I was getting ready to go and he requested peanut butter. He looked at the jar and calmly said, with a smile, his old joke: “The zookeeper’s in there.” He peed on the toilet multiple times this morning. He was then jumping over gaps and needing me to yank him out. Went to the nest and brushed his teeth, then he wanted to do a slo-mo video, and started doing his slo-mo dance. He then wanted some soy milk, and drank a lot. We were a long time in getting out the door. Randomly, in a singsong voice, he said “My favorite is white today…and punctuation is ummmm parenthesis.” Had to change him again, and he found a Hangeul sticker that he kept ‘hiding’ on our way.
Finally, made it out the door. Still thought there was a chance that we could make it to Uijeongbu, eat lunch, and get to the play area about 12:30 for an hour of play. But then at Dobongson it seemed like it took forever for the train to come. Made longer by a guy who kept talking to us. Nice enough, but just prolonged the wait. I had asked him not to touch August the first time he tried it. The second time he did respond. A few minutes later he tried a third time, touching August’s hand, then said (rather late) “No touching?” I said “I’d prefer not”. And then he asked why. So had to explain because of germs, etc. August did at one point reach out and touch the guy while playing though. Funniest moment was when August was down and playing around and turned back to ask to be picked up, but was asking the guy, and not me. He thought it was me.
Train came, and we made it to the department store at Uijeongbu. August was walking as we went up all the escalators. Testing the rules and asking a lot of why questions – tried kneeling, not stepping off, etc. Around 12:30 when we got up to the roof and started having lunch. Nice and sunny, so it was fine to sit outside and eat. We played on the rubbery hills and explored parts of the roof he hasn’t played on yet – going through the tunnel-ish thing and playing on hills in the back and stepping on my shadow. He was saying “Up you go, Baba!” from Puffin Rock. He also sat on the hills and said to me “This is my spot…you cannot climb here.” Later he said “This is all my space.” Trying out a sense of personal space/property. A result, I think, of both when I wouldn’t let him erase my typing and the blocks with Logan.
He talked about not taking a nap, but looked tired. And he would then talk about going home to nap instead: “Want to go home. And take a nap in the nest.” To change him you have to walk past the toy store, and he said he wanted to play there, but didn’t put up a defense when I said not now. Changed him, got him in the backpack, and he fell asleep on the walk west. He was sleep from 1:49 to 3:25 at the book cafe with all the English children’s books. On the second train earlier a woman had also reached out and touched August. Now, as he slept in the backpack, and my back turned to the rest of the cafe, I sensed one of the workers kneeling down and looking at August sleeping. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him reach up on a table and grab some napkins. I turned around to find him reaching to wipe August’s face. Not a word to me. I reached out and stopped his hand. That was a new one.
August was making funny noises when he woke up. Got him out, and held him for awhile, still making funny noises. I mentioned the Everyone Poops book, and he wanted to read it. We went over to the books. Ended up reading it four times, then a book about snails/spirals that was pretty cool, another Mr. Gumpy book (about his Motor Car), and George Shrinks a couple times.
He was ready to head home, but we were first stopping for more paint at Daiso. We walked out to the concrete benches to get in the backpack. August was looking at signs as I carried him, and asked what ‘city hall’ was. He was then singing, and using Korean words, like for city hall, in his song. When we stopped he was standing on the bench and pointing around, I think primarily at the words he was singing. Got a video of him singing, although he stopped most of his pointing then. Once in the backpack, we got walking, him doing a lot more singing.
At Daiso we quickly grabbed paint. He asked why we were getting paint, and I said that mama had said they were going through the new paint quickly and we should get more. He was trying to understand this, and kept asking “Why mama say get more paint about?” On the way home we just missed a train for line 1, then another train for line 7. So we had time to have a snack and eat our cheese peanuts from Home Plus. On one of the trains too a woman gave him a black bean soy drink we’ll use later. August spent his time both ways doing art on the iPad.
We were home at 5:30. They nursed and then painted, then we played around hiding August Jr. He played with Musyc, then tried out different art apps, then went back to nursing. He got his hands on the soap in the bathroom, and got a squirt, and made bubbles in the sink. He had fun with that. Carly took a shower, and we did more Musyc together. Carly gave him a bath, and then we briefly played with Duplos.
Carly had bought a Melogold at the store. Turns out it is a mix of grapefruit and pomelo. August even just liked the sound of it: “That sounds AMAZING” He kept saying. He had some and said “I like grapefruit now.” Also funny because he already likes grapefruit. We were discussing the flavor, and he said “It has spices…maybe it has anise.”
A running joke this evening was that he wouldn’t answer my question “Did we have fun today?” Did his trick of totally ignoring me. Funnier when he does it to strangers that try to talk to him. He was being a cat on the back of the couch and continuing to not answer it.
He got down and said “Hey dada! Come and play!” and led me into the parlor. He wanted animals to go to the vet and have exams. This lasted a long time, and turned into what I called veterinary theater, as the zookeeper examined each animal. We then read the monkey book, Peppa Pig, and 123 Peas. Carly took him in to try to sleep, but he came back out. We ate a banana together, and Carly went back to bed. After eating the banana he whispered “You’re Zinnie now.” Apparently he had been the monkey. He wanted to go back in with Carly, but she came out a few minutes later to get socks with him. But he was being hyper again, so stayed out with me: “I found a bead. I hid it FYI. What FYI mean?” We read Pooh – random story parts and most of the poems. He went back in about 10:30. Asleep probably around 10:45.
Photos:
Reading George Shrinks:
Sitting:
Painting:
Bubbles:
