Thursday: Teuni Teuni – This Is Our Blog

8:15. He was laying on the floor of the parlor. When the announcement thing went off he sang along. After five minutes I went in and he held his hand in front of his face and said “No”. But then came out a minute later and asked for strawberries. We had strawberries and banana bread for breakfast (last of each), then he played with Musyc. Actually, first he got a bit upset when he saw my typing and wanted to change all the punctuation and I wouldn’t let him. After awhile he wanted to watch Puffin Rock. He did that and I took a shower. When I finished, I heard him singing to himself. I came out to find that he had found one of his small notebooks and was coloring in it. A bit later he wanted to go pee on the toilet. He also wanted his shirt off. When he was done, I realized he was just wearing one sock. We started looking for it, then suddenly he ran to the iPad saying “It’s under the iPad!” He had apparently put it there during my shower.

We tried a couple of new apps, including a new one called Sound Rebound that is similar to Musyc. He liked that one, and that the name rhymed, but it kept crashing, so he ended up back in Musyc for awhile, before doing some art in Paper. He used the toilet, but tripped coming out of the bathroom. He didn’t want my help getting up, instead telling me “Go somewhere else.” Still a bit upset from that, I think, he said “Want to meet mama home.” That is, he wanted to go to APIS and walk home with her again. Got really sad when I said next week. Went and opened the door, and when I came to him he pushed me all the way into the parlor. A little more of that, then wanted some alone time. But that just lasted a minute. We sat on the reading area and read Itsy Bitsy Spider, Opposites, then sang from the songbook.

He used the toilet again, then I was getting him dressed. He was immediately concerned about the size of the pants and whether they would be too tight: “I look at the size…I said it was a hundred. Too tight. Okay, I’ll try it…it’s uncomfortable…I need a bigger one…like the fox ones.” I had mentioned getting him the fox shirt/pants at Home Plus today. Finally, before we left he was getting a little wild in his playing, and play hitting a lot.

We headed to class, stopping at the ATM on the way. He did a good job of not pushing the buttons or getting upset while I used it. He was walking, and as I walked away from the ATM he said “I just have to do two things” or something to that effect, pushed a couple of buttons, then came along. Got to class right as it was starting. It was about basketball today. Lots of balls and hoops. After the usual beginning stuff, during which August walked around, counting on his fingers to the music, the teacher poured out a large bag of balls and their was a ball fight. August’s favorite target turned out to be the mom of the boy next to us. He would also throw another ball at her later. Funny, but she was sitting down, and most of his throws were straight towards her head. Then a lot of bouncing balls, and putting them through hoops. There was a big bouncing surface, and August spent a lot of time jumping off of it, onto the floor. Then actual trampolines, and August liked jumping on that with the other kids, but held my hand the whole time. When he got bored of whatever the current activity was, he would go over to the walking path from the start of class, which was on its side at the front of class, and try to climb it.

At the end of class, after he got his treat and handstamps, he didn’t want to say thank you or the like to the teacher, saying “I don’t want to say those words.” I pressed him a bit, and instead he ran across the room and loudly said “kamsamnida” to another random parent. While we were out in the hallway, getting ready to leave, another parent handed out those round almond roca ball things. So August got to eat that. Needless to say, he really liked it.

We headed downstairs. They display with the fox shirt (which we were calling the ‘Flynn shirt’ after the fox on Puffin Rock) wasn’t by the front door. So we went to the first basement to look for it. He marveled at the Christmas stuff again, wondering why it was there, then we found the little shop by the down walkway that had the clothes. August was happy to get the shirt, but in a hurry to get going as he was hungry. Paid, then went to the stroller. August wanted to push it onto the walkway on his own, and kept getting upset if I touched the stroller. He kept going to the front to adjust the direction, to the back to push, etc. All was going well until I let him actually push it onto the walkway. He was doing really well, but of course once it got on the walkway and before I could grab it, it slipped out of his hands and started rolling. Only rolled a couple feet before it hit the side. I jumped past him and grabbed it before it tipped over. August was a little traumatized by it, so I picked him up. He was also getting a bit tired, not to mention hungry, so a slightly difficult shopping trip. But we got kimbap, then he got several samples, mainly of the yogurt drinks. He was walking up to the women and waiting to see what they would give him. Then he would make him ‘mmm’ yummy noises as he drank it. We paid, using the self checkout. I was teaching him how to scan items, but then he saw the produce weighing machine, which he really, really wanted to play with. Understandable, as it has about 80 buttons on it, including both alphabets. Had to drag him away from that. As I put him in the stroller at the entrance to the store, I asked if he was sleepy. He said “A little sleepy. I suppose.”

We got home and ate our kimbap and leftover apple and orange from yesterday. We then played on the piano for awhile. He took the top off and the keys out, then wanted to a wipe to clean out the dust. Did that on his own, then went and threw the wipe away. I mentioned getting Mama Juice later, but he said “I don’t want Mama Juice. I’m too full.” Playing around, he recited the line from Puffin Rock “Sounds to me like you saw an octopus.” After awhile, his opinion on juice changed, as he said “I don’t want Mama Juice. I want Juicy Juice.” When I asked what kind he wanted, he again said we should go look at the menu.

We headed out in the stroller. In the store I held him up to see the menu. He spent a good minute studying the options, and decided on ‘Mixed Berry’ (in Korean). He looked at the coffee menu, and told me to get a latte (in Korean), but I went with a caramel latte over his objections.

August had mentioned a couple more times meeting Carly at work and walking home with her. I suggested as a compromise meeting her part way, and he agreed to that. So I messaged Carly to see if that would work, and it would. So we got walking, him going ‘Mmm’ as he drank his juice.

We got to 나팔꽃어린이공원, the park in the space between where the train tracks meet south of Wolgye Station. We’ve been there a couple times before, but he’s never played on the big play structure. Before he got out, he said “Hey dada…make the stroller go fast.” So we raced around a bit, then he wanted to play in the sand. He had the hiccups. That doesn’t happen much anymore. He used the big shovel we have to dig up sand and put it on the table, then had me build a sand castle of sorts with the shovel. He wanted to wash his hands, but was bothered that the water was off. We were on our way to the play structure when Carly showed up. August was of course excited by this, and kept wanting to know why she was there.

He asked why she was wearing gloves, then wanted his own gloves on. But then he took them off, saying they were loose. He chased her around, doing a chomp attack. He climbed up the rather steep curved climbing wall on his own, then Carly went up and they walked across the shaky bridge together, then came down the slide together. August then pushed her on the turning thing. I had to change him on the bench in the cold. Warned him the wipes were going to be cold, which h
e didn’t like the idea of. Then I realized we could just warm them with our hands for a few seconds and they were fine. Changed him and we walked home. On the way home he took his shoes off, and was also looking cold. Tried to convince him to put the cover down, but he said “I’m afraid of the cover.” He was also sleepy, so we gave in and let him be a bit cold.

Got home and Carly made nachos for dinner. He had taken all his clothes off and was on the toilet when Wendy showed up to borrow our vacuum cleaner. I held him, and he was initially excited about someone at the door, but then grew shy.

We realized we were low on milk, and I wanted more strawberries, so I headed to the store. When I came back, Carly was trying to get him in the bath, but he really didn’t want to go. SHe gave him a very quick bath, then headed to the bedroom. He just kept repeating “No. No. No mama.” as she put on his pajamas. He was asleep at 7:30.