This Is Our Blog

 

My parents came over in the late morning. August was was excited to see them, as usual. 

After they left at noon, Carly, Cassie and I took the three kids back to the spot on the Skookumchuck. We didn’t stay as long this time, as Vivian had decided we had been there long enough. 

So we went back to town and got dinner at Burgerville. August went predictably crazy for our blackberry and raspberry milkshakes. 

We drove over to Riverside Park and ate on the grass before playing on the play structure. August managed to stuff several French fries into his mouth. We mainly played on the concrete boat structure, which had been there since Carly and Cassie were kids. I also watched Colin for awhile so Cassie could go push Vivian on the swings. 

In the evening, I took August for a walk. It was a little before 8 so I didn’t expect him to get tired. But we walked south and around the corner, then up the dead end of Sandy Blvd. He started to get tired as we came back.

As we passed a house on the way back, a large dog ran out at us and forced me down into the ditch. After I had walked about 30 yards the owner came out and retrieved the dog. It was barking a lot, but didn’t phase August. I kept him awake until we were back on the corner and he fell asleep. Luckily, he went right back to sleep when I put him in bed.

 

Eggs for breakfast: 

I got up a little early to finish reading The Third Policeman, which I had borrowed from my brother and wanted to return to my parents today. 

But the day really started with Chuck making hash brown and eggs. He started this before August woke up, and I was the one to greet August at the bedroom door when awoke. The first thing August did when he looked out was point down the stairs and sign more when he heard the potato grinder. So he came down and got to watch more of it. 

After that, August spent time in the morning playing with Carly’s box of tea and brushing his teeth for a long time. I remember this because at the end of the day I found three bags of tea and his toothbrush in my pockets. 

We all spent a lot of time organizing and cleaning and preparing in the morning, then guests started to roll in. First, Rick as we were playing out in the driveway and then around noon my parents showed up. 

We hung out in the house, and around 1:30 August took a nap.

Once two rolled around and the crowds showed up we were pulled every which way. August met Benna, Logan, and John (who he had also seen at dinner on Tuesday). 

He was also really excited about Hattie – not because he necessarily interacted more, but because he could say her name. At one point I asked ‘Do you want to find Hattie?’ and he got excited and kept saying Hattie. We went downstairs to find her, but ended up playing with Benna in the sandbox. The water wars flared again at this point so Misty, who had been with Hattie at the other end of the porch, disappeared. We caught up with them eventually back upstairs. 

During the party Cherie gave August a new red spatula all his own. He was very excited by that. He was also really excited by crackers. He had Wheat Thins and Cheez-its in the car yesterday, and today he had Ritz and Triskets. It looks like Triskets are his favorite. 

What else happened during the party? Vivian loved it. She loved the water fight. She was upset for a minute when she got sprayed in the face, but quickly rebounded and was back in the game.

It was harder for Thatcher. Earlyish in the party, when I was first doing some photographing, I spotted him in the back door is the garage. After taking his photo, he said ‘I’m having a bad day’. I took him in the garage and tried asking him what was wrong and if I could help, but all he would say is I’m having a bad day. Andrea soon came along and took him inside. He then fell asleep for a nap. When he came back out he did better. At the end of the party he was playing with these balsa planes and wrapping himself in the tent to avoid the water fight. 

Also, during the party August started to really clearly start saying ‘Hi’. He had kind of done it a few times the last couple days, but polished it during the middle of the party when he was at his most social. 

After the party was over, clean up began. August saw a broom and wanted to help with the sweeping. Carly and Cherie got out a plastic dustpan so he could join in the fun. That eventually turned into a game of throw the dustpan into the garbage.

Derek and Carly (and Hank) had a good water fight to finish things up, then we cleaned up down below. my parents helped pick up water balloons, and Vivian and August helped with the water guns and bubble supplies. August was first helping by kind of randomly taking an object from one box or spot to another, but I found I could point to an object and point to a box and he would get it to the right place. Or if I said ‘put this in the sand box’ he would walk across the patio and knew where and what the sandbox was.

Eventually we said goodbye to my parents and Carly went upstairs to help with Colin and Vivian. I had been out front with August before my parents left, watering plants and playing with the hose, when August seemed to start complaining about his feet. He had been barefoot all day, so perhaps a sliver, or just roughed up soles. Anyway, he was hungry and wanted in his high chair (earlier he had done something similar, asking Chuck to put him in his chair), so he ate some broccoli, followed by a couple Triscuits. He then sat in my lap as he finished the last cracker and we looked at a book. He was still holding up his feet as if they were bothering him. I took him up for a bath, but he was clearly tired, and started calling for ‘mama’ as soon as I started to undress him. It was a short bath and Carly came in and took him off to bed, where he fell asleep quickly.

 

Pre-party: 

Party: 

 Back at the house:

Granma and Granpa: 

In the morning August was focused on the vacuum cleaner. It was up in the kitchen, and he used it to vacuum Carly and the inside of the fridge.

Around 10:30 Cassie, Derek, Andrea, Carly, and I loaded up two cars and drove east about 40 minutes to a spot Derek had found on the Skookumchuck River. We played along the river for a couple hours. August enjoyed wading into the river, but since he is still learning temperature words and he only knows ‘hot’, he was using ‘hot’ instead of cold to describe the water. He also threw a lot of rocks into the river, shot the squirt gun with Carly, and petted Eddy – even grooming her coat a bit, pulling bits of plants out of her fur.

After we left, our car load headed back to the house. There, August figured out how to stand on the steps and turn the lights to the stairway on and off. He also played his fake yelling game with Cherie.

About 5 Carly, Cassie, and I took the three kids to Dairy Dan’s in Chehalis for ice cream. Carly and Cassie got huge chocolate cones, and Vivian’s kid’s swirl cone was surprisingly big. Of course, August got to eat parts of both Carly and Vivian’s cones. And Vivian decided to start eating her cone before first finishing the ice cream above it. We sat at a basic picnic table behind the restaurant. Vivian and August had an amazing amount of fun with the landscaping rocks and pipes next to the wall of the building. 

The fun continued back at the house as they played in the garage and August made a game of throwing Thatcher’s helmet in the garbage. 

My parents called, saying they had made it to town. So we drove down to the Lakeview Motel where they are staying. August was thrilled to see them and his excitement continued when we drove to Burgerville and my mom could hold him. We ordered, then all walked to Riverside Park. 

We first ate at a picnic table. He went pretty crazy for my raspberry milkshake. There was a water tap and August continued to call the water ‘hot’. We went over to the playground, where he would shove rocks in his shoes and then immediately get upset by it. He also sat next to Carly in the gravel and imitated her as she swept her legs through it. He also pushed rocks between his toes, trying to get them to stay. 

We ended our park time with a short walk down to the river, where my mom provided him with rocks to throw, then said goodbye after we walked back to our cars at Burgerville. 

New words to day included ‘toe’ (referring to Colin’s toe), ‘heavy’ (when picking up rocks at the river), ‘cracker’ (wanting crackers in the car), and ‘bottle’ (referring both to bottles of water at the house and pictures of beer bottles on a box).

 

Morning: 

At the river: 

Back at the house: 

 

Trip to Dairy Dan’s: 

Trip to Dairy Dan’s: 

August started the morning by watching Vivian and Thatcher walk on blocks then looked at rocks with Oma. We then all went outside to play in the driveway and water plants. Before Brenda showed up, Carly was vacuuming downstairs and the vacuum cleaner became his favorite toy of the day. We would use it several times throughout the day. 

Brenda and her three kids showed up about 10:30. The party started downstairs before moving up to the main floor and then outside. We ate lunch and after August’s nap went for a walk through the nature area about 1:30. We walked down to the pond where the kids loved throwing rocks. Luckily, no one fell in (although Vivian came closest). 

Back at the house, August and Adam interacted a bit more and we spent a lot more time playing with the vacuum cleaner. 

They left around 4, and then Carly, August, and I headed to Walmart to get supplies for the party on Saturday. August got to sit in a cart for the first time and enjoyed that. And he quickly caught on to the idea of putting things he wanted in the cart. 

We finally made it out of there with a lot of plastic stuff and came home to where Derek and Cherie had prepared tacos for dinner. 

After dinner there was another kid play session in the driveway involving water and watering. There were a buck and fawn walking past the house and the kids got to see the buck. August wanted ‘more’ but we couldn’t find the fawn. Eventually he was okay with going back to playing with the water. 

I took a bath with him around 8 and he went quickly to bed after that. 

 

Morning: 

Brenda’s visit: 

Evening: 

Trip to Walmart: 

Playing out in the driveway before bedtime: 

We (Cherie, Cassie, Derek, and I and the four kids) managed to leave the house right as planned at 10. We took two cars and met up at the children’s museum in Olympia. 

They played until about 12:30. It was busy, but not too bad. August first played in the boat/stream area, then went upstairs where he mainly played with the wooden train, put Lego pieces in the (fake) tree roots of the play structure, went down the slide (the slowest slide he’s been on – it was no Korean slide), and made a mess at the sensory table. 

We then went to another area on the second floor where vacuum tubes carry balls and scarves and spit them out above us. He was intrigued by this area – particularly the large fan above – but was afraid of the spots you place the balls/scarves and would cling to my shoulder if I got close. 

We then all went outside for lunch and ate at some benches across the street from the museum. From there everyone went back across the street to the fake stream play area adjacent the museum. But August and I went for a short walk. He quickly fell asleep. I dropped some cassette tapes off at Don’s Cameras to be converted to CDs, then walked along the waterfront and through downtown. 

By the time I got back to the stream the others had left and Carly was reading her book. I sat and read until August woke up. He then had a blast playing in the stream. I had a plastic yellow ball in the backpack and we played with it at the end of the stream where it flows into a bunch of grates. We would drop/throw it upstream and watch it float down. August really liked doing that. 

From there we walked through downtown once more (with Carly this time) and then back to the car. 

We drove home and had spaghetti that Carly made for dinner. August didn’t eat a ton, but he had eaten a huge lunch. 

After dinner the three kids were playing outside in the driveway for a long time. August started by using the big brooms to sweep the garage and August finished up by wanting to water. So we filled the watering can for him several times.

He took a bath with Carly. As he was starting to nurse to fall asleep and I was leaving the room he would pop up and sign and say ‘more’. Why I said ‘More what?’ he would point to me. This happened a couple times. So I hung out in the room for several minutes before leaving him to fall asleep. 

 

Frizzy hair: 

Puddle time: 

Olympia Children’s Museum: 

Playing in the stream: 

Walking around Olympia: 

Back home: 

A very long day, but a good one. It started out hectic as pretty much everyone in the house was up at my usual time (by 7) when it is nice and quiet. So I went for a two mile walk. When I came back, August was just getting up. But his first attempt playing with the two older cousins and Eddy was a bit rough: Eddy gave him a little lick, which August thought was a betrayal and he gave her a long shocked look, Vivian then grabbed his hand (innocently, but August didn’t think so), then Thatcher accidentally whacked him in the head with a large car toy as they were passing on the steps. 

But the rest of the day went more smoothly. A bit later I got a couple of metal bowls, water, and rocks for him to stir with a spatula (Carly was making spaghetti and he really wanted to help stir the sauce) and he played contentedly by himself. And three times during the day we went out to fill the small watering can and water plants around the yard. 

In between, he had a lot of interacting with other kids. At 10:45 we met Monique and her friend and a combined 5 kids to walk along the Discovery Trail. August started to get sleepy so we came home. I was doing my best to keep him awake in the car, but he didn’t quite make it home. Luckily, he transferred easily to bed. 

In the evening we went to the usual Tuesday dinner at Steve and Claremay’s. A huge turnout and preview of what’s to come this Saturday. August did a pretty good job of just plunging into the crowd, then lounged in my arms for a relaxing meal (mainly eating the spanakopita that Cherie made and some potato) before heading out into the yard to play in the water with Hattie (about the same age as him). 

I missed the two of them playing together as I was eating dessert, but came down as August was soaking himself with the hose. We played down in the yard for awhile longer before heading home around 8. 

Here, I took him outside for his last watering session of the day. We ended up watering the mint in the front yard, then he wanted to shoot baskets. The hoop had been lowered for Vivian and Thatcher, so I could lift August up and he could make a slam dunk. Carly came out and played as well. 

Finally, Carly took him up for a very long bath. Near the end she snuck out of the bath, but he soon realized he was alone and told her to ‘sit’ back down. He soon went to sleep after that. 

Discovery Trail walk: 

Back home, mixing rocks: 

Dinner at Steve and Claremay’s: 

Evening: 

Watering the mint: 

Bath time. Cup on foot: 

Walk while Carly was off in the morning to get an eye exam, Augist and I went for a walk. We walked from the house down the road, through the natural area, then back along the road. 

During the day, two sets of visitors showed up. The first was Monique, with her two boys, Rowan and Ellis. The four kids mainly played in the water and sand down below. 

Later, Cassie’s friend, Diane (I believe), came by with her three kids and they hung out downstairs in the family room. 

In the afternoon, I decided to introduce August to watering the plants and he loved it. We used the hose to fill the dishes for bird baths and to fill the watering can. I held him up and we watered all the plants on the back porch. He particularly liked the flowers hanging to the right of the back door. 

We then took the watering can to the side yard where he could stand and water plants. Vivian helped a little as well. 

We then skyped with my parents, making plans for their visit this weekend. August was very excited to see them and played the up/down game for the first time in awhile. He also started saying ‘gramma, gramma, gramma’ a lot more after the call. 

Before dinner, Carly and I took August to downtown. We got a frappe at the Station coffee house and walked up and around the college. As we were crossing the street, Carly’s cousin Levi surprised us from behind. Or, he sort of did, as August dropped his straw and I turned around to pick it up and kind of interrupted his surprise. 

We came back for dinner, which we ate on the back porch. In the evening, Carly played a nice game of chase around the kitchen island with August, and August played with Colin by giving him his shovel and admiring the monster on his onesie. Colin also played with August’s stuffed rabbit, Blueie. 

He took a bath with Carly and went to sleep around 9. 

Morning: 

Our morning walk: 

Play vacuuming: 

Monique’s visit: 

Learning to water plants:

Going to town: 

Dinner:

Evening: 

In the morning, after breakfasts and showers, Carly and I took Vivian and August downtown to Santa Lucia coffee. They played there and then we walked over to the park in front of the library. Vivian didn’t understand why it is called a park if there are no toys, so we walked back to the car and went to the playground at Borst Park. 

They had a ton of fun and worked together pretty well with putting rocks on the slides and sliding down into the rocks. We also went on the swings, and Vivian went on the climbing structure for awhile before getting a little scared. 

In the afternoon we piled into two cars to head over to Steve and Claremay’s house. Carly drove the other car with Cassie and Colin, so that meant I was alone with Vivian and August. It went smoothly though, and actually Vivian is really good to have in back with August because she entertains him. 

At their house we all visited on their new back porch. Vivian and August played with squirt guns and smacked on the fruits and veggies Claremay brought out. August ate a little cucumber, then a ton of cantaloupe and little tomatoes. 

We went back to the house for dinner, where he just kept eating and eating: tofu, chicken, broccoli, and noodles for dinner, then sharing a bowl of apple sauce and cinnamon with me a little later. 

In the evening the three of us went on a little walk around the house, seeing a mama and baby dear lying down below the house, and around 9 we could all see a huge rainbow over Centralia. 

Santa Lucia: 

Borst Park: 

Steve and Claremay’s: 

Eating cantaloupe. Blurry, sadly: 

Claremay and Colin: 

Back at the house: