Category: Uncategorized

Oh what a day. August woke up at 3:15 or thereabouts. Carly got up with him, then I got up a little after 4 and let her go to sleep. August went back to sleep somewhere around 5:30. Then he woke back up for good at 6:50. In between, he woke up a couple of times, once crawling over to me, and once opening the door. You would think something was wrong, but besides the weird sleeping, he acting completely normal and, in fact, was pretty amazing in class.

 

His #1 activity now is pushing the plastic letters into the play dough. We did this when he was up at 4am. We did this when he woke up at 6:50. We did this after his nap. We did this in the evening. I also let him play the iPad in the morning while I drank coffee and tea and woke up.

 

We did take some time out from all that to play with the Duplos. He had the animals eating from the bricks again, and he chose what each piece was: yellow was mango, other yellow was banana, light green was green soup, dark green was green apple, red was red apple, and blue was “blue wawa.” I’m not even sure where he got the idea that water is represented with blue. I’ve only ever drawn boat pictures in the sand.

 

It looked like he might sleep around 8:30, but he didn’t. He made it to 10:30 and so we packed up and headed to class. And he was amazing in class. He bowed on his own for the first time, both at the beginning and end of class. And he danced a lot to the songs. Class today was about circles, and snails eating foods and pooping the same color (Korea for you). She was teaching them to make circles in the air and saying “bing-gul” (round and round), and August then demonstrated and said “bing-gul” loudly. And while she was showing the class the snails, August entertained everyone by spinning in circles and getting dizzy.

 

At the end of class, I found out we can retake the class, and the books and activities will be different, and that Jungbean might do that. So, August will be taking a Tuesday and Friday class next term.

 

After class, we went home, put August in the stroller, and went for a quick walk to put him to sleep. Took him back, and reclined him in the stroller. He only slept from 12:34 to 1:11 before waking. I held him and he cried for close to 10 minutes and fell back to sleep. He then napped on me until 2:40. I dozed a little and got some reading and emailing done.

 

After he woke up, we went for a walk as the weather was so nice. We walked up some back streets and then the stream (I pointed out some of the art, then August would point to the next piece and call “More art!”) to the Sanggye Station area, and tried to go to the Nowon Children’s Library. Turns out it is closed on Tuesday. But we played in the playground instead, writing in the dirt and playing in the leaves. We then walked home, and just happened to get to the elevators at the same time as Carly.

 

More play dough and letters in the evening, and he had a lot of fun in the bath with Carly. We read Kipper stories on the bed. He really likes the balloons in the story about his birthday, so we read that one multiple times. Fell asleep sometime after 8. Hard to tell exactly, as Carly fell asleep as well.

 

New words/phrases: piggies says trough, wet hand, chusoyo, make a ‘b’ in uh bathroom, 7 in a circle, 7 zero (actually a no left turn sign), heavy backpack (as we were walking), pagoda, badger, badger hole, slipper (from Kipper stories)

4am: 

Morning #2:  

Class: 

An intro to Tia’s favorite kind of gymnastics: 

I was helping with the stacking, but he’s gotten better: 

Right before going out in the stroller and falling asleep: 

Asleep: 

Our walk to Sanggye and back: 

Headed home: 

Home: 

There was rain in the forecast today, but it still seemed like a good day to make it back to Seoul Forest while the weather was reasonable. August slept until 8:14, going on 13 hours. After I changed him in the morning, he just kind of laid on the changing pad with Marshy for several minutes. We then spent a lot of time pushing the plastic letters into play dough, then he played Endless Spanish while I got our snacks and lunch together.

 

We had been listening to Temple of the Dog and when that was over, I put on a Smithsonian Folkways Songs of Camp album. August immediately rejected it, saying “all done” repeatedly and getting up to try to turn it off. He happily went back to the iPad when I put on the new Jesus and Mary Chain live album. So he likes his rock music. He particularly liked the drum part on “Sowing Seeds”, making a ‘shhh’ sound to the snare drum sound.

 

He did get a sheet out to make the fort, saying “yes and no” as he did so, but we didn’t get around to putting it up, as he got distracted by Duplos or something.

 

We left the house around 10. I had to stop down by the garbage cans to make sure I’d zipped up the backpack. As I did, he said “book cafe up there.” I looked up, and he was pointing to the ‘Cafe Mug’ sign. Not a book cafe, but he got the ‘cafe’ part.

 

We got down to Seoul Forest easily enough. We had seats and played on the iPad. At Seoul Forest we went to the playground and played until nap time. The first half of our time was spent with the usual letter writing, with a little time spent on the normal pay structure.

 

The second half was over in the wire man play area, with the concrete snake around it. He kept saying “more ickys” and calling it a ‘fort’. He climbed in and on the lower leg. Then climbed the cover to it. Only as he was finishing that part up did I realize you aren’t supposed to climb the cover. Kind of odd, since you can climb in and through the actual person. We played in and around there awhile longer, and playing in the leaves, then went back to our first spot. He hadn’t eaten much for breakfast besides a little cereal, and he wasn’t much into lunch either. Got him eating a few grapes before we took off for his nap.

 

We walked over to the deer area, then headed down to the Han. He fell asleep right past the deer. We hadn’t been down to the Han here, and there wasn’t much park to speak of. The rain had started when we finished up at the playground and we were in our full rain gear. I found a covered bench for his nap. He slept 1:53 to 2:23, waking up early, I think, as I was putting the rain cover back on him as a bit of a breeze was kicking up. It is just the sort of noise he doesn’t like.

 

He just hung out in the backpack for awhile, looking around and playing with camel. We then walked up the bridge that takes you across the pond/closed forest area and to the deer. Wonderful views up there of the egrets and pond and hills, etc.

 

We went to the deer. Not the inside part, as it wasn’t open, being Monday. Which is good, because there weren’t 200 students around. You could still feed deer though. So we got food and fed the deer in the rain. Unlike last time, August wouldn’t actually feed them himself. He tried several times, but would pull his hand back. But he kept having me do it.

 

A little after 3 we finished up there and headed to the insects and butterflies, only to find them closed. So we went to GS25 and got banana chips and a tuna and rice triangle thing. We sat under an umbrella at a table outside and had a snack.

 

We then headed home, and got home a few minutes after Carly around 5:20. We did some good coloring, and he played with Carly and nursed a lot. He lined up all of his Duplo animals along the edge of the rug again. Ate soup for dinner. Carly prepared the bath and I gave him a quick bath, as he was ready to call it an evening. Went to sleep sometime after 8.

 

Yesterday I forgot to mention some potty training progress. We haven’t been doing much besides having him pee on the toilet before his bath. And he lets us know when he has pooped. While I was gone, he let Carly know he needed his diaper changed, even though he hadn’t pooped, only peed. Also, at some point he made it clear to her that he needed to pee on the toilet.

 

New words/phrases: puzzle, Spanish, wordplay, plus (on sign, not just Endless Numbers), Pinkerton, I love you sooo much

 

Morning: 

Letters are looking better: 

On our way: 

Playground at Seoul Forest: 

Climbing: 

After his nap: 

Feeding deer: 

Snack time: 

Walking: 

Home: 

Kind of an odd day for August. He woke up at 6 or thereabouts, but this was after staying up to 11. He was up for a couple hours, during which Carly skyped with her parents, and then he fell back asleep for a few hours, before waking up around 11.

We had some good Duplo play time before left the house around 12. We had a few minutes to sit and draw letters on the concrete in the park before Meg showed up. We then went into the Buk with her and saw the Wonderland show. August kind of showed her around. He was now really liking the space that the box thing is in, exploring the darkness under the steps, as it is very fort-like. After a quick look through the community gallery, August and Carly were sitting on the floor, eating his banana chips. We went up to the coffeeshop on the second floor and had drinks. August had his banana chips. August sat in the chair next to Meg the entire time. Very impressive, and very big kid-like. Got the notebook out and he and Meg did some drawing together. He really liked the ladybug case she had on her phone. I would send her a message and it would light up, but he didn’t know why.

Around 1 we left. Carly and August would head home. Later, they would head up to Madeul Stadium in the stroller and play in the sand. There was a little girl that was really interested in him, but he was being shy, saying “all done” a lot and calling her “big kid”, even though she was younger and smaller than him.

Meg and I went to the Alessandro Mendini (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandro_Mendini) exhibit at the DDP – the same show Carly had gone to with her students on Friday. We enjoyed it, despite the lack of coherent text and context (we can’t say we actually learned much about him, or Italian design, but the objects were interesting).

I got back around 5, soon after Carly and August. They had also stopped at the grocery store. They were skyping with Glecy when I got back. We had some good time playing with Marshy and making him laugh, and playing as a family with play dough. Carly made a play dough hat, which August thought was hilarious, and kept putting on his head and face. He then took a quick bath, as he was getting tired and not happy about that. To keep him awake past 7 we watched his videos and played Endless Spanish, etc. I was able to brush his teeth while he did that. Went to sleep around 8.

Park and art with Meg: 

At Madeul with Carly: 

Some of the art I saw: 

Evening: 

I think I forgot to mention yesterday a moment when we were reading his Baby’s Busy World book and he saw a photo of a baby with a watering can. He pointed and said “Oma and Opa’s”, remembering the watering can at their house.

Anyway, today we made trips to Home Plus and eMart to get a lot of errands and shopping done.

In the morning, after he had slept almost 12 hours and woke up close to 8:30, Carly opened the set of beach toys that we bought on sale a few weeks ago. August was very excited, and he loves the rake and shovel. He said “Thank you mama” and “Thank you mama, dada” several times during the day.

Also in the morning, he wanted to set up the fort. I told him to go get mama’s blanket, and he walked into the bedroom and got it. I heard him saying “No, no, no…yes, yes”, as he got the blanket, presumably talking about whether he could find it, or whether he could pull it out of the room.

And when I was trying to eat breakfast, he wouldn’t let me eat. We had been reading Snoozers and Fox in Socks, and he kept wanting to read them again and again.

Finally, around noon we headed to Home Plus, with August in the stroller. We got more pillows for the reading area along with groceries, socks, etc. August took both his new rake and shovel with him, and carried them the entire time. We were in the store quite awhile, but he stayed pretty content in the stroller.

We went home, and he continued to play with his rake and shovel. I got his wooden blocks out and we used the rake and shovel to scoop them up and put them in the bucket. We did this several times during the day.

His imaginative play seems to be developing. After playing more with his stuffed animals lately, today, he folded up the corner of the rug, then started lining all the animals up along it to have them eat. He then moved a bunch of them up on the blocks, where he also said they were eating. In the evening, he did something similar with Carly, using the wooden blocks as food. August chose what most of the blocks were: green being yummy green soup.

He took a 45ish minute nap. And in the late afternoon, we put him back in the stroller, put a blanket we wanted cleaned underneath, and walked to Home Plus. There, we dropped off the blanket and did some shopping for things we can’t find at Home Plus. Got a pair of pants for August, and a pair of snow pants. The clothing section is right next to the computers, and there was a sign saying ‘Windows’. While in the stroller, August said “Letters over there” and I said, “Yes. They spell Windows.” Several minutes later (maybe 10), I had let him out and he was walking around. He stunned Carly when he walked up to the letters, said, “S W I D N…windows!” Really looked like he was reading it. Still, impressive that he had remembered what I had said just once several minutes earlier.

After paying, we sat at a table by the doors and he ate his broccoli and tofu. We then walked towards home, and walked over to McDonalds to pick up some dinner. While waiting for food, I walked around the stroller and said “Hi, August”. I swear he said “Hi, Ryan” back to me.

We came home, and had a busy evening. As in August not going to sleep until 11. Finally, Carly went to bed, and I was up with him the last 45 minutes or so. We played with his blocks, then spent the last chunk of time reading books in the fort. When we were done, we had a stack of 12 books we had read – many of them several times.

Oh, and I got a few Dr. Seuss books on the iPad today, as I wanted to read all of Hop on Pop and Fox in Socks. He really likes One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, and immediately started trying to recite it. He also got to show Carly the Hanguel app today, and doing some of the puzzles to make Korean sentences.

New words/phrases: Fox in Sox, chicks, Snoozers, blanket, plus, horsey, they’re eating, French fries, rake, raking, onions, green tea, farm animal, Kipper, Sock Thing, Big Owl

Home Plus: 

Home: 

Shirt we saw on the way to eMart. That is an ‘L’ at the end. Eerily, we found ourselves following the exact same mother/daughter on the way home, in the exact same spot: 

eMart: 

Home: 

Carly had a field trip going to the Dondaemun Design Plaza, so August and I went down to meet her at lunch time, and also to play around the DDP.

August woke up a little after 7, and made it a little difficult to get out of the house, as he kept finding something else he wanted to do. He continues to say “Thank you mama…” for different things. Today it was “Thank you mama for iPad” as we were playing Endless Reader.

But we finally left a little after 10. We took the bus and then subway to Dongdaemun. When we got there, we found it raining pretty hard, so had to put on all our rain gear. Did it on the floor as there weren’t any benches. August was pretty clingy, and didn’t like being set down for this. He instantly tried climbing in the backpack, and when I asked if he wanted in, he said “in the backpack, in the backpack.”

We made it to the DDP and headed to the baby room. We were still there when Carly called. So we went out and met her, then went back to the baby room. She nursed him, and he fell asleep. So when she had to leave she handed him to me and I sat down and read. The first time he’s slept in my arms in a long, long time.

He woke up at 1:15 and wasn’t too happy to find mama gone. Eventually got him calmed down and ate some lunch. We then went up to the Design Experience Zone. August has been there twice before (once with me and once with Carly), but he could do much more now. He saw the building area, and instantly wanted to start building a fort. Pretty sure there was some memory of previous visits there, as there was no one else there this time, and all the pieces were stacked up so it wasn’t obvious what it was.

Anyway, we spent the next hour or so building a fort. August helped by getting out the connector pieces and trying to put them on, and also ‘drew’ letters and numbers on the floor – he was chanting his ‘-teens’ today (and also started chanting 1 to 5 in order for the first time today). We then took a break and sat on a bench and ate second lunch. We went back to the fort to take it apart. August wasn’t upset, but he also didn’t help take it apart and only put away a few connector pieces, so it seemed like he maybe wasn’t happy to have it taken apart.

From there we looked around the rest of exhibits, spending time at two in particular:

The Volvo truck safety exhibit. Mainly because there was a low table with a rug on it with a pattern of a town. August liked climbing on it and looking at the pictures on it, and was doing yoga, etc. He kept saying “more grain (or green)” and pointing at it. Finally, I told him I didn’t understand what he was talking about, and he thought about it and said “more pattern”, and I was like “ahh, that makes more sense.” It also explained earlier, when there were two kids and their parents building a fort next to us. He kept pointing at them, saying the same thing. I think he was pointing out the pattern of the pieces/connectors.

The other thing we spent a lot of time with was the mirror room. Probably 15 or 20 minutes. Just looking around at the mirror and the lights. Eventually he wanted me to sit down in there.

Before we left we changed him and bought a bunch of sticker sets. They were cheap, and featured things like The Wizard of Oz and The Little Prince. Took a different subway this time – line 4 from the DDP, then transferred at Nowon and got off at Hagye. We didn’t have a seat most of the time, so August played Endless Reader on my phone as I held it over my shoulder.

A loss today: we have had a stick with us in the backpack for a couple weeks for all of our letter writing in the sand. August got it out when I put the rain gear on to walk to the DDP and was carrying it. I took a photo right as we were about to enter the DDP, and he still had it. Pretty sure it fell or I set it down in the baby room and then just didn’t see it after that.

In the evening August was really into repeating everything we said. I had a burrito and, and he started saying “burrito”, really emphasizing the last ‘o’. He played with Sophie in the bath, then when I was getting him dressed afterward, he wanted to play with Carly’s umbrella, which was open and drying. I wouldn’t let him, so he went to Carly, saying “More mama’s”, then led her down the hall to the umbrella. After some more coloring and reading of tree kangaroo and watching the 5 Little Monkeys video while Carly took a shower, he decided he had had enough and cried until Carly came out. He was asleep around 8:30.

New words/phrases: just one (number of blows for the balloon), cuffs, Zinnie walking on (he was walking on te circles on the floor at the DDP), in order, burrito, plug (in tub)

DDP: 

Design Experience Zone: 

In the baby room: 

He was awake before 6 this morning. Pretty standard morning, with Cheerios for breakfast and brushing his teeth while he watched his video from class. He was very patient as I put him in the backpack, saying to himself “Mama says ‘patience, grasshopper.’” He said that a few times through the day.

 

We left at 9:45 and were in the park around 10:15. He initially said he wanted to see animals, but then saw the children’s museum. Started on the main floor, drawing with chalk and playing with some static cling letters on a window. But the first floor was a zoo, and he kept leaving whatever he was doing when kids would come over. So we went up to the second floor and played with the Hangeul letters and things in that area, heading over to the spaceship controls, where he really liked pushing all the buttons. But then that got really busy as well. So we went up and had lunch in the lounge, then took off about 11:30. I changed the “warm kitty” song to “warm Zinnie”, and he liked that, requesting “more sleepy Zinnie.” Before we could leave, he spotted a wooden floor and had to get down and look at it, saying “More grain!” By the time I changed him (in the museum this time, not our usual spot) and did our usual walk he fell asleep at 12:05.

 

We sat outside at Peace Cafe – perhaps the last time for a few months. He slept until 1:00. As he was waking up, looked up at the building and said “coffee up there”, pointing to the sign that said, simply ‘Cafe’. He then decided it was “Cassie up there” – I think because the second letter was an ‘a’. He wanted to stay outside and color, so when we got out the notebook I wrote ‘coffee’ and ‘Cassie’. Before I could write ‘cafe’, he turned to the sign and pointed and said “Book CAFE!”

 

A couple minutes later he needed his diaper changed, so we packed up and changed him in the bathroom, then headed out. August decided he wanted a playground next, so we went to Adventureland. Played there, mainly doing writing, but at some point he became interested in one of the play structures. Went up the stairs and drew more (imaginary) letters on the floor. I went down the slide, then he decided to slide down backwards. He was excited, and wanted to do it again. He landed on his butt the second time, but was very excited, saying “I did it! I did it!” He ended up going down three more times.

 

From there we went to the zoo. He wanted the zebras, but we never made it that far. First he saw the elephants, then we went along the dogs and cats, paying most attention to the servals and leopards. From there he wanted the snakes, etc., so we went through that building. He was really captivated by the birds, which were being really loud today. Then he noticed the rough bumps on the floor and wanted down, saying “More pattern!” From the second floor he headed down the outside stairs and made for the bench we have often eaten on, saying he was hungry. Ate a lot: all of the tofu and zucchini, grapes, and egg and cheese that we had brought, and all of the fruit chips that were left. He then started saying “Tired”, and decided to lie down on the ground and rest, and then did yoga. Got himself a bit of an audience for that.

 

From there we went to the dirt area we had played in last week adjacent to the playground they are rebuilding. Had about 40 minutes there. Normal drawing in the dirt to start with, but then he started doing this stomping thing, which turned into doing yoga. Then he was doing yoga on the stairs of the pagoda. Finally, he wanted camel off the backpack. He took camel and me up on the pagoda and we sat together and did some yoga together.

 

A little after 4 we headed out, stopping to change him along the way. Uneventful ride home, sitting down and doing more Endless Reader. Oh, and I found a Hanguel program that is pretty cool. We did a little of that each way, which I think impressed our Korean neighbors. He’s catching on pretty well to creating the Korean syllables and putting the symbols in the puzzle part to spell sentences.

 

We got back to our building a little before 5. Called Carly but she was running a few minutes late. Decided to just head home, but he was having a lot of fun just hanging out in the backpack and looking at letters, etc., so we walked around and eventually met up with Carly by the pink building.

 

He’s continued to do a lot of yogas this evening. Did play dough and nursed with Carly, then wanted to cuddle and do yogas together on the bed. From there he wanted to watch ABC songs, so we watched a few videos, after which he finally ate a little dinner, and then took a bath. Some more Duplos and nursing and he was asleep about 8:30.

 

New words/phrases:nursing, fourteen, wawa before leaving, uh-oh wawa dripping, cozy, espanol, more building

 

He was proud of the ‘S’ he drew on the couch, saying “Zinnie do S!” repeatedly afterward, so I couldn’t erase it right away: 

Children’s museum: 

After his nap: 

Playground: 

On the twirly twirl (a term he learned from drawing with Carly): 

Watching the loud birds: 

Eating again: 

Final play place: 

Woke up a little after 8. Did his usual tired/upset that mama is gone routine, but very quickly. Made eggs and broccoli and toast for breakfast. Ate it all, then he wanted more, so made one more egg and piece of toast.

Didn’t leave the house until close to 11, getting to Ttukseum Park before 11:30. On the way to the subway he was talking a lot about letter and numbers, and drawing on my sweatshirt and back of my neck. He would do this several times through the day.

Spent 15 minutes or so playing on a low play structure area that had things that turned and moved. August liked making me move things. From there, we went over to the sand area and spent most of our time writing in the sand. About 12:30 he started getting very cuddly, first lying next to me on the bench and writing in the sand below us, then just resting next to me.

About 1 I got ready to change him. At this point, he suddenly took an interest in the play structure, and ran off and started climbing a ladder. He made it up to the top, then wanted me up there with him.

Around 1:30 we had him changed and packed up, and we took off walking. As we walked, he was chanting “S H, shhhhh.” We walked down along the river and he fell asleep, 1:52 to 2:38. I got a coffee in the J-shaped building and went up to the 3rd floor for his nap. A woman that came to work the information desk up there was very concerned that he was sleeping in the backpack. She wanted me to take him down on the cushions in the library (you could see it over the railing). Using Google Translate I told her he’d wake up if I took him out, and he sleeps like this all the time. She wasn’t convinced. Finally, I just had to go back to typing and she gave it up.

When he woke up we went and saw the crayfish in the tank. Actually saw one quite well today. Then looked at the beetles and fish and crab before leaving.

We first went downstairs, where I gave him the option of outside or the library. He chose the library. We were looking at books in there and found an I Spy book. There was a toy shovel in it, so he wanted his shovel. So we got his shovel, but it was really dirty, so we took it to the bathroom and washed it off.

Coming back, we saw the woman and two kids that had been with us in the children’s area by the elevators. We walked back in the library to find a phone sitting in the children’s area. I tried to run back to the elevators but it had gone. Went back and got August, and we ran down to the first floor to look for them. No luck. So we went back up, packed up, left the phone behind, and went down to the ground level and looked around outside. Even went to the playground. Still no luck. Finally gave up. It was a little after 4, so we headed home.

Before we left, we were looking at the signs about the font of Seoul. They have big pictures of the Hangeul characters. He was starting to identify more of them, like ‘h’. Earlier, when playing in the sand, he requested “Hangeul Q”. I told them there was no such thing, and he started saying, in a sad voice “No Hangeul Q.”

We got home a little before 5. While in the apartment, August said “Thank you mama.” I said “Thank you for what?” He said “Thank you for sailboat.” Then he went on to say “Thank you for toothpaste” and “Thank you for Duplos.”

Didn’t eat much for dinner. A lot of playing with balloons and a little play dough. And a lot of nursing in the evening. Bath went well. Before his bath, he peed in the normal toilet, then realized he needed to pee more. He figured out how to kneel on his own toilet so that the pee would go in the container. Afterwards, he said “I did it!” He then wanted to keep going on his toilet again and again.

He fell asleep a few minutes after 8.

He was all about the possessive pronouns today, and learning that other people have mamas. First, at the playground he was pointing to a big kid, and then a woman sitting across from us. I said “That is probably her mama.” So then he was saying “her mama” and pointing a lot. Later, when we were trying to return the cell phone, I said it belonged to the boy’s mama. August then kept calling the phone “his mama’s”, also getting the second possessive correct.

New words/phrases: leaves falling, motorbikes over there, stylus, her mama, Dapper Dan (monster in Endless games), kids books, his mama’s, are you serious? (I said this out loud when looking at the map of the subway station and realizing the only bathrooms were way on the other end of the station, and up and down stairs. He kept repeating it.)

Park: 

Climbing: 

Not a bad place to fall asleep: 

After his nap: 

Library: 

August turned 20 months old today. He woke up at 7:44. Kind of the normal wake up for him now, where he hangs out at the door until he calms down, then decides he wants to play.

We had oatmeal and blackberries again for breakfast, and then skyped with my parents for a long time. Started to make some Hawaii plans. August also did plenty of drawing and playing of Endless Reader for them.

We got to class a little early, so sat at the tables outside and drew in his notebook. Jungbean and his mom were there this week, so I talked to her before class, and we picked a class they could take together next session.

Class was about scarecrows and birds. It was kind of a tough class for August. He was hungry at the start, and also playing with his zebra Duplo, which he had brought along. So he just wanted to have the Zebra eat from the Cheerios instead of participating in the first couple songs. He did like the hand clapper toys, but was sad when he had to give them back to the teacher (but he did it anyway). And he liked the parachute activity at the end, but didn’t want to sit on it and be turned.

After class we sat out on the chairs for awhile longer, having more of a snack and watching the kids videos on the screen they have out there. Then we went downstairs where we did our shopping. No use of a carrier, just August walking around, sometimes holding my hand. We got string cheese and he really wanted string cheese. Luckily, I had one in the backpack, so we went and sat at the Lotteria and ate that. And he got a little frustrated at the end, as he saw noodles (hoo-ha) on a shelf and wanted them. I told him we had noodles at home, and we went to pay. As I was putting groceries in the bags, he was standing next to me, and did a couple frustrated yells, but not very loud ones. When I asked what was wrong, he said “more hoo-has, more hoo-has.”

We made it home and took a few awhile to put things away and play. Then got our shoes and coats back on and put him in the stroller and went out to put him to sleep. Happened very quickly, and he slept 2:11 to 3:21. He didn’t look too comfortable in the stroller, so I tried to put him on the bed. He woke up, and ended up falling back to sleep on my shoulder. Luckily, I was able to set him down.

At some point during the day he randomly said “Thank you mama for sailboat.” We weren’t playing with the sailboat at the time.

After he woke up, we walked down to the playground with the play structure that looks like a tree. Got there about 4 and stayed until about 5:15. Almost all of that time was spent writing in the sand, although we did play hide-and-seek around the slide a couple times. He was really into ‘Q’ today, and while he requested all sorts of other things (writing ‘Cassie’ is still his favorite word), he also liked turning everything I drew, particularly hexagons, into Qs, saying “turn Q” as he did so. It was getting colder as the sun went down, so I put his sweatshirt on under his vest. He has gotten used to his socks and shoes and coats now, and rarely fusses about them.

We met Meg and Carly as they came across the bridge and walked home together. A fun evening, as he was in top form. He spent a lot of time in his chair eating dinner, and hid played peek-a-boo, simply hiding behind his hands. Carly started his bath, and I finished. Later, he was climbing between me in the reading area and Carly on the couch, doing yogas (leaning backwards over the arm, or putting his legs up on the arm and lying on his stomach on my leg) as he did so. We also played a lot with balloons (he told me to “blow air in”, and started to pretend to blow up the balloons himself), and he also got out the medicine dispenser and drank water from it, and had fun squirting it on the counter. Finally fell asleep about 10.

He’s really been into right shoe and left shoe, and gets them correct most of the time. He as identifying and requesting “Hangeul M” today, so making slow progress with Korean.

New words/phrases: left shoe, right shoe, scarecrow, hexagon, Hangeul M, squirt, blow air in

Class: 

A snack while shopping. He’s giving some to the zebra:

Home: 

Playground: 

Tasting the bus-ut (mushroom): 

Home: 

August didn’t wake up until 7:53. That is 13 hours of sleep. No surprise then that he didn’t go to sleep until after 3:30.

Anyway, when he woke up I didn’t hear anything until the door opened. He was upset that Carly was gone, but calmed down quickly, then was in the bedroom, playing silently with the baby monitor. He didn’t acknowledge me at all until he had been up about 10 minutes, then dragged me into the fort by my shirt, then dragged me back to the bed by my finger. On the bed, he seemed to process that Carly was gone, repeating “Zinnie here, Dada here, Mama work.”

He really wanted to watch ABC songs, so we cuddled up on the couch together and watched a few. It apparently paid off, as a while later I heard him make his first full run through of the alphabet, only slurring is M and N a bit.

We ate oatmeal and blackberries for breakfast, then took the recycling down. We then did plenty of playing with the fort and building (and knocking over) towers of bricks. Before we left, he was grabbing his animals and making them sit, particularly Marshy and GG, who are his favorites nowadays.

We left the house around 11 and headed up to Dobongsan. First tried to walk up to the Forest Villa facility to see what it is, but was greeted by someone in the driveway. Obviously not a public space. We then went into the park and found a nice spot near the Eco Education Center. The leaves have all turned up there, and there is a lot of water in the stream, so it is very pretty. A great day to be walking around up there. We ate and watched a cat walking around the area.

August then needed to be changed, so we went over to the bathrooms and changed him for a second time (having changed him when we first got there as well, on a bench). We then went and looked around the Eco Education Center. The Alpine Museum and book cafe were closed because it was Monday, but there was an outdoor climbing wall with all sorts of different shapes as handholds. August liked looking at these, as they were letters, animals, hearts, etc. There was also a great view of the leaves and stream there. We tried to go inside to go to the ‘Eco Roof’ but got turned away again by someone who saw us.

So we headed back down. Had been five and a half hours and he was looking tired. Stopped at our usual play place in the stream to watch the water rushing through – no playing in there now, as it is much too high. Watched a crazy dad on the other side position his son on the rocks close to the cliff to get a photo. Then kept walking. He didn’t fall asleep. We walked a back street and came across a children’s park we hadn’t been to (Seowon Children’s Park), so we got down and played. The sand had just been raked of leaves, so it was perfect for writing on.

From there we walked the street and cross the stream, heading first past another children’s park to take a look (boring), then up another branch of the stream I’ve been wanting to walk. The Dulagil Trail runs along it – the third spot we’ve run into the trail. A very lovely walk, with views of Dobongsan and Suraksan, and trees turning color in every direction. We got up to where the path ends along the stream (stopping at a set of benches once so August could have a snack), then headed back downstream. August fell asleep at 3:35. No coffee shop in sight. And it turned out that the area around Dobong Station has a lot of hair dressers that look like cafes – one even had tables outside on a little patio. Finally found a coffee shop, Cafe Beanball, next to the station. August slept until 4:15.

When he woke up, he wanted to fall back to sleep in my arms. I started whispering “Endless Reader, iPad” to him and he forced himself awake. We played the Montessorium Letters app, and I could see him start to get parts of letters down; he still has a lot of difficulty on the down and left stroke of, for example, an ‘o’, but he can do the up and back down motion on the right side of a ‘u’ pretty well.

We did that for 15 or 20 minutes or so, then headed home. Carly beat us, so August was excited to see her when we got home. At home, he played with GG and Marshy again. He had GG play with the cards, saying “GG play cards.” When Carly changed him I came into the room and we ended up all sitting in that room. August was happy to have us all back together, saying “Mama here. Dada here. Zinnie here. Marshy here.”

We played with Duplos (he had the zookeeper and zebra sit on his chair of bricks). Carly vacuumed. First he would only peek in on her, but then he got brave and was turning the vacuum cleaner on, getting startled but then excited each time. He ate tofu and broccoli for dinner.

We then colored on the big paper. He has started to do a circular motion, and was focused on drawing ‘O’s and turning them into ‘Q’s.

Carly gave him a bath, which went well. Then he stayed up. And up. With me we made a long path with the bricks. He would walk along it and name things off. New things he could name include emu and gorilla. Carly went to bed a little before 9:30. But then August realized the fort didn’t have its cover (we had taken it in to her on the bed). Now he wanted the blanket back. I tried to use my blanket instead, but he wasn’t happy. Had to be mama’s. Finally he settled down and we did some more yoga and path playing. And we had read the new book from our latest stack about the little bear who can’t sleep. About 9:45 he remembered the blanket again and wanted to go in to mama. Now 9:55 and I think he is asleep.

Forgot to mention that yesterday he was having Angeles and Marshy sit on the floor and he couldn’t make Angeles sit, so he changed his mind and decided that Angeles was  “doing yogas.”

New words/phrases: dada go (with a gentle push – he wanted me to move so he could sit on my chair), lots of letters (looking at all the drawing we did in the sand), bye bye neighbor (to guys at the park after they were done smoking – I often call people around our building ‘neighbors’ when he is nervous around them), reading ‘sh’ sound, blinkers (requesting “Wheels on the bus”, subway come (hearing the subway approaching in the station), mirror, (seeing himself in the platform glass), GG play cards, piggy (his pig Duplo), gorilla, emu

Dobongsan: 

Playground: 

Sandoo break: 

After his nap: 

Home: 

August (and Carly) woke up early this morning – like 5:30 to 7ish. He then went back to bed and slept until close to 10. He managed to make it through the rest of the day without a nap, although he was looking dead tired by the time he went to be about 7.

He and I made oatmeal and blackberries for breakfast, then he and Carly skyped with Glecy. He played with dinosaur stickers and the wooden puzzles with Carly, and we ate crackers and cheese and zucchini around lunch time. There was also plenty of coloring and playing his letter/word games on the iPad.

Finally, at about 2:30 I had August in the stroller with the cover on it and we went out for some outdoor fun while Carly got some work done. We walked down to the river, then back up the stream to the Eco Center, where we saw that it appears they are putting in a new small playground, and some other stuff that might be play equipment, but may just be sculpture or something. We walked around the soccer field and to the playground. We played there for an hour, writing things in the wet sand, and digging two holes. The first was quite big. He wanted me to just keep digging and digging, and was upset when I said we were all done with holes. But I distracted him by reminding him of the shaky bridge, so we climbed the play structure for awhile and he licked water of the wet railings and posts.

We then headed home, and skyped with Carly from the stroller along the way. We got home and they nursed and then we turned around and went back out, with the stroller again, and went grocery shopping in the pink building. He made it through, but was a bit annoyed by the end as we didn’t let him out.

We came home and I made tofu and broccoli while they nursed. He ate those for dinner and we switched, with Carly finishing the broccoli and preparing everything for burritos for us.

August was really tired, but he he did very well through the taking his clothes off, going to the bathroom, and taking a bath process. He didn’t want any toys, but ended up playing in the bathtub for quite awhile. By the end he was crawling and rolling around, and talking about all the ideas he had for after his bath.

He didn’t have much time to play after that, however, as he immediately started falling asleep. Tried to keep him awake with iPad games, but at about a quarter to 7 he just wanted to nurse to sleep, and that’s what he did. Carly took him in a couple minutes before the hour. Been awhile since he’s had a napless day.

New words/phrases: perfect chair, soccer game, write, writing, Dada and Zinnie having fun, steeper, deep

Our outing: 

Tired on our way back from the pink building: