Another big water day, as we spent close to two hours in the water this morning.
Got up at 6:59. Sat and cuddles with me on the couch for a few minutes, then got down and started singing and playing with the piano on his own. When I went to get a photo to send to Carly, I said “Say cheese” and he said “feta cheese!” He then watched some videos on YouTube and did GarageBand, while I did some typing on mine. I was standing up, and he came up and very politely asked if he could have some toast. Back on the iPad, he wanted to do some Hangeul, so was doing the word puzzle things. The only problem was that when he finishes one he needs me to tell him what it means in English. Got him on to Elmo Loves ABCs and I took a shower.
After that, we made buildings out of Duplos. Often they were children’s museums, and he would point and tell me where the blue block area was, the ball area, etc. Got our toothbrushes out and he wanted to count everything on the table. He wanted 20 things on it, so he started grabbing piano keys, etc. to get to 20. Brushed our teeth and got ready, then played with the wooden blocks. I had us ready to go a bit before 9, but he didn’t want to leave the blocks, so we weren’t out until about 9:15.
Got to the pool and was in the water about 9:40. At 9:50 the pool closed, so we went and had crackers. Back in at 10. Took him out to the red and blue rope and we were counting the floats on it. Realized they were in groups of 10, so then we went back and forth counting by 10s…240 total. He then spent a lot of time sitting in the water on the steps. I went and got my camera and he kept playing there. He tried to splash a girl that came up, and she splashed him back. Got in his face, and didn’t like that. I got him, and he dried off his face by rubbing it on my shoulder. Recovered from that, then was playing on the steps again and kicking, and managed to get a bunch of water in his own face. Dried off the same way again, and decided he was done. It was close to the 10:50 closing anyway, so we wandered over to see what the concession stand has, and he looked at the vending machines. A woman that worked there shook a machine for him so that a flashing light came on, and he liked that. When the pools opened again at 11, he was ready to get back in. We spent a good amount of time floating together in a shady spot, and counting the floats. Realized that the last set actually has 11, so our count became 241. He started chanting 241, then adding in words and pointing. It became something like “241 here, 241 there, 241 up there, 241 right there, 241 down there…” He started talking about getting out, and I was talking about getting lunch at the pink building, so we were out about 11:40, changed him into dry clothes, and went walking.
We walked past the stadium and along the stream back and to the pink building. Went downstairs in the pink building and we chose sweet potato cheese dongatsu for our lunch. Was a little concerned that August was getting sleepy, but turned out not to be a problem. He enjoyed waiting for our order to come up, as we were standing near the dongatsu place and watching the numbers (we were 553). He ate everything except the salad (wouldn’t even consider it). All went well except it didn’t come with the macaroni salad with veggies like the plastic version showed.
We swung by the apartment so I could change shorts and grab the iPads. We then walked up the stream and down, this way and that, for just over 30 minutes, singing songs, etc. but no nap. He was talking about going to a coffee shop, and said “Mooka mooka coffee shop…pretend one”. I told him he could open one with that name. He also kept wanting to play sad baby (we had also played this in the pool). He would say one, then say “Dada’s turn!”
Back home, we sat together on the couch and both had some iPad time, him doing GarageBand, me typing and reading. But he kept wanting to use my iPad, even though he could do the same things on his. He got upset, and I put mine away. He was sad and came up and grabbed my legs and sadly asked “Can I have some iPad time, dada?” Held him for a minute and then ended up playing with the piano keys together, putting them in and out a few times. Changed him, then had the brilliant idea of bringing the wooden blocks out of the warm, smelly room. Also brought out two other sets of blocks. Combined the usual blocks with the letter blocks, and he made a whole complex out of them. Some of is discussion while doing so: “That’s too messy there. That’s carrot juice.” Wipes. “Now we can build a tower.” “That’s the trunk of the building.” “There’s a purple snail. I’ll wipe it off and put it up there.”
Carly got home a bit late. I had started to make a quesadilla for August, as he was hungry. They nursed and I got dinner out. After dinner, we played with the matching tiles/blocks. He matched a few on the cards, which now seems easy for him. In fact, he started to joke about them instead. I showed him how to set them up as dominoes to knock over, and he was really excited when they fell over. But then he didn’t want Carly to set them back up – he liked how they looked as steps, and wanted to play with them that way. He then started to match them up in a line: the lion blocks together, etc. The set doesn’t actually match up completely that way, and each one is different (the two tiger cubs are different colors, for example), so it was actually a pretty interesting activity.
Carly gave him a bath and he had fun. He was naked for awhile, but then talking about going to sleep. I carried him in to get a diaper, super baby style, and he said he (or maybe me?) was “Good at flying”. Random music was on the iPad, and “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” by the Beatles came on. He turned it up loud, which he always describes as “Too louder”. He and Carly started dancing around the room. He really got into it, and was having a blast, until he got dizzy/lost his balanced and ran his head right into the corner of the counter. A reminder that he is now tall enough for that. Carly picked him up and he had a nice red mark. He didn’t cry though, but they nursed, and he fell asleep, right at 7:30.
Morning:
Water park:
Walking to the pink building:
Chopsticks:
One shoe boy:
Combining blocks:
Tower building:
And knocking down:
The big bonk: