Category: Uncategorized

Well, we got a lot of snow today, but the wrong kind. It was above freezing, and it was snow that turned to rain in the afternoon. Not much fun to be out in.

He was up at 7:50. Came back in to me in the bedroom a little later and we had Bluie and company eating funny meals. Out on the piano he played more of Are You Sleeping and was singing along. I took a shower, then they looked up bones on Carly’s computer. I superglued our cracked blender and he pretended to touch the glue and get it on his finger. We went in to the Duplos and added to out staircase. Up to 50 stairs, and it can’t get much bigger. We read some Where the Sidewalk Ends. He then pretended to see/draw letters on the ceiling: “W made of poop…or Z made of poop…O shape of poop…you did all sorts of letters of poop.”

Next we got paper and markers and had fun with Hebrew. He practiced Hebrew pronunciation with the app, then drew some letters. He would watch the example then try to draw it. For more difficult letters he would ask me to help him. Later in the day he would clearly ask Carly for help with something he wasn’t sure about. Back out in the living room, when Carly asked if he wanted a bite of something, he replied with “Si”, then pointed out he answered in Spanish.

Back in on the bed we had Bluie and company do more eating, then he got the Me and My Dad book and we read that. We then read Happy Birthday and the second time he read it entirely on his own, and sang the song.

We ate dip and cream cheese. Looking at Carly’s computer, he asked “Why you get this computer?” We also noticed today that he says “Of course” a lot – he gets that one from Carly.

Suddenly we heard a drill in the apartment right next to us. It startled all of us and August curled up in a ball and covered his eyes. Carly picked him up and he said “I want to go home”. She asked if he wanted to see video of a drill, and they looked on YouTube. From there he wanted to see bones or cartilage or something. They ended up watching different surgery videos, like open heart surgery. At one point Carly asked “Do you want to see a 20cm worm in someone’s eye?” August: “Sure. Of course!” But one video they tried to watched was behind the age verification system – you had to be 19. August got sad about this and Carly took him in on the bed. Actually, he told her he wasn’t sad, but “angry”.

He was asleep 1:05 to 1:35. Short, because we woke him up. He had soup for lunch, and fed himself soup as he also ate popsicle. Carly looked a video of something up on her computer again, and ended up finding a good series of animated science videos out of India. He watched videos on the circulatory system, sound, migration, hibernation, microbes, and a few other things. We then did some play dough. He made a giraffe in one of the little press things, then wanted the play dough knife. He then cut open the giraffe, doing surgery like in the video he saw earlier. He and I then played piano and xylophone: more Are You Sleeping and singing at same time.

He finally expressed interest in going outside. He wanted the play area at the art museum, claiming “It is more fun” than Namu. But it closed in a few minutes, being close to 4. He wanted to use the changing pad again and got it down. We put his socks on on it. We needed a couple things from the store, and I remembered the book area at the movie theater. He liked that idea. So we brushed our teeth and took the bike over there. Not really raining hard (we wouldn’t use an umbrella), but wet enough that the playgrounds would be soaked.

Anyway, we got to the book area. Kind of busy and loud. We went up to the loft as all the English books were up there. Another sign that the place has been neglected: all the cushions that had been upstairs are gone. We read Duck Goes Potty two or three times. He pretty much read all of it, although ‘use’ still gives him problems, as he wants to say ‘see’. We read It’s Raining Cats and Frogs once, then he was done and wanted to go get groceries.

I thought that was a bit odd, to be done so fast, but then in the store he wanted to be picked up and not set down. He was tired. We made it through, although he was quite upset when I set him down to pay. We got home and he nursed and played with Carly. I got nachos together (Carly had already cut and cooked the veggies and tofu) but then realized we had both forgotten salsa and the salsa in the fridge was old. I went to Home Plus and picked some up. Came home and ate.

Carly gave him a bath. They sang The Ants Go Marching. Lot of talking about bones “Patella. That’s another name for it.” Carly took a shower. We read Bedtime for Peppa twice and Peppa Goes Swimming. Then he played GarageBand. When carly came out they went and read Happy Birthday, with him doing most of the reading and singing.

He was ready to try for sleep. I was in the bathroom and he came in to say goodnight. Told me “Your floor is dirty again.” I cleaned it like three days ago. We all went and put sheets on the bed: with his being upset about the video, before his nap we hadn’t had him go to the bathroom and he had leaked. He was then jumping on the bed and waking up Carly.

Tried for bed 8ish. Back out by 8:30. “I’m just a LITTLE sleepy.” He ate two whole pieces of apple. AND ATE THE PEEL!!! “Why you eat all the peel?…Zinnie teeth are bigger and stronger.” We went in on the bed and I told two Puffin Rock stories. He then wanted mama. He told me “You can stay here, dada.” And went out, closing the door behind him. She came in and he was asleep around 9:30.

Photos. 50 steps: 

Hebrew: 

Watching surgery: 

Changing pad for fun: 

Reading at the movie theater:

Looking down at the kids: 

He was awake at 6:40. They nursed then he and I played with Green Monster, Bluie, and Marshy for quite awhile. A lot of slime talk. We then went and got Cheerios. He helped me by carrying the strawberries to the table, as my hands were full. He was excited by that. I asked him something, and he was working on nodding for yes. Rather amusing. He then joked about going outside on his own. He wanted the broken arm story, so I told that and he cuddled with me. Carly tried to get a photo, but he jumped up as soon as he saw what she was doing. He wanted to nurse, but she said he had to go cuddle with me again first. He obliged, then they nursed.

They moved to the parlor, then read the Lift the Flap Nursery Book, then played play dough while I showered.

They were counting play dough balls when I came out. They had tried to call Vivian but with no answer. Earlier, they had called but Vivian and Colin were watching a video. August called back a couple times on his own; Vivian answered and laughed and hung up on him.

He and I then made banana bread, then they nursed. He then played Human Body, after which he and I made curry veggie dip. He remembered he liked cucumbers and ate a bunch of cucumber as we made it. Oh, and he got to use “a sharp thing” as I let him use the peeler to peel the cucumber. Carly went to the store while we were making it. August and I read Hug Machine and more Astrosmurf and ate dip, then Carly got home. August took a nap from 1:05 to when carly woke him up at 2:15.

They nursed, then played with Baby Q. To put Baby Q to sleep August chose the ABC song. He was then giving Baby Q treats: “Pineapple with no strings…podo drink with a straw…and some carrot.”

In the afternoon we got out on a walk. I asked August where he wanted to go, and he thought of Sarang Children’s Park, which sounded good. We headed up that way, him on the bike and singing. At the park he went on the swing. Spent some time standing and kneeling on them with my help.

We went over to the sand and played there. Carly laughed because at first August had me scooping the sand and he was just watching. He said that the sand chute looked like a mailbox. He was right, but I wondered where he learned what a mailbox looked like. I asked if it was from a book: “No” A cartoon: “No”. Finally I remembered the mail day in Teuni Teuni. I mentioned that and he said “Yeah!”

After several buckets in the sand (he eventually did a lot of shoveling). We went around stomping on the ice. He climbed up on the play structure and played on it by himself, then went down a slide. He found a big piece of glass and grabbed it to go throw in the bushes. Carly and I grabbed him and took the glass away from him and he was very sad about that. He calmed down, but was done with the park, so we headed home.

I told him we could make cocoa at home and told him not to tell mama. He gleefully told mama. At Brownstone, Carly was running to GS25 to get a couple things. August wanted to follow her, but immediately changed his mind. We got home at 5:15.

Carly made soup, and we played on the piano. He played more of Are You Sleeping. Then they read the baby book and nursed. I told him a Flynne story, then he questioned why I had tea in the parlor, thinking he had caught me breaking a rule. We were talking about bones, and cartilage came up. Then he wanted to see photos of cartilage. So we did an image search and ended up looking at a lot of diagrams of where cartilage is located. On the toilet he was pretending to be a big baby again: “The baby had a big skull…and kneecap…and spine…”

Carly gave him a bath, and he played GarageBand after that. Tried for sleep sometime after 9, but they came out 20 or 30 minutes later for awhile. I went back in with them, then he went to sleep about 10.

 

Photos: 

Peeler: 

Our dip: 

Steps: 

Park: 

Naked GarageBand

He slept all the way until 8:05. That’s almost 13 hours. They nursed, then Skyped with Cherie and Chuck. I was up for awhile, but went back to bed because I woke up with a headache and it wasn’t going away. August went to the bathroom, then washed his hands on his own, then scooped up most of a bowl of oatmeal and ate it on his own. They then Skyped with Derek and Thatcher and Kayla, and when I got back up, feeling much better, ate more of my cereal. We all did a bunch of cleaning after that. He actually vacuumed, and I helped move toys and books around so he could get in the corners. We then made letters out of Duplos. Carly took over, and they made a big Q and little q. He was then hitting the window with the Duplos and asking about consequences: “What happen if you not follow the rules… Why you had a consequence for rolling the toilet paper in Thailand? You remember that.”

He and I then sat on the reading area and read the Astrosmurf volume of the Smurfs. He had a ton of questions. We would go back to it and read more of the story a couple times later in the day. He was then pretending to be a baby around the house: “What the baby going to grab next?” He then played Human Body, but wanted me to use the tweezers to pull hairs. He went and stood by the parlor door while I pulled the hairs. He whispered “I don’t like sad faces.”

Eventually we headed out on a walk, him on the bike. We headed up to Daiso to get replacement straws for his water bottles. On the walk he was singing Yankee Doodle and Down by the Station. At Daiso he was, as usual, concerned about his bike being left outside. In Daiso he was fascinated by the candles, trying to smell (and for one, eat) them. Daiso no longer has a baby section, so we walked up to check the other Daiso. On the way I remembered that Daiso is closed, but it was worth the short walk as we discovered a new coffee shop where a restaurant had been.

I asked August if we should head to Starbucks now, and he gave a loud cheer. We walked to Starbucks and August chose a Chia seed drink. Then he sat with me and we read more Astrosmurf. He then sat with Carly and had her make a sad face on the Human Body app. He stood back behind her while she did that. He was then playing with the app but couldn’t hear it, so said “I want to play someplace quieter.” Carly let him use her earphones.

We headed home along the stream, then when I asked if August wanted to go to Chrysanthemum Park he gave three or four cheers – even more than Starbucks. We walked across and he helped carry the bike up the steps. They went on the swings, then he wanted to climb the structure. I helped him up the climbing wall (a bit more difficult with boots), and we made our way around. He was more confident walking across the rope bridge (the bigger boots helped), and he was finding the ropes up and down to the platform easier than before. We went down the slide to get off, and he didn’t hesitate on that. He then climbed the big rope ladder back up onto the structure. He swung from it a couple months ago, but don’t think he climbed it all. He was then really interested in climbing down the climbing wall properly, and working out how to look down to find footholds.

We headed home. August is big into singing When Johnny Comes Marching Home and Yankee Doodle. On the walk I looked up the history of Yankee Doodle. Carly thought it was funny when I suggested to August that we learn the original Dutch words.

We went to the grocery store for grocery shopping. August was holding Carly’s hand going down the stairs, but wanted to jump them. Carly said he couldn’t, and he said “I don’t want a consequence.” At the store he was being crazy. He managed to touch a fish and then I had to chase him down when he started running. He was upset when I picked him up. Carly took him home and I paid for the groceries.

They nursed at home, then I made us a salmon sandoo. He was then playing more of Are You Sleeping on piano. At one point we talked about bones and why we have them, and I mentioned how bones protect us and that without bones we could be squished like slugs. He then pretended to squish things: “squish a slug…squish a worm…squish a cow…squish a cat…I’m making lots of messes.”

More nursing and some reading with Carly, then I gave him a bath. After his bath he wanted to be warm, so I told him his bathrobe, which he hasn’t really used much, would keep him warm. He was convinced, and I sent him to go show mama. We read more of Astrosmurf, then he was crawling around and going in the bathroom. I had cleaned the floor earlier, so asked him how it was. He wasn’t impressed: “Let me check…hmmm…Still dirty.” He wanted a snack, and Carly let him have some peanut butter. He asked why the jar said “organ” He had seen where it says ‘organic’. After that, I told him one of our Flynne stories and then Carly nursed him and he was asleep at 8.

Photos. One sock vacuuming:

Duplo letters: 

Forward rolls: 

Trying to eat the candle: 

Starbucks: 

Bathrobe:

He came out at 6:47. Quiet for a couple minutes, then wanted to play the Human Body app. Later he said “I want an app that shows you how dada’s humerus bone broke.” And randomly he recited some Puffin Rock lines: “Eh. I don’t need those guys. Because you don’t have to share your food with us. Exactly.” After awhile he requested “I want the story Parking Problems…Paddington.” But we never got around to reading it, as we ended up playing with some music, then doing some exercise. Then it was in on the bed to do the rolling game and made a nest.

He talked about bones he could feel and we looked them up on the phone – phalanx, metacarpal, radius, ulna.

We skyped with my parents. I asked them about getting a cat, and I asked August how many cats Gramma and Grampa should get. He said “One” and held up one finger, but then after a pause kept counting, all the way to ten, and said they should get ten cats.

After Skype we played more on the iPad and ate a peanut butter sandwich. We played in the parlor. He rolled around, and put a blanket on me. We read Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight. Then he had the idea of making cats out of play dough. I tried to make cats, and he made other things: “I made a foot jellyfish.”

We headed out early to Teuni Teuni class, but not early enough to get lunch beforehand. So we sat at a table outside his class and had some crackers. But before going up the moving walkway, August stopped at the goo-mood-a-fire store, which was back, and smelled the humidifiers, as they had scents in them. We saw Jihong and his mom as they were coming out of the class before ours. Surprising, as I thought she was out of the city, back to teaching this year. Class was about slapping flies with a flyswatter, picking up ants with a stick, and putting tadpoles in jars – a lot of pulling and pushing and poling stuff. He did well. Wouldn’t give the teacher a high five at the start of class, but instead ran up and did a big jump onto his hands and knees instead.

After class we went down and chose the bibimbap with soup (산채비빔밥) in the food court for lunch. He had a lot of fun trying everything, even trying the tiniest bit of the red pepper sauce. He particularly liked the boiled egg, which he ate all of, and he ate the sprouts and mushrooms and egg from the bibimbap. He did well with the seaweed as well, and of course ate the rice. The soup was spicy, but he liked the tofu chunks out of it when I wiped them off. He was excited by the new things he tried, and said “You handled the seaweed too.” He had also been looking at the stomach animations on the Human Body app earlier, so we talked about how the food was being digested. He said “Zinnie has a stomach; everyone has a stomach.” When he was done eating, he was running up and down a zigzag sort of line on the floor.

He asked how to use the chopsticks, and I realized we should buy him training chopsticks. So when we were done we went and chose a set with a blue owl on the end. We then went and got another set of underwear so we’d have more, then got some groceries. After, of course, he looked at the aquariums for awhile.

We headed out on his bike, and I asked if he wanted to go to the play area at the art museum. We spent about 50 minutes there. He worked on throwing (aiming and overhand), struggled to get his socks off, and played with some other kids. One girl told him not to throw balls at her head. He then crowded in one of the heart-shaped ball pits with two other kids and they all threw the balls out together.

At 4 we headed home and dropped off the groceries. He was hungry, so I suggested we could get something at the bakery. We went down and got bread and he chose a maple pecan pastry and then looked at all the cakes. And we picked up our package from iHerb. He carried the bag from the bakery from the guard station to the elevators.

We tried out the new chopsticks and popped the packing material together. August had said a couple times during the day that he was getting sleepy – once during class, and once in the ball area, but he never wanted to head home. When we were back home now, we ended up in the bed, making a fort, and he cuddled up in my left arm and lay with me for several minutes while we waited for Carly to get home.

When she got home they nursed, then he played with GarageBand. He ate rice curry, but Carly gave him a hot bite that really upset him. After they nursed, he went back to eating, but scooped it all up himself. If that’s what it took… But then wanted “something else”, which usually leads to him requesting “more breakfast foods”.

Carly gave him a bath. He wanted his underwear, one of the new crocodile pair from today, and started to get really sad and exhausted when we said he needed a diaper. We consoled him by putting the underwear on over his diaper, and he fell asleep by 7:15.

Think I forgot to mention he had the slightest pee accident yesterday when he was playing on the iPad at the couch. He realized though, and made it to the toilet. Pretty minor, and he wasn’t upset by it, but aware.

 

Photos: 

Class: 

Lunch: 

Play area: 

Bakery: 

Chopsticks: 

Packing material: 

He was up at 6:51. Came over by me for a couple minutes. First thing he wanted was Venus fly trap videos. I let him watch some on YouTube Kids on his app, which was fine until a video of a guy putting his tongue in a Venus fly trap. In case you were wondering, that is not a good thing to do. August was a little disturbed by the blood. Wanted the Human Body app, so went to that. He discovered his kneecap, and we spent some time talking about blood. He remembered, all on his own, scraping his knee this summer: “Why you bleed at Oma and Opa’s?” I asked him where he was bleeding, and he pointed to his knee.

He then wanted to go and wake up Green Monster. We were playing with GM and GM said he liked mushrooms. August said “I like Thailand mushrooms”. August then put GM back to sleep, putting “soft things” around him. He watched Puffin Rock while I showered, then played GarageBand. We ate some crab for a snack, then he went to the bathroom, after which he wanted to wake up Green Monster again.

We played for a long time on the bed. We read Biscuit Wins a Prize, then he was hiding Green Monster, Marshy, and Bluie. Some of the things he said:

“I want to look for that friends.”

“Sorry dada. I like to be VERY loud.”

“This is a slime cave…I want to know the kinds of slime, Green Monster. Talk about the slimes, Green Monster…”

“Oh, I’m going to get something really special for you…a fish…it’s a rainbow fish and it has a lot of colors…blue, green, maroonish, purple, yellow…”

He wanted to play the breaking the rules game, which he later called the ‘rolling over game’: “Be mad now. Be mad at me dada. Tell me not to roll over. “

We talked about going outside, and he wanted the bike, but I convinced him he couldn’t take a nap on the bike. He got on the bike and demonstrated how he didn’t have anything to lean on when he slept. We ate our leftover Subway sandwich, a peanut butter sandwich, and a few other things for lunch, then had a lot of piano time. We then played piano. He surprised me by suddenly playing the first few notes of Are You Sleeping? He was working on that, and then the “Brother John” notes.

On the iPad he found an animation app we hadn’t used yet, and we tried that out a bit. I drew a fish and a whale and he made paths for them to move on.

We then tried taking a nap on reading area, starting at 1:48. He did a better job than he has usually done in the past with just laying still and closing his eyes. At one point he was silent for a couple minutes and I thought he might be falling asleep. But he got up. He also looked around at all of his options: “So many places to sleep…on the bed, the floor over there…” He had to pee, and while sitting on the toilet he was asking what would happen if he didn’t have a lower brain. He concluded. “There’s no lower brain. I don’t have a brain stem.”

A nap not happening, we finally got out of the house on a walk at 2:57. He was singing a lot of verses from Ants Go Marching on his own. He wanted the backpack, so I thought he might be going to sleep, but he didn’t. We walked down to the river, then north to Madeul Stadium. A walk we haven’t done in quite awhile. We walked to the playground, and got on the swings at 3:30. He was working on pumping a bit. After a good session, he asked to go to Cafe Tolerance.

We went there and he got a mango and a pineapple juice. He played on the iPad for awhile, then wanted to hear the story about breaking my arm again. This time, I pulled up the photos from the time, and he got to see the hike, my arm broken, him visiting in the hospital, and, most excitingly, the x-ray. He was fascinated by that, and we pulled up the skeleton app so he could compare the x-ray to what it looks like. He was then being silly in the coffee shop (which was full of kids). He did a little dance for one kid, then was concerned about a baby that kept crying. But then August went up to him and did one of his yells and the baby cried more. August and another boy about the same age as him sort of played together as we were getting ready to go: chasing each other and jumping around.

We got home after Carly. They nursed and we had some dinner. Carly went with him to the bathroom, and he joked about things to pee on “on mama, on dada…” More joking: “I accidentally pooped on that door this morning.” What did dada say? “No pooping on the door.” That didn’t happen.

He tasted the vinegar in Carly’s salad and said it tasted like a few other things. Then he announced: “I know. Let’s find Green Monster.” We played on the bed and he pretend to break his own kneecap (like his lower brain, it was another “What happen if you don’t have…” question): “I’m going to break the left kneecap. You can try.” “Pretend bones.”

I gave him a bath. After that, as he walked to Carly, he said “My feet are a little squeaky…No, we have to oil them.” He was asleep by 7:20.

 

Photos. Stretch: 

Headstand: 

Pile of pillows: 

Cuddling: 

Resting with Marshy:

Demonstrating falling asleep on the bike: 

Trying to sleep: 

River walk: 

Playground: 

Walking to the coffee shop:

Cafe Tolerance. Perched on my arm:

Trying out the short table: 

So today we went without the backamapack for a long trip for the first time. That is, we only took the grey backpack, and not the one he could take a nap in. It also meant he did a lot of walking.

He was up at 7:28. Lay down on the floor by the playmat. Requested Post Flakes for breakfast, then spent time tracing Arabic. Carly had left him a note and we read that. He was talking about the Human Body app and said “Boom boom, boom boom…That’s the blood pressure noise.” Played with Human Body, then drew molecules. He asked what ‘bonds’ were, and I was explaining different kinds of bonds and mentioned that mama and I are married. He asked about that, and I mentioned he might get married someday. He said “No. I’m marrying now.”

He was talking about going outside on his own, then kept wanting to hear what might happen if he did (get lost, we’d worry, police get involved, etc.): “What happen if you go outside?…Tell me again.” We ate more Post Flakes and colored molecules on paper. He watched a little Puffin Rock, but went back to Arabic. Still hungry, so he ate some dried mango. But he put a big piece in his mouth and choked a little. Cut up the rest after that. I took a shower, then we brushed our teeth. He played with the nail clippers, then we sang Yankee Doodle and figured out how to play it on the piano, then played When Johnny Comes Marching Home. He said “What mama don’t know what to do in school?” Not sure why he said that.

He ate some crab and then, as I was making a sandwich for lunch, some bread. We did play dough and when I made an ‘N’ with the stamp thing he asked “Is that mem sofit?” As we got ready to go he wanted to use the changing pad, so got him dressed on that. He wanted his snow boots, which was one reason I switched to grey backpack (to have more space to carry the shoes), but he was fine with just shoes.

He saw the cutting board and talked about it. Then asked, oddly,  “Is it from that guy that came…” I was asking who he was talking about and he asked “Is Torrey a boy?” Really don’t know where that came from, as Torrey hasn’t been to the apartment in quite awhile. After which he was pretending to be a nautilus with feet.

We left at 11:45. We didn’t have gloves on at first and he was holding my hand across the street, then for warmth. Then wanted to hold both my hands. We played in the snow in the park for a few minutes. He walked on the compact snow, looking for the slippery parts, then started running on the bare ground, going “Wheee!” He wanted to go up the ramp, then up the stairs, but I convinced him to just head to the subway. When I picked him up he chanted “I got my dada. I got my Zinnie.” He sang Itsy Bitsy Spider on the train, then we all of Ants Go Marching.

Crossed the snow-covered pond and went to the Children’s Museum. He got his ticket and said “I hit that woman very hard.” when he gave her a high five. Played in the nature area at first. He was in the tunnel and asked me what was in one of the light boxes. I couldn’t see, so asked him what the sign said. He looked at the sign and said “mantis”.

In the floor magnet area he took his shoes off and we got a bunch out. But then he heard a baby crying. He walked out and looked around and spotted where it was coming from. He wanted to go over, but I told him he didn’t have shoes on. We went back, and an overly helpful guy picked up his shoes and the stuff I had left on the floor and tried to hand it all to me. As I was holding August. Set him down and the shoes, then the guy grabbed the strips we had gotten out and put them away. August started to say  “I said I was going to…” and broke out crying. I just got the strips out and we started lining them up and he calmed down.

After that we headed upstairs. That took us by the baby. August went and got close and said “That’s the baby.” At lunch there was a woman in the corner, I think, nursing. He was giving me the running commentary: “Maybe they’re nursing…I see something. I can’t really tell. Maybe they’re just cuddling.” I realized that August doesn’t know what ‘pudding’ is, so we will have to try that.

Took off one pair of his pants, threw away our garbage, and headed to play. He tried the bike, then played with the Bernoulli’s principle balls. Played in the water area, mainly trying out all the pumps and handles. He was done, and we took off the yellow apron, but then he just wanted to try on the pink one (next size up). Wore that for awhile then took it off and we left.

Went down to the building area and did some light writing and magnet squares (throwing them against the wall to see them stick). We went down stairs, and he was running and skipping down the ramp. He jumped on the circles that make noise and ran around, then ran back up to the first floor.

We went up to the little kids area, where he jumped on the trampoline, sorted all the items by color boxes, took plastic bread upstairs to put it away, went down the slide twice, hopped on the trampoline a bit more, and left, headed to the reading area.

There, a woman showed us a new puzzle thing, where you match up animals. Played with that, then with one of the bead ones, where he worked on turning things in three dimensions. He played with the wooden xylophone on the side of a cube toy and asked/answered himself: “Why it doesn’t have a good sound?…Its a baby thing.” He wanted to find the orchestra book (티나와 오케스트라). I found it, and we read a bit of it. I was ready to go, but he really wanted to read it. He said “Let’s practice Korean.” Several times through the day he had me identify which bone I broke. It became one of his repeat stories, as he kept saying “Tell me again, Dada.” and I’d tell the whole story of how it happened and the hospital. Before we left, we went to the bathroom and he pointed at the sink and said “I remember that stupid one.”

Left after 4. A long time in the museum. Over 3 and a half hours. He said of the strings of the door mat “Those look like noodles.” He ran across the pond area, and jumped on the hopscotch path in front of the recycling. We sang When Johnny Comes Marching Home as we walked to the train.

Got off and went to Costco. He did fine at Costco, despite the insanely long line stretching around the inside of the building to go downstairs. We made it down pretty quickly, despite all the cutting in line. I showed him the Venus fly trap video again as we walked. Downstairs we got a soy milk sample, then all our cheese. He did some running in an empty aisle, and otherwise did a good job of staying near me while I looked for cheese (they had moved the feta). We walked up to get in line, but he said “I said I wanted one sample!” We talked about it and agreed on finding one sample. We went and got a piece of sausage, then as we went to get in line he got a crispy strawberry white chocolate thing that he really liked. He ate that in line, then lay down on the ground while I paid. The food area was a zoo, so I suggested we go to Subway sandwiches instead.

We walked there, and along the way got one of the fried bread things with seeds and cinnamon and sugar in it. August did art on the iPad and ate that while I ordered at Subway. I called Carly to see what she wanted, and while on the phone August said he needed to pee. But then he said he was okay with waiting. Which was good, because the couple of women in front of me apparently ordered about a dozen sandwiches. August watched our sandwiches (seafood for us, turkey for Carly) being made, then we walked to the subway and went to the bathroom there.

On the subway he wanted a Puffin Rock story (our strategy for crowded trains in Thailand) where they pretend to be seagulls. Didn’t make it up though, as he started talking about how he liked the trains here better than Thailand, and then we got a seat.

We were home at 6:10. Nursed and ate our sandwiches. He made a joke of eating bread in the parlor, then pretended
to eat grass and chocolate in there. Laughed a lot over the word ‘ballistic’ again. He returned to ‘the guy’ thing again: “Was it from that guy?…the guy at the store?…my store?…I was making a joke.” They read Moo, then Carly gave him a bath and washed his hair. Think they read one more book, and he was asleep by 8:20.

 

Photos. Our favorite Arabic letter: 

Snowy pond: 

Lunch: 

Closer to the pedals: 

Trying on a bigger size: 

Sorting: 

Hiding: 

Costco: 

Waiting for Subway: 

Seat: 

At some point during the night he peed in his diaper. Didn’t leak, but he woke up enough to insist that Carly change it. He was then up at 6 with the two of us. Ate banana bread for breakfast and played with the Human Body app. A lot of putting the skeleton together. Took a break, sometime after Carly had left, to go to the clean dishes and take down the steamer and play with it. He wanted to know what his upper arm bone was called, and I couldn’t remember ‘humerus’ for some reason (you’d think I’d remember that one), so I downloaded a Skeleton app and we looked at technical names of bones. Then went into the parlor where he took care of the stuffed whale and me. He told me there was earwax in my mouth, and poop in my ears.

He wanted to sing When Johnny Comes Marching Home and Ants Go Marching a lot this morning. We sang them over and over, particularly in the bathroom. I soaked the diaper garbage can (something we no longer need) with bleach and was trying to keep him out of the bathroom. He stepped just inside, then said “I smell like bleach now. I smell like chemicals!” Played a little piano before we left at 10:30.

He calmly sat next to me and sang much of the way down. We made the walk from Cheongdam to the mall. August started singing Down by the Station over and over on his own. Except instead of ‘pufferbillies’ he says ‘Puffin billies’. At the mall he wanted to go straight to the aquarium, but I convinced him to sit down and eat the peanut butter sandwich first. While there, some students solicited donations for a trip to the Philippines where they were installing solar-powered lights. He tried to kick one of them, and a guy sitting nearby. When other people came over and tried to touch him he said “I don’t like to be touched.” But he did a good job giving them high fives. Although then he was calling it ‘hitting’, and I was having to explain that some hitting is okay. Finally, on our way to the aquarium he sang a “Underwater aquarium” song.

We started at the aquarium about noon. But first we put the backpack in a locker. As I was shifting things around he asked “Why you being slow?” The initial set of tanks were back open, after being closed the last couple visits. Our first new fish was the cowfish, which he watched closely. He then said “I need to pee.” We came back, and he chanted:

“I got my dada

I got my clownfish

I got my cowfish

I got my pufferfish.”

Spent some good time in the pond ecosystem. We talked about the breaking down of the pieces of wood, and the snails that were on it. Saw that the Conan O’Brien video had been replaced with a robot display. But turns out that Conan (he adopted an octopus from Korea on his show) had moved to a bigger screen near the end. August was brave enough to put his hand in with the nibbling fish, and did so for quite awhile. He ran through the Amazon area going “Wheee”.

Saw the Piraeucu and Gourami, then spent a lot of time at the touching area. More than every before. Got his sleeve soaked despite pulling it up. Generally gentle, but he was trying to throw clams at the end. He commented later “Why you were starting to get rough?” Took off his shirt and just put on his sweatshirt. Would later put on the dry shirt from the backpack. We saw zookeepers (as we call them) changing the water in the jellyfish tanks, then saw the hermit crab and red crabs (from Puffin Rock). Saw part of the shark feeding, but he said “I’m getting sleepy.” Still lasted quite awhile though. There was lettuce in the manatee tank, and he was intrigued by that and we watched the fish eating it. Oh, and we learned that the weird plant we like in the reef area is called a ‘Leafy seafan’.

We left at 2. A long trip to the aquarium, fueled by him constantly saying “I want to see more animals.” We had a snack by the backpack. For some reason he wouldn’t eat the mangosteen today – our last snack from Thailand. He claimed he didn’t Iike it, but loved it there. We went back out, past the ‘O’ shaped logo of the aquarium that intrigued him multiple times today, and ate the rest of our lunch on the same bench as earlier. He brought up not liking tomatoes. I asked why and he said “I just don’t like the texture.”

It was late, but he was clearly tired. Got walking, and went upstairs to the ground floor, which is a quiet convention center. He was out like a light at 2:32. Went to Coffee@Works in the building next door, and tried to wake him up at 3:15. He wasn’t waking up, so I let him sleep to 3:32. Hard for him to wake up. Stayed in the backpack a couple minutes, then had me take him out and hold him on my shoulder for several more. I set him down and he then just sat on the couch for a few more. When we left I decided we’d take the alternate route back: line 9 to line 7. More stops, but no long outside walk in the cold. But he wanted me to carry him the whole way, and it is a long walk through the mall to get to the other station, then a long walk at the transfer.

I set him down briefly at one point and he demanded to be picked back up. I told him the demanding thing didn’t work with me, and asked what does. He said “Be weird”. A funny answer, and probably true. I laughed, then he said in his sweetest voice, “Pick me up please.” He was then practicing tones, as he (quietly) said something in a screechy tone and called it a  “Screaming tone.” All went smoothly today, but as we got off the first train I stood up first, thinking ‘Glad we’re getting off as the guy who just sat down next to me is sick’. Said guy then reached across trying to touch August with the hand he just coughed with. Luckily, August slipped off the seat and next to me. Said guy then took out some medicine and took it, and went back to coughing.

On the last train, August found an Arabic app on my phone we hadn’t tried yet, and we spent the trip up tracing Arabic letters. That was fun.

Got home a little after 5. We got a big static shock as I went to take him out. Had noticed today that he finds static shocks funny now – originally he had been scared by them (as evidenced by not wanting to go back on the Ttukseom playground). Similarly, he noted today in the bathroom at the aquarium that he doesn’t liked the hand dryer noise. He just covers up his ears. And it used to scare him. Think he is also over flushing noises for the most part.

Ate rice curry for dinner, then played Human Body. He had to go to the bathroom, and had left the iPad playing the human heart. He was trying to hear it from the bathroom. Back out, he was looking at an intestine, and asked “Is that a double bassoon?” An interesting comparison, as the part did bend around sort of like a bassoon.

He went and nursed and they read the Little Kipper Collection. Carly took a shower, but gave him a popsicle first. I told him the Bernadette story where she is blown to sea, at his request. He sang from the songbook. When Carly was done he ran in and said “I interrupt your privacy.” I then suggested he sing “Down By the Station” for Carly, which he did. Then some more Arabic tracing, on his iPad now, and played with the new instruments in GarageBand.

Carly gave him a bath and they read A Wind Blew. He ate last of the banana bread. Made a big game over pretending to go in the parlor with the banana bread, and laughing over the word ‘ballistic’. Very hyper. For quite awhile. Calmed down a bit and examined Carly now, finding earwax in her mouth and slime in her ear. He was hyper in on bed, but then calmed down and said he wanted to go to sleep. Tried about 9:20. But he came out just after 9:30, telling me “I’m not sleepy at all.” We read Berenstain Bears No Girls Allowed”. He went back in at 9:56 and fell asleep.

 

Subway: 

Hat: 

Aquarium. Cowfish: 

Photo spot: 

Touch lab: 

Wet shirt: 

Zookeeper: 

Ready for a nap: 

Waking up: 

Confusing sign of the day:  

Subway seat: 

We’ve had such great success with the underwear that something had to go wrong at some point. His diaper leaked at 3:30. We haven’t had that happen in a couple months. With all his talking in his sleep, I wonder if maybe he was pulling at his diaper too. Anyway, with the changing of him and the sheet, he was awake. He and Carly got up and went in the parlor and I stayed in bed. She tried to bring him back in at one point to go to sleep, but he couldn’t, so they went back out to the parlor. She apparently slept a bit, and he nursed and watched Puffin Rock. I got a little sleep in there, but never fully went back to sleep after they tried coming back in. So I was up at 5:40 or so and reading until they came out a little after 6.

I sliced some banana bread for him and me, then a minute later put it in the microwave again to warm it back up so I could put butter on a slice. August felt it, took a step back, got an accusatory look on his face, pointed at me, and said “You made it hot!”

Carly had gone back in to bed for awhile. When August realized she was missing, he wanted to go find her. He said he was going to be careful with her, but when I suggested he let her sleep, he made his “Bee!” noise. I talked about how he needed to develop ’empathy’ and it took time with his developing brain, etc. His reply to that was “I don’t want to learn empathy. I want to be loud.” Later in the day, can’t remember why, he told Carly “I don’t have empathy.”

But then he wanted the Human Body app, so used that on the couch, then we read Berenstain Bears No Girls Allowed. Carly got up, and they skyped with Cherie. August met a couple of her friends, then was yelling or something to her and saying “I bothered Jamie!”

He wanted Carly to write words. He had found one of the little sets of index cards. She wrote ‘light’ and pointed out that it was a funny word to spell. He didn’t believe her: “No, mama. Try again.” He then made up a word and animal: “Smo” A mammal that lives in the water that’s larger than a whale.”

He wanted to ride his bike. I told him he could after his nap. He said “No. I just taked a nap on the couch. I already did it.” He had, indeed, just pretended to take a nap on the couch.

But he soon fell asleep for a nap, and took a long one, from 10:10ish to 12:21. He woke up upset. They nursed and cuddled on the reading area. Carly went to the store, and he and I looked at the Human Body app. He then found the Tinybop Earth app, and we talked about things like erosion. He played with the Spin Monster game, then Carly got home.

Megan was coming over, and they were cooking food for a teacher at the school who just had a baby. I was trying to get August out of the house and to the play area, but he wasn’t expressing much interest in going out today. Megan arrived, and was wearing a ‘sushi cat’ t-shirt. August asked “I don’t know sushi cat. What’s sushi cat?” She had brought stickers, so they took them off and put them on the table together. Later, we would put them on the card for the new baby. He watched when Megan started chopping vegetables, then was in the parlor with me doing headstands. He wanted one on the chair. I got him up in one, and he wanted to do it for a long time. He wanted Carly to see him, so she came in. She asked if he needed help at one point, and he replied “No, I got it pretty good.” At one point he was able to get into a headstand on the chair on his own – it is tilted, so a bit easier than on the ground. After that, there was a moment when he wanted to eat some of the food. Carly said no, and he got really sad. They nursed. August and I started the card, folding the paper and putting on the stickers, then he and Megan wrote on it and drew on it. After she left, Carly convinced August to go outside with me.

We got bundled up and took the bike up towards Madeul Stadium. We walked to the north end. As we went, August liked steering us through the deep snow and over the crusty stuff. We got out off by the drinking fountains and played in the snow – some snowballs and hand and foot prints, then he walked much of the way around the stadium to the playground. At the playground he went on the swings. 20 minutes or so. He was ready to go home. Actually, he tried to convince me to go to the Namu kid cafe, where I’d been suggesting we go all day. But it was past 4:30, so we just headed home. As we got past the youth center he started saying he was cold. We made it to the intersection by Baskin Robbins, and I picked him up and he cuddled against me. He wouldn’t tell me what was specifically cold, but I had him put his hands down between us. When we got home at 5 he commented “Your hands are still cold”, so I think that was what was mainly bothering him.

He ate a good amount of curry rice for dinner. I left to go get a haircut and get more tofu at GS25. Kind of a wait at the barber, but not too bad. I was home at 5:55. August played with the Human Body and Earth apps. Oh, there is another Body app that he also found and played with today. He liked the sunburn one and giving a kid a shot. I started his bath and Carly gave him a quick bath. He sat on the toilet and sang a funny version of Ants Go Marching. She then took a shower and went to bed. He was up with me a bit longer, then we brushed his teeth and put on his pajamas. He went in and was asleep a bit after 8.

 

Photos: 

Anatomy: 

Spin Monster: 

On his head: 

Writing the card: 

The park: 

A Jag: 

The stream: 

A lovely snow day and August got to make use of his snow boots a couple more times. He was up at 7:20 We all Skyped with Vivian for a long time. He did a lot of nursing through the morning. He reminded me of the song “Hello Goodbye” with something he said, and I snag part of it and he asked what it was. He then asked “Why it by the Beatles? What if it by the ladybugs?” He took down recycling with Carly, then they played with the tool set in the changing room. Carly spearheaded a lot of cleanup/throwing stuff out. She pointed out the exercise ball and he instantly wanted to play with it. He jumped on it, fell off, got up, jumped right on it again, and fell off harder. Got upset after that and had to nurse. I was hanging laundry and cleaning stuff up, and just as I was thinking about getting rid of the whiteboard and hadn’t said a thing, August walked in the room, walked right to it, and grabbed it. Hasn’t used it in months. If I believed in psychic communication I’d take it as proof. We took it in to the living room and drew on it. Had to try out the markers, as the first one we tried was dried up. He said “I tried purple and it worked good.” He drew a mem sofit.

He’s been using the phrase  “I told you…” a lot lately. I took a shower, and he did play dough with Carly, then shared some cereal with me. We then made banana bread together. Carly brought out his old shoes and said something about getting rid of them. He said no, and wanted to go to a playground in his old sandals. Spent some time trying them on. Got sad, and had to nurse again. Back out, I was sorting books, and he wanted to read them. We read some old classics: Under the Sea with Me, Happy Birthday, Fuzzy Bugs. Carly then brought out old socks, and he wanted to wear them (see the theme?) He put on two pairs of Pororo socks, and we put a pair on Angeles. Then read the Moon Yo Ni art book and Teacher Says.

It started snowing heavily and Carly took him outside at 1:50. I stayed inside as the banana bread wasn’t done. Thought it would just be a few minutes, but then realized I needed to bake it longer. By the time it was out and cooled I was putting on my shoes to go out the door at 2:30 when they came back in. They had gone on the swings and tube slide, and done snowballs. He threw a snowball at a girl and hit her after he had seen her dad throwing them at her.

We made a salmon sandoo and shared it, and he wanted the Puffin Rock story about Bernadette’s cracked shell. Told that, then he wanted to see a picture of bones. Ended up playing with the Tinybop Human Body app.

He was way into that, but convinced him, as it was snowing hard again, that we should go for a walk for pizza. Left at 4:30. He and I waited in the hallway while she took the garbage out. He waited to spot her coming back, and was excited when he did. Rode the bike up to Pizza School. Carly tried putting the cover down on the bike, but he wanted it up so the snow would fall on him, despite earlier telling her he didn’t like it.

At the pizza place he looked at the menu and wanted the shrimp rings and wedge fries. So got that along with our usual pepperoni and noodle pizzas. August stood on a chair and played with the little credit card signature pad, and the woman talked to him. He didn’t say hi, but he smiled at her. We then went outside and played with snowballs. I threw snowballs at him, and he threw snowballs at Carly. Seemed fair to me. We walked home, and as we got home it was really falling hard.

We were home at 5:10. Ate our dinner, and August found the pickles and ate a few of those. Did some markers, then was singing the “sister finger” song from YouTube. Has never been one we’ve watched a lot and don’t know when he watched it last. So odd to hear him singing it.

He went to the bathroom and needed to be wiped. But then he told me not to: “Don’t wipe myself…I was making a joke.” After making that joke, he then made up a song about jokes. I caught parts of it:

“I made a joke

Because I like to joke

…icky things

…joke a jokety-joke…”

He nursed and then painted with Carly. He kept wiping the paper though, and Carly hates the sound and went and hid in the bedroom. He followed her in and was then being funny on the bed. He then invented a whole “find garbage” game which Carly and I didn’t really understand, but involved us looking for both real garbage for him to throw away, and then fake garbage, which he found funny. Funniest was when he and I were finding things like rotten sandwiches under her pillow. They played find garbage while I got the bath ready, then I gave him a bath and washed his hair. He went to sleep soon after that, by 7:20.

A few hours later he was talking in his sleep. A few whole sentences that I missed, but I caught: 

“…7 8 9 10…”

“…what kind of playground?”

Photos. Whiteboard: 

Old socks and Fuzzy Bugs: 

Going for pizza: 

Hitting mama: 

Big snowball: 

Home: 

The view: 

In bed: 

He nursed at 6 or so, then slept all the way until 8:53. He came out, closed the door behind him (something he’s been doing regularly this week), then lay on the floor in the parlor. He was hungry so we got up. Went and put his underwear on, but he realized it was the elephant pair and wanted a different pair – it was the elephant pair that he had peed in. I assured him they had been washed, but he still wanted a different pair. He spent some time looking out the window at the good snow we got last night. Then we had cereal and strawberries. He repeated, like yesterday, that the new cereal tastes “brown sugary”. We then played with the Spin Monster toy and twirled the pieces as tops. He was getting a hang of that. We then played music. Hung the triangle on a rubber band since he broke the original rubber piece yesterday winding it up. We made up a song about kimchi. He then wanted books on the iPad but settled on the songbook. We sang from that and he made up songs.

He went to the bathroom and had me telling him about strawberries. When he was done he licked the sink and said “I ate germs and I didn’t get sick.” He watched Puffin Rock and I took a shower. He then played the shapes game in Spanish. Haven’t done that in quite awhile. We fixed the broken drum with tape again (he was pushing holes in it) then brushed our teeth. He put his blue clip on the photo of Grampa Dahl’s birthday party (something he did yesterday) and joked about it again (“What you did?” as he peered through the crack in the door to see it).

One time after he went to the bathroom this morning he pulled up his underwear all by himself. Which also reminded me that yesterday he wanted to wash his hands all by himself, and did a good job of it.

He weighed himself in the bathroom. Up to 13.1kg (28.9lbs). Getting ready to go, he started to open the snack pocket of the backpack. I stopped him. At which point he recited the entire conversation that WOULD have happened, had he got it open. Not the exact words (I wish I could remember it all), but it went:

“Will say a-ha when find the crackers. Dada say ‘they’re for later’. You ask can you eat them. Dada say ‘No’”

We were ready to head out and go to Children’s Grand Park, or so I thought. One last trip to the bathroom. But this time we were talking about the brain, and as he had me tell him about baby brains he chimed in with “Hasn’t developed.” He asked some question, and I suggested we look at a picture. I got the 3D Brain app on my iPad and the Tinybop anatomy app and we ended up spending the next half hour talking about the brain, eyes, nerves, and other systems.

He was hungry, so really time to get going. But as we were really leaving this time, he suddenly said “I want to ride my bike in the snow.” He was very happy with the idea, but it meant not going to Children’s Grand Park. So we went and rode around in the snow and went to the other side of the park. Stopped and stomped around in the snow and did snowballs. I had forgotten his snow boots. At one point though he saw circles in the snow and they were from someone’s shoe. We looked at our own tread patterns, and I wondered what his snow boots would look like. After that, he wanted to go home for lunch and get his snow boots.

We went home and ate our lunch. He liked the corn and crab salad and chicken and broccoli and rice things from our lunch. He was interested in the kimchi, but only smelled it. We used the tops again, then drew molecules. He pulled open a marker and said “Teuni Teuni works.” One time, after his class during which they worked on pulling things apart, I had said that when he was able to get a marker open. He remembered.

After lunch and in the warm sun I was getting sleepy. He wanted to read the new Berenstain Bears book and I was falling asleep on the reading area. He was asking a million questions too, so it was taking forever. I tried to tell him we could finish later, and he started to get really sad. I woke back up and was like “Okay, okay! We can read!” I told Carly it felt a little like how she must feel when he is sad and wants to nurse. We finished, and he wanted to watch Puffin Rock. We started and he said “Dada rest”. I did, for a bit, but then realized I needed to call the bank to get some information for our Korean taxes. I did that. Went smoothly enough, although August decided to start blowing his trumpet when I was on the phone.

We then went back outside, wearing his snow boots this time. We took the bike but he never rode it, instead preferring to tromp around in his boots. We went in the park and then just up on the hill to the right where kids were sledding. I asked if he would like to try it and he said “No!” with his little head shake, as if I was crazy to ask. Walked over to the pond area, now dry, and he wanted to go in there. Climbed around in there, then walked back up and over the hill again. As we got to the bottom of the hill, apparently a girl almost hit him on a sled. He was walking behind me, and I didn’t see it, and August wasn’t bothered, but they apologized profusely. We did snowballs by the drinking fountains for awhile, then he wanted to go on the swings. Did that for 20 or 30 minutes.

As we were getting ready to go back inside I said I had an idea. He got excited and asked “What’s your idea!?” It was to stop at Mama Juice, which he liked. He chose mango and I got a lemon tea. We went upstairs and I let him have some of the lemon tea. He really liked that and said “I love it warm.”

Carly got home a bit after 5. They nursed and read the orchestra book. She cooked mushrooms for him and he ate some, scooping a few up with a spoon. We read the Twinkle Twinkle Little Star book, which we haven’t done for a long time. He wanted me to read it without singing, so had fun with that. He did some play dough, and wrapped it around his spoon. He then entertained Carly with some dancing.

He said his bottom was itchy, so we went to put some cream on it. I had noted that we could get rid of the changing pad as we haven’t used it in weeks. But we used it to put on cream. He is starting to be aware of and concerned about getting rid of things, and wants to use the changing pad more. Kind of funny, as he just finished a whole week of using underwear.

I gave him a bath. Then he was hiding Angeles in the reading area and biting Angeles’s foot. We went in on the bed and Carly read him Paddington. He hid under a pillow for part of it. He was asleep a little before 8:20.

 

Photos. Snow: 

Out in the snow. Stomping a snowball: 

Tops: 

In his boots: 

Back home: 

Where’s Zinnie?