Category: Uncategorized

He woke up at 7:17 crying, as if from a bad dream. Carly said it seemed like he was having a bad dream a couple times last night. In the morning we played with his banana shaker, both using it to shake and to write letters on the ground, his hammer, and organized all the magnets on the door. We ate cheerios and strawberries for breakfast.

We went outside around 11. He wanted the backpack, but I convinced him I could just carry him. We were going to go to the library, but once out in the park he didn’t want that. He wanted “park”, but then was unclear what that was. We walked around, visiting the camel statue, then went back to the playground. Played there a little, but mainly he wanted up in my arms. As we were walking, I was trying to sing the phonics song he likes on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffeZXPtTGC4) but couldn’t remember a lot of the words. He supplied several of them, including dog, fish, hat, lion, nose, pig, and sun.

We went home, then walked around the 8th floor to put him to sleep at 12:53. Unfortunately, he woke up when I tried to put him in bed. So we did it again, this time without the carrier, just holding him, but with the same result. Tried keeping him in the bed, but that just led to a lot of crying, so eventually we were back up.

We did a lot of playing with stickers and ate lunch – strawberries, sandwich, and string cheese. Sometime after 2 he seemed a bit tired, and he was agreeable to the carrier, so we went walking around the floor for 10 minutes. He was calm, but didn’t fall asleep. Finally, around 4 he first dragged the regular backpack down the hall, then started asking for the carrier. But I thought we should get out and use the big backpack, so we did that. We walked around the block basically and he was asleep. He slept from 4:31 to 5:07. He had just woken up and was still in the backpack when Carly got home.

About 6:30 I left for my writing group meeting. While I was gone they did some more playing with stickers, and a lot of alphabet and numbers writing. August was very aware of neighbors – when he heard footsteps from above while in the other room he ran back into the living room.

When I got home a little after 9 he had not yet fallen asleep. So they were back up. Then Vivi called on Skype. He made a game of dropping some stickers that were stuck together from the chair, then was paying pretty good attention to Vivi for awhile. I was also reading the Eric Carle ABC book with him, and found out he knew most of the animals in it, including crocodile and quetzal.

Around 10 we all headed to bed. Carly changed him one last time, and he was really working on his “Becoming…” joke, taking time to look around and think about it, and come up with sentences like “Becoming a shirt” and “Becoming a door.”

Finally, about 10:50 he fell asleep, as did we.

New words/phrases: close the door, forward roll, nope, quetzal, send, fall, throw, return (key on keyboard)

Playground: 

Home: 

Finally asleep for an actual nap: 

Before I left: 

What I missed while I was gone: 

Late evening: 

Made lazier as I wasn’t feeling totally well. Slept a good amount though, and felt pretty well by the end of the day. August got up around 7 – he didn’t throw up during the night, and was fine all day – and he and Carly skyped with Vivi and Cherie at the same time. After I got up, I put his new hangeul poster on the wall and he had fun looking at that. Carly made chicken soup in the morning, and he took about a 90 minute nap.

After he woke up, I took him out for a walk in the backpack so Carly could do some work. We walked south along the river, a little past the bridge. There was a flock of about 50 cranes resting along the river, so we stopped and watched them. We then went back up to the bridge and walked towards home along the back street. We walked through the small park close to the pink building and he wanted to get down, so we stopped there and played. He spent a little time walking back and forth on the shaky bridge, but mainly the playground was an opportunity for more letters, either spotting them on signs, looking at graffiti, imagining them in the shapes on the ground, or singing and pretend drawing the letters over every surface. Oh, and he watched people playing soccer, pretending he was turning the soccer balls into Cs, Os, and Qs.

Around 4:30 he wanted to head home. I think he was getting a bit cold, but he still wouldn’t wear his hat and mittens. August was really processing where Carly was and what she was doing, since usually when she is working she isn’t at home. He would saying “mama working.” And he would do his usual “mama at work, no, mama home” and then switch it to “mama at home, no, mama work.” We headed home and had chicken soup for dinner. I pulled him around in the laundry basket for awhile. And he got a little scrape on his toe when he tried to take down the whiteboard from its hook. Unfortunately, he doesn’t lift it off the hook and just pulls. This time, the hook broke and the board hit his foot.

After a messy diaper I drew a bath for him and Carly gave him a bath while I picked up around the house. While Carly was changing him he started joking, instead of saying “Becoming a big kid” he said “Becoming a baby.” Then he was saying “Becoming Dada” and ‘mama’ and ‘Zinnie’ and ‘A to Z’.

I read ‘Kiss Goodnight’ and Kipper to him before bed. There are lots of words and full sentences he will now recite from Kipper, including the last line of the ‘Toybox’ which ends “they nibbled everything!” and the last line of ‘Birthday’ which is “It was a cake!” and then make the deflating balloon sound, as there is a balloon flying around on the page and we make that noise to end it.

He went to sleep about a quarter to 9 without much of a fight.

New words/phrases: I hear Vivi, hit the window, it’s working, heard it, mama working, Alphabot, becoming a baby, magnet from megan, houses

Waking from his nap: 

Our walk: 

Playground: 

Home: 

So we’ve had a pretty good run of us all being healthy recently. That ended this last night as August started throwing up during the night. Three times. No other symptoms, and he otherwise seemed fine throughout the day.

 

He was up about a quarter to 8, and skyping with Vivi when Carly had to go do a work-related health check. She left and we continued to Skype for awhile. August and I were reading the Kipper story “Splosh” to Vivi when their internet cut out.

 

After that, August wanted frozen mango. He ate some of that and some Cheerios as I was cutting strawberries to put on our cereal. Then he threw up again. Quite a mess, but right in the kitchen near the sink, so easy to clean up.

 

We played some more with the box of blocks we opened this morning (think I got them clearance at Toys R Us some time ago), and Carly came home a little later. He continued to act fine, and a little after 10:30 we left on a walk up the stream to Logan’s birthday party at the Tayo Cafe. August and I were there once way back before he turned a year old, and we recently went to the children’s library in that area. Got there about 11:20 and commenced to playing. In addition to Logan and Rosie, Chloe and Cora were also there, and a boy they know from their apartment building.

 

We were there about an hour and a half before he needed to fall asleep. Did a lot of climbing, playing in the ball area, playing with Tayo bus toys, and scooping up bead things with a rake and shovel. On at least 3 occasions he found balls from the ball pits out and about and picked them up and took them back to the ball pits. He ate some french fries, chicken, and pizza for lunch and did fine.

 

Close to one is when he decided to sleep. He fell asleep nursing, but woke up in the rather complicated process of getting our stuff, putting it on, getting him in the backpack, and out the door. We had a nice walk home back down the stream, and he stayed awake until he got home, then nursed and fell asleep from roughly 2 to 3. I fell asleep during that time as well, and went into the bedroom to sleep a little longer after he woke up.

 

In the late afternoon we all went to Home Plus for grocery shopping, along wither everyone else in Junggye. August did pretty well in the stroller, aided by a couple sample orange slices. Let him out near the end though when we were looking for Carly and there were too many carts for us to move around quickly. Headed home and started putting groceries away and preparing dinner. Carly gave him the cheap backhoe I bought at Daiso and we played with that a bit, but then he threw up, the first time in 10 hours. Luckily, it doesn’t seem to bother him, and he did it again on the wood floor and not the carpet he had just been standing on. He also missed Marshy who was in the vicinity. I changed him and Carly did cleanup, then we ate some ravioli and have all been playing iPad together on and off since then. I drew a bath and Carly washed him and got him ready for bed.

 

 

August was just playing Endless Numbers when Carly got out her floss. Her floss always makes a loud squeak and he says “Hear something.” This time he didn’t, and she kept saying “Hear something” and he didn’t respond. So I started throwing the stuffed animals at him and saying “Hear something.” Finally, I threw Smokey and he picked Smokey up, got up and set him on the couch, then went straight back to the iPad without acknowledging me. Finally, when I threw Angeles at him I got a good response and he looked up and said “Hear something.”

 

Carly took him in to go to sleep a little after 9, but then his stomach was making noise and it sounded like he might throw up. So they came back out and we played a little more until his stomach settled down. He went to sleep about 9:45.

 

New words/phrases: mama in closet, clean up clean up, Mama changed your diaper, head home, Monster Party, cupcakes, by accident

New blocks: 

Massaging mama with the brush: 

Tayo Kid Cafe: 

Home: 

He woke up a little before 7 today. While reading Kipper after Carly left, he surprised me first by repeatedly counting the mice, even thought there were just two of them. It was very intentional. Then, at the end of the “Splosh” story, he pointed to ’squelch’ and twice said the word. It was never a word I had called out or spelled for him.

 

Later in the morning he got out some stickers and said “For mama.” So we decorated a piece of paper for him; he was really into Qs and wanted me to draw a bunch of them as well. We Tried out the new Endless Learning Academy app and also found a new phonics song on YouTube.

 

At some point we were talking about being happy, and he said “Happy letters. Happy ‘q’.”

 

We left for the subway about 10:15 only to get there and realize he didn’t have his shoes on. First time that has happened. When I saw he didn’t have shoes I said “Oh my” a couple times. He repeated me. When we got back to the apartment, I said “Let’s get your shinbal (shoes)” and he said “Oh my.” He still remembered it in the evening, randomly saying “Shoes. Oh my.” So back home for shoes, then back to the subway.

 

At the other end, we sat on a bench to get our coats back on and put him in the backpack. But he climbed on my lap and cuddled. I realized he was looking over at the billboard sign by the subway doors, reading the letters. I said “This is about the letters, isn’t it?” He started saying “About E, about V…” But this lasted several minutes, and he said “More cuddle” a couple of times.

 

By the time we got to CGP we were getting to the 5 hour mark. Had time to go to the horses and goats. He had fun feeding leaves to the baby goats and petting them. That lasted several minutes. We then went and saw the snakes, lizards, and turtles. After awhile there we were getting close to 12:30 and time for his nap. We initially were going to go look at other animals briefly, but he started to get tired, so we headed to get ready for a nap. He changed his mind, and started saying “playground”, even though that wasn’t an option I gave him. I explained we would do his nap, then could go to the playground. He processed this and was saying “nap, playground” as we walked to the bathroom. We went to the heated bathrooms Carly likes so much. Changed him in the nursing room, then put him in the backpack for a nap. Took off his coat so he wouldn’t get too warm while sleeping. Don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to do that, as we walk outside to put him to sleep.

 

He fell asleep after a few minutes of walking, and slept exactly an hour, from 12:44 to 1:44. Woke up and we looked at books for a few minutes. Found a book in English about Korean art that I might read, and another of historical maps documenting the claim to calling it the Sea of Korea as opposed to Sea of Japan.

 

We then went over to the children’s museum. Spent a few minutes on the second floor playing with the Hangeul alphabet magnets. He was starting to put together simple Korean syllables and sounding them out. Very cool and unexpected.

 

We then went up to the water table area and played there most of the rest of our time – over an hour. He can now aim the water cannon things – just caring about aiming them is a development since last time we were here. Crowds came and went, but he handled all the kids just fine. Wandered away from the water a couple times to look at the culture play area and the pneumatic ball pipes, but those didn’t last long.

 

Finally, a little after 3:30 I convinced him we should eat. He hadn’t shown much interest in food through the day so far. We went and ate in the lounge. He was running around doing his flying maneuver (bent over, with his arms behind him) when two slightly larger boys came in and started pretend fighting him Pokemon or Dragonball Z style. He was initially surprised by them, but then was just amused.

 

We left a little after 4. As we were leaving, I said “Let’s put on your coat” and he responded with “Okey dokey.” He then let me put on his mittens. He pulled them off once, but the second time they stayed on, and he kept them on until we were to the subway. Then, when we were at this end of the ride and putting all our coats, etc. back on, he also let me put on his hat. It was 5, so we called Carly and met her on her walk home, with both his mittens and hat on for the first time.

 

At home he had a good long hyper time. I was talking about his new class, which is called Teuni Teuni Kid Champ, and he found ‘kid champ’ incredibly funny and he was ‘attacking’ Carly. I was eating my dinner sitting in the reading area, and August started sliding off the couch, into my lap. He then did some forward rolls this way. But when I made him tofu and heated the leftover eggs and broccoli for him, he got very serious while eating.

 

Carly did some art with him and got his bath ready. He wanted to listen to music on his iPod, so we were doing that and he started to cuddle with me, pulling my arm back around him when I took it away. This lasted several minutes, then I took him in to his bath. That went well, then he went and read books with Carly, namely Wild About Books.

 

We read a bunch of Kipper to him. After Carly took a shower, he went in with her and he found one of his water bottles under the bed. He came running out to me, saying “I did it” about a million times. Went to sleep awhile after that at 9:20.

 

New words/phrases: two mouse, other mouse, squelch (reading it), oh my, nap playground, Zinnie turn (wanting me to hold him so he could turn the spiny thing in the water area), cold outside, found mama, turn light on, nurse reading area, here

Headed to the subway. Hands sort of protected: 

Zoo: 

Children’s museum: 

Wearing mittens, then also a hat: 

Adding the hood: 

And now hat: 

Home: 

He was awake at 6:30. In the morning played some Duplos, iPad, walked on the bricks, coloring, and skyped with my parents. Vivi tried to call to Skype but it was when we were already skyping. August was in the mood for skyping later, but by then she was probably going to bed. So he typed a bunch of messages to her instead. Got ready to go to his new class and it was starting to snow really hard. August really made it clear he wanted the backpack, but we stuck to the stroller for now.

 

Got to class right at 11 when it starts. There ended up being a total of 12 other kids in the class. The teacher is a guy, and we know 3 other people in the class – the two we signed up with, and then the wife and daughter of another teacher at APIS. At first August was having nothing to do with class. I stood and held him during the first couple songs and roll call. When the instructor tired to say hi to August he would whine and turn away. But then he got out the ramp and started to have kids do forward rolls down it. August first wanted down on the ground, then would edge closer, come back for me, and edge closer. Eventually, the instructor was able to have August do the roll. August yelled and complained when he did it, but it was a start.

 

After that, they got to push foam cylinders into plastic pigs and turtle shells. The instructor brought out one pig and pieces to demonstrate. He saw that August was interested, and motioned him over. August walked over to him and tried it out. This guy is really good. August really took to this activity. The instructor came over and showed August how to use his thumb to push him in, and August picked that up right away. At one point, he walked across the room to play with three other kids and parents. One of the boys we know, Jihong, was crying and upset, and August kept going over and patting him on the back/shoulder.

 

Next, they got to use the big french fry shaped blocks to push them over and then walk on. That was fun, although August kept pausing to read the letters on them. They then made a big path with them, which ended at the angled piece. They could walk along it, then slide or do a forward roll. It was good for August, as we had to take turns, something he isn’t used to and hasn’t really been an issue in his other classes. I had him do a forward roll once, and the instructor did one as well.

 

That pretty much went to the end. With knowing so many people in the class now (I think at least one other woman knew us from maybe his first class) saying good byes at the end took a long time. But we got out of there and went down to do some grocery shopping. While there, I got a call from one of the moms, as the other boy’s mother thought the class was too easy for her son. Cutting through the drama, she’s moving her son to the more advanced class, while the other two of us are staying put.

 

We went home, again in the snow, but lighter. August was ramped up after class and in a great mood. Close to 1, more than 6 and a half hours, he finally seemed on the road to a nap. I put him in the carrier, but he kept requesting Kipper. So we are making it a routine to read 3 stories before his naps at home. He chose the toy box story, then the birthday story, twice. After that, we got in the carrier without too much fuss and walked the halls a few minutes and he fell asleep.

 

He slept 1:16 to 1:56 and woke up with a cry. I got him and he fell back to sleep on me from 2:01 to 2:39 while I sat and read. Didn’t want him to sleep too long, so I woke him up at that point by laying him on the couch. He woke up gently, just lying there for awhile.

 

We then got in the backpack and went for a walk up to Daiso. Wanted to get some more whiteboard markers and some small gifts for an upcoming party. August doing a lot of singing as we walk. Not much snow, but it started to come back near the end. On the way back we had some time before Carly would get home. I gave August the choice of library or art museum and he eagerly chose library. We went to the library for about a half hour. A the a snack first, then went and looked at books. August had a lot of fun, but started to get really loud. And he was talking more and more about both mama and the iPad, which was at home. Anyway, they have a really good selection of English children’s books, so I will look into getting a library card.

 

We came home and ran into Carly and Megan as we were picking up the package with our new Hangeul poster at the guard station. We went home and used the new big dry erase markers, had eggs for dinner, did forward rolls on the carpet, took a bath, and read some Kipper. He talked a lot about “class fun.” When we were using the dry erase markers, I cleaned crayon off the table from earlier. He kept pointing to a spot I missed. I asked who did it, and if mama did it. He said “Yes.” But when asked if I did it, he said “No.” But later, as we were getting him into bed I asked again. This time he wouldn’t accuse Carly and said that he was the one that colored on the table. He fell asleep at 8:10 after some protesting that he wanted “More dada, Kipper.”

 

New words/phrases: sauce, jars, kipper trying to sleep, pushing dada, handle, crack in there, ick in there, library, cats, okey dokey

 

Morning: 

In the snow: 

Teuni Teuni class: 

Walk to Daiso: 

He wanted his own blue broom after we got one for Logan, so he carried it on the way back: 

Library: 

Home: 

Hugging, kissing, and patting mama’s leg: 

Around the time Carly got up, he was reciting letters in his sleep this and said “14”. He woke up at 6:10. We had a full morning of reading Kipper, playing Endless Reader together, writing the alphabet (repeatedly) on the whiteboard, having the Duplo animals eat (he found it funny to line them up along my leg as if they were eating me), making a card for mama (I asked him what he wanted to tell mama – the first answer was a bunch of numbers and things I didn’t understand; the second time I asked he said “I love you.”), and more Kipper. Always more Kipper.

 

We left around 10. Or something. Walked to the subway in a light rain. Got down to the DDP. Had our coats and rain covers off for the subway. At the DDP we had to cover about 20 feet between the subway exit and the entrance to the DDP. As I hurried across those 20 feet, a woman started calling to us and showing me her umbrella. I told her we were okay (in Korean) several times and kept going. As we waited for the elevator, indoors, she came up to us, having followed us, to offer to give us her umbrella. Very nice, but very, very crazy. If we had wanted an umbrella there were probably 10 places I could buy one in the DDP complex.

 

Anyway, we looked around the design plaza. August wanted to touch things (“More touch”), so we found a few things he could, then headed to the toy store. There, he really, really liked a big, soft stuffed duck. Then went and changed him and headed to the spiraling design walkway to put him to sleep. It was a long, boring passageway last time I had walked it. But this week was Design Week in Seoul, and the pathway hosted a college design fair. Very cool, actually, and we saw all sorts of interesting stuff. Made it harder for him to fall asleep though.

 

He fell asleep from 11:42 to 12:28. A little short. We sat back in the cafe at the toy store. When he woke up, we played in the cafe area there, mainly with the push around riding thing and a Winnie the Pooh interactive table thing. We went to the baby lounge area to eat lunch and then went to the i-Play kid cafe. This is where we went on his first birthday. Almost didn’t, as it is bit pricey compared to others (they charge 4 bucks for a parent, and all you get is a lousy coffee in return – others don’t charge for the parent), but glad we did, as he loved it.

 

Played a lot with the wooden ball pit, then found the big rubbery animals and played with them. Mainly the gaegul (frog) and penguin, which he carried around the play area for quite awhile. After some wandering (and getting my ‘free’ iced coffee), during which he liked the round rubbery things with different textures on them that you can feel with your feet, we ended up at the tool section, where he played with the screwdrivers, a magnetic crane truck, a hammer, and a chainsaw. We spent a lot of time using the chainsaw on different things. From there, he did some sliding, then we went to the sound area. This is where he got really overwhelmed by hearing the sheep last time. He still reacted strongly to hearing the animals, even saying “baa baa in there” as he stared at the speaker. But no getting upset this time. He also really liked the pig and chicken.

 

We went back to the tools for awhile, then ended our time over at a block area making a tower and sliding down the rubbery stairs. He also met a ‘baby’, getting up really close and just looking at her a few times as she came up the stairs. We used our full two hours, and left at 3:40.

 

Took the subway home. No rain by now, and quite nice – 50 degrees. It was just hitting 5 as we got back to our area, so we walked to intercept Carly. While waiting at a light, a woman really let me know that August’s hands must be cold. Because, you know, it is 50 degrees. For the record, after I saw two other small children in open strollers – neither wearing gloves.

 

Anyway, met up with Carly and Megan. August was excited to see them both. He really likes Megan, particularly since she keeps giving him stuff. This time it was a magnet.

 

At home he played on his own pretty well for awhile. I made him eggs with broccoli and onions for dinner, and Carly gave him a bath. Not surprisingly, he fell asleep early, a little after 7:30.

 

New words/phrases: leg, screw, penguin, building, froggy, sacs saca (dry dry), dada says becoming big kid

 

Toy store and the duck: 

After his nap: 

Play area: 

Staring up as we walk to meet Carly: 

Asleep in Thatcher’s old pajamas: 

A new session of classes started today. He has his 5-TOUCH class again today, and his new class on Thursday.

Carly and I heard him talking about letters in his sleep before we woke up today. Something like “More letters.”

He woke up at 8:14. The first thing he said after ‘mama’ was ‘Endless Reader’, and then ‘iPad’. But I got him distracted by reading Kipper on the bed instead. We had oatmeal and strawberries together for breakfast, then I let him do some Endless Reader/Numbers while I did some cleaning. That didn’t last long, however, as when I got out the vacuum he wanted to help. I’d just planned on doing the living room, but he kept wanting us to vacuum, so we did most of the house.

We read a bunch more Kipper before heading off to his class. We had a little time beforehand, so we went down to the first basement and got a couple things, then went up to class. We saw his teacher out in the hall, and he got really excited about class, saying “Sangsaengnim there. See Jungbin.” And when we first walked in he went exploring around the room and walking up to everyone.

But class turned out to be a bit difficult. He seemed to be getting overwhelmed, and after 10 or 15 minutes he was done. We took a break out in the hall and talked about it. And he agreed there were “too many peoples.” There were 8 other kids in there, and we have been used to starting with 2 or 3 in the room. That first break took place during the wearing-a-penguin-outfit activity. We went back in as they were putting them away, and he happily returned the outfit to the teacher. The next activity involved catching shrimp on a magnetic fishing pole. He started that activity, going right to the center of the action, then was done after a minute. We took another break, but he happily helped clean up all the shrimp at the end, and stood patiently next to her with his fishing pole until she collected it. But then he went to the door again, declaring “all done class.” I held him during the last activity, which was story time, as she showed a book about a penguin (class was all about penguins today). He had also been acting tired, and saying “Sleepy. nap.” So I wasn’t positive he meant/knew what he was saying with “too many people.” But when we ended class with the same song we have every time since last winter, and we bring them close together, he kept saying “too many peoples.”

We went down and got a few groceries, then headed home. At home we ate lunch and were then getting ready for a nap when he spotted the wooden car puzzle my aunt gave him for Christmas last year. It has been up on a shelf, as he would put it in his mouth, and the bright colors would bleed off. He spotted it, and came and grabbed my finger, brought me over, and wanted up. He was admiring it and reading the letters (CAR), then said “hold it.” I got it down and he happily spent the next 15 or 20 minutes playing with it, carrying the pieces back and forth from one room to the other.

We were over 5 hours from waking up, so I tried to get him to sleep. He was agreeable to nap time, and went in on the bed, where he wanted to read Kipper. But then he wouldn’t sleep. I held him for a long time and stood in the room and he just cried. Out in the hall he calmed down (we did some breathing, even) but he was still too distracted by/thinking about letters and numbers. Finally, I put him in the carrier and walked around the 8th floor. He twisted to the side and sat there quietly for a good 20 minutes before finally falling asleep.

He was asleep 2:29 to 3:22 and wasn’t too happy to wake up. After that I tried to take him down to get a flu shot, but they just told me to come back on the 10th for his appointment. Came back to the apartment but we needed to get out, so we got in the backpack and walked up to Madeul Stadium. Walked around, looking at many of the new geographic history displays they have installed (on history of the earth, continental drift, mass extinctions, etc.) Went to the playground and played for about 15 minutes. Not long enough, as he wanted to dig a hole and write more letters. But got him back in the backpack and headed home to Carly.

We got home at 5:40 and she wasn’t there yet. I was prepping him for the possibility she might not be there, and he lasted for a minutes (saying “mama soon”), but once he was out of the backpack he started to lose it, so we put our shoes back on and went out to the elevators where we greeted her coming off a few minutes later.

He was very happy and hyper once she was home. A lot of singing letters and numbers very loudly while playing on the couch. In fact, he’s pretty much ignored every other song except singing ABCs and our number song. I kept trying to get him to sing “Warm Kitty” today, but the only time he did it was when I asked him in front of Carly.

He ate broccoli and tofu and some orange for dinner (but was still talking about chicken soup). Continues to say “becoming big kid” when we change him, because it was the pull up diapers that started that thing.

A very happy and loud bath, followed by all of us playing on the bed and reading Kipper stories. Seemed like he might be ready to fall asleep, but it was only 8:30. Turns out he wasn’t ready to fall asleep, as when he went out to the living room he started playing on the couch: he would slide off the side of the couch over the arm, superman style, and land on the reading area. As he got up he would say “I did it! I did it!” Repeat. About 10 minutes of that and then he grabbed his stool and took it in on the rug, where he then proceeded to climb all over it and stand and take steps off of it. We also spent time writing the alphabet on the whiteboard. He knows ‘in order’, so I taught him mixed up by writing them all over the board. He would request the next set of letter by saying “Lowe case mixed up.”

A little after 9 he made the call that he was ready to nurse again and they headed to bed. He fought sleep a little, but was asleep around 9:15 or so.

New words/phrases: Arnold, don’t you think? (both from Kipper), no touchscreen (referring to the laptop, which doesn’t have one), too many peoples, dalgi for home (taking strawberries out of the stroller from the grocery store), Zinnie sleep soon(?), hold it, flying giraffe (he said it himself as he was paying with Sophie in the bath), mixed up

Class. Not dressing like a penguin and heading towards the door: 

Looking at signs in the grocery store: 

Wood car:

Falling asleep: 

Park. Picking up a ginkgo berry: 

Home: 

With the weather getting colder, I figure it is time to up the visits to Children’s Grand Park to two a week. It is easy to get to, with plenty to do, between the zoo, children’s museum, cafes, and the playgrounds. So we went today, which was kind of a bad choice, as I had forgotten that the children’s museum is closed on Mondays. Luckily, we only tried to go near the end of our day, and the weather was nice so we went on a walk instead.

 

He woke up right at 8. Upset to find mama gone, saying “Mama here”, as if arguing or wishing she was here. But as I was holding him, he then said “Kipper”, so we ended up starting the morning by reading Kipper stories on the bed.

 

We did Cheerios and strawberries for breakfast, did a load of laundry, and played on the iPad. We got bundled all up and left a little after 10. When we got to the park, August chose the playground over the museum or the zoo. We went to the Adventureland Playground and mainly played in the sand, although he went up on the play structure a couple of times when “big kids” went up there. He also called the turning thing “heavy”, his term for things that are actually or figuratively hard or difficult, until I showed him how to work it. When he was done playing, he suddenly said “head home, all done playground” and starting walking off. I got him to come back, and we went over in the sun by the musical instruments to eat lunch. We ate there and played the musical instruments. Eventually he was done playing there and we had about an hour until it was his nap time.

 

He wanted to see animals, but when I asked him what animal, he twice said “giraffe,” which they don’t have at this zoo. After that, he would say “giraffe, no” to himself. His second choice was serval, so we headed that way. On the way, he noticed that the primates were out in the open today (they were inside last week, so we couldn’t see them). So we watched them first, then went around towards the servals. On the way, we noticed that the elephants, hyenas, lynx, foxes, and jackals were either asleep or gone. When we did see animals asleep, August would make a joke, saying “puma sleeping,” when clearly they were not.

 

He also did not want to be set down. When I did so, and he wanted back up, and he wanted right back up, I asked if he was asleep. Whether he was or not, he used that as an excuse, saying “more sleeps, more sleeps.” He then wanted to see the outside birds, so we did that. We then heard a donkey or zebra braying, so he wanted to see those. We walked around and saw the zebra, and he noticed that the kangaroos were still not out, that they were “inside.”

 

After that, it was getting close to 1, and he was clearly getting sleepy. So we walked up to our usual bathrooms, only to find that bathroom and the one nearby were both locked. So we went to the building with Peace Cafe in it and changed him there. Took his coat off so he wouldn’t roast during his nap, but he still had a sweater on. Only took a few minutes for him to fall asleep at 1:21.

 

We went to the 1st floor Peace Cafe, as it has a slightly nicer sitting area. He slept exactly an hour, then explored the cafe, pointing to the letters on the floor, and examining their Christmas ornaments. He knocked an ornament off the tree, and while I put it back on, a barista came and gave him a hard candy before I knew what was going on. He crunched it up and ate it just fine. We played a little Endless Reader and looked around at things they had for sale, then headed out.

 

It was now getting close to 3. This is when we tried to go to the children’s museum to find it was closed. We looked at the robots, then I changed him by the entrance and put him in the backpack. I figured it was sunny so we could go for a nice walk, going on the last trails in CGP that we had yet to walk on. They run from the seals exhibit along the south edge, past the south and east gates and to the rear gate. Along the way, we saw the camping experience area (with tents looking like Native American teepees), the ‘totem pole village’ (Korean totems, not Native American), the one cafeteria area we hadn’t seen, and a big statue honoring three heroes of the Korean War.

 

We walked out the back entrance to Achasan Station, then took that one stop to Gunja and transferred to our line home. Got home a little before Carly. He was upset to find she wasn’t home, but then wanted to watch ABC song videos. He was doing that when Carly got home a few minutes later. He went and said hi, but then went straight back to the iPad and was engrossed in that. The battle over screen time has begun.

 

Sometime later he was carrying Marshy and dropped him, and said “Oh gosh, oh my goodness” – phrases he has picked up from Carly. When Carly was preparing dinner for him, he kept wanting “more yummy chicken soup”, referring to the soup that Megan and Torrey brought last Friday and is now long gone. A lot more playing with play dough, pretending it was coming from our mouths or nose or ears, then he took a nice long bath.

 

Not sure if I’ve mentioned the ‘happy/sad’ thing: he finds it funny when I act happy or sad. Started with him turning on/off the light when I was trying to read. Continued tonight, with me playing with him while he was in the bath. He also wanted me to sing the counting song (a song I made up from 1 to 30) over and over again. He has also started to use ‘yes’ more. For example, I asked if he was ready to get out of the bath, and he replied with a simple “Yes.”

 

Before he went to sleep, as Carly was trying to get him to the bedroom, he walked down the hall saying “Night night, sleep sleep.” Despite that, he put up more of a fight falling asleep tonight, but was still asleep before 10, so pretty good overall.

 

New words/phrases: cold outside, F to E, n turn to m, move, lynx, poor Marshy, coming (out of) my nose

Playground: 

Zoo: 

Cafe. He is writing ‘E’ on the table:

Turning an O to a Q. He was also magically turning things into E, saying “A turn to E” and scribbling on it: 

Home: 

It was one of those worst sort of weather days: just above freezing and wet. We did make two trips out: once to take August out to the park and make a quick trip to Home Plus, and once with the stroller for a longer walk to get coffee and get groceries in the pink building.

 

Sleep seemed to be getting back to normal. He woke up a little before 9. Did a lot of playing at home in the morning. Carly also made hummus and pizza sauce. August spent a long time with Carly looking at all the decks of cards we now have. He particularly liked the number cards in the Korean deck. When using the cards, he started saying “For Zinnie’s”, remembering that we got them for him at Costco, and also evidence that he’s developing an idea of possession. As we were getting ready to go, we heard him sort of grunting in there, and found him trying to do a forward roll. Getting close, but couldn’t figure it out. His stool has ended up in the parlor a couple times now, where he has started to use it for his yoga moves. Also while getting ready, Carly called to him, “Auuuggguust.” He then repeated it back, several times.

 

We finally ventured outside around 1. August was walking and took his blue broom. We slowly wandered across the park, August sweeping the bricks along the way, and finding pieces of garbage. For the garbage, he would point and say “icky” and “someone”. We made it over to the other side of the park, by the pagoda, where he was really happy about sweeping the puddles. A guy walked right up to August, stood over him, and was taking photos or video of him. While August was was doing that, Carly went into Home Plus to look for a few things. August then started drawing letters in the water, and wanted me to do so as well. After writing the alphabet (lowercase) using my finger or the broom handle several times, I was cold and wanted to go inside. So we went into Home Plus and found her.

 

We went home and he took a 45 minute nap, getting up a little before 3. Good that it was a shorter nap. In the later afternoon, as it got dark. We took August out in the stroller. As we were putting him in the stroller, August was pleading for the backpack. But since it is easier to keep him warm in the stroller, we went with that. He was just fine once he was in.

 

We walked over to Coffee Bay, behind See and Me. We ordered, then I went outside with August while Carly waited. A long wait for drinks, so we wandered up and down the street. August saw the signs with food on them, and was saying “More yummies.” Carly came out, and we had a nice walk back, south of Home Plus, then over towards the stream, before looping back to the north and then going to the pink building. We went to the grocery store, then came home. We interacted with August a bit on the walk, but mainly he was talking/singing to himself, or lounging comfortably. I kept opening the zipper to give him more banana or veggie chips to munch on.

 

We came home and he ate dinner and had a nice long bath. Went to sleep without much of a fuss at all about 9:15.

 

New words/phrases: Closet, turn on light, mama hide, where did mama go

Park: 

Outing in the dark: 

August woke up sometime after 7, but fell back to sleep on the mattress out in the parlor, and slept until a little before 9. Skyped with Cassie and Vivi after he woke up. I did recycling and picked up the package siting for us at the guardhouse: an iHerb order and a big box of gifts from my parents and Dee. Carly went to Home Plus to get some last ingredients for enchiladas, then came home to make them for the dinner tonight. August and I skyped with my family a couple times to Paul’s phone over at Dee’s house. August wasn’t much into skype today though, and we couldn’t hear them too well.

I took August out for a walk about 1:30. He chose the backpack over the stroller; asked him several times and it was clear.  He wouldn’t wear his hood at first, but I could just stretch my arm back far enough to put it on him. After several minutes, either because he was cold or because he was falling asleep, he let it stay on his head. Hands are next: there is no way he will allow gloves/mittens on, but he would generally keep them up behind my neck, and I could put my scarf over them. Still, I had a woman tell me his hands were cold. Mind, it was still mid-30s, and I wasn’t wearing gloves myself. Later, someone at the party, who has a 3 and a half year old, said she would actually hand the gloves to people so they could try to put them on her daughter’s hands. Should have done that.

Anyway, we had walked to the stream and looked at the fish, spotting the flashes of the small ones as the turned sideways in the stream, then walked to the first bridge upstream and then back. He fell asleep as we neared home right at 2. At home I was able to pull him out of the backpack and lay him in bed and take off his coat. He slept until a little after 3.

Carly had finished up the enchiladas and I had made a brownie in the rice cooker. We packed those up, and August, in the stroller and headed over a little after 4. We were greeted by Logan at the door, and August was a little hesitant to enter their apartment at first. But once he did he went straight to playing. He got a backhoe and dump truck, and then a hammer and was happily playing by himself. Later he found a toy screwdriver and was calling it “dada’s screwdriver”. He got a juice popsicle before dinner, and did a good job of not trying to eat the chips and puffs on the coffee table – although he would pick up the ones other kids left on the table and put them back in the bowls.

Derek let Logan watch “Let it go” on his phone, and it was fun to see the three kids crowding around to watch. It was August’s first real Disney experience besides briefly watching the robots dance to that song at the science center.

He ate mashed potatoes and a little turkey and stuffing. We ate quite well. They did good on the turkey, and Carly’s enchiladas were a hit. There were a ton of desserts. The best was Jill’s pumpkin muffins with cream cheese frosting. August took bites from both of us.

At one point August went and was standing by the door. I asked him if he wanted to sit with me and read, and he agreed. So we had quite time for awhile. Tried to read him a new Boynton book, but he recognized her books and wanted the A to Z book. Carly found it among their books and so that is what we read.

Near the end, he was most interested in Rosie, who was sleeping on Nathalie on the couch. She would pull the blanket down so August could see her, and August would gently stroke the blanket. Earlier, I had been holding Rosie and August would touch her hair and toes.

We left close to 8 and had a fine walk home. He took s bath about 9. Wasn’t happy about going in, but we ended up hanging out there a long time. He did a lot of talking about letters. He went to sleep a bit after 10.

New words/phrases: ABC book, chicken bouillon, dada go bathroom, wait (for) dada, no thanks, sleepy Rosie

Party: 

Home: 

You can kind of see the fat lip from where he tripped over me yesterday: