7:32. Quiet and sleepy for a few minutes. Then wanted to type, but first we read But Not the Hippopotamus and Barnyard Dance. Then to typing. We ate oatmeal and banana for breakfast. I got up saying it needed a little honey for flavor. He ran out saying “It’s mild! It’s mild!” I wanted to take a shower, and said he could watch Puffin Rock. But he insisted I watch with him. So did that for a few minutes before slipping off to take a shower while he was drawing on the paper, writing 잎 and 입. Back to Puffin Rock after my shower, he was really excited when one of the characters said “okie dokie” (which he says is “okie fokie”) and the narrator said “oopsie daisy”. And of Silky, the seal, he said “I like that name!” He sat up on the chair, and talked about puffins, and said “The Puffin has an idea.” – a reference to the narrator saying that Oona always has ideas.
He did a lot of typing, and we told Smurf stories: one about the smurfs running out of red crayons, another about Gargomel pretending to be a seal, etc. At some point he climbed on my back to have a piggy back ride like Baba does in Puffin Rock. He requested the Jolly Song song videos on YouTube, then got to watch too much YouTube as I spent a lot of time on the phone with T-Mobile solving our summer bill. But at least that is over.
He wanted to do more painting, so we did that. He had learned the word ‘calligraphy’ yesterday, and asked me to do some calligraphy now. I trimmed my nails, and offered to do his. He said “No. that hurts. I’ll just file them.” So we filed his nails, and he tried it himself. He ran it on his palms and I asked if he liked it. He said “Yeah! It’s weird.”
We got going and walked up a couple blocks and took the 1139 bus to Danggogye. While we waited he read the King Kong restaurant sign on the bus stop. Got off at the last stop, and walked up to a new park to us, called 갈월어린이공원. It was also a new park in general, as it looked brand new. Just a standard children’s park, except it a.) had a built-in trampoline, and b.) had an approved sidewalk chalk area. Didn’t do sidewalk chalk today, but did the former.
We sat and ate, and he wanted to confuse some of his bites. We spotted a cat on a roof – can’t remember if me or him spotted the first one. But later he spotted another one. I looked and didn’t see it. Do you still see it?” “No. it is behind the tree. I can’t see it.” Turned out it was a dog. August was excited to see it up closer.
After eating, we wrote Hangeul, then went on the trampoline. He did some on his own, and we also jumped together. He would jump awhile, then say he was dizzy. We took a break from it and did some writing with the stick. He kept climbing over my legs, and cuddling in my lap, saying “between” and acting like Oona, the Puffin. I asked if he wanted to go on the trampoline again: “No, I’m too wimpy for that.” We walked to the other end of the park, and he spent a lot of time reading out the Hangeul on a big banner. He said “Want to write all of it.” Luckily, he only had me write a bit of it. He kept reading the banner, played with the sand table, and was singing. He got the attention of a woman for awhile.
Eventually, it was time for a nap. Past 1:30. We went walking around the foothills and checked out one other park. He wasn’t falling asleep. Took 40 minutes. He fell asleep at 2:27 and slept to 3:24 in 17 Street Coffee – a place Carly and I had been to before.
He woke up and wanted get walking. We walked through the big park (수락산당고개공원), but he didn’t want to stop. We found a tiny little park (진달래공원), which was worth it because there was cool tile work on two big fish shapes. Kept going, admiring all the different brick patterns on buildings as we took back streets through an area we’ve never been before.
We got to one last park (무궁화어린이공원). The name means Hibiscus Children’s Park, and August liked learning ‘hibiscus’ and we looked up photos of it. He got out and we had a snack. He then climbed on the yellow climbing wall, and spent the next 15 or 20 minutes just playing on it. He was joking around, saying “Beats me purple urple…purple lurkin…” He didn’t want to go down the slide, but told me to: “Dada go down the bumpy one. I don’t like the bumpy one. I’m just climbing by myself. Bye.” He kept singing the ABC song, so I kept saying ‘potato’ in it: “Next time won’t you potato with potato.” He thought that was funny and said “Dada has a glitch.”
Now past 4:30, we got going. He noticed a strong smell. We talked about it, and recognized it, and he said he liked it. Finally hit me that it was the smell of coffee roasting. We got to Sanggye Station and caught the 1140 bus home. The 1139 was coming sooner, but doesn’t go as close to home. August really wanted the 1139, but let me wait, and was interested in the decision making process: “This one is slower.”
We were late getting home, and Carly was already there. They nursed, then painted together. Carly and I were talking about her music project. She said ‘power in society’ To which he said “No. Don’t say that.” His version of the sentence she should say instead was “The music thing goes on an adventure.” They nursed, he typed on Skype, ate mandu and curry rice with me, then watched an episode of Puffin Rock with me. He was climbing on me and couch being a puffin, then pretending to swing like a Puffin. We then read Five Minutes of Peace. We took one of his socks off and threw it at Carly, then he had fun throwing it at us. He forgot to take the other sock off though.
He saw his art from earlier and said “I see a very nice painting.” They painted, then nursed. One of said ‘remember’, and August didn’t want us saying that as well. He kept saying “Don’t say ‘remember’” He’s also gotten into using ‘No’ regularly; not just when answering questions, but in telling us what he doesn’t want us to do.
Took him in to give him his bath. He was playing around, not wanting to get in the water. He curled up on the floor between my legs and the bath and pretended to sleep. I said something, and he said “Just be quiet dada. Don’t be loud.” We were playing in the bath, and he was holding onto my arms and the side of the bath and jumping up and down. Suddenly, he decided to sit down. Took a couple of minutes before he was comfortable doing so and not holding onto me and/or the side of the tub, but it happened. He was excited about it and proud of himself. I played with him a few more minutes, then Carly and I traded so I could go look at something she was writing.
After his bath, August and I read Snoozers. We then went in on the bed and he was ready for sleep pretty quickly. He went to sleep just after 9.
Photos. Waking up:
Art:
Playground:
Walking:
Playground 2:
Home:
Bath:
