Author: Ryan/Dada

He was up early. He started nursing a little after 5, then was up at 5:35. I got up a bit later. He went and grabbed pillows and told me I should get a blanket. He wanted a nest in the reading area. He then grabbed the Curious George Cleans Up book and we read that, then the entire Nursery Book. We then found out that my parents had gotten two cats, and also watched a video of contrabassoon that Cherie had sent. He then wanted Venus fly trap videos.

After some Cheerios, we Skyped with my parents and got to see one of the cats. August want to scare it by screaming, so I turned the mic off. It didn’t help that Skype was doing the echoing thing, so when August made a noise he could hear himself. After Skype we made banana bread and got that baking.

In on the toilet, he said “I’m working on my sounds.” I asked “Which sounds?” He replied “My ph and th sounds…let’s work on ‘photograph’.” So we worked on those. He’s actually starting to pronounce them a bit differently. We made up a tongue twister to practice: The thick fish had a thin fin.

We did some exercise, then I took a shower while he traced words on the app. He was then doing some exercise on his own, then went and played piano. He played Are You Sleeping two handed through “Brother John”. We brushed our teeth and he played with Duplos while I got us ready. He came up to me and said “I’m a little nervous about mama.” I asked why and he replied “I was just making a joke.” He went over to the window and was tracing on it with his finger and said “I drew a heart on the window. It pumps the blood.”

We had, on August’s choice, originally planned to go to Uijeongbu today. But he kept playing at home. We had a long music time, then looked at pictures of blood on his iPad. He switched to Google Maps and identified places we should go: “We can go to this park…we can go to this coffee shop.” In fact he got a little sad when he found a coffee shop on the map that I’d pinned, but said we’d go there some other day when it was warmer. He wanted to go now. A minute later he said “You find Thailand there.” He had zoomed out and indeed read ‘Thailand’ on the world map. That was pretty cool.

He did some Arabic app, then went to the bathroom. We sang Yankee Doodle twice. We talked about what would happen if he scared the cats. He suggested they might bite. I said they’d more likely run and hide and then he couldn’t see them. He said “Then you would cry…(whispered) Don’t be loud.”

Deciding it was too late for Uijeongbu, we decided to walk east, over by the new science center, instead. There was one park I realized we hadn’t added to Google Maps, and a couple others we could go to with swings. We left at 12:15. He fell asleep just east of See and Me at 12:24. We went to a coffee shop I’d seen before called 커피랑 파이랑. He had a good nap and I woke him up at 1:54.

We went across the street and checked out the restaurant/play area we had seen once from the street. A typical Korean restaurant with a small climbing area in it. Okay, but don’t know if we’ll ever go. We walked north and east to the mystery playground. He was singing, and I realized he was singing our Hebrew alphabet song on his own. That park turned out to just be a tiny play structure with no swings. We kept walking and went to 충숙공원, the park in the little valley by the burial area. It is all shaded there, so there was still snow everywhere. He spent several minutes just walking around  and playing on the snow, then went on the swings. The swings were the perfect height, as he could just touch the ground when he was swinging. He was rubbing his feet on the snow, making lines to the dirt below, and realized that it looked like a 4 under him.

He sang some more Hebrew and ate dried mango as a snack, and a little sandwich for lunch. We then headed back home. We were singing Ants Go Marching. Actually, he was singing most of it on his own now, and knows most of the lyrics, although sometimes he needs reminders. He did a lot of screaming for our 20 by 20 verse, then he made up one on his own, singing “100 by 100…the little one stops to say ‘That’s a joke’”.

We got to our Dinosaur Playground at 3:40. We pulled up and he was watching some kids being silly on the swings. I asked “Is Zinnie ever silly?” “No” “Tell the truth” “Yeah!…I’m telling the truth.” He practiced some climbing, then before I could get around to help him he climbed on the tube slide and slid down all by himself. Said he was sleepy, but played for several minutes going back and forth on the slippery ice. At one point I asked if he wanted to do the shaky bridge, but he said “I’m too sleepy to go on the shaky bridge.” He wanted to do the elliptical, and while I held his hands he is now able to make it go in circles on his own. He did the teeter totter for awhile, and went down the slide once. Back to the slippery ice part, then another boy gave him a Fruittella blueberry candy. He was very happy about that.

We headed home about 4:30. I got him interested in eating soup again by putting Sesame Street crackers in it. Carly stayed late at work because there were students working on their NHD projects. She was home a little after 6. They nursed, then we went in and played with the friends on the bed. They ate carrot cookies and carrot stir fry. He was doing forward rolls and wanted me to get upset. I asked “Are you doing forward rolls?” He replied “Not anymore I isn’t.” Back out in the living room, he told Carly about yelling at the cats and how he would get sad if they hid. He ate a slice of banana bread, then ate some of Carly’s lettuce “I ate the lettuce, dada.” Some piano time, then he nursed, and said he felt itchy.

I gave him a bath. Carly had filled it, and he declared it too hot and went and told her. He had the ‘O’ bath letter and was pretending it was a Venus fly trap. But when I tried to put my finger in it he said “No. it’s not a Venus fly trap anymore. I don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t like to see blood.” And gave me quite a facial expression too. A minute later he had soap in his mouth. I asked if it was soap or a hair. He gave me a disgusted look and said “Soap. Not hair. Soap.”

Back out in the parlor after his bath he picked up his little weight and declared it exercise time. He lay on his back and lifted it over his head. Did this for quite awhile. He then told me to exercise and I lay down next to him. But then he wanted meditation time. Haven’t talked about meditation really that I know of, so not sure where that came from. We ended up trying to work on letting his eyes relax closed. He squints his eyes shut. A little success, but still hard for him.

They nursed, then Carly went to take a shower. But first she headed for the closet. August saw this and made a joke “What mama doing in there? Take a shower?” We read Curious George Cleans Up twice. He had some apple, then did a little playing on the bed. He was asleep about 9:30.

A couple days ago, when Carly was talking about her students, he told Carly she teaches fourth grade. It was clear that he knows his ordinal numbers, as I don’t know when we ever talk about the ‘fourth’ of anything. He knows ‘sixth’, ‘seventh’, and ‘eighth’ from her talking about students, and certainly ‘first’ and ‘second’ (and ‘eighth’) from the elevator. The only place I can think of that we’ve talked about the ones in between is in making chords on the piano, as you use them to discuss the different notes in a scale.

 

Photos. Twisting:

Asleep: 

Park: 

4 on the ground: 

Dinosaur playground: 

Ladder: 

Blueberry candy: 

Soap in his mouth faces: 

8:11. Closed the door and played with Suplos on his own for a minute then came out and walked to the bathroom. He had a dry diaper.

We then played on the bed with the “friends”, having them eat various things. We then watched Venus fly trap videos and an ASAPscience one on dehydration. We ate Cheerios for breakfast. We share a bowl now that he feeds himself. After that he played some piano, using two hands to play. Then back to the friends in on the bed. He was a bee buzzing around, but then cuddled with me. Got a hair in his mouth. Took him to spit in the sink, then he went and drank water:  “Now I don’t feel the hair.” Ate some banana, then he wanted to add more words to the tracing app on the iPad. We did some exercise, then played piano and did some finger math. Ate some more cereal and strawberries, then he wanted to go play with “Green Marshy”, as he now calls Green Monster. August was a bit mean, emptying GM’s pool and breaking his humerus bone. Back out in the parlor, August wanted to take care of the giraffe, and did some foot surgery on it.

We headed to Teuni Teuni. At the start of the class, during the Anyang song (Hello), August was going around waving at everyone. He gave the teacher a high five. August was, I think, about ready to do a forward roll with him again, but he put the ramp away right before August got there. After the intro stuff was over, August asked “What’s next?” The activities were about shovels, and trying to balance as they moved things across the room in the shovels. All went well, except near the end August was rubbing his nose as he played and I realized he had a nosebleed. Just a little one, and it didn’t bother him. I explained it was probably because it was dry in winter. Later he was repeating that.

August mentioned being sleepy at one point, but agreed to go down to get groceries. We did that, and he mentioned being sleepy again. I asked if he’d rather eat at the food court, or at Mama Juice, and he agreed to Mama Juice. There, we got two ‘hotdogs’ (corndogs, we would call them). One regular one, and one mozzarella. They make them and fry them right there. August was watching her make them, and he wondered what a tray was full of. I thought it was salt, but she said it was sugar. Apparently, rolling your corndogs in sugar is a thing in Korea. We rolled the regular one. We also got a mango juice and a strawberry banana. We sat and ate our hotdogs and juices (August was quite impressed). Then we headed home.

At home he sort of tried to take a nap on the reading area. We lay down for a few minutes, but then he said it was too bright and wanted the bedroom. But first he got distracted by playing piano with two hands (he wanted me to learn), then we ate some pine nuts. In on the bed be was having too much fun playing and waking me up to try for a nap. Back in on the reading area once more, I was getting sleepy. In waking me up he hit me once. In talking about it later, as we went back to play, he said “and never hit again.”

He went to the bathroom again, then I convinced him to eat some soup by dipping bread in it. He made up a “I can go to the swimming pool” song and was imagining playing piano on freezer door. He then played on the actual piano. He had a little more soup, but then decided he was tired of it again: “Let’s have something better than soup.” And at one point he said he wanted yummy green soup instead.

We decided we wanted to go back outside, and when I asked where he wanted to go he thought and replied “Chrysanthemum Park!” I then asked “Do you want to ride to a park?” “Yeah!…I’m going to sing all the way.” Then, on the way he was driving back and forth and said “I’m making a wave.”

At the park he went on the swings, then climbed up the rope ladder to the play structure. We went around on the rope bridge and shaky bridge to the platform area. He was really interested in the plastic covers that go over the bolts that hold it together. He then went back over the shaky bridge and went down the slide near the swings for, I believe, the first time. He went and rode the little shaky animals and was sing (“I can go see..”), then went and played on the snow, looking for slippery patches. Over on the covered bench area, we found a bolt that was missing its cover. We joked around about it going “bzzzt”.

We headed home. On the elevator he reached up from his bike and touched a guy’s hand. Thought he was being nice, but as we got of the elevator he said “knuckle, knuckle.” Carly was home a bit before us (at 5:30) and August asked her “How was your work going?”

They nursed and we had dinner, then I gave him a bath. Actually, he washed himself, as I barely touched him. After rubbing soap all over the window, he started washing himself: “I’m washing my back…that’s the part that always tickles”. Then, to rinse off I convinced him to sit down. Eventually, he stretched his legs out. Happy with his own progress, he asked “What’s next in the bath?” I suggested lying back like Vivian does. He leaned back a little, but wasn’t ready to go all the way. We got out and put on his bathrobe and he went and told Carly what he did: “I sat down and washed myself…and started to lean back.” He was then walking around making his feet squeak on the floor, and he found out that only the wood floor squeaks.

He was ready for bed soon after that, and was asleep by 8:15.

Photos: 

Being a bee: 

Teuni Teuni: 

He was amused by feeding the flowers to the guy: 

Hot dogs for lunch: 

Chrysanthemum Park: 

Home: 

Up 6:20. Wanted his diaper changed. Carly tried to get him to sleep, but they came out about 6:45. After she left, one of the first things he did was start playing Are You Sleeping and, with a little help, worked his way through all of it. We ate Cheerios, then went and made a nest and played with the stuffed animals on the bed. In the nest we watched Venus fly trap videos, then he did some Arabic. He did some of that while standing with his head on the bed, upside down. We exercised, then hung up laundry. He did some Human Anatomy, and was really into the sternum. We then drew molecules in Sketches. I was finally able to take a shower as he was tracing shapes and words in the tracing app. When I came out he wanted to add words. We did a whole body parts list, added some Spanish words, and added a few ‘big words’, including ‘ballistic’. We sang Yankee Doodle and When Johnny Comes Marching Home a lot. Back to bones: “Take my socks off so we can feel the foot bones.” We did a little of the Big Numbers app, then played piano together.

Before we got going, August wanted to feel/hear the heart beat. I tried showing him how he could feel it on his neck, but that was too tickly for him, so we used my neck. He ended up putting his ear on my chest and listening for a long time. He was pretty fascinated by it. He also felt it in my wrist. He also wanted the breathing, so watched me breathe in and out, then pulled up his shirt and watched himself breathe.

We headed out to Dream Forest. We were singing on the walk down to the bus, then he sang a little on the bus, then went quiet. We got off the bus and still not a sound. I tried asking him a few questions but he wouldn’t say anything. I walked through the park and he fell asleep just as we got to Cafe Dream. He slept there from 12:20 to 1:20. Think he would have slept longer but he was woken when some workers started using a nail gun on some trim or something in the coffee shop.

We were at a table by the windows. A bit chilly. He wanted some peanut butter sandwich. At first he sat on his own, but then sat in my lap because he was cold. He wanted a drink, so we went and got a bottle of orange juice. He was still cold, so we added in his coat as he sat on me. Finally, we decided to go to the book area. He noticed right away that the floors are warm there. He set up in the middle of a hexagon of chairs on the warm floor with his iPad and orange juice. He looked at the skeleton for awhile, then came over to me and we read the Peppa Pig bedtime book a couple times.

When we were done there we went up and used the bathroom, then started walking. We realized he wasn’t interested in playing at the playgrounds, as they don’t have swings. Neither of the art areas had shows open, and he pointed out that all the water areas didn’t have water in them (he kept asking why, and I kept telling him because it was too cold, and much colder than in Thailand where we still had trouble getting in the water. He didn’t seem convinced). He was then commenting about how everything was closed at Dream Forest. 

So we walked to a children’s park just to the west, called 오현어린이공원. We had scouted it out last year, but don’t think we actually played there. It had swings, so August was happy. He went on the swings, then got off and played with chunks of ice. Threw a couple towards some big kids playing on the ground around a phone. We talked about what would happen if he threw more ice at people (“What if I not stop throwing…”). He threw it at me and at the play structure, etc. instead. It was funny though because the ice would often just stick to his glove. He found two beads and put them in the backpack. He said he was getting cold, so I talked about going to APIS to warm up and walk home with mama. He liked that idea, but I told him “Don’t get your hopes up.” because I hadn’t heard back from her yet. He replied “My hopes are up…what hopes up?”

We sang Ants Go Marching (our entire long version, twice) and Yankee Doodle on the way to APIS.  We also saw a parked ‘Delivering Hapiness’ truck so I took a photo. I’ve seen them several times, and it just seems really odd. It also reminded me that while we were in Bangkok and walking by the palace, I saw a Stratford-Upon-Avon double decker tour bus. At first I thought it was just an odd name for a tour bus company, but then as it started to move I realized it advertised seeing Shakespeare’s house, etc. Couldn’t move fast enough to get a photo. But it was an old bus from England that hadn’t been painted and was still being used as a tour bus.

Anyway, at APIS Carly was in a meeting but had said we could come in and get the key to her room. Did that, then went and looked around her room. He needed the bathroom, so we went down there. August commented on seeing Courtney (“Someone is writing in there”) and Sarah in their rooms, and said hi to Sarah. Brett also said hi to him as we got back to the classroom. Carly still wasn’t there, and August started to get a little upset, but I said we could get art. We were getting that out when Carly showed up. He and I drew a cat. Or rather I did. But he said the paws looked like cat poop. I insisted it wasn’t, and so then he drew lines that he said were the cat poop. Carly took him with her to the bathroom, and he said hi to Sarah again. He wanted to nurse, but the cleaning woman was coming in and August didn’t want to go to Megan’s room to do it. He decided to wait until home.

We walked home. He sang the entire way. Just on and on. We were home at 5:30. We had to go with Carly to get milk as August wouldn’t let her out of his sight. At home they nursed, then he spent a lot of time teaching us to swing on our hands and slide between the couch and coffee table. He wanted both of us to do it multiple times. He was then teaching us to jump, where he jumps and then hits his hands on the floor, then hops his feet up. He kept having me do it, but wanted me to do it wrong.

He ate a popsicle and a little soup for dinner. Carly said a little later “You can have some soup.” He replied “No, I just had a popsicle.” He did more listening to my heart. They nursed again, then sang When Johnny Comes Marching Home, with her making up words. I gave him a bath, and he wanted to look at picture of cartilage on my iPad. He kept wanting the surgery photos, so I had to look at that. I mistakenly told him it wasn’t a hair washing day. Carly informed me it was. He was sad about it, but we got through it okay. He wore his bathrobe again.

Carly took a shower, and he listened to my heart and breathing again. He keeps wanting to see things, like the bones, and wanted to see the breathing. He asked “Can I cut you open?” No. No you may not.

He was tired and ready for bed. I got him dressed and we were in on the bed. Carly was ready, and I told him he should listen to Carly’s heart. He was about to, but then told her “Never mind”, as he just wanted to nurse. He was asleep at 9.

Photos. Upside down Arabic

Careful with the knife: 

Listening to my heart:  

Artistic August: 

Orange juice: 

His spot: 

Being Max: 

On the go: 

At the park: 

If you want to be happy, find this truck:  

Carly’s classroom. Drawing cat poop: 

Home: 

Bathrobe:  

Counting: 

He was up at 5:30 or so. Nursed at first then got up with Carly about 5:45. A little after 6 he came back into the bedroom and played with me. We had the stuffed animals eat breakfast (they decided on waffles with mango).

A while later we were it in the living room and Carly went to get dressed. August asked where she was going and she said work. He said “I don’t want (you) to work.” But he was in a good mood, and as she was getting ready to walk out the door he paused with Human Anatomy and said “I want a kiss.” Also, at some point he asked “Why mama not at work yet?”, referring to the fact that he was awake and she was still here. I had to point out that it was still really dark and that he had woken up really early.

He switched and took over my iPad, then we had Cheerios. We went in and did some art and Arabic on the paper and iPad. He watched one Puffin Rock story, then joined in some exercise. We played with the Duplos and started counting them. He wanted to do 55, so we counted then in 10s. I took a shower, and then we spent some time trying out some Arabic apps, finding a couple that we liked. I got ready to go and he wanted some peanut butter. He still jokes about zookeepers in the peanut butter. Today we had this exchange:  “I see zookeepers in there…I’m eating zookeepers.” Me: “That doesn’t seem…” Him: “That seems tasty.” We then looked up cartilage again, and worked on the “Morning bells are ringing” line on the piano. We did math with door magnets and my fingers (pretending they were apples). He remembered Qing things, and went around Qing everything as I told him not to.

Finally, he had a drink of water and asked himself: “Why you drink some water? Because it protects your joints…once we watched a video and…to protect the joints.” He had learned that on the videos he watched with Carly.

We walked and caught the subway down. He wore his red sunglasses on the way there. It was late, about 12:30, so we got some kimbap and planned to go eat in the conservatory and then he could take a nap. Didn’t work out that way, as we arrived at the conservatory to find it closed. Not many other indoor places to eat our lunch except for the children’s museum. We went to the new playground and he went on the swings for quite awhile. Then climbed up on the play structure, and worked on climbing back down backwards. It was now one, but he didn’t want to head back to the conservatory (I think it reopened then). Instead, he wanted the children’s museum.

On our walk over we heard a woodpecker. He was asking about woodpeckers. At the children’s museum he was still wearing his full outfit, including glasses, and they liked that. We went up to the cafeteria and ate our lunch. He then wanted to go down to the space area. Played there a few minutes, then down to the art area briefly before he needed to use the bathroom. Back up to the second floor for that. Then he said he was going to the little kids area, but we went to the reading are instead. He found a new game there involving raccoons that you dress in different outfits based on rolls of dice so we played that, then went up to the loft and read parts of a book called 너는 누구니 (Who are you?). He played with the ball pillows and they were hatching into dinosaurs and woodpeckers. We then found the orchestra book and looked at that a little. I tried to say we would save it until next time, but he started to get really sad.

We got walking up the center of the park, past the throngs of people playing Pokémon Go and past the new playground that still hasn’t been touched since December. He fell asleep quickly, and slept 2:55 to 3:40 in the upstairs coffee shop. I woke him up, and he took some convincing to wake up. I held him for a few minutes, then he just sat by the backpack while I packed up.

He was ready to head home, so we walked to the station. The escalator was squeaky (we speculated it would soon be worked on again), so I made a little “Squeaky escalator” that he thought was funny. Then another little song that cracked him up:

“Dada snuck a kiss

Dada snuck a kiss

Dada’s gonna kiss your nose

He’ll kiss it like this

(Kiss)”

We were on the train at 4:10.

Back at home we played Human Body. We figured out how the lymphatic system page works, and made the person sick. The person threw up. August was upset and went and stood by the parlor. I told him it showed that he had empathy, because he felt sad for the person (and also for babies when they are crying).

He wanted to go meet mama, but she got home early, by 5:15, since she had a professional development day. On his iPad he spent a lot of time looking at the skeleton (spine, etc.) They nursed, and he ate soup on his own. They played together on the bed, with him waking her up. He was then in the parlor with me. We did some art, then he was pretending to be a bee and a seagull, bothering me and keeping me awake. I threw pillows at him, but then he turned out to be a nice bee and cuddled and rested with me. Carly gave him a bath, then we blew bubbles while she took a shower. He finally ate most of his soup, and watched some Venus flytraps and math videos on the iPad. He was asleep around 8:30.

 

Photos. Sunglasses: 

Squinting: 

Glasses back on: 

Climbing down: 

Raccoon game: 

Book: 

More Pokémon Go players: 

Asleep: 

Awake. Sort of: 

Nice woman on the train. She was trying to touch his hands, so he hid them underneath him. It turned into a bit of a game: 

Bubbles: 

Nursed with Carly at 6:30. Then woke up at 7:59. Apparently he had almost woken me up last night  around 3:30. He went into the parlor and lay on the floor for a few minutes. He came out hungry. Ate banana bread and then one green olive. I was placing an iHerb order, and August and I talked about what kind of toothpaste to buy. He decided he wasn’t ready to start spitting out his toothpaste all the time, so we went with the fluoride-free kind. He then wanted to find Green Monster and Bluie and Marshy. After that we did some exercise, then some Hebrew and art, starting a mosaic.

Funny conversation when he came in the bathroom when I was on the toilet. I was sitting there, and he touched my back and said “You can touch the back. There’s no poop coming out of there. Why there no poop coming out the back?” He claimed the floor was dirty, saying “There poop on there.”

I took a shower, then we looked for skeleton videos, then read some old Mother Goose on the iPad on the couch. Later, he would want “more poems”. We then went to the reading area to play and rest. Playing around, he joked “Don’t eat me. I don’t taste good. The bones, probably.” He then got nice and sweet and cuddled for awhile. He kept doing nose rubs with me and softly saying “Dada, dada.” He combined that with pretend waking me up and also cuddling.

Getting ready to go, he picked up the knife I used to cut the strawberries. He was being safe with it at first, but then started to walk with it. I tried to take it from him, but he tried to grab it with both hands, at which point I got it away from him. He wasn’t happy about that.

Ate a few crackers, then played the piano. He then started doing math on the door. First seriously, and then math with letters. He was standing on the tambourine and I picked it up and put it in the bowl. He then got it back, and was acting as if I had taken it away from him as a consequence. That led to a discussion of consequences, and distinction between natural consequences and discipline consequences. Sitting on the toilet, he wanted more and more examples of consequences. Sitting there, he lost his balance but caught himself. He told me “Don’t worry. I balanced.” Back with the magnets, he said “Zinnie did a little math…I haven’t done math with letters yet…What’s D minus T?” Finally, he then played piano, doing the whole song and singing through “Brother John” in the song.

We left at 12:10. He sang Itsy Bitsy Spider over and over. We walked up the main street, then turned right along the stream. The sidewalks and streets here were all slippery, so it was slow going. We made it to the park, which we decided to call Chinhurt Park (actually called 가재 Children’s Park). He had fun walking on the ice, then went on the swings for quite awhile. We sang a bunch of our old songs: Spanish ABC, counting songs, etc., then learned more Yankee Doodle Dandy.

We left at 1:00 when he decided he wanted to keep going to Tayo. He got too cold a block from the kid cafe, so I carried him and he buried his hands between us. Started playing at 1:25. He was ready to go, but open to going to the bathroom first thing. He insisted on wearing the slippers in the bathroom. Still a bit cold from being outside, and the bathroom was cold, so he was shivering. First played in the bead area, hiding and finding stuff. A girl and her baby sister came along. The older girl confused him (and me, for that matter) by first throwing beads at all of us, but when August tried to return the favor and I explained he could only do it on their legs, the older girl was having none of it and said we couldn’t put them on the little girl or her. But after they left, a mom and baby came along, and August used the pie crust toy thing as a massager on the boy’s foot and he really liked it. He then mimicked August by using it on his own foot, then handed it back to August so he would use it on the kid’s foot more.

August was then ready for something else. He went back to the baby toys and played with those while I went and ate some lunch at the counter. He came over after awhile and ate lunch, then went back in. He climbed in the baby chair, and pretended to be a baby and sleeping, then played with the toys hanging above him. Very cute.

After that, he wandered around looking for something else. I went to put the backpack back in the locker, and August followed me there, but then as I struggled to make it fit, August disappeared. I found him back at the other end of the play area looking for something else to do. We crawled through the crawling thing once, then went up to the book area, where we read two horrible, horrible Pororo books in English that I’d like to forget. Both the English and plot were horrible in both.

We went down a slide once, and did the small trampoline area a couple times. The second time he had it to himself for awhile, so was having more fun, but the second another kid came in he stopped. About 3 he decided he was ready to go home: “I want to go home.” “Are you sure?” “Yeah. Come on, dada.” But as we got our coats I saw that the tool area was open, so we did that for 15 minutes or so before leaving.

We walked some roads to avoid some of the icy area. Randomly, the footholds on the bike (which August never uses) fell off. Picked up the pieces and will see if it can be repaired later. Close to Toys R Us he talked about being hungry. We stopped at some benches and had a snack. He then got his shovel, and played around on the icy snow, mainly seeing if he could slip on it.

We then went to Toys R Us, where we went to the toy store. He mainly liked the aquariums with the real plants in them, and looked at some fish. We also went and saw the cats. He wanted to startle/wake them up, but reluctantly agreed not to, saying ‘hi’ instead. Tried to look at books at Toys R Us, but he didn’t want to. Seemed rather tired. We sang the Spanish ABC song as we walked home. As we got close to home (on our side of the park) he got cold again, and wanted me to carry him. Was then getting upset when I would set him down for a second.

Got home at 4:40. He requested more poems, and wanted me to sing the nursery rhymes, even if they don’t have a tune (that I know of). Then looked at the Bones app on his ipad. Carly was home at 5:10.

They nursed, then he watched Venus fly trap videos. He found the Sesame Street Play app, and we used it to find two games to play: the first was one where we put random objects on the table, then took one away while the other person closed their eyes. The second was one where we chose a funny word, then took turns saying it in a higher pitch until one person couldn’t go any higher.

He sang When Johnny Comes Marching Home again with Carly and she made up lines: “He wants some soup to eat, because he’s super super hungry” “he eats his soup with some bread and then he quickly goes to bed” etc. “Sing it again!” She was making them up during his bath last night. They then read Happy Birthday and the Pop-up Nursery Book. He did some art on the iPad, then wanted to read Peppa Pig books. I read a couple of those, then Carly used reverse psychology on him (telling him she didn’t want to hear Gaston) to get him to request Gaston. Carly gave him a bath, then he was lifting the little weight that he found in the cupboard near her closet. We read the Pop-up Nursery Book in a fort on reading area, then did some mosaic on paper. He said he was ready for sleep, and went in with Carly and was asleep at 8.

Photos. Bluie: 

Swinging in the cold: 

Baby area: 

Reading area: 

Tools: 

Snack break: 

Pet store: 

To our park. Looking at things on the ground while he swings: 

Pokémon Go players in the park:

Well, we got a lot of snow today, but the wrong kind. It was above freezing, and it was snow that turned to rain in the afternoon. Not much fun to be out in.

He was up at 7:50. Came back in to me in the bedroom a little later and we had Bluie and company eating funny meals. Out on the piano he played more of Are You Sleeping and was singing along. I took a shower, then they looked up bones on Carly’s computer. I superglued our cracked blender and he pretended to touch the glue and get it on his finger. We went in to the Duplos and added to out staircase. Up to 50 stairs, and it can’t get much bigger. We read some Where the Sidewalk Ends. He then pretended to see/draw letters on the ceiling: “W made of poop…or Z made of poop…O shape of poop…you did all sorts of letters of poop.”

Next we got paper and markers and had fun with Hebrew. He practiced Hebrew pronunciation with the app, then drew some letters. He would watch the example then try to draw it. For more difficult letters he would ask me to help him. Later in the day he would clearly ask Carly for help with something he wasn’t sure about. Back out in the living room, when Carly asked if he wanted a bite of something, he replied with “Si”, then pointed out he answered in Spanish.

Back in on the bed we had Bluie and company do more eating, then he got the Me and My Dad book and we read that. We then read Happy Birthday and the second time he read it entirely on his own, and sang the song.

We ate dip and cream cheese. Looking at Carly’s computer, he asked “Why you get this computer?” We also noticed today that he says “Of course” a lot – he gets that one from Carly.

Suddenly we heard a drill in the apartment right next to us. It startled all of us and August curled up in a ball and covered his eyes. Carly picked him up and he said “I want to go home”. She asked if he wanted to see video of a drill, and they looked on YouTube. From there he wanted to see bones or cartilage or something. They ended up watching different surgery videos, like open heart surgery. At one point Carly asked “Do you want to see a 20cm worm in someone’s eye?” August: “Sure. Of course!” But one video they tried to watched was behind the age verification system – you had to be 19. August got sad about this and Carly took him in on the bed. Actually, he told her he wasn’t sad, but “angry”.

He was asleep 1:05 to 1:35. Short, because we woke him up. He had soup for lunch, and fed himself soup as he also ate popsicle. Carly looked a video of something up on her computer again, and ended up finding a good series of animated science videos out of India. He watched videos on the circulatory system, sound, migration, hibernation, microbes, and a few other things. We then did some play dough. He made a giraffe in one of the little press things, then wanted the play dough knife. He then cut open the giraffe, doing surgery like in the video he saw earlier. He and I then played piano and xylophone: more Are You Sleeping and singing at same time.

He finally expressed interest in going outside. He wanted the play area at the art museum, claiming “It is more fun” than Namu. But it closed in a few minutes, being close to 4. He wanted to use the changing pad again and got it down. We put his socks on on it. We needed a couple things from the store, and I remembered the book area at the movie theater. He liked that idea. So we brushed our teeth and took the bike over there. Not really raining hard (we wouldn’t use an umbrella), but wet enough that the playgrounds would be soaked.

Anyway, we got to the book area. Kind of busy and loud. We went up to the loft as all the English books were up there. Another sign that the place has been neglected: all the cushions that had been upstairs are gone. We read Duck Goes Potty two or three times. He pretty much read all of it, although ‘use’ still gives him problems, as he wants to say ‘see’. We read It’s Raining Cats and Frogs once, then he was done and wanted to go get groceries.

I thought that was a bit odd, to be done so fast, but then in the store he wanted to be picked up and not set down. He was tired. We made it through, although he was quite upset when I set him down to pay. We got home and he nursed and played with Carly. I got nachos together (Carly had already cut and cooked the veggies and tofu) but then realized we had both forgotten salsa and the salsa in the fridge was old. I went to Home Plus and picked some up. Came home and ate.

Carly gave him a bath. They sang The Ants Go Marching. Lot of talking about bones “Patella. That’s another name for it.” Carly took a shower. We read Bedtime for Peppa twice and Peppa Goes Swimming. Then he played GarageBand. When carly came out they went and read Happy Birthday, with him doing most of the reading and singing.

He was ready to try for sleep. I was in the bathroom and he came in to say goodnight. Told me “Your floor is dirty again.” I cleaned it like three days ago. We all went and put sheets on the bed: with his being upset about the video, before his nap we hadn’t had him go to the bathroom and he had leaked. He was then jumping on the bed and waking up Carly.

Tried for bed 8ish. Back out by 8:30. “I’m just a LITTLE sleepy.” He ate two whole pieces of apple. AND ATE THE PEEL!!! “Why you eat all the peel?…Zinnie teeth are bigger and stronger.” We went in on the bed and I told two Puffin Rock stories. He then wanted mama. He told me “You can stay here, dada.” And went out, closing the door behind him. She came in and he was asleep around 9:30.

Photos. 50 steps: 

Hebrew: 

Watching surgery: 

Changing pad for fun: 

Reading at the movie theater:

Looking down at the kids: 

He was awake at 6:40. They nursed then he and I played with Green Monster, Bluie, and Marshy for quite awhile. A lot of slime talk. We then went and got Cheerios. He helped me by carrying the strawberries to the table, as my hands were full. He was excited by that. I asked him something, and he was working on nodding for yes. Rather amusing. He then joked about going outside on his own. He wanted the broken arm story, so I told that and he cuddled with me. Carly tried to get a photo, but he jumped up as soon as he saw what she was doing. He wanted to nurse, but she said he had to go cuddle with me again first. He obliged, then they nursed.

They moved to the parlor, then read the Lift the Flap Nursery Book, then played play dough while I showered.

They were counting play dough balls when I came out. They had tried to call Vivian but with no answer. Earlier, they had called but Vivian and Colin were watching a video. August called back a couple times on his own; Vivian answered and laughed and hung up on him.

He and I then made banana bread, then they nursed. He then played Human Body, after which he and I made curry veggie dip. He remembered he liked cucumbers and ate a bunch of cucumber as we made it. Oh, and he got to use “a sharp thing” as I let him use the peeler to peel the cucumber. Carly went to the store while we were making it. August and I read Hug Machine and more Astrosmurf and ate dip, then Carly got home. August took a nap from 1:05 to when carly woke him up at 2:15.

They nursed, then played with Baby Q. To put Baby Q to sleep August chose the ABC song. He was then giving Baby Q treats: “Pineapple with no strings…podo drink with a straw…and some carrot.”

In the afternoon we got out on a walk. I asked August where he wanted to go, and he thought of Sarang Children’s Park, which sounded good. We headed up that way, him on the bike and singing. At the park he went on the swing. Spent some time standing and kneeling on them with my help.

We went over to the sand and played there. Carly laughed because at first August had me scooping the sand and he was just watching. He said that the sand chute looked like a mailbox. He was right, but I wondered where he learned what a mailbox looked like. I asked if it was from a book: “No” A cartoon: “No”. Finally I remembered the mail day in Teuni Teuni. I mentioned that and he said “Yeah!”

After several buckets in the sand (he eventually did a lot of shoveling). We went around stomping on the ice. He climbed up on the play structure and played on it by himself, then went down a slide. He found a big piece of glass and grabbed it to go throw in the bushes. Carly and I grabbed him and took the glass away from him and he was very sad about that. He calmed down, but was done with the park, so we headed home.

I told him we could make cocoa at home and told him not to tell mama. He gleefully told mama. At Brownstone, Carly was running to GS25 to get a couple things. August wanted to follow her, but immediately changed his mind. We got home at 5:15.

Carly made soup, and we played on the piano. He played more of Are You Sleeping. Then they read the baby book and nursed. I told him a Flynne story, then he questioned why I had tea in the parlor, thinking he had caught me breaking a rule. We were talking about bones, and cartilage came up. Then he wanted to see photos of cartilage. So we did an image search and ended up looking at a lot of diagrams of where cartilage is located. On the toilet he was pretending to be a big baby again: “The baby had a big skull…and kneecap…and spine…”

Carly gave him a bath, and he played GarageBand after that. Tried for sleep sometime after 9, but they came out 20 or 30 minutes later for awhile. I went back in with them, then he went to sleep about 10.

 

Photos: 

Peeler: 

Our dip: 

Steps: 

Park: 

Naked GarageBand

He slept all the way until 8:05. That’s almost 13 hours. They nursed, then Skyped with Cherie and Chuck. I was up for awhile, but went back to bed because I woke up with a headache and it wasn’t going away. August went to the bathroom, then washed his hands on his own, then scooped up most of a bowl of oatmeal and ate it on his own. They then Skyped with Derek and Thatcher and Kayla, and when I got back up, feeling much better, ate more of my cereal. We all did a bunch of cleaning after that. He actually vacuumed, and I helped move toys and books around so he could get in the corners. We then made letters out of Duplos. Carly took over, and they made a big Q and little q. He was then hitting the window with the Duplos and asking about consequences: “What happen if you not follow the rules… Why you had a consequence for rolling the toilet paper in Thailand? You remember that.”

He and I then sat on the reading area and read the Astrosmurf volume of the Smurfs. He had a ton of questions. We would go back to it and read more of the story a couple times later in the day. He was then pretending to be a baby around the house: “What the baby going to grab next?” He then played Human Body, but wanted me to use the tweezers to pull hairs. He went and stood by the parlor door while I pulled the hairs. He whispered “I don’t like sad faces.”

Eventually we headed out on a walk, him on the bike. We headed up to Daiso to get replacement straws for his water bottles. On the walk he was singing Yankee Doodle and Down by the Station. At Daiso he was, as usual, concerned about his bike being left outside. In Daiso he was fascinated by the candles, trying to smell (and for one, eat) them. Daiso no longer has a baby section, so we walked up to check the other Daiso. On the way I remembered that Daiso is closed, but it was worth the short walk as we discovered a new coffee shop where a restaurant had been.

I asked August if we should head to Starbucks now, and he gave a loud cheer. We walked to Starbucks and August chose a Chia seed drink. Then he sat with me and we read more Astrosmurf. He then sat with Carly and had her make a sad face on the Human Body app. He stood back behind her while she did that. He was then playing with the app but couldn’t hear it, so said “I want to play someplace quieter.” Carly let him use her earphones.

We headed home along the stream, then when I asked if August wanted to go to Chrysanthemum Park he gave three or four cheers – even more than Starbucks. We walked across and he helped carry the bike up the steps. They went on the swings, then he wanted to climb the structure. I helped him up the climbing wall (a bit more difficult with boots), and we made our way around. He was more confident walking across the rope bridge (the bigger boots helped), and he was finding the ropes up and down to the platform easier than before. We went down the slide to get off, and he didn’t hesitate on that. He then climbed the big rope ladder back up onto the structure. He swung from it a couple months ago, but don’t think he climbed it all. He was then really interested in climbing down the climbing wall properly, and working out how to look down to find footholds.

We headed home. August is big into singing When Johnny Comes Marching Home and Yankee Doodle. On the walk I looked up the history of Yankee Doodle. Carly thought it was funny when I suggested to August that we learn the original Dutch words.

We went to the grocery store for grocery shopping. August was holding Carly’s hand going down the stairs, but wanted to jump them. Carly said he couldn’t, and he said “I don’t want a consequence.” At the store he was being crazy. He managed to touch a fish and then I had to chase him down when he started running. He was upset when I picked him up. Carly took him home and I paid for the groceries.

They nursed at home, then I made us a salmon sandoo. He was then playing more of Are You Sleeping on piano. At one point we talked about bones and why we have them, and I mentioned how bones protect us and that without bones we could be squished like slugs. He then pretended to squish things: “squish a slug…squish a worm…squish a cow…squish a cat…I’m making lots of messes.”

More nursing and some reading with Carly, then I gave him a bath. After his bath he wanted to be warm, so I told him his bathrobe, which he hasn’t really used much, would keep him warm. He was convinced, and I sent him to go show mama. We read more of Astrosmurf, then he was crawling around and going in the bathroom. I had cleaned the floor earlier, so asked him how it was. He wasn’t impressed: “Let me check…hmmm…Still dirty.” He wanted a snack, and Carly let him have some peanut butter. He asked why the jar said “organ” He had seen where it says ‘organic’. After that, I told him one of our Flynne stories and then Carly nursed him and he was asleep at 8.

Photos. One sock vacuuming:

Duplo letters: 

Forward rolls: 

Trying to eat the candle: 

Starbucks: 

Bathrobe:

He came out at 6:47. Quiet for a couple minutes, then wanted to play the Human Body app. Later he said “I want an app that shows you how dada’s humerus bone broke.” And randomly he recited some Puffin Rock lines: “Eh. I don’t need those guys. Because you don’t have to share your food with us. Exactly.” After awhile he requested “I want the story Parking Problems…Paddington.” But we never got around to reading it, as we ended up playing with some music, then doing some exercise. Then it was in on the bed to do the rolling game and made a nest.

He talked about bones he could feel and we looked them up on the phone – phalanx, metacarpal, radius, ulna.

We skyped with my parents. I asked them about getting a cat, and I asked August how many cats Gramma and Grampa should get. He said “One” and held up one finger, but then after a pause kept counting, all the way to ten, and said they should get ten cats.

After Skype we played more on the iPad and ate a peanut butter sandwich. We played in the parlor. He rolled around, and put a blanket on me. We read Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight. Then he had the idea of making cats out of play dough. I tried to make cats, and he made other things: “I made a foot jellyfish.”

We headed out early to Teuni Teuni class, but not early enough to get lunch beforehand. So we sat at a table outside his class and had some crackers. But before going up the moving walkway, August stopped at the goo-mood-a-fire store, which was back, and smelled the humidifiers, as they had scents in them. We saw Jihong and his mom as they were coming out of the class before ours. Surprising, as I thought she was out of the city, back to teaching this year. Class was about slapping flies with a flyswatter, picking up ants with a stick, and putting tadpoles in jars – a lot of pulling and pushing and poling stuff. He did well. Wouldn’t give the teacher a high five at the start of class, but instead ran up and did a big jump onto his hands and knees instead.

After class we went down and chose the bibimbap with soup (산채비빔밥) in the food court for lunch. He had a lot of fun trying everything, even trying the tiniest bit of the red pepper sauce. He particularly liked the boiled egg, which he ate all of, and he ate the sprouts and mushrooms and egg from the bibimbap. He did well with the seaweed as well, and of course ate the rice. The soup was spicy, but he liked the tofu chunks out of it when I wiped them off. He was excited by the new things he tried, and said “You handled the seaweed too.” He had also been looking at the stomach animations on the Human Body app earlier, so we talked about how the food was being digested. He said “Zinnie has a stomach; everyone has a stomach.” When he was done eating, he was running up and down a zigzag sort of line on the floor.

He asked how to use the chopsticks, and I realized we should buy him training chopsticks. So when we were done we went and chose a set with a blue owl on the end. We then went and got another set of underwear so we’d have more, then got some groceries. After, of course, he looked at the aquariums for awhile.

We headed out on his bike, and I asked if he wanted to go to the play area at the art museum. We spent about 50 minutes there. He worked on throwing (aiming and overhand), struggled to get his socks off, and played with some other kids. One girl told him not to throw balls at her head. He then crowded in one of the heart-shaped ball pits with two other kids and they all threw the balls out together.

At 4 we headed home and dropped off the groceries. He was hungry, so I suggested we could get something at the bakery. We went down and got bread and he chose a maple pecan pastry and then looked at all the cakes. And we picked up our package from iHerb. He carried the bag from the bakery from the guard station to the elevators.

We tried out the new chopsticks and popped the packing material together. August had said a couple times during the day that he was getting sleepy – once during class, and once in the ball area, but he never wanted to head home. When we were back home now, we ended up in the bed, making a fort, and he cuddled up in my left arm and lay with me for several minutes while we waited for Carly to get home.

When she got home they nursed, then he played with GarageBand. He ate rice curry, but Carly gave him a hot bite that really upset him. After they nursed, he went back to eating, but scooped it all up himself. If that’s what it took… But then wanted “something else”, which usually leads to him requesting “more breakfast foods”.

Carly gave him a bath. He wanted his underwear, one of the new crocodile pair from today, and started to get really sad and exhausted when we said he needed a diaper. We consoled him by putting the underwear on over his diaper, and he fell asleep by 7:15.

Think I forgot to mention he had the slightest pee accident yesterday when he was playing on the iPad at the couch. He realized though, and made it to the toilet. Pretty minor, and he wasn’t upset by it, but aware.

 

Photos: 

Class: 

Lunch: 

Play area: 

Bakery: 

Chopsticks: 

Packing material: 

He was up at 6:51. Came over by me for a couple minutes. First thing he wanted was Venus fly trap videos. I let him watch some on YouTube Kids on his app, which was fine until a video of a guy putting his tongue in a Venus fly trap. In case you were wondering, that is not a good thing to do. August was a little disturbed by the blood. Wanted the Human Body app, so went to that. He discovered his kneecap, and we spent some time talking about blood. He remembered, all on his own, scraping his knee this summer: “Why you bleed at Oma and Opa’s?” I asked him where he was bleeding, and he pointed to his knee.

He then wanted to go and wake up Green Monster. We were playing with GM and GM said he liked mushrooms. August said “I like Thailand mushrooms”. August then put GM back to sleep, putting “soft things” around him. He watched Puffin Rock while I showered, then played GarageBand. We ate some crab for a snack, then he went to the bathroom, after which he wanted to wake up Green Monster again.

We played for a long time on the bed. We read Biscuit Wins a Prize, then he was hiding Green Monster, Marshy, and Bluie. Some of the things he said:

“I want to look for that friends.”

“Sorry dada. I like to be VERY loud.”

“This is a slime cave…I want to know the kinds of slime, Green Monster. Talk about the slimes, Green Monster…”

“Oh, I’m going to get something really special for you…a fish…it’s a rainbow fish and it has a lot of colors…blue, green, maroonish, purple, yellow…”

He wanted to play the breaking the rules game, which he later called the ‘rolling over game’: “Be mad now. Be mad at me dada. Tell me not to roll over. “

We talked about going outside, and he wanted the bike, but I convinced him he couldn’t take a nap on the bike. He got on the bike and demonstrated how he didn’t have anything to lean on when he slept. We ate our leftover Subway sandwich, a peanut butter sandwich, and a few other things for lunch, then had a lot of piano time. We then played piano. He surprised me by suddenly playing the first few notes of Are You Sleeping? He was working on that, and then the “Brother John” notes.

On the iPad he found an animation app we hadn’t used yet, and we tried that out a bit. I drew a fish and a whale and he made paths for them to move on.

We then tried taking a nap on reading area, starting at 1:48. He did a better job than he has usually done in the past with just laying still and closing his eyes. At one point he was silent for a couple minutes and I thought he might be falling asleep. But he got up. He also looked around at all of his options: “So many places to sleep…on the bed, the floor over there…” He had to pee, and while sitting on the toilet he was asking what would happen if he didn’t have a lower brain. He concluded. “There’s no lower brain. I don’t have a brain stem.”

A nap not happening, we finally got out of the house on a walk at 2:57. He was singing a lot of verses from Ants Go Marching on his own. He wanted the backpack, so I thought he might be going to sleep, but he didn’t. We walked down to the river, then north to Madeul Stadium. A walk we haven’t done in quite awhile. We walked to the playground, and got on the swings at 3:30. He was working on pumping a bit. After a good session, he asked to go to Cafe Tolerance.

We went there and he got a mango and a pineapple juice. He played on the iPad for awhile, then wanted to hear the story about breaking my arm again. This time, I pulled up the photos from the time, and he got to see the hike, my arm broken, him visiting in the hospital, and, most excitingly, the x-ray. He was fascinated by that, and we pulled up the skeleton app so he could compare the x-ray to what it looks like. He was then being silly in the coffee shop (which was full of kids). He did a little dance for one kid, then was concerned about a baby that kept crying. But then August went up to him and did one of his yells and the baby cried more. August and another boy about the same age as him sort of played together as we were getting ready to go: chasing each other and jumping around.

We got home after Carly. They nursed and we had some dinner. Carly went with him to the bathroom, and he joked about things to pee on “on mama, on dada…” More joking: “I accidentally pooped on that door this morning.” What did dada say? “No pooping on the door.” That didn’t happen.

He tasted the vinegar in Carly’s salad and said it tasted like a few other things. Then he announced: “I know. Let’s find Green Monster.” We played on the bed and he pretend to break his own kneecap (like his lower brain, it was another “What happen if you don’t have…” question): “I’m going to break the left kneecap. You can try.” “Pretend bones.”

I gave him a bath. After that, as he walked to Carly, he said “My feet are a little squeaky…No, we have to oil them.” He was asleep by 7:20.

 

Photos. Stretch: 

Headstand: 

Pile of pillows: 

Cuddling: 

Resting with Marshy:

Demonstrating falling asleep on the bike: 

Trying to sleep: 

River walk: 

Playground: 

Walking to the coffee shop:

Cafe Tolerance. Perched on my arm:

Trying out the short table: