8:16. He came out and silently walked past me and to the Duplos. Stood there a couple minutes, then got the shark and wanted to take care of its dorsal fin. We took care of it and other animals. I asked about one “How’d it get hurt?” “It climbed up there and was sleeping (something) and fell.” “Up where?” “Up there. I point.” A bit later, he was saying the Korean name of that TVXQ group and throughout the day was saying congratulations and/or a couple of the other ones in Korean. We read the Peppa Pig book, which would happen several times today, then I took a shower. After that, we discovered ‘5 Star Mode’ in the tracing app – you trace a word 5 times, and it gets more difficult (by the end, you don’t see the outlines of the letters). He did 4 or 5 words that way (zookeeper, whale, rabbit, etc.). A couple times today he wanted to take care of me. The first time I had cut myself cooking (I think like the owl in the Animal Doctor app). At one point he went into the parlor and decided he’d move the rolling unit around. Finally, his big game of the morning involved pretending that I had spilled too many vitamins. It was a subtraction game, as I’d spill 19 and then tell him how many I had to pickup to get to 6. He was playing on the arm of the couch when this started, then eventually climbed on the back of it. At one point he curled up like an animal on the back of the couch.
We got going and got to class right at 11:50. The teacher learned and just gave August a high five at the beginning. Class was about bowling – learning to roll a ball underhand was the primary skill. August did well, but it was really loud in there, and August wanted me to pick him up a couple times. But he got into rolling the balls down the ramps, and then took a turn in the big bowling ball carts, with the teacher pushing him around. He got his treat and frog handstamp at the end, and bowed to the teacher.
We went straight to the bus and took the Nowon 15 north (which actually heads west) and in 40 minutes were in Uidong – the place August has been wanting to go. He first got excited about it because he realized the first sound (‘oo’ as in ‘moo’) of it is his favorite Hangeul character in the Hangeul app – as it makes a loud ‘oo’ sound he says sounds like a balloon. On the bus he was looking outside a lot, and he said of the people outside that they “get tired, go to a coffee shop and wake up.”
We got to Salbot Park a little before 1. We were last here August 26th of last year. So over a year. That time, I was trying to teach him to say ‘pine needles’ and he was calling them ‘hoo-has’ – his word for noodles. Anyway, we ate lunch by the south playground, although he didn’t eat much. We then played on the play structure. He climbed up and went down the slides several times – mainly the tube one, but the spiral one once. Around 2 I simply mentioned taking a nap and he got cranky – clearly tired. Changed him, and he climbed on a little fence for a bit, then we got going for a walk.
He put his head down a couple times, but eventually started singing and never napped. He was also more interested in the address signs on buildings than napping. We walked southwest to 4.19 Park. It is a memorial park and cemetery commemorating the April Revolution of 1960 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_Revolution). August stayed in the backpack the entire time, and did some singing and enjoyed some of the statues we looked at. We walked around there, then headed back to Salbot Park via the main streets this time, checking out some coffee shops and restaurants for later use.
On the way back he did a lot of singing and pretended to put insects on me. We got to Salbot and went to the north playground. He was also pretending to shake the trees to hard, like the Mummy Pig in the Peppa Pig book, and have leaves or needles fall on us. He continued to put things on me – mainly insects, but also a Hangeul M – and joked “There are chimpanzees in dada’s ear.” We played there and ate a little more – although he still wouldn’t eat the apple, sandwich, or quesadilla. He mainly played on a spider web sort of climbing thing, wanting to climb it like a girl that was there. He then played with the low faucets, like he did last time we were here: http://youtu.be/RF17QNhKUxc
A little after 4 we headed home. On the bus we were sounding out the signs in Korean, but intentionally getting them wrong so we could say “Oops!” That was his game, not mine. I asked “Are you hungry?” And he replied “No! I’m just tired.” After awhile he asked for his iPad. Said “Want to do the puzzles that dada doesn’t like. Music groups.”
We got home a few minutes before Carly, who had stopped at the store. When she got home we were all on the couch and he said “Mama’s home. Zinnie’s home. Dada’s home. Someone else is home.” Didn’t explain who the someone else was. Awhile nursing he was falling asleep, so I pretended to but insects on him, then got out the iPad to wake him up. Finally ate a good meal today as he had a good amount of stir fry. We read the Peppa Pig book a couple more times, Swirl by Swirl, and got a cheap Elmo book about going potty. It was funny though, as it doesn’t even use the words ‘pee’ or ‘poop’, nor does it show either of them. Very different from the books here in Korea. We played a bit more of the geometry app, and he learned what an isosceles triangle is. When I took him in to his bath, he started drawing them in the water. Played with the letters. At one point he started kneeling in the bath. But that hurt his knees (which he asked why about), so I suggested he sit. He almost did it a couple times. Seemed very close.
Carly took a shower, and we played on the bed. One of the things we had been doing on our walk to 4.19 Park was talking to the robot (in our heads…) August told it to go to sleep, and it “initiated sleep sequence” and made a shutting down noise. He would then repeatedly wake it up and put it back to sleep. He also needed to learn what ‘initiate’ and ‘sequence’ mean. Anyway, once in on the bed he started saying it, and would collapse on the bed and curl up as he made the noise. We read Peppa Pig again. Carly came in to put him to sleep, and I joked about stealing him from her. He then wanted me to steal him a couple times. He went straight to sleep about 8:10:
Moving furniture:
On the couch:
Teuni Teuni:
Salbot Park – south:
4.19 Park:
Walking:
Salbot Park – north:
Home:
