Author: Ryan/Dada

He was up just before 6:20. Did fine when Carly left, although I had to grab him at the door. He requested Marble Machine, which he hasn’t watched for a long time, and watched that a few times. We were talking about what to do, and he requested the science center. I asked if he wanted the little one near us, or the big one, and he chose the big one. So I jumped in the shower as he watched it again. When I got out I could hear that he’d moved on to another video by the same guy, and he came it to inform me that he had finished the vide. We got ready to go, but he wanted me to play with Clockwork Smurf, so I had Clockwork help make the sandwich. He found the bag of Duplos that Carly had used at work and brought home. He had a lot of questions about that, and put a couple away where they belong before getting distracted.

He’d had Cheerios and banana for breakfast, and I was eating the other half of the banana and offered him a bite. He sort of grunted and turned away. He thought his own reaction was funny, apparently, as he then said “Give me a bite of banana.” When I offered again he grunted and turned away again. In the bedroom, he looked at the Josh Ritter poster and said “I don’t like that guy.” I explained who it was, and sang a couple of the songs that August knows from Josh Ritter. August asked if the songs were “made up”. I explained that all songs are written by someone, etc. He said “Zinnie’s a musician?”

We left at 8:50. As we walked through the park, he was blocking the sun with his hand, and we talked about how trees provide shade. On the way down we read four books:  Loch Mess Monster, Tallulah’s Solo, Little Red Hen, and Tallulah’s Tap Shoes. We transferred, and during the walk a guy started talking to us, in English. He walked with us half the way, waited for the train with us, and rode the train with us, talking and asking questions, practicing his English. August said “I don’t really like that guy.” But he handled it okay, and did tell him he was 3 when the guy asked how old he is.

We got to the science center at 10:10. We went and played in the playground, using the buckets and backhoe things to scoop sand, then sat and ate our sandwich. He really liked the s-c-i-e-n-c-e song that kept playing on the speakers. Think it is like the museum’s theme song, like Children’s Grand Park’s. Maybe I’ll be able to find it. Played in a drinking fountain, then went and got a ticket and went in.

Robots were dancing when we went in, but he only watched for a bit. He would stop and watch them a few times through the day, but not for long. So I was surprised when he told Carly his favorite part was “robots dancing”.

We first went to the new wing, to the right on the first floor. It was closed last time we were there. It is about the future, science fiction, and jobs of the future. After the really cool opening (weird light halls, with one with mirrors that makes it look like you’re surrounded by stars), we wandered through there, looking at a lot of stuff. His favorites were looking in the 3D goggles that showed you an image from the back of a model train that was going around a track, and a video on lab safety. We talked a bout about some of the jobs listed in ‘Job world’, then about some pieces of art at the end of it. Oh, and we watched a robot perform surgery.

He looked at the see though escalators (working here) and wanted to go upstairs. In the center there is a temporary exhibit on sight and how we see things. He particularly liked the rotating rotoreliefs, and really liked the idea that it looked like you were going into a vacuum cleaner. Then there was the LED Magic Board game. A big wall screen with a controller that sensed your hands and you could interact with it to play games. Played that for several minutes with other kids. Then  into the ‘Advanced science’ hall (upstairs to the left). Through the area on power production. First wind, then he really liked the demonstration on tidal power production. I explained it a couple times, but don’t know how much he got as he had his fingers in his ears. Then the solar power demonstration. Quieter, and he was really interested (we’ve seen solar panels a lot, so have discussed them before). He seemed to be understanding it, and kept asking “Its making power?”

Past that is the area about space (sadly lacking in the new one close to us). August saw a group of kids in yellow shirts looking at a video about the robots on Mars (which he recognized from the Solar System app) and went and got right in with the group. He then followed the group, walking in line, as they made their way to the airplane area, through the model of a passenger plane. We parted ways, and we looked at more stuff about planes: he liked the wind tunnel (more plugged ears), airplane controls, and hang glider (it is an actual demonstration where you lie down and swing around, looking at a big screen of you flying. He ALMOST got on, then heard the buzzing noises it makes when you are too steep, etc. and that scared him off).

We were talking about going down to the play area, but he kept getting distracted, saying multiple times: “I want to go to the play area…Wait, what that is?” He mainly got held up by the fiber optic cable making machine (constantly making these fine fibers that go on and on) and a square light area that makes it look like you’re standing over a bottomless hole. Back out in the center of the second floor he saw the candy store and we went over and looked at candy for a bit, then headed down to the play area at 12:25.

Kind of puttered around there for 50 minutes: the broken water stuff, the musical keyboard you step on, the weights on levers, then we spent the last 20 or so playing with the foam blocks. I was really hungry, and just needed a break, but when he got distracted by the magnets thing I did pause long enough to show him the opposites attract thing.

We went out to CU at 1:15. Too late, as it had been cleaned out by all the school groups. I got a coffee drink and he got an apple juice. We went and sat outside and ate more of the food we had brought.

We went back inside and straight up to the LED Magic Board at 1:35. He went to watching robots from the balcony with other kids. He then ran back to the ‘advance science wing’, watching the ‘fiber spinning’ for a bit more. Then back to the science area, where we went in the Space Shuttle exhibit, which we had skipped before. He played with the concentration test (moving a metal ring over a shape). They need to update their displays, as they all talk about the Space Shuttle as if it were still in operation. We walked through the rest of the raised pathway part, and saw all the different kids of engines and discussed those: rocket, jet, propeller.

Then back to the vision exhibit – feeing things in boxes part, back to the rotoreliefs, a lot of looking at the plastic fruit randomly in a bowl (I’m sure there was a point). We watched some kids in a special area (there was a line, probably age limit, etc.) trying out VR goggles. We watched them walk around funny. August got upset when he kept scooting under the divider and I pulled him out. Took him out of there, but then he wanted to look at the candy more and was opening the bins. More frustration. But we were able to calm down and he went back and looked at the candy a bit.

Then through the last hallway we’d never been in (I don’t think, unless maybe briefly the first time), the one on the history of Korean science. I expected it to be kind of dull, but was actually pretty impressive. There’s a video game thing where you can use a joystick to walk around inside a turtle ship, then one where you can row a boat.

We were running out of time, and I said we had about 30 minutes left. He was having tons of fun and didn’t want to leave. He said “I want infinity minutes!”

We headed back downstairs. As we got to the escalators, we saw some high school girls playing around at the
top of the escalators (walking back up, etc.). Then saw them get met by science center staff at the bottom and walked over someplace where they were presumably getting in trouble.

Got to the human body area in the ‘Basic science’ hall at 2:40. We started at the end, at the baby development display. We listened to each other at the auditory illusion thing (which supposedly slightly delays what you are hearing, so it doesn’t match the other person’s lips, but it didn’t seem odd to me – we still had fun though).

But then the best thing were the sound tubes. They are different lengths, and are supposed to show you how sound travels slower than light, as when you listen through the tube that is 100 meters long it is delayed from the 1 meter long tube. August did indeed like listening to them, but then he started using them as vacuum cleaners. That lasted for several minutes until he needed to use the bathroom, just after 3. Did that and afterwards he wanted to go back and play with the hoses. Did that a bit longer, then as we walked out we were startled by this: https://youtu.be/FSmRSpxCWAM Didn’t actually get a good look at it, as it was to our right. We stood around a few more minutes, hoping they would fire it again. The suspense was too much for August though so we got going.

A couple weeks ago I’d mentioned that sunglasses only protect your eyes. Seemingly a pretty simple thing, but maybe not, since it makes everything look shady. Anyway, so he’s brought this up and asked about it several times, and I explain how it doesn’t shade your neck, nose, etc. Today as we left the science center he was then pulling up his collar to protect his neck and mouth.

On the way home we read Tap Shoes, Loch Mess Monster, and Berenstain Bears Go to School. We had to deal with a lot of people trying to talk to and touch August though, and it was too much for a worn out boy. Actually, the final straw was my fault: He was sitting on my lap and all 5 of the other seats cleared out at once. I thought there was no way they would all fill back up, and I let him sit next to me. But then a big group of older people got on right away and I tried to get him back on my lap.

So we got off at one station and waited for the next train. A woman tried to shove lollipops in his face as I was getting him calmed back down. We got on the next train, but just barely. He had a seat, and the guy next to him reached over and started touching his scraped knee. August made what were some clearly international sounds of distress at that and jumped off the seat. I got him back on the seat, reluctantly, and the guy tried doing it again. I made it clear he needed to back off. August wasn’t going to handle much more.

Got off at Changdong and immediately caught the 1144 bus at 4:45. The newest bus we’ve ever been on, with that new bus smell. He liked watching the driver. Got to the Brownstone stop right at 5, so we crossed and walked south by the pink building. August asked why there was a faucet on the side of the building. One of us said probably for cleaning, then before I could suggest that it was also for watering plants he said it: “Or maybe watering plants…maybe they attach a hose to (go to) the plants.”

We met Carly on the corner right away. I saw a woman with a cool shirt: it showed a cat with a horn, and said ‘Kittycorn’. Carly had brought home a poster from work, in a poster tube, with the end taped shut. She mentioned how she’d been careful to make it so the poster wouldn’t stick and rip, and he said “Well if it rips I’ll suck the rip up.”

At home he told Carly his favorite part was the dancing robots, which surprised me as he hadn’t watched them a whole lot. While nursing he was moving around like he was a year old. Which Carly mentioned, which then turned it into a game. He ate tortilla from my burrito, then Carly made him a quesadilla with broccoli and cheese. He was a little perturbed when the sides would kind of slide apart: “Don’t move!” “Were you ordering the quesadilla not to move?” “Yeah.”

I gave him a bath. We watched Beethoven’s Fourth. Carly cleaned the kitchen. We then read all of Smurfs #14 Baby Smurf. In bed I think I said something about him being Grouchy Smurf, then Baby Smurf. He said “I’m Big Kid Smurf.” He was asleep about 7:30.

He was up just before me, at 6:10. After nursing they read All in One Piece and Kipper’s A to Z. August and I were catching up on the 1Second videos while she left. Then had Cheerios and bananas for breakfast. We played with the Smurfs, then I suggested we read some Smurf comics. He wanted one about Farmer Smurf, but I found one about Baby Smurf and we read that instead. We finished that first story, then he started talking about machines: “I’m going to build a machine with coffee.” “I builded a mixing machine. I put a lot of scoops on it.” There was more talk of machines – made lollipops, etc. I had the idea of getting out the small fan and that kept him occupied for awhile. Did some exercise, then we read the rest of that volume (14) of Smurf stories. We had crackers, crab, and cream cheese for snack. I showered, and he just played around with things on his own. He was then talking Smurf: “Smurf all the crackers…” Sound outside: “Smurf that sound.”

I made a peanut butter and honey sandwich for later, and he wanted some now, so he hate some peanut butter and honey on spoon. We Skyped with gramma and grampa. Had fun with that, but we were getting a lot of feedback. At the end he was frustrated when an emoji he sent didn’t show up big like the used to do. He wanted to cover it up with a sticker on the iPad.

We were listening to Cream and he liked a song. He helped pull out the garbage bag so we could take it down, and we left at 11:40. As we walked, he took me apart, like Brainy does to Clockwork Smurf: “Sorry, I just want to see the bones…of the robot.”

We stopped and got some kimbap (again at his request, but then he didn’t eat any of it). We discussed how he has gone three nights in a row with a dry diaper and that he could try underwear soon. He said “Umm, no. I’m still learning.” We ate a quick lunch as was really hungry, but he just wanted to get in to the children’s museum to play. We were to the blue blocks at 12:40. Oddly, someone had left a plastic tiger toy on top of a very symmetrical fort that had been built out of the blocks. We started playing. He tripped and fell once and said “I’m okay.” A boy came and August was a little protective of the blocks he was playing with. The woman he has played with before came over and he was very happy about that, and they played until he needed to use the bathroom. As usual, on our way out though he wanted to play with all the things. Did some good waving to her as we left.

Went to the second floor for the bathroom, then went into the space area. He spent a long time on a ball game thing, where 4 people work together using ropes to maneuver a plastic circle to catch a ball, then to put it in in a hole. At first it was just a tug of war with a bunch of other kids. But then they left, and August really liked turning the wheel to make the next ball come out, and we worked together to catch the balls and put them in the holes. Other kids then came, and they played it properly, with August releasing the balls, and them catching them and putting them in the holes.

He hopped on the skateboard-ish spaceship game, then got in line with a group and walked up the ramp with them. But when they headed for the construction area August kept going and went to the water area, getting there about 2. A lot more playing with the hand dryers, and working on the hand over hand thing with the bucket. He then ran over to the fashion show area, still in his apron, and I took a photo before taking the apron off him. We played with the swirly thing, watching the bubbles form then disperse, then he ran back to the clothes area for the fashion show. He chose, on his own, the girl hanbok to wear. He did the catwalk with that and I took photos, then he walked in it over to the microphone area, then the swirly thing. Wore it for a few minutes before deciding to take it off.

We left at 2:30 and went back down to the blue blocks. There was no one there, but he said “I don’t want other people here…No, I can’t share.” Played a bit, then needed the bathroom. We went up to the bathroom again, then from the balcony we saw the woman (or she saw us first, rather) from the basement now working the front door and waved at each other. We went to the cafeteria for a snack at 2:50. I had brought the custard cake snack from the bag of treats from Jenny and he ate it. I was just letting him eat all of it, but he offered me a bite: “Dada, have it!…You like it? I like it.”

Back over on the third floor he played with the wind stuff: the scarfs up the pipe (which a worker had all tied together in a row) and the pipe where you can set the pipe on top of it and it will hover. I was pushing the button on this one, and he was both fascinated by it and terrified. Not sure if it was just the noise, or he was worried the ball was going to fall.

We then went downstairs and to the hand puppets 3:15. He started with the baby one again. He said “The baby’s name is Squeap.” He wanted a story from the mama puppet about a baby getting eaten by a dragon, so I made one about a boy named Thorton who finds a golden egg. A dragon, seeing the gold, tries to steal the egg, but accidentally swallows the boy as well. Didn’t really get farther than that. August sang a “I’m a floppy baby” song. Then, he started to follow and play with other kids and adults: first with the tree thing, then in the drum room, then at the zoetrope. However, at the zoetrope he was putting the used papers in the zoetropes and spinning them, but he didn’t want a little boy to take a paper out of the zoetrope.

From there it was to the colorful shadows, birthday cake lights, light rods, and light blocks. With the light rods and light mixing things though there were a couple of twin boys. They, probably used to battling each other for toys, etc. kept pushing and hitting August. The mom, right there, on her phone, wasn’t to bothered by one of them swinging a heavy light rod at August’s head, although she redirected the boys a couple times. But at the end there was a little girl. They first played together with the light rods, then he followed her in to the shadow animals and played together there. He twice had the snail slime her head, and she had the squirrel or giraffe kiss him. Then she was copying him as he put them against the wall or kind of banged them on the table.

We left a little after 4. Went to the bathroom by the entrance to the park, then ate apple on the train. As we walked home he saw a picture of food and said he wanted to eat octopus. He knows I don’t like it though: “I want to eat octopus. I’ll eat octopus but not dada.”

We met Carly at the corner, and were home by 5:10. She read us a couple of scenarios for their project at school. Of the first one he said “I like it.” The second wasn’t as good and he wanted her to go back to the first one. Carly made him some broccoli nachos for dinner, then she ran to the bank to transfer some money. He then ate rice and beans and broccoli on chips. We read the first two stories in volume 14 of The Smurfs (Baby Smurf and A Little Party). Carly gave him a short bath, like the shortest bath ever considering she also washed his hair, as they watched part of one of the outside orchestra piece video. They then were doing the pillow surfing on the bed, and August ran out wanting the surfing song, so I found “Wipe Out” on the iPad and played it. He was plugging his ears though, and it wasn’t clear if he didn’t like the song, or was just being silly. He ended with some random craziness on the bed: “I want the pillows… to do the craziness!” He was asleep a bit after 7:30.

All day he was singing snippets of a “I don’t know how to poop and pee…” song.

Photos: 

Backwards on the video game: 

In line: 

Fashion show: 

Hand puppets: 

Little girl: 

Shadows:

I heard the door open at 6:58. The next thing I heard was the toilet lid being opened. He had gotten up and gone straight to the bathroom. We played with the Smurfs a bit, then read Little Red Riding Hood (which we got a couple nights ago when he wanted to read Little Red Riding Hood – an odd request, as he doesn’t really know the story), Tallulah’s Tap Shoes, and A Violin for Elva. He ate the last of the banana bread for breakfast, then shared some Cheerios with me. He heard Rossini’s William Tell Overture on the iPad and wanted to add it to his playlist. We then played with the Smurfs for a long time, having Papa Smurf make spells, them visit the aquarium,  go on picnics, and made up stories about Azrael. He had a vacuum cleaner save them at one point: “The name of the vacuum cleaner is robot vacuum cleaner. The robot vacuum cleaner saves them.” He made shapes out of my vitamins – he remembered doing that from quite some time ago. 

He wanted to go outside, and requested water faucets. I suggested the ones up by Madeul Stadium and he liked that idea, so we headed out for a morning trip at 8:50. As we left, he said “We don’t have to take a bus or train?…A horse will ride us here.”

We got to the faucets, and he played for a little while, but not long. We left at 9:25. I drove him past the playground but he wasn’t interested. At the Spiderweb playground he hopped off and ran to the store window, and we spent a few minutes buying and selling things and making change. Then back on the bike and we went farther. He saw exercise equipment near the corner of the apartment complex and wanted to play there. Did some spinning things, then did the thing where your feet swing on his own. And he did some hanging from the bar on that one. Then he wanted to leave: “I want to get away from garbage.” I had also just detected a garbage smell, but wasn’t sure where it was from.

On the way home, by Cafe Tolerance, we spotted a huge line of ants. We investigated that for a few minutes and talked about how ants live. As we got back to the building, he got upset by the plans: he didn’t want to go to Tous Les Jour for bread, and he didn’t want to go home so I could take a shower. He wanted to go to Cafe Tolerance, and he wanted to go now. Took awhile to get going, but we made it to Tous les Jour. But there he wanted to look at cakes, and keep looking at cakes, then jelly beans, etc.

Since he kept talking about candy and treats I thought he might be hungry, although he wasn’t saying so. We got home at 10:30 and watched a video of the William Tell Overture. And then I got him some apple and he ate three pieces. I left him to watch the overture again and took a shower, and as I was finishing I heard him yelling for another piece of apple. He was quite upset I wasn’t getting him an apple right away (being dripping wet and all) but then he heard the start of the end of the overture (the galloping part) and ran out and watched that. I got him the last apple slice, then we watched the first two movements of Beethoven’s Ninth.

We were going to leave to go to Cafe Tolerance, but he decided he wanted one more Smurf story, so we did that. Then I put the stroller away in the closet and he saw the gas pipes and asked about them. So we ended up spending a lot of time talking about how the gas pipes and stove and exhaust and everything work. We covered it several times, and I kept turning on the burners for him.

Finally, we left by 12:10. We got to Cafe Tolerance. He got an apple juice and I got the cinnamon toffee latte. The woman (the one who remembers August each time) made sure it was okay with me that it didn’t have coffee. I then made the mistake of mentioning to August that he could try my drink. He really liked it, and ended up drinking about half of it. He kept saying “I want to share” but then when he started drinking his apple juice it was gone before I could get a sip. I tried to get out the iPads, but he didn’t really want to play or anything so, so we ended up leaving just past 12:50.

We headed to Home Plus to do our shopping. Going down the walkways he spotted a puppy in the window of the pet shop and wanted to stop and look. First time he has done that. We then did our shopping. He insisted on peddling and steering himself around the grocery store. I was keeping a hand on the bike at first, but he got quite good at it. Up by the checkout lines he found a display of bubble wands and little plastic hand crank fans. He loved the fans, and kept playing and playing with them. At one point he ran away from me and over by the wine section because he was afraid I was going to take one away from him. He then argued “Maybe we should buy it for mama.” They were only 2 dollars, so I let him get one and he chose the blue one.

We then went over to the park and sat on a bench in the shade by the (still off) floor fountain. It was now 2. He played with the fan, blowing air on my hair, the bushes, etc. A guy came over and gave us a piece of candy and brochure from the Bible university just up north. He was happy to hear we had gone to the flea market on Saturday.

At 2:20 August had the idea of going to the art museum. We went in and looked at the stage area that was being set up (alas for a concert at 7), then looked at the art, first on the first floor, then up on the second. Came back down and played in the play area. He ran right over to the one other kid in the play area and started playing with her. We played with balls a bit, then there was a second girl that was more into playing with him, and was actually chasing him around. When she left he was pretty much done. We went out, and he got a paper cup and drank from the water machine on his own until he spilled some on his shirt. We were then all startled by a very loud couple of seconds of music that was accidentally played from the speakers. August got upset a bit, and another girl really started crying.

We headed home a bit before 3. Played more Smurfs, and he mentioned Clockwork Smurf again. I had the idea of looking first at a picture, then finding a video of Clockwork. We watched part of the episode together, then he watched parts of the episode a few times on his own. He really found the beginning hilarious, and then wouldn’t really watch the parts where the story changes to the trapped prince and the scary woman trying to be queen.

We talked about heading to the four swing playground and meeting mama there. But first I realized I should cut the veggies for nachos later. Then, I couldn’t find a lid. By that point August got distracted and was doing other things, and wanted “one minute” of water. So by the time we went down we just had time to go meet her by the pink building.

We came home and I made nachos. I gave August an olive with beans on it and called it a beanive. He said “I like beanives.” For some reason Carly did a Marshy impression (I think August had said he was Marshy). August responded with “Oh, mama.” We ate, and he did a pretty good job of eating nachos. He tried to avoid the green onions, but on one bite had one. I suggested he just cover it up with yogurt, so he did and ate it.

Carly took him to the bathroom at one point and washed his hands. He wants us to get a hand dryer now: “I want a hand dryer. Hand dryer please!” We played around more with being Clockwork (he really likes pretending to break the parts inside Clockwork and then going out of control, like what happens in the episode), then Carly gave him a bath while I did dishes.

After his bath I was putting some stuff away and banged on his drum a bit. He said “Nice music.” He then made a Tallulah’s Tap Shoes reference, changing a line from referring to tap not being dance: “It’s not music, just making noise.” He was asleep about 7:20.

Photos. Playing store: 

Exercise: 

Puppy: 

Fan on my hair: 

Looking at art: 

Getting a drink: 

He was up, allergic I think, a little before 5. Carly made him eggs. He found the wooden car puzzle in the pile of stuff to be shipped to Israel and wantedthe backhoe one. He was upset when we found out Carly had sent it to Colin. First he decided he wanted to send it to Vivian instead, but when he calmed down he decided he wanted to send the car one to them as well. He played in the sink, but tried to follow Carly out the door when she left. Thought he would get upset when I stopped him, but he was fine. He simply asked “Mama’s at work now?” I explained that she was still in the hall, but on her way to work.

August then wanted to get the Smurfs out, and we played with them for a long time: he wanted to have them choose to have a picnic in the water, and of course everything sunk or floated away. They played hide and seek. And they went to the aquarium but Hefty broke aquariums with the rock he was carrying. We looked up a list of all the Smurfs to see what other Smurfs there are. And he sucked up all their rocks, flowers, food with a vacuum cleaner. We made soup for them, and he ended up singing a “tomato soup” song.

Then our doorbell rang. It was a woman asking us to move the bike from the hall. A good warning that they were going to clean the halls. Before we ended up with a lake out there, I put a Pink Panther cartoon on his iPad and jumped in the shower. We got ready to go as fast as possible, and left at 8:40.

We walked over to the mama statue and gave it a pat. He knew I had packed a grape slurpy thing (the last one in the cupboard) and wanted to eat it, so we sat on a bench across the path from the statue and ate that. He was watching the women walking laps, and said “I want to wear masks.”

We then got in the backpack and headed to the station. On the train a woman gave him a snack in a box before I could intervene. He wanted to eat it in the cafeteria at the children’s museum. He mainly played with the ear on Human Body. As we got off he said “I’m comfortable with that woman.”

At Children’s Grand Park station he continued to spot all the different models of CCTV cameras through the station – something he’s been into the last couple of days. They are different sizes and shapes, so I’ve talked about how some are older than others, so he’ll point and say “That’s an older one?” or “That’s a newer one?” One of the escalators was broken again. As we went in the park he said “I like that group. I like all those people.” We stopped in the pond area and looked for turtles and I spotted one. Then some workers climbed in and started to cut some of the grass in the pond and we watched them a bit.

We sat in the pagoda by the pond and tried the snack. It was a jello-like snack bar. He first said “Yeah, it’s pretty good.” But then only ate a couple bites of it.

It was before 10, so he was a bit impatient, waiting for the museum to open. He saw some people go in the doors and he wanted to wait in the lobby, but I wanted to wait at the pagoda. As soon as it was 10 we went in the children’s museum. We went downstairs to play with the blue blocks. But first he jump on the circle things, played with the magnets, etc. It was kind of funny, as there was a worker who was treating us like it was our first time there, telling us how everything worked. The best was when he tried to explain, and then pointed to the sign explaining, the random magnets – which are literally supposed to be a free play/creativity activity. August then wanted to go play with the blue blocks. They didn’t have the sound and video working and were fiddling with the DVD player and the guy told us that. I was fine and we started to play, but then he said we couldn’t play there as they were trying to fix it. A little odd. We went and did the robot, the Braille, the airport scanner, music box, etc. August still wouldn’t ride in a wheelchair.

The guy then let us play in the blue blocks. We played there awhile. I made a walking path for August, but he only did it once. August heard the hint of another kid coming down and was being possessive: “I don’t want other kids in here. It’s only for Zinnie…Only for Zinnie, but not other kids.”

At 10:40 we headed up to the bathroom. He chose to use a urinal. From there he wandered to the space area. Jumped on the tilting ship hinges with some other kids, did the running game, considered going up in the big play structure, and played in the space ship. In there, August got hit for the first time during the day, by a boy who hit August’s hand when August put his hand on a lever. The other boy wasn’t using it, and I realized as the teacher got the boy away that he was a special needs student. August didn’t seem bothered by it. Oh, and August chose on his own to get his picture taken at the photo zone next to the alien.

Then we went up to the water area. Played there as usual until August discovered the hand dryers. He would get his hands wet, run to the hand dryers to dry them off, then go get them wet again, etc.

For the last 20 minutes or so he went over to the culture play area. He stood in a masquerade figure so I could take his photo, we played around with the TV camera and microphones, and he tried to get in other kids’ photos on the fashion runway, then stood on it and put his hands up so I could take a photo.

We left at noon to go get lunch. I’d mentioned going to a restaurant to get Korean food, and put him in the backpack. I had also asked if he needed to go to the bathroom and he said he thought he was okay. I realized I’d confused him about where we were going as he said “I thought it was at Hagye.” when I started to walk away from the subway, further into the park. That would make sense, as it is around Hagye that we always talk about going out for lunch and getting Korean food.

But instead we were going to the combination burger/Korean food place (Cobaco) over by the animal show building. This was where, with my parents, he had grabbed a straw and where, a few months later, I had had him sitting in a seat on his own. This time, he was eating soup on his own and using chopsticks. A bit has changed. Oh, and on the way over we stopped to admire the weeds overtaking the old aviary.

At one point during lunch he reached up to grab a straw. I told him of grabbing a straw here and how he used to chew on them. So he tried chewing on it, but didn’t seem impressed.

We next went and saw the seals and sea lion. Spent a good amount of time watching and discussing them.

From there we went to the bathroom (where I had changed him when with my parents – one of the first places). He sat up on the changing pad for funsies. He observed of the soap on a stick “That one’s up. I like up things.” (Referring to the ones over in the coffee shop building that are installed sideways and rest down on the counter instead of rotating left and right.)

We took the path up behind the bathrooms. Actually got up the odd bumpy path just fine, but then he fell in kind of a hole on the regular path and scraped his right knee a bit. He walked around, and sort of played with a big stick a bit, but it was all too much. He decided to go home.

Went down in front of the seals and got in the backpack and put the cover up and sunglasses on. It was clear though by the time we approached the coffee shop area that he was about asleep. So I walked around to the back entrance and up and he was asleep. He slept from 1:57 to 2:47. I started trying to wake him up at 2:35, but that wasn’t happening. Once he did wake up, he wasn’t getting out of the backpack. He spent several minutes hiding hands and making funny noises, then jokingly scooting away from me. The first thing he said was something about coffee, I thought, and a minute later he said “I want my coffee.” Funny boy. He also got Smokey out and was playing with him for a couple minutes.

We left at 3. We walked over to the new playground area. A small fence had blown over, and no
one was working, so we walked in a bit and looked around. There’s a cool water play area, with water going down the hill from one wooden tub to another, that looks promising. And a small sand area. Still looks like there is a lot of work to be done.

Then to the Korean walking path area. Played with the faucets a bit and the toy boat in the backpack, but then he was done at 3:20: “I’m done. I want to go home now. Turn off the water.”

We went to the bathroom, then he really wanted to look at the candy and toys. I finally got him out of the shop. We started to walk out of the park, but only made it as far as the set of faucets. There, he found a hose used by the construction workers. We attached the end that had come off the faucet, and the other end wasn’t far away. We were turning it on, watching water come out the other end, until eventually we had a river that ran down the slope until it found its way into a drain.

Took about 15 minutes there, and though we were leaving a little before 4. But August spotted kids climbing on statues, and I told him he could go join them. The first group was of kids the same age or younger. August climbed on and sat at one end. At one point a girl climbed on behind him and was hanging on his shoulder. He didn’t much like that. Then, as he sat on it, two of the little boys started to hit August in the arms and legs for no apparent reason. Again this didn’t seem to phase him.

That group left, but another remained. One of the girls kept coming up and handing me or August rocks. So we were all making stacks of rocks on them statues together. At one point a bunch of the kids ran up the hill and he ran after them, and when they put their arms up for some reason he did it to. We played on the statues until 4:20, then spent some time looking at the robot-looking statue of Jan Janie Weltevree that is my favorite statue in the park (earlier, August had asked me if some other statue – an animal or something – was my favorite piece of art, and I told him no it wasn’t). We identified some of the things that it is made of.

We got to the station at 4:30. He stayed in the backpack, on the ground, the entire time on the train. There was a girl that got on with a cello case.

We were home at 5:05. As we got to the building I said we could save going to the post office for another day. I just wanted to get some more boxes for packing. He said “No, I don’t want to do that. I want to jump on the bike and get boxes.” I said okay, then asked “Do you need to go to the bathroom first?” He said “No…How far it is?” When I explained it was over on the other side of the art museum he seemed fine with it. He’s thinking about it.

We headed straight over, got 3 size 5 boxes, and drove them home stuck in the middle of the bike. We were home at 5:33, dropped off the boxes, then turned right around again to go down and find Carly on her way home. We found her outside Mama Juice.

They nursed, then for dinner he said he didn’t want anything. I made him up a bowl of rice, broccoli, and cheese anyway and he ate a good amount. He suddenly came out of the parlor pulling the Smurf village mat with all the figurines on it. We played several aquarium scenarios. They nursed and read Five Minutes Peace and Kipper A to Z. He was then playing on his own on the reading area in the parlor, and we were both in different rooms when I heard him say “I’m playing with it. Don’t take it!”

I gave him his bath. He wanted me to stack the cups like Carly does, but I was doing it wrong. I was able to distract him by showing him that the cups connect like a catepillar. So he played with them that way. We got through the washing and hair washing okay. Carly then took a shower, and I put on his pajamas. He said “That’s the pants with nobody inside them that I’m wearing. Now there’s somebody inside them!”

He was asleep just a bit after 8.

I was able to find the Children’s Grand Park theme song, which we’ve headed hundreds and hundreds of times, on YouTube so we can add that to iTunes. Now I just need to find the Korean version of “Way down upon the Swanee River” that we’ve heard just about as often. That one might be more difficult.

Photos: 

Taking another straw and chewing on it: 

Seals: 

sitting on the changing table: 

Scraped knee: 

Asleep: 

Playing on the statue: 

He slept until 7:28. Not upset at all, and just sat on the floor waking up. A bit later he wanted to play Dust Buster on his iPad, one of the piano learning apps, but he only wanted me to play, and said “I don’t want dada to make mistakes.” Ate some banana bread, and played a little GarageBand, but mainly he decided the keyboard was a vacuum cleaner, sucking up notes. Then he wanted it to get hurt and take care of it: “What happened to this vacuum cleaner?” Exercised and took my shower; he played in the sink in the bathroom while I took my shower. He wanted me to keep reciting Green Eggs and Ham, but with having Sam’s friend not like other things, often random, like balancing. Got ready to go, and wanted to grab change for the lockers at the aquarium and he helped me look through the coins for 500 won coins. He found a red ginseng candy in the pocket of his shorts – someone had given it to him sometime. I broke it into quarters and let him try it, but he seemed suspicious of it. Said he liked it at first, but then would just lick it and decided he didn’t like it too much.

On the toilet, he was playing with the toilet paper roll and said “The toilet paper’s dancing.” We finally left at 10:40. We patted the mama statue and he noticed it was warm and kept asking what would happen if it was different temperatures: “What if it’s 200?…twenty two hundred?”

We took the train and transferred at Konkuk University, then went to Jamsil and got off at Lotte Tower. We quickly found the Jaume Plensa sculpture I’d been wanting to find (http://jaumeplensa.com/index.php/works-and-projects/projects-in-public-space/item/324-possibilities-2016). We sat down on a neck by a bunch of Pororo statues (that August liked and wanted to take photos of) and ate lunch, but he mainly was playing, especially when he saw a girl about his age playing on the statues as well. He started playing next to her, then when she ran across to the other set of Pororo statues he followed her. And then when she went across the field, past the Plensa sculpture, he kept following. They went over to an art installation on the other side of the field and played in that, then were both running around the field, chasing each other. I went to get our backpack, and they went back over to the installation. They kept playing, and eventually they brought a box over to August – they were a box of Russian chocolates. We shared one with the girl, then they had to go.

We sort of went back to finish lunch, but then he kept trying to play with other kids. Unfortunately, they weren’t as interested. In fact, there were two girls that seemed to only want to pose for photos and when August got close to them they would run off.

August and I discussed what to do, and he wanted to go to the aquarium. I had looked into going up to the observation floor, but it would have cost about 50 dollars for the two of us. Anyway, but first August wanted to go in the mall we were right next to. We went in, and August spotted some mannequins he wanted to take photos of. He led the way, on his own, up some escalators. Then he found another Pororo statue, we found a statue of a mermaid, and he stuck his hands in some display cases. We took a photo of a pair of shoes he liked, then went and rode the elevator up, then down to the basement. There was a ceiling with white flower shapes on it, and some light fixtures he liked.

Then we left at 1. We took the train a few stops to the west. In the station he spotted a brightly colored billboard he’s seen before and liked and wanted to take a photo of.

As we walked through the mall he hummed Ode to Joy and he noticed that the reflections of the lights on the floor seemed to move. I explained how it had to do with the changing angles between us and the lights as we walked, and he really tried to understand it: “Changes the angle of your feet?”

We got to the aquarium about 1:30. As we put the backpack away he spotted a woman and started to talk about her. They were speaking English, so I was afraid he was going to say he didn’t like her, but instead said “I like that one…Yeah, I like all of them, but mostly that one…I’m comfortable with them…I’m comfortable with them too.”

He talked about the shark statue chomping us, then we went in. We didn’t have a long time, but instead of hurrying, he spent a lot of time in the Korean ecosystem area, then the Korean gardens. He was most interested in where the water was coming in to each of the tanks. And following the paths of the water through the garden areas.

By the tank with snails he surprised a woman. Turned out the couple was from Vancouver. I said we were from Seattle, and the guy got overly excited, giving me an enthusiastic handshake and hug and joking we should have dinner together sometime.

We sped up after that. He wanted to stop at the harp-shaped aquarium though, saying “I want to look at that one. We always do.” Oh, and at the green/orange/red light aquarium he joked about crossing the street, and we took photos of him in each of the lights.

He needed to use the bathroom again, and in the Amazonia area we went back to the bathrooms – we’d also gone before we went in and had talked about how the other doors went to the Amazonia area.

On to the Touch Lab area, where we spent ten minutes or so. He liked the animals, but was fascinated with all the pipes he could see and room full of pump equipment, etc. and wanted to know where the water goes and comes out.

We hurried more after that, then stood on the moving floor. At the gift shop I mentioned finding something for Carly for her fake birthday. He spotted balloon bopper things and said

“I want to surprise mama with that.” He first chose a Hello Kitty one, but then spotted a Poli one and we went with that.

We went back in to get the backpack. I was ready to leave and hurry, but he wanted me to do the shark again: “First, put your hand in that.” We left at 2:50.

On the subway he didn’t like a guy that touched him and jumped off the seat. We moved to a different set of seats after a couple stops. He was eating crackers, and grabbed two: “I think two will do it.”

We took line 2 up and transferred to line 1, then at Wolgye we took the Nowon 15 bus to APIS. Or actually a stop farther, as we went to Tospia and got a mocha for Carly, a strawberry yoghurt smoothie for August, and a drink for me. We then went and got to APIS just before 4:30. August and I sat on the stands, waiting for Carly to come out, as she had told us she was leaving at 4:30. But after 10 minutes or, as August was finishing his drink, he wanted to find mama. So we went in, only to find she wasn’t there. I called, and she had actually left at 4:25. So August said “Happy fake fake birthday” to her over the phone.

We went and used the bathroom, then cleaned up the little bit of smoothie that had spilled when he had dropped his smoothie going up the stairs. He had wanted the smoothie back in the cup.

As we walked across the field he said “I don’t want fake grass in Israel…” And randomly, “I want to wear underwear at night now.” At the busstop we waited. And waited. Two 1130s went by. Then we saw Emmalee and Naara, the music teachers, and went and talked to them for a few minutes. Still no bus. Took about twenty minutes. It came, and we got on. August got the last seat before the second door on the door side. The bus got more and more crowded since it was the first one in so long. August was almost falling asleep by the time we were getting to Hagye. I was singing to him, and said I shouldn’t sing a sleeping song. He said “I want a sleepy song.”

We got off the bus, and said goodbye, and he spotted the camel statue and said “I want to say hi. You used to do that?” Been a long time. We got home at 5:40 and gave Carly her drink and bopper, and the rest of the Russian chocolates. August said “I want chocolates.” Carly had said she had missed her own fake birthday.
August kept asking why, then said “Why mama missed fake birthdays? Because they leave?” We realized he didn’t understand her use of ‘miss’.

He had some dinner, then Carly gave him a bath. They were stacking up all the cups and then pouring water through them. After his bath he climbed on Carly with pillows, and we joked that he was surfing, and were humming “Wipe Out”. He kept asking us to sing it again.

On the toilet he called Carly Dada again, then was joking that all our names were switched. He was now Mama and did his Mama impression: “Why hello there.” He was then teasing her, and instead of saying he loves her just “so much” he said “A ton of Qs…so much Qs.” He was then asleep right at 8.

Plensa sculpture: 

Drink by Lotte Tower: 

Looking up at Lotte Tower through the sculpture: 

Drinking Pororo’s drink: 

He slept until 7:25. They Skyped with Cherie and Vivian. I heard him sucking up slime. Vivian apparently knows that August likes poop jokes. Cherie said “Vacuum cleaners are your favorite thing.” Vivian added “And poop!” August later found the tongs and played with them a lot, picking everything (clothes, his water bottle, etc.) up. I was joking around with him about something and he did a ‘grr’ to me. He wanted to do robot cleanup of something, and we ended up cleaning up most of the toys strewn about. Carly and I started clearing out the kitchen stuff. Of the plastic Spongebob mug he said “I don’t want this anymore.”

He remembered a conversation he and I had had the other day (it has come up a couple times) about how accidental spills, etc. are okay, but it isn’t okay to add to the muss on purpose: “Accidents are okay?…Squishing a banana peel is okay?…Not the part that you eat…” Big discussion of what/where it is okay to squish things on purpose. He went down with Carly to take out compost, and they had to stay there a couple minutes so he could play with the foot pedals. Also, Carly let him sit on the kitchen counter for a couple minutes, which was fun.

We all then did a lot of packing-related stuff. I cleaned out some of his toys, Carly worked on the closet and hallway. August and I took a break to do a little art with the glass crayons, which we haven’t used in a long time. He was a little put off by their messiness at first – and he commented about how he didn’t want the ‘art’ that was on the crayon box, as younger Zinnie had written all over the box.

They had had oatmeal for breakfast. August and I later had crackers and salmon and cheese for a snack. He was taking it in to Carly in the closet so she could smell it. He didn’t really like salmon though – it was a flavored kind with mayonnaise in it. After that, he played in sink for a long time.

We all left at 12:40 to walk over to the science center. August kept commenting on how we were all wearing our sunglasses.

Our visit to the science center was quicker, at first, mainly due to the crowds. Not packed, but their were waits for most things. And Carly and I were really noticing how the exhibits as a whole don’t really have a lot of capacity (the river thing with binoculars only does two people at once, the brain exhibit just one, etc.) Anyway, he did a little K’Nex on the first floor, then on the second ran over to look at the cockroaches and rats in the pests area. Carly went to go sit down for awhile, and August and I went and waited for the microscope. He did a good job waiting, then we used it to look at his shirt, hair, the counter, etc. and did a good job giving it up to the girl next in line.

A little more frustrating on the following floors: he did the pixelating camera, but then wanted to run to the front in front of other people. And the wheel on the garbage power plant display had a long line of people, although he watched the lights.

So a little before 2 we found ourselves at the top. He wanted to play with the drinking fountains, but that one didn’t work. We went down to the third floor, and that one (the Tayo one) didn’t work either. So then down to the first floor where the Larva one did. And there we spent the next 40 minutes. Mostly he did a great job letting other kids come in and use it. He kept running over and wanting Carly to come and see it. There was a smaller boy next to him at one point and his mother was leaving, and the boy was a bit upset. August seemed concerned about it, and kind of followed him at the end to make sure he got to his mom. Randomly, at one point he asked me “What color is my hair?” After playing for awhile, he went to the bathroom with Carly and I got coffees for me and Carly.

About 2:45 he wanted to go in the cafe/gift shop. He looked at the rocks. He picked one dark blue one up and said “It looks like space?” I wouldn’t let him get crazy with them, and he used the excuse like “But that boy is doing it!” with me. Finally, he spotted the Mini Melts ice cream and said “I want to get it with mama!” But when she pointed out they had cake or popsicle at home he wasn’t happy. He did a frustrated “No!” and bumped his chin on the case, making things worse. She then took him to the bathroom before we left, and hurt him a bit more by getting his fingers in one of the doors.

He had recovered pretty well by the time they came out with the bike to me. We left at 3:00, and he wanted to pause and look at the stream and the fountain. We then walked south to 충숙공원. Walked past the playground, but then August wanted to go back to the playground to have a snack. So we went back and sat and had some crab and apple. He then needed the bathroom again, so we went to the bathrooms. There was a hose at the entrance of the women’s restroom and he played with it for a long time, using it at a vacuum and sucking everything up.

We headed home and stopped at GS25 for eggs and sugar and milk and were home at 4:05. For food I mentioned something about the peanut sauce and he said “I don’t really like peanut sauce. I prefer teriyaki sauce.” Carly made him an egg pancake with broccoli and cheese and he dipped it in ketchup. He wanted to squeeze more ketchup on his own, and when he squirted it out he said “What brain is that?” He thought the ketchup looked like one of the brains at the science center. And out of nowhere he said “I want my fingers painted.”

After he ate he helped me scan a few more things, and he kept talking about how the scanner is a machine. He then wanted to go outside, so I took him out. A bit after 5. We rode around the park, then stopped at the playground. He went on the teeter totter, then climbed on the blue wall part. And then the tube slide. The bridge is missing, so I had to lift him up to the platform. He did the tube slide 6 or 7 times. I was spotting him at first, but then when he had figured it out he went down entirely on his own a few times. The last time he fell off about half way down. His bottom slipped off, he hung by his hands for a second, and then he landed on his feet.

He spent some time trying to climb up the bars after that, and then pulling on a broken ribbon from around the broken bridge. And then he played around on the bar around the swings and waited for a swing. And waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, he got a swing. I was giving him 10 minutes (although he was saying 100 or a million) and the girls in line kept sighing (although given that we had waited more than 20 minutes, and people were spending longer than that on them, I wasn’t feeling guilty). But he got off after about 7 and ran over to the spinning exercise equipment. Played on both of those, then headed home at 6:25.

Carly said he had grown, and he wanted to measure himself against her. He said “You’re about as tall as mama?” Carly had caught what looked like a flying ant under a Tupperware container. He and I looked at it while she went downstairs to look for masks for a school project. We were in the hallway, dropping it out the window, when Carly came back.

Carly was in the hallway closet, and August wanted up on the counter in there again (he had also sat on that earlier). So he sat on there and I was sitting on the floor while Carly took a shower. He was reaching for the outlet and I told him to be careful with the outlets and he asked why, so we ended up discussing electricity the whole time. He had a serious look on his face.

Carly started her bath, and I went in to actually do the washing and wash his hair. He got through it okay, and without a video, as he sat on the edge of the bath while I washed him and he thought that was amusing. When we came out, Carly was taking her tree down from the wall in the bedroom. August helped a bit. Unfortunately, the darker paint we have in those rooms has really faded, so you can still see the tree. Taking down the art on those walls reveals dark squares. August was asleep abo
ut 8.

Photos. Tong’s: 

K’nex: 

Pixelated: 

Space rock: 

Carly had to go to work today to run a Civic Mirror training for a group of Korean teachers. He was up just before 6:40. He did some playing in the sink, then was wearing her shoes and shuffling around the house. I took a photo. As he shuffled away he turned back, sort of pointed his finger in the air and asked “You got it?” He then watched Beethoven’s Ninth and video about bubbles. He was then wearing the nursing mittens, and wanted his gloves, so we got those out and he was trying them on. He did a lot of sneezing while I was taking photos of him in the nursing mittens, then he wore her shoes some more.

Carly left at 8:40. He didn’t want to let her leave, but was distracted by Sesame Street Art Maker. After he went to the bathroom he asked about how to put his underwear on by himself. He’s been doing more and more on his own: he washed his hands twice this morning on his own and wanted to pour mango by himself with Carly. We read To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street. He was then playing on the reading area and stuck his whole leg down my shirt. As I tried to get away he said “Knock it off”. Not quite sure where he learned that one.

We skyped with my parents. He was sucking his lips in at one point, which he hasn’t really done. He also didn’t want to play piano. He hasn’t been playing songs on it recently. After we hung up we got going. We had eaten some leftover pizza for a second breakfast.

We got walking and walked up north, towards the parks we had talked about going to yesterday before we ran out of time. At one point I started singing “Ants Go Marching” until he told me to stop – he hasn’t been into the songs like that and Yankee Doodle recently. Up the main street, and then we walked along the green path to the right, past the park and then up to 원터근린공원. We first went to the middle playground, where he went on the swings for a bit. He saw a hole that other people had left in the sand, so we got our shovel, etc. and first made it bigger, then were filling it in.

He took his shoe off and was having it (a whale) spit out sand, then wanted to play in water. So we walked over and found the water fountains. Played a couple minutes, but he didn’t like a noise that the faucets made – either the high pitched noise of the pipes in the wall, or the loud noise of the water going through the grate and hitting the ground.

He needed to use the bathroom at some point and we used the bathroom there. We then got going, but saw the funny faces on the sculptures on our way out. He wanted to take a photo, so we did. He then saw an old little playground at the apartment complex so we stopped there and he went on the swings.

On the way there we had seen a sort of carnival happening at the Bible university. He liked the idea of looking for food there, so we went in and found the food section. They actually called it a ‘flea market’, but in addition to used stuff there was also activities for kids and food. We got a Korean pancake and an orange slushy. We sat on a bench and ate those – I was impressed with how he ate all the veggies without trying to avoid any. He went and watched the slushy machine turning, then we went and looked at the rest of the food. We decided on getting some bibimbap. He was a little concerned by the red spots he saw in it, but it was just barely spicy, and he ate it just fine. As we were finishing up, he ran off around the circle part and started to go down the stairs. I went and retrieved him, and told him we needed to clean up.

We then walked down and looked at the big world map on the ground. He wanted to go in through the open doors, and we found the cafeteria area and a theater (well, church). And we refilled his water bottle at a water machine (he mainly did it on his own, until the tray underneath started to come loose and he was concerned about it).

We headed out, walking through the unversity to the southwest. We found a little fake stream and a couple of fish ponds that we didn’t know about. To get to the second pond we had to go off the main path, but he wanted to take the bike, so we went off-roading.

We got to 당현천근린공원 at 1:00, the park where we had earlier turned off to go on the green path, and he made up a song to “I don’t want to live on the moon” “My vacuum sucks up everything…again, and again, and again…” He played with a drinking fountain for a minute. Then he needed to go to the bathroom, so we went to the bathrooms with the outlines of a man peeing and a woman squatting. We headed out at 1:15 to the south, back to the green path. He pointed at something and said he wanted it – I thought he was pointing at a balloon that two kids playing on some exercise equipment had and kept going, telling him he couldn’t have it. But he made me stop, and said “I don’t want their stuff.” I had misunderstood. He wanted to play on the exercise equipment like them. He went on the spinning one on his own, then climbed on the sit up/back stretching things, and finally was able to push himself on the leg press ones a bit.

He wanted to go down the big set of steps to the stream, so I carried down the bike. He sort of played on the edge of flower bed area and looked at bikes and at yellow flowers.

We started walking home along the stream and crossed a bridge. By Chrysanthemum Park I saw a girl, about 7, trying to push her bike up the ramp. She wasn’t getting very far. I asked August if we should help, and he jumped off and we both went and helped push up her bike – me from the back, him on the right, and her on the left. He then wanted to play at Chrysanthemum Park. He played around by the swings and tried climbing the poles, then ran and leaped on a swing when he realized it was free.

Then he ran over to the play structure. He needed help starting on the climbing wall, then hurried around the entire rest of it. I helped from below to get him started climbing down to the shaky platform, then I helped lift him down through the ropes when he wanted down.

From there it was to the sand, where he reluctantly allowed me to put on some sunscreen and his hat. He remembered sitting on the little table thing and me drawing shapes, but when I did it now the sand was all dry so didn’t work well. We got the bucket and cup and were filling them in the drinking fountain, and he was walking them over to the enclosed area and dumping out the water. He kind of made it into art by picking up dry sand and putting it on his shapes. A girl showed up, and then we saw a cat come out of the bushes. The two of them followed the cat as it walked across the playground.

About 2:30 we finally headed home. Carly was home already. He started singing “Mama’s coming home from school” to Ode to Joy.

At home they nursed and hung out for awhile, then Carly took him with her to the store. They left at 3:40. I realized that would be a good time to make a smoothie, as August is really opposed to the blender now. But I was about to turn it on when they came back to drop off groceries. They left again, and I was able to finish my smoothie. They went over to the park, where there were some games and stuff going on. They played some sort of kid darts, but then Carly wanted to leave as it wasn’t easy to understand the rules and what they could/couldn’t do. August wasn’t too happy about that, and made less happy when they walked around the building past Baskin Robbins and he wanted to go in. That was where they were when I called, about to leave the house to come find them. Instead, I met them at the bottom of the elevators.

Back in the house, about 5, there was lots of nursing and he was whiney. Finally, he helped me make banana bread. There was a lot of “I want to do it on my own.” After he’d licked the spatula, he was doing headstands on the couch on his own. Carly said something about how he should take gymnastics in Israel and I mentioned how he wanted to do dance thanks to the Tallulah books. He said “I want tap AND ballet in Is
rael.”

I also cooked broccoli and rice while we made banana bread and he ate rice and broccoli and cheese for dinner. I asked how he liked it and he didn’t really answer, but he was eating it, so I said something like “Well at least I’m not going to starve.” He had fun saying that, then said “I want you to say ‘Oh Zinnie.’” So we turned it into a little movie:

“How’s you’re dinner?”

“Well I won’t starve.”

“Oh Zinnie.”

We read the Tallulah tap book and Loch Mess Monster and Carly gave him a bath, and he was asleep about 8.

Photos: 

Filling up his water: 

Exercise equipment: 

A big day downtown, as we went to the branch of the MMCA at Deoksugung Palace to see an exhibit on Egyptian Surrealism, then went and walked across Seoul’s newest park, Seoullo 7017. Finally, we walked up to Pizza School to get some pizza before Carly got home.

I remember he had a bad dream at some point in the night. Carly was up before 5, and right before 5 August woke up, said a couple things, then crawled over to me and fell back to sleep. He watched videos about bees on her computer, then was typing on her computer. Carly came over and he said “You smell like quesadilla.” She had just been making her quesadilla. He was sitting on the toilet when she left. He had Cheerios and banana for breakfast, and I made French Toast for myself. He ended up eating a good amount of it. He wanted to watch Pink Panther. We watched a new one together, then he watched ones he already knows and I exercised and took a shower.

After that, I had music on and he was dancing to Tuatara. He was ready to go outside and we left at 9:30. We went to catch the Nowon 9 bus. He spotted a truck he wanted in Israel, then was singing a “Just one perfect truck.” song. A few times I’ve brought up the idea of getting just one perfect car for us, instead of every truck he sees.

The bus was really slow, as we were in rush hour traffic. We played I Spy to pass the time. Got off at Kwangwoon University. On the train we looked out the window. We saw a colorful train. He said “Oooh, I like the colorful train.” The train got more and more crowded, and he said he didn’t like it and was uncomfortable: “That makes dada happy?” There was a woman next to us that was trying to touch him. He turned it around and was tickling her on the arm.

We got off at City Hall and went to Deoksugung Palace – the first palace Carly and I went to and we haven’t been back since (where they had one room with little kind of rolling chairs). He chose to go see art first, and we went to the branch of the MMCA that is there. We were there to see the When Art Becomes Liberty: The Egyptian Surrealists show. Continuing their anti-kid friendly attitude in art museums here, within two minutes of being inside we were asked to be quieter (I was holding him in my arms, talking about the art in a quiet voice) and told twice that I needed to hold his hand (by two different people) – something I’ve never heard before, and doubly odd that there really wasn’t any art he could reach in this show, outside a couple of sculptures in other rooms.

So we moved a bit quicker than we would have liked, as he didn’t like being cooped up. After we were done with the first floor we went to the gift shop and I bought the book for the show (less than 10 dollars) and a small print and three cards for Carly. Except in the middle of that August needed to use the bathroom. So we set down the stuff we had so far and went and found the bathrooms (oddly, not labeled at all, so we had to ask). Went back to the gift shop and while we waited for her to ring it up, August suddenly had poop on his finger. A wiping problem. I wiped it off with a tissue, then when we had paid we went back to the bathroom and cleaned up properly.

August was ready to go outside, but I got him through the second floor by saying we’d only stop walking for pieces he wanted to look at. After that, there were several pieces he wanted to stop for.

So then we went outside and found a spot to eat lunch. It was near a big hose that he played with a few times. As we ate, there were tons of high school students wandering around for…something. There was also music playing from a stage that was being set up. While we sat there, a few of the kids came over with one of the round tasteless snack cake things piled with the things that look and taste like big Trix. Then, a few minutes later another group, including a girl dressed as a bee, came over and wanted to take their photo with August. He agreed, and sat on the spot we’d been sitting on and they sat around him and I was just able to get photos with both of our cameras before he jumped up and ran to me. They kept talking to him and he was feeling uncomfortable, so I had him starting to say goodbye, and got him to give high fives to all the kids and he had fun with that.

We got going, walking around a bit and looking at the stage (he had heard Sarah McLachlan’s Angel playing earlier and said “Add it to my playlist!”). We then got in the backpack (on a bench he said was sticky, and he wanted me to clean up the bench after we got up) and headed out and south. As we walked past Sungnyemun Gate (the big historical one) he was singing his new tune. When I had to stop to cross the street he sang it slower and slower, then stopped. When we got walking again he was fast and loud.

We got down to the start of Seoullo 7017, a kilometer long park that is built on an old overpass through downtown, based on that park in New York. Along the way they have hundreds of different plants and trees planted in round planters. We liked looking at all of those. But August had two definite favorite features:

First were the three circles on the bridge where you can stand on glass and look down at the cars/etc. below. He spent a lot of time standing on those and pretending to fall through.

Second, there is a little performance stage, and there was an actor dressed in clothes, with a coat up over the head, making it appear that they were clothes with nobody inside them. We spent probably close to a half hour here, first watching other people go up and touch it. He spent a lot of time plugging his ears until he realized that it wasn’t going to make noise. He was yelling at one point, trying to wake it up, then he wanted me to touch it. Once I went and shook hands with it, then August kept wanting to touch it. Twice August was startled by it and let out a wonderful “Oh no!” I compared it to the Dr. Seuss story about “the pants with nobody inside them” and we had a wonderful talk about empathy and how the clothes with nobody inside them must feel, being surrounded and touched by all these strangers. When it didn’t respond to August touching it, but then swiped at someone else and startled them, I explained to August that it must be getting comfortable with August, but was still uncomfortable with all these other strangers, just like August often is.

We eventually left, and went over to get a drink and played with the drinking fountain for awhile. We then headed off the west end of the bridge and headed north to a park, only to find that this other park is all under construction until 2018.  We went back across the bridge, and August spent more time looking down through the circles. While we waited to take the elevator down to Seoul Station to find a bathroom we saw someone walking a turtle/tortoise wearing a sweater. On a leash.

We went down and found August’s second favorite piece of art today: Shoe Tree. A massive structure covered with hundreds and hundreds of old shoes. First we went down into the station and found a bathroom though, then came back up and August was touching the shoes, putting his hands inside them, and then taking off one of his shoes and putting his foot in a pair of boots and in a Hello Kitty shoe. A guy came over and gave us a brochure for the artwork, and was talking to August. He was really nice and August said “I’m not uncomfortable with this guy. I’m comfortable with him.” August had previously hidden his hands in his shirt when the guy tried to shake his hand, so I suggested that if he was comfortable with him he should give him a high five. So August did.

We then went and enjoyed the pink light cast by a plexiglass piece built as the entrance to an art exhibition area. He liked that, then we went into the free exhibit. It looked really promising, but then disaster: The first big room had all these plexiglass figures with cool lights on them. Each was surrounded by a barrier rope. No problem, right? Except we couldn’t. Even. Touch. The.
Barrier. Ropes. Tell a three-year old they can’t even touch the rope right at their hand level and see how that goes over. I was not happy with the guy that kept telling us this at all, and as calmly as I could told him exactly how I felt. August was quite upset as I picked him up. We went to the side of the room, and I set him down. August held onto a rope (wasn’t even shaking it, mind you), and I was kneeling down next to him, talking about it, when the guy came over to us again and told us we couldn’t touch the rope. I stood up, pointed at him, and said “Back off. Now leave us alone.” We tried to proceed to the other pieces, but August kept saying “I want to go back there!” Too bad, as the last room had a motion-activated video screen thing that made these really cool animations when you moved in front of it.

Anyway, we headed out and caught line 1. As we waited for the train, August put his head on my shoulder and was falling asleep. Don’t blame him. I woke him up by telling him I’d brought a grape and a mango squishy candies from the bag of goodies that Jenny had given him at the end of class. He ate those, then said he had to go to the bathroom. So one stop north we got off at City Hall. We went to the bathroom, then he got a little upset when I washed his hands for him. He wanted to do it himself, so he washed them a second time. It was one of the short sinks, so I think he really liked that. Earlier we had seen one, but a guy was washing his face and taking too long, so eventually August let me wash his hands in another sink (oddly, at that point all three sinks had been taken by men shaving/washing their faces).

Anyway, back on the train we stood for the ride home. When the train exited onto the surface he stood at the window and looked out. We got off at Kwangwoon and he spent a few minutes watching freight trains go back, plugging his ears the whole time.

We then went to Daiso to find a cutting board (our apartment checkout list says we were given two of them, although we only remember one, so we wanted to buy one just to be sure) and some small caribiners to use on the broken zippers on the suitcase we got from Chuck and Cherie. I let August look around, but that was a little nerve wracking as he wanted to play with the breakable little milk containers, etc. pretending to pour things back and forth. He kept saying “But I’m being careful.” As we paid he saw candy things at the counter. I took him out and set him down to put things in the backpack. He ran back into the store. I thought he’d just gone there, but he’d actually made his way halfway through the store, back to the back scratchers he’d looked at.

Then, as we waited for a bus, he found someone’s old coffee drink under the bench and poured it on the ground. We got home, dropped off the backpack, grabbed our other backpack, hopped on the bike and walked up to Pizza School to get pizza. Three pizzas this time: pepperoni, the noodle pizza, and a sweet potato pizza.

We got home just before 5 and ate a few slices by the time Carly got home. They nursed and ate more pizza (and I had him eat some banana) and he climbed on her on the couch.

He and I then read Curious George Cleans Up, To Think that I Saw It on Mulberry Street, Yertle the Tirtle, and The Cat in the Hat. I then gave him a bath and washed his hair. We watched Pirates of the Caribbean and the bathtub and Granny’s Pizza episodes of Pink Panther. After his bath he watched one where they are cavemen.

He did really well in the bath, letting me wash his hair. This was mainly because he was so focused on Pink Panther. But Carly asked him about it and he said “You were used to that bath? Like Vivian? I like baths.” It would be really nice if he started liking baths. Months since he’s sat down…

We took him to bed and he was asleep by 8.

 

Photos. Scarf bandage: 

Tickling: 

Art museum: 

Group photo: 

Bridge:  

Walking: 

Shoes: 

Turning pink:

Falling asleep: 

Washing his own hands: 

Looking out: 

Watching trains: 

Daiso:

Kiss: 

We had a very busy day. Early in the morning I had put on the American Beauty soundtrack, as the first track was one of the songs from the blue blocks area at the children’s museum yesterday. August instantly recognized it and wanted to go back to the children’s museum to play with the woman again. Given that the children’s museum didn’t open for a couple hours and I also didn’t want to spent my whole day inside the children’s museum again, we came up with an alternate plan, which August wasn’t all that happy about at first: we’d head to Olympic Park, and then on the way back the train goes past the back entrance of Children’s Grand Park. We’d go to the children’s museum for awhile in the afternoon, after the big school groups started to leave.

He was up about 5:40. He was typing on Carly’s computer. Think he typed ‘much’. He was okay saying bye to Carly when she left at the door. She had gotten him some Cheerios but he said “I want to throw them away. I don’t like them. I don’t like the taste of just Cheerios.” Don’t think there was any banana. He wanted to get going, so I got him to play Mammals and I took a shower. When I came out he had gone to the bathroom and was yelling “I’m done!” He was upset about not going to children’s museum right away, but got distracted looking through the kitchen drawers: “I don’t like eating with forks because because they’re boring.” He ate part of the peanut butter sandwich. I was being really allergic this morning and stopping to sneeze from time to time.

A lot of talk about things he likes and doesn’t like today: “I don’t like the slurpy thing because I don’t want soft things. I want hard things.” And, out of nowhere, he said “I want to plant a tree, dada.”

I had to email Carly to tell her about this one. He heard me blowing my nose in the parlor and came in and said “Ha. I thought it was mama.” Me: “Because I was blowing my nose?” Him: “Yeah.”

He played with cups in the sinks, then we brushed our teeth and went to the bathroom. He said “I want to go to the children’s museum and see the woman.” We left by 9:00.

On the first train he did a good job of using his words to communicate with a woman that kept touching him. First he said “I don’t like that. Don’t touch me.” Then, when she did it again, he got off the seat and said “I’m uncomfortable.” We transferred at Gunja and August stayed in the backpack most of the way on the second train. At one point he was staring down the train and doing a biting-his-thumb action repeatedly. Then just sucking his thumb, which was funny because he’s never sucked his thumb.

We got out at Olympic Park and went to CU and got the least meat-filled meal thing and a macaroni salad thing (which we wouldn’t eat today so would save). We talked about how he didn’t seem to like kimbap much recently: “I don’t like kimbap” “I’m getting tired of kimbap.” We then walked into the park, and he saw the big thumb sculpture and said “I like that sculpture…it’s coming out of the bottom to show how messy the poop is.”

Part of the park was closed at the south end for some concert or festival they were setting up for. Also cut off our easy access to the east, so we headed to the west and north. He saw a truck and started a “I want that truck, I want that truck, I want that truck in Israel” chant that turned into a song about how the truck had beans and ladders in it.

We walked up to the sculpture area south of the Baekje Museum and ate lunch by the alien leapfrog sculpture. We ate lunch and had a lot of fun. He saw a big golden retriever walk by and said “I want that dog in Israel because it’s not barking.” I had gotten a coffee drink at CU and he said “I don’t want the coffee because I don’t like coffee.” He got a stick and was poking me: “Poke, poke, poke. What your brain is saying? What your nerves are saying?” In talking about wanting a dog he said “I want three dogs in Israel because three people.” I also noted he didn’t want to get sandwiches at CU recently: “I don’t really like sandoo…I’m getting tired of sandoo because I don’t like it.”

We then spent a long time looking at sculpture as we walked to the north. We spent a lot of time at a piece called Childhood Memories. It is an odd, rusted sculpture with a horse in a metal box, a door that is only partly open, a face next to the door, a pair of footprints in front of a chair, a switch on the chair, and a wire going from the chair to the leg of the box that the horse is in. August squeezed through the door, compared his feet with the footprints, then sat in the chair and tried the switch and pulled on the wire.

We saw a few more sculptures and August took a couple photos of them, and he noticed some trees that had bark splitting open. And we stopped at my favorite sculpture, Elephant Man. August stood next to it and patted the little robot at the bottom. At a sculpture called News he pretended it was an instrument and made music. Then we found a sculpture called Bells. He pushed on the big metal pieces and was startled when it made a big noise. He then went and looked through a sculpture that is a big outline of a head with the words ‘Love Me’ cut into it. Next, we came across a sculpture that was called ‘Mama’ and he particularly liked the sign. Finally, we found a series of 4 nude metal sculptures in a row that look like they might be by the same artist that did the ones over on the other side of our park. August was amused that you could see all the bottoms.

We went to the bathroom, then made our wat to the playground at noon. He went across the rope bridge a few times. He fell a bit on it the first time, assessed himself, and said “I’m okay”. He then went to the Jeep and was shaking and jumping on it with other kids. He then went to the triangular climbing structure and zoomed up to the top. He then needed some explanation on how to get back down, but then did it just fine. Then back to the Jeep for a long time – swinging on the bar, a mother shaking it. It was really full and he seemed to like all the kids there. Back to climbing, and he went up and came down on his own. And then to the Jeep. It was packed and he stood on the bumper, humming the Smurfs song. Then got in the crowded back. Out at 12:35.

Back to the top of the climbing structure. Helped him over the top and he climbed down the black side a bit before going back up over the top with a little help and down the yellow side, and back to the Jeep.

About a quarter to 1 all the kids had left, then a few minutes later a group of teenagers came over while he was sitting in the back of the Jeep. He gave them high fives with his foot. When they started shaking the Jeep too much he wanted out. We went over to the bathroom and saw the poop bread place. So after the bathroom we went and got one, then finished it as we got him in the backpack.

We left at 1:05. We walked through the big square and then down by the lake, looking at the fountain and then the water wheel. He had a lot of questions about it, and we went back and forth from the wheel to looking at the inside part where it was turning the big hammer things. An old Korean man asked me to take his photo on his phone with the water wheel in the background. I figured there must be a story there I wish I could have heard.

We then walked back to the south end of the park, retracing our steps from earlier. We stopped at a stage to look at the disco ball (which he knows from that Cookie Monster song and someplace else). He was wearing his sunglasses and said “It’s shady over there, but it isn’t. That’s an optical illusion? Why? Why dada?” We said “Goodbye, Olympic Park” before we left.

We took the train to Children’s Grand Park and got there at 2:10. As we walked in the back entrance he said “Mama was a baby?” And was pointing “That one was a baby? Everyone was a baby? That bike was a
baby?”

He was hungry and said “I want a chewy thing. Can you please buy me a chewy thing?” To people at random he was saying “Do you have candy? Do you have candy? I want candy.” As we walked past a market area, a woman gave him freeze-dried apple and strawberry. We got to the big fountain and watched it for a couple minutes as the show ended. We went into the children’s museum and were playing with the blue blocks at 2:35. He added onto a fort a couple other kids were making and said “I’m building together.”

The same woman he had played with yesterday came and they played together. I told her (with the help of Translate) that August had wanted to come back to play with her. They played together most of the 40 minutes we were there. When he had built something he said “What that is?…Dinosaur with bones.” When she walked away he said “Where’s she going?” When she came back he told her “I made a curve.” He made a sculpture: “It’s a dragon coming out of someone’s bottom…” It continued from there, and I said I was happy she didn’t understand him too well.

He needed to use the bathroom, so we got ready to go, but then he was running around to other things in the basement. They played with the magnets for a couple minutes. He said  “One more thing…the robot!” We left at 3:25 and headed upstairs to the bathroom. He said “I’m comfortable with that woman, but not the other ones…I like all the people that work here.”

We then spent another 45 minutes up at the water area. We spent a lot of time with the tubes, making water turn the little water wheel and full up the shapes. He also figured out how to pull a rope hand over hand for the first time as we pulled up the bucket and dumped it out.

We left about 4:20. He wanted to look for turtles in the pond. Didn’t see any today, but saw bugs walking on the surface and we saw fish. Finally, at the UNESCO Little Prince/elephant statue/stairs thing he saw a bunch of bigger kids playing on it and wanted to go up and through. He couldn’t at first because it was full, but when it cleared out a bit he was able to do so. He then saw the kids sitting down in a row on the edge and ran over and sat down with them and scooted right next to a girl in a blue shirt. He then drew a crowd of them.

We headed home and got to Hagye at 5:10. On the platform he was looking up at the lights or something and said “If you had a very long  extendo arm you could tech that high?” He was then pointing at people and things: “That one used to be a baby? The elevator used to be a baby?”

We were home after 5:20. They nursed, then he ate some veggies and tofu, Not a lot, but he’d been eating good all day (we had stopped outside the children’s museum and he had eaten a bunch). Carly gave him a bath and skipped a hair washing day. We read Loch Mess Monster and Tallulah’s Tap Shoes. He told me he didn’t like me smelling like tea, so I went and got a breath mint and he said he liked that. He saw Carly slicing some cheese, so had some crackers and cheese. He then read part of a book in bed with Carly and went to sleep at 7:35.

Photos: 

Sculpture: 

Playground: 

Poop bread: 

Walking out: 

Children’s museum: 

Sitting with the kids: 

He was up before 6, then fell back to sleep on the couch for 10 or so minutes. He was just waking up when I came out. With Carly he took care of pillow, yellow circle thing, drumstick (that had eaten an insect), etc. as a doctor. We were playing

Animal Doctor while she left. We then went into the reading area to read: Loch Mess Monster, Goodnight Goodnight Construction Site, Frog and Toad, and Tallulah’s Tap Shoes (he wants to do both now). We had Cheerios and banana for breakfast. We then played a lot of the Doctor game taking care of objects. It kind of went on and on. Watched some Pink Panther and exercised, then more Pink Panther and showered. Followed by more taking care of objects. One was the box for the Teuni Spin Monster game and he wanted the cups to do the rolling like the picture on the box.

As we got ready to go he saw his tan hat and claimed of both his hats “They’re both getting small.” And he said “I want to go outside and eat letter cookies. Cookie Monster doesn’t eat then cuz he’s in Sesame Street.” When it came time to choose which shoes to wear he tried to choose my shoes before settling on the water shoes. I remembered to grab the picnic mat before we left, he said “I want TWO picnic mats.”

Got to Children’s Grand Park around 11:30. Got some kimbap to add to our lunch then went to find a picnic spot. But suddenly he decided “I don’t like picnics.” He’d seen a picture of a picnic in one of the books we read (Frog and Toad?), so quite a turn around. We ate by the rectangle pond, and he continued to talk about not liking things: “I don’t like trees because they get big. I want them small. I like SMALL things.” And he sang about how he didn’t like the smoothie drink (he doesn’t like the green one as much) “I don’t like the smoothie drink because of the flavor…It tastes like lemon…I don’t like the lemon…the lemon taste is unbelievable, unbelievable…”

We looked at the books, still no Ants Go Marching. Headed to the bathroom at 12:10. The big fountain was on, but he didn’t like it and put his fingers in his ears: “I don’t like the loud noise.” And in the bathroom he didn’t like the soap things (they have bars of soap on long rods that rotate up and down) being down:  “I like UP things.”

As we walked out of the bathroom he covered his ears for the fountain and for the tennis ball a guy was bouncing. I asked if he really didn’t like the sounds or if he was just being silly, and he said “silly”. We looked at the flowers on the way to the playground. He went up on the play structure for a minute, then was tagging kids going the other direction as he ran back down the ramp. He told me “I’m going under.” and we went to the underneath part and played with those rotating toy things, particularly the one with the balls stuck in it. He found a plastic bottle under the slide but needed my help to grab it.

We then went over to the faucets at the west end of the playground and played there for quite awhile. The only complaint was that August wanted the lower faucets to turn, instead of being push faucets, although he figured out how to do them on his own. We then sat at a covered bench and had some letter crackers, after which he saw older kids playing in the other set of faucets, the ones in a circle. When they started to clear out we went and played in that water. He particularly liked making one of them spray out of the water area and onto the sidewalk. Had to be careful that he didn’t spray anyone walking by.

We were done there at 1:30. He found a stick and asked Found stick “Is this our sticky?” He then wanted to hear all the stories about our lost things: “What happened to the buried one?” (Referring to a tennis ball we were burying and then left) “What happened to sticky 1?” “What happened to the shoe?” (The shoe we lost on a train) He put his shoes on his hands and was rubbing them on me, asking  “I’m sharpening dada?” He then sat on my lap and we took photos of his shoe hands. A tractor drove by again and he plugged his ears for it again (after it had gone by the drinking fountains earlier).

We then walked to the children’s museum. He got up on the deck area and said “Walking on boards where…played with bubble gun.”

We started playing at the children’s museum at 1:55. She showed him the handstamp and he said “Alien!” He ran into the Idea Transformer area and first went to recycling, where a bunch of kids were playing with it. He got a bit frustrated as he couldn’t get in to play, but then that group left and we played with it. From there he ran over and was playing with the black shape magnets on the board, and made a big L-shape shape out of them. He was just stepping back and telling me a couple times to “Look at my shape!” when a smaller girl came up and started playing with the magnets. He got so upset as I picked him up and comforted him: “I want MY shape!” “I liked my shape!” “Its mine! It’s mine!” After they left we went back and remade his shape (I’d taken a photo just as she she was about to play with it).

We then went to the building blocks area and spent a long, long time building what he said at one point was a city, although later he told Carly it was a playground. That was really a lot of fun. That kind of ended when he was stepping in front of a sensor that turns on a fan to blow some pinwheel things. He didn’t like the noise and was covering his ears and walking halfway across the room, even though it was a quiet sound. I showed him what was happening, and how he just needed to add to the opposite end of our city, but he was done. We played a bit more with the recycling, then went downstairs at 3:05.

There, he was able to turn all the robot wheel things for the first time, then finished up with a long stint playing with the blue blocks. There, he really liked the three songs that repeat: Thomas Newman’s Dead Already from American Beauty, Michel Portal’s James from the album Anyway, and a piano piece Aria Mit 30 by Sara Davis Buechner (although I listened to this later and Shazam got it wrong…need to find this one though, as he said “I really like it.”). A woman that works there came over and was playing with him – they were swinging the big long blue pieces at each other, and building things out of them. He played with one as an extendo arm and said “I can reach high with my extendo arm”.

We left because he needed to use the bathroom. Went up to the second floor for that, then he wandered up to the construction site and played with the lift belt that takes the bricks to the second floor. He said “It’s like an extendo arm.” I thought that was a pretty cool connection to make. He then went to the little garden area and was planting things. He wanted the watering can. There used to be one, but it has vanished. I got out his water bottle and he was happy with that: “Water this. Now it will grow.” Back in the construction area he did some light drawing, then ran off. Which was a problem, because by the time I extricated myself from the small house area with the backpack, I wasn’t sure if he’d gone on the down ramp or the up ramp. Luckily, a worker instantly told me he had gone up.

Up by the water area I took him aside and got him to focus and talked about not running off. He said he understood. He mainly played with another of the ball shooters that shoots the balls up a jet of water, then they roll down a track and into the tub with a funnel of water in it and fall through it. However, kids keep putting more than one ball in at once, meaning they then don’t have enough pressure to get over the top and get stuck in the tube. You have to stick your hand in and grab them out, and try to not get squirted by the jet of water in the process. You end up getting squirted by the jet of water in the process.

Anyway, around 4 I was trying to tell him it was time to go home. He kept saying “Oh no! Oh no! Oh no! Don’t do th
at!” We agreed on 3 more minutes, but it was more like 10, and we left at 4:20.

We had a snack out front. He stole my apple slice from me at one point. At 4:38 I said it was time to go. “No. I don’t like leaving.” We walked across the pond and I spotted a turtle. After it swam away he didn’t want to leave: “But I want to look for more now.”

We were on a train at 4:50 and he ate most of a Larabar. We got home a bit past 5:20. He was falling asleep when they nursed, so she put on Beethoven’s Ninth to keep him away. He ate a little dinner, then they had some popsicle. I tried to get him to repeat what he’d said earlier about trees, but he changed his story: “I like trees because they’re not the people.” Carly gave him a bath, and afterwards he was plugging his ears as he continued to watch some Pink Panther. We read Hole in the King’s Sock before he went to sleep a little before 7:30.

Photos. Picnic of sorts: 

Plugging his ears: 

Smelling flowers: 

Tractor: 

Shoe hands: 

Tractor comes back: 

Girl playing with his shape: 

Building the city: 

Blue blocks: 

Planting: 

Watching Pink Panther: