Today was an amazingly cool day�I don�t think the temperature topped 75. I wore jeans for the first time in months (although, truth be told, this had more to do with the state of my laundry than the weather). I�m not exactly sure where the day went. I got up very early, before everyone else, and curled up with a chair on the screened porch (wearing my fleece jacket, no less!) with the New York Review of Books, as the newspaper, which is often late on Sundays, had not yet arrived. After AJ got up, we built a contraption that would send a marble down a spiral, through a tunnel and across the bars of his alligator-shaped xylophone, an inspiration of the kinetic sculpture we saw yesterday. After breakfast, we went outside with his dictionary and some sidewalk chalk and played school on the driveway until it was time for me to go to the pool. We studied basic entomology, at AJ�s request. I drew an enormous grinning bug and, with the help of AJ�s dictionary, labeled key body parts. AJ drew a beautiful grinning butterfly with big blue wings and all six of its legs. I named my diagram Ivan Insect. AJ named his picture Bluer Butterfly and then we went inside.

My trip to the pool was a bust � despite the cool and cloudy weather, there was a huge crowd of kids there early, preventing me from doing any lap swimming. It�s the end-of-summer syndrome � school here starts in a week and they�re hurrying to get in their last summer fling. Instead swimming, I returned home and joined AJ and his dad on a trip to the park to play baseball, ride bikes and play on the playground. We also ended up wading in the river and digging holes in the sand, where we found a small plastic snow leopard buried in the damp sand under the very edge of the water. AJ wanted to take it swimming, so we headed to the pool on the way home for a brief dip before AJ announced that he was too cold and wanted to go home.

After such a busy morning, AJ took a long nap and I had the chance to catch up on some phone calls and get to work my parents� anniversary present. It�s their 40th this year and I�m making a CD of music from 1965 for them. There�s some good stuff to choose from � James Brown�s �I Got You (I Feel Good)�, the Beatles� �Yesterday,� the Beach Boys� �California Girls,� the Miracles� �The Tracks of My Tears� and �Ooh Baby Baby,� the Temptations� �My Girl,� the Supremes� �Stop in the name of love,� the Byrds� �Turn, Turn, Turn,� the Kinks� �All Day and All of the Night� � the list goes on and on. But the song that was number one on their wedding day? Sonny and Cher singing �I�ve got you babe.�

After AJ woke up, it was project time. He�d seen a picture of a castle toy somewhere and wanted to build a castle of his own. We got out all the arts and crafts supplies we could find. I put AJ to work painting two oatmeal boxes to serve as towers while I started cutting a drawbridge and windows out of a rectangular box for the main part of the castle, which we decided to cover in tongue depressors. Our first efforts are drying and awaiting further work tomorrow. Meanwhile, while AJ snores upstairs, I am left with the task of trying to remove purple paint from the floor and an errant popsicle stick glued to the back of a chair. Next time I�ll remember to put down the tarp.

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