Wednesday: eMart play area and APIS Christmas concert

8:18. He allowed me in the parlor this time while he lay down for a couple minutes. We then read a few stories from The Cat on the Mat is Flat. Art on my iPad and pancakes and strawberries after that. He did really well with the art for a while, figuring out a few new things. But then got frustrated when I wouldn’t let him draw on my stuff. He went in the parlor and closed the door, but I used a funny voice and he let me in. We then sat on the reading area and read the rest of The Cat on the Mat is Flat. He then wanted the playdough knife. We went out and got out some play dough, then he went and got a square Duplo. Did some squares, then “I want a glow worm!” Think he learned that on Puffin Rock.

He watched Puffin Rock and I took a shower. Before I even got in the shower he said “You’re watching too much Puffin Rock!” It had only been like three minutes. Although by this point he’s probably watched the whole series 2 or 3 times, so it is definitely the most he has watched of anything – by far. After my shower we did more play dough. He wanted burritos, then made a “funny burrito”. He sang to the songbook, then listened to jump rope songs. He found his little screwdriver, then the holes in the piano from the missing screws for the top of it. I know I saved the screws from it, but couldn’t find them. Found two other screws that sort of fit, and he worked on trying to turn them a little. He was then playing on the piano asked me what notes they were. He actually started by playing just two notes at a time (we’ve been talking about chords), but then moved to full palm. When I actually made up an answer he said “I just want dada to think about it.”

At some point we noticed it was snowing a bit. Over an hour or so it got heavier and heavier. He stood at the window, looking out at it. At some point he spotted the pasta in the cupboard and requested some. Dry. So he ate some of the dry letter pasta. He said “Having noodle letter pasta before we go out to the snow.” But then as we got ready to go he said “I want to take care of one animal first.” We went in, and actually took care of two or three of the Duplo animals in the fort. He looked out through the fort and said “Why are there no eyes?” So I definitely figured out that the eyes were the two light bulbs hanging over our counter. I went and turned them on and he was very excited and talked more about maybe it being mama and seeing the eyes.

I was pretty hungry by the time we got going at 12:35 or so. We had fun walking in the snow, and paused as we walked through an apartment complex to take a selfie in it. We got across the river and headed south to eMart and I realized we might be able to go over the railroad tracks now, as this is where they were doing a rail to trails project. And indeed, it is now open. Lots of people walking in the snow. We walked out on the bridge a bit, then followed the path the other way, and it goes straight to eMart. In the future we could walk straight to the tracks on our side, then walk over the river on the bridge. I see more trips to eMart in the spring.

At eMart we discovered real sour cream. Had intended to come back after we played in the play area, but they only had one container. Then I realized we had our cooler with an ice pack. So we got that, then looked at their prepared foods section. Nicer than Home Plus’s, so August and I took our time deciding. Ended up with some kimbap and a croissant sandwich. He also had fun looking at the other foods, including the prepared squid.

We went up to the food court and ate. He was interested in the people around us, and started to get a bit loud. Making a loud “eeeeee” directed to women close to us, a loud “Hey!” to no one in particular, and a loud “anyanghasayo!” directed towards another woman. He was clearly ready to play.

We paid and went in the play area. Different branding, but pretty much the same as every other play big supermarket kid cafe (like Home Plus and Lotte Mart). Wandered around and climbed up in the play area. He immediately went down the rolly slide on his own. Then played with the plastic thing where you push the rods back and forth. We spelled words in that, like ‘mama’ and ‘dada’. He spotted the bathroom and we went in and he used the urinal. He then went to the sand area but didn’t want to wear the boots. He protested by laying on the ground and not saying anything. He would also try to sneak his feet around and dip his toe in the sand. At his most rebellious he grabbed some sand and poured it on his sock. But finally, as he was just laying there, I slipped boots on and then picked him up and set him on the sand. Bingo.

I had used a mold to make a car in the sand and told him to stomp on it. And we were off. After a few minutes he said “These boots are too tight.” He then switched to boots with circles on them. A little later he said those were uncomfortable too – I think they were too big – and we tried a third pair, with rabbits on them. I used a round bowl to make a sand castle and when I pulled it of he exclaimed “Its banana bread!”

When we got out of the sand, he liked the handheld blower and I taught him how to use it. He wanted to use it as a toy though and I wouldn’t let him. He went back to the bathroom after this, and used the toilet this time. This toilet had a pig on the back, like the urinal at Children’s Grand Park that he doesn’t like (but used last week). He said “why don’t like piggy ones….It’s loud!” We went out and played with what I call the bristly blocks in the building area. He pointed to one and said “Why that a right triangle one?” It was, indeed a right triangle. We’ve been doing kinds of triangles on paper for awhile now, but to now he’s just requested them by name, or drawn them and asked me what they are. He made a pretty good tower sculpture on his own, then wanted to go back to the bathroom. Spent about 10 minutes on it. He was talking about a lot. I stood outside the stall, and he liked the door closed, but they were short and he could see me over the top. At some point I realized he was talking about Bernadette and Bernie – he was making up his own Puffin Rock story about, I think, Bernadette going in Bernie’s grotto and him saying “Hey! That’s my grotto!” I helped him expand the story, and had Bernie complain about the red crabs, using the line “they’re always coming around with their clicking clackety racket.” August liked that sentence and kept repeating it as we went back to the sand area.

From there he went and climbed on the big teddy bear thing. Of course the most fun part is to climb to the highest point, the head, which we were informed wasn’t allowed. From there he spotted the big floor piano and went and played on that. He kept jumping on it from the black mat around the merry-go-round thing (which he also tried a couple times, but didn’t feel comfortable riding by himself yet). Finally, it was now 3:45 and now time to go. I said he had time to go down the rolly slide again if he wanted. He climbed up, took a minute to think about it, and came down.

We headed downstairs and refilled his water from a machine. He wanted to drink from the water bottle like a big kid before I put the lid back on. We headed out, and detoured slightly to look at the playground nearby that we haven’t been to in a long time. Then spotted a cat and headed back to the path. And immediately noticed him putting his head down. I had put the cover up at the park as it was still snowing. I told him the cover was up for the snow, not for napping. Kept him awake with singing (if I sing a song, he now sings along, trying to count the beats) for awhile. Made it all the way to the post office before I lost him. He was asleep from 4:24 to 4:35, as we walked up the stairs to Carly’s classroom. Heard him slurring “…mama’s work and nurse…” Luckily, he recovered as we got in her classroom. Megan was there and he spotted her and asked what Megan was there about. Got him out. Megan was asking him about
her leggings, and gave him a pine cone and then a sticker. He was now well awake after his little power nap.

He went to the bathroom with Carly to pee, but it was busy with students getting ready for the concert, so he didn’t go. They came back and Carly headed up to the concert. August wanted to stay in the classroom. He typed a bit, then I took him down to the bathroom. He peed on the toilet and I used the urinal. August was excited about this “What dada Zinnie pee at the same time about?” He had been repeating “Curly, curly, curly” and spinning his finger when Carly took him down the hall. We didn’t know why. I asked him, and he started spinning in circles in the hall. Doesn’t quite explain it, but it was something. Back in the classroom he got crayons and we did some coloring.

I then took him up to the concert, as he was fine with going and checking on mama now. The doors were open between sets when we got up there, so we walked right in, me holding him. We stood in the back as music began, but then he spotted a woman that did, indeed, kind of look like Carly and said “Mama!” We went and looked but it wasn’t her. Someone came over and told us where Carly was, so we walked up and found her. He was talking a bit, and Carly thought he was wanting to go or something, so she got out and took him out. He walked down the hallway, stomping to the music, and told me and Carly to stomp too.

Carly went back in to watch the rest of the middle school portion. August and I watched from the hallway, looking through the windows by the door. He wanted mama a few times, but it wasn’t much longer and he made it. He was even clapping a couple times.

Back in the classroom, we got ready to go. While Carly went to the bathroom, I let August use a thumbtack to hang his piece of art (Ks, Qs, Es, spirals, and scribbles) on her board. We headed out, which was a slow process. August wanted to mess around on the stairs going down, then found a balloon on the landing between the first and second floors. The draft from the doors below made it sort of float up. Played with that for a minute and headed outside, but Carly realized she had forgotten her charger. She went back to get it, and August and I stood in the soccer field, enjoying the night. There were some boys that hand flashlights/laser pointers and were shining them on balloons and things. August liked that.

Kept him occupied on the bus by giving him one of the Tospia sandwiches. He did all he could to just nibble the bread around the edge, then from the flat side of the sandwich.

At home, he and I got set up to make banana bread. Carly and I were talking about something and I told her I had seen it “on Facebook”. But before I said those two words we both heard August say it. We both turned and looked at him. It was like he had read my mind.

We made banana bread. At some point I said ‘bananas’ and he said “Don’t say ‘bananas’”. I told him it was hard to make banana bread without saying bananas. We got that cooking, then he wanted to search for images of ‘glow worms’ on Google. Did that, then he was searching for individual words. He came across an image of the periodic table while doing that and wanted to know what they all were. Something new to be fascinated about. So we pulled up a better version of it.

Carly had prepared his bath, so I took him in. Looking at the elements had reminded me of the Lehrer song about the periodic table. So I pulled that up and we listed to that. August was joking about giving me water from the bath, and once got water on my tongue. I said it tasted like soap. He then squirted soap on his hand and said “Open your mouth dada!” Tom Lehrer naturally led to They Might Be Giants then on to Blackalicious. He didn’t like having his hair washed, but then kept playing after that. He spotted Carly in the hall, and immediately whined “I don’t want pajamas!” But then he had an idea: “I want a Day shirt and pants!” So after his bath I got him a regular pair of grey pants and a long sleeved shirt. He was very excited by that. Pretty straightforward and easy bedtime after that, and he was asleep at 9:10.