He was up at 7:05. Lots of nursing and reading with Carly, then they skyped with Cherie, who is now in Mexico. Out with me, we read Biscuit and Biscuit Goes Camping. He and Carly did Art Maker and did a lot of laughing covering the pictures and each other with tricycle slime and paw print slime. He had me make up more nonsense Biscuit books, then colored with Carly, before doing more Art Maker with me.
We got out for a walk in the sun – a very different day from yesterday. Out in the hall, he read ‘소화기’ (fire extinguisher) on his own. Walked up the stream and went to 가재울근린공원. Carly went on the swings, and August and I got out the towel and started drying off the slides. August really got into this, and we did a very thorough job of drying the two slides next to each other. August also remembered the ghost who plays with us at playgrounds. He was just about to finally go down the slide, and had just told Carly to go on the one next to him, when he backed up and fell off the step. He fell and hit his chin on the step. Got a cut on his chin. Carly nursed him and we put a bandaid on it. He fell asleep nursing, but woke back up when we put him in the stroller. A bit later he talked about the ghost having blood on his cheek as well.
Got home and made a salmon sandwich and Carly’s bisque for lunch, and August and I shared that. He ate a lot today. He was then really sounding out syllables in the Hangeul magnets. He slept from 1:30 to 2:33, nursed, then fell back to sleep on the reading area until 3:27. He was high energy and really into reading when he woke up. He was doing the Hangeul app and really pronouncing words and excitedly talking about them. We then were writing English words on the paper, and he continued to excitedly sound things out and talk about them. I was trying to take him outside, but we ended up with him sitting/climbing on the rocking chair, more talking, and pretending to take care of animals. Eventually, we took one of the Duplo zookeepers with us, and he carried it as we took the stroller to the park. Oh, and we washed August’s chin and put a new bandaid on it. He held my thumb with one hand, while I held his other hand down. But he did pretty well in letting Carly clean it.
We went to 중평어린이공원, the small, and usually busy, park by the pink building. The last time here was when he bumped his head a couple times on the rocky toys sometime in the spring. The rocky toys were replaced with new ones that have more of a gliding motion to them. August got up on them a couple times, but not much. We then sat and had a snack (Larabar, crackers, cranberries) and read some books: A Pet for Pete and Biscuit Plays Ball. We also found some beads, and an older girl gave him a gummy bear. I sat on one of the rocky things and he came and climbed up on me. He said they were too high. We were talking like that for a few minutes when Carly showed up. They spent several minutes looking for more beads, as there were lots around.
We mentioned going for a walk and getting coffee for mama. August lit up, and said “What they have for Zinnie to drink?” Said we’d have to see. We walked southeast, past the hospital, and found yet another new place called Cafe Mare. August and Carly read the English printed on the wall why we waited. August was happy getting a poppyseed bread thing instead of a drink. We then walked east, down the street that August and I had come the other way on in the dark on Saturday. Showed Carly the Comma Cafe, etc. We went to 국화어린이공원 for a few minutes. This was the park where we first did letter drawing in the sand, and did C turns to O turns to Q. I had told August this as we walked by on Saturday. He remembered, as before we got him out of the stroller he said “want step P, step W…want to play that game.” Then, once we were in the sand I drew one letter and he stepped on it, then he drew in the sand “C turns to O turns to Q.” The mosquitos were coming out, and the bug spray I had put on didn’t seem to be helping much. Carly started the mosquito dance, brushing them away, and August really liked that.
We walked home. Outside the building we separated and they went on up and I went to Lucky Mart and got some groceries. When I got home they had been reading Winnie the Pooh. He ate a good amount of soup for dinner. He and I read Daniel Visits the Doctor and the Peppa Pig book. He looked through our list of books in iBooks, and surprised me by reading a lot of the titles, including ones we haven’t read for a long time, or haven’t read at all, like Whisper and Biscuit’s Snowy Day. Got the bath ready for him, but before going in he read the entire Hangeul puzzle next to the door.
During his bath he almost totally sat down – like 95% there. Played with the letters, and we put them on the side of the tub this time, encouraging him to sit. Putting them away for the night, he said “K said he’s going to watch a video of race cars going by.” A reference to me watching the Formula 1 race in the morning. He did some reading with Carly and they were talking about 17 something (reading for 17 seconds or 17 lines or something). When they finished he claimed they had done 18 and said “18 is just fine.” And gave a big thumbs up. While she showered he did more practice Hangeul pronunciation in the app.
I took him in to bed with a bunch of books. We read Kipper’s Birthday. He was looking tired, and I asked if he was, and he was saying “a smidgen” and “a smudgen” (got those from Carly). He got hyper, as usual, and we played a slime game, pretending slime was coming from different places (which started because he was making up names for different kinds of slime and asking where they were). Slime was coming out of the books and dripping on the ceiling to get on us. He calmed down and seemed worn out and tired when I left them at 9:50, but at 10:20 he was out, requesting a tissue. He silently played with blocks for awhile, stacking a wall of them, then we went back in at 10:40. We stood in the dark, looking at the clock for a few minutes. I was holding him and his forehead was against mine and I was holding his head with my hand. Very calm for a few minutes, then he said it was time for bed. I left him with Carly and thought he was asleep. Nope. He was back out 20 minutes later. I read some Pooh and he played with blocks. He was acting tired, lying on the floor, etc. Tried to get him to cuddle with me on the reading area while I sang but he got upset. Carly came and we took him back in bed. She refused to nurse for awhile and he got upset and cried. That finally did the trick, and he was asleep at 11:45.
Earlier, walking home, I had been carrying him and we talked about Carly going to work tomorrow, and we talked about the fun we would have at Children’s Grand Park. He was really excited by sidewalk chalk, etc. and gave me high fives. Carly speculated he couldn’t get to sleep because he was stressed about her going back to work – the last time he was up late like this was at the end of Chuseok break. Hard to tell for sure though, as his chin could have still been bothering him a bit (he was also pulling at his lip a lot and being messy when he ate, suggesting his teeth/jaw felt a bit funny), and he napped for about two hours.
Morning:
Along the stream:
Park:
Home;
After his nap:
More talking:
Park. New rocky toys:
Looking for beads:
Park #3:
Home:
95% sitting:
Thumbs up:
Bed:
Back up and stacking blocks:
