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I started waking up at 7:30. So much for that idea. I was finally able to get him out of bed at 8 and we headed downstairs. He lay on the couch and I covered him with the blanket, but told him he couldn’t go back to sleep. It took a couple encouragements to get him up and play Minecraft. When he sat up the first thing he said to me was, “Think I had a dream that I seriously had to go to the dentist for no reason.” And it was funny because he had just gone.

We basically had time to play Minecraft and have a quick breakfast, then we were on the road to Ra’anana, where we were meeting Gilad and Lauren at a park that was new to us. We were shooting for 9:30. I told them 9:40 before we left, and got to the park at 9:37, but then our parking adventure, filled with one-way streets, dead ends, garbage trucks, and delivery trucks began. Finally, after almost giving up, a car pulled out of a spot right near the park and we parked. On the drive down we had listened to Circle Round. One new story, where fleece was a word of the day, and then a second one, which he’d already heard, as I tried to park.

We walked into the park and found them. They played around for a few minutes and I went back to the car to get his bike. He ended up riding it a few feet in the park. We had also brought the keyboard, and the two of them played music for a while. Lauren was nervous that it was against the rules, as the signs in the park apparently said something about no electronic music devices during the day. Pretty sure they were referring to boomboxes, etc. and not the keyboard, which isn’t loud. But they didn’t play for too long, and there was a school out at recess at the time making much more noise.

We had also brought the binoculars, and August used them to “spy” on the people down at the lower playground. Eventually we headed down there (August not riding his bike) and played. Went on swings, and they played the airplane again. August was doing some good climbing across a horizontal ladder part. I also realized that the big tree near us was full of parakeet nests and we could see them working on the nest, using the binoculars. August was then putting Gilad in jail under a structure, and Lauren was helping to catch him.

They had to get going, and August and I kept playing for a while. We did a Bar and Sister game with them coming up with crazy ways to keep Baby Sister away from her diary. We then did a little Simple Rockets on the iPad.

We were getting hungry, so walked the block up to the main street (we were close to Gabi’s office). We were going to get pizza, and there were a few places to choose from, but when I spotted that the “Pizza and Ice Cream” place was closed August said he had to have ice cream. We were on a corner by a bakery place, which I had also considered, and decided to go there so we could get a bakery treat with lunch. But then, instead of having a sit down lunch, which would have ended up being much more expensive, we just went to the bakery part and got several sweet and savory things. And there was a pizza-like thing with peppers and onions that I got, and he had a za’atar bread. As we were making choices, he said that something would be “Scrumptious” and pointed out himself that it was first time he’s used that word.

We walked outside and to a little park next to it, and sat on a neck and ate. We then headed back to the car. As we walked he said he had a tune that he wanted to use for a new composition for Mr. Minke. We did a video so we could capture his idea.

He used my phone to take videos in the car as we headed home. As we got in the house he wanted to do his iPad time first, before doing the alone time. I was putting stuff down and just said we needed to follow the rules. Suddenly, he threw his shoes at me. I went upstairs to the bedroom. After a few minutes he came up and apologized and we cuddled/took a nap together for a while, then called a do-over (another word of the day).

He did his alone time, playing “Just a Little Love” in every key he could figure out. We did Greek mythology in Minecraft, which ended when he made a witch that killed me. I made a strawberry smoothie, then we watched a video of Benge, the synthesizer musician, demonstrating his synths, then we played with a couple of new synthesizer apps. We did a little dancing time, then had some toast.

We next did phonics time, watching the videos and making lists for TCH and CH. He watched the Kurzgesagt video on rogue planets, then we read in Rivet. We each read one, then shared the reading of Eat Your Broccoli, then watched Kurzgesagt’s “Three ways to destroy the universe” before watching a Marble Machine X video. We haven’t watched those in months, so have several to catch up on. Carly got home as we were watching it.

That was that, and he ended up making a bed in the kitchen out of cushions and blankets. He was a cat. Carly made him a salad. He then had Mac and cheese. He kept wanting us to act out arguments. We play acted some, then he told us he was putting them on his website as study material for arguments. Carly slipped and said she had “shut me down” on something. August caught it and said, “Mama, tell me how to shut him down. Please.”

He played piano, doing “straightforward” versions of “Always” and his “Creepy” song. That is, he was playing the notes, but changing them all to eighth notes, which made them sound more like a march. I was impressed that he could do that without messing himself up.

He was then playing new stuff. And Carly was asking him questions about how he knew what scale sounded good. He said, “Here’s a chord arpeggio,” meaning a progression, and played it for her. He was playing melodica as I left for a run.

I came back. They were reading on the couch. I went up and took a shower and when I came back down he was watching the Kurzgesagt video on the history of life and eating soup. He then had some cereal. I got him to do a little reading to me in Rivet, then we watched the start of the Body documentary that he likes on Curiosity Stream.

I got him upstairs so that Carly could give him his bath. Cassie called with with Colin. August wanted to show them his purple cape so I brought the cape and Cheerios up. He was then showing them how he could roll on the couch/bed. When he was talking to Carly he was pronouncing some word that ended -sts (like fists) and said it had two Ss in it. He told her, “Believe it or not, the brain doesn’t control blood pressure. The kidney does.” He was telling her other facts, like fat having signaling molecules. Etc.

I made some joke about eating tape, and he said, “Tape doesn’t have a lot of nutrients.” We were in bed at 9. We listened to “The Lute Player” on Circle Round. When I introduced him to a new album I thought we could listen to called Dissonance he let out an “Oooh.” I think we ended up listening to Benge though. Before he went to sleep he asked about the World Wars, asking, “How much destruction did they do?” I said we could look it up at another time. He was asleep around 10.

Song before we leave:

Synth in the park:

Teeter totter:

Climbing across:

Zinnie cam: walking to the car and song for his next composition:

Zinnie cam: looking out the window and humming:

Zinnie cam: highway barrier:

Trippy animated synth:

Playing the animated synth:

Working on his chord progressions:

He was up at 7 and called me up. When I went up he was already curled up in the couch. He covered him and he went back to sleep. I started waking him up at 7:45 and we were headed downstairs a little before 8. To wake him up i found and played the “Good Morning” song from the Bullfrogs and Butterflies album I remember from being a kid. I’m trying to get him up a bit earlier each morning so we can go to Jerusalem on Thursday.

He curled up on the couch for a few minutes and I read Only Little Now, a book I had backed on Kickstarter and that just arrived a couple days ago. He liked that, and I love the art in it. It turned out his iPad was dead, so while I plugged it in and it took a few minutes to charge and start up he just curled up next to me on the couch.

In Minecraft we did more Greek mythology. He was Medusa, we talked more about Troy, and we found what I think was supposed to be Mt. Olympus, so we learned about that.

After Minecraft I got us some sourdough toast and fried eggs and strawberries for breakfast. He ate part of his toast and declared himself full. Sigh. He played synth and named a sound that he had me save “Rusty Omen.” That was pretty cool. He then had a Brother story about attacking cats. We were getting ready to go to school for a puppet show.

He was then playing his rubber bands, changing the notes by pulling on the doors. He had me go play notes on the piano to check his pitch. He seemed to be pretty accurate in saying which pitch he was playing. He asked, “Why does the tighter it is make a higher note?” He made a few things out of magnet blocks, then we finished reading the Ivy and Bean book. We discussed dimensions of objects, after he brought it up. He argued that nothing could be two dimensional, but I talked about how we can also talk about dimensions in art and through math. August then decided that zero dimensions equals memories.

There was a puppeteer visiting the school from the Czech Republic. We headed to the library first, as we had books to return. The times hadn’t made sense in the email, and Liz said the next performance started at 11. So August and I went back to the kids’ area. He started doing art on the computer. There was a high school English class back there, discussing what they had just seen at the previous show, and also a student gave a report on “grunge” music. Which was odd because a.) it sounded like it took about 10 seconds of reading Wikipedia, b.) the teacher added Jane’s Addiction to her list of Seattle grunge bands, c.) she butchered the name of the Screaming Trees, and d.) she referred to “the late 1900s.”

Anyway, I then heard Liz tell someone it was at 10:45, which is what the email had said. So August and I hurried over to the auditorium just in time.

She told stories of Arnold Lobel’s Frog and Toad and played some piano in it. August was thoroughly entertained. She told the story of how they met, the cookie story, and the taking care of each other when they were sick story. Decent overall, but odd in that her assistant (husband?) only stood behind a lectern and badly added some rhythm to her piano playing from time to time, and while she told the stories of Frog and Toad she didn’t use any of Lobel’s phrasings or words, so for example the cookie story, which is all about “Will power” didn’t use that term at all.

We were then hungry for lunch and we went over to the cafeteria. I saw salmon on a student’s plate, and after some hesitation because of the lines we went and purchased a hot lunch for the first time: salmon, the rice dish (with peas), and cooked carrots. We sat at the far end, near the pool, and ate. Almost a disaster as the fish was encrusted with pepper and there was pepper on the carrots. But after he spit one out he was able to just inspect and make sure he didn’t get one with pepper on it. And I cut the top layer off the salmon and ate it myself and he had the rest. And he liked the rice. It was plenty of food for the two of us.

Of course, there is always room for treats, so when we were done with that he got a chocolate muffin (after all the work by the PTA it appears nothing has changed in the cafeteria: still disposable plates and utensils, and still all the same treats out all day—And Carly later said that her students every month or two tell her the cafeteria is stocking peanut granola bars again and she has to email the nurse) and I got a cappuccino.

We then walked to one of our usual benches and sat in the sun. We saw a kitten outside the glass of the cafeteria as we walked and August watched it. Made me also think that the environmental committee should work on spaying and neutering all the cats and making campus a bird sanctuary. Anyway, we had our treats and talked, and I read him an article about the TESS mission and we watched a video on my phone:https://youtu.be/QU0qsIGS6MQ

We walked back to the library building, but there were events going on. August spent a few minutes taking photos, then we decided to head home. There, we started to look at the Make book on making musical instruments. He then did alone time. He was playing his rubber bands, then on his own would walk over to the piano and play a note, then walk back to the rubber bands and match the pitch. He was then playing “London Bridge” in different keys.

In Minecraft we played in Greek mythology and were lighting up a city to keep the villagers safe. He did some work on the graphing calculator, then I was using our notebook and the Apple Pencil on my iPad to discuss our goals for rest of the day. He took the pencil and drew a picture of a person. He said, “I need to professional the eyes.” He erased his first eyes and made them more complex and colorful.

He then did alone time doing iPad art, then we played Minecraft again. I got him outside again by taking a snack out. We ate out there and played a Sister game where she was playing Minecraft. I then read the first chapter of What If? to him. Back inside we went through the entirety of the musical instrument book and he rated them. Some of them he really, really wants to make.

And we started with making a fan sort of instrument. He got his pink hand fan and made a base for it out of play dough so it would stand up. We then taped ribbons all over it so that they would make a rustling sound when it was on. He also brought over magnet blocks and built with those. We played a Brother game, and the phrase “not going to cut it” was a word of the day. Well, phrase. phrase of the day

He asked how long someone could go without breathing and we read an article: http://www.transweb.org/faq/q3.shtml We finished the fan, then he was talking about (pretend) musical instruments he’s made. He kept saying, “So here’s the thing…” A new phrase for him. In a Brother game he used the phrase “You are bad at analyzing…” Earlier in the day he had asked what analyzes means and we had discussed it.

Carly got home. He had been wanting the Makey Makes and I found it upstairs. He played with the sampler for quite a long time, then a couple of other apps, before having me play Tetris. I told him about playing it back in middle school, in the computer lab.

He was getting whiney, because he was hungry, and we finally got him to food. Carly had made him a salad. I heard him say, “Nothing’s better than a salad.” Then he added, “Except you and dada.” They then played one of their Myna stories, and in discussing Minecraft I heard him add 64 and 64. Carly asked how he knew that, and he explained how he had added the parts.

I went for a run. He was watching Kurzgesagt videos when I got back. I showered, then he ate more of his salad with beets. We did magnet blocks together. He had broccoli and Mac and cheese, then seconds. He had me do a building challenge, which was to build as complex an object as I could, but I lost whenever a piece fell and had to start over.

He wanted a Circle Round and we listened to “Practice Makes Progress”, then got him upstairs for a bath. Carly got him through that, then I brushed his teeth. In bed we listened to “The Perfect Partnership”, did some Ninja Focus, then listened to Beethoven’s Fifth. He was asleep by 9:50.

His rubber band instruments:

Watching the puppeteer:

Zinnie cam: leaving the school:

Zinnie cam: driving home:

Zinnie cam : entering the house and opening the box:

Fan instrument:

Too bright:

Makey sampler:

I woke him up at 8:15 and carried him downstairs. He shoved a couple pillows out of the way and lay down, covering himself with the grey blanket. He lay there a long time. I eventually started reading Ivy and Bean Break the Fossil Record from the beginning. He resisted it at first, but got into it. We read about half. He played a little piano, then wanted Minecraft.

We played Minecraft, then he played on his piano and discovered the C Phrygian scale and called it the “scale of the day!” He did more music, then looked at Night Sky on his iPad. In reading about stars he asked what Kelvin meant so that was a word of the day. He had a Brother game while playing it where Bar convinced Brother’s parents to buy the app for him, for about 7 dollars, but then every little feature, like to learn about planets, etc. cost additional money, sometimes crazy amounts. That was pretty funny.

He played with the magnet blocks and was very excited about a hen that he made out of them. They then got going to Mr. Gabi’s. The playing went fine (he was going to show her the army stuff, but I’m not sure what they actually did), but afterwards he wanted one of those little Lotus cookies from the kitchen. I’d let him have one on Tuesday, but she didn’t know that. She said he could ask Mr. Gabi, but his door was closed, and August had a meltdown instead.

So when they got back he was still upset and went in his fort and was taping together weapons. One was a cool looking arrow (short, so it looked more like a sailboat) and another sort of looked like and airplane. He sort of apologized to Carly, then a bit later wanted to do music on his iPad. I asked if he had apologized to Carly, and we ended up talking to him more about entitlement, etc. and I was talking him through ways that the situation could have gone differently.

Eventually, we set up the iPad and synth and he agreed to come outside with me for a while and play out there—after I got tea. We did that, and outside he wanted to do a Brother game. He was Synth, and he provided the soundtrack as Brother told stories: “The Day I Became the Last Kid on Earth”, “The Real Traffic Jam Story”, and “Stung By the Beehive”. We went back inside to keep doing more music.

For alone time he did magnet blocks, then we played Minecraft. We’ve started in yet another world recently, which I went along with, as the beginning in survival is actually kind of fun, but we also did some more Greek Mythology. Carly was doing a lot of cooking, and he had lentil soup, beet salad, and mac and cheese for dinner. We followed up on Minecraft by watching a couple of videos about Trojan War (one, Ted-Ed, I think, about the historical truth of it and another a kid’s cartoon version of the story) and then an Indian cartoon “The Honest Woodcutter”.

I drove into town to get a couple things we needed at the grocery store, and he did more alone time and played Minecraft with Carly. When I got back he was on the toilet and very talkative. He put his pants back on inside out. Earlier, Carly had asked him about cutting his hair shorter. He told her he doesn’t want to cut it shorter because he doesn’t want to be like other people. He then went and said, “Oh, crazy parents.”

We’re getting into a good evening routine, with Carly giving him a bath and me putting him to sleep. We listened to Circle Round’s “Why the Ocean is Salty” and “The Woman Who Lived in a Vinegar Bottle” and then to a couple of children’s meditations from an album on iTunes. I then put on Benge and he was asleep by 10:00.

Playing his scale for Mama:

His rubber band instruments:

I had my book group meeting during the night. We were discussing Richard Power’s The Overstory. The whole group in attendance, and a good discussion, so we went a little long, then I stayed up talking to Peter Breysse about his poetry recommendations, and then to Peter White about other things. Finally headed to bed sometime around 4:15, after only getting an hour and a half of sleep before the meeting.

August was up just before 8. I went back to bed and got up as they were finishing their iPad time. August then watched the two Smarter Every Day tattoo videos again. When he was done he asked about how much I like watermelon etc. again, trying to drive me crazy. Carly was then trying to get him to go outside. He ended up playing with the magnet blocks instead, and asked, “I want to know more about the Palestinian war.” Carly did a great job explaining and when she got to the conflict part asked, “Can’t they just compromise?”

After a while I went and did magnet blocks with him. He then played the keyboard and we did the Bar and Bullies game (where she chases them off). He was then playing with the synthesizer app that he likes, and asking for my help to save his favorite synth settings when he found a sound he liked. He then introduced a new girl to the Brother and Sister game. She was moving into the neighborhood and had a bunch of instruments and electronic equipment. She played synthesizers, and they named her Synth. We were talking about catching up on the Marble Machine videos, but he ended up just playing music.

Carly was making a shopping list, and found packets of seaweed in the cupboard and asked how he felt about it nowadays. He was excited about it, but instantly asked how old it was: “How long? I need to know the expiration date. I’m worried about health.”

Carly was getting ready to go. They were going to take his bike to the Netanya waterfront and go to their usual cafe. He was singing as he made magnet blocks: “Everybody counterpoint.” He started playing music on the iPad and I made the mistake of suggesting he could take the iPad with him to play music in the car. This was a mistake because a.) Carly didn’t want to carry it and b.) August decided he had to take the keyboard in the car. While they figured that out Carly told me to go ahead and go upstairs to start working. They stayed until he was done playing music. At one point he came up so I could help him save a sound he had made.

They left about 12:30 and were back in three hours. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the best of trips. They mainly stayed at the cafe the whole time and Carly didn’t get to walk around. And he had a meltdown when he dropped his lollipop somewhere.

When they got back he was playing in his fort and playing music, so I kept working for a while. He came up to have me save another song. Eventually, he did his alone time, then we played Minecraft when I came back down. When we were done we watched a Smarter Every Day video about music on and oscilloscopehttps://youtu.be/4gibcRfp4zA

Oscilloscope was a word of the day and August loved it, and now wants one.

Carly headed to the store, and August had a Bar and Brother game where she was making music with math. At one point he had her say, “It’s math you should have learned in school.” Which is what one of the guys says in the video. She was making everyone’s ideas for music, then he had Brother’s class go on a field trip to see the music. We decided their new teacher (after Ms. Nice) was Ms. Squeakyshoes, who was very nice, but then threatened Bar with Rezzock the Destroyer of Worlds (from The Last Kids on Earth). I was falling asleep as we played, and eventually got up to make dinner, of fish sticks and rice and broccoli.

August went to music and saved more sounds and made a song of the day. Carly got home and he ate, and Carly went upstairs to talk to her mom. He played music while I found a book to read on Hoopla. I checked out Lumberjanes, Volume One and The Graveyard Book graphic novel and we found Lumberjanes pretty funny and read the whole thing.

In not wanting to fill his own water bottle Carly discovered he could drink with his hands. He then had a game where he was earning drops of water by doing tasks that Carly gave him, like making interesting things out of magnet blocks.

Then he agreed to put the keys back in the piano. I helped him by asking questions, but he did all the work. We started to read The Graveyard Book at some point, and read a couple of chapters of that.

Carly gave him a bath and washed his hair and I put him to sleep. We listened to a Circle Rounds, I think either “Rusty Cowbell” and/or “Maya’s Feathers”, which we’ve listened to very recently but I don’t see listed elsewhere. I put on a couple meditations, but he was fighting sleep, and finally fell asleep about 10:30.

His new synth sound:

Humming and magnet blocks:

New sounds 2:

Sound machine invention:

Song of the day with a new sound:

He slept and slept. I went up and woke him at 8:20. He was wrapped in his grey blanket so I picked him up and carried him downstairs in it. Cuddly on the couch for a few minutes, then we played the mythology Minecraft. I read to him about the Colossus of Rhodes and why it wasn’t rebuilt because of the oracle. Gilad logged in with us after 20 minutes or so. August didn’t want him in the mythology world so they switched to a different world and played there. He got some extra time but they were doing well together. August ate his oatmeal as he kept playing, then they said goodbye.

August then watched two Smarter Every Day videos about tattooing. As the first one, about how tattoo needles work, ended August said he wanted to know more about tattoo removal. Conveniently, there was a follow-up video about that. When it was over August speculated on how many Likes and videos are on YouTube “More videos than there are people.”

He played a little piano (at some point he had a song of the day), then had a Bar game where she was doing tattooing and removal, but her process was more complex. He played more piano, and I brought down the mandolin. He tried that for several minutes, starting to at least make notes, then requested the guitar and I brought that down. He did alone time playing guitar, while I made us grilled cheese sandwiches with avocado, using the new bread. It turned out really well with the bread. That as followed by more Bar and the Bullies games, and he requested I play “Yankee Doodle” on the guitar.

We then got out the Rush Hour game and he made more puzzles for me, coming up with a couple good ones this time. He then got out the chess set and set up a crazy set up and wanted to see me play it. That was exciting at first, but then when it settled into a more normal chess game we moved on.

The sun was breaking out from time to time and I was trying to get him out. I know it was supposed to be a relaxing day at home, sans all the appointments and play dates of the last couple days, but he was taking it to another level, not even really wanting to leave the couch. He started looking at things in the microscope and took breaks to play a new song on the toy piano.

He had never played Minecraft after doing alone time, so we did that now, exploring the Greek Mythology world. We then looked at more microscope stuff, looking at leftover stuff from our MEL Chemistry experiments.

We finally got out of the house. We walked up and did recycling. He was taking photos. We then went in the playground and played around a little, then sat, mainly in the big swing, and played Brother and Sister games. Oversight was a word of the day from that, as was gig after he had Bar give Brother a robot pig (which Brother named Jacques) for his birthday , and we came up with the following rhyme: Jacques, the robot pig / Sniffing truffles, Is his gig.

We were gone for about an hour. When we got home he played a little piano, then we did word time, watching the videos of and brainstorming words for SN, SM, SP, and SL. Carly got home as we were doing that, and we kept going for several minutes. He then looked at Night Sky.

He heard me and Carly discussing coffee, and said, “You two are crazy.” I made him fishsticks and broccoli for dinner and he ate those. He was then playing GarageBand as I went for a run. The moon was full, and I meant to tell August to look it up on his moon calendar, but for got when I got home.

They had, at August’s request, watched videos and learned about people in bubbles and read about food allergies. I got back and he was playing music on the couch, wrapped in his blanket, leaning against Carly. He wanted Carly to play for me: “It’s all yours Mom. Show him your music, please.” Funny, for both his use of Mom and use of please. He kept playing and playing, probably for an hour and a half in total, then we read “Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves”.

We played his second session of Minecraft, and Carly went up to take a shower. August spent a long time in the bathroom, chatting, of course. He then ate rice and cheese and had chocolate milk. Carly told him to ask me what I think about watermelon. This turned into a whole game, with me giving him annoyed looks, etc. and him laughing hysterically. When he finished the rice and cheese he came and asked me why he had eaten all that food. And I reminded him it had been so he could have the chocolate milk. And get full.

Carly had brought home the mail from over break, and it included Christmas cards from Vivian and Colin. He then played more toy piano. Carly took him up for a bath and I did dishes. After his bath he gave me a spending test. It was some huge number again, and he said, “Here’s a bad thing about this test: the US Mint hasn’t actually made this much money.” For a story we listened to the newest Circle Round, “The Nine Sticks”. I tried to put on a meditation, but he decided against that. We put lavender on a tissue and put it on his pillow. We listened to Benge, and he was asleep by 10:15.

Working on playing the mandolin:

Vibrating string:

His crazy blurry video:

Song/scale of the day:

Tune on the crazy keyboard:

Laughing hysterically:

He came out of his room at 7:30. I ran up and he still looked half-asleep. I asked if he wanted to go back to sleep, and we climbed on the couch bed. I got in with him and studied and read while he fell back to sleep. And slept and slept. I kept trying to wake him up but he’d clutch the blanket tighter or curl into me and keep sleeping. I finally got him to wake up about 8:40 and we went downstairs.

Carly had put cleaner in the toilet before she left, so August scrubbed it. He asked, “How do freezers work?” He went on to explain old water heaters and freezers he had made, that used blocks of ice. We played Minecraft, and he was able to stop early as we needed to get going to go play with Gilad. He did a little piano first and called me down when he had made a song for the day.

We got driving at 9:40. We were shooting for 10, when the mall opened, but were both a little late. They got there right before us around 10:15. We listened to the playlist of his favorite bands today, and he added more songs by Andy Bell and also the Shamen to his playlist today. He also told me about his “Kilomputer”, which is a kilometer-long super computer.

Gilad and Lauren had sat down just before we got there. We paid and went in. It was a pretty good place, on par with the play areas in Korea. It really made me want a caramel macchiato, which was my usual drink at the kid cafes in Seoul. The kids played well, although not together very much. I remembered how well they had hit it off with the imaginative play the first couple times we were at Ra’anana Park together. They haven’t been doing that nearly as much, for some reason. But we made our way up through the structure. The main activity ended up being the soccer area. August didn’t want to be competitive, but Gilad and I would kick the balls back and forth, and August would either be a goalie, and just sit on the ground with his arms and legs stretched out (and also switch sides every few minutes) or he would be a referee perched on top of the goal.

When Gilad was worn out, we made our way back down and they played on the first floor level. August was a squirrel on the rocking thing again (he had been twice already, once upstairs when he was having fun tipping over backwards) and made a squirrel nest. The two of them played together in the ball pit for a while, and then also together on the squirrel nest. August got a total of 19 balls out, as his nuts, and hid them.

After going back upstairs again for more soccer, August wanted a snack. It was close to noon. So we all packed up and headed out. August and I ate a banana while they got going. It was a riper banana than our last one, but only slightly better. August did well eating what he did. After they left, we decided to go to McDonald’s for lunch. August got a fish sandwich with fries, one of the fruit squeeze things, and an iced tea. I got a chicken wrap thing with wedges.

While we waited I had mentioned how McDonald’s is pricier in Israel (it was like 24 dollars for the two of us, and we both got small meals, no upgrades). August came up with a story where Brother and Sister were traveling and Brother went to McDonald’s in Israel to get French fries for Tigey. But it turns out he doesn’t have enough money, so Tigey goes and rips up the store. They give Tigey the fries, but the family gets a bill for 2000 dollars.

We ate, then I read a funny book we have on the iPad called Leave Me Alone which involves an old woman getting away from distractions to do her knitting, and she eventually ends up going through a wormhole into a void.

We got going. Lauren sent me a message saying that her son’s school had sent kids home because of coming rain. So good that we were going, but then it turned out that rain didn’t really hit until the late evening. We got to the car but then remembered we were going to go to the bathroom. He was rubbing his feet on the ground and I said he could shock me if he was on a carpet doing that. He added, “Theoretically.” There was another word he had used earlier that had impressed me, like “assumption” or the like. We went and did that (August was impressed with the cleanliness) then got going. At 1:05.

In the car he told me a series of pretty funny stories about how he had been flying a fighter plane and had to stop for a flock of seagulls. He had been carrying a nuclear bomb but it wasn’t fastened properly and it fell out and blew up a city. He hadn’t realized it until he got to the war and his bomb was gone and he had to go back to find out what happened. Another time he had dropped nuclear waste somewhere when he hadn’t tightened a bolt or something. I said, “mainteance is important.” He asked what maintenance meant, so a word of the day, then was repeating the phrase.

At home we played Minecraft. I had purchased the Greek Mythology pack for him. He was very excited by that and chose to be Cerberus. In the game he ended up seeing a labyrinth and the Colossus of Rhodes. After our 45 minutes were up we watched a YouTube video about Cerberus, then I let him watch the Kurzgesagt video about the EU. He didn’t find that one too exciting, and got grumpy when I wouldn’t let him watch another instead. I think I actually ‘won’ the argument though when I pointed out that Eve was released from school at 3 and I couldn’t just call her teacher and tell her to keep teaching for a bit longer.

We drove to school. He asked, “Did you know I’m famous for “making 7000 sounds with my mouth?” And he listed, but didn’t perform, a bunch of them. As we walked into the school he said, “I’m bored.” A phrase he’s started to use more often, I think when he isn’t doing something exciting and isn’t thinking about some creation/idea.

We got Eve and headed to find Heather. But she was still supervising a test somewhere so Eve dropped off her stuff by Heather’s desk and I sent her a message and we headed home. First, we saw the feather that Eve had decorated as part of a big peacock piece the kids are making.

At home August first wanted to show her coin spinning, then they played with the microscope. Eve had brought a small scrap of material from the art room to look at. The two of them kind of had their own ideas and didn’t really play together much to start with. They both did potions though for quite a while, then August suggested getting out the magnet blocks. That was a great idea. They built individually, but admired each other’s work, and kept calling me over to see. They then used all of the pieces to build something together.

They were done with that, but Eve suggested they go outside. August agreed, if he could take the piano. So the piano went out. It was pretty cold and wet out there, so I was surprised when they did it, but they were out there for a good hour playing together. I put batteries in the two flashlight sort of things we have in the Zinnie house and they liked that. They put up sticks and taped them together and took turns on the piano. Carly got home about 5:20.

We were inside, when a minute later August came running in, repeating, “There’s a dog in my yard! There’s a dog in my yard!” Eve was picked up sometime after 5:30. August told Heather about light being made of photons.

August and I finished the fort (we had covered it with a sheet and small blanket) and as it started raining I cleaned things up out there. Carly got broccoli and then oatmeal for August for dinner and read more of The Talented Clementine to him. Empathy was another word of the day.

For alone time he cuddled under a blanket between us, then went to his for and spied on me with the binoculars from there. We played the Greek mythology Minecraft, then watched Ted-Ed videos about the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, the science of the Minotaur (earthquakes), and the legend of Prometheus.

He had asked for one of his Christmas treats and got the box of Nerds without discussing how many he could have. We was half-way in when we got into a debate over how many he could have. He was grumpy at first, but then had fun “arguing” with his logic and reason with Carly. For one of his arguments he had her look up how much sugar was in a box, then how many Nerds are in a box, then he used his scientific calculator to calculate how much sugar was in each Nerd (something like .058 grams).They then negotiated to eating 13 more Nerds. I went to get them, but then asked if he wanted 6 red and 7 blue or vice versa. Carly suggested 6 of each. To which August said why not make it 14. Carly blamed me for leading him to that, and I said it was her fault for saying 12—I had given him two choices. August was really amused by us debating it.

But then he want and stole an extra one. I then ate 2 (he had already told me I should eat both colors) but he got grumpy about it. Carly made it up to him by putting a chocolate chip in the box for tomorrow.

He got out Rush Hour and played another level of it, then was trying to make puzzles for me to solve. Which we quickly learned was a a rather difficult task. They often came out either very easy, or impossible. He kept at it though and learned a lot, I think.

We headed upstairs upstairs with a bowl of Cheerios after 8:50. Carly gave him a bath and brushed his teeth. I then put him to sleep. We listened to the story “Maya’s Feathers” on Circle Round, then did two meditation tracks in Ninja Focus. It did seem to help, as as soon as I put on more Benge he fell asleep, by 10:15.

Song of the day:

Zinnie cam: cool doorway:

Balloon room:

Falling over:

Zinnie cam: silly message on the couch:

Chatting on the way to the car:

Working together with magnet blocks:

Working on the fort in the dark:

Cappuccino silliness:

I went up and woke him at 8:15. Still took a while for him to wake up downstairs. Downstairs we played Minecraft, and at one point I said something about how it is nice that real spider don’t act like spiders in Minecraft (actively trying to attack you at night). He said that was creepy: “Even more creepy than mama turning into a zombie in thin air.” We managed to just finish Minecraft, have a quick breakfast, and get out the door at 9:20. Had to coax him out through the few drops of rain.

We drove up to Shani’s. No swing today. He came in humming “Just a Little Love”. She said he should be a singer but didn’t pick up on it being another Erasure song.

He was a little more reluctant to engage in her activities today. First activity was to climb the ladder and move stickers from the back of his hand to a paper at the top. At first he just wanted to “free climb” the ladder. He got through that, then checked out the little tent before we got him to the table where they drew shapes. They then did letters. His letters are quite neat, although he got bored of it quickly. They then played with the putty with things hidden in it. Finally, she introduced him to the game Rush Hour. We did two levels together on the floor, and he liked it. She let us borrow to bring back in two weeks (as she’ll be gone on vacation next week).

A cat came right up to us as we left her basement and we petted it. It was raining harder, and I had to coax him out, under the umbrella, to get to the car. Not playground weather today, so we headed home.

At home he talked about what he could do with coins and his fingers (remembering what he had done with Shani a couple weeks ago). I got him some coins and he got a container. That turned into spinning coins on the floor, and I taught him how to do it. He was excited to figure out how to do it and got quite good at it. We also discovered that if you push on the coin hard from the top it would do a cool flipping thing. August said, “Knock yourself out.” He learned this somewhere (Last Kids?) and used it several times today. I remembered those little paper footballs that we (particularly me and Darrin) would make and flick with our fingers. I made one and August wasn’t too impressed: “Weird. But okay.”

He then had a game where he was playing music for the bully family. He was either making the music scary to scare them away or nice (major) to make them sick. That went on for a long time. I made the baked salmon for lunch and he ate most of his large piece. While we are we watched a video about the game I got him for Christmas, No Thank You, Evil!https://youtu.be/HtXHv9X-9CU

He was really intrigued and wanted to watch the whole thing.

Just before 1 we got going to the dentist. She has moved, and now is just up behind the Snakes and Ladders park. We parked, urged August through the light rain again, and found her place. He was pretty nervous about it, and her location, up an elevator, and then through a hallway that led to a waiting area patio that would be wonderful in the nice weather but now had a thrashing wind cover as a wall, didn’t help. When we got in though she was really nice, and when I lay in the chair he was able to lay on top of me and let her do the check up. No cleaning. She said probably no cleaning until he was 8 or 9.

Successful, we drove up into town and went to the ice cream place. I misheard him about something and he told me he thinks I need to go to his lab for a hearing test: “the hearing part of your brain is a little haywire.” I got a cappuccino instead of ice cream, and when August asked what kind of ice cream I ordered I joked my brain could only order cappuccinos. So then I had a series of little scenarios where I just ordered cappuccinos that had him in stitches. When I said, “Welcome to the refrigerator store…” he really lost it. I had to wait until he was ready for the next funny line. Another good one was when I had the pepper pot General from yesterday ordering thousands of cappuccinos as reinforcements for the troops.

He finished his ice cream and we went downstairs and got a few things at Stop City! We then went home and he did alone time, then we played Minecraft. Then, a bit grumpy but okay when his time was over, he went into his fort. He spent some tiem with Sky Guide, finding the Hubble Telescope, ISS, and a whole series of satellites that must be part of a network.

We then did Hooked on Phonics. He did level 14, easy, but then said the reading was too hard (without really trying it) because he couldn’t have it say individual words, like Rivet can. He did a low level, like 2, but it was way too easy. I got him to go back to 14 by telling him I’d be his Rivet button. When he touched a word on the screen I would read the word out in the General voice. Span was a word of the day.

After talking about how he likes to argue, I finally remembered to show him the “Argument Clinic” sketch from Monty Python. His first Monty Python. Carly got home soon after at 4:45. When she did I put the blanket over him to hide him. This became a game, as he was pretending he was a cat and he wanted me to keep hiding him from Carly. He was laughing hysterically again. Eventually, he started making a fort in front of the couch, humming as he did so.

We had soup for dinner, then I went up to work for an hour. He did his alone time and played Minecraft with Carly. When I came down he was finishing up a creation using tape to tape a bunch of objects together at one end of the dining table. He called it his “noise factory”. I hadn’t really eaten earlier and ate now. We had gotten a fresh loaf of bread at the store, and I used it to make toast. Both he and Carly liked it and kept stealing my pieces, so I had to make us all more.

We then did several levels of Rush Hour, getting through 8. He was doing a pretty impressive job with it. We got him upstairs and Carly gave him a bath. I put him to sleep. He had a Brother and Sister game which I didn’t really understand, where Brother and Bar go to war with her because she wouldn’t give him a diamond she had found. It went on and on, and brought in the General. I finally ended that, and we listened to the Circle Round story “100 Rooms”. Finally got lights off at 10:20 and we listened to a synthesizer artist called Benge. August was instantly hooked, and said, “I love how he uses minor keys…” Not falling asleep, he asked, “How do you bccome a billionaire?” I quickly explained how they are really lucky to have a company they founded get really big. Founded was another word of the day. There was a good lightning show going on outside that we were getting to watch, and he finally, finally fell asleep around 10:45.

Learning Rush Hour:

Learning to spin coins:

Spinning the coin success:

Song of the day:

His first Monty Python:

A little singing improv:

Different attacks of some sort:

He was up at 7:25. He came down with me to the couch and curled up. When I put the blanket on him he totally pulled it up over hi imself like a cocoon and rested for probably ten minutes. When he was more alert I read more of The Last Kids on Earth. Only 25 pages left. We then moved to Minecraft, going back to our main survival world. He handled the end great and then watched the two Kurzgesagt videos about the Fermi Paradox and ate oatmeal.

We did some Brother and Bar game, with Brother being jealous of kids in a sci-fi movie living on a Mars base, but finding it boring when Bar actually starts making it one.

He wanted to do music, so first we watched an Odd Quartet video about building scales (https://youtu.be/ObBCOgLCOkE) before setting up GarageBand and the keyboard. He worked on playing one of his new songs in a new key.

He did 7 and a half minutes of alone time and then he did 15 minutes of Minecraft, with it being part of a game where Bar came to Ms. Safe’s class and taught them all about Minecraft. At one point he was concerned about us being separated but I explained he shouldn’t be concerned because you’re never really lost in Minecraft because you can turn on coordinates. He said, “That’s a good argument.” But added, “I don’t like it when I lose arguments.”

He then did music for alone time, doing the rest of his 22.5 minutes. We played Minecraft for the rest of his time, continuing the Bar and Myna as teachers game.

When his time was up he had half of a taffy from his Christmas treats. He went back to playing music and had me looking up scales. He got hungry and we had soup for lunch. We watched the Odd quartet video on “Intervals” as we ate. Before lunch I had taught him the names of the black keys and for the first time he seemed really interested in and understood how they have two names. The intervals video worked well too, and “unison” was a word of the day (and he picked up that it sounded like unicycle). He was excited that he already knew an octave.

We then started the Preschool Prep “Ph” video as he had chosen that letter digraph to do today. When he refused to wash his hands though we took a break. I went to work on the couch until he was ready to wash his hands and continue with school time.

He worked on his fort, making it even bigger and better, until he declared it finished. I complimented it but commented on how I had definitely lost my sitting spot. He replied, “There’s three chairs for three people, you know.”

We went back to phonics and finished ph. We moved to Rivet. He read two level 1 or 2 books and I read a level 8 about space robots. In talking about going to Gabi’s I mentioned I’d grab one of those little biscuit cookies for him, and asked him to try to help me remember, as I had meant to get one on Sunday but forgot. He got grumpy about this and called me stupid for forgetting, then brought it back up a couple times. He eventually apologized for it.

He went back to music and was looking up odd scales and chords. He played a scale over and over that he liked and it turned out it was F Locrian scale, or simply F sharp starting from the 7th step. He made up a cool song for the day, and also was playing lots of “Just a Little Love”.

He didn’t want to leave the house before we left for Gabi’s at 2:30. The last thing we did was to take out some rocks and break them with the hammer. It started with a rock he had inside, then he remembered the rocks he had collected yesterday.

We got going and listened to Story Pirates both down and back, continuing season 1. We each snagged a little cookie before going in. I went in with August today and he was excited about that. He had picked up a stick getting out of the car and started by using it as a drumstick on things and called it his drum stick. He then said he’d choose a random game, and it was a boxed card game of War. When Gabi told him that he at first wanted to play, but then decided we’d play army instead. As August walked to get the army pieces he said, “I’m definitely not a pacifist.” Which cracked both me and Gabi up. We played with the army the rest of the time. Not really sure why I was in there. I could have used the hour break to do some studying. We had fun though, and I had a piece on my side that August called the “Angry Mom” which I made the general. August said they were Japan and I was Israel, so the spies I was sending in were Mossad agents. He also really liked my use of a Monty Python pepper pot voice for the general

We snagged another cookie on our way out and headed to school. I parked up in the bus lane area, right close to the cover. There were a few drops of rain and August was reluctant to get out, but we did it. We went to Carly’s classroom first to drop off the bag of books she wanted back there. August started playing, first spinning in one of the desks, then doing satellite work on paper, then drawing on the electronic whiteboard. I returned the bag of books to the library, then came back. He finished by playing with effects in PowerPoint.

We got him out of there and home around 5. He cuddled with Carly, who was tired, on the couch. I went and got them a blanket. She read some of The Talented Clementine. I got him halloumi and avocado tacos for dinner and he ate a taco and a half. He got hyper with Carly, jumping on her etc. and she left to go sit in one of the chairs. He worked in his fort and spied on her with binoculars until he was ready to go apologize.

We did education videos, starting with a couple of Super Tony videos the first was about trying to spend a billion dollars in a day), then the Kurzgesagt video on “Stellar Engines” (the newest), which is pretty mind-blowing, then the one on a “Moon Base”, which, surprisingly, he doesn’t think he’s seen before. And then finally “Black Hole Bomb”. Get your head around it was a word of the day, or phrase really.

Carly had taken a shower, now I went for a run. When I got back they were finishing a bath. They came out, trying to figure out how Carly could spend a Googolplex of dollars. He made a long list: “…a 5 kilometer long trash compactor…some golden rings, the most expensive car in the world…a submarine…your own team of drones, a space station…”

I took a shower and she brushed his teeth and read a little (Clementine, I think). We listened a Circle Rounds, “Wit and Wordplay”, and he went to the bathroom, then listened to “The Dancing Goats” as he fell asleep. He was still awake at the end though and I put on the Lullatone album The Bedtime Beat. He liked the first time and asked me to add it to his playlist, then he fell right asleep at about 10:15.

Today’s song:

Listening to his music:

Creepy song:

A song bit:

All the parts he knows of “Just a Little Love”:

Hammering:

Spinny desks:

Carly headed to school early. I worked up on the bed and August woke up about 7:15 and came and crawled in bed with me. Took a while to fall back to sleep, but then I was having to wake him up at 8:30. Got him downstairs and we read The Last Kids on Earth. We then did random stuff on Minecraft. He then did the crazy Minecraft war story, with Myna overdoing the defenses and blowing up the other team’s base.

He made two Monday songs on the toy piano and had me do videos. I made oatmeal for him. He had Brother meet a new girl. Brother was confused at first, forgetting which month he was stuck. Girl who could duplicate things. Security system to protect Sister’s diary.

He added a couple songs from the Kraftwerk album Home Computer to his playlist. We looked at our plan for the day. As I was making sandwiches for lunch he was swinging around in a circle, holding one of the little pots from his toy kitchen. He noticed how it was trying to pull him, and how he was pushing against it. Counteract was a word of the day.

As usual, it was a challenge to get him going, as he kept getting distracted by other activities. He caught the light with the bottom of the pot, and had fun directing it around the room. He was then doing photography for a long time, messing with settings, and managed to make some quite interesting photos. He took a slo-mo of me blinking. I thought I finally had him focused on leaving, but then he wanted to go hammer some rocks. I finally got him dressed, and we went out and put the bike on the car and headed to Tel Aviv.

We were going to HaYarkon Park, with the intent of heading a little further up river and stopping for an ice cream at that outdoor place again. On the way down we listened to Story Pirates. I randomly chose an episode from the first season that we heard before, but they were good ones. As we got out of the car he said, “It’s funny that in the three stories we listened to there were two competitions and they both had moms…” One was a koala tree climbing competition and the other was Olympic gymnastics.

We got riding just after 12:40. He was humming as we went. We had parked at the far end of the parking lot (where you enter) so it would be closer to the upstream part. We rode trails through the park we hadn’t been on, found the river, and headed upstream. Signs of flooding around, with one area being a pretty big pond, and lots of good-sized puddles with birds around them. Sadly, the ice cream place was closed.

We rode further than before and got to a place where it came close to a major intersection. We found a nice bench and stopped there for lunch. He liked that there was a plant growing through the slats of the bench and spent several minutes talking about plants taking over, especially if humans were gone. We ate our turkey and avocado sandwiches and continued a series of Brother games today where Bar and Sister had set up elaborate defenses to keep Brother away from Sister’s diary. He kept getting further in, but there were always new things that would hurt him, etc.

I finally got us to switch to reading The Last Kids on Earth. While I read he found rocks in the dirt and knocked off the dirt. He took a few home with us. We left there at 2:10.

On the ride back we tried to ride a dirt road around the south end of the water park. A more direct route back to our car. It shows up as a road that connects on Google Maps. It was fine at first, but then we met some puddles. Okay at first, then right at the end hit a big slippery area. Shouldn’t have worn my nice shoes. We got over that only to be thwarted. There was a big puddle that August got off to estimate the depth of. Could have gotten by that, but the road led to a construction area, and the whole other side was one of those temporary white metal fences and a locked gate. Didn’t appear we could get through anywhere. Could have continued to follow the road to see where the big trucks were coming from, but that didn’t seem wise.

So we rode back the other direction, then back north around the water park, taking the roadway out and reconnected with the park trails. We stopped at a bathroom, and August spent 15 to 30 minutes photographing birds and other things, including me trying to fly like a bird. I had asked if he wanted to take a picture of me and he said no, he was only photographing birds. He also said, “I took a photo of my skin passcode.” He meant his fingerprint.

We got back to the car (where before we left he had stood on the railing for a Making Mama Nervous photo) and headed out. Stopped at the nearby Paz for gas and headed to Beit Yehoshua for a treat. Kept listening to Story Pirates. The outdoor place was open there—in fact, seemed to be just opening. Instead of a popsicle August asked for a baked treat and chose a M&M cookie. I got a cappuccino. We sat there as the sun went down and read more of The Last Kids on Earth. I had finally convinced August to put on a sweatshirt. Supposed to be pretty rainy the rest of the week, so it was nice to spend several hours of this lovely day outside. He wanted to keep going, chapter after chapter, but I finally got him to go close to 5.

We stopped at the strawberry stand and I ran in to get three containers. He was starting to get a little frustrated, but managed it and we got home. Think he was getting hungry, although he’d also eaten a total of 12 corn crackers, finishing off the bag. I tried to compliment him about handling his frustration well. He doesn’t like being complimented, and gave me an “Anyway…”

He and I played Minecraft. Carly got home as we played. When it was over I was making his spaghetti. He started to get frustrated again, and Carly started being a hugging machine. Think she started the hugging, but then I was quoting lines from the book Hug Machine and he liked both of those and requested she be a hugging machine a couple times. He ate the spaghetti and melted cheese that I’d found he liked yesterday. (he had requested melted cheese separate in a little bowl, and when I had overdone it he found he liked it).

He was mainly being silly at the table though and didn’t eat much spaghetti: “The twelve corn crackers I ate, is that what’s making me go haywire?” He was pretending to be a cat, after Carly had said she thinks she might have a mouse in a cupboard at school. He got a pot and wanted to make mouse stew: “I’m trying to be a proper cat.”

He made a fort out of the chairs. Actually, he started with other stuff but was getting frustrated when it didn’t work, and Carly helped him with the chairs and blanket. When it was set up he added the piano as part of wall, which he could also play. He did alone time in fort. He was an inspector of some sort. I went up to work.

I came down a bit later so Carly could call the dentist. August has an appointment on Wednesday. That took a few minutes, then I went back up to work. They spent most of their time “arguing” (with logical arguments) about his dinner and how much he should eat. In the end he ate half the spaghetti and three large strawberries. He also played his second half hour of Minecraft.

I came down at 8:10. Carly went up to take a shower. He was watching the Kurzgesagt video on neutron stars, then negotiated with Carly while I went back upstairs so I wouldn’t overhear. He then watched the Mars Base video. That led to a long Sister and Bar game about a Mars mission, and how Brother kept trying to be involved.

After that I wanted to read the end of Last Kids but he started playing the piano instead. He was figuring out “Just a Little Love” by Erasure. At first just the chorus, but then the verses and bridge as well. He also made up something that sounded like church bells ringing. Carly had brought the mail home, and my driver’s license had finally arrived. And expires in May. So it doesn’t even save me a six-month trip. Sigh. At least I have an ID I can carry around instead of my Washington license.

The piano ended up upstairs where he kept playing. Carly got him in and gave him a bath. I then took over to put him to sleep. He played with the laser pointer, shining it through/off a roll of tape and onto the wall. Then, in his bedroom off of different surfaces, and then he discovered he could supercharge the crystal we had grown with the light on it and it glowed really green when he turned it off. He also took some more photos, and I took photos of the crystal. We listened to Circle Round’s “The Great Acorn Robbery”. We listened to Lullatone and he went and lay down, actually crawling under his pillow, and fell asleep quickly, by 10:20.

Today’s song:

Today’s second song:

Zinnie cam: on the couch:

Shrugging:

Funny eyes again:

Zinnie cam: bird watching:

Zinnie cam: me as a bird:

Zinnie cam: the grass:

Playing “Just a Little Love”:

Tape and laser pointer:

He was up just at 8. I was already up so he called down. I met him on the stairs and he immediately asked: “Dada, I have a question. What happens if you have eat a billion tons of food a day?” Downstairs he wanted to play Minecraft, but Carly got him to agree to The Talented Clementine and they read that for several minutes. He told Carly about his machines to trim ivy and do something else (Carly reminded him of the ivy at Dee and Grant’s when it came up in the book, and that got him going).

When they were done I mentioned how August wanted to buy batteries for his laser pointer. Carly was surprised the batteries were running out and he said, “It’s dim, I’ll tell you that much.”

When he started playing Minecraft he was going to play with Carly. But then he remembered our trying to find a stronghold and refused to play with her. I was trying to explain that I’d be playing with him all week. When I said I didn’t want to play, he got really, really sad. It took several minutes of comforting from Carly for him to calm down, and he agreed to try to find a stronghold with her.

When they were done (August had turned on ‘Keep Inventory’ and was having fun falling and dying) he played piano while she made French toast. He was exploring intervals and arpeggios.

He had a slice and a half. He started talking about pirates and told me, the captain, that I could keep the crew busy by cleaning the ship. By the time they finished the beginning would be dirty again. That was from Stickman Odyssey. I made a lot of “Aargh” jokes. August then said the crew had destroyed the guns and plank and thrown the treasure overboard. They decorated for Christmas and gave the captain squeaky dolls and bubbles. Think that whole idea was completely his (he began it when he and Gilad played on the ship).

I went upstairs and made beds. When I came down they were taking apart the scanner. I took over and he was using the drill. He asked about if we squish bacteria and that led to a discussion of ants: “You know I’ve had dreams where there’s tons of ant nests in our house…in one we moved…It was funny because we were moving to Mikaela’s and we got in the car. But really it isn’t far away…I’ve had them with Eve…we climbed on the table.”

We started playing a Sister game (again, where she starts playing on the server) and we moved to the couch. Played a bit longer, then I read Kids Versus the Dark and Kids Versus Ants. Carly read part of Clementine to him, then I got him to read the Kids Versus Phonics Oa book to me.

He then played on GarageBand with his keyboard for quite a while. Carly said he should come up with a new song for today and he did, a sort of electric bass line that he would end up playing all through the day. He started playing it with two hands, and realized he could keep the bass note on one note while the right played the melody.

We had some lunch and got ready to go. We were all going to Gabi’s today, with Carly and I meeting with Gabi and August watching stuff. August said he wanted to watch Sarah and Duck, but then ended up watching Inspector Gadget the whole time, I think. August sat quietly the whole way down. Carly liked an OMD song she heard me play yesterday and had that on repeat. He was also apparently thinking about math. When we stopped the first thing he said was, “If a car was going sixty miles an hour then it would go one mile in a minute…There’s division in there.” He then asked how many seconds were in an hour, and when Carly helped him figure it out he said that if a car was going 3,600 miles an hour it would go a mile in a second.

August got right to watching at the office, and did a ton of laughing, and some talking to the screen, all of which we could hear from the office. The discussion was mainly about goals. One of our first goals had been for August to be able to separate and meet with Gabi on his own. We’ve achieved that, so we’re looking at what’s next.

When we were done we drove to Even Yehuda. I read The Last Kids on Earth on the way. Carly parked behind VIPizza and I headed to the bank. Had to figure out how to deposit a check, then got some cash and also paid Gabi. Carly and August headed to the hardware store and found batteries for his laser pointer. They then stopped at the grocery store to get pita and hummus.

At home he ate a bunch of strawberries and then a carrot. He said, “It must be carrot season. This is the best carrot I’ve ever had.” He then had some more of his candy cane and I read The Last Kids on Earth. Stakeout was a word of the day.

He started playing piano, so I went for a run. When I got back he was Skyping with Vivian and Colin. I went up to take a shower and when I came down both he and Vivian were playing piano for each other. Colin wanted to see his room, so we all went upstairs. August built a fort in the middle of the floor, then we headed back downstairs. Colin wanted August to eat a banana. We didn’t have any, so I peeled a tangerine instead. Vivian and Colin were pretending to not know what an orange is. August ate some, but apparently only sucks the juice out of them, then looked at bits of it under the microscope. He kept looking at things in the microscope. Vivian and Colin had also made a fort. Eventually she said goodbye. He played with the camera on Carly’s phone, specifically with the Live Photos, and making abstract light show with them, and also playing around with camera noise.

August hadn’t used any Minecraft time after the morning, so he and I then played for 30 minutes, exploring a stronghold. He watched a couple Life Noggin videos afterwards. He had spaghetti for dinner, then was playing his toy piano again. Carly found videos of him playing the same piano years ago and playing “Are You Sleeping?” August then started picking the same song out on the same piano, and was sort of playing with his younger self.

Eventually, he wanted to do math on Carly’s computer and they did math in Excel. He kept playing with that, then I read more of The Last Kids on Earth. Carly made him a strawberry smoothie. Carly put the new batteries in and he played with the laser pointer, trying to annoy Carly as she did the dishes. He asked, randomly, “Why does flour bond together when it is wet?”

We got him upstairs and Carly gave him a bath. I heard him asking her about tardigrades, and whether she thought they would survive specific scenarios. One was: “50 billion year stomach acid downpour…do you think tardigrades would survive that?”

We said good night and I put him to bed. He talked about moving his eyes/head and how he couldn’t just move his eyes when he was younger. He had me take another video. He also took some photos of me. We listened to two Circle Rounds: “Taste of Honey” and “The Friendship Garden”. He listened to a few things on Ninja Focus, then I put on the Lullatone lullabies album and he fell asleep to that about 10:15.

New song of the day:

New song with both hands:

Watching Inspector Gadget:

Playing for Vivian and Colin:

Playing for each other:

Funny eyes:

Bed time lapse: