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He slept until 8:30. Wanted to type first before he nursed. After that they did some playdough and he did art on my iPad using the pencil, then helped with the vacuuming. He was hungry and said “I want breakfast foods.” He saw the pancakes that Carly had just made and said “Oh no. Is those hot ones?” After eating, he was walking around singing, partly at least about pancakes, including the line “If you eat them…” He went in on the toilet, then carried the garbage can in to the parlor again. When asked why he said “Just because? Just for fuz…just for muz…” They skyped for awhile, then I got markers out for him before I went and took a shower. When I came out, they were doing play dough and he was sticking the play dough letters on the end of the table and singing. He sang a “If you nurse…” song as he walked around. Played on the piano for a bit, then went in on the toilet. On the toilet he has talked about being a little kid before “Why yesterday you were a little kid about?” Back in the living room, he sat on my lap to play with and sing along to piano chords on my iPad.

Carly was later holding him upside down in the parlor. He kept saying “you’re meditating good!” Carly had been fixing the Christmas lights, and August pulled a chair into the parlor and wanted to get up on it like mama had. He got upset when Carly wouldn’t let him. They nursed, then he and I got ready to go to Children’s Grand Park. He wanted to ride his bike, but I talked him out of it. He had said ‘children’s museum’, so Carly asked him to say it a few times as she likes how he says it. She also got him to sign ‘more’.

He and I headed out at noon. He did art in the subway. At the station, he said “Escalators are amazing.” as we went up the escalator, and started singing a song. The first thing he wanted to do was to go check on the new playground they’re building. We went and looked at it – they have built a circular hill and started a play structure coming down part of it. He asked “Why they not working on it now about?” But then as we continued walking we saw three guys welding metal together and painting a structure. Watched them a few minutes, then sat nearby and ate some lunch. We heard a noise coming from over on our usual path and he said “I want to figure out the noise.” So we went and found it. It was a leaf blower. We watched the leaf blower and a guy raking.

We then discovered that the entire zoo is closed because of bird flu. We went to a seating area with some signs and a little library room. We’ve never hung out there before. There was a sign with a moon on it, then another with musical notes and clefs. I looked in the library thing, and he hit leaves around, acting like a leaf blower. August was playing around and looked in the bushes and said “I saw a cat.” I tried to get more lunch out, but he said “I don’t want lunch.” and started putting the food back in the container. He was done there, so we headed over to do some sidewalk chalk.

Walked ‘our path’. He found a fuzzy seed thing and took it apart, then a feather “What you find a feather about?…What bird it from? I want dada look it up.” “Dada run! Run!” So we ran down the hill, him still holding his feather. Played by the rectangle pond for awhile, and he dropped the feather in. Then started walking toward the sidewalk chalk area, but he got distracted by seed shells he spotted, dropped by a bird, then singing along to a song.

We finally got to sidewalk chalk. He got straight to it and did a mosaic of colors, putting down color then sweeping it with a broom, all on his own for 10 minutes or so. He had me help a little when he wanted to mix colors: he’d tell me to do some blue, then he’d do the yellow on top of it then sweep. When he was done, I had us both look at it. He asked what it looked likes and I suggested Christmas lights when you squint and he liked that. I suggested he sign his artwork, and suggested August, Zinn, or Zinnie. But he chose ‘ZZ’, which I sometimes call him, but we’ve never written it down. So he wrote ‘ZZ’ next to his art, and then followed it with a ‘?’

We then went up and – since it was so warm – changed him outside. We talked a lot about Pooh and the other characters – he wanted me to do the voices for some reason. Oh, and he was joking about picking leaves, and I joked if he picked I’d tickle. He liked this, and would go pick a leaf, then come over and actually grab my hand to make me tickle him. Finally, he wanted to know what it said on the nearby building. It says ‘forest open-air stage’. He needed help with ‘forest’ and ‘air’ but got the other two on his own.

We went up and washed our hands, then he wanted to walk the wooden ramp up to the conservatory second floor. Did that, and we sat up there and ate some more food. He then wanted to go downstairs to the place with fish. We went down the stairs, and I was ahead of him. He said “Hey, hey. I’m coming, I’m coming.” We spent some time looking at the fish, then went to the outside greenhouse area. He kept asking why there weren’t any fish in that pond out there.

We headed out, and changed him outside again. Got walking again, then spotted another bush that had orange berries on them. Played with them for awhile, getting the seeds out of them. Then said he needed to pee. He was asking about the soft little white bushes again. He was running and realized he was running in a triplet pattern. We went to the bathroom behind the coffee shop, then he spotted another bush with berries, black this time. He played with them for quite awhile, talking about how they birds eat them, but then saying there was “sickness” in the berries and the birds would get sick. I asked what it was, and he said “bird flu”, which we had talked about with the zoo being closed.

As we walked to the subway, I asked “What was your favorite part?” He immediately said “Touching a feather.” More art on the subway home. From Hagye to home he sang a song “I’m a cat”. I figured out the first couple notes were based on the dinging sound the subway makes before the doors close.

When we got home, he pushed the button. When Carly answered, he sang two versions of his “I’m a cat” song to her over the intercom. We were home about 5:30. They nursed, then he was upset about Carly putting her computer away. Carly took him out for an evening walk again. They rode around on the bike and went on the swings for a little while. Came back and ate some letter pasta, mushrooms, etc. for dinner. After his bath he kept saying “Go away from my puffling, NOW! Step away from my puffling, NOW!” Mama Puffin says that on Puffin Rock. Watched some Puffin Rock, and tried on his new gloves and mittens. Then took a long time in the bath with Carly. He had a popsicle, then was asleep at 8.

 

Photos. Play dough art: 

Upside down: 

Watching the leaf blower: 

Feather: 

Sweeping: 

Chalky hands: 

Chalk art and signature: 

Joking about tickling: 

Looking at banana trees: 

Trying to show a berry: 

Art: 

New mittens: 

He was up at 5:30. They skyped with Vivian, etc. for quite awhile and had pancakes for breakfast. Made playdough letters, and early on he was ready to go outside: “Get me ready to go outside.” But before that he was playing notes on the piano and asking what they were. He was actually playing notes, so we were looking up chords on the iPad. I was trying to figure out if I needed to pay money for an app, and tried to use GarageBand instead. We tried it out, but it didn’t. August kept asking “Why?” it didn’t work.

He and Carly went outside at 9:20, and were back a little after 10. They had taken out recycling, rose around on the bike a bit, and gone to the bakery for bread. He got a little cheese ball thing as a treat and shared it with me when he got back.

We played with play dough. He wanted me to make cubes, then he would squish them and print a litter in it. He was then walking around and made up a song. There were lines about spitting, and pooping, and something else, then a few lines about a fish eating. He was sitting on the toilet, and I started reading him the Cat on the Mat Is Flat book. We then went and read more in the reading area. He shared some noodles with me, then was pretending to have a flashlight: “The batteries are dead…there are new batteries. There is a button. It is lighting up dada.”

He was getting sleepy, and Carly put him down for a nap. He slept from 11:30 to 12:35 – his first kind of full nap during a weekday in quite some time (37 minutes on Friday was the next closest). They nursed, then he was just playing on the piano on his own, playing two notes at a time.

I took him out for a walk at 1:30, with him on the bike. As we got close to Madeul Stadium, he was holding his hand by his ear and saying “I don’t hear anything.” He then wanted to pedal on his own, so I was giving him a good push and he was trying pedal as far as he could. We went to the playground by the stadium and played here. Haven’t done that much recently. He found some shells in the sand, then we sat down and had some food to eat. He ate all of the pasta veggies that Carly had made. He then wanted to try the swing, with me pushing him. Started off slowly, and with short sessions, and he was nervous. He asked “What happens if you fall off?”, and I said the sand was nice and soft. He would swing for a few seconds on one, kind of jump off, then want the other one.

A guy came over and talked to me. Turned out he was a retired English teacher in a Korean high school. Each Monday he brings his grandson, who lacks some use of his left hand, to the center for disabilities across the street. Anyway, while I was talking to him, I realized August had been swinging for several minutes as I pushed him. He left, and August continued to swing, getting more and more confident. He started chanting “Up to the sky!” And a few times said ”Isn’t it pretty?” At some point he looked across and realized that the piano sculpture was a treble clef: “Why there a high clef about?” He also noticed that we were the only people playing in the park: “It’s empty…why just dada and Zinnie on the swings?”

One had one mild fall when he got off going to fast. I rubbed his back and he said “Why dada wipe the sand off about?” Wasn’t traumatized and wanted right back on the other one. He had a a bigger fall, in which he fell on his stomach and got some sand in his mouth. I told him to spit it out, and he did, and was fine. A total of three falls, and he didn’t get upset about any of them.

From there he went to the play structure and climbed up – and then back down –  the wooden wall with a rope on his own. He then wandered over to the exercise equipment and played with that. He wanted to climb up on the sit-up bench, and I helped him up. He sat at the top of that for awhile. Without me saying he was cute, he asked “Why are you cute about?” He then gave me his ‘cute’ look for a photo. Finally, he walked on the piano sculpture. He had a pretty hard fall on the black keys, but got up and didn’t fuss.

On the walk home he spotted a heron on the stream. Not one of the small ones, but one of the big ones that we don’t often see. He got off and hung on the fence and watched it for a few minutes.

At home they nursed, then went back out with Carly for a walk by the stream. After a bit I felt like going back out for a walk too, as the weather was so nice. I met them halfway between here and the stream. August wanted to get juice, so I walked to King Kong Juice with them, and August chose mango pineapple. We got it without sugar, but it was rather tart, and he didn’t drink much.They did more walking, and I headed home.

They were home a bit later. He watched Puffin Rock, then wanted to play on Carly’s computer. She was doing some work, so asked him what her students’ homework should be. He came up with a whole list: “Writing…painting…work…fix something…”

He typed on the iPad, then played with the tongs in the freezer, picking up a popsicle. He and Carly had made popsicles earlier in the day, and he’d already had two: one early in the day, and one as they went for their walk. Carly gave him a bath, then he and I did a bit of the Peter Rabbit puzzle, with Peter Rabbit, of course, then we read. He requested a Pooh poem, then that we read Opposites, which he basically read all on his own. He then wanted my iPad to draw. I had barely said no and he came and jumped on me saying “No, no, no, no” We took him to bed and he fell straight to sleep, by 8:40.

Park: 

Cube: 

Popsicle: 

“I don’t hear anything”: 

Bonk: 

Climbing up and down: 

Exercise equipment: 

Being cute: 

Treble clef sculpture: 

Watching the heron: 

Hanging off the side: 

Tongs: 

He got up at 7:20. I slept a bit longer, and he and Carly called Cherie, who was on the phone, in Centralia. After I got up, August wanted to watch Puffin Rock. I gave him his iPad and he went in on the reading area and said he was going to watch there. He said “It’s very soft and cozy.” I heated him some banana bread for breakfast. They nursed, and read Animal Tales. At some point he wanted me to leave, and said “Get out.” I told him to say it politely. He said “I want some alone time…I’m a fox.” I peeked back in to take a photo and he said “I told you to stay out.” He really is becoming a fox, as I’m pretty sure that is a Flynn line.

Just a little later he came out and came out and we read Creepy Carrots a couple times. He got up and was playing with the Pooh pillow, then wanted to write ‘Pooh’ on paper. So we went to the markers and paper and did some writing. We then did a little painting, in brown, before Carly got ready to go and took him shopping at Home Plus.

He was in the stroller and kind of zoned out for much of the shopping, but then wanted out at the end. They got back at 11:30. They had gotten freeze-dried strawberries and August wanted them. Sadly, they had disappeared at some point. They nursed and I took a shower, then August and I played with play dough while Carly made the veggie pancakes.

He then moved to the iPad and did art in Sketches. After awhile he started walking around and talking/reciting lines about Bernie in Puffin Rock: “Bernie is a hermit crab…” That went on for awhile. He needed to go to the bathroom and found that he could get on the toilet on his own with the stool. He went and got Carly so he could show her. While washing his hands, he heard Carly start the blender. He called “Stop!” Then took his stool out to help. He wanted a dry paper towel to wipe cinnamon she had dropped on the counter. He looked at what he had wiped and said “It’s a texture!” He then stood on the stool and helped with the dry ingredients.

When he’s been on the toilet he’s started to unravel the toilet paper. Carly solved this by putting the toilet paper up on the shelf. This time, he was knocking the garbage can over. I moved it across the bathroom. When he got off, he picked up the garbage can and took it to the parlor. He said “Why’d you move it in the parlor? Because you’re silly!”

He spent a lot of time doing art in Sketches on my iPad. Worked with some new fills and textures.

He ate some pancake before we went on a walk, and had chocolate on his face, which Carly pointed out. I joked about licking it off his face, and said that Carly could have some. She said “I don’t want your chocolate.” To which he replied “Why not?”

We headed out on a walk with him on the bike, leaving Carly at home. As I pushed him, he said  “Hey dada! Tell a Flynn story!” So I told a story about Flynn getting trapped on cliff and the other animals saved her. We finished the story as we got to the park. He sat on his bike in contemplation for a minute. I asked what he thought. He thought some more and said “That’s not how it goes!” I asked how so and he replied “The Flynn part.” Tough audience.

He had seen some bigger kids hanging by their hands from the rope ladder, and wanted to do that. So he went over and found that he could hold himself up off the ground. That was fun. From there he went over to the sand area. He found a feather and played with that, hiding it in the sand for me to find and sticking it and sticks in the sand. He was making little sand castles when I started eating a Larabar. He wanted some but said “I want dada to give you a piece cuz my hands are all sandy.”

He wanted inside the hexagonal place to play. Played in there for awhile, and he climbed over the edge – the first time he could climb back and forth from one side to the other. He wanted to build sand castles, but all we had were a couple sticks, so we built some small ones and did some writing. He said he wanted us to build a big sand castle. I said it was too cold, and he responded “Well we can try.” Hard to argue that one, so I used my foot and we made a big round castle. He started decorating it with all sorts of branches and leaves and grasses. He observed “I’m doing lots of decorations.” He wanted me to make the moat bigger, so I did, and he said “Thanks for not crushing my decorations.” Finally, after 10 or 15 minutes I was ready to go and asking if it was done. He seemed to suggest that the moat should have water in it, but of course the faucet was off. He then spit in it a few times, and seemed to think that was good enough.

As we got ready to leave, he climbed out and then slid down face first. Kind of an awkward landing, and he announced “I’m okay!” On the way back I suggested Mama Juice, and he said he didn’t want any. I listed the three juice places though and he wanted to try King Kong Juice. Looking at the menu, he first wanted tomato, but without thinking I suggested he wouldn’t like it (sounds disgusting to me). He settled on mango banana. I was then trying to convince him he should try tomato next tome.

We came home and they nursed, then he was acting crazy. He watched some Puffin Rock and we had nachos for dinner. He just wanted the chips though, so Carly made him pancakes for dinner. The two of them then did play dough. I gave him a bath, which went fine until it was time to wash his hair. He insisted that mama come do that, so we switched and she finished up.

They nursed, then Carly got him some strawberries, and he wanted them warm. He convinced us to put them in the microwave, but then quickly said “Stop!…I don’t want it hot!” We realized he didn’t want them to get too hot, which often happens when Carly is heating food for him.

Carly started cleaning, and he helped. He wiped and wiped and wiped all over the place. He spotted a squished ginkgo berry on a wheel of the bike and said “What the ginkgo berry gross about? What the ginkgo berry smell like poop about?” A bit later Carly asked “Are you sleepy?” He gave a funny look and said  “Not really.”

In the bedroom, we had the humidifier on, and he was letting it go in his mouth. He asked  “What it go in your mouth about?” I asked “What does it taste like?” “Carrots, I think.” He fell asleep right away at 7:30.

 

Home: 

Saturday’s photos. See Saturday’s post for Sunday’s photos. 

 

 

Art museum: 

Back home: 

Some art: 

Trying out the ergo: 

Coloring book: 

He really slept in today. My book group meeting started at 8:30, and he woke up sometime between then and 9. He slept over 13 hours last night. Right after he woke up he asked to go pee on the toilet.

He and a carly Skyped with her parents and then Glecy. Between, he came into the room I was in and got his water pen books out and played with those. He asked where the (dry erase) eraser was and tried to erase the ‘libros espanol’ sign, which had fallen of the basket. Carly made him oatmeal for breakfast and he ate all of that. Sometime after my meeting was over, he was singing rhythms and said “I want to count the notes of you walking.” So I stomped a beat and he sang a song. We started laundry, and August got upset when we wouldn’t let him push the buttons on the washing machine. Carly was getting ready to go outside for a walk. He really liked the idea, but was getting impatient she was taking so long, at one point calling from the doorway “Mama! Hurry up!” We all headed out at 11, with him on the bike.

All went fine at first, with Carly pushing. We went across the bridge over the stream, then down the other side. After a couple blocks worth though he started to take his feet off, drag them, etc. Then he was hanging off the side of the bike. Spent several minutes with him half on the ground and half on the bike, pretending to be a worm. Pretty funny, actually. So took awhile, with some starting and stopping, and carrying him, to get to Toys R Us. As we got close I was carrying him. And I asked if he wanted his hat. He politely said “No, thank you.” He was talking away and telling his own Puffin Rock stories. I caught “Careful! Don’t let the hedgehog eat the seaweed.” Which I’m pretty sure isn’t from an episode, and I asked and he said no and agreed that he’d made it up.

At Toys R Us he was back on the bike and Carly pushed him towards the back, looking for gloves. She forgot the play area is back there, and he got upset when she said we weren’t going in today. But he cheered up inside Toys R Us when there was a woman demoing this sand/play dough stuff. He played with that for 10 minutes or so while Carly checked out umbrella strollers. We played with him a bit too. We then headed home.

Some more stopping and playing on the ground along the way. At one point he wanted me to pick him up. I only pick him up if he says either “Please” or “I got my dada!” (Although he never actually says the latter, saying “I got my Zinnie” instead, leading to our debate about who says which line). Anyway, this time he didn’t want please, but said other things instead, like “Pick me up, pine needles.”

As we got closer to home I needed to set him down a couple times, which he didn’t like. He saw the gas station and asked what it was about. We walked back and watched a guy fill his car and then the car drive off. He noticed water on the ground and asked why it was there, and we figured out it was because there was a car wash. We got walking and he wanted to go back again once and got upset. Carly carried him, and we distracted him with the art museum, and going in to use the toilet there.

We got to the art museum, and Carly took him into the bathroom. Sadly, the new kid play area there has been delayed by a few weeks. We then went downstairs to the children’s art area, which is actually a children’s art area now, with interactive stuff. He tried climbing on the climbing structure thing, I pushed him and Carly around in a cart thing, he made a rectangle out of some balls on a light table, and then he and Carly climbed the stairs to the top of the hill area.

From there we headed home. I made a salmon sandwich and shared it with August, then cut him some strawberries. I had a headache, so went and lay down for awhile. He was watching Puffin Rock, and got excited when they said it was ‘August’. They then did play dough, and Carly was waiting for him to do some clean up when I came out. I suggested he do it robot style, so I helped a bit and he really got into clearing up. They nursed, and cuddled on the couch. We got the new markers out and did some writing and then watercolor painting. They nursed and read the Animal Tales book, after which he and I played on the piano.

He went and did some hiding in the parlor, and some looking out the window. It was now 5 and I asked if he wanted to go outside again at all, and he said he wanted to stay in. Carly went down to Megan’s apartment to do a Skype interview with a school in Kuwait. August and I read a bunch of new books while she was gone, including Creepy Carrots and Hug Machine (both a couple times) and Gaston. He jumped up and said “I have something for you. We can share it.” “What?” I asked “I don’t know.” He went and looked in the fridge, but didn’t decide on anything. We then did some painting, and while putting his paint brush in the water and watching the colors swirl around he said “It’s like oil.” I don’t know where this came from, and I asked Carly later, and she didn’t know. Actually, it may be from the children’s museum, and the new turning table thing in the water area – I may have said that looked like oil. But we only did that few a few seconds, once. Anyway, we painted and he wanted slurred notes. So we painted those and practiced them. He was hungry, and ate a couple slices of banana bread. Then he wanted a treat again, to share. This time, I made some hot chocolate. We were finishing it up when Carly got home. I told him “Don’t tell mama we are having hot chocolate!” So of course he went and yelled “We’re having hot chocolate!”

They nursed and we did more painting. He was then climbing around on the couch, playing with his pants, which we had taken off for a bath. I said the “I want to get in the water!” line for Sophie, and August said “What’s that, Sophie?” which is what Carly usually says. I got him in the bath, but he wanted Carly to wash him, so we traded. He had wanted a quick bath before getting in, but started playing with the squirt cars once in.

After his bath he wanted to use Sketches on my iPad. He showed his artwork to Carly, and was then showing her how to do things. He wanted her to “Write Althauser Niman”. They then were coloring in the coloring book part of the app.

Carly got his toothbrush and he did a good job of brushing on his own. He said he was brushing  “like a big kid” Carly asked “Can mama brush your teeth?” He replied “Maybe not today. It’s difficult. What you say it’s difficult about? I’m doing it by myself today. What you sucking yesterday about?”

Back in the coloring book, they were trying to figure out what animal was hanging from a tree. He said “Maybe that’s a squirrel? A mouse? A kinkajou!” Carly didn’t know what a kinkajou looked like, so I pulled up photos. She said we should have one as a pet. I suggested a nocturnal animal wouldn’t be the best pet. She asked about what cats were, and I looked it up: crepuscular, active during dawn and dusk, so that was our word of the day.

He went to bed around 9:30. As I said good night to leave, he said “I love you dada and night night.”

Oops. These are Sunday’s photos. See Sunday’s post for Saturday’s photos.

 

Cozy: 

Cinnamon texture: 

Some art: 

Chrysanthemum Park. Standing on the bike: 

Hanging: 

Feather: 

Leaning: 

Dada and Zinnie hand prints: 

Wanting to build it taller: 

Head first:

King Kong Juice: 

Hands: 

A long day. And the weather dropped down into the teens at night, so it was nice and chilly when we left the house early. We were going over to Jill and Derek’s house to watch Rosie for a couple hours so Jill could go to the pension office and run a couple errands.

But first, August woke up at 4:30. Early, early, early. Carly got up with him. August noticed the cold, and asked her “What’s it cold about?” He let her put songs on him (but requested the short socks – he doesn’t like socks pulled up his legs at all) and they sat on a warm spot on the floor. He was sitting on the toilet when she washed her face, and he looked up and asked her “What are you up to, mama?” And they watched some Puffin Rock and she got him oatmeal for breakfast.

We watched some more Puffin Rock and he finished his oatmeal for breakfast, then had strawberries and banana bread. I took a shower, and we got ready to go. I got him to try his hat on for a few seconds before we left, but he still wouldn’t wear it. He noted it was cold out (still shy of 20) when we left at 7:45. We had to wait 8 minutes at the bus stop, then took the 15 to their house.

When we got there at 8:30 we found that Atsuko was also there, helping Jill. Logan was not yet gone to daycare, as he was having a tough morning. Totally not surprising, given all of the upheaval going on (dad off in Canada, sister gone three nights in the hospital, a bunch of different people watching him, and the house getting packed up for the move). When August tried looking at a book Logan took it away. Logan got the big blocks out and was making a tower. August was just sitting there, watching, and I said to August “What you doing? Watching Logan” Logan replied with “No watching Logan!” and held his hand up, as if blocking August’s view.

Luckily, August didn’t seem to take it personally. They got him ready for daycare, and all took off a little past 9, leaving me and August with Rosie. Rosie was sad seeing her mama walk out, but handled it quite well. Given that she was just in the hospital for 3 nights with pneumonia, she’s gotten used to a lot of different people watching her. She did rest on my should for 10 minutes or so, and I thought she might fall asleep. But she got down, and we played around. August was mainly excited about trying all of their snacks: they have a whole basket full of bags of kid snacks, and we tried all of them: blueberry yogurt bites, freeze dried strawberries, some sort of cookie, etc. We played with the blocks, Rosie clapping every time she put a block on. August found the Boynton book Are You a Cow? and we had fun reading that. Rosie can’t go outside for a few days (oh, before she left Jill had Rosie use the nebulizer – August really liked watching that, and I explained all about it, and Rosie being sick, which he kept asking about. Think we have new material for taking care of the Duplo animals), but at one point she went and got her shoes and brought them to me. I put them on her, then she went and opened the closet and got out her coat and wanted me to put it on her. When I didn’t do that though she went and tried opening the door.

Rosie sort of fell or something, minor, and I picked her up. This time she did fall asleep a few minutes later, just before 10:30. It took me two attempts, but I managed to set her down in the crib, which is low. That is a long way to lower her – I was never, ever close to lowering August that far when he fell asleep.

August still wanted snacks (think he was ready for lunch) and we got a slice of white American cheese out of the fridge. He did not like it, however, and he said it “Tastes like poop.” He remembered using the square blocks to make squares out of play dough, and kept asking for it. I had meant to ask Jill, but didn’t. We looked for it, but didn’t find it.

He was sitting on the toilet when Jeff and another guy showed up to take Logan’s bed out. August said he thought that Jeff looked like Uncle Paul. He was still sitting on the toilet a couple minutes later when Jill came in. She started talking to Jeff, so she didn’t hear, but he was leaning forward, looking out the bathroom, and asked five or six times: “Where’s the play dough?” We asked her a bit later and it turned out, as I had suspected, that they had already thrown it away.

Sometime around when Rosie was going to sleep and Jeff was showing up, August said “I want a story of Baba as a grown up.” This is the second time he’s asked, but we’ve gotten distracted both times. The story I made of Baba wanting to learn to swim is the one he’s requested the most – I think he likes the ‘growing up’ stories (and likes them on the show – the ones about Oona learning to fish, or dig, or act like a Puffin).

We were out in the living room, and August saw Jill’s scarf on the chair. He grabbed it, and put it on. We’ve never put a scarf on him, but he understood it. He posed, and pretended to be cold, and said “You wear a scarf cuz it is cold outside.” Wore it for a minute or two.

We got going, and went and caught the bus back to Hagye Station. He fell asleep on the bus at 11:33. He slept through getting off, going to the train, getting off, and buying lunch at CU, but then woke up as we walked into Children’s Grand Park. I think he heard the music and recognized it. He nodded back off, but then picked his head up again right as I was about to the coffee shop. He started to sing numbers to the song (I think he recognized the song) but then really got excited and sang loudly when the next song was “The Ants Go Marching” (in Korean).

So I made a left turn and headed to the children’s museum. We went up to the cafeteria. He started to get upset, saying he wanted to play first, but I was starving. I told him I had bought him a juice, and he was suddenly okay with lunch. Had actually gotten two: one was in a funny bottle from ‘Bad Farmers’, so I had to try it. He didn’t eat a ton (we didn’t open the kimbap at all) but had a bit, and it was enough for me. From there we went to the veterinarian area. We took care of a bunch of animals, looked at the real x-rays they have, and he went over to the food area and we brought a bunch of foods back over to the animals and found out which foods each animal liked (he particularly liked how all of the herbivores found the fish ‘disgusting’). He went and got the big lion stuffed animal to feed it something. I was having the small monkey hide behind the counter, and August found this both hilarious and terrifying.

Eventually, we were overwhelmed by a bunch of older boys. A few tried to talk to us while we were in the middle of a patient, and I told them to please leave us alone. But the noise got to August and he said (after he himself was banging something on the counter) “What you making so much noise about?…I want to go to a quiet place.”

On the way, he saw the spot where he had been kicking the glass last time. He at first made a joke of it, but was then actually kicking the glass. When I stopped him, he laid down on the ground for a few minutes. After he was better, I asked if he wanted to go to the bathroom, and he did. We did that, then went to the reading area. He was standing by the base of the steps to the loft area, and another girl came and looked like she was going to go up. He pointed at her shoes and said “You need to take your shoes off.” We then went and played with a balancing scales game for awhile. He then wanted to read Oh No!, so we found it and took it and my iPad up to the loft. We read that, then he did art on my iPad for quite awhile. He then found a Korean book called Tina and Orchestra. We read parts of it and looked through it. He saw some notes in it and was singing them.

We talked about going to Costco. He liked the idea, getting excited: “I want to get samples. Yum! I love the samples!” We talked more about what he loved and he said “I love Flynn(?)…I love treats…and sparkles.” Don’t think he actually said ‘Flynn’, but didn’t figure out what it was. But ‘spar
kles’ was clear, and I don’t know where that came from.

We headed out, but first remembered about the book exhibit downstairs. We went down and looked around for a few minutes – there are samples of children’s books from around the world. Pretty cool, but August was hungry and wanted to go eat. So we headed out, and ate a Larabar on the way to the subway.

The trip to Costco was pretty straightforward. He stayed in the backpack, and was hungry so was requesting we go get samples as soon as we entered the building. He got a couple pieces of cheese, a mandu, and some chicken. We paid, and he got out at the restaurant area. We got a couple pieces of pizza. They have blueberry smoothies now, so I gave in and tried one. A little better than the apple they had before, but not much. We had some of that, repacked our stuff, and headed out. He was talking about slipping on the ground as we got of the moving walkways. Like a snail, he said. He was then demonstrating slipping for awhile next to the statue outside. Then got in the backpack and headed out.

We stood on the subway home. We were sticking our tongues out at our reflections in the window. Got home at 5:30 and Carly wasn’t home at first – she had stayed a bit late. So I heated up the slice of potato and bacon pizza. While I did that, August rolled around on the floor and was making up pizza rhymes: “Pizza, mizza, dizza,…” We were then painting when Carly got home. He asked me to paint a shape at one point, and even specified black, but when I did it he said “Good job trying, dada, but I need to wipe it cuz black is not for the painting.” As he was rubbing it with the paper towel, he joked “It bothers mama’s ears.” At one point he was singing notes, and stomping the floor to rhythm.

Carly gave him a bath, and he went to bed soon after that, by 7:20.

 

Watching Puffin Rock: 

Watching Rosie get her special medicine: 

Rosie wanting to go outside: 

On the floor: 

Scarf: 

Asleep: 

Juice bottle: 

Veterinarian: 

Lying down where he kicked the glass: 

Balancing: 

A piece of art: 

Cuddling: 

The orchestra book: 

Costco: 

Sticking out his tongue in the subway: 

Painting: 

At some point during the night he was pretty awake for a few minutes and grabbing/hitting Carly while trying to nurse. She got him back to sleep and he slept nice and late to 8:55. I heard him and asked “Is that Zinnie?” He loudly said “No!” then tried to hide in the hall. He came and got behind me and sort of pushed me to the table. Then hid behind me as I sat on the floor, then laid on the floor and put his feet up on my shoulder. I said “Smile for mama!” and he said “Meh!” And sort of stuck out his tongue. Then he said “Why you not do a smiley face?” He lay on the floor for a couple more minutes, then sat up and said “Let’s go paint.”

We painted with both the poster paint and watercolor, then he went to the toilet. I got banana bread ready for breakfast. I put his pants back on him and asked if he had worn socks last night. He gave a good “Uhhh, maybe?”

We listened to a lot of Erasure this morning. A lot of head bobbing on his part. Erasure and Underworld seem to be the two bands that he regularly pays attention.

He wanted Puffin Rock, so he watched that and I took a shower. He had a third slice of banana bread, then wanted on my iPad: “I’ll cross it out.” He eventually did some of his own art, and showed he was thinking about his art as he did it: “What you keeping the white in about?”

At some noodle pizza, then finished watching one last Puffin Rock story together. It was the one where they help a frog get to the pond. August likes the little song the sing in that one. He then went back to my iPad and did some more art while sitting at the table. Finished one piece and said “Let me show you a new app…It’s a little bit boring…so it’s for dada….it’s for Zinnie…” He settled on Sound Rebound. I turned the volume up a bit, but he said “No, I want it quiet…It is Quiet Rebound now.”

He switched to Sketches and discovered the coloring books and did that for a bit. That was enough iPad time for the morning. We went in to take care of some animals. As we went into the parlor, he said “I want to see the eyes. Dada turn them on.” So I turned on those kitchen lights. We took care of two or three animals, then were playing in the fort. He lay down and said “I’m just taking a rest.” He then came and lay next to me in the fort for awhile.

He had to use the toilet, then we were getting ready to go. We were talking about taking the bike out to Teuni Teuni and he said “I want to go on the bike and do really fast.” He was talking about going to Carly’s classroom and I said “We don’t have a reason to go to mama’s classroom today.” He replied with “I have a reason.”

As I tried to brush his teeth, put on his socks, etc. He kept resisting, insisting “I’m a fox.” He continued to do that as I wet my hands and got his hair a little wet to brush it. He would shake his head, then went over to the wall by the Hangeul poster and rubbed his head against the wall.

He rode his bike to class. Class was all about circles and rolling things. At one point the teacher put a C-shaped thing on his nose and pretended to be a bull. August responded by throwing things at him. Which seemed like a good response. We were rolling tube-shaped things around and August said “It rolled back to sangsaengnim.” At one point, near the end, August got a bit sad about something and I had to hold him, but it wasn’t clear why. I think maybe he was having fun with the current activity and didn’t want it to be clean up time. At the end of class I told August he should say “Goodbye, teacher” in Korean. August did, sort of, loudly saying “Anhanghasayo SANG-“ a few times. Kind of like saying “Goodbye, TE-”.

We rode his bike home. Played with play dough for awhile, then skyped with my parents for a half hour. And watched a couple Puffin Rock stories before we headed back out. We rode his bike over to the pink building and left his bike at the top of the stairwell. He didn’t want to do that, until I pointed out that the adults left their bikes there too. We went down and got bread and strawberries and salmon. I let him choose a drink for at the coffee shop, and I let him pick out a pink slurpy thing, which he never ate.

When we had gotten to the pink building he’d said “I’m tired of pedaling.” I’d shown him how he could put his feet on the platforms under his seat if he wanted. He liked that idea, but then on our way up to the Sarang Bang coffee shop he started putting his feet in the pedals and dragging them on the ground.

At the coffee shop I got a coffee and August picked out a little angel food cake muffin. We got two, so we saved the second to give to mama later. At the table, as I put the straw in his drink. He said “Careful, dada. You don’t want to make a mess.” He then ate the bread. It was wrapped like a cupcake and we didn’t really know what we were getting. He said “Huh. Whatever that is.” We then sat there for a half hour or so. He made shapes and animated them in ShapeKit. I did some reading, but although he pretty much has the animation process down, he still wants me to walk him through it, so I kept doing that. He needed to use the bathroom, so we went and used the bathroom down the hall, then came back and sat for a few more minutes.

On the walk home he was slouching and leaning forward on the bike. I kept trying to get him to ride it properly, as the pedals would hit his legs and jerk it to the side. At one point I think it hit his leg rather hard. He was said after that, but it wasn’t clear if it was because he was hurt, or because I was telling him no.

We got home at 5:30. Carly was already home. They nursed, then we did some painting. He told me not to paint on his work (similar to how I don’t let him delete my work on the iPad), but then wanted me to paint shapes: “Paint a quadrilateral and fill it in.”

He then wanted my iPad, calling “Dada’s iPad please!” He was getting rather hyper/rambunctious this evening, climbing all over Carly and sliding around on the couch and floor. He hit her or something, then apologized, saying “Sorry. I just want to nurse.” Carly said he was cute, and he asked “What you so cute about?”

He got back on my iPad, doing art, but then switched into my work. When I stopped him he got upset, then went and crawled in the fort. He was clearly tired, and when Carly nursed him he fell asleep at 6:55.

Best. Morning. Hair. Ever: 

Holding the pencil ‘properly’, which he does more often, but not all the time. Also, I’m looking forward to buying him a tilting art desk:

Coloring book: 

Fort: 

Gloves and bike: 

On the rocks: 

Bread thing and juice: 

Trying his hat: 

Slumping: 

8:18. He allowed me in the parlor this time while he lay down for a couple minutes. We then read a few stories from The Cat on the Mat is Flat. Art on my iPad and pancakes and strawberries after that. He did really well with the art for a while, figuring out a few new things. But then got frustrated when I wouldn’t let him draw on my stuff. He went in the parlor and closed the door, but I used a funny voice and he let me in. We then sat on the reading area and read the rest of The Cat on the Mat is Flat. He then wanted the playdough knife. We went out and got out some play dough, then he went and got a square Duplo. Did some squares, then “I want a glow worm!” Think he learned that on Puffin Rock.

He watched Puffin Rock and I took a shower. Before I even got in the shower he said “You’re watching too much Puffin Rock!” It had only been like three minutes. Although by this point he’s probably watched the whole series 2 or 3 times, so it is definitely the most he has watched of anything – by far. After my shower we did more play dough. He wanted burritos, then made a “funny burrito”. He sang to the songbook, then listened to jump rope songs. He found his little screwdriver, then the holes in the piano from the missing screws for the top of it. I know I saved the screws from it, but couldn’t find them. Found two other screws that sort of fit, and he worked on trying to turn them a little. He was then playing on the piano asked me what notes they were. He actually started by playing just two notes at a time (we’ve been talking about chords), but then moved to full palm. When I actually made up an answer he said “I just want dada to think about it.”

At some point we noticed it was snowing a bit. Over an hour or so it got heavier and heavier. He stood at the window, looking out at it. At some point he spotted the pasta in the cupboard and requested some. Dry. So he ate some of the dry letter pasta. He said “Having noodle letter pasta before we go out to the snow.” But then as we got ready to go he said “I want to take care of one animal first.” We went in, and actually took care of two or three of the Duplo animals in the fort. He looked out through the fort and said “Why are there no eyes?” So I definitely figured out that the eyes were the two light bulbs hanging over our counter. I went and turned them on and he was very excited and talked more about maybe it being mama and seeing the eyes.

I was pretty hungry by the time we got going at 12:35 or so. We had fun walking in the snow, and paused as we walked through an apartment complex to take a selfie in it. We got across the river and headed south to eMart and I realized we might be able to go over the railroad tracks now, as this is where they were doing a rail to trails project. And indeed, it is now open. Lots of people walking in the snow. We walked out on the bridge a bit, then followed the path the other way, and it goes straight to eMart. In the future we could walk straight to the tracks on our side, then walk over the river on the bridge. I see more trips to eMart in the spring.

At eMart we discovered real sour cream. Had intended to come back after we played in the play area, but they only had one container. Then I realized we had our cooler with an ice pack. So we got that, then looked at their prepared foods section. Nicer than Home Plus’s, so August and I took our time deciding. Ended up with some kimbap and a croissant sandwich. He also had fun looking at the other foods, including the prepared squid.

We went up to the food court and ate. He was interested in the people around us, and started to get a bit loud. Making a loud “eeeeee” directed to women close to us, a loud “Hey!” to no one in particular, and a loud “anyanghasayo!” directed towards another woman. He was clearly ready to play.

We paid and went in the play area. Different branding, but pretty much the same as every other play big supermarket kid cafe (like Home Plus and Lotte Mart). Wandered around and climbed up in the play area. He immediately went down the rolly slide on his own. Then played with the plastic thing where you push the rods back and forth. We spelled words in that, like ‘mama’ and ‘dada’. He spotted the bathroom and we went in and he used the urinal. He then went to the sand area but didn’t want to wear the boots. He protested by laying on the ground and not saying anything. He would also try to sneak his feet around and dip his toe in the sand. At his most rebellious he grabbed some sand and poured it on his sock. But finally, as he was just laying there, I slipped boots on and then picked him up and set him on the sand. Bingo.

I had used a mold to make a car in the sand and told him to stomp on it. And we were off. After a few minutes he said “These boots are too tight.” He then switched to boots with circles on them. A little later he said those were uncomfortable too – I think they were too big – and we tried a third pair, with rabbits on them. I used a round bowl to make a sand castle and when I pulled it of he exclaimed “Its banana bread!”

When we got out of the sand, he liked the handheld blower and I taught him how to use it. He wanted to use it as a toy though and I wouldn’t let him. He went back to the bathroom after this, and used the toilet this time. This toilet had a pig on the back, like the urinal at Children’s Grand Park that he doesn’t like (but used last week). He said “why don’t like piggy ones….It’s loud!” We went out and played with what I call the bristly blocks in the building area. He pointed to one and said “Why that a right triangle one?” It was, indeed a right triangle. We’ve been doing kinds of triangles on paper for awhile now, but to now he’s just requested them by name, or drawn them and asked me what they are. He made a pretty good tower sculpture on his own, then wanted to go back to the bathroom. Spent about 10 minutes on it. He was talking about a lot. I stood outside the stall, and he liked the door closed, but they were short and he could see me over the top. At some point I realized he was talking about Bernadette and Bernie – he was making up his own Puffin Rock story about, I think, Bernadette going in Bernie’s grotto and him saying “Hey! That’s my grotto!” I helped him expand the story, and had Bernie complain about the red crabs, using the line “they’re always coming around with their clicking clackety racket.” August liked that sentence and kept repeating it as we went back to the sand area.

From there he went and climbed on the big teddy bear thing. Of course the most fun part is to climb to the highest point, the head, which we were informed wasn’t allowed. From there he spotted the big floor piano and went and played on that. He kept jumping on it from the black mat around the merry-go-round thing (which he also tried a couple times, but didn’t feel comfortable riding by himself yet). Finally, it was now 3:45 and now time to go. I said he had time to go down the rolly slide again if he wanted. He climbed up, took a minute to think about it, and came down.

We headed downstairs and refilled his water from a machine. He wanted to drink from the water bottle like a big kid before I put the lid back on. We headed out, and detoured slightly to look at the playground nearby that we haven’t been to in a long time. Then spotted a cat and headed back to the path. And immediately noticed him putting his head down. I had put the cover up at the park as it was still snowing. I told him the cover was up for the snow, not for napping. Kept him awake with singing (if I sing a song, he now sings along, trying to count the beats) for awhile. Made it all the way to the post office before I lost him. He was asleep from  4:24 to 4:35, as we walked up the stairs to Carly’s classroom. Heard him slurring “…mama’s work and nurse…” Luckily, he recovered as we got in her classroom. Megan was there and he spotted her and asked what Megan was there about. Got him out. Megan was asking him about
her leggings, and gave him a pine cone and then a sticker. He was now well awake after his little power nap.

He went to the bathroom with Carly to pee, but it was busy with students getting ready for the concert, so he didn’t go. They came back and Carly headed up to the concert. August wanted to stay in the classroom. He typed a bit, then I took him down to the bathroom. He peed on the toilet and I used the urinal. August was excited about this “What dada Zinnie pee at the same time about?” He had been repeating “Curly, curly, curly” and spinning his finger when Carly took him down the hall. We didn’t know why. I asked him, and he started spinning in circles in the hall. Doesn’t quite explain it, but it was something. Back in the classroom he got crayons and we did some coloring.

I then took him up to the concert, as he was fine with going and checking on mama now. The doors were open between sets when we got up there, so we walked right in, me holding him. We stood in the back as music began, but then he spotted a woman that did, indeed, kind of look like Carly and said “Mama!” We went and looked but it wasn’t her. Someone came over and told us where Carly was, so we walked up and found her. He was talking a bit, and Carly thought he was wanting to go or something, so she got out and took him out. He walked down the hallway, stomping to the music, and told me and Carly to stomp too.

Carly went back in to watch the rest of the middle school portion. August and I watched from the hallway, looking through the windows by the door. He wanted mama a few times, but it wasn’t much longer and he made it. He was even clapping a couple times.

Back in the classroom, we got ready to go. While Carly went to the bathroom, I let August use a thumbtack to hang his piece of art (Ks, Qs, Es, spirals, and scribbles) on her board. We headed out, which was a slow process. August wanted to mess around on the stairs going down, then found a balloon on the landing between the first and second floors. The draft from the doors below made it sort of float up. Played with that for a minute and headed outside, but Carly realized she had forgotten her charger. She went back to get it, and August and I stood in the soccer field, enjoying the night. There were some boys that hand flashlights/laser pointers and were shining them on balloons and things. August liked that.

Kept him occupied on the bus by giving him one of the Tospia sandwiches. He did all he could to just nibble the bread around the edge, then from the flat side of the sandwich.

At home, he and I got set up to make banana bread. Carly and I were talking about something and I told her I had seen it “on Facebook”. But before I said those two words we both heard August say it. We both turned and looked at him. It was like he had read my mind.

We made banana bread. At some point I said ‘bananas’ and he said “Don’t say ‘bananas’”. I told him it was hard to make banana bread without saying bananas. We got that cooking, then he wanted to search for images of ‘glow worms’ on Google. Did that, then he was searching for individual words. He came across an image of the periodic table while doing that and wanted to know what they all were. Something new to be fascinated about. So we pulled up a better version of it.

Carly had prepared his bath, so I took him in. Looking at the elements had reminded me of the Lehrer song about the periodic table. So I pulled that up and we listed to that. August was joking about giving me water from the bath, and once got water on my tongue. I said it tasted like soap. He then squirted soap on his hand and said “Open your mouth dada!” Tom Lehrer naturally led to They Might Be Giants then on to Blackalicious. He didn’t like having his hair washed, but then kept playing after that. He spotted Carly in the hall, and immediately whined “I don’t want pajamas!” But then he had an idea: “I want a Day shirt and pants!” So after his bath I got him a regular pair of grey pants and a long sleeved shirt. He was very excited by that. Pretty straightforward and easy bedtime after that, and he was asleep at 9:10.

 

Kid cafe: 

AIS:

What note? 

Snow: 

Walking in the snow: 

Squid: 

Sour cream! 

Sneaking his sock in the sand: 

Boots and banana bread: 

On the toilet: 

Bristly blocks: 

Bear mountain: 

Jumping: 

Sleepy: 

APIS. Hanging up his art: 

Bath: 

It was a day of overcoming fears: of riding his bike and going to the Christmas dinner. Also, a day for playing in a fort.

He walked out at 8:08. Looked at me but walked into the parlor and lay down for a few minutes.

Then wanted to do art on my iPad, so I let him do that. I made him a couple of the healthy pancakes for breakfast. Then he wanted to paint with the watercolors. We did that, but after a few minutes had a disagreement about the ratio of water to paint as he applied it to the paper. His opinion was that paint was optional in this ratio. I disagreed. When I took the dish of water away he got really sad. He then went in the parlor and closed the door. He was alone for a few minutes before he came back out. We gave painting another try and painted for a long time – mainly with me painting shapes and whatnot at his direction and him smearing them with a paper towel. But he did some painting as well. Oh, and we did fingerpainting, making dots. While we were doing that he wanted his bracelets. So I got those and he wore both for awhile.

He then watched Puffin Rock and I took a shower. Later, we did a lot more painting, then he wanted bubbles in the sink. He was staring at the bubbles and asked “What the colorful colors about?” I was trying to hang laundry in the changing room while he did that, but he kept coming and saying “Hey dada! Come and see the bubbles!” He climbed on the toilet and we played together. He started investigating Carly’s stuff, and found the tweezers and wanted to know what they were for. He then went around pretending to tweez things out of things, mainly slivers out of my foot and hand.

I had hung one sheet up on two chairs in the parlor to dry. He found it and hid in it, then was sticking his feet out of it, then putting a train track piece on it, and ‘hiding’ things in it. He was naked, having used the toilet a couple times before, and now had a little poop accident on the sheet. Very minor. As I told Carly later “So much poop today.” We cleaned him up, and switched the sheet for a clean one. It was a smaller sheet. We both then got in the fort and were sitting in it. He kept trying to pull the side down. Eventually I asked if he wanted a bigger sheet. He said “No. I just like this one. It’s very fine.”

He saw the wooden flower puzzle and brought that in the fort and worked on it. Then he decided he did indeed want a bigger sheet. So got a queen size and a third chair to make the for nice and big. He then got really imaginative. Or saw a ghost. A little creepy actually: “What’s that over there? It’s eyes!” I think he was referring to the kitchen lights through the sheet. But he kept joking about it “It’s mama!…You think someone is in the apartment.”

I had planned on going to Children’s Grand Park today, then heading to APIS from there. But when he started playing in the fort I asked if he wanted to go to the children’s museum and he said no. I had already packed the backpack, so I went and got the peanut butter sandwich out as I was hungry. We ate that, then were out of the fort for a minute. We were listening to Mother Love Bone song and I said ‘Kick it’ when the singer yelled it. August looked at me and then sort of kicked the chair or something on the ground next to him.

Back in the fort, he randomly said “What the what?” I asked him who says that and he said “Mama!” He wanted puffin stories, so I told him the one about Baba trying to swim. We then got the kimbap and the rest of the lunch and ate the rest of it in the fort as well.

He had to go on the toilet for a third time. He said it was uncomfortable – itchy. So he let me put some cream on afterwards, something he usually resists. He was of course reciting more Puffin Rock lines, and one now was “It’s the seagulls. It’s not safe to be here.”

He saw the loose bell on the bike and I remembered we were going to try to fix that. I went and got the screwdrivers. He wanted ‘his’ at first but I couldn’t find the short one. So I let him play with the long one for awhile. He had fun with that, then switched to the short one when I found it.

He then was pretending to be a fox, and went in the parlor and was hiding, saying “I’m going away now.” He told me to stay by the door and I lay down on my back. At first he told me I couldn’t lie down, but I insisted. He agreed and said “You can lie down and stretch your back.” I got the rolled up yoga mat that I used. He then wanted to try it, which was fun to see.

He was all dressed now, with his Mickey Mouse Christmas pajamas so he was ready for the party. He pooped yet again, so had to go change his diaper. During which he also took off his socks. It felt like we were never going to leave the house. Finally, before we left he was standing on one foot like a seagull.

It was 3 or so before we headed out. Our first venture was with the bike across to the park. We got over to the park, and he started by walking the bike by the handlebars. Good progress. Then we were surrounded: by two women, a man that really wanted to talk to me, and Preacher. It was actually good to see Preacher, as we haven’t seen him in a couple months. But it was rather overwhelming in that I was trying to get August on the bike at the moment. August handled it pretty well. He walked off a bit and played around for a couple minutes while I talked to the guy and Preacher and the women wandered off.

When he came back to me, we tried again. His first thought was to stand on the seat, then I got him sitting. And he loved it. I pushed and he pedaled. When we stopped he would stand up, put his fists in front of him in his ‘I did it’ pose and give a big smile. Did that several times. Helped him figure out the pedaling. He couldn’t really move the bike much without me pushing a bit. So we went for a walk. Wandered around our side of the park, looping around and back a few times. He then pointed to the bridge and ramp and we went up and over, then around the pagoda on the other side. August figured out that he had some control over steering, and could say “This way!” and turn the handles and get my attention. We needed to head to APIS thought, so we went back over the bridge, looped by the senior center looking for Preacher, then headed home, riding the bike the whole way.

At first he wanted the stroller to APIS. I wanted on an email from Carly to confirm that she’d prefer to take the bus home. August and I played around for awhile, and by the time she said yes he was open to the backpack. So we walked to APIS. He was singing at first with his head back, looking up at things, but then got quite when we were close to the stream. Told him he couldn’t fall asleep and he gave a big smile. No problem though as we made it to APIS. As we got close, we were talking about smells. Caught a bad one near the construction site and August said “What is that smell? Disgusting!”

We got to Carly’s floor. But first he wanted to stop for a “little drink”. He had some, and said “Ahh. Good water.” Played in Carly’s classroom for awhile – typing and nursing. And Carly took him with her to the bathroom and he peed there. She went back to the bathroom to change. He realized she was gone, and went out in the hall looking for her. He went in Courtney’s classroom and joked that she was mama. Kept wandering down the hall and looking in classrooms (one had a lot of Christmas lights) and then found Sarah’s classroom open, with music on. He wandered in and looked around and wondered why there was no one there. Carly walked by and saw him.

We then headed down to the basement to get to the cafeteria early to get him used to the idea. On the way down, we saw people by the office. They were all waving and saying hi to August. He hid behind his hands, but treated it more as a game this time, laughing every time he saw them (he would then do this with Don a few minutes later in the doorway of the music room). Downstairs, he knew something was up (from the first mention of it this mornin
g he was fine with mama’s classroom, but didn’t want the rest of it). We wandered to the music classrooms, thinking that might distract him. He saw an eighth note on the window to Melinda’s (she is the choral and elementary teacher) classroom. When she came out of the classroom and we were talking to her, I pointed to the note on the window and asked August what it was. He said “Eighth note”. She was impressed and told him she had a poster with all sorts of notes on it inside. We went in, and they were looking at it, and he identified all the notes and some of the rests.

She then asked if he wanted to play a xylophone. At first he said no, but I held him and she showed him. He got hooked pretty quickly. He asked me to play a specific note. But when I set him down he ran all the way across the room and out in the hall. But when Melinda started playing he stuck his head back in. He watched from the doorway for a minute, but soon was over, playing with us.

They played xylophone together for a few minutes. Very cool. She had to go to the cafeteria, as she was playing piano for the songs. She said we could hang out in her room though and use the instruments. So we played for another 10 or 15 minutes. Caroline and someone came in with Logan (Rosie has pneumonia and is in the hospital, so Jill wasn’t there and people were watching him), and he played for a couple minutes as well. He’s a bit less gentle, so August was showing him how to gently hit in the middle of the keys.

It was now past 6. Carly asked him if we could try going to the cafeteria. He said “I’m scared.” He agreed to let her hold him and get close though. They stood outside the doors for a bit, then he wanted back to the music room. A few more minutes (we would also play with the piano, he’d identify the treble clef on the piano, Carly would play some drums, etc.) then they started up the music. I picked August up this time, and walked him into the cafeteria. We stayed up close and watched them play the first song. He could see Melinda on piano, the Holbrookes on trumpet, Emmalee on violin, etc. After the song, we went back in the music room for a few minutes, and Carly stayed.

August agreed to go back in the cafeteria for the next song, and we stayed in after that. Or maybe Carly took a short break with him at one point. For each song we could go up and stand close. Carly had taken paper and markers down, and we sat on the floor and did that at one point. When they handed out gifts, August got a cool Eric Carle Animal Tales book. Dr. Kim (who mentioned that I’d lost weight when he saw us earlier) gave an extra gift for the kid wearing the most red. August might have been able to win that one, but I wasn’t going to drag him up again. August also liked the candy lemon-flavored punch. That kept him busy for a few minutes.

A couple more songs, then food was open. We jumped up, knowing that he might not last long, but he did fine. After eating some he did want to go home, but I reminded him of dessert. When we got to that he had a fair amount of chocolate cake, then berry cheesecake with me.

We headed out. On the steps outside he saw a couple and said “Hi!” to them. He was intrigued by the weather (earlier, he had commented on the wind as we crossed the bridge). Now, he said “What it dark windy about?” and was squinting at the lights. On the bus he initially sat with Carly, but wanted to go up to me. I didn’t have room (I had the backpack), but told him our two standard Puffin Rock stories (Oona fishing, Baba swimming) and we made it.

We were home at 8. He was doing well, so Carly gave him a bath. Came out and did iPad art and music. Had some banana, then went on the toilet one more time. He was asking what poop was, then said “I will try to not eat anymore.” Carly assured him poop was a good thing. He lasted until about a quarter to 10.

 

Photos. Happy wake up:  

Bracelets and paint: 

Bubbles: 

Fort: 

That’s Preacher on the right: 

Success! 

Big eyes: 

Falling asleep: 

Xylophone with Logan: 

New book: 

Eating: 

He woke up at 6:15 or so. I told him Mama was in the bathroom and he went and lay down by the door until she came out. She took him back in and he fell back to sleep. He was woken again by coughing at 6:58. He came out and I said hi and he calmly laid down on the floor in the kitchen/hallway. He fell back to sleep there and slept until 8:46. Sat up for a few seconds, then went and laid down on the carpet in the parlor. I went in and said hi, but he didn’t want me to join him. So I left him to his alone time. After a few minutes he got up and started playing with the train, talking to himself. At 8:56 he came to the door for a moment. I asked if I should come in. He said “No” and went back in. Heard him then say “ooh ooh. What is it? I found something.” But when he came out to the living room he didn’t have anything.

He went and laid down on the playmat for awhile. Then climbed up and laid behind me on the couch. He was making funny faces and saying “Ooh, what’s that?” Think he was squinting up at the lights. I started to put on music, but he wanted jump rope songs, so we did that. He kept asking “What they skip rope about?” and I realized he didn’t really know what jump roping is. So we went to YouTube. First watched this music video: https://youtu.be/zoMYU_nOGNg

Then this cartoon song: https://youtu.be/tgUDYOlgx1M

He really liked that, so we watched more of the Treetop Family cartoons: https://youtu.be/yVyNSnWlc1s

We had Cheerios and strawberries for breakfast, and some of the juice left over from yesterday. He wanted a Flynn story, so we put that on, then I took a shower. When I came out I was watching when Bernie said the “clickety clackety racket” line. He is talking to the red crabs, who are making noise outside his grotto.

We then painted with watercolor paint for a long time, listening to an Amanda Palmer live concert while we did so. I let him wipe (instead of blot, like mama) and we did shapes and then we did dots with our fingers. August remembered his bracelet and wanted me to put it on him, saying it helped with the paint.

When done we went to wash his hands, and he went on the toilet. Afterwards, he was playing with the spray bottle and somehow tipped the stool. Think it was just scary. He let me hold him a couple minutes, but then he wanted down and went in the parlor and closed the door. Told me he wanted alone time.

He came out and then typed and then composed some music on his iPad. We then made a salmon sandwich and he ate most of that. I asked if he wanted to go anywhere today. He thought about it for a minute and said “Uijeongbu”. He found the square sticker thing he had put on the wall yesterday, and now ‘hid’ it behind the blinds on the window, and ‘found’ it by pushing the blind against the window so it showed up.

Went on toilet again. Reciting a lot of Puffin Rock: “Are You worried about Mossy?” He then spent some time singing from the songbook, then we moved to the paper when he asked me to draw specific notes. Specifically he was looking at the notes with a curved line between them. In fact, he told me to draw two quarter notes, then added the line himself. So taught him the concept of ‘slurring’ and he liked that. He also mentioned time signatures, so we were writing those down and discussing them. Although he wanted time signatures like 88/7.

It was now past 1, so too late for Uijeongbu. We talked a bout going to Home Plus and looking for a jump rope. He said “What happens if you buy a rope jump? That’s silly.” Went to get our tooth brushes and came back to find he had drawn on the table – and was rather proud of it. As we started to brush he said “You smell like fish now.” Earlier, he had been asking why mama doesn’t like him smelling like fish. Started brushing, but he decided he was hungry and went and looked in the fridge, telling me he had something to give me. He spotted the green olives. I gave him one and he ate it. He said he liked it, but didn’t want any more; he wanted pancake instead. There were a few pieces of a pancake, so we heated those up and he ate them.

Finally headed to Home Plus after 2. As we entered he was pretending he was looking for something. When asked what, he said “Beetle”. We looked for a jump rope, but no luck. As we went through the toy area he was crawling. He asked himself “Why you pretending to be a polar bear about?” We found an electric keyboard and he had fun playing that for 10 or 15 minutes. When he was done, we went and looked at the animals: the rabbits were May, the hedgehog was Spikey, then we actually saw a beetle. But spent most of his time watching the turtles. Two big ones and three smaller ones: “Mama and dada turtles. And those are baby turtles. That ones almost a grown up.” I listed the animals we had looked at and asked which he would like to have if he had a pet. He thought about it. And thought about it. “Mmm…mmm…mmm.” Finally he came up with…“Spider”. A couple hours later Carly asked him and he came up with the same answer. We sat on the floor there for several minutes, then I got him to head downstairs to food.

Got peanut butter and kimbap for lunch tomorrow. Then he got a couple samples. He asked for water and I realized I’d forgotten it. I told him we had to pay and then there was a water machine right on the other side in the changing room. He didn’t say anything, but filed his objection by lying down on the floor and not moving. I hauled him to the checkout, and he stood a ways away until I was done. He was happy again once we got to the water. Drank it out of a paper cup, saying “Mmm. Mmm. Yum. Yum.”

We had talked about going to Cafe Tolerance and he liked the idea. I wasn’t 100% positive he knew where that was, but I didn’t have to worry. As we got outside Home Plus, he asked “What you spill a little grape juice about?” The last time we were at Cafe Tolerance was in late September. He spilled some juice and was upset I couldn’t put it back in the container. We have not discussed it since, but he remembered it.

As we walked across the park he coughed a bit, then had a bit of a scratch voice. He liked it, and said “That’s a growly voice. What that a growly voice about?” He then talked in a really high voice and called it a “Yawny voice.”

At Cafe Tolerance he got another grape juice. We sat looking outside, each with our iPad, but soon he had gained control of mine to draw with the Apple Pencil. At one point we switched back, and then back again. But mainly I used my phone to read and work on blog stuff while he was on my iPad.

He needed to be changed, and it was time to get home to mama. But he was in no hurry to leave. Got him to the entrance and put his shoes on. I asked if he wanted to be changed here, or wait until home. He said “Here…I’ll pretend it is home.” But then I realized that bathroom, which Carly had once changed him in, was the women’s, and that the men’s was outside. We went and checked it out, but he changed his mind and wanted to wait for home. We did, however, get to stick our heads through the other door and watch some kids practicing basketball. He was intrigued by that.

We walked home, stopping along the way to look at some Christmas lights at a church. In the lobby and elevator we started sticking our tongues out at Mirror August and Dada. Sticking his tongue out is a rather new thing, surprisingly. Not something he wanted to do before.

At home Carly changed him and they nursed. They then sent some videos and took selfies on her computer. He wanted to type on her computer, but wanted it in the other room: “I want a document in the parlor. I want a document in the PLAYROOM!” He was back out soon for the bathroom. He wanted play dough and we did some of that. He used a Duplo to make squares (although ours don’t work as well, as the play dough gets stuck) and we made a burrito. We pretended to eat it, and he asked “What if you eat playdough for real?” I pretended to throw up on him a
nd he laughed.

Needed to take his shirt off for the bath and realized that was something he could probably do. So I taught him that. He then immediately asked “Now how you put it back on?” He took a long bath. I started it, but he soon requested mama and we switched. Out of the bath, he came to me and pleadingly said “I want Pages. I want some strawberries.” He then played with the new  Artie app and Easy Music on my iPad for awhile and ate some banana after he was done with the strawberries. I had thought he had eaten earlier, but he kept eating so I asked Carly and he had refused nutty noodles earlier. So we got him some and he ate those.

He then wanted iBooks and sang from the songbook. We moved to the bed and he did some more singing, quite loudly. We read the Chicka Chicka ABC book a couple times, and he found it quite funny, but then wanted the monkey book. We started reading that, but he wanted to nurse at the same time. That lasted halfway through the book, then he was just wanting to nurse. I left and he was asleep at 8:40.

 

Squinting at the lights: 

Our art: 

‘Hiding’ the square: 

Turtles: 

More squinting:  

Trying out lotion: 

Christmas lights we stopped to see on the way home. The globes changed colors: 

Mama and Zinnie selfie. A first, perhaps? 

I don’t know if I mentioned here that Derek is leaving Seoul early. They had planned to move on the 20th, but his grandfather was hit by a car and is in the hospital. So he leaves tomorrow, with the rest of the family leaving on the 20th. So we met up with Derek and Logan one last time today before he leaves. We’ll probably see Logan again.

He woke up a bit before 5, coughing. He wanted to wake me up, but was whispering about it. I said good morning, then they went out and I fell back to sleep. They skyped with Cassie and Vivian and Colin for a long time, he spent a lot of time sitting on the toilet, and he watched some Puffin Rock before surprising Carly and falling back asleep at 7:20. He got a little more sleep before he was back up at 8:08. He walked out and saw me on the couch and continued to Carly in the parlor. He closed the door on me. They spent a good amount of time nursing and reading.

He then came out and requested jump rope music (it is a Smithsonian Folkways album). I turned that on for him. We painted together – quadrant and different shapes and colors. He ate some pizza. Carly then painted with him. He requested Spanish words and she would paint them for him. He found his bracelet and put it on, then talked to himself about it: “Why you have the bracelet on about? It helps the paint dry.” “Girl has a bracelet on.”

A bit later, Carly asked him “Do you want to go to the store?” August: “Yeah!” Then directly to me:

“You stay here dada and do some work.” As they got ready to go, he kept talking about wanting spinach: “Spinach. Yeah. I want to get spinach.” “Spinach and minich rhyme.” So he went to the store with her. He wore his bracelet much of time. She didn’t let him get a slurpy thing (cup of jello and fruit). He didn’t throw a fit, but sort of protested by laying down on the floor a couple times.

When he got home he started asking for a slurpy thing, because Carly had said we had one at home. I told him to wait a few minutes, as Derek and Logan were on their way over and Derek said he had something for us. It turned out it was cans of refried beans and olive oil – excellent for us, but not a treat for August. But he had forgotten by then.

They were here for a few minutes. Logan somehow magically sensed his bike was here and went and pushed it out of the changing room. Derek tried to convince him it wasn’t his bike, but I don’t think Logan fell for it. He and I got the boys ready to go and headed over to Namu Kid Cafe again. Carly stayed behind to make the nutty noodles and do some work.

At Namu it was much the same as yesterday. August first went to the blocks and we played with some wooden blocks. Most of the rest of our time was spent in the ball and trampoline area. The big event was going on the train at 11. August was excited about it, and okay sitting on it on his own…until I fastened the seat belt. At that point he immediately changed his mind. I tried to tell him it was okay, and a couple seconds later she started the train. It just goes back and forth a couple times on the short track. He spent most of the time telling me he wanted to get off. Upset, but not really crying. When I got him off I had to hold him for a couple minutes. At one point later he would say he wanted to go on the train again, when I asked him, but later still he was saying no. We’ll see what happens in subsequent visits.

Derek took Logan over to the kitchen area for some quiet time and a drink. August and I went with. He and Logan watched a little video on Derek’s phone. Our orange juice and my coffee came while we sat there. August likes how quiet that room is.

We went back to the play area for a few more minutes, then Logan was ready to go get lunch. We left right at noon. August and Logan both liked riding down the elevator, as it is glass and you have a good view of the park. We stopped at Burgerton to pick up lunch. Derek stayed to wait for the food, and I took Logan and August back to the apartment. Logan wanted to play with bubbles in the bathroom sink, so I started that. I thought August would want to join him, but he went to nurse instead.

Derek showed up with the food and we ate. I had gotten the mushroom burger again because I knew August would like the mushrooms. He did, and he used the fork to feed himself the mushrooms, and to offer a few to me. I got out french fries for him, but he wanted to use the ketchup on Logan’s plate, and Logan wouldn’t let him. Which was fine as I was getting more ketchup. But it made August sad, so he stopped eating for awhile. He was clearly getting tired, but rebounded, and after eating he and Logan played with the train set together for several minutes.

They left, and a bit alter August fell asleep from 1:50 to 3:10. Nursed, then ate some nutty noodles. We headed outside about 4:30 as he wanted to try his bike. Got over to the park and Carly and I blew it by trying to get him to wear the helmet. We never even actually got close to putting it on his head, mind you, and there were no tears. But the process made him change his mind. Also not helping was the woman who was staring during this and then came over to insist that August’s throat was cold and he needed a scarf.

Anyway, we went over the playground. Went down the tube slide. Actually, at first he just sat at the top of it for a couple minutes. He was calling it a big kid thing to do. Then once he had slid down he wanted to go find another big kid thing to do: “What’s another big kid thing to do?” He had wanted his gloves on and spent some time picking dead leaves off bushes (well, he wanted the green leaves, but I was able to redirect), then took the gloves off, then led us for a walk through the park, singing rhythms as he went.

As we crossed the bridge, Carly asked him “Why don’t you want the helmet?” He replied “I will fall down if I wear the helmet.”

We went to the art museum. The new play area doesn’t open until the 19th. Most everything else is closed to, but August wanted to go upstairs. He climbed the stairs, wandered around a bit, then we exited at the coffee shop and walked down the outside, enjoying the view.  Back down, he suddenly shot his hands out of his sleeves, saying “Juk!” (A Korean thing, like ‘voila!’). Did that several times. As we walked home, he was repeating some lines that I think come from Puffin Rock (but adding in the driving part): “There’s water. Be careful. You could hurt yourself. Be careful driving.” Back on our side of the park, he wanted to go in the bathrooms, and chose the women’s, so Carly had to take him in. He spent some time pushing his bike around in circles, but still didn’t want to ride it. Progress though. We stopped at Mama Juice and he got a grapefruit and pineapple drink.

Back home, Carly decided to cut his hair while he watched Puffin Rock and I fed him some nutty noodles. After that, he spent a long time sitting on the toilet, then I get him a long bath. He spent a lot of time playing with the letters. He helped clean them up when he was finally done. I was then changing the sheets on the bed. At first he was typing on Pages on the iPad, but then  he really got excited about helping with that. I was trying to find the correct sheet for the small bed, and he was getting impatient, tucking everything in the crack. After that, he and I went out and ate a couple of small bananas. He wanted to read the monkey book, but ended up signing to the songbook instead. Back in on the bed, they read Itsy Bitsy, then nursed after he turned off the lights. But he came out after20 minutes or so. He and I read some Pooh – he specifically requested poems, and had the zookeeper and pig take care of a cut on the Duplo kangaroo. He was then ready to go back in and we went together as I was also ready for bed. But he kept grabbing Carly, then was hitting his feet on the bed when she wouldn’t nurse, and then hitting her. He got really upset when I picked him up and took him out of the room. But I just held him until he could c
alm himself down and said we could go back if he’d say sorry to mama and lie still. He agreed, we went back and he said sorry, and he fell right asleep at 10:05.

Namu: 

Park: 

Painting: 

Namu: 

Watching something on the phone: 

Elevator: 

Mushrooms: 

Feather: 

Museum: 

Walking home: 

Pushing the bike: 

Haircut: 

Doing my hair: 

Playing with the bag: