse portal and needing black hole converters. We did much of that outside.

Back inside we watched a crane fly video that Cherie had sent,https://youtu.be/2RF6iyrwAeU

, then we did some videos for Eve and Zoe. He quickly requested a Zoom meeting with them, but was shy to do so. We read some What If. I then read him the email that Carly had forwarded from Hank and we watched the piano video he had sent:https://youtu.be/MO97wSZmBmg

He listened to Circle Round’s “The Piper and the Pooka” for alone time. He noted when they used the phrase “stock still” in the story. Not sure if this is where he heard the phrase for the first time. Think this is the third time we’ve heard this story.

We played Minecraft in his world that he uses with Vivian and Colin. Vivian had made things in her world between times they had played together in it, and now August wanted to build things to surprise them in his world, as they were playing in it today. He added a bunch of bells for Colin, decorations on the tower thing, and we decorated a tunnel and he made a big piece of wall art in the tunnel that was really cool and he was really proud of.

We played piano, then Supersonic Piano. He then had a Ms. Safe games with piano class. He played really hard music for them, that I had both inspire and make the class sad and he thought that was pretty funny. We ate pizza outside for lunch. Back inside he did Supersonic Piano and had a Swedish fish, then more pizza. I saw him starting with the crust and was confused, as he usually doesn’t even eat the crust: “Starting with the crust…and end with the tail!”

To earn stars he started with Khan Academy working in multiplication. Did two quizzes to jump ahead. The for music we did a Ms. Safe music class with the metronome. We were working on timing and walking the hands at the same time, which is really tricky. Then, for reading, he read from Rivet, reading level 2 and 3 books. He has clearly made progress. He talked about wanting to learn jazz, and we did a bit of that, but I don’t really know how to teach him much, and he isn’t too interested in watching videos.

The groceries came; Carly wiped them off, and I put them away. He used stars for 30 minutes of Minecraft time, and he played with Carly for a while, adding more to the world for Vivian and Colin, and then I took over when she had to go to a meeting. He asked, “What’s intricate mean?” He then used it a minute later, saying “I’m good at intricate patterns.” He finished his art piece and said he wants to do a heart later.

I got him out for an ant walk, and we went and watched ants where he had gone with Carly. I hadn’t taken his water bottle, so when we walked back to the house to get it we made up a funny “Water store” song based on the “Juice Store” song, and it was all about how the water store only had things that make you thirsty, and no water. When he got his water bottle he was really laughing, and I wasn’t even saying anything and he was laughing just looking at me, and spit water on the floor. I was turning my back to him to help him not laugh.

He had some of the new crackers and peanut butter, then did some piano time. I took out the action and figured out the one key that has been sticking and fixed it, and fixed the lowest note on the piano. Getting better. He did more really cool playing, then we worked on composing together; him providing all of the ideas, and me helping get it into Notion. That worked quite well.

He then just wanted to listen to stories, so listened to Circle Round’s “Kangaroo and Joey Too” and “Three Wishes”. I went for a run, longer this time and using the 500 meters. I saw Brian and his family again. When I got back August was listening to “The Stonecutter” on Stories Podcast.

Carly had cooked more veggies to eat with the coconut rice and we had that for dinner. He played Minecraft with Vivian and Colin. Unfortunately, Vivian wasn’t too receptive to the changes and additions that August had made, not liking the decorations or bells in particular, although she liked the tunnel. While they played I spent a little time on the roof and beams, and watched the rest of that coronavirus concert, then started some work.

When they were done with Minecraft I read some of What If? and perturbation was a word of the day. He finished his first dinner and wanted more. But then they called Cassie back to see if Vivian wanted to do story time. Cassie asked her and she said no, and Cassie said she was upset about something involving Minecraft. Not clear what that was, but August took all of it badly and got really upset. We managed to keep him around the couch, and eventually he agreed to go upstairs with me and go in his room by himself and listen to stories by himself. I sat out on the couch and worked, and he turned on his air conditioner to 17 and listened to “Why the LeVes Change Color” and “Max Goodname and the Silent Night, part 1” He was hungry so I brought up his second bowl of dinner and and Cheerios, and he used the stool as a little table. He really liked the Max Goodname story and asked me to come in and listen to it with him. It was more like a fantasy story, with dwarves and enchanters and whatnot. I went in and listened and also kept working. He then listened to “Peanut Butter Jelly War”, then part two of Max Goodname. Vengeance and dwarf were new words. Didn’t finish it though, as he wanted the kangaroo story again after asking what Tanglewood is (we looked it up and it is a concert venue in Massachusetts).

We listened to the live “Kangaroo and Joey” story, then he went to the bathroom. He said he wanted to learn more about composing tomorrow, specifically how to compose the note lengths in his head. I suggested some activities we could do, and hummed a line. He told me he thought that two of my notes were out of tune, flat. Carly came in to actually wash him and he brushed his teeth really well on his own. I then took over and brushed my teeth. He said he wasn’t going to floss. I said okay, but I was going to floss, and I got his out for him and just set it on the counter. He decided to go ahead and floss too. We’ve also started doing mouthwash, and he did that again today.

We said good night, and in the bedroom he was trying to say “Wink, wink”, but wasn’t really using it correctly, so I taught him how to do that. He also asked how to actually wink, and I reminded him how he’d found it really hard to calmly close his eyes when he was back in Korea. He tried winking, but couldn’t do it. I’m sure he’ll figure it out at some point.

We read a little of The Boxcar Children. He went to the bathroom and was talking about dogs for some reason, and what they can understand/learn. As we walked back to the bedroom he said, “Hey! I just figured something out: you can code dogs!” Lights off at 10:35 and we listened to Peace Out’s “Water Cycle”. He played with his snow globe and asked how he got it and I reminded him of Cherie buying it in Jerusalem. He remembered, and also thought it was funny that there were all those crowds and no social distancing. He noted how the phone screen could reflect in it and called it the “3D version…” We listened to Jherek Bischoff’s Composed Instrumentals, which he really likes. After one track he said, “I can’t get to sleep.” But was asleep soon after that by 10:55.

A tune he’s been working on:

Bouncing the ball over him:

Music for Eve and Zoe 1:

Music for Eve and Zoe 2:

Zoom meeting request:

Reading time:

Open piano playing:

Open piano playing 2:

He got up a little before 8. I heard him go into the bathroom in his own. After a minute he called down to me. I started to come up and heard him close and lock the bathroom door. Very unusual. I sat out on the couch, waiting for him. He had apparently peer his pants a bit.

Changed him and he crawled into the couch bed. I then read a couple chapters of Shivers before we headed downstairs. Scout was a word of the day. Carly was working on a groceries order and he went straight to the piano. In a few minutes he had learned the fourth line of “Elevate: Two”.

For Minecraft he played a few minutes of the animals game on his own, then we played together in our survival world. When we were done he went and played piano. He was doing some amazing piano playing: using triple sixteenth patterns, four chord lines, and intentionally using things like dim e rit, accents, and legato. Not sure if I mentioned that last night, as he was doing the soundtrack to the book Carly was reading, he told us he was matching his piano playing to what was happening in the story last night.

For breakfast I made us fried eggs and toast. He had honey on his toast. He played more piano and did some composing, transcribing part of a song he knows, then played with Google voice search, which is great pronunciation practice for him. I discovered that Bob Mattson, a friend of a friend (Derek Jennings) has just posted a full Western State Hurricanes concert from the Tractor Tavern and I started watching that. He’s improved his concert videography, and must be working with the approval of venues/the bands now, as he has multiple angles and good audio. August watched several minutes of that with me, and said he liked one of the guitars the best.

We then headed outside. He showed me his weeds: “They just grew there…they looked like a grand entryway, so I decided to care for them.” We played with the soccer ball and he invented two competitive games: one where we took turns trying to kick the ball and hit the other person, and the other person could make one step and one step only to try to get out of the way. If you got one point you got to go a second time; otherwise it was the other person’s turn. And the second game involved throwing/rolling the ball to hit the person. This time they had 5 seconds to run away and you had to tag them in that time.

We sat in the chairs and started reading The Boxcar Children 2. I started counting how many times the book uses the word ‘laugh’ and it continued to be a lot like in the first one. Eventually we went inside. I started to get coffee, and Carly was grading. August wanted to do a piano competition with her, and when she asked to compromise he got upset and started hitting her. A big meltdown ensued and kept going, as he wouldn’t use his curling up strategy, etc.

When he calmed down I took him up to Carly, where he cuddled in the bed and they talked. I went for a walk, enjoying the now 500 meters we can go from our house, but also wearing a mask as now required—Mandy was walking alone and a police officer made her return home to get a mask. No fine, but it will be 200 shekels the second time.

I came back and took a shower. August helped me make the beds in his room, then Carly and I met with Gabi. August had been planning for some time now, that the next time that Carly and I met with Gabi and he had his extra watching time that he would start watching Mumbo Jumbo’s videos from the start of season 7. He did, and had started #3 when we were done, so I watched the rest of that with him. Daft was a word of the day. He and I then talked and made a plan chart of what we can all do when he gets upset. He did a good job talking about it, and I gave him back his evening time with Vivian and Colin.

In talking about playing with Vivian he said, “I’m going to chat slash Os…that’s her smiley face…” He meant Keralis, and seeing him type some sort of emoji in Hermitcraft. And he told me how he had learned to spell ‘sleep’ correctly from Vivian.

We went downstairs and he went out and talked to Carly while she was grading. Heard him talking to her about plagiarism. He asked insightful questions like “How do you know they copied?” Back inside he showed Carly his piano playing and what he’s learned recently, and I made more of the coconut rice for dinner. After going to the bathroom he a couple times today made sure the light was left on. Carly saw him turn the light back on after she turned it off and asked why, and he said, “So monsters doesn’t spawn in there.”

He went back out with her while she gardened. I went out and Carly was excited that the compost seems ready to use. He called it “chunky dirt!” They called Cassie for a minute, then Oma. He was hanging upside down on the stairs to the slide. He discussed losing teeth with her and Cherie said he’s the only kid she knows that has ever kept a loose tooth a secret. Of other kids he asked, “What emotions do they feel?”

Vivian called back, and they played Minecraft, then read one of the I Survived books. He had seconds and then thirds of dinner. We got him upstairs and Carly gave him a bath. In bed we listened to “The Money Tree” again and “Rice Cakes and the Oni”. We listened to a Peace Out, and ease was a new word. I had put some sort of calmer music on, and after a while he said he couldn’t sleep. I suggested he just use the time to listen to music, and asked if there was anything he wanted to just listen to, not just sleepy music. He first asked about the poster in his room, which is about a kid reading. He then requested listening to Underworld, and he was asleep before the end of first Underworld song, “Nylon Strung”, at 10:30.

A tune:

In the chairs with mama:

Hanging on the ladder:

He was talking in his sleep when I woke up. A little after I was downstairs he came down, at 8:35. We read the New York chapter of What If? Prey was a word of the day. When it mentioned a billion years ago August said, “one fourth of the earths existence.” Descendants was another new word. He went out to Carly for a few minutes, then came in and we played Minecraft. That went fine, then Carly made him oatmeal. He watched an Ants Canada video. Carly came in and talked to him about a games swap with Tessa’s family. When Carly talked about them having a small apartment, August at first thought they were coming to stay with us, or swapping places to stay. So when she clarified it was just swapping games he was totally fine with it. He was also worried about us having to drive, and at first was okay with them driving to us to get the games. But then a minute later he went to Carly and said he was worried about them driving.

He did some piano time, then we had a Brother and a Sister game with future civilization. He went upstairs with Carly and did exercise with her, and I went for a walk. After I got back he came down and we started to read the new Shivers book, which is number 4. A lot of laughing. New words included socket and crook. August asked, “How did a person become a pirate?” And we talked about that.

For lunch I got out cucumber and hummus. We did a long story time: future civilization again, hologram archive etc. He listened to Story Pirates outside and is now caught up on the most recent episode (he has a few minutes of it left, I think). I had made him two schnitzels and he ate both of those, then Carly’s too.

He had done his alone time with Story Pirates, so we now did 30 more minutes of Minecraft. He helped me with the roof and beam and he made concrete. I took a shower and they did a little Khan Academy. Back down I started to learn a song on piano called “Elevate: Two” and August wanted to learn it. He then made up a song and pointed out it was in B Minor. His favorite scales are usually C Minor Blues or A Minor. He did some Supersonic Piano, then played more piano and did some Ms. Mean game. He was then learning “Elevate: Two” and surprised us with how he was actually sight reading to figure it out on his own.

I then started to get a MEL Chemistry experiment ready. I told him it was about diffusion. He asked what that was, then promptly walked outside to where Carly was doing some gardening. I ended up outside as well and we ended up with a long game of him telling the Romans about future technology.

I’ve been trying to get the Apple Card so we don’t have to deal with foreign transaction fees, but am having difficulty convincing Goldman Sachs that I’m who I say I am. So I worked on that, and was then making a lemongrass coconut rice dish for dinner. They were laughing a lot, and went upstairs, I think to wrestle. When dinner was ready they were nowhere to be found. I set up dinner outside and started to eat without them, then stopped and just drank wine and listened to my audiobook. They came back after ten minutes or so. They had gone on a walk where they saw an ant colony and he was digging in the dirt. They saw ants carrying eggs, and he was mixing different kinds of ants to see what would happen.

They got back and we all ate. Shmuel called to ask how August’s music is going and I sent him the link to the movie that August and Carly made. August was talking about gardening with Carly and asked some really good questions: “What’s it feel like when the plants die?…to you?” “And then, since you made a mistake you know how to make it last longer next time.”

They called Vivian and I went for a walk, then sat outside and read a little. Inside we all played a little Minecraft. When they finished (August did a great job of stopping), Carly read more of I Survived a Hurricane. Yesterday they had started a little thing where August would do a short musical interlude on piano between chapters and they did that today as well.

When they were done he went to the bathroom He did a Myna game on a braggy server. She built a “VIMB…very invisible mega base.” We were then discussing our castle and I talked about the beams. He didn’t know that definition of beam, so that was a new word.

Carly called Claremay and August played piano for her. Carly had thought that she could Zoom of FaceTime, but that’s not the case. August and I then watched the National Theatre production of Treasure Island. He liked that a lot and we watched the first half. We discussed longitude and latitude a lot and consulted the globe. I was explaining to him why longitude is hard to calculate, and why it requires clocks, and then actually how it is done (we had learned how to estimate latitude from the play). This was one time that August’s knowledge was a slight hindrance; he argued with me about time, and how it varies slightly from point to point in the universe. But he was getting it.

We went upstairs with some crackers and peanut butter and he ate those upstairs. August was asking about criminals, starting with why someone would become a pirate or criminal. He then had the idea that if he were a criminal (not that he would be, but if, he said) he could turn in his co-criminals. That led to a whole discussion of turning witness.

We were listening to the Deepak Verbera album from Botany, an album that Carly’s friend Paul has been listening to. August had his bath, then was quoting exercise videos, apparently: “Cardio cupcakes…my heart rate is going up!” And he asked, “What’s cheesy mean?

We brushed our teeth. He has that down now. He brought up slavery and asked if some people treated slaves better than others. That led to a discussion of Washington and Lincoln, and how they each responded to slavery. I taught him the concept manumission along the way. Finally, we joked about the three ways of making it so that February could have 30 days (slowing down the rotation of the earth during the month, slowing down its revolution around the sun that month, or convincing the government to change the calendar, were the three we came up with).

We said good night and listened to “The Narrow Bridge” on Stories Podcast, then a Peace Out. He commented on a word she used, and I discussed how he listens closely to words. He said he knows he uses why and how a lot. He brought up the podcast But Why?, and quoted their slogan, “We’re serious about being curious.”

We listened to the album, and he fell asleep by 11.

Cool rhythm:

Remembering his old toy piano song:

Experimenting:

A funny acronym:

Providing a soundtrack:

August woke up in the middle of the night. His underwear was a little wet and he wanted new pants. As he went into the bathroom he asked if Mama was asleep, then asked, “How do you fall asleep so fast?” He then said, “When it’s so warm they should open the pool…Wby haven’t we been doing that? Covid-19?” “I made a region of cold so cold your teeth chatter at 90 percent the speed of light.”

I fell asleep on the lower bed and a bit later was woken by the sound of him talking in his sleep: “I’ll ask other countries to give me all their bombs and explode them all at once.” And a moment later, “Hi, …” But I didn’t catch who he said hi to.

He then woke up at 7:25. He cuddled with me for a few minutes, then went and played piano. He then wanted Minecraft and we worked on an XP farm. We had oatmeal for breakfast, then he went upstairs to exercise with Carly. I listened to an Indicator story about Molly Moon’s Ice Cream and the effects of the shutdown. Back down he did some Siri searching on his iPad. We read Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang and truncheon was a word of the day. We played around in Tabletop, listening to some of our old songs and working a bit on a new one. He then did alone time, playing piano. He had a song that had a 4 chord bass line, showing that he’s getting more complex in his composing.

“The First Ring” on Circle Round smack dab wotd

We worked on the XP farm. Won’t work as is.

He played Minecraft with Gilad. They had a lot of fun, and I went for a quick walk near the end. I saw Brian and his family, out doing a sort of power walk together. I came back and started making lunch. We had the frozen hot dog things, cranberries, and carrots and hummus. We went to eat outside and he requested cucumber, so I got that. We did a little Brother and Sister game, but then finished reading Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang. We went in and were going to do math in Khan Academy. Carly took over and he did two of the multiplication activities while I went up and took a shower.

They finished math, then switched to making a graphic novel in some program Carly has access to. He lost interest in that, so we watched GoodTimeswithScar and self-appointed was a word of the day. As was amenities. I played piano. He listened to Story Pirates. He came over and played and discovered what we learned is the C Whole-Tone scale.

Outside he kept listening to Story Pirates, sitting next to Carly. He then watched one video, Kurzgesagt, I think, about ant wars. I then read some of Vile Verses, but that didn’t last long, as he kept picking his nose, or pretending to do it as a joke, and wouldn’t stop. Carly told him the story of the Boy Who Cried Wolf, then they had a big discussion of why money is valuable, using Minecraft as an example.

I watched Hamlet, from the Globe. They went for a walk across the street and looked at ants and bugs. They came back and he watched part of Hamlet with me. We had spaghetti for dinner and kept watching. They called Vivian and I went for a walk. I met Mikael(sp?), a neighbor a couple doors down on Kibuts, and discussed the barky dog that was harassing a runner going by.

Back at home they read I Survived a Hurricane. I watched rest of Hamlet and did dishes and got upstairs ready. I gave him a bath today and he did a great job brushing his teeth again.

We said good night and listened to “Turtle Island” and “The Happiest Person un the Wold” on Circle Round. New words included embark, tension, and feed (as in a podcast feed, that is). He went to the bathroom and then listened to an early “Tree” episode in Peace Out. He fell asleep by 10:30 before listening to any music. I talked to Carly about how he is learning words so quickly, and she said he had used the word eradicate earlier.

Some playing:

Song of the day:

Laughing and laughing:

What a night. August woke up twice more, and the dog woke me up once, and then after August was up around 3 the dog was barking and barking and barking. So I went out to see if I could chase it off again, and to confirm which dog it is. I chased it up the street, and it is the same barky dog as usual, that was barking at someone walking up the street when Ilana was here, but I still don’t know what house it belongs to. It stayed up the street for a while, but was eventually back down here, barking. Then, because of the holiday schedule, I guess, the garbage got picked up at 3:40. Which wouldn’t be too bad, but the dog was going crazy, chasing all of the garbage truck workers. I finished watching Jane Eyre, then listened to music to drown out the sound. August’s last wake up was at 5-something, and he didn’t need much of anything.

I slept in until after 8, and he was up at 8:20. Carly was upstairs exercising at the time and he stayed with her, so I had time to have coffee and type. He came down at 8:45. We read some Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Din and brekky were words of the day. We then played Minecraft, working on our survival world. We then had oatmeal and he watched Ants Canada. More new words: ASAP and trophallaxis.

He did some piano time, then we went upstairs for a Brother and Sister game. They were with the advanced civilization, and the advanced civilization had a holographic library of all of the civilizations they had eliminated.

After that we went downstairs. I made smoked grilled cheese sandwiches and we watched the newest StressMonster. He then went outside with Carly and listened to a Story Pirates so I went for a walk (and starting the audiobook of The Master and Margarita). I came back and he was still happily listening, so I took a shower. He then listened to “Dollars and Scents” on Circle Round. He told me he had also listened to a Stories Podcast, but I don’t think he actually had time for that. He then played some piano.

We played Minecraft together again. Carly played a little but didn’t like the monsters when August wanted them on. He then went outside and made some videos with Carly about his learning. They are going to send them to Vivian and Colin, I think. And they did more studying of slugs. I got him some tweezer things to use for picking up the slugs.

He wanted to earn stars, so we did more math in Khan Academy, working on multiplication. He then watched a documentary with Carly and they ate popcorn. I went for a walk again. They were still watching, so I read outside, a book about poetry. I came in and taught them the words virgule (a forward slash) and virga (rain that doesn’t reach the ground). August then told me about his “RLL…Rain Lightning Limiter”: “I’m going for acronyms…” They had actually watched two documentaries, not finishing the second. One on the SETI telescope and one on black holes. I taught him the word SETI on Paper since he is into acronyms. He was sad that Vivian couldn’t do Minecraft yet but understanding when Carly reminded him it was morning for her. He went and played piano instead.

He listened to “Practice Makes Progress”, the live version, then went to Carly and watched a video she was watching for work about the Chinese social score. Vivian then called and they got to Minecraft. They played an hour and a half, then he had soup and then spaghetti for dinner. Carly read a book called Ospreys in Danger to him and Vivian. RCMP and clutch were new words. I did dishes. They read the whole book. August then went outside looking for slugs. He decided we need more flashlights, as there are only two in the drawer.

We got him upstairs for a bath. Carly gave him a bath, and he was discussing a lot of Minecraft. He asked, “What’s potency?” I made a playlists of the classical albums he likes, since he’s mentioned a couple recently. A few minutes later, talking about something, he said, “My argument has a lot of potency to it.”

We were in bed at 9:45. We listened to “The Fallen Sparrow” on Circle Round. Then, while eating Cheerios, he lost a two—a bottom, left canine. He hadn’t told us, keeping it a secret that it was loose. He said, “That’s what I always do,” with sneaky grin. He wanted to keep it a secret from Carly for a while. We wen’t to the bathroom and rinsed the blood off his finger. On the way back he said, “I’m going to play uncomfortable mouth…I invented it.” It involves keeping your tongue in the hole while you talk. Back in bed he asked, “Can’t sentences be infinitely long? What’s a sentence?” Discussed it, then we listened to Peace Out’s “The Tortoise and the Hare”. He asked, “What’s a top notch seamstress?” He’s been joking about not being able to see things/people unless you can see them (comes from the mirror experiments), so now joked “To be a criminal all you have to do is close your eyes and nobody will see you.”We had lights off at 10:25 and listened to Bach organ music. He was asleep by 10:40.

Song of the day:

One of his favorite scales:https://youtu.be/NwIOOlYwacU

The galloping song:

Slug time 1:

Slug time 2:

Afternoon improv:

Spinning during story time:

Pesky Interruptions:

He came down on his own by 7:25. I got him his blanket and Carly read some Clementine. We all played Minecraft together, then they had cereal and milk outside. He came in and played a lot of piano. He again asked, “What’s a reputation?” I did some piano with him and then he listened to Supersonic Piano. That led to us going upstairs for a game where he was a girl with perfect pitch, who Brother and Sister find in the park. She then went to the classes to help with music classes, but couldn’t handle the kids playing out of tune. She preferred the classes with Ms. Mean, etc. who didn’t allow mistakes.

We went back downstairs and watched the latest Iskall video, then he listened to Story Pirates for alone time. We all played Minecraft together again, then had soup and other things outside for lunch. He had a piece of his gum from the Easter eggs.

I took recycling up and went for a run. August told me to look for any slugs or snails. They had been cleaning, and August had earned a star for vacuuming most of the downstairs and one for picking up tree things in the yard. I took a shower and when I got out August was upset about something. Eventually he ended up in the bedroom with Carly and I heard Supersonic Piano. He also read for a third star today, reading Sandra Boynton’s Hippos Go Beserk.

When he came down he played piano then we played Minecraft. Carly made us schnitzels for lunch. He then watched two Kurzgesatz black hole videos, then we went upstairs for a Brother and Sister game that involved the advanced civilization and Sister going into a stasis pod. August said, “She ushered her in…” He just learned what ushered means.

We went downstairs and outside. I was going to read to him, but he was interested in the book about the Cultural Revolution that Carly was reading: “Please, could you read the communist book?” She was looking for a more kid-friendly book and found I Survived Mount St. Helens and August really wanted to read that, so they started that.

Back inside we did some piano and I started to watch a video series about jazz theory. August did Notion. I then read Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to him. He got upset he couldn’t watch Carly’s show (as she was making spaghetti).

He calmed down and watched an ants Canada video on fire ants eating a tarantula. She was finishing the editing of their shadow movie. He got upset again when he wouldn’t stop climbing on her or whatever he was doing and she wanted him to stop. She went upstairs for a while, and he calmed down with me.

She came down, and he played Minecraft with Vivian and ate spaghetti for dinner. He wanted more cheese and wanted to try grating it himself and enjoyed that. They then finished reading I Survived the Battle of Gettysburg with Vivian. We went upstairs and Carly gave him a bath, then got him to dress in a collared shirt, which was from Cherie, I think. She did his hair and I took a picture of him. They then called Cherie to show her the shirt and play the movie for her.

We went back upstairs and brushed our teeth, and he did a great job with it. We went to bed and read more of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Mortal danger was a word of the day. We then listened to Stories Podcast and listened to “The Milkmaid’s Song”, then “Trip to the Moon” on Peace Out. For music we listened to Composed by Jherek Bischoff and August said, “I totally like it.” He also asked what ammunition is. He had heard it in the Gettysburg book. He was asleep at 10:45. He surprised me by getting up at 11:20 to go to the bathroom. He had just gone before listening to Peace Out, as usual.

Jazzy improv:

A piano line with sustain:

Fast fingers:

The mean code:

Grating cheese:

Quick fingers slo-mo:

He slept until 7:40. Downstairs we read Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang until Carly came down. He was excited about having her play in our survival world. She finished making her own account and we all played Minecraft. When that was over he went outside a bit with Carly and kept wanting her to ask him Minecraft questions—this is a thing he’s been having her do recently. I took his oatmeal out to him. He came in a few minutes later, finishing some discussion with her with “And I do NOT believe in God.”

He had had Carly had add to their spaghetti bridge as well, but then, deciding they were done with it, destroyed it. He requested we read _ The Boxcar Children_ and asked what a boxcar is, so I showed him a photo. A word of the day. He played some piano, then listened to the Pants on Fire “Rabbits” episode as he ate toast with cream cheese and did alone time. When he finished the toast he said, “Could I have more? That was like crazy good.”

We played more Minecraft, just him and me. He made a trunk with things in it for Carly for the next time she played. Carly was cleaning, and cleaned the louver things over our big living room window and the sliding door. I managed to put one of them back on that had come off in a storm. August wasn’t fond of the noise of the water hitting them: “Mama can you stop? I hate the sound.”

August and I played outside a bit and we discussed the astronaut quarantine before they are launched and how that is normal to them, after August asked if the 100m limit applied to going up in the air and traveling to the ISS. Inside he watched educational videos. A population video on Kurzgesagt (refugee was a word of the day) and death of a fire ant colony on Ants Canada. And he had some soup. We read more of The Boxcar Children, then he had a game about Sister texting Brother about a competition. He then watched the newest Grian video and I went for run. They were playing Gravity Maze when I got back, there were outside when I got down from shower. I cleaned out our backpack, since we haven’t used it for a month, and he played piano. I found the picnic mat from the car, and got the paddles from his birthday out so we can use them outside sometime.

He wanted to earn some stars, so he did Khan Academy, working on third grade multiplication for a star. He said he was hungry and I got him crackers and peanut butter and cream cheese. He was honest though and told me that was supposed to eat the apple and peanut butter before he had other food. Carly had actually eaten it, so I cut up another one. He ate that, then the crackers, and then requested more toast and cream cheese. He then had toast and cream cheese

Cheerios and apricots and listened to Story Pirates.

At 4 we went up for his meeting with Gabi. They started by talking about the emotions poster. Gabi was asking which emotions he has felt recently. August said ‘sleepy’ every day at bedtime, and ‘determined’ when he’s been learning songs on piano. Gabi asked if there were any others, and he said “Angry, determined, frustrated…all at the same time.” But he didn’t remember what it was though. They then moved to games, mainly playing the tank game, I think.

Meanwhile, I was working on finances, and realized that our credit card has been charging us foreign transaction fees, despite their info saying otherwise. Unfortunately, no way to contact them, as they are only responding to COVID-19 related issues and fraud stuff. So trying to figure out other options.

He played Minecraft with Vivian and Colin, then had dinner. Still hungry, so had crackers and hummus with me. Carly read him and Vivian a book about the Civil War, as that was a subject Vivian said she wanted to learn about. August went to the piano and added some soundtrack at suspenseful points, which actually worked pretty well as long as he didn’t get too loud. August had trouble keeping the characters straight and kept asking, “Who’s Henry?” But then turned it into a joke as well. A word of the day was bayonet and when Carly explained he said, “That’s cool. It’s basically multitasking.” They watched a BrainPop video at the end and it mentioned the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Assassination was another new word and August thought that was pretty funny that it happened during a play.

After that we were tidying up to go upstairs. Carly found a slug on one of the Tiv Taam bags. August studied the slug, but asked, “Is the bag that the slug is on clean from the coronavirus?”

Carly gave him a bath and I got him to brush his teeth. In bed we then finished The Boxcar Children. We listened to “The Village that Didn’t Share” on Stories Podcast and “Find Your Forest” on Peace Out. I put on the Music 4 Hands album and he sat up to tell me how much he liked the Philip Glass piece that was playing (“Les Enfants Terribles”). He was asleep by 10:35.

Dramatic music:

Easter Egg hunt 1:

Easter gee hunt 2:

Adding a soundtrack to story time:

Sluggy 2: