He woke up at 8:10. Walked out and looked around the house. I had a podcast playing, and he looked at me confused and said “Hear mama.” We did a lot of reading this morning. He wanted to read Can’t you sleep, Little Bear? Then Jack and Jill, Hop on Pop, and A de Activista. He then watched ABC songs and we made oatmeal for breakfast. We did more reading, including the Little Bear book and Jack and Jill, and also Old King Cole and Head Shoulders Knees and Toes in Spanish. He then requested the Blue dance, having Blue and Green Monster dance together, and August would call out what they were supposed to yell between lines.
We started to get ready to go. After changing him I put on his cat shirt, but he requested his “Ahoy, Matey” shirt by name and wanted to change. Did that, but then he changed his mind and wanted it off and the cat shirt back on. So that is where we ended up.
We did some drawing before leaving, and he started writing letters on his feet. They were pretty impressive by the time he was done. He chose to have his teeth brushed while he was in the backpack again.
On our way to the subway he was hiding from the ‘letters’ on the sidewalk and along it (the Vs and Ss in the benches, the I in yellow tiles, the Os that are manhole covers, etc.). On the subway we initially had a seat at the end of 3, next to two other kids. I set him down first, and was just about to sit down with him on his lap, when a woman came along and insisted on sitting on the bench as well, making it 4 to the 3 seats. So I sat on the floor next to him. He only stayed up on the seat for a couple minutes, as the boy and girl next to him were bothering him by poking at the iPad, and he wanted to sit on my lap. Which was quite nice again, as the train car was all decorated with pictures of flowers, so he had fun putting the “iPad on flowers” and wanting to “sit on grass”. He pointed to the seam of the doors and said there were zookeepers in there. Earlier, he had pointed in the peanut butter jar and said the same thing. We did Very Hungry Caterpillar puzzles, and he remembered the piece missing from the puzzle at the history museum on Saturday – saying something like “Piece missing children’s museum”.
At Ttukseom Resort we headed down the walkway into the design building (the spirally building, under which August once took a nap). He directed me as we explored the building a bit. He especially liked looking at the Hangeul displays, then directed us up to the library. There, he wanted out to read books. I set him down and he immediately said “Phone, phone, phone.” This was a reference and memory back to November 11th, the last time we had been here, when we saw the woman leave her phone behind and we tried to find her to give it back. A minute later he was pointing to the red cushion and saying “Phone here” – that was the spot the phone had been left (and where we returned it to when we couldn’t find her). We read a few books. They have a very small English section, but have the same Kipper book as us, Cheerio book, and Brown Bear, Brown Bear. And two Boynton books we don’t have, and a couple Eric Carle books that we don’t. His favorite was the Learning Time with the Very Busy Spider book, and we read that three times.
We went down to the benches on the first floor and ate lunch. There, the guy who runs the coffee stand came over and talked to him. He really liked August’s eyes, and took a couple photos. August had fun talking to him (and singing ABCs). He showed us photos of his daughter, who is 2 (Korean, that is – younger than August, who is 3).
We went outside to try to find a bathroom to change him in. Couldn’t. But August wanted to play in the playground. So we did that for 10 or 15 minutes. Mainly poked at a pile of snow, where he claimed to see triangles (say-moes), perhaps in the foot prints that were on it. Went back to the bathrooms in the design building and changed him standing up (we carry pull-up diapers for these sorts of places). Then out walking along the river for a few minutes until he fell asleep. Went back to the top floor of the building and sat at a table in the corner. He slept from 2:11 to 3:12.
When he woke up he wanted out of the coffeeshop (we weren’t actually in a coffeeshop, but I can understand the confusion, since 99% of the time we are). So we started walking. He was in a ‘no’ mood, saying no to anything I asked, or if I started to sing, etc. We walked east, and he finally spoke up when we reached the flower garden, and the bath into the (slightly) wooded area. He saw the path, pointed, and said “Here”. The last time we had walked over here was with my parents. So we walked that way, to the east end of the park, then came back. We stopped in the barren flower garden and had a snack. Sat with my back to the wind, shielding him, as it was getting windier and windier. We did okay for the snack, and he walked around for a few minutes, but the walk back to the subway was very cold, as we were walking directly into the wind. I held his hands the whole time, but heard him doing his little gasping when the wind was heavy. He didn’t complain though.
We got off at Sangbong and walked to Costco. A straightforward trip – went straight downstairs, got a pack of feta cheese, and 4 blocks of cheddar, and headed out. Didn’t even find any samples for him. But all of this was a bit chaotic and slow as it was packed. August did really well though, even as we waited in line.
Paid, and headed out. On the way he made up the line “P is for parentheses.” Back home, we were playing with his shapes puzzle and kept holding a piece up and saying “What shape is (this)?” And he or I would answer in one language or another. Carly gave him a bath and everything was fine until he started to play with the hose to the handheld shower head. Carly told him he shouldn’t, so he picked up Sophie and started using her to touch it. Then, a few drops of cold water dripped out and on to his head. This was pretty devastating, as if he had been betrayed by the shower or Sophie. I changed him after the shower, and he was back to joking, this time about a “million fourteen poops”.
Carly took a shower and we read books. He was saying the color object combinations throughout My Very First Book of Colors, something he hasn’t really done before despite knowing the colors and the objects. Went to bed soon after, close to 9.
Also, he’s gotten pretty good with his finger numbers, up to 5. That is, he can hold up 2, 3, 4, or 5 fingers. For 2 he uses his thumb and pointer. Sometimes for 4 his thumb still sticks up, but other times he gets the thumb down. He does pretty well getting the thumb and little finger down for 3.
New words/phrases: abeja (bee), musica, plastic, glass, diamanté, cangreho (crab)
Morning:
On our way:
Flower subway car:
Designs building and library:
Playground:
Snack at the end of the walk after his nap:
Home: