Sometime after he went to sleep last night he sat up and was sleeping sitting up. And Carly heard him say “Tuba” later in the night while having a bad dream.
He was up at 7:06. Kind of tough to wake up, and we went to the reading area to make a nest. He woke up and was saying and singing silly things, like “I was scared so I hugged my fathers blood…” We read Dr. Seuss: the entire birthday book for the first time, The Zax, The Strange Shirt Spot. He was hungry, so we went out for some breakfast. He was pretending to play instruments: “I’m playing the lap organ…I’m playing the Chinese fiddle.” Cereal and fruit for breakfast, then we read part of Skippyjon Jones. We played piano and he said “You sing and I’ll play piano.” So we dueted together. He went to the bathroom, then I dressed him in a short sleeve shirt as it was going to get to 60 today. And I thought he’d be getting two shots today and I thought they might want his arm. Didn’t tell him that one though.
He looked at the toy box lid and we counted the letters on it (there’s only one Q, but 4 As, etc.). He said “I want to write really big Qs. Because I really like Qs.” “I want more Qs. I really like Qs!” “I want blank space to write Hebrew and ‘umbrella’.” So we went in and he wrote letter pairs. He then wrote ‘T_a=L’ then wanted me to guess what goes in the blank. I suggested + and – and *. He said “No, T+a=V’ etc. The correct answer for the blank was ‘a’. Of course. He then wrote another letter problem and said “Do that letter problem with your fingers.” We then moved on to Hebrew, which we haven’t done much recently. Should really do more, as evidenced by his excitement. Then he wrote the sentence ‘I saw an elephant.’ Except ‘elephant’ was in Hebrew: ‘I saw an פיל’.
Then to the piano and electric keyboard, where I started to teach him “The Wheels on the Bus”. After loving that song for so long he decided he didn’t like it anymore a couple months ago, so we haven’t been singing or playing it recently. Still hungry, so we had strawberries and bananas. We exercised, and he did all the exercises today alongside me. I took a shower, and then we did math in Dragonbox Numbers.
We had a lot of discussion on where to go today. I suggested Dobongson, which he agreed to, but then asked “Is there swings there…Is that where the boy threw sand on you?” He decided he wanted to go back to where the boy threw sand on him on Monday. Then he decided he wanted to ride his bike instead of take a train, so that became our plan.
Before going down I had performed a medical exam on him, but he was still a bit upset when we got off the elevator on 2. We walked past where they are turning the old PC place into a few restaurants to find that one had opened: another kimbap place. We like our kimbap, but we now have 5 in the building. There was one, maybe 2, when we moved in. One pizza place in the building is all we ask.
Anyway, at the doctor’s office we (mainly August) got the good news: there aren’t any more immunizations until he is 4 years old. I hadn’t looked at the YEAR for when they said to come back. Seems odd it is so long, but okay.
We headed out, riding the bike up past Madeul and across the river. A lot of singing “Hole in the bottom of the sea” and doing math. Later, he would say he wants to learn “It’s Okay” (a punk song by Dead Moon that I’ve always sung for him, and he sometimes sings) on piano, and then added Hole at the Bottom of the Sea (except he wants to learn the numbers version we sing instead), and Buffalo Gals (which is in the Musical Instruments book, and that he knows from the songbook he sings from) to the list of songs to learn on piano.
We got to 모랫어린이공원 but there was no boy to throw sand on him today. He spotted a word on the side of a toy and said “Let’s figure out that word. I’m excited about it.” He sounded out ‘Honey’ but needed me to repeat it back to him before it clicked. We rode over the little hills in the bike, then went to the swings. After insisting this was where he wanted to go today he actually only was on the swings for five minutes or so. He then wanted to eat, so we went and sat on a bench and ate our sandwich. Then he walked off and sat on his bike. And just sat there. I went and sat by him, and we just sat there and chatted for another 15 minutes or so. He said he was sleepy.
Eventually he agreed to me pushing him around and doing some exploring, but he needed the bathroom first. We went and used it. No chainsaw in the park today. Then we rode north and found another park, 효자어린이공원. Here he went on the swings. Another kid came and used the other swing, then another kid wandered by. He sort of looked like he might want a swing, and August said “Sorry but I’m using it.” August got off after awhile, then we played on the skinny toys and played on the play structure. He drummed on the window in the play structure.
Also, while on the swing on his stomach he wanted to do Yankee Doodle as a poem again. He was then asking about a lot of the words: “mind the music”, “and the step”… I explained, and demonstrated the waltz, but he wanted more dance steps and that’s all I remembered.
And while sitting on the swing hew as looking around looking at things and saying “That looks like a bone, that looks like a knuckle, that looks like a harp, that looks like a semicircle, that looks like an arrow…”
We left at 2, walked north a bit more, and crossed the street. He was doing finger math. Of a sort: “What is triangle minus diamond…nothing.” He spotted phone booths and we got out and looked at the buttons. Found a third park, but he didn’t want to get off and play.
We walked back south, towards home. School was out and there were kids everywhere. August kept saying “Excuse me” to all the kids as we walked by. And at some point he said “holy moly”.
We walked back across the river, then down the stream. Still plenty of time, and I thought about the power plant and that we haven’t been back to look at the exhibits. So we went to the Nowon-gu Resources Recovery Center. We looked around a bit, but many of the lights were off. He pulled on a handle that lifts garbage to weigh it, then looked at the plastic food and fruit in the kitchen area. We saw a model of the power plant and he liked pushing the buttons to light up parts of it. We went into a dark area, and found a couple buttons that work and light up/start these little diorama things. We walked through the tunnel over towards the power plant and found another model of it, but then you get to the point where you have to be on a tour.
Turned around and went back and went to the bathroom. He liked the green tile in the bathroom. Afterwards, he was wiping his face on my leg and when I asked why he said “I’m rubbing my face on the leg because I’m sleepy.”
There was a sign saying the environmental education room was up on the third floor, so we went up. On the second floor we saw some pieces of art that we liked, and walked around the floor looking at them all. Then up to the third floor. Not much up there, as the room was closed. And the doors to the patio on the roof were locked. On the way up though (after discussing whether one of the pieces of art had a storm in it) he asked “What does a chick do if it’s in a nest and there’s a storm?” Looking down at the floors below us, August said “I see the dark place.” A guy seemed to be watching us really closely and wanting to talk to us (tell us to leave?) on the way down, but I used my foreigner status to kind of ignore him and take our time on the way out.
Outside we stopped at a bench by the stream and had a snack and we shared an orange. We then went to Juicy Juice at Brownstone. He chose cherry and I got the crimson one (a mix of apple, grapefruit, and something, I think). Pollution was high, so the plan had been to head home, but the weather was so ni
ce that we sat outside Juicy Juice for awhile. And August looked at their signs and planned our next order at Juicy Juice.
We got home and were playing piano and somehow landed on the idea of listening to a version of Yankee Doodle on Apple Music. Turns out there is a lot of them. August was listening to them and pretending to play along on various instruments when Carly got home. He was so into this that it took more than an hour before he thought about nursing. Some of our exchanges:
Me: “How many versions of Yankee Doodle are you going to listen to?” Him: “A lot”
Him: “I have 66 buttons on my french horn to play Yankee Doodle.”
Him: “I’m playing a zucchini.”
Him: “I’m playing an instrument with holes in it.” Carly: “What is it?” Him: “You know.”
Eventually he remembered, and nursed. Had dinner, played more piano, and looked at the Musical Instruments book. Carly gave him a bath and I did dishes (our new routine), and he was asleep just after 7.
Photos:
Hebrew:
Honey:
Sitting on the bike:
Power plant:
Plastic fruit:
Juicy Juice:
