Up at 7:49. Sat on the couch for a little bit, then went into the reading area, where he found the shapes stickers and started putting them on the reading area. He then watched Korean videos on the iPad for awhile, before we made a card for Carly’s fake birthday. He traced the message on the front, then I asked if he wanted to write his name. He said “Use ‘Althauser!’” He’s repeated his last names before, but this is the first he’s used them on his own. So he wrote all 4 names somewhere on the card, then we decorated it with stickers. He was coloring on it again with marker, but then kept wanting to draw on the couch. He got upset when I made him stop, then tried writing on the edge of the kitchen counter as well. Took awhile to get him calmed down and back to normal, as we had to go in the screaming room for awhile. Eventually, we were back and getting ready to leave. He wanted to look at photos on the refrigerator and wanted names of our photo with Peter, Paul, and Spenser. Went through them a few time, then he pointed to Peter’s arm and said “What is it?” He was referring to Peter’s tattoos. I explained, then asked if he wanted a tattoo. He thought a second and said “Peter Rabbit!” So, his first tattoo request.
We headed out, but after a block I realized I’d forgotten our hats. Went back for those. We did some running down the street since we were quite late and August liked it. We caught the 111 bus to Dream Forest. There, about 11:40, we checked out the two water areas. The one in the middle of the park, with kind of a stream area, said it would be on at 12, and had a little water running in it. The wading pool had no sign for hours. So we went back to the first and started playing in the little trickle. It ever turned on. We had fun for 20 minutes or so, but the trickle turned off, and there wasn’t much to do.
We went back to our backpack in the shade and ate lunch. I had said I “didn’t understand” why it wasn’t turning on, and August started using practicing negative constructions: “Don’t understand what they singing in Hangeul.” (referring to some moms that were singing with their kids) “Dada don’t like water faucets.” (not sure why he said this) “Dada say no drip on food.” (He was having a lot of fun dripping his water bottle on him and me and everything else).
At 1 we went up to change him, only to find that the wading pool was on. A good surprise. So changed him, then we went and played in the wading pool. He was cautious at first, concerned about all the “messy” kids, but he got in. He started jumping, as the other kids were. First he held my finger, then was holding on to my shorts. Eventually, he was doing it on his own. He also did some splashing, and splashed a couple other kids a little. I also got out the shovel and he played with that.
Close to 2, I asked if he was getting tired and ready for a nap. I said something about wanting camel and getting in the backpack, so we headed back, changed him into a fresh diaper and dry clothes, and put him in the backpack. He put his head down on camel and fell right asleep. Went up to the Cafe Dream and he slept from 1:56 to 3:29. Heard another, mostly piano version of “Country Roads”. At 3:29, I actually got in the backpack and he woke up as I got going. He saw where we were and actually wanted to go back in the book area, but I told him we had things we needed to do.
We walked to McDonald’s but were actually a little early, so I said we would go check out a park I had seen on the map, then come back and get a treat for mama. We walked to the park, took a look, then he said “Treat for mama.” We walked back and got her a chocolate sundae and an iced latte. I put them in our cooler thing we use for our lunch, and he wanted to take a look at them. Then we left, right at 4:10, walking and running. We got to Morning Glory, and bought a Larva-branded bubble gun thing. We then went up to the park across from APIS and waited for Carly to come out. We had her gift on the bench. When August saw her coming, he ran towards her, turned around and came back and got the card and took it to her, then came back a couple times to give her the rest of the gift.
They shared the ice cream. All was well until August wanted to both shake and try her coffee. He’s never really had problems with us having our drinks in the past, but this time he didn’t like it. So we headed home. We walked home without a problem, although he remembered her drink a couple times.
At home they nursed, then we had burritos for dinner, which he actually ate this time. We watched a Korean video together, then I asked him to show mama how he could jump, so he was jumping around the house. This morning, when he was upset about the markers and we were in the screaming room, I had started a “Do you draw on the ceiling? Noooo.” game listing funny places you don’t draw. We started this again, and August was making up his own: Running and pointing at Carly’s feet he said “Do you draw on the feet? No…”
Carly was cleaning the counter, and he heard the spray bottle and wanted it. Couldn’t use that one, so I got him her water spray bottle, which he loves. He was drinking from it, and spraying things like the door and window and me an also chanting while doing so for quite awhile. They nursed and did some reading, then I gave him a bath. Washed his hair and he didn’t complain at all. Put on his TMNT pajamas set. He saw the pants, with the turtle heads on them, and said “Look like Krung in the snow,” referring to Pororo and the green dinosaur character. We played Elmo’s Animals on the iPad for awhile – he had a lot of fun acting like animals, waddling like a penguin and swimming like a fish, etc. We went to read in the reading area, and he got the little fruit and veggies book that came with his plastic food. We were looking through them, and came to ‘Mango’. He got sad because he wanted to hold a real mango. So we went and got the plastic fruit and got them out on the couch. He was cutting them – the first time we’ve done that in months – then wanted some frozen mango to eat. He ate some, while holding the plastic mango and putting it up to the mango in the book. Very satisfying for him. He wanted thawed mango, so ate a piece of that, then he wanted strawberries. I thawed them a bit, and gave them to him. He tried one. Gave a disgusted look. “Dada eat it.” “What’s wrong?” “It’s cold!” Warmed it up and he ate it.
We then read Big Little, with him now reading much of it and sounding out words, and he again got sad when he wanted a whistle. He wanted to go to mama, and she suggested it was time to go read on the bed. He took books in and lined them up. I was still in the parlor when he ran in and said “Night night, dada!” I gave him a kiss and said “I love you!” He ran out, back down the hall to the bedroom, saying “Dada loves you a ton of Qs.”
They were reading Suddenly! again and something else, then he was asleep about 9:45.
New words/phrases: Althauser, Niman, don’t understand, Krung,
JJJ and EEE (water sound and kid sound):
Splashing and chanting:
Jumping while holding my hand:
Stomping in the water: https://youtu.be/rdXQSRkI4VA
Jumping on his own:
Giving mama her fake birthday presents: https://youtu.be/ue3y-qV2Kqc
Jumping in the house: https://youtu.be/7PHr5xQwnRY
Do you write on the…?: https://youtu.be/_Fb4WJx8gYs
Waking up:
Sad when I told him he had to wait until lunch to eat the fruit cup thing:
Re-washing the sponges:
Dream Forest:
Trying to splash the boy:
Jumping:
Dry clothes:
Last nap with Camel:
Waiting to give mama her gift:
Mango, mango, and mango, with his hair parted down the middle. Carly doesn’t exactly approve of the hair:
