He was up at 7:35. Nursed, then watched Carly wash and cut the papaya. He was a bit concerned about her washing it off with soap, as he doesn’t like the taste of soap. I took a shower, and he came in the bathroom to ask what I was doing. Afterwards, he wanted to smell all the soaps and shampoos in the bathroom, including the ones we brought from home. We Skyped with my parents after that. Carly had brought out the toaster oven and plugged it in in the living room to make toast (not much room in th kitchen) and made fried eggs for breakfast. August touched a hot portion of the toaster oven and may have been slightly burned, or at least startled by it. They nursed and he was still in a bit of a bad mood and refused to eat. He stared hiding behind me, then I was lying back on him, and we were looking at ourselves in the mirror. He decided to eat and he ate a good breakfast. He ate at least a full egg and then a piece of toast with pineapple jam.
We then headed out to do some exploring. Right out of the building and into the sky train station. We bought three passes: August got his own card, as here it is by height, and the cutoff for riding free is 90cm. He is 92. He was very excited by this though and loved going through the turnstiles on his own.
We got off after one stop, over the river, and looked around. We went and looked at the first hotel that Carly will be going to for a job fair, the Shagri-La. Then went back to the pier and watched boats for a couple minutes, then hopped a shuttle boat to the Sheraton, up river. That is where her second job fair will be. Used the restroom there and looked around. We paused to look at some deer decorations and the big Christmas tree and presents in the lobby.
A quick stop at a mini mart for sunscreen, a purple carrot drink, and some dried kiwi, then we walked north, kind of randomly, to Chinatown.
Saw a temple and some old buildings along the way. August admired some metal machine parts in a shop. Walked around the Chinese cultural center a bit, but August was clearly getting sleepy. But up the cover, against his protests and walked north through Chinatown. He fell asleep at 12:35 and we suddenly saw the first coffee shop we had seen: a wonderful little place called Blue Water. It had really interesting copper light fixtures and decorations, and interesting light bulbs as well. And an actual cuckoo clock. We got an iced Thai tea and a macchiato, and a pork burger. About 8 bucks total. Stayed there while he slept until 2:01.
He woke up wanting a drink at the coffee shop, but we got up and headed out. Walked back to a hotel carly had seen to use a bathroom. Carly asked if august wanted to go in too, and he said “Hmm…hmm” and had a thinking face on. She went in, then of course he decided he wanted to go in. I waited, listening to “Christmas Wrapping” in the lobby area.
We found a restaurant, Hua Seng Hong restaurant ข้าวต้มปลาท่าดินแดงเจ้าเก่า, and went there for some lunch. Ordered noodles and duck, Hong Kong fried rice, and shrimp dumpling dim sum. When we first sat down, there was a spicy-looking pepper condiment. August said it looked spicy, then asked “Dada cool it down.” with a grin on his face. I think it was a spicy/hot joke. We liked all the food and August ate some of all of it. Before we left, Carly took him to the bathroom, and I waited outside, watching the cooks and looking at the pieces of what I think were shark fin.
We left and walked a couple more blocks north through China town, then turned left towards the river. Only a few blocks, but it was a market area, and the sidewalk was one person wide and very crowded. With August on my back I couldn’t really turn sideways to go by people. Close to the river we saw a piece of graffiti art that had an alien in a spaceship. August liked that, so we took a photo and talked to the alien.
At the river we tried to figure out the boat system. We told one guy we wanted to go to Central Pier, and he told us to run and jump on a boat. Couldn’t make that one though, so we waited about 10 minutes, then got on a blue line boat headed the right way. Crowded, but not horrible. We never paid. After getting off we figured out how to buy blue line tickets, but just those. Still not sure how other boats would work.
By the canal, August saw these two big metal structures that looked like ramps. He asked “Are these for wheelchairs?” Spent a few minutes helping him walk up one, take a big step across to the other, and walk down it. We then went on the sky train, him going through on his own again. As we left the station, he was talking about his sandals, and joked that he wasn’t wearing sandals. I grabbed his foot and said “Then what’s this?” He replied ”Bracelets!”
We went to the minimart and got a few things. While Carly paid I took him outside. He was running and skipping in circles, then started up the stairs. Near the top, he stumbled and hit his knees on a step, scraping it a little. He came over to me and rubbed his leg on my leg, and said “It hurt on dada.” Not necessarily the nicest thing to do, but very cute. But then he was sort of rubbing my leg, as if to make it feel better, and he saw a scrape on my other leg. I don’t know where that came from. Anyway, he saw it, bent over, and kissed it. So sweet.
We got home right at 5. He went and got the play dough. We were playing with that and he wanted a color out. He tried to hand it to me and said “It’s stuck. Get it out you big oaf.” I said “Did you just call me a big oaf?” “Yeah!” he said as he smiled and covered his eyes, and leaned against the corner of the bed and promptly slipped off and fell on his face on the floor. He huddled on the ground and covered his eyes. We checked to see if he was okay, and he said “I’m working on something” a couple times and got back up and went back to the play dough.
We played with music apps for awhile, then he watched Puffin Rock. I used the Apple TV in the room to show it on the TV for a bit and he seemed pretty fascinated by that. Sometime later I turned off Puffin Rock, and he was a little upset: “More, more, more.”
I asked if he wanted to read books and he said “I want to do grown up things.” I said we could read a grown up book, or at least one with less pictures and suggested Frog and Toad. He said “Is Frog and Toad Are Friends a grown up book?”
When I opened iBooks he chose Jabberwocky and we had fun reading and explaining that. He said “We’re reading new books.” He then chose The Curious Garden. We read a little of that but he got distracted and was panting and said something and said “I’m talking like Mossy” – referring to when he is out of breath and looking for the puffins.
He then tried his new toothpaste and did some brushing, then went and spit in the sink on his own. We had talked about kinds of toothpaste at the store and how he could work on spitting out his toothpaste.
About 6:40 he wanted to go try the pool, even though it was dark. Carly got him ready to go, and as she put on his swim diaper he asked “Can you pee in there?” She said just in an emergency, but try not to, but then he went ahead peed in it, thinking he was being funny. Carly explained that that made her sad – he seemed to both think it was funny, but also be apologetic, saying “I’ll try to not do that…I’m going to try and not do that.”
They read Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight, then in the bathroom he unrolled the toilet paper again, which he knows he’s not supposed to do. Carly gave him a time out and sat with him in the living room. He kept saying “I’m going to try to not do that.” Then, when it was over, he went back to the living room and gave himself his own timeout, sitting down and counting to ten on his fingers before getting up.
We played hide and seek for a bit, then were going to go to the pool. But then he told Carly he didn’t want to go, so she started cooking bok choy
. But then he immediately changed his mind again. So I just took him out. It was 7:30. We went to the shallow pool. He made waves and called the bubbles ‘germs’. Tons of why questions. Over to the other shallow pool. He talked a lot about George going in the deep water in the Peppa Pig book. We then went over to the toys. I told him he could use all the things as he was the only kid. He talked about using “all the things” the entire time we were there. He needed to go to the bathroom, so we went back up just before 8.
Ate some dinner that Carly had prepared for them (I didn’t eat much). He did fine with everything, but decided he didn’t like the bok choy. After dinner he got on his iPad and used the Green Eggs and Ham app. He was reading through it by touching one word at a time so it would say the word, and he did a good job with the little word game things. He decided to put the play dough away, and got me to help him pick up the plastic things and carry the containers to their shelf.
It was now 9, and we realized he needed a bath. He was getting tired though, and agreed to do it in the morning. They then skyped with with Vivian and watched Thai videos on YouTube. He went with Carly to take the garbage to the garbage room. Carly’s warned him enough about the door alarm as you go through to the elevators that he is a bit afraid of it now. Before they left, he was looking at himself in the mirror, and hard to get going.
Finally, Carly started making his bed in the living room. On his own accord he went and took both of the pillows off of the big bed and added them to his bed to make it snuggly. He said good night to me, and then was asleep by 9:55.
Boat to the Sheraton:
Dried kiwi:
Walk to Chinatown:
Parts he liked:
Chinese cultural center:
Nap at coffee shop:
Lunch:
Shark fin?
Walk and boat:
Ramps:
Pool and toys:
Trying the key:
