Friday: Lumpini Park and getting in the water

He was up just before 8. Ate some yogurt, then when I took a good morning photo to send to Carly, he insisted on getting close to the camera and making funny faces. He watched some Puffin Rock, we had some toast, and brushed our teeth, and we left by 9:30.

We got to the park at 10:30. Near the entrance he found a shoe insert or heel piece and was amused by that. Right inside there were some low exercise bars. He used the bars, swinging on them, then went across the walkway to see the ‘Mexico’ sign. He jumped down the curb. The first time I’ve seen him jump down from something so far.

We took our time walking to the playground, stopping several times to look at things. We got to the playground close to 11. He immediately took his shoes off. As we walked towards the swings he said “Try all the swings…that one and that one and that one and that one…So many swings to try out…am I right, dada?” Did some swinging, then stopped for lunch (stuff I’d gotten at the store last night) at 11:10. He as talking about the time he fell of the swings when he was with Carly: “Why you fall off the swings in Korea…you were doing your gloves.”

Went back to the swings, then I realized the other set of swings was more in the shade. Went there, then to a tire swing. He then started playing in the sand. Found a big katalpa tree seed pod and buried that. Then found a plant poking from the sand that he tried (unsuccessfully) to bury. Then together we buried a full page of newspaper, using a seed pod as a shovel. He found several other interesting little things, like a piece of plastic, a feather, a light piece of wood, and a little blue spoon that he scooped sand in. He found a nice shell and asked “Is that a sea snail shell?” Then buried our hands and feet in sand. At 12:30, he did some swinging while standing on the swing. He was a bit nervous about that, but wanted to try it a couple times.

Eventually, about 1, we went and tried to rinse off our hands and feet in the drinking fountain. Then realized we had dropped one of his shoes, so went back and got that. Went and used the bathroom and finished washing up there, and sat on a bench and had a snack. He finished off the dried mango and crackers, then talked about wanting sugary snacks: “I don’t want healthy things…I want sugary things…I want sick things…I want poisonous things.”

He agreed to go for a bit of a walk in the backpack to see animals and things. We got going about 1:20, and did a sort of loop to the east of the playground. Walking along a canal, we startled two of the big lizards out off some bushes. We watched them crawl down by water, and one got in and swam to the other side. As we kept walking, we saw a cat sitting by a tree, a senior center in an interesting building (August said he’d go inside when he was big – not when he was old), an outdoor stage, the compass sculpture, and all sorts of flowers. As we got close to the exit, August spotted a third big lizard, but smaller than the other two.

We crossed the street (which is an awful intersection, taking many minutes for the lights to change) and went back to the clinic for the health certificates for the pool. It was right by the station, but didn’t open until 11. The medical certificate thing is a joke: all they asked was our names and birthdays. It appears to be nothing more than a poll tax to keep people out of the pool, since the certificate itself costs much more (about 7 dollars) than the pool membership (less than a dollar). Anyway, while we waited, August watched Puffin Rock. Preferably on the floor, but I got him to at least set it on the chair and stand as he was blocking traffic.

From there we walked west, looking for a place to get sunglasses, as August had been requesting new ones (I think he said something about “love new sunglasses”). We checked several places. A couple had adult sunglasses, but none for kids. He enjoyed trying on reading glasses though. After checking out a basement place, which had a display of umbrellas, which seemed like a poor use of floor space in the dry season, we paused outside on top of the steps to put him in the backpack, as I’d been carrying him to this point. He started stretching, and putting his feet up in the air – a sort of yoga/dance performance. He paused and just lay on the stone ground for awhile. This went on for close to 10 minutes. Then he agreed, at about 3, to get in the backpack, and we walked further west, to the next train station, and took the train home.

We got off the train, and as we walked across the overpass and down the stairs, I was singing “Driftin’”. He told me to stop, and I asked why, and was it because it was a naptime song. He said yes, and told me I was singing it too loud: “I told you to sing it quieter”. He then put his head down on my should and I sang it quieter for him. That (and the laying on the stone ground) was the closest he got to a nap.

At home, about 3:30 we had some water and were playing around by the couch. He sort of jumped on the couch and hit his forehead on my glass. He then went in the bedroom and closed the door and window thing, but then came back out and hid behind the pillow on the couch, and then just “napped” there. I rested next to him. A third pseudo-nap. He was hungry, and we ate some more apple, and he got the coconut cream yogurt from the fridge and we ate that. He hasn’t pooped much the last couple days, so I let him have part of a prune. Usually Carly doesn’t let him have prunes, after the one time we did. He speculated “Maybe she’s worried you’ll throw up on her.” He also talked more about wanting to do toys for older kids: “I only want to do seven year old things”

A bit after 4:30 we went up to the pool. Did some surfing on the green board, but then he wanted to go in the big pool. And we did it. Slowly, but surely, we got all the way in. At first he just let me carrying him waist deep as I walked in the deep water, but surely he got deeper until he was in up to his neck. We walked all over the pool a couple times, and over by the waterfall he hung on to the edge and I started to teach him to kick.

Carly had said she was on her way home, and I told he we were at the pool. August needed to use the bathroom, and so I took him to the one by the pool. We were in there and heard Carly call in. That was pretty exciting for him. She had simply followed the clues: our backpack and shoes on one side of the pool, our shirts on the other, and our clear father and son footprints leading to the bathroom.

We got back in and showed her what he could do. He was getting cold; his jaw was shivering, but he wanted to stay in the pool. I convinced him we needed to go take mama to dinner and we got out.

We changed and headed down the street to the Steak and Shabu place. Carly got chicken teriyaki and a lemon drink. I got a pork and basil rice dish, gyoza, and a berry drink. August was most excited about trying out all the sauces on the rice. He particularly liked the ketchup on rice, but also the soy sauce, and the orange sauce. So he mainly ate rice and some of the mini corn from my dish, and part of a gyoza. We met a guy, Gary, who is a white guy and part owner of the restaurant with his Thai wife.

We stopped at the store on the way home. He was pretty hyper. He started doing big jumps in the store – like two feet – and found that exciting. He asked “Why you cant do little jumps anymore?” He was hyper since leaving the restaurant, wanting to be ‘jumped’ all the way home. So when we got home at 7:30 things went pretty smoothly. Carly helped him with his shower today and he was asleep at 8:20.