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He got up at 6:50. He came and cuddled behind me on the couch. Then went and did the frog puzzle in the floor. He was hungry and excited about Cheerios and strawberries this morning. I took off his diaper, which was dry, and he wanted long underwear (pajama pants) on. We ate breakfast together, then he watched math and science videos and traced some words. He played Are You Sleeping and added in a bass note to the last line. Had some more Cheerios, then randomly asked “How do you spell key?” We continued thusly:

“Like a key for a house?”

“A key for a car!”

“K e y”

He then wrote it with his finger on the table, then up towards the ceiling.

“K out of poop.”

“Ahh, why does everything have to be made of poop?”

“I like it that way.”

We went in to the bed. He had them make blueberry waffles, then stuffed them in the crack. We made a fort and read Creepy Carrots, then August made cookies and sent GM to get ice cream. Then more ice cream. We ended up discussing Molly Moon’s in Seattle and looking up what flavors they have now. Anyway, I said they’d had enough. He replied “Come on. Everyone is still hungry. I want Marshy to get more ice cream…I’m not stuffed. I have more room in my tummy. I can still eat more ice cream.”

He asked “Where do strawberries come from? Where does milk come from?” So we looked up photos of strawberry plants and YouTube videos of milking cows.

Sitting in his fort, he was pretending to find garbage in the pillows “it’s upstairs…a cold hallway…garbage…and other things…I can show you dada…a movie theater…there’s animals down there.” He had the blanket over his feet and said he didn’t have any, which led to a deep conversation about what it would be like if he didn’t have feet or lets.

We went out and had cheese and crackers for a snack, then I took a shower. I came out to find him playing with ShapeKit (he made a turtle) and then the Montessorium Numbers app. He was starting to figure out the puzzle where you arrange the lines in order. We made a salmon sandoo, then he played piano, and we looked up the words to Frere Jacques in French. I said he’d start learning a new song soon, and he said he wants to learn Yankee Doodle on the piano. That would be a difficult one.

We brushed our teeth and got ready to go out. Paused to look at a globe app on the iPad. He then made up a little song that went “Bye bye friends, we’re going to go outside.” “Bye!”

We left at 12:35. When he saw the backpack on the table he stopped, looked at me seriously, and said “I want my bike.” I said he might take a nap so we needed the backpack and reminded him he had been tired (he had been rubbing his eyes, and pointed it out, when he was on the toilet). He thought for a second and said “Let’s give it a try. Let’s do that.” I thought he was going to say try a nap on the bike, but he was suddenly fine with the backpack.

Walked up towards Sarang Children’s Park. He was falling asleep. A little before 1 I looked back as he was quiet and he said something like “I not taking a nap.” He was asleep at 12:57. Or so I thought. The second I walked into a building at 1:00 I heard a very slurred “Where we going?” Stood at the corner waiting for a light for a couple minutes, but then figured he was asleep so I went back in the building and upstairs to YogerPresso. He slept until 2:21. I had unzipped his coat, but he had ended up laying on the zipper, and had marks all over his face. I think he woke up because it was uncomfortable.

We went up the stairs to the fifth floor to the Trampoline Cafe. Basically a small kids cafe with a bouncy area (like the Namu one next door in the pink building). I had said he could have a drink, but all they had in their big selection of drinks was the sugary Pororo drinks. You could just tell, and it delivered. August enjoyed the strawberry drink though. He went and played in the digging place for a couple minutes, then went and played with one of the dolls. It didn’t have clothes on, so he put it in the bath and it took a bath. We spent most of our time playing with these curved block things. We made shapes, worked on patterns (he’s understanding those better), and he made a snake that kept getting bigger. At one point, when we were doing patterns, I asked if I could use a piece off of it and he said “No”.

We heard “Puff the Magic Dragon” playing and I noted we hadn’t sung/read that in a long time. We were still playing, but he was apparently listening, as he asked “Why ‘not so little boys’?” “Why ‘came no more’?” I mentioned he might like the cartoon version now, and he kept asking about that: “Why now?” I made a shape on the ground, and he said it was a dragon. He was then talking excitedly about it. Wasn’t clear the narrative: “bandage, bandage, bandage…for funsies.” Then something about earwax and other gross things in it.

At one point I thought we’d add another hour to our time. We hadn’t been in the ball or trampoline area, but he showed no interest in them. And then he started to say he was sleepy: “Let’s head home. I’m too sleepy. I want to get in the backamapack. I’m sleepy. I want to go home.“ We left at 3:21. The woman gave him a couple little treats and he ate one. We had had the place to ourself the whole time, but another boy arrived just before we left. August still didn’t want to stay. Anyway, we went to the bathroom. August used a urinal, as he talked about not liking the cold toilets.

He was walking, and worked on carefully crossing crosswalks as we headed west. He said he had woken up and wanted to go to a park. We headed to the one with the big rope climbing structure – Persimmon Children’s Park. Along the way we spotted a 7-sided (heptagon) hole made out of bricks next to the path and reviewed our polygons.

At the park there were a bunch of kids playing around the swings – like upper elementary. They were a bit crazy and climbing on top of the play structure and the swings. August enjoyed watching them. He went on the swing, and when a boy started standing on the other swing, August wanted to stand to. Did a good amount of swinging, then when he got off he wanted to stand on the railing and hold onto the swings structure. We called that the ‘making mama nervous’ photo of the day.

He played around with chunks of ice and three girls followed us around and talked to us a bit. August tried throwing ice at them a couple times, but then accepted that he couldn’t. Worked our way around, and at one point he and the girls sort of played around on a slippery spot together. Before we left he and I were translating a sign, and the girls came and gave him a chocolate. He ate it as we left and really liked that.

We stopped at Sarang to get in the backpack and he ate a Larabar as we walked. We were home at 4:40. He had been looking forward to his math videos, then did some art on my iPad. He had to go to the bathroom and mostly did it all on his own as he can now turn the light on and off as he is tall enough.

Carly was home at 5:20. They nursed, then we went in on the bed and had the friends eat dinner and ice cream. In the morning he had gone out and gotten all the animals, so it is now quite a crowd. With Carly he went to the bathroom and then they did a lot of math, going in to do it on the paper and with the blocks and with their fingers. He then stood on the dining room chair to make mama nervous, then decided to make her nervous by pretending to snorkel in the reading area (I had mentioned surfing and scuba diving in Israel). I had seen a spark from a shock earlier in the day but he had missed it. So I took him into the closet with the static-y blanket. But he wouldn’t look and keep the door closed long enough to see them. Back on, he explained why we couldn’t go in the closet:  “Maybe there are alligators. We cannot go in there. They will not like us and chomp you.” He then pretended to play with an eel as he sn
orkeled, alternating between hurting it and being nice: “I’m making it a nest because we scared it.”

He also found out he could jump up into the rocking chair and into a headstand pretty easily. He wanted Carly to come in so he could show her a couple times.

I gave him a bath. He watched about 20 minutes of orchestra pieces (Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars) before getting in the water, then watched some more.

Back out, he did more Montessorium Numbers and tracing. He apparently thought he wasn’t supposed to trace the shapes with Carly. I remember once telling him he should do the words instead, but hadn’t made it a big thing. Oh, and at some point earlier in the day he had asked for Q words, and we listed a bunch.

He told Carly he was ready for sleep time, and I thought they were both asleep about 9:45, but Carly came out at 9:55, and August came out a minute later. She went back in with him, and was back out at 10:05.

Photos. Sad frog: 

With the friends: 

Almost asleep by Sarang: 

Awake with zipper marks: 

Sugary drink: 

Doll in the bath: 

Snake: 

Making mama nervous: 

Eating with the friends: 

Upside down counting: 

They were up at 5:40. Silently, as I didn’t hear them. When I got up a little later, August was sitting by himself writing down math problems. He did 8-8 and 1-1 on his own, figuring out the answer was 0. He then moved to the piano where he made up a little repeating rhythm that was unique. He was tracing words as mama left, then did some art on the iPad. He was hungry so we made scrambled eggs with olives and mushrooms. He wanted to have his own bowl this morning. We next went into the bed and played with the friends. Had them making food, then was being hyper. I think I was suggesting something else, and he said “I have a few things on my list.” Eventually, he wanted to move to the reading area, and took some of the stuffed animals: “I want to read books with the friends.” We read the 0 to 10 Bob Book. He next wanted to watch an orchestra. We watched the Auckland Symphony Orchestra play Pirates of the Caribbean. Then Mahler’s Symphony No. 2. We agreed that one wasn’t as good, so we switched to Beethoven’s Ninth. Did some exercise, then he watched math and word videos and I showered.

As I was finishing up, he came in and said he needed to go to the bathroom. Wanted mama’s bathroom though. He waited until I was out of the shower. He wanted a snack and I gave him a few crackers. He asked “Can you eat crackers in the parlor?” I said no. He asked “Are You sure about that?” We then read Creepy Carrots – he’s reading more and more of it himself, then back on the toilet. Often when he eats or drinks now he talks about the food or water going down to his stomach. Today he asked what happens if it goes up. That had us joking about poop coming out his head.

We brushed our teeth and he chose the spit out kind today, then were getting ready to go. He had voiced a lack of excitement about going out today because “It’s cold outside.” But once we got out he ended up playing in playgrounds a lot. Getting him there was a bit of a struggle, and he was showing first signs of getting tired when he suddenly started crying when I tried to brush his hair. He then wanted in the backamapack and we were out the door just past 11.

Didn’t have him go to the bathroom right before we left, and that was a mistake. I had been hoping he could make it to Children’s Grand Park. On the train he sat between two women on the train that fawned over him. One let him watch part of the video she was watching. Then, while he was playing on his iPad, he said “I’m peeing…I need to go on the toilet.” We jumped off at the next stop, Meokgol, and went up to the bathroom. His underwear and long underwear were a bit wet, so we changed those, but his grey pants were fine.  Got back on a train and made it to Children’s Grand Park. When we got off the train he started walking shapes on the ground: “I’m making a J…I’m making a U on the ground.” He passed on getting kimbap, eggs, etc., saying peanut butter sandoo and strawberries were enough.

We walked to the Botanical Garden building. It was open today. We went upstairs and ate lunch in our usual spot. He was good with the plants today, but I had to issue some warnings about being rough with the leaves and plants. He asked what would happen if he broke off leaves and I said they make us leave. Then he asked what would happen if they told us to leave but we didn’t. I talked about the police coming. He then asked “What happen if they kick us out and we don’t leave and we hide in a tree?” I have no idea where this hiding in a tree idea came from. Or evading the cops, for that matter.

Back outside the botanical garden we spent several minutes breaking up the snow/ice on the ground. Then over to the playground where he did hopscotch and went on the swing. It was getting to be time for a nap. He did hopscotch again, then worked on getting in the big round swing. He wanted me to put him in, but I said after his nap. We went up to the bathroom, then went to put him in the backpack. He wanted me to pick him up, and started to run to me and tripped on a hole in the ground and fell right on his hands and stomach. He wanted in the backpack, and we were off. Took 10 minutes to fall asleep, and was asleep at 1:34. Went to the upstairs coffee shop and slept until just after 3 when I woke him up.

He was still sleepy. He woke up a bit and wanted a drink, so we went up and he chose an apple juice. Drank that and played a couple minutes on the iPad, but then went and sat on the floor, looking out the window for a few minutes. After that, he wanted to go back to the playground. We went back and went in the big round swing. Did that for several minutes, then he wanted to check out the blue seat swing. In that he instantly looked sleepy and I thought he might fall back to sleep. I asked him and he agreed he felt sleepy. He wanted his sunglasses on, then I really couldn’t tell. Close to 15 minutes in that swing, and at about 4 we headed home. He called that swing the “Relaxing swing”. And we made up a new Are You Sleeping? verse: “Are you sleeping…Little Zinnie…Your sunglasses are on…Bee, buzz, bzzz”. The last being the noises he makes to pretend to be a bee and wake us up.

We were home at 4:45. Watched some iPad videos, then was hungry. I had just offered some rice pilaf and he had requested “Something else” when Carly got home at 5:45. They nursed, then Carly was going to go downstairs and get more rice. August said “I’m tired of rice”. But he wanted to go down to GS25 with her. Last time she had had an issue with him running off while she was trying to pay, so she talked through the rules this time. He asked what ‘aisle’ meant, so she drew a map of GS25 and talked through it. It worked, as he did fine.

Back up, he watched some math videos and ate with Carly. I then suggested we go in on the bed to play with the friends. He agreed, but first ate much of my dinner as well (he wasn’t tired of rice pilaf after all). He had the friends eat dinner, then that turned into the throwing up game after he stepped in the food. I had the pillows throw up on him. He then said there was poop everywhere, including the pillows. He then laughed hysterically as he went and told mama he put poop on her pillow after I suggested he shouldn’t go tell her.

He calmed down a bit and then went and nursed, then played piano. Carly gave him a bath, and I heard him joking around about whether it was a hair washing day: “Is it a spine washing day?” When she got him dressed he wanted a lot of socks, and came out wearing 4 on one foot and 3 on the other. He was quite happy with his 7 socks, and wore them to sleep. He saw a vein on Carly’s wrist and asked what bone it was. She pointed out it was a vein. He pressed it and said it was “squishy”. She took a shower and he and I played with the friends one more time. This time they had desert. He kept saying he was ready to sleep. We didn’t believe him at first, but he kept asking, and looked tired. Carly had some more getting ready to do, so he watched her iron, a bit impatiently, then was asleep by 8:40.

Breaking ice: 

Hopscotch: 

Apple juice: 

Sitting on the floor: 

New swings: 

7 socks: 

We stayed home much of the day, which was fine because there was a lot of music and math and art time in there, then headed out to parks in the later afternoon.

He was up at 7:25. First thing he said was that he is hungry, so he ate the last bit of banana bread. Then played Are You Sleeping and worked on the Brother John part after which he traced our list of body part words for awhile. He watched some math videos, then we exercised and I took a shower. He was back to watching math and word videos. Made egg and toast for breakfast, and he ate a lot of that. I haven’t felt like eggs for quite awhile, but was getting tired of cereal. He ate a lot of that, then decided to do math, first on the door, but then said we should do it on paper. Went into the parlor and we did math on paper. Out of the blue he wrote ‘ALL’ on the paper – it was one of the word videos he had watched earlier. We used the blue counting squares for working out our math problems – we called them blueberries. In the end we counted all of them and found we have 97.

He tried doing a headstand and actually got his feet in the air for a second or two then did a forward roll. He called this a “Flip forward roll”. We read the Red Hen Bob Book and another one at some point. He was singing songs from the song book, and one song title is in French (Dites-moi, I think). He said “I want to learn French…and German.” I don’t know where he got German from. We watched a German number songs video, but then he remembered watching an orchestra yesterday. We watched Beethoven’s Ninth, performed by the Chicago Orchestra. He watched 15 minutes before wanting to do something else.

We went in on the bed. He had the friends do some cooking, then was really into pretending to cook himself. It was fun to see him copy what we do when making banana bread (including using things like baking soda). I went and got a bowl and spoon and measuring cup for him. After that, we made a fort and read Creepy Carrots a couple times. He had wanted more friends in there, so we brought Turkey, GG, and Peter Rabbit in as well.

We were getting hungry, so started with some cheese and crackers, then made a salmon sandoo. I’d been tracking the Super Bowl, so turned on the end of it and overtime. August didn’t show any interest until it was over and there was all the cheering. I had also had a webinar thing playing earlier and he had ignored that. But when the orchestra is on he is very attentive.

He showed me some more how to slide and jump, then played all of Are You Sleeping. Wanted me to play xylophone while he played piano. Then to ipad for Figure and Notion. We watched more of the orchestra, then did art on the iPad with the pencil before tracing body part words. I was getting him ready to go, and picked him up to put on a pair of pants. He instantly started crying. He agreed he was tired, and said he wanted to go sleep in the parlor. We lay in there for awhile, but he said the sun was too bright and said he wanted the bed. As usual though, once we were in on the bed he wouldn’t rest. Went back out and he was tracing some words while I finished getting us ready.

They started testing the alarms in the building (so that was what they had announced this morning…). I told August it was okay, but it still scared him as it kept going off every few seconds: “I want to go home…I want to go outside.” I picked him up and he was then hiding in reading area while I got our coats. We slipped out and got on his bike and headed out. It was just after 2:30.

We rode up north and ended up going to 3 parks. First, we went to 느티울근린공원, which is the park complex north of Sarang Children’s Park. We were last here with Carly several months ago when he watched big kids climbing on the big rope structure and he wanted to climb to. That’s where he went first, and he was actually able to climb up in it a bit, with just a little help. He climbed around a pole, then was trying to step down while holding on to a horizontal rope with both hands. He couldn’t reach the rope below, and ended up swinging by his hands. He hung there for several seconds, then fell the 4 inches to the ground. Kind of tumbled, but recovered and was fine with it.

He then went over and started to climb up the little play structure, but then realized he needed to go to the bathroom. We went over only to find the bathrooms closed. While figuring out what to do, he went on the swings for a minute. We then went and got on the bike and walked around and found bathrooms in a little office/community center building. But while we were talking I had mentioned another park nearby that, last time we were there, was all dug up. He wanted to go see what the work had done, so we headed that direction. The park (선녀어린이공원) was a disappointment – all the work they had been doing was apparently just for a water line or something. But there were some small swings. He went on those for several minutes. We then headed over to Sarang Children’s park, just a block west, to play with the sand.

We did our usual bucket and chute filling and emptying. He worked a bit on pulling the chain to raise the bucket. A girl came and asked him his name in English. He replied with ‘August’. I told him to ask her name, in Korean, but she had already run off and didn’t hear him. A bit later there were a few boys kind of close, and August went up and made funny noises to them. They responded by yelling back, and acting like chickens, and chasing August around. Fun, but a bit much, and I had to tell one boy to stop chasing August when he got a little worried. Then, they were playing with August’s shovel. August at first said something about sharing, but a minute later when I mentioned they’d give it back, August suddenly got upset and started crying. I paused to comfort him, then go get the shovel, but then I heard a crack. They had cracked the shovel. Luckily, it still works and should be fixable.

But August was done, and wanted to head home. He was fine after he had the shovel back and we were on our way.

In the evening he played Are You Sleeping for Carly, and we all finished watching Beethoven’s Ninth. August now said he wants to play the oboe. He also traced the body parts words and made funny sentences in the sentence app. Carly gave him a bath, and he wanted two pairs of socks on for sleeping. He said his feet have been cold. He was asleep by 7:20.

 

Photos. Our blueberries: 

Math: 

Reading in a fort: 

Hiding from the alarm test: 

Climbing: 

Swinging: 

Swings: 

Larabar: 

With the friends: 

Upside down: 

Hiding from the light: 

He woke up at 12:30 during the night and needed to go to the bathroom. Carly helped him into the bathroom, then he came and fell back to sleep. Woohoo! Later in the night I thought I heard him up and talking. I rolled over and looked. He was sleeping on his back, with his head towards the end of the bed. Think he had woken up a bit, then lay back down.

He was up about 6:30 or so. They were Skyping with Cherie and Chuck when I got up awhile later. After I’d had some breakfast, he took me into the bedroom to play. He told Bluie “Carrot waffles, Bluie.” They ate various things, including pizza which had ”spiders, macaroni, sauce, pepper, onion, peach, apple.” Back out to Carly where he nursed and then watched a bit of a documentary on Netflix about blue whales. He was interested in it, but decided it was an “adult” video because it was confusing. They did some typing, then he took me back to the bedroom and we played more with the animals. It turned into a throw up game. Worn out, he went in the parlor and played with ththe fruits and veggies a bit by himself. I then watched as he put them all away, put the lid on, and put the container away along the wall, all without a word from me. After that he played with Duplos by himself for a few minutes before wanting me to join him.

He said something about Mama not going to work today, and we started discussing days of the week. I used Duplos in a line to represent the days, with short Duplos being the weekdays that she works, and tall ones being the weekend days she doesn’t. That turned into a game where he started adding days (blocks) to the cycle. We would then inform Carly of her new work schedule, and she would (generally) be upset about it, because it meant working more days in a row. August got it up to something like 24 days of work in a row, followed by 8 days off.

They then nursed and rested on the couch, then August piled things on top of her. I took a shower and she took him outside at 10:30. They came back a few minutes later for a towel to dry of the swings. Back outside it was rainy and snowy. August liked drying off the swings but didn’t want to get on them. They were back a little after 11. He and I made a salmon sandwich. While I made it, he ate salmon on crackers and like tormenting Carly with his breath. That game got old after a bit, so as we finished up the sandwich Carly closed the door to the parlor.

He took a nap from about 12:15 to 1:20. Nursed and played with Carly. They pretended to be in the ocean, being eels and whales and eating fish and things. And they read a couple Bob Books. They put Bob Book stickers on a piece of paper, then colored it. I started playing with him and we colored it some more, then he started making squares out of crayons on his own. I showed him he could make equilateral triangles, and he did those, then used a broken crayon to make an isosceles triangle. Carly came in and made more shapes with him. They made something like 30 shapes. They were all triangles except for one square, which I pointed out was lonely. August then made a big rectangle and said it was so the square wouldn’t be lonely.

He had me play a bit of the meeting game, then we brushed our teeth. He was getting crazy with it, trying to run around while brushing, and I had to take it away. He was upset about that. They nursed, then we got him ready to go outside. On the toilet, he asked about washing strawberries again. We ended up joking about all the kinds of poop that could be on the strawberries: giraffe, bear, Zinnie, etc. Finally, he wanted to look at his fingerprints with the flashlight.

He and I left with his bike and got to the art museum play area about 3:40. Had 20 good minutes of play time before it closed. It was busy, which was good and bad. Lots of kids to play with, but August also wanted to just throw balls at people, and practice overhand. So I had to stop him a few times, and use the treat of leaving. Later, when we were back home he told Carly about throwing balls and Dada saying we’d have to leave. He got better though, and got gentle with other people, and did overhand at a wall and the metal tank structure.

He wanted to ride around on the bike (no rain now, so nicer than earlier). We rode around that side of the park, through all the Pokémon players, then back over to our side of the park, where we did most of a loop, then stopped at the ‘Mama sculpture’. He walked along the edge, and we went up on the boardwalk area. He started to find beads and put them in the back of the bike. There were a lot. We played around up there for 15 minutes or so, finding beads, then back down on the path he jumped in a muddy puddle. He said, I thought, something about going “swinging”, so I got the stroller, then wasn’t understanding why he didn’t want to go to the playground. He said “I said swimming.” I figured out that he had said ‘swimming’ in the first place, not swinging. He thought that was pretty funny. He also found one of the ice pushing things laying on the ground, so we decided to take it back to the ice area where it belonged. We put it in the bike and walked around and put it on the side of the ice rink, then headed home.

At home he nursed and spent a little time with Carly. She wanted to get out for a walk, so the two of them took the stroller (the first time in the stroller in a couple weeks?) and they went to Starbucks. He got his chia drink again. They were home at 6:30.

He ate pilaf for dinner, then was tracing letters and numbers on the iPad. He was really into that, and had already done a lot, but wanted lots more. But he agreed to go take a bath if he could do some more afterwards.

In the bathroom I decided we should watch some more music. I got my iPad and searched for ‘orchestra’ in YouTube. One of the first results was for the Seoul Symphony performing Tchaikovsky’s 6th. August loved it. When we spotted Jeff (Cora’s dad) playing trumpet, we went out and showed Carly, then went back in. August stood and watched 22 minutes of it before I decided it was time to wash him. We washed him (at first he insisted on washing himself, but then said we should do it together), then went out on the couch where we watched the rest of the symphony (50 minutes total) with Carly, and he now traced Arabic. Carly asked him what instrument he wanted to play. He sat up from nursing for several seconds, thinking about it, and said “viola”.

Around 9 I had him put the iPad away and we went in on the bed and played a little. He then sang from the songbook. 9:30 or so he was all dressed for bed and went to the bathroom (he remembered himself about going to the bathroom before going to sleep) and was ready to go to sleep. He went to tell Carly. She needed a couple more minutes to finish writing something, so I suggested we go back and tell a Puffin Rock story in the dark. He agreed, but then on the bed just started playing with the animals, jumping on them to break their bones, yelling “break”. I put an end to that, and Carly came in. Thought he was very ready for sleep, but not so much. Had difficulty getting to sleep. I told him one Puffin Rock story at one point, then finally he was asleep at 10:22.

 

Photos: 

Playing by himself: 

Mama’s work schedule: 

Stickers and coloring: 

Rectangle: 

Ball area: 

Walking by the mama statue: 

Collecting beads: 

Pushing: 

Arabic: 

Awake 7:20. He helped me with recycling and was really into putting everything in bags, and into seeing how many milk cartons or styrofoam pieces he could carry. And carefully holding a glass bottle. He and Carly took down the recycling in two trips and I had my book group meeting to discuss the Corporate High School book. August came in and said hi and shalom and the beginning, then was hyper for the next hour and a half. He did a lot of screeching out in the living room, then they Skyped with Vivian and company and August and Vivian danced together. She had gone to her first ballet class and wanted August to dress in a ballet outfit as well.

When I was done at 10 he was calming down with Carly. He then played with me. First hyper, playing the ‘interrupting dada’s meeting’ game, then showing me his dancing. But then he calmed down and was pretending to sleep on the reading area. For several minutes he was just pretending to be a slightly sad baby sleeping or trying to sleep. A very adorable new thing. He then listened to my heart.

Out to Carly where he nursed and they read Frida. I took a shower. Back out, we played piano together. August is doing a full C chord now, but requires two hands. He took the keys out, then went and got Green Monster to help us put the keys back in. That done, we did some surgery on Green Monster. August took GM and put him in a cave in the reading area so he could sleep.

August nursed, then we decided to go to Pink Burger for lunch. August was sort of playing hide and seek with Carly, and she was hiding back in my bathroom, in the dark. August didn’t want to go back there on his own, so made me go as well. She growled and I said maybe it was a dragon. August was laughing and squealing and hid behind my leg, crouching on the ground. After she came out, he then went and hid by the couch and made dragon noises himself.

We headed down to Pink Burger for lunch. I ordered our burgers and fries and squid rings. We took a notebook and markers down, so he and Carly did some Hebrew letters. He wanted to watch the cooking, but then got impatient waiting for the food. So Carly took him over to Mama Juice and he got a blueberry juice. Came back and ate – he really liked dipping the fries and rings in ketchup. We then all went over to the grocery store.

Kind of like the last time we went with Carly, he had difficulty in the grocery store, wanting to touch everything and run off. Carly was about done, but started crying when I picked him up. We switched and I did check out and she played with him. They turned the poking/breaking thing into the game, and as we headed home, him on the bike, he was pretending to poke and break everything, saying “break, break, break…”

Back at home, he wanted to see pictures of blood: “I want pictures of blood please. Blood, blood, blood, blood…more blood, please.” He then played with the Arabic app and piano keyboard app. We were then trying to decide to go outside. He wasn’t sure he wanted to go, and the pollution was high. But eventually he was getting a bit hyper. Carly was chopping vegetables, and he was joking about trying to put his finger up on the cutting board. I started spinning him on the floor, and he was giggling like crazy, and kept chanting “more, more, more.” He then wanted to play on the bed, and went and got GM from where he had put him after the surgery earlier. Also earlier, he had fallen off the bed. He had gone to jump of the end, kind of plopping his bottom on the edge of the bed, then his feet on the ground. But he bounced off the mattress, and bounced across and hit the door. He recovered and said he was okay.

Anyway, this time Green Monster broke his tailbone. He said GM “slipped on ice, snow, pee, and poop.” With Green Monster resting from his surgery, August then got Peter Rabbit and we did the objects on the table game from Sesame Street. He went to the bathroom and then checked out mama’s cooking, then he played Are You Sleeping and kept repeating the “Brother John” notes and sang along, screeching it.

Finally, we really got ready to go outside. Or, almost, as he and Carly ended up playing around and coming up with the phrase “Mama mission mode” while being silly.

So August and I left, and walked up to Chrysanthemum Park. His choice. There, we went on the swings for awhile, then he got off and walking around. He was looking for slippery spots, but everything was melting because of the heat. When I told him there were no slippery spots he got sad and started crying. He was done with the park after that and wanted to head home.

On the way home we sang Yankee Doodle and he decided he wanted to go to the Dinosaur playground across the street. We spent about an hour there. Due to the way I narrate what we’re doing, he has caught me pointing out Pokémon players several times. And he’s started asking “What’s Pokémon?” So when it happened by the dinosaurs I put Pokémon Go on my phone and we caught a few Pokémon. I then realized I could have August ‘pet’ the Pokémon and I could take a screenshot, so we took a few photos to do that. He would go stand and I’d take the photo, then he’d come and look at it, and want to do another one.

Eventually the swings opened up and August went on the swing for awhile. We then headed home. Carly had finished a rice pilaf, and August ate a bunch of it for dinner. He kept wanting more and more. They nursed, and August was falling asleep. Got him to wake up with Puffin Rock. I took him in for his bath. He kept asking if it was a hair washing day. And said “I’m going to make it a hair washing day.” In the bathroom, I realized that Amanda Palmer was live broadcasting a concert. So we had that on the iPad while he took a shower. He watched her playing piano. And he did most of his own washing again.

After that we went out to the living room and he did Arabic and letter tracing on the iPad as we watched more Amanda Palmer. He was asleep by 8:20.

 

Photos. Pretending to slee: 

Triangle: 

Pink Burger. Hebrew: 

Squid: 

Mama’s shoes: 

Chrysanthemum Park: 

Dinosaur playground. Pokémon:  

Home. Arabic and Amanda Palmer: 

He was up early. He started nursing a little after 5, then was up at 5:35. I got up a bit later. He went and grabbed pillows and told me I should get a blanket. He wanted a nest in the reading area. He then grabbed the Curious George Cleans Up book and we read that, then the entire Nursery Book. We then found out that my parents had gotten two cats, and also watched a video of contrabassoon that Cherie had sent. He then wanted Venus fly trap videos.

After some Cheerios, we Skyped with my parents and got to see one of the cats. August want to scare it by screaming, so I turned the mic off. It didn’t help that Skype was doing the echoing thing, so when August made a noise he could hear himself. After Skype we made banana bread and got that baking.

In on the toilet, he said “I’m working on my sounds.” I asked “Which sounds?” He replied “My ph and th sounds…let’s work on ‘photograph’.” So we worked on those. He’s actually starting to pronounce them a bit differently. We made up a tongue twister to practice: The thick fish had a thin fin.

We did some exercise, then I took a shower while he traced words on the app. He was then doing some exercise on his own, then went and played piano. He played Are You Sleeping two handed through “Brother John”. We brushed our teeth and he played with Duplos while I got us ready. He came up to me and said “I’m a little nervous about mama.” I asked why and he replied “I was just making a joke.” He went over to the window and was tracing on it with his finger and said “I drew a heart on the window. It pumps the blood.”

We had, on August’s choice, originally planned to go to Uijeongbu today. But he kept playing at home. We had a long music time, then looked at pictures of blood on his iPad. He switched to Google Maps and identified places we should go: “We can go to this park…we can go to this coffee shop.” In fact he got a little sad when he found a coffee shop on the map that I’d pinned, but said we’d go there some other day when it was warmer. He wanted to go now. A minute later he said “You find Thailand there.” He had zoomed out and indeed read ‘Thailand’ on the world map. That was pretty cool.

He did some Arabic app, then went to the bathroom. We sang Yankee Doodle twice. We talked about what would happen if he scared the cats. He suggested they might bite. I said they’d more likely run and hide and then he couldn’t see them. He said “Then you would cry…(whispered) Don’t be loud.”

Deciding it was too late for Uijeongbu, we decided to walk east, over by the new science center, instead. There was one park I realized we hadn’t added to Google Maps, and a couple others we could go to with swings. We left at 12:15. He fell asleep just east of See and Me at 12:24. We went to a coffee shop I’d seen before called 커피랑 파이랑. He had a good nap and I woke him up at 1:54.

We went across the street and checked out the restaurant/play area we had seen once from the street. A typical Korean restaurant with a small climbing area in it. Okay, but don’t know if we’ll ever go. We walked north and east to the mystery playground. He was singing, and I realized he was singing our Hebrew alphabet song on his own. That park turned out to just be a tiny play structure with no swings. We kept walking and went to 충숙공원, the park in the little valley by the burial area. It is all shaded there, so there was still snow everywhere. He spent several minutes just walking around  and playing on the snow, then went on the swings. The swings were the perfect height, as he could just touch the ground when he was swinging. He was rubbing his feet on the snow, making lines to the dirt below, and realized that it looked like a 4 under him.

He sang some more Hebrew and ate dried mango as a snack, and a little sandwich for lunch. We then headed back home. We were singing Ants Go Marching. Actually, he was singing most of it on his own now, and knows most of the lyrics, although sometimes he needs reminders. He did a lot of screaming for our 20 by 20 verse, then he made up one on his own, singing “100 by 100…the little one stops to say ‘That’s a joke’”.

We got to our Dinosaur Playground at 3:40. We pulled up and he was watching some kids being silly on the swings. I asked “Is Zinnie ever silly?” “No” “Tell the truth” “Yeah!…I’m telling the truth.” He practiced some climbing, then before I could get around to help him he climbed on the tube slide and slid down all by himself. Said he was sleepy, but played for several minutes going back and forth on the slippery ice. At one point I asked if he wanted to do the shaky bridge, but he said “I’m too sleepy to go on the shaky bridge.” He wanted to do the elliptical, and while I held his hands he is now able to make it go in circles on his own. He did the teeter totter for awhile, and went down the slide once. Back to the slippery ice part, then another boy gave him a Fruittella blueberry candy. He was very happy about that.

We headed home about 4:30. I got him interested in eating soup again by putting Sesame Street crackers in it. Carly stayed late at work because there were students working on their NHD projects. She was home a little after 6. They nursed, then we went in and played with the friends on the bed. They ate carrot cookies and carrot stir fry. He was doing forward rolls and wanted me to get upset. I asked “Are you doing forward rolls?” He replied “Not anymore I isn’t.” Back out in the living room, he told Carly about yelling at the cats and how he would get sad if they hid. He ate a slice of banana bread, then ate some of Carly’s lettuce “I ate the lettuce, dada.” Some piano time, then he nursed, and said he felt itchy.

I gave him a bath. Carly had filled it, and he declared it too hot and went and told her. He had the ‘O’ bath letter and was pretending it was a Venus fly trap. But when I tried to put my finger in it he said “No. it’s not a Venus fly trap anymore. I don’t want you to get hurt. I don’t like to see blood.” And gave me quite a facial expression too. A minute later he had soap in his mouth. I asked if it was soap or a hair. He gave me a disgusted look and said “Soap. Not hair. Soap.”

Back out in the parlor after his bath he picked up his little weight and declared it exercise time. He lay on his back and lifted it over his head. Did this for quite awhile. He then told me to exercise and I lay down next to him. But then he wanted meditation time. Haven’t talked about meditation really that I know of, so not sure where that came from. We ended up trying to work on letting his eyes relax closed. He squints his eyes shut. A little success, but still hard for him.

They nursed, then Carly went to take a shower. But first she headed for the closet. August saw this and made a joke “What mama doing in there? Take a shower?” We read Curious George Cleans Up twice. He had some apple, then did a little playing on the bed. He was asleep about 9:30.

A couple days ago, when Carly was talking about her students, he told Carly she teaches fourth grade. It was clear that he knows his ordinal numbers, as I don’t know when we ever talk about the ‘fourth’ of anything. He knows ‘sixth’, ‘seventh’, and ‘eighth’ from her talking about students, and certainly ‘first’ and ‘second’ (and ‘eighth’) from the elevator. The only place I can think of that we’ve talked about the ones in between is in making chords on the piano, as you use them to discuss the different notes in a scale.

 

Photos. Twisting:

Asleep: 

Park: 

4 on the ground: 

Dinosaur playground: 

Ladder: 

Blueberry candy: 

Soap in his mouth faces: 

8:11. Closed the door and played with Suplos on his own for a minute then came out and walked to the bathroom. He had a dry diaper.

We then played on the bed with the “friends”, having them eat various things. We then watched Venus fly trap videos and an ASAPscience one on dehydration. We ate Cheerios for breakfast. We share a bowl now that he feeds himself. After that he played some piano, using two hands to play. Then back to the friends in on the bed. He was a bee buzzing around, but then cuddled with me. Got a hair in his mouth. Took him to spit in the sink, then he went and drank water:  “Now I don’t feel the hair.” Ate some banana, then he wanted to add more words to the tracing app on the iPad. We did some exercise, then played piano and did some finger math. Ate some more cereal and strawberries, then he wanted to go play with “Green Marshy”, as he now calls Green Monster. August was a bit mean, emptying GM’s pool and breaking his humerus bone. Back out in the parlor, August wanted to take care of the giraffe, and did some foot surgery on it.

We headed to Teuni Teuni. At the start of the class, during the Anyang song (Hello), August was going around waving at everyone. He gave the teacher a high five. August was, I think, about ready to do a forward roll with him again, but he put the ramp away right before August got there. After the intro stuff was over, August asked “What’s next?” The activities were about shovels, and trying to balance as they moved things across the room in the shovels. All went well, except near the end August was rubbing his nose as he played and I realized he had a nosebleed. Just a little one, and it didn’t bother him. I explained it was probably because it was dry in winter. Later he was repeating that.

August mentioned being sleepy at one point, but agreed to go down to get groceries. We did that, and he mentioned being sleepy again. I asked if he’d rather eat at the food court, or at Mama Juice, and he agreed to Mama Juice. There, we got two ‘hotdogs’ (corndogs, we would call them). One regular one, and one mozzarella. They make them and fry them right there. August was watching her make them, and he wondered what a tray was full of. I thought it was salt, but she said it was sugar. Apparently, rolling your corndogs in sugar is a thing in Korea. We rolled the regular one. We also got a mango juice and a strawberry banana. We sat and ate our hotdogs and juices (August was quite impressed). Then we headed home.

At home he sort of tried to take a nap on the reading area. We lay down for a few minutes, but then he said it was too bright and wanted the bedroom. But first he got distracted by playing piano with two hands (he wanted me to learn), then we ate some pine nuts. In on the bed be was having too much fun playing and waking me up to try for a nap. Back in on the reading area once more, I was getting sleepy. In waking me up he hit me once. In talking about it later, as we went back to play, he said “and never hit again.”

He went to the bathroom again, then I convinced him to eat some soup by dipping bread in it. He made up a “I can go to the swimming pool” song and was imagining playing piano on freezer door. He then played on the actual piano. He had a little more soup, but then decided he was tired of it again: “Let’s have something better than soup.” And at one point he said he wanted yummy green soup instead.

We decided we wanted to go back outside, and when I asked where he wanted to go he thought and replied “Chrysanthemum Park!” I then asked “Do you want to ride to a park?” “Yeah!…I’m going to sing all the way.” Then, on the way he was driving back and forth and said “I’m making a wave.”

At the park he went on the swings, then climbed up the rope ladder to the play structure. We went around on the rope bridge and shaky bridge to the platform area. He was really interested in the plastic covers that go over the bolts that hold it together. He then went back over the shaky bridge and went down the slide near the swings for, I believe, the first time. He went and rode the little shaky animals and was sing (“I can go see..”), then went and played on the snow, looking for slippery patches. Over on the covered bench area, we found a bolt that was missing its cover. We joked around about it going “bzzzt”.

We headed home. On the elevator he reached up from his bike and touched a guy’s hand. Thought he was being nice, but as we got of the elevator he said “knuckle, knuckle.” Carly was home a bit before us (at 5:30) and August asked her “How was your work going?”

They nursed and we had dinner, then I gave him a bath. Actually, he washed himself, as I barely touched him. After rubbing soap all over the window, he started washing himself: “I’m washing my back…that’s the part that always tickles”. Then, to rinse off I convinced him to sit down. Eventually, he stretched his legs out. Happy with his own progress, he asked “What’s next in the bath?” I suggested lying back like Vivian does. He leaned back a little, but wasn’t ready to go all the way. We got out and put on his bathrobe and he went and told Carly what he did: “I sat down and washed myself…and started to lean back.” He was then walking around making his feet squeak on the floor, and he found out that only the wood floor squeaks.

He was ready for bed soon after that, and was asleep by 8:15.

Photos: 

Being a bee: 

Teuni Teuni: 

He was amused by feeding the flowers to the guy: 

Hot dogs for lunch: 

Chrysanthemum Park: 

Home: 

Up 6:20. Wanted his diaper changed. Carly tried to get him to sleep, but they came out about 6:45. After she left, one of the first things he did was start playing Are You Sleeping and, with a little help, worked his way through all of it. We ate Cheerios, then went and made a nest and played with the stuffed animals on the bed. In the nest we watched Venus fly trap videos, then he did some Arabic. He did some of that while standing with his head on the bed, upside down. We exercised, then hung up laundry. He did some Human Anatomy, and was really into the sternum. We then drew molecules in Sketches. I was finally able to take a shower as he was tracing shapes and words in the tracing app. When I came out he wanted to add words. We did a whole body parts list, added some Spanish words, and added a few ‘big words’, including ‘ballistic’. We sang Yankee Doodle and When Johnny Comes Marching Home a lot. Back to bones: “Take my socks off so we can feel the foot bones.” We did a little of the Big Numbers app, then played piano together.

Before we got going, August wanted to feel/hear the heart beat. I tried showing him how he could feel it on his neck, but that was too tickly for him, so we used my neck. He ended up putting his ear on my chest and listening for a long time. He was pretty fascinated by it. He also felt it in my wrist. He also wanted the breathing, so watched me breathe in and out, then pulled up his shirt and watched himself breathe.

We headed out to Dream Forest. We were singing on the walk down to the bus, then he sang a little on the bus, then went quiet. We got off the bus and still not a sound. I tried asking him a few questions but he wouldn’t say anything. I walked through the park and he fell asleep just as we got to Cafe Dream. He slept there from 12:20 to 1:20. Think he would have slept longer but he was woken when some workers started using a nail gun on some trim or something in the coffee shop.

We were at a table by the windows. A bit chilly. He wanted some peanut butter sandwich. At first he sat on his own, but then sat in my lap because he was cold. He wanted a drink, so we went and got a bottle of orange juice. He was still cold, so we added in his coat as he sat on me. Finally, we decided to go to the book area. He noticed right away that the floors are warm there. He set up in the middle of a hexagon of chairs on the warm floor with his iPad and orange juice. He looked at the skeleton for awhile, then came over to me and we read the Peppa Pig bedtime book a couple times.

When we were done there we went up and used the bathroom, then started walking. We realized he wasn’t interested in playing at the playgrounds, as they don’t have swings. Neither of the art areas had shows open, and he pointed out that all the water areas didn’t have water in them (he kept asking why, and I kept telling him because it was too cold, and much colder than in Thailand where we still had trouble getting in the water. He didn’t seem convinced). He was then commenting about how everything was closed at Dream Forest. 

So we walked to a children’s park just to the west, called 오현어린이공원. We had scouted it out last year, but don’t think we actually played there. It had swings, so August was happy. He went on the swings, then got off and played with chunks of ice. Threw a couple towards some big kids playing on the ground around a phone. We talked about what would happen if he threw more ice at people (“What if I not stop throwing…”). He threw it at me and at the play structure, etc. instead. It was funny though because the ice would often just stick to his glove. He found two beads and put them in the backpack. He said he was getting cold, so I talked about going to APIS to warm up and walk home with mama. He liked that idea, but I told him “Don’t get your hopes up.” because I hadn’t heard back from her yet. He replied “My hopes are up…what hopes up?”

We sang Ants Go Marching (our entire long version, twice) and Yankee Doodle on the way to APIS.  We also saw a parked ‘Delivering Hapiness’ truck so I took a photo. I’ve seen them several times, and it just seems really odd. It also reminded me that while we were in Bangkok and walking by the palace, I saw a Stratford-Upon-Avon double decker tour bus. At first I thought it was just an odd name for a tour bus company, but then as it started to move I realized it advertised seeing Shakespeare’s house, etc. Couldn’t move fast enough to get a photo. But it was an old bus from England that hadn’t been painted and was still being used as a tour bus.

Anyway, at APIS Carly was in a meeting but had said we could come in and get the key to her room. Did that, then went and looked around her room. He needed the bathroom, so we went down there. August commented on seeing Courtney (“Someone is writing in there”) and Sarah in their rooms, and said hi to Sarah. Brett also said hi to him as we got back to the classroom. Carly still wasn’t there, and August started to get a little upset, but I said we could get art. We were getting that out when Carly showed up. He and I drew a cat. Or rather I did. But he said the paws looked like cat poop. I insisted it wasn’t, and so then he drew lines that he said were the cat poop. Carly took him with her to the bathroom, and he said hi to Sarah again. He wanted to nurse, but the cleaning woman was coming in and August didn’t want to go to Megan’s room to do it. He decided to wait until home.

We walked home. He sang the entire way. Just on and on. We were home at 5:30. We had to go with Carly to get milk as August wouldn’t let her out of his sight. At home they nursed, then he spent a lot of time teaching us to swing on our hands and slide between the couch and coffee table. He wanted both of us to do it multiple times. He was then teaching us to jump, where he jumps and then hits his hands on the floor, then hops his feet up. He kept having me do it, but wanted me to do it wrong.

He ate a popsicle and a little soup for dinner. Carly said a little later “You can have some soup.” He replied “No, I just had a popsicle.” He did more listening to my heart. They nursed again, then sang When Johnny Comes Marching Home, with her making up words. I gave him a bath, and he wanted to look at picture of cartilage on my iPad. He kept wanting the surgery photos, so I had to look at that. I mistakenly told him it wasn’t a hair washing day. Carly informed me it was. He was sad about it, but we got through it okay. He wore his bathrobe again.

Carly took a shower, and he listened to my heart and breathing again. He keeps wanting to see things, like the bones, and wanted to see the breathing. He asked “Can I cut you open?” No. No you may not.

He was tired and ready for bed. I got him dressed and we were in on the bed. Carly was ready, and I told him he should listen to Carly’s heart. He was about to, but then told her “Never mind”, as he just wanted to nurse. He was asleep at 9.

Photos. Upside down Arabic

Careful with the knife: 

Listening to my heart:  

Artistic August: 

Orange juice: 

His spot: 

Being Max: 

On the go: 

At the park: 

If you want to be happy, find this truck:  

Carly’s classroom. Drawing cat poop: 

Home: 

Bathrobe:  

Counting: 

He was up at 5:30 or so. Nursed at first then got up with Carly about 5:45. A little after 6 he came back into the bedroom and played with me. We had the stuffed animals eat breakfast (they decided on waffles with mango).

A while later we were it in the living room and Carly went to get dressed. August asked where she was going and she said work. He said “I don’t want (you) to work.” But he was in a good mood, and as she was getting ready to walk out the door he paused with Human Anatomy and said “I want a kiss.” Also, at some point he asked “Why mama not at work yet?”, referring to the fact that he was awake and she was still here. I had to point out that it was still really dark and that he had woken up really early.

He switched and took over my iPad, then we had Cheerios. We went in and did some art and Arabic on the paper and iPad. He watched one Puffin Rock story, then joined in some exercise. We played with the Duplos and started counting them. He wanted to do 55, so we counted then in 10s. I took a shower, and then we spent some time trying out some Arabic apps, finding a couple that we liked. I got ready to go and he wanted some peanut butter. He still jokes about zookeepers in the peanut butter. Today we had this exchange:  “I see zookeepers in there…I’m eating zookeepers.” Me: “That doesn’t seem…” Him: “That seems tasty.” We then looked up cartilage again, and worked on the “Morning bells are ringing” line on the piano. We did math with door magnets and my fingers (pretending they were apples). He remembered Qing things, and went around Qing everything as I told him not to.

Finally, he had a drink of water and asked himself: “Why you drink some water? Because it protects your joints…once we watched a video and…to protect the joints.” He had learned that on the videos he watched with Carly.

We walked and caught the subway down. He wore his red sunglasses on the way there. It was late, about 12:30, so we got some kimbap and planned to go eat in the conservatory and then he could take a nap. Didn’t work out that way, as we arrived at the conservatory to find it closed. Not many other indoor places to eat our lunch except for the children’s museum. We went to the new playground and he went on the swings for quite awhile. Then climbed up on the play structure, and worked on climbing back down backwards. It was now one, but he didn’t want to head back to the conservatory (I think it reopened then). Instead, he wanted the children’s museum.

On our walk over we heard a woodpecker. He was asking about woodpeckers. At the children’s museum he was still wearing his full outfit, including glasses, and they liked that. We went up to the cafeteria and ate our lunch. He then wanted to go down to the space area. Played there a few minutes, then down to the art area briefly before he needed to use the bathroom. Back up to the second floor for that. Then he said he was going to the little kids area, but we went to the reading are instead. He found a new game there involving raccoons that you dress in different outfits based on rolls of dice so we played that, then went up to the loft and read parts of a book called 너는 누구니 (Who are you?). He played with the ball pillows and they were hatching into dinosaurs and woodpeckers. We then found the orchestra book and looked at that a little. I tried to say we would save it until next time, but he started to get really sad.

We got walking up the center of the park, past the throngs of people playing Pokémon Go and past the new playground that still hasn’t been touched since December. He fell asleep quickly, and slept 2:55 to 3:40 in the upstairs coffee shop. I woke him up, and he took some convincing to wake up. I held him for a few minutes, then he just sat by the backpack while I packed up.

He was ready to head home, so we walked to the station. The escalator was squeaky (we speculated it would soon be worked on again), so I made a little “Squeaky escalator” that he thought was funny. Then another little song that cracked him up:

“Dada snuck a kiss

Dada snuck a kiss

Dada’s gonna kiss your nose

He’ll kiss it like this

(Kiss)”

We were on the train at 4:10.

Back at home we played Human Body. We figured out how the lymphatic system page works, and made the person sick. The person threw up. August was upset and went and stood by the parlor. I told him it showed that he had empathy, because he felt sad for the person (and also for babies when they are crying).

He wanted to go meet mama, but she got home early, by 5:15, since she had a professional development day. On his iPad he spent a lot of time looking at the skeleton (spine, etc.) They nursed, and he ate soup on his own. They played together on the bed, with him waking her up. He was then in the parlor with me. We did some art, then he was pretending to be a bee and a seagull, bothering me and keeping me awake. I threw pillows at him, but then he turned out to be a nice bee and cuddled and rested with me. Carly gave him a bath, then we blew bubbles while she took a shower. He finally ate most of his soup, and watched some Venus flytraps and math videos on the iPad. He was asleep around 8:30.

 

Photos. Sunglasses: 

Squinting: 

Glasses back on: 

Climbing down: 

Raccoon game: 

Book: 

More Pokémon Go players: 

Asleep: 

Awake. Sort of: 

Nice woman on the train. She was trying to touch his hands, so he hid them underneath him. It turned into a bit of a game: 

Bubbles: 

Nursed with Carly at 6:30. Then woke up at 7:59. Apparently he had almost woken me up last night  around 3:30. He went into the parlor and lay on the floor for a few minutes. He came out hungry. Ate banana bread and then one green olive. I was placing an iHerb order, and August and I talked about what kind of toothpaste to buy. He decided he wasn’t ready to start spitting out his toothpaste all the time, so we went with the fluoride-free kind. He then wanted to find Green Monster and Bluie and Marshy. After that we did some exercise, then some Hebrew and art, starting a mosaic.

Funny conversation when he came in the bathroom when I was on the toilet. I was sitting there, and he touched my back and said “You can touch the back. There’s no poop coming out of there. Why there no poop coming out the back?” He claimed the floor was dirty, saying “There poop on there.”

I took a shower, then we looked for skeleton videos, then read some old Mother Goose on the iPad on the couch. Later, he would want “more poems”. We then went to the reading area to play and rest. Playing around, he joked “Don’t eat me. I don’t taste good. The bones, probably.” He then got nice and sweet and cuddled for awhile. He kept doing nose rubs with me and softly saying “Dada, dada.” He combined that with pretend waking me up and also cuddling.

Getting ready to go, he picked up the knife I used to cut the strawberries. He was being safe with it at first, but then started to walk with it. I tried to take it from him, but he tried to grab it with both hands, at which point I got it away from him. He wasn’t happy about that.

Ate a few crackers, then played the piano. He then started doing math on the door. First seriously, and then math with letters. He was standing on the tambourine and I picked it up and put it in the bowl. He then got it back, and was acting as if I had taken it away from him as a consequence. That led to a discussion of consequences, and distinction between natural consequences and discipline consequences. Sitting on the toilet, he wanted more and more examples of consequences. Sitting there, he lost his balance but caught himself. He told me “Don’t worry. I balanced.” Back with the magnets, he said “Zinnie did a little math…I haven’t done math with letters yet…What’s D minus T?” Finally, he then played piano, doing the whole song and singing through “Brother John” in the song.

We left at 12:10. He sang Itsy Bitsy Spider over and over. We walked up the main street, then turned right along the stream. The sidewalks and streets here were all slippery, so it was slow going. We made it to the park, which we decided to call Chinhurt Park (actually called 가재 Children’s Park). He had fun walking on the ice, then went on the swings for quite awhile. We sang a bunch of our old songs: Spanish ABC, counting songs, etc., then learned more Yankee Doodle Dandy.

We left at 1:00 when he decided he wanted to keep going to Tayo. He got too cold a block from the kid cafe, so I carried him and he buried his hands between us. Started playing at 1:25. He was ready to go, but open to going to the bathroom first thing. He insisted on wearing the slippers in the bathroom. Still a bit cold from being outside, and the bathroom was cold, so he was shivering. First played in the bead area, hiding and finding stuff. A girl and her baby sister came along. The older girl confused him (and me, for that matter) by first throwing beads at all of us, but when August tried to return the favor and I explained he could only do it on their legs, the older girl was having none of it and said we couldn’t put them on the little girl or her. But after they left, a mom and baby came along, and August used the pie crust toy thing as a massager on the boy’s foot and he really liked it. He then mimicked August by using it on his own foot, then handed it back to August so he would use it on the kid’s foot more.

August was then ready for something else. He went back to the baby toys and played with those while I went and ate some lunch at the counter. He came over after awhile and ate lunch, then went back in. He climbed in the baby chair, and pretended to be a baby and sleeping, then played with the toys hanging above him. Very cute.

After that, he wandered around looking for something else. I went to put the backpack back in the locker, and August followed me there, but then as I struggled to make it fit, August disappeared. I found him back at the other end of the play area looking for something else to do. We crawled through the crawling thing once, then went up to the book area, where we read two horrible, horrible Pororo books in English that I’d like to forget. Both the English and plot were horrible in both.

We went down a slide once, and did the small trampoline area a couple times. The second time he had it to himself for awhile, so was having more fun, but the second another kid came in he stopped. About 3 he decided he was ready to go home: “I want to go home.” “Are you sure?” “Yeah. Come on, dada.” But as we got our coats I saw that the tool area was open, so we did that for 15 minutes or so before leaving.

We walked some roads to avoid some of the icy area. Randomly, the footholds on the bike (which August never uses) fell off. Picked up the pieces and will see if it can be repaired later. Close to Toys R Us he talked about being hungry. We stopped at some benches and had a snack. He then got his shovel, and played around on the icy snow, mainly seeing if he could slip on it.

We then went to Toys R Us, where we went to the toy store. He mainly liked the aquariums with the real plants in them, and looked at some fish. We also went and saw the cats. He wanted to startle/wake them up, but reluctantly agreed not to, saying ‘hi’ instead. Tried to look at books at Toys R Us, but he didn’t want to. Seemed rather tired. We sang the Spanish ABC song as we walked home. As we got close to home (on our side of the park) he got cold again, and wanted me to carry him. Was then getting upset when I would set him down for a second.

Got home at 4:40. He requested more poems, and wanted me to sing the nursery rhymes, even if they don’t have a tune (that I know of). Then looked at the Bones app on his ipad. Carly was home at 5:10.

They nursed, then he watched Venus fly trap videos. He found the Sesame Street Play app, and we used it to find two games to play: the first was one where we put random objects on the table, then took one away while the other person closed their eyes. The second was one where we chose a funny word, then took turns saying it in a higher pitch until one person couldn’t go any higher.

He sang When Johnny Comes Marching Home again with Carly and she made up lines: “He wants some soup to eat, because he’s super super hungry” “he eats his soup with some bread and then he quickly goes to bed” etc. “Sing it again!” She was making them up during his bath last night. They then read Happy Birthday and the Pop-up Nursery Book. He did some art on the iPad, then wanted to read Peppa Pig books. I read a couple of those, then Carly used reverse psychology on him (telling him she didn’t want to hear Gaston) to get him to request Gaston. Carly gave him a bath, then he was lifting the little weight that he found in the cupboard near her closet. We read the Pop-up Nursery Book in a fort on reading area, then did some mosaic on paper. He said he was ready for sleep, and went in with Carly and was asleep at 8.

Photos. Bluie: 

Swinging in the cold: 

Baby area: 

Reading area: 

Tools: 

Snack break: 

Pet store: 

To our park. Looking at things on the ground while he swings: 

Pokémon Go players in the park: