7:22. He walked in on the reading area and whispered “Watch Puffin Rock.” First we read Five Minutes’ Peace and All in One Piece. Then watched Puffin Rock. Episode 10. A couple times he called it a “funny one”. Special Flakes for breakfast. We did a lot of writing. We were watching a sight words video, and I was writing them all on the paper. He was then writing them as well: have, play, you, the, etc. I took a shower and came out to find him sending Carly messages on Skype. We then worked together to type ‘ghost’ a bunch of times. I wiped his nose and said he needed to learn to blow his nose. He replied “I’m not very good at blowing the nose.” We did a lot of typing, and he found the ‘undo’ button on the iOS keyboard, so learned what means and does.
He requested the “A to Z” and “two letter” (digraph) Jolly Songs videos, so watched those several times. When I said one more time, he watched the song once more then turned it off. He got down and wanted take out the piano keys: “Want to make a mess of the white and black things.” He was reluctant to put them back in, but worked with Green Monster to do so. We were then writing words again, and he was confusing me with something. I think it may have had to do with the aquarium, so he started talking about the aquarium map: “Ocean Kingdom” and square and blue something – and he remembered the broken stamp.
I was getting us ready, and put the blue Adidas sweatshirt on him. He was not happy about it “I’ll choose. Different one.” But then he wouldn’t choose a different one. I tried putting him in the backpack a couple times, but he wouldn’t let me. We ended up sitting on the couch, him leaning against me, for awhile, and I think he started to fall asleep. But suddenly he startled back awake. He was then joking about falling asleep, wanting me to pretend to wake him up (a reversal of the usual pretending-to-sleep roles): “Dada wake you up.” For awhile he was opposed to Children’s Grand Park, instead saying I should just pick a different stop to go to: “Dada pick a stop.” Finally, he wanted to figure out what the door says when we lock it. Think I figured it out. It is basically ‘It is done.’ Then he suddenly wanted to leave. It was about 12.
We headed down to the park, bought kimbap and little eggs, and went up to the cafeteria. He ate, told me he was full, and that he wanted to play. It was about 1, so I gave him a short time to play. We went to the play side of the third floor, and he chose the water area. He acted like he hadn’t played there before – it has been many months – as he kept asking what he could do. I put the apron on, and he was fine with that – helped, I think, because it was yellow and yellow is a favorite-ish color right now. It was fun to see him in it though and playing with the balls and spray things. We worked together on a couple of the pumps, but mainly he played at the little kids part. When he was done he came and said “I’m ready to go.” Then, as I changed him he said “You had fun.” We left, and as I put him in the backpack outside I said “Ready for a good nap?” And he said “Yeah!”
Took about 15 minutes to put him to sleep, and he slept from 1:57 to 3:24, in the coffee shop. We had about an hour when we left. I suggested animals, since we haven’t really seen them since we’ve been back. He was fine with that. As we walked up to the primates, I said “Look, maroon baboons!” (As one of our variations on Carly’s ‘beats me, brown tree’ saying is ‘maroon baboon’. To which August flatly replied “It’s brown”. I tried again. Same response.
It was perfect weather for the animals, as they were all active. Watched the baboons, then headed in and saw the elephants, then around back to the hyenas. I pointed out that they live in Africa, so after that he was asking, for each animal, “Where does it live?” He was quickly reading ‘Africa’ on the maps, and sounding out other words (in English). He was looking at the shapes on the maps, and said of Africa “The shape is a blob.” We watched the foxes, lynx, and servals. I saw a guy trying to startle one of the animals, so told August he shouldn’t do that, and to be nice to the animals instead. I suggested that dancing for them would be nicer. August started a little dance in the backpack, so then we were dancing for each of the animals before saying goodbye. Looking at the shape of the Asian bear habitat, he said “It looks like a dinosaur horse.”
He said he wanted to see the donkey (he is into donkeys now thanks to Eeyore, and one of the short songs in the Jolly Songs digraph video). We walked over there. They were in the back, but came running up to us. August said hi to them, and danced some more.
We then went and sat on the bench and had the apple cookie that’s been in the backpack from last week. We then spent a long time with the seals. He was naming them all and saying hi, and also naming things like the water and pine needles floating in it. From there, back over to the deer. He had been out of the backpack since the snack. He wanted up for a second, and as I picked him up he said “I love you. A ton of Qs.” Watched people feed the deer, and he got into reading all the signs about not feeding them, etc. He did a lot of sounding out, and we translated a bunch of words. He was also interested in the deer poop: “What the different shapes about?” “What they poop on the ground about?” “What they don’t use toilets about?”
He was ready to go. As we were walking out of the park, he asked “What is leaf in Korean?” Had to look it up. I’d had forgotten about “Don’t put the 잎 in your 입!” And made him laugh by saying it. They have put in some toys by the old animal riding area, and we noticed a couple of the robot sculptures are there now. We checked out the new gift shop (used to be a photo place) and the robots (to make sure the rest are all still there) on our way out.
On the subway, he asked for the iPad: “Pretty please!” I asked “Where’d you learn that?” He immediately replied “From mama!” We played with the visual calculator app on the way home. On the walk home he was singing the ants go marching. We paused to see the work on the burger place. He said “they got the tile done … The couch done.”
At home he nursed. Carly said ‘yuck’ about something, to which August said “Don’t say yuck. Say stoon-dee.” He wanted to paint with Carly. He looked at his last painting and said “There’s a lovely picture right there.” They painted, then I painted with him. Carly got a bath ready for him. I tried to give him a bath, but he didn’t want to go in. He tried escaping to the bed, and changing room. Got him cornered by the bath. Took a few minutes, but finally coaxed him in without tears. We played with the watering can, pouring out big splashes. Then he was done, although not washed yet. But when I let him squirt out the soap his attitude changed on that as well.
We read Elmo ABC, Moo Baa La La La, and LMNO Peas. He then did more painting with Carly, and they worked on making Halloween stuff. Earlier, she had started to make his costume, which involved taping paper to his clothes. He was intrigued by that, and let her do it. Now, she was working on his basket. He was acting really tired and wanted to nurse, but it was only 8:20, so I was skeptical. Took him in on the bed and they nursed a bit, then he bounced up for a story. I read Kiss Goodnight, Kipper, and Kipper’s Toybox, then he was ready for sleep and asleep about 9.
Oh, and earlier in the day, before we left, he had been asking what an ‘expert’ is. Not sure where he learned that, but it was clear. So I explained that, but tried to keep it positive (can always become more expert, etc.) He said “Zinnie an expert at coloring”. And I think he said it about something like ‘hangeul’ or ‘sounding out’. Something along those lines.
