Carly said he was going “ssssss” in his sleep last night. No rain today, but a lot of wind. He woke up at 6:56. Very happy again. Said ‘nurse’ a few times but no complaint when I said mama was at work. He then rolled around on the bed for a few minutes. When he popped up he headed straight to the kitchen, got his stool, and put it against the counter. He wanted to make a smoothie. We did that, then he was on the iPad. Didn’t last long, as then he wanted to color on paper. Did that, then back to the iPad for just a few minutes for Endless Reader. We did a few play dough letters, then he went down to the changing room and played with the magnets, focusing on the Pororo characters. He wanted to make music on a balloon, so did a little of that, then read At the Zoo. He then invented a brand new alphabet song going “It’s a B chk, chk…” as he walked back and forth on the couch. He wanted Korean words, so we looked at one of the little books, then watched the video from class and brushed his teeth. I changed him to get ready to go and he heard neighbors out in the hall. He speculated they were taking a bath: “Neighbors taking a bath.”
We left about 9:30. Uneventful trip to Olympic Park. It was really windy when we got to the park, and as we walked through the south entryway, he pointed to the trees and said “Making S. Sss sss sss.” He wanted to find a playground, which are at the north end of the park, so I started walked that way. He was wanting to look at every set of garbage cans (it was about 10 sets before his nap), then decided he wanted us to walk around to the right. So we wandered that way. He wanted to find a picnic bench and eat, so we found an odd-looking green building, which turned out to be a historical pit hut site. We sat on a bench outside and ate our sandoo in the wind. He got both Smokey and Camel out to play with them. He then started wandering down a path with Smokey, saying “Take photo…of trees.” I got the backpack and we headed out. Never did take a tree photo.
Got to the lake, where the skinny sculpture things in it were spinning nicely. He wanted to throw rocks in, so we went around to the right. Threw some rocks and pine cones in. He was mobbed by admiring teenage girls, and stomped around in a big puddle on the bricks. I “saved” a boy in a wheelchair when a big gust of wind came up and blew him across the bricks. I actually had to jump out of the way of him, then realized he wasn’t in control and went and grabbed him so he wouldn’t blow any further. August and I were heading back up the path, looking for more rocks, when his mom came up to us and gave us a pack of cookie things for helping her son.
Changed him outside by a set of restrooms (the only bad thing about Olympic Park is the almost complete lack of changing tables, at least in men’s rooms), then started walking. Walked north through the center of the park, on some paths we had never been on before. Wanted to walk the ridges, but tried to stay low to avoid the wind. He had some difficulty getting to sleep because of the wind, and I ended up walking around in circles in a little tree area near the Olympic Museum until he fell asleep, then went in the coffee place. He slept. And slept. I tried to wake him up twice after he was asleep 90 minutes but he fell back to sleep. Slept from 12:43 to 2:46. While he was sleeping, the wind was quite strong outside. At one point I went to the door, which kept blowing open, to have a look. There was a picnic mat on the ground. A minute later the wind picked up and it was blowing around in circles, and right into my hands. I folded it up and set it on the floor. When we left I took it, as I figured August would like the animals.
When we went out, August was fascinated by all the garbage on the ground. He picked up a bottle and wanted to recycle it. We took it to the bins and he read the signs. He was reading 일반쓰레기 (general waste) quite well all day, and was now figuring out 재활용품 (recyclables). From there we walked around the corner to the playground. He got out Smokey and had him looking at/talking about the trees. There was a yellow plastic climbing thing to the play structure, and he remembered it (actually from the playground by Logan’s house, which has an identical one). He initially wanted me to help him climb, but then I reminded him of using his hands and leaning forward. He climbed the top bit, then climbed down (needing my help at the end) and tried from the bottom. Made it a little ways, before his hand got dirty and he was done. He went down the slide once, then went over to a little rocking elephant toy and stood and climbed on that and shook it. Then took off, showing Smokey a couple pigeons, and walked around one of those “tricky” walking paths. We ended up on a bench, and stayed there for a long time. I got the food and we had a snack. There was work going on behind a wall and was identifying the sounds: “This is a saw…this is a hammer.” We ate a banana, and he was having Smokey look at the trees some more: “Smokey likes the trees.” Some boys were making some noise on the exercise equipment: “What’s going on?” He was trying to sing a song we haven’t really sung before and said “Remember the tune. How tune go?” A plane flew overhead and he called it a “jet”.
He was hungry, so we got out the egg. He peeled the whole thing by himself. Took a long time, but he got it done. He ate most of it, then was walking back and forth on the benches to and from me and the egg. He kept talking about the egg: “Walk to the egg…close to the egg…back to the egg.” He was getting pretty cavalier in his walking, despite stumbling a couple times. It was a pretty low bench though so I wasn’t too worried. Indeed, a minute later he missed his footing. He fell forward, then rolled off the side of the bench. He cried a little, but mainly in frustration. He cuddled with me for a few minutes. He was really quiet, so I pushed him back a bit to check on him and he started laughing. There was one bite of egg left, and he joked about who should eat it: “Zinnie do…Dada do…Zinnie do…” We cleaned up to leave, and he wanted to put the bag from the sandoo in his pocket – the first time he’s wanted to use a pocket (his pants generally haven’t had pockets – I thought he might be interested in the pockets in his winter coat, but he never was). In leaving, I asked if he wanted to walk or for me to carry him. He held up his fingers and said “Two choice!” Finally, there was a “funny crab” on the play structure which he called “Crab nake(d)”.
We went home a slightly different route as we got on a different line, at the north end of the park. On the second leg, an English-speaking white guy offered us a seat. As we sat there I told August he should thank the guy for the seat. A stop before we got off, he was able to sit down again, next to us. So as we left I said “Thanks. Have a good one.” August then loudly said “Thank you!”
An active, active evening. He nursed with Carly once we got home, then wanted to nurse again. I was grabbing his leg and pulling him back to me so he couldn’t. He thought this was hilarious and kept wanting me to do it again and again. Eventually they did nurse, then wrote on the paper together. He surprised her by writing ‘write’ and ‘words’. He was copying words she had already written, but he wrote them nice and straight. Carly wrote a word and traced it, which he didn’t like, saying he was “sad about the ‘m’”. I then showed him our ‘new’ picnic mat and he spent several minutes looking at it. He spent a little time on the iPad, then moved to the sink. They read the 100 Palabres book. He got sad, something about the balloon again: “Sad about this one. Zinnie do it. Balloon in the book.” He played with his water pen books while Carly took a shower. I then changed him, and we played on the couch. He talked a lot about our routine for when I pick him up (“I saw I’ve got my dada. You say
I’ve got my Zinnie.”), his name preference (“Call me ZinnZinn”) and how we raise our call out his name when we want him to stop something, raising the pitch at the end of his name (“Dada all done ZinnZINN”).
He played in the sink, then Skyped with Oma from his own Skype account. He really liked Skyping on the iPad, and read her a lot of Bob books. While on the call we also started playing I Spy using the Wild About Books book. Finally, he went in with Carly and was asleep around 9:45.
New words/phrases: crumb, crust, spelling ‘fist’, our, tree stuff, reading 일반쓰레기, are you being uncouth?, reading 재활용품 (recyclables), jet
Waking up:
His new song:
Following along:
Olympic Park. Walking and seeing the garbage:
Lunch in the wind with Smokey:
Puddle:
My reward:
After his nap. Reading the garbage:
Playground:
Smokey looking at trees:
Walking path:
Peeling his egg:
Hiding from the totems in front of the peace arch:
Home. Writing ‘write’:
New picnic mat:
Writing letters for froggy:
