We got up at the same time at 8:07. Right before that, he had really been laughing in his sleep. He and Carly nursed and then Skyped with Chuck and Cherie. August typed ‘bug’ and Carly asked why. He got serious, furrowed his brow, and said ‘Beat Bugs’. He then typed ‘j bug’ – the name of the building down at Ttukseom Resort.
He did some painting and ate cereal from both of us. Carly finished her costume for dress up day tomorrow. He was pretending to be stuck in gaps and I was yanking him out, then put him in the blankets. He then said he wanted to change his diaper. I took it off him, then just put the pajama pants back on. A few times over the next hour he said “The tag is bothering you”, but he wasn’t ready for us to cut it out.
August got out his flashlight and was shining it everywhere, saying he found something that mama lost and investigating the cupboards. And he shined the light on the little scraps of paper as I picked them up. He was asking constant questions as he did that and Carly made mango oatmeal: “What if mama not cook it? What there tea in there about?” What you following mama about? What happen if mama not clean up the floor? What it frozen about?”
He played on the couch as a monkey, swinging his feet off of it. He then started going over to the stroller, grabbing beads out of it, and putting them in the couch. This surprised me, because he can’t actually see into where the beads are on the stroller. Anyway, we have several beads ‘hiding’ in the couch now. He then wanted me to hold him upside down, so we did a lot of that before he moved to playing with Musyc. A bit later we Skyped with my parents. He showed them how he swings on the end of the couch as a monkey. Next was nursing with Carly and they read two Biscuit books. He and I then made a tower of cardboard blocks. He was balancing blocks pretty well now. I finally took a shower, and when I came out he was helping Carly finish her beard and tried it on.
He randomly said “There’s no crying in tennis ball.” At some point earlier he had said “You’re Zinnie now.” I asked who he had been, and he said “A monkey.” I hadn’t realized he’d been a monkey for the whole last hour.
We did the flying snake game after yanking him out of the gaps, then Carly heated up the leftover food from Thanksgiving. Carly had a little, but August and I ate most of it, as Carly was feeling queasy just remembering the experience. He wanted to make a nest, so we did that, and we read most of Biscuit Meets the Class Pet before he wanted more food. Carly gave him some, and he said “We’re talking with our mouths full.” Earlier, when I asked what we should do tomorrow, he said “We can talk with our mouths full.”
Carly tried to put him down for a nap, but he decided it was a no nap day. She took him to the store instead. They were back about 3:10. He had gotten a slurpy thing, but conveniently forgot about it back home. At home, he just wanted to hang out in the hallway and so I got ready while he did that and we headed back outside.
We didn’t take the stroller, and didn’t really have a plan. I followed him, and we headed out the west side of the building. He did some hopping over cracks, then we talked about our plan. Named several local parks and he settled on Madeul Stadium. We never made it that far. On the road to the stream he hopped in some puddles, saying “Ribbit!” We crossed the bridge, then north of the youth center he stopped and hung on the railing, looking down at the stream and people and ducks. Stayed there for several minutes, enjoying the sun. We continued on, and as we went by the new apartment complex he wanted to go to the spiderweb playground.
The playground was in the shade and breezy, so rather cold. But August found two of those push cars – the kind you actually sit in and can drive around – and he drove and and I pushed him around in those. He also climbed on the spider web and went across the bridge. He wanted to build sand castles, but we didn’t have tools with us, and it was too cold. He had me ‘drive’ him over where two older boys were sitting on a bench. He got out and watched them playing video games on their phones.
On the way back, he noticed that the electrical box that he always noticed was making noise, now isn’t – because it doesn’t need to cool down, I presume. He stopped at the same spot above the stream for several minutes. At the bye fuzzy playground we stopped and he had some banana chips. We then climbed up on the play structure and went down the twisty slide together four times. He kept calling it a fast one. He also stood at the top and watched the kids playing basketball.
Before we left, he walked the ledge, which starts low, but gets about 3 feet tall. He didn’t want me to help him, but I insisted on spotting him. Walking across the bridge, he said something in a high voice and said “That’s a chipmunk voice.” I’d made reference to the Chipmunks recently. We got across the bridge, but he turned and decided he wanted to go back to the playground. I said no to that, and reminded him that I’d mentioned trying cocoa when we were at home.
We got home about 4:50. He did painting with mama, then ate some strawberries before having rice casserole with me. He picked up a wipe, and was going around the house cleaning, saying “oh dear, I need to clean here.” He ate a banana and he wanted to read the monkey book while he did it, so we did that. I then made some cocoa and he loved the sips I gave him. Big smiles.
Carly gave him a bath, and when she washed him he made his random non-English frustrated noises. She commented that he has his own ‘frustrated’ language, and asked what it was. He told her, and the name was something complex – I think it had a comma and something else in it. It is true though – when he is frustrated but not fully upset, he says random noises that almost sound like words.
After his bath, he asked Carly why you get wrinkly in the bath. She looked it up. Complex, but he accepted ‘your skin is filling up with water’. He did some writing on paper, then we went in the parlor while Carly took a shower. He typed on my phone, and told me “This is my work. You cannot delete it. If you try, I will tell you ‘No’.”
When she was out he went in the nest with Carly. Wanted the lotion. Carly was trying to put it on him and he said “anneyo”. But he put it on her legs and told her he was giving her a massage.
Sleep happened pretty easily after that, just after 8.
Cozy:
Stacking:
Trying on the beard, sort of:
On our walk. Looking down:
Playground:
Again:
Second playground. Watching the basketball players before we went down the slide again:
Ledge:
Cocoa:
