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He was up a little before 6. I’d tried to distract him with videos as Carly got ready, but that wore off before she left and it was a clingy goodbye. But he calmed down pretty quickly when we got cereal out. Before I took a shower, he wanted to pee in the toilet, so we went into Carly’s bathroom for that. I took a shower, then he played with the handheld one, wanting the water cold and spraying his feet. A bit later, we were in the parlor and he started rolling around on the floor and said “soft is a yes, yes”, referring to the rules for what can be thrown. He wanted Spanish videos, and we watched some Elmo in Spanish, then found a Spanish version of Wheels on the Bus that he really liked.

I was in the kitchen, getting snacks for the day and cutting an apple. He wanted toast, and I asked “How about starting with an apple?” and offered him a slice. He slowly shook his head and seriously said “Bread. Bread, not apple.”

We skyped with my parents, and he traced letters Carly had written on the paper. He also pretended to throw a ball back and forth with my mom. And he sucked water out of the spray bottle, swished it around, and spit it out in the sink. He was imitating me with mouthwash, I think.

He also started putting things away that he found around the house: crayons, stickers, magnets, detergent, spray bottle, his shorts. That was fun to see. He tripped on the little step running out of the bathroom, but he checked and realized he hadn’t scraped his knee. We then talked about how the floor was smooth, and not like concrete or asphalt, and he he remembered the road where he scraped his knee. We did some silly walking around the house before leaving to go to Dream Forest.

As we left, he put his sunglasses on upside down. I stopped by the pink building to check the backpack, and put them right side up for him, but he switched them back to upside down, saying “you’re wearing them upside down.” We sang “Yellow Submarine” on the way to the bus, and he turned it into a chant, saying something after every repetition of “yellow submarine”.

Out of the bus, he didn’t like the light and put his head down. Tried to give him his sunglasses, but he acted like he just wanted to take a nap (it was about 11:30) so I put the top up. He kind of rested on the way, but didn’t fall asleep. In the cover of the art center, we got down and ate lunch (sandwich, apple, string cheese) at a table. He then played with the swinging lids of three garbage cans, and talked to and made faces at a little girl through the doors of the GS 25.

The water in the wading pools came on, and it took some work to get him in, but I lured him in with the ball. He got in and we threw that around a lot, him working on overhand (eventually over hand dropping the ball, which I think helped got him to focus on the hand above his head), and he played with the spray bottle. He was spinning the bottle around in the water as it floated and said “This is a dream catcher”. At one point, a boy started splashing him and I thought he was going to get upset, but he decided he liked it. After that, he got splashed quite a bit and did just fine, and even splashed another mom. Finally, we were working on kicking water, one of many skills he is quickly developing.

Now around 1, we changed him out of his wet swimsuit had a good plan for a nap: walking around the circle area (he said it would take two turns, I said three) to put him to sleep, and going to Cafe Dream then having juice when he woke up. But after 15 minutes of walking he wasn’t acting sleepy, and I wasn’t going to keep walking in 93 degree heat. So we went in and I got coffee and he had orange juice and we sat at a table. He did the Cookie Monster game, but we kept trading off on decorating cookies, so I didn’t get much else done.

When we were done there we headed home. As we walked down the stairs in the building he was looking at all of the photos of spots around the park and said he wanted to go to each of them – kind of like looking at the map yesterday and wanting to go to all the parks. Anyway, he sang about covering something up, poop, etc. as we walked through the park, then touched the water plants near the information center on our way out. We took the bus home, then of course he fell asleep on the walk home, at 2:55. He slept until 3:33 and wasn’t ready to wake up. I got him out, then put him in the stroller. He calmed down, and I started walking the hall to see if he’d fall back to sleep. He was okay with that but then figured out we were just walking in circles and got upset. Went home, but then he wanted to go outside. So we headed out again and then walked a loop up towards Chrysanthemum Park, then back along the road by the stream. As we went out he started yelling for his sunglasses, which I luckily had in my pocket. Back by the building, he wanted water, which I didn’t have, so we went up and got wanted, then headed back out and went to the pink building and bought banana chips and milk and a few other things.

We came home, then went back out and surprised Carly at the elevators. Back in the apartment, he had some good mama time on the reading area. He kept asking her “how was the water?”, referring to her rafting trip today. They watched some videos together, and I put Yellow Submarine (the movie) on his iPad. We had bought tangerines, so I cut up one of those and we ate it, and we had bought mushrooms, so I cooked those, and he ate 3 or 4 mushrooms. He also finished off a string cheese from earlier.

I wanted to go register him for classes at Home Plus (one Teuni Teuni class and one English class) so August went with me. He played in the bus/plane toys while I filled out the form, then he helped me pay by handing over the card and signing the credit card thing. We went downstairs and he helped me shop, choosing soy milk, then wipes.

We paid and went through the park. We stopped at the skateboarding ramps and he played on those. He scooted down one a few times, then was running down it. He said “That’s a thatcher one.”, referring to Thatcher running down the gravel pile by Chuck and Cherie’s. It was now dark, but he wasn’t done: he wanted to go to the art museum, then wanted the playground. I said no. Instead we went to Tous Les Jours to get bread, talking to Sarah along the way for a minute. August wasn’t upset by seeing her, and said hi. After a little while he wanted to go, but was asking nicely: “Go home, please.” We got bread and I let him choose one thing. He chose a little pack of 3 donut holes, one for each of us.

Carly called as we left the bakery and we went up. I gave him a bath, washing his hair. He wanted to do all the washing himself, and with a lot of coaching managed to clean his neck with the washcloth – his neck gets filthy every day now. He and Carly were asleep by 9.

Since returning to this full time parent thing, I’ve noticed just how many skills August is currently developing. I’ve mentioned a few above, but he’s also been focusing on the following:

The door code and buttons, typing in the code to unlock it, then pushing the lever up to lock the door after we are inside.

Kicking, specifically the water.

Twisting the toothpaste lid (and other things) on and off. He does ‘off’ quite well, and is clumsier with ‘on’.

Overhand throwing, and throwing in general.

Tracing.

Telling time and understanding signs – he keeps asking what all the symbols mean on changing stations, stairways, etc.

New words/phrases: noon (I’ve pretty much given up on this list, but this one was pretty notable today, as I use ‘noon’ quite a bit (it is when the fountains turn on), and he used it on his own today.)

Morning: 

To Dream Forest: 

Water: 

Headed home: 

Home: 

Home Plus: 

Home: 

He and Carly, both asleep last a night at 8, were up at 5:30. She took him out to the park at 6:10. He mainly played on the teeter totter, and they were back at 7 as I got up. He ate some spaghetti for breakfast, then was watching our Zinnie videos in Day One on my iPad. He was very happily doing this when Carly left for work, and he said a nice goodbye to her, waving a few times, and she was able to leave without any tears. Such a change from two days ago. We had some cereal together, then I took a shower. He had the door cracked open and was feeling the water: “It’s a bit chilly…it’s a little hot.” as I turned the temperature up and down a little for him. I then spun him on the chair again, and then he got my deodorant and was playing with it. He of course wanted to wipe it on things, and kept wanting to wipe it on me. I kept telling him I had enough, so then he was saying  “dada has enough”. A bit later we were out in the living room and there was a random counting card on the floor. He slid his foot on top of it and said “it’s a skateboard”. Pretty creative there. We watched some more videos, then he got the popsicle things out of the drawer and was singing/humming into them then saying  “something like that”. Not sure where he got that phrase from. We brushed his teeth. That’s an activity that he insists on mainly doing himself nowadays, then finished getting ready to go. I got our old stick for writing in sand out of the closet and put it in the backpack. August immediately asked “Where’s the little stick? Oma and Opa’s house…maybe mama took it for work.”

We left for Children’s Grand Park at 9. I was a little worried about how it would feel with the backpack on now in the heat and with August heavier (and two iPads in the back) after the summer, but it was fine. August wore his sunglasses on the way to the subway station, and sang about this and that and everything on our way there. On the subway today he kept asking what was at each stop – so I would tell him which parks, or which trains we transfer to at each stop. Heading out, we tried to stop at our usual spot to get kimbap, but they only had spicy kinds. So we got a fruit and veggie juice box thing and smoky eggs there, then went to another shop and got kimbap. Oh, and they have finished the set of escalators at the exit, but they still aren’t on; there is a big sign explaining it is waiting for a safety inspection. Hurray for safety inspections, but it is now going on two years to put in this one small set of escalators. We went up to the park and walked over by the stream area and sat on a bench and ate an early lunch. He was actually taking bites out of the kimbap, seaweed and all. As we sat there, he walked around behind me and put his head on my back, then pretended he was a bumblebee landing on me. He also listened to the cicadas and said “Where the cicadas at? They’re all mixed in.”

There was just a trickle in the stream, but it would turn on at noon, so we decided to go to the children’s museum. He threw our garbage, and some other garbage he found on the ground, away, then we headed over there. We first stopped to change him. I pointed to one spot, a sort of bench area, to change him outside and he said “No. It is too dirty.” So we ended up in the bathroom, but with him standing on the changing pad. When we got to the children’s museum I was reminded that most childcares in the city are closed this week when we entered the children’s museum. Luckily, it wasn’t too bad once we got inside. And I’ve found all the parents inside to be pushier than school groups, but we didn’t have any problems with that today. Anyway, he played around on the first floor, spending a lot of time in the percussion room. He also was really interested when he heard other babies crying and wanted to go find them. He was talking about taking a nap, but then wanted to see what was downstairs. So we walked down and he was asking what was down there. I mentioned the big blue blocks and he remembered them, saying something about having to take his shoes off. Downstairs, he jumped on the circle things, then went and played with the blue blocks. A lot of other kids there, so August watched them, and he climbed over blocks and turned them over, etc.

We headed out, and he fell asleep pretty quickly, at 12:05. But then a wrench in the system: the coffee shops are changing ownership, and they only offer a few items right now. That was fine, but it was cash only, and I didn’t have any cash. Went to the coffee shop at the children’s museum, but it was packed. Went to the food court area, but no tables. Ended up outside on a platform, at least in the shade, but he woke up just before 12:50 – a short nap. He tried going back to sleep (“More.” “More what?” “More sleep.” I told him to put his head back down and close his eyes. He tried, but after a minute or two got upset) but couldn’t, so I got him out. He cuddled in my arms for awhile, but he had leaked, so eventually I changed him standing on the platform. He then played with the spray bottle, spraying me. After a little while he saw the botanical garden building and said he wanted to go to the “fishy place”. We went in, and he spent a couple minutes spraying water in at the fish. Then headed out and to the stream. But at the stream area he refused to get in, and just stood on the edge, playing with the spray bottle. I played in the water for a minute but couldn’t coax him in. He had been saying “Go home” for awhile, and started saying it again, so we headed home.

Spent the subway ride back picking broken pieces out of the remains of the alphabet letter crackers, and guessing what they may have once been a part of. Off the train, he spotted the three dimensional map of the station and we talked through it. He decided he wanted to exit through exit 1. When I asked why, he said he wanted to go to Home Plus (I had told him what was out each exit) and when I asked what we would do at Home Plus he said “Get tomatoes”. Seemed random at the time, but it turns out that when we had gone shopping the other day Carly had let him help choose which container of tomatoes to get. I was still planning to go out 6, our usual, when he spotted the map of the area near the exit. He said “Do this” referring to looking at the map. He started pointing out different parks, and I told him what they were. He pointed to the art museum and I told him what it was, and he decided that was what he really wanted to do.

So we went out exit 1 and walked to the art museum. There, he wanted to first go to the play area. As we went to it he said “mama says no, you cannot scream in there.” In the busy play area he climbed up into it, but then was kind of stuck as he wanted to come down the same way, but there were a bunch of other kids. Eventually he made it down, then went on the trampoline, where he jumped a bit, but then sat down and enjoyed bouncing when another girl jumped. Eventually, he had three other girls jumping with him, and they sat down in sort of a circle with him and were talking to him. He lasted another minute, then wanted to go. As we left he said goodbye to them.

He then wanted to see art, and the most exciting thing was a circle of those dancing blowup figures they often have at used car lots. They would come on for 20 or 30 seconds, then be off for a few minutes. We watched them 5 or 6 times. We walked around looking at other art as well, and made it to the second floor, but he started to leak. Went downstairs and got stuff out of the backpack (in the stroller area), and changed him on the first floor. Then went back up and to the library. Knew they had children’s art books in English, but we’d never actually made it in to see them. Turns out they have quite a few, and a very impressive collection of general art books in English. We grabbed a shapes book, an Andy Warhol children’s book (So Many Stars) and a couple others and sat down. We only lasted a couple minutes though (and August was really interested in the
big books, so we were looking at those as well) before the librarian to exception to anyone talking in her library with children’s books in it and told us there was someone reading so we needed to be quiet. Sigh. We were being quiet already (I was whispering; August wasn’t loud), so not much to do. I did ask if we could check out books and she said we could register for a card. Didn’t want to the take the time, and don’t know how long we can check them out for, but might be worth it. Of course, we didn’t even have time to decide what we would want to check out.

Anyway, we headed home, and August walked up to the door and punched in the door code all on his own. I then open the door, and he is able to lock it behind us. He helped me make my drink mix and then drank some with a straw. I was sitting on the couch and he got behind me and put his arms around my neck and said “Piggy back ride!” But then he wouldn’t let me actually pick him up. He doesn’t quite have the concept of the piggy back ride down.

Carly came home, and a little before 5:30 we headed next door to Todai for the APIS staff dinner, stopping at the bank on the way. He was excited about going out for dinner, but things changed when we entered the restaurant. He just kept repeating “Go outside, go outside.” We hung out in a corner of the restaurant away from the banquet room with everyone in it for about 15 minutes. They nursed, and I brought him juice and a plate of desserts to tempt him, but he knocked the juice away and only nibbled the food. We have up, and headed home.

At home he seemed really tired at first, but then I got him through a bath okay, he ate spaghetti for dinner (after a bath being a parenting mistake, but we kept it clean), played with the cherry tomatoes (and actually ate one after Carly cut it up for him – and got me to eat a couple), flushed the toilet for Carly, thought about peeing standing up (but Carly was helping him, and he made a bit of a mess and went back to sitting down) and managed to stay awake until 8. But when Carly took him in he fell asleep right away.

Drying off by rolling on the floor:

He was up just before 7. At 8 we walked Carly out to her bus stop. He got sad when the bus came and I held onto him, but after the bus left and we started to walk back into the park he calmed down right away. In the park I got out the new spray bottle and he played with that. He did keep talking about “Mama coming home” but he wasn’t acting upset. Sprayed with that by the floor fountain, then went over to the playground and helped him on the climbing wall. Then we went over past the dinosaurs so he could push the buttons on one of the signs. That was by the rock garden, so he ended up climbing on the rocks for awhile before we headed home.

At home I took a shower. He played outside the shower and did just fine. I came out and he went and grabbed a USB drive out of the little box under my laptop and brought it to me. I said “Thank you”. He walked away saying “Mama said ‘No, you can’t play with dada’s things.”

We got ready to go, and headed to the water park up by Madeul Stadium, him in the stroller. Along the way we stopped and watched a couple of cicadas low down on trees. We got to the water park and headed in. There, he didn’t want to put on a swimsuit or swim diaper, and barely touched the water. It was really crowded though, and the wading pool area is full of spraying things and big kids bumping into you and splashing all the time. Eventually though he did stand one step into the big pool area, and jumped in the water at the edge of the wading pool. But the big thing for us was the new spray bottle; he walked around sucking water from it and spitting on the ground, and by the end of our time we were both using it to spray each other quite well.

Eventually, he decided it was time to head home. We got home just after noon, and right before Carly walked in the door. He was happy to see her. On the way up, I had been asking him what he wanted for lunch, and he said “cereal”. So he and Carly had cereal. Then she tried to put him down for a nap. But he was just too excited. He kept popping back up and talking. I tried to help a couple times, and took him out of the room so Carly could rest. He would try to sleep, laying down and closing his eyes, but then would start talking again. So, no nap. It was funny though seeing how attached he was to Carly; at one point she got up and went and got a Pepsi. He got up, followed her to the kitchen, grabbed his water when she got her Pepsi, then followed her back to the bedroom.

I was working on an online class for recertification of my teaching certificate, and August was helping Carly clean and kept wanting to find more crumbs. We then did some art on the iPad, and watched some video. I was then spinning him on the office chair, getting him really dizzy. He nursed, and we were talking about going for a walk to the park. He said “Go to the park and nurse.”

We went for a walk just around the park, and to show Carly the stream area that is on. We looked at that, then ran into a woman who is the new 5th grade teacher at APIS. We talked to her for a few minutes, and August found little rocks and threw them in the water. We went to Home Plus, and he was really into stepping on and off the moving walkways all on his own. As we entered the second basement we passed all the plastic food at the food court and I asked him  “which should we try next?” His answer: “Anything!” He was holding up his pants a bit as we did our shopping, as they were a new pair of shorts. Reminded me of when he used to do that all the time. Before we left, we headed up to the second floor so I could get a flyer with class times on it. August saw the airplane ride things, and sat in all of them, and pretended to drive/pilot. That entertained him for a good 5 to 10 minutes.

We finished our shopping, then headed home. Carly was carrying the big box of diapers and walked ahead, as August was going slowly. August and I then got stopped by a total of 6 different people on our way home: two people handing out flyers for things, a mother with two kids on the bridge who wanted to know where we were from, a couple women on the bridge who said he was cute, Preacher by Dunkin Donuts, and a guy that said August looked like a doll. Very strange.

At home, he had some spaghetti for dinner. Carly took a shower, and August really cried. When Carly got out she took him right in and he was asleep before 7.

Morning outing: 

To water park: 

Water park: 

In the park: 

Home Plus: 

August and Carly were up at 5:30. I was up at 7. He remembered the ‘ssss’ sound in the piano and asked “Where is the S sound?” and wanted to open the piano. He remembered the Wheels on the Bus book, and we spent a long time reading and playing with that. He likes to make up crazy names for the babies that are crying on the bus.

Then we had to say bye to mama as she headed to work for a few hours. This was a tough one. We decided to walk to the bus with her, thinking it might make it a little easier, and be easier to distract him with the playground afterwards. But we got downstairs and outside and Carly realized she had forgotten to pack any food. So we said goodbye there, and I took August off to the north, intending to go to the playground. We made it there, but August was having none of it, and wanted to go home. We walked around part of the building and I was hoping Carly had left, but as we approached the elevator lobby, she walked out. I quickly covered August’s eyes and ducked out the side doors. He hadn’t seen her. At this point he had calmed down enough to where he was only having a little sniffle every few seconds. But he was disappointed when we got home and started crying again. He wanted me to put my shoes back on, and we went outside. He calmed again, then cried a bit more when we got out of the elevators. As we walked out of the building, I said “Cuddle with dada?” And he put his arms around my neck and cuddled against my neck. Did that for awhile, then covered his eyes and put his head down on my shoulder. We walked over to the park and to the fake stream area, which is on. We looked at the pond, stream, and waterfall and he slowly improved. On the way back, we saw someone had put blue paint on the ‘mama statue’ and looked at that. Before we went back inside I took a photo of August. Even though he had calmed pretty well down, he still looked so sad in the photo.

I had been talking about things we could do when we went home (part of the ‘Zinnie and dada have fun’ part of the day) and he had come up with the idea of watching Zinnie videos on my phone. So we did that for awhile. When he was done with that, he played some iPad – watching Kipper and trying some other things. He then put the iPad away on the table (I had cleared the table of my laptop, so we now have a nice clear table for eating on, and is home to our iPads) and a bit later found the tongs in a drawer. I taught him how to use them – another skill learned pretty well by the end of the day – and we used them to pick up shapes and plastic fruit/veggies. He then started playing more with the fruit and veggies, and was holding them in his mouth and then ‘patooieing’ them into the container. All was fine until 10:30 when suddenly he got sad again and wanted to go outside. Seemed pretty tired, and it had been 5 hours. At about the same time, I got an email from Carly saying she was on her way home in a few minutes.

So August got in the stroller and we went walking around the park. We stopped at the mama statue and he got out and stood on it and inspected the paint. His favorite is the big glob of it on one of the eyes that has a drop of paint hanging down. We continued to walk around the park, stopping to push buttons on the signs. He then got mellow and we just walked around on the opposite of the park. He covered his eyes at one point, and I got out his sunglasses and he wore those for several minutes, and was still wearing them when we saw Carly get off a bus.

Back at home, he ended up on the bed, nursing, and doing a sort of remembering game, talking about things he remembered. In particular, he talked about the bus ride from the airport: “lights in tunnel on distance part…neighborhood part it makes stops” We thought he would go to sleep soon, but he just kept getting up; seemed really excited to have mama home. Eventually, she was falling asleep, so I took him out and he had to cry for a couple minutes. Let him go back in, and he fell right asleep at 2:20.

I did a bunch of catching up on the blog and other stuff, then left at 4:15, leaving a note for Carly. I was headed to Hoegi to deal with our phones: I had lost my SIM card, and Carly’s SIM needed to change from the old size to the new smaller sizes due to us upgrading phones this summer. Took what seemed like way too long to get there (just about an hour – the entire length of Pearl Jam’s Vs., it turns out) to get there, only to find out the the ‘global’ store didn’t have anyone that spoke English. So I could have just walked up to Nowon. Got half accomplished: I got my replacement SIM, but in order to transfer the phones for Carly I needed her ARC card. The number, and a photo of her card, just wouldn’t work, as they need to photocopy everything. So headed home. Stopped at Daiso and got August a new spray bottle to replace the one we lost in June, and took a look at the board game cafe called the Dice Latte.

Carly and August had slept to 5, and when I got home were making fried rice. August had really helped with the sauce, and when I got there was ‘washing’ dishes over and over. We ate the delicious fried rice for dinner, and then in an evening all went for a walk, with August in the stroller. Walked up to the spider web playground and played there for a few minutes. August talked about wanting to play with other kids. But there weren’t really kids to play with, and there were mosquitos. We headed back, and stopped again at the playground by the youth center. August mainly walked on the ledges, and watched a bigger girl climbing a tree and tried it himself.

We walked home, and August and Carly fell asleep at 10.

Sad boy: 

Skyping with gramma and grampa: 

After watching videos and remembering the ‘Other hand’ song: 

Patooie: 

Park. Blue paint on the statue: 

Buttons: 

Sunglasses: 

Back home: 

Evening walk: 

Tree climbing: 

He woke up sometime after 1 and Carly got up with him. I got up at 4:30 and Carly went to bed. He and I mainly did tracing in his Hangeul workbooks, focusing on one with shapes in it. He called the spiral in the shape of a triangle “abstracto triangles”. Around 5:30 he wanted to go back to mama, so we went back into bed. I fell asleep, and I’m not sure if he just nursed for a long time, or if they both slept more. Regardless, at some point later Carly got up with him and took him outside. He once again jumped in the stroller. They walked to Madeul and back, then played a little in the playground: on the swings and teeter totter. Carly noticed that the teeter totter actually looked like it was his size now, and not some big toy he was trying to play on. They also found a cicada they could see.

They were back at 7, and they  fell asleep at 7:20. I got up and did some reading in the reading area, then fell asleep there until 9. I kept reading and typing, and they got up a little before 11. Carly had made spaghetti, and August ate spaghetti with me. He then saw one of my new sticks of deodorant, and really liked smelling it and walking around with it. That lasted until he wanted to wipe it on things. We then tried to skype with my parents, but they weren’t online (later I would find out that a fire in Chelan had knocked out phone and Internet). So we got into sending video messages. August sent several of those, saying nonsense things, then ‘Bye, hi, bye bye’ etc. at the end. By the end he was pressing the Skype buttons himself. He climbed on the desk chair and I started spinning him. He loved that, and kept asking for “More dizzy”. He seemed a bit stressed about the possibility of me or Carly leaving, saying multiple times “Mama going to work.” and “Where dada go?” We had to keep assuring him that Carly wasn’t going to work today and I had just gone in the other room.

Eventually, we went to Home Plus. August rode in the stroller over there, then wanted out. He raced around the store, and when we got to the grocery floor he wanted to help. Basically, he and I would go and find one item (soy milk, cereal, etc.) and then he would search through the store to find Carly and put the item under the stroller. When Carly got something he would want to put it under there as well. The last item was the cereal and it was full underneath, so I tried to set it in the seat. He didn’t like that, so he handed it to Carly to carry. We paid and headed home, August insisting on walking much of the way.

We got home and he wanted the bubbles. Carly did bubbles with him, and he was pretty successful at blowing bubbles. The first time, and he was excited about it. Also exciting at some point was when he ate oatmeal with Carly and it was hotter than usual, and he did his fist pumps in the air thing, as if he was excited that he was eating something hot. Anyway, Carly tried reading to him at some point, and he wanted to “Nurse and read”. Perhaps a flaw in that combo, because now he never wants to just read with her.

In the evening we went for a walk up to Starbucks. August insisted on walking much of the way, so it was a rather slow walk. Finally got him back in the stroller so we could make it there. Got a drink, then headed home. Walked along the stream on the way back, and he was touching the flowers from the stroller, then wanted out. Got out and at first he wanted to pick flowers. But then Carly pointed out all the weeds along the edge and he spent several minutes pulling weeds. He was getting sleepy as we got home, but made it. At home Carly nursed him while I got his bath ready. She gave him a quick bath, then we went in to bed. I read the little Winnie the Pooh book we bought used sometime last year called A Blustery Day. He was excited when he saw it, shoving it in Carly’s face and saying “A new book!” Made it just to the end and he wanted the lights out and they both fell asleep around 8.

4:30am:

Morning: 

Home Plus: 

Walking to Starbucks: 

Apple and kale drink: 

Weeding: 

So he had slept the last 3+ hours of the flight, and right through the landing. We had to get him up to get off the plane. We did that, made our way through immigration and customs, then had a frustrating experience getting a bus, which had never happened before, with two busses being basically full when they got to us. Finally on our way, August liked the tunnels and seeing all the lights and cars in them. We got to Hagye and started the walk home. August was in the backpack, and very aware of what was going on. He was ready (we were all ready) to be home, and was asking things like “Where is Zinnie and Mama and Dada’s home?” As we walked, he started singing and said things like “trace Hangeul…trace Espanol…trace rectangle”.

First thing he did when we got home was to go over to the piano and play it. We started to get settled in a bit, and Carly took him down to get some food at the pho place. He climbed in the stroller and was ready to go right away. I did some unpacking and made the bed while they were gone. We had gotten home sometime after 7, and by 10 we were all asleep.

Going through clouds: 

Still asleep as we got off the plane: 

Home! To the piano: 

He woke up at 6:30, and thus we were all up about that time. Carly went in to take a shower first thing, and took August in the bathroom with her. He watched an episode of Pororo (about 5 minutes) while she showered. After her shower, he wanted to smell everything in the bathroom. When she wouldn’t let him smell something, he lamented “Want to smell everything.” Later, he was smelling things with me, and I had him put his hands on his head, but then he reached out and grabbed it. He got upset when I then took it away, saying “It is temptening!”

We were pretty well packed, but he hung out with Cherie for awhile as we finished getting ready, and went out with her to clean out and vacuum the car. He liked it when Chuck started vacuuming, and August would hum along to the pitch of the vacuum cleaner. He then just played in the car, pushing buttons. As we got into the car to leave, we did a really good countdown from 10 to get him to hop in his seat. Really should have gotten it on video, as it was the last chance, but I thought about it just a bit too late and couldn’t get the camera out.

We left at 9. In the car he ate Cherie’s yogurt and oatmeal. She asked “Should we call you oatmeal boy?” He replied “Yeah!” At some point I asked “What do you dream about?” “Cows…green cows.” He was possibly saying ‘cars’, but I’m pretty sure he was saying ‘cows’. We were also singing a few songs, like “Yellow Submarine” Cherie started “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands…” And August strongly said “No, no, no, no, no!” He does not like that song. He never used to like the clapping part, but would allow other verses. He’s started to get a little more into clapping (before he would make me switch to snapping) so I thought it would be okay, but he didn’t allow any verse of the song. We watched a little Kipper before getting to the airport.

At the airport Chuck and Cherie stayed with us through checkin, then visited while Carly and August nursed. We said goodbye and August at least gave Cherie a good goodbye, but he was focused on getting to ride the escalator. But as we went up one escalator, we could see Chuck and Cherie going up on the other side of the terminal. We got to the top and August was able to wave across to them. We then went through security, August in the Ergo, and then walked to the main part of the terminal. Carly got spaghetti and I got chowder and cornbread and a banana from Ivar’s. Carly got us a table and we ate. August really loved the chowder: he would put his arms up and go “Mmmm” after every bite. A couple sat with us. They had been on a cruise in Alaska and were on their way home to Oklahoma. The woman was a missionary, and brought up the Trump craziness. So, felt good to meet a couple of strongly religious people from Oklahoma who were anti-Trump. There is hope.

We headed to the gate. August got down and we practiced escalators, going up and down a few times between there and our gate. At the gate, he went with Carly to the bathroom, and with her to get a drink from Seattle’s Best Coffee. Later, I took him around to watch planes out the window taxing, landing, and taking off. At one point he was shuffling with his back against the wall in front of us, singing a Korean tune. Seemed like he knew we were going home to Seoul. He was also playing around, putting his head on the floor, and crawled under the seats once. Carly took him to change him, but he wanted to do it there. I told him people didn’t like diapers being changed in the middle there, and he said  “people like changing on the floor”. Then, he said “you seem sleepy” to himself. He was totally falling asleep, and our flight was 30 minutes late in boarding. Watched some more Kipper, and got him to stay awake, and we made it on the plane.

He was a bit timid about the plane at first, but obviously remembered getting food on the plane last time, as he kept asking for the food on the plane, and would wave his arm around above his head when asking about it. Sadly, the flight attendant said there was no kid meal ordered for him, and they didn’t bring him a Pororo bag like the other kids. But we did get them to bring a meal early, and he ate mainly pasta. Carly took him back to change him, and he hated that because the bathroom was so loud. He was trying to get out in the aisle at one point, and finally Carly let him out. He said “I’m here…Mama let you. Mama changed her mind.” A bit later they walked up the aisle, and then didn’t come back. I went and found them; August had found a girl about his age and was playing around. The girl and her older sister had taught him a phrase in Korean, but I don’t remember what it was. August was saying funny things and jumping around and making the little girl laugh. Carly went back to her seat for awhile and I stayed with him. After a few minutes he suddenly ran up the aisle, and right past Carly. As I caught up to him he turned around and had a kind of shocked look on his face. Got him back to Carly, and he then fell asleep, from about 4 to 6.

After that, he was up for a few hours. He mainly stuck to Carly and sat on her lap. He came over to me for awhile and we did art on the iPad, but I felt a little bad because she was having to do all the work. At one point, she stretched out on the two seats to rest, and August really did want to cuddle with her, but he had to do it from standing on the floor; no room for both of them. And he wouldn’t stay still and up on my lap to rest next to her. But eventually, he fell back to sleep and slept the last 3 or so hours of the flight.

Cleaning the car with Oma and Opa: 

Counting to get him to jump in the seat: 

Airport: 

Our plane: 

Plane: 

A long but good last day. August was up at 6:20, which was quite early. He nursed a lot and was then pretty clingy to mama for much of the morning. Cherie skyped with Cassie, and August was very excited and making a lot of noise. Vivian told him to go tickle Opa, and he did, chasing him around the island. He would then go back to Vivian and suggest himself “Go tickle Opa” and then go chase him again. He and Carly did art on the big paper, writing ‘Z Z’ and ‘Zinn Zinn’. He read ‘Z Z’ then patted his chest. He then wanted to play in the bedroom while Carly started packing, so I watched him in their. He ate cereal and toast for breakfast, then played with Oma while we packed. They first went down to the sandbox, I think, then went and picked a peach. Brought it back in the house and he ate the whole thing. They went upstairs and he played with the buttons on a fan, and helped her take apart her feather board (should have gotten a photo of that one before she took it down). He wasn’t interested in the feathers, but loved the pins, and finding out which color was on the head of each. He then carefully put all of them in the pin cushion.

We were going to go visit Steve and Claremay, so got in the car. He played in there for quite awhile before we left, pretending to drive. He would pretend he was driving somewhere “Turn to the ocean” and then drive some more and say “Now we’re back!” We did go to Steve and Claremay’s, and Carly went in and started talking to her grandpa while August played longer in the car. I took him in at one point, but he didn’t want to play with the toys inside and we ended up back in the car. But eventually he wanted to go in. Claremay gave him a fresh green bean, and he wanted to go pick things in the garden. We went out and he picked a pea, but rejected the green bean. We then picked an apple and he ate part of that. We took a photo of Carly, August, and them before we left.

We had thought about picking up lunch at La Tarasca, but decided we were running late, so just went to Safeway. Did our shopping there. – Carly and I confused each other when I thought she had said ‘graham crackers’ and she had actually said ‘garden burgers’, but then she didn’t remember saying that to me when we entered the store. Anyway, confusion solved, we headed home and he went and fell directly to sleep. And slept and slept, 12:40 to 3:40.

After he was awake, we went down to by the sandbox with Carly and Chuck. played with sand a little, but mainly did other things. Got the little ball, and he threw that around, sort of working on overhand. He asked Carly what ‘beer’ was in Spanish. I took him down and we picked a peach and a plum. Back in the house he ate the plum, and much of the peach. Then we had dinner: a delicious pasta dish (had bitters in it), and fresh squash and green beans that Claremay had picked while we were there.

After dinner, I went to the store because we had forgotten a supply of medicine for August. I told August I was going and he said “Okay. Bye.” Listened to some of Hillary Clinton’s speech on the way down. Came back to find Chuck and August rocking in the rocking chairs on the deck, singing a nonsense song. Apparently they’d been doing that since I left. Got to see the end of it, as August then started to tip it over.

We went for one last walk with Chuck and Cherie – perhaps are last through the wooded area down the street. August was in the backpack. He started yelling “Safeway!” at cars as they passed. Totally his joke. I think after the first one he said something about “maybe going to Safeway.” We walked through the trail area and came out the other side, then walked up the road and picked a bunch of blackberries. August finally ate the ripe ones! And kept eating them and eating them. Several from Chuck and Carly, then I had a whole hand full of them as we walked back to the house, and August ate all of them.

We got home and ate apple pie (Cherie made it from apples Claremay had picked) and ice cream. August had his fill. A really good day of eating fresh food. I gave him a bath. He wasn’t happy about it, but Cherie saved the day by pulling out a frog hand puppet washcloth thing and using that. He really liked that, and the rest went fine and I was able to wash his hair. Took him down, and he was asleep about 9:45.

Morning:

Claremay and Steve’s. Picking and eating an apple: 

With Seve and Claremay: 

Nap: 

Sweeping: 

On a walk: 

Evening: 

He slept until 8:10. After nursing, Carly came out, and he kept looking at Wheels on the Bus and singing by himself for several minutes. He then sat with Carly and sent Vivian and other people messages on Skype. Carly would ask what he wanted to say, and he would come up with his nonsense words, them wave and say bye at the end. Carly took a shower, and we wandered around the house. At one point we watched the worker on the roof of the garage from the second floor windows. Chuck and Cherie had left early in the morning to take Cassie and Vivian and Colin to the airport. They then had some lunch and did some shopping before coming home. August was excited to have them back, and was interrupting Cherie on the computer by playing with her mouse. They then did the beanbag song together a couple times, using stuffed animals as the beanbags. He’s also pretended to eat things or people a couple times, saying “Chomp!” as he does so. Think he did it to Cherie or Carly at one point, with some food, and then later at the park when we saw a birthday cake drawn in sidewalk chalk.

We were leaving to go to Shaefer Park when Steve and Claremay came by for a minute to drop off eggs and visited from the car for a minute. We then drove to the park. August took a long, long time to get out of the car. The car is easily his favorite toy now, pretending to drive, opening and closing the doors and vents and windows, and turning nobs for the air system and stereo. Went down and we waded and played in the river. Lovely weather for it. He was throwing rocks, sort of underhand, which was fine until he almost nailed himself on the head with a big rock. After which I was trying to teach him to throw overhand, with limited success. He would do it while I held his hand, but on his own he would start with his arm up, then sort of jerk it down, then throw up like he was doing before. But, he was starting to get it down by the end. After awhile he started to say “now you can go to the car.” after he played for a minute or two. Wouldn’t insist on it, and would then play for another minute or two and say it again.

Before we left, we took a walk across the bridge and through the forest. We did this last year with Chuck and Cherie and it had rained on us pretty hard by the end. Today warm and sunny. I remembered taking a photo of August looking over Carly’s shoulder last year. This year, he did a fair amount of the walking and wanted to find blackberries. We did, and he had fun pretending to be pricked by the thorns and going “Ouchie, Ouchie, Ouchie!” Or things like that. We kept walking and he kept talking about finding more berries and pokey things. He also liked finding the snow berries, and squishing them between his fingers, but they weren’t as exciting.

We saw the sidewalk chalk while we waited for Carly from the bathroom, then played in the car a bit more before heading on our way. Drove down to the credit union in Chehalis to deposit some cash, then stopped by Safeway and got sushi for lunch and a few other things we needed and for dinner. August was acting tired, but he had slept 11 hours, and when we got home he started playing and never seemed close to going down for a nap when Carly nursed him. He played with Carly and Cherie for quite awhile, around the house and then upstairs too, then came down and Carly got out the artichoke she was cooking. I sat with him and taught him how to eat artichoke and dip it in mayonnaise (which Carly likes much more than me, so I’m not really allowed to eat it). He then sat with me on the couch and did art in Paper on the iPad – both the first time using the new Apple Pencil for him and the first time he’s really done art on the iPad since we were on the plane on the way here. Funny how things change when suddenly there are no other kids around. To underscore that point, when he was done with that, he was talking to himself and said “What else to do? You can read a book.” Also, as he drew he changed the colors and layered them and talked about it: “I wonder if the pink changes color…I wonder if the yellow shows up?”

Evening was a bit of a handful as he was in a no-nap state. But she still had a lot of fun. Carly skyped with Cassie and he gave Vivian and Colin a big greeting. After that he was a handful, and finally I got him in the backpack to go for a little walk. At first though I took him out to the porch to put him in and he covered his eyes. I asked if he wanted his hat and he said “Yeah!” Should have thought about his sunglasses. We told him he couldn’t fall asleep. And we first walked left on the main road (after walking down the hill and around the turnaround, at his request) until it turned the corner and there was no shade. We walked back the other way, singing “Yellow Submarine” together and learning the words. We then sang “Driftin” and he sang along a bit, then I got a message from Cherie saying they were starting dinner soon. He engaged in a conversation about heading back, but then as soon as I did he started putting his head down. So I started running and singing, and he was laughing even as he kept his eyes closed and had his head tilted back. Made it home and got him out and got him awake again, and in fact he got pretty hyper.

We ate dinner outside, and he ate some asparagus and greens, but absolutely loved the beets, which he ate more and more of, using a fork. Their neighbors from across the street (Kelly and Court, I think) came and visited, and August ended up playing with Court, kind of hitting his hand instead of giving him five. They had a dog, Guinness, that is really nice. August was petting her, but then chased after her when she walked away. I had to get him and teach him to be slow and gentle, and eventually he was able to pet her again. Carly left a burner on and the house was filling with smoke, so she and Cherie got out fans. August liked them, of course, and liked pushing the buttons until we ended that.

I gave August a bath while Carly cleaned the kitchen. We used the lavender soap to wash him, and he did a good job of cleaning his own neck. We went down and did a little more playing, and he managed to stay awake until about 9:30.

Morning:

Holding Carly’s hair: 

Park: 

On our walk:  

Falling asleep but laughing: 

Dinner. Meeting a neighbor: 

And the dog: 

He was awake at 7:30 and they did a lot of nursing. Once he was out and playing, he figured out how to put one hand on the small table and one hand on the chair and raise his feet of the ground, suspending his body in the air. He was happy about that. He then found the tape measure, and we spent the next several minutes measuring Colin and other things, like peoples’ feet. His favorite toy was the microwave, and he and Colin were playing with that. I made him a cheese sandwich and he ate that. Vivian slept in, but finally was up, and after awhile we (us and Cassie) took the kids to the Fiddlers Coffee, which we had never been to before, so Cassie could download some new apps, etc. for Vivian for the flight tomorrow. August and I looked at the food choices and settled on a savory croissant, which he then ate most of. The kids played around, and at one point we went upstairs to check it out. Vivian and August also played on the iPads a bit. We left there and stopped at the PostNet store so I could mail the headphones (that I got free with the iPad) that I had sold on eBay.

Got home, and everyone got out. Except for August, who played in the car for a long time. Eventually we headed in, and he took a nice long nap, from around 1:40 to 3:20. They then played outside for a good amount of time, and their outfits showed a bit of the difference between August and Vivian: August insisted on keeping his long sleeve shirt on, and he also wore is brimmed hat. Vivian, on the other hand, after getting wet took off all of her clothes. Eventually, Cassie and Carly ended up in the entryway, drinking ice water, while the kids played around them. Vivian and August filled up cup after cup of ice from the dispenser and brought them back, sharing with Colin, who was having a blast putting ice in Cassie’s glass and eating it. All went well except the one time that Colin dumped it out. Colin was also drinking from the glass, and there was one time that he tried to do it himself. He got some, but poured much of it down his shirt. He gave me a satisfied grin and loudly smacked his lips several times.

The party moved out onto the deck at this point. Vivian and August ended up in the bedroom, playing on the bed. Vivian ran out to remind Cherie about taking the dog ramp to Claremay’s tonight (Misty might want it). Cherie took the ramp out, and a pit later August said  “It’s a T” Carly asked what is a T. “The floor is a T.” He then pointed to the indentations left in the carpet by the dog ramp. August had been doing really well with Colin all day, and at one point the three of them ended up at the bottom of the steps to upstairs. The two of them gave Colin a hug, then I turned away and August apparently hit Colin on the head. Vivian was quite appalled by it (she first insisted that August couldn’t go to dinner now), but I don’t think it was anything more than a pat.

On the way to dinner, I played more of the raindrop game with August. That is, I pretend a raindrop falls on his head, then drips down his nose, onto his lip, down to his chin, and then falls. We had started this earlier, and Vivian had played it with him when I ran into PostNet.

At Steve and Claremay’s August was first hesitant to come in, first wanting to play in the front yard. Got him in and he was fine. At dinner he ate a lot of cantaloupe and a fair amount of everything else. She had made a savory pancake, and we called it ‘pajeon’ (Korean for pancake) and August also kept referring to it as ‘Korean Pancake’. They then went down into the yard and garden. Vivian and August both picked apples and did a good job of eating them. They picked a fig with Carly, and ate that. Then Cassie took the two of them into the garden and they picked and ate peas. Colin played with me and I lay in the grass and he lounged on me, with his head on my legs, and seemed content for a few minutes.

Back home, August did some reading with Carly and Vivian (Thidwick, I think). August got into throwing the green squishy toy (an old dog toy, I think) around, but Vivian wanted to finish the book. Eventually, I had to pull him out, and he got really upset. Got him outside and he screamed a bit. Carly came and took over and he calmed down, but he was a bit off for the rest of the evening. At one point Carly was going to take a shower, but he wouldn’t let that happen. Anyway, he was walking around, saying “Vivian, don’t go in the garage…Vivian, don’t touch that. It will make Oma sad.” Not that Vivian was trying to do those things, but he was copying/repeating the things that Carly has said to him. Carly gave him a bath, and he went to sleep about 9:30.

New words/phrases: measure, pajeon, fig

Coffee shop: 

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