Monday: Seoul Grand Zoo and sounds

It was a day full of describing sounds for him. Also, he saw a lot of animals (like a gorilla and brown bear) for the first time. And he had his first lollipop thanks to a woman on the bus and his ability to remember things.

He got up at 7:15. Came out looking for mama, and got upset when I told him mama was at work. He stood in the doorway to the parlor, and I sat on the floor. He came over to me and climbed into my lap and cuddled. First time he has ever done that. He covered his eyes like he was hiding for a couple minutes, then sat for a few more before popping up and requesting the iPad.

He played Hat Monkey for a few minutes, then started watching songs. He was singing along to Hasta Mañana by Basho and Friends. He also started describing sounds, his first of many today. He was hitting his leg on the couch and said “Hear D D D”. He was then describing a noise he heard in the music of Wheels on the Bus, although I don’t remember what letter he used.

We were headed to the big zoo, so were in a hurry to get out. Left the house just before 8:30. Straightforward trip and we got off the subway around 10. As we walked to the zoo he heard a noise off in the distance: “V V V V hear vvvvvvv” Then there were workers sweeping the walk. This he described as an “S” sound, but when we stopped to watch I think he was describing it as “C C C” or “Ch ch ch”. He saw a sandwich board and said “See ‘A’”, describing it from the side. He then kept asking “This is an?” and pointing. He was referring to the wing nuts holding it together and was very curious about them.

In the zoo we first walked up to the primates house – the first of many places we had never been to before. He saw his first gorilla, which was cool. Although it wasn’t doing much. August instead spotted the many caterpillars crawling on the glass. We would end up spotting caterpillars all over the park. We also saw chimps, then his first orangutans, although they were hard to see inside. By the way, the exhibits we saw today aren’t perfect, but they are so much better than the equivalents at Children’s Grand Park: the chimps and bears, for example, actually have water and vegetation. Also inside, we saw both De Brazza’s monkeys and grieve monkeys, which we’d never seen before and were both really cool.

While looking at the De Brazza’s monkeys, he heard a noise of machinery. He said “Hear ch, ch, ch.” We tracked it to a locked door and listened to it. He kept saying “Hear! Hear!” He then started playing with the lock and said that made a “D D D” noise.

From the primates he wanted to go to the stream and playground, but on the way there he spotted the Insectarium and wanted to go back there to find the “S S S S S S” sound. We first walked through the insects, but no S S S S S. The path to the amphibian/reptile area was open today, so we went and walked through there. August liked some of the frogs and turtles, but mainly liked the waterfalls and stream. We tracked down the noise in the nocturnal building: it was the noise of the fruit bats. We stood there for a few minutes listening and watching the bats with August copying their noise. We spent a few more minutes in the nocturnal building then walked towards the playground.

We passed one more set of faucets before getting there – we had already turned on several. I said something like “Alright” then August said “Fine…sigh” as if he was mocking me. We walked down into the playground and August said “This is open”, noting the part of the playground that had been closed off the last couple visits. We sat and ate a little lunch. He saw a big school group putting down picnic mats and wanted to see the picnic mat (he is interested every time he sees one now) and walked over with his sandwich and seemed to be be saying hi. We took off his shoes and played in the water for a few minutes. Then went up to play in the sand. He took the shovel and poured some out of sand area and said “This is…arte abstracto.” He wanted more rectangle crackers but had already eaten them all, so turned it into a joke. He settled for grapes and crab. He then went back to the sand and said “more make a castle like with mama”. By now we had had several people say hi to him, and he was doing a pretty good job of saying hi and waving back when I asked him.

Changed him and got ready for his nap and started walking up to the botanical garden area where we’d never been before. He fell asleep after that and I got a water and sat outside at the food court area near the wolves. He slept from 12:55 to 1:33. A short nap. He wanted out and we walked around a bit. We headed across and up the hill and saw the tigers. We then found the otters, where he got down to see them. He then said “Take smokey out to see the otters.” He then ate the rest of his sandwich “Dada’s. No, this is Zinnie’s.” He had his water bottle and started spilling it on the ground, so I took it away. He got down and I thought he was looking at a rock or an insect in the water and was getting really close. I took a photo, then he licked the water on the ground.

We were walking from there when we heard a loud bird down the hill. He got excited and said “Heard the Q!… Squawk, squawk.” He wanted to find the bird, but we couldn’t. We kept walking, and he started talking about going to the playground. But then he saw a peacock, and wanted to go in the fowl area. The fowl tent is huge and full of dozens and dozens of birds, walking around your feet. We both really liked it. He described the calls of the peacocks as “C C C….E E E Hear the E E E.”

From there we saw the bears, watching the Eurasian brown bears play in the water for a few minutes. He also saw his first bison, although didn’t seem to impressed, as he wanted to get back to the water.

We went to the playground again. This time, he squatted by the edge of the water and I found little rocks for him to throw in. He was doing that and making up nonsense words. We then changed him again and headed out. We paused to watch the rhinos, as they were up and rolling in the mud, then scraping their heads and backs on the brushes. He liked the messy rhinos. We then stopped at the giraffes for a minute, because we can’t visit without seeing the giraffes, then ended by stopping at the flamingos. As we left I suggested he say bye to the zoo, so he waved to the flamingoes and said “Bye bye.”

We stopped at a CU to get drinks and a bag of veggie trips for the ride home. As we walked along the platform, I heard him sayingg “It’s open, it’s closed…” over and over and realized he was referring to the fencing along the platform, and the gaps for the doors. He drank his mango soy milk while we waited for a train.

The entire way home he didn’t even ask for the iPad. We were singing songs, playing “I Spy”, eating the veggie chips (I was surprised when he really liked the onions, since they tasted quite strong), and looking out the window. It took a few stops before we could have a seat, and he was fine with that. He kind of touched one guy on the shoulder, then gave him a high five. As we were about to get to the river, he was standing on my lap and leaning on me to look out the window behind. He said “leaking”, and he did – all over himself and my shirt. Surprisingly the first time that has ever happened. There wasn’t much for it, and we just managed until we got to Changdong to transfer for the bus. At one point he was drinking from his water bottle and had a little conversation with himself: “Do you like wawa? Yes I do. ‘I do’…mama says that.”

At Changdong I changed him in the little park/stage area by the station. He was happily playing around and found a big rock that he was carrying around. As we left, he was walking, and I asked if he could leave the rock in the park. He said “Yes!” and went back and set it on the ground. He really wanted to walk, and did a good job of holding my hand. He wanted to read
a lot of Hangeul, so it took us some time to get to the bus stop. As he walked, he kind of stomped and high stepped as he walked. At the bus stop we had about 10 minutes to wait. There is one of those toy machines nearby, and he liked looking in that. In particular, he liked these little Hello Kitty toys in which the cat keeps nodding its head. I started doing it and he thought it was hilarious, then he was doing it.

On the bus ride home, a woman handed him a lollipop. He really knows what a lollipop is now from that Bob book, and he doesn’t forget things. So after he nursed, he wanted the lollipop. So he got to eat his first lollipop. He was very intent while he ate it, and crunched it up in bites, repeatedly calling it “crunchy”. He had some dinner, then Carly gave him a bath and he watched Basho videos. He was then reading Berenstain Bears with Carly, and wanted Peter Rabbit to do the reading, so Carly was doing that. He fell asleep about 8:15. Carly had started by nursing him out here. As he was falling asleep she carried him into the bedroom. He covered his eyes and kept them covered until he was fast asleep.

New words/phrases: spelling penguin, same thing, cross (v – as in cross the stream)

Waking up: