Author: Ryan/Dada

He woke up at 7:45. Held him for a minute, then he was straight to the Duplos. We were making letters and numbers out of them, and we had made a 9 with the line at the bottom. He added a piece to make it look like a curved on and said “It’s a sitting 9!” He did some emailing with Carly, then played with the music apps, before doing some color sorting and mixing in the colors app.

I was about to jump in the shower, but he wanted some cereal, so we had that. He was playing with the remote to the stereo we don’t use, which he has done several times, but this time he pretended it was a phone. I asked who he was calling, and he said “birdie”. So he talked to a birdie. He then took the Peter Rabbit puzzle apart, and wanted birdie to help. We did some of the puzzle, then I finally took a shower and we got ready to go. We also of course did the piano keys. He only had C in, and was hitting it singing the ABC song. Left a little after 10.

We played with a Hangeul app on the way down. He understood the transferring, and that we were on line 5, as he talked about it later on the way back, and then at home. We got out at Olympic Park and went to CU, where we got some new kimbap, a macaroni salad, and he picked out a mango juice, and I got blueberry. He didn’t eat much, saying the macaroni was crunchy, and that the blueberry juice was salty. Threw our stuff away and went walking. Talked about where to go, and I mentioned the history museum, and he really wanted to go there. So he was disappointed when it was closed. He then used it for a “The baby was sad because she wanted to go to the history museum.” Later I would say sorry you were sad that the history museum wasn’t open, and he would claim he wasn’t sad about it. On the walk over, he was singing Wheels on the Bus, and wanted me to. He was doing hand motions in the backpack – driving, doors opening, etc. and said there were buttons to make the babies cry, and “There’s a button for the mama’s go shh shh shh” (think he said that one later at the playground). He also spotted interesting bushes with berries on them – something like beauty berries, I think.

Anyway, went to the big playground. They changed it all over the summer. Or at least parts of it. He mainly climbed on a big triangle-shaped climbing thing. On the rope ladder side he climbed to the top, about 7 feet up. On his way down his foot slipped and I went to help him, but he wasn’t upset – he was asking if he could get down under the rope part. He also went in the big jeep toy (which was there before, but moved). He sat in there and sang Wheels on the Bus, then he climbed in a little shaky toy and did the same. A few times he mentioned/sang about driving to mama’s work.

He needed changing, so we went and changed him in the nearby bathroom. He saw the drawings of poop on a nearby door, for the little Dongbang bakery – literally ‘Dung bread’. We went in a bit later and got a blueberry one. As we ate it, he joked about it being a “Pile of spaghetti poop”. He was looking a bit tired, but I didn’t expect a nap. We went walking around the pond area, but he just kept talking – a lot about colors, asking how they would mix, and singing about them as well. After about 20 minutes it was clear it was a no nap day. We stopped to look at the information on the 88 Olympics, and at the list of gold medal winners. We then watched the fake waterfall, and the waterwheel exhibit for several minutes. The waterwheel was only going partially around, going back and forth, and he kept asking why it was broken, and wanted someone to come fix it.

We started walking through the park, back to the same station. There was an announcement on the speakers, and he really wanted to know what it was about. We had heard one before trying to give him a nap, and one of us, I can’t remember who, started a joke that it was telling babies they were supposed to take a nap. This time he wanted to really know. After it stopped, New Kids on the Block’s “Step by Step” played.

We spotted the small playground near the south end of the park that he’d never played at. He wanted to get down. That it would be short, but we spent a lot of time there. He went across the shaky bridge a couple times, holding my hand. There was a net floor space, and at the entrance to it two handles. He started the bzzzzt game, and that went on for a long time. Then once when he had me get bzzzzt,, he suddenly said “Accident! It will feel better dada…I grabbed some water for you.” He then spent several minutes running around the structure, pretending to get water, then rubbing it on my hand and telling me it would feel better. A guy came and talked to us for a few minutes, kind of putting and end to that one, then we headed out, walking to the exit. Got him to do some of the walking. Spent a few minutes playing with a drinking fountain, then he found two beads on the ground and we looked for more as we walked towards the exit. Found several, and he threw some in the fountain. He drank from his water bottle, then asked “Can you spit in the train station?” He then randomly said “I just want dada to get some gum.”

We made our way home. On line 7 he spent all his time looking at the subway map, playing “All the way to this stop…”, where he points to a random stop, and then asks what is at that stop. His diaper was seeming full, so I carried him home. We changed him, then quickly headed to the pink building to pick up a couple things. Got back home a little before Carly. I let August get a little grape jelly thing at the grocery store, and he remembered it and wanted to eat it. When he was eating it, he said it “slurped” in his mouth. He used the word first, but then found it hilarious when I used it every time he took a bite. Carly had dropped off a bottle that Derek had left, and he gave her a bunch of mini meatloafs that he had made. We ate those and lasagna for dinner. He was nursing and almost fell asleep at 6:20, and wasn’t happy about being woken back up. Carly gave him a bath, and he rebounded and had. Lot of fun. He then came out with me and we did Hangeul together on the iPad. He then went to sleep at 7:40.

Straight to the Duplos:

Mixing colors: 

Playground. Counting rope steps: 

Poop bread: 

Not sleeping: 

Gold medal winners: 

Playground 2: 

Pigeon, thumb, and clouds: 

In the station: 

Home: 

Asleep: 

Plans to go to Dream Forest with Derek and the kids were scuttled when he wanted to come over here instead. Rain in the afternoon then forced us to do a short walk, and we ended up at the art museum.

He was up at 6 with Carly. I was up sometime later. She made stovetop and rice cooker lasagna this morning that turned out really well. He and I did puzzles, starting with one of the sticker puzzles we got last spring at City Hall, then real puzzles. He continues to tell me to go away when he is about to finish a puzzle, even if I was barely involved with the puzzle before that. I had on the live stream of a Dresden Dolls concert from Coney Island, so we watched that (and the opening band PWR BTTM) as we played. He asked about the songs a few times. Got out his iPad and we played with the Arctic app for a good amount of time. When playing with the musk of he said “I have not seen one.” Then played Classify It, completing a few levels together, and the car app, which I hadn’t seen before.

Derek had headed our way around 11. I was making banana bread and still watching the concert, so wasn’t planning on going out until noon. Around 11:30 though they came up as it was raining. August was shy at first, first hiding in the parlor. Got him out for a couple minutes, and he helped me get cars out for Logan. He was also intrigued when Rosie was upset. Then nursed for awhile, after which he came out and played. We did more puzzles, and after they left August just worked on puzzles on his own for a few minutes. He then took a nap, and it was a long one, from 12:20 to 2:17.

After he woke up and nursed, he and I played with the musical instruments (there was also a lot of piano keys today). I showed him how the sound of the cymbal changes depending on how you hold it. He really liked that, and was demonstrating himself. I was playing a rhythm on the cymbal with a drum stick, and he grabbed the tambourine (which we hadn’t used yet) and started playing along.

Eventually, we headed out. Planned to go to the parks north of Sarang Children’s Park, which Carly has never seen before. But then it started raining. Steadily. When we got out, August wanted pants on, although he refused a raincoat, choosing the stroller instead. We walked over to the art museum and went in to the play area. He wanted his pants off to play, so I took them off. As he went into the play area he said “Thank you dada!” He was jumping and singing 14 little monkeys. Carly went to look at art, and when she came in I asked him to jump and show mama. He said “Noooo. I’m full of 14 little monkeys.”

When he was done we ended up looking at some art. Hung out in the lobby for awhile, as it was raining hard. I went up and looked at some of the photographs, and they were looking down at the progress on the new exhibit downstairs. The blowy things turned on once. We then went upstairs so he could use the headphones. Up there, I found a room with projectors projecting colors on the wall and floor. He hadn’t seen that, and spent several minutes in there, watching the colors change. Headed home, still raining. He didn’t want his pants back on before we left, but that changed once outside.

At home, he played nest with Carly. Then he and I played Musyc and Figure. More nest and nursing. Then we stacked blocks and did some matching, before spending a lot of time with Figure. He wanted me to play Wheels on the Bus, and I made a mistake and said something about a wrong note. He kept wanting to know “where the wrong notes go?” Spent several minutes explaining and demonstrating, but a difficult concept to grasp.

He peed on his own a couple times, although I think once it ended up on the floor of the hall as he didn’t make it down there in time. I gave him a quick bath – he took in his old toy that went on his high chair, and pretended to wash the lizards and monkey and bird and insects. The toy wasn’t actually in the bath, but we would pretend the animals would crawl or fly in one at a time and then wash them. After his bath, he took me in to bed for “Zinnie and dada bird” Eventually he wanted mama bird though. I said something about mama and baby bird. He stood on the floor and patted his chest with both hands and said “Zinnie is baby bird”. He was asleep at 8:40.

Puzzles with Rosie:

Walk in the rain: 

Art museum: 

Wet boy: 

He was awake a little before 7. He and Carly played the nest game for quite awhile, with him finding all sorts of colorful cicadas and other insects to eat. When we went out to the living room he was surprised to find the windows open, as it was cooler today. He said it “smells like cold” and kept trying to close the windows for awhile. I made some toast, and he played play dough with Carly. She’s trying to get him to nurse less, which is hard, because then it seems like he just thinks about it more. Eventually, they went back in the bedroom and played in the nest (and nursed, I presume). We then skyped with Cassie and Vivian for a long time. I played with him while we showed Vivian the Teuni cubes and the Duplos. They then skyped with Chuck and Cherie and Derek and family while I took a shower. He was then really upset about not nursing, and we were planning to go to Home Plus. Eventually, she gave in and nursed him, and he fell asleep. Way, way early for a nap, and he slept from 10:50 to 12:09.

After he woke up we finally got ready and headed over to Home Plus. Carly got to see where he likes to try out the tester creams. On the first basement she looked at backpacks, and August helped by knocking some off. August spotted the birds and said “How you doing birds?” We then headed down to groceries. At first he just wanted to smell the candies. Think he said “Want ‘I do not know’”, which is what I say when he asks what kind of candy they are. But then he and I actually did a lot of shopping. On the way home he was eating raisins, and pretending they were jelly beans. He would say what color they were, and what was in them, and offer them to Carly. Eventually I got a couple.

At home, they played in the parlor while I put the filters in the range hood. That took longer than expected. After that, we skyped with my parents. They then nursed. Carly did some vacuuming, and August then helped, and was vacuuming on his own. He and I then did some drawing, and he wanted to draw monsters. He was drawing the circles, and starting to draw eyes and mouths and whatnot. We worked together a little, but mainly he drew.

He was really working on pronouncing ‘jelly bean’, ‘highlighting’ (something he can now do on his own in word),  and ‘adult’.

In the late afternoon we headed out again and walked over to Hangeulbi Park. We first got coffee and juice at Mama Juice. The banana juice was really good. Along the way, August wanted to get down and walk. He walked a bit, but we also ended up carrying him. As we turned into the park, he said something about ‘left right’. Figured out it was “left right there”, as we had just taken a left into the park.

In the park we played in the flat area where the Hangeul characters are. Carly and I were kicking the soccer ball around, and he was playing with us a little and playing with pieces of plastic he found. The big metal letters (where my dad and me and August took a selfie) are now surrounded by bushes and landscaping, so he couldn’t play with those, but he was identifying the Hangeul characters made out of tiles on the ground, and identifying where tiles had broken and been replaced by boring cement ones. He also played the ‘bzzzzt’, having me touch a piece of plastic on the ground. We headed back to the playground, and August pretended to pee along the way, doing the whole toilet flushing and pulling up his pants thing. He found a plastic bead on the ground, and then we were finding them everywhere. This was the park, after all, where we first started noticing them.

At the playground he played with us on the swings a bit, but mainly he wanted to play on the exercise equipment. He also climbed on the play structure – he climbed up a little curved climbing wall on his own a few times, and climbed up and down the round steps. He was a little unsure about climbing down them, so I would spot him, but he did it without touching me at all.

We headed home. I had a slight headache, so Carly gave him a bath. They had a lot of fun with the letters and whatnot. From there he wanted to go straight to nursing and sleep, so they did, and he was asleep right at 8. I had made raviolis and chicken for him, but he apparently didn’t want dinner.

 

Offering Vivian some milk: 

Home Plus. “We should try this sometime”: 

Home: 

Interesting text on our coffee cup insulators: 

Hangeulbi Park: 

He was up at 6:30, nursed, and had a pleasant goodbye with Carly. He was still mellow after she left, and spent some time just lying on the floor. We then played with blocks, and then the piano keys. Switched to the iPad, where he played with Musyc more, and then tried a new music app, called Figure. He really got into that and played with it for quite awhile. We ate some toast, and played with some more blocks and the piano, then I took a shower. We then played with Duplos, making Hangeul characters and funny letters. He played more Musyc, and wanted it louder: “Want it too louder. Can you do it too louder, dada?” We got ready to go, but again he didn’t want to leave, having too much fun at home. He was also kind of stuck to the iPad this morning – the first time in quite awhile that I’ve felt like it was too much. Eventually got him out, and we left about 10:30.

On the subway down he pretended the train was a bus, then pretended to drive it, holding his hands up, as if on a steering wheel. He ate some crackers, and ended up with a hair in his mouth, which he didn’t like. He then used that as a ‘sad baby’ line: “baby sad because she has a hair in her mouth.”

At Children’s Grand Park he was excited to go to the children’s museum, and didn’t want to stop to eat. I was quite hungry, so insisted on sitting down outside the museum and eating half a peanut butter sandwich. He wasn’t happy about that, and stayed in the backpack and kept telling me I was done.

We went inside, and he first went downstairs. He did the Braille stamping, then wandered around a bit. By the luggage x-ray machine, we met an American woman with a Korean boy, about August’s age. She said she had adopted him, just got him yesterday, and they were going back to Minnesota on Tuesday. She also had a 13-year old daughter, who she said was a big help. I think she was Korean, too. But then August found a magnet and wanted to return it to the magnet wall, then wanted to go to the blue blocks. They left, and I didn’t get to talk to them again. In the blue blocks, he noted we were the only ones there. He then wanted something “Like the big kids made”. He meant a big structure, like a fort. So I built him one. He climbed on top once, but then found them too shaky, so was hesitant to get back on. Walked on the blocks, built a bit of a tower, then headed upstairs. On the first floor went to the nature area. Looked at the minerals (selenite, etc.) and then wore the bee and butterfly wings a bit, then went up in the nature house thing. Didn’t seemed bothered by the big crowds of kids. He found a ball from the ball area on the floor and wanted to return it. Did that, then went into the big ball area with a bunch of older kids around. Got into the spirit of throwing balls around like they were, although he seemed to be aiming a bit too much at the other kids. We watched the machine drop balls a couple times, then I got him out of there. He still didn’t want to leave, and we settled on the light area, which we haven’t been back to. He remembered the blocks though, and wanted to build with them. Played around there for a few minutes, then we headed out.

Got walking for a walk, but after a minute he wanted food. Set him down and got out the Larabar. He ate most of that and some water, then we kept walking. His brain was really working though. He started chanting “darkest and light” – a reference to the color sorting game we had been doing for a bit this morning in the colors app on the iPad. He was then singing Wheels on the Bus and sang: “The driver on the bus says please don’t go thataway, please don’t go thataway, please don’t go thataway…because we’re going sleepy sleeps…that’s the color pink and that’s the color blue…” That went on for a few minutes. Finally got quiet, and slept from 1:31 to 2:39, then fell back to sleep in my arms. We were in the upstairs cafe, and I put the iPad on one of the shelves by the window. It was a good height for reading, and I stood and read until he woke back up at 3:09.

A few minutes later, he started to leak. So we went outside and over by the piano and changed him. We were both hungry, so went down by the rectangle pond and ate. He was sitting on the table and accidentally knocked over the soy milk. We had fun using the spray bottle to spray the table clean. He saw the little library room and wanted to read books. Went over there, and it was locked. A woman saw us, talked to another woman who worked there, then they disappeared in search of a key. We looked at a couple books out on some small shelves, then he wanted to go back up to the piano, so left before they returned. Back at the piano he pretended to take the keys out and put them back in. A good teaching opportunity, as I would give him a letter, then he would ask which keys were D, etc. So teaching him the keyboard layout. Also played on it quite a bit.

Headed out a little after 4, but he saw the Tayo busses again, and noted that they were open. We went in the middle one, which is the shop, and he played with all the (disconnected) buttons and switches where the driver sits. Didn’t seem interested in actually sitting in the seat. Finally got him out of there, although he was very politely asking to go in the other ones (they cost money, just to watch Tayo – in Korean).

As we walked down to the station he was walking on the stairs, and needed to pee in his diaper. Then joked about peeing on the stairs, then “pretend potty”ed on the stair, complete with dumping the pee in the toilet, flushing, and pulling his pants back up. He stood/I held him on the way home. We got seats for the last 4 stops or so. But that went fine. He’s taken the warning signs about not touching and leaning on the doors to heart, and thought it was funny and daring to just barely touch the door. Then when I tried to touch the door he wouldn’t let me, grabbing my hand and saying “No”.

We saw a 15 bus as we headed around the park, so stopped across from Dunkin Donuts to see if Carly came across the bridge. Instead, she called, saying she was walking home, and a minute away. We walked over to meet her. As we neared the bakery, August said “Want to get bread for mama.” Indeed, once we met her, she had planned to get bread. Got bread, then picked up our iHerb package and headed up.

At home, he and I sat and played with Figure for a long time. I made him a quesadilla. He played Duplos with Carly, making Hangeul ㄷ and ㅁ on his own. Carly changed him, and they played in the changing room. Came out with a truck: “Dada, did you buy me this?” It was one I had purchased at Daiso. I went in, and he was working on the wooden backhoe puzzle from my parents. He was trying to figure out how to put the wheels on.

I gave him a bath. We got the bath letters out for the first time since we’ve been back. I had him sounding out words, then he was adding letters, making nonsense words, and sounding them out all on his own, then saying “that has spicy noodles in it”. Very cool. Now past 9. He wanted to play with blocks and I said we can build one more Safeway, then go read books in bed. He said “Deal”. We built that one more, then put all the blocks away (he had also put all the bath letters away) and headed to bed. We read Maisy, then he and Carly played in their nest. He fell asleep at 10 or a bit after.

Morning:

Children’s museum: 

Walking to go to sleep: 

Lunch: 

Tayo bus: 

Home: 

Dream Forest turned out to be a dry place, but we had fun anyway. And we found a new music app to have fun with.

Before I went to sleep last night, August sort of woke up and said “The juice one. Please, dada.” He then slept until 7:36. He called “Dada!” I went in and he asked “Where’d mama go?” Stretched and rolled around on the bed for several minutes. Told him about Dream Forest and he said “Today we can go? Today? Today dada?” ‘Today’ basically means ‘now’ to him. I was singing the “Ton of Qs…yes I do” song to him, and he changed it to “A ton of Ts…yes I see!” – nice job with the rhyme too. We ate oatmeal and mango for breakfast, and he was typing to Carly, and also using the voice transcription to type things to her. They exchanged a couple messages in the morning. We then tried out the Musyc app, and he had a lot of fun with that. From there, playing with Duplos: “That is the dragon. I should not touch it…Should Zinnie touch the monster?” I took a shower, then realized the guy was supposedly coming at 10 to fix the hot water heater. So we hurried and got ready to go. August insisted on playing with my vitamins though: “The monkey ate the spicy soup.” Then “bye, monkey” as he put the vitamins away. We left right at 10.

As we walked by the pink building, I told him about how he used to point out the letters on it. This started a new game, as he started saying “How you doing?” to letters on it, then everything he saw: Q, 9, bus, black car, etc. He also raised the ‘bzzzzt’ game, where one of us touches something, and the other says “bzzzzt” as if he got shocked. Got on the 100 bus, and he sat on his own.

We walked through Dream Forest, finding that the stream and fountain are now only on on the weekend. And the wading pools are malfunctioning anyway. So we went to GS25, getting kimbap, eggs, and a peach drink for lunch. Sat and ate those. When we were done, I handed him a piece of garbage and he walked over and threw it away on his own. He also sort of played with a cleaning woman through the glass. He wanted to go inside, and we went up and saw the free art show. A design show of prints and posters. A lot of shapes to point out, and we talked about which ones August would like to make. He also got kind of loud as it was echoey. Okay though, as we were the only people. As we left, the woman gave us a pack of waffle crackers. We sat and ate one of those.

He really wanted to go in the coffee shop, so we went in and got an orange juice and went in the book area. Played there for an hour or so. He can now do the things on the wall – sliding the objects around – with no problem. Played a lot on the iPad, and looked at some books. There were a couple of girls that were being kind of hyper, so that inspired him, and he did some running around. He also climbed on one of the little tables and laid on it for awhile.

When we were done there, we went upstairs and changed him. He saw the little door sensors that count how many people go in and out of the bathroom and turn the lights on and off accordingly, and I showed him how they work, and we went in and out several times to see. We then went to the sitting area near there, which is empty and kind of dark. He played around there for 20 or 30 minutes, playing with the seats made out of wire and trying to pick them up, and pretending to find insects (a lot of cicadas) and touch them, or say they are dead, and then grabbing them and releasing them or throwing them away. We also played with the voice memo app on my phone, recording him singing a few times.

Went walking, headed for APIS, out the north entrance to the park. He fell asleep right before we got to the Cafe Bonito, near the second tree playground, which I’d seen but never went in. Went up and had a view out the second floor windows. Slept from 2:10 to 3:12. When he woke up, I put on the backpack and we kept walking. We walked to Gaksheem Children’s Park, across from APIS. It too is shut down as a water park. Went to the regular playground part and played there. He spent most  of his time climbing up and down the steep slope with boards on it: “This is a tricky one. I can do it.” He could also climb in the little animal things on springs and rock on them – although he needed help getting out: the first time he needed help, he pretended to push the call button in the elevator. I did the voice for that, and he asked for help. And at the top of the hill he played on the exercise equipment – the spinning one had low enough handles for him. He was singing and making up Wheels on the bus lines and said “The bus in the bus goes bus, bus, bus”.

Right before 4:30 we walked over to the other park across from APIS, Angol Children’s Park, to meet Carly. He had just enough time to try to climb one metal ladder thing, then crouch and watch a girl play with two Transformer toys. Then Carly showed up. On the bus home he sat with her, then I picked him up before we got off. He wanted to get closer to the bus driver, then said he wanted to touch the AC controls. I said that was the bus drivers job. August said it was his job, and I said “No, that is your hobby.” When we were outside, he reach over towards Carly and said “Mama is my hobby.”

I made him a quesadilla for dinner, then we played with the piano keys – together and then by himself. They nursed, then we did more Duplos. He had earlier made what looked like a swan, then said there was a swan’s nest, and pretended to turn a light on and wake up the baby swan and it would cry. Then he’d turn the light off and the baby would go back to sleep. This game went on, and I started to pretend to be the mama swan, snapping at him to keep him away from the baby. He realized that Carly was taking a shower, so he went over to the door and kept shouting “Hey mama! How you doing?” She would answer, he’d ask again, etc. Then he suddenly said “Let me check something.” He went in the parlor, climbed up on Carly’s chair, and started playing with her computer and said “I’m just doing typing.” I actually opened up a Word document for him and he typed for awhile.

We then went out and played with blocks. He knocked down what I was building and said “Let me build it better.” He went in to pee and told Carly “Want to do it on my own…I’ll be done soon.” A bit later I asked if he was ready for a bath. He replied “No. I’m just too clean.” I gave him a bath, which went fine. He wanted me to throw the towel up again to get it caught on the hooks, and I managed to hook three at once. That was very exciting, and of course he wanted me to replicate the feat. I couldn’t. Took awhile to get him to sleep – it was 10 or a bit after by the time he was asleep.

In the morning, with all that time, I finished my journal typing, and finished reading Elect Mr. Robinson. Overall I liked it, and I liked his style and vision. But the novel didn’t deliver on the promise of the setup. Could have been so much more.

Morning: 

Lunch: 

Art: 

Cafe Dream: 

Playing in the arts center: 

Park: 

Park 2: 

Evening: 

Q: 

Another big water day, as we spent close to two hours in the water this morning.

Got up at 6:59. Sat and cuddles with me on the couch for a few minutes, then got down and started singing and playing with the piano on his own. When I went to get a photo to send to Carly, I said “Say cheese” and he said “feta cheese!” He then watched some videos on YouTube and did GarageBand, while I did some typing on mine. I was standing up, and he came up and very politely asked if he could have some toast. Back on the iPad, he wanted to do some Hangeul, so was doing the word puzzle things. The only problem was that when he finishes one he needs me to tell him what it means in English. Got him on to Elmo Loves ABCs and I took a shower.

After that, we made buildings out of Duplos. Often they were children’s museums, and he would point and tell me where the blue block area was, the ball area, etc. Got our toothbrushes out and he wanted to count everything on the table. He wanted 20 things on it, so he started grabbing piano keys, etc. to get to 20. Brushed our teeth and got ready, then played with the wooden blocks. I had us ready to go a bit before 9, but he didn’t want to leave the blocks, so we weren’t out until about 9:15.

Got to the pool and was in the water about 9:40. At 9:50 the pool closed, so we went and had crackers. Back in at 10. Took him out to the red and blue rope and we were counting the floats on it. Realized they were in groups of 10, so then we went back and forth counting by 10s…240 total. He then spent a lot of time sitting in the water on the steps. I went and got my camera and he kept playing there. He tried to splash a girl that came up, and she splashed him back. Got in his face, and didn’t like that. I got him, and he dried off his face by rubbing it on my shoulder. Recovered from that, then was playing on the steps again and kicking, and managed to get a bunch of water in his own face. Dried off the same way again, and decided he was done. It was close to the 10:50 closing anyway, so we wandered over to see what the concession stand has, and he looked at the vending machines. A woman that worked there shook a machine for him so that a flashing light came on, and he liked that. When the pools opened again at 11, he was ready to get back in. We spent a good amount of time floating together in a shady spot, and counting the floats. Realized that the last set actually has 11, so our count became 241. He started chanting 241, then adding in words and pointing. It became something like “241 here, 241 there, 241 up there, 241 right there, 241 down there…” He started talking about getting out, and I was talking about getting lunch at the pink building, so we were out about 11:40, changed him into dry clothes, and went walking.

We walked past the stadium and along the stream back and to the pink building. Went downstairs in the pink building and we chose sweet potato cheese dongatsu for our lunch. Was a little concerned that August was getting sleepy, but turned out not to be a problem. He enjoyed waiting for our order to come up, as we were standing near the dongatsu place and watching the numbers (we were 553). He ate everything except the salad (wouldn’t even consider it). All went well except it didn’t come with the macaroni salad with veggies like the plastic version showed.

We swung by the apartment so I could change shorts and grab the iPads. We then walked up the stream and down, this way and that, for just over 30 minutes, singing songs, etc. but no nap. He was talking about going to a coffee shop, and said “Mooka mooka coffee shop…pretend one”. I told him he could open one with that name. He also kept wanting to play sad baby (we had also played this in the pool). He would say one, then say “Dada’s turn!”

Back home, we sat together on the couch and both had some iPad time, him doing GarageBand, me typing and reading. But he kept wanting to use my iPad, even though he could do the same things on his. He got upset, and I put mine away. He was sad and came up and grabbed my legs and sadly asked “Can I have some iPad time, dada?” Held him for a minute and then ended up playing with the piano keys together, putting them in and out a few times. Changed him, then had the brilliant idea of bringing the wooden blocks out of the warm, smelly room. Also brought out two other sets of blocks. Combined the usual blocks with the letter blocks, and he made a whole complex out of them. Some of is discussion while doing so: “That’s too messy there. That’s carrot juice.” Wipes. “Now we can build a tower.” “That’s the trunk of the building.” “There’s a purple snail. I’ll wipe it off and put it up there.”

Carly got home a bit late. I had started to make a quesadilla for August, as he was hungry. They nursed and I got dinner out. After dinner, we played with the matching tiles/blocks. He matched a few on the cards, which now seems easy for him. In fact, he started to joke about them instead. I showed him how to set them up as dominoes to knock over, and he was really excited when they fell over. But then he didn’t want Carly to set them back up – he liked how they looked as steps, and wanted to play with them that way. He then started to match them up in a line: the lion blocks together, etc. The set doesn’t actually match up completely that way, and each one is different (the two tiger cubs are different colors, for example), so it was actually a pretty interesting activity.

Carly gave him a bath and he had fun. He was naked for awhile, but then talking about going to sleep. I carried him in to get a diaper, super baby style, and he said he (or maybe me?) was “Good at flying”. Random music was on the iPad, and “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” by the Beatles came on. He turned it up loud, which he always describes as “Too louder”. He and Carly started dancing around the room. He really got into it, and was having a blast, until he got dizzy/lost his balanced and ran his head right into the corner of the counter. A reminder that he is now tall enough for that. Carly picked him up and he had a nice red mark. He didn’t cry though, but they nursed, and he fell asleep, right at 7:30.

Morning:

Water park: 

Walking to the pink building: 

Chopsticks: 

One shoe boy: 

Combining blocks: 

Tower building: 

And knocking down: 

The big bonk: 

He didn’t want to leave the house today, but once at Children’s Grand Park he wanted to do everything, and didn’t want to come home.

He woke up a bit to nurse at 6, and said “What dada say?” – a reference to his ‘Sad baby’ game. He did wake back up until 7:11. Asked where mama was, then laid on the bed for awhile. Then wanted to go wait by the elevators, but got over that quickly. Played with the blender and then took all the keys out of the piano and put them back. As he took them out he was grinning and said “Dada is happy about it.” We had our vitamins and he wanted to play with mine. So we played with them on the table, making shapes out of them: “trapezoid and a line…funny triangle and a line.” He also said they looked like a gorilla, monster, gorilla eating hot soup, etc. Played Peg+Cat Big Gig, then the calculator app for a couple minutes, then he played with the piano on his own for a few minutes. Did some GarageBand, then I showered. After I came out he wanted to be naked, so took his clothes off. He had his toy helicopter out and it fell off the coffee table. I said “Well plastic isn’t as breakable as glass.” He responded with “Mama’s breakable as glass.” Repeated it several times. Now past 10, he decided he didn’t want to leave: “Want to stay home.” In part, I think, because he didn’t want to put clothes on. We built with the blocks in the changing room, then he saw the Teuni box and looked at the photos and said “Want to build this funny thing” We went out and built one, then he had a bit of a meltdown. After that, he changed his mind and wanted to get in the backpack.

Read Smokey on the subway down, then stopped and get kimbap and he chose an apple drinking yogurt to drink. Went and ate by the stream, after which he wanted to go to the children’s museum. No interest in the stream. He got distracted by the playground though, and played with the faucets for awhile. He could turn 3 of the 4. He was walking and saw the butterfly bench, then started running, saying “butterfly run!” Got to the children’s museum. He saw a couple school groups waiting to go in and said “Busy. Not too busy.” Went down and played with the blue blocks. Heard a baby crying and he said “What’s she crying about?…Maybe it’s a happy cry.” One of his towers fell over and he said “You crashed it!…I’ll feel happy about a new tower.” Played about 20 minutes, then wandered the basement for about 20 more. But that time made an impact: later as we were trying to get him to sleep, he remembered the music box thing that wouldn’t make noise, the pieces of paper that you can hang on the wall (he was quite confused by them – you write down something you want as a gift and hang it on the wall…for some reason), and some other turning thing.

We went up to the reading room, and played with one of the marble games. Then took of shoes and went up and looked at a couple books, particularly a Tullet book where pictures are created by shapes cut out of the page. Then changed him. Realized he can now safely slide of the changing table. And he played with the microwave. Got walking after eating a few fish crackers and he slept from 1:47 to 2:54. When he woke up and got out of the backpack he sat on the floor of the coffee shop like yesterday, then laid on it. I finally drew the line at looking for crumbs.

He wanted to see animals, so we went to the zoo. He was walking. First saw the wallaroo in their awful indoor rooms. He kept saying “How are you doing?” to it, then sang it a song. Suddenly, he took off running around in circles, saying something about the snakes. Saw the prairie dogs and meerkats, then went in the tropical building. Saw the mole rats, fish, and coatis, then a quick look through the rest. Came out at the children’s zoo and watched the fountain for awhile, and spotted a cicada swimming in the water. He kept asking it “How are you doing?” as well. I’m sure it had seen better days. Finished up by the goats and horses. He played with the faucets, and tried to splash water in for them. Picked up pieces of hay and threw them in as well.

Now 4, tried to get going, but he really wanted to play at the playground. So played there for a half hour. He went in the sand and ended up taking one shoe off. Then kept playing. Pulled a Colin. Climbed a rope ladder that way. He was throwing a rock on to a slide, then missed, and was looking for the rock. We started to get rained on as we packed up – the most of the day (there had been some drips earlier as we went to the zoo). We left right at 4:30.

Made our way home. In the park he saw the family sculpture with paint on it and he thought it would be funny to touch the baby’s butt. So I let him. He then said “there’s pee on it…brown pee.” So then he was joking about pee and poop. Saw a green sign and said “That’s mama’s pee.”

Got home and Carly got home soon after. They nursed and read and then played with Duplos. I took over playing Duplos and we kept making his creative towers and Carly snuck off for a shower. She made a quesadilla for him for dinner. I gave him a bath after that and he started to get his hyper on. He was singing and jumping, holding the side of the bath, for several minutes, coming up with lines like “four dragonflies jumping on the sky”. I would ask “Ready to get out?” and he would respond with “No, I’m still washing.” He got out a couple times to pee on his toilet.

Once I got him out of the bath, he started playing with the wooden blocks in the changing room. The three of us played in there for a good half hour, building Safeway after Safeway (he really likes Safeway). He would build one, knock it over, and ask “Shall we build more towers?” At one point he started to say “That’s mama’s fault”, which I honestly have no idea where that came from, but then I told him to say “Everything’s mama’s fault” and he really liked that. He was singing much of the time, generally based on Wheels on the Bus, and started to singing “Meditate, meditate, meditate”. At one point he started to drum along to his singing, which was the first time he’s really done that, at least so extensively. Trying to get him to head to bed, he would just say “I’m just making a tower.”

Suddenly, he developed quite an independent streak. He needed to pee, and told Carly “I’ll do it on my own…mama go away over there.” A couple minutes later he was ready to go to bed and said “Want to go sleep my sleep on your own…want mama go away.” Alas, that one didn’t work so well. That was about 9, and he came out a couple times, or kept shouting out “How you doing, dada?” I went in on the bed with them for awhile and sang him some songs. This is where he kept asking what we had played with today, and kept asking about the papers that people hung up in the children’s museum. Finally, he fell asleep about 10.

Picasso pants:

Headed out: 

Headed to the children’s museum: 

Children’s museum: 

Nap and coffee shop. Anyone know what kind of tree this is?

Zoo: 

Playground: 

Home: 

He was awake bright and early, right at 6. Nursed for a few minutes, then they came out. He was happy, and fine with Carly leaving for work. In the morning we watched a Dresden Dolls rehearsal on Periscope, then were listening to Young Fresh Fellow albums, which he seemed to like, as we played with Duplos and bricks. He built a tower out of Duplos and said “Smoke is coming out.” I was confused where he learned about a chimney until he then said “The light is flashing.” It was the power plant across the stream. Might also be why everything he imagined this morning was purple. He was counting the towers he made, and also calling them Q towers. At one point he was pretending the Duplos were letter crackers and pretending to eat them. We switched to the bricks and made a Q-shaped building, which he stood in, then a triangle one.

Eventually, we ate some cereal, brushed teeth, etc. and got going around 9:40. He was singing, then doing math on his fingers as we walked to the station. We took the train to Ttukseom, and got off. I had checked the website for the pools, which didn’t say anything about being closed Mondays. But as we approached the pool it seemed quiet. But then I saw the banner saying the pools were open from June to August 22nd. Good, that’s today. But then it was definitely closed. Walked to the front entrance, and the banner there had a ’21’ taped over the 22. Crazy. They closed the pools when it is still reaching 95 degrees. Not the only one surprised, as I saw several other families (at least 4) showing up.

August had no interest in the playgrounds, so we walked over to under the tracks, where he wanted to see a dance exercise class for a minute. He then wanted to go up into the J-Bug building. We wandered around in there, and up to the 3rd floor, where we looked at the animals. Ttukseom continues to disappoint: after taking out the coffee shop last year, and now the pool, more and more of the animals are gone. There haven’t been any crabs in the crab aquarium for months, and I’m now convinced the crawfish have been gone for quite some time. Now, they’ve removed all of the tanks for beetles. We went down to the library for awhile and looked at books. He didn’t mention the phone we had found again, but before we went in he talked about taking off our shoes because of the sign. Then when we got in, the sign wasn’t where it used to be, so he was asking where it went. He was pretty full of energy, so we didn’t last too long, as he was getting loud. He wanted to play in the elevator, so we went up and down a few times, him pushing all the buttons (he could reach them all! Hurray for wheelchair accessible elevators). We went back to the top floor and sat on the benches and ate crackers. He rolled around on the bench, and looked over the back at the view. Eventually, we changed him and got going.

I gave him some options and mentioned the possibility of walking to Konkuk University, one stop north. He didn’t know what it was, but was really excited by this. We got going, and found the tunnel under the highway. Stopped to look at the animal pictures inside. Just north was a nice area we’d never been in. Spotted some coffee shops for future use. After just a few minutes he fell asleep, and I found another coffee shop called Life on Mars. As I set him down I found something in one of my pockets of my swimsuit: his blue sunglasses. So have two pairs now. He slept there from 11:51 to 1:06. Woke up groggy and wanted out. Took him out and he just sat on the floor for a few minutes, then explored the coffee shop, leaning on chairs, etc.

We got walking. I carried him mostly and he did some walking as we headed north. Ran across something called the Gwangjin Arts Center. Looked around there. Nothing too exciting. One gallery space but nothing in it. We did like the statue of a robot head out front. Also, there were several fountains that would have been cool…if they were on. There was a glass elevator, and we had more fun with this one, riding up and down. He wanted to get off at each floor and see what was there. On the second, he stuck his head out and said “Eh”. We looked in through the windows on a pool at basement level. Then we headed out, stopping to get a bar out to eat and put him in the backpack now.

We walked up to Konkuk University. There, they have some stone plaques showing the history of different alphabets. He liked these, and we looked at Greek and Hebrew. Continued on and found the lake. Planned to sit on a bench and eat lunch, but he said “I’m not hungry…want to go home.” So we kept going. Walked by the mall where I’ve seen a few movies before. There are some colorful metal sculptures out of runners and people on bikes. We looked at and touched them, then went inside to refill his water. Then headed down to the subway. He was doing more math with his fingers. Oh, we were also playing the ‘More sad baby’ game. He said one, then said “Dada’s turn”. For something (baby bumping her head or something) he said the mama or dada said “wash it off and put a purple bandaid on it.”

On the subway he opened the Peg+Cat Big Gig music app. It is sort of a preschool Rock Band app where you copy a pattern of notes. It was cool to see, because he sort of just got it, but also clearly had to work hard to do it. On the way from the subway, I talked about the plan: go home for awhile, then head out in the stroller. We could stop at Mama Juice, then walk over to the youth center to try to get info on the indoor swimming pool. At the mention of Mama Juice, he said “Mama likes ant juice. But beetle juice has chunks of mango in it. That sounds yucky.” Right. It is the chunks of mango that would make that yucky…

So that’s what we did. Upstairs for about 10, then headed out. Got peach juice, then walked to the youth center. He was still processing what I was saying about the pool, as as we were walking he said something about the wading pool being off and seemed confused as to why we were going. So we went in the building as went down and looked in at the pool. He was excited, and wanted to go in. We got a brochure, then went out. He spent a few minutes inspecting a kid’s bike and turning the peddle. Then we were looking at the animal plaques (for lining up groups) and squirting the spray bottle. I looked down to find a moth crawling on my sandal. We then followed it and touched it a few times. It would sort of hop/fly a few feet. He yelled at it a bit and at one point touched it roughly, so a lot of talking about that, but he did okay. Eventually, it was climbing up a wall, so out of the way of shoes, and we said goodbye to it. Oh, and August was looking through the grates, and talking about touching the ‘bees’, which I said no. Then he said “pretend touch” and wanted me to, so I said okay. I pretended to be stung by a bee, which he thought was funny. But then, looking in the grate, I realized he meant ‘beads’ and not ‘bees’ – those little plastic ones we find everywhere. When I realized my mistake, he found it pretty funny.

We walked back to Brownstone and recycled our Mama Juice cup. August was looking in the recycling bins when Carly came up from behind and tapped August. We went up and they nursed and did some reading. We then had dinner – Carly made him a quesadilla and he ate a good amount of olives as well. August was being clingy to Carly when she was trying to eat, so I put on Beat Bugs, the new show on Netflix that uses music of the Beatles. He was surprisingly focused on it for the 23 minutes or so of the first episode.

The big activity of the evening though was taking all of the keys out of the piano and then putting them all back. Entirely on his own. I just helped him find what keys went next, and he put them in. He had figured out the trick for doing this in the morning, but it still took a long time. As he went, he would review the white keys, playing a scale and saying the names of the notes “C, D, E, F, G…” And also doing them descending “B, A, G, F, E, C…” I’ve never done scales like that wi
th him, at least not recently, and not for more than a few seconds at a time. He then made the connection to the xylophone, and was asking which color on the xylophone was which letter.

He then took a bath, with Carly today, and made a Colin/colon joke that he thought was funny when he asked where poop comes from. Carly said ‘colon’ and he said something like “Poop comes from Colin” and laughed. After the bath, they went in on the bed. Cary had stretched out, and he stretched out naked at a right angle to her, and somehow realized that they were making a ‘T’. He yelled out to me “come look at the T dada!” We then played on the bed. He was pretty hyper before bed. I read the Kiss Goodnight book as they came in and out of the room. He was turning the light on and off, and when he turned it on would say “Sooo bright!” like Carly does. He also said “want to pretend nurse” at one point. But then he was ready and went to sleep pretty easily around 8:30 or 8:40.

Morning: 

Walking to the subway: 

Library: 

Elevator: 

Cracker time: 

Waking up: 

Gwangjin Arts Center: 

Konkuk: 

Math as we enter the station: 

Headed home: 

Youth center: 

Home: 

Making a T: 

7:15. He asked me where mama was, then asked if she was going to work. Was of course happy when the answer was no. After nursing, he played with/on the piano by himself for a few minutes. Was then doing puzzles with Carly, and then me. I wasn’t doing much, and he was singing as he worked on an animal puzzle. As he was about to finish it, he again said “Want dada go away out there.” They ate some Cheerios and he spilled some. Carly asked him to help clean up. “No! Mama do it.” But he actually did help.

A big activity today was the cardboard blocks. They were building towers, and she was teaching him about ‘wobbly’ and ‘stable’. They then started sorting the blocks by color. We shared some toast, then I started looking at the blocks with him, still with the sorting, but we were also looking at the animals on them and discussing what they ate. We then started stacking them by color. He had been diaper-less for some time, then Carly just put shorts on him as an experiment. He laid back in the rocking chair, hugging one of the bricks, and pretended to sleep. We did more playing with the Duplos and bricks, and he was singing Wheels on the Bus. I asked him what he wanted to do today, and he said “Want to go to dragon playground by mama’s work. Want to go to mama’s work.” He was sitting on our little piles of blocks by color and singing “The wheels on the bus go crash!” as he would fall to the ground. We took turns with the ‘more sad baby’ game – significant because he has generally wanted me to just do it.

Carly was making beans for burritos later and turned on the blender. He asked “What she blendering?” Back with the Duplos, he found the flower ones and was trying to find all of them. He was naming the flowers: “This is a dangelion. Two of them. Six of them!” Holding up six fingers and smiling. He said “Maybe she wants some flowers” and it turned out he was talking about the sad baby. Carly asked him “Do you want to pee on your toilet?” “Neh. I do not have pee.” But a few minutes later, not used to the shorts, he peed a bit on the floor. We did more Duplos and blocks after changing him, then he nursed and they read Wild About Books. They then skyped with Chuck and Cherie and I took a shower.

Carly was getting ready to go do some work, and August wasn’t fond of that idea. He kept talking about going to the bus with her (he wanted to take bus 15, which is hers) and going to playgrounds by her work – of course, the problem was that Carly wasn’t actually going in to work, but going to a coffee shop. Eventually he was getting upset and Carly didn’t feel right leaving, so they nursed. That was all it took, as he let her go at 11:50.

We intended to head out to some parks soon after, but he wanted some cereal, then crackers, then played with the volume buttons on the iPad, and made a production of choosing clothes. We didn’t leave until 12:45. We decided to head to Hagye Children’s Park and Pedulgi (Pigeon) Children’s Park, which he had been intrigued by when pointing to parks on the map at the station. Anyway, he started to nod off, and fell asleep just before getting to Hagye Children’s Park. I just had my phone with me, so we sat on a bench and I read. He slept from 12:57 to 1:45. He woke up, kind of slowly, and I suggested we get walking so we had some breeze. He said “sweat and breeze”.

We walked to Pedulgi Children’s Park. He sat in the stroller for a couple minutes, then was coaxed out when I pointed to the climbing wall. He played on the climbing wall (one of those at a slight slant with ropes to help climb) for 10 or 15 minutes. I spotted him, but eventually he was climbing up and down on his own, about 7 or 8 feet, total. Back down, he played on a rope tunnel thing, kind of climbing on it, then sitting in it, and wanting me get in it too, then wanted up on the little platform with a slide. To get up to it was a regular climbing wall, a short one. Helped him up a couple times, then he stood at the top and looked around. He had found a little black piece of plastic in the sand, and threw that off. He saw the peppers a couple women had out in the sun, and wanted to go touch them. He was really excited about that, so I said we could go see. We went over and looked at them, and he carefully touched a couple, but one of the women asked him not to. There were some dried stems lying around, and he contented himself with picking them up and throwing them in a drain. But then he wanted to touch them again, and stand on the bricks holding down the corners of the mat some of them were drying on. When I wouldn’t let him do that he got upset and I had to take him away. Calmed down, but was done with the park.

We walked towards home, then I mentioned going to Home Plus to get tortilla chips. He said “Yes. Let’s go!” We went and got chips, milk, and soy milk. We stopped at the clearance area to see if there was anything worth getting. I said there wasn’t anything I wanted to get, and on his own he said “Eh, nothing too exciting.”

We got home at 4, and Carly had beaten us home. They nursed, and Carly suggested going out to the park. He said “Nope. I just want to stay home. Dada can go to thto fountain.” At one point she got out his iPad and played some Sago Mini Monsters. Carly made nachos for dinner. August didn’t eat much, and wouldn’t eat the beans. But he hasn’t been eating big dinners lately.

They were in the parlor, and out of nowhere he said “Want to go in mama and Zinnie’s nest,” referring to the reading area. I have no idea where he got the idea of a nest from. They then pretended to see birds: “There’s a pedulgi in the ceiling…a purple one.” He was talking about flowers and made a funny portmanteau: “daisylions”.

At about 7 they went outside, walking over to the playground by the youth center. They went down the slide about 5 times. Once back, he wanted to stay in stroller and have Carly serve him some food. I gave him a bath. We washed Sophie. The game with her is he asks what the messy is on her, and we think of all the crazy things she has been eating or playing in or falling in…teriyaki sauce, gum, ice cream, mud, etc. They went in to bed about 8:40 and he was asleep by 9.

 

Morning:

Asleep: 

Pedulgi Children’s Park: 

Home: 

He slept until 8:13. Normal nursing, etc. in the morning, then he went downstairs with me to do recycling. He was actual helpful, pushing buttons along the way as my hands were full. Down at recycling, sitting on the edge, we found a plastic bowl with Peter Rabbit on it that matches our Peter Rabbit stool. Score. Back up, Carly and him skyped with Vivian. The two of them then played with the counting cards. Carly said they should build something out of the bricks. Him: “shall we build a tower?” She was then teaching him to make the tower two blocks wide to make it more stable. They were building towers as high as he could reach, then he would say “It’s too big. I’ll build a smaller one.” At one point he also said “It’s time for me to go.” But he kept building. Also said “I’ll just move it right there.” I took a shower, and they skyped with Cherie and Chuck.

We then got ready to go and walked up to Sarang Children’s Park, getting there just before noon. August and I were eating our leftover kimbap when the fountain turned on. We played there until 12:30. August got in the water just a bit, but mainly played in the tree area, finding beads to throw in the fountain. He also found a couple pieces of glass and threw them away farther in the bushes: something he’s learned from me the last couple times we’ve been there, since there aren’t garbage cans.

We walked out the back entrance and to Starbucks, where we both got coffee drinks and August chose the chia seed yoghurt, which Carly says they had sometime last winter. August did the buckles getting into the stroller all on his own.

We walked back to the park, and August and I headed over to the sand area to look for beads. Carly went in the fountain a little when it came on at 1. Talking more about the glass, August concluded “I don’t think you can touch the glass of it’s sunny outside.” He was asking what was in the drinks, and asked “What is mine have?” He’s using ‘mine’ and ‘my’ for ‘your’ and ‘yours’, in addition to their correct usage, so a little confusing at times. Over in the sand area, August could now pop the beads on his own. I pointed out some pigeons and he said “How you doing?” a few times. Carly found a dead cicada and we looked at it and touched it. He picked it up, and eventually I had him put it in the bushes and told him to say goodbye. He waved and said bye. A little later he was talking about wanting to wake up the cicada. Before we left, we showed Carly how he could pop the beads and we washed our hands.

We got home a little before 3. At some point, he was also interested in the calculator on her computer, so I found a calculator for kids and put it on his iPad and we played with it a couple times during the day. They nursed and tried for a nap. Nope. Instead, they ended up drawing for a long time. It started with the pencil and eraser, but moved to crayons. He wanted to draw a monster, cantaloupe, children’s museum, house, road, shells…a lot of items. Carly tried coloring with black, but he wouldn’t let her: “It’s too dark.” He was also learning new colors: “That’s salmon pink.” A few things I heard him say: “That’s a road…to its home…to a children’s museum.” “That’s a shell…let me color a pink straw with it…this is a sandwich…its spicy.” “Yeah! I do want a mosaic right there! A pretty mosaic!”

We planned to go to Lucky Mart in the pink building. She went to change him, and he asked her to talk about why he was sad. Eventually it made sense: He was sad to stop coloring, but happy to go to the store. We were almost ready, when he changed his mind and wanted to nurse and “Want to stay here.” So I was about to leave on my own when he finished nursing and was now excited to go. We got the shopping done, although he was getting a little frustrated about staying in the stroller at the end. Let him out to help with checkout though.

Came home and they nursed, then he and I played with GarageBand. Taught him about measures and how to move through the song, then we were actually recording multiple tracks. He did some singing, then he added drums, bass, and some strings. Sounds like a free jazz sort of piece.

Something he did a few times today was shake his head and say “no”. He did it once when Carly had him naked and about to take a bath and I asked “Are you going to take a bath?” Naked time after his bath, then he helped vacuum the parlor. Carly got out pinto beans to soak overnight, and he was fascinated with them in the pot. Carried the pot around and played with them for several minutes. He said he was hungry, so I got out the sesame crackers we had just bought. Put several on the table, and he started playing with them, seeing shapes and letters in them, and then having me make those letters. At one point he decided they looked like the “emergency” call button in the elevator and so was pushing the button and we played that game.

Had some Apple Music playlist on and he was dancing to the music. We then read most of Kipper A to Z. At one point he then was lying on the floor, still naked. Carly asked if he was ready for bed: “Nah. I’m just lying down.” That said, he didn’t last much longer. Got his pajamas on and went to sleep at 8:30.

Morning:

Park. With his beads: 

Home: 

Numbers on his fingers: 

Pushing the call button: