He was up a little before 6:40. Nursed, then went on the toilet. They were talking about Carly going to work, and he asked “Is Friday a tall day?” referring to our Duplo game. He also asked her to play “the Althauser” game, where they debate his last name. Carly left, and he stayed on the toilet until 7:15. We continued the Althauser game: “Say ‘You left out dada’s part’…Say ‘You left out mama’s part.” He headed to the piano and started playing Yankee Doodle. “Look behind me. There’s bugs on me. There’s one in my mouth. I ated one hundred bugs.” He then went and pretended to play Yankee Doodle on the mandolin through the case.
He was hungry and joked “What happens if we eat the mandolin?” He was looking at his stickers, and wanted to look up one of them, so we found a video of the flying dragon lizard. We ate eggs and broccoli with toast for breakfast.
He wanted to do math in the parlor and took his toast in. “I’m going back in the parlor. I’m gonna be careful.” We did some multiplication on paper then he pretended to put water in my tea, then wanted to do math on the smart board thing. He sang a song to the tune of When Johnny Comes Marching Home: “We’re getting to negativeland again, hurrah, hurrah”.
We read Biscuit want to Play, Kipper A to Z and Kipper’s Toybox. We then cuddled on the reading area for several minutes. He wanted me to go get the soft blanket. We were then doing math with Duplos on the reading area. He wanted to do Endless Numbers, so he did that, then watched some Kipper while I showered. When I came out he told me he was going to do Kid Calculator, so he did some math problems on the calculator, then went and played piano. We did more mandolin, then he wanted to see a video of a sea star. We found a show called Blue World on YouTube and watched a segment on sea stars. It was really good, so we watched a second one on sponges.
We left at 11:55. As we walked to the station, I caught a whiff of something that reminded me of those smelly markers – the licorice one, I think. On the subway he was singing a random letters song, then reciting random really big numbers. He got quiet, and seemed a bit sleepy.
We headed to 봉황공원, a little park west of the station. He played on the swings, and noted that we were the only people there. Then a daycare group showed up for a little bit. He got off, and stood on the railing of the fence around the swings. We sat and ate, then did letter math with fingers and feet – walking out the numbers and symbols on the ground.
In the big play structure August found a red jump rope. We played with that a bit, and he was figuring out how to flip it back and forth over his head. We talked about visiting the U.S. this summer, and I said we’d first stay with Thatcher and family. He asked “What’s the dog’s name?” When I then said we would visit my parents and Paul, I started to include the cats’ names, but he chimed in with “Iris” before I could say that one. He then asked “Why they getting comfortable?” Referring to my mom saying that the cats were getting more comfortable.
He was back on the swings for awhile, then went and played in the play structure. He climbed up and down through it, counting the hexagonal platforms as he climbed on them. After awhile he wanted me to follow him. He was up close to 30 and up at the top when he heard something, and tried to quickly climb down and across one to get to the other slide. He slipped and fell down one, then slowly tumbled down a second one. He was okay. We talked about it, and continued playing. He wanted to know big numbers, like “quintillion” and was reciting random big numbers again. Back up to the top, where he at first wanted me to go down the slide first. But he was in the way, and I said “Why don’t you just go first.” So he did. It was a fast straight one, and he stuck the landing on his feet. Impressive, but then when I went down I realized it basically makes you run off the end.
There was a star shape on the ground, and he taught me how to trace that, then I got us going.
Took some time to find a bathroom – down and back up three different subway entrances only to find that all the bathrooms are on the paid side of the turnstiles (in other stations it is the opposite). But then we found a bathroom in the building with a Starbucks. We walked through Starbucks to find it, and August had the idea of getting a drink. At first he was upset when I said after his nap, but then he adopted that as his plan.
We got walking, and it seemed like he fell right asleep. But then he kept opening his eyes, even though he had his head leaning back. It was windy, and that seemed to bother him. Finally fell asleep, and he slept from 2:35 to 3:40 or so in a place called Cafe Dorothy. One of the few second story coffee shops we’ve been to.
Got him in the backpack and we headed to Costco. Along the way there is a new bread store so we got samples of a green tea bread. At Costco we went to get cheese, and he noticed that the Costco sliced cheese is in pink and blue packaging. He asked if they were for boys and girls. He had noticed the branding on bathrooms, and we’ve discussed it. Not very busy today, so got our cheese (a couple extras, as I want to make just one more trip before we leave in June) and grabbed a few samples: some blueberry bar, an onion chip, and a couple other things.
Paid, then went to get a slice of pizza for Carly and a chicken bake for us. Ordered, then went to the pickup window. August then read my mind. As I was waiting, I was thinking I’d say ‘takeout’ in Korean – ‘pojang’. But I had ‘pojak’ stuck in my head, for some reason. Swear I didn’t say it out loud, and I remembered and said ‘pojang’. But then August asked what I said, and I said ‘pojang’, and he said “You almost said pojak.” As we walked towards the exit, I asked how he knew, and he said “Pojak means ‘pick up’” I tried looking it up. I’m thinking maybe he learned it from his Teuni Teuni teacher (like when they were picking up the flies this week), or maybe he just made it up and got lucky.
We walked out of Costco at 4:30, but then spent ten to fifteen minutes by the family statue as he ate over half of the chicken bake. It was slightly windy, and he was concerned about things blowing away. We were joking about what was in the chicken bake. Earlier it was the sandwich we were joking about. One bite would be worms, the next mayonnaise, the next kimchi. Evertually I asked if he was full. He replied “No. I have to do one last bite…full now.”
Back in Sangbong station he tried to carry the bag, but it was too heavy (and the straps too long) for him. He walked down all the stairs on his own, and he found it funny when I intentionally messed up the “We like to make mistake” song.
On the train home he stood for a stop, then got a seat. He sat next to a guy who taught him how to do a fistbump, and pretended to be hurt and cry when August lightly kicked him. August did a good job saying goodbye to him as we left.
Singing Ants Go Walking on way home “202…307…502…” I told him I was getting tired of thinking of things for the ant to say, so he took over “I’m going to paint…I’m going up the stairs…I’m going in the trachea.”
He told Carly all about the donuts as soon as we got in the door. He got his nursing mittens on and said “Set for nursing!” On the toilet he was playing the Althauser game, so when he got his last name wrong I was turning the light off on him. He did Endless 123 on the iPad, then wanted to watch a video of a raccoon. So we watched raccoons on YouTube, with me trying to convince Carly that a raccoon would be a good pet. She wanted to see sloths, so we watched sloth videos. August was getting silly and climbing on the couch, and fell off the end once, but was okay.
He then helped me make banana bread. He licked the spatula at the end, then when we went in to read books he wanted to read “Monster Party…beca
use I licked.” Licking the spatula had reminded him of when the monsters get cupcakes all over their faces.
So we read Monster Party, then Carly gave him a bath. She then went to bed, but he wasn’t ready, so we went out to the reading area and talked about reading books, but ended up just talking instead, mainly about going to space which he wants to do.
He went in to bed at 9:50, but came back out just after 10, saying “I’m going to ask dada for a Puffin Rock story.” We didn’t do Puffin Rock, but ended up reading Kiss Goodnight, and the Boynton and Eric Carle ABC books. He then wrote timpani and tom tom on the smart board thing. And we discussed why tea is spelled tea and not T, and why Iguana is the same in different languages “Tell me the story again,” he would say.
He went back to bed at 10:25 and told himself “Now be nice to mama,” which is something I usually tell him. Took him quite awhile to fall asleep though, as Carly thinks it was around 11.
Photos:
Park:
Getting donuts:
Silly time:
Watching the orchestra:
