Friday: 5-TOUCH and Children’s Grand Park

Awake at 7:22. He closed the door and said “No, no, no” when he saw me. I thought it would be a tough wake up, but a minute later he walked out and requested the iPad. Played Endless Alphabet for awhile, then had his vitamins, which he climbed up on the table to eat. We made a smoothie, and when I brought him his in his cup he said “Thanks”, then “patience grasshopper” (as if saying he had been patient), then “Mama says that. Mama says 78.” He watched some ABC songs (finding a Russian one now, which kind of puzzled him), then we read Sam and Mac. He got up and wanted to play with the sponges from Glecy. They weren’t on the floor from last night, so he was walking around asking “Where sponges?” We read more Bob books, then before we left for class he really got into reading the Frida book, but wanted me to read it in English, so was getting a bit impatient with my slow translating.

I tried to not put him in his coat, which almost worked, but then he decided he wasn’t leaving without the coat. So that held us up and he was still a little sniffly when we got to class. He was clingy at the beginning of class, and wouldn’t let me set him down for several minutes. She still did a lot of talking/demonstrating today, but it didn’t seem too bad, as she had Z’s attention the entire time. We did stickers, played with apple slices on plates representing family members, and then got a bag of toys that we practiced sharing with a friend in class (and saying ‘please’, ‘thank you’, etc.) He didn’t want a handstamp at the end of class – something Carly predicted would happen, since he is so conscious of his hands being “messy” nowadays.

From class we walked to the subway. Unremarkable, except a woman started talking to us. Also not remarkable, except off the subway she kept talking to us, and tried helping putting August in the backpack. She then walked with us up and through the turnstiles, and all the way out of the station. August was getting very frustrated with her, and when we went through the turnstiles he did his best to get her to leave by waving frantically and loudly saying “Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye!” She knew I was a teacher, and she wanted to know about the school, etc. She knew some English, but all I could get from her was that she had a 38-year old niece. I think she was looking for an English teacher or school for her niece or niece’s child. Anyway, August and I then want back to the store in the subway station and bought kimbap and little eggs for lunch. We walked up to the amphitheater and ate lunch there. August has his proper appetite back and ate a a good lunch. He wanted to throw away our garbage, and remembered the way to the closest garbage cans when I didn’t. He then wanted to go back and look into the different bins, so we did that before heading out.

He wanted to go to the new playground and play with the numbers. We went there, and he found a rock on the hopscotch area. Traced numbers with it, then played around, dropping it and saying “Que paso? Se cayo!” (What happened? It fell.) We went under the play structure, where he found a second rock and a stick and he threw them around and through the ladders. He held all three, saying “Three!” Suddenly, he crawled into my lap and cuddled there for at least 10 minutes. He also found a few pieces of little garbage and we put them in my pocket to throw away later. When we left, he left the rocks behind, saying “Bye” to them. He found another rock on the hopscotch area (probably because kids actually use them for playing hopscotch). He picked it up and put it away with the other rocks under the play structure. We went and threw our new garbage away and looked in those bins, then changed him, and made a little attempt to do our walk and put him to sleep. He first wanted to see the robots, so we went and saw them, then walked about 10 minutes at 1:30, but he wasn’t acting like a nap was happening, saying “No nap” and pointing down paths and saying “See animals” and “Old playground”.

So we gave up and walked down towards the old playground. He spotted the walking path and faucet area we first played in last May 28th (using a plastic lid he found). He wanted to play in the water, so we did that, and I got the shovel out so he could play with that. A guy came along and ‘talked’ to me a bit by writing messages on the stone bench with his paper, then on paper when I got out a pen…He just asked how old August was, then told us to have a good day. After the water, which lasted quite awhile, August tried out the different parts of the walking path, falling over pretty dramatically at one point, and wanting to know what each part was made of (tile, big stones, metal circles, etc.) He then sat down next to a bush and looked like he was hiding. I asked what he was hiding from, and he said “Sad musica” and something else. He then walked down a little hill to one of the playgrounds. Used the stick to write letters, then was climbing up on the play structure a bit. Up there, there were two posts with a cross piece that looked like a huge H. He was brave getting down from the play structure and fell once, as it was a long drop, but he was okay. Back on the sand, he complained that there was something in his shoe. I was asking him which shoe to get him to work on ‘right’ and ‘left’. He did indeed have one of his shape stickers in one shoe, then a few minutes later there was sand in the other. We ended up sitting on the play structure and he first wanted to take of his shoes, then socks. Played in the sand in his bare feet, mainly kind of walking around slowly, feeling it, and reaching down and putting sand between his toes. As we were walking to leave, I asked how the sand felt. He looked up, smiled, and said “Cold!” He sat on my lap and we spent some time washing his hands and feet in the faucets. Then packed up and went to the third floor Dream Cafe. Got a strawberry juice for him and coffee for me. He read Dr. Seuss, then played Dr. Seuss and Endless Alphabet. While reading Dr. Seuss there was a line about dreaming, and I asked “Did you have a dream?” He immediately said “Dream bout zookeepers.” But he didn’t want to go to the zoo today. We were there from 3:20 to a sometime after 4. Changed him over by the amphitheater, then we headed out. He was singing and requesting songs right up until we entered the subway station.

I get down to the platform a minute later, take off the backpack, and find him asleep. I took him out and tried to rouse him. No luck. He slept on me the entire subway ride home. Woke a little and protested a bit as I put him back in the backpack, then fell back to sleep and slept at home. He was asleep from 4:59 to 5:59. Woke up and wanted to go outside. Not happy when I took him out and changed him, and insisted on his coat back on (he had worn it all day, even when it was 67). Put him back in the backpack and went out for a little wandering. Asked him where to go, and he started using directions, saying “Go left”. Went to the park and asked what he wanted to do, and “Walk in a circle” won out. So we circled the park once, then met up with Carly as she walked home.

At home he had dinner and Carly gave him a bath. Still looked tired, so thought he might go to bed early, or at a normal time. Nope. He read Bob Books with Carly, then we played with Bluie and Green Monster, which turned into a “Missed me, missed me, now you got to kiss me” thing. August would shove Bluie in the crack between the beds and want Bluie to chant that. He also took to hiding from Carly by hiding behind me. Carly took a shower and we played with the bath letters, writing words, then watched the owl video that Cherie had posted for him (he would say “Hi big owl, hi little owl”). He watched it a good 15 times. He read the Little Houses book with Carly, and really likes that book. Carly tried to put him to sleep, but it wasn’t happening. He came back out with me and we read Dr. Seuss on the iPad and did some art, the
n he put stickers on the back of the computer. Finally took him back in to bed and he fell asleep around 10:30.

New words/phrases: sponges, bare foot, miss me, galletas, grab Bluie, sweatshirt, little house book, Are you in the stroller? No

Hiding from mama:

Reading Little Houses: