This Is Our Blog

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? 

8:26. Came into the parlor, rested for a couple minutes, then wanted to take care of the animals and wanted my help. He used the tweezers to extract a fish that had been stuck in my arm. Don’t know how that got there. He then did my head: “There’s a fish in your head.” After about 20 minutes we went and learned some Arabic and wrote it on the paper, at his request. Was happy to find that it actually makes some sense, and I learned the T, Th, B, and W letters. We paused to get some breakfast: the new cereal and strawberries. Then back to the paper for drawing molecules and more Arabic. At 9:45 he started typing in Arabic on the iPad. We then did a lot of song time from songbook. We found videos for Buffalo Gals and Casper the Friendly Ghost. I took a shower while he did some art on the iPad. He had started by watching Puffin Rock. But he climbed up on the rocking chair and declared he was a spider and watched from there for a few minutes before getting down and switching to art. It was the second day in a row he opened the door and wanted to count to make me hurry up and finish my shower. Then did a lot of molecule drawing and some Hebrew on the iPad using the pencil. He was drawing mem sofit and kof. He then reversed our usual role for molecule drawing; he did dots and had me turn them into molecules.

We read the Paddington book, then did a little play dough. We made a salmon sandoo for lunch and he scarfed that down. I have an app that plays Hebrew words for you, and we listened to that while we made it and ate. He liked that, and was repeating words. Finally, we headed to Teuni Teuni.

Class was about vegetables. No clear reason, or specific physical theme today. He had a lot of fun though. At the end we got a Spin Monster toy that might be one of the best yet. Kind of a screw thing with colored pieces that spin down the screw, and also act as a sort of marble toy. Also, the individual pieces can be used as tops. He was also excited to find that the wrappers for the treats have changed. Instead of being Thomas the Train treats, they now have Teuni monsters on them.

From there we rode his bike back to the ice rink. Played a bit with the toys outside first, then went on the ice. He fell down several times, but never complained. Took a few minutes, but I got him on the board and pulled him around once. He then pulled me around, and finally he sat on my lap and we scooted around together. He saw a guy closing off the north end, and I explained it was because it was melting. August then wanted to get his shoe wet, and found some puddles near the edge. Off the ice, he played with the toys more. He grabbed out two of the hacky sack sort of things, and started to walk off with them. I asked what he was doing, and he said he was taking them home to play. I explained they had to stay here, so he put them back, then made a game of saying he was going to steal them.

It was now after 2, which meant that the art museum play area was open. We went over that way and played in the ball pits. He made one big feet first jump into a pit. After that, he wanted to do a ‘making mama nervous’ jump, but would first flop on his bottom on the side before then jumping in. He got in the deep ball pit all the way, and said it looked like bubble bath, and had me pretend to wash him with the balls. We went in the big ball pit for the first time, and relaxed in there. He also tried climbing on my head from the side.

We came home and Skyped with my parents. We had tried earlier, but they didn’t answer so we had left a video message with August singing. They had gone to the Apple Cup for dinner. August played kalimba and cymbal and triangle for them, then I realized it was 4 so we said goodbye. August first rediscovered the Hangeul magnets, and played with those for a few minutes before I could get him away. He made them into “stairs” on the door.

The plan had been to go to Cafe Tolerance (kind of trying to stay inside, as the pollution was high again). Short on time, I suggested Mama Juice and a park. But he was set on Cafe Tolerance. So we rode that way. Along the way he wanted to cover to his bike down, and was playing with that for the first time, hiding when I took a photo. It was past 4:30 by the time we got my coffee and his mango juice, so I told Carly we’d be late and she could have some quiet time.

We sat in our usual spot and saw a heron and an egret. Korea is on their semester break, so everything is busy now, and it was loud for much of our time in here. Kind of good as August could use his music apps while I read. He paused to go touch the little fake cactuses. He also needed to go use the bathroom, even though we had gone before we left. But a good job of him telling me. Today was day four in a row with underwear and no accidents. The new norm. Started to get our shoes and coats on, as the men’s room is outside. But the woman working there said we could use the women’s, so that was nice.

He did some more typing on his ipad and music, and I got him a second juice, pineapple this time. The woman gave him a pack of crackers. He then ‘stole’ three other chairs and spun in them, using the table to spin himself, which I realized was a new thing for him. A boy, not much smaller than him, started crying, like really crying. August was concerned, and I suggested he give the boy a pat. August walked over and did, patting him on the foot.

Finally, after 5:30, we headed home. Going over the bridge, he looked up and admired the sky. Back at Brownstone, I wanted to stop at GS25 to get some crab for the pasta salad and go ahead and get stuff for lunch tomorrow. He was again wary of leaving his bike outside; I’d also had to convince him it was okay at Cafe Tolerance. Don’t know where this concern over theft came from (perhaps from the jump rope being taken in Berenstain Bears? Or the seagulls stealing fish in Puffin Rock?) We did that, then got home just before 6.

They nursed, then he gave mama shots and extracted fish from her and cut her hair, etc. he was laughing a whole lot. Carly had bought a small pack of blueberries, and August was impressed and wanted some. We opened the Spin Teuni toy and played with it. Carly made him a pancake. When she brought it to him he said “Some pancakes and blueberries! Thank you! Why you bring pancakes and blueberries?”

He did art with markers with Carly. They drew molecules and he was checking to see which ones were new markers. When we got new ones we put them in with the old ones, but in the last couple of days I’ve thrown several away. He then said  “That looks amaileous.” We asked what that means, and he said “you just made it up.”

Carly gave him a bath. I took him in on the bed while Carly took a shower. He made a nest, and was really adorable while cuddling in it. We read part of a Paddington chapter book. A bit advanced for him, but he kept requesting I read more of it. When Carly was out we got a new book, Berenstain Bears and No Girls Allowed and read it. August loved it and was constant questions throughout it.

He tried going to sleep without nursing. I told one Puffin Rock story, and he then wanted to nurse. A good effort. I left at 8:45 and he was promptly asleep.

 

Photos. Checking the owl’s ears:

Spider Zinnie: 

Writing Hebrew (it looks like Ps) and a molecule: 

Waiting for his toy: 

Pulling me: 

Ice selfie: 

Ball area: 

Listening to art: 

On our walk. Hiding in the bike: 

Our usual spot:

Looking at the sky: 

In his nest: 

Awake 6:52. He stood in the doorway of the parlor and I went over and gave him a kiss. He covered his eyes and I said “I’ll give you some alone time.” I headed back to the couch. He asked “What you said?” I repeated it, but instead of going into the parlor he came over and leaned against me. Then wanted to type on my iPad. After that we watched Puffin Rock and ate some Cheerios and strawberries. We read the note from Carly, which suggested he ask me about molecules. So we looked up pictures of molecules, then drew molecules on paper. I would draw a bunch of dots, then he would connect them with lines. Often making H shapes. He did some lines that looked like Arabic, and then he told me “Practice the language you don’t know.” So we did a little Arabic.

I put on some music, the Ask Your Mama album to “Gospel Cha-Cha”, and he started drumming with his hands on everything. Back to drawing. He was learning the terms ‘atom’ and ‘bonds’ And invented a new element “teterium”. There was a lot of talk about what color to make the atoms and bonds: “I changed my mind. I want purple.”

We tried to do some exercise, but he kept trying to touch the phone. When I put it in my pocket, he got more upset, then was trying to leave the refrigerator and freezer doors open, which was even more frustrating. I was picking him up and taking him to the reading area. Eventually, we calmed down. We talked about getting frustrated, and he said “I don’t want you to do that.” He also copied my frustrated voice, putting his arms down by his side and saying “Zinnie!”

We did a ton of music time today. I’ve found it is easier to stay at home for long periods of time, as we are now focused on activities for longer, instead of moving on from one thing to another every five minutes and leaving a trail of destruction. So we’ll do 20 or 30 or 40 minutes of music at once. He wanted new songs, so we were learning songs like “Down by the Station” and “Did You Ever See a Lassie?” And others. He then wanted to draw notes, so we did more art, drawing notes.

Then we did do exercise together. He got into trying everything out, like wall sits, etc. We then read most of the orchestra book. We would pause when he saw notes, and he would sing. One of the songs he made went:

“The funny thing

The important thing

To know

Is the scissors are sharp

You have to be careful.”

I had stood up while he was singing and then he said “Hey. I thought we were reading it.” We finished the book, then took care of some animals. He was trying to give a shot, but the one with the vet set doesn’t work very well. So I went and got the doctor kit. He asked where it was from and I said the Kerns gave t to us when they moved to Israel. We played with it, then he asked “Tell me again bout staying with the girls.” So we looked up that day in the Day One app and talked about that day and other days he had babysitters.

We then composed a song for contrabassoon in Notion. Which reminded me that yesterday, as we left Children’s Grand Park station, we saw two people with cellos on their backs. August asked what the first one was, then spotted the second. Then, as we were outside the station, we looked across the street and saw yet a third. That led to me asking him what instrument he would like to learn, and he said double bassoon (aka contrabassoon). We might have one of those kids that chooses the largest, most expensive instrument.

He then had to go to the bathroom, after which I took a shower, but not until after I got him strawberries and crab for a second breakfast. While playing around, he said “Oh Baba. You’re too young to dive. You have to be older to swim.” Which I’m not quite sure if it is an actual line, or a retelling of the story I tell about Baba going swimming.

I made a sandwich for lunch, then realized the pollution level was really high – over 160. So we had more music time. Played cymbals and tambourine and triangle. He said he wanted more instruments. I asked what we should get next and he of course said double bassoon.

He went to the bathroom and had me tell him more about baby brains. We then ate lunch, starting with a pineapple coconut jello thing he chose at Home Plus awhile back. I mentioned that he had had coconut before, but couldn’t remember where, and he answered “Thailand yogurt” I mentioned that Gramma likes coconut, and he asked a bit later “Does Opa like coconut?” Also ate our sandwich.

Drew more molecules and Hebrew then he said “Want to make more music.” He wanted more instruments again, and I thought of the iPad. So he was playing bass and strings on there.

Pollution or no, we needed to get out. We left at 1:45. The idea was to go to the play area at Toys R Us. But we didn’t go because two things happened. First, he walked. And walked. Until 2:18. That was much of the way to Toys R Us. Every step. It was an exploring walk, finding all sorts of things (ginkgo berries, weird spots, leaves) along the way. Then, a couple blocks short, he suddenly wanted up. I put him in the stroller and he fell asleep at 2:25. Went to a coffee shop in the building on the third floor, called Cafe the Table Harris.

I started waking him up at 3:10, with little success. So I pushed him across the street to the park (백합어린이공원) and woke him up at the swings just past 3:20. Bingo. He needed to go to the bathroom (a third day with underwear) and then we went on the swings. We were singing songs, and I pulled out a few we hadn’t sung in awhile: A Ah Apple, and A is for Apple. I kept messing up word on the latter, and ended the “So many ways to mess up this song” He found that hilarious. Eventually he got off, and went over to the climbing structure. Climbed on it a bit, and went across the bridge, then wanted to go on the tube slide. This one is different though, with bars farther apart. He tried hanging on the bars a bit, and I helped him sit across the bars so he could slide down the last few feet. He wanted to stand on the bars, and I let him do it at the bottom. I took a photo, and told him it was a ‘Making mama nervous’ photo. I sent it to her, and she delivered, writing back “You’re making mama nervous!”

We headed out, getting to Home Plus by 4:40. It was a Zinnie-paced trip, as it lasted 50 minutes, despite having a rather short shopping list. For example, he really wanted to touch all the things in the pre-built aquariums and I was telling him he could only touch a little. He responded with “But I want to touch things a lot.” Also the first time we were searching out each other, having walked down different aisles, circling around, etc. And he wanted to play the privacy game in the store.

We got home after 5:30. They nursed, then they took care of animals. He then came out, commandeered the iPad, and sang from the songbook.

He went in on the toilet, then, pointing to the old sticky tape by the door, asked “Can I eat that?” I laid out a life lesson for him: No eating sticky things you find on walls. Or floors. Or under desks. Etc. So then he asked if he could eat hard things, then stated “I’m eating hard things.” and started eating the wall, the door, etc. As we walked back down the hall he said the funniest part yet: “Sorry, I just like to joke. I can’t help it.”

We read Drum Dream Girl at his request, then he did some iPad music, then art in Sketchbook. I gave him a bath and it was a hair washing day. Which went pretty well. He claimed to not like it, but then afterwards he was talking about every day being a hair washing day. He was out at  8:30. They nursed, then he had a bagel and cheese with me: “I’ve never had a bagel before.” Not true, but he probably doesn’t remember. They nursed after Carly got out of the shower, and they read After the Storm. He went with me to the bedroom and we read Drum Dream Girl and most of Berenstain Bears Go to School.

He had said he wanted to try falling asleep without nu
rsing today, and he agreed to try, lying between me and Carly. We gave it a good shot, starting just before 10. I told Puffin Rock stories and sang songs. He really wants the stories, so working on making him keep his head down for me to keep telling the story. He kept crawling over Carly though, or saying “Mama, mama, mama, mama…” and thinking of things: wanting water, the humidifier on, etc. I kept putting his head back on the pillow. He wasn’t getting upset really, and then started to really yawn. So close. At 10:30, as he was lying on his own with his head on the pillow next to Carly, he suddenly gave some big sobs. Carly let him nurse, we told him he had done a really good job trying, and he fell to sleep.

Photos. Drawing molecules: 

Ginkgo berries: 

Walking: 

I don’t understand: 

Playground: 

Down the slide: 

Touching aquariums: 

He wanted to try on the pink snowsuit: 

7:17. Opened the door, but closed it again without coming out. Came out a bit later, then went into the parlor. I went in after awhile, and gave him a little note that Carly had left for him. He took it out of the envelope and we read it together.He wanted food. I thought there was pancake batter left, but there wasn’t. He was happy with a smoothie instead. He lay on floor of the kitchen while I got ready. He had me tell him why we wash strawberries several times. When it came to blender time he ran in the parlor and closed the door. Would open the door and say “Are You done?” then close it again when I told him I needed to do more blender.

We did some yoga and exercise together in the morning (sometimes he tells me what to do), then watched Puffin Rock while I took a shower. I also put all of the stuff we were donating to the Beautiful Store out in the halls and labeled it, and found a couple things to add to the pile. It is the first of our donations this year. Meant to get a photo before it all left, but didn’t. Had a lot of his early stuff in it: his first bathtub, his high chair thing, his first potty chair, some baby toys, the train set (that he didn’t really get into), etc.

At some point he said he was still hungry and I asked what he wanted. He got serious and said “Hmmm…something like…something that mama don’t let you have…hmmm…” We settled on oatmeal, then played a lot of piano and xylophone and drums. We also took care of animals using the vet set: the rhino, hippo, and shark. For the shark he used tweezers to remove garbage from its throat.

We left at 10:50. He sat on his own and sang on the train much of the way before wanting me to sit and doing Art Maker. We went up to the CU and got lunch. He instantly grabbed one of those questionable sausage things and wanted to try it. We also got kimbap and a mango juice.

We headed to the children’s museum where I had to renew our memberships. Then up to the cafeteria. On the way up he was talking about the sausage thing and how I didn’t like it. He insisted “Dada! Try out it too.” We ate in the big room for some reason (day off from public school, it appeared). He needed to go to the bathroom and he told me. It was a second full day without diapers.

When we came back he followed me through the lunch room. He then told me “You hit a boy.” We talked about that, but I hadn’t seen it. When I asked why, he said “On purpose” but couldn’t explain more. Nor could he tell me which boy it was. It is a sort of acting out to see what happens thing, as a few minutes later I saw him ‘hit’ a woman too, but it was barely more than a light touch on her arm. We kept eating, and before we had left he had ‘hit’ two other people. Not necessarily what I want him to do, but it seems to be like the baby pooping or washing strawberries thing – wanting to talk about it again and again. And he didn’t do it at all the rest of the day.

After lunch he wanted to go to the art area. So down to the first floor and first the chalkboard. There for a minute, then through the nature area: the minerals, through the tunnel (trying to get the button things to work – the snake wouldn’t light up), up in the treehouse thing, looking at the Venus flytrap chair, the life of a pine tree, etc.) Then on to the arts area: he did ribbon dancing for a couple minutes, then we played with the floor magnets, making shapes (they have also added more colors of magnets).

He wanted a snack of the last of the soy crisps, so we went back up to the cafeteria. Actually, this is when his last two ‘hits’ happened. Ate those, then went to the book room. Played with a tic tac toe game, then went up to the loft. He chose a Korean book and then surprised me by carefully pronouncing three or more lines of Korean, syllable by syllable. There was a mom and girl up there, playing with the dinosaurs and all the balls. August stole a blue ball, but gave it back, then they played with him a bit, rolling balls to him, trading, etc.

Done there, we went next door to the little kids area (which he can use for less than two more months!) We went up to the kitchen where a mom and daughter were playing at the table with the food. The mom set up a chair for August. He sat down, and he ended up playing with the girl. They shared food, then I suggested she wanted tea, and he kept pouring tea for the two of them. Another boy joined in as well. So cute. Suddenly, August got a sad look on his face and said “Can we go home now?” It was now past 2:00, so time for a nap if it was going to happen. Took him to the bathroom, then we headed out.

But he recovered and played around outside for quite awhile. He ran around, jumped, and looked at the plants. He got a blade of long grass and played with that. He heard water rushing under one of the circle areas. Odd, as we’ve never heard it before and it hasn’t been raining. I realized that if you turned your head it sounded like the sound went away. I showed August, and he liked that.

He was then ready for a walk and I got him in the backpack. We walked up to the new playground area, and were both sad to realize they hadn’t made any progress since we last saw it three or four weeks ago. We went to the swings nearby and went swinging for a long, long time. It was nice and sunny today, so felt good. We were there from 3 to about 3:45. He did a lot of regular swinging, then wanted to stand up and was actually swinging that way. I was teaching him out to switch from standing up to sitting down on his own. He also went on his tummy and kept talking about how he could touch the ground that way.

He then wanted a snack, and we went in the minimart, where he commented on how we saw the workers working there (making the awning for the tables). He also was fascinated by some chocolate milk we saw spilled. We got an orange juice, then he found a packet of what I thought were dried strawberries. They were actually gummi things, but still good. We ate those on the walk back to the exit to the park. August walked most of the way. He kept talking about finding the “new benches” and I figured out he meant the place we saw the workers working. That had actually been to the left out of the shop and we had walked the other way. He was a little disappointed, but kept walking.

We went to the bathroom, where he was intrigued by the squat toilets and had to investigate every stall. We then played in the maze painted out on the ground (kind of like the labyrinth in Thailand).

His only real moment of grumpiness came when we got on the subway. No seats, so we were standing at first. He wanted to rabbit and lay on the floor. I wouldn’t let him, so he got upset. We got off after two stops, calmed down, then got on the next train. On the walk home he was singing numbers, then trailed off by the corner. He was falling asleep. I tickled his feet in order to get him home awake.

We were home at 5. Played some Ants Go Marching, then ate pasta salad together and watched Puffin Rock. Carly was home at 5:30. They nursed, then he was just laying on the living room floor. He asked “Why mama home?” “How’s your work going?” “What’d you do in work?” That caught us off guard. In on the toilet, he had me tell him more about washing the strawberries. Carly made him a pancake, and he ate that. We played with play dough, and I had the idea of pressing one of his bracelets into it. We then found other textured things to press it on: the art containers, the play mats, a drum stick.

In the bathroom again we talked about babies and big kids, and I mentioned big kids stopping nursing. He said he was still going to nurse. He was then pretending to drink something, and I thought he was pretending to nurse. He said “No. I’m eating fo-MUL-la”. I had to check with Carly – apparently they did one time discuss how some babies drink formula instead.

Carly gave him a bath while I hung laundry. She mentioned ‘molecules’ (I think she was explaining the washing strawberries thing) and he asked about
them. So they were looking up photos of molecules. I suggested they also look up Venus flytraps. After his bath it was pretty straight to bed, and he was asleep at 7:45.

 

Photos. Warm spot while I made breakfast: 

Removing garbage from the shark: 

Looking at the ceiling at CU: 

Balls in the reading loft: 

Pouring tea: 

Grasses: 

Standing: 

Conquering the swing: 

Jumping: 

It ended up being a big big kid day for August. He wore underwear all day for the first time, went down the tube slide on his own several times, and started doing forward rolls on his own in the evening.

He got up at 6:07. I was still asleep and he came over and whispered “Want to nurse”. I got up and told carly, and she took him to the parlor. After nursing he came and did the suggested words stories on my iPad, then found the songbook. We ate some banana bread and then he watched Puffin Rock and I showered. We did a little play dough, then played piano and xylophone. We did a big mosaic of shapes on the paper and colored in much of it. I got up to get cereal at one point and August didn’t want me to go: “I thought we were mosaic together.” When I suggested he could wear his underwear outside he got excited. There was some discussion of a balance bike and he was saying that Logan’s bike is a balance bike. So I showed him a YouTube vide of a balance bike. At the end he said he didn’t want a balance bike, although it wasn’t clear if he was upset because he was worried about the balance bike, or because he had been wrong about our bike being a balance bike: “I don’t want a balance bike to tip over…that’s a balance bike.” (The latter as he pointed to our bike.)

As we were getting ready he was in my bathroom and pointed out the floor needs to be cleaned: “Why dada needs to clean his bathroom?” And at one point he spent several minutes jumping around the room, pulling a sock over his head until he said he was tired.

A couple times during the day he asked about mama being gone, but wasn’t upset. He’s gotten used to having her around for breakfast. At one point, when he pointed out it was dark or breakfast time, he asked why she wasn’t here. “Why mama not here?” He then told me to pretend to be mama. I asked “What does mama say?” He replied, in his best Carly voice: “You’re making mama nervous! You’re deleting all my work!”

He was standing across the table from me and out of the blue said, with a very serious face: “My brothers, I see in your eyes a hunger that makes me sad.” If I didn’t know his propensity for quoting from Puffin Rock it would have freaked me out. But it is a line that the shrew, Mossy, says while giving a speech. He then was asking what ‘hunger’ was. He also turned the line into a song a couple times today.

He was still hungry so we ate strawberries and banana bread. Then played more Ants Go. The refrigerator turned on and made the fan rattling noise he likes. We just kept playing music, adding in the drums and the kalimba. The cheap drum head was breaking, so we fixed that with tape. We played music until 10:50. More than 40 minutes.

August noticed that Angeles had fallen off the chair. I set Angeles on top of the piano and August said “That’s a lovely bench.” August asked why Angele’s hair is blue, and I said some people like to dye their hair. August directed his next question to Angeles, not me: “What’s hair dye, Angeles?” I asked “Do you want to dye your hair?” He got a thinking face and said “Ummm…no.”

As we finally got ready to head outside, he said he wanted 11 pairs of socks. Actually, it was 100 at one point. After some more silliness on the floor, we headed out.

We went over to the park past the pink building, where the boys had been on the swings before. This time we had them to ourselves. August noted a few times that we were the only ones there, or that there were just adults walking through the park. Besides the swing he also played on the exercise equipment, pointed on some “dirty snow” and started investigating everything he found on the ground, especially gum stuck on the ground, as there seemed to be a lot of it. He had ridden the bike there, but walked much of the way to the pink building before getting back on.

We went to the pink building at noon where we went to the food court and chose an omelette and hamburger steak for lunch. While we waited we went and looked at all the kitchens and the food that was being made. It was good (for 5 bucks) and he also ate the pickled radish for the first time in quite awhile, eating about half a piece. He barely tasted the pickled ginger, as he was afraid it was spicy (it was), but he ate most of the soup that came with it as well (which is good, because I don’t really like it).

At 12:45 we went to the bathroom in the movie theater. He was standing at a urinal at first and couldn’t go, and said “Maybe the pipe in my penis isn’t working.” So funny, but also an interesting use of language. He also commented on the nice bathroom, saying “This bathroom looks nice.”

On our way out he wanted to go in the kids book room. We went in and ended spending a lot of time reading. We started with a book called Duck goes Potty, which we read three times, and he did a lot of the reading. We ended up reading three more: It’s Raining Cats and Frogs!, Ding-Dong-Ding!, and Chocolate Mud Cake, each which we read more than once. He would have kept going, and was climbing on the shelves to get more. But it was definitely time for a nap, since he had gotten up so early.

We got home at 1:45. Ate some strawberries and played the musical instruments, then went on the toilet. He then sang one of his “My brothers, I see in your eyes a hunger…” songs.

We got walking, in the stroller this time, and he fell asleep at 2:28. Had walked by the Sarang Bbang coffee shop, but it was closed, so headed back to Brownstone. Almost just came home, but decided to go in Ediya, as I’ve never actually been to the one in our building (the one that replaced the bubble tea place). While there, Torrey came in and we talked for a minute about Israel and India (where they are going).

When he left, I pushed August home, and woke him up at 3:15. Took him awhile to wake up. We did a little play dough together, some some yoga, then he found his little baby trumpet and played that a lot. He was getting quite loud, pretending to wake me up, and I made a joke about bothering the neighbors. He took this pretty seriously at first, and I had to assure him they couldn’t hear.

We went out one more time on his bike. We rode around the park and over the bridge. He wanted to cross the street, so we went down the walkway by Home Plus, then headed back to the playground. Went on the swings, then he saw two slightly older brothers doing the tube slide (which August today decided should be called the ‘pipe slide’). August did it a couple of times, needing my help to get going. But then he figured it out, and did it entirely on his own about 6 times. He still wanted me to spot him at the top, but I wasn’t touching him at all. I had told Carly we were there and she came and, unknown to him, watched him go down the last time. This was all very exciting for him, and he was very proud of himself.

We went home about 5:30 and they nursed. Then ate dinner and played piano and xylophone and drums. He asked for a Flynne story and I told the one where she is mean. He wanted a new one where she is hungry, but we got distracted before I could come up with that one. He then read the Milk Bob book with Carly. I got stuff ready for Beautiful Store and they were playing. August took the baby blankets from me while I was carrying them. After that, he took a long bath with me. He wanted to write ABCs with the squirt cars and sing the ABC song. We haven’t done that for a long time. He then had squeaky feet as he walked around the house. He then read Berenstain Bears and the Double Dare with Carly. But he hid behind me on the reading area while she read, covering his head with one of the baby blankets. She kept asking if he wanted her to keep reading, and he said yes. Afterwards, he pretended to be a sheep.

She went to take a shower and he and I went in on the bed and he sang to the songbook. He came up with all sorts of songs. A few:

“Good friends everywhere

Cat and a dog

Cat and a God

Fri nds everywhere
.”

“The pool

I can go in there

If I pay money

You have to be seventy years old

To go in there…

Seventy years, not seven…”

“This song is called ‘I can go whenever you want’”

Finally, we read Berenstain Bears Go to School. He was then being silly on the bed and surprised himself by doing a forward roll. Another exciting moment. He kept trying to do more, and was successful a couple times, but the first one was the best. He then pulled all the pillows over as if he was making a fort, but then pulled Carly’s blanket over on my bed and said “You’re taking over dada’s bed…Dada cannot sleep anywhere…why you not giving any space to him? No space.”

While playing around, I bonked him in the head worth my elbow. He got a bit upset, but not hurt enough to cry. He went to Carly and wanted to go to sleep. But after  bit they came back out. Just for a few minutes though, and then she had him back in the bedroom. I went to bed a few minutes later and he was still awake, but calm. He fell asleep a couple minutes later, just after 10.

Oh, and this morning I finally read the shirt I got from my parents for Christmas. August saw it and asked why it said ‘English’ on it.

 

Photos. Our mosaic: 

Park. Dirty snow: 

Exercise equipment: 

Lunch: 

Radish: 

Pushing: 

Wanting more books: 

Waking up: 

Hiding while Carly reads: 

He was up at 7. Carly skyped with Cherie. He ate a pancake for breakfast. He and Carly worked on some small puzzles, then with me he sang from the songbook and then we read Drum Dream Girl and the cookie story from Frog and Toad. He then asked carly for strawberries, and started doing jump forward (well, side) rolls. He typed his autocorrect stories, then we played the privacy game and hide and seek. Then some more pianos and xylophone. He wanted to learn a new song, so we looked at the songbook, and he decided on Paw Paw Patch. We ended up watching the videos of it first. Carly Skyped with Glecy. At first she hadn’t answered, so they left a vide message and August had fun with that. I took a shower, and while I did they did playdough and played with the animal sticker farm thing. Laughing a lot over that as I came out.

He had slept for less than 8 hours, so I expected a long nap, but he only slept from 12:12 to 1:09. They nursed, then played with the fruits and veggies. I came in and played too, and he came up with some interesting fruits: “spicy watermelon…podo with jackfruit in it.” He ate banana bread, then part of Carly’s toast and egg for lunch. He ate a bite of egg by himself with the fork and was proud of himself. We then played piano and xylophone together.

I was going to take him outside, and Carly was heading to a coffee shop to do some work. He had refused two pairs of socks yesterday, but changed his mind today:“I want two pairs of socks now. I want my feet to be warm.” “You know what? I want my own shoes.” He was reciting a bunch of Mossy lines from Puffin Rock, including “I can’t believe it! They took all my food.” He then pretended to act like Mossy and eat berries. With two pairs of socks on, he had fun sliding on the floor. August decided we should take the big shovel and took it out of the stroller and put it in the back of the bike. Finally, he made a Mossy/Marshy joke and asked where Marshy was. We found him in the bedroom, and August was waking up.

We headed out at precisely 3 with him on the bike. I had suggested the tree playground, but he wasn’t enthused by that one. Instead we walked north and made it to Sarang Children’s Park (사랑어린이공원) – the one with the small floor fountain. There, he went on the swing. Had fun watching his shadow. He also practiced pumping, and is getting better with his timing. Spent most of our time on the swing, but then I reminded him of the shovel and we went over to the sand. Spent a lot of time filling up the bucket, pulling it up on its chain, and filling the chute that you can then pull a handle to open so the sand spills back out. He also stood on the chain, sort of swinging on it. He spotted some beads and I reminded him this is where we can pop them in the table thing. So we did that for awhile, with him trying to pop them up. He wasn’t too successful with up, but could push them down. He found some ice on the ground by a tree and had fun stepping on it. Went back to the swings for awhile, but it was getting cooler. He kneeled on a swing a bit. Before we left, we rode the bike around the park. He identified an eighth note on the ground, then got off the bike to ‘play’ a picture of a piano on the play structure.

It was about 4:30 when we headed home. We stopped at the playground by the youth center at the ‘Bye fuzzy’ platform and had a snack – crackers and soy crisps and banana bread. He was watching people play basketball, then played around on the platform. He was standing on the edge of the platform and said he was making me nervous. We were then practicing tones/ emotions. At one point he wanted me to be something like angry/worried/sad or something like that.

We got home right at 5. He sat with Carly in the hall and had some pasta salad.They then nursed. Carly took his diaper off, but said she was too lazy to get his underwear. He said “I’m lazy too”. They read a Bob Book or two, then I suggested some Hebrew. August wanted to paint, so we started that, then Carly gave him a popsicle, so he ate that. He was playing the Hebrew kids app, and Carly started doing it with him, but then he wanted to do it “on my own”. But then he was getting stressed out by one of the games, which was rather cute. Carly made him a veggie pancake for dinner, then gave him a bath. He was asleep by 7:10, but came back out just after 8, then a couple more times in the next couple hours.

Photos. Funny look: 

Park. Sand chute: 

Standing on the chain: 

On ice: 

Kneeling: 

Watching basketball: 

Dinner in the hall: