Awake 7:33. Opened the door and walked out holding the fruits and veggies book and Little Miss Muffett. We read the fruit book, then the Curious George library book, then on to A de Activista and then The Pigeon Finds a Hotdog. One of his favorite lines in there is a “a taste sensation”, so we ended up defining ‘sensation’ and writing it on paper several times. We watched Korean videos and did some translating. As we packed up, I attached the bucket to the backpack. He was talking about taking the bucket to mama, as he has played with it with her. He then, of course, did the fooling me thing when changing his diaper before we left around 10.
On the way to the subway he was saying “Double S” and “Double G (ㄲ)” a lot, and then talking about when I had said no more “Double G” on the bus down to the MMCA.
We walked up to the stream, and played in the sandy/gravelly spot we played last time, although no climbing up the rocks this time. Instead, we got out the bucket and shovel and cups and played with that. There was some white stuff in the gravel in one spot that kind of looked like some food someone had dumped. I told August not to step in it, so then of course he was really interested in it. We filled a bucket with sand, and I asked where we should dump it. He thought about it and said “On the white.” We poured several buckets on it, then he said “On the black”, pointing to some leaves and sticks that were sitting in a still spot in the stream. So seeral more buckets on those. Finally, we poured buckets of gravel on three big rocks. I wanted to take a water and shade break, but he resisted that. But then when I asked if he was ready to nap, he said he was, and wanted to get in the backpack. So we made our way up to the backpack and changed him, but got distracted for several minutes when he wanted to take photos, including of the broken sheet of safety glass next to us.
We got ready to go, and as I got ready to go, I asked where we should go. He said “Walk to the hats.”, referring to all the hat shops we passed on our walk in from the subway. Instead, I walked a bit down the stream and he fell right asleep. I walked up to L’Arbre Gallery Book Cafe, a place we have walked by many, many times but never gone in. I got a drink and sat down. The woman working there was very helpful/concerned, first helping get him off my back, then worrying that the air conditioner was too cold or blowing on him (it wasn’t). He slept from 1:11 to 2:09. I kept getting distracted by the music playing, which was mainly 60s to 80s American folk/pop: Tennessee Waltz, ” Evergreen” by Susan Jacks, a version of “You are My Sunshine”, Anne Murray’s “You Needed Me”, The Carpenters’ “Yesterday Once More“, Olivia Newton-John’s “Let Me Be There”, etc. When he woke up he really liked the cushions on the bench and seats: “Sit on the red thing…one for dada…You sit on the yellow one…cushion for mama.”
From there I mentioned the Iris Garden, and August got excited about that. We walked to the Iris Garden and played by a stream area. A guy who is an English teacher came up and was talking to me about August. He then took our photo using my phone. August was open to heading home to mama after that. At some point I asked about changing his diaper, or if there was poop, and he said “I guess so…” Then, as I went to check, “There’s no poop in there!”
He is really into the subway stops between Dobongsan and Hagye, starting to memorize them. At Suraksan he watched the people getting off and said “People go in Suraksan.” As we walked home from the subway, he was pointing and saying “That’s not mama, that’s people.” On the side of the bridge he surprised me by reading ‘Nowon’ in Korean on the side of the bridge, as it is very script-like there. In the park he looked down a grate and said “Grate…all black.” We spotted the 15 bus across the street but Carly didn’t get off, so we thought she had already gotten off a previous bus, so August was saying “Mama already get off.”
We were meeting Carly at the bank, so we walked into the pink building, past Burger Ton, where we had eaten with Meg and Torrey, etc. August pointed to where we sat outside and said “Remember this…wanted chips.” Carly showed up a bit after us – she had actually been on the next bus. She got a number at the bank and I took August down to the movie theater to change him, as he had leaked. I changed him, with him standing on the toilet lid. The sensor did its job and flushed the toilet, startling him. It did this a couple more times. It startled August but he also found it exciting. He was holding on to me, and would pull his legs up off the lid. I “Silly toilet, it thinks you are peeing.“ and he found that hilarious. After that, I just had to say “Silly toilet“ and he would start laughing. I had asked August what he wanted to do once we got home, and he said “Nurse and READ!” As we left the theater, he saw the book area and said “Go with me, play in book area.” but we needed to get back to the bank.
We went back up and waited for Carly. She had shown up right after 3:30. Simply transferring her U.S. dollars to our U.S. bank (and converting some to her Korean account) took forever. Each time we do it it is like the person has never done an overseas remittance before – and we are already set up in the system for it to happen. Strange. August laid on the seats and watched his Korean videos, but eventually grew tired of waiting. So I took him and we headed home, and Carly got home a bit later. We were doing some finger painting and mixing colors when she got home.
At home, we ate some dinner, and a bit later he stepped on the paper with paint and slipped and fell a bit. Got him cleaned up, and a bit later we all went out to enjoy the evening. We stopped at that new coffee shop and got drinks, and the banana-shaped banana bread for August. Sat by the playground and finished that. August, talking about his bread, said “Like Cookie Monster”, referring to the iPad cookie letters app. He also remembered the chocolate and the ice cream he shared with Carly on her fake birthday, and said “Chocolate!” when he took a bite. He poked Carly for some reason, and said “Poking the omma” (meaning ‘mama’ in Korean). He was interested in the slide that is made of two bars – one you sit on, and one you hold. He tried climbing it a bit, then we helped him go down several times. Then walked around the park, and we ran into Preacher. I talked to him for awhile – learned a bit about his kids, and that he is concerned about North Korean spies kidnapping people, telling me to keep an eye on August. When I caught up to Carly and August they were playing in the faucets. A little boy watched August dumping out water for awhile, and August pointed to one of the faucets and said “that one is my favorite”
Back home, we gave him a bath and then did our usual reading, and they went to sleep a little after 10.
New words/phrases: cushion, I guess so, all black
Bringing books out in the morning:
Lunch:
Stream:
An August photo:
After his nap:
Iris Garden:
Headed home:
Bank:
Home:
Park:
