Category: Uncategorized

Awake 7:33. Opened the door and walked out holding the fruits and veggies book and Little Miss Muffett. We read the fruit book, then the Curious George library book, then on to A de Activista and then The Pigeon Finds a Hotdog. One of his favorite lines in there is a “a taste sensation”, so we ended up defining ‘sensation’ and writing it on paper several times. We watched Korean videos and did some translating. As we packed up, I attached the bucket to the backpack. He was talking about taking the bucket to mama, as he has played with it with her. He then, of course, did the fooling me thing when changing his diaper before we left around 10.

On the way to the subway he was saying “Double S” and “Double G (ㄲ)” a lot, and then talking about when I had said no more “Double G” on the bus down to the MMCA.

We walked up to the stream, and played in the sandy/gravelly spot we played last time, although no climbing up the rocks this time. Instead, we got out the bucket and shovel and cups and played with that. There was some white stuff in the gravel in one spot that kind of looked like some food someone had dumped. I told August not to step in it, so then of course he was really interested in it. We filled a bucket with sand, and I asked where we should dump it. He thought about it and said “On the white.” We poured several buckets on it, then he said “On the black”, pointing to some leaves and sticks that were sitting in a still spot in the stream. So seeral more buckets on those. Finally, we poured buckets of gravel on three big rocks. I wanted to take a water and shade break, but he resisted that. But then when I asked if he was ready to nap, he said he was, and wanted to get in the backpack. So we made our way up to the backpack and changed him, but got distracted for several minutes when he wanted to take photos, including of the broken sheet of safety glass next to us.

We got ready to go, and as I got ready to go, I asked where we should go. He said “Walk to the hats.”, referring to all the hat shops we passed on our walk in from the subway. Instead, I walked a bit down the stream and he fell right asleep. I walked up to L’Arbre Gallery Book Cafe, a place we have walked by many, many times but never gone in. I got a drink and sat down. The woman working there was very helpful/concerned, first helping get him off my back, then worrying that the air conditioner was too cold or blowing on him (it wasn’t). He slept from 1:11 to 2:09. I kept getting distracted by the music playing, which was mainly 60s to 80s American folk/pop: Tennessee Waltz, ” Evergreen” by Susan Jacks, a version of “You are My Sunshine”, Anne Murray’s “You Needed Me”, The Carpenters’ “Yesterday Once More“, Olivia Newton-John’s “Let Me Be There”, etc. When he woke up he really liked the cushions on the bench and seats:  “Sit on the red thing…one for dada…You sit on the yellow one…cushion for mama.”

From there I mentioned the Iris Garden, and August got excited about that. We walked to the Iris Garden and played by a stream area. A guy who is an English teacher came up and was talking to me about August. He then took our photo using my phone. August was open to heading home to mama after that. At some point I asked about changing his diaper, or if there was poop, and he said “I guess so…” Then, as I went to check, “There’s no poop in there!”

He is really into the subway stops between Dobongsan and Hagye, starting to memorize them. At Suraksan he watched the people getting off and said “People go in Suraksan.” As we walked home from the subway, he was pointing and saying “That’s not mama, that’s people.” On the side of the bridge he surprised me by reading ‘Nowon’ in Korean on the side of the bridge, as it is very script-like there. In the park he looked down a grate and said “Grate…all black.” We spotted the 15 bus across the street but Carly didn’t get off, so we thought she had already gotten off a previous bus, so August was saying “Mama already get off.”

We were meeting Carly at the bank, so we walked into the pink building, past Burger Ton, where we had eaten with Meg and Torrey, etc. August pointed to where we sat outside and said “Remember this…wanted chips.” Carly showed up a bit after us – she had actually been on the next bus. She got a number at the bank and I took August down to the movie theater to change him, as he had leaked. I changed him, with him standing on the toilet lid. The sensor did its job and flushed the toilet, startling him. It did this a couple more times. It startled August but he also found it exciting. He was holding on to me, and would pull his legs up off the lid. I “Silly toilet, it thinks you are peeing.“ and he found that hilarious. After that, I just had to say “Silly toilet“ and he would start laughing. I had asked August what he wanted to do once we got home, and he said “Nurse and READ!” As we left the theater, he saw the book area and said “Go with me, play in book area.” but we needed to get back to the bank.

We went back up and waited for Carly. She had shown up right after 3:30. Simply transferring her U.S. dollars to our U.S. bank (and converting some to her Korean account) took forever. Each time we do it it is like the person has never done an overseas remittance before – and we are already set up in the system for it to happen. Strange. August laid on the seats and watched his Korean videos, but eventually grew tired of waiting. So I took him and we headed home, and Carly got home a bit later. We were doing some finger painting and mixing colors when she got home.

At home, we ate some dinner, and a bit later he stepped on the paper with paint and slipped and fell a bit. Got him cleaned up, and a bit later we all went out to enjoy the evening. We stopped at that new coffee shop and got drinks, and the banana-shaped banana bread for August. Sat by the playground and finished that. August, talking about his bread, said “Like Cookie Monster”, referring to the iPad cookie letters app. He also remembered the chocolate and the ice cream he shared with Carly on her fake birthday, and said “Chocolate!” when he took a bite. He poked Carly for some reason, and said “Poking the omma” (meaning ‘mama’ in Korean). He was interested in the slide that is made of two bars – one you sit on, and one you hold. He tried climbing it a bit, then we helped him go down several times. Then walked around the park, and we ran into Preacher. I talked to him for awhile – learned a bit about his kids, and that he is concerned about North Korean spies kidnapping people, telling me to keep an eye on August. When I caught up to Carly and August they were playing in the faucets. A little boy watched August dumping out water for awhile, and August pointed to one of the faucets and said “that one is my favorite”

Back home, we gave him a bath and then did our usual reading, and they went to sleep a little after 10.

New words/phrases: cushion, I guess so, all black

Bringing books out in the morning: 

Lunch: 

Stream: 

An August photo: 

After his nap: 

Iris Garden: 

Headed home: 

Bank: 

Home: 

Park: 

He was up at 7:23. We read Biscuit’s Picnic a couple times and then the email from Carly. At some point he said “Want to whee. By the water. Like the art does it.” He was referring to a photo we saw at the art museum that showed a child being held by the hands and swung over the edge of some water. I went to change him and he said “Poop in there…yeah, yeah” But when I took his diaper off he smiled and said “No poop!” Totally into trying to “Fool dada” every time I change him. We watched Korean videos together and translated several words. As I got him ready to go in the backpack, I got distracted and only put one shoe on. He started waving his foot without a shoe on it and said “Left shoe!”

We headed to Children’s Grand Park. There, he wanted to look at the big map. He decided he wanted to go see the zebras and kangaroos. So we headed that way, but there were a lot of big kids playing in the new playground, and August decided he wanted to eat there. He was pointing at the platforms and said he wanted to eat “On the ‘bye fuzzy’ one” – referring to losing the bit of fuzz between the cracks of the wooden platform by the youth center by the stream. So we sat there and ate. We had stopped and gotten kimbap and I set down the black bag with it inside: “What you have in there?” We ate (including the mango jello thing a guy had given us before we got on the subway), and also drank the black bean soy milk, which he had wanted to get. We used the straw from his water bottle. I put the straw back in his water bottle, but he could see the soy milk get in the water. So I told him he could dump out the water and we would refill it. So he did, then went over and started scooping sand with it as well.

He helped throw away our garbage, then we walked to the other side of the playground, to the faucets. As we did, he pointed to a bench and said “Sad right here…B A L L O O N…green one.” remembering the green dinosaur balloon that had made him sad. He played with the water bottle in the faucets. He was also clapping, and a woman clapped with him. August said

“Woman doing jak jak jak” (clap clap clap). A little girl came up and looked at him. August said hi and she didn’t say anything. He then said “She’s quiet” Another girl came a bit later and handed August a green thing to play with, and she used a bucket in the other faucet. August watched her a bit, then she left and was playing in the sand.

He’s been much more open to taking naps and not fighting them. Today, he needed to be changed, so I simply asked if we should go change him, not yet mentioning a nap, since it was only about 11:30. He said “Yeah. Then go to sleep.” or something very close to that. So we got our stuff together, as well as the toys the little girl had left by the faucet. August then carried the bucket over to the little girl, and stood there until she took it from him. He then said “Bye” and waved.

By the time we returned the toys and packed up and walked up to change him (standing up on the platform near the bathrooms; he remembered being sad there that one time, when I had to set him down:“Screaming…stand up Dr. Seuss diaper.”) some time had passed, so then I asked a few times “Are you sleepy? Do you want to take a nap?” And he said “Yeah” to each question. And then he wanted to get Smokey as a pillow before I had put him in the backpack.

We started walking, and he was talking about going to the coffee shop. I told him he had to nap first. He then said “Go to sleep first”, then put his head down and promptly fell asleep. He slept from 12:18 to 1:34. He woke up and immediately said “More cookies! More cookies with Cookie Monster and Elmo!” We stayed there a bit, he did some art on the iPad, then we headed to the faucets by the foot path. As we left he said  “Ants like to play with…the shapes…in the photo. In the grass…art museum.” And I figured out he was talking about the ants we saw eating a bit of food in the grass behind the art museum yesterday – he had taken a photo of them.

Played there for a good while, with the usual splashing. He also ate my ice, and drank “yummy cold wawa” from my cup with the straw. And he played in the sand for a few minutes near another girl. Saw her climb the little climbing wall, so he did it as well, with my help, but then stood up at the top and bumped his head. So we sat and played on a bench and read a little. He was hitting a tree and called it a “maple…with green” as it wasn’t entirely red. He took some photos, of the path, some garbage on it, a stick he set on the garbage and bench, and then some bird poop on the maple tree. He was taking more photos by himself, holding the camera. We listened to and sand the Basho song “Cada Semilla” (Every Seed) several times. Getting ready to go, we walked over and recycled the cup. While he was wandering around there was a big group of girls that wanted their photo taken with him. Finally, as we packed up and left, he was dripping water out of his water bottle on my arm and back.

As we passed the big fountain, he described its sounds as  “makes Sh and J”. He then wanted to see the pond: “The frozen one” – although it has been a few months. We walked across it, and saw 3 turtles this time.

We walked around the other side towards the subway. As soon as we were in the shade he took off his hat. I said “Hey!” and before I could say anything else he said “We’re in the shade!” We came out at the area with all the boards painted by kids: “want to see art…ooh! Photo of it!” “Right here, right here. The woman’s sad.” “Which one do you like? Get closer.” That was all with him in the backpack. He then wanted down, and wanted to take photos. So we did that for a few minutes. Really needed to get going though, so eventually had to drag him away, and he wasn’t happy with stopping.

On the train he’s been listening to what the announcer says. He said “what she say?” and I said “Please watch your step…something.” He finished with the part I hadn’t remembered: “As you leave the train!”

At some point he also said “they’re all gone!” and turned his head up and opened his mouth and gave a big grin – although now I don’t remember if he was referring to something he wasting, or people leaving the train.

As we walked out of the station, he was making up double letters that don’t exist in Korean: “Dada work on the double I. The quiet I.”

We saw Meg, and Torrey and a couple other people from APIS before we entered the building, then we were home for a little bit, then we went over to Cellan above the art museum for the APIS dinner. I stayed down with him in the play area for a few minutes while Carly got us seats. We then went up. He got sad twice: the first time was when Bruce finished his little speech and everyone clapped – August was shocked by that and Carly took him out. She then had to take him out while I was talking to Jeff. Neither time he asked to nurse. We sat with the couple that just had a baby, and who are moving to Morocco in the fall. August did fine eating, and at one point I took him outside for awhile. We walked down the stairs. At one point he slipped off a step and landed on his bottom. He got up and kept walking, saying “Just the hand.” and rubbing it a bit. He kept walking, all the way to the street across from Home Plus. I told him we had to get mama. We went back up, and he lasted a little longer, then insisted he wanted to go to Home Plus.

So we all went. Carly went down and did the shopping (diapers, etc.) and we explored the first basement. He was happy: “Walk backwards…Where’s the orange ones? (looking for orange clothes)…Hats!…Shoes! Where’s the blue ones?…Where’s the animals go?” Then, randomly at some point “Vivian calls mama (Ata). That’s what she says.”

We finished up and all came home. Carly gave him a sponge bath. She had the fan set up for bedroom
, and he went up to it and started making noise into it — not something we’ve done with him this summer – could he remember that from last summer?

Carly had him in and nursing to go to sleep, when he popped up because he had seen the dreamcatcher my dad had made blowing in the wind from the fan. He stood on the bed, watching it and moving both his arms around. After a minute he was able to lay back down and we turned off the light and he went to sleep about 9:30.

Morning:

Train: 

Children’s Grand Park. New playground: 

Coffee shop: 

Faucets area: 

One of his photos: 

The art board things. First he wanted to take photos from the backpack (me holding the camera).  He liked the one with balloons:

Then he got down and held the camera himself: 

Sitting on the floor of the subway on the way home: 

Art museum play area: 

Getting messy at dinner: 

Playing outside: 

He was up at 7:42. Sat for a short bit, but up pretty quickly. We read The Pigeon Finds a Hotdog a few times. When Carly’s email came back, saying good morning, August read it all himself. We just ate an apple for breakfast. We skyped with my parents, and when talking about what we were going to do today, he said “Take 100 to art museum.” He was close: we ended up taking the 172, but the 100 would have been close. Also, he was showing my parents a couple stickers he had previously put on the back of the computer. They asked what one was, and he said “Tiger holding a sandcastle.” It was actually hiding behind tall grass, but it kind of did look like a sandcastle.

We were out a little after 10. We took the bus down to the big Buddhist temple downtown, Jogyesa. On the bus we wrote in his Hangeul workbook, and he managed to get marker on his face. There are little ponds with fountains in them as you enter, and August really liked them. He saw coins in them, so I got out several 100 won coins and let him throw them in. From there, we walked to the other side of the temple and sat on the edge where we had at with Chuck and Cherie. This time it was covered with white lanterns, so we were sort of in a tunnel of lanterns. We ate lunch. August got peanut butter on his face to add to the marker. We then went back to the fountains and threw in the rest of the 100 won coins I had.

We then went to the little park behind the temple. August walked around in the bushes a little, and I changed him. He spotted water faucets down on the lower level of the park, but that was where the smoking area was, and there were tons of people standing around smoking. I explained that, and he said “Where? Want to see it.” I pointed out the guys smoking, then he said “Want to do it…want to smoke.” This is after wanting a tattoo yesterday.

We got in the backpack and started walking. He fell asleep as we passed the MMCA, and I went to the Junsin Book Cafe that had been closed on a Monday. He slept from 12:57 to 2:13. He woke up and had energy, so we got up and left. We walked to the MMCA and went behind it to the grass area and sat in the shade and had a snack. He then got into taking photos, wanting to hold it on his own. He was starting to figure out how to hold it without having his fingers all over the screen, and would point it at something and say “Ooh!” and try to take a photo. Unfortunately, shifting his finger to the button would cause him to lower the phone, cutting off his subject most of the time. He did have a few good shots for things he was looking down on, like the grass or my shirt or hand. He liked taking photos of my shirt, saying “Ooh! S” and “Ooh! Texture!”

He was then ready to go in and see some art. We had discussed it, and he wanted to be in the backpack for seeing art. Unfortunately, after we paid a guy came over and suggested we use a stroller. It was a typical Korean request, phrased as a “You should…” I asked why, and he said something about installations. Anyway, didn’t push it. August and I worked it out that I would carry him – he wasn’t getting in a stroller. So we checked the backpack and went in. He wasn’t into the first couple of galleries much – they were mainly photography, and a lot of black and white. At one point a woman who worked there asked if we wanted a stroller, then suggested we go to Gallery 6, and that August would like it. She was right, although it was a brave suggestion, as they were dark installations with odd noises – could have just as easily scared him.

We walked around the first one, with August holding up his arm to see the changing colors of the lights on it, and imitating the “Bong” sound that we heard. We went down stairs and through the darkest, with ribbons hanging from the ceiling, making paths you walked through. Here he kept saying “Go outside” but managed fine. We got through that and got to the huge rotating bird covered in glass, with videos and light being reflected off of it. Impressive. We made our way out, and I realized there was one more piece past the bird that we had missed. I read the description, which mentioned water, and August wanted to go find it. So we went back through all that, enjoying it again, and finding the last room, which had cushions on the floor and a video of clouds and music. No water, as the description mentioned, but still impressive. He looked around for a couple minutes, then was ready to go.

From there we walked to the Gilles Barbier exhibit, where he had gotten upset last time because he couldn’t touch the art. We saw more of it this time, but he got sad by the picnic mat on the floor with all the food on it.

We headed out and sat on a bench and drew in his notebook. He chose “Green for ilban sulagi” – referring, I think, to the fact that the signs for the garbage in the train stations have a light green background. He talked about the picnic mat: “Sad about the food on the picnic mat. Want to sit on it.”

Past time to leave, so we made our way out. Before we left, I said “Let’s go in the gift shop. Maybe we’ll find something…” And he said “For mama!” And in the second room he spotted a yellow book called Smile that had smiley faces on the cover and he wanted that for mama: “Give it to Mama!” So we bought that and headed out. Took the subway, then bus, home, getting here about 6.

He hadn’t eaten a ton during the day, but also didn’t eat much dinner. He’s been very focused on decorating the cookies with Elmo on the letter/words app, and he and Carly did this together for awhile. Carly gave him a bath. He was trying to bang the door, which Carly said made her nervous. He then liked saying “Making mama nervous!” And while I was in there he said “Make mama sad…pretend sad.”

Carly took a shower. He and I read on the bed. We read Suddenly! The first time I’ve read it with him since he can read much of it. Then playing with Bluie and Green Monster. He was kissing them and taking them to Carly to kiss once she was out of the shower. I noticed a sticker on my watch and asked who did it. He blamed it on “Gramma” before saying “Zinnie!” We then came out to the couch and did some coloring and writing of ABCs on the paper, and ate some sagwa. He dumped the markers and wanted to clean up, but then decided he didn’t like the high pitched sound of the dryer (we almost never use the drying mode). Once he got used to that he was singing the clean up song and one of the Lulu songs from class by himself, then let me help clean up the markers. He and Carly went in to nurse and read about 8:30 and he was asleep around 9.

New words/phrases:  pretend sad, smoke

 

“Pigeon”: 

Temple: 

The park behind the temple: 

Behind the art museum: 

One of his photos: 

Art museum: 

The gift for mama: 

Making mama nervous: 

He was up at 7:52. Sat with me a minute, but then leaked. I went to change him, and he said “Poop and pee in there.” He was joking thought, as it was just pee. We watched a Korean video, and were looking up a lot of words from it. We then read Don’t Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late several times, with him reading more of it. We played hide and seek and did some flipping. I had asked early if he wanted to go to Children’s Grand Park or Uijeongbu – our polluted days choices – and a couple times later he mentioned going to Uijeongbu. He was also excited about riding the little train up there.

So, after brushing his teeth we headed on up right about 10. That’s when I found that Camel was missing. Camel had fallen down as we hurried from McDonald’s to APIS yesterday, and I had tucked it into the strap of the backpack. It was still there after stopping at Morning Glory, so likely fell out when I sat down and hurried to put together Carly’s present. So I told August he would have to use his hat or just the backpack as his pillow.

We took the U-Line over to city hall, then walked south, to enter the park from the south end this time. Along the way, he spotted two of those dancing balloon people things. He said their sound was “W W W W”. We crossed the street and he watched them and also hid from them. We could see a children’s park about a block away, so we went and checked that out. He was initially excited by the sand area, but then remembered the big park (he also kept saying “Read Everyone Poops” and I was telling him that would be later in the day) and didn’t want to get out of the backpack. We grabbed a Korean children’s book about two mice out of the library box thing (to return to one of the other boxes they have around) and headed on our way.

In the park we headed to the sculpture and pond area, which we haven’t been to in our last few visits. We actually walked up the hill, looking for faucets, and found them at the foot walking path area. Across the path from us was a climbing wall: “Bumpy wall. Want to climb it.” We started by getting out the picnic mat at his request and eating lunch. He then played with the faucets for quite some time. We then sat and did some reading: the Curious George bilingual book, and a little Korean. While playing in the water, there was a pigeon hanging out close to us, and August noticed it a couple times, and its absence once. When it got close to nap time, he mentioned wanting Camel, but I reminded him Camel was missing. He asked for Smokey instead, and ended up using Smokey as a pillow. But first, we played some ‘Dada Sees’. I said rocks or path, and he pointed at one spot, then pointed to another spot and said “also right here”.

It took a while to get him to sleep, as he kept singing, but not too long. He had a nice nap from 1:41 to 3:02 in the book cafe. When he woke up it was sudden, saying “Want to play on iPad!” But then when he was out he wanted to read Everyone Poops. We did that once, then he wanted to find other books, and sit on the steps by the books, and explore, and eat…his afternoon was kind of like this, wanting to do some of everything. We looked at books a bit more, then headed outside.

We walked past the platform (“Want to see the faucet” he says of the big J-shaped pipe out of the top), and over to the playground area. He spotted a bench and we sat there and did a little Hangeul workbook, then he was exploring. He started watering plants with his water bottle: “Ooh, refreshing.” He then came to a little ditch, and he had the idea of stepping down into it and going up the very steep hill on the other side: “Zinnie can do it…Can you do this?” (seemed to be talking to himself there). He kept talking about this, and I got about 30 seconds of video, where he outlined his plan to step in the leaves, then go up the other side and asking me to hold his hand. We tried that a little, then I got him to explore elsewhere. He was smelling the yellow flowers and going “Ooh!” He saw bees, and when one flew off he said “Back to the bees nest.” He was also talking about missing the buzzing of a bee (sad about it), although it wasn’t clear if he liked the buzzing or didn’t. He decided he wanted to take photos, so he took a bunch, mainly of little rocks or plant things that he set on the little wooden barrier fence next to the path. When he was deciding where to place a rock to take its photo, he kept saying “Where it should be”. He had talked about playing in the faucets, but we never made it there. We threw our cup away, and he took a photo of the garbage can, then we changed him on a bench. He saw the bathroom we’ve used in the past and said “Dada go pee in there.”

We headed home, and got home about 5:25, before Carly. We went back out to the elevators to wait, but then decided to head downstairs. As the doors opened on the first floor, Carly was standing there. We went back up, and I started to put together nachos for dinner. August slipped up and grabbed a chip and was excited about eating it. He didn’t actually eat much dinner though. He and Carly had been doing their usual nursing and reading, and sometime after dinner he and I were playing with the Loopimal app. He was really in to how the animals were dancing to the music, finding them funny. He was then trying to dance like them, and spin. He wanted to do a flip in the air like one of them, so we went to the reading area and I was giving him forward rolls. He then said he wanted TWO forward rolls at once – I think he even said something about “sangsaengnim”, referring to how the teacher would sometimes do multiple forward rolls. Se we did two. Then he wanted 3 in a row, then 4…we got up to the 6 or 7 range before his shorts kept coming down and he’d want to stop. We calmed down a bit and read What I Need a couple times. He pretty much has that one down now.

I gave him a bath, and a miracle happened: on a non-hair washing day, he asked me to wash his hair. That is quite a change. I then hung up laundry, and August played with stuff from the toy box while I did so, then climbed into a laundry basket and sat there. He then went and read and nursed with  Carly in bed, and fell asleep about 9.

New words/phrases: also, bee nest, 가무기 (crow)

Awake:

Watching the balloon things: 

Park: 

Smokey as a pillow: 

Looking at the books: 

Back to the park: 

Flowers: 

My favorite photo that we took: 

Headed home: 

Home: 

Up at 7:49. Sat on the couch for a little bit, then went into the reading area, where he found the shapes stickers and started putting them on the reading area. He then watched Korean videos on the iPad for awhile, before we made a card for Carly’s fake birthday. He traced the message on the front, then I asked if he wanted to write his name. He said “Use ‘Althauser!’” He’s repeated his last names before, but this is the first he’s used them on his own. So he wrote all 4 names somewhere on the card, then we decorated it with stickers. He was coloring on it again with marker, but then kept wanting to draw on the couch. He got upset when I made him stop, then tried writing on the edge of the kitchen counter as well. Took awhile to get him calmed down and back to normal, as we had to go in the screaming room for awhile. Eventually, we were back and getting ready to leave. He wanted to look at photos on the refrigerator and wanted names of our photo with Peter, Paul, and Spenser. Went through them a few time, then he pointed to Peter’s arm and said “What is it?” He was referring to Peter’s tattoos. I explained, then asked if he wanted a tattoo. He thought a second and said “Peter Rabbit!” So, his first tattoo request.

We headed out, but after a block I realized I’d forgotten our hats. Went back for those. We did some running down the street since we were quite late and August liked it. We caught the 111 bus to Dream Forest. There, about 11:40, we checked out the two water areas. The one in the middle of the park, with kind of a stream area, said it would be on at 12, and had a little water running in it. The wading pool had no sign for hours. So we went back to the first and started playing in the little trickle. It ever turned on. We had fun for 20 minutes or so, but the trickle turned off, and there wasn’t much to do.

We went back to our backpack in the shade and ate lunch. I had said I “didn’t understand” why it wasn’t turning on, and August started using practicing negative constructions: “Don’t understand what they singing in Hangeul.” (referring to some moms that were singing with their kids) “Dada don’t like water faucets.” (not sure why he said this) “Dada say no drip on food.” (He was having a lot of fun dripping his water bottle on him and me and everything else).

At 1 we went up to change him, only to find that the wading pool was on. A good surprise. So changed him, then we went and played in the wading pool. He was cautious at first, concerned about all the “messy” kids, but he got in. He started jumping, as the other kids were. First he held my finger, then was holding on to my shorts. Eventually, he was doing it on his own. He also did some splashing, and splashed a couple other kids a little. I also got out the shovel and he played with that.

Close to 2, I asked if he was getting tired and ready for a nap. I said something about wanting camel and getting in the backpack, so we headed back, changed him into a fresh diaper and dry clothes, and put him in the backpack. He put his head down on camel and fell right asleep. Went up to the Cafe Dream and he slept from  1:56 to 3:29. Heard another, mostly piano version of “Country Roads”. At 3:29, I actually got in the backpack and he woke up as I got going. He saw where we were and actually wanted to go back in the book area, but I told him we had things we needed to do.

We walked to McDonald’s but were actually a little early, so I said we would go check out a park I had seen on the map, then come back and get a treat for mama. We walked to the park, took a look, then he said “Treat for mama.” We walked back and got her a chocolate sundae and an iced latte. I put them in our cooler thing we use for our lunch, and he wanted to take a look at them. Then we left, right at 4:10, walking and running. We got to Morning Glory, and bought a Larva-branded bubble gun thing. We then went up to the park across from APIS and waited for Carly to come out. We had her gift on the bench. When August saw her coming, he ran towards her, turned around and came back and got the card and took it to her, then came back a couple times to give her the rest of the gift.

They shared the ice cream. All was well until August wanted to both shake and try her coffee. He’s never really had problems with us having our drinks in the past, but this time he didn’t like it. So we headed home. We walked home without a problem, although he remembered her drink a couple times.

At home they nursed, then we had burritos for dinner, which he actually ate this time. We watched a Korean video together, then I asked him to show mama how he could jump, so he was jumping around the house. This morning, when he was upset about the markers and we were in the screaming room, I had started a “Do you draw on the ceiling? Noooo.” game listing funny places you don’t draw. We started this again, and August was making up his own: Running and pointing at Carly’s feet he said “Do you draw on the feet? No…”

Carly was cleaning the counter, and he heard the spray bottle and wanted it. Couldn’t use that one, so I got him her water spray bottle, which he loves. He was drinking from it, and spraying things like the door and window and me an also chanting while doing so for quite awhile. They nursed and did some reading, then I gave him a bath. Washed his hair and he didn’t complain at all. Put on his TMNT pajamas set. He saw the pants, with the turtle heads on them, and said “Look like Krung in the snow,” referring to Pororo and the green dinosaur character. We played Elmo’s Animals on the iPad for awhile – he had a lot of fun acting like animals, waddling like a penguin and swimming like a fish, etc. We went to read in the reading area, and he got the little fruit and veggies book that came with his plastic food. We were looking through them, and came to ‘Mango’. He got sad because he wanted to hold a real mango. So we went and got the plastic fruit and got them out on the couch. He was cutting them – the first time we’ve done that in months – then wanted some frozen mango to eat. He ate some, while holding the plastic mango and putting it up to the mango in the book. Very satisfying for him. He wanted thawed mango, so ate a piece of that, then he wanted strawberries. I thawed them a bit, and gave them to him. He tried one. Gave a disgusted look. “Dada eat it.” “What’s wrong?” “It’s cold!” Warmed it up and he ate it.

We then read Big Little, with him now reading much of it and sounding out words, and he again got sad when he wanted a whistle. He wanted to go to mama, and she suggested it was time to go read on the bed. He took books in and lined them up. I was still in the parlor when he ran in and said “Night night, dada!” I gave him a kiss and said “I love you!” He ran out, back down the hall to the bedroom, saying “Dada loves you a ton of Qs.”

They were reading Suddenly! again and something else, then he was asleep about 9:45.

New words/phrases: Althauser, Niman, don’t understand, Krung,

JJJ and EEE (water sound and kid sound): 

Splashing and chanting: 

Jumping while holding my hand: 

Stomping in the water: https://youtu.be/rdXQSRkI4VA

Jumping on his own: 

Giving mama her fake birthday presents: https://youtu.be/ue3y-qV2Kqc

Jumping in the house: https://youtu.be/7PHr5xQwnRY

Do you write on the…?: https://youtu.be/_Fb4WJx8gYs

Waking up:

Sad when I told him he had to wait until lunch to eat the fruit cup thing: 

Re-washing the sponges: 

Dream Forest: 

Trying to splash the boy: 

Jumping: 

Dry clothes: 

Last nap with Camel: 

Waiting to give mama her gift: 

Mango, mango, and mango, with his hair parted down the middle. Carly doesn’t exactly approve of the hair: 

He slept until 7:50. I was up a bit before, but stayed in bed until he woke up, so walked out with him. I think he thought that Carly was gone, because he went straight to the couch and sat on it instead of looking for her. Once he did know she was home though he nursed and the read books for more than 30 minutes. He came out and watched our videos from yesterday on my phone – he particularly liked the video of him dropping sand on me. Carly made herself a sandwich, and he ate some with her. I changed him, and he counted to ten in Korean using the counting numbers. I knew he knew most of them, but we haven’t made a point of saying them in order for quite some time. He had told me he had pooped, but he hadn’t, so I asked if he had been fooling me. He liked that, and started saying “Fooling dada!” We watched some of his Korean videos together – he sings along to more and more of them – and then he and Carly read Sir Cedric. Carly had made beans for our nachos and burritos later on, and August got up at the sink and was playing with the bubbles in the pot that was soaking, using a big spoon: “More bubbles…scooping them…Zinnie looking at bubbles…scooping out bubbles…want to touch them.”

We got read and left about 10:30. We walked up to Madeul. He was a little frustrated when we walked past Chrysanthemum Park, but we assured him we were going to play in water. We walked to the faucets and he played in them for a few minutes. He then had the idea of taking water over to the sand around the horse sculptures. He would scoop the water out of the bucket and dump it on the sand or the bowling ball statue, etc. I hauled a few bucket loads over, then Carly took over and I went and read a short story (the second one in Breakfast at Tiffany’s). I finished, and they were packing up – time to find some shade.

We walked around the stadium, past the dog park (he remembered the dog licking him) and down to the little Sejong Park display, where there are the metal statues of Hanguel characters and shapes. He ran around tracing them. He then wanted to write in his Hangeul workbook, so we walked to a bench and sat and had a snack and did that. From there we went to the playground for awhile – we went on the swings – first with Carly, then with me. Carly was singing the “Ladybug, ladybug” song and he said “Sad about the end.” – I figured out it was because he was sad the ladybug flies away at the end of the song. He then he wanted to trace ‘gargantuan’ again. A little harder, as there were plants growing all over the dirt now. We did that, then ‘zookeeper’, then we changed him and headed out. We walked home, but went straight to the grocery store in the pink building.

Once in the store he wanted out, and he took off through the store, me following. We looked around, and he found these fruit jello things. We got three – kiwi, peach, and something else. Finished our grocery shopping and headed home. We didn’t know if he would take a nap, since he had slept so long, but he nursed quite a bit, and Carly took him in and he slept from 2:15 to 3:14.

After he woke up and nursed, Carly got out the sponges and they painted. He did some sponge painting, learning the phrase “sponge painting”, and was really into mixing colors. At first he was asking for reasonable mixes, like “Yellow and blue make?” But then he got creative: “Yellow and blue and blue and green and green and green and turquoise and red and yellow make?” This went on for a long time. I took over at some point, painting with him, while Carly worked on nachos stuff. We then switched and I finished that, and she took August downstairs to get bread. We ate nachos for dinner, then watched a little more of his Korean videos.

Then, I took him outside. He jumped up, excited to go out, once I said iPad was going to sleep. We went to the park (중평어린이공원 ) a block from the pink building. It’s been a long time since we’ve played there. It ended up being a tough trip: He got down, excited to go sit on the horse things. He chose one and I helped him climb on it. He sat on it a bit, but one of the handles was broken, so he wanted to go to the next one over. I helped him on it, and he excitedly started rocking, only to hit his head on the horse’s. He was really sad about this, and I had to hold him for a few minutes and walk around the park. He was feeling better, and counting to 10 in Korean again. He went back on the horse that hand bonked him, and was enjoying it. I looked up, as there was  a woman failing to control her little dog, even though it was on one of those leashes you can pull in. It was barking and jumping on another dog, quite loudly. August suddenly got sad again – I never quite figured out why: at one point he answered “doggies” when I asked him why he was sad, another time he said “bonked again”. I THINK he might have been frightened by the barking and bonked his head trying to get off.

So another walk around the park. He got down again, and was walking around, watching all the other kids. Two older boys had cars and were rolling them down the slide. He watched for a minute, then loudly said “Zinnie can do this!” I said we couldn’t use their cars, but I could get his ball, and he lost it. So, so sad. We walked around, and I sang to him, and he would calm down for a bit, then start crying again. So we headed home. That was around 8 or a little after.

At home Carly gave him a bath and there was the usual reading. He chose his pajamas: the red owls pants and his Minions shirt. I suggested books to him as he took them in to the bed and lined them up. They read Suddenly! and he loved it. He didn’t much notice it when we first got it, but now different story. He was asleep at 9:15.

New words/phrases: turquoise, finger painting

Sink:

Madeul: 

This went on for some time: 

Park: 

Books ready: 

He was up just after 7. Carly was already up, but I had woken up around 5 coughing and didn’t sleep well after that. I slept until close to 8. They skyped with Cherie, and August did some of his nonsense conversation. After that he came out and got his wooden giraffe, then we went in and played with the Duplo giraffe and had them eating different things. Carly made oatmeal and made it kind of runny – August liked the drips and tried to make it drip more. They then did some reading while I took recycling down. Or tried – once it came time to take it down August wanted me to do flopping and wouldn’t let me leave. Finally I told him I needed to go and he said “Dada doing recycling.” Later, Carly took him in to change him before we left, and he requested “super baby” as they went.

We left at 10:20. In the subway station I asked him what it said on the side of the vending machine and he said “Pepsi…Name of a mama drinks.” We made our way across the city to Hongik University Station. Carly went up to her hair appointment. August initially wanted to go up as well, but once he saw it he changed his mind. We went to the park right up the street (윗잔다리공원) – the last time we did this was in early winter, and I made him wear his hat for the first time. Carly found us that time by the sound of him crying about the hat. No such problem this time. We sat on a round bench and ate lunch, washed our hands in the bathroom (he is suddenly really into washing his hands), and wrote in his Hangeul book. When Carly found us with her nice new haircut, the two of them ate some sagwa and went on the teeter totter. Before we left, there were some guys practicing their rapping across the park and August really liked it.

We started walking, headed towards the park (홍익어린이공원) with the art fair we went to our first year here (where I bought my wallet). August rested his head, but by the park he decided he wasn’t going to nap – we weren’t surprised since he slept for so long during the night. We looked around all the booths, then went to find a park and coffee shop. August knew we were looking for a coffee shop and said “Coffee shop. Where are you?” Walked across the big street and looked in the university. Not a decent park area, but there was an interesting sculpture of 40 or so humans. August like them, and said “That looks like a woman.” (Although they were all men.)

We headed south, remembering that we had seen some interesting places the last time we walked down this street. We found a coffee and dessert place called Snob. Carly got a latte and August and I shared a slice of Earl Grey cake. Very nice.

From there we headed to a children’s park (와우어린이공원) I spotted on the map. Across the street we saw a sculpture outside a building that was a bunch of colorful spheres. August spotted it first and liked it. I asked if he wanted to take a photo of it, but he wanted to first take photos of the lines and arrow on the street, then a lamppost. Then the sculpture. The park we found was really a nice find: a cool play structure, lots of sand, faucets that August could play with, etc. We played quite awhile. Carly and I both took turns reading, and August mainly played with his water bottle, pouring water on the ground and sand. There was an older girl doing the same (5 years old) that August was really watching. He and I went over to the sand for awhile and he poured sand on his feet, then on my leg and shorts. And we watched ants in the sand. We ended up at the little sand area, where he climbed the short steps to the top of the little slide. Never went down it, but played “What does dada see?” for several minutes. We changed him, then headed out.

Carly needed food, and we found a Subway near the station. We both got sandwiches, and Carly and August ate a little before we left. Made our way home, then shared our sandwiches with him for dinner. I gave him a bath, after which he wore his froggy towel again. He nursed, and was falling asleep at 6:30. I went in and woke him up by hiding behind doors, etc., then he wanted “Bingul bingul bingul superbaby”. Did a lot of that, then he knocked the blocks off the table and we cleaned that up, song and robot style, then he drew on the floor and helped clean it up. We did some art, then he grabbed Carly’s carbonated water bottle and shook it for a second. He was a bit of a handful in his hyper state. He saw the cover of one of his books from class that has a penguin on a sled in the snow. It reminded him of the Pororo story we watched a week or two ago about Pororo and Loopy in the snow and Loopy being sad and he was talking about that a lot. We listened to Basho, and he was walking around in the cube. Finally, we went in for reading books and nursing. I was messing around with Green Monster, and set them up in between the beds, looking at Carly and August. I did it to annoy Carly (she finds them a bit creepy), but August thought it was hilarious. He was asleep just around 8.

New words/phrases: reading ‘Pepsi’, woman, superbaby (he’s said this before, but was really using it today), recycling (he at least knew this word, but used it in a sentence today)

On the subway:

First park: 

Snob: 

One of August’s photos: 

Park:  

Home: 

Watching: 

He was up at 7:05. Silently sat for 6 or 7 minutes, then wanted the iPad. He wanted Cheerios and strawberries for breakfast, but we were out of strawberries, so he wanted mango instead. I thawed some mango in a separate bowl, but we both agreed it wasn’t too good with the mango. He saw the Cheerio box and wanted me to write ABCs on it. He then wanted to get Cheerios out, and I figured out that he wanted the Cheerio book out. We found it, and he played with that while sitting on the table. We read some Bob Books and played with Marshy, then he was watching his Korean videos and singing to the songs. At some point, he got down on the floor and decorated one of his Korean workbooks with stickers on his own.

The pollution was bad for a third day in a row, so we headed up to Uijeongbu again. On the way to the station he wanted me to hop, then run. We did some running, but was upset when we got to the stairs and I couldn’t run anymore. He was talking about something as we walked, but I’m not sure what: “Go past 14. Stop at 16. Find 14 names.” While we waited for a train he played with Smokey, then was chanting and working on jumping, using the benches.

We planned on ending up in the same coffee shop and park behind city hall, but started out with a different plan. We first went to the man street, hoping the little stream down the middle we have played in in the past was on. It wasn’t we sat next to it though and ate our kimbap which we had bought at the Storyway in the station – he was eating more radish and cucumber. He heard a motorbike that startled him, then was saying “That was a motorbike” when he heard them. We could hear music blasting from a store, and he was dancing to it a few times. And he pulled up his pigeon shirt and hid behind it for fun.

From there we left to walk west. But first we stopped at a little park (Park #1, 중앙어린이공원). This was just to change him, and he was sad there wasn’t a playground. A woman gave us one of those little yellow melons while we were there. From there we headed west. We came across the park area NE of the department store, which I believe used to be an old U.S. base. We found a monument there that included big pieces from the Berlin Wall. That was a nice random find.

We kept walking, then turned left from the main road, short of the stream. Down there were two parks we hadn’t been to. I told August we would check out one, and if he didn’t like it we could try the other. He saw the first one (Park #2, 달님어린이공원) and liked it, but wanted sand to play in. There was no sand. He started pointing and saying “Other park.” We walked to that one (Park #3, 만남어린이공원), still no sand. But we had a snack and hung out for awhile. Suddenly, he got sad, and said “Want Camel.” I put him in the backpack and he put his head down on Camel and fell asleep after a few minutes. We walked to the same book cafe (아름드리카페) as last time and he slept from 12:45 to 1:56. He woke up and we read a couple books, including Everyone Poops a couple times. This time, he was reading much of it.

We then went to the park behind City Hall (park #4, 직동근린공원). We stopped and played on the platform again, then headed on. There, he played with the water and cup for a few minutes, then we went to a covered bench and drew in the Hangeul workbook. He wrote ‘in’ on his leg twice before I stopped him. He then started a third time and write ‘i’ before I stopped him. I got the notebook out for him to write in, and he wrote ‘n’ on that. He then pointed back and forth from the letter on his leg to the one on paper, spelling “in”. Twice we lost a marker and it bounced down into the grates and I had to lift it up and get the marker out of the water. There was what appeared to be a piece of cheese on the ground and we watched the ants crawling on that. And he worked on his jumping, putting his hands on the benches to do so. Finally, we were working on the workbook and came across ‘mirror’. I reminded him we had a mirror at home (labelled in Korean) and he got sad – he wanted a mirror outside. I put him in the backpack and he cuddled with Camel again.

We had a little time left, so I suggested we check out one more park on our way back. This was 의서어린이공원 and park #5. There, we had a little more snack, went on the teeter totter, and climbed the hill at the base of the sculpture thing. There was a truck going by with a speaker on it. August didn’t like it and said “Don’t like the sound.”

On our walk to the subway station we saw a boy walking the other direction and I pointed out his hat. August asked what the boy had been carrying, and I told him it was a corndog. August was sad because he wanted to hold the corndog.

Pretty easy trip back. As we transferred, August was talking about Os, although I’m not sure why as I was navigating the crowd: “That’s not O, that’s O right there.” We got home a few minutes before Carly. When I went to get him out of the backpack he would let me, and kept repeating something. Then I figured out it was “Would you like out, sir?” Apparently I say it enough that he has learned it. I said, it, he laughed, and I could take him out. I changed August and we were putting on our shoes to go wait for her when she came in.

They nursed, then we played with Marshy (more counting lines). He ate dinner with Carly. He remembered being sad about the mirror “Sad about the mirror outside in the workbook.” Carly gave him a bath, and when he was done he was wearing the towel. He then liked having the frog part on his head and walked around as Froggy Boy. Some reading after that, then he was asleep a little after 8.

New words/phrases: workbooks, wait a minute, no garbage around here (he said this when we were at a park and had some garbage to throw away)

 Waking up:

Uijeongbu: 

Park #1: 

Berlin Wall: 

Park #3: 

Cafe: 

Platform: 

Park #4: 

Proud of having written on his leg: 

Park #5: 

Home. Froggy boy: 

He was up nice and early at 6:09. He had a lot of energy in the morning. He traced and wrote in his Hangeul books, then was marking on his fingers again and wanting me to blow on two fingers at once: “Blow on two.” He was sitting on the table doing this, then started throwing all the markers on the couch. I said “You are…” and he said “Crazy!” I got him to clean up by singing the clean up song and kind of moving him like a robot, with him grabbing the markers and putting them in the container. He kept saying “More!” We cleaned up, then he was banging the marker container on the table and liking the sound. We did some of the stickers and tracing in the Hangeul 1 book. He watched some videos, then we made oatmeal with mango. After that, he was sitting on my chest on the couch and chanting letters and numbers, and hid behind his shirt. We then spent quite awhile looking at the family photos on the walls. He was really into learning the names, and had me repeat them over and over – he also liked finding all of the grandpa photos, all the Paul photos, etc. He particularly liked the Heaton photo with the whole family lined up, ming over the names again and again, and spelling Bill. We then read some books with Baby Q. We had a whole stack of the Bob Books out that we hadn’t read, and August was having Baby Q choose: “Baby Q wants to read all of them…Baby Q is telling you…Baby Q is telling you to read…Want to hold lots of them.” We read Little Bug and Play Ball, but August got sad that he couldn’t hold the ball, and responded by putting his head down on Baby Q and cuddling.

 

We got ready to go, and headed out. Class went well, being the last of the session. The teacher handed out the photos of the kids with him, and August’s turned out really well. Today was about crabs, and they used crab hands things to pick up fish, and they walked sideways through tight spaces. There was also a dressing like a lizard thing, which August didn’t do, and a fun toy giraffe that you stood on, then pulled up on the head to make the neck longer. August had a couple good playing with the teacher moments, with a lot of laughing, although he came running to me each time wanting up. At the end of class we did a group photo, and August didn’t like that, but it was much better than last session.

 

Because of the high pollution again today, I decided to go to the children’s museum again. So we basically did a repeat of Tuesday, playing in the children’s museum, then going to the coffee shop. But today he took a nap, and then we went back to the children’s museum in the afternoon. By the time we were heading down it was getting close to his nap time. He actually spent several stops in the backpack on the floor, and asked for Camel and put his head down. Eventually he got up and wanted out on my lap. We bought a couple rolls of kimbap, then headed to the children’s museum. He wanted to look at the boards painted by children near the entrance to the park, then we went in and went straight up to eat. At lunch, he tried the radish yet again (although he passed on it the last few times) and he was quite excited to find he liked it: “Radish. Like it.” And then he found he liked the cucumber, too.

 

From there we got ready for a nap and went outside. He tried to play for a few minutes around the round benches. He saw a set of kid backpacks and wanted one – this was the second time he has been intrigues by other kids’ backpacks: “Zinnie want a little one.” I let him play a couple minutes ( he played on the grate and found a couple insects) then suddenly he wanted Camel and got really sad; it was clear that was really tired, and wanted “Camel as a pillow”. I told him “Want Camel” could be his signal for when he is tired. He fell asleep quite quickly. Went upstairs and he slept in the cafe from 12:41 to 2:06.

 

After he woke up (when I asked if he had had a good nap, he again replied with “Yeah!”), there was a slightly younger boy that was carrying 4 straws. On his shirt was a circle with a star in it. I asked what shape was on the boy’s shirt, and August said “dongilrami” (circle). I hadn’t expected him to answer that in Korean. August was also counting the straws in the boy’s hands, and when they left I told August he should say goodbye. He did. To the straws: “Bye 1 2 3 4!” We heard a nice instrumental version of “Country Roads” by (Shazam tells me) Robert Anderson as August ate some ice. Will have to look it up. August dipped his fingers in the water, then wanted me to blow on them.

 

We looked at National Geographic (an article on ants) for a minute, then headed back to the children’s museum. We played on the first floor, and the big thing was the “bee backpack”. He was intrigued by it, then wore it around for several minutes, going up into the tree house area, then back down. He set it down at one point and I hung it back up, but then he wanted it back and was sad when someone else was using it. I got him to go write on the blackboard instead, and he was drawing single and double Korean characters and having me say them: “Dada say the single ㄱ,  dada say the double ㄲ”. He also played with the minerals and the little tunnel thing behind them. Before we finished he was able to try on the two butterfly backpack things. When done there, we went up to the reading area and did some reading. He was hungry, so we went back up to the cafeteria and ate some more lunch. There was a woman with a daughter born the same month as August. She was asking August a lot of questions, then August was picking up crumbs of some Bugle-type snack and asking me what they were. He was really into this mystery, and when I went to grab the backpack, he got down on the floor under the table and was looking at more crumbs. She told him either to not touch the crumbs or eat them – I didn’t exactly see what happened – but when I came back over a couple seconds later and picked him up he got really, really sad. She asked if he had bumped his head and I said yes, although I didn’t think that was it.

 

He cuddled on me, and I didn’t change him in the children’s museum as he just kept being sad. In trying to figure out why he was sad I gave him several options: me, his head, the woman, or the snack, and he said “woman”. I then figured out that he didn’t like her telling him “No”. Eventually he calmed down and I changed him standing up in the grass near the front bathrooms. He played on the Little Prince snake/elephant statue thing, trying to climb it: “No se puede.”

 

We headed home and got home a little after Carly. Nursing time in the reading area, then dinner. Carly was feeding him spaghetti and he was being silly. I baited him with “Zinnie you are…” and he said “Crazy!” But then he added “Crazy bout mushrooms!” Carly gave him a bath, then they nursed. We went to write in his Hangeul book and said “I don’t have a marker.” Later, he wrote on the floor, but then helped clean it. He took books in to bed and lined them up, and we read Frog on a Log? and did some more Hangeul book in bed. He wanted Green Monster or Bluie and went out to the couch to get them. I was still in the bedroom, but Carly saw him ponder which one to take back to the bedroom. Back in the bedroom with Green Monster, I said that Green Monster was lonely without Bluie, and we went out and got Bluie. We played with the two of them, then he was ready to nurse and fall asleep, and was asleep at 9:20.

 

He has transitioned to saying “Translate it” when wanting a word in Spanish or Korean, where he used to say “Look it up!”

New words/phrases: 동그라미 (circle), 별 (star), slippery, ZonePerfect Bar, translate

 

Reading and being sad with Baby Q: 

Class: 

What he wouldn’t do: 

On the subway: 

Children’s Museum: 

The Little Prince thing: 

Home: 

Knocking them off her head: 

A bad pollution day, so we escaped to Uijeongbu, just north enough to escape the bad air.

He was up at 6:50. Cuddled a little, then we played with Marshy, counting the shapes and tracing them on the back of a book. He was hungry pretty quickly, and said “Want guhahguhs with rectangle crackers…Try it! Try it with rectangle crackers.” I didn’t actually let him put rectangle crackers in the cereal, but he had a couple crackers while I did cut strawberries to put in. I changed him, and he was rubbing his eyes: “Green and yellow and pink. See yellow in there!” He would do this again in the evening when Carly changed him. We watched videos from class and brushed his teeth, and drew on paper. We played hide and seek, with me running around the house and him chasing me. We read a Korean English book called What I Need, which we haven’t read before, and I was surprised when he read ‘weather’ right away and was able to sound out ‘snowy’. He then wanted “More hide and seek.” I was then asking him what he wanted to do today, and he said “Want to play with Marshy today.”

We had played with Marshy earlier, and played with him some more. The big game today was “Want Marshy count all the lines.” as August had noticed that there are lines in the texture of the rug. But Marshy never finishes, either distracted by August or confused when August gives him a wrong number, and he has to start over.

And when drawing with markers he came up with a random game where he would mark his hand, then want me to blow on it: “Use this one to make dot. Blow on the dot.”

We left at 10. As we walked out he said “Look for messy. More find messy things.” Then said he wanted to find “100 messy things.” I pointed out that the sidewalk was messy and he asked what it was. I listed some things, including that people spill things, and he asked “What is it people spill?”

Subway ride north he was very happy. A woman across from us talked to him and said goodbye and August responded. A couple stops later a guy a couple seats down from August left. We hadn’t talked to him at all, but August waved and loudly said “Bye bye!”

Up in Uijeongbu we transferred to the U-Line, which is an elevated line that goes around much of the city. We rode it all the way to the end, looking out the windows as we went. There was a child care group that got off a couple stops before the end. At the end of the line we rode the train back three stops to where we had seen a promising park. We got out, and I put him in the backpack on a bench. A woman came up and wanted to take his photo. We walked the trail back to the park (곤제근린공원) we saw and scouted it out. The play structure I had seen from the train actually wasn’t too impressive. Then I saw that there was another children’s park a couple blocks away. So we went to check that out. As we did, we saw a group of kids – the same group from the train. One of the teachers was singing a song and waving her finger in the air. August liked the song and started waving his hand too. They went into a building right before the park, and we said good bye to them as they did.

This park (중보뜰어린이공원) was quite nice. A man handed us some church tissues, then we pretty much had the park to ourselves. We sat and ate lunch on a bench, and played there. Randomly, he remembered a lesson I had given him yesterday or Monday on the word ‘but’: “Say again. Zinnie wanted hardtack crackers, but we were out… B U T but.” We played a lot of the game where he touches my chin to make me open my mouth while I am eating and say “Ahhh” and he does it too. Then, while eating watermelon he was talking about the size of the pieces and repeating “Big subak, little subak, big one, little one.” There was a broken balloon behind the bench and he started chasing “Broken balloon”. And he showed he knows the word ‘chose’ when I gave him a choice of foods, he took crab, and said “Chose crab”. Finally, he got up and we did some playing. He sat on the alligator thing and rocked on it, trying to take his hands off the handles, then roamed the dirt area, putting rocks in the bushes as we sang “Bingo”.

Finally, I changed him and we walked towards the closest train station. It was getting close to 6 hours since he woke up, and he was tired. We had a few minutes to wait, and looked at a Korean children’s book about a sheep in the little library boxes they have in the stations. Then, on the train he fell asleep right before we got to the city hall stop. I got off, and went to the book cafe (아름드리카페) we had seen before, but hadn’t been it. He slept from 1:04 to 2:04. They had a surprising collection of English picture books, so when he woke up we read a bunch of them, including a book by Pat Hutchins, who I like, and Everyone Poops, which August liked and we read 6 times. He also ate my ice.

From there we left and walked the short path back to the park behind city hall (직동근린공원). As we walked up, he used ‘because’ again: “Hard to see the sky cuz trees.” Halfway up he wanted down to walk on the roots: “Big sticks…Zinnie can do it.” And then he spotted a concrete platform that he climbed on and spent the next 15 minutes playing on. He heard an ambulance, but couldn’t hear it, then said “A A A A (the sound of the ambulance) hiding in the trees.” He asked what I saw in the trees. He chanted “D double dare you”. He spotted insects, and had me translate the Korean on the cover of the hatch (Korean Water Corporation, or similar). And he spun around in circles and almost fell off.

Finally we headed on our way and made it to the playground. Which we didn’t actually play in, of course. We threw little rocks into the waterfall, then played with the one faucet which was cool because he could both reach it AND turn it on and off. Then we went to ANOTHER faucet and he used my cup to play in the water for quite awhile, pouring it on my foot and saying “A badrillion drinks.”

We then went and sat on a bench and I got out his first Hangeul/Korean book and he got to draw in it. He loved this. I changed him, and he stood behind me, holding my shirt, and shaking his head and rocking back and forth. At some point today, I said “You are…” and he finished with “Crazy!”

Finally, we headed out. On the way to the train he talked about nursing and said “Nurse with dada. Try it. Want to try it.” On the train, he said “back and forth” as I rocked him hack and forth and “What’s he doing?” when he saw a guy tapping his foot. On line 7 we sat and he traced more in his Hangeul book.

We got home a little after Carly. We played more with Marshy and did the dot thing on his hand again. He and Marshy (voiced by Carly) had a very long nonsense conversation, where August was apparently remembering the phrases he was saying – I then showed him the videos of himself, and he was chanting along to himself, over and over. I gave him a bath, then Carly read books with him on the bed – he had lined them up, as usual. He had said he wanted to nurse before she took a shower, but he didn’t fall asleep. He came out and we were tracing Hangeul some more until he intentionally marked on my shorts (he had done it on accident before). He was asleep about 9.

New words/phrases:  reading weather and snowy, hide and seek, reading Nowon, chose, moss, just kidding

Counting shapes with Marshy: 

Off the train and ready for some parks. This is just after a woman took his photo: 

Fun at park #2. “Aaaah!”: 

Everyone Poops: 

The books we read: 

Three platform: 

Playground and faucets: 

Workbook: 

Home: