Author: Ryan/Dada

August was up at 6:15. When I woke up a bit later, I heard Carly go to the bathroom, so I went out and got Carly’s gift out and August carried it to Carly and gave it to her in the hall. It was a box of choco pies, six small packs of M&Ms that make a hexagon, and one of those fidget spinners, because Carly had mentioned she wanted one after August and I played with them at Children’s Grand Park station. I then made Swedish pancakes that turned out pretty well. August ate after he had gone to the bathroom, and Carly said “We didn’t wash your hands.” He replied “I’m okay with that.” And a bit later “I’m okay with germs.”

After eating, Carly told him to tell me “You’re the best.” He then said it a minute alter, and Carly was shocked he knew that phrase – she had forgotten she had told him to say it jut a minute earlier. They read Bob Books, then Carly took him outside about 9:30. I showered and did dishes. They were back a little after 10. They had walked along the stream. A nice wind and someone loved his blue eyes.

We were getting ready to go to Hoegi, and he carefully pulled out all the art supplies under the coffee table and dumped them in a big pile and stacked the empty bins. He then kind of just stood and admired his pile. Cherie called, so they Skyped with her for awhile. As we left, he chose his black sandals. We asked why, and he said “I just prefer these ones.” We left around 11. The whole way down, and thoughtout the day, he was humming a tune that I think is from one of his apps – perhaps Park Math or something like that. He didn’t know where it was from either. Need to try to find it… On the bus he did it in different instruments, and in different octaves. He was also thinking about the rhythm and said “Those are dotted eighth notes?” They were. Carly got to sit down, and we stood. August pointed and said “Toure sitting next to that guy?”

At Kwangwoon Station he looked at a bakery sign and said “That says Hot Bread.” From Hoegi Station we walked to Subway and got sandwiches. I got teriyaki chicken this time. We walked into Kwangwoon University for lunch and sat on the top of the big set of steps in front of the administrative building or whatever it is. He was worried about our bags blowing away. From there we walked to see the group of kids that had walked by, then he saw a group of people having a big picnic. They had been occasionally cheering, and he was curious about him. They waved, and loved it when he said “Anyanhasayeo!”

We planned to head south, then west to a park (홍릉근린공원). We first used the bathrooms we’ve used several times before there, then got going. But first he saw a path through the trees up towards the library and really wanted to walk up there. So we turned around and walked up there a bit. He wanted to proceed up the hill, but we convinced him to head the other way.

It wasn’t incredibly long, but August wanted out of the backpack at one point, then wasn’t moving too quickly. He found a broken orange cone and played with that for several minutes. That was pretty funny. He pretended to spray water out of it and put it on his head. We continued on when he was done. But then we got to the park but it didn’t appear we could go in the east end. We continued to walk around to the west side, but first found the Soorim Arts Center (수림아트센터). We spent about an hour there. They had some cool art, and while I looked at the main show Carly and August rode the elevator because he wanted to see what was on other floors. They found the rooftop terrace. They came back and looked through the main gallery for a bit. Then August got to break the rules by nursing outside of home. He was quite excited about that. I went up and saw the roof. Tried to take the stairs but a guy said I couldn’t go any further, so I went back and took the elevator instead. We used the bathroom and left at 2:15.

We went a bit farther south, but the next entrance to the park was closed – we’d have to go to the southwest corner. We walked up a side street and found the Sejong Museum. There were some King Sejong-related artifacts outside, and some event going on with drumming. We looked around and sat and ate more of our sandwiches and listened to the drumming.

We then walked back to 8st Coffee. Much faster this time, as August happily stayed in the backpack. They have remodeled the first floor and moved the counter and art spaces around. We each got a drink – August with a blueberry yogurt smoothie. They have three specialty drinks that I’ve had before, but I couldn’t really tell you the difference. Went with the Saigon one this time. We filled up a free drink card, but we couldn’t use it this time, so we’re ‘forced’ to go back once more.

Anyway, August chose to sit on the third floor again. While we sat there and read/played the iPad, a woman who worked there came by and recognized us. She pulled up the photo on her phone of when she took her photo with August like a year and a half ago.

We briefly saw the dog before leaving, but August wasn’t too interested. We headed home. At Kwangwoon I made the mistake of wanting to walk quickly though Daiso to look for small caribiners to use as zipper pulls on a suitcase. August immediately wanted to get down and explore. We left, but he was not happy at all. He was pretty upset the entire way back on the bus. We got home at 5, and as I got him out of the backpack I apologized for the Daiso thing – it was too soon, as he got his totally sad look and started crying again.

They nursed and I set up the scanner to scan medical paperwork, notebooks, etc. I wanted to get rid of. He really got into that and would press the button for me. We had dinner, and he watched videos about pasta machines, then Parmesan cheese. He then requested pine nuts. We had a few left, so I gave him those. Carly said it was time for his bath and he said “No, I’m eating pine nuts.”

She gave him a bath and he watched Pink Panther. We then cleaned up the big mess from earlier. At first he didn’t want to because it was too big, but we worked together and he got into it. We then read while Carly took a shower: Cat in the Hat, Steak for Supper, Gustav the Goldfish, some of The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. He went in to bed at 7:35 and was asleep by 8.

Photos. Lunch spot. Notice him holding the bags: 

Cone head: 

Coffee shop: 

Selfie with the woman again:

His card: 

They were up at 5. When I got up a couple hours later they were having a lot of fun, with August putting things down Carly’s shirt and Carly putting things in his hood. I joined in the fun. He and I played some more, then took care of a couple of the Duplo animals. Carly went and started vacuuming. He used a book to make wind “This book makes wind? All books make wind?” We then read Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight and at the end he got a little upset that I wouldn’t buy a new Berenstain Bears book right away. He went out and investigated the vacuum cleaner, asking Carly all sorts of questions about it.

I sorted out some of his clothes that are small. He sort of helped. He also put things in a pair of shorts and pants. We then read The Cat in the Hat Comes Back and The Cat in the Hat. He did help with recycling, then when I said I was going to take it down he said he was going with me. He wanted his orange shoes, and wore them without socks. We took his bike down, and he helped put in some of the recycling. It was funny how the guys down there reacted. August found a bottle cap on the ground and one guy helped him find the right bag. Then, I was having him pour in the milk cartons, but the other guy came along and poured it in for us. Then, I handed August the styrofoam and the same guy took it out of August’s hands and threw it in. August said “I wanted to do it.” But then he was able to do the metal and glass stuff, so it was okay.

Then we walked home. As we walked by Mama Juice he noticed it was open and wanted some. I told him we should talk to Mama and maybe go later. At home, he got Carly’s shoes and said”Be a robot with mama’s shoes.” I took a shower. After I got out, he was using one of Carly’s skirts to make wind. They nursed, but he was grabbing or something and he got upset when they had to stop. A bit later though they were starting to read Ramona Quimby, Age 8.

We left at 9:55. August said he was walking, so none of us noticed the bike wasn’t in the hall. I then spotted it down where we had parked it near recycling. August hopped on and we headed out. I asked him where we should go, and he said “bike decide”. We ended up walking over to the stream. We just walked up and around, and were home by 10:30.

At home, he said “I want to always live in Korea.” Then a bit later “Dada loves you so much. Not as much as mama.” I was looking at our vacuum cleaners to fix the clip – our ‘new’ one had a missing clip to keep the bag in place, and I replaced it from the one from the old one. August spent a lot of time inspecting the two vacuums and pretending to have them suck things up.

Carly had written a list, and we then all headed to Home Plus at 10:50. There, August needed to use the bathroom, so Carly went ahead and started shopping. No luck finding vacuum cleaner bags (we want to take a good supply to Israel), so will have to look elsewhere. August and I played with the toys again – mainly the cars, then went down to help finish with the shopping. We then came home and he helped me put the groceries away, handing things to me.

He had pointed out the watermelon at Home Plus, so Carly cut it up for him and they ate watermelon. I asked which he loved more, and he said he loved watermelon more than mama. I made a salmon sandwich for lunch and we ate that, then read the Poli book We Are Ready! from his most recent class.

I then gave him a bath (he hadn’t had one last night) and we watched Pirates of the Caribbean and then started Pink Panther – the 1,000,000th customer and pizza episodes. While he kept watching those in the reading area I started his haircut. Carly then finished. Carly then did some vacuuming and August wanted her to stop and was yelling “Now stop!”

There was a little lightning and we knew a storm was coming, but thought we’d go outside for a few minutes. A bit too late, as it started to pour as we were about ready. We We Are Ready! again. I folded some of my shirts to pack and he tried one of them on and played around.

Carly had made nutty noodles so August had some. We then read some Dr. Seuss: Gustav, some Mayzie, and something else. Carly wanted to sit in the reading area but realized there were no pillows – August had hauled them into the bedroom earlier. He then went and came back carrying two pillows for her. Very sweet. They cuddled, then he tried on a pair of pants that I brought. They were too big, so we went with his number pants.

Carly needed some rest time, so he and I left at 5 – the storm had passed. We rode around the parks, and he pointed at the  Slice Image David statue and said he liked it. We then went in the art museum to look at art. We went downstairs, and he spent a good amount of time looking at the moving U Ram Choi sculpture. An attendant warned me that a kid had fallen over the little wall the other day and broken a tooth. We then went up the elevator to the second floor. He really wanted to get something (dessert, that is) at the coffee shop, but I convinced him otherwise. We looked at some of the art on the second floor, then he needed to go to the bathroom. Back to the first floor for that, and he looked at the exhibit sign that had punctuation marks in big plastic pieces. I asked if he wanted to go look at more art or leave. He said “On the bike. Head home. And find mama.”

We left at 5:45, but didn’t head straight home. Instead, he somehow got his arm out of his sleeve, through the neck hole. He liked it, and got off the bike and started running around. When I tried to get him he ran away, so I chased him. I brought him back by the bike, and he used the hanging sleeve as a vacuum cleaner, sucking everything up.

We got back on the bike, but then found a puddle with yellow pollen in it. He wanted to stop, and used a stick in it. It made the pollen swirl around, making vortices and spirals. He wrote “fancy letters” then was doing what we called “pollen art”. Did that quite awhile until, as I was telling him to be careful when people were walking by, he lightly hit a woman with his stick. I took his stick away and he got upset. We talked through it, and he got his stick back, but he was done.

We were home at 6:35. They nursed, then he ate dinner. Since he was having pasta, he wanted to see how pasta was made. We found two videos of pasta machines, which he really liked, then he wanted to keep watching and the next video was of a ground beef machine. After that, he asked about macaroni specifically, and we found a Mr. Roger’s vide on macaroni, which was followed by construction paper and crayons.

After that he headed to bed. Before going to sleep he commented on how he wants my birthday cake now. He was asleep about 7:45.

Photos: 

Haircut: 

Museum: 

Outside: 

He was up at 6:30. He locked the parlor door when Carly said he needed to go to the bathroom. Eventually he gave in and she changed him and they nursed. Carly got him Cheerios for breakfast. When she was leaving for work (she didn’t have to teach today, as the kids were still at the retreat), he ran out in the hallway with just his shirt and underwear. He actually went down the hall past the elevators. Sara was also headed to work, so he said goodbye to both of them and waved as they got in the elevator.

He wanted to go outside, so we went back and changed him into clothes. Found out one of his pars of shorts from last summer is too small. He started playing with the vacuum cleaner, asking what all the parts of it are for and pretending to suck things up, and he then didn’t want to go outside right away. Went to play iPad instead. It froze again (I need to delete stuff from it) so he used mine to play Human Body.

He again wanted to go outside, but started playing with the vacuum cleaner again. Thanks to all his questions, I realized you can attach the tube part to the body when it is in the closet. Then, looking out the window, he said “I want a vacuum cleaner in Israel.”

We left at 8:20. Lots of discussion of tempos, and we sang Sesame Street songs and some others. We walked up the stream and then to Madeul Stadium. He noted that there was no one playing football (I explained how it is both ‘soccer’ and ‘football’ the other day, but most of the world says ‘football’ and he decided on ‘football’) he wanted to go in. So we went in and pretended to play soccer and we talked about fake grass. As we left he fell as he was running. Think he scraped his knees on the grass a little. He got up and looked at his knees. I asked if he wanted me to pick him up. He replied “No. I don’t want you to pick me up.”

We sat on the bench/wall by the faucets and ate some banana, then went across and threw the peel away and looked at some of the history exhibits as we walked around the park.

We got to the spiderweb playground at 9. He didn’t get off the bike. He pushed around a toddler walker but then wanted to leave. But then the one adult and three or four kids that were with her left, probably to catch a school bus, and he said “There’s no kids now?…I didn’t want the kids to be here.” He went to play, but didn’t play long. He went on the spinny thing a little, with me holding it at first, then a little spinning on his own, then we got going when he needed to use the bathroom. We went back across the street and used the bathrooms at Madeul Stadium.

We got home after 9:30. Had some Cheerios and bananas. He liked the Edie Brikell album we were listening to and added two songs to his playlist. He then got the Larva game and we played that once. We then took care of a couple of the animals using the doctor stuff. I took a shower, then he came in and played in the sink for quite awhile. Back out by the Duplos, we were lying on the reading area and he played with my watch and found the Breathe app, so we did deep breaths for a minute. We had crab, cream cheese, and crackers for a snack, then watched an episode of the Smurfs where Gargamel tries to catch them with a storm.

We then made a Mother’s Day card for Carly. He wrote it all. He was a bit upset when he made an i instead of an exclamation point. He made it worse by scribbling out the extra dot, but that of course just made it worse. I convinced him to cover it with a sticker. He used two, as he could see it through the first one. Added stickers to the whole card, did some art on the back, and it was done. Then played the Duplos down our shirts game. Played in my sink again and did some exercise in there as well, and we got ready to go back out and left at 1:30.

We first went to Chrysanthemum Park. Climbed up the rope ladder to get on the structure, then went around together and went down the slide. He wouldn’t play with the bubble gun. Don’t know why. Left before 2:10. He said he didn’t like that park and wanted a bigger one. We went just north to the Poli Park. Not bigger, but he was excited by the characters. Went on the play structure and from one character’s section to another. Went up and down the round platforms quite easily.

But the big thing, after we used the bathroom there, was playing in the faucets. First with the two drinking fountains that he could reach, but needed help getting pushed down. Then, there was a little hose attached to the faucet on the side. He simply sprayed water down the drain, and kept talking about the dust (sand) going down the drain. That went on and on, and I got a lot of my book (Eco’s Numero Zero) read. And he sang a “I don’t like sand because…” There were multiple reasons, like because it is brown. Eventually, a class of middle or high school kids came. They were nice, but a ton of them just stood there and kept trying to say hi to him and tell him he was handsome over and over. Really quite annoying after a minute as we were both trying to ignore them. Finally, it was too much for him and he wanted to leave. We left at 3:20.

At first he said he didn’t want to go, but then changed his mind and we went to Cafe Tolerance. He got two pineapple juices and I got a macchiato. He chose seats, and our usual ones were taken, so we sat looking out the windows facing north. Not facing the stream, but facing the big construction site, which has a huge crane that we got to watch. He did art on my iPad and I read. At one point the crane hauled what looked like a less than ideally secured pack of grey things – looked like concrete slabs, but maybe not. I commented on it, and he said “Its moving, but it’s not falling down.” And “Maybe that could slip out any time.” For his art he was saying things like “this is a boa constrictor…this is a kiepormite.” He used the bathroom before we left, wearing the slippers to go in. Oh, and the woman there still remembers his name.

We left and were home at 4:30. I realized we were short on both flour and eggs (for pancakes this weekend) so we turned around and went to Lucky Mart. A quick shopping trip. We walked by the food court and realized there are a few things we still want to try there, so we need to eat lunch there a few more times.

We got home right at 5 but Carly wasn’t there. So we turned around and went back out again. We met Carly on the first floor carrying the iHerb order.

He had some dinner and helped me put away the iHerb order. They then nursed and he fell asleep at 6:20. We let him sleep. At 8 though he woke up…to go to the bathroom. That was cool. The first time he’s gotten up from sleep to go to the bathroom.

Photos: 

Running into me: 

Spinning thing: 

Breathing: 

Making mama’s card: 

Poli Park. Jumping down stairs: 

Fountain: 

Watching the crane: 

Slippers: 

Wanting to do a claw machine: 

Bad dream at 11. I took him out to Carly. Nursed from 5:30 to 6 before getting up. He was rather stuffy through the night. Think he watched some Pink Panther again. When I got up he was doing some Hangeul – he said “Dada doesn’t like this one?” He remembered that I don’t like it because it just teaches you all these names of musicians and songs. Luckily, he switched to Animal Doctor and we did that together. Carly had made him oatmeal with banana for breakfast. He didn’t want Carly to leave for work, so we walked her to the elevator and he did a good job of waving and saying bye to her there.

Went back and changed him and got sweatshirts on as he wanted to go outside. He played the queens box game, lifting boxes and dropping them in the ocean, as we put on our shoes. We headed back outside at 7:20.

We went out and walked laps around the park, singing We all sing with the same voice, I don’t want to live on the moon, and What’s the name of that song? He kept singing parts of the last one as we played around after that. At the dinosaurs he said “I want to measure that neck.” We went back across the bridge to the east side and right at 8, as they opened, we went to Dunkin Donuts.

There, we settled on a cheese bagel and cream cheese and a little pack of four donuts. The pack of four donuts had a little pink donut that he really wanted. We made a deal that we would just eat one donut each right now and save the others for later. He agreed. While we waited for our food, he was dancing to the music playing and said he was “Dancing like a jellyfish.”

When we were done eating he was thirsty. We went across to the faucets in the park across the street and I held him up so he could drink from a faucet. He then found a blue straw on the ground and we spent a lot of time sticking it up the faucet and having the water come out. He got water down his sleeve so took the coat off. Luckily, it was warmer now.

We crossed the street and then he needed the bathroom. Still didn’t want to go home, so we used the bathroom in the park. Then stopped at the water faucets close to us and played more in the water. I had kept the straw to recycle, so he had that to play with. We got home right at 9:20, two hours after we left.

We ate the second set of donuts, and then watched a video on how donuts are made. He then watched his ink video and I exercised. We then built things out of Duplos, and he destroyed them as we listened to Concrete Blonde. We also listened to the Musica Secreta album Lucrezia Borgia’s Daughter that I had read about a couple months ago and he added one of the tracks to his playlist. And a Tom Petty song later, as well.

I left him playing iPad and went to take a shower. But he came in right away and waited impatiently for me to come out. He had found the fingernail clippers and wanted to know how to use them. After that, he put Duplos down his shirt, then he put animals and other Duplos down my shirt.

We skyped with my parents. They asked him to sing a song and he sang the Smurf theme song for them. After that we had salmon, crackers, and cream cheese for a snack. Carly had left her work shoes here, as she was going with students on a retreat today, and so he was playing with them and hugged one of her shoes. Finally, he played with the calculator on the iPad before we got going to Teuni Teuni class.

He was in constant motion at class. The first part of class had them wearing tool belts and hats. They walked around a walking course and picked up a new tool for their tool belt each time. There was a series of squishy semicircles as part of the walking path, and August did a good job of walking across it on his own over and over. Then it switched to a travel theme. They got suitcases with monsters on them, then put little objects in them, sort of a puzzle. Then they all walked in circles around the room, pulling their suitcases. They then went through security, with the teacher using a metal detector on them. Sometimes he would have it detect something, and he would take something out of their suitcases.

After class we went looking for lunch. We went down to the first basement and looked at the restaurants. Once place had dongatsu and August decided he really wanted dongatsu. It was pricey there though, so I suggested we go someplace else. And I had the idea of checking out what was in the 2001 Outlet building. We left the bike outside the building and went up to the eighth floor. But no pictures on the menu. I could generally make out what things were, but didn’t know what sides there were, or what a set included, etc. So we headed back out and went to Noodle Tree in Brownstone.

There, we got the soup and dongatsu set. Had fun with that. August used a fork to eat the dongatsu, and he continued to eat the broth of the soup even after the kimchi mixed in and made it medium spicy. He needed to use the bathroom, so we headed home at 2:40.

We almost went right back out, but decided to rest for a bit. We read Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight and I was resting on the reading area. August rolled onto one of the pillows and said “I rolled on mama’s germ pillow.” I assumed this was something that Carly had called it for some reason, but later I asked her and she said she hadn’t called it that. He wanted the keyboard hooked up, and we did some GarageBand. We made samples together, and made an interesting one of both of us saying something. We were making a little song out of it when the iPad froze. He turned it upside down so he didn’t have to see the apple.

He wanted to head outside, so we got going. Which was good as it was time for Poli class. We were singing “I don’t want to live on the moon.” A couple times today, if I made a mistake with the words or the tune he would say “That’s not right.” Class went fine. August was into the reading (He loudly read ‘Welcome to the Circus’ when he saw it on the screen) and the songs at the beginning. The middle activity dragged, as usual. August was controlled by eating crackers. When it came to the new book and doing the stickers, he was very concerned about getting the stickers in the exact right spot.

After class we went down to Home Plus. August jumped off the bike right after we walked into the store. The attendant came and made me leave the bike out. We’ve taken the bike in dozens of times now and it’s never been an issue. May have been a miscommunication, and he was just trying to be helpful, but when I tried saying “It’s okay” and walking away he kept following me and being very persistent. We went and got a few groceries, and a bag of dried blueberries to try. He needed to go to the bathroom so we paid. The bathroom on the second basement was busy, so we went up to the first basement.

We then went back in Home Plus on the first basement. Stopped at the sample toys and played with them. First the horrible plastic train set that kept coming apart. Can’t imagine how letting people actually use that train set would make anyone want to buy it. There were then a couple of remote controlled cars that didn’t work because the batteries were dead. August was using the antenna on the controllers as a sort of crane and using them to lift up the cars by the security tags around them. I was standing right there when a boy, maybe eight or so, walked up and grabbed a car right out of August’s hands. I grabbed it right back and sent him on his way. When he was done with that, we headed back down to the grocery level and got these little tetrahedron-shaped packs of M&Ms and a box of choco pies for Carly.

Carly had said she would probably be back at 7, so we planned to go home, eat dinner, watch the fourth movement of Beethoven’s Ninth, and take a bath before he arrived. After he got upset when Carly was a little late yesterday, I was afraid he was going to do the same today. Although he’d mentioned her a few times, he hadn’t gotten upset when I talked about our evening plans or her being later. Didn’t have to tes
t it further though, as we walked in the house a couple minutes after 6, and Carly walked in a minute later.

They nursed, watched Beethoven’s Ninth, and I got him some food for dinner. He ate that, then Carly took him in for a bath and I did dishes. He was upset about her washing his hair. We took him in to get ready for bed, and he started Qing things before bed. We talked about Qing things outside tomorrow, and he said he wanted a place with a lot of trees. Maybe Dobongson. He was asleep by 7:30.

Photos: 

Teuni Teuni: 

Lunch: 

Train: 

Being a crane: 

At 4 something he woke up and called “Mama! Help!” Carly came and got him and took him to the reading area where slept until 6. We were asking him “Do you remember what you were dreaming last night?” “Yeah! Drink Gatorade.” That part seemed pretty quick, so was plausible, but that as we asked about the bad dream it turned into a story about someone taking his Gatorade. We asked “Who took it?” and he replied “Someone else’s kid.”

Carly headed to work and he played a little Dragonbox Big Numbers but then declared “I want to go outside.” He said it a few times through morning, but it was still a bit rainy. Cheerios and banana for breakfast, then he wanted the Smurf picnic story again so I told that. We talked about his allergy medicine and how I put it in his water. He said “But I can’t taste it.” Had some more Cheerios and banana and he wanted to play Human Body. He said “You’re learning things. You’re stuck on Human Body? You’re stuck on smelling and nerves. You’re stuck on smelling and messages?”

He then wanted to leave right away. So I took a shower and we got going, and left right at 9:00. Outside we watched a backhoe pick up broken asphalt for a few minutes, then headed for Seoul Forest. We transferred at Gangnam-gu Offices, and the train was packed. He was standing, and at the first stop I had to pick him up and step off the train backwards and let everyone off. One more stop and we were at Seoul Forest at 10:10.

We went to the bathroom. The piano that had been near there last fall was gone. I didn’t point that out to him until we were leaving the park later. So we went to the playground. He wanted to climb the rope things, but they were all wet. He came back and had some sandwich, humming and making yummy noises. He wanted me to kiss his head and we did the bird poop thing several times. We made a video of it then he wanted to watch the video.

Then, our big discovery. We went over to the stream area and started playing with the water screw things, where you turn them and it draws water up and pours it out. He needed my help at first, but then figured out he could do it on his own. He asked about gravity, and we talked about how he was using mechanical energy to draw it up, and the gravity was pulling the after back down. There was a lot of discussion of ‘tools’ and ‘machines’ and ‘winding inclined planes’ and what they meant. He would spin it, then look down at the water leaking back down to the stream and ask “That’s Zinnie’s water?…That’s more Zinnie’s water?”

We played at that one for an hour or so. A childcare group was playing with the other one. Eventually he went over to check it out, and we looked at the spillway for that one. They left, and August started using that one. We paused and ate an orange. It was alternating between sunny and calm and cloudy and breezy. He kept refusing his coat, saying “I’m sure I don’t want my coat.” But eventually I got it on him. We discussed how long he was playing with these things and he said “Zinnie keeps doing it? Why? Because it’s pretty cool?”

Finally, he played with the toy backhoe thing. He could almost do it by himself, but needed my help to actually lift the arm up. Did that maybe 10 minutes, then he headed back over to the play structures at 12:28 – close to 2 hours after we went to the stream area. I did a lot of winding with him, but also read a lot of my book.

The structure he went to this time was the big wire sculpture of a person that you can climb through. To August it looked like a vacuum cleaner, and as he saw kids in it he asked “You can be sucked up in the vacuum cleaner!?” We had to wait a few minutes to get him in, as it was crowded with older kids going through, and August wanted to go in what they were using as an exit. He climbed in the structure and pretended to be vacuuming “I cleaned up Zinnie…I cleaned up dada.” He got up to the knee of the leg, but was going to need my help to go down the tube ladder – the part he really felt looked like a vacuum cleaner. I went around and went in the other end, with the intent of helping him climb down. But then other kids showed up and followed me in, so when I got up the ladder I had to have August turn around and head back the way he came from. He still enjoyed it, but admitted later he was disappointed he didn’t go all the way through.

We made one more effort of it, going in the bottom of the structure. But this time, another school group came and started climbing in the other end – the opposite direction of the previous group. So they were coming down the ladder part as August and I were heading in to go up it. So we came out.

As he played around that area, I asked “Do you want some triangle kimbap?” He said “Eh. Maybe it will make me sick.” I THINK this was just a joke, but that one time he did get sick to the stomach, I was pretty sure it was the triangle kimbap we bought – I only had one bite of it and he ate the rest. We’ve had triangle kimbap several times since then though and he hasn’t mentioned it making him sick. So probably just a coincidence.

Anyway, he asked “What Bert sounds like?” Referring to Bert and Ernie. This started with him trying to get them straight (he kept calling Ernie Bert) and me doing their voices. He’s asked a few times and I have a routine where Ernie has Bert’s shoe on his hand and Bert is asking why and wants it back because he needs to go outside.

August then found dandelions and was brushing off the seeds, and a butterfly fluttered around us. We started to go, and he stopped by some flower bushes and was touching them, then was rubbing his eyes a bit. Finally, we left at 1 headed for the butterfly and insect buildings. We stopped at the CU and got a regular kimbap, a spicy triangle one (for me), and a fruit cup of mango. We sat on our usual square benches (where I once changed him back when with my parents, and where we’ve eaten several times) and ate.

We then went to the butterfly house. Didn’t stay long there, but August is now able to walk back and forth on the posts that act as steps across the stream area. We then went into the insect house. A quick trip for us, but saw several things. When he got to the second floor he instantly said “There’s no chairs.” He remembered all the cool little stools that used to be there.

We left and he needed the bathroom, so we went to the one by the square bench. When we came out he ran up behind to people sitting on the bench and yelled a nonsense word. He told me “That’s scoopedoodle language.” I think I asked if he wanted water at some point. He replied “No, I want nectar.” We left, headed for the deer, at 2. Alas, the deer feeding was closed due to hood disease again. So we said hi from afar (I was remembering how we used to say bye and thank you to places when we left them and we’ve been trying to do more of that again), then walked back, all the way to the stream area again.

Here he played with the screw things for another long time. First the right one, then the left one. At one point he was singing and humming and dancing to “It’s O.K.” We paused at 2:40 to finally eat some of the animal crackers from my parents. He really liked those but agreed to save some for another day. We had more of our kimbap, and he said “I like radish, but sometimes I don’t.”

He was asking, of the path area we were playing on, “Bikes might come?” I said “No, I don’t think so.” He looked around, saw the uneven stone surface, and said “Because of the bumps?” That was some interesting thinking on his part.

I then taught him to play fetch. That was pretty funny. I didn’t get the best part on video though. After he fetched a stick several times, I did a fake and didn’t throw it. He looked around for the stick and said “Wait.” We took our garbage and threw it away. On the way back he found a feather and poked it in the sand on our way past and said “You made a decoration.” He then s
aid “I want the stick game!” Finally, he wanted five more minutes of the water turning thing, but then needed the bathroom.

On the way to the bathroom we looked a bit at the sculpture area, and a little plant house thing that was there. And he really liked the non-reflecting reflecting pond. We got to the bathroom a little after 3:20.

We took the train two stops, then on line 7 stopped at Children’s Grand Park and went up to buy one of the spinny things. When Carly heard that we had played with them, she mentioned that she wanted one. So we got her a green one as part of her Mother’s Day present.

On the train home no one complained about him being cold. However, when we got on August passed up three seats because he wanted to go stand at the bar area. A woman saw us and got up to give him her seat. I thanked her but said it was okay.  Nice of her to offer, but then she wouldn’t let it go and kept insisting. Finally she got the message and left us alone.

We got home at 4:50. We read a bunch of Seuss: Gustav, A Wocket in My Pocket, half of The Cat in the Hat, part of Daisy-Head Mayzie. But at 5:20 he suddenly got upset that Carly wasn’t home. So we got on our shoes and went to meet her at the elevators. We took an elevator down to the first floor, and as the doors opened there was Carly waiting to get on.

Went home and they nursed. We had hotdogs and other food for dinner, then I made another batch of the pasta salad. They nursed, took a bath, read books (Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight and others), and watched Pink Panther. With me we played with Peter Rabbit and his extendo arm, then played with the Monster Mix cards before taking him in to bed and he was asleep by 7:45.

Photos: 

Monster Mix: 

He woke up at 6:49. He sat in the doorway and asked for mama once. I sat down near him, and his only being upset when I said she was at work was to tell me to “Move” away from him. But a minute later we were sitting together on the couch. He suggested going outside but I told him it was colder and cloudy and he just leaned against me instead until he had to sneeze, then said he wanted to watch the fourth movement of Beethoven’s Ninth. Then played Namoo and Human Body.

We read There’s a Wocket in My Pocket! and Gustav, the Goldfish. He was then hungry so had a couple of slices of apple, and played with his plastic extendo arm and got his sandal and called it his “shoe hand” and used it to keep his hand from getting cold when he touched the freezer. I had music on and a track called “Death Speaks No. 2” he said “I like this. Add it to your playlist.”

He wanted oatmeal and banana for breakfast, so we had that. He played with the plastic piece extendo arm and had it peeing. He assured me “Don’t worry. It’s not real.” Exercised, then he was stretching with the extendo arm on the window to see how high it could reach. His iPad froze and restarted “I’m going to push it away so I can’t see the Apple.” I took a shower while he read/played with Little Green Riding Hood.

He started talking about going outside pretty early, so I started getting ready to go. At one point he jumped off the couch and declared “I want to move to Israel now.” I asked “What made you think of that?” He replied with “Mama’s at work…I want to do a work(?) party…I want to do a Monday(?) party.” He then said “I want to go to Israel now…How many days until we go to Israel?”

Took us quite awhile from there though to get outside. When we tried to get clothes for him he instead thought up filling a shirt with other clothes, like a bag. He then stacked a bunch of clothes on Carly’s blanket, which was sitting in there. He then had the idea of taking the blanket out to the reading area and piling random stuff on it. So that turned into a long game involving Duplos, doctor stuff, smurfs, etc. At one point he listened to my heart. Then he had his shirt and was dropping small items down through the sleeve for a long time.

Finally, he was stacking things on his water bottle, then swinging the measuring tape around to the music, saying “Measuring tape sounds like…” When he dropped the measuring tape he just swung around his two arms in the air and said “Two arms sound like…”

We left at 11:50. He was singing on the way out: “Umbrella, umbrella, umbrella…scoot, scoot, scoot. I was playing a scooter…spray, spray, spray…I was playing a fire extinguisher.”

At Hagye station he started pointing at people and saying “I don’t like those people…I don’t like that person, I don’t like that person…” Had to explain ‘rude’ to him. Just talking and singing and playing on the way down. Wore my hat for a bit.

We took our second chicken bake, grapes, a banana, and crab for lunch today. We walked up by the rectangle pond to eat. I set him down and kissed his head. He said “Maybe you kissed bird poop.” He then proceeded to wipe it on me. We ate lunch and our banana and he asked where bananas come from. I reminded him there were banana trees in the botanical gardens and he wanted to go see them. But first we looked for the Ants Go Marching book, but it appears to be gone. He also found a stick and was throwing it. We left at 1:00.

He walked all the way to the botanical garden. We watched the frog fountains then went inside to find the banana trees, and look at the pond and fish. He then needed to use the bathroom so we went to the ones in the building. After that he was done with the botanical gardens. Outside, he played with the Little Rock’s and flowers in the pots. A mom and daughter came up. The girl wanted to take a photo with August – she had a Flat Stanley paper doll and it was for school. August obliged, and gave a funny pose. He needs to work on his smiling in such photos because he looks like he wasn’t having fun, but he was laughing about how he stood afterwards.

We talked about going to the four swing playground. We headed through the zoo, and came across the elephant at feeding time. We watched the elephant for about 10 minutes. It ate lettuce and apples, then rubbed itself off and ran around a bit and blew air out its trunk.

We walked up and over the hill (August still walking) at to the walking path, where he balanced a bit. He then walked into the four swing playground, but we found it had just been stained and was technically closed. Which wasn’t stopping several people from using it anyway. He played with the closed ribbons a bit, then we moved on to the flat area next to where they are building a new playground. They’ve suddenly started to build a lot more – concrete patch where one playground used to be (where August played with those two girls a few weeks back), etc. Don’t know if anything will be done before we leave…

He played with sticks in the dirt area, at one point holding two in the air at once. When he was done with that we sat on a nearby bench and ate a snack. We were basically out of food by the time we headed home.

Done with that, we headed to the children’s museum. He walked much of the way again, playing a couple of benches as instruments along the way. Finally, had me carry him a bit, but not much. By the big field east of the children’s museum we found a bunch of small buildings. Not sure why they were there, but they were fun. We talked about the fish painted on the side of one, then pretended to sell each other ice cream at an ice cream stand. Another was a full house with all the furniture painted on the walls. He pretended to sit on the couch.

When he decided we were done, he was impatient to go: “Children’s museum. I’m going.” And started walking off towards it. We got to the children’s museum at 2:40. It was packed. I later learned that schools were off today because of the presidential election. August started by wearing the butterfly and bee wings and smelling the flowers. Did that quite a bit. He then wanted to go to the “Space area” but first got distracted by rhythm gymnastics, then the window puff ball things. We then headed up to space, but he just looked around a bit, then headed up to the construction site. There he briefly put on a safety vest. He waited a turn to draw on the light art area, then was not upset when a smaller girl took it from his hand. He went to the vegetable garden area and planted some carrots, etc. then mainly played with the conveyor belt that takes bricks to the second floor. There were other kids playing with/running it, but this didn’t bother him, and he was happy pushing his way in to grab bricks from the basket to put on the conveyor belt.

He needed the bathroom again, so we went up to the third floor. He then walked to the cafeteria and we ate the rest of our lunch and crackers. He was still talking about being hungry – or at least wanting a treat – and I told him about how we were stopping at the bakery in the station on our way home. Also, it was supposed to start raining around 4:30, so it was a good time to take off. It was about 4.

In the station we played with some of the spinning fidget toys that are all the rage everywhere, then we chose a blueberry pastry for us again and a dark chocolate one for Carly this time. Ate most of ours while we waited for a train, then he stood at the bar for a bit before taking a seat on the train. There, one guy was concerned about the scrape on his leg. Which was fine until the guy was actually trying to touch August’s knee, at which point I shut him down. As if that wasn’t enough, the woman next to him was concerned that he was cold from the air conditioner. We went through a whole conversation, but she wasn’t appeased, and then reached down and was grabbing both of his legs to see if they were cold. I reached down and gently grabbed her hand and removed it from his leg and firmly said to her “He’s okay.” in Korean.

On th
e walk home he was singing the first two lines of “I lost my helmet” over and over. We went to Tous Les Jour and bought bread, then headed home. In the elevator, he noticed they had changed the art hanging up: “The art is different…Dada likes the art?”

We were home at 5:05. We were reading Gustav, the Goldfish as Carly got home. We finished that, then they nursed and had dinner. He ate a good amount. While nursing, I told her about how he had talked about moving to Israel. She asked if he was ready to move to Israel and he nodded yes.

We read Goodnight Already!, Going Places, and part of the Loch Mess Monster. He then gave the chocolate pastry to Carly, and she gave him some good bites of it. He had me remove a bit of paper from the bottom of a piece he got. He said Or maybe they make it with paper.”

He played a little Sound Rebound, then watched the Smurfs video again while Carly gave him a bath. He got upset when she tried to rinse his hair, so she had me come in to try to do it, but he wouldn’t let me touch it. So back to Carly. They got through it, then were watching more videos in the parlor. He was saying “I don’t like this one, might as well try this one.” Nice use of ‘might as well’. They found a Pink Panther cartoon and he laughed a lot. A bit upset to let it go, but we got him to bed and he was asleep by 7:45.

 

Photos. Big pile: 

Our last trip to Costco! No Costco in Israel, so likely our last Costco for some time.

Carly moved out to the reading area at 4 when she was stuffy. He woke up and followed her out and fell back to sleep until 6:43, a few minutes after she had left for work. He was sad she was gone, but not too upset. We sat by the door and he wanted to go out in the hall. When we got our shoes on and went out he hopped on the bike. We rode his bike through the hallways. He joked about going to B4, but then said he didn’t really want to. We stopped at the elevators and he watched the elevator numbers go up and down. We said hi to Sara as she headed to work and told her to have a good day – August repeated everything I suggested he say.

He wanted to go down to the first floor. There, we followed a hose going out of the building, and found a guy watering the bushes. He watched that a bit, then agreed to go back up to get our sweatshirts. It was sunny, but still a little cool. As we got off the elevator there was a high school girl waiting to get on and August asked “Who is that?” We grabbed sweatshirts – he didn’t get off the bike – and we headed back out and across to the park.

We were outside for an hour, but he stayed on the bike almost the whole time. He sang part of the Shooby shoo waa song from Poli class at one point. We rode around our side of the park, then cross at the north intersection to the other side. He did a little driving over there. Then we crossed the bridge back to our side and went to the playground. I went on the swing for a minute but he didn’t want to get off the bike. Instead, he found a bump in his sweatshirt pocket that turned out to be a caramel candy that someone had given him weeks ago. I let him eat that. We did more riding around, revisiting the scene of his fall, and he steered us to the bridge. We went over to the other side, rode around, then crossed back at the south intersection. He was doing a lot of pointing at trees and saying “That tree’s doing photosynthesis?” Or at flowers and saying “That’s flowers doing pollen?”

I was hungry and a bit sneezy, so finally convinced him to head home at 8:05. But he said “I want to go outside again.” But then he needed to go to the bathroom. After that he wanted some apple so I cut some. As he ate it he was asking what animals eat apples. I listed a few, and he asked “Ducks like apple?” I said probably they would. He then asked “They eat human skin?” I replied “I hope not.”

After the apple we had Cheerios and fruit. His with banana, me with strawberry. He wanted to watch Big Bird. So we watched Big Bird sing a song, then a few others. He then played some of his music apps (Seuss and Discovery Music) and I showered. As I finished up he came in and was wiping the sink with something, like a towel. I couldn’t tell what it was. When I got out I found out it was one of Carly’s shirts. When I asked why he said something like “I wanted a towel.” Also, he couldn’t remember where he found it.

We sat in thereading area and read the Welcome to the Orchestra book. Then he played the Namoo app. Perhaps the trees and flowers reminded him of outside, as he was ready to go outside. So I got ready. He played with his water bottle, sticking it up to the bananas and saying he was making ink. He had me take the lid off so he could pretend to squirt banana ink into the bottle. He said it was yellow, of course, and when he then drank the water he said it was yummy banana ink. I made a peanut butter and jam sandoo and he wanted to eat it at home, so we did that.

We were talking about having enough jam and honey to last us for five weeks, and I said “Because in five weeks we’re going to the United States.” He instantly replied with “To get bubble gum ice cream?” We hadn’t been talking about ice cream at all. That’s Carly’s influence on him.

He played with his fishing pole thing (from playing with Megan yesterday), then we brushed his teeth. He saw his plastic extendo arm up on top of the wardrobe so we got it down and he played with that. Before we left he went to the bathroom, but wanted me to turn the light off while he went. Did that a couple times today.

We left at 11:45. It was 73 degree. In the subway station, waiting for a train, he was still sitting in the backpack. Now that he is three I’ve had almost no comments about him being cold. But a woman came up and saw his bare arms and legs. She said he was cold and grabbed his arm. I was not amused. But it was when she really grabbed his leg and was pulling on it that I got upset and was telling her “No. You go!” (In Korean) and shoved her hand away from him. Of course, as we then waited to get on the train, the boy that ignores most people said “I want that woman again.”

We transferred at Sangbong and went two stops east to Yangwon. We got to the park at 12:30 and went to the playground. He found a light blue coat on the ground and played with that. He pretended it was an octopus squirting ink. He then wanted to go in the play structure, so we took our lunch and ate some of it in there. He didn’t eat a whole lot, and he only ate one of the pieces of mushroom that I offered him. He said “One bussot made me full.” We were climbing from platform to platform, and I was sitting with my legs up against the next one. He said “Up please. You’re in the way.” We climbed up to the top, and he slid the coat down the slide. He wanted to climb out though.

From there it was to the pirate ship, where we spent a lot of time pretending to spray things and each other with the long non working water cannons. He would aim it at me and it would spray off my hat.

Back over by the backpack, he was asking how long it took to count to 20 or something like that. So I actually got out a stopwatch. He was doing random things (to 22, to 18, etc.) but then we did the alphabet. He first did A to Z in 8.2 seconds, but later got it down to 5.41 seconds.

He found a dandelion gone to seed and spread the seeds and watched them blow away. He was then being a vacuum cleaner and said “I sucked up that Jellyfish because it stinged me. I sucked up that bee cuz it stinged me too.”

We filled up his water and were singing “What’s the name of that song?” He told me to sing and “Be the Count.” We left that spot at 1:55 and walked the street east (to avoid going over the hill) to the east side of the park.

He liked being in the shady path, but wanted to go over to the play hills when I told him about them. I’d seen kids on them before but didn’t realize the draw until August and I went on them – they are all springy, like a trampolines. He was singing “What’s the name of that song?” on his own. You had to take off your shoes, and August started pouring sand on the play part and got upset when I made him stop. But I got our broom to clean it up and he helped sweep it off. I also got Smokey and we made a game of throwing those and my hat up on the big hill, then he would climb up and get them and slide down the hill. At one point I point out the shelves for shoes and he took both of our pairs of shoes over there and put them away. We played until 2:30 when he had to go to the bathroom.

We went to the nearby bathroom, then walked back to the shady area and had more of our lunch. He saw his chopsticks and played with those. He then said “I want more backamapack…more walking time.” He got in and we left at 2:55.

We walked up by the temple and looked at it. I said it was too bad that it wasn’t windy because he had liked the fish wind chimes. Then it got just windy enough for us to see and hear them. But he really liked the fountain with a statue of a boy peeing. He thought that was really funny and we watched that for a couple minutes. He asked “It drank a lot of water?” We looked at some more of the statues, then got going at 3:10. We tried to get a look at the big construction site just to the east, but still not clear what’s going on th
ere. Briefly saw a big dump truck and backhoe though.

We walked to the west side of the park, then south, stopping so he could see the actual campground, as he wanted to see that. We then walked west towards Costco. He wanted some song (probably “We all sing with the same voice”) and asked “Dada’s going to pull up the words?” I had earlier said “I’m going to pull it up on my phone…” and he was asking about the phrase.

It had been cloudy, but hadn’t thought much of it in the park. But once we got to civilization I pulled up the air quality and realized it had gotten quite bad in the last couple hours. And here you could tell, what with the car exhaust, etc. trapped by the still air. Just as bad, August got quiet and I realized he was falling asleep. I couldn’t keep him awake, and he slept from 3:40 to 3:50. At that point I got to Costco and woke him up by the family statue out front.

He wanted back in the backpack, and I let him back in when I was sure he was awake. We went in and shopping and snacks went smoothly. We got our cheese and he got two samples: some white fish that was really good, and some sort of strawberry cheese thing. He somehow comment about how he got two good samples.

We went and paid (I was self conscious about our all-cheese purchase, after two of the books I’ve recently read, The Sympathizer and The Orphan Master’s Son, both had Asian characters complaining about how Americans ruin everything with cheese) and then got pizza for Carly and two chicken bakes for him and me.

We went outside and ate some chicken bake by the statue, said goodbye to the statue one last time, and headed home. At Sangbong Station he went to the bathroom, and I asked him if he was done on the toilet four times. At the end of the fourth question he said yes, then said “Dada got to ask four times.” A. Clearly he heard me every time, as he counted on his own and B. ‘Got’ to?

On the train home he stood, and he requested the same Smurf story as yesterday. Also, I now feel my time in Seoul is complete, as I made a guy get out of a seat for a pregnant woman for an actual pregnant woman. I had noticed when we got on that both such seats in that car were occupied by guys in their 20s, obvious to the world around them. After a couple stops I looked over to see a clearly pregnant woman standing in front of the guy a foot away from me. He now had his head back and eyes closed. I tapped him in the shin, and when he opened his eyes I point to the pink signs on the floor in front of him and read them. He looked around, saw the pregnant woman just standing, and let her have the seat. She said “Thank you” to me.

On the elevator home he didn’t say hi to someone who was saying hi to him. I asked why not and he said something like “I don’t say that anymore.”

We got home at 5:15. Carly had gotten an email about someone selling furniture in Israel, so we quickly emailed back, buying a pullout couch, a desk, a chair, and a microwave. Combined with the furniture that the school provides, we should be in pretty good shape.

Carly and August ate some dinner and nursed, and somehow got on a series of ‘making of’ videos, a lot of them from Mr. Rogers: erasers, flashlights, crayons, Legos, etc.

He wanted to read Bob Books at some point and we read 5 from the third collection. We shared the reading for the first 3, but then he just wanted made to read.

I gave him a bath. I had sung the Smurf theme song as part of our story earlier, and he remembered and wanted to see/hear it more. So I pulled up a video of it, then we ended up watching trailers from the new Smurfs movie. He really liked that and was upset when we were done and I put the iPad away.

In bed, I agreed to read Gustav before he went to sleep. They then tried for sleep, but he got upset. When he was asking for me she called me in. I sang some songs and he calmed down. She was going to try again, but he was requesting books. So she went to take a shower and I went and grabbed some paper books and we read The Hole in the King’s Sock and a couple others. Carly came back and he was asleep around 8:30.

Photos. Morning outing:

Finding the coat: 

Holding his pant leg off his wound: 

Spraying: 

Sliding down the big hill: 

Chopsticks: 

Falling asleep: 

Goodbye to Costco: 

He was up at 5:30 but Carly told him it was early and he fell back to sleep until 7. They talked to Oma and Opa and Scrambled egg, fried egg, and Cheerios for breakfast. When I got Cheerios, I asked if it was okay to use his blue bowl, as the other bowls were dirty. He said yes, but when he saw it he started to protest, but he settled for his blue bowl. Played Human Body, then he sang “Yankee Doodle” to Ode for Joy. He played in the sink for quite awhile.

After going to the bathroom, he ended up with his pajamas and underwear hanging from one foot. He called it “Foot hand…foot foot” And said “It’s funny!” He then moved things from cupboard to cupboard in the kitchen. I took a shower. I came out to find they had made a “cool fort” in the parlor out of the chairs, bathtub, and a blanket. They nursed. Again.

We read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, much of The Cat on the Mat is Flat, and The Hole in the King’s Sock.

We went out for a walk at 11:40. Actually, Carly took him out, and I waited for laundry to finish, hung it up, then went and found them playing on the little hill by the dinosaur playground. He had found another big Y stick and asked “Why’s no one playing with it?” He said “There’s birds on it.” and called it an extendo arm: “I can touch poop with the extendo arm. Because poop is messy.” He even demonstrated how he couldn’t reach the leaves above with just his arm, but with his extendo arm he could.

Carly went to read. He played for a couple more minutes, then realized she was gone. He put the stick down, then made his way out of the bushes area. I was marveling at how he could make his way down the hill and step down the rocks to the ground. He then said “I’m going up the ramp!” He was going to see mama. But then on his way down the other side he tripped on the very uneven boards. He fell and scraped his knee and bumped his nose. His first real fall since scraping his knee in Centralia, and first real injury since the chin incident back in winter. And his first bloody nose. Carly held him a few minutes, then we headed home.

When he felt better, we read Gustav, the Goldfish and The Strange Shirt Spot and we played with a new little alphabet app that lets you photograph your face onto something representing the letter – hot dog for H, queen for Q, etc.

A little after 2 Megan came over for mimosa and pancakes. Her breakfast. August hadn’t been keen on the idea of her coming over, and when she showed up he went in the parlor and locked the door. He kept opening it though, and was eventually coaxed out. She had brought him a memo pad of polar bear stickers. He wrote on them, then he wanted to measure the marker he was writing with, so I got the tape measure. That led to him measuring things like the table with MEgan, then she measured his head and arms. From there it turned into a fishing pole with a drum stick as the pole, and fish made out of the memo pad pages.

Meanwhile, Carly made pancakes and we ate those with strawberries and, when August realized Megan had syrup, syrup. August and Megan played with the piano a little, and then he wanted the keyboard attached to his iPad and he showed her the sounds and the sampler. He then recorded some of his singing while she hit the table with a drumstick.

She put a tissue over the end of the drumstick and it was a ghost. He didn’t like it and kept saying “Take it off!” But then he said “now I do it.”

About 4:30 or so he was getting a bit wild and Carly asked if he wanted to go outside. He basically ran out the door. We walked out with Megan, and separated by the elevator. As we walked out I asked “Did you have fun with Megan?” He replied  “Not so much.” But then he said he liked the measuring and fishing pole and music.

We walked up the stream to the lantern festival thing. Of course, it was still day, so no lights. He got off and walked a bit. We tried to head back but he wanted to keep walking. We continued on to the next bridge, then back the other side. We came to a metal pumpkin thing with a table and bench in it. He wanted down and wanted to get in it. In the pumpkin he said “I want to wait until it’s dark.” so he could see all the lights on it light up. He wanted to keep playing, so Carly continued on to the store. We sat in the pumpkin together for a minute, then a guy walking by wanted his daughter to get in. I said she could come on in, plenty of space. But it turned out he wanted us to get out. Seriously. It wasn’t a photo spot or anything.  I wish I had said no (but I was at least pretty sarcastic with the guy), but I did get out, and August was pretty upset when I made him get out.

After they left he didn’t want to get back in. Instead, he played with a stick and looked at the flowers and threw small sticks around. Stayed for another 15 minutes or so. He kept wanting to go up the stairs but I reminded him the bike was down there.

Eventually, he wanted to go to a park. So we walked south on the stream until we came to a bridge, then we went back up the other side to Chrysanthemum Park. He wanted to climb up on the structure, so he did the loop. He did it, but was whinier than usual – a lot of “Dada! Dada!” and I would help him up the climbing wall, across the rope bridge, etc. Perhaps a result of his fall earlier. I had to climb up to help him down to the shaky platform at the end. There, we sat and he wanted a Smurf story after I told him we had played Smurfs there once. I made up a story about the Smurfs hiking to have a big picnic but then just as they start to eat it gets windy and starts to blow. All their food away. There’s a storm and they shelter in a cave for the night.

We went down the slide together, then he was just pointing, and it turned out he wanted to go to a bench and have a snack. Let him have a couple crackers, then we headed home for dinner.

We were home at 6:15. He ate the rice/pasta/veggies dish that Carly had made, then I gave him a bath at 6:50. We watched Pirates of the Caribbean and Beethoven’s Ninth. I took him in on the bed to get him dressed and he saw Baby Q and said “I don’t like babies. I like that one, but I don’t like real babies. I like toy and pretend babies, but I don’t like real babies.” No idea where that came from. He then made a poop vacuum with his towel and pants. There was poop on Baby Qs eyes. He was asleep at 7:45.

Photos. Fort: 

Zinnie hotdog: 

With Megan. Fishing: 

Getting measured: 

Lantern walk: 

Park: 

He was up at 5:30. When I got up he told me he and Carly had read the elephant book (Five Minutes Peace), Alexander…, and Curious George Cleans Up. We read The Hole in the King’s Sock. Then he wanted to be a doctor, so we played with the doctor equipment a bit. He then just turned that into a game where he was fitting as much stuff into the animal carrier as possible. That went on for quite awhile, then he wanted to go play with the sink. When he was done with that he said “I’m done with water notes.”

He was then getting upset when Carly wouldn’t nurse right away, and being clingy. I had gotten recycling ready, and said she could take recycling down to get a couple minutes break. But he got really upset when she was gone. Almost seemed panicky by the time she got back. So I did the rest of recycling. She made him carrot coins, an egg, strawberrries, and banana bread for breakfast. He saw it and said “This your yummy finger food?”

After he ate he was singing and playing with the Monster Drum. He changed our helmet in the spaceship song to “I lost my chipmunk at the zookeeper store.” He then helped Carly put away Duplos. He and I did stickers in Poli books and he pushed the books with his feet under the rug.

Carly tried to call Cherie but she didn’t answer, so he did some typing instead. He was talking about his favorite letters and said “My favorite letters is Q and Z.” I took a shower, and they talked to Cherie. He then had naked time, and locked me out of the parlor for fun. Carly took a nap, and he played in the sink. We then read books. We read much of Mayzie, but then he jumped to the end and so I read the whole book backwards. We read The Cat in the Hat Comes Back (the correct direction), then he played with one of the music apps on his iPad. For a snack we ate some crab, a leftover hasbrown, and grapes.

Carly got up and went to the store. He lay on the reading area and rolled around naked on the floor. He ate some peanut butter from a spoon, then was turning lights and the fan on and off in the hallway bathroom and the hall. He turned the light off in the bathroom and said “I turned it off cuz no one’s using it.” In the changing room he started pulling clothes from his drawers and putting them in an empty box. He said “I’m packing for Israel.” He said he wanted to go outside, so we got ready and left at 12:50.

Over by the pagoda, he pedaled on his own – mainly backwards at first, but then forwards. It got really windy and we talked about how our lunch could blow away, if we had one. At one point he got off the bike and it started to roll away. Carly came saw us for a minute, but then headed home to put groceries away and make coleslaw.

He rode around for several more minutes, then wanted me to push him to the dinosaur playground. Went on swings for a minute, then he found a big stick, which he said was a Y, then he used it as a vacuum cleaner and started walking around the north end of the park: “It sucked up the ants…it sucked up those people.” At one point he realized we didn’t have the bike with us and said “Where’s the bike…go get it.” He kept playing with the stick, then decided at 1:30 that he was done with it.

At that point he got on the bike and we just kept walking in laps around our side of the park – 4 or so total laps. We were singing songs, We All Sing the Same Voice, Ants Go Marching, etc. It got really windy a few times, but would then die back down.

We headed home, and I made pasta salad. They did some drawing together.

We all went back outside at 4:45. The big duststorm, which was effecting the west of Seoul, never made it over to us. We walked up to Starbucks where we each got a drink, August with his usual white yogurt drink. We took our drinks to Sarang Children’s Park and drank them there.

He went up on the play structure for a minute, and Carly sat in the sun. He and I went over to play in the sand. I ended up scooping sand into the chute, then I would open it and he would closely watch, from the top, the sand empty from the chute. He needed to use the bathroom, so we went across the street to the building. We had looked at the bathroom here once and it wasn’t to his liking so we had left and gone somewhere else. Not really an option this time. He really didn’t want to use a squat toilet, so he reluctantly used a urinal with a sensor on it. It even flushed while he was standing there, but he did it. Quite an accomplishment.

Back at the sand, at one point he demanded “Give me the shovel.” I asked “Can you rephrase that?” then explained what ‘rephrase’ meant. He thought about it, and asked, much nicer, “Can I have the shovel?” Finally, he was helping to scoop sand into the chute, and he got down and opened it himself a couple times. When filling it once he said “Pretty darn full.” Pretty sure I must have said that. Carly was ready to go, so we did it one last time. But then he said “One very, very last time.” – a reference to Frog and Toad when they eat one very, very last cookie.

As we left I taught him a sandal dance to get out sand. That didn’t work, so he took his sandals off to shake the sand out, and he almost got his sandal on in his own. As we started walking, he started saying “A told B and B told C…” from the Chicka Chicka ABC book.

At Brownstone Carly ran to GS25 and August wanted to go home. In the elevator he picked up a wrapper to a cookie sort of thing. I looked up at the elevator floors, then realized he had tried to take a bite out of something in it. He was rather excited by this action, even as we got of the elevator and he dropped it. I asked if he ate elevator garbage and what it was, and he said “I’m not sure.”

We were home at 6:10. He tried to not take off his shoes again, which has become a minor thing. He had some banana bread, then we were reading and cuddling. We read Loch Mess Monster (which he found really funny because he had all sorts of funny Scottish words) and Red.

We then watched Sesame Street songs, mainly the old ones we’ve seen, plus ones with B.B. King and Patti Labelle. We kept watching during naked time after his bath. He made it clear when he was tired, and he went in and was asleep at 7:40.

Photos: 

Lazy iPad: 

Outside: 

The chute: 

He was up at 6:30. When I got up they were skyping with Vivian and Cassie and family. Carly briefly talked to her mom, but they were driving through Arizona and reception wasn’t great. Not helped by August hanging up on her. August had a ton of energy for so early. He had been jumping over things on the floor and got out the number line. He had gone to the bathroom and was wearing his underwear on his arm. When I tried to put it on him he ran into the reading area and was rolling around. He said “Mama doesn’t go outside, Dada doesn’t go outside, and Zinnie doesn’t go outside. We all stay in the same house.” When Carly got him dressed to go outside he asked “We’re going to Israel?” When she said no, we can’t go now he asked “It’s closed?” They headed out at 8.

They were back after 9, just after I’d finished a shower. They had walked to the skate park area over across the stream, watched some of the construction going on in the street,  and played at Chrysanthemum Park. When they got home, Carly went to the fifth floor to see if the blanket would fit in the washing machine down there. August wanted to go with her, so she took him. The washer was busy, but it looked like it would fit. They came back, and August wanted to keep walking in the hall, so they went out again, but just for a minute. He wanted to go outside (so different from most days, when he doesn’t seem to care much about leaving the house, at least early).

We started getting ready, brushing teeth, etc. Carly was lying on the couch and he stacked stuff on her, and made a machine from the caterpillar and the fabric book with a baby in it, and was putting stuff in drawers. He played with the baby in the baby book, and said “It’s time to take a bath, baby. Washy, washy.”

We all went out on a walk, up to Nowon and to Subway for sandwiches. August chose the crab sandwich, so we got one to share. We then walked to the park just south of there (엄지어린이공원) and ate our sandwiches, like last time we went to Subway. August is asking “Why?” a lot, for everything, including why we are in Korea. He made a growling noise and I asked “What noise is that?” “The noise mama doesn’t like.”

We all played on the play structure, in the bus part, and going down the slide several times. He and Carly raced to the swings, but he didn’t stay on for long.

We headed to the coffee shop we planned to go to, 더숲, which is in a basement. Really a cool space, kind of an arts center, with a movie screening room, a small gallery, a stage, books, etc. We looked around a bit, and I took him in to use the bathroom. We looked at the piano and music stands, and of course he wanted to touch them but we couldn’t. But when it came to getting a drink he insisted he wanted dessert. So we decided to save the coffee shop for another day, perhaps when we could see some music.

We headed to Baskin Robbins back in Brownstone, as that had been our big plan for the day – some ice cream for August on Children’s Day. On the way, August saw a truck and said “I want to deliver milk in Israel.” A reference to our walk home from APIS when he wanted all the vehicles he saw.

We got to Basking Robbins at 1:10. Carly got chocolate chip mint, he chose cookies and cream, and I got a cookies and cream drink thing. When looking at the ice cream flavors with Carly he wanted to know the ones they don’t have. He did that at Subway too, wanting to know what sandwiches they didn’t have. Anyway, he really liked the ice cream and finished most of it. He was also watching the traffic lights out the window. He’s really been paying attention to and asking questions about how the lights and signals work. He was also talking about our ice cream choices: “Why dada get a drink.” “Two spoons…not three, because dada got a drink. Dada was thirsty?” He got up and walked around the shop and coughed. We told him about covering his moth, and he said  “I didn’t do it? I did germs.” and smiled.

We got home at 1:40. He played with Duplos, making towers, then ate the rest of our sandwich with me. We read a couple of the Poli books – he was reading the stickers at the end – ‘Excellent’ and whatnot. He had trouble with ‘Awesome’ but was happy when he could read it. We played GarageBand for quite awhile. We were using the sampler, and making instruments out of sounds, starting with ‘so much’ (that was the idea, as some time ago he made up a ‘so much’ instrument), but proceeding to letters and numbers and words and long strings of improv by August. Carly gave him a bath. He got really upset when she washed his hair.

After his bath we played more GarageBand, getting sillier with the sounds, like cough and throw up sound samples.

We took him in to bed at 7:15 Before I left he asked “Baskin Robbins is open?” He was asleep by 7:30.

Photos: 

Park: 

Driving the bus: 

Ice cream: 

Play dough and the piccolo flute in Beethoven’s Ninth: 

Duplo tower: