He was up at 7:51. Pretty much a repeat of yesterday, with us sitting on the couch together. After he was up, we made a smoothie and then oatmeal for breakfast. At one point he was trying to hop more on his own – he’s starting to be interested in jumping. We listened to Basho for awhile, then read Donde Esta Spot and Max’s Easter Surprise. We skyped with my dad for a few minutes (my mom was gone). When August saw him, August said “Say ‘Dear oh dear.’” After that we got ready to go to class. I made a peanut butter sandwich and talking up a storm: “Oh my gosh” “What you doing with the peanut butter.” “Oh my gosh is crazy.” I got the Osprey drinking thing out for the backpack. August saw it and said: “This is the nursing one…Don’t like the raining part…like the nursing one better.” By “raining part” he was referring to the spray bottle that was nearby, which he also tries to drink out of from time to time.
We headed to class. In the elevator he saw some Hangeul that looked like handwriting and said “This is a tricky Hanfeul to read.” Class was great. It was all about jumping, and thus frogs, rabbits, and kangaroo. There was a walking path with numbers on it and it squeaked – August just kept going around and around on it, ignoring other activities – although he did allow me to put the kangaroo thing on him for a little while. Near the end of class, the walking path was made even longer, with a drop at the end that they could jump/slide off from.
After class we were walking to the subway and saw Jihong and his mom rushing the other direction as they were late for class. We took the train north to Dobongsan. As we left the train he repeated the phrase “terminates here” when he heard it on the intercom.
We walked up to the stream and got out the picnic mat and sat on the side of the path and ate some lunch. Across from us a guy in full biking clothes, smoking, drinking makoli, listening to music from the radio on his bike, and eating fried chicken from a bag. About as Korean as you can get. He offered August a sausage, and we ate that. He offered me some makoli, but it didn’t seem like a great time to start drinking at noon.
When we were done eating, we climbed down to the stream. This was a bit downstream from where we used to play, as there is a sandy, flat area. He spent some time scooping sand/gravel, then wanted to walk across and then up the stream. We worked our way up, and stepped from rock to rock, going under the bridge, until we got to the top of the first waterfall-esque area. He was pretty cavalier going up, stepping from rock to rock, and talking constantly about which rock he wanted to go to next: “Go to the rock with wawa on it” “This one is covered by wawa” When he wanted some water, he said “Dada go get it to me.” It was only when we were at the top and he was walking across the stream that he had a bit of a slip – just enough to put him on guard a bit, but he recovered on his own. We went across the stream, then back down on the rocks on the side. We went up to our picnic mat and got ready to go. He was looking through the trees and said “Hard to see the sky.” As we went to go change him on the grass, we watched a school group of teenagers playing in the pool area we had just left: “Want to see them having fun.” “Hear them being messy.” We discussed what to do after his nap, and he was most excited about “Go in the Iris Garden.”
So we walked down to the Iris Garden and took a few more minutes for him to fall asleep. A nice long nap on the deck of the cafe upstairs, from 1:44 ro 3:19. Didn’t notice the music playing until “Eternal Flame”, a song I haven’t heard in forever, came on.
After he was awake we decided to find a picnic table and read. The usual tables were full, but we found a nice one in the corner. We read a few books, saw some ants and pigeons, then he said “Hear the backhoe” from the noise across the street. We were getting ready to leave, but he remembered throwing rocks in the stream, so we went and did that for a little while.
We headed home and got home a little after Carly. It was kind of a tough evening, as he wanted his mama, and didn’t want to let her get up to get food or do anything else. We talked about what we had done today, but everything he remembered made him “Sad about…” it because he wanted to do it now. He cheered up for awhile, and he and I happily did some flopping and hopping on the reading area and were working on “Happy about…” But then he was back to mama. She gave him a bath. After that, he seemed back to normal, and let her go take a shower.
We did some art: “Dada’s coloring it in pink” “Dada use this to make nonagon.” I had to go hang laundry, and he did more reading with Carly. They went in to put him to sleep about 8:20. Carly said it took quite awhile for him to fall asleep, but doesn’t know how long, as she fell asleep as well.
New words/phrases: Iris Garden
Cuddling:
Class:
On our way to the stream. He keeps asking what these are. Ideas?
The guy that gave us sausage:
Eating it:
Stream:
At the bottom, saying he wants to go up the waterfally area:
Pointing out his next rock:
At the top. We started in the sandy place to the right of his head:
A little slip:
Some random talking:
Iris Garden:
Walking to recycling:
Throwing rocks:
On the train:
Home: