Category: Uncategorized

I had my book group meeting in the morning – 8:30 now since the US did that fall back thing. Lasted until about 10. During that time August slept pretty late and Carly skyped with her parents in Mexico.

After that, we started getting ready to head downtown to the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. We took the #9 bus and then the subway. August sat on Carly’s lap on the subway and they did Endless Spanish and some of the other apps together.

It was raining all day today. Pretty light when we got down there, but enough already for everything to be nice and wet. Near the subway exit, there was a piece of plexiglas that was covered with water. August was very intrigued by this. He wanted me to touch it first, then he got into playing with it, brushing water on the ground and attacking me and Carly and wiping water on our pants. He could have stayed there for a long time, but we wanted to keep moving.

So we kept walking to the museum. He saw the sandy dirt behind the museum and wanted to write letters. Made it inside and went straight to the nursing room, as it was time for his nap. He fell asleep on Carly. I read for awhile, then went and started on the museum. Carly texted me when he woke up. I got back and we fed him lunch. Then to the museum.

Only 3 galleries had exhibits. The first was just black and white ink painting. August started a trend of wanting to sit/lie on the ground, but wanting us to come down with him. When we wouldn’t, he would get upset. It was probably the roughest museum exhibit we’ve had. The second exhibit, work by Ahn Kyuchul, went better. He liked the gold fish in the circular aquariums, and going up and down the stairs to the scribe observatory. There was also a piece called ’64 Rooms’, which is little square rooms surrounded by dark blue velvet curtains. We went in and sat on the floor with him for several minutes. Very much like his fort at home, only darker. He would keep peeking out at the people outside. We stayed in there for several minutes.

The third gallery had a show called ‘New Romance’, with works by Korean and Australian artists inspired by Gibson’s book ‘Neuromancer’. A lot of weird/disturbing stuff. Carly and I really liked it. August lasted for a little while, and I think he would have liked a few things downstairs, but he kept wanting to sit on the busy floor. When I tried to stay with him so Carly could go see art, he would get really upset.

So that was about it. We grabbed a sandwich and bread thing at the coffee place by the food court, then went back to the nursing room so he could nurse one more time and get ready to go. It was raining harder when we got outside, so stopped and put the rain cover on August and the backpack, and I wore my hat and raincoat. Our first full deployment of the rain system.

Stopped at Daiso by the subway station. Got August some stickers and a few other things.

Felt like it took a long time to take home. Had to switch trains on line 1 as one didn’t go all the way through. This was August’s best part of the trip, as he took it all in stride.

When we got home, Carly went next door to get some groceries and food from the pho place. August and I went up. He was fine for a couple minutes. He walked straight into the back room in the dark and turned on the lamp. But then he realized mama was gone and got upset.

Carly made him zucchini for dinner and he shared my pork and chicken fried rice. He took a good bath. He seemed to really know the routine: he needed to have his diaper changed around 7:30, so he wanted that done. I then suggested he take a bath. He then said something about “grampa’s shirt on”, knowing we’d put his pajamas on after the bath, etc.

He was up until 9:30 or so. A lot of playing with the bricks (walking a path of them) and Duplos (we built a zoo together, complete with a class of kids on a field trip, just like we always see at the zoo). Also a lot of reading Kipper stories and drawing in the notebook and on the big paper.

New words/phrases: left and right (although he doesn’t necessarily know the difference – when I am putting on his shoes he will guess “left shoe” or “right shoe”), more Spanish (Carly is teaching him body parts), piano, warthog, camera van, twelve, hedgehog, seems like there were plenty of new phrases during the day, but didn’t get them down

MMCA: 

Heading home: 

Home: 

Up at 7:08, just a few minutes after Carly left. He didn’t want me to touch him, and spent about 8 minutes crying at the door. If I tried to touch or comfort him, he would pull me back to the little step and make me sit. He would then go back to the door and hang on the handle some more. He would then come to me and push my shoulder, as if he wanted me to leave.

 

Eventually, he calmed down and went to the parlor and spent several minutes looking at his cards (“little X, big X…”).

 

After that, we did some drawing, Endless Reader, made oatmeal for breakfast, brushed his teeth really well while he watched his class video (he seemed to get the turtle and bunny story a bit more, saying “turtle slooow”).

 

I let him play Endless Reader while I got snacks together. Or at least that was the plan: he kept coming and getting me and pulling me by the finger to come and sit with him.

 

Finally, we got things together and headed out exactly at 10.

 

He yelled once (although not too loud, and no crying, but enough to draw attention) and was trying to squirm out of the straps, which was causing no small amount of muttering and concern from those around us, although concern that he was stuck or concern that he would get unstuck I couldn’t tell, so we got off one stop early and walked. He chose to go to the playground, no deer, and then chose the playground with sand.

 

We played in the sand, writing words, shapes, etc. He mainly requests ‘Cassie’ and ‘coffee’, and can identify ‘art’ pretty well. We also dig a hole, which he liked standing in, and enjoyed filling when we were done.

 

We went in and changed him. Stopped by the stuffed animals to say, but he was tired and wanted in the backpack. Walked the corner of the park near the playgrounds to put him to sleep. A nice walk down small paths with the leaves changing. He slept in Dream Cafe from 12:31 to 1:28, and when he woke up he pointed to the kid/books area and said “book cafe over there.”

 

In the book cafe we did some coloring and played Endless Spanish and Montessorium Math – both new. When we were done with those, there was an older boy that was playing with him. August was both captivated and scared, especially since the boy was acting like a tiger at times. A few times August said “hi big kid.”

 

We left the park and walked towards APIS. To this point it had been pretty warm – August had just been in long sleeves and jeans, I was in short sleeves and jeans. But it was getting cloudier and windy. We stopped at a park we had seen before. August kept asking for his ball, so I thought he was going to throw it or kick it. But when I gave it to him, he just used it for drawing letters. In particular, we focused on drawing C, turning it into an O, and then into a Q, and also turning Cs into banana moons. I even went on the swings, and he came over and giggled like crazy when I made him swing with me, but then he was “all done” and wanted to go back to the sand. We dug a hole, and then I did get him up on the play structure for awhile. He really liked a kaleidoscope attached to the railing.

 

We continued on and met Carly and Megan near school and walked home. He finds he every entertaining. We avoided the rain that was supposed to hit at any time.

 

He played more with the alphabet cards. He fully knows both the capital and lower case letters now, and 18 of the 26 words on one side of the cards. At the park today I told him we could keep doing letters, but were going to do more words from now one.

 

We ordered pizza for dinner for the first time, eating some stir fry to hold us over. We also played with the bricks, making a circular path for him to walk on. Just finishing up his bath now.

 

 

New words/phrases: thank you mama for sailboat, sand feel better, more digging, I feel better, cheek rub, someone (favorite word nowadays), hi big kid, most of “warm kitty” song, chin, toe-gee and gu-buh-ge (rabbit and turtle), song, comfy

 

Waking up: 

Dream Forest:

He was going to say ‘sailboat’, but got distracted by an N: 

Inside: 

Gangbuk Park: 

Home: 

Up at 7. Played on the bed for awhile. Happily said goodbye to Carly, but rethought that after she was gone for a few minutes. Got off the bed and found Marshy, and spent a few minutes hugging and playing with him. Spent a little time doing letter work on the iPad – mainly tracing letters in the Montessorium app and then a little Endless Reader, during which he identified ‘after’ on the screen before it was said out loud. Also in the morning he chanted the A to Z song, only skipping ‘m’ and ’n’ and ‘won’t you’.

Before we left, he had requested watching an ABC song. So we watched one twice, and called it enough. He was not happy about this. Kept trying to climb back up on the chair and table. Eventually calmed him down, and then he was saying (almost like he was mocking me, as he was using the same tone/intonation) “Dada says NO” and “Dada says NO ABC song.” But when I got him on video it was just a (very cute) “Dada says no song.”

We left the house around 11 and took the subway up to Nowon, then got seats on the line down to Hyehwa. We took out the notebook and pencils we bought yesterday and drew most of the way there.

In Hyehwa, we walked up the steep hill to Naksan Park (where the wall goes through the area – last time August and I were here it was really windy). We ate lunch. he was playing in the sand at the foot of a tree a few feet away. He stood up and walked towards another man that was walking towards us and wiped his hands on the man’s black pants; pretty sure he thought it was me. Luckily, the guy wan’t too upset. Later, after August’s nap, he would see the guy across the plaza and say “sorry, sorry.”

By 1 August was saying he was sleepy and wanted in the backpack. So I changed him on the floor of the bathroom and we walked around the park until he fell asleep. He slept from 1:13 to 2:01 and I sat on the same set of concrete stools where we had eaten lunch.

When he woke up we played by the little pond. He spotted magpies up above, and called the rectangular empty planters under the water a “trough.” I asked a trough for what. He said “animals.” I asked what animals. He said fish, then snake, then turtle. He even joked, saying “Dada’s trough. No.”

We finished up and walked down the hill. We went to the Arko Art Center and saw the show there. August wasn’t a fan (dark, with scary noises), but there was one screen which was a projector projecting what looked like stars or dust moving around and it changed color. We could stand in front of it, and he could see the movement and color on me, which he liked.

From there we went outside. We were going to go over to the science center, but as we walked across the park in front of the art center, August started saying ‘Y, Y’, Y’. He had seen where the paving stones diverged, making a pattern that looked like a ‘Y’. Then he wanted down to write letters, and we spent about 15 minutes making pretend letters and numbers on the pavement.

We then walked over to the science center only to find it is closed for renovations. Until 2017. So we walked up to the Salvation Army to look for books. Along the way we saw a croquette shop, so we got a cream cheese croquette and shared it. He loved it and handled it being gone well, but for the next hour or so he kept saying “more cream cheese.” We bought a good stack of book (about 12) and headed out.

Before we got to the bus stop/subway area, we came across the Hyehwa Gallery. We went in and looked at the two shows there, one of high school art, the other a painter. It was pretty much empty, so August had fun running around the gallery and sliding backwards on the floor. I changed him on the floor of the bathroom (3 floors for 3 changes today), then we went to try to get home.

First tried to take a bus. Packed. Went down to the subway and couldn’t get on the first two. Made it on the third train. Entertained August most of the way by holding the phone up for him (he was in the backpack) so he could play Endless Reader. He was done with the a couple stops before the end, but was content with singing.

We made it home about 5:30. He wasn’t too happy at first, but eventually ate a good amount of chicken soup. He and Carly played with the fake fruit and veggies in the fort. He and I read in the fort and also out in the reading area. Carly gave him a bath and brushed his teeth, neither of which he was about about. He must have looked up on the shelf above Carly’s desk, because first he requested playing with a balloon, so we did that. Then he wanted bubbles, so we did some of that as well.

Currently 8:44 and Carly is singing to him on the bed. Might be going to sleep not, or not.

New words/phrases: fuzzy head, hot air balloon, drum, all gone magpie over there, cream cheese

Headed to Hyehwa. Wearing his vest and drawing in the new notebook:

Naksan Park: 

Arko and park: 

Hyehwa Gallery: 

Headed home: 

Home: 

He was up before 6 again. So we had a lot of play time in the morning. The first order of business was taking more of his animals in the fort and playing with them. We then Skyped with Cassie, Colin, and Vivi. Or, more correctly, Vivi and August skyped, as they did most of the interacting. August was completely focused on Vivi for the first 20 minutes or so, just lying on the floor, watching her. After that he got more animated and would move around. Vivian was using her dinosaur cup, so I got August’s, and he used it for the rest of the day.

That lasted for just shy of an hour. Then we made eggs for breakfast. I needed to hang up laundry, and he kept trying to grab my hand and take me to the fort. Instead of getting really upset, he told himself “patience grasshopper”. He has done this a few times now, including this morning when he was waiting for me to slice the cheese.

He then wanted to draw, and I remembered I’d received a cheap stylus when we ordered the iPad case. So I got that, and we drew on the iPad (while sitting in the fort, of course) for probably 30+ minutes. He loved that.

While changing him, he requested “Pizza Hut, gooey”, which is a song we hadn’t sung for some time.

Also, he has started ‘flying’. I’ve kind of caught this in a few videos where he runs around with his arms stretched back. A couple days ago, he said “flying” while doing it. Carly also told me he was doing it last night. He did more today. This would be an imagination thing, as I don’t remember calling it that myself before he did.

Finally, I was amused when he tried to pull out my chair and instead knocked it over. He said “Uh-oh dada’s chair”.

So then we went to Home Plus. We did all of our shopping with August walking, not holding my hand. I figured out a trick: walk fast enough that he doesn’t have time to stop and get distracted.

Then to class. Only us at first. No Jungbean, and as class was starting, August started saying “more Jungbean, more Jungbean”. I told him Jungbean was probably sleeping, so later, after class, August was saying “Jungbean sleeping”. Class was about the wind and sun. The main activity was using big fans (the kind you wave) to blow around scarves. August loved this, although mainly pushed his around. But he was really excited when she had us put all the scarves in the center and all fan them at the same time – it causes all of the scarves to jump into the air and swirl around.

He was asleep by the time I got home, but woke as I tried to set him down. He was instantly up, first upset, then wanting to playing in the fort. So we ate lunch (a salmon sandwich), then I tried again by putting him in the stroller and walking up past the women’s center and back. He was very quiet, and I thought falling asleep, but as we neared Brownstone again, he was suddenly hyper, pointing to birds. So we went home and gave up on a nap.

He wanted to draw more on the iPad so we did that, then wanted to do the Montessorium Letters app, where you trace letters. Up to this point, he has only done the tapping on the letters part himself (and even this is relatively new, as they say “tap ‘sss’” and you’re supposed to tap the correct letter – he would ignore the instruction and just tap all the letters until getting the correct one). For the tracing of the letters he would grab my finger and have me do it. Today, that changed. Not that he was good at it, but he decided to start trying it himself, using the stylus.

Finally, we went back out in the backpack, headed north to Daiso and to the stationary store. He fell asleep as we approached the stream. So we sat in the park by the hospital. During his nap, a guy from Kwangwoon University interviewed me for a class project.

August was asleep 3:08 to 4:15. When he woke up I put the backpack back on and we went to Daiso and did our shopping: new little brooms and a notebook and crayons (so I thought – turned out to be pencils) for the backpack for art on the go.

August was fine, then got upset as I tried to pay. Thought he wanted a broom, but that didn’t help, then I thought he wanted out, but that didn’t help. Finally, I let him take his coat off, and he calmed down. He was actually too warm this time.

We went to the stationary store to get its exact location for Caroline. Then ran into Mr. Ann from APIS and found out he is moving back to Seattle, retired.

We walked home and waited for Carly and Megan by Tom and Tom Coffee. August was reading off all the letters and then I read off the letters of the sign. August immediately said ‘coffee’. It may have been a coincidence, as he then looked in the window and pointed at the people and their coffee. But a few minutes later, when I asked him what ‘coffee’ spells in front of Carly, he said ‘coffee’.

We came home and he played a lot with the tongs which we had also bought at Daiso. He ate chicken soup for dinner, then Carly gave him a bath. He wasn’t really into it today. He stayed up a bit longer, but went to sleep around 8:30.

Oh, a mystery solved. It had sounded like he had also been calling the fort a ‘cabin’. He would say ‘more cabin’ while pointing to it. Finally, I figured out he was saying ‘clapping’, as he likes to just sit under the sheet or blanket and clap. The clapping started with the Endless games, copying the clapping on them, but he now just does it without.

New words/phrases: salmon sandoo, triangle, square, rectangle, cabin, puzzle, duyu (may have listed before), sunshine, right there, on changing pad, tongs, broth

Skyping with Vivi: 

Rest of the morning: 

Home Plus and class: 

Not sleeping: 

Walk to Nowon and back: 

Starbucks letters: 

Using his new broom while we wait for a light: 

Evening: 

Pollution threatened to limit our outside time at CGP, but it was lower down there, and started dropping during the day, so it wasn’t a problem.

 

He slept until 8:07. I heard the light switch, then he opened the door and walked out. After I changed him, he walked straight into the bedroom where Carly had left some books and wanted to read them (saying “thank you mama”). So we read in bed. Then he spent quite a while putting the plastic letters in the play dough. He would go to the other room and get one letter at a time. After Cheerios for breakfast, he requested mango, but as soon as it was ready he ready he rejected it. Probably because I took his shirt off to eat it, and he immediately wanted “grampa shirt on.”

 

Finally, as I was getting snacks ready, he was playing with his Duplos. Afterward, I walked in to realize he had set up a bunch of the animals around a trough in the middle of the room. And then right before we left he was doing some good flying around the house.

 

We left about 10:15. Both at home and at the park he said he wanted to see the elephants. But first he got distracted wanting to write letters on the robot path. I told him we could do that at the playground, only to find the whole playground dug up, being renovated. We went to a dirt field next to it, by the pagoda, and did letters there and watched the backhoe.

 

From there we went to see animals, but when he saw the elephants he wanted to go into the water birds instead. We did that, then out the other end where he wanted to go in the tropical building for the snakes. Did that, spending the usual time on the amphibians and reptiles. He said hi/bye bye to both the coati and then, as we went around the children’s zoo, the meerkats. So those are two animal names he knows really well. He also really liked watching the fennec foxes sleeping.

 

We ate lunch by the goats. He really liked the statue of the woman next to the sheep (he’s always focused on the sheep before). He particularly liked the hand, saying ‘hand’ repeatedly.

 

About 12:30 he started to get tired. Earlier than usual. He was saying “sleepy” and lying in my lap. At one point he pulled his sweatshirt out of the backpack because he wanted to get in (he has started to want to get in the backpack when he knows he is tired). But before we left a few girls came and talked to him. One had a cat thing attached to her backpack that she showed him. When they left he kept saying “more kitty cat.”

 

We went up and did our usual napping routine. When changing him he started singing the start to “Puff the Magic Dragon.” Took a little while to get him to sleep. Only slept 34 minutes (1:19 to 1:53) at the cafe, but I was able to read one whole story.

 

After that, we went inside and sat and drew in the notebook and bought a banana snack that turned out to not be healthy at all. Luckily, I was able to switch them with some apple chips. Before we left, he wanted to sit in the comfy chair. He did this twice, but he would then go over to the display case and ask for “more juice…treat.” Took me awhile, but I realized he was remembering his 18 month celebration – that was the last time we had sat in that chair. I had bought him juice and a treat.

 

We went to the Adventureland Playground (the better one, anyway). Did letters, etc. in the sand. He really liked it when I started drawing hearts, and he wanted to sit on each of them. Oh, and he has started to request that I write ‘Cassie’. We then played with the musical instruments. By far his favorite thing was sitting on top of the plastic drums. We sat there for over 15 minutes, singing “Baa Baa” repeatedly. He can now sing much of it himself. But mainly I was singing and drumming. He would direct my hands to tell me which drum to hit. When we had to leave he was upset and kept wanting “more baa baa.” He tried to make one escape from the bathroom before I changed him to look back longingly and say “more baa baa.” He cheered up though when he noticed an interesting bumpy wall in the bathroom and started feeling it, saying “more texture.”

 

But he was happy to get in the backpack and we headed home. On the way down we had sat and drew on the iPad. On the way back we had to stand. He was fine with this. He was entertained by eating Cheerios and by watching the baby sitting near us. In fact, when the baby and his mother got off, he was sad and kept saying “more baby.”

 

Before we got off, we were standing below the monitor that announces the station. It flips between Korean and English. He was saying “Hanguel, letters, Hanguel, letters…” then started putting in the ‘then’ as it switched back and forth “Hanguel then letters then Hanguel then…”

 

On our way home, he was saying “Mama Carly Dada Ryan.”

 

Carly beat us home as she had a training day and got to leave a little early. Carly made him stir fry for dinner. And I gave him a bath. He did quite well today. We also decorated his notebook with stickers I had picked up at the library, and did some more drawing/writing.

 

They are reading books on the bed again. Mother Goose. August has started claiming that the ‘spoon’ in “Hey diddle diddle…” looks like “mama”. Not flattering, as it looks like an odd looking bald man.

 

Later: After leaving the bedroom he played with the blocks with me while Carly took a shower. I made paths for him to walk in, and then we used them like dominos. After Carly came out, he started playing with the his alphabet cards by himself. For many minutes (maybe 7 or 8), he simply kept turning the cards over, saying “little W, big W, little O, big O…”  He ended by identifying the ‘Night’ picture, then he and I looked really closely at it for awhile. After that, he requested to be changed and went to bed to fall asleep a little after 9.

 

New words/phrases: coati, meerkat, octopus, shells, 0 to 11, hit foot ouchie foot (after I explained what would happen if a broken metal piece fell on his foot), song on (when music came on over the speaker), heart (shape), path, dominoes

CGP: 

After his nap: 

On the drums: 

Headed home: 

Home: 

I needed to head to Namdaemun today to pick up my new glasses. But August kept coming up with new things to do at home, and specifically kept grabbing my hand and leading me to the fort. So we didn’t head out until a quarter to 11.

We started our morning by sitting in the fort and playing Endless Reader. We then made a smoothie and did some yoga and exercise. We then did some coloring and August identified a “Hanguel ‘S'” from our writing a previous day. Also, as he was scribbling, he was naming letters and also “sailboat”.

Extending our morning was him keeping wanting to go in the fort. He was really quiet, perhaps a bit tired early as he woke up before 6. He would walk up to me and grab my hand or the hem of my shirt and pull me towards the fort.

He also has been trying to climb up on the table recently. Today, he saw the keyboard I had and got fascinated by it, pointing out the numbers and letter. I grabbed it and I let him take it: first into the fort, then lying on the reading area.

We headed out, taking a bus to Changbong Station, then the subway downtown. He played Endless Reader on the subway and had quite and audience: four people were watching and a couple were clapping for him and encouraging him. I talked to the guy next to me who was a Korean who has lived in New York City for 40 years.

After we got of the subway I put August in the backpack then we went and picked up my glasses, which was quick. Able to see better, we walked up to City Hall. August fell asleep about a block away and we sat in the changing/nursing room in the basement (Citizens Hall) for 70 minutes while he slept from 12:08 to 1:18.

After his nap (he woke up very happy, pointing out animals on the wall), we played in the huge Citizens Hall area under City Hall. We are and played with a ball in the lounge area, got some band aids from a mystery box vending machine, and looked at the art in the gallery. He liked the animal statues and the huge dragon and unicorn made of balloons – as usual, he decided to do some yoga on the floor, and he had done some earlier in the lounge.

We then went and changed him, and headed into city hall and up to the gallery on the 8th floor. Looked around there. He saw the big ’11’ on the elevator and said “eleven”. We walked up and checked out the cafe and sitting area on the 9th and 10th floors. On the 9th he decided to do some yoga.

From there we headed home. We walked up to the 111 bus stop and got good seats for the ride home. We needed them. Took about twice as long as the bus ride yesterday on the exact same route. A lot of Endless Reader time for him though. But as we went by Dream Forest he decided he had had enough. People had to deal with an upset child for a few stops as I wasn’t about to get off early. One woman reached across me to open my window, as if he was upset because it was stuffy, and not that he had been sitting on a bus for 70 minutes and wanted his mama.

Anyway, we got home and I quickly ate some soup Carly had heated for me. Then I went to my writing group meeting. Didn’t get back until after August was asleep.

While we were in the Citizens Hall, he had done some ‘flying’, running with his arms behind him. He did this for Carly as well.

New words/phrases: hangeul ‘s’, Endless Reader, yes and no (when choosing shirts), feel texture feet, bumpy sticky texture, puff, lived by the sea, dragon (repeating words from the song), cat up there. over there, over there (caboo out there), cabin(? Seemed to be calling the fort a cabin, but don’t know where he would have gotten that – may have been saying “come in”)

New glasses (and August falling asleep):

Citizens Hall: 

City Hall: 

Headed home: 

Asleep in the reading area: 

Before his nap, we all went out to the park to play for awhile. I then hopped on the subway to meet a few other people downtown who were all going to get new glasses. While I was gone, August took his nap and then he and Carly walked along the stream and went to a playground, then went grocery shopping.

 

In the morning, August and I made a fort out of Oma and Opa’s chairs, putting them back-to-back with a blanket over them. August took Marshy in, and was laying him down, saying “Marshy sleepy”. When I was in there with him, I sent August out to get me a pillow. The first time he just touched a pillow then came back. But I sent him out a second time and he returned with a pillow.

 

Carly made chicken soup and had it ready for lunch. August ate a lot in the morning: the cooked chicken, Cheerios and milk, and zucchini.

 

He is getting close to knowing the entire ABC song. He regularly does A to L, and today was reciting O to Z. It is just M and N that are tripping him up.

 

I left and made it to Namdaemun a few minutes before 2. Meg and OC (other Carly) were already there. We waited a few minutes for Jodi to show up, then walked up to the glasses place. It went fast. I picked out two pairs of frames, got my eyes checked, and haggled over price (both pairs for $350 – about what I paid for just one pair in the states a few years ago) and was done by 2:25.

 

We all went our separate ways. I was going to go to the money museum, but it is temporarily closed. So I walked up to City Hall, and explored the old city hall building, now the main library. They have some history exhibits in there, and an exhibit to the Sewol ferry disaster. Then found an art exhibit hall in the underground area between the library and city hall. I need to go back tomorrow to pick up my glasses, so will take August to the library/city hall. All sorts of things to see inside there, including an art exhibit in city hall that I didn’t have time for today.

 

Took a bus home. Got home and they weren’t home yet. Remembered I needed to get bread, so went down to Tous les Jours and ran into them as they were coming in the building.

 

He was really into the ‘In the Garden’ and ‘In the Forest’ books, finding the ladybug, snail, etc. in each picture. We haven’t looked at those since before summer.

 

We also played more in the fort and on the bed. Gave him a bath at 8, which he did not want. He fell asleep about 8:30.

 

New words/phrases: hot in there (lamp), texture, Chicken soup, voca, pattern, mole, worm, mushrooms, bunny, slug, more grampa’s shirt on (wanting to put on a shirt)

Art August will like: 

Two outings today with August today. One to the pink building and then into the park for the Halloween carnival thing. That was before his nap. After, we walked over to Lotte Mart and Toys R Us and played in a park.

 

He was awake at 8ish. In the morning we skyped with my parents. During it, August got the blanket we use for ‘ickys’ and dragged it into the other room. He then was pulling it up on the low table we just brought in, and saying “waterfall”. He started this a bit yesterday, calling the blanket a “mul area” (water area) and pretending it is a waterfall when it drapes off something. Not sure how this idea came to him. Pretty cool though.

 

Before his nap, we went over to the pink building for grocery shopping. August wanted to touch everything, so he and I went over to the park and started looking around the festival there. Supposedly a comics festival (it was in the name), but didn’t see anything related to comics. Anyway, Carly showed up a few minutes later.

 

Just then, the two sisters who have played with us a couple times in the park and said hi a couple times, walked up, this time with their parents. So we met them. Their stepdad, Patrick, is from New York. I talked to him for awhile while the girls played with August, and Carly talked to his wife, Jiyun. We then looked around a bit more. A lot of interesting stuff, and a lot of random costumes – a lot of it was definitely inspired by cosplay/manga. And there were a lot of guys in military costumes.

 

We went home and August took his nap. In the afternoon, we put him in the backpack and headed out. We went to LotteMart and bought boots for him using the gift certificate Carly had. We also looked in the pet store a little bit. We then went just north to the park (the one where my parents and I ate our Quiznos sandwiches). The play structure there is small, but there was good sand for letter writing. He was also really into So we did some of that. I’d say plenty, but August definitely wanted more. The sun was going down and it was windy, so we walked home along the stream. But August kept pointing at the dirt along the trail and saying “more letters”.

 

It was feeling really cold, so we put socks on his hands and put on his hat. He wasn’t too happy about this, but he found being called ‘sock hands’ funny. He tolerated them all for a few minutes before pulling off the hat and socks.

 

For dinner, I was dipping bread in the green soup. August really liked this, and said perhaps his longest phrase yet, “more bread and yummy green soup.”

 

While Carly took a shower, August requested a mandarin orange. But then he didn’t want to eat it. Instead, he fed it to me, and inspected my mouth as I chewed each piece. He took a long shower, playing a lot. He also pretended to write letters in the water on the glass. We spent a lot of time stacking the stacking cups and knocking them down.

 

He then helped me make the bed. He liked pushing the edges of the sheets over the edges of the mattress. So after putting on the fitted sheet, he kept saying “more helping”. So we put on the top sheet and a blanket.

 

New words/phrases: more looking (looking at art in bedroom), dada mountain, dada sweep on bed, pumpkin, tattoo, more bread and yummy green soup (that’s a long phrase)

With Mikaela and Claudia: 

Halloween festival: 

Park: 

Headed home: 

Home: 

Peeking out at mama: 

Bath: 

He woke up a few minutes before 8. We had a nice long morning of playing with Duplos, on the bed, coloring, Endless Numbers, etc. because it turned out they were cleaning the floors. August had heard what he thought was a saw soon after waking up, and I said no, I thought it was a neighbor vacuuming. But around 9 I noticed it was still going. At 9:30 I opened our door to find the hallway a lake. By 11 I judged it dry enough for us to go out. We were supposed to have gotten a small table out of storage for the Halloween activity tonight, but they were still working on that hallway.

We stood on the bus to Dream Forest. He did okay, but suddenly started dropping his broom. But he did like me crouching to get it, I think. At one point, right near the end, he let out a really long yell. That was it.

We started at the main playground. We were up on the shaky bridge area when a bunch of bigger kids came. I had to get August out of the way, which he was not happy about. Soon after that, he decided he wanted to play in the sand, so we went over to the other playground, which was deserted. Wrote a lot of letters, numbers, and some hangul in the sand. He surprised me by requesting ‘eleven’ as the first number – he had heard it on Endless Numbers. We ate lunch and did some more writing in the sand, then played on the bench, throwing his shovel into the bushes behind. He bravely dropped down to the other side a few times. It is taller on the backside than the front, so he stumbled and fell once, but bounced back up.

It was getting windy and cold, so we went inside to eventually change him and start a nap. There was an exhibit of African art that had just opened, and it was very colorful, and had stuffed animals (lions, giraffes, etc.) out front. So August wanted to see the art. Timing was bad though, as he was tired and hyper. I couldn’t get him to focus, and he kept wanting to run off and touch the art, etc. And he got down and did yoga, which was fine, but then he was grabbing my hand, and pulling me down, saying “more yogas”. He wasn’t happy that I wouldn’t get down and do yoga with him in the middle of an art exhibit.

One of the women working the desk came over and gave him a free cardboard lion. Very nice. He really liked it, and we went back out front of the exhibit and he was putting it on the floor saying “roar, roar”. Later he was saying “I got my roar” as he held it. The tail came off, and he was focused on putting it back on. He needed my help to actually get it. Then he would take it back off, etc. Eventually, the tip of the tail broke off. He wanted me to fix it, saying “help, help” and doing the sign for help.

We were past the 5 hour mark, so I got him changed and in the backpack, and he was happy to give me the lion for safekeeping. We walked around, going up the road then on to the trail past the observatory, then coming back down, for about 10 minutes before he fell asleep. Went into Dream Cafe and he slept 1:46 to 2:37. He woke up, and we went into the book area, where we looked at books and played Endless Reader. He crawled into the hole in the middle of the hexagon of low benches/tables and played in there for awhile.

We then made a second stab at the art exhibit (we hadn’t seen much of it the first time). Did much better this time. Still, he was distracted by the big stuffed animals out front. We’d be looking at the art, then he’d remember them and say “more animals” and want to leave. Which was too bad, as most of the art had animals in it and was exactly the sort of thing he likes. Anyway, as we were leaving, one of the women asked if we could stay, as they were filming a documentary. There was currently no one else in the gallery. So we did one more tour of the gallery, and August was actually at his most focused.

From there we walked to APIS. A quick walk as we needed to meet Carly and get pizza before the Halloween gathering at 5. I dropped him off with Carly, then went and ordered pizza. Walked back to school, got the two of them, and we all walked and picked up the pizza, where we ran into Jill and Nathalie and their kids. We walked into Lotte Castle to the playground where the gathering was happening.

August had a blast. Mainly, he liked the food. He ate the spicy chicken, a ton of pizza, watermelon, and banana, declaring everything “yummy”. He had a nice staredown with one of the older boys, and really liked it Carly or he would poke the eye on Landy’s minion costume and she would make noises. Also, I up a new game, where I would have August jump over Carly’s head. That was pretty exciting.

It was getting quite dark, and we needed to get the table and some more candy before everyone showed up at Brownstone, so we left. First time putting August in the backpack in his big puffy jacket (Carly had put it on before leaving APIS). But we got that figured out. But then it turned out that Landy was driving, so we rode with her. August found this a bit disturbing, but we were able to sing songs and make it home – Landy is a kindergarten teacher, so that helped.

Carly went to do the storage room stuff and get candy and I took August up. He was not happy with mama being gone again. But I got him calmed down by the time she got back. We got things set up, then August and I were playing on the bed. At one point he said “fun” and “fun with dada”.

The second grade teacher, Kim, showed up first. He responded very positively to her, which was a good sign. I was prepping him, saying “Megan will be here soon” and “big kids are coming”. He was also great with Megan, and when the big crowd of kids came he initially did quite well, greeting them, and walking in with them to the room with the cards and stickers. But then it really filled up and he got overwhelmed. At that point, Carly took him in and nursed for the rest of the time the kids (20+ people in all) were there.

They left, and Kim and Megan stayed for 30 minutes or so. August had a blast with them, showing off his flopping on the bed, how he goes under the blanket now, etc. Megan showed him he could decorate the light switch with stickers. He said “bye bye” to them over and over as they left.

While Carly was taking a shower, he walked down the hallway, saying “change diaper”. Very nice when that happens. We then played on the bed some more, doing the mountain thing. At one point he wanted to find the blue broom and said “Blue broom, where are you?”

Thought he would go to sleep earlier, but a crash didn’t happen. He was still awake at 9:50. We read the Korean counting book and were on a second book when he suddenly got up and started walking down the hall. He said “Nurse, bedroom”, then “want go to sleep.” And he did.

He’s really into making things plurals, including overextending the S. He nows says “more ickyS” and “more yogaS”. He pronounces the S with quite an emphasis, saying “lettersss”.

New words/phrases: wet sheet, espresso machine, Max, Kim’s stuff, see Zinnie flop, a-gee moo (baby cow), monster party

Dream Forest: 

After his nap: 

APIS Halloween:

Back home: 

It was a chilly day at Children’s Grand Park. We were in no hurry to leave the house, as it was still below 40 around 9am. He woke up at 6:10. We started the day with some coloring and play dough, then made eggs for breakfast. We played on the bed, then he confused me by pointing to the blankets and saying “icky”. At first it was just one, and I thought maybe he saw a hair on it or something. But no. He started pointing to the other blanket, then started lifting it up and pointing underneath and saying it. And then it clicked: he was referring to the darkness/being confined under it. He has never really liked being under a blanket or in small spaces. But today that started to change, as I then started putting the blanket around me and he slowly started to get under the blanket more. Then he would have enough and jump out, but then say “more icky”. By the time we played again in the evening he was sitting under the blanket fully with me.

While we were playing on the bed he also started saying “climb dada mountain”, meaning climbing on my knees. And several times he said “Zinnie Dada sit”, meaning he just wanted to sit next to me for a little while.

Anyway, around 10 we finally headed out. What also slows us down is that the whole process of putting on socks, shoes, a sweater is not August’s favorite right now. Anyway, it was another smooth subway day, mainly because we got a seat all the way down and August played Endless Reader.

At the park I asked him what he wanted to do, and he replied “zoo”. When I asked him what he wanted to see in the zoo he said “animals”. When I tried to set him down to walk before we got to the zoo, he climbed back up in my arms, pointing forward saying “zoo”.

At the zoo we started with the horses, then went to the deer, and then to the kangaroos. At the kangaroos he suddenly announced “more yoga”, laid down on the walkway, and started doing his yoga. School groups were also using the narrow walkway, so I suggested we go somewhere else. We went across from the herbivore area to a terraced seating area that is little used. August agreed it would be a good spot (although I can’t remember exactly what he said). He crawled around there and we ate some lunch. He found a couple pieces of garbage and we walked them across to the garbage can.

We then went and saw the zebras and other herbivores, then walked up and around to the outdoor birds. We don’t see them often, so August had fun – he particularly liked all the small “tweet tweet” birds that fly in and out of the cages. From there we went and saw the primates.

It was now 5 and a half hours since his wakeup, so I started to take him up for our nap routine, but he saw the tropical building and wanted to see the lizards. So we went in there for another half hour. At the turtles he suddenly started saying “snapping turtle”. I wasn’t sure I’d heard him correctly, so asked, “Wait, what kind of turtle?” and he replied “snapping turtle, snapping turtle”.

When we were done w went up and changed him, and put him in the backpack and he fell asleep instantly – just over two minutes after we started walking.

Went to Dream Cafe and had a monster nap. He was asleep at 12:25 in the backpack. At 12:58, a loud group came by and woke him up. I picked him up and he fell back to sleep. I sat down, my back against the picnic table, and he slept like that. Until 2:44. Not the most comfortable position by the end, but not too bad, and I got a lot of reading and other stuff done. At 2:44 he popped awake, saying “waterfall” twice. He was referring to the sound of the wind in the trees behind him. While he slept, the clouds and wind had rolled in. I had my coat around him while he slept, so we managed to stay warm enough while he slept.

He looked at the book I’m reading, as usual, and said “All the letters” and identified the little penguin logo as a penguin. We went inside, and he saw the popsicle characters on the side of the cooler. He has always liked them, but this time he called them “monsters” and named their colors for the first time. We then looked at the cool counting book with the elevator in it for awhile.

Time was running out to do anything else, so we got going. He initially said “animals” for what he wanted to do, but when we walked by the central playground it turned into “More playground”. So we stopped and mainly played in the sand, writing letters. The clouds were getting thicker and the wind was picking up, so I put on his jacket over the sweater. He didn’t fight it, but complained for a little while, letting out one good yell of frustration.

We left a little before 4, changing him near the entrance. Felt a couple drops before we left the park, and when we got out at Hagye there was a drizzle. We made it home about 4:50 – good timing, as by the time Carly came home at 5:15 it was pouring.

After she was here, August was pointing out that we were all together by saying “Mama’s here, dada’s here, Zinnie’s here”. We played on the bed more, and he was getting more and more used to the ‘icky’. Carly fed him, then I gave him a bath. He went to sleep around 9, but later, when Carly was in the bathroom, he suddenly opened the door, walked down the hall, and picked up his yellow broom. Carly came and picked him up and took him back to bed without him making a sound.

New words/phrases: flop, dada’s cords, more dada Zinnie (wanting to sit together), someone’s tea, more yogas, dada carry, over here (pointing to a gecko he spotted), snapping turtle, nah-bees out there, mama’s swimsuit

Children’s Grand Park: 

Sleeping on me: 

After his nap: 

Tree he was looking at: 

Playground: 

Evening: