Category: Uncategorized

He was up at 6:50, then nursed. He then wanted to clean, saying “It’s messy around there.” He and I then did GarageBand with me for quite awhile, then went and nursed. He then wanted to play caterpillar with Carly, he wanted to do the pretend sad thing, saying “Hold it and say no.” He then played with a pot, pretending to cook soup. He would have it boil over, then turn it down and clean the floor. The pretending continued as he had Sophie doing more peeing, and then gave her a timeout for not peeing on the toilet. We read Me and My Dad, then he had Sophie being sad. I asked why and he said “mama at work” We cheered her up by getting the Duplo giraffe, who he decided was a teacher as he said “Teach her something.” So I had ‘Giraffe Sangsaengnim’ teach Sophie how to read Wild about Books. He then went back to soup, and we were eating it at the table together. He had a whole monologue going: “Should we get some more dada? Scoop some dada’s, scoop some Zinnie’s. Let me check the temperature. It’s ready now!” I needed to switch the speakers we had in the two rooms, and August helped with that. He was fascinated by the cords.

Carly went down to a coffee shop to get some work done. We mixed some drink together, then he dumped out the fruits and veggies on the couch. We got ready to go, then went for a walk. We walked up and around to the north end of Madeul Stadium. He ate crackers on the way. He wanted to look at the map, and we took a couple minutes interpreting that. We walked over to the dog park (where he once got licked) and there were only three dogs. He wanted to go in, so got out of the stroller, but then wouldn’t actually go all the way in. The dogs had gone to the other end of the area, so we kept going. He walked from there the length of the soccer field to the piano sculpture. There were a couple pigeons that he wanted to scare, but his idea of scaring them was to simply walk towards them and say ‘A!’ loudly, so not too bad. At the piano sculpture we ate a Larabar and played a little on the exercise equipment. We also looked at the map again. We then went over to the sand, and started to write some words in the sand. We were having a lot of fun with that, but it was incredibly humid, and while not sunny and incredibly hot, we were drenched in sweat. So we headed home. He did some nice chanting as we did so. He asked about a lot of signs on the way home. We were getting more and more raindrops as we walked, and started to actually get wet as we crossed to Brownstone. We got home at 2:10.

Carly tried to put him to sleep, but he wasn’t tired enough for a nap. He had found an eraser and wanted to know how it works, so I went in search of a pencil. Ended up getting out all our pens, so he got to play with those, and also learned how to use a pencil eraser. Carly had made hummus in the morning, and we had some to eat. He liked the garbanzo beans, but still isn’t sold on hummus. He would request a piece of pita, but “want a dry piece”. At one point Carly asked if he wanted orange, and he gave her an odd look and shake of his head and said “Umm, not the orange…I just want the banana.” He and Carly played with the cubes, with her putting them on him. He then got out his car and magnet puzzle and just played with that by himself for a few minutes, singing to himself as he did so.

Carly wanted to go outside at 4, but August started doing GarageBand again. He really kept wanting to do the guitar amp one, but you actually need to plug in a guitar for that one. So I think we need to get him a guitar. We also played with the sampler, making some really creepy music from his voice.

We went outside a little before 5. First went to the playground where he sent on the swings with Carly, then we played with exercise equipment. At 5 the fountain came on and we went over there. He played a lot with the spray bottle. He also saw a couple boys drawing a hopscotch course using a rock. He was very excited by that, so we found a rock that he could write with, and he did that a bit. Near the end, he actually said he wanted to get close to the fountain. So Carly picked him up and got close and he touched it. Sadly, it then turned off.

At home, I gave him a bath and washed his hair. To get him into it, we washed both Sophie and Ducky, and he wanted to get them both ready for bed. At the end of his bath, I said “I like giving you baths.” He replied “Mama loves to give a bath.” I then said “Well, something like that.” He said “Want to ask her!” So he ran out, but in his excitement to ask her, all he could get out was something like “You like it!” Which isn’t exactly a question.

I took him in to get his pajamas and we put a diaper on Sophie. We then started working on the puzzles. I was trying to not interfere too much, but must not have been doing too well, because when he only had the last two pieces and had it under control he told me (politely) “Go away.”

A few minutes later, we said goodnight and Carly took him in. He was asleep about 8.

Morning:

Madeul: 

Home: 

Park: 

August was up just before 7. We had breakfast, did recycling, etc. and left the house at 9, taking the bus over to Wolgye Station, where we met up with Sarah and a couple of the new teachers at APIS, including the new art teacher and the stay-at-home dad I communicated with back in the spring. August was a little nervous about people, and didn’t want to stop at the playground before going in. And once on the platform he wanted to stay in the backpack. But he did pretty well with the people. Everyone was there about 9:45 and we headed down.

A kind of difficult ride down on the subway, as August kept wanting to nurse. Finally pulled out one of the ZonePerfect bars and that placated him until we got to Junggok Station. We walked up to the ARA Art Museum, which I’d never heard of before this show. It is on a side street, behind the Gana Art Center in Insadong and the big Buddhist temple. So we’ve been around it many, many times, but never seen it.

The show was pretty amazing. Four floors with a couple hundred works by Mr. Brainwash: http://www.mrbrainwash.com I’m quite familiar with Banksy, but had never watched the film Exit Through the Gift Shop, which is about Mr. Brainwash. Carly told me about it in the morning, and I’d watched about 50 minutes of it, so had a decent idea who he was. Anyway, think Warhol meets Banksy. It also reminded me a lot of the Chapman Brothers show that Meg and I went to a couple years ago down in Gangnam and that I then took Carly to. Seeing the show was kind of difficult though as August got upset, wanting to touch the art. Carly took him out to the lobby area, where they played on the iPad and investigates a tray of metal paint and sculpture tools (he particularly liked the knife, which of course Carly wouldn’t let him touch). We sort of took turns to see the exhibit, and took August in a couple times. One time, when Carly brought him in, Sarah played with him a bit. We looked up the stairs and there was a piece with Mickey. He said “See Mickey Mouse?” I was surprised and asked how he knew Mickey Mouse. “From the diaper.” Indeed, he had some Mickey Mouse diapers in Centralia. But a pretty impressive connection to make. Then he walked around a bit with me and we saw a piece with Picasso in it. He lasted a few minutes. When I had gone through it all, I went and switched with Carly. August got really upset that I wouldn’t let him go in with her, so I had to take him outside. He’s got a new distinctive ‘waa waa waa’ cry the last couple days when he can’t use his words. Anyway, we were outside for several minutes until he started to calm down and wanted to go back in. We were heading back down the stairs when Carly came up.

We went back down to the gift shop where Carly got a poster for her classroom, and I got a couple postcards. There was a puzzle, and they had a demonstration one on the counter. August really liked this, and we played with it for several minutes. Carly wished they had found it when they were sitting in the lobby. Everyone else was ready to head out, so we said goodbye. We played with the puzzle some more, then walked up towards Subway for sandwiches. Along the way we saw that they had lotus flowers at the big Buddhist temple, so went and saw those. August wanted to touch them, and I let him touch them a bit. But generally he wanted to get going. He remembered throwing coins in the pond, but I told him we couldn’t do that now. But then I started throwing pretend rocks in and getting pretend splashed, and he really got into that. So then he was upset when we were ready to leave.

Went up to subway and he helped decide what veggies to put on our sandwich. Sat and ate. August didn’t have his shoes on, and he liked being in his bare feet. From there we walked back down to the station and headed home. As we went, he made up, all on his own, a ‘chomp’ song sort of to the tune of “Cada Semilla”. He was using his hand to chomp me and Carly, and also towards passerby. He was also singing Wheels on the Bus and sang “The flushes on the bus say flush, flush, flush” That also reminded me that a few times now he has sung “The penis on the bus…” instead of “The people on the bus…” and thought it was quite funny.

We expected him to take a nap, but he didn’t. Instead, he wanted Carly to talk about something: “Talk. Want to talk. Trees. Talk about something.” He wanted me to turn on some music, and I asked what he wanted, and he said “I do not know.” He’s been saying that a lot when asking him for opinions. At 4 we headed outside. We stopped at Mama Juice and they got a watermelon juice to share and I got an iced latte. We went across to the fountain, and Carly and I got a bit wet. He got close to the fountain once, and ran around it a couple times, but mainly played over by the recycling bins, then started wandering off. The fountain turned off and we made our way over to the playground and played there, mainly with the exercise equipment, but also with the teeter totters, spray bottle (he enjoyed squirting us, and another boy, who played with him a bit), and climbing wall for a bit. The fountain came back on at 5 and we went over for a bit longer, but August wasn’t being drawn in. He also played with the vending machines, and at the playground wanted to go in a pretend fountain, which he and Carly ran around in.

From there we all went to the pink building, which August now knows is Lucky Mart, and did some grocery shopping. August helped bag veggies and take them to Carly and the basket. We headed home and Carly made fruit salad and French fries for dinner. We had fun with that.

Gave him a bath, then he was ready for bed around 7. He ran out and said goodnight to me. I went in and told him to think about what he wanted to do with me tomorrow when Carly went to do some work. He said “Playing! And do things.” Helpful. He was asleep at 7:15.

Oh, and yesterday I forgot to mention that at a couple points he started to chant or sing to the pace of my walking, all on his own. At one point he was doing a two bar thing: “bum bum bum bum 1 2 3 (rest)” over and over again.

Subway: 

Art museum: 

Subway: 

Home: 

Juice and park: 

Running in the pretend fountain: 

He was up at 6:10 but Carly got him back to sleep. Up at 7:37 and upset for a second, but let me hold him. He then helped type the email to Carly and when I asked what he wanted to tell her, he said “More ant juice, mama”. He watched a Kipper video, then switched to his Korean videos. We ate Cheerios and a plum, then I took a shower. He came in with a chip clip out of his toy drawer, having broken it and wondering what it was. We then brushed our teeth, then he blew on his little trumpet to make me pretend cry. He watched Wheels on the Bus, and as usual, wanted to know why each baby was crying. Recently though, he has expanded to then asking “What mama said?” That is, what did the mama then say to the crying baby. Sometimes he will volunteer them, or expand on what I say, such as “Mama said wait home to nurse.”

Then he discovered he could close the microwave door, turn it on, then open it. And he has to run back from one side of the counter to the other to do it. This became a huge game, as we pulled “More hot things” from the microwave: “All done…in our tummies…dada eat the rest.”

We got ready to go, and he got upset about wanting me to help him jump. He had a couple times today where words seemed to be hard for him and he would get upset instead. Calmed him down and went to change him and he ended up running around naked, and rolling around the bed. After awhile he wanted to go in the bathroom: “Want to go in her bathroom.” This led to another big imagination game, as he would have Sophie pee in the little toilet, say “Good job, Sophie”, pretend to pour it in the toilet, and pretend to flush it. We then took Sophie in to give her a diaper, put her in pajamas, and have her go to sleep.

In the changing room, he decided he wanted a photo of himself sitting on the box of doctor toys, then “doing this” as he played with the magnets. Got out the dry erase board, which he and I haven’t used for a long time, and identified the three things in the corner: “this is pizza, this is a coffee grinder(?), this is a mug.” Not entirely sure he said ‘grinder’, but it was definitely ‘coffee’. He got the loud tractor toy out and kept pushing the button to make it go, but supposedly it still scares him, as he kept saying “don’t like it!”

Finally, he was playing with the Teuni ball and asked where it came from, and I said he got it from Gaeguli Sangsaengnym (Frog Teacher) in Teuni Teuni class. He then asked “What gaeguli sangsaengnym teach you?” Which shocked me as a.) it shows that he knows that ‘Sangsaengnym’ means ‘teacher’ and b.) that a teacher ‘teaches’. Which, I’m sure has come up in discussions at some point (particularly in 5-Touch class, where I probably mentioned that we learned about shapes today) – but then I’ve probably focused more on using ‘learned’ than ‘taught’. Anyway.

We went out in the stroller, and asked where he wanted to go. He wanted the “Dragon playground”. Turns out that is his name for the one across the street, next to the dinosaurs. Played there a bit, then he agreed to head on to Sarang Children’s Park and the fountain at noon. On the way up, he had the new bag of fish crackers. I looked down and found the bag empty. I said “You ate them all!” Him: “There’s a bunch of them.” Me: “Where?” Him: “There” (pointing on his tray) Me: “That’s two!” Him: (Chuckle)

We stopped at the park, then went across the street to play with the phone booths. It was about a million degrees and I had to hold him up for that, but he didn’t want to stop and got upset again and couldn’t use his words. We got over that, and we found some of those ubiquitous and mysterious plastic beads in the sand. The fountain turned on, and we went and played in it. We played in it both at 12 and 1, and we were the only people playing in the park the entire time. I wore my swimsuit, put my phone in the backpack, and took my shirt off so I could get nice and wet. Felt very good. Despite almost no one else in the park, when we went back over to the platform by the sand, we found a bunch of garbage on it. Crazy. In between the water being on (it turned off at 12:30), we ate and played in the sand, finding more beads. There are little holes in the table in the sand, and we discovered the beads would just fit in the holes, and either fall through or get stuck. In that case, if you pushed them from below they would pop up into the air. While at the fountain, August didn’t play in it a ton, but would play over in the little tree area next to it. A couple of times he also ran around the fountain, following the border, chanting “Run in circles, run in circles.” He would also bring little rocks, or the beads, over to throw in the fountain. A couple times we took buckets of water over and he spilled them on the ground. While he didn’t get in the water a ton, by the end he was still pretty wet as he did get closer to the big fountains a few times since I was standing by them.

We changed him, packed up, and walked out the back of the park, then made our way down the stream. He fell asleep by Cafe Tolerance but I checked and their is no elevator. So down to the stream, across it, and up the other side and we went to the women’s business center, where he slept from 2:04 to 2:54.

When he woke up he just laid there for 10 minutes or so, then wanted to head home. At home we mixed of drink stuff and he used one of his new straws (requested pink) to drink it from a cup. He saw peanuts and wanted to eat them, but pretty sure he just carried one around. He wanted more cereal, so had a little. Then we played with GarageBand on my iPad for quite awhile. We just did keyboards, and he got quite into it, and changing all the settings. Then he was back to the microwave game, really expanding it. When I asked what it was he said “Chocolate. Cake. Mango. And gum.” He would set it on the counter and bring me a piece: “Put some water in it and cool it down…one for dada.”

The microwave game went on and on and on… Eventually I convinced him to go meet mama at the elevators. His shoes were still wet as he put them on: “Feel it…the cold..the sprinkly things from the fountain.” We timed it well. We were at the elevators for maybe 20 seconds before Carly arrived. With her he nursed, then they played with play dough, making little balls and doing math with them. He then showed her the microwave game, and we ate dinner. Carly started cleaning the floor, and August really got into helping: “What is the messy there?…mango dust…I like blueberry dust more than mango dust.” They read Kipper A to Z, then I gave him a bath. He was quite upset, until I got Sophie involved. After the bath, while naked, he had Sophie peeing, then did the whole dumping it out and flushing thing several times. We then got her ready for bed, and took her in on the bed. He rolled around and played on the bed naked for several minutes. Being a clown. We read Picasso’s Trousers once, then Carly tried to get him to sleep once. Got up for awhile. When he was ready to go to sleep I went in and gave him a kiss, then he wanted a “Bonk bonk kiss”. Then he wanted “14 bonks”. So we did 14 forehead bonks. He was asleep at 9:30.

Photos he wanted to take: 

Park: 

Asleep: 

Interesting insect: 

Home: 

Today felt both long and busy, but also rather small, in that all we did was play in the wading pool at Dream Forest and take a nap in the coffee shop there.

Started at 6:30 when he again woke up and asked where Carly was. He was in pretty good spirits, but clingy, and not happy when Carly was leaving. I suggested we walk her to the elevators, which worked well. He got a little upset when the doors closed, but as we walked back to the apartment I was carrying him so he put his head down on my shoulder. At home, we read A Pocket for Corduroy. I was then looking for something, and he found the old toy that went on top of his food tray – the plastic thing with lizards and a monkey, etc. and played with that. A few times. We then played with the zoo and the wooden bolts. I got the iPad out had he was on YouTube when I started a shower. When I turned off the water, August came and said “Dada is done.” I could tell he was watching something else, so asked. In his new big kid it’s-no-big-deal voice he said “Timmy”. It’s like everything he used to say used to have an exclamation point at the end of it, and now it doesn’t.

He wanted cereal for breakfast, but not Cheerios – the other kind. So he had the last of those. He had been singing “Yellow Submarine“ and so then I was playing it on the iPad Pro. He started choosing other songs of the Yellow Submarine album and liked a couple. Then clicked on “Come Together” and liked that. I then pulled up music videos. He really found Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop” (particularly the part where he’s in footie pajamas) and Fat Boy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice” (with Christopher Walken dancing on an escalator and flying) funny and tried out several others. While watching the latter, he decided he wanted me to spin him in the chair, so we brought that out and did that. There was one Brad video he also said he liked.

He said he wanted mango, and was very particular about getting it the right temperature in the microwave, but then he didn’t actually eat any. He then did dishes for quite awhile. I kept giving him dishes and he would rinse them then put them in the drying area, saying “Dada! It’s clean now! More washing things!”

We were playing in the parlor and listening to Amanda and Jack Palmer’s album of cover songs and he started slowly singing to it. At one point he got in the cube thing and kept dancing, then fell over trying to get out of it. I then spotted a dancing video that Paul had posted on Facebook so we watched that. It has a dancer dancing as a swan while Yo-Yo Ma plays. August copied some of the footwork, then flew around the room like a swan.

The video: http://youtu.be/qfEYjKWJ56E

We made a quick trip to the pink building and got fish crackers, as they were out of letter crackers, and frozen strawberries. I apparently kept talking to myself, as August, in the stroller, kept asking “What you say?” When we came home and turned into our hallway, August pointed at one door after another and said “Neighbors, neighbors, neighbors…” Did every door except ours. We opened the crackers, and got ready to go in the backpack. He took a cracker and said “One more then we’re going.” “Three of them then we’re going.” He got up to five or six before we left. As we walked out, August said “Two walks…dada has two walks.” Sang Wheels on the Bus as we walked, and saw a guy with a t-shirt that said “I don’t thing so.” Note the typo.

At Dream Forest he wanted to get out at the playground and play with the kids on the round thing. But then he got upset when I put on sunscreen, and the kids left. So we kept going. He saw the play structure made out of hexagons and we talked about it. I said it was like the one at Yangwon that he’s played in a couple times. He out-remembered me by saying something about “Where had the treat.” It was a reference to the ice cream cups or whatever it was that the woman gave us at the coffee shop in the hospital near there and that we ate in that play structure.

We went to GS25 and got a couple triangle kimbaps, a cup of peaches, and a fruit and veggie drink. At lunch sitting on a step, then played in the wading pool. I was throwing buckets of water, with the ball in it, and he would give each throw a funny name, saying things like “cha-gay-moo is a tricky one.” A bit later I got him to sort of sit, and I splashed him a little. He then said “want big splashing” and I obliged. Walking on the spots where the water comes out, he said “that’s a cold one…that’s warm.” Finally, he said “Pretend…when mama paints.” He wanted to pretend to paint letters in the water.

At 1:30 we changed him into dry clothes and walked for a few minutes and he fell asleep. He slept from 1:37 to 2:59, fell back to sleep, and woke up at 3:47 as I woke him up as we walked back to the bus.

As we walked the few blocks home, we sang Wheels on the bus, and made up new verses, such as “Ants on the bus go tickle, tickle, tickle.” At home we switched to the stroller and went to Home Plus and did some grocery shopping, buying broccoli, zucchini, hotdog buns, etc. He was walking, and helped choose all the veggies and fruits and put them in the cart. Walked home, and actually met Carly in the park. I saw her coming, so we stopped. August didn’t see her until she was close. When he saw her, he immediately said “Ant juice!” When she didn’t understand him, he switched to “Beetle juice!”

At home, Carly said she was going to change into lighter clothes, out of no where, August decided he wanted “Mama match the same color…Want to match the same color as Zinnie’s clothes.” So they went and he got on dark blue shorts and a blue shirt like her. They went down to get rice to have with the baked beans we got. We ate dinner, and he was being kind of whiney. A package had arrived from Gmarket, so Carly wanted to go down for it. She asked August “Nurse then look for packages?” He replied with “Yes. Deal.”

They went down and got that package (tahini). Back up, Carly was on the couch. August said “Move that then we cuddle,” referring to the cushion. So they cuddled, then he pretended to eat the caterpillar. That turned into a game where he wanted Carly to say no when he asks “Can you hold it?” and then he would pretend to be said. I then played on the couch with them and the caterpillar. Carly took a shower, and he was not at all happy about that. He was talking about some animals and said “They want to go outside…the animals want to go to Safeway.”

I was going to go meet Derek over at 7-11 to sit and talk for awhile. We had just gotten August in the bath when I needed to leave at 8:30. Carly said he fell asleep a little after 9.

Music videos: 

Dream Forest: 

Asleep: 

Sleepy: 

Strange flowers: 

Cuddling with mama: 

A very happy wake up at 6:25. I was still in bed and he asked where mama was, then ran out of the room and found her. And when Carly left for work he was with me and happily said “Bye bye” and even said it a couple of times, quietly, after she had gone out the door. After my shower, he helped put lotion on my leg, and wanted to make it squiggly. He thought the lotion looked like “A worm…a broken worm…that Colin stepped on.” For the record, I don’t know of Colin ever stepping on a worm – or August, for that matter. We also played with his Teuni jungle gym pieces and turned the cube into a double cube/rectangle thing. He stood in its couple times, then escaped.

He wanted to go outside, so we went out in the stroller about 8:30. Over by the art museum, we ran into the guy in the straw hat that Cherie had taken a photo of last year. He was cleaning with a broom. Talked to him for a minute, and he remembered meeting her. Museum didn’t open until 10, so we walked around and ended up back at the playground. There, we played on the exercise equipment and ate letter crackers. I also helped him climb on the climbing wall. He’s getting a bit better, and a couple times was hanging on the wall by himself. When we first got over to the art museum I noticed that August had a red mark below his right eye. At the playground, before he got out, I asked him where it came from and he put his head down on the stroller, as if it was from there. It was still around in the evening, and when Carly asked he said something about bonking his head on the stroller. Interesting, because it was quite a mark, but he didn’t get upset about it. Also interesting because he is now starting to be able to tell me things I don’t know: A couple times now he has also been able to tell me where something is if I ask him.

Close to ten we headed home, stopping to get our iHerb package. Went up and opened it. August was most excited by the peanut butter and more vitamins: “Want to use peanut butter…want those omega-3 vitamins.” Hasn’t said ‘omega-3’ before, but has asked what his vitamins are in the past. We skyped with my parents for a long time. He spent much of the time using the toolbox, screwing and hammering, then working on his Duplo zoo. Really starting to look like a big kid when he plays with it.

We made a salmon sandoo for lunch. He has told me he prefers ‘water’ instead of ‘wawa’, but ‘sandoo’ is apparently still okay. Ate lunch, then watched YouTube videos, finding nursery rhymes and songs in Spanish. Then went for a walk in the stroller – up to Madeul Stadium and then back along the other side of the stream. No nap, so we continued on to the art museum.

There, he played with the locks on the umbrella rack for several minutes, figuring out how to use those. We went and looked at art, listening to the headphones one and catching the blowing things once, then went to the play area. He took off his shoes and on the tile, then on the padded surface said “it’s cold there, it’s warm there.” He climbed just barely further than he has before, but still has a whole section he hasn’t been in.

A little more art, then we headed home, then caught the bus to APIS. We got off and went to the water park across the street. But any hopes of playing there vanished when we had to take our shoes off to go in. August got upset when I took his off, and wouldn’t calm down (he’s kept his shoes on every time we’ve gone in the water). So out we went. Went to the other end of the park, where the playground is, and he wouldn’t let me set him down. He fell asleep at 3:20. I laid him down on the bench. At 4, Carly sent an email saying she was down with her meeting and asking if he was still asleep. I started to respond with ‘yes’ and he woke up. I took him to APIS, and he got upset when we entered the school, calming down when he saw Carly. For some reason he has decided he doesn’t like that place.

They nursed, then he played at her desk while she got ready to go. He particularly liked her Washington rain globe. He looked at it then said “I’ll just set it right there.” I had said it was of Washington and told him what all was in Washington, and a bit later he picked it up again and said “This is where gramma and grampa’s home are.” He liked her pushpins and asked how they worked. Carly showed him, and that turned into a game of him getting pushpins and taking them to her, then telling her where to place them on the board. While doing it he said “I’ll get another one. It’s helpful.”

On the bus home (and on the way there) he wanted to know the name of every stop. He also started talking about his favorite color, first saying “My favorite color is yellow” but then saying “blue…red…black…orange”.

Carly wanted to go to the art museum to see if it would work for a school project. So we went there and August showed her the blowy things, the gun piece, and the headphones one. We then went to the play area. Carly asked if she could slip away, and I thought she meant to go home. So when August decided he wanted to leave a minute later, that’s where we headed. Carly called as we got close to home; she had meant to go look at art. So we met her in the park. He and I had been coming up with funny juices, and had ended up on insects. He ran up to her and said “Beetle juice!” That is one he came up with all on his own. He then had fun asking her for ant juice and beetle juice as we headed home.

At home, we had a can of beer open, and at one point he picked it up and carried it to Carly and said “You need this.” This apparently goes back to Centralia and when he once grabbed Carly’s allergy medicine and she actually needed it and told him so. He has since brought stuff to her, expecting the same reaction. Carly wanted to go down and get bread, and August wanted to go, but then he started working on his Duplos. She asked if he still wanted to go and he said “Work on buildings first then (go).” They went down, then we gave him a bath and got ready for bed. He and I picked out a ton of books for reading in bed. Out of nowhere he started to decide that some books were daytime books: “That’s for day time. I’ll just go put it away.” He would then walk out, put it on a shelf, and come back. Spent so much time choosing books, that I only read half of Imogene’s Antlers and then he was ready to turn of the lights. They were asleep at 9:10.

Cube: 

Playground. Crackers: 

Climbing: 

Art museum. Umbrella stand:

Sitting alone on the bus: 

Asleep on the bench: 

Visiting mama: 

Headed home: 

Evening: 

He was awake 7:48. Upset, but quiet as soon as I picked him up and we walked in the bedroom. Let me hold him for about 8 minutes, then he got down and played with the fan and talked into it. After a couple minutes I heard “Do workbooks Dada” so we got the markers and did workbooks. He also lined up random letters and numbers magnets on the door to make crazy words again. Getting ready to leave the house is quite a process with him now, as he gets interested in/distracted by everything, and wants to do everything himself. But we were out the door at 9:30.

He did a little iPad on the way down, choosing to read Oh, The Places You’ll Go, notable because he hasn’t been too interested in the iPad lately, and we also haven’t done any Dr. Seuss in quite awhile. We stopped and got a roll of kimbap and he chose a grape juice drink. At the park he wanted to eat first, even though it was only 10. He wanted to eat in the children’s museum. But once we got there he wanted to play. I reminded him what was upstairs and he wanted to go to the water area; but once he saw it he didn’t want to play there. Instead, he walked the runway a couple times, played with the pneumatic ball things, then headed down the ramp. Spent quite awhile in the house area: he did some laundry, prepared food for me and him, then we heated up the tea pot several times and drank tea. He also sat in the car and pushed the radio buttons. Had no problem just letting other kids play with the steering wheel. We then went into the house building area and went up the stairs and played with the bricks a bit. Then continued on down the ramp to the second floor, and the space area. As we got there he asked about the ‘hopping’ area and the ‘numbers’ area, showing that he remembered those two things. He played on that floor for several minutes, hopping/stomping on a video game thing, and then being concerned about a boy who was crying.

From there we went up to the family lounge and ate lunch. He scarfed down most of the kimbap and his juice. Before we left, we went down to the ball area and played there, roaming around to all the various things.

We headed out, and August immediately acted tired. Or just hot and not liking the sun. Hard to tell. It was early for a nap, but he said he wanted to go to sleep, and he didn’t want to do anything except walk – when I tried to stop by the stream he got upset and was clawing at my neck. We sort of walked through the zoo, seeing an elephant, then walked our usual route. After I turned back a couple times though he got upset and just wanted to go to the coffee shop. So no nap, and we went to the new old coffee shop. Under new management, apparently, but pretty much looks the same. Shared a strawberry smoothie, then played together on the iPad. I did a little reading, but he was wanting to collaborate. At one point, I had my phone out and he grabbed at the lanyard. I said something like “Didn’t we talk about grabbing the phone?” and he replied with “Yesterday. When we get home Zinnie grabbed.”

After awhile we left, changed his diaper in the bathroom, then played on the piano for a few minutes. He played and sang. We then headed out. He wanted to go to Costco, but I insisted that dada at least have an opportunity to walk in the stream. So we went there and I set him down, but then he said he wanted me to hold him while I walked in. Then he said he could go in, as long as he kept his shoes on. We ended up playing in the water for a long time, and he got wetter than he had ever gotten before, with my help as I kept pouring water on him using the bucket. He ended up playing a milkshake game, a la the baths with Thatcher and Vivian. He would give me the milkshake, I’d say “That’s a pretty good milkshake”, then he’d dump it out and say “We’re all out of milkshake!” I’d then ask if he could find fresh raspberries or whatever to make a milkshake and he’d say yes and make another one.

It started raining, so it was a good time to go. We packed up and headed out – he sang a little Costco song as we left the stream – and stopped at the drinking fountains that spray a long ways and played with those for a few minutes before we took the subway up to Sangbong. We made a quick trip of it, getting cheddar and feta cheese and naan, then two chicken bakes. We walked back, and at one point started singing “A is for…” He turned it into a joke, saying lines like “Q is for B” and the “T is for Q” etc.

We got home, and Carly walked in right after we did. Had dinner and a quick bath, and their was no keeping him up, and he was asleep at 6:24.

Children’s museum:

Smoothie: 

Piano: 

Crazy drinking fountain: 

Home. Coloring with mama: 

He woke up at 7:05. He was just sad a minute then calmed down and let me hold him for 10. He first played with the stethoscope, then watched Zinnie videos on my iPad. He weighed himself on the scale and is now 12.6kg (about 28 pounds). He wanted the little fan plugged in, and then he learned how to use the nob and what all the settings are. In the living room, he slipped on one of the yellow plastic tubes and sort of fell down. I asked “Are you okay?” “No” “Do you want a hug?” “No” “kiss?” “No” “just want to sit?” “Yes…Just sit.” We then got ready to leave and headed north, to Dobongsan. On the way to the station he talked about wanting a seat to himself, not standing. Easy to promise this time because we were headed north.

On the way up, then through the station, he was asking what every single sign meant. There are a lot of them. We exited the station and walked through the bus area then the back streets, then came out at the main street to the park entrance. He immediately asked “Where the candy go?” He was referring to a candy stand that used to be there, but was closed today. He never actually had candy there, but would look at the candy in the big bowls. Then, as we got to the stream he said “Just wanna go to a coffee shop.” His second surprise memory was when we got up to the stream and pointed to a waterfall-ish section and said “That’s where you played with Oma and Opa.”

Got him down on the rocks along the stream and spent several minutes gathering rocks for him to throw in, practicing his overhand throwing. He didn’t want to touch the water, so eventually I just set him in. He wasn’t really upset about it, but went pretty cat like as I did, keeping his feet out of the water as long as possible. But once his feet were in he was fine and we played for the next 30 minutes or so, scooping sand and dumping it. First on an old corn cob in the stream, then on rocks. We sat and ate one of our new carrot cake Larabars, and we watched dragonflies flying. He started talking about flying: “You can do the flying. You can. Zinnie can.“ He wanted more food, so we went up to the big backpack and ate crackers. A man came over and leaned over the glass and touched his head. August then played with him a bit, and thought it was hilarious to spray him with the spray bottle. The guy hid behind the fence, then picked a piece of grass and blew on it.

August had been asking what was at each stop again today (even asking what the transfers were), so we had talked about the Iris Garden also being at Dobongsan. So he eventually wanted to leave and go there. As we walked he sang a little choosing song: “I choose this one…no no no no no….I changed my mind…”

At the Iris Garden we filled up our water bottles. At the sink he had a third memory: “Mama says you can NOT play with it.” Outside, he sprayed towards some birds and said “the pigeons might like it.” He then wanted to head home, and started a “no air conditioning” chant.

On the way home he was really fixated on the ‘no hand’ and ‘no leaning’ (as pictures) signs on the subway doors. I explained that if you leaned on the doors you could get hurt. It was interesting to see him interpret signs through his world. He thought about it and a minute later said “hurt your knee…the leaning one.” Then, as we walked through the park he saw ‘no smoking’ signs. I explained you shouldn’t smoke, and he started speculating on why: “Maybe the bedulgi (pigeons) fly away…Maybe a bee comes if you smoke.”

At home we took off his diaper and he didn’t want to put one on. So he had some naked time. He really enjoyed standing in front of the little fan, having it blow first on his penis, then butt. He ate a bunch of nutty noodles for lunch, then wanted to watch Zinnie videos on his iPad. Only watched one, of him and Carly playing with stuffed animals yesterday, and he wanted to do it again. So we went and did it again, mainly playing with Baby Q. He really liked Baby Q falling asleep, then waking Baby Q up to ask for more ploopa ploppa. Then, he was touching Baby Q in the eye and we were role playing me telling him not to poke, and he would apologize to Baby Q.

He wasn’t acting tired, but he was getting kind of frantic in playing with Baby Q, so I figured it was worth trying for a nap. Got him in the stroller and went for a walk, and he fell asleep after 10 minutes or so, by Madeul Stadium. Before we left, they had been testing the fire alarms and lights in the building. Scared him the first time, then he was really interested and wanted to see it, so we went out in the hall where we saw the sirens and flashing lights. Anyway, would have taken him home, but was afraid they were still testing. So we went to the cafe and the women’s business center. He slept from 2:50 to 4:05. Woke up very groggy and quiet. We walked home, him not saying a word.

Carly came home and he was still quiet for some time. They nursed, then had some dinner, then spent quite awhile building a Duplo zoo together. He kept asking “Where mama go?” Then would ask ”How you doing?” As we left to go get ice cream celebrating our fifth anniversary, he said “’That’s an idea.’ Oma said that.”

He wore his sunglasses down to Baskin Robbins and until we were to the park. He was very excited about choosing ice cream and he and I decided on a Choco Tree Forest scoop on a cone. He loved the ice cream, and kept asking what all was in it. We sat on a bench and ate our ice cream and took a good family selfie with him with ice cream on his face. He wanted me to do the slow snail nursery rhyme and he started running around fast, like the mouse, and fell down. Just a slight scrape. He sat on Carly for a minute and went back to running – this time in circles – then fell again. Got back up again, then asked if Carly wanted to go to the playground. Then ran off, stopping every few feet to turn around and say “Bye!” to me.

We all went to the playground. He played on the exercise equipment, teeter totters with both me and Carly, and climbed up on the bridge. We did some Wheels on the Bus, with me holding him in the air, and he ended by singing the song to bigger kids on the teeter totter. As we headed home, Carly was carrying him and he was singing the song as loud as he could as we entered the building.

At home, he and I played with the alphabet blocks, putting them in order. I had music playing and when the Eels song “Hey Man” came on he said “This is my favorite song.” That came out of nowhere, as we have never discussed favorite songs. Not 100% sure he was talking about himself, and not me though, as he still gets the pronouns mixed up. But either way, an interesting thought.

Carly gave him a bath, and tried to get him to sleep around 9. He got up and we left the bedroom at 9:30 and Carly fell asleep. I read Bob Books to him as he played in the parlor. He had a ball that he held under his chin, then he was dancing, swinging around on one foot. We also talked about the Bob Books, but he wasn’t actually sitting down with me. Finally, he wanted to “Read a book then sleep.” He laid down and I laid next to him, and he wanted to read Me and My Dad – actually the first time we’ve really read it together. Then his final shocker of the day: He pointed to the dad and cub on the cover and said “That’s me. That’s you.” Had him repeat it several time, so pretty sure he had the pronouns down. Also, I may have made the connection once, but as I said, we hadn’t actually read the book together before. We read the book, then he got up to go into the bedroom. I said “I love you Zinnie.” He ended with one more joke, and a kind of abstract one at that: “Guess what? Next stop.” That’s a play on Carly’s line (“Guess what? I love you soooo much.”) that I’d inadvertently started saying on the subway when we were getting off at the next stop. It had surprised him, thinking I was going to say “I love you soooo much.” after the first line, but that was months
ago.

He went in and got up and started poking Carly, saying “You want to nurse…nurse mama.” I tried to get him to be quiet, but I guess it didn’t matter, as in the morning she didn’t remember him coming in at all. He was asleep by 10:10.: 

Awake: 

Dobongsan stream: 

Spraying birds: 

Home. Fan on his bottom:

A look he kept giving me after every bite: 

Zoo: 

Ice cream. Pointing to a sign:

Playground: 

Dancing at 10: 

He got up once and went out with Carly to the parlor and fell back to sleep on the reading area, where he slept until 8:45. We made oatmeal together and watched nursery rhymes on YouTube while Carly sorted clothes. He found some old cream that Carly was going to throw away and wanted to smell it. I asked him what it smelled like and he said “peppery smell…that animals eat.” I took a shower, and he was pretty clingy with Carly in the morning. In fact, he helped pack up the stroller to go, but once we left he was very upset that Carly wasn’t coming with. It took until close to women’s business center for him to calm down. Had to do the “slowly, slowly…” garden snail thing, then give him the water bottle to make him happy. 

We got to the park north of Madeul at about 12:10. There were about 20 minutes of the fountain left, but August didn’t want to get out of the stroller. So we got food out and ate instead, and watched. After it turned off, he noted a mom and baby leaving:  “Maybe they’re going to a different park that has the fountains off.” “The woman’s right there.” We went over and played with the sand and the faucet, using a plastic cup left on the ground. He totally figured out how to turn the water on and off. Then, from 1 to 1:30 we played in the fountain when it turned back on. He didn’t want to go in at first, but I did, and was using the plastic cup. He came in to play with that, and by the end he was putting his foot on the little fountain and getting quite wet. Oh, and he stood over the fountain so it got his diaper and shorts all wet.

At 1:30 we packed up and went across the street to the Caffe d’ate. We hadn’t been to this one before. Left the stroller outside because of the stairs. Got a fruit and veggie juice pack for him and a fresh lemonade. He liked his juice and tried the lemonade but wasn’t overly impressed. We did some writing of words in the notebook, ate ice, and looked out the window behind us.

We walked home, then he nursed, but wasn’t taking a nap. He came out and the fan was making a noise and he asked “what’s vibrating?” They did some of the small puzzles (from Costco), then he laid on the floor with her. At one point he said “Want to huggle” and rolled over and hugged her. They then did the wooden shapes puzzle, and Carly was teaching him to sort them by color and height and he was really into that. He also let her give him an actual piggy back ride, at least for a short time.

Carly then took him shopping to the pink building. Came home, but they didn’t have oranges so she wanted to go to Home Plus. So we all went. Good we were all there, as it was busy and August wanted to wander around. As we left, we stopped at the little plant store where he always stops to look at the different pots, plants, and little water fall thing. We then stopped at the playground on the way back, and he mainly played with the exercise equipment, going on it with me or Carly. At one point I suggested he actually go play with all the stuff for kids, and he did wander off towards the climbing wall, then turned around and ran back to us. Finally, he went up on the little hill, and tripped on a big metal rod randomly sticking out of it. Went into his shoe, and slightly scraped him, but no blood.

Came home and ate nutty noodles for dinner (Carly had made them while August and I were at the park earlier). August did not want to take a bath; he was tired and just wanted to nurse. So I made it a quick one and he went in and fell asleep around 6:30. He woke up once a little later, but was back to sleep in 10 minutes or so.

Also, at some point he was referring to the backpack and called it the “backamapack”.

Morning:

Sarang Children’s Park: 

Coffee shop: 

Mama time: 

Home Plus and park: 

New Thatcher pajamas: 

He was up at 7:50. He kept playing with the fan, and finally he managed to run over it and put his finger in it. Kind of perfect as it hurt just enough to really scare him, and he didn’t do it again all day. He went to Carly and cuddled for a few minutes, but didn’t think about nursing for several minutes. When he did she distracted him with a “No ploopa ploppa” game with the stuffed animals. She and I were going to trade off with him so we could both get some work done. She took him outside to the park, but they came back after just a few minutes – he complained it was too sunny. They then did some sponge painting and he mainly liked the squirting but painted a little. They then skyped with Vivian and were typing back and forth.

About 10:30 Carly took him to the Namu play area. He really liked jumping in the trampoline area, which is what I expected, and the three push cars. They were back about 12:15. He then spent some time with me, tracing in the Hangeul workbooks. Carly had started doing some cleaning, and there were a bunch of books to be moved from the living room to the parlor. He made several trips to bring them all in to me so I could organize them on the shelves. We also played with the wooden toolbox again and he worked on turning the screwdriver. He fell asleep from about 2 to 3:30. He was then typing on Carly’s computer, and asking what each of the buttons did. Carly was teaching him how to change the background color, font size, do strike through, etc. Then he and I did some music time, playing on the xylophone and drum and singing our Wheels on the Bus song about people and making up some new verses.

In the afternoon he and I went to Home Plus, mainly to get ingredients for nutty noodles. It was busy, so I asked him to stay in the stroller and he did awesome. As we shopped, I would let him choose the low stuff, like broccoli, and I’d hand him everything and he’d reach underneath and put it in the basket area under the stroller. I rolled him next to the candy area so he could smell it for a minute, then let him out at checkout so he could put groceries on the conveyor belt, then put them back underneath the stroller. He got back in once we were outside. As we walked home, we were singing wheels on the bus and started doing the hand motions again – for time in a long time. Stopped in the park to do those for a few minutes, then continued home.

We ate hot dogs and some other stuff for dinner, then he asked what the door intercom screen was for. So Carly went out in the hall and pushed the button and he saw her on the screen. It turned into a big game, with both of them going out and pushing the button, then me going out to him and calling in to Carly. I was then picking him up and we were singing wheels on the bus. For “Go round and round” I spun him in circles, etc. He also remembered the horn line, which we hadn’t sung in forever, and he wanted to recite the “Hey You forgot this!” Line from the end of the book.

Finally, we headed out for an evening walk up to Starbucks. He got a mango juice, and as we walked, him in the stroller, he was spitting it on the ground. We walked back along the stream, and when we walked under the bridges he would loudly sing Wheels on the Bus. It was getting dark, and we walked down to the river and then back up the stream. We went through the last tunnel, and he pointed up at the lights lighting up the ceiling and said “background color”, making a connection to changing the background color of the text on the computer earlier.

At home he asked me to cut a nectarine but then didn’t eat any of it. He nursed, then Carly gave him a bath that he wasn’t too happy about. He and I then got our toothbrushes out and brushed our teeth together. I read a little of Horton Hatches an Egg and he worked on the shapes puzzle and we ended up singing Yellow Submarine into the fan together. Carly got ready for bed and they were both asleep by about 9:30.

He was saying “actually” a lot today

Morning. Playing with the fan:

Screwdriver: 

Drumming: 

Coming back from Home Plus: 

Home. Playing with the doorbell: 

Evening walk: 

Saw it up to 97 degrees when we were outside this afternoon. Only 95 when walking around the park to see if he would take a nap.

Today was the first day that Carly went to work before August woke up. He was not ready for that transition. He woke up at 7:32 and spent 10 minutes mostly saying “Want to go outside” and crying before he calmed down. About 5 minutes in I decided to distract him by making a smoothie. But because he wanted to go outside he fought me on that: he was trying to shove the freezer closed when I was getting out fruit, and once I had the bags on the counter he was trying to take them and put them back in the freezer. Finally, when I actually started to put things in the blender he calmed down and things turned around. He turned the blender on today himself. Once. After that he let me do it. Once the smoothie was made, we sat down and watched Zinnie videos. He actually wanted to see one of himself sad, so I’ll have to take a video of him upset sometime. While I was drinking my smoothie, he pointed to my glass and said “This is glass”. I took a shower and he watched YouTube videos – mainly Wheels on the Bus. I changed him, but he got up before putting on a diaper. He took the diaper in to the reading area and was lying on the reading area, naked, playing around with the diaper for several minutes, hugging it and what not.

Eventually, we headed out in the stroller. Tried to stick to the shade as we headed north and went to the park north of Madeul with the broken fountain. Was pretty sure we’d be too early for the fountain, but thought it would be a nice place to play anyway. We got there, and August immediately noted that the fountain wasn’t on. I pointed out we could play there anyway, but then he said “There’s no kids here.” We talked about heading to the spider web playground where there might be kids, and he got back in the stroller. It took me a minute to get going though, and he changed his mind and decided he wanted to play here anyway. He got down and played with a cup in the water fountain a bit, then went over and picked some green berries off the bushes. He asked for food, and we sat on the ground and ate a snack. He started eating crackers (the sweet potato crackers left over from Centralia) and asked for cheese and ate cheese and crackers on his own: clearly something he picked up from us as we do it all the time, but I’ve never had him do it.

We headed home, and made a teriyaki salmon sandwich for lunch. Twice during the day he told me he needed to pee in the toilet and did it. We were watching Yellow Submarine and developed a game where he would turn the volume down, I’d protest and turn it back up, and he’d laugh. He had a toenail coming off, and wanted the clippers, so I got them, but then he wouldn’t let me clip his toenail. He just kept saying “Zinnie can do it.” but doesn’t really know how to use them. He ended up joking about pinching me with them and I had to take them away. He then got interested in his wooden tool set, and really got into hammering – some good hand/eye coordination practice there. Also worked on using the wrench. Randomly, he asked where the “crunchy sprouts” went. I didn’t know what he was talking about and he said something about mama. I emailed Carly and mentioned it and she said they went in her pho. Several times in the day, August sang the first verse of “Yellow Submarine” by himself. He’s got the words down pretty well. We read The Wind Blew. I was sitting in the reading area and he was standing up when suddenly a drilling noise came from next door; he shouted “What is it?” and jumped onto the reading area and into my arms.

We went out in the stroller to see about a nap. We stopped at Mama Juice, the new juice place we went to the other day, and August got an apple juice and I got an iced cappuccino. We went over by the fountain and watched as we drank our drinks. We Then did three laps around our side of the park but no luck. So we went over to the art museum. First to the play area, where he went on the trampoline with a couple other kids and basically just jumped for ten solid minutes. We then went and saw some of the art, going upstairs. He liked one video piece that had text scrolling across the ground that you could stand on, and headphones you could listen to. Then went to the library and checked out three books. But you can only check them out to read out in the cafe. So we did that for a few minutes, but didn’t last long. Then we went to Home Plus. August got down to do the moving walkways and help with shopping. Got broccoli and onion for dinner, and August picked out a grapefruit. He spent several minutes smelling can’t in the bins. He was asking what each was (“What is this one?”), and I would say “I do not know”. So he started saying that himself after smelling each one. Finally had to drag him away from that.

At home, he helped clean and put food away and we started making the broccoli and onion for dinner. Carly got home, and then August was playing with his cube thing and sat in it. He kept playing with the fan and we were trying to dissuade him of that one. He wanted to watch more Zinnie videos, and he discovered the thumbs up/down buttons and liked pushing them and wanted to understand them. Carly gave him a bath, and he was sitting in the reading area with Carly and saw the light switch for the hall, and asked “What this light switch for?” That is something he is asking everywhere we go; in the art museum in particular he was noting all the switches around the building. Carly tried to get him to go to sleep starting sometime before 8, but he kept getting up. I took him out a couple times, and she fell asleep. He finally fell asleep with her sometime before 8:30.

Morning:

Park: 

Home: 

Art museum and Home Plus. Apple juice by the fountain:

Play area: 

Art museum: 

Home Plus: 

Home: