I don’t know if I mentioned here that Derek is leaving Seoul early. They had planned to move on the 20th, but his grandfather was hit by a car and is in the hospital. So he leaves tomorrow, with the rest of the family leaving on the 20th. So we met up with Derek and Logan one last time today before he leaves. We’ll probably see Logan again.
He woke up a bit before 5, coughing. He wanted to wake me up, but was whispering about it. I said good morning, then they went out and I fell back to sleep. They skyped with Cassie and Vivian and Colin for a long time, he spent a lot of time sitting on the toilet, and he watched some Puffin Rock before surprising Carly and falling back asleep at 7:20. He got a little more sleep before he was back up at 8:08. He walked out and saw me on the couch and continued to Carly in the parlor. He closed the door on me. They spent a good amount of time nursing and reading.
He then came out and requested jump rope music (it is a Smithsonian Folkways album). I turned that on for him. We painted together – quadrant and different shapes and colors. He ate some pizza. Carly then painted with him. He requested Spanish words and she would paint them for him. He found his bracelet and put it on, then talked to himself about it: “Why you have the bracelet on about? It helps the paint dry.” “Girl has a bracelet on.”
A bit later, Carly asked him “Do you want to go to the store?” August: “Yeah!” Then directly to me:
“You stay here dada and do some work.” As they got ready to go, he kept talking about wanting spinach: “Spinach. Yeah. I want to get spinach.” “Spinach and minich rhyme.” So he went to the store with her. He wore his bracelet much of time. She didn’t let him get a slurpy thing (cup of jello and fruit). He didn’t throw a fit, but sort of protested by laying down on the floor a couple times.
When he got home he started asking for a slurpy thing, because Carly had said we had one at home. I told him to wait a few minutes, as Derek and Logan were on their way over and Derek said he had something for us. It turned out it was cans of refried beans and olive oil – excellent for us, but not a treat for August. But he had forgotten by then.
They were here for a few minutes. Logan somehow magically sensed his bike was here and went and pushed it out of the changing room. Derek tried to convince him it wasn’t his bike, but I don’t think Logan fell for it. He and I got the boys ready to go and headed over to Namu Kid Cafe again. Carly stayed behind to make the nutty noodles and do some work.
At Namu it was much the same as yesterday. August first went to the blocks and we played with some wooden blocks. Most of the rest of our time was spent in the ball and trampoline area. The big event was going on the train at 11. August was excited about it, and okay sitting on it on his own…until I fastened the seat belt. At that point he immediately changed his mind. I tried to tell him it was okay, and a couple seconds later she started the train. It just goes back and forth a couple times on the short track. He spent most of the time telling me he wanted to get off. Upset, but not really crying. When I got him off I had to hold him for a couple minutes. At one point later he would say he wanted to go on the train again, when I asked him, but later still he was saying no. We’ll see what happens in subsequent visits.
Derek took Logan over to the kitchen area for some quiet time and a drink. August and I went with. He and Logan watched a little video on Derek’s phone. Our orange juice and my coffee came while we sat there. August likes how quiet that room is.
We went back to the play area for a few more minutes, then Logan was ready to go get lunch. We left right at noon. August and Logan both liked riding down the elevator, as it is glass and you have a good view of the park. We stopped at Burgerton to pick up lunch. Derek stayed to wait for the food, and I took Logan and August back to the apartment. Logan wanted to play with bubbles in the bathroom sink, so I started that. I thought August would want to join him, but he went to nurse instead.
Derek showed up with the food and we ate. I had gotten the mushroom burger again because I knew August would like the mushrooms. He did, and he used the fork to feed himself the mushrooms, and to offer a few to me. I got out french fries for him, but he wanted to use the ketchup on Logan’s plate, and Logan wouldn’t let him. Which was fine as I was getting more ketchup. But it made August sad, so he stopped eating for awhile. He was clearly getting tired, but rebounded, and after eating he and Logan played with the train set together for several minutes.
They left, and a bit alter August fell asleep from 1:50 to 3:10. Nursed, then ate some nutty noodles. We headed outside about 4:30 as he wanted to try his bike. Got over to the park and Carly and I blew it by trying to get him to wear the helmet. We never even actually got close to putting it on his head, mind you, and there were no tears. But the process made him change his mind. Also not helping was the woman who was staring during this and then came over to insist that August’s throat was cold and he needed a scarf.
Anyway, we went over the playground. Went down the tube slide. Actually, at first he just sat at the top of it for a couple minutes. He was calling it a big kid thing to do. Then once he had slid down he wanted to go find another big kid thing to do: “What’s another big kid thing to do?” He had wanted his gloves on and spent some time picking dead leaves off bushes (well, he wanted the green leaves, but I was able to redirect), then took the gloves off, then led us for a walk through the park, singing rhythms as he went.
As we crossed the bridge, Carly asked him “Why don’t you want the helmet?” He replied “I will fall down if I wear the helmet.”
We went to the art museum. The new play area doesn’t open until the 19th. Most everything else is closed to, but August wanted to go upstairs. He climbed the stairs, wandered around a bit, then we exited at the coffee shop and walked down the outside, enjoying the view. Back down, he suddenly shot his hands out of his sleeves, saying “Juk!” (A Korean thing, like ‘voila!’). Did that several times. As we walked home, he was repeating some lines that I think come from Puffin Rock (but adding in the driving part): “There’s water. Be careful. You could hurt yourself. Be careful driving.” Back on our side of the park, he wanted to go in the bathrooms, and chose the women’s, so Carly had to take him in. He spent some time pushing his bike around in circles, but still didn’t want to ride it. Progress though. We stopped at Mama Juice and he got a grapefruit and pineapple drink.
Back home, Carly decided to cut his hair while he watched Puffin Rock and I fed him some nutty noodles. After that, he spent a long time sitting on the toilet, then I get him a long bath. He spent a lot of time playing with the letters. He helped clean them up when he was finally done. I was then changing the sheets on the bed. At first he was typing on Pages on the iPad, but then he really got excited about helping with that. I was trying to find the correct sheet for the small bed, and he was getting impatient, tucking everything in the crack. After that, he and I went out and ate a couple of small bananas. He wanted to read the monkey book, but ended up signing to the songbook instead. Back in on the bed, they read Itsy Bitsy, then nursed after he turned off the lights. But he came out after20 minutes or so. He and I read some Pooh – he specifically requested poems, and had the zookeeper and pig take care of a cut on the Duplo kangaroo. He was then ready to go back in and we went together as I was also ready for bed. But he kept grabbing Carly, then was hitting his feet on the bed when she wouldn’t nurse, and then hitting her. He got really upset when I picked him up and took him out of the room. But I just held him until he could c
alm himself down and said we could go back if he’d say sorry to mama and lie still. He agreed, we went back and he said sorry, and he fell right asleep at 10:05.
Namu:
Park:
Painting:
Namu:
Watching something on the phone:
Elevator:
Mushrooms:
Feather:
Museum:
Walking home:
Pushing the bike:
Haircut:
Doing my hair:
Playing with the bag: